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I started off August with an unusual concert. Tara Jane ONeil, one of my longtime favorite artists, was back in town on Monday, August 1, after several years—I last saw her in 2007, although I believe she did play at least one show in Seattle since then—and playing at an unusual venue, the bicycle shop 2020 Cycle on Union Street in the Central District. The show as also unusual for featuring two sets of improvised music, as well as an unusual performer, Japanese singer-songwriter Nikaido Kazumi. Also on the bill were opening act Lori Goldston and headliner Mount Eerie.
Lori Goldston was a solo cellist who played a brief set of moody chamber music. She improvised two pieces, each about 8 to 10 minutes long, and held the audience rapt with her playing.
Next up was Tara Jane ONeil (or TJO), who remarked that she never does "the singer-songwriter thing," playing just acoustic guitar and singing—though it's not uncommon for her to perform solo, usually she has an electric guitar and effects pedals if nothing else. And although she really shines with her arrangements, hearing her songs stripped down showed the core strength of her writing. Her short set included "The Poisoned Mine" and "In This Rough", and rather to my surprise she finished with a cover of "Rainbow Connection", which actually made me feel a bit teary-eyed. I'd have loved a much longer set of course, even if it hadn't been four years since I'd last seen her, but it was great to hear her perform again.
Nikaido Kazumi also played acoustic guitar and sang in her native Japanese. She did her best to introduce songs in English, struggling with a lack of vocabulary, not pronunciation. But despite her challenges with spoken communication, she had no trouble at all in winning the audience over with her very strong voice and outgoing performance. She got the audience to not only clap but also sing along on a few tunes. Introducing another one, apparently an older traditional song by a musician called (I believe) Anka, she clearly remarked, "Young people don't listen to Anka," though given her rendition I can't imagine why not. She finished with a lively tune based on the samba as her "goodbye song", to much applause.
TJO and Kazumi have toured together several times since ONeil's first visit to Japan in 2002, and over the past couple years they put together a self-titled album of improvised music which they released earlier this year. And so after their individual sets, they joined together with an additional percussionist to improvise a couple pieces. For the first one, all three played percussive parts, including TJO tossing marbles at a drum or dropping them on other things (which was kind of comical at times though not intentionally) and Kazumi playing a hand chime as well as singing. For the second piece, TJO switched to guitar and Kazumi only sang, while the percussionist used more traditional drumming. The piece ended with Kazumi dancing out the door and performing comical antics outside the store window while the others kept playing.
The evening ended with Mount Eerie, another solo singer but using electric guitar. His style reminded me of Mark Kozelek (of the Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon), with unconventional songs that lacked the standard verse/chorus/verse structure, being more like poems or private musings set to music. As I had a bus to catch, I only stayed for a few of his songs, but he sounded pretty good and would definitely be worth catching again.
I have a small set of photos up on Flickr from the show. As the stage fronted the store window with its neon signs, the lighting wasn't great for my iPhone, but the photos came out okay.
Lori Goldston was a solo cellist who played a brief set of moody chamber music. She improvised two pieces, each about 8 to 10 minutes long, and held the audience rapt with her playing.
Next up was Tara Jane ONeil (or TJO), who remarked that she never does "the singer-songwriter thing," playing just acoustic guitar and singing—though it's not uncommon for her to perform solo, usually she has an electric guitar and effects pedals if nothing else. And although she really shines with her arrangements, hearing her songs stripped down showed the core strength of her writing. Her short set included "The Poisoned Mine" and "In This Rough", and rather to my surprise she finished with a cover of "Rainbow Connection", which actually made me feel a bit teary-eyed. I'd have loved a much longer set of course, even if it hadn't been four years since I'd last seen her, but it was great to hear her perform again.
Nikaido Kazumi also played acoustic guitar and sang in her native Japanese. She did her best to introduce songs in English, struggling with a lack of vocabulary, not pronunciation. But despite her challenges with spoken communication, she had no trouble at all in winning the audience over with her very strong voice and outgoing performance. She got the audience to not only clap but also sing along on a few tunes. Introducing another one, apparently an older traditional song by a musician called (I believe) Anka, she clearly remarked, "Young people don't listen to Anka," though given her rendition I can't imagine why not. She finished with a lively tune based on the samba as her "goodbye song", to much applause.
TJO and Kazumi have toured together several times since ONeil's first visit to Japan in 2002, and over the past couple years they put together a self-titled album of improvised music which they released earlier this year. And so after their individual sets, they joined together with an additional percussionist to improvise a couple pieces. For the first one, all three played percussive parts, including TJO tossing marbles at a drum or dropping them on other things (which was kind of comical at times though not intentionally) and Kazumi playing a hand chime as well as singing. For the second piece, TJO switched to guitar and Kazumi only sang, while the percussionist used more traditional drumming. The piece ended with Kazumi dancing out the door and performing comical antics outside the store window while the others kept playing.
The evening ended with Mount Eerie, another solo singer but using electric guitar. His style reminded me of Mark Kozelek (of the Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon), with unconventional songs that lacked the standard verse/chorus/verse structure, being more like poems or private musings set to music. As I had a bus to catch, I only stayed for a few of his songs, but he sounded pretty good and would definitely be worth catching again.
I have a small set of photos up on Flickr from the show. As the stage fronted the store window with its neon signs, the lighting wasn't great for my iPhone, but the photos came out okay.
