The Wily Filipino

Om / Pearls and Brass / Grey Daturas / Mammatus, Slim's, San Francisco, 12/1/2006.

Posted this on last.fm a little while back:

My ears are still ringing from what is surely one of the best concerts I've been to this year -- I knew it would be good, but not so got-damn good as this was.

Some random notes:

First up was Mammatus. I'm at a loss describing this group and their music: heavy-ass riffs, psych guitar noodling. I can't even begin to write about what they looked like: one guitarist and the drummer looked like they stepped off the back cover of Trout Mask Replica, and the two vocalists were dressed in what looked like, I swear, tablecloths. Or curtains. One of the vocalists -- more like the guy whose vocals were permanently on reverb -- who I'll call The Shaman, reminded me of a cross between Brother Theodore and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Except that he actually looked like an organic grocery store employee. Wearing a tablecloth. And waving a knobbly wizard stick, right out of the back cover of Led Zeppelin IV at the audience. Probably the best surprise of the night. (No insult meant by my descriptions, by the way -- these guys were fantastic.)

Up next: Grey Daturas, a trio from Australia. My description won't do their awesome one-song set justice, so I offer key phrases instead: layered feedback, jetliner roar, amplifier worship.

And then came Pearls and Brass, which I'll describe as "stoner boogie," anchored by long, sinuous guitar riffs and some amazing shirtless drumming.

And finally, Om. I've written about this band previously, so there's not much more to add, except that that sky-cracking-open moment when Al Cisneros steps on the effects pedal about 9 minutes into "At Giza" happened here too. I've since realized that perhaps a more fruitful comparison to Om's Conference of the Birds isn't really Sleep's Jerusalem, but Nurse With Wound's Soliloquy for Lilith or Coil's Time Machines; guitar and drum prowess aside, Om in concert is meant to be transportive. You close your eyes in the middle of the maelstrom and you see pyramids and ancient gods frolicking to cosmic ragas.

I think the ringing in my ears has subsided. But my neck will sure as hell hurt tomorrow morning.

Posted by the wily filipino at January 9, 2007 11:58 AM