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.
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.
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.
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? 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.
.`-).
christopher miller o o.'
evil@fdt.net ==
'
ps. Thank you Josh for flying me up!
pps. Geordan, I said your name several times to a guy with a black long-
sleeved Fantastic Four shirt but he just looked right through me. I
did see a guy wearing a Green Lantern shirt the next night...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org