caught thomas brinkmann and jorg burger (i missed dimbiman) show at
the brooklyn bridge anchorage. the space, of course, is amazing, a
windowless cathedral of brick, all huge arches and vaulted ceilings.
the sound was surprisingly good given the boominess of the space;
wasn't overly loud, which probably helped.
jorg burger was doing his Modernist/Explosion thing. he was an
affable persona on stage, grooving to the music, smoking, and
wiggling his finger on a kaoss pad (there were no wiggly effects to
be heard, just the usual clockwork). his other hand, commanding a
groovebox, wore a wedding ring. had one of those young/old faces,
cute but for the frighteningly deep bags under his eyes. he had the
house rocking.
or maybe he just had me rocking, and my stoned friends.
brinkmann had turntables set up on the floor, and so was invisible
when his set began with the dark clicking sounds from one of his
inscribed records. to that was added some chaotic looped voices. amid
this confusion of sound, he emerged at his main setup at the front of
the stage, with a withering scowl. brinkmann looked like a semiotics
professor or something. a few concessions to fashion -- buzzcut and
sideburns, a 70's watch, basketball sneakers -- otherwise he was
surprisingly paternal looking: gray-flecked hair, bushy eyebrows,
impassive gaze -- and that serious scowl. he consulted a little
notebook filled with symbols and notes. he twiddled knobs on his
mixer. as he slowly brought in dance rhythms, the stubby, thumpy
brinkmann grooves seemed painfully stilted compared with the totally
swinging stuff Burger had been laying down. the party vibe was
grinding to a halt. i became fearful.
i was a sucker. it was all part of a calculated long slow buildup
which completely burned the house down. like the mutek set from last
year, the big turning point was Ulla1, which brought a major tempo
boost. lots of stuff along the lines of the later women's names
records/maxernst+6/ekkehart-friedrich, not much Soul Center, lots of
harder techno sounds. sometime after the house was screaming and an
audience member lit his cigarette, he broke into a boyish smile that
made him look about 12 years old. he further endeared himself to the
crowd by repeatedly refusing to stop the show when the guy from the
anchorage kept begging him to end it.
impressive.
k
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