Wednesday, January 19, 2005
A Great Show and a Terrible One
I saw Suicide Saturday night at the Knitting Factory. It was without question the worst show I have ever seen. And that includes every bad high school hardcore or Pavementy band I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing. I was originally curious to see Suicide when I saw an advert for the show because my thought was that this is music that would not age well. To me Suicide is very much a project of its time. Minimalist, electronic nihilism. I had no idea how that would translate to today or age along with Vega and Rev.
To start with, cut out the rock star posing. Martin Rev hardly played anything all night. He turned on the pre-recorded bad disco beat and occasionally one-handedly struck the keyboard in a random manner. The rest of the time he posed and pouted. While I think anyone of any age has the right to rock, in older age musicians have to rely more on chops than charisma. Martin, no one wants to see you pout. And the poses and kicks are just silly. But not as silly as that patent leather jacket you were wearing. Alan Vega no longer has the understated voice of the records. Maybe he never did live, I don't know. Now he mostly scream-sings or goes into a bad Elvis impersonation. And Alan, Specialized bicycle gloves just do not spell rock and roll. But the worst part was the music. Suicide was beautiful in its minimalist, rhythmic approach that didn't sound like anything else. An Elvis impersonation over a bad disco beat is just painful.
The amazing part is how much some people were really into it. I was stuck next to this crazy flailing lady and this really smelly guy. I tried to leave, but I was up front and it just seemed like too much work to escape. And then there were lots of indie kids who seemed into it. Standing on line I also notice many Europeans. Did these people really love the music for what it is, or are they just relying on the legend. It occurs to me that this could really be what Suicide is doing. They were always confrontational. It would be a clever final act to see how incredibly bad they could be and still have people worship them and come out to shows.
Thee Majesty opened, featuring Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. I can't say I understand this whole pandrogeny thing. But it was interesting to see him live. Almost a weird combination of industrial and twee. I still have that Throbbing Gristle story to share with you.
Mission of Burma were great on Friday night. Two long sets and a two song encore, including the Wipers "Youth of America" (which is a really long song as every DJ knows, great for putting on if you have to go to the bathroom). I strikes me that Youth of America is an appropriate song for Burma to cover as it has that same anthemic quality as great Burma songs. It is also on the new I-Tunes only live album that I have to get around to downloading. I snagged the set lists after the show. I'll have to try to get them digitized to post. Burma struck just the right balance between old and new songs. Peter Prescott is a really inventive drummer, and I guess that is why I always loved the Volcano Suns so much. And he was even funny in his between song banter. There is one thing I don't understand. In everything you read about Burma, the terms "avant" or "art" are thrown around. I realize that their structures aren't always conventional. They manipulated tape loops before it was popular. Some of the members had actual musical training. Also, I am listening with modern ears. But they had less conventional contemporaries in the US (no wave) and the UK (some of the post punk bands). I am not meaning this as a criticism in any way. But to me they aren't an art band. Just a great and interesting ROCK band. And very few of their contemporaries rocked like Burma.
To start with, cut out the rock star posing. Martin Rev hardly played anything all night. He turned on the pre-recorded bad disco beat and occasionally one-handedly struck the keyboard in a random manner. The rest of the time he posed and pouted. While I think anyone of any age has the right to rock, in older age musicians have to rely more on chops than charisma. Martin, no one wants to see you pout. And the poses and kicks are just silly. But not as silly as that patent leather jacket you were wearing. Alan Vega no longer has the understated voice of the records. Maybe he never did live, I don't know. Now he mostly scream-sings or goes into a bad Elvis impersonation. And Alan, Specialized bicycle gloves just do not spell rock and roll. But the worst part was the music. Suicide was beautiful in its minimalist, rhythmic approach that didn't sound like anything else. An Elvis impersonation over a bad disco beat is just painful.
The amazing part is how much some people were really into it. I was stuck next to this crazy flailing lady and this really smelly guy. I tried to leave, but I was up front and it just seemed like too much work to escape. And then there were lots of indie kids who seemed into it. Standing on line I also notice many Europeans. Did these people really love the music for what it is, or are they just relying on the legend. It occurs to me that this could really be what Suicide is doing. They were always confrontational. It would be a clever final act to see how incredibly bad they could be and still have people worship them and come out to shows.
Thee Majesty opened, featuring Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. I can't say I understand this whole pandrogeny thing. But it was interesting to see him live. Almost a weird combination of industrial and twee. I still have that Throbbing Gristle story to share with you.
Mission of Burma were great on Friday night. Two long sets and a two song encore, including the Wipers "Youth of America" (which is a really long song as every DJ knows, great for putting on if you have to go to the bathroom). I strikes me that Youth of America is an appropriate song for Burma to cover as it has that same anthemic quality as great Burma songs. It is also on the new I-Tunes only live album that I have to get around to downloading. I snagged the set lists after the show. I'll have to try to get them digitized to post. Burma struck just the right balance between old and new songs. Peter Prescott is a really inventive drummer, and I guess that is why I always loved the Volcano Suns so much. And he was even funny in his between song banter. There is one thing I don't understand. In everything you read about Burma, the terms "avant" or "art" are thrown around. I realize that their structures aren't always conventional. They manipulated tape loops before it was popular. Some of the members had actual musical training. Also, I am listening with modern ears. But they had less conventional contemporaries in the US (no wave) and the UK (some of the post punk bands). I am not meaning this as a criticism in any way. But to me they aren't an art band. Just a great and interesting ROCK band. And very few of their contemporaries rocked like Burma.
