First off, if you haven’t been yet, go to the Center for the Arts. It’s only a few blocks up from campus- a 15 minute walk to Colorado. AND there are numerous music events there every week, spanning from Brazilian dance parties to local doom metal acts, and everything in between.
This past monday, however, I found myself in the lucky crowd of a sold-out show at the CFAER, to see one of my favorite “stoner metal” bands, for lack of a better term. OM is actually more of a drone act, which has expanded its sonic reach to include vast multi-instrumentation and musical styles from across the Middle East and Asia. With their roots dug deep in stoner metal (they began solely as a bass/ drum duo, both of which performed as part of the legendary three-piece SLEEP), OM has evolved to a much more intricate sound, a part of which involved turning down the volume at the beginning of the set! Weird, right? But don’t worry, they were playing at a skull-shaking level by the end of their set. Throughout it all they had an extra third man on stage doing everything you can imagine: raucous tambourine playing, ethereal modded vocals, shrill guitar noise… it was a spiritual experience to say the least.
But before the room filled with the doom-induced ganja smoke (thanks to OM), we were graced by the music of two other vastly different, but both incredibly unique artists: Sun Araw, and then Sir Richard Bishop.
Sun Araw performed a unique set of live instrumentation interspersed with various head-spinning electronic flourishes. The music was repetative, but never dull; think the house band from the bar scene in Star Wars, but more relevant, and if the aliens did much more drugs. That’s all I have to say about that, so check ’em out gosh dangit!
Sir Richard Bishop played after Sun Araw and before OM, with a wild set showcasing his unbelievable talent with the electric guitar, accentuated by some of the strangest and funniest story-telling songs I’ve heard since Zappa, man! He was a trip! I had not known of him prior to the show, so a good friend was kind enough as to inform me of Sir Richard’s incredible musical past. He played with the experimental rock-outfit Sun City Girls for 26 years, being a founding member along with his brother, and they released over 50 albums in their time. Richard Bishop has toured alongside Animal Collective as well as many other artists, and continues to shock-and-awe audiences with his musical genius. LISTEN TO HIM!
Sir Richard Bishop, “Raga Blues”
Oh, and GO TO MORE SHOWS!!!
Yours,
Jack Baker