BloodLust!

09 OCTOBER 2005
“Minimal-Electronik Plus”
East Village Radio
NY, NY
http://www.eastvillageradio.com/

Jonathan Canady and Mark Solotroff

World-renowned minimal-synth expert DJ Veronica was kind enough to ask Jonathan and I over to the station after our show at Tonic. When we showed up, Robert from Sleep Museum was wrapping up an interview with Dirk from Echo West. We were asked to do an impromptu improvisation, so we ran out to Pieter’s cold-wave Honda to grab a few pieces of gear. After a quick introduction and a moment of painful dead-air due to a false start, we played for about ten minutes, or so, giving our own interpretation of minimal-synth, albeit, one without beats or vocals. It was nice to hang out at the storefront radio station again, and it was fun to look out and see so many friends watching from the sidewalk. The entire broadcast is archived, and we pop in at about 107-minutes into Veronica’s show. Thanks to Veronica, Pieter, Robert, Dirk, and the 1st Avenue street scene.


09 OCTOBER 2005
“No Fun Event 10: Solo”
Tonic
NY, NY
with:
Mark Solotroff
Angel of Decay
Workbench
Sickness

Chris got the night started in a crushing way with what was probably the most successful Sickness set that I have seen, yet. Although I enjoy his stressed out, table shaking, about-to-go-postal performances, at Tonic, Chris seemed totally in the moment, and in control of everything. The sound was loud, heavy, and piercing, and best of all, there were moments where the noise seemed to breath, adding a welcome level of dynamics to the set. He still tipped over his equipment at the end, but it felt like it was in triumph, not in disgust, as it has in the past. For his Workbench set, Mike brought some of the feel from Thursday night’s Double Leopards set to Tonic. Unlike his Chicago show at the Empty Bottle, where he had a bank of sub-woofers to exploit, here he worked the very different sound system into a hypnotic, pulsing, space-out. Unlike in the tight confines of the hull of a rusty boat, in this room, his deep analog and chanting sounds had room to breath and to permeate the room. Jonathan carried this tranced-out sensation to a different, more nightmarish destination during his Angel of Decay set. Deliberately setting up with his back to the audience, and playing on a darkened stage (NEVER UNDERSTAND – SUCK – AMBITION!), AoD had a sick old-school dark industrial feel (early Lustmord, M.B.), with creepy, at times almost sing-song, vocals. I miss Deathpile, but maybe a tad less. I came on last and blew through a quick two-part “multiple microphone madness” set, similar to the first three solo shows that I have played (Detroit, Champaign, Chicago). Four microphones in hand, two mics on stands stretching up to the main speakers (later in hand, too), and tons of cords to get tangled up in. Things went really smoothly for me and the crowd’s response was great.

Major thanks to Mike, for getting the show set up. Mega-thanks to Maya, for the awesome poster. Thanks to Carlos, for the No Fun support. Thanks to everyone who hung out on a burned-out Sunday night after such a long, intense weekend, including Pieter and Alisha, Marilynn and Axel, Suzie, John Slogun, Chris SKM-ETR, Leech NTT, and Crazy Sal.


The Tesco USA “brunch show” was not held at Star 64, as originally planned, due to the difficulties that arose from the Wednesday night show held there. Because of the logistics involved, I was not able to perform at the event held at Tesco HQ. I really appreciate that Jane chose to include me in the first place, and I hope to be able to make it back for one of her shows in the near future. Thanks to Jane and her entourage, for the support at Thursday’s show. Thanks to Alisha, for her willingness to do vocals, thanks to Pierpaolo Zoppo, for his permission for me to use his sound. I hope to have another opportunity to perform “Private Thoughts” soon…


08 OCTOBER 2005
Pieter Schoolwerth
(Gallery opening)
Elizabeth Dee Gallery
NY, NY

Amazing show! Amazing after party! Amazing after-after party! DJs and live sets! 3:1:G (Glenn from Blacklist, Antarctica, Ova Looven), Sean (Martial Canterel), Cheyney Thompson, Echo West. Tons of friends, tons of rain. What a night!?! Jonathan and Mark – soaked through like two wet rats. Congratulations, Pieter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


06 October 2005
Wierd Live #5
Frying Pan
NY, NY
with:
Echo West
Jutta Koether and Mark Solotroff
Martial Canterel
Double Leopards
Sleep Museum
Matthew Fanuelle
+ DJs
Pieter
Leech

Where do I even start? This was a Wierd, diverse, and epic night, after a night with one-hour of sleep, and several days with just a few hours of sleep. Here is the brief version. Deep in the bowels of a rusty lightship, rocking in the unsettled, choppy waters of the Hudson River. Matthew Fanuelle played a wonderful, melancholic set of live dark-synth pop songs. Isolated from the audience by dark sunglasses and headphones, he may not have actually been there, other than in physical form. After having CD-Rs of his music for so long (and sometimes playing him when I DJ), it was great to be at his DEBUT show! Historic, and as Pieter would no doubt say, “very rare.” Sleep Museum were up next, and Robert (with the help, at times, of the lovely Liz on drums) played a mind-blowing set of the darkest, dreary minimal-synth, with welcome hints of what early Death in June sounded like live. After only hearing a selection of more restrained songs online, I was devastated by what it sounded like live. It had guts, and it went straight for the gut punch. Double Leopards were a much-needed respite after that. Working as a three-piece, the group built a swirling, hypnotic morass of analog sound, strings, and monastic chants, which reverberated around the decayed steel hull of the boat. This was the ideal place to see them, but then, 40-minutes later, they were gone, leaving the stage for Martial Canterel. I have never seen Sean (with Liz, back to assist) play live, but I am very familiar with his recorded work (also as Moravagine). It was amazing to see so much cool vintage analog gear linked together, actually being played live, and with such cold-wave swagger. With the threat of the boat being shut down due to the late hour, Jutta and I did a commando move (with Pieter and Dirk’s approval, of course), quickly setting up our equipment and playing a brisk, heavy, and abbreviated set. Jutta played deep, sabotaged tones on her Roland JX-305 while I added high-end screech with a Roland MC-202. After about eight minutes of fracture and collapse, we turned the stage over to Echo West. Dirk overcame numerous equipment and power obstacles, playing a few great dark-synth songs to cap off the night, before the Frying Pan staff cut off the main power. It was not so bad, knowing that he would play again at the party on Saturday.

Gigantic thanks go to Pieter, first of all, for setting up this great show. Heartfelt thanks go to Jutta, for collaborating with me, and for being so calm and easy-going about the whole thing. Thanks to Cheyney, for getting the sound just right. Thanks to Nikki, the most elegant door person in NYC. Thanks to Leech, for the kick in the teeth DJ work. Thanks to everyone else who played, for such a wonderful array of dark sounds. Thanks to all of our friends who showed up, including Karen and Eloise, Alex (The Concrete Womb), Jane and the Tesco crew.

My brain is still totally crashed from this whole intense week of shows and travel. I hope that I did not forget to mention anyone or anything important. So many friends were around throughout the NYC trip, and it was wonderful to see them… “Hi” to Shelley, Martha, Oliver… Best to my other brothers, Pieter, John, and Jonathan.

Back to the grind… true darkness sets in… even 87% dark chocolate cannot help…