Fennesz - Venice

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i have been listening to venice (my first fennesz cd) a lot yesterday and today. somehow it really makes me think of wagner. quite heavy and wafting like the fog on a lake in the alps in autumn. that is not per se bad but a little bit frightening, i find. and david sylvian of course fits perfectly into this picture. his drawling is so artificial and unnatural. as is fennesz laptop music. which isn't bad per se neither. it does marry glitch noise and melodic beauty quite amazingly. i can understand that it takes him years to make a new album.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Saturday, 15 May 2004 15:41 (twenty years ago) link

listening to it for the first real time (ie. not at night while in bed) right now, and I don't see why some don't like it. It's very good. Also, I feel kinda sorry for anyone who missed him with Keith Rowe at Tonic last night who wanted to go. It was fucking awesome, but ridiculously packed - the line to get in was the biggest I've seen there (and almost stretched to Delancey!).

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 13:14 (twenty years ago) link

i listened to it again last night while i was doing some work, actually in circumstances not unlike ha stencil's (ie i wasn't in bed or dozing off), and yeah i was really feeling it too. the singing still scared the shit out of me though!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 May 2004 13:19 (twenty years ago) link

He also played with Rowe at a festival in Quebec over the weekend (as well as a separate solo set), but no other Canadian dates (to my knowledge). Bastards.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 28 May 2004 13:27 (twenty years ago) link

yeah he played a couple of gigs at victo. my friend who also performed said he was a real prick

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 May 2004 13:29 (twenty years ago) link

I missed him a month ago here in Prague, playing with Jelinek...

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Friday, 28 May 2004 13:39 (twenty years ago) link

hstencil, I envy your having seen the show last night; I procrastinated endlessly on picking up a ticket and thought about just heading over and taking my chances but figured I'd get shut out. Anyway, what's his live setup like? Most of the pictures I've seen suggest that his performance is solidly PowerBook-based; were there any real-time guitarisms on display? I'm of two minds about whether seeing him with a guitar would heighten the defamiliarization effects of the records or just lift the veil a tad too high.

Has Fennesz ever been on a bill with Kevin Drumm? I find these guys an interesting study in microcontrasts and seeing them in the same room would be interesting.

― rasheed wallace, Friday, 28 May 2004 13:58 (twenty years ago) link

yeah he played guitar, which was interesting because I've seen him two other times and he didn't do that. In addition to the powerbook he's also got this big, custom-made distortion box that sounds pretty great. (I saw all this from far away - fortunately I'm not nerdy enough to go up on stage and check out equipment after sets LIKE MANY OF THE NERDS IN ATTENDANCE LAST NIGHT.) Sets by all were great, but Fennesz's solo in particular struck me by how "techno" it was (in a non-obvious way). My head was bobbing/body felt like dancing at numerous points in the set (and it's a testament to the overall lameness of the Tonic crowd that there were few having the same response). Hell at one point for about 20 seconds it sounded like he was going to segue into a gabba track!

To my knowledge, Fennesz and Kevin have never played together in the States (not that I can remember anyway), but I would be surprised if they haven't played on bills together in Europe. Kevin's recent semi-retirement is kind of a bummer.

Also, Sylvain track just came on, and the haters are nuts! This is great!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:11 (twenty years ago) link

great and scary

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:23 (twenty years ago) link

not as scary as "Farmer in the City" but still good.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:24 (twenty years ago) link

which btw slocki do you have much Scott Walker, esp. later stuff? If you don't, you should, I think you'd like it a lot.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:24 (twenty years ago) link

Thanks stence. Agreed about the Sylvain track; in many ways it jibes with his somewhat cinematic tendencies -- hearing a voice come in late in the wash of the album is not unlike being jolted by a jarring image or plot twist in Godard or Hitchcock. And then you're sort of placidly returned into the flow of things. As album sequencing I think it's pretty damn brilliant.

― rasheed wallace, Friday, 28 May 2004 14:26 (twenty years ago) link

i have like NO scott walker, it is a big hole in my music! i am wildly open to recommendations though!

also rasheed otm

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:29 (twenty years ago) link

Still good indeed. Did I link my review in the Seattle Weekly, I can't remember. Probably my album of the year at this point based on how often I've listened to it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:35 (twenty years ago) link

link away monsignor ned

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:36 (twenty years ago) link

i'm really looking forward to hearing this on the airplane next week

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:43 (twenty years ago) link

Huzzah, but I should note the vast superiority of our own Strongo's ReMarc review right before it. And a very good album that is too.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:44 (twenty years ago) link

Slocki based on the Sylvain track alone you need Walker's Tilt and Climate of Hunter. Buy them immediately.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:46 (twenty years ago) link

sir yes sir!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:50 (twenty years ago) link

Has Fennesz ever been on a bill with Kevin Drumm? I find these guys an interesting study in microcontrasts and seeing them in the same room would be interesting.

ATP LA 2002 had Pita and Kevin Drumm but not Fennesz.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:07 (twenty years ago) link

both solo sets made me forget the dense/intense packing of Tonic. wonderful gushing rushes and peaking plateaus by both gentlemen.
I'm still not sold on the duo though, and last night's low rattle didn't exactly send me running back to the Erst disc.

