Robert Ham’s Picks For The Week of January 15th
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
Matt Haimovitz - Thursday @ Doug Fir Lounge
This world-class cellist’s schedule for the year includes performances of Shostakovitch’s Concerto No. 1 and a concert at New York’s famed Alice Tully Hall. And a stop at Sam Bond’s Garage in Eugene. No, this isn’t your typical classical performance; it’s in-your-face classical fare, in a perfectly in-your-face setting. The 38-year-old cellist recently released a playful album called Figment, which puts his playing up against programmed beats, turntable scratches and Balkan-inspired melodies. The pieces were composed by some of the most interesting modern voices in American music, including Elliott Carter and Gilles Tremblay.
The Yummy Fur - Wednesday @ Mississippi Studios
Formed in the early ’90s and inspired by the thriving indie music scene in their native Glasgow, The Yummy Fur lasted seven glorious years, making a beautiful and often unhinged racket. They poked at the mores of modern society and baited the law enforcement with their lyrics, and tried their hand at all manner of musical styles - from scratchy, Fall-like punk to electro pop. They broke up 1999, leaving front man John McKeown plenty of time to form the power trio 1990s and two of his bandmates to achieve stadium filling stardom with their new outfit, Franz Ferdinand. The Fur are flying again, but only for a short while to drum up interest in a best of compilation that a U.S. label is threatening to release this year.
White Hinterland - Thursday @ The Artistery
There seem to be a lot of former folk-leaning singer/songwriters dabbling in electronic music these days (Laura Gibson, Bon Iver, etc.), but there aren’t any doing it more dreamily and engagingly than Casey Dienel. Working with band mate Shawn Creeden and producer Alexis Gideon under the name White Hinterland, Dienel’s lilting voice is served well by these icy futuristic soundscapes, chilling its internal warmth and saving it from wilting. And Dienel and her collaborators all do an incredible job with the musical end, fashioning danceable beats that never seem to resolve and letting long pings of marimba float into a pixelated ether.
