By Greggory Moore
“All good things must come to an end.” That’s as true in the East Village as it is anywhere, as {open} will soon be moving about a mile east; and so, as advertised, this was the last show to take place in {open}’s “kitchen” space (a.k.a. the back room). Shea Gauer and {open} have hosted a wide variety of music, but all three acts on this night were located within the electronic part of the sound spectrum.
David Kendall used a laptop and a mixer (or something like that—I’m never sure of what’s what when it comes to this sort of equipment) to launch from a build-up of overlapping low-end chuggings to layers of digital noise, pushing the volume level without ever quite overwhelming the performance space. But I think he might have been better served by dropping the volume a good deal, because—to my ears, at least—this kind of thing at high volume has a repelling quality, whereas the harshness of the sound might be more palatable were it quiet, allowing the listener to be drawn in close to examine its nuances.
French Family Fun is trombonist Tucker flanked by J.P. and Bryan, both on various mixers, signal processors, effects pedals, and the like. Tucker never really “played” but instead put forth whisper-quiet insufflations as sources/triggers for the electronic manipulations of J.P. and Bryan. The result was a bit uneven and sporadic, at times seeming as if perhaps the brass work wasn’t picked up at all, while at others it was turned to compelling effect.
In response to Glenn Bach’s introducing smgsap (Shea M Gauer and Scott A Peterson) by saying they were about to send music in the kitchen space “out with a bang,” Gauer joked that it would be “slow, drawn-out bang,” as smgsap’s music is anything but sudden or jarring. Even if self-interest were the only consideration, one could hardly blame Gauer for choosing to have his own project produce (as he put it in his opening announcement) “the last sounds to resonate in this space”; however, this was a fitting finale, as smgsap—like all the best acts I’ve seen at {open} and in the Dome Room—display unwavering attention to the acoustic space that their sound is filling—something essential when the room is small and full of unorthodox angles and surfaces, when you want the room to work for you and not against you.
Like with most the of smgsap pieces I’ve heard, this was an aural journey that always evokes in me a sort of “plot.” First there was a crepuscule, then a walking descent into the bowels of an ominous machinery whose huge pistons, wheels, and cogs groaned far behind thick metal walls. Eventually we came upon a throbbing mechanized heart of pure energetic pulsation. It changed in front of our eyes, reacting to our presence. We passed through its membrane and out the other side, where the mechanical had been left far behind and there was only an organic breeze of tone and the hidden hesitant scurrying of something alive, watching us, spirits. Finally we drift into nothing, quiet, the end.
{open} will be moving to 2226 E. 4th St. (between Cherry and Junipero, little more than across the street from Portfolio) sometime around April, and Gauer promises a continuation of the tradition of great and varied sound art. Stay on top of things by going to accessopen.com and getting on the mailing list.
Love the article! Great imagry.