Noise Maelstroms and Scandinavian Psychedelia
There are few things more enjoyable to me as a music fan than being totally and unexpectedly blown away by an unfamiliar band's live show. Through all my years of seeing bands, it is a constant that remains; oftentimes these sets are some of the most memorable performances I've ever seen. I saw Mudhoney in 1988 opening for Sonic Youth in such a fashion and still cherish the memory today; other surprise ass-kickings I've experienced include such luminaries as Oneida, Storm & Stress, and the Sun City Girls. Last Tuesday night at the NYC Knitting Factory I had another one of these blissful evenings, as a diverse bill of noise and psychedelia unfolded featuring Japanese noise godfather Merzbow, Double Leopards, Jim O'Rourke/Carlos Giffoni, and Finnish psych warlords Circle.
Naturally, my friend and I arrived too late to see Double Leopards--which is an ongoing problem for me (see the Sir Richard Bishop post for clarification)--getting there right as the band finished their droning set. O'Rourke and Giffoni then took the stage, on laptops and pedals, and proceeded to unleash a barrage of noise. Similar in tone to Merzbow's work, their sounds burst like shells through the PA. I found their set tedious--intermittently interesting, but brought down by the derivative nature of the material. There are lots of bands doing what they did that night, but doing it better--artists like Pita, Neon Hunk, and Prurient come to mind, as well as the master Merzbow. Piercing and jarring tones predominated, but in a genre where artists like Hair Police and Wolf Eyes speak in their own distinct musical idiom, the duo seemed like their best tones had been borrowed from other people. Giffoni's "I'm such a busy laptop guy" act wore on me, as he exaggerated his gestures in a lame attempt to show the crowd how intense and into it he was. Their set ran about a half hour and then Circle took the stage.
Circle has been around since 1991; they are from Finland; and their music is a unique amalgam of Krautrock bands like Neu! and Can, jazzy psychedelia in the vein of Beefheart or (gulp!) the Grateful Dead, and the grinding black metal of Scandinavian homeboys like Darkthrone or Immortal. If that doesn't sound like a contradictory collection of influences, I don't know what does--but what is so surprising about this band is that it all works so well. My only previous experience with them came from a friend of mine, who owned a copy of 2002's Sunrise; it seemed to me to combine a healthy love for the psychedelic trance groove along with 70's arena rock. Vocals sometimes bordered on the operatically silly and tasteless, but the band's approach to their influences was both loving and irreverent. The ultimate result was a really cool record, I thought, so when my friend laid it on me that Circle was coming to the Knit I thought that it behooved us to attend.
The band came out--a drummer, guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist/singer. The singer was dressed in jeans, a wife-beater, suspenders, glasses with those annoying "transition" lenses, and the type of leather cap that Al Pacino wore in the movie Cruising. The bassist seemed to be about 7 feet tall, and he looked like a hippie who had accidentally purchased a metal fan's bass. I was immediately worried that I had wasted my whole evening. My fears were unfounded; the set opened with a long piece that started quietly with a very 70's sounding synth riff and then progressed into a psychedelic epic. The whole set consisted of 5 songs--the first and last numbers were in the 15-20 minute range, while the middle 3 were taut swinging mechanical Krautrock, gleaming with metal tinges. In the last song the keyboardist abruptly switched to a second drum kit, using his vocal mic to mic the kit. There was a slight delay on the mic that sounded good on his vox, but added a shifting and shimmering texture to the drumbeat he was playing. While basically doubling what the main drummer played, the delay made it slightly dubbed out. Another totally unexpected touch from these guys. After they finished playing I grabbed two of their discs--Forest and Tulikoira--and found out the next day that the set they played consisted of 3 tunes from these discs, the two longest included. Their simplicity was deceptive, and for a band that favors the mechanical styles of the Germans of the 1970's they possess a feel to their groove that is uncanny (no pun intended). Overall it was a great set.
Merzbow then cleaned out my sinus canals with a dark and brooding piece. I lasted maybe 40 minutes before I figured I'd beat the crowd to the bathroom and head out. His music was much more restrained than the O'Rourke/Giffoni duo, using more time to develop some of the sonic textures that he employed. His sound was mean and nasty, huge ringing bass tones mixed in with harsh squeals and static bursts--denser than Wolf Eyes. Merzbow's antiseptic stage presence was a welcome contrast to the showiness of Giffoni; as much more complex tonalities surged around him he allowed himself a brief smile near the 30-minute mark. The crowd up front was going nuts; they seemed like worshippers finally experiencing the presence of their divinity. His set was great too but finally it just wore me out. After the oddball melodicism and pure rock belief demonstrated by Circle, Merzbow was a harsh opposite extreme. As far as laptoppers go though, it was an engaging and brutally effective set...I'd see him again for sure.
So in review--I went out, got drunk, got high, and got my ass kicked unexpectedly. One of those great nights out. Additionally, Circle is playing what should be a cool show at the Hook in Brooklyn on 9-17; also on the bill are Khanate, Coptic Light, and Mouthus.
Naturally, my friend and I arrived too late to see Double Leopards--which is an ongoing problem for me (see the Sir Richard Bishop post for clarification)--getting there right as the band finished their droning set. O'Rourke and Giffoni then took the stage, on laptops and pedals, and proceeded to unleash a barrage of noise. Similar in tone to Merzbow's work, their sounds burst like shells through the PA. I found their set tedious--intermittently interesting, but brought down by the derivative nature of the material. There are lots of bands doing what they did that night, but doing it better--artists like Pita, Neon Hunk, and Prurient come to mind, as well as the master Merzbow. Piercing and jarring tones predominated, but in a genre where artists like Hair Police and Wolf Eyes speak in their own distinct musical idiom, the duo seemed like their best tones had been borrowed from other people. Giffoni's "I'm such a busy laptop guy" act wore on me, as he exaggerated his gestures in a lame attempt to show the crowd how intense and into it he was. Their set ran about a half hour and then Circle took the stage.
Circle has been around since 1991; they are from Finland; and their music is a unique amalgam of Krautrock bands like Neu! and Can, jazzy psychedelia in the vein of Beefheart or (gulp!) the Grateful Dead, and the grinding black metal of Scandinavian homeboys like Darkthrone or Immortal. If that doesn't sound like a contradictory collection of influences, I don't know what does--but what is so surprising about this band is that it all works so well. My only previous experience with them came from a friend of mine, who owned a copy of 2002's Sunrise; it seemed to me to combine a healthy love for the psychedelic trance groove along with 70's arena rock. Vocals sometimes bordered on the operatically silly and tasteless, but the band's approach to their influences was both loving and irreverent. The ultimate result was a really cool record, I thought, so when my friend laid it on me that Circle was coming to the Knit I thought that it behooved us to attend.
The band came out--a drummer, guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist/singer. The singer was dressed in jeans, a wife-beater, suspenders, glasses with those annoying "transition" lenses, and the type of leather cap that Al Pacino wore in the movie Cruising. The bassist seemed to be about 7 feet tall, and he looked like a hippie who had accidentally purchased a metal fan's bass. I was immediately worried that I had wasted my whole evening. My fears were unfounded; the set opened with a long piece that started quietly with a very 70's sounding synth riff and then progressed into a psychedelic epic. The whole set consisted of 5 songs--the first and last numbers were in the 15-20 minute range, while the middle 3 were taut swinging mechanical Krautrock, gleaming with metal tinges. In the last song the keyboardist abruptly switched to a second drum kit, using his vocal mic to mic the kit. There was a slight delay on the mic that sounded good on his vox, but added a shifting and shimmering texture to the drumbeat he was playing. While basically doubling what the main drummer played, the delay made it slightly dubbed out. Another totally unexpected touch from these guys. After they finished playing I grabbed two of their discs--Forest and Tulikoira--and found out the next day that the set they played consisted of 3 tunes from these discs, the two longest included. Their simplicity was deceptive, and for a band that favors the mechanical styles of the Germans of the 1970's they possess a feel to their groove that is uncanny (no pun intended). Overall it was a great set.
Merzbow then cleaned out my sinus canals with a dark and brooding piece. I lasted maybe 40 minutes before I figured I'd beat the crowd to the bathroom and head out. His music was much more restrained than the O'Rourke/Giffoni duo, using more time to develop some of the sonic textures that he employed. His sound was mean and nasty, huge ringing bass tones mixed in with harsh squeals and static bursts--denser than Wolf Eyes. Merzbow's antiseptic stage presence was a welcome contrast to the showiness of Giffoni; as much more complex tonalities surged around him he allowed himself a brief smile near the 30-minute mark. The crowd up front was going nuts; they seemed like worshippers finally experiencing the presence of their divinity. His set was great too but finally it just wore me out. After the oddball melodicism and pure rock belief demonstrated by Circle, Merzbow was a harsh opposite extreme. As far as laptoppers go though, it was an engaging and brutally effective set...I'd see him again for sure.
So in review--I went out, got drunk, got high, and got my ass kicked unexpectedly. One of those great nights out. Additionally, Circle is playing what should be a cool show at the Hook in Brooklyn on 9-17; also on the bill are Khanate, Coptic Light, and Mouthus.
posted by alyosha mcbain at 9:26 AM
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