Asphalt Eden

It seems inopportune that my main post regarding the last weekend revolves around time spent at that awful baby shower. It is with this in mind that I put on some microscopic electronic music and head into the zone of Saturday night, where I, with my friend John, made the two hour drive down to Philadelphia to attend the sixtieth(!) Gathering concert, at St. Mary's Church.

This was the fifth Gatherings concert I've managed to attend and I was very excited for I would be seeing the artists Saul Stokes—known for his unusual and dynamic synths, many of which are entirely homemade—and Foundry label owner Michael Bentley. Both make rare appearances on the east coast and I didn't want to miss this one. Michael and I have chatted here and there companionably over the years at the Hypnos Forum message-board and I was looking forward to popping around and saying hello to everyone, as well as hearing a couple of hours of music in a unique, intimate setting. Looking back, I notice that this is my first Gathering since 2002, an unexpected lapse, but it's been a busy several years.

The Gatherings are always magical evenings and most of this subtle magic is midwived by the setting, which is the lovely St. Mary's Church on the U Penn campus. There are no hundreds of twenty-two year old hipster kiddies chattering and text-messaging and spilling beers and camphoning and wildly tonguing each other like teenaged rodents. These concerts are held in a reverent space that seems sacred and reserved for those who treat this music as a kind of personal religion without apparent deities. Ambient and electronic music has always been appreciated by a small, devoted audience, as a sacred space for themselves, and the church seems the right place to provide the artists with a resonant area to directly connect with this group. Philadelphia is no New York, which is readily apparent as one walks around the Penn campus, and this lack of arch knowingness and pretense seems to enrich the experience. We're all here to see these musicians and share the love we feel for this strange music, and that's the common air that bathes this globe, if I may plunder Whitman (after all, I had to drive over his bridge to get there).

Michael Bentley's set was first, and, though I was most excited for Saul's set (one of the first neo-ambient artists I was clued into, almost a decade ago), turned out to be the stunning treat of the evening for me.

The lead suite on Bentley's new album, This World was performed, called "Chronos & Kairos." This was a roughly forty minute piece meant as an audio/video presentation with still photography that augmented and aligned with the music played. The few stills I'm posting so far are extracted from the Chronos & Kairos page on the Foundry site and give you an idea of the visuals presented. The piece is a meditation on the ephemeral nature of time and presents a quiet, haunting, and intriguing zone with frequent subtle changes throughout.

Parts reminded me of the gentle DSP manipulations of Donnacha Costello or Mokira with long ambient-drift passages that recalled a warmer and less monolithic Thomas Köner. The photography and the music were beautifully arranged around each other providing the kind of multimedia experience only the live setting can offer. Interestingly, the hushed atmosphere of the Gathering engendered an even more deep sense of relationship as I listened—if this music and visual mixture had been viewed and heard at a loud uncomfortable NYC bar, the experience would have been far lessened. Indeed, it seems the church forces the audience into a meditative state (and the generally meditative bent of the audience helps, I'm sure), thereby increasing the total effect for all.

I felt a profound sense of time, long-time and short-time, throughout the performance, and remarked to my friend that I hoped it would be available on disc for me to recreate at home (it appears on This World, but I didn't know that then). The photography (some particularly striking shots of Hale-Bopp at the end pleased me in the extreme) was always a wonder to behold and I felt the set ended too quickly, the peace I'd fallen into broken abruptly.

I got the chance to briefly chat with Michael after the set, and quickly bought the This World disc, which presents the entire piece. I've since listened to the disc and it's pretty much what I heard at the concert, which I was glad to have such an instant gratification moment for.

After that, I chatted a while with Jeff Kowal, who records as Terra Ambient and runs the new Lotuspike label. I'd not seen him since 2002, I think, so it was nice to catch up for a while and talk a little ambient shop. We sat for Saul Stokes's set and it began in earnest.
I'd expected a set similar to Saul's most recent studio discs, which focused more on rhythmic ambient music that can't quite be called "techno," but isn't not-techno either.

Instead, we were treated to about forty-five minutes of wild, unfettered ambient improv with all sorts of electronic squelches, waveforms, and sine-waves. Occasional drum patterns were hand-triggered, and, Saul, in his dark tie and slacks, seemed to channel both Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür from Kraftwerk, as he played. The weird flute-thing he plays, which I have unofficially dubbed the "squelch stick," was in full effect for many minutes. This thing is basically a tube with a bunch of knobs on it that controls the oscillating sounds from the other stuff he has on stage. It's a striking thing to see; a bona fide alien instrument that has no other recognizable purpose but to trigger very bizarre noises. I loved seeing it in action and it's nice to know that it's responsible for some of the most fun parts of Saul records.

Saul's video display was only meant color the music, but I got some neat pictures nevertheless. I like watching guys play around on their laptops during electronic music performances, but I also really dug watching Stokes groove along with the knobs and sliders of his rig up on stage. Here's another two decent shots that capture just what a lovely and special atmosphere these nights have:



It was a great night, and though I was disappointed I missed dreamtech, and time3 and his fiancé princessleia2—I'd like to take this public opportunity to request they at least post photos of themselves at some point so I can try to find them next time around! I knew I had a lot of internet friends in the audience, but I was unable to find anybody because I just don't know what you look like!

I haven't yet decided if I want to catch Gathering 61, with Robert Rich, next month, though I do enjoy his new CD Electric Ladder. I'm swaying toward yes, but I have to make sure my schedule allows it! Perhaps we can all meet before the show, if I do make it?