OT: Ozric Reviews from Nearfest - a long Compilation

[Mike Montfort]

The Ozrics:A tolerable set by a band in my opinion way (13 years)
past their prime.Too much sequencing overall-Lots of energy,but for
someone who had seen them before very little creativity.

===============

I am with Luis here... Although the Ozrics were cool, I felt like I may 
as well
have just put the CD's on w/ the exception of Ed's "weedy" shrill guitar 
solo's
and the drumming/bass combo... They have so much shit sequenced that the 
spacee
between the space, between the space seemed to be "over-filled" with 
noises and
"filler" sequences that it was a bit boring after a while really... They 
were
OK but if never see them again I'll be just fine...

===============

Ozrics: I hear this "too much sequencing" complaint a lot, but it is one way
of framing music and improvisation. In actuality, a lot of what Brandi 
triggers
(as did Seaweed before her) are arpeggiators (an "arpeggiator lets you play
intricate patterns of notes that would otherwise be extremely difficult or
impossible to play manually and at speeds and octave ranges that exist 
beyond
the physical limitations of the player or keyboard range. Arpeggiated 
events are
new events that are based on notes that you play on your controller 
keyboard.
The new events are rhythmically and harmonically specified by the 
arpeggiator's
preset, allowing you to "play" an endless variety sophisticated musical 
passages
with simple key pressing.

In addition to note events, the arpeggiator can send parameter 
automation such
as pan, volume, and even effects automation for the current track." 
definition
courtesy of Cakewalk music composition software). This is the modern world,
folks. Ed is still a great guitar player and choices still have to be 
made on
the fly when using arpeggiators and sequences in addition to having to 
play real
time passages on the keyboards and/or guitar. The Ozrics have always 
been about
improvisation over repeated patterns. I don't see a problem with using
technology to play these repeated patterns while you still have to activate
these patterns while performing other real time tasks.

Having said that, the Ozrics IMHO rawked the joint!! Ed was a bit 
confused and
Brandi tossed her hair around a bit much, but they played a typical 
Ozric set. I
don't know in what way they could change and not be the Ozrics. I 
enjoyed every
minute of it and bought the new CD and the one from Dream Machine (Jon and
Joie's new band). I've seen them before with Seaweed and with Hal 
Waters. The
NEARfest performance was on a par with the Seaweed one and slightly 
surpasses
the time with Hal, all three performances were top-notch for what they were,
though: an Ozric Tentacles show. My humble advice is to listen to the 
music and
don't be so concerned with the machines used to create it. A human being 
still
has to program them, trigger them and play along with them. Besides, 
they played
"Kick Muck," the first time they played that chesnut when I've seen them 
live!

=============================

Michael... I agree that arpeggiators are mainly what is going on in a 
lot of the
Ozrics live (and recorded) and of course most humans are not able to 
play at the
speeds these processors are capable of so you can't reproduce it live... The
main problem I had was that every single space was filled with whooshes, and
splooshes, and whizzes, and whirs, and ...Ad Nauseum ... It was overkill 
IMO,
which it's not nearly as overdone on the recorded pieces that the OT's put
together... TO me it sounded like they didn't want to lose the audiences
attention at any point so they filled every possible moment with some 
kind of
noise... The sequencing wasn't my major complaint.. It was all that ambient
noise filling the natural voids and spaces in the tracks that bugged me...

On top of that (and this might be my biggest complaint about their live 
sound)
Ed's guitar sound is so unbelievably over processed at times that it sounds
(from what I could hear that is) like it's being piped in from outer 
space (yeah
I know, that's the point right ?) Seriously though, his "tone" is damn near
awful live... It sounds so reedy and thin ich... HE is a good player no 
doubt
but that sound is not one that appeals to me very much in the live 
setting ...

=================================

Ozric, or 90 minutes of the Mighty OM Riff. I wanted to see them for 
years, and
it really my own fault I didn't. And now I wish I had seem them before this
incarnation of the band. Maybe it is just me, but now it seems to be Ed and
three other people. It was a great show, I really enjoyed it. My complaints,
like Geoff, I thought there was too much sequencing. I understand why 
they need
it, but all the young lady seemed to was hit buttons now again. She 
spend little
time actually playing. Also the drummer seems to get lost a few times 
within the
pieces and the bass player was just OK. Not what Ozric needs. One of the
funniest events occurred when some putz sitting next to me (Luis) yelled 
out for
Kick Muck right after the band played it and was admonish by Ed for not 
seeing
in color only b&w.

=================================

OT is a space rock band, heavy on the visuals and trippiness, and over 
time it has
evolved into more and more of a spotlight of Ed Wynne
(guitars/synths/sequencers) and whatever batch of side musicians he
surrounds himself with. The show was heavy on sweeps and burbles and
shreddy guitar, light on memorable melody and impact. Keyboardist and
wife Brandi Wynne seemed to be under the thrall of some very good
chemicals, as she spent more time swaying and flipping her hair and
giggling than actually playing her keyboards. Most of her musical
input was pressing an occasional button on a sequencer or arpeggiator.
I had a feeling going in that this would be the first headliner I
would leave early on out of lack of interest, and I was sadly right.

=======================================

For a headlining act, I don't have that much to say really. A few
thoughts. 1) I should have seen them a long time ago. 2) The Ed Wynne
show was MUCH BETTER at Nearfest than the show I saw at Revolution Hall
in Troy the Saturday night before. 3) Brandi needs to stop giggling on
stage, it just strikes me as very unprofessional. 4) I loved the back
graphics movies that were made by the dread locked blond guy that kept
making monkey noises and cartwheels during the signing. 5) They did play
somewhat of a best of set so I enjoyed what was played. Sorry I don't
do setlists. Finally - Ed needs to put his ego back in his pocket and
get some musicians that will talk to him musically on stage instead of
just back him up. Tons of Blanga tonight, very little inspiration. 3/5
for being too focused on one player.

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