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The Jesus and the Mary Chain

Spectrum Now festival

Sydney, AUS

March 5, 2016

Blasphemous name - check! 

Leather-clad insolence - check!

Tumultuous, short live performances - check!

The power of myth - check! 

Distortion and swagger - check! 

Paying homage yet simultaneously opposing traditional Californian ‘60s pop melodies à la Shangri-La's with gritty, orchestrated, beautiful feedback drenched noise NYC / Velvet Underground-style - check! 

Stir the ingredients and voilà - dinner is served: An instant cult band.

Despite being heralded as "the new Sex Pistols" 31 years ago when their seminal album Psychocandy was released, the Jesus and the Mary Chain was not exactly considered a noted live act. 

Their distorted amorphous guitars, subdued vocals and detached, reticent stage demeanor would have been an example par excellence for what was initially devised by the British music as a gibe meant to ridicule the stage presence of "shoegazing" acts. That has changed.

In 2016 and with Psychocandy having become an ever-influential part of the canon of independent music and comprising the cornerstones of what was to become the essence of the alternative movement of the 1990s, Jim and William Reid flanked by a well-oiled new lineup and having grown into a professional, full-on rock band, take a well deserved, deafening and blinding victory lap. 

Drowned in tides of feedback and a light show that proved to be an additional band member and almost as integral to the show as the music, the band pulled a Benjamin Button and started with the encore: 

The prelude of the show, which was longer than their performances in the mid-‘80s, was comprised of a best-of segment with songs from their other albums, before celebrating Psychocandy in its entirety and original sequence. 

While the element of surprise as far as the set list was concerned was lacking, it was interesting to be able to compare samples of the band's earlier and later oeuvre with their much-lauded oeuvre.

The audience lapped it up and, despite the fact that a good share of the attendees were old enough to remember JAMC from their heydays, it was not merely an exercise in nostalgia: JAMC's DNA has retained its potency. 

The Jesus and the Mary Chain in 2016 neither tries to perform a note-for-note rendition of their classics nor tries to rehash what they were like 30 years ago. 

The performance whets one's appetite for JAMC's new album, which apparently has already been recorded. 

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Photos by KAVV

High on Fire

Manning Bar

Sydney, AUS

February 21, 2016

The Swiss label Off the Disk Records was founded by Thomas Mölch and Erich Keller (Fear of God fame, breaker of Henry Rollins’ microphone, and now renowned academic) in 1988, which is when they released Infest’s classic Slave LP (“Youth of Today im Elektrozaun”). Hemorrhaging quality releases since its inception, I blindly ordered Sleep’s Vol.2  7” in 1991, which was my first exposure to the wizardry of Matt Pike channeling Saint Vitus and Black Sabbath. Two of the songs on the 7” found their way on what is widely considered to be the blueprint for the evolution of stoner metal: Sleep’s seminal album Holy Mountain before they recorded a single one hour long self-immolating song called “Dopesmoker,” which became their last album.

From the ashes of Sleep and evolving from mid-paced stoner metal rose Pike’s new band, High on Fire, and while maintaining his signature guitar tone, it became an increasingly fiercer, faster, and more aggressive incarnation with him handling vocal duties as well. Cue “Masters of Reality played backwards on 78pm enhanced on mescaline”.

In a live environment, High on Fire is a virtuosic, brutish force of nature:

Backed by a stack of Orange amps, Des Kensel pummeling double bass drums, and Jeff Matz nimble bludgeoning on bass, both completing and echoing Pike’s writhing, rumbling riffage and growling, the triumvirate descended upon the University of Sydney’s campus and plowed through a close to 90-minute sweaty and career spanning display of pre-Ice Age archaic hominis.

Especially the newer material of their current album Luminiferous shines live. Produced yet again by Converge’s Kurt Ballou, the 9 heavy hitters epitomize the strong points of HOF’s oeuvre: weighty, sludgy drawn-out compositions, pushing and pulling tempos at will, circular hooks and marvels of rhythm perfection with more emphasis on vocal harmonies, anthemic choruses, and multi-layered song structures without sacrificing bile and venom.

High on Fire were brought to Australia by the heads behind Life Is Noise, a solid touring company with a focus on weird, genre-pushing, experimental, and exciting music. From dense noise to droning doom, tripped out acid-rock to screams, metal, and all the spaces in between. They’ve worked with the likes of Neurosis, Sleep, Pallbearer, Yob, Boris, Om, Tortoise, Earthless, High on Fire, Sunn O))), Elder, Grails, et cetera and have yet to stage a show that is not well planned, enjoyable, and professionally organized.

