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It's another one of those nights. The ones where I have to decide which of three unmissably great shows I'm going to miss. Good problems to have, but painful nonetheless. Since two of tonight's shows are within walking distance, I regretfully miss seeing Constants and start my evening at Harper's Ferry, where Eximious Productions and Ms. Donna Parker are scaring the natives with a crazy, noisy bill. Major Stars are drenching the air with feedback when I come in. There's a lot of other stuff going on, too: the rhythm section is maintaining a steady, somewhat mellow groove and there is plenty of more conventional lead guitar riffage. There's even a vocalist, screaming into the mic, but I can't hear her more than half the time and she leaves the stage several minutes before they stop. And it's the lushly modulated swells of feedback that dominate the experience.
Polly Shang Kuan Band are next, and they take quite a while setting up a wide range of odd-looking objects and wiring together various small boxes. Eventually they get started, with a long, slow build that starts from an electronic juddering hiss. This grows in volume and intensity, and one of them has a bass with a drumstick inserted under the strings, which she beats on gently to provide the major rhythmic element. Another set of whining/beeping electronics comes in, and one of them periodically smacks a bowlful of chains with a hammer. (She's also doing something with a microphone, but if it's making any sound at all, I can't pick it out.) The whole thing feels very integrated, and builds continually to a satisfyingly loud and complicated climax, before gradually backing off again and dropping to a whispery finish.
We now head over to Great Scott to hear Van Elk, because we love us some Valerie Forgione. It takes a couple of songs to readjust my ears; these gentle, country-folky melodies and lovely singing sound a bit limp after all the crunch at Harper's. But the songs are so beautiful that I quickly adapt. Valerie and Ken have added a percussionist, who plays a djembe and a variety of hand percussion. He's very minimal, but anything else would probably be overwhelming. The vocal harmonies are beautiful, and I'm very impressed at how well their voices blend. There's just one Mistle Thrush song that I recognize, "God's Enemies," but it sounds fantastic, and fits very well with the new material.
I'm a bit nervous about Humanwine's set. When I've seen a band once and been completely blown away, I tend to have high expectations the next time I get to see them, and worry that I might have built them up to a standard they can't possibly meet. As it turns out, there was no cause for my concern. If anything, tonight's set is better, as they are a complicated band with a lot going on, and it's easier to hear details through Great Scott's fabulous sound system. The piano is audible, and adds a lot to the rich stew of sounds. They have both a standard bass and a bowed upright, with just acoustic guitars on top, so it's a bass-heavy mix, leaving the upper register more or less clear for Holly's incredible vocals to dominate. After playing guitar on the first song she hands it off and focuses on singing, and she is one of the best I've ever heard. She's comfortable in a sweet, delicate head voice or a rich low growl or anything in between, and she has a dynamic, theatrical stage presence that I think might be too much if she weren't so damn good. But she is. While the whole band is immensely talented, proficient in and between a vast range of styles and rhythms, I have to keep tearing my attention away from Holly to remember that they're playing. (Except when they grab me with a section in eleven or thirteen, and my joy is complete.)
We then head back over to Harper's Ferry to catch the end of Subarachnoid Space's set, since I've been attracted to their name since I first heard it. (Neuroscience is something of an amateur enthusiasm of mine.) Given the rest of the bill, I was expecting something really jarring and confrontational, but in fact they're very relaxing. It's meandering, spacey music, with a whole lot of e-bow deployment. There's rapid-fire video projection on the back wall, and I kinda wish I still did drugs, but there's plenty of texture and harmonic structure here to keep it interesting. The drummer quite mysteriously ends the show by walking to the edge of the stage and throwing his cymbals onto the floor, which at least gives a very final feeling to the ending.
