30th December 2009

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(I need to actually start taking pictures at these shows, because stealing photos off the internet is really pretty lame.)

tUnE-yArDs at The Stone - 12/23/09

Last week I went down to the Stone in the East Village to check out Merril Garbus - tUnE-yArDs.  You might remember the write-up I did of her a while back, and if you don’t, just know that I thought her recent record, BiRd-BrAiNs, was awesome.

First, the Stone is pretty hip.  As soon as I walked in, I felt like I might have been too much of a thug to really hang, but then again, I guess I was wearing as much flannel as required, so I think I passed.  The place was small, apparently a capacity of about 80 people, and it seemed pretty much like it was just some rich dude’s basement.  So, that was cool.  There were chairs lined up, and the stage was at floor-level, and people seemed pretty well-behaved.  Though at first I thought I might’ve been uncomfortable there, I think I really got into it, because it was really just set up for people to be able to focus on the show, with no distractions.

I did a bit of research (I went to their website), and found out some interesting info about the venue as well.  First, the artistic director is John Zorn.  That’s fucking cool.  Next, read this:

The Stone is a not-for-profit performance space dedicated to the EXPERIMENTAL and AVANT-GARDE.

All expenses are paid for by the MUSIC itself - through the online sale of special Limited Edition CDs released yearly on the Tzadik label. Each month a different musician is responsible for curating the programs with 100% of the nightly revenue going directly to the musicians.

It’s always cool to find a group of people who are into music.  Too much of the scene is about selling shirts, drinks, or being cool.  The Stone is different.  So, thumbs up there.

Before tUnE-yArDs went on, her sister, Ruth Garbus, performed.  Thanks to Metro-North, I arrived late, a bit of the way into her set.  But that’s alright, because what I saw was still good.  In contrast to her sister, Ruth Garbus has more of a straightforward, indie-folk style in her music.  Solo, clean, finger-picked electric guitar, with a floating, dreamy feel to it.  Her voice sounds almost identical to her sister’s, but with a more whispered approach.  Not usually my thing, but in a darkened space like the Stone, with all sorts of curtains hanging on the walls, it ended up creating a really cool effect, like we were all hiding in a fort made out of chairs and blankets, holding up a flashlight to the performer.

After Ruth Garbus finished, I noticed something perhaps unique to the Stone: the bathroom is basically on stage.  The performers set up in between two doors; one is the “backstage” area, and the other is the restroom.  So, once Ruth finished, a line developed, because everyone had to wait until the set was over, so as not to make it obvious and uncomfortable that they were standing four feet away from the performer, staring at them, because they had to pee.  Or poop.

Even more attention was drawn to this when Merrill came out to much applause, only to announce that she was actually going to the bathroom.  When she came out, she joked that if she’d made a smelly, we’d all know about it.  My friend Adam and I were more concerned about what would’ve happened if she spent like, a half hour in there.  Or if she had a stroke, like Elvis.  Awkward…

But finally, on to her performance.  She spent her set-up time kind of pottering around, making whale noises.  I got the idea that she was just slightly strange.  In a good way.

Though I’d seen some videos of her performing, I’d wondered if she would be able to really recreate the wide array of sounds found on her record in person, using only a couple of drums, a ukulele, her voice, and some looping pedals. Much of BiRd-BrAiNs includes found audio - things like power-tools, conversations with children - things that would be hard to capture in a live performance.

While she did noticeably steer clear of certain tracks from the record, she did much stranger stuff.  She included stream-of-consciousness poetry, Native American chanting, and some of her uke stuff was downright Voidoidsy.  If you’ve listened to her record, most of the songs from the record were quite faithful to the recordings … or, rather, the recordings were quite faithful to the original performance … but some of the more bass-heavy cuts, like Real Live Flesh and Sunlight were left out, I believe both because the guy who plays bass with her was absent, and because they might not have been strange enough.  I would’ve loved to see those performed, but I suppose I can’t complain about what I imagined to be her reasoning for leaving them out.

She was a captivating performer, and throughout much of the set, she’d have an intense look in her eyes.  And while much of her music can be intense, it really has the effect of creating a good mood, while so much other music of the same intensity can come off as just scary to a lot of people.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever grow tired of seeing her create the effect of an entire band using just a couple of microphones, a couple of drums, a ukulele, and loop pedal.  It’s really fascinating.

