Sonic Youth Gossip - View Single Post - Mats Gustafsson + Thurston Moore @ Ars Nova

Moshe · 02.03.2009, 01:27 AM

Thurston Moore, Mats Gustafsson

http://www.philly.com:80/inquirer/ma...ustafsson.html
By A.D. Amorosi
For The Inquirer
To aficionados of the avant-garde, the teaming of Thurston Moore and Mats Gustafsson at International House on Saturday was a dream date, a match made in improvisational-music heaven. After all, Moore is practically the Good Housekeeping seal for alternative music. Along with his band Sonic Youth, a granddad of noise punk, Moore is responsible for bringing Nirvana and Be Your Own Pet to the majors. But his love of adventurous sound goes deeper, away from punk's center. He's written books about the discordant No Wave movement, started his playing career in Glenn Branca's "guitar-chestra," and collaborated with scores of nu-jazz giants.
Gustafsson doesn't need Moore's seal of approval to garner awe. To lovers of abrasive jazz, the Swedish reeds player is a god. He's played with free jazz legends like Derek Bailey and is a master of aggressive, microtonal magic. Gustafsson's renown comes from playing live, violently lipping mouthpieces to a tenor sax and a self-made flutophone until he's red as a beet. It's as though he's wrestling his instruments as he hunches and flails.
On Saturday, Gustafsson did all that - tapping his sax's pads while blowing softly to create a percussive click, then a noirish subtone reverie, turning on a dime to craft a molten roar, then morphing that into a foghorn honk and the scream of geese. When he wasn't busy with horns, he played a "crackle box," a custom-made distortion box with bone-rattling feedback.
Moore sat while caressing and assaulting his guitar and its touch-sensitive amplification. You heard him tapping the fretwork as if a fly's wings were flitting across them. The scrape of a fork across the strings, the thrum of a drumstick, fingers plucking and strumming - it was symphonic.
There were no songs, just intentions and intuition. Each knew where to brace and when to blast forth. The audience could feel and hear, in real time, the emotional and physical interplay - the moans of crying children, the howls of lovers. The process was stirring, as if the duo had harnessed the electricity inside and outside of the listener.
Philly's Ars Nova Workshop's should be proud to have presented the dynamic duo at the sold-out show, even if a number of audience members walked out during the 60-minute set.

02.03.2009, 01:27 AM	#15
Moshe Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,934	Thurston Moore, Mats Gustafsson http://www.philly.com:80/inquirer/ma...ustafsson.html By A.D. Amorosi For The Inquirer To aficionados of the avant-garde, the teaming of Thurston Moore and Mats Gustafsson at International House on Saturday was a dream date, a match made in improvisational-music heaven. After all, Moore is practically the Good Housekeeping seal for alternative music. Along with his band Sonic Youth, a granddad of noise punk, Moore is responsible for bringing Nirvana and Be Your Own Pet to the majors. But his love of adventurous sound goes deeper, away from punk's center. He's written books about the discordant No Wave movement, started his playing career in Glenn Branca's "guitar-chestra," and collaborated with scores of nu-jazz giants. Gustafsson doesn't need Moore's seal of approval to garner awe. To lovers of abrasive jazz, the Swedish reeds player is a god. He's played with free jazz legends like Derek Bailey and is a master of aggressive, microtonal magic. Gustafsson's renown comes from playing live, violently lipping mouthpieces to a tenor sax and a self-made flutophone until he's red as a beet. It's as though he's wrestling his instruments as he hunches and flails. On Saturday, Gustafsson did all that - tapping his sax's pads while blowing softly to create a percussive click, then a noirish subtone reverie, turning on a dime to craft a molten roar, then morphing that into a foghorn honk and the scream of geese. When he wasn't busy with horns, he played a "crackle box," a custom-made distortion box with bone-rattling feedback. Moore sat while caressing and assaulting his guitar and its touch-sensitive amplification. You heard him tapping the fretwork as if a fly's wings were flitting across them. The scrape of a fork across the strings, the thrum of a drumstick, fingers plucking and strumming - it was symphonic. There were no songs, just intentions and intuition. Each knew where to brace and when to blast forth. The audience could feel and hear, in real time, the emotional and physical interplay - the moans of crying children, the howls of lovers. The process was stirring, as if the duo had harnessed the electricity inside and outside of the listener. Philly's Ars Nova Workshop's should be proud to have presented the dynamic duo at the sold-out show, even if a number of audience members walked out during the 60-minute set.
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