We’re keeping the weekly presentation of the podcast going into a fourth week, and nothing – not scratchy throats, not Intern Tobey, not fantasy baseball drafts – not nothing is gonna keep us from delivering the goods to your headphones as you round the corner on another work week and head towards the weekend. In this installment we’re talking all about live performances in the field of industrial: what criteria bands should be looking to meet, strategies for bringing something to a live performance that just can’t be replicated on record, and running through some of the best shows we’ve ever seen from bands in Our Thing. As always, please rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly or stream from the widget below!
We Have a Technical #45: Don't Be Boring
I just saw Esplendor Geométrico two days ago and it was so powerful. In a small arts center, not even a concert venue per se, yet the sound was impeccable. The stage performance was almost non-existent but the music was so monstrous, everyone was placated into a trance-like state by the end of the show. My womb was still throbbing the day after. (Do not insinuate it had anything to do with lady problems or I’ll kick your virtual ass !)
Another band I have to mention (and I know I’d disappoint if I didn’t) is Die Form. I’m a casual listener at best, truth be told, but I love them because of what they represent to me: they are very earnest in what they put out. It isn’t BDSM for show, just to be edgy. And when it’s your thing (I know at least one of you guys is really turned off by it, sorry!), it really strikes a chord. Their live shows are really fantastic. Eliane is a brilliant live vocalist. I saw them live 5 years ago again, and she stripped down to a corset and stockings like she used to, and I swear that woman doesn’t age. And they have Philippe Fichot’s videos on the background, which are a show on their own. If you haven’t seen any, I suggest you have a look on youtube (although if kink squicks you, maybe not). And, they have a dancer on stage, who practices a mix of butoh and kabuki, which embodies perfectly the theme of the beauty and grotesque of the body, which is recurrent in Die Form. Then again, as far as I can tell, they’ve been putting out more or less the same shows for 15 years, so, it’s fantastic but like their music, a tad formulaic.
Glad to hear the Die Form show is good, we were actually really looking forward to seeing them at the Kinetik that got cancelled a few years back. They’re one of those acts that has always had a strong visual element, so you would expect that they would know how to leverage that. Maybe we’ll get the opportunity to see them in future!
Couldn’t agree more about the Neubauten – one of those bands you really can’t fully understand until you’ve seen them live.
Another amazing live performer (in a totally different way) is Contagious Orgasm. Not much of a show or performance, but impressive improvisation skills. For many purely ectronic acts, it’s either “press play” or when they try to improvise, it degenerates into random noise and bleeps. With Contagious Orgasm, you really get the impression that these guys know how to use their gear as *instruments*. Always a lot of jamming around, totally focussed on their stuff, barley acknowledging that the audience even exists… but totally captivating!