HW: The Brain (Cleopatra)

[Keith A Henderson]

Bill queries....
>
> The Brain will be at The Knitting Factory in NYC on 8/4 at 9:30. They are
> openning for Cluster. The usual suspects will be there.  Who else is going
> from the list?

Well, I won't be....I just got back late last night from my quick jaunt to
Pittsburgh for this gig.  Here's my review for those primed and ready in the
east...

Cluster/The Brain (w/ Bond Bergland)/Phrase (local Pgh)
@ Synod Hall - Oakland (Pittsburgh), PA 7/31/96

Phrase (8:25 - 9:05)

This was a three-piece ambient (what else?) outfit, that looked for all the
world like a couple of ham radio operators.  They had various synths/audio
generator-types layed out on a large folding table, which they duly twiddled
and fiddled with.  They did 6-7 minute coherent electronic works, some with
flute accompaniment.  One or two had an underlying sequenced bass rhythm,
verging on the danceable, but this performance was mostly experimental in
nature.  Appropriate start for what was to follow.

Bond Bergland (9:20-9:45)

Bond plays solo guitar with many more effects pedals than he has feet, plus an
accompanying synth/sequencer as his 'backing band'.  I very much enjoyed his
soloing style, and kept thinking that this would have been what I would have
seen had I gone to the one-off Steve Hillage solo performance in NYC a year or
so ago.  The highlight of his performance (the entire gig IMHO) was the 10-min.
piece he did to close out his solo performance - it started out by entering in
a simple 4-bar motif on guitar into his 'playback' unit, and then subsequently
adding in other complementing bits on top.  At first, it came out sounding like
a 'round' (you know, Row, row, row, your boat), but then after 10 or so
additional voices, it took on a 'wall of sound' characteristic.  Once all this
groundwork was laid, Bergland then powered up some of his other pedals/effects,
and went to work soloing atop all this.  Fun stuff.

The Brain with Bond Bergland (9:45 - 10:10)

With Bergland still on stage, the two members of The Brain strolled out and
powered up their gear.  They play a more intense, unsettling style of 'ambient'
that was a nice change of pace from what went before and after.  I would have
liked them to play much longer than the 25 minutes (perhaps half and hour) they
did.  At times, the music swelled to a pretty significant volume, such that
Bergland soloing was nearly drowned out.  Their performance was non-stop, so it
was uncertain whether it was supposed to be a single extended piece, but there
were 3 or 4 different 'phases' to it anyway.

Cluster (10:25 - 11:20)

Dieter and Hans-Joachim strolled out in a very similar non-chalant (let's start
playing before the audience notices) manner as everyone else.  Each had a rig
of several keyboards, and they began the seemingly improv hour-long work with
what appeared to be a semi-organized testing of buttons/keys/knobs....sort of
like, "Hmmmm.....wonder what this one does?"  Not surprisingly, the performance
was not too much unlike the recent 'One hour' disc.  It became a bit
'minimalist' at times for my taste, and the slight buzz of the PA would be a
minor annoyance.  But it was interesting seeing these senior citizens of the
space world up there seeming to communicate with each other telepathically,
since they rarely ever looked up from their respective gear.  I just hope they
don't decide to wait another 25 years before venturing this way again, or
they'll have to be wheeled out on stage.... :)

The venue was for all practical purposes, a church...or at least a chapel - it
was not like the Limelight (which *was* a church)...this still is.  The lower
part of the 'auditorium' (as they call it) had modern-style rows of seats, but
the balcony still had much older wooden chairs.  Beautiful stained glass
windows lined the upper levels, and still built into the rear of the stage were
the organ pipes.  An unusual site for any concert, I suppose, but it was real
nice.  The attendance was a bit short of 100 I'd guess, but I think people
enjoyed their time.  The turnover between artists was maybe even a bit too
short, as people were out and about looking at the table of goodies in the
'lobby'.  CD's & tapes of each artist were available, as well as some other
related bands (e.g., Pressurehed/Nik Turner, and other Rodelius/Moebius
projects).  The new Cleopatra 3CD Space Box item was being sold, as well as the
Space Daze book (which I picked up).  Two different Cluster tour shirts were
being sold @ $20 apiece.  I didn't stick around, but I've heard that the
musicians have been accomodating as far as autographs/chatting is concerned.
All and all, a fun time.

I was also able to spend 45 minutes or so at a nearby used CD store called
'Dave's' I think (it seemed to be very recently 'Jerry's').  I went by that
location as years ago (at least 12 or 13), I used to frequent a place called
'Garbage Records' in the exact same spot, where I'm sure that I bought some of
my old second-hand Hawkwind albums.  I wondered if it would still be there (at
least in some form), and to my surprise, it still is a record (well, make that
CD now) store.  And it's still cool!  I walked into the store hearing Pendragon
(I didn't see if it had a Hawkwind label), and found 7 discs for a mere $37!

Here's my pickings....

Hawkwind - Tales from Atomhenge (UK)
Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways (US edition, complements my UK one)
Nick Riff - Freak Element (Delerium, UK)
Saxon - Dogs of War (UK)  (OK, I like some things other than Space Rock)
Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts (UK)
Harvey Bainbridge - Interstellar Chaos (UK) (I already have this, but it was
                 too cheap to pass up...who wants it???  It'll come cheap)
Levitation - Coterie (US) (same deal on this one....I like this alot...reminds
                 me of SunDial's Reflector, or vice versa)

What a great shopping day!

Keith H. (FAA)