last friday was a treat. foto na dans @ my favourite outdoor stage @ klein libertas (before it was broken into and trashed), then the lua union @ a revamped indoor stage @ Kunskafee (that was after arriving at Corner Bar because i'm dyslexic and forgetful, and finding bergies howling and bludgeoning each other while paramedics tried to patch them up). On either end of the scale of experience, this was a night that began and ended with my two favourite bands. (sorry taxi; my cock fell off after too many rock-outs). of course i might be talking about either end of the scale of MY emotional experience, or of their professional experience, and you wouldn't know any better (or would you? there's a comments box below...) i probably mean both; i'm a freelancer, we wield the world while it works us over - we're always playing and always working. (imagine when i get a blackberry, then i'm going to write stories in my sleep!)
I've already waffled about lua (http://sonicsynapse.blogspot.com/2009/10/lua-union-ethereal-mix.html) , about what struck me about them that night. but foto is another story. especially when you find yourself almost interrogated about your enthusiasm for their music. this bears some explanation, i guess. people, most often, are as extreme as i am about foto, either in agreement or in vehement confusion about what it is they're trying to do. The most frequent disagreement i hear is one that simply saddens me, because really, it's about personal taste, and no one can change that. 'ya, um, rocking music, but i don't get the guy's voice.'
no? wow. ok, i get people being a bit thrown by the (iwillnotusethewordoperatic) singular, cathedralesque vocals - it's not quite an amy lee wail (whale?), and it's not quite a Seething scream. but rock has other realms, you know, and best we open up to them as the world opens up to us... there are realms more subtle and superior than the ones going crashboombang and passing pop cock off as interesting or important. ag. i mean rock. (or rocks! get your rocks off with your socks off, georgie porjy! and kiss berlin for me).
i get le-roi's voice. it gets me, in all the big places. like my heart. and my head. and my hope. and i guess if it doesn't sit right with you, there are only two ways to address it -
1. don't bother
2. think of it like a fine, old whiskey, or a strange new wine - get to know it
but what people don't say most often is what is the most important element of them being a brilliant live act. They are consistent. Humble and unholy on stage, nice to the sound engineer FROM the stage, full power, full focus, full blast. a quality act like no other i've seen and heard and felt in ZA.
(and they understand the power of a good light rig, too. a live show is not, after all, just an aural experience . it is love in action, and every sense is involved.)
involve your senses, and get beyond them...
and stop questioning yourself.
the answer is in your blood.
which is in your bones.
which let your body.
fokken
dans.
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