Wednesday, September 30, 2009

claim matter-of-factly to have asked a dream question.

Over the weekend I saw Sunn o))) at a refurbished church basement in the ghetto, I have never been a super huge fan of Sunn on record (though their latest album is kind of amazing), as it seems for noise music there is something lost in the recording, thus going to see them live was the perfect way to absorb.

They played for 2 hours straight at the loudest volume I have ever experienced in a smallish room, it was so loud that my whole body was shaking and in the way the chords would vibrate as they rang out it would flutter my shirt and pants, if I put a hand against my chest I could really feel my sternum shaking. I went unearplugged though they were selling them at the door.

Over two hours the sound was drummed and shrieked so hard into me that when they would pause and at the end the whole body still went on gumming, it was as if I had been put through some kind of masher or a tunnel. An amazing sensation that I have never felt elsewhere. Their robes and lifting arms up to the ceiling with the chords vibrating at first seemed silly but by the end I was knowing exactly.

Also during this Attila from Mayhem came out and did vocals over most of the set, he held the microphone out before him like in worship, and played with it in such ways for about 5 minutes before he even spoke, his voice would shift from deep and large to the most pressure-cooked vocal garble I have ever heard, to strange backward speaking and prophecy. At some point he went backstage and came back out wearing a cloak of mirrors, he took his knees and donned a crown of mirrors, then lasers literally shot out of his hands and he would hold them tightly in his face and then spray them into the mirrors and refract, or hold the beams to shoot across the room.

All in all, amazing as performance, and if you have a chance to see them, do it.

Obviously you can't capture sonics like this on tape, much less video, but the sound here is actually OK (unfortunately it does not feature Attila).








Matt Bell kindly wrote about his experience during the remix project, which is still available free for download from featherproof.


In other great news, the 30 Under 30 anthology that I coedited with Lily Hoang has been accepted for publication by Starcherone Books in Spring 2011. Really excited about that, it is packed with some really incredible new work. More on that soon.

Equally excited about ML Press rereleasing their first year of chapbooks all together as a single volume, including my 'In the Rape Year of the Ghetto Toddler the Houses Will Awaken' and a ridiculous count of others.





Heavy at work on my insomnia book. It is coming out like like.

Things good.

12 comments:

davidpeak said...

yes! i saw them a while back when they were touring with boris--nearly shit my pants more than once.

have you tried listening to their stuff on vinyl? the aural waves can flourish if you've got a good pair of speakers, or a bose stereo. aids the breathing.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

my turntable is old and shitty, and i dont really wanna jump into the investment of a new, good one, and then the landslide of records that will follow after. maybe one day though. i would surely to replicate.

Matt K said...

Did they play with Eagle Twin? Awesome SLC slowness.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

yeah eagle twin was in it, nice eagling

Keith Montesano said...

Did you send my Scorch Atlas copy yet?

Sad face... :(

BLAKE BUTLER said...

in the mail as of yesterday, swear to goo. really diddit

Keith Montesano said...

Sorry, I also meant to say congrats on ANOTHER book being published!

Editor and writer tornado, sweeping over all the houses in the land...

Keith Montesano said...

Holy shit that was the fastest response ever.

Keith Montesano said...

Oh, and I'll shoot you the newest copy of the manuscript, the one that I sent to contests yesterday...

Don't worry about getting to it. I know you're busy. Just thought I'd keep you in the know with where it is now...

Keith Montesano said...

You should try to get WHITE LUNAR by Cave and Ellis too.

You'll dig.

All the soundtrack work.

Matt DeBenedictis said...

Never been into the band myself. I should like them as their contemporaries thrill me, and I get the idea of the sonic noise of doom taken to the level of the utmost dirt raw it can be, but I just can't enjoy.

Was offered tickets to go to that show but I was tired. Should have went maybe.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

matt, i never really dug their records either. in fact i've mocked them quite a bit. but live it is certainly an experience. and their new one is a lot different and more interesting i think, especially with headphones.