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| The remains of a perfect set at PhilaMOCA |
The plot, characters, motifs are all irrelevant. The book (allegedly) never played into the music or recording at all. The point of this somewhat ostentatious exercise was to simply direct the band members into a similar mindset by completely mentally diving into the same world.
I had a similar feeling as the Gunn-Truscinski Duo -- a long-running on and off again project between guitarist/songwriter Steve Gunn and percussionist John Truscinski -- started their set this past Thursday at PhilaMOCA here in Philly. The 45-minute set began with "Road Bells," the introductory track from their 2017 release Bay Head. This served as their East of Eden, for lack of a better comparison. Starting off with drone and ambient guitar noise: Steve rattling the bridge of his guitar, rolling sprawling open chords that melt under his tremolo, Mr. Truscinksi droning away between electronics and the whine of bowed cymbals.
This transfixes the audience, tuning and calibrating our ears to align us with them.
The set comprised of four more offerings, two each from Bay Head and their 2012 release, Ocean Parkway. Although they are from different eras of the project's life, they were all translated to be relevant to present-day Gunn-Truscinski Duo. "Banh Mi Ringtones," from Ocean Parkway, starts of with a tinkling guitar groove, supported by low, rumbling percussion. As the song progresses, it eventually evolves into a noisy psych-jazz freakout, Steve making the guitar squeal and scream while Truscinski lays the percussive foundation that allows the music to catapult into the stratosphere.
The next two songs -- the eponymous track from Ocean Parkway and "Seagull for Chuck Berry" off Bay Head -- followed this same tone established early in the set. The band taking groovy, Dead-inspired jams and flipping them completely inside out, showcasing the rawness and viscerality of a pair of musicians that are more than the sum of their parts.
The set closed with the penultimate track from Bay Head, a song called "Gunter" -- which is also probably my favorite song these guys have released, recorded or live. The song begins as the set did, low buzzy drone, rattling of cymbals, into a tinny guitar groove.
For those reading (if anyone is even reading this) that aren't familiar with guitar moves, there's a bending technique where a guitarist will fret two notes on adjacent strings and bend the lower note until it reaches the same pitch as the upper string. It's a maneuver that's a quick switch from dissonance to resolution. If you've ever listened to even five minutes of Led Zeppelin, you've heard Jimmy Page do this about 400 times.
Point is, there's a point in "Gunter" where as the song builds, Steve is a little more all over the fretboard, and he pulls this move. But just as the notes are about to slide into resolution, the guitar just fuckin' shrieks, and from there the song explodes into this bizarre blend of joy and chaos, reverie and hyper-awareness.
I usually catch Steve Gunn whenever he swings through town -- ok, always, every time, and direct other engagements around these performances -- but Steve and John Truscinski playing together is simply otherworldly. I love the recordings, of course. A few years ago I had a CD of Sand City/Ocean Parkway in my car, which soundtracked a somewhat hellish commute for about three months. But the way these songs are translated live, and morph into where Steve Gunn and John Truscinski are as musicians at the given moment, is in my opinion a very high level of both individual and group musicianship.
So I've gushed enough about Steve Gunn and John Truscinski, but what was probably the big draw for the sold out crowd at PhilaMOCA was the headlining act Body/Head -- the collaborative effort of psych/noise-drone guitarist Bill Nace and Kim fucking Gordon, who just released their first album in five years called The Switch. We saw both Kim and Bill floating around the audience before the show and during the Gunn-Truscinksi set. PhilaMOCA is a very small venue, so it's a pretty funny experience standing next to an American musical icon, both vying for the same crowd position to get a good cell phone snap for Instagram. "You've been blessed," quipped a friend after she walks by and brushes my shoulder.
Anyway, where Steve Gunn and John Truscinski left the audience on the side of the road, Kim Gordon and Bill Nace picked us right back up and kept driving. I'm not sure if it was because it was 90-degrees outside and 110 inside, but Body/Head's set had me feeling like I was floating in a warm bath of caustic fuzz.
Kim and Bill make an interesting duo. Both play guitar on this project, but they both seem to take melodic and percussive duties at the same time. Bill's playing is more low and pulsating, Kim's a bit lighter and sharper, but together they create these heavy blanketed textures that complement the sense of floating, with Kim's Siren-esque vocals luring the audience into sedation.
The 40-minute set felt like a long sigh, but went by in the blink of an eye. Truth be told, I don't think I even blinked at all. The music has a heavy, noisy, magnetic pull that rolls and tumbles and transitions seamlessly. This effect doesn't happen by accident. Kim Gordon and Bill Nace are extremely talented and immensely experienced, and pay attention to each and every nuance that creates a performance environment that completely engages the audience.
At the end of it, I was pretty much in awe and felt very appreciative. I've seen dozens of shows at PhilaMOCA, and Gunn-Truscinski Duo a handful of times. I never had the opportunity before this to see Kim Gordon, but had caught Bill Nace with his Vampire Belt project (with drummer Chris Corsano) a few months earlier. But this set in particular was near perfect -- four musicians at the top of their game on a short string of shows at very select locations.
Ultimately, I am grateful that I live in a city where music is supported, highly ingrained in the culture, and for how incredible this show was, that opportunities like this are a very normal occurrence.
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