merzbird
My Digital Music Collection
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Wolf Eyes Part 1
Wolf Eyes Part 2
Prurient
Devillock
Wow, it's been a really long time since I've done anything on here, so I guess I'll write about the most significant event that has happened recently: the Keiji Haino show. On Oct. 6th at the Walker Art Museum, Keiji Haino performed a live sound score for Cameron Jamie's latest film, Jo. A couple of my friends and I jumped at this opportunity to see one of the most prominant figures in Japanese psych/noise history, and I'll probably be talking about it for years.
Haino stood behind his equipment, all that was really visible was his face. He started off with about 8 minutes or so of slow, high pitch vocals. He then picked up his guitar and began picking in a slow, somewhat Jandekian style. As you can imagine, the sounds became louder, denser, more frantic and and angry. A wall of noise and feedback exploded from his amps, he begins screaming indecipherably at an ear piercing level with a very violent, disturbing tone. After a while Keiji began playing psychedelic riffs over the walls of noise, engulfing the room in an amazing blanket of sound. The room quiets down for a split second as he pulls out a sequencer/drum machine. He begins screaming, breathing into the mic and looping his vocals producing a barrage of tortured screams. The feedback begins to screech around the room. He then messes around with the drums a bit, screaming in between the beats. All this is happening while a hot dog eating contest is being projected, in reverse, on a large screen behind him. He ends the score the same way it begined, singing the high pitched tones calmly once again. The room was so silent that you could hear his boots hit the floor as he walked off the stage. The audience applauded for a good minute, and to my surprise Keiji came back for an encore. He strapped on his guitar, turned on all the amps, and proceded to flail himself around the stage. Needless to say it was an amazing show. I won't say much about the film, the end was cool but the rest was nothing spectacular in my opinion. Cameron Jamie has some really cool artwork, but nothing about this film really struck me as anything special. Keiji Haino made the show, hands down. If anyone is interested in this, I did manage to record (the audio) from the set.
The show was amazing, much louder and noisier than I had anticipated (I think it even beat out Prurient in terms of volume, which is pretty hard.) I still have the earplugs the ushers handed out with the program :)
Comments
How great to have been able to see him live -- hope I get the chance to do that someday. I've said it before and will say it many times again, Keiji Haino is totally cool.
Side A - The Driller
Side B - Psychogeist
Alright, I finally got my record player up here (and got a rca->minijack cable so I can rip vinyl :D). So, as promised, I will give my two cents on the Wolf Eyes - The Driller 12". First off, I had already heard 'The Driller' (since it's included on Human Animal), but it still sounds pretty badass on vinyl. It's one of my favorite tracks off the new album. It starts out slow and foreboding (once you hear the drill whirring, you know something bad's gonna eventually happen), and ends in a ensemble of (brutal, but still accessible/structured) heavy, crushing bass hits, tormented screams, deep fuzz and painful drill screeches. It reminds me of how damn scary going to the dentist was as a kid. I hate to say it but the b-side, Psychogeist, is really kind of boring compared to The Driller. It's alot of slow repitition, which isn't bad (William Basinksi is a genius), but it just doesn't feel right after listening to The Driller. The Driller left me wanting more aural violence, and Psychogeist simply didn't deliver that. It does a good job of delivering a nice, deep, creepy vibe, and really does pay off in the end as it grows noisier. I guess the bottom line on Psychogeist is that I do enjoy the song, but I think it would be better if it was placed with a group of slower, 'creepier' songs (the Asylum Style cd-rs come to mind).
Comments
A noise person on MOG. Thank god. I was getting lonely. (Not that I haven't been the premier Steely Dan discussion artist...)
haha agreed it's always nice to find new noise people i really like your 'latest film experience' widget, that's a good idea. i might just have to steal your idea there
Comments
looks like i missed quite ah show!