Tom Plsek, Barn Owl, JaJuNo Trio, Mystic Out-Bop Review at The Griffen Theatre

Tom Plsek: invisible hand in front of your face pitch black, underwater warble trombone, near-Niblockian circular breathing trombone, LED spotlights, scattered black feathers, dozens of neon orange rods thrown at Tom's back, pierced cow heart with said rods, hung in the middle of the stage, fierce fear trombone played at the heart, collapse

Barn Owl: not that one, drummer = Eli Keszler + Dan from Neptune + Steve Albini, fairy dust turns entire bass into pickup, guitar gets the knife/screwdriver/ice pick treatment, nobody plays fair, those sounds? coming from inside your head

JaJuNo Trio: microtonal microcosm, theremin, voice, and sax sound like a drafty window and a tea kettle making love, one starts where the other begins, eruptions of magic in silence

Mystic Out-Bop Review: not quite weird enough restrained frenetic free jazz, not especially my cup-o-tea, except the DIY oscillator/synth/electronics box, very much my cup-o-tea

More photos on Flickr.

Tom Plsek

Tom Plsek

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

JaJuNo Trio

Mystic Out-Bop Review

Mystic Out-Bop Review

Lord & Karlheinz, Audrey Chen & ID M Theftable, Jajuno Trio at The Piano Factory

Karlheinz
Lord
Audrey Chen & ID M Theftable
Jajuno Trio
More images on my Flickr page
I went to this show having not heard any music by any of the performers beforehand. But I had heard plenty about ID M Theftable and the Lord & Karlheinz duo, not to mention that fact that Semata Productions hardly ever puts on a bad show so I knew the likelihood of an epic night was pretty fucking high.

This show could be likened to the month of March in reverse. In like a lamb, out like a lion. The Jajuno Trio (James Coleman on Theremin, Jules Vasylenko saxin' it up, and Noell Dorsey "singing") started things off with a whisper, literally. Noell was audibly breathing, Jules looked like he was working on the saxophone but I couldn't necessarily hear anything, and Coleman was being very delicate with his Theremin. Super minimal, super quiet, and super awesome. At first, everything they played kind of melted together so you couldn't discern one instrument from the other. And I love shit like that. Is that coming from the sax or the Theremin? Who knows, man!

Although billed to go on last, Audrey Chen & ID M Theftable played right after Jajuno Trio and it was definitely my favorite set that night. Chen played her cello with some added electronics and Theftable stayed mostly on the electronic side of things. Pretty straightforward. Except when they opened their mouths. Both Chen & Theftable conjured some of the fucking craziest sounds to ever come from humans. I would not have been surprised to be told those noises came from shrieking cats, moaning monks, evil demons, pissed off gorillas, ancient witches, or anything else. It was completely off the wall and totally fucking amazing. I loved every second of it. The best part was how well they improvised together. It seemed like they knew exactly what the other was about to do and everything sounded so perfect. I've seen a lot of live collaborative improvisations but these two are easily the best. It couldn't have been better if it was planned.

Then Lord & Karlheinz came on and it sounds like it should be pretty easy to describe. Power electronics with live drums. Done. But this shit was so much better than that. Karlheinz looked so fucking angry the whole time and Lord was whooping and smiling and having the time of his life. Complete opposites, these guys. But totally amazing. And there was really dramatic lighting that made everything look wicked cool. At the end of the set, Karlheinz grabbed all two racks of pedals and electronics and just fucking smashed it into the ground. Total badass.