Band The Body to play only Florida show at the Atlantic

This Friday, Portland-based experimental metal duo The Body will be coming to the Atlantic right before they embark on a two-month long American tour. The show at the Atlantic will be the group’s only planned stop in Florida for their current touring cycle.

The Body has a versatile sound that evades any concrete descriptors given to metal bands in the past. Their music ranges from poppy ambience to all-out sludge-metal. Their latest release, “No One Deserves Happiness,” incorporates elements of electronic music like drum machines and high-pitched, almost mechanical sounding female vocals. “No One Deserves Happiness” fluctuates between accessible musical moments like these and noisy instrumentals, complete with demonic vocals typical of most “metal” music.

“The Body’s music drones, swells and then soothes,” said Claudia Acosta, a 21-year-old UF English junior. “I’m curious to see how they perform their songs live, especially because they only have two members.”

Back in 2014, Gainesville local Daniel Halal, the owner of Arrow’s Aim Records, released a collaborative album between The Body and Baton Rouge-based sludge-metal band Thou through his independent record label Vinyl Rites. The album, “Released From Love,” has since been reissued by Thrill Jockey in the U.S. and Daymare in Japan. Halal, 31, booked The Body’s pre-tour Gainesville show.

“I like The Body’s unflinching commitment to making the music they want to, on their own terms, separate from genre restrictions,” Halal said. “They are also two of the funniest people on Earth.”

Vinyl Rites was started in 2006, originally as a way for Halal to release his own band’s music. Since then, the label has put out over 40 releases, most of which are on vinyl, through small runs of 500 to 1,000 records.

Gainesville-based artist Ironing will be opening The Body’s Atlantic show. This noisy sample-based project’s sole member is Andrew Chadwick, a Gainesville resident and crucial player in the local music scene.

Along with putting on the recurring “Action Research” events around town for touring experimental artists, Chadwick can also be found filming shows around town with his camcorder almost every week. Chadwick posts these high definition videos of Gainesville performances to YouTube under the username “awchadwick.”

“I would describe an Ironing set as a hyper, noisy, cut-up dance party with slapstick turntablism,” Chadwick said. “Kenny Millions once described it as ‘Florida’s J. Dilla meets Otomo Yoshihide plus his own thing.’ I loved that description.”

Ironing gets its name from Chadwick’s trademark ironing boards, which he puts his audio equipment on when performing live. He manipulates sound samples from vinyl records and cassettes through a soundboard and various other manipulative gear. As with most live audio manipulation, no two Ironing sets are the same.

“I saw Ironing in Miami a few months ago,” Acosta said. “The set was really strange and exciting. At one point, he just started throwing cassettes at his audio gear.”

Local acts Bite Marks and Living Lost will also be opening the show this Friday.

Doors open at 9 p.m., and tickets can be purchased in advance for $10 from Arrow’s Aim Records or showclix.com. Tickets are $12 at the door, but because this is The Body’s only Florida concert before embarking on tour, there is a strong possibility of the show selling out.