[Jandek] Disappointment? vajra/urabe

[Shane Cullinane]

i wouldnt have said vajra sounded like sonic youth. kan mikami seemed to me to be basically a blues man with a great voice. his guitar playing appeared to be limited to playing A minor E minor and something else (B maybe) which he played all night. it worked fine on his own songs but with vajra i found myself wishing he'd leave the guitar to haino and concentrate on the singing which was great. haino seemed to be calling the shots and indulged in a bit too much noodling. there were lengthy strethes where mikami and the drummer played nothing because haino was messing around (im sure he would disagree with that assesment of what he was doing!). however when they got it togther it was really great. i dont have any vajra albums to compare it with but it sounded not unlike some of the double live fushitsusha albums on PSF, the second one in particular, except a bit looser and there was more aimless and pointless guitar noodling. i may be making it sound bad- it wasnt it was really good.
 maybe i'd have been blown away had i not just seen jandek! i havent stopped thinking about it all week!
 
Im not sure what i thought of Masayoshi Urabe. I heard him a couple of years ago in a little pub in Dublin and i really liked it. That time my view of the stage was bloacked and i was going on the sound alone which was fine. this time i was about 2 feet away from him and though i like his playing I didnt like the way he played, all the drama etc. he made me feel like a peeping tom!
 
the main highlight of the weekend for me (apart from Jandek) was Current 93 who were amazing. i know its not everybodys thing but i really felt there was something special happening during their set.
 
shane.

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004, Jonathan Benney wrote:

> On Mon, 18 Oct 2004, Todd Madson wrote:
>
> > RE: Jandek live with established figures:
> > I think the main reason he played with these two known players
> > was because the people on the recordings seem to me to be normal
> > civilian types who he may play with on and off on occasion
> > who may or may not be active players.
>
> Jandek's nothing if not a pragmatist, so why go to the effort of taking
> his church friends all the way to Glasgow? I'm glad he's done this, even

I agree, it's no different than a pick-up band.

BTW, can anybody who was there report on Vajra or Urabe? Well worth
checking out if you're into "outsider" music, them. I don't mean to cast
aspersion on the Herald's integrity, but somehow I doubt that Vajra
sounded like warmed-over Sonic Youth...

-rob

-- 
Janitor From Mars archives and more @ http://www.wfmu.org/~rlim

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