Prefuse 73 and The Gaslamp Killer in Seattle

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    Feb 5, 2010
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  • Wandering in before the show started, it was a shock to see Neumos' set-up for the evening. It was different than I'd ever seen it. The entire stage was filled with equipment—two drum sets, three guitars, four or five tables loaded with keyboards and gear—leaving the DJ set-up for Nordic Soul, the opener for the night, on the ground level. Two 1200's, an 800, a laptop hooked up through Serato, a single powered monitor pointed at his head, and away we go. Nordic started the evening with a perfect mood-setting run of downtempo tracks, more melody-driven tunes as the first wave of people slowly filtered in, then moving into some higher energy tracks as the floor started filling. For his last 20 minutes or so, you could feel the crowd get a little restless as he settled nicely into heavy, atmospheric ambience in preparation for the VOICEsVOICEs set. Chill out people, you're about to hear a live ambient guitar/drum/loop-processing duo. Peaks and valleys, appreciate it! VOICEs VOICEs took the stage and immediately started into their audio blanket of droning guitar and processed vocals, looping and warping and combing through the frequency spectrum. After they'd established a nice wall of sound, Jenean sat down behind the drums and moved through some rock rhythms while Nico continued to let her guitar ring and echo. There was some more singing, and some more drumming, and some more guitar playing and knob twisting, and then some crazy screaming at the end. Ultimately, they only played for about 25 minutes, and I would be hard pressed to explain exactly what it was that I just saw. Their music has been described as making people feel like they are "in the womb." I can live with that. Now, the Gaslamp Killer. I talked to him briefly before his set, when he was over in the merch booth selling T-shirts and stickers. He looked wiped out. Just plain damn tired. This was what, his 30th show on this tour? Whoa. With someone so dependent on the physical energy he brings to his performance, how was that going to affect his music? "I'm just gonna ease in on y'all. Don't trip." Yeah, that lasted for about five minutes. And then came the show. Which was some of the wackiest, noisiest, mashed-up, shredded music I've ever heard. There are no limits, no boundaries, anything and everything goes. This was the second time I'd seen him live, so I knew a little better what to expect, and I think what impressed me the most is the realization that he knows exactly what he's doing. His sets might sound random and harsh, with fast cuts and dissonance, but the Gaslamp Killer's actual performance is almost surgical, acting out every track he plays on stage, from being virtually electrocuted to playing air synth and drum solos. He knew when a particularly smashing track was on the horizon; he'd take his glasses off and set them to the side, just before it was time to let the 'fro fly. After the GLK's set, Prefuse 73 came on, and I have to admit I didn't really understand it. Three people (including a vocalist, a keyboardist, and a drummer), tons of gear, mixers and cables and stuff everywhere, but I couldn't figure out how what they were doing on stage related to the music that was coming out of the speakers. It was still a full crowd post-GLK, and they looked like they were into it. Live jam-band electronica-esque? It certainly wasn't bad. Just a little beyond my comprehension. It was an odd trio of performance groups on tour together, but they are definitely on the edge of the potential of electronic music.
RA