Over to The Art School for Caries. It sounds like mating elephants down there as we make our way in:
inside, it is more delicate. It’s one man and his guitar, toying with feedback
and distortion in the time-honoured style. Rudimentary melodies feed over the
loudspeakers, moaning and howling at themselves. This is not unpleasant.
Obviously, the volume is a feature, and there’s no attempt to develop song
structure. Given that it’s an event that is all about the emerging artist,
there will be a fair amount of experimentation. Caries is sat on stage, testing
what happens if he uses this pedal at that volume…
Sonic Youth were up to
this, long before they became Sonic Adults and divided their output between
contemporary classical and alternative rock. It’s questionable whether music
with a strong lineage can be really experimental – this interrogation of the
guitar’s potential is well documented already. The format of the gig is
deceptive. Caries is making meditative soundscapes. It’s desolate, lonely but
warm: the guitar provides a humanity that laptops can’t, even when they are
sampling guitars.
There ought to be
enough absurdity in that sentence to inspire someone to deconstruct my
assumptions. Perhaps it is the lack of percussion, but Caries is easier on the
ear than Princess NRG.
I just remembered that
Eric likes jazz, and I have dragged him into a day of noise and provocations.
Do I have a moral responsibility to him as a collaborator, or is it okay for me
to throw this at him? Equally, what about the artists? Writing live reviews is
a bit of a challenge for me, but does it do justice to the art? I am not giving
myself time to recollect in peace.
Caries has gone very
early 1980s Sonic Youth now. He’s picking his way through a tentative solo,
plenty of harmonics, clashing and clanging unfamiliar chords. The feedback
follows his lead, like a cloak dragging behind the music.
This is very
beautiful. I suppose experimental music is all about imagining other worlds
where this is played in a more public arena. Princess NRG was in a science
fiction future – we probably live in one of those now – while this is the
chamber music of a melancholy court, their hero was sent into battle and died
when he saved the city.
Hey Eric: I am going
upstairs to get a coffee and a signal for the net…
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