As I type this, I am listening (over and over) to a six and a half minute segment of a rehearsal space recording that seems to embody everything that I have been hoping to do with "the new band." In my Sunday morning mind, on my third double-espresso, it feels like the perfect portrayal of the highs and the lows of attempted personal connection. 'Nuff said on that.
Last night was a double-header of shows...
At Enemy, there was an early experimental/noise line-up, kicked off by the duo of Eric Leonardson and Bryan Day (Omaha). Eric played his Neubauten-lite walker device and Day played three handsome, sculptural, handmade instruments. While the sounds that both guys produced complemented each other, it seemed like Eric was continually trying to make eye contact with Day, throughout the set, in a noble atempt to truly play "together," but Day was playing his gear with a head-down focus, only locking eyes with Eric at the very end. Maybe he was able to collaborate just by hearing, but I am not so sure... Vertonen was up next, and as Blake recounted a story about a college professor who used a certain methodology to draw blood by counting to three but jabbing at two -- yep, I knew where that was headed -- he unleashed an instantaneous fury of harsh noise that still made me - and most of the audience - jump... actually sending one guy into a bit of a hissy fit. Whatever, bring earplugs to these sorts of shows if you are worried about that kind of thing. It also functioned as a nice follow-up to Neil Jendon's launch from the night before... Blake allowed the wall of sound to deteriorate before bringing in a vicious high-tone frequency that sent fingers back into ears. Finally he went into the sort of pop-music (well, prog-rock, this time, with Yes and Emerson Lake & Palmer) manipulation/looping of his that I am less fond of... it actually sounded good but it felt like it should have been a different piece, altogether... Katchmare (Normal, IL) was up next... Nick kept the pressure on the audience, adding a certain level of palpable stress as he slowly moved from quiet passages, to micro bursts of noise, to tension building sounds, to more full-on blasts of harshness. I thought that it was a well-done performance that kept a step ahead of the audience. Unfortunately, I had to leave before Evidence played, as curious as I was about the weird multi-surface loudspeakers that they had set up around the room...
Off to Subterranean, around the corner. Holy crap, it was cold in there... maybe a good set-up for the nearly coldwave guitars of All the Saints? Maybe not. I definitely arrived with ultra-high expectations, as "Fire on Corridor X" has probably been my most listened to album of the never-ending winter... and, no shit, it is snowing again today in Chicago... so... I enjoyed their performance. The guitar was as echoey as I would have hoped... but their more-aggressive pace and delivery was definitely a different thing than on their album. I think that the fact that it was far less romantic, compared to their studio sound, was a good thing - in this particular case - whatever... I need to let it sink in a bit, still. Lots of stuff is sinking in, still... Darker My Love was up next. The two albums that I have by them are maybe a bit less psychedelic than I may want... while they might veer into Warlocks territory, say, they come off a bit more Madchester or "baggy" (god, did I really just type that?!?), like Stone Roses or Charlatans... but they were heavier and darker live... great vocal harmonies, a la post-shoegazer (I actually kept thinking of Spectacle!)... and christ, the bass player gets major points for playing Christian Death's "Spiritual Cramp" when he soundchecked before they started. A definite what-the-fuck moment... ha ha! So, for me, even better live. These Arms are Snakes were up last. I stayed for four or five songs but I guess that I was not really in the mood for that sort of show, even though the showmanship was really quite good and the crowd was feeding on the high energy.
I might have been able to catch the tail end of the Minsk, Sweet Cobra, Plague Bringer show, but by that point, my ears were just destroyed... I am definitely sorry to have had to miss that triple-threat, though...
Figure this one out:
