TOM CHIU “The Live One” (XI/Experimental
Intermedia) 2021
We are more than our
possessions, even when one
of them happens to exceed the value of a modest house on Lake Erie. Much has
been said about the great Tom Chiu, and I don’t intend to challenge the
journalism that predates this review of Tom’s new record.
I won’t even make note
of any absurd parallels to a famous jam band whose first proper live offering
happens to be titled A Live One. Not the fact that it is a double cd (the
release of “The Live One” barely
coincides with the 26th anniversary of A Live One (and that is no
round number), nor that Tom’s Flux
Quartet shares the same number of
members as the band that shall not be
named, really justifies any fair comparison. Do I dare continue this
diversion? I will if asked.
Okay, one last point,
and that’s all, I swear!
The Flux Quartet, founded by Tom, performed Morton Feldman's six-hour marathon String
Quartet No. 2. That’s a long show wouldn’t
you say? Sound like any trampoline jumping, drummer wearing his mom’s vintage dress
(respect to him and his mom), harboring $1 grilled cheese sandwich production from
broken down Vanagons in parking lots, fronted by a Princeton native who
worships The Rhombus (ok… derives
inspiration, no judgement!)… other quartet? Lord knows I tried.
For a little more context,
beyond my speculation, Mr. Chiu has collaborated with the likes of Ornette
Coleman (extensively!), Alvin Lucier (I am
sitting in a room, thank you very much!), and definitive balloonist, Judy
Dunaway(no real joke here). Enough Tom 101, let’s get down to the Nitty Gritty,
because the circle may be broken, I’m afraid.
A fairer comparison for a
legendary double album, be it LP or CD, might be the White Album, for its shear breadth and variety, engaging with
electronics with his raw and bold hand, further on, headfirst into the bpms and
all the tempos, then a slow burn to forest fire of layers turned orchestra, all
the way to straight up classical, but like, up in your face. Was that a run-on?
I had to.
Do record reviews risk
spoilers? If so, here’s one: at the tail end of the final track, deKonstruct,
(which stops suddenly), the audience, perhaps at NYC’s Roulette, makes an
appearance with a rollicking applause (same reaction at the end of Duo
Improvisation16741, and BABIP and RETROCON, especially).
Yeah, I think it’s a live record.
Some of the sounds on the 20-minute
Duo
Improvisation 16741 truly reach other planets and the inner worlds of
the inhabitants of those planets, including the sci-fi planets their authors
write about. There are sounds within sounds within sounds. Some zones are
discovered here, and there were people present to prove it, (at least one of
them recorded it). If Tom is playing his 1913 Stefano Scarampella on all of
these tracks, it causes me to think of how much more action this instrument has
gotten in the 21st century than the 20th. No offense, 20th.
You see, Tom got this violin,
and he learned how to make it talk. Be it when he accompanies said violin Into
the Forest, braving the honeybees’ nest, the whippoorwilll, howling
wind, he turns proverbial pied piper, leading a trail of nature from his
improvisations. BABIP blasts in with pizzicato and leaps into long form passes
of his bow, adding effects pedals which goes quite psychedelic. He knows loud
quiet loud, and he does it like a classically trained musician. Is there an
animator out there willing to attempt a visual companion to these sounds?
Birave Trifecta entering territory of early Mouse on Mars and
Matmos, raves well beyond Mccartney’s faux Kraftwerk, Temporary Secretary. With a stronger grasp of Classical music
history I might be able to pick up the references in some spots. There is
something on this track that I can’t distinguish between Old Timey piano and
prepared piano. All of that said, I’m waiting on Aphex Twin for his remix, for
cash.
RETROCON(Retroactive
continuity) noun: literary device in which established diegetic facts in the
plot of a fictional work are adjusted, ignored, or contradicted by a
subsequently published work which breaks continuity with the former. Or as I
like to put it: what was that Deadpool character in X-men Origins: Wolverine (2009) all about? Awful! Words truly do
not describe the emotions felt by early Marvel Comics Universe film franchise
fans. The applause at the end of this performance clearly encapsulates the
relief felt after viewing Deadpool (2016).
Stefane Grapelli ripped, no
one will deny that (sure, someone will). Tony Conrad (RIP) joined Faust Outside the Dream Syndicate with his
signature scrape-age. Boyd Tinsley (not the same jam band, but a jam band all
the same) brought the heat to Ants
Marching. It seems relevant to mention Warren Ellis and his cinematic
collaborations with Nick Cave, as there are quite a few filmic moments on The Live One, and Tom’s scored a few films
(<hot link).
Tom Chiu, a contemporary of all of these violinists, exhibits,
particularly in this record, his vast knowledge of genres and his own inventions,
which defy categorization. That is, of course, unless I dive further into Phil Niblock’s
(since 1985) XI catalogue and realize
Tom is biting some of his label-mates’ ideas. That is… unlikely. Eliane
Radigue’s long-form pieces go softly into that good meditation. Alan Licht’s New York Minute goes hard on the weather
reports. Gen Ken Montgomery has his hands full with all the not-made-for-music,
but-definitely-sound objects found around the house. Case in point: The Aquarium Fishtank Symphony (didn’t
make that up).
All of that said,
Drone-master Phil Niblock has quite a stable of artists, one for the ages (actually
all the way back to 1968 by Elaine Summers!) Here’s to 52 years of quality sonic
exploration, composed, live, recorded and supported.
Cheers, Tom!
Experimental Intermedia : XI 145
the live one
-Adam Padavano
