Thurston Moore performed avant garde material on Saturday, 5 July 2008 at Rehab (formerly Club Midway) on the Lower East Side, NYC. In my opinion, this was a study on the acoustics of noise. The cacophony that was created, which lasted for about 45 minutes, consisted of Thurston and X.O.4‘s Bill Nace on guitars, as well as two percussionists from X.O.4, John Truscinski and Jake Meginsky, drumming on kits assembled with metal plates hung by string.
It was interesting to see him set up his own equipment, instead of some roadie. He is, after all, the people’s musician. Perched atop an orange case, he started with the distortion Sonic Youth fans are familiar with. I waited politely for the “song” to finish so I could start snapping pictures during the second song. A few minutes into the buzzing and clanging I realized this was not an intro. This was the beginning of a LONG night. The clinging and clanging reminded me of young boys playing around with pots and pans pretending to be in a band…ironic. After the first song, which lasted for about 20 minutes, the masochist in me was waiting for Thurston to say “Thanks, that was our first song. 9 more to go…” Instead he just started on a new “song”.
I’m not one for the unusual, I like my music to have 3 things: hook, melody, and a beat. This show had NONE. I figured this must be a labour of love to which Mr. Moore should be commended. But at the end of the set, I was confused as hell. What just happened here? I suppose I should’ve done my homework beforehand, but I wanted to see this, because how often do you get to see Thurston Moore in a tiny club whose stage is only 8 inches high?
It was one of those nights where I pondered about the music. I don’t often do that. If I liked it, I was pretentious. If I hated it, Iwas close-minded. Either way…I was fucked. And in case you’re curious, I did not see Kim. Maybe she was in the back with a pair of ear defenders.
The TEAR-N TAN Files 