Pianissimo Concert, Season 3, Vol. 2 – Black Packers & Staer

You have to hand it to the crew of Findars, an art gallery cum performance space cum coffee joint ( and soon to be some sort of culinary experiment lab as well??) I may have not known the collective for very long, but for the short time ive spend attending their shows in the past (both the previous shell and now this new space), i doubt they make any profit out of the shows they have been organizing. Yet they soldier on ! Inspite of these challenges, they continue to champion the fringe movement, so they have my utmost respect. Plus, they always make me feel at home whenever I visit there  ( as long as I buy the drinks! just kidding guys!)

The Pianissimo series is something the Findars crew created as a platform to expose generally more experimental/fringe acts that most other places would not even bat an eyelid in their presence. What I find fantastic is that, unlike any other performance nights that have been mushrooming all over KL, this series will have performers  performing in very different and artistic settings. No 2 shows are ever in the same setting. How’s that for passion? It’s performance / art installation, all rolled into one. Nobody else is doing something like this in KL, yet these series of performances remain under – appreciated . Im not sure what the media partner JUICE is doing in terms of helping to spread the awareness, other than a small mention on their website. But I digress. (Disclaimer: my band also played this series for season 2)

Word of mouth is indeed a powerful thing and outsider musicians from abroad have been choosing Findars as part of their tour itinerary. So, for Vol.2 of Season 3 of Pianissimo, we have 2 incredible acts from Norway: Black Packers & Staer

Black Packers

Black Packers is John Hegre ( one half of the infamous Norwegian noise act, Jazkamer, whom, with little fanfare, played KL back in 2009!) and Jean-Phillipe Gross.  John “plays” the guitar while Jean-Phillipe plays his Serge suitcase modular synth and they are describe as a “feedback based” duo. Now, I’ll be honest and say that prior to the show, I had no idea who these 2 acts were and had no time to digest how these acts would sound like. Well, for my ignorance, i was rewarded with 30 minutes of blissful feedback, well orchestrated and improvised by this two musicians. Feedback music, IF you can even call it music, has no grey area; you either get it or you get the fuck out. Feedback itself , plays an important role in the history of music and even pop culture. Go do yourself a favor and read up about the creation of David Bowie’s Heroes.

With nothing more than a polite hello, these two stately looking gentlemen launched straight ahead into a glorious cacophony of sound. To make feedback work in the context of improvisation is an artform and takes years of refining your skill and this is something you can clearly see during Black Packers’ performance. The way John was manipulating  his pickup volume, the constant shuffling of guitar & man in relative to the distance of the amp, the mid performance de tuning, this is no walk in the park.

Adding to the chaos is Jean-Phillip, looking very calm  despite creating a howl out of his Serge, the modular patches feeding back into itself and looping back into the PA. This kind of performance, its best to be non confrontational and you dont seek the melody, because there isnt any and there are only frequencies. You just give in and let the feedback envelope you like a tidal wave. 30 minutes of being subjected to wave after wave of non stop feedback, it feels just nice to stop at that. Even euphoria can be quite draining.  Im just glad to be able to witness the duo performing and hope they will swing by KL in the future again.

Staer

Staer is Kristoffer Riis (guitar) , Markus Hagen (bass) and Thore Warland (drums) . They have been described as an instrumental,improv noise rock trio.  Reading the bio , I went in expecting a Lightning Bolt sound-a-like. Of course i was proven wrong, because they sound NOTHING like Lightning Bolt. They also sounded like 10 ton hammers pounding continuously into your precious little skull and eardrums.

In what seems to be a pattern started by Black Packers, Staer, with little fanfare, launched into a full on assault of the senses. Drummer Thore ( what a name eh, THOR WAR LAND, befitting the instrument he plays!), like his Asgard namesake, plays all this complicated poly rhythms with brute force , never even once stopping to play a “linear” beat. With Markus providing the low end and Kris pitching in on the glorious metallic & harsh interludes, you can sense that this tight little unit can pull things together just when the “songs”  sounds like they were about to fall apart. The songs melt into one another but you can clearly see, inside all the intensity, there is a structure to these compositions, but Staer does not let it get in their way, preferring to improvised around the songs . If Black Packers performance were meant to pull your soul inwards, Staer’s performance pummels and never lets go of its grip. This is noisy prog rock without the indulgent excess and whiny vocals.

If there is only one minor complain, is that some of the lower end got lost in the mix and the concrete surrounds of Findars did not do the overall band dynamics to shine through. But there is no fault of the bands nor the venue, as both parties had put 100% inspite of the limitations. Staer’s set ended at about 40 min mark, but the audience, even with blocks of harsh noise thrown at them wanted more. And an encore was granted, to which Staer finished with one last song. To ask more would be unfair to the band as they gave their all to these new audiences.

Personally, I’d like to thank Goh Lee Kwang and Findars for organizing this. Keep a lookout for an interview I did with Black Packers and Staer and also, keep supporting the Pianissimo series.