The two-day Gladtree Festival took place at The Red Barn in Amherst, MA, located on the campus of Hampshire College. I'd actually been in this very building before about 18 months earlier on the eve of the Terrastock 5 festival, as Ghost played there with Six Organs of Admittance and Joshua Burkett. True to its name, the building is indeed a large red barn made of trusses larger than railroad ties. Despite its location on university property, the wooden floors and minimal decoration gave the room a humble and homely feel that either soothed those in attendance or merely lulled them all into a false sense of security. Tickets for Gladtree were limited to 150 entrants, and Saturday was sold out upon arrival Friday. The crowd was relatively diverse with regard to age and appearance, although the performers made up a considerable percentage of the audience. I decided to jot down a few notes during each performance for the sake of posterity. Decipher them at will. I've included at the end two brief observations from a show at the Paradise Lounge in Boston that Sunday night.
FRIDAY 4/09, GLADTREE
Monotract: Boys Only - dual/duel CPU abuse thru fx w/ some destructo guit split pulse bursts battle white noise riots at length. no victor, but ears clearly defeated. sputter scuz. [could be seen cavorting with TM & MV in a white station wagon listening to "Nurse"]
Valley of Ashes - folk quintet ft 4 guitars (1 12-string), banjo, fiddle, bass & 2 percs. banjo to guitar to fiddle [singer Pete drums for Magick Markers as well]. dark ballads & midnight cemetery stories wandering foggy.
Fat Worm of Error - spaz rock theatrics bring props as handlebar moustache guitarist runs amok over 3-string bass. playfully pushy & meandering with drummer in tight neon outfit [who did .
Six Organs of Admittance - divine acoustic teleportation device. medleys of exquisite beauty & extreme fingering prowess. a voice as rich & pure as the ancients themselves. wondrous.
Metalux - fem noise duo mix sines & samples w/ contact mics. blue suitcase & lots of wires, Thurston is entranced. heaviness. circuit-twisting, cb-mic, somehow sexy but scary. cord popping.
Joshua Burkett - powerful picking in capo scales & structures. lush & hush enough to calm the room, breaths audible. eyes open motionless, closed into total aural bliss perhaps.
Sunburned Hand of the Man - beep-driven kick-drum trance mutates sideways and expands to full room size. charged up but feeling restrained too. "a sad story." stumbles to an end rather recklessly and offers bewilderment. truce.
SATURDAY 4/10, GLADTREE
Born Heller - double bass plucked, bowed or tapped by mallets paired with nylon-string guitar or ukelele and haunting voice. fifty-plus people so quiet you could hear blinking, swallowing, nothing.
Son of Man - buzzing undercurrent stirs & settles, shifts to hum. voices conjure primitive chatter during equipment jostling. restless fumbling produces barely uttered memories of astral conservations muffled.
Cherry Blossoms - rambling offkey observations that shuffle or skiffle. fractured melodies scatter like marbles toward the same low corner. gets to moving, stops to look around, then carries on some more.
IFCO - missed 'em; heard it was "repetitive" and "pretty good."
Cereberus Shoal - multi-vocal multi-instrumental sextet salvages plastics & gadgets to manufacture elaborate foundtracks & mini-epics. gypsy thump shambles amicably, redirected on whims or cues.
MV & EE Medicine Show - treated folk rewrites a standard, a raga, an original. long-neck banjo, 6 or 12-string, distorted ukelele or clean autoharp/strings. space travel through a forest of ghostly campfires casting distant shadows.
Magick Markers - double-guitar no-wave assault. singer avoided touching fretboard whole set & knocked a guy out of his chair. scarved guitarist dropped slabs of lovely crunch & rocked out considerably.
Tono-Bungay - free power-trio switched gear & styles smoothly plus pretty lights. tapes played, solos noodled, pieces locked into place.
Dredd Foole - solo songer/singwriter doing protest/love folk blues. vocal inflections tested & pushed. familiar chords but emotive delivery. can hold notes much longer than average. been doing this for years.
No-Neck Blues Band - jump-rope, wood clicks, a shaker made of horns, & guitars. plastic bottle percussion & cymbal abuse. guitar sounds mingle from tones to licks. a metal bowl, ratchet, tambourine ensemble adventure.
P.G. Six - exquisite picking & complex arrangements equal modern medieval folk ballad updates. remarkable precision & technique, with as many trilled half-notes as key changes. heavenly harp at end.
Sun City Girls - without a doubt guitar legend & bass/sax master the Bishops [w/ genius sticksman Goucher] butchered an anxious & responsive audience with virtuoso made to seem casual. just astounding. had to be there.
SUNDAY 4/11, BOSTON
Sunburned Hand of the Man - guess what's under the blanket. it's not an owl. starts off raucous before coalescing into a thick stream of sludge with trebly rustling edges. sputters & stumbles without giving up or out altogether. Moloney's reemergence signals an abrupt end a little later.
Sun City Girls - longer more intense crystalline brilliance unveiled. beautiful lady, political awareness, furious fingerwork. people are shifting, curious & uncertain but willing. the stage only 2 steps from the floor, fans lined closer. falsetto flutter & unforced fluidity, a knowledge of harmonic unity & dissonant dithering. SUPERB.
The two-day Gladtree Festival took place at The Red Barn in Amherst, MA, located on the campus of Hampshire College. I'd actually been in this very building before about 18 months earlier on the eve of the Terrastock 5 festival, as Ghost played there with Six Organs of Admittance and Joshua Burkett. True to its name, the building is indeed a large red barn made of trusses larger than railroad ties. Despite its location on university property, the wooden floors and minimal decoration gave the room a humble and homely feel that either soothed those in attendance or merely lulled them all into a false sense of security. Tickets for Gladtree were limited to 150 entrants, and Saturday was sold out upon arrival Friday. The crowd was relatively diverse with regard to age and appearance, although the performers made up a considerable percentage of the audience. I decided to jot down a few notes during each performance for the sake of posterity. Decipher them at will. I've included at the end two brief observations from a show at the Paradise Lounge in Boston that Sunday night.