Okay, we've already covered Thursday, Day One of Big Ears 2025, our so-called Pitchfork Day. Friday, Day Two, started with the Nels Cline Singers, but we've also already discussed them here, and after Nels, we hiked over to the Knoxville Civic Auditorium for the Sun Ra Arkestra with Yo La Tengo, which we also already talked about as part of Pitchfork Day.
The Civic Auditorium is a little off the beaten path for other other Big Ears venues, but the First Presbyterian Church (the festival uses a lot of churches in town as venues) is on the way back from the KCA to the other venues. There, we saw musician Thor Harris perform two extended compositions, one solo and one in ensemble.
His solo piece started with him on keyboard riffing on some post-minimalist figures. He looped and overdubbed some of the figures, and once he was happy with the result, played clarinet over the loops. Harris is primarily known as a percussionist (Shearwater, Swans) but those of us familiar with his solo work and as Thor & Friends were in familiar territory. Here's a recent (April 2, 2025) sample that wasn't what he was playing at First Presbyterian but does capture the vibe and spirit of his first composition at Big Ears.
After that was over, Thor invited his friends from the band Water Damage, including Marissa Anderson, Mari Maurice (more eaze), Nate Cross, Jeff and Greg Piwonka, on stage with him to perform what wasn't quite an acoustic version of Water Damage's louder electric sets, but only slightly electrified. This was a rare treat as I don't think they've yet recorded anything acoustic or even close at this point.
That was Friday. On Saturday night, I got to hear the full-blown, fully electric version of Water Damage with an extended cast including guitarist David Grubbs (Gastr del Sol) and Kramer (Squanderers). In all, I counted at least 13 musicians on stage, including Thor on some homebuilt stringed instrument, two drummers, a violin, and a whole lot of electric guitars. For once, I was glad that I brought earplugs because they were LOUD.
They didn't start until a few minutes after midnight and played a 45-minute version of Reel 25, which after a long, extended droning intro, is basically one heavy-metal, infinitely repeated riff.
I'll be the first to admit this isn't music for everybody but that's a large part of what I love about Big Ears - if not for me, who else is all this for? The musicians on stage were clearly into it (it takes some real devotion to play a repeating riff for that long). Hilariously, Kramer, apparently realizing that his mandolin, although electrified, couldn't be heard over the sturm und drang of the rest of the band, pantomimed playing his mandolin behind his back and over his head, a la Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight.
Those around me by the rail at the intimate Standard venue were clearly having a blast as well, but I understood that many in the back of the room didn't last until the end and even some outside waiting to get in eventually gave up and went home without entry when they realized that, yes, it will be that one riff for the entire set. As Pitchfork described them in a review of their album In E,
Forget music that makes you feel no pain. What about music that makes you feel like nothing at all, that pushes and pulverizes you until every woe, hope, and worry disappears like dust? That is the marvelous strength of Water Damage, an amorphous collective of about a dozen Austin underground heads whose high-volume indulgence in repetition is a force both obliterative and purifying. They ride the divide between noise and rock, pounding out rhythms like a power trio caught on an eternal trip to nowhere, all beneath feedback streaks and microtonal bleats.
But blah, blah, blah, words and pictures. Here's a video of Water Damage performing Reel Ee from In E live to give you a taste and to close out this post.
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment