Flake in the City - Part 2
Trey Spruance cont. + Camilo Ángeles, Henry Fraser, Jason Nazary and taking my parents out for dinner with Shahzad Ismaily.
Sup Lovers?
Flake here, back with Part 2 of my adventures in the big apple.
When we last left off, I had taken my parents out to see the Secret Chiefs 3, after which Shahzad Ismaily had graciously invited all of us out for dinner the following night. Even typing a sentence like this makes me feel like I am writing a bad fan fiction of sorts, but I can assure you that this actually happened, and I have the photos to prove it. See?
While we were waiting at Figure 8 Studios for Shahzad to wind up his previous appointment, I managed to accidentally get myself lost in the orientation of the building. Somehow I ended up in a room filled with gloriously archived retro gear, and metronomes. I couldn’t resist snapping a pic, which only displays a sample of the collection. Later it was revealed that this archive belongs to none other than fellow Aussie Wally DeBacker, better known as Gotye, (of “Somebody That I Used To Know” fame), who apparently has a deep passion for the preservation of vintage instruments and has basically dedicated his life to it.
While we are on the subject of Wally, it has come to my attention that many non-Aussies are completely unaware of the scope of his talent. He is so much more than just a one hit wonder, both of his albums are packed with phenomenal jams. His debut Like Drawing Blood features the gut-wrenching ”Heart’s A Mess” - a powerful ballad with dense string production, and a showcase of his goosebump-inducing vocal range.
Dinner was unforgettable, and unexpectedly fancy-ass. The topic of my plastic glowing bracelets came up in conversation, and my parents showed Shahzad the ones they were wearing. Mum’s said: “NEIL FINN FOR THE WIN.” In a hilarious twist, Shahzad proclaimed: “I was backstage at that concert! I was just with Neil. Look!” He pulled out his phone to show us a selfie of him with a slightly disheveled-looking Neil, who had just come off stage from the performance! Mum was tickled pink and we all had a good laugh at the cute coincidence. :-)
After a surreal but wonderful dinner experience together, Shahzad and I said bye to my folks and we drove across town for the next show. At the Stone, I took my place in the front row next to Matt Hollenberg who is excited (as always) about the live music. He is particularly interested in Trey’s modular setup and had a bit of a peek at the gear before showtime.
Before the show started, a gorgeous woman sat next to me with a New Zealand accent. She introduced herself as Sally, and she had the most beautiful, intense eyes. She asked me how I know Matt. I goofily replied that I was a fan and I met through writing about the shows he’d played in Europe. I asked her how she knew him, and she said they played in a band together. “Oh yeah? What band?” “Titan to Tachyons.” The penny dropped. Yep, it was Sally Gates, and thank goodness they don’t serve drinks at the Stone, because if I would have been drinking, this would have been the point where I comically spat the drink out like a fountain all over Trey’s gear in front of me. “OH!” I said, shocked, finally putting two and two together. For the uninitiated, "TTT" is a supergroup lead by Sally, featuring Matt, Kenny Grohowski on the skins, and (the one and only) Trevor Dunn on the bass.
“…That’s YOU! No shit! I’m going to see you guys in Vienna!” In my state of surprise and embarrassment, I then proceeded to offer her some of my badly squished flaking chocolate bar. Coincidentally, the chocolate bar was called Flake, which was literally flaking and starting to melt all over my hand and bag. Obviously she declined. I realized I was just digging myself deeper and deeper into the hole of embarrassment. Fortunately the show was about to start. Thank god. I think I weirded her out. I am still in a state of deep cringe to this very day. Why must we always embarrass ourselves around total babes…?
9/6 Friday: ”ELECTROMAGNETIC AZOTH” Trey Spruance Residency, The Stone
Ches Smith (coordinated impact events: drums etc), Shahzad Ismaily (chaotic dynamics) , Trey Spruance (coordinated waveshaping events), Orbital resonances and transit pulses: prolegomenon II
Shaz begins by donating "All of his notes" to Matt Hollenberg who is in the front row. Shahzad is prepped with Moog which explodes with deep, crunching gusto through the back two amps- it's a good thing we have been mentally prepared for the aural assault, attacking the listeners from all angles. There’s a deep whirr in the back left, a gritty hum phasing from the back right, the front right is a clicking from Trey's modular, soon replaced by yet another droning bass. Ches comes in with full fucking force, the crash cymbals up high, all the way, so that he can achieve ridiculous volume, especially for such a tiny venue. The gong behind him remains still, but it's ominous. It's a reduced kit with no ride - just snare, tom, floor tom, and the hilariously high cymbals. One smash of the toms causes Matt to jump- the intensity is palpable, meditative, and foreboding…
With each note switch, each transposition is another layer into the dark. One feels almost as if perhaps these musicians have been to the other side, and brought something back from the depths. Trey's fingers dance around the modular like he's playing an analog instrument- where does that choral sample appear from?
This performance is devoid of cheese, despite the fact that it takes itself as seriously as it does. Acute focus is the running theme. From time to time Trey shakes a shaker along to the extremely choppy and disorienting time signatures.
Another octave drops and an angelic harmonic wave sweeps the entire room, simultaneously parts demonic and heavenly- a rather epic otherworldly dichotomy, but the droning does allow space to breathe.
Bobby Krilic, AKA The Haxan Cloak, would be nodding his head in deep approval, as many of these pieces wouldn't feel entirely out of place on Excavation. I've heard it before in Warsaw from Ches that he was legitimately worried about Trey's most difficult sheet music- This is the first time I've seen Ches looking as concentrated as he is on the charts, focusing intently on nailing the wild timings but it's not long before he's smiling again, and clearly he has it under control. Meanwhile Shahzad is in some kind of deep trance. The gong is warmed and struck gently but the mallet loses its head. Thankfully there is a comically oversized beater in reserve.
