May 20, 2009
Wolves in the Throne Room, Zebulon Pike & others at Triple Rock
Friday (May 15th) night Wolves in the Throne Room played at the Triple Rock in Minneapolis. The show was amazing and transformed the familiar tropes of metal into an apocalyptic pagan ritual. The music –– propulsive and trance inducing — possessed the audience… flailing bodies, devil signs, and flying hair became part of a mass magical invocation… or an eschatological funerary rite for a dying civilization… Empires, Krallice and Zebulon Pike opened.
Here are a couple of drawings:
Wolves in the Throne Room
Wolves in the Throne Room
Krallice, Zebulon Pike
Posted by tomk at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2009
Throbbing Gristle Live
Wreckers of Civilization
A few weeks ago Throbbing Gristle played the US for the first time since 1981. I went to two shows: April 16th at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, and April 25th at Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago. They didn't disappoint. I liked the Brooklyn show a lot, despite the marginal sound of the Masonic Temple auditorium and the somewhat unrehearsed nature of the performance. TG are probably one of the few bands that still can sound great under those circumstances. In fact, in many ways, that is what their sound was built on in the early days. They were self-taught artists turned musicians. The Chicago performance was MUCH better. They clearly had several performances to get used to playing together again and it really came across.
The sound of the new TG has been swallowed whole by Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson. So much so, that the new incarnation sounds a lot like late Coil (Christopherson's band with Jhon Balance, RIP) with Genesis on vocals. I'm not sure what Chris & Cosey have been up to lately but musically it really seemed like Peter's show (at least to my ears). That was fine by me since Coil is quite possibly my favorite group of all time. But still, I missed the raw sound from TG's early days.
The most interesting aspect of both shows (and I suspect the others as well) was their decision to leave the house lights on. This really didn't please a certain segment of the audience. Responses ranged from the well meaning "I think you forgot to turn the house lights off!" to the genuinely pissed off "turn the fucking house lights off!!!!" It's amazing how a small thing like that can really subvert audience expectations. Though they're much older today, TG can still challenge the audience, not by balls-out outrageous behavior but by subtle trickery. I really got a kick out of Genesis' outfit. It was really amazing to see a whole audience rocking out to a matronly, new-age housewife... but that's Gen for you.
Here are some drawings from both shows:
Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson
Genesis playing violin, Cosey Fanni Tutti on guitar
Chris Carter, Genesis
Emeralds opened in Chicago
Posted by tomk at 03:53 PM | Comments (2)
April 08, 2009
Morrissey at The State Theater
On Monday, Morrissey played in Funnyapolis. Some insist that he said 'Fannyapolis.' Either one is a pretty apt description of Minneapolis as far as I'm concerned. It was much more of a production than I was expecting. Huge sound, huge backdrop and a huge light show. Drawing was more challenging than I expected it to be. It was very dark and the only light I could catch was provided by the overactive light show. It's interesting to see a drawing develop under a strobe light. The Courteeners opened. I believe they were from Manchester. Here are the obligatory drawings:
Morrissey and band. The huge figure flexing it's muscles was actually an image of a sailor smoking a cigar... in the drawing it ended up looking more like some Egyptian Pharaoh... which is fine with me!
The Courteeners (left) and Morrissey during the ultra-dark rendition of Death of a Disco Dancer.
Posted by tomk at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2009
Junior Boys, Max Tundra and Lookbook
Junior Boys and Max Tundra played the First Avenue Main room Friday night. Max Tundra's hyper-spastic set was the highlight of the evening for me... but then I've been a big Max Tundra fan since his first, electronica inflected, Children at Play single (from Warp) and I consider his Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be an unsung masterpiece. The audience was both baffled and dazzled by his impish presence and multi-instrumentalist prowess. But their latent inner raver was soon awakened by Tundra's off-kilter take on KLF's What Time Is Love? The Junior Boys, on the other hand, were almost aloof in comparison... Their icy minimalist synth-techno-pop sounded cavernous and distant... as if emanating from a forgotten mall built inside of an underground fallout shelter buried deep beneath the frozen Canadian tundra... good stuff. Minneapolis' own Lookbook opened. Here are some drawings from the show.
Junior Boys
Max Tundra was so active on stage it was difficult to choose what to draw.
Lookbook (left), Max Tundra doing a spastic robot (right)
Posted by tomk at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2009
Stereo Total at 7th Street Entry
Stereo Total was the headliner at the 7th Street Entry, but most of the audience clearly showed up to see Leslie and The Ly's. As usual the drawing conditions at the Entry were challenging. Half the audience was wearing some form of gem sweater. Unfortunately the radiance of plastic jewelry embedded in yarn did not make drawing any easier. Jonathan Ackerman opened the evening with a solid DJ set. Click on the images to enlarge them.
Stereo Total
Leslie and the Ly's
Jonathan Ackerman
Posted by tomk at 12:30 AM | Comments (1)
February 23, 2009
Umfeld, Pole and Others at Bedlam
On Saturday night at Bedlam Theatre several laptop musicians took the stage and lit up the crowd with abstract visuals, spooky experimental soundscapes, and some good old fashioned techno. Electronic music has taken a back seat to a series of revivals and re-inventions (80's psychedelic freak folk metal, etc.) over the last decade or so… at least in the US. In Europe the two headliners, Pole and Umfeld, continue to play to huge audiences. Courtesy of the annual Spark Festival, Minneapolis got a little glimpse of what's been happening in electronic music. I didn't get to see any of the other Spark events, but what I heard on Saturday failed to make a huge impression. It was fun and well executed, but it failed to break new ground. The sounds were a little different, the processors faster, the visuals more sophisticated, the resolution higher, but there could be no doubt that the night had a distinctly late '90s vibe. The event did leave a warm nostalgic glow behind… which is enough for me to want more… I just wish someone would bring Felix Kubin to town!
Here are a few drawings from the event executed under the faint glow of laptop screens… I didn't do a drawing of Alex Rae… mainly because he started his set well before the announced starting time, and in the manner of self-effacing laptop musicians, he failed to notify anyone that he was in fact playing... And it was a pretty good too once you realized what was happening. Click on the images to enlarge them.
I really liked the set by locally based Cepia... too bad it lasted less than 20 minutes!
Pole went for a crowd pleasing techno set.
Umfeld created some stunning visuals to accompany the music... or was it the other way around? Check out their DVD. It's a free download!
More Umfeld.
Posted by tomk at 11:59 PM | Comments (4)
February 16, 2009
Bill Patten at Dusty's: Valentine's Day
Bill Patten doesn't get old. Valentine's Day ended on a high note with rousing performance by Bill and his cohorts. The high point was an excellent rendition of Smoke on the Water led by the gentleman with the accordion. Click to enlarge the images.
Posted by tomk at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2009
Birthday Suits, 1000s of Cats and Strut & Shock at 7th Street Entry
The concert at 7th Street Entry proved to be the most challenging yet to draw. The lack of a reasonably well lit surface demanded I draw standing up, holding the sketchbook in my hands, at an angle that made it possible to catch some light on the drawing surface. The drawings are consequently faster and more impressionistic. Note to self, check the level of ink in the brush pen before attempting to do this again. By the time the Birthday Suits came on the ink was gone half-way through the drawing.
Strut & Shock. Click to enlarge
1000s of Cats. Click to enlarge
Birthday Suits. Click to enlarge
Posted by tomk at 01:46 PM | Comments (1)
January 31, 2009
Blue Magick at The Red Sea
It was my first time at The Red Sea. I went there to see Blue Magick (also for the first time), my friend Dan's band. The two drawings below were made in a low light conditions while eating a tasty Kitfo Sandwich and drinking Red Stripe.
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Click to enlarge.
Posted by tomk at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2008
Bill Patten at Dusty's
Every other Saturday, at a small bar named Dusty's, in Northeast Minneapolis, Bill Patten and his posse perform a variety of songs. His musical tastes are eclectic, but impeccable. Watch especially for the Dick Dale meets Ennio Moricone mashup which frequently ends the night. No matter what mood I'm in when I get there, I always leave with a big smile on my face.
Posted by tomk at 12:00 PM | Comments (2)
December 09, 2008
Momus
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you will already know that I'm a big fan of Momus. As of yesterday he is offering as a free download the first of his six albums recorded for the now defunct Creation label. The first one is The Poison Boyfriend, his second solo effort. Keep checking his blog during December for the the other five.
Posted by tomk at 12:18 AM | Comments (1)
December 01, 2008
Felix Kubin
"I am a child living in the body of Juri Gagarin. He is empty like a corpse. His eyes move slowly like radars. First comes the idea then the technology. Children are angels, sometimes they fall into nothingness. I am Juri's ventriloquist." - Felix Kubin
Posted by tomk at 03:32 PM | Comments (1)
November 29, 2008
Boris, Clouds, Zebulon Pike at Triple Rock, Minneapolis
I went to see Boris, Clouds & Zebulon Pike at the Triple Rock Social Club yesterday. I brought a mini-sketchbook and ended up doing a few drawings (with a Pentel Brush Pen if anyone is wandering). It was fun to do. I might do it again...
Zebulon Pike
Clouds
Boris
Boris
Posted by tomk at 12:26 PM | Comments (1)
November 22, 2008
Ursula Bogner
Every now and then I like to imagine a counterfactual pop-music history. In the 50s & 60s, instead of plonking on guitars, aspiring pop musicians stocked up on wires, transistors & vacuum tubes. The basements and garages of their parents suburban homes became audio research laboratories exploring the musical potential of electricity, electro-magnetism and other still undiscovered forces of nature. In that world Ursula Bogner would have been a star.
Posted by tomk at 01:29 AM | Comments (0)