THE WIRE UK FESTIVAL
9/22/06
Chicago at the Empty Bottle
The Wire teamed up with Chicago’s Empty Bottle to bring us Adventures in Modern Music showcasing an experimental and diverse lineup of musicians and bands from all over the world. On this night alone, local musicians gathered with those from Oregon, France, and Brazil for an incredible night that would not have been possible if not for The Wire. (The Wire is also a great magazine for experimental and outer limits independent music and is worth the cost as it comes with a nice cd sampler of the bands it covers. It’s a great source for music in the UK. For an equally great US source for music, check out The Big Takeover). Note: I will be blogging about Wednesday night’s show with Jandek and Rhys Chatham as well it’s just that those pictures are taking me longer to edit as I shot them in raw format.
Spires that in the Sunset Rise
I agree with the way that the Spires describe themselves:
...the music is a repellant and magnetizing swarm of harps, guitars, cello, drums, harmonium, banjo, mbira, spike fiddle, bells, and vocals.
Although technically a four piece, they perfromed as a three piece, though their sound was still quite rich and full. I shouldn’t be too surprised music like this is coming out of Chicago. We do have a significant art scene here and this is definitely music created for and by artists with such emotional eccentricity that you feel literally like you’re being haunted by the sounds. The cello was especially beautiful and there were times when the vocals were like half angelic pained cries. At one point, the chilling sound of a scraping pen writing along the edge of an instrument caused shivers to creep up one’s spine. This small orchestra might be speaking for the actual Earth at times. It definitely serves as a rebuttal for all those who think nothing original is being created anymore. These aren’t anything close to pop songs but are nonetheless rewarding if embraced by the eccentric in all of us. You can hear their songs by visiting their myspace page
Yellow Swans from Portland, Oregon is a two piece experimental band who seemed like they were going to put on a deafening set of noise until they submerged themselves into a more melodic form focusing on a less assaulting repetition between the guitar, pedal effects, and noise generator. Hear their songs by visiting them on myspace
Colleen from France is Cécile Schott who plays beautifully lush instrumentals by looping guitar, cello, and clarinet then fills the remaining air with the sound of wind chimes. She was just lovely while the music inspired a touching sort of emotion in me as in some of Clint Mansell’s soundtrack for the film Requiem for a Dream only it isn’t as dark. It’s very magical both in the live setting and on her two fantastic full length albums: Everyone Alive Wants Answers and The Golden Morning Breaks. Hear her songs on myspace
I didn’t quite know what to expect from Brazil’s Tetine. Eliete Mejorado came out clad in a bright golden metallic one piece bodysuit complete with a horse’s tail attached to her. Bruno Verner’s dress was much more modest in contrast but he was just as passionate while singing. They both sang and the songs were very keyboard dependent as well. They were captivating, raunchy, and created very danceable music which, even though the lyrics weren’t sung in English, was pretty easy to guess at subject matter wise. If you like CSS, check out Tetine. Visit them on myspace