Review and photos – Absent Sound at the Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg, May 25 2009

– review by eugene osudar/photos by Mike Latschislaw

Clues
Pyramid
Monday night
May 25th

“oh my god,
how boring and pretentious
can a show be,”
an exasperated robbie says,

adding,
“i came for an indie show,
not an art rock show.
you can quote me on that.”

i came to dance.

(expectations,)

i come to dance.

(unfulfilled,)

i orgasm in the dance,

(frustrations,)

the moment
becomes moments
becomes
hours and hours of
virtual
orgasms,

i dance for hours
and ours and hours,

i change t/shirts
after every set
of dance,
i carry extras
bring extras
to every venue
in my civic’s
hatch, 4 clean
dry shirts
wait, waiting
for the drenched
sweaty shirts
of the set
Danced.

movement of my body
in perfect harmony
with the beat
of the drummer

and in this case,
percussionists
two from Montreal
my favorite city in canada,

two drummers,
say, The Dirtbombs
they made me Rocket!

Envy King Front
two drummers
mike and ryan
on Saturday night
at the Rudolf Rocker
they made celebrate
their african rhythms
and jazz swing/isms
combined/counter/pointing
with free/flowing/dance

(mmmmmm)movement

Clues
invited us “to dance wildly”
and yet
The Invitation
was only fully realized
in the second to last song

O, we were teased
a minute here,
then,
there, a spasm/orgasm
of seconds
nearly thirty,

and always
withdrawn
just as the pleasure
became too close
to achieving,

the endless night
too intense
of sultry sweat

a tribal howl
to the deities
opening the evening
from the sound technician.
the call to prayer,
(to perfect submission)
what is this?
Beauty, yes
if not, what now?
Montreal’s
Beast
(a band that sexually
gratifies my lust and love
for dance orgasms)

and not well pleased,
i sat dejected
pondering
what may have been,
Love
Sex
dance
Gyrations
of hips
and fancy feet flying!

“it’s anti-pop,”
says vivian

“i wasn’t expecting anti-pop.
I love PoP (Montreal),
i love what’s happening in Montreal
and i expected to be fully engaged
in the PoP!”

“you were expecting to be pleased,”
says she.

‘that’s right.
i wanted and needed
to be pleased.
i needed to be pleasured.”

that’s the truth!

and why can’t i just accept,
Clues
as they were?
are
is
be
am
free
says
Bobbi, “they were really good.”
she and dave enjoyed Clues

and mike loved Clues too,

“there’s so much more happening there
than a young band like Haunter.”

they departed early
leaving us
the gathering of
the once closely gathered,
strewn about the room
broken
and bored,
talking,
not even the courtesy
of listening!

and who loved the Clues
left strewn about the floor?
i’m collecting names
as i’m
just watching the detectives,
(they’re so cute)
elvis costello
and the winnipeg folk festival

left/leaving/
Weakerthans
heaving,
the “smattering”
of applause after
the sad final song

an anti-encore
Clues have nothing left
no offerings

honestly, i prefer Haunter

says matt, “my favorite
local band.” “them and Code Name
Shark,” his biking friend says.

“Talk City,” jay would say,

Ryan just recorded
The Hot Live Guys
they’re hot
we agree
that Winnipeg is where the Music
is
Now,

to each their own
opinions.

jennie loves Hawksley Workman
i don’t.
i liken him to Andrew Lloyd Webber.

mine (opinion) is skewed,
brewed
in my carnal
need to dance
69 full sets
of live music
in May.
so far,

69.

Goodlove69969

the departed,
isaac hayes,
i love that song,
that Song
achieves
everything a song
needs to,
perfect
kiss.

“and you weren’t pleasured,”
says vivian, who saw me dance
utterly pleasured
at Mother Mother
on Friday night and so many
other places, nights, shows.

“you’re everywhere!’
says Ryan. as we talk about the greatest
winnipeg band that never toured
The Quiffs!

all woman,
all feminist
all Sex
all Terror
and the inspiration
of every female musician
in winnipeg
and The Envy of
every young man
who could never Rock as Hard
Cocked as The Quiffs did
(That’s the unspoken, i’m not jokin’ truth!)
every time
The Quiffs
plugged in
and (s)exploded
the audience into collective
orgasm.

vivian and me
talked about lovemaking
as a metaphor
to the evening’s
ultimate frustration
unrealized intimacy

i don’t want to write this,
This is pretentious.

i was warmly welcomed
by Alden Penner.
a wonderful young man.
lead singer of Clues.

i don’t want to write these

mean words,
these are cheap mean dirty words
and i apologize
for their rudeness
crudeness

i wanted to dance

i didn’t want anti-pop.

alden says, “feel free to gather closer
to the stage and dance wildly.”

 

and the hesitant gathered,
i was already at the side
ready to dance,
wildly,
always!

like i did for Haunter,

whose wonderful 35 minutes kicked off
with,

I’m On Fire (The Boss)
(and so i danced from the first beats)

Turn In For The Night (and here i wrote, hot hot soul lifting song, Pavement/esque)

Boboz
Wolves, Now!
Sugar Melting
Schnoz
Frontwards (a Pavement cover)
and i tell mike that i wrote Haunter’s second song made me gently weep and dance madly, wildly, deeply for recalling Pavement)
Lighthouse/Great Northern
Montreal (a song about Montreal for the headlining band)

and like i danced during
meghan’s mesmerizing
computer generated
light show,

she sits for hours, listening to the bands she works with
to match
images and animated graphics
to the music,

for Absent Sound
whose trance/experimental
sounds are
little chunks of Butthole Surfers
Flaming Lips
Pink Floyd
Scratch Acid

their set:
35 minutes

TV Song
Bonnet Sonnet
Occupying Home
Wage Slave
Run For Free

on facebook,
“i heard it sucked,” says lynne.
“yep, except Haunter and Absent Sound,”
says me.
“yes but Clues sucked.”
“yet alden’s a nice guy and i’m writing
such horrible things. i don’t
like being horrible.”
“you are the sweetest.”
“oh thank you.”

so, the night
ends

passing guttersnipe cards
to Matt lead singer of Haunter
Robert of Absent Sound
David of The Playing Cards
and to Meghan,
she says, “this is the best business
card ever.”

just wait
when she sees the numbered limited edition comic strip
story line, murder sex mayhem
a girl a gun two guys
The Gleefully Departed.

a shameless plug
for a guttersnipe website,

after a Clues-sucking
night
of pretentious Anti-Pop