Last Night a Laptop Saved My Life

Another long break, sorry folks. You should check out Akron Family if they come to your town. The best show I've seen in a while and I've seen a few awesome ones this month, including 3 shows by the Mountain Goats that started good and just got better, a pretty great set from Do Make Say Think and goodness from Subtle and TV on the Radio.

Song: "Friends Are Evil"
Artist: Jesu
Source: Live

Jesu play metal-influenced music with a dense, delayed, layered sound that is (rightly in my book) compared to early 90s shoegazers like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. The result is something impossibly heavy and beautiful and blissful and sad. Its like watching a slow notion video of a building being imploded. There is something wrong about the decay and destruction, but the sheer force is irresistible and there is a beauty about the patterns of the floors make while they collapse in on each other and the fractal clouds of dust that rise up.

Whenever I hear something like this - a band whose sound is dense and textured - I always wonder how they will recreate it live. I had visions of (main force behindJesu) Justin Broadrick with an array of delay and other effects pedals, juggling guitar and keyboard duties playing monster riffs and twisting knobs. Perhaps they would add an extra person for the tour. When he leaned over his MacBook and fired up a preset track, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I'm old enough (read: rockist, although I'm not sure if people care about such distinctions any more) to like my live music "live", to have it dependent upon people and their ability to change their minds or make mistakes; to be unpredictable, not entirely programmed. (I should clarify, the laptop wasn't the entire show, it was just providing the parts that couldn't be created by a standard 3 piece rock line up.)

Still last night it was the computer's solo that stole the show. Towards the end of their set Mr. Broadrick picked out another track from his Mac and the unaccompanied opening of "friends are evil" started blasting over the club's PA. It's a low note played twice, slightly cut off and looped. The thickness of distortion abstracts the note from the sound, so it wavers somewhere between a riff and a slow break beat. I almost always at least nod my head or tap my heel during shows, and had been doing so throughout the set, but when the rhythm and sheer heaviness of the sound hit me I was twitching/moving/something with abandon, a nigh danger to myself and others. Soon the guitar, bass and drums came in, giving the laptop a little love, but it was the Mac that tore the roof off.