Glenn Branca's Symphonies

May.16, 2016Masonic Hall; NY, NY

OBSERVATIONS:
A crack team of (mostly) young guitarists was assembled to lend new voice to Glenn Branca's monstrous guitar symphonies (half of Symphony no.8, and Symphonies nos.10 & 12, to be exact). It should be telling that about a third of the ensemble hails from today's avant metal scene. 

Branca's work operates best at intense volumes. It's focus is on harmonics and overtones, and it takes brute force to get those hidden elements to really sing. Each of the guitars is precisely tuned to fill out a specific role in the choir, and when things really get humming, ghostly voices start emerging from the din. I couldn't help but try and pin down which player these swoops were emerging from, but to my surprise, it was no one. It was the strange meeting of all the composite harmonic parts and the sonic potential of the room itself.

The one part Branca's work that always put me off on was his use of drummers. I get that it tethers the more esoteric portions of the work back to its roots as a scuzzy rock-n-roll beast, but it often feels too leaden for the unholy racket. Either Greg Fox is just a much better, more dynamic drummer than his predecessors or it works live in a way that hasn't translated to record well. Fox was the pulsing heart each piece, pushing the work further and higher, and not simply a dull metronome keeping time with plodding, martial rhythms.

NOTES: Mick Barr; Ben Greenburg; Arad Evans; Fabi Reyna; Hayley Fohr; Reg Bloor; Ben Greenburg; Hunter Hunt-Hendrix; Randy Randall; Justin Frye; Greg Fox
PRESENT: AMS

Patio Stations 8

An annual Memorial Day barbecue mix.

Nat King Cole Trio featuring Ida James: Hit that Jive, Jack
Bim Sherman: Sit and Wonder
The Meters: Ease Back
Bly de Blyant: Laura
!!!: Lucy Mongoosey
Joe Goddard: Taking Over
A Certain Ratio: Good Together
µ-Ziq: Die Tomorrow
Eno • Hyde: Time to Waste It
JPS Experience: Block
Psycho and the Birds: She Tears Out
Galaxie 500: Crazy
The Clean: I Wait Around
Built to Spill: Else
Eric Bachmann: Separation Fright
Steve Gunn: Drifter
Sonic Youth: Personality Crisis
Blank Realm: Dream Date
Bonnie Prince Billy & Bitchin' Bajas: Your Hard Work Is About to Pay Off, Keep On Keepin' On
Castanets: Tell Them Memphis
Mark Barrott: Go Berri, Be Happy
Saint Etienne: London Belongs to Me (Richard X retouch)
Lætitia Sadier: Un Soir, Un Chien
Chet Faker: Cigarettes and Loneliness
Mac McCaughan: Wet Leaves
Kendra Smith: Waiting in the Rain
Future Pilot AKA: Witchi Tai To
Thao and the Get Down Stay Down: Give Me Peace
Hecta: We Are Glistening
The Declining Winter: Ruined Landscape Days
Greg Gives Peter Space: The Drive
Paul Simon: Think too Much
Tape: Eagle Miaows