The Norman Transcript
May 19, 2006 12:38 am
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By Austin Tackett
pop writer
You have to love experimental music. Sure it's nothing but bearded geeks obsessed with record collecting and dissecting the validity of recorded static, but it has brought us so many great things over the years. Almost all the greatest indie rock bands of all time sprung from the loins of unheard of experimentation. Music fans everywhere should be thankful for those brave enough to push the boundaries of what is considered standard music making.
One such artist worthy of our praises is Boston group The Sunburned Hand of the Man, a band whose revolving lineup has brought the world over 40 releases since their inception in 1994. You've probably never heard of them, and you'll probably never find any of their many releases, but The Sunburned Hand of The Man found their way into Oklahoma City May 8 at The Conservatory alongside local avant rockers Whale and Anvil Salute. Luckily, I was there to learn a few lessons from the John Cage school of rock.
Whale
Evolving from what used to be a an experimental two-piece, Midwest City's Whale have added a third member to create a near-perfect blend of catastrophic noise and '90s throwback, alt-guitar riffage. Throw in some tribal drum breakdowns and feedback-drenched interludes and you have but one of the many changing pieces of the puzzle Whale have been forcefully jamming together since playing their first show back in January.
"Eclectic" would probably be a good term for the band, but drummer and co-founder Lucas Dunn prefers to use the term "epic" when describing Whale's sound.
"The whole premise of the band is based around the concept of build-ups and dynamics," Dunn said. "We like the song to sound like one great big grand finale."
Quite a fitting description, considering every song sounds like the last notes played during the third encore of an arena rock show. Constant squealing feedback and cymbal crashes certainly give Whale the larger than life advantage that is sure to please anyone out there who likes big sound.
Anvil Salute
Subtlety is certainly Anvil Salute's greatest weapon, and it's one they are not afraid to use. Starting with pure silence and eventually drifting into a soothing drone of pretty sounds, Anvil Salute utilize a smorgasbord of instruments including homemade noisemaking devices, various percussion and an instrument that resembled (or may have actually been) a sitar. Of course, more traditional instruments like drums and guitar are used readily onstage, but not in their naturally intended purpose.
The result is both beautiful and slightly scary, as Anvil Salute would probably make the perfect soundtrack to one's own death.
The Sunburned Hand of the Man
By the time The Sunburned Hand of the Man took the stage, the majority of the crowd was fully experiencing "The Lost Lake-Soaked Liver of the Man," thus setting the stage for one of the raddest experimental music experiences I have been witness to.
Sunburned opened with a jangly, desert pop rock song that probably threw most of the avant garde nerd patrol audience for a loop, but confusion soon transformed into glee as The Sunburned Hand Of the Man sprawled into the remainder of their set with enough dizzying free jazz to make Captain Beefheart feel about as challenging as Michael Jackson.
Guitars would stray into psychadelic jamming and noisemaking as the rhythm section banged and plucked away in pure improvisational glory -- all incoherent but in the most natural way. What sounded like the beginning of an actual song would suddenly change courses and turn into feedback soundscapes. This would in turn transform into scattered song structure, yet never quite acquire any form or direction.
Tension and beauty were certainly the interchangeable themes of the sounds created by The Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Kind of like winning the lotto on the same day as your mother's funeral, you just can't quite decide how you should feel.
It's easy to be sucked into the mood of such noise, but then again, throwing the audience a hook every now and then may have certainly worked to their advantage. There's really only so long that you can listen to some guy fool around on the bass before you start to lust for some actual songwriting.
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