It would seem that the [D] Yellow Swans (also here, and here) are playing tomorrow night at Happy, in Wellington, NZ. There will be support in the form of locals Birchville Cat Motel (also here), 1/3 Octave Band (here, and here), and seht (moi). The show will be a late one i.e. it will be starting somewhat after midnight.The [D] (the D is optional) Yellow Swans are an American art-noise-rock group who are quite well regarded in such circles as regard for being an art-noise-rock group is afforded.
For this show I will be premiering my new work "Steve Reich is no goddamn good, either", composed in homage to (my) minimalist hero Terry Riley (also here, and I think here) (specifically his 2001 work You're No Good), and which is affectionately described as a "work for laptop, 70s soft-rock loops and free VST plugins." It is unrehearsed.
Lord Jesus, what a link-fest.
6 comments:
A link fest indeed Stevo!
Tomorrow night (at the time of your post) would make it tonight (the 11th) I guess. It's a pity The Package don't know about it: they've got "Thomas Parkes, Electropop from Chch" on at Happy tonight, and the Happy website is still anything but. When you say that the show'll start after midnight, is that the [D] Yellow Swans themselves or the first of the support acts.
Steve Reich, eh? I've just checked the forecast, and it's gon' rain, it's gon' rain, gon' rain, gon' rain, gon', gon', ...
Hahaha very good, Tom.
The whole show is a late one; that is, everything starts late and ends very late. It was even booked late ;)
Yes, late indeed.
As for [D] Yellow Swans: "art-noise-rock"? Rock, of sorts. Noise, most definitely. Art? Not much evident, unless you count the art of falling head first into the stage while thrashing a guitar and swallowing a microphone. It's hard to watch that with a straight face: I was almost intrigued by some of the textures, but all the "rock god" antics seemed a bit forced, especially when the audience was not much bigger than the band.
I guess my tastes fall somewhere inbetween the material that you and the 1/3 Octave Band were doing, and the earlier act Thomas:Parkes (boring name). Still, it's fantastic to have a venue that's willing to take risks and host acts from right across the musical spectrum (and beyond).
Oh, and good to meet you, Stephen.
"You're No Good" was reissued in 2001, but it was originally recorded wayyyyy back in 1967. Which makes it all the more impressive a work, given the relatively primitive sampling and sound manipulation technology of that era.
Hope to be able to hear your homage to it one day. Terry Riley's a hero of mine as well.
yawn...no updates for 19 days....yawn.....
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