― jean jeudi, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:21 (twenty years ago) link

I like the disc better than their set last night, yeah, although the latter did have some okay spots. Mostly surprised at how quiet it was.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:23 (twenty years ago) link

i couldn't get into the disc at all. after such solo dynamic sets (not only in loudness, but in shape and movement), they seemed way too stolid and unengaging. i thought the set (unf.) reflected the same hesitancy of the disc. l
ary 7's set-up downstairs killed me though.

― jean jeudi, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

also I hope you weren't one of those equipment NERDS!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

didn't see the downstairs stuff but I could sure hear it!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

kevin's semi-retirement?

click here!

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:28 (twenty years ago) link

dude gygax! that might be the only shows he's played all year! he went back to his day job!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:32 (twenty years ago) link

(in Ogre voice) NERRRRRRDS!
lary's set-up would make techs projectile vomit.
imagine the stuffed animal tower at 6th and B (at least in the spirit of).
there was also an enormous amplified piece of sheet metal with a toothbrush and about six other things dangling off it. a tricked out record player where you could wingnut the record down and really let 'er rip at 78+. xmas lights galore and lots of whirlybird speakers too. lary himself jerry-rigging it all so that it can 'work' seals the deal.

― jean jeudi, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:33 (twenty years ago) link

(in Ogre voice) NERRRRRRDS!

that's what Mio and I yelled last night towards the stage after Fennesz's set, actually.

damn wish I went downstairs now.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:35 (twenty years ago) link

Strap all lary's stuff on a bike and .... look out

― rasheed wallace, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:38 (twenty years ago) link

gygax! why do you think Kevin didn't play No Fun?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:39 (twenty years ago) link

jock itch

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:47 (twenty years ago) link

WRONGO fake strongo!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:48 (twenty years ago) link

all right i give up, spill the beans.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:52 (twenty years ago) link

I already told you upthread, doofus!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:56 (twenty years ago) link

oh. you got me there, bucko.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 28 May 2004 16:11 (twenty years ago) link

So what's Drumm's day job? I reckon there's a thread on musician's day jobs kicking around somewhere ...

― rasheed wallace, Friday, 28 May 2004 16:12 (twenty years ago) link

I think when I asked Carlos why Kevin wasn't on the bill he told me "he couldn't get off work" or something like that.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 16:12 (twenty years ago) link

he works at a major midwestern financial institution.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 16:12 (twenty years ago) link

HOT SNAKES tour when rick accrues vacation time.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 28 May 2004 16:14 (twenty years ago) link

Ironies! I slave for a place that follows major financial institutions. ... Assuredly there's a high percentage of record-store toilers in the musician ranks; also probably lots of paralegals, freelance designers, journalists, etc. I always thinks it interesting to find out what folks do to pay the billz.

― rasheed wallace, Friday, 28 May 2004 16:18 (twenty years ago) link

HOT SNAKES tour when rick accrues vacation time.

I didn't see Rick at Jeff's photo opening last night. : (

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 16:18 (twenty years ago) link

when I lived in Chicago I worked at a major financial institution (tho not midwestern) across the street from where Kevin works.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 16:19 (twenty years ago) link

Isn't someone from Gang of Four a big-time engineer at Intel now? Remember hearing something like this years ago but of course it could be false.

― rasheed wallace (rasheed wallace), Friday, 28 May 2004 16:25 (twenty years ago) link

actually, Kevin is back playing, at least sporadically. he did some shows in Europe this past month, at least one of which I heard was surprisingly mellow.

― jon abbey, Friday, 28 May 2004 17:33 (twenty years ago) link

oh hey Erstwhile dude! great job on the show last night.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 17:41 (twenty years ago) link

thanks, man, glad you enjoyed it. it was too bad we had to turn so many people away.

for me and Keith, it was a really great epilogue in many ways to the AMPLIFY festival we started in Cologne about three weeks ago, I've seen him perform seventeen times since then, including the two last night, and Fennesz twelve times (six in Cologne, two in Berlin, two in Boston, two last night, three of those solo and nine collaborative).

I can see why some people find the LU record a bit disappointing. it's a live recording, not something that was carefully worked on in the studio, selected, and ordered like most other recent Ersts. we tried to blunt expectations a bit with the title. I think once you get past your own preconceptions, that it's a nice addition to both musician's discographies, though, it's 180 degrees away from Venice, for instance, I'm glad I put it out. I'm going to do a quartet record of Keith, Christian, Oren Ambarchi, and Toshi Nakamura, the "Four Gentlemen of the Guitar", who premiered in Berlin two weeks ago, played Victo last weekend, and do a series of shows in France and Spain over the next couple of weeks. we should have lots of recordings to choose from, that one should be a killer, not sure when it will emerge.

― jon abbey, Friday, 28 May 2004 17:52 (twenty years ago) link

jon- are keith/fennesz playing in the UK jon?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 28 May 2004 18:00 (twenty years ago) link

nope, no more duo shows are scheduled. the only three they've ever done are the one on LU and the two this week in Boston/NYC. the duos did dovetail nicely with the recent CD release, but if Oren and Toshi hadn't made a prior commitment to a show in Amsterdam, these shows would have likely been "Four Gentlemen" shows also.

― jon abbey, Friday, 28 May 2004 18:03 (twenty years ago) link

should've been answered "Julio no Julio" but Jon's too nice.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 18:07 (twenty years ago) link

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