The combination of the gong and the shrill, but not piercing synths conjures up further interplays of tension and controlled anxiety. It's an ideal soundtrack for the descent, or the abyss. I'm not sure what otherworldly being Shahzad is channeling through placing his thumbs into a triangular shape, but this in connection with Trey's little bells is nothing short of inspired. The compositions are brutally complex, but it's the expertly curated layers of dense fitting sounds that make this performance so enjoyable, and what gives it an endearing, more-ish quality. The 4D aspect only adding to the visceral, physical, aspect of this wonderous show.
The first piece is an epic forty minute onslaught. A movement over multiple realms. It's kinda tripped out watching Trey annunciating each enormous drum hit with a nod of the head as he plays, reading along. One can never anticipate on which beat the next drum will land.
Achieving a dark mood like this that doesn't sound like total shit is no mean feat but Trey and Co make it seem like literally anyone can do it.
They can't.
It's special.
So for those of you following the cliffhanger: Yes, Ches did manage to perform Trey’s “fucking difficult” music, and he did so with both grace and gusto. FIN.
After my parents left NY, I shed a quick tear, pulled myself together, and eventually made my way over to F&T Auto Repair Shop for a block party featuring live avant-garde, on the streets, in celebration of New York Textile month. Sounds wild but as usual, I have the photos to prove i’m not making this shit up:
You can imagine my surprise when Camilo sent me the bizarre address. They did move some of the cars for the occasion, but the stage was literally just somebody’s driveway. Large wafting sheets dangled from the roof of the building, blowing gently in the breeze, providing a large, interesting backdrop as the sun began to set on the little street party. As part of the textile celebration, people were partaking in a mass tie-dying experiment, of which I missed out on, because I thought the table with all the jars was a buffet and I wasn’t hungry so I didn’t go over there.
It wasn’t long before the band started up, polarizing its audience. A lot of people left, probably due in part to the nightfall, but most likely also due to the challenging nature of the experimental improvised music. These are the kinds of performances that I enjoy most of all!! :-) Fun fact: this trio featured bassist Henry Fraser, who only this month made his Cobra debut in New York, check it out:
Sunday 9.8. – “K'ITHA TARWI EN EL MECHANIC SHOW” Camilo Ángeles Trio, New York Textile Month Block Party, F&T Auto Repair Shop
Camilo Ángeles (flute), Henry Fraser (double bass), Jason Nazary (drums)
It's so fitting that a trio of flute, bass, and drums is accompanied by a light breeze- sheets of thin delicate cloth dangle gently from the top of the industrial building- a fitting installation in wafty accompaniment with Camilo and his brilliant little posse of Henry Fraser & Jason Nazary.
Twittering, flittering trills accompany frantic free drum beats, accentuated and emphasized by a deliberate, gorgeously warm upright bass. The music is as unpredictable as the dye experiment offered to guests earlier this evening… How will their fabric develop? How will the music unfurl? Is that even a word? Things die down and Camilo goes into a deeply trance-like state; his sustained notes whir like a musical wind machine, a robotic elemental droid, expressing its innermost digital emotions.
His stance: akimbo. This is music which requires a rockstar-like support from the frame. It's almost too dark to see what on earth he is doing with that thing that goes "click" in his mouth but the delayed effects and the free, hippy-ish drums and bass are making it work so hard in the wind on this mild autumn night.
Avant-garde pure, on the streets of Brooklyn, one has to wonder, "Do they only repair cars here, or also broken souls?" Cathartic, visceral, passionate... and strangely shamonic.
You can take a listen to this trio’s wonderfully experimental work here, on their album ”Aqrabuamelu” released in 2022. I’m living for it.
Afterwards, the 15 or so people left over all went to a bodega and stocked up on snacks. Here’s me and Camilo copping some olives and embarrassingly delicious jalapeño chips.
We took the snacks to go hang out at this fuckin’ cool warehouse studio space rooftop - apparently Yarn/Wire keep all their shit in there and so does Negativland. Well, potentially. The sign on the door is spelled NEGATIVELAND with an “E”, so the jury’s out. And no sightings of Wobbly or Sae Hashimoto…
The afterparty was lit - the bunch of us consuming snacks, bumming cigarettes off each other and soaking up the atmosphere of the raging venue downstairs, which we googled to find out Gesaffelstein was headlining. The roaring crowd and thumping party could be heard from our rooftop location, adding to the exotic, metropolitan vibe of my New York adventure. Thanks to the wonders of technology, someone has posted footage to YouTube from this exact concert! If I'd have known this show was on, I would have absolutely gone to it, but as is the case with everything in New York, there is always SO. MUCH. ON. that you inevitably miss out on something almost every day. The struggle is REAL.
That’s gonna be all from me today lovers. Coming up soon: even more recaps of my New York experience. We’re not even halfway through here! So many more memories to share including but not limited to a free performance in a park by Laurie Anderson, Craig Taborn’s exhilarating Stone Residency and even a cool loft party with Jessie Harris!
As always, get your fan-goodies from fladik.net (third edition print of “Zappa Every Day” stocking this week!) and stay tuned to Fladik NEWS for your ongoing insider scoop into the Zorn orbit and beyond. ♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪
xoxo
Love
FLAKE
CEO Fladik
So glad you got to spend some time with ones of the finest humans on earth, Shahzad!