Last Night Everything Out of Place
posted by on January 11 at 10:50 AM
Last night at Town Hall was one of those events pairing classical music (read: serious art) with popular music (read: common entertainment). The music in question was Olivier Messiaen’s “Quatour pour la fin du temps” (apparently a favorite of Radiohead’s and, according to Jen Graves, a bit of a cliche), Dan Visconti’s “Fractured Jams,” and selected works of Radiohead.
This was only my second visit to Town Hall (the last time was for another Joshua Roman joint), and I’m still kind of impressed by the very otherness of the experience. Everyone is so orderly and quiet and old and white (maybe a little less so on all counts last night). The biggest disruption is someone’s cell phone audibly interrupting the music. It’s all very different from, say, the Comet Tavern or Sing Sing.
Probably the single most disorienting thing about the concert experience is the silence. In that big chamber, with (for most of the night) acoustic instruments, the audience’s silence plays a huge part in the sound. At an amplified rock concert the sound blasts out of speakers, vibrates up from the ground, envelops you like a blanket; here, you’re surrounded by silence as much as you are by sound.
I’ll admit I was completely without critical footing for Messiaen. The quartet—Joshua Roman on cello, Grace Fong on piano, Amy Iwazumi on violin, Bill Kalinkos (a member of the Aphex Twin-covering ensemble Alarm Will Sound) on clarinet—played beautifully, trading solos, weaving up and down scales, clashing dissonantly, but I kind of tranced out. I’m told this is an appropriate response to the piece.
Visconti’s jams were equally foreign for me, like some kind of vaudevillian slapstick with unrecognizable gags. Kalinkos would blow toneless wind through his clarinet, Roman and Fong would examine their instruments quizzically, and so on. Only “Kaleidoscope Rag,” a sort of record scratched ragtime made immediate sense. Reading the program now, I can sort of see Visconti’s references to Spinal Tap, barnyard animals, and wind-up toys.
Finally, there was Radiohead. After some protracted setting up (microphones had to be used to compensate for the presence of a drummer on some songs and to allow vocals from Roman, Kalinkos, and Sarah Rudinoff), someone shouted “Ok” from the back of the room, and the band launched into a gorgeous quartet rendition of “Street Spirit (Fade Out).” For “Everything in its Right Place,” Roman and Fong switched places (this little pun was fucking hilarious to the Town Hall crowd). For “Optimist,” the quartet was joined by Rudinoff, Doug Marrapodi on drums, and “Awesome“‘s John Osebold on guitar. An older guy a couple rows in front of me started nodding his head, quietly rocking out (later a friend tells me that he saw an older gentleman sleeping through much of the Radiohead; several people trickle out during the Radiohead section).
It has to be said: Though a gifted vocalist, Rudinoff is totally wrong for Radiohead. Thom Yorke has a rather limited range of whimpers, falsettos, and growls, but the way he plays with that idiosyncratic voice is genius. Rudinoff, with her (classically-trained?), big, brassy pipes was an odd fit. Where Yorke would mumble or trail off, she would annunciate; where he would crack and whine, she would practically scat.
Still, there was something dorky and triumphant about the set. On numbers like “Idiotheque,” where Radiohead’s Kaoss Pad percussion was replaced by organic drumming, and “Paranoid Android,” you could see exactly how stoked Roman was to be playing these songs. He was shredding, smiling, lost in a rock star moment. Osebold busted out the theremin for a song, and there’s just no overstating the otherworldly cool of that instrument. The band encored with “Pyramid Song,” with Roman on piano and beautifully restrained vocals. Afterwards, but before the polite applause, one enthusiastic “Woo!” echoed through the hall. Classic.
So you're saying Rudinoff was off?
She sort of ruined it for me. The songs w/o her singing were pretty great, but her brassiness just wasn't the right fit. Maybe I'm too close to the source material, but I couldn't listen w/o gagging a little every time she over-enunciated the lyrics...
I just figured she was doing this (presumably with Josh's blessing or even direction), simply so that the oldsters in the audience not familiar with Radiohead would be able to understand the lyrics a little better.
And Eric, that's the first time I've ever heard anyone refer to Sarah as "classically trained", is that a fact, a supposition, or just an observation based on the fact she can kick it out like nobody else, so of course she MUST have been "trained" to do that?
Oh, and while the position change on "Everything..." certainly garnered some audible chuckles from the audience, characterizing it as "fucking hilarious" would be, in my estimation, an overstatement.
I suppose I supposed, COMTE. If no one else trained her to kick it like that, then she certainly keeps her voice trained on her own. Hers is no casual belting.
I totally agree w/ you and the above comments that Sarah, while obviously talented, was a poor match. When Josh sang that last song, my soul let out a grateful sigh - he should have been doing the vocals all along (if he could have pulled it off whilst playing his cello - a lot to ask I suppose).
and yes, Compte, 'chuckles' way more accurate than 'fucking hilarious' in describing the crowd's response to the position switch.
Right on w/ the 'otherness' observation. I was wondering if the Seattle crowd would ruin yet another supposed-to-be-quiet non-rock concert setting, but the silence was beautiful and appropriate.
Totally right about Josh singing that last song and wishing he'd been on vocals the whole time. That was gorgeous.
whoever reviewed this show by using the words "self-indulgent and unrehearsed" had to have overheard me saying the same thing to a friend at a bar afterwards. of course, i did come in late, missing the pre-intermission set. the beginning notes of each radiohead song quickened my pulse, and then i was horribly let down by the fourth bar every time. even the theremin player hit only wrong notes. oh, and that was my cell phone. fucking embarrassing.
I think this reviewer kinda missed the point as much as the Times classical critic (who griped about it all). Roman is trying to bridge the gap between classical and non-classical audiences, and that seems like a pretty big divide at times, even in this supposedly eclectic-minded town. I play classical music but mostly listen to other stuff (including Radiohead) so I appreciated his effort to this end, if not always its results. Maybe if even a few folks kept their minds and ears open and appreciated something that was new for them, then it can be considered that he succeeded.
Gawd i like and will mis this town o C.Attle. I get giddy nice feeling everytime I see one of those massive In Rainbows posters. My smarmy inclination is to wish they are plastered over each Law Office, Condo Banner Advert, and The Stranger newsboxes in town.
Oh well, Everything Is In It's Right Place! Sheesh that song has strange timing, a devil to play note for note. 5/4?7/4?6/5? who cares, they are are modern masters; it likely comes more naturally for zem
yeah, a little is Out of Place E-Krecs-G,
Oh classic gentlemen
Say your prayers
To the wind, of prostitution
To your faces, and Rex complexes
Riddle my breast
Full of the oppressed puss
Oh gentlemen, with your fish
The you surround, all around
And you man, will always point
Your fishes, at me
But I will always exist
Because I always exist
Damn good too
The rat race begins
The fat face stings
I hold the fresh pink baby
With a smile
I slice off those rosy cheeks
Because I feel so thirsty
And Oedipus Rex complexes
...riddle my closed bloated breast
-bauhaus The Sky's Gone Out
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