Yellow 6, Charles Atlas, Jessica Bailiff - Live Show March 18, 2003
(Cafe du Nord, San Francisco)
After the club double-booked, and I had to change my flight, my attending this show was becoming very, very expensive. My expectations were, understandably, high after spending the amount of money, and expending the amount of energy I did to get there. Fortunately the experience did not disappoint.
The night began with Yellow6, which consists of Jon Attwood, a guitar, and some samples. I was, admittedly, a little skeptical about how Yellow6 would come across live, having experienced other electronic/sample heavy bands have a very difficult time combining the sample-based and live elements. The blending, however, in this case was seamless, and the same rich