Autechre / Massonix / Rob Hall @ Abbey Pub, 4.11.08
Compendium of observations on the night:
- Rob Hall DJed before and after both Massonix and Autechre, lengthening the junk out of the night. Show started at 9, Autechre went on at 11:45.
- Surprisingly, there were women.
- The show sold out and was PACKED. We went to the second level to find a place to sit and ended up at a table on the front left, close enough to barely get a glimpse of the total lack of onstage activity (Rob Hall looking at his laptop). Nevertheless, mostly blocking our view of the stage were a trio of dudes who literally had their faces pressed up against the rail, STARING at the stage. Gear-spotting, we concluded. After about a half hour, one of them moved in his seat.
- Massonix (Graham Massey from 808 State) was NOT hot. It sounded like what might happen if I went through my Reason sessions directory and played all the 16-bar beats I hadn't made songs out of, then whanged on a guitar real loud, then opened another directory of sessions and played those. It was slightly better than that only because they sounded distinctly like Graham Massey's unfinished 808 State songs, which says something about how quickly you can identify some electronic artists by their choice of colors/timbres.
- Autechre appeared in their infamous total darkness and immediately destroyed for an hour. We stood in front of a subwoofer (*excellent* decision) and I felt like I was being given a sonic body shower.
- The gearspotting continued when I overheard someone ask his friend, "Are they using Tablet PCs?" given the distinct lack of visible laptop lids.
- There were beats! People were *dancing*! *Girls* were *dancing*! Not at all what I expected. The dark-haired one (I'm not sure who's Booth and who's Brown) was convulsing his head in time to the music! I don't think these guys are screwing around.
- I got stuck right behind this raver and a guy doing a robot-runningman-climber-pogo hybrid routine. A hilarious someone in front of me kept trying to take flash pictures of the duo and getting an outline of a shoulder. I think I'm in some of his photos.
- I hope a bootleg comes out of this show, although I wonder if it'll sound as good even off the soundboard, compared to lose-control-of-your-body in-your-face loud. Funny thing about this show compared to a rock show, we were able to listen to the whole thing without earplugs and come away without even temporary hearing impairment. I think all of the rocking was in the bowel range, and not the shriek range.
- Rob Hall DJed before and after both Massonix and Autechre, lengthening the junk out of the night. Show started at 9, Autechre went on at 11:45.
- Surprisingly, there were women.
- The show sold out and was PACKED. We went to the second level to find a place to sit and ended up at a table on the front left, close enough to barely get a glimpse of the total lack of onstage activity (Rob Hall looking at his laptop). Nevertheless, mostly blocking our view of the stage were a trio of dudes who literally had their faces pressed up against the rail, STARING at the stage. Gear-spotting, we concluded. After about a half hour, one of them moved in his seat.
- Massonix (Graham Massey from 808 State) was NOT hot. It sounded like what might happen if I went through my Reason sessions directory and played all the 16-bar beats I hadn't made songs out of, then whanged on a guitar real loud, then opened another directory of sessions and played those. It was slightly better than that only because they sounded distinctly like Graham Massey's unfinished 808 State songs, which says something about how quickly you can identify some electronic artists by their choice of colors/timbres.
- Autechre appeared in their infamous total darkness and immediately destroyed for an hour. We stood in front of a subwoofer (*excellent* decision) and I felt like I was being given a sonic body shower.
- The gearspotting continued when I overheard someone ask his friend, "Are they using Tablet PCs?" given the distinct lack of visible laptop lids.
- There were beats! People were *dancing*! *Girls* were *dancing*! Not at all what I expected. The dark-haired one (I'm not sure who's Booth and who's Brown) was convulsing his head in time to the music! I don't think these guys are screwing around.
- I got stuck right behind this raver and a guy doing a robot-runningman-climber-pogo hybrid routine. A hilarious someone in front of me kept trying to take flash pictures of the duo and getting an outline of a shoulder. I think I'm in some of his photos.
- I hope a bootleg comes out of this show, although I wonder if it'll sound as good even off the soundboard, compared to lose-control-of-your-body in-your-face loud. Funny thing about this show compared to a rock show, we were able to listen to the whole thing without earplugs and come away without even temporary hearing impairment. I think all of the rocking was in the bowel range, and not the shriek range.
posted by Jon @ 8:51 PM
4 Comments:
At 2:05 AM,
Jienan said…
'robot-runningman-climber-pogo'
dude, don't forget the 'cat scratching a post' maneuver that just slaughtered (aka inspired to dream) everyone behind him!
or did you interpret those motions as the 'climber'? see, that's the deep shite art of dancing right there... when it initiates multiple interpretations by those in awe.
At 5:02 PM,
Jon said…
it might have been a catscratch. i was too close to get away with looking at him and keeping a straight face.
but y'know, to each their own. autechre doesn't exactly release music videos that teach kids how to dance to their songs, like soulja boy does.
At 9:34 PM,
Pete said…
was it really pitch dark? i thought some cell phone video footage could shed some light on the cat scratch/pole climb dilemma. got any?
At 2:16 AM,
Jon said…
sadly, i could not have taken footage without him looking right at me. although the cell-phone footage comment cracks me up again thinking about that guy who kept trying to take flash pictures of autechre and getting jack.
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