Alright.
This was my first time in New York, and I had a
really fun time.
Food
wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. Overall
people were
really
very nice and helpful. The subways were clean. The
pizza was
fantastic.
Bowery Street smelled like urine though... actually
nearly everywhere I
went
smelled like urine.
Anyway, we arrived at the Bowery ballroom around
9:30 and waited
downstairs until the show started. It was a nice
club. A good size -
really no bigger than any of the larger clubs here in
Gainesville,
Orlando,
or Tampa. I was dismayed to find that there was no
t-shirt/merchandise
stand for the show, and was told there would not be
for the entire
tour.
what is this a freakin' -fat boy slim concert'?
I'm happy they weren't selling any t-shirts.
This didn't make any sense to me. Also, there was
absolutely no Warp
Records USA presence of any kind. I thought for sure
there would be
promo
items floating around (ie posters, postcards,
stickers). In fact,
there
weren't even any flyers for the show itself! This was
Autechre's first
real
US tour, right? Why was there no promotion for it in
Warp Records
USA's
home town? Pathetic.
Dude, i told you this isn't an olrando rave w.
t-shirts, glow-sticks give aways....
Soon Russell Haswell and Yasuono Tone took the
stage. I didn't
know
who they were or what they would sound like, but
figured by their names
alone they would most likely put on some kind of
academic noise show.
And I
was right. They did this brutal echo reverb delay
thing which went on
for
almost 45 minutes! Basically one guy made a short
burst of noise while
the
other ran that same noise through an effect... and on,
and on, and
on...
painfully long boring uninteresting pointless
repetitive predictable
noise.
hate to agree w/ you on this one, i reckon we smoked
out Yasuono Tone a bit too much
One guy hunched over his gear, and the other squatting
down (only the
top of
his head visible) twisting knobs. One red light
fixated on the pair
from
overhead while the rest of the auditorium was pitch
black. After
twenty
minutes some jackass yelled "Freebird!". Lots of
bored people talking
to
each other. Ug. I was suprised to see how many folks
remained in the
main
room to witness it. Eventually though a majority
trickled back
downstairs
where it was more bearable. Saw David Byrne milling
around. Damn his
hair's gray! Supposedly Jim Thirlwell was there as
well but didn't see
him
myself.
After this, there was a nice dj set (Rob Hall?)
which I heard from
downstairs. That ended, and without warning the
Autechre show started.
One
guy on the right stands behind his gear clicking his
mouse and
twiddling
knobs, while the other on the left is barely visible
with only the top
of
his shaved head showing for the entire show. This is
it. No light
show, no
visuals, no dancing bears... just a green glow coming
up from their
Powerbooks and a dark room. The rest of the
auditorium is pitch black.
Lots of glitchy static and low-endness. Very true to
form compared to
the
live Autechre shows that have been floating around as
mp3s, cdrs, etc.
Each
time a song began, the crowd whooped with excitement
and bopped around
for a
bit. Then nine minutes later the same song was still
going and going
and
going nowhere new. People talked amongst themselves
at this point,
losing
interest. I think that if Autechre were to just cut
the last four
minutes
off of each pice then it would be a more dynamic
show... too much
indecisive
noodling, not sure when to stop.
I didn't recognize any of the songs at all.
Could have been
new-ish
stuff from _Confield_, but who knows?
they play a new set everytime which is really
cool.....it lets you connect w/ them @ that particular
moment.....whatever they are feeling, ....
Nice job Warp USA. Regardless,
every
other young white male had their own nifty
backpack/carry-all
pouch/purse
thing which most likely contained some sort of
futuristic recording
gear.
I'm sure we'll all be able to hear it for ourselves
within a few days.
Now the following night (Saturday the 5th), we
decided to skip out
on
all opening acts and djs and just come for the main
show. I think we
got to
the Bowery ballroom around 10pm or so. The dj filler
show was
progressing
slowly and I hooked up with a few old Gainesville pals
who had recently
made
the move up north. Then the 4x4 beats stopped and I
knew the show was
about
to begin.
Running upstairs I heard this strange recording
of what sounded
like an
audience at a show(?). There were moments where a
heckler-type voice
kept
asking when the beats were coming in. I was happy
because this seemed
to be
a bit more interesting than Friday night's show.
After about five or
minutes of this, glitchy Autechre-ness began
infiltrating the
recording.
The crowd livened up and it really truly was an
exciting performance.
There
was lots more of this back-and-forth action between
death metal
samples,
chunky subbeats, Japanese yelling and shouting,
off-kilter time
signature
beats, static, walls of noise, head-nod food, etc.
Then I looked at my
ticket and realized that this was not in fact
Autechre, but Rob Hall &
Russell Haswell. I would have to say that their
performance was
absolutely
fantastic! By far the most enjoyable and memorable
performance of both
nights.
Then that stopped, and with barely a break
Autechre started up for
their set. I wanted more. It was pretty much the
same performance of
the
previous evening. I recognized a lot of the same
samples and noises
from
what I had heard before. I'm sure they were a bit
different, but still
the
same pieces. This time they had one blue light
focusing on them from
overhead, and four tolken red lights moving around
slightly.
Both nights Autechre's set lasted about an
hour-and-a-half, I
think.
The more exited hardcore fans seemed to be up front
really digging the
show.
The people in the back and in the mezzanine/balcony
pretty much were
all
complaining about how awful and boring it was, but
still remained for
the
duration. There was a lot of talking amongst the
crowd and people's
interest only woke back up when a new song began, and
up to about three
or
four minutes after that.
I was very happy myself being able to see and
hear Autechre live.
I
think I enjoyed it most because I didn't stand in one
spot looking
ahead for
an hour-and-a-half. There were a bunch of
head-nodders, and a
suprising
number of people doing this dijointed jerky dance to
the music. Very
fun to
watch. I didn't really see the point though in
watching two guys stand
on
stage in front of their laptops for that amount of
time. But just the
fact
that THIS TYPE of music was being played live was
enough to keep my
interest.
Go see Autechre. Go knowing that it will just be
two guys in
front of
their laptops twisting and clicking. The music's
good, but a bit too
drawn
out. Don't treat it as the typical concert setting
though... it just
doesn't work. You'll be disappointed if you come with
this mindset.
Relax,
and find a spot to chill out. Dare I say, find
something else to
occupy
your time? Dance, draw, fiddle with your minidisk
recorder, play
hide-and-go-seek... but still enjoy it.
Oh, and there's no chance for an encore. When
you see the pair of
matching titanium Powerbook lids shut, that's it. Go
home, take out
your
earplugs, and dump the recording onto your harddrive.
true
t.
(you know who)
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