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Fun and games with Peter Christopherson and Co.
Апр 15 2007, 7:53
Sat 14 Apr – Adventures in Minimal Electronic Sound
Leaving a slightly crabby Miwa behind (yes, I HAVE been attending too many concerts of late), I headed for the always over-priced Metro. But hell, when Peter Christopherson (ex-Coil, ex-Throbbing Gristle) is coming to town, one just HAS to show one's respects. I parked my scooter near Marutomachi station (praying the cops wouldn't be scouring the streets for illegally parked mopeds, which they often do here), checked out Green E Books for a bit (good store), grabbed a roll and coffee from the health food store across the bridge as a stomach filler and went out to wait. Metro opened about 15 minutes late (of course I was there too early as usual, but I was able to grab a table and chair in the center of the hall). Much smaller than I remember, and though I've been here 1-3 times circa a decade ago, I have trouble recalling who I saw, and whether they were any good.
Anyway, I surprisingly bumped into Nick, a new co-worker at Rits. He's doing some DJing at a gallery nearby and invited me to play at his next gig <Wayne: "EXCELLENT!">. Then, surrounded by the freaks you'd expect to find at such an event, things got underway.
CoH was first, with some decently intriguing electronic loops. His performance was rather blase, just him staring at a blue laptop. Sometimes he would smile faintly at the ridiculousness of it all, and I would wonder what he could be thinking. Certainly a little more to look at would've been fun.
Surprisingly Peter was up next. He wandered on stage smiling, and talking softly and politely about needing his glasses, for all the world the cuddly elder statesman of the avant-garde. Then (picking his nose rather shockingly) he told the audience that he had bought a house in Bangkok recently, and was living there. "I have houseboys there," he added creepily, "and sometimes they sing to me". He then preceeded to put on what looked like a contact mic-ed Hannibal Lector mask with two tubes coming out (one for each nostril?), and proceeded to make suitably disturbing breathing noises over a bed of melancholic electronic strings ala vintage Coil. Let's just say he looked a lot less cuddly from then on in.
He mentioned that David Tibet from Current 93 and he were curating a benefit album for Kenneth Anger who was recoverning from prostate cancer and flat broke (more information here if you're interested). Truly sad that so many artistic innnovators end up down on their luck...
Anyway, esplendor geometrico were up next, and their grinding industrial-looped proto-techno was as disturbingly and relentlessly repetitive as ever, although the crowd was getting into it alright. Consistantly amazing how when EG started just making loops like they did was a huge deal, and now with multi-track looping software ubiquitous, it's still amazing how restrained and minimalistic their aesthetic has remained.
Robert Gorl (ex-DAF) was up next. A big cellophane screen was rolled out in front of the stage between us and him, so what appeared was only an indistinct blob of color for most of the show. His music, well, typical techno. Kinda boring really, but it was a good sorbet to cleanse the pallet after the other guys. Nick and I kept ourselves amused by watching the Spanish EG fans trying drunkenly to molest a few semi-willing Japanese girls. At the end of the set, Gorl, ripped open the plastic wrap, and yes, it WAS him grinning goofily and not Barney the purple dinosaur as I had secretly suspected. After picking up the new EG single and The Threshold Houseboys Choir's newest (truly hot off the presses), I found my scooter and headed back home to Arashiyama.
Leaving a slightly crabby Miwa behind (yes, I HAVE been attending too many concerts of late), I headed for the always over-priced Metro. But hell, when Peter Christopherson (ex-Coil, ex-Throbbing Gristle) is coming to town, one just HAS to show one's respects. I parked my scooter near Marutomachi station (praying the cops wouldn't be scouring the streets for illegally parked mopeds, which they often do here), checked out Green E Books for a bit (good store), grabbed a roll and coffee from the health food store across the bridge as a stomach filler and went out to wait. Metro opened about 15 minutes late (of course I was there too early as usual, but I was able to grab a table and chair in the center of the hall). Much smaller than I remember, and though I've been here 1-3 times circa a decade ago, I have trouble recalling who I saw, and whether they were any good.
Anyway, I surprisingly bumped into Nick, a new co-worker at Rits. He's doing some DJing at a gallery nearby and invited me to play at his next gig <Wayne: "EXCELLENT!">. Then, surrounded by the freaks you'd expect to find at such an event, things got underway.
CoH was first, with some decently intriguing electronic loops. His performance was rather blase, just him staring at a blue laptop. Sometimes he would smile faintly at the ridiculousness of it all, and I would wonder what he could be thinking. Certainly a little more to look at would've been fun.
Surprisingly Peter was up next. He wandered on stage smiling, and talking softly and politely about needing his glasses, for all the world the cuddly elder statesman of the avant-garde. Then (picking his nose rather shockingly) he told the audience that he had bought a house in Bangkok recently, and was living there. "I have houseboys there," he added creepily, "and sometimes they sing to me". He then preceeded to put on what looked like a contact mic-ed Hannibal Lector mask with two tubes coming out (one for each nostril?), and proceeded to make suitably disturbing breathing noises over a bed of melancholic electronic strings ala vintage Coil. Let's just say he looked a lot less cuddly from then on in.
He mentioned that David Tibet from Current 93 and he were curating a benefit album for Kenneth Anger who was recoverning from prostate cancer and flat broke (more information here if you're interested). Truly sad that so many artistic innnovators end up down on their luck...
Anyway, esplendor geometrico were up next, and their grinding industrial-looped proto-techno was as disturbingly and relentlessly repetitive as ever, although the crowd was getting into it alright. Consistantly amazing how when EG started just making loops like they did was a huge deal, and now with multi-track looping software ubiquitous, it's still amazing how restrained and minimalistic their aesthetic has remained.
Robert Gorl (ex-DAF) was up next. A big cellophane screen was rolled out in front of the stage between us and him, so what appeared was only an indistinct blob of color for most of the show. His music, well, typical techno. Kinda boring really, but it was a good sorbet to cleanse the pallet after the other guys. Nick and I kept ourselves amused by watching the Spanish EG fans trying drunkenly to molest a few semi-willing Japanese girls. At the end of the set, Gorl, ripped open the plastic wrap, and yes, it WAS him grinning goofily and not Barney the purple dinosaur as I had secretly suspected. After picking up the new EG single and The Threshold Houseboys Choir's newest (truly hot off the presses), I found my scooter and headed back home to Arashiyama.
