Gaslamp Killer in Baker Place Saturday November 15th
(above image by Keith headbangbang)
Gaslamp killer is playing in Baker place tonight. He is being promoted by the kerrynini boys who sucessfully fly the flag for these modern sounds having previously helped to deliver Daedelus to Limerick. Tonights attraction represents the new sound of what used to be comfortably called street. As an update this American representative looks edgy,hip and ticks all what used to be called backpacker boxes with his dramatic digital take on funk zeros and ones. Those in the know here tonight circumnavigate the planet Madlib as a bowdown reference and those who don’t know trust the Kerrynini brand which explains the healthy mix of boys and girls here.
Madlib seems to have generated and popularised the off kilter beat aesthetic of the outsider which has found a headphone home with predominantly young white males. These ‘beloved by advertisers’ individuals who like their Hip hop crisp as a dickies shirt but often find the lineage of the various stages of hiphop constraining unless they come comfortably packaged as nostalgia, seem to gravitate to artists like Madlib and the Gaslamp Killer, feeling them as uncompromising underground beatmakers. Generational music always throws up the romantic image of the outsider in some shape or form.
As with Daedalus and Mike Slott recently, the single white guy on stage conjuring noise from an electronic box seems to have become the seasons active image. Gone it seems at present is the package of the intense turntablist augmented with the poet mc previously encountered here gigwise. Another sign of change is the boundary blurring of progressive ‘indie’ acts with the rise of sound design performance that Limerick has experienced in the last two years. These happenings reinforce the primacy of an artist or groups specific performance at a specific time in a designated space.
Rather than replicating some recorded artefact or touring a hit album the new experience is instead ‘the thing’. Unfamiliarity is now a selling factor – not knowing what to expect is important. In fact a more realistic and respective description of the current generation is of curious youth youtubed and open to sounds and performances undictated by gerne or trends and who make the effort to attend. I felt the ground work and attendance done in spaces like Dagdha, The Belltable and other spots did contribute to the success of tonights gig. Everybody's abstract now!
Gaslamp killer takes the stage in Bakers rocking an intense afro that echos the projected image of Jesse Jackson behind him. He puts on a psych Hendrix track and proceeds to limber up behind the decks willing himself into character. This seems initially to alienate the audience as he physically develops into a bugged out freaky Manson lookalike over the guitar fuzz . What is interesting tonight is the commitment of delivering his music via these crazy shapes in character. If it is unfamiliar and uncompromising you are presented with the opportunity to watch the killer visually interpret the sound for you, then you may choose to respond. A Wiggles exercise without the Aussie fellers and the car if you like. It also demonstrates that challenging contemporary dj music can be rolled out as theatre on occasion.
Slabs of sound were shamanistically offered on the altar. A buzz spreads, willing the event as a performance that unites crowd and artist. His second track, a dubstepy electro work out quickly consolidated the event as a gig. He is now well into twisting and turning, mimicking the sounds and making tearing shapes with his hands, offering the youth participating shapes and sharing the kool-aid chalice .By the third track the artist and crowd are one. He's tight now, working a laptop and record set up scratching shouting and subliminally hypnotising the room with the new sound, teasing it into existence. Word is that the previous gig in Dublin had just 4 people in the audience so the man had some extra energy to commit to Limerick. Theres a set of drums in front of the stage to which the killer sat down to after finishing and lashed off a brief breakbeat set underpinning his command of chunks of rhythm.
If it takes a depiction of a deranged yoga class to bridge the unfamiliarity of a well programmed mix of intense electronica and future club attitude then by all means preach on Brother Gaslamp. My Introduction to this new sound was very much aided by the atmosphere generated by the friendly all age crowd. There was an element of a positive rally for music change was in the air, testifying for the Kerrynini agenda of course.
If I had taken my Video camera the above words would perhaps not be necessary. Afterwards I was aware that I could not see myself listening to a mix of this sound outside the environment that I had enjoyed it in tonight. It is an upfront electronic sound that in its rigour asks a lot of a listener outside a club. On a musical level tonight I found that the abstract possibilities in the tracks selected,though intensely delivered, seemed to be corralled and sacrificed for an attention seeking noise effect as a transition was called for. Yet these transitional scratch patterns were in themselves entropic art points so where does it start and where does it end? These were performance necessities and any thoughts I have on this are reflections on the rapid digital process that simultaneously encompasses the act of creation and disposability as a lateral strategy rather than any question of taste or appreciation (see PCs review of Mike Slott re the usb story).
This is Contemporary stuff and with that there must be repositioning involved. The first Drum and Bass gigs in Ireland necessitated similar inquiry. Critical language formulated at that time invoked the terminology of Jazz to map Drum n bass's freeform intensity. A Similar jazzy dictionary of ‘experimentation’ (in the live arena) versus an ‘artifact’ (the record) is already being strung around these electronic box guys signifying a movement in the offing. In that context tonights starting with Hendrix and finishing with a snippet of a track from Shadows ‘Entroducing’ spoke volumes as well. If this sound does go overground the Killer knows his standing within it.
Paul Tarpey
PS Next Kerrynini gig takes place in the Pery downstairs on saturday 5th December with hideous penguin , t-woc and more. Full details here
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