rainbows in curved air (or curves in rainbowed air)

In A Minor Groove

Finally took a week off work & that means I can find time to listen to some lost sounds like Dorothy Ashby’s In a Minor Groove from 1958. I am doing so as I type this @ 7.30 a.m.

This is after a late night out @ another superb gig @ King Tuts Wah Wah Hut. I put myself in the mood by working with bamboo in the garden during the day. I am still worried about the water leak I have from the car. However driving into Glasgow as a double rainbow illuminated the Science Centre convinced me that the night was going to be special.

The support artists were odd I suppose. There was an Icelandic girl singer in the style of early Bjork or Joanna Newsome. She seemed totally unrehearsed, chaotic, lost, confused & crazy, but she charmed the crowd with her honesty & immense talent.

She was followed by a solo shahuhachi flute player, who was oblivious to the rising chatter and went on & on for what seemed like hours, but it may have only been about half an hour. He had a good sense of humour though, as he asked the appreciative audience, if they wanted him to go through his solo again. He only gave us short highlights as time was pressing.

All this meant the headliners: Animal Collective were late coming onto the stage. This was their second visit to Glasgow, the last time was @ the ABC, but as they had just come off the festival circuit, they were happy to play such a small intimate venue & it showed. They just created such a big, full, intense sound live. Once they hit a groove & stay on it is so hypnotic. It is difficult to describe their style of music. The King Tut flyer has them compared to Can, Amon Duul & Sun City Girls. I have seen the latter live @ Instal @ Arches & they blew me away. Animal Collective did the same last night. Krautrock for the 21^st century. They also include what seems to be some of Can or Holger Czukay ethnic forgery in a style just like Sun City Girls, where they got lost in Tibetan, African, Voodoo or Native American chanting & raised the roof & bent the bamboo.