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| P2 At Albany Again |
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| :: Posted by Sid Smith on Mon., Feb 20, 2012 |
My thanks to J Eric Smith for sending in this marvelous review of P2 playing Albany. You can hear the gig that Eric is writing about here.
Eric writes "I was a music critic (for better or worse) in Albany, New York for many years. My wife and I recently relocated to Des Moines, Iowa, and as part of launching a web presence in my new home community, I have been reviewing old archives of my work for items that might lend themselves to new purposes. I found a ProjeKCt Two live review (copied below) while digging through old floppy discs and files, and thought I would share it here, since I have not seen many other formal newsprint reviews from that era posted here. It was a lovely show, one that I still cite as one of my all-time favorite live performances.
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ProjeKct Two
Valentine’s Music Hall, Albany, New York, May 8, 1998
Copyright 1998, J. Eric Smith (Originally appeared in Metroland, The Alternative Newsweekly of Northeastern New York)
"OK, now we’ve played everything we don’t know,so we can play something that we actually do know," announced electronic drummer Adrian Belew at the end of ProjeKct Two’s second all-instrumental, all-improvised set. Belew, 10-string Warr guitarist Trey Gunn and electric six-string guitarist Robert Fripp then encored with King Crimson’s "Vrooom," an angular number originally created by Fripp, Belew, Gunn and their Crimson bandmates Tony Levin, Bill Bruford and Pat Mastelotto.
As nice as it was to hear "Vrooom," the true value of the encore was to place the evening’s improvisational extravaganza in context by providing a single sample of how ProjeKct Two sounded when tackling a fully developed and structured instrumental piece. Frankly speaking, the encore paled in comparison to the 90 minutes of music preceding it, as its rehearsed complexities and nuances were nowhere near as impressive as the knotty, towering sound collages that ProjeKct Two created on the fly as the rapt audience watched and listened.
Fripp, Belew and Gunn were watching and listening to each other as well, and much of the thrill of this concert came from witnessing the interactions between these deeply talented musicians who have played together long enough to anticipate each other’s thoughts, sometimes before they eve realize that they’ve had them. Belew or Fripp typically opened each number with a drum or guitar pattern that the other musicians would would investigate, mount and ride, sometimes to loud and uplifting summits, sometimes to quiet, scary grottoes, sometimes back to the point at which they started. It was actually harrowing to experience in many cases, as the trio careened just on this side of control as they rode, the looks on their faces indicating that it was just as thrilling (and frightening) for them as it was their audience.
As important as technical prowess was to the concert’s success, mention must also be made of ProjeKct Two’s technological proficiancy. Belew was playing the latest generation of Roland virtual drums, allowing him to create a seemingly infinite number of sonic assaults as he clattered and rattled along with a look-Ma-I’ve-got drums grin on his face. (Understandable, given that he’s normally a guitarist.) Gunn matched Belew’s rhythmic and textural intensity as he tapped, stroked and and beat the touchboard of his Warr guitar.
Fripp spun out any number of his trademark spine-tingling sustained guitar lines but also used the treatment technology he has developed over the years via his Soundscape and Frippertronic performance experiments to create a wealth of tones and intonations. At times, the bands’ sounds were so far skewed from what your eyes were reporting to your brain that it was almost psychologically easier to look at the floor and imagine that Fripp was playing cluster chords on some beaten-up jazz-hall piano while Gunn blew on a baritone sax and Belew kept time by tapping on whisky bottles and ashtrays. Crazy, man, crazy.
All told, ProjeKct Two’s concert was a magnificent one, and I must confess to feeling great relief in being able to report that. Why? Because Robert Fripp’s written and recorded works have done more to shape both how I listen to and how I think about music than have any other artist’s over the last two decades, although I never actually stood in the same space with Fripp until last Friday. So imagine the potential for debilitating disappointment at this show, and then imagine the transcendent relief and joy when it didn’t come to pass. It literally moved me to tears. And how often can a wordless concert do that?"
More news
Displaying 4125 items (Viewing 71 to 80 of 4125)
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It's A Jungle Out There
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Mon., Mar 18, 2013
My thanks to Jay for sending in the following item. "Best seller on amazon.com. the author made 12k" writes Jay "I didn’t think publishing was the same ripoff as the music industry. Time for an intelligentsia farting campaign!"
