Fresh off opening for M83 on their U.S. tour, Ulrich Schnauss had a headlining gig at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles last night. Getting to the damn venue was most of the headache -- it took nearly two hours from the South Bay, not counting a stop for dinner, and my friend Amber (who was coming from Thousand Oaks) had a 2:45 drive. Fortunately, the show didn't really get started until 9:15 PM, despite the "at 8 PM" written on the tickets. The opening group was George Sarah and his string trio, which was a lot better than I thought -- live strings + glitchy electronics = quirky-but-interesting music. (There are some MP3s to download on his website.)
Of course, the main reason I was there was to check out Ulrich Schnauss, whose A Strangely Isolated Place was my favorite album of last year. (Yes, I know it was released in 2003, but it didn't hit the States until 2004.) Although the short verdict is that I enjoyed the hell out of myself and thought it was an awesome show, I'd have to think hard about how to justify that opinion to anyone else. Visually, not a damn thing was going on. He was sitting at a small table with two keyboards, a mixing board, and a Powerbook -- no light show, no backdrop, not even any eye contact with the crowd. About the only visual clue about what was going on was how quickly he was banging away at the keys, or seeing him reach over to the laptop to set up the transition to the next song. Strangely, I was OK with that -- his music is so rife with visual suggestions anyway that putting a particular image in a listener's head would seem...limiting.
The sound quality was fairly good, although the more bass-heavy parts would resonate strongly in the room and wash out the midrange completely. It was only an issue for 2-3 songs, though. There were no between-song breaks -- everything flowed continuously together into one evolving piece of music. The weird thing was that I only recognized two songs in the entire set: "On My Own" and "Blumenthal," played back to back. At other times, I thought was hearing bits of other songs that I recognized -- was that synth line from "Monday - Paracetamol?" is that sample from "Gone Forever?" -- but ultimately it didn't matter too much since what he was putting together onstage was too absorbing to worry about trainspotting. He did one encore which consisted of cover songs or remixes, as far as I could tell -- everything sounded familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on where I'd heard them before. I will be curious to see a set list for the show...if anyone can find out.
My GF didn't care for the show all that much -- she actually preferred the opener, believe it or not. Then again, she wasn't feeling all that well, and she is the short definition of "NOT a night person." Amber, on the other hand, sat through Schauss' entire set with a open-mouthed look of shock -- she hadn't heard of him before going to the concert, and went because I talked her into giving it a shot. Her review? "I think that music just changed my life." (I'll take that as meaning, "It was a good use of my $12.")
Any other GAFers make the show? Anyone else catch Ulrich when he was out on tour with M83?
One other thing for any other Schnauss fans on the board -- his first album, Far Away Trains Passing By, has been out of print forever, yet Amazon is now showing it available for purchase at $13.99. Yet, Domino Records USA (the label which reissued ASIP) doesn't show it in their catalog section at all, and I haven't heard a word about it being available. Is it really out again, or would I be getting my hopes up by ordering?
Of course, the main reason I was there was to check out Ulrich Schnauss, whose A Strangely Isolated Place was my favorite album of last year. (Yes, I know it was released in 2003, but it didn't hit the States until 2004.) Although the short verdict is that I enjoyed the hell out of myself and thought it was an awesome show, I'd have to think hard about how to justify that opinion to anyone else. Visually, not a damn thing was going on. He was sitting at a small table with two keyboards, a mixing board, and a Powerbook -- no light show, no backdrop, not even any eye contact with the crowd. About the only visual clue about what was going on was how quickly he was banging away at the keys, or seeing him reach over to the laptop to set up the transition to the next song. Strangely, I was OK with that -- his music is so rife with visual suggestions anyway that putting a particular image in a listener's head would seem...limiting.
The sound quality was fairly good, although the more bass-heavy parts would resonate strongly in the room and wash out the midrange completely. It was only an issue for 2-3 songs, though. There were no between-song breaks -- everything flowed continuously together into one evolving piece of music. The weird thing was that I only recognized two songs in the entire set: "On My Own" and "Blumenthal," played back to back. At other times, I thought was hearing bits of other songs that I recognized -- was that synth line from "Monday - Paracetamol?" is that sample from "Gone Forever?" -- but ultimately it didn't matter too much since what he was putting together onstage was too absorbing to worry about trainspotting. He did one encore which consisted of cover songs or remixes, as far as I could tell -- everything sounded familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on where I'd heard them before. I will be curious to see a set list for the show...if anyone can find out.
My GF didn't care for the show all that much -- she actually preferred the opener, believe it or not. Then again, she wasn't feeling all that well, and she is the short definition of "NOT a night person." Amber, on the other hand, sat through Schauss' entire set with a open-mouthed look of shock -- she hadn't heard of him before going to the concert, and went because I talked her into giving it a shot. Her review? "I think that music just changed my life." (I'll take that as meaning, "It was a good use of my $12.")
Any other GAFers make the show? Anyone else catch Ulrich when he was out on tour with M83?
One other thing for any other Schnauss fans on the board -- his first album, Far Away Trains Passing By, has been out of print forever, yet Amazon is now showing it available for purchase at $13.99. Yet, Domino Records USA (the label which reissued ASIP) doesn't show it in their catalog section at all, and I haven't heard a word about it being available. Is it really out again, or would I be getting my hopes up by ordering?
