Richard Devine, Salvo Beta & Twine
Double Door, Chicago, IL, USA
Thursday April 5, 2001
Much to my delight I realized that Richard Devine was performing in Chicago
while I
happened to be visiting friends in the city this past weekend (Thurs
actually). Opening
for Devine were Chicago's Salvo Beta (who organized the show alongside their
label
Some Odd Pilot) and Cleveland's Twine.
Local DJs filled in the gaps between sets, but the Double Door is pretty
organized so
they had the show running smoothly, regardless of how unfriendly they
sometimes were
to their guests. Twine was the first act to perform, and Greg (it was just
Greg this time)
played for about an hour. His set consisted of dense atmospheres and mildly
unsettling
ambience sandwiched between two more rhythmic pieces. The crowd was still
filtering in
for about the first half of Twine's set but as the volume increased
progressively, more
and more people stopped talking and migrated toward the stage. Those
unfamiliar with
Twine's material, or those who haven't heard them in some time will want to
check out
their upcoming releases on Komplott and Hefty later this year, as they've
certainly come
a long way. It's now a rather unpredictable collage of staggered beats, thick
drones,
manipulated samples and serene, electroacoustic ambience.... that description
sounds
like bad marketing fodder, but check it out and you'll see what I mean.
Salvo Beta seemed to get the crowd going the most, and I assumed based on the
crowd
response, as well as the amount of people who left after their set, that they
had many
friends in the audience. I had never heard them before, and I still have yet
to hear a
recording of their tracks, but at various times I was reminded of big beat
acts like newer
Meat Beat Manifesto, Crystal Method or Chemical Brothers, which is more a
compliment
than a negative comparison, as this band could hold its own to any of these
more
established high profile acts. Not everything was big beat by numbers though,
and they
have a lot of potential to take their sound to the next level. Their live set
up was a trio,
with live drums (not always in time, but who cares, it made it more
interesting for me
anyway), laptop and various effects, etc. They definitely had the rock star
sort of
presence on stage, but it was obvious that these guys have fun doing what they
do,
which I can appreciate. I liked that they could flow between big beat,
straight up techno,
pseudo-rock stuff, and more experimental timestretched noise and glitchiness
pretty
seamlessly.
Richard Devine took the stage last. I was disappointed by the small crowd
remaining for
his set, as at least a third of the audience had left by this point. He stood
behind two
laptops (G3 and PC, to put an end to the platform argument) and started with a
rather
loud abrasive smattering of his trademark machinelike rhythms. He continually
motioned
to the sound desk to make it louder, louder, louder, louder.... needless to
say I was glad
I had earplugs in. As anyone might have expected, Devine tended to alternate
between
ultra-scientific syncopated beats and completely warped DSP material. It was
somewhat
amusing to watch people try to dance, although many of his rhythmic tracks
were slightly
less bewildering than the material on "Lipswitch." He finished up with a
straight up
tech-house track that blew everyone away, and probably by that point it was a
welcome
return to a familiar 4-4 bass beat :-) In any case, Devine's live set blew me
away. Those
skeptics regarding his newer releases would do well to at least experience it
on a
capable sound PA.... or at the very least, turn your stereo up very loud the
next time you
give it a spin; this music definitely sounds better LOUD.
If you have the opportunity to see any of these acts anytime soon, I highly
recommend
it, especially Devine or Twine.
-----------------------
matthewd.mercer
++++++++++++++
ESCHEW OBFUSCATION
------------------------
mmercer@kent.edu
http://www.personal.kent.edu/~mmercer/
http://www.mp3.com/systm
+++++++++++++++++++++
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