I enjoyed these live perfomances in 2018

Live music wise, I was privileged to see a number of performances over 2018 - though the performances here are by no mean complete, they are highlights. Amongst all of these brief appraisals, I have to say how truly privileged I feel to have the opportunity to participate in such wonderful creative endeavours - through them, the contrasting bafflement of human destruction and misadventure during 2018 is somehow leavened and, in turn, I am reminded of the more positive aspects of this embodiment thing. 

Feeling bleak - dig the live scene!

Oneotrix Point Never at O-East Shibuya was an extraordinary reminder of how Daniel Lopatin, gathers a whole load of musical influences and his own creative grey matter to produce a truly rich music. Trevor Horn, Peter Gabriel, musoethnological obscurities, downtempo and all-else beyond and beneath, coerced into a kind of maximalismic mind-bomb.

Garden Quartet at Carlton's Church of All Nations was yet another performance confirming their  collective talents and their status as an ensemble to watch, as they smoulder and flicker our musical landscape. I reviewed the concert here. 

Speak Percussion's performance of Polar Force was an extraordinary multi-media performance. Every element of the production was to the point and perfect, not least the sound design and it's ice cave inspired subterranean location. Location recordings from the natural environment of Antarctica - water, ice and wind - along with the Speak collectives groundbreaking, expansive realisation of what percussion music is, created a truly engaging and provocative performance.

Laraaji at Metro 82 in Kyoto was a dream come true. While not in a choice location for an audience (cramped, hot, few chairs), it was a dream realised to see Laraaji live. And while I pedestaled the poor guy, expecting channels of shakti to pummel me from an imagined Bhakti furnace, instead, I got a really engaging experimental musician, who channeled good-vibes and positivity into an extended technique wonder-world of zither, electronics and voice.

Gotye - Jean-Jacques Perrey et son Ondioline at Melbourne Recital Centre. A work of dedication to an artist that Wally/Gotye had an evidently meaningful real-life relationship with. This narrative punctuated musical performance featured music by both Jean-Jaques and Gotye and was quite simply, beautiful - suffused with an Autumnal joy. I left feeling genuinely affected and touched by a humility that often comes from heart-felt dedication.

Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto at Hamer Hall. Full-house again, some nine years later, and this time, no walk-outs - to my knowledge. Once more, thoroughly engaging set from two music greats made all the more poignant through Ryuichi's successful survival over cancer. Brittle shards. Sublime melodies. Crunch. Drift. Volumic lift.

Compagnie Carabosse - Fire Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Turning the nocturnal gardens into a kind of steam-punk hallow to fire, was sheer genius. Simple in resources and execution, it reminded one of the intrinsic humanity of the arts - people creating and manipulating elements into a work of spectacle. Thrall of all thralls was a guitarist with a bunch of pedals, percussion and a microphone who proceeded to blow my mind through a kind of post-punk blues that was gallowed and cerebral.

Josefina Paulson and Jonas Åkerlund at a house concert in Northcote. What a privilege to see these two traditional Swedish musicians in such an intimate setting. Josefina plays Nyckelharpa and Kontrabasharpa, old Swedish types of fiddle, and is learned in the music of her native region Västmanland - kind of WNW of Stockholm. Jonas plays guitar, cittern, Swedish bagpipes and a whole bunch more. Between them they weave musical magic through their artistry, informed by their knowledge of traditional and current musics and sound. Totally compelling, as always, its great to hear musicians talk about the context and origins of a song. Wowness!

Robin Casinader and Francesca Mountfort at the Lyrebird Lounge in Ripponlea. At last, the musical return of Robin who I last saw as a member of Dave Graney's Coral Snakes. I'd missed (live-wise) all of his previous engagements in Plays With Marionettes, The Wreckery and most regretfully Hood. To be sure, I chanced upon Hood's Are You Wearing Despair as a download back in 2012 and committed some responses here. The first of two gigs I caught of Robins, we were ensconsed in the sublime confines of the retroist Lyrebird Lounge in Ripponlea. Support performance was through the sonic crafting of Cam Butler. And. I must send cudos out to the anonymous couple who's very public - standing by the bar - exhibitionist sensual engagement was ... distracting. I digress. Robin played mellotron, keys, violin and Francesca played cello, they both shared vocals in solo and as accompanists and between them they created a beautifully intimate performance enhanced by their shared musical adeptship. This musicianship was triply enhanced with the addition of Jack Howard's billowing trumpet on a couple of numbers, really lifting the music into another realm again. Ancient childrens singing games from the English folk tradition saw Robin play violin and drone while Francesca gave vocal form to a tragic song of lovelorn suicide on Green Gravel.  A new reconfigured version of Queen of Hearts was poignant, where the "bolder", more assertive gravitas of Pearly Black's original vocal delivery was replaced by Francesca's fragile rendition. Amongst these rearrangements and realisations of past songs was a recent composition, Grey Sky Scene - a highlight of this year's musical firmament for me. Grey Sky Scene is suffused with a pensive sensitivity through it's lyric, and equally through its affecting, melodic interplay.