Lightning Bolt

About

Also known as: lightning bolt

Two Brians, one bass, one drum kit, and an absolutely punishing wall of sound. Lightning Bolt, the Providence noise rock duo of Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson, built their reputation playing on the floor in the middle of the crowd rather than on any stage, turning every show into a kind of controlled chaos. Chippendale sings through a telephone receiver mic stuffed in his mouth or strapped to a mask, running his voice through effects until it's barely human, while Gibson runs his bass in cello tuning and stacks overdrive, octave and pitch shifting pedals to conjure something much bigger than two people have any right to sound like. Their catalogue moves from the raw early Load Records material through the fan favourite Wonderful Rainbow and the critically praised Hypermagic Mountain, eventually landing on Fantasy Empire in 2015, which got attention for its unusually clear, high fidelity recording. Most recently, Sonic Citadel arrived in 2019 on Thrill Jockey. Philip Glass and Sun Ra sit alongside Japanese noise acts like Boredoms as acknowledged touchstones, which tells you a lot about where the band's head is at.