Tagged: getting into a serious thing

22nd November 2009

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Ed Yazijian - Six Ways to Avoid the Evil Eye (Spirit of Orr)

Apparently, this record was a reissue of a CD-R put out by Apostasy a few years ago. It’s all sorts of drone, utilizing instruments from all over the world, as well as some non-instruments-as-instruments with which most people would be familiar.  The first time I listened to the record, I didn’t really even notice; the instruments blend so well with the more nontraditional tools to create the kind of sound I grew up loving after so many family trips to Indian restaurants.  But after giving it another spin, I started picking up things I missed the first time - strange things.  Some tracks have a sort of snow about them; after reading the insert, I found that one of the instruments is a shortwave radio.  Glasses, pot lids, and bowls are also used on this record, along with a long list of actual instruments from all over the place: guitar, divan saz, dotara, violin, sarinda, khaen, gong, cymbals, pennywhistle, tabla, frame drums, estey pump organ, and a cowbell.

The only thing I don’t like about it is, since the cover is screen-printed, the ink has a kind of sticky texture to it that I just don’t really enjoy touching.  But, then again, it’s screen-printed, so that’s cool.

I’m hoping Spirit of Orr makes an appearance at the fast-approaching WMUA Vinyl sale, so I can perhaps find something more in this area of ambient world-drone.  I’ll have Ron recommend me something.

Tagged: getting into a serious thing

19th November 2009

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This season of Solos and Duos came to a truly epic conclusion tonight, as Tyshawn Sorey packed two hours and fifteen minutes full of solo percussion, piano, and trombone improvisations that were both humorous and mind-blowing. The previous two performances, both fantastic in their own rights, lasted a healthy seventy minutes, in comparison. One can easily imagine how a solo performance this long could get tiresome, but anyone at Bezanson tonight should have no doubt that Sorey, so full of talent and creativity, would have had no problem continuing further.

He began the set with a piece on the piano, sparse and disonant, contrasting the higher and lower registers of the instrument. Sorey seemed to utilize a motif of one specific chord, which he would strike, sustain, and then suddenly choke, only to repeat it a moment later. This motif was something to which he would return after moving into areas of greater action, made so much more intense by their usual absence. During the less busy moments of the piece, the hall was so quiet you could hear your neighbor’s stomach cooing, but when he became more urgent, a story started developing through the piano; the sounds became more and more kinetic, and the lows started actively pursuing the highs. It seemed as though a dramatic chase was occuring, in which the final outcome was not clear, but the nimble highs had quite a time escaping from the predatory lows.

Next, Sorey went to the drums, which he played standing up, having set them up in an interesting fashion, placing a bass drum face-up on a table. I’ve heard that he’ll often set up his drums differently, just to see how it comes out. The man seems to be known primarily as a drummer, and he’s truly an explosive one. Throughout this first set of percussion, he kept one cymbal ringing frequently, creating an image of industrial steam rising from beneath the street, but also perhaps natural gases emitting from a subterranean volcano.

Next, he went to the trombone. As he played different growlings, elephant farts, and out-phasing tones, he walked over to the drums, and began playing into the snare-drum. It created the same effect as windows shaking in their frames during heavy thunder.

He then returned to the piano, playing a much busier and fuller set, displaying more technical virtuosity than the previous set, but the same heavy use of disonance, creating certain effects of resonance which effected not only the sounds of the instrument, but also the movement of Sorey himself, who could be seen swaying in a circular fashion throughout the piece.

After that set, he returned to the drums, this time taking a more experimental approach to things, placing cymbals on top of the drums, ringing them softly, creating low gong-like effects, and scraping his sticks across the edge of other cymbals, creating a sort of muffled scream, and the more subdued moments were punctuated by cannon blasts from the bass drum. At one moment, he placed a cymbal upside down on a tom, and began playing it with a mallet, creating a swirling, windy tone, which soon turned to a fierce snow storm, as he began playing the china cymbal louder and louder, until he would silence it, in order to ring a few soft bells.

At this point, Sorey took a drink of water … I thought. But once he picked up the trombone, and liquid came splashing out of it, I realized I’d kind of been had. His backwash came spraying out of every orifice of the horn, which gurgled and percolated throughout much of the set, eventually drying out enough to leave just the occasional pop or crackle, giving it a warm tone, similar to an old record. It gave the audience a good laugh, but I wonder how the owner of the borrowed trombone felt about it. I’m sure he had a good sense of humor.

Finally, Sorey closed out the night with a thunderous performance on the drums, utilizing all the techniques he had shown throughout the night. The performance started at 8:00 p.m., and ended just past 10:10, and though some with lesser constitutions had left earlier on, those remaining delivered Sorey a much-deserved standing ovation.

Tyshawn Sorey’s latest album, Koan, can be found on 482 Music.

Tagged: getting into a serious thinghonkers and squeakersi have no idea how the trombone worksis there something funny about the word tromboner to you?