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Careful With Those Axes Detroit
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Mon., Mar 18, 2013
There's going to be procession of guitarists out along the streets of Detroit this week. The work is the brainchild of guitarist and Guitar Craft alumni, Patrick Grant. You can find out more about the Detroit event here.
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Papa Bear's Pix
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sun., Mar 17, 2013
Tony Levin has posted some photos of the Crimson Project in Japan.
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Japanese Translator needed
:: Posted by David S on Thu., Mar 14, 2013
DGM continues its journey into the future. Last week we were looking for people to build Apps - this week we are looking for someone to translate The Vicar Graphic Novels for release in Japan.
Any Japanese speakers who fancy a challenge, should please contact dgm@dgmlive.com
I know that there was a problem with that email address when we put out our App appeal - it’s now fully functioning, and we’re still happy to hear from anyone.
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Todmorden 99%
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Thu., Mar 14, 2013
The PledgeMusic site reports that the orchestral version of Markus Reuter's hour-long epic, Todmorden 513 has reached 99% of its funding target. To find out more check out the site.
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A Happy Winner Writes...
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Tue., Mar 12, 2013
The winner of our recent Andrew Keeling competition, Will Cruttenden writes: "Here is a photo of my ugly mug with my wonderful prizes. Both arrived
within a few days of my birthday and I've been enjoying them both ever
since."
Stay tuned for another exciting DGMLive giveaway soon!
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Orchestra Of Crafty Guitarists Live In America
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Mon., Mar 11, 2013
Robert Fripp and the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists will be playing three live dates in North America as part of a special performance project held in May. The dates are as follows:
Friday May 24
First Church in Cambridge
11 Garden St
Cambridge, MA 02138
Doors: 7pm
Showtime: 8pm
All performances general admission.
Tickets on sale here
Saturday May 25
Wesley United Methodist Church
98 North Maple St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Doors: 7pm
Showtime: 8pm
All performances general admission.
Tickets on sale here
Sunday May 26
Saint Marks Church in-the-Bowery (View)
131 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10003
Doors: 3pm
Showtime: 4pm
All performances general admission.
Tickets on sale here
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G3 2004 Soundscapes Now Available
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Mon., Mar 11, 2013
There are six soundscape concerts from the first leg of the G3 tour of 2004 now available to download.
The dates run from June 13th through to June 20th. You can grab all six concerts for just $22 for FLAC or the ridiculously low $16 for MP3 here.
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The Art Of Asking
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Mon., Mar 11, 2013
My thanks to Eric Best for sending in this TED talk given by Amanda Palmer. Eric writes "Given Robert’s posts on the greed within the prevailing culture of the
music industry, I thought it apposite to share this piece of
countercultural ’good news’"
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Will Streaming Kill The Music Business?
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., Mar 9, 2013
My thanks to Ornate Coalman for bringing the following to our attention. Ornate writes "A blog entry by Moses Avalon on streaming and major labels notes the following:
"Why Major Labels Love Getting Pennies for Dollars*--a look at streaming from the major labels perspective
*major
labels make about the same revenue from albums while selling 30% less
units then they did in the pre-Internet era. (1989-2000: $48.6B,
2001-2011: $53.3B)
*Now they are turning to streaming. "The
industry jargon for this is called going from an “ownership model to an
access model.”
*Net Profit per unit in terms of album sales: 1--1989-2000---$4.50; 2--2001-2011---$7.90
And now, the onset of streaming: quoting the author:
"It
will bring back the label’s days of shrugging at the artist’s manager
when he shows up with a $26 royalty statement for 501,324 streams. It
will bring back the power they had over distribution, promotion and the
edge they had over their free-wheelin’ indie competitors. In other
words…"
"WHILE STREAMING/ACCESS MAY KILL PHYSICAL MUSIC
SALES IT WILL PARADOXICALLY RESURRECT THE MODEL THAT MADE THE MAJOR
LABELS POWERFUL."
Much more at Part 1 of this expose."
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