Fashionably late becomes "who cares anymore."
Eyedrum, Atlanta, Thursday, September 12
An electronic show
of this magnitude only comes to Atlanta once every few months, so even
though I hadn't heard much recorded work from a few of these artists, I
knew that Eyedrum would be the place to be (and it usually is) for
chance-taking electronic tunes. Local openers Knamiproko are a
three-man musical ensemble whose live performance mode, as near as I
can tell, involves 'jamming' over some pre-arranged beat patterns and
chord structures. Backed by local video artist Shana Wood, Knamiproko
played for what seemed like a very long time. While I'm interested to
hear what congealed studio versions of their jams sound like, they
still seem to be trying to find their rhythm live. Richard Devine,
local IDM luminary who was scheduled to DJ to open the show apparently
showed up late and only got his iPod/Laptop DJ set up rigged after the
opening act. His 'set' consisted of glitchy beats and pitch-bending
synths, all of which were nice in a head-nodding kind of way, but none
of which were identifiable as a particular artist. If live musicians
get upset when DJs take center stage to play records, I can only wonder
what DJs must think of a guy who gets booked to play mp3 setlists from
his iPod!
After a rockstarishly long interlude in which it seemed
like the members of Telefon Tel Aviv were in absolutely no hurry to get
started, the lights dimmed and the respectable crowd poured in for what
was to be the main act. The band of guitars, bass, keys and laptops
launched into their signature set of soothing melodies and DSP beats,
and the crowd rocked back to listen. TTA came across as a groovier
version of Slowdive with 2002 style glitch beats, without ever sounding
forced. It was a sound for the moment, to be sure. I couldn't help but
wonder though if the same group of guys wouldn't have written the same
exact batch of songs in 1995 using scratchy trip hop loops, and if they
wouldn't be writing a similar batch of songs in 5 years using whatever
new software will be available at the time. All speculation about TTA's
place in a stylistic timeline aside, they put on a great show and even
got coaxed into an encore by enthusiastic fans.
T. Raumschmiere
followed suit and waited another excessively long time before getting
started, by which time at least half of the audience was heading for
the hills. He opened with a blast of digital noise and kicked right in
with loopy, dirty house for DHR fans. The thick textures and muscular 4
on the floor blended well, but would be the end of my evening of laptop
madness. Unfortunately, Dabrye's spot on the bill seemed almost like an
afterthought by midnight, as most of the crowd had dissipated, lost
interest, and gone home. A shame, but a lesson learned by the promoters
for next time.