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It was a typical New York crowd for the Stars of the Lid show, with the usual mixture of self-conscious chunk-glasses guys and students; aging installation artists and angular Asian gals; Kant readers and men and women with one attractive facial flaw; sissyboys and their vivacious, baffled girlfriends; people interested in architecture and, well, six or seven guys who looked like me. And then there's that guy (he must be a record collector) with the polka dot shirt (pink dots on black or white dots on black). He's at every show, everywhere. Sometimes he has a goatee. He is always balding from the front to back.It was a civilized concert, with comfortable seats, and I easily drifted to the merch table for a shirt and CD and got an aisle seat to grab some pictures. I'm getting old and two opening acts seemed like a lot, but they were worth sitting through. Itsnotyouitsme has a terrible name, but the music they did was good solid emo-bient. Simple collections of loops that rose and fell very prettily. The gent on the electric violin was animated enough that it made me feel self-conscious. Hewasfeelingthemusic. I guess. The music felt as though it lacked grit, but I enjoyed it.
Next was Face the Music, a group of freakishly talented 10-15 year old kids who played modern classical, including a difficult piece by John Adams for two pianos. I was both surprised and, I must admit it, horrified by the performance. Such abstruse music played by innocents! It was very weird to hear the sounds come out of their instruments, as though it were some elaborate trick—a canned recording of Gavin Bryars and a bunch of play-acting seventh graders. But the music was very pretty (especially the spiraling tunnels of "Hallelujah Junction" which I had not heard before) and the kids got well-deserved standing ovations. I found that our show was sold out because of all the parents attending. They cleared out when Face the Music was done and left a few empty seats.
Stars of the Lid came out next, at around 10:00, launched right into the sad stuff with "Requiem for Dying Mothers" and it didn't let up for the next hour and a half. The string trio provided nice depth and Christopher Willits even joined for their performance of "December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface," though it was difficult to discern just what he contributed to the wall of sound. On the whole, it was one of the more pleasurable ambient concerts I've been to, with cavernous sound and an intriguing projection on the wall of the church. I tried to get some photographs, but I totally botched the camera for no-flash pictures. The below shot was the best I got, sadly enough. There wasn't much to see anyway. I listened to The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid on the way home, just in time to share the PATH back to Hoboken with all of the people who saw Jay Z and Mary J. Blige at MSG that night. It was a Real Nice Night for everybody.
In other news, I pulled a muscle in my shoulder getting out of bed yesterday. I am old.
cranked up
they started with "requiem for dying mothers," and later in the set adam played an on-site out of tune piano. i am, unfortunately, remiss for titles with lid unless i've used it on a mix.
after the show we were able to speak with adam and brian respectively and asked them to autographed the live CD we picked up. brian told us he was extremely happy with the way the space worked out. i have no idea how the DC show on sunday went--we thought about going, but ben has been to the iota club before and finds it to be a fairly uncomfortable space. we decided against it.
you know, i woke up this morning practically screaming from the horrible charlie horse in my left leg. still hurts.
Edited at 2008-05-05 05:29 pm (UTC)
It's good to hear the guys were happy afterwards. I got the (apparently mistaken) impression towards the end they were having equipment difficulties. Adam walked off the stage before the set was over, and Brian was strumming madly on his guitar in the way I do when I'm not getting any signal through and I'm trying to figure out where the loose connection is. But maybe that's how they always end '...Fuckface.'
At the merch table I asked Brian what the name of the piano piece was, and he seemed pretty reluctant/annoyed to be quizzed on that. He finally divulged that it was "a messed-up cover of a piece by the French composer Desplat" and walked off. Another fan overheard and told me it was the piano solo from the Syriana soundtrack.
Trying to put names to their songs is hell for me. I pulled a pretty decent recording that I'd like to share with some friends, but I want to make sure I get the setlist right first.
Here's some photos I got:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/relaxing/t
adam seemed a little retiring; i just figured it was because i blurted out "brian," whether or not i knew better, when i first approached. which i may have not known better, being still pretty zoned out. :-)
They had a track list at my show in the program book, but I gave mine away to someone who didn't have one. I do recall that the piano piece was by Arvo Part, but I don't recall which one it is, sorry.
I -think- this makes the tracklist as follows:
Requiem for Dying Mothers
Even If You're Never Awake
Arvo Part piece
Apreludes in C Sharp Major (hope I'm remembering it right as this)
December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface
an encore which I'm not sure about
What was really confusing me with the setlist was they apparently played the "Never Awake" motif twice, once to segue into 'Fratres' and once for the entire piece.
As best as I can tell the Philadelphia show went:
Even If You're Never Awake -> Arvo Part's Fratres
Requiem for Dying Mothers 1, 2
Desplat's Syriana Piano Solo
Even If You're Never Awake
December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface
The Gathering shows are something special. At the beginning of the show they announced Manuel Goettsching may be coming later this summer...! I was astounded. I see now that he is playing the Lincoln center in August, so perhaps it isn't so far-fetched.
I'm not so good with titles either, but they had them all down in the program book. I got it wrong of course—they opened with "Dying Mothers" in my show too. I'll edit the post to reflect it now!
Instead I managed to snag one of their tour-only cd's, courtesy of Windy.
Edited at 2008-05-06 03:22 am (UTC)
I prefered this possible response for posterity
Re: I prefered this possible response for posterity
(but played at 45)
Have you decided what camera and lens you're going for yet? I look forward to seeing your photos!
What ambient concerts have been your favorite?
I saw Oval back in around '97 or '98 and it was amazing. Robert Rich around the Bestiary tour, perhaps my favorite ambient concert. I also very much enjoyed M. Bentley and Saul Stokes a few years ago, especially the former's performance of This World (great album). Bentley's one of those guys I'd love to be able to hang out with in real life—we have a lot in common. I also saw Lovesliescrushing in a rare appearance Labor Day weekend in 1995 which was incredible, though it's hard to qualify that as totally ambient. I wish they'd tour again.