What is coming in October

  • In mid-October, I’ll be performing in a private event at the Indonesian Embassy as part of the National Concert Hall Gamelan.

What I read

It has been difficult to read, lately. Reminds me of how it was at the beginning of the pandemic.

  • To Green Angel Tower, part 2, the second half of the last novel in Tad Williams’ first big fantasy trilogy. This concludes Williams’ epic fantasy Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. My tastes in genre fiction keep developing, and I think I’m well past a time where I’d burn through just any doorstopper, but I do enjoy how Williams does this thing because, despite these books being quite “plotty”, they are not obsessed with being clever or encyclopedic.

What I watched

It has been difficult to find energy for watching interesting films. I did manage to watch two band films, and it strikes me that they are excellent complements to each other.

  • Instrument, the documentary film by Jem Cohen and Fugazi [1999]. When I was in my first year of university I downloaded this film from a peer to peer network and watched it on my laptop in my dorm room at least once a week. It has been well over a decade since I last watched it. What prompted it was this episode of Vish Khanna’s Kreative Kontrol podcast, where Vish interviews Cohen and all the guys in Fugazi to talk about the film. Re-watching this film after being away from it for so long, I was struck by how much of a weird film this is, and how little it functions as a classic documentary. There are no talking head interviews and no confessionals, there’s no “story” here, there are no “crises” and no “climaxes”. There is no “point”–yet this film is endlessly interesting to me. I think because this film is only concerned with paying attention and looking and listening. That’s it. And this fits perfectly with Fugazi, whose music could also be said to come from that same impetus to look and listen and pay attention.
  • Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky [2004]. My bandmates and I watched this over the course of two evenings while we were working on our album up to Dundalk. My dear old friend Dan Smith has spoken highly of this documentary for years and I’m kicking myself for never getting around to seeing it before now (when someone you know and love and trust tells you for many years to check something out, just do it!). It is one of the funniest films I have ever seen. It is also, by way of negative theology, a rather perfect delimitation of a creative and musical life.

What I listened to

I listened to a lot as usual, but had less energy to devote to active listening. So I have fewer critical thoughts or observations below, and more just a list of things that have stood out to me in this month’s listening. I also continue to have a queue of new releases to get through, including recent stuff from the GRM reissue series, some Luc Ferrari, and of course more Parmegiani.

  • I went through Pierre Boulez’s recordings of the complete works of Anton Webern this month, not sure why. This time around, I was struck for the first time by op. 18, “Drei Lieder”, which you can listen to on YouTube here. I’m really really into this guitar writing!
  • Deerhunter’s Halcyon Digest, an album that I missed when it was first released (I had stopped following the band after Microcastle). Terrific!
  • Lyrisme Météorologique, by Shuta Hiraki. From earlier this year. This is stunning textural ambient composing!
  • Absence Blotting, by RODA. Another I missed earlier this year.
  • I’ve been really into American Gothic, the first record David Ackles made in the 70s with Bernie Taupin. This album is pretty extraordinary. Check out the title track on YouTube.
  • Lots of Bedhead.
  • Lots of Japan.

New releases this past month

  • Two Way Silver, by Minced Oath. Another very well produced and interesting album from what is for me the most interesting electronic music project in Ireland.
  • In Dreams, by Duster. This band makes good music, but the records made without Jason Albertini are just a bit less interesting to me.
  • “NO MORE APOCALYPSE FATHER”, by WE ARE WINTER’S BLUE AND RADIANT CHILDREN. My old friends and bandmates, Jonathan Downs and Iris, with whom I’ve worked on music like solstice, and the band Pamola, made this new record with Efrim Manuel Menuck (of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Silver Mt. Zion, among others) and Mathieu Ball (of Big Brave).
  • The Head As Form’d In The Crier’s Choir, by Sarah Davachi.

What I did

  • I performed as part of the pit band (really, pit gamelan) for a play, BEASTS., that ran during Dublin Fringe Fest. I was playing bonang barung, some percussion, and some harmonium. There is a positive review of the play here. We did six shows over the course of a week, and it was both exhausting and very fun. I like working in theatre.
  • I saw Bill Callahan perform at the Button Factory here in Dublin. He was joined for the entire set by Jim White! What a surprise! It was a good set, and White is such an impressive drummer. That said, the venue was overcrowded and it was a physically uncomfortable show. By the end of it my partner and I were both entirely worn out from having to stand still in the same spot for so long, pressed among so many people.
  • I saw Godspeed You! Black Emperor, with an opening set from Tashi Dorji, at the National Stadium. I had no idea Dorji would be opening this show, which was both a very pleasant surprise (I think he’s just one of the most interesting and spectacular improvising guitarists of the last 15 years) but also kind of irksome in that I wish this kind of information were better communicated beforehand. Maybe it is if you’re on instagram? But none of the emails from the promoters indicated Dorji would be performing as well. I was dismayed that so few people in the audience payed attention to his set. The National Stadium is also an incredibly uncomfortable venue to see shows in, as it is really a boxing ring and not a concert venue proper. That said, this was a terrific show all around in terms of the performances.
  • I went to London with my partner to see Art Without Heroes: Mingei at the William Morris Gallery. We had a lovely day in London, but both agreed that the exhibit was a bit of a letdown.

What I made

  • I wrote a short piece to be included in the next, second issue of Abundant Number. It is about an album by Robbie Basho.