Live Review: Om, Six Organs of Admittance and Naam in Brooklyn, 10.11.09
A short while after his set was over, I found Six Organs of Admittance?s Ben Chasny at the bar sitting next to the figure announced to the crowd as Andrew when he had taken the stage. ?This is my friend Andrew,? Chasny had said. Fair enough.
I had spent the better part of the Six Organs set cursing out, both inwardly and outwardly, the crowd surrounding, whose rude, self-important chatter had ruined the whole thing. Fucking hipsters. When I ran into Chasny at the bar — I?d gone looking for another beer — I told him how fucking ridiculous the asshole factor had been and how I?d seen his Roadburn set and basically that Brooklyn could suck my balls. Already well liquored up, I?ve no delusions that it was received as eloquent.
Prior, about five minutes into the show, I had sent a text message to The Patient Mrs., who was having a sandwich and watching the playoffs at another bar down the street, that said I might have no recourse but to get plastered, such was the level of recession-proof pose out beardo hipster douchery surrounding. I?d arrived at Europa about 30 seconds into the recently interviewed Naam?s first song, and the crowd only got worse as the night wore on. Nothing to do but get drunk.
?Please don?t. We?re broke.? was the message I got back. Sorry baby.
It being Europa and Europa being a Polish dance club when not entertaining sundry metallic subgenres, the order of the evening was Zywiec — pronounced ?zivitch? — and by the time Naam was done, I?d probably had enough of them. Naam, by the way, kicked ass. If I was out of my element, they were right in theirs. The trio stomped their way through about half an hour of hard psych, which proved memorable in the transition from album to stage, though in the case of ?Kingdom,? with which they opened their set, that?s not really fair. Rarely is the 16-minute song hard to pick out.
In between two of their songs, someone in the audience shouted, ?Nice Phish cover, hippies!? and I guess that was supposed to be ironofunny. On my worst days, I?d like to start a snarky blog dedicated to the new rising trend of shiftless creative professional self-immolation, just to see how many graphic designers I can get to follow along.
Lichens was selling a combination art book and 3? CD, which piqued my interest but not enough for me to actually make a purchase. They/his set was just drone, which was well met but neither all that interesting nor engaging. Perhaps if my general mood had been better I?d have taken to it, but as it was, I couldn?t really be bothered to enjoy myself. I sat in the back and moved only to go back to the bar and mispronounce ?zivitch? to the pitying cleavage of the woman getting me my next beer.
Why I left the house in the first place became the question, and the answer was the music. I?d already dug into Naam?s stonerized grooves, but it was the inability to enjoy Chasny?s subdued playing was what was so damn infuriating about the Six Organs of Admittance set. Nothing to do, as I said, but get drunk.
One for the gossip columns: Al Cisneros cut his hair. In addition to Om discs, including the new one, God is Good, which I?ve yet to pick up, the band was also selling Grails and Holy Sons material in light of drummer Emil Amos? prolific other projects. By the time they took the stage, I was in ?one more beer? mode, which is never a good sign.
I said it after I saw them in April and I?ll say it again having seen them in Brooklyn, Om is better with Amos on drums. Chris Hakius was great, and hey, he was in Sleep, but Amos is more creative, active and enjoyable to watch. His talent transcends his instrument, and as an accompaniment for Cisneros? warm bass tone he is second to none. Like a lot of people, I wasn?t too into Om?s last record, Pilgrimage, but with Amos around, I?m really looking forward to when I finally get my hands on God is Good.
I hadn?t planned to stay for their whole set, but I did anyway, and when I left was very glad The Patient Mrs. was in top form as regards the middle part of her Obelisk moniker and willing to drive back to the valley. It?s difficult to balance the enjoyableness of the music against the seemingly endless bullshit surrounding it, but on the whole, I?d still call the night a win, if such a thing is possible. The tour is at Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan tonight, and even though the thought of parking down there is a nachtmare and then some, I?ll probably still make the ride in. The eternal sucker.
Special thanks to my good friend Fernanda Correia for the killer photos.
I was at both the Europa and Bowery shows. The crowd at Europa was atrocious. Did you go to the Bowery show? A couple douchebags yelled “Dragonaut!” Free Bird-style during every lull in the action. Assholes. Al got pissed and actually stopped in the middle of a song to tell them to take that shit outside. He also said “If you want to hear Dragonaut, you’re here 15 years too late,” which I thought was a cool line in its less-is-more Cisneros-ness.
Also, back to the Europa, how bout those dicks who tried to start a pit? At an OM show? Really?
Hey, this is Andrew from Six Organs, is this JJ, who we talked to at the bar? Apologies to everyone who came to the Europa show, the sound was awful, just truly one of the worst shows ever. We couldn’t hear a single thing up on that stage. It’s hard to play when you just feel like a mime. I hope some of those who attended went to the Bowery show a few days later and got a chance to see us actually play a few tunes. Thank you.