shooglenifty / eivind aarset 29-06-2011
national arts centre & confederation park, ottawa
i saw something similar to this at the jazzfest in ottawa tonight. overall, a tight show; i'd recommend checking him out if you get the chance.
over the years, i've been to a lot of shows at the jazzfest in ottawa and a lot of shows with my dad, there being a large intersection of the two. generally, it's been guitar-oriented music of his own generation: holdsworth, di meola, hackett, stuff that we share an interest in, and stuff that nobody else i know has the least bit of respect for. i was kind of looking around for him this evening....
...because i saw the eivind aarset sonic quartet at the jazz festival here in ottawa. i sat by myself amongst a mostly 45+ audience around three feet away from where he was playing and took in a wall of sound coming from him and his band, one that led to a mass evacuation a few songs in.
the sound, as presented, followed an easy formula: merge a typical post-rock percussion section (complete with glockenspiel and two drummers) playing a tortois-ey kind of style with the rising momentum of gybe!, the tonality of sonic youth, a gaze/noise focus on effects pedals and psychedelic lead playing that brings to mind influences like early clapton and fripp.
the blender approach has great potential but comes with a high risk. when merging easily pegged styles, the risk of imitation is immense. the artist must defeat this with sheer willpower by pouring every ounce of passion possible into the instruments being played.
this quartet manages to do this, particularly with the guitar playing. aarset plays with an impressionist attention to detail, the reckless abandon of the best punk acts and the immediacy necessary to impress.
don't miss this act.
on the way home, i walked through confederation park and stopped to dance at the shooglenifty tent for a good hour or so, having a few drinks while i was at it. over all, it was a good night.
i don't have footage of the show, but this is a similar set: