words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Greg Cristman

"It started its show, as usual, with a 20-minute censing of dry ice and the recorded chants of Gyuto monks. Then the band started its march of long, long notes, played by guitar and bass and a little bit of keyboard. The members played through the pieces in unison, without a drummer, so slowly and loudly that small discrepancies of timing produced dissonances that worked like sonar drills on your guts." [NY Times]

It was hot. DAMN HOT. Add to that soupy air from the blasting fog machines, a room packed with people, and the walls were literally dripping with condensation. Nevertheless sunn O))) hit the stage to a packed Brooklyn Masonic Temple on 9/22. As expected, Attila Csihar performed with the band, with costumes varying from a mirrored statue of liberty with laser fingers (sounds weird, but it worked) to a winter demon. Sunn O))) did venture into clean and simple tones, with assistance from a keyboard and trombone, but the full stacks of vibrating low-end were the order of the night for the duo of Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley.

"When we first started we thought of it as a studio project," Anderson says. "We had no intention of playing live. But we discovered [that] to really capture what Sunn O))) was about, that physicality of sound we were getting off on, it can't be produced on CD or vinyl. We had to do it live. There's no substitute for volume." [Metro Pulse]

Sunn O))) is still on the road with Eagle Twin, but for this special event at the Masonic Temple, they were also joined by the mighty Pelican and Earth. Pics from those bands are to come, but for now you can see some more from Sunn O))), and a couple of videos, below...

Continue reading "Sunn O))) @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple in NYC - pics & video "

by Black Bubblegum

KTL Live in Ribadavia

As we mentioned before, SOMA (Stephen O'Malley) and Pita (Peter Rehberg) will be in town Wednesday with KTL to tear the Knitting Factory a new one. In case you had any doubts as to what this show will be like, check the video from their May 7th show in Vienna below.

Németh will open the KTL show... that's Stefan Németh of Lokai & Radian and it's his first trip out here in four years. He'll be breakin' off songs from his recently released solo debut Film, a reworking of music done for experimental video & short film. Németh also has a few other dates up his sleeve, including Monkeytown IN BROOKLYN TONIGHT (May 20), and Mutek in Montreal on the 29th. All dates below.

Also on board for the KTL show, IUD, a project featuring Gang Gang Dance's Lizzie Bougatsos. She sat down recently with VBS.tv for a little facetime.... here's the result.

Greg Anderson of sunn o))) has been busy as well, and i'm not just talking about ASCEND.....

Continue reading "KTL tomorrow, Németh tonight too ... sunn o))) & Mutek ..."