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Photos by KAVV

Electric Gardens Festival

(feat. Fatboy Slim)

Centennial Park

Sydney, AUS

January 23, 2016

The 2016 large scale, multi-stage Down Under incarnation of Electric Gardens  took place in the lush lap of a subtropical botanical garden in the heart of Sydney: Centennial Park on lands that were traditionally in the custody of the Gadigal clan.

After strolling past a variety of wildlife that has its home in Centennial Park including pelicans, black swans, mallard and white ducks, and purple swamp and common moorhens, one was welcomed by a another species: The common drug sniffer dog and their uniformed Herrchen.

Beer gardens and well maintained, ample chill out zones for people to eat, sit down, and relax while being still able to pursue the proceeding on the stages was a nice touch and something that is rarely found and executed in this manner at other festivals. Rows of food trucks offered fare ranging from ice cream to Mexican via organic Asian food to the staples of pizza and burger. ‘Twas nice to see that Electric Gardens was providing healthier nutrient-dense options and that with Sea Shepherd Australia, Electric Gardens has found a support-worthy charity partner.

Headliners included Bedrock Records founder John Digweed, cue Trainspotting soundtrack, playing a set of upbeat progressive house and trance.  His punchy distinctiveness and earthy rhythms also dominated one of the aftershow parties.

50% of the Grammy Award winning duo Deep Dish in the form of the Iranian born DJ Dubfire followed with a set of jet-black polished chrome techno, which was a nice change of pace and mood – starting off techy and evolving into a brooding, heavy yet minimal techno extravaganza.

Finally, Norman Cook in his EDM alter ego Fatboy Slim. The ex-Housemartins smiley aficionado had the masses congregate in front of the main stage itching for a good stomp and the vibe instantly went up. It was what the day was building towards and the anticipation was palpable. Not unlike a dance music conductor with a Hawaiian shirt fetish, he proved to be an MC in its purest form, signaling the crowd to the meter and pauses of the dropping big beats. Fatboy Slim juggled his signature big beat with more contemporary fare, throwing in crowd pleasers for good measure. In unison with the visual aesthetics and oversized glow-sticks that were handed out, his set created a pulsing mélange of sound and spectacle. Teasers and allusions to his hits peppered with a sheer endless stream of classics from all genres formed the foundation of his set, including an homage to the Thin White Duke – right here, queen bitch, Rebel Rebel, right now, rockafella skanking into the night.

In many ways, Fatboy Slim’s set signified the essence of Sydney’s Electric Garden Festival: An enjoyable, well orchestrated event with the right amount of well-trusted elements, engaging and uplifting.

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Photos by KAVV

The Security Project

The Center for the Arts Natick

December 2015

When I was first informed that this show was being put together I immediately started to recruit some of my friends to get tickets. Having seen Peter Gabriel during his tour for the second solo release (aka Scratch) I knew the show would be a fascinating trip back into my early days as a Genesis/Gabriel fan. Also, having been inside TCAN in the past I knew this room would be amazing to catch this show as it is intimate and the acoustics are great.

The Security Project lineup includes Jerry Marotta on drums, Jerry was in the studio on drums for Peter Gabriel's second, third and fourth records. Trey Gunn on the Warr guitar who's had the distinction of playing with King Crimson for almost ten years. Michael Cozzi on guitar who spent years touring with the UK band Shriekback. David Jameson on a custom keyboard setup that also uses iPads and iPhones in the control scheme, the Eigenharp is also used to create some of the more amazing sounds generated by this band. David also performs in the band Beyond The Wall. Last but certainly not least is vocalist Brian Cummins who has been touring with the UK band The Carpet Crawlers and had just finished up a 40th anniversary of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour.

The show opener was Casey Desmond, a former Voice contestant from Boston whose parents were from the Boston band Bentmen. Casey's set was filled with vocally driven pop drenched in keyboards. Casey also filled in marvelously for Kate Bush during the "Don't Give Up" duet with Brian later on in the evening.

The nights material focused heavily on the music from Peter Gabriel's first five solo records but did dip into the Genesis catalog as well (see set list) with the excellent renditions of the first three tracks from that amazing record.

The entire night was a showcase of talent, the band excelled at playing the material that others would shy away from due to the complexities of the music. Some of the highlights of the almost two hour show were the aforementioned duet with Casey Desmond, Trey Gunns solo was incredible, Jerry Marotta showed why he is one of the top rated drummers around with an amazing sound and a recording resume to die for. Another was the remarkable, new to me, instrument the Eigenharp prominently featured in the song Biko. Evidently it uses velocity sensitive multi-expressive keys, each of which act like a 6-way joystick. This allows simultaneous pitch bend and modulation of each note played.

