From Bill VanLoo Sent Wed, Nov 11th 1998, 04:14
Regarding the CR show last Thursday: > the cleveland contingent (both of us) made the 180 mile jaunt to windsor to > catch this show. thanks to a stack of good CD's, advanced radar detection > technology and ample coffee and mountain dew, this was a totally painless > drive and we arrived at the venue shortly before doors opened. Respect to those traveling long distances for this! I had a feeling before the show that it would be mostly hardcores in attendance...I was right. > once inside the cozy thirteen below, we found an underground venue perfect > for m-nus's weekly ambient outings and even better for a show from our > berlin guests. solid brick and stone walls , low ceilings and tight > bassbins gave indication that the dub would flow mighty. and it did. No joke. I was in the coffee house that's directly above 13 Below, and Pole's soundcheck was shaking the floor. > clark warner warmed up the slowly arriving audience with a smooth and > functional set that gradually transitioned from eno and namlook to > aufenhalt (sp?) dynamo and burial mix. our faction was getting > increasingly amped. Amped is the right word. I had the beautiful experience of feeling the buzz from the red wine I'd drunk at dinner morph into excitement at the music - very nice. Clark played probably the best set I've _ever_ heard from him, and I'm a fan of his DJing to begin with. Highlights were hearing "Life goes on" by Kenny Larkin (damn, I love that track...a sublime track if ever there was one), the entire 14 minutes of "Shift" by Theorem (what a monster track), "At Les" by Carl Craig (it put a grin on my face from the opening chords to the end), and one of the Aufenthalt tracks by Dynamo (on Din, a CR-related label). He also dropped plenty of German material ("Everything but stuff by the guys that were playing," Clark said, which translated to Rhythm & Sound 001, a CR record, plus some other stuff). > stefan began to create, and the output was wave upon wave > of deep subsonic bass. sounds appeared to be echo folded back upon > themselves two , three and even four times; creating pulsing ripples of > sound. he triggered sampled cellar doors of powerful low frequencies that > shook the cones mightily. sampled simple synth and harmonica melodies > added meloncholy beauty to the rush of sound. the trademark clicks and pops > flowed in the background with coursing analog warmth. only minor powerbook > technical difficulties plagued him during his first track, but after that > it was flawless and awe inspiring sonics all the way. most of the tracks > appeared to be new, and if the PA was any indication, the new EP will be > one to jump on. One thing I found interesting about Pole playing live was that Rene Lowe (Vainqueur) seemed to be the one actually triggering sequences, while Stefan "played" the mixing desk. I have a great respect for this form of doing things - it continues perfectly in the tradion of engineers-turned-artists like Mad Professor. The 2 tracks that really got me were "Raum Eins" (probably because I recognized the pops & click immediately) and one of the tracks that he played through, then slowed down to half or 3/4 speed & let ride, with a really slow bassline that just sort of overwhelmed you. I'd been planning on waiting to pick up his full-length until in comes out on Matador, but in speaking with Stefan after the show he said it won't be out until January. I don't know if I can wait that long ;) > pete and rene then activated their setup, which appeared to consist > primarily of a laptop, an R8, and e-mu sampler and mixing deck. Rene manned > the e-mu, Peter the R8 and the mixer was community property. they spewed > out a powerful set which, if they were the CR01 tracks, were radically > reshaped versions. the music seemed to be a mosaic of all our favorite > sounds and effects from the BC/CR/MS/BM/R&S back catalogue all incorporated > into one performance. confounding stereo panning interwoven with filtered > sweeps and clickity drum programming built a very rich groove. i was eyes > closed mojo groovin' through most of their set. they would take chords and > strings and compress, extrude and pinch them gradually until they became > percussion. amazing. it was a lot of fun to watch them collaborate / > negotiate realtime over proper board settings for desired sound shaping. > for a first ever live PA, it appeared very well thought out and was > received heartily. This is really an excellent description (big bonus points for using the word "extrude" in the context of sound engineering ;)). I can only add: the walls of sound these 2 produced was truly inspiring. Every time I thought I knew when a particular element would probably come in (a clap or hi-hat, for example), it didn't seem to materialize. This says to me: there's way to much predictable music, but the fact that their material worked so incredibly well says that it doesn't have to be like that. > big props to the local 313/idm posse who were in effect. it's always great > to convert xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx which you've respected for several years > into warm smiles and handshakes. we received great local hospitality from > bill vanloo, brian bickel, steve lammers, ian malbon & katy?, dale > lawrence, jeff?, mike geiger and probably others which i'm sorry i forgot. Likewise! Finally got to meet Lance (dammit, I wanted to buy you a drink! Next time...) and Jeff Davis. Good to meet you, gents. > i would kill for a copy of the DAT which they made last night..... You and me both... Cheers, Bill / dj marathon -- Sigma6 Interactive Media / http://www.sigma6.com dj marathon: "fibre" up now @ http://www.flatplastic.com/