I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: February 5, 2025] quannnic

I had never heard of quannnic before this show (yes, three n’s).  I gather he (for quannnic appears to be one guy, Nick Quan) made some TikTok recordings and got a following.  Wikipedia says he has a digicore sound, but I guess that was the earlier recordings. because the new ones (and the live show) was pure 90s noisy shoegaze.

When the band came out on stage, Quan mumbled “what’s up New Jersey” and launched into the first song.

And it was really great.  I loved the loud fuzzy sound they generated.  No other words were spoken throughout the show, so I have no idea who else was in the band.  The second guitarist on the far left was mostly rhythm, but I l loved that in the last few songs he played around with effects pedals to generate cool sounds that added to the overall wash of noise.

Their bassist didn’t do anything flashy–she was there to hold the song together, although she seemed to be having more fun than anyone else.  Well, except for the drummer.  The drummer was up front as well–all four members in a line with the drums on the far right.  He seemed to be really enjoying himself and it was fun watching him play more than simple beats.

Right in front of me was Quan.  He sang and played guitar and made sure that between songs there was always some kind of noise so there was never a silent moment.

He has a pretty classic shoegaze voice, although at times he reminded me a bit of Car Seat Headrest (mot a bad thing).

I have since listened to his two records and I like the newer one a lot more, but their live sound was miles ahead of the record as well.

There were one or two slower songs, but mostly it was a wall of noise.

Before South, all three musicians switched to different guitars and bass.   I didn’t notice anything particularly different in the sound.  Maybe the last four songs are tuned differently?  The big difference was that the second guitarist started using his effects pedals a lot more.  And I really enjoyed this part of the set the most.

The biggest surprise was that Slowdive gave them 45 minutes!  A huge amount of time for an opening band.  But they earned their time and the crowd was really responsive.

Quan said thanks and that was that.  Never once did he introduce himself or the band.  I guess he assumed everyone knew who they were already.

1. Defense §
2. snarky €
3. How to Hold a Knife §
4. Comatose §
5. Wrenches ¢
6. Sheets §
7. Rummage §
8. South §
9. Jophiel §
10. soil €
11. life imitates life €

¢ single (2025)
§ Stepdream (2023)
€ kenopsia (2022)