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black midi, October 12, 2021

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BrufordFreak View Drop Down
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    Posted: October 13 2021 at 06:54
I saw black midi perform as a quintet in concert last night in Milwaukee. Their abrasive sound, youthful energy, and sheer volume made me feel like I was watching a modern punk at CBGB. Their intelligent, acerbic lyrics reminded me of The Jam. But their incredible musicianship of some amazingly complex music left me in no doubt: They are playing progressive rock music--a very brave and abrasive form of energetic eclectic progressive rock that I'm sure would make Robert Fripp and David Byrne proud. As a matter of fact, the showmanship of frontman and lead guitarist Geordie Greep is quite reminiscent of a cross between David Byrne and AC/DC's Angus Young--without the unblinking stares and with costumes more reminiscent of 1940s film characters than children's clothes. On many occasions I found myself reminded of a young Paul Hewson, whom I had the great privilege of seeing in concert in a similarly small venue at a similar point in his career in 1981. But, as the concert went on, more and more I thought I was watching Roddy Frame fronting King Crimson--King Crimson at their most abrasive, most experimental, most obtuse, and most complex--somewhere combining the eras of Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Discipline, and Thrak
     Does anyone remember Roddy Frame? or his breakout band, Aztec Camera? Well, I am quite insistent that there were numerous occasions in which I felt that the music I was hearing were mostly Roddy Frame compositions being performed by King Crimson. I loved it. (I adore the music of Roddy Frame.) To fill in the blanks to this description I have to try to make you understand the energy, instrumental virtuosity, and incredibly tight wavelength these five musicians play with. I've never seen a keyboard player work as hard as whom I'm assuming to have been Seth Evans: I swear he moved faster, played harder, and sweat more than the drummer! The saxophonist (whom I'm also assuming was the same as the man from their most recent studio album, Kaidi Akinnibi--the sound system was so loud and muddy that I was never quite sure what was being said when Geordie would announce the names of his individual bandmates) played with such effect--with almost constant and purposeful abandon--that he left me wishing for more of his presence on the studio versions of their songs--this despite the fact that I am not a fan of the saxophone, in general. Award-winning drummer Morgan Simpson is quite entertaining and charismatic. And Geordie is quite the hilarious showman (and incredibly talented guitarist: Most of the time I thought I was watching the 21st Century combo-meld reincarnation of Steve Howe and Robert Fripp--his playing was so intricate, so finger nimble, and so constantly on the move). He has a vocal style that ranges from heavily-accented Irish or something-unknown-to-me to the deep romantic crooning of Terry Kath, Frogg Café's Nick Lieto, or perhaps Marianne Faithful. It's unique, diverse, and very powerful. Then there is the man that I somehow felt was the understated rock of the band--perhaps its heart as well--maybe even its brains--or, at least, one hemisphere of it: bassist, guitarist, vocalist Cameron Picton ("the Machine" Geordie kept calling him) who is picking up for the slack left by singer-songwriter Matt Kasniewski-Kelvin who is currently on hiatus due to mental health issues. The man (Cameron) is a master of all he surveys: his full-fret, chorded bass play was like having a second, lower end guitarist on stage (with keyboardist providing many of the deep gut-wrenching thrums of bass-pedal like notes). Matt's songs--which Cameron sang over--are usually more poignant, more serious, more motivated by social-political criticism. And he performs them with such Zen-like full-presence as to command the house. I mean, for example, his song of outrage at the calamity that is the lead-poisoned water of Flint, Michigan (my old home town), entitled "Near DT, MI"--from their 2019 debut album, Schlagenheim--was so powerful--it was the song that brought the mosh pit to life. With the fiery "John L", "953", "Western", "Ducter", and my favorite, "Slow", the band had the audience in the palm of its hand.
     My number one over-arching criticism of the show was the sound; the studio albums contain so much dynamic nuance and soft, sensitive, even spacious passages that were merely drowned out by all systems being volumized to ear-splitting 11s that it really made it difficult to distinguish instruments and voices from within the muddied muddle. Fortunately, there was just enough of the individual songs that I could recognize to keep me engaged--and, of course, there was the entertainment factor: just being in the presence of these five virtuosi--each of which were operating on full-throttle/overdrive at all times was an experience I'll never forget. So, in terms of song recognition, I'd give the concert a cloudy five out of ten. In terms of entertainment and enjoyability (I danced quite a bit--perhaps the only 40+ geezer in the audience to do so) it was a nine. In terms of impressivity, it was a ten out of ten: this is a band on fire, a band with incredible creativity that is supported by their Mahavishnu/Crimsonian-like goals--and the musicianship to back it up.
    As a side note, the warm-up band for the show was a five-member "mystic" experimental sound band from Brooklyn called L'Rain. They were excellent, performing six fascinating songs that seemed to all blend into one another creating a kind of 21st Century "abrasive ambient" soundscape ("a beautiful mess")--one that used incredibly distorted effects and loops and squeals and screams and keyboard thrums and saxophone blasts within which one incredibly talented and creative drummer (Buz Donald) performed a mesmerizing act of creating time while never using constant or straightforward time to orchestrate his own patterns. Though not what I'd ever call "dance music," by concert's end, as I was listening to a kind of King Crimsonian 21st Century schizoid version of "The Great Gig in the Sky" (the lead vocalist and band leader is a woman, Taja Cheek), I was swaying as if moved from the inside-out by some cosmic gravitational rhythmic force. It was a wonderful set from a band I will definitely be on the watch for (and truly deserves to be admitted into the PA database). 




Edited by BrufordFreak - October 13 2021 at 08:40
Drew Fisher
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nogbad_The_Bad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 13 2021 at 08:19
Thanks for the review. I'm seeing them on Monday in Cambridge. I was already excited and you've just amped me up some more. I'll make sure I bring my earplugs.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gentle and Giant Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 13 2021 at 12:43
Great review thanks BF. I've been watching some of their recent concert videos on Youtube (normally posted on Reddit: r/bmbmbm) and they are something to behold. I liked your review for Cavalcade as well - I agree with pretty much everything. Cavalcade is far and away my album of 2021 (maybe even this century so far).
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BrufordFreak Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 13 2021 at 13:37
Originally posted by Nogbad_The_Bad Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

Thanks for the review. I'm seeing them on Monday in Cambridge. I was already excited and you've just amped me up some more. I'll make sure I bring my earplugs.

Even though the soundscape was muddied it wasn't overly loud. (I never had pain ringing--even on the drive home from the venue. Just a pleasant afterglow.)


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saperlipopette! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 13 2021 at 13:39
Great, thanks! - I saw them in 2019 and they were awesome. Looking wery much forward to see them again soon
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nogbad_The_Bad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 13 2021 at 14:06
Originally posted by BrufordFreak BrufordFreak wrote:

Originally posted by Nogbad_The_Bad Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

Thanks for the review. I'm seeing them on Monday in Cambridge. I was already excited and you've just amped me up some more. I'll make sure I bring my earplugs.


Even though the soundscape was muddied it wasn't overly loud. (I never had pain ringing--even on the drive home from the venue. Just a pleasant afterglow.)




I use ear.plugs at jazz shows
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https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/
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