The Audiozine

Travel + School + Computer Issues + Editing Sound Recordings = Long Delay Time for this post. All Apologies.

The short story:
I met Nels Cline before he played with his Nels Cline Singers group at the Paramount Theater on 06/06/08 and you can download "Thurston County", which has never been recorded before or commercially released, from that set. Nels Cline played "Thurston County" on a Fender Squier guitar lent to him by my friend and Clarence Thomas Action-Adventure Unit bandmate, Aaron Albin.

You can also download zip files of the entire first set and second set. Both come highly recommended. Many thanks to Nels Cline Singers and the Paramount Theater for an amazing night.

Unabridged story + photos after the jump.

Very soon after finding out that Nels Cline Singers were scheduled to play the Paramount Theater here in Cville, I snagged tickets for myself and a few friends and proceeded to encourage as many people as possible to attend the show. Up until the day of the show, I merely expected an amazing performance and not much else. That all changed within a few hours of the band's soundcheck.

While I was at work, I checked my e-mail and noticed that Kristen Gleason, the Paramount's Director of Marketing, had sent a mass e-mail inviting the first few responders to meet Nels Cline during his soundcheck. Although the e-mail had been in my inbox for a few hours, I replied "yes please" and, lo and behold, got a response inviting me to meet the man himself.

I arrived at the Paramount at 5:45 PM and, after waiting around a bit in the lobby, me and four other music lovers were escorted into the concert hall while Nels Cline Singers were soundchecking. We watched from the front row as the group ran through some tricky post-bop tunes.

After soundcheck, Nels invited us onstage to chat. I gave him big ups on the Ecstatic Peace! sticker on his guitar and he flipped his axe around to reveal a massive Obama/Hope sticker.

Nels quickly revealed himself to be humble, funny, and approachable. He told us some great stories about hanging out with Thurston Moore (whose guitar pedals are scooped out from years of abuse), rocking with Mike Watt (who wore traditional Japanese garb to the studio while recording a new album and demanded absurdly long guitar solos from Nels), and working with Wilco (who are beginning to work on a new album after recording was delayed due to their [engineer? producer?] nearly dying of MRSA sepsis). I asked him some questions about his collaboration with Gregg Bendian on Interstellar Space Revisited. The album was a love letter to late-period Coltrane and a response to the Marsalis school of revisionist jazz history; Nels further revealed that he and Gregg Bendian studied and charted the album in painstaking detail and that, despite all this preparation, his hands would tremor before each live performance of these pieces because he was nervous about invoking John Coltrane's legacy. Nels also gave us a solid nuts-and-bolts description of the imitation Fender guitar he would be employing that night.

At some point, Nels expressed frustration with the fact that he would only have one guitar for that's night show; they had to fly in for the gig so carrying multiple guitars was not a viable option. Without hesitating, I asked if he'd like a second guitar. I told him that I could call my friend/bandmate, Aaron Albin, and get a Fender Squier for the evening. Nels agreed to this plan, telling us that he would likely use it to perform a piece requiring an alternate tuning and capo. Nels also cheekily offered to put an Obama sticker on the guitar. I called Aaron, who was already planning on attending the show, and arranged for him to bring the guitar.

After chatting with us a bit longer and signing some CD's, we left him and the band so that they could get dinner. I think I speak for the group when I say that Nels treated us with great warmth, respect, and appreciation for our interest in his music. I have rarely met a musician who is so generous and open in person.

Aaron and I delivered the Squier guitar to the Paramount staff, met our friends for a quick dinner, and then returned to the Paramount for the show.

I was originally going to review the performance in great detail on this post, but since both sets are available above, I would rather let people download the music and form their own impressions. I will make a few quick observations though:

1) Although firmly grounded in jazz music, Nels Cline Singers utilized a variety of techniques that I associate more closely with various underground rock subgenres. The opening piece saw Nels repeating a few slowly arpeggiated chords at a stately tempo while Devin Hoff and Scott Amendola built from a quiet volume to a dense roar, reminding me of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and other post-rock groups who employ glacially paced crescendos and decrescendos.

2) At some points, the band rocked very hard, especially on "He Still Carries A Torch for Her", a piece in the second set that reminded me of the apocalyptic noise and churning riffs that Mission of Burma conjure live.

3) During a few pieces, there were some very amorphous freely improvised guitar noise sections that were reminiscent of the tinny, grating skronk of No Wave bands like DNA or Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.

4) Devin Hoff's electric upright bass playing was occasionally obscured by the massive natural reverb of the concert hall, but during quieter passages he played some very supple bowed improvisations. During the heavier pieces, he proved to be one of the only jazz bassists I've heard playing a rock pulse convincingly. Nels said that before Devin played jazz, his background was in goth rock, which likely explains Devin's ability to swing and rock equally hard.

5) Scott Amendola is a powerhouse drummer. He managed to play some very fast boppish passages, pummeling rock beats, pulsing rhythms that evoked Neu!'s motorik style, Latin polyrhythms, and sections of free playing that balanced ecstatic expressiveness with cool lucidity. Aside from drumming, Scott also moved periodically to a bank of electronics that he used to sample his own drums and the ambient strains of his bandmates and manipulate the sounds in real time.

6) Despite all the rocking and noise-making, the set also included pieces by Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill that were played with great subtlety, humor, and pathos. Jazz cred: Check!

During the show, Nels definitely played "Thurston County" on Aaron's Fender Squier as promised, giving us a shoutout and humble thanks from onstage. Aaron and I were beside ourselves with excitement.

After the show, we met up with Nels, Devin, and Scott. I purchased a copy of New Monastery: A View Into the Music of Andrew Hill and had all the band members sign it. Aaron also had the band sign his guitar next to the Obama sticker that Nels had placed as promised.

Thanks go out to Nels Cline Singers for being so friendly and generous with their fans and playing a set that was extremely accomplished. Thanks for a great night also go out to the Paramount Theater for allowing me and a few other fans to meet Nels Cline. And extra special thanks to Nels et al and the Paramount both for allowing me to record and post the entire set and for passing along pictures via Flickr of us meeting Nels at soundcheck. The night was a reminder of all the reasons why live music is wonderful.

So recap:
Download "Thurston County" from the Audiozine directly.
Download Set 01 via zShare.
Download Set 02 via zShare.

Buy Nels Cline Singers music (Amazon).