January 9th, 2009: Cobra Matal / Crystal Plumage / Bülanz Orgabar

@chiquito

First gig on the year, and also the last for a while. A lot of people showed up even though there was quite a lot going on all over the city. Too bad I have to shut down just when the end of year freeze on live music is starting to thaw.

The reason I came to this event was Bülanz Orgabar, and I was not disappointed. Quite different from the first time I saw them, less overtly wild. And no technical meltdown this time, so that I could hear the voice parts. Not spectacular in and of themselves, but they added another layer for a satisfyingly dense sound. I missed the beginning, but I really liked what I got to hear. There was down times as well, but that’s part of taking chances, which I think was taking place just from the different feel from last time. This set struck a good balance between drums, guitars and some electronics, but I think I would have liked that balance to be upset at times. No matter, it was good as it was. I hope I’ll catch them a few more times, that set alone was well worth showing up.

From then on I was playing with house money, so I was pretty open and in a much better mood that when I got there. I thought Crystal Plumage took a bit long to get going, but there were some good bits after that. Mostly electronics, with a guitar as one of the sound inputs, played with a bow at times. The buildup had me expecting something more dronish, a breakdown or a reversal; at least it kept me interested. None of that though, they just let a loop go on far too long. So I guess I fooled myself into expecting too much.

I went for the same mistake with Cobra Matal. My memory of a previous gig had me expecting more than I got, and the short set meant I had little time to get rid of this interfering ghost. But they did provide a bit of the chaos that I had been missing in the first set. Not all that much though. I’m not sure they were going anywhere, but they were not staying put, so that was as good a way as any to close the evening.

With that I have to take an involuntary leave from gigs and basically most activities whatsoever. I’d like to be up and running for the next concerts at instants chavires, but that’s just not realistic; a couple of weeks at least sounds more like it.

June 14th, 2008: Kobra Matal / Jeune fille orrible / Lubriphikatttor / David Fenech

@glaz’art / coord

That’s actually the first set of a festival and three fourth of another gig. I’m putting them together because I went from one to the other and was not able to enjoy them as well as I could have because of hearing issues. So I don’t have a lot to say.

David Fenech‘s set started great, with his playing records, recording loops and layering a bunch of these to great effect. That’s what I like most in his performances, anyway, this piling up topped with vocals that have the good idea to avoid words. Problem is I went mono about halfway through, which proved very distracting.

Then I took off to get to the other gig, where I had the nice surprise to learn that Charles from Blue Sabbath Black Fiji would be playing as well, so that both of them would be featured, if separately. Lubriphikatttor started quite late, but it was pretty good. I still think their performance in February was better overall, more cohesive — even though that’s a strong word — but there were a bunch of great moments and they sounded just great. Unfortunately, what I first thought were overloaded speakers crackling was actually an early sign of an ear infection acting up, and that unwanted additional noise kinda spoiled the fun halfway through.

So maybe I was not in the best mood for Jeune fille orrible, with their dragging of furniture and banging of stuff. I usually don’t really like that kind of thing though, and had thoughts of calling it quits then because I thought Kobra Matal would be more of the same. Turned out it was not the case at all, and seemed like a good blend of my favorite kind of noise. I’m even more annoyed at my missing out on most of it because I liked a lot what Lionel Fernandez was doing, which is usually not the case. By then it was really late and it was clear my ear was going to spoil the evening, so I left before Charles played. Which just sucks.