Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Simple mathematics

Isochronous + the lua union = tonight @ bohemia. On a micro/cosmic level, this is an important gig; a hugely talented, totally unpretentious band from stellensbosch and a hugely talented, slightly contentious band from Pretoria. Count me in.

image (c) isochronous


I agree; it’s mmmost inappropriate of me to quote an ageing MC maestro for a gig that heralds the unholy powers of the newcomers of melodicprog(post)rock , but boys will be boys. So what can I do?


I can count. And so can you. and since when did one plus one equal the unmeasurable? since isochronous and the lua union met over raw meat and neat whiskey. when was that? the beginning of summer, a century of ideas and emotions ago. and why do we care about measuring when we’ve got music? because we can’t help it. because we know better. because when you separate things, they go astray, and when you synergize them, they stay. And both bands are bound to be around for another round of ideas and emotions. At the very least. and probably a lot more.




image (c) isochronous


the mighty mos def was right- unmeasurable is what you get when these two bands play side by side for the first time – something you can’t quantify. something you’ll only be able to miss once. something you’ll never know to kick yourself for missing until later on when you’re a fan of both bands whose sound is so disparate. and dis parrot would like to point out on top of it that if you’re not there (er. here), you’ll kick yourself for not being there to be able to say antsy, antagonistic, intelligent things about how wrong I was. luckily I never minded being wrong. but I’ve always minded missing out.


In a facebook status update, The Lua Union has an onstage energy that is at once introverted and explosive, a palpably chemistry that sucks you in; spirit, skin, senses. Isochronous is likewise musically magnetic, though theirs is an ethereal implosion with the gravitational pull of a black hole.

The Lua Union. image (c) Mark Reitz ( markreitzphoto@gmail.com.) bun in the oven CREATIVE www.bitocreative.com markreitz.blogspot.com

You’ve probably heard (of) Isochronous. Anybody who gives a fuck about what’s purportedly/reported to be cool, and how it’s packaged will have scratched their heads over the band, because the boys from the east side are really not trying to be different, and yet they manage it marvellously. Swelling sounds, celestial, ethereal, unreal. A boy whose fine voice fools fags and hags alike, slow crescendos, and a knack for holding back that leaves you leaning forward for more. they don’t need flashy lights and snappy plasma screens. They just need your ears, and an ocean of silence to flood.

You’ve probably not heard of The Lua Union. They’re much the same in that department – conscious, cool, and unaffected. They nearly got called a variety of lame names, but luckily none of them are thus, and so they settled on something quite indescribable. and then they made music to match it. and now I’m going to describe it, because words are profane. Driving guitar, alto-vibrato vocals, and then clean, clear ones. Relentless build-ups, and beautiful break-throughs, always melodic, always powerful, deceptively subtle at the same time. I haven’t seen a south African band with this kind of synergy on stage; sometimes I think it doesn’t matter if the audience is there or not, they still suck the walls towards them. a vortex of venting and introversion and quiet, violent beauty. Disarming.


Now put the two together, and what do you get? An enervating explosion. Be a catalysts. Come. it’s simple mathematics : without you it won’t ever have happened.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111449272200860&ref=mf


image (c) isochronous


(and for the record, he can too count :

“One for Charlie Hustle, two for Steady Rock
Three for the fourth comin live, future shock
It's five dimensions, six senses
Seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 Million Stories to tell
Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit
with the probable tenth, the universe expands length

It's a number game, but shit don't add up somehow
Like I got, sixteen to thirty-two bars to rock it
but only 15% of profits, ever see my pockets like
sixty-nine billion in the last twenty years
spent on national defense but folks still live in fear like
nearly half of America's largest cities is one-quarter black
That's why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack
Sixteen ounces to a pound, twenty more to a ki
A five minute sentence hearing and you're no longer free
40% of Americans own a cell phone
so they can hear, everything that you say when you ain't home
I guess, Michael Jackson was right, "You Are Not Alone"”

- mos def. simple mathematics.

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2 comments:

  1. if i understood you correctly, perhaps have a look at

    http://www.mahala.co.za/culture/soya-hotdogs/
    http://www.mahala.co.za/music/raka-n-rollas/
    the next issue of muse magazine (jezebel's VPL)
    the december 2009 issue of One Small Seed
    and recent press releases from the MEC about the music industry
    and browse through http://wwwordup.blogspot.com/

    if i mention talent repeatedly it is because it moves me repeatedly, because it remains dynamic, and reaches new places in itself, in my self. which is not what i can say for the majority of music being made in the mother city. there are only so many ways you can say mediocre.

    a blog is a side order of self, i reckon, a place where i can place what i like,and you can come if you like, or not.

    but it seems a point made repeatedly is pointless. so i rest my case, too.

    thank you, Andries.

    ReplyDelete