Jeff The Pideon - The Ambiguous Nouns - Microwaves - 3-05

[mosc]

I went to see GSGA and Zynthetix perform at Jeff The Pigeon on Saturday night. See forum topic. I took a few pictures. Here they are here. Unfortunately I don't have time to edit them or do any processing. If you want a higher resolution image, just send me the file name and I'll get them to you.

the Ambiguous Nouns

Earlier that day, I drove down with Chef Jeff and Rondo to visit the Cheltenham Art Center to check out where we can prepare and serve food during electro-music 2005. On the drive, Jeff told me why he quit a job at a restaurant on 10th and Liberty in Allentown. It seems he personally saw two murders there. Very disturbing. As I drove up to Jeff The Pigeon, I realized that compared to this neighbor hood, 10th and Liberty is more like New York's Park Avenue - posh.

I parked the car and hurried along the street, around the corner and up a back alley. It was very dark. The door to the venue was unlit and totally dark. If I'd never been there before I wouldn't know there was anything happening. I walked up and opened the door. I entered a large warehouse room, empty. I was getting pretty nervous, but I saw a door that looked somewhat familiar and opened it. In there were a couple of guys standing by a table and another door. This door was marked Jeff The Pigeon. I made it. Whew.

Even though I was about 40 years older than most of the people there, everyone treated me like an old friend. One of the guys that runs the scene came over and said hello. He remembered me from before and told me they missed me - that I have missed some great shows. Apparently that "don't trust anyone over 30" thing I grew up with is passe nowadays. A good thing.

Dave, GSGA, and his group went on first. Dave told me the main objective was to play loud. He said it was important to be loud to make the music a tactile experience. I made sure my foam ear plugs were in real tight and sat on an old sofa in the back of the room and waited for the music to start.

In front of the sofa was an old television showing, of all things, Hamlet. This was on during all of their performance. Sitting next to me was a young fellow with a short haircut just like mine. He didn't say a word, just stared at Hamlet.

When Dave's group started playing - I think it was called microwaves - it was very loud. So loud the the picture on the TV moved from the sound. I couldn't tell if it was because the coils around the picture tube were moving, or if the video tape was vibrating. I was vibrating - my chest, my teeth, my jaw, my guts, everything. It was pretty LOUD. The music itself was a wall of sound. It was hard to determine who was playing what from the sound, but eveyone was actively playing I can assure you. There was a singer but I have no idea what the lyrics were about. It was very intense. I was very concerned about the young peoples' hearing being damaged by this noise.

The fellow sitting next to me on the sofa didn't move. I looked at him real carefully to make sure he was alive. I could see a slight chest movement so I figured he was just zoned out. All of a sudden, he jumped up with tremendous agility and jumped from one piece of furniture to another all around the room taking pictures with an old 35 mm SLR. After about a minute of this, he plopped back on the sofa and switched off again.

It was an incredible scene. Deep inside this abondoned warehouse listing to the most intense music while watching Hamlet. Now I understand why aliens go to the trouble of visiting Earth; it's worth the trip. I listened for a couple of tunes and went outside. I could only take so much. I think the ear plugs were protecting my ears OK, but I was starting to worry about other things, like my liver, teeth and brain. Dave, I guess the music was successful, it was very loud.

I helped The ambiguous Nouns set up for their set. Zynth plays the G2 with a Behringer BCR2000 controller. I have similar equipment and could help out without too much instruction. Kevin plays an electric drum kit. All of the signals, including the mic Zynth used for singing were processed though the G2. I was given the job of running the sound system so I made sure the sound levels were tolerable for someone with ear plugs. The PA didn't have great bass response, so it had to be pretty loud, but nothing like the microwaves.

The Nouns music was a bit more structured. It's hard to describe, but it's a cross between beat based and abstract electronic, bordering on noise. Zynth's voice was very effective - it was shifted way down to a very low pitched growl - sort of a sustained gutteral rumble.

They played three or four tunes. The last one was in my opinion the best. There was a step sequencer sound with lots of modulations and feedback. The drums were almost straight sounding - a nice contrast to the synth. After a minute, Kevin dropped conventional dance beats and started playing patterns that reminded me of a couple LFO square waves tuned to different pitches beating against each other. The audience was really into this music. I was watching people groove intently. It was a great piece. The crowd gave them a warm reception when it was over - over too soon in my opinion.

After the Nouns, I listened to the next group. They were pretty good. I think they were the Waterfalls, but I'm not sure. There were now announcement, no programs, just music. This group were using straight rock instrumentation. The were very tight and well synchronized. They mentioned at some point they were on tour and noticed that it was mainly dudes that go to their shows. That was the case here too. I have my own theories on this, but that's for another post.

As some point I found that I had had enough extremely loud music and took my leave. I had a great time. The music was fascinating. Leaving the place by myself was a bit of an adventure. I was glad when my car's engine fired up and I was rolling down the street.

I hope this little post gives you a feel of what it was like.