Psychic TV at Club Europa

Although these are not my finest photos I definitely wanted to post something from these guys. Psychic TV seems to play Club Europa about once a year every December. When I put next year's show on the calendar, and I will because they are well worth catching, at least there will be pictures.

Sadly for me lead singer Genesis P-Orridge opened the show by instructing the venue to turn down the lights. He felt that the audience "doesn't need to see us", a concept which is more or less the opposite of "concert photography". Unfortunately I wasn't really in a good position to use a flash either so I had to make do with what light I could get, mostly light from the psychedelic video projections. At least the photos are colorful (another advantage of skipping the flash).

Psychic TV's music is composed of dense layers of sound. It seems like everyone in the band is playing all the time, and there are quite a few band members. At the bottom are the usual guitar-bass-drum of a rock band which provides momentum to the music. On top of that are some unusual combinations of sounds. Can you recall the last time you saw an electronic keyboardist and a violinist in the same band? How about someone playing a violin with two bows at once?

As complex as their music may be it is certainly not disorganized. "Composed" is the right word to describe it. Not only are musicians "composed" as in "they know their stuff" but the songs are carefully crafted like classical music. This is not surprising. Genesis P-Orridge has a long musical history and the band has existed in some form for 30 years now. I suppose we could be hearing the "best of" every time they play. So be it, the result is a great live show. Even the relatively silly songs (e.g. their cover of Hawkwind's "Silver Machine") are fun to listen to. The truly great ones (like "Thank You") are transcendent.

Posted: 12/8/2012 at 7:08pm     Tags: Club Europa  Psychic TV 

King Dude at Club Europa

Vaguely gothic heavy folk is an actual genre these days. King Dude distinguish themselves by emphasizing the American Gothic quality of their music (I would have said "Southern Gothic" but they're from Seattle). Certainly the visuals are along those lines. The all-black American flag they used as a backdrop is a big clue, and with those outfits they just have to be going for the Night of the Hunter look. There is plenty of religious imagery in songs with titles like "Jesus In The Courtyard" and "Lucifer's The Light Of The World" as well.

Their music draws upon folk, country, and maybe some early rock-n-roll in their (relatively) optimistic numbers. It does not however seem to be influenced in any significant way by metal, industrial, dark wave or any newer vaguely gothic music. It is certainly not just acoustic black metal. Instead they have created an alternate take on folk music where hope drowned years ago and you would only "smile on your brother" right before you slit his throat, or perhaps decided at the last second not to. Perhaps.

In the past I have only seen T.J. Cowgill perform these songs solo. I couldn't tell you when King Dude became a 3-piece but they sound great. No complaints about that. The three-piece lineup sounds a bit more like a country act. If nothing else adding drums will do that. Perhaps we are seeing the first steps in a new direction for King Dude?

Posted: 12/8/2012 at 2:49pm     Tags: black and white  Club Europa  King Dude 

Peelander-Z at The Knitting Factory

Amazing. Baffling. Baffling and amazing.

I may write something more intelligent later but I'm not sure that there is any need. Sometimes the pictures tell the whole story. I think this may be one those times.

Well okay, I guess there is one more thing which should be said. Apparently this was the last show for original member "Peelander Red". Peelander-Z has been together for fourteen years and has already lost one original member so I guess these things happen. As a tribute the whole band wore red instead of their usual assortment of colors.

Having never seen the band before this evening I cannot really say that I'm sad to see him leave. It is hard to miss someone you don't know or feel the absence of someone you never knew was present. Still, I am glad that I caught the band at least once before he left and of course that I got some photos. They put on quite a show and it just seems right to document that show with original member Peelander Red. Granted, several dozen other photographers also shot this show. Hundreds more probably shot all of the other shows they've done anytime recently. But I'm still glad that I did it, that I played some small part in recording what this thing was. It was good enough that it deserved all the attention it received.

Posted: 11/24/2012 at 3:01am     Tags: calamari bowling  Peelander-Z  The Knitting Factory 

Metz at The Knitting Factory

Is seems that Metz are being promoted by certain well-known music blogs. If you have noticed this then presumably you are aware that Metz are "loud". Yes apparently that is the official one-word media summary of this band. Accurate, but also a tad vague. More to the point it's nothing special. A loud band, eh? Never heard one of those before.

So why are Metz special? Well for one thing they're Canadian, and some people are easily impressed by such exotic foreigners. Their music is more noteworthy. While every one of their songs is loud from beginning to end they are punctuated by moments of even louder. Sometimes just a second or two, other times it's a whole chorus. Instead of playing distinct rhythm and melody the drums and guitar will come into sync and thrash away together. You can't really acclimate to this like you might to the more constant sound of, say, a melodic metal band or a droning psych band. These guys attack at random moments, like they're actually trying to make you uncomfortable. Those sharp edges give the songs an impact which the word "loud" does not sufficiently describe.

Looking at the photos I notice (how should I put this...) that Metz seem to suffer from a bit of duckface. Or perhaps pufferfish face? At first I thought this way my fault.  Perhaps I should apologize, especially to their bassist, for capturing bad moments. I have to say, though, looking through my photos there are an awful lot of puffy cheeks in there. What is that? The look of holding back a scream? I would believe that.

Posted: 11/21/2012 at 6:55pm     Tags: Metz  The Knitting Factory 

Gary Clark Jr at Brooklyn Bowl

It is strange to think that the Blues predates the electric guitar. No other instrument screams and moans and suffers like the electric guitar, unless you count the human voice. They were made for each other. Consider this: how many bluesmen can you name who are known for their banjo playing, or even for their acoustic guitar playing? Now how about for their electric guitar playing? I can think of a few: BB King, Bo Diddley, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and a fellow named James Marshell Hendrix who people at the show kept bringing up.

Gary Clark Jr. is one incredible blues guitarist and actually a rather good singer as well. Not that there is anything wrong with being scratchy-voiced in this genre but Gary Clark is more the smooth and subtle type. A few of his quieter songs even qualify as pretty. He is if you will a "better" singer than many well-known blues musicians. Interesting, then, that so many of his songs feature guitar solos which are longer than the vocal parts. His voice rides upon a wave of guitar noise which ultimately breaks over it. Those groaning electric guitars are the heart of his best songs. Check out exhibit A. Of course other of his songs are more poetic and pretty. He can do both, but he is most potent with that guitar.

The house was packed, and because of this I learned an important lesson. About photography, not about the Blues. When taking pictures at Brooklyn Bowl make sure to stand at stage left. Stage right is next to a wall but stage left is next to the bowling lanes, and at any reasonably crowded show some of the audience will stand in the walkway up there. It had not occurred to me before that the center of gravity of the crowd is towards stage left and that bands tend to arrange themselves with this in mind. Gary Clark Jr. stayed to that side most of the time and tended to turn to his left. I should have been over there. My bad.

Posted: 11/7/2012 at 10:02pm     Tags: Brooklyn Bowl  Gary Clark Jr