Obey Convention IV Day 1: Buddha Box 2.0 and Pierre Bastien at Khyber Ballroom, 27/05/10

I missed the first guy and walked in to a crowded room: how nice it is to see a city (of only about 350 000!) pack out a good sized room. Every other show I've been to as part of this festival has been well attended too. Buddha Box 2.0 was inspired by a 200-piece guitar orchestra, this appropriation had 5 participants (4 guitars, 1 bass). They began sort of ambient/droney before getting into full-fledged drone feedback. It was really good but it kind of didn't go anywhere - it felt like they were just getting started when they finished and I wish it went a bit longer. Pierre Bastien (France) was, well, amazing. With real-time visuals (that were actually quite beautiful in themselves) he had a set-up of meccano machines, what looked a bit like a morse-code device, maybe a conveyor fan belt, and various other thingies (what expertise I possess!) along with some sort of trumpet. All I wanted to do was e-mail one of my old professors for a Sound + Culture class I once took raving about his genius. Standing ovation well deserved.

http://www.myspace.com/zacharyfairbrother
http://www.myspace.com/pierrebastien9 / http://www.pierrebastien.com/