Re: takemura

[Jesse Kudler <jkudler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> re: Nobukazu Takemura, NYC 11-27-99.  what was with all the breakbeats???
> or, for that matter, the painfully twee bossa-pop numbers? some sublime
> moments - especially the Issey Miyake variations - but a lot of gibbery
> fm/"Taw"-style filler. pretty satisfying overall. way laptop. aside from
> Takemura's dapper duds and the cute Aki, not much to keep the eyes
occupied.

How long did he play in NYC?  I was pretty dissappointed by the only 45
minutes he played in Boston, particularly after driving 2 hours.  I couldn't
tell if it was his standard set or if it was in response to the very small
pre-Thanksgiving crowd and the fairly talkative audience (which I admit
being somewhat a party to, but I was nowhere near as bad as the *really*
loud guys in back).

Music-wise, it was very nice.  The first piece was amazing and new to these
ears (though it may have been released on one of the Japanese releases that
I don't have).  He looped Aki's voice and subtly pitch-shifted it to create
a really nice close-interval drone that also seemed to have some stereo
stuff going on, though it was hard to tell in the club.  I don't remember
any breakbeats or "Taw" type stuff, but I wouldn't have minded the latter.

RE: laptops and visual stimulation.  This was I think my first all-laptop
(and assorted mixers, etc) show (hey, I live in Conn., we don't get much of
that stuff around here), and I ended up discussing with someone else there
how the performative aspects could've been better.  I would have really
appreciated some couches or somewhere to sit at least, so I could close my
eyes and just listen.  Alternately, I though Takemura could have put his
back to the audience so we could at least see what he was doing and what was
displayed on the three (!) laptops he had.  Or he maybe could've just played
loud enough to really take over the room (see aforementioned talkers).

It was interesting that his setup seemed to actively downplay the visual
component, at leas as far as I could tell.  He was buried behind a lot of
equipment that was stacked vertically, making it hard to see him.  He was
also all the way at the back of the stage, and Aki was way back there too,
standing really still behind two microphones, so close to them that you
couldn't tell when her mouth was moving.

-Jesse

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