This Monday Velvet Lounge hosted the singular master of audio insanity Damo Suzuki (formerly the frontman of the krautrock legends Can) doing what he does these days:
tour the world while recruiting local musicians (”sound carriers”) and taking them and the audience on an auditory adventure.
With Kohoutek, The Sounds of Kaleidoscope, Carlos Giffoni, John Wiese and Spencer Yeh.
None of our reviewers went.
Booooooooo.
Can/Damo have influenced just about everyone over the years from Sonic Youth to Brian Eno to Orbital to !!! to Spoon to The Fall:
We did get an email (after we sent an email) from Scott Verrastro (of Kohoutek and Clavius Productions who books the Velvet shows) who sent us this blurb from the 930 forum
"Definitely one of the more unreal experiences I've had in a while. He's still just as much of a badass as ever. His vocal range and the rhythmic quality of his voice, pretty much enabling him to drive the whole band with it were like nothing I've ever heard. You guys (Kohoutek) all sounded great too. Also, Giffoni/Wiese/Yeh's set was just as insane as I thought it'd be. I think they and (sounds of) Kaleidoscope should've been switched, though. They put on a good set too but that opening set was a tough one to have to follow. Awesome night over all; thanks again for putting it on. Oh and the turnout was nice as well."
and added:
i'm probably being a cracked-out asshole, but forgive me, as i just experienced possibly the best night of my life......so yeah, i was there, sitting directly behind damo, providing the texture and groove for an hour and a half while we lifted off into orbit. for a review of the show, i suppose you'll have to wait and see if any of your fine readers actually attended. seemed like everyone who was there dug it, but i'm curious to hear if we sucked ass. those are always the best reviews anyway.
then he went to sleep (something about drugs wearing off, and we all know how that is)
So, were you there?
How was it? He (and we) want to know.
(image from freenoise)
Previously in Live DC:
- 2/13: LiveDC: George Clinton & The Parliament-Funkadelic @ 930 Club
- 2/13: LiveDC: Veronica Falls/ Brilliant Colors @ Black Cat
- 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
- 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
- 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
- 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
- 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
God loves a cheerful giver.
I was there. TSOK's set was short & sweet (perhaps due to their guitarist being stuck on the side of the road in Baltimore?). As for Damo Suzuki & his sound carriers... it was pretty out there. A big, fat, wall of noise/drone/stoner jam stuff. So if you are into that, you would've dug it.
However, it was not so accessible or poppy... meaning not for fans of Ege Bamyasi (i.e.: me).
I'm glad I went though. It was definitely a spectacle.
we have band practice monday nights at 9 pm. i never thought that would interfere with anything awesome, but i was wrong.
*sigh* excuses, excuses.
"Wall of noise/drone/stoner jam stuff" is an acurate description, but that combination was not unexpected...the wall of noise and drone is just the sound of inprovisational rock musicians getting it together before the very capable and appropriate drummer decides to kick a real beat and the stoner jam rock takes flight. Of course the brain desires a melody or theme, but the enough-like-CAN beats and Damo's repetitive-yet-morphing vocal phrasings provided the structure that allowed us to absorb the noisy insanity. The legend is that he was performing onstage with CAN the first night they met him, and we all got a taste of the spontaneity that Damo obviously treaures. We were lucky he chose to share his mad inventions with us.