Nurse With Wound are playing one of their rare live performances since they formed, which was around the point in time I was born. NWW has been a big music thing for me over the past four or five years, from the point when Mr. 515 kindly provided me with a burn of the Funeral Music for Perez Prez Prado. Yes, that is the same guy who did that music that was on the Guinness advert. No, that doesn’t mean that NWW is jaunty and pleasant in a similar way. Anything but. NWW are part of the England’s Hidden Reverse progression of Industrial bands that continued onward from the early 1980s point of the movement (see also Coil
and Current 93, who’s David Tibet is performing as part of NWW at this show), with each band progressing to a thoroughly unique sound and style. From buying Salt Marie Celeste (think one track of haunted ship music) on release, I have ended up with a shelf full on NWW and a whole load more of material from the infamous list. This, in turn, led to drone’s being one of my great loves in music, with La Monte Young becoming a (very expensive) interest for a while. In events that resulted in Ms Soliloquous insisting on putting a stop to “this type of thing”, my Buddha Machine was met by incongruous interrogation by the American Airlines bomb inspection squad during the summer. Apparently, a green Japanese loop-drone box does not make any sense to them and apparently looks a little along the lines of an exploding thing. Dear reader, my relationship nearly ended on the eve of a holiday staying with her parents, and all due to the drone. On a similar tip, Nurse With Wound have been the root cause of the largest number of my DJing confrontations with clubbers. For a good while I played Salt Marie Celeste at near full whack for the first hour in the back room of an indie club I played at with a like minded cohort. It was sonic experimentation with the set up (other weeks it was Can, Neu!, Funkadelic and others), but the indie kids most definitely hated on the Wound. Beyond all expectations, teenage libertine fan-boys and girls can pull a rude face when confronted with some sounds they cannot comprehend.
In other news (the other two gigs), Throbbing Gristle are playing the Tate Modern Turbine Hall! This is going to be crazy. I missed the aborted ATP / transferred to Astoria reformation show, so this – plus the fact they are going back into the studio – is compensation. I can’t reason to go to the recording sessions (tickets are available), but a Turbine hall gig fits so well with the whole TG history that it will be special. Assuming many of you have little experience of the Tate Modern, it is the old Bankside Power Station, and is a typical post war architectural design of a purely industrial building, a kind that has developed a strange beauty in modern times that it certainly was never seen in years ago. Not as splendid in beauty as its river neighbour, Battersea (also designed by Gilbert Scott), Bankside was purchased by one of Britain’s largest art collections to house its modern art collection, with the more traditional Tate Britain (read – looks like an art gallery) down river finally being freed to host its more traditional displays. Sat on the South Bank of the Thames, the power station was bought for a song when the Southbank was an area of incredible dilapidation, London’s infamous cardboard city. Over the past ten years the southbank has improved incredibly, with the regeneration of the Oxo tower, reconstruction of the Globe Theatre and the millennium bridge providing access to the City on the North side of the river.
With derelict and dilapidated industrial buildings quite common in major cities, turning a power station into a modern art gallery was a move of great vision and beautiful imagery. One can only hope that the future development of Battersea can treat the building to such a magnificent, respectful afterlife. The industrial setting for the band is perfect, though you do have to wonder how a 100ft ceiling and concrete walls is going to affect the sound. Bruce Nauman’s sound exhibition there (another part of the Unilever series) was really underwhelming, and I couldn’t help but think it was partly the acoustics. The Turbine Hall has been used for some great successes in the Unilever series –Carsten Höller's current display of slides
using the height, Rachel Whiteread filling the cavernous space with numerous towers of white boxes
(still undecided as whether this was a play on Tate). By far the most successful was the Weather Project (below) by Olafur Eliasson - truly magnificent, something to be seen to be believed. I, as did many, spent lengths of time sat in there, just reading papers in the strange captivating light and warmth created. What is certain is that, given the artistic history of the foundations of Throbbing Gristle, the location has proven an opportunity impossible for them to refuse to play.
The third gig - Einstürzende Neubauten is playing in April, which is exciting news in this themed resurrection of all things Industrial. I celebrated by listening to Drawing of Patients and some of kollaps on the way to the office. I can’t help but wonder if anyone else on my train was doing similar, though I find it extremely doubtful. More London commuters should engage in this – I hear far too much dire music sneaking out of crappy ipod headphones on trains. I used to enjoy the journey as a live field recording experiment, but the leaking sound has now resulted in me joining the pack of i-pod heads. For a person of my disposition of record buying this is hardly a revelatory move, I suppose. And before you ask reader, of course I use sound deadening and isolating headphones. I am a music snob, after all.
Oh, in music with Ms Soliloquous, LCD Soundsystem is only a fortnight or so away. As far as I know, it hasn’t sold out yet, which can only go to prove that the album leak hasn’t gone as far as some feared at first. LCD’s forthcoming album will be one of the albums of the year, without a doubt. It certainly seems to getting frequent plays around our way. I am interested to see them live again now they have, like, enough material to play a fun live set where they can mix it up a bit. A few years ago there were only x songs, and they were going to have to play them all, give or take. Now, hopefully they can enjoy it all a whole lot more.
For readers wanting to read about A, 2, and Z schools – this will be one brief foray (for this week at least) into Industrial music, I promise. Maybe see these as the easiest way you can identify me in future. Unless business schools are rammed full of music freaks, this should not prove difficult at all.
As I am clearly flying off theme, it was brought to my attention that Big Fat Jan Ullrich has retired from professional cycling. Whether this is because he is fearful that next time there is a drug bust they will catch him proper, whether he believes his worth is somewhat greater than what teams are prepared to pay for him. All the same, I will miss him. With Landis already looking out of le Tour, it opens up the scene for Basso to come back in some spectacular fashion and try and disprove his own drug cheat tale. I will have to try and get better focus on this, considering the Tour comes to London
this year. If I am anywhere near fit enough, I might have a go at getting a place on the stage 1 preview ride. Considering I got a stitch in Richmond Park this weekend, it is unlikely.
Oh, and Nigel Slater had a calamari recipe in this Observer Food Monthly this month. Not exactly something I can do at home when I get my hands on a colossal squid, but at least keeping the squid theme rolling. I feel a name change for this blog in the water.
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