Thunder Lightning Struck

Man, there is nothing like a killer show full of chest thumping beats, sixties soul bass lines, and cheerleading to lift one's spirits.

Gretchen and I caught The Go!Team last night at Webster Hall. Fresh off their retooled American release of Thunder Lightning Strike, the team closed out a three week US tour.

Huddle Formation and Bottle Rockets were hugely uplifting, but they tore the house down with Ladyflash to close the show. There were some beautiful slowdowns and the video mixes of old super 8s made for a great backdrop. After all the 60s/80s/90s soul/hiphop/guitar, one of the best ballads featured a banjo and harmonica.

Quite a show for a project that started out with a guy, a computer, and lots of samples. The Team now sports a multi-ethnic troup of multi-instrumentalists.

I hadn't danced so hard in ages. It was a great reminder that as good as recordings are, one really needs to be at a venue to truely feel the power. Next up, Jason and I will see Andrew Bird in a week.5. Again, another show that transcends the albums.

There will be snacks!

Whitney, my super awesome lady-companion in crime treated us to the Andrew Bird show last night at Southpaw. In short the show was amazing and wonderful. I realize this says little about the music, so here is the longer take:

Bird’s songs are richly layered compositions of violin plucking, bowing, xylophone, whistling, percussion, guitar and vocal. But on stage he was accompanied by a percussionist. Bird plays the rest of the music himself by creating loops of live music. Often he’ll start by plucking out a simple rhythm on violin, then as the measure loop back, he’ll add texture, counterpoint, harmony, until the constructed loop is rich and complex. Then he sings, whistles and plays guitar over the loop, and stopping the loop to change the tempo, only to resume with more energy. It has some of Philip Glass’ repetition, but

Add to this a strong, confident stage presence, beautiful and engaging voice, making his show the kind of show I hope I find when I’m 50 or 60. It is intelligent, well constructed, surprising music that I think exhibits how much rock music has/can evolve.

I often think of the challenge for contemporary classical music, and especially new composition. Increasingly I think it’s becoming a chamber discipline with few practitioners and few patrons, trapped in sea of atonal compositions hard to distinguish from one another. Meanwhile popular music continues to fragment and change in exciting ways. Movies are frequently scored by popular musicians, who deftly capture the moods of a%2

The future is now

917Press has admittedly become blogged down in political anxiety, so I thought it'd be good to report on the powers of good.

Earlier today I attended the NYU Presidential Service Awards, where SNEAC, student network exploring arts and culture were accepting an award for programing after their first year in existence. SNEAC was founded by friends Whitney, Sarah, Jude, David and Carol. Among other fun stuff, they hosted a screening of Chisholm '72, and send out a bi-weekly "Sneac recommends" listing.

Of interesting note, relative to the issue's treatment in mainstream news, students doing work with LGBT issues were strongly represented, perhaps this trend will carry out it and illuminate the troglodites that run public opinion now.

Lastly, Whitney brought home the Russian Futurists' "Our Thickness." I found the Russian Futurists (aka Matthew Adam Hart) on a couple blogs (see 4/6/05), as I did with Andrew Bird. The music is catchy, the lyrics subversively dark, good stuff all around.

A Papal Epiphany

I know today has been busy... but one last thought:

I've been thinking about all the interest in Pope speculation, especially among non practioners and unbelievers, and why it may be important for non-catholics to care about who the new Pope may be. With today's naming of Pope Benedict XVI, that importance came in sharp relief.

Besides International NGO's, Corporations, and elected officials in their native lands, Catholics in South America, Africa and Asia are also deeply impacted by the Pope, as that's where the church is growing. So if we're concerned about AIDs in Africa, we should be concerned about Pontiffs that refuse to encourage contraception, even as their new found congregations are dying of it....By "it" I mean AIDs, though the church isn't discouraging the myth that people are dying of contraception



PS. On a happier note we are totally digging Andrew Bird's "The Mysterious Production of Eggs" something we have recent experience pondering.