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Tin Cans & Twine
Jun. 2nd, 2001 10:04 amLast night:
Tortoise, Nobukazu Takemura, & FCS North at the Showbox
A recap:
FCS North: pulled out all the stops for this, probably their highest profile (local) show to date. The usual trio was augmented by Seth Warren on heavily processed violin, and another cat who's name I didn't catch on the 1200s (and who also was making the ladies swoon). Andy, the drummer (and barista extrordinaire) also dug out his electronic drum kit (first time I've seen him use it live) for some TR-808 type lovin'. The majority of the songs performed aren't on the CD they have out now, but I do have a few of them on tape from their performance at the Baltic Room a few months ago. Anyway, they were as good as ever, and benefited greatly from the Showbox's new(ish) sound system.
Nobukazu Takemura: What is the sound of one laptop clapping? Better yet, make that three laptops clapping? Takemura's pre-performance setup brought many curious looks and derisive comments - what sort of music was going to come out of the bank of computer equipment? As it turns out, the music that came out was a melange of breakbeat-noise-anime-soundtrack-on-crack. Accompanied by a visual presentation (digital images of electronic equipment and freakish looking cartoon characters projected on the wall behind him), he twisted, pulled, coaxed, and pummelled the audience into submission. The highlight of the performance came during the second song, where the duck-robot-whatever-the-fuck-it-was being projected onto the wall began rapping in a voice and cadence reminiscent of Bizzy Bone (Bone Thugz-N-Harmony) crossed with the Macintosh "Fred" voice. Hilarious.
Tortoise: Or as Tasha would say, Tortwah. This, I have to shamefully admit, was the first time I have seen Chi-town's favorite sons. And they did not disappoint. They played a good cross-section of songs from Tortoise, Millions Now Living..., TNT, and Standards. With all the polyrhythms and odd time signatures and whatnot, it felt like they were going to lose control of the song at times, teetering on the brink of implosion, only to ressurect the structure of the tune and bring it home. Also refreshing was their attitude - not content to shoegaze like so many other technically oriented bands, Tortoise looked, for the most part, like they were having (gasp) fun. There was even some crowd participation during the last song of their regular set, which involved trying to get several hundred indie kids to clap out a rhythm in unison. Well, it sorta worked... In my opinion, the crowd response was unprecedented. Tortoise came back for not one, but two encores - not without some coaxing though. After the little clapping deal, and then having to clap for another 3 or 4 minutes after that, peoples' arms were getting tired! Ack.
Anyhow, I came away with a copy of the Tortiose 2001 tour CD & a copy of Standards (which I couldn't fathom paying the $16.99 most record stores around here are asking for it). All in all, a good, sweaty show.
I also ran into Hisham fuckin' Mishilani, who I hadn't seen in forever. Holmes went and got married on me! And he's got a kid on the way! Arrgh! (I already knew this stuff, but it's still odd.)
I got home at 1:30ish, was in bed by 3:00. Inexplicably, I woke up at 7:45. BING! Awake. So I got up, got breakfast at the Green Cat, and now I'm here (Aurafice) LJing. Crappy day outside, so I don't feel bad. Now I just have to figger out what the hell I'm going to do for the rest of the day. I think the Other Ed is having a party tonight. I may have to make an appearance.
A recap:
FCS North: pulled out all the stops for this, probably their highest profile (local) show to date. The usual trio was augmented by Seth Warren on heavily processed violin, and another cat who's name I didn't catch on the 1200s (and who also was making the ladies swoon). Andy, the drummer (and barista extrordinaire) also dug out his electronic drum kit (first time I've seen him use it live) for some TR-808 type lovin'. The majority of the songs performed aren't on the CD they have out now, but I do have a few of them on tape from their performance at the Baltic Room a few months ago. Anyway, they were as good as ever, and benefited greatly from the Showbox's new(ish) sound system.
Nobukazu Takemura: What is the sound of one laptop clapping? Better yet, make that three laptops clapping? Takemura's pre-performance setup brought many curious looks and derisive comments - what sort of music was going to come out of the bank of computer equipment? As it turns out, the music that came out was a melange of breakbeat-noise-anime-soundtrack-on-crack. Accompanied by a visual presentation (digital images of electronic equipment and freakish looking cartoon characters projected on the wall behind him), he twisted, pulled, coaxed, and pummelled the audience into submission. The highlight of the performance came during the second song, where the duck-robot-whatever-the-fuck-it-was being projected onto the wall began rapping in a voice and cadence reminiscent of Bizzy Bone (Bone Thugz-N-Harmony) crossed with the Macintosh "Fred" voice. Hilarious.
Tortoise: Or as Tasha would say, Tortwah. This, I have to shamefully admit, was the first time I have seen Chi-town's favorite sons. And they did not disappoint. They played a good cross-section of songs from Tortoise, Millions Now Living..., TNT, and Standards. With all the polyrhythms and odd time signatures and whatnot, it felt like they were going to lose control of the song at times, teetering on the brink of implosion, only to ressurect the structure of the tune and bring it home. Also refreshing was their attitude - not content to shoegaze like so many other technically oriented bands, Tortoise looked, for the most part, like they were having (gasp) fun. There was even some crowd participation during the last song of their regular set, which involved trying to get several hundred indie kids to clap out a rhythm in unison. Well, it sorta worked... In my opinion, the crowd response was unprecedented. Tortoise came back for not one, but two encores - not without some coaxing though. After the little clapping deal, and then having to clap for another 3 or 4 minutes after that, peoples' arms were getting tired! Ack.
Anyhow, I came away with a copy of the Tortiose 2001 tour CD & a copy of Standards (which I couldn't fathom paying the $16.99 most record stores around here are asking for it). All in all, a good, sweaty show.
I also ran into Hisham fuckin' Mishilani, who I hadn't seen in forever. Holmes went and got married on me! And he's got a kid on the way! Arrgh! (I already knew this stuff, but it's still odd.)
I got home at 1:30ish, was in bed by 3:00. Inexplicably, I woke up at 7:45. BING! Awake. So I got up, got breakfast at the Green Cat, and now I'm here (Aurafice) LJing. Crappy day outside, so I don't feel bad. Now I just have to figger out what the hell I'm going to do for the rest of the day. I think the Other Ed is having a party tonight. I may have to make an appearance.