The band having just finished up this tour are planning a return in the October / November time frame. If you are a fan of Genesis or Peter Gabriel, do yourself a favor and catch one of these shows you will not be disappointed.

Set List

1- Lay Your Hands on me - 1982, Peter Gabriel (4th solo release aka Security)

2- I Don't Remember - 1980, Peter Gabriel (3rd solo release aka Melt)

3- Family Snapshot - Melt

4- No Self Control - Melt

5- The Family and the Fishing Net - Security

6- I Have The Touch - Security

7- Moribund the Burgermeister - 1977, Peter Gabriel (1st solo release aka Car)

8 - Solsbury Hill - Car

9- The Rhythm of the Heat - Security

10- Don't Give up (with guest vocalist Casey Desmond) - 1986, Peter Gabriel (5th solo release titled So)

11- Mercy Street - So

12- San Jacinto - Security

13- Intruder - Melt

14- Here Comes The flood (including Trey Gunn solo) - Car

15- The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - 1974, Genesis (The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway)

16- Fly on a windshield - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

17- Broadway melody of 1974 - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

18- On The Air - 1978, Peter Gabriel (2ne solo release aka Scratch)

19 - Biko - Melt

As fans many draw a close relationship with their favorite artists. For whatever reason a personal statement shared within this realm seems to strike many in a very serious way. there are many musicians that cross realms of art into new ventures to varying degrees. it could be argued that no one before, since or possibly ever has done it with the conviction, lucidity, intelligence or poise the way David Bowie did in his lifetime.

This is a goodbye to a true artist that is both academic and personal to me.

The fact is it would be hard to say whether music and the arts would have played quite the role in my life as they have if not for Bowie. He showed what confidence and intelligence can create. With the knowledge of what he reperesented i was drawn to him from a young age.

I recall seeing the video for "Let's Dance" on MTV and being mezmerized. I couldn't explain what it was that made it work. It was a song that seemed all too simple almost innocuous compared to the hip hop and metal that i would generally listen to. The hooks were simple yet they burrowed into your brain. The video itself was something almost obscenly 80's bright and dancey. Yet there was something unexplainable about the person presented as the singer. something almost alien he stood out beyond the other people in videos at the time. He stood tall with a flexible face that showed something intense. 

These few sentences could be said about any representation of David Bowie. He alsways was able to illicit something with an incredibly modest economy of words, yet could be verbose and hyper literal. He always stood beyond whatever was going on in popular culture at the time. Stood as an outlier, a true alternative nothing could actually compare and nothing could touch him. 

Those feelings are exactly why for some almost unexplainable reason his death hit me so hard. in an almost childlike naievity on my part i almost believed he would never die. He never seemed of this world to begin with. He spoke of being a spaceman a martian and these things felt true to him. Bowie seems intrinsically drawn down the path of opposition in art and seemed capable of making it a road for eveyone to travel after him. 

To think he could've been something smaller than a blip in musical history. His reinvention made him and gave him the fame that he had. Very few artists have truly reveled and almost relied on reinvention. With each Bowie album one could never be certain what expect. Whether it be the alien folk of Space Oddity, the biggest glam band in the world as Ziggy, or the plastic soul star of Station to Station. All of these thing were merely beginings, yet all were complete ideas coalesced into music that stands outside of time with a presentation to match.

Truly his music was just part of a public persona that belied his impact in every other cultural medium. While his music is what he is best known for nothing can take away his painting, acting and even a lasting impact on video games. These were generally looked at as musings to music fans but every plunge into a new medium showed another side of Bowie showed another impression of the artist as a man. Even his contribution in music is relatable to acting. No role lasted too long once it showed a chance at becoming stale it was jettisoned for something new something that felt interesting.

Bowie managed something that no artist has even with his final goodbye of an album, the recently released Blackstar, he continued to show what he was truly capable of. It is an album outisde of time yet absoulte in how precise it's message is. This was his goodbye something simple yet intricate not played for cheap record sales. The man knew he was leaving us but gave us a farewell only he could. 

David Bowie influenced many facets of my life, he introduced me to new ideas of how music could be presented. He gave me confidence to try and show different facets of my personality through my art, in whichever form that would take. he gave a lasting influence to any artist to follow their ideas alone and leave everything and everyone else behind, if need be, to follow their muse and no one elses. His music was an early bond between my wife and I, a bond that grew into something truly special. 

Bowie is, not was, a person who lived outside time and gave himself to the world. The starman can now return home, can stay there and rest well knowing that his influence will be everlasting upon the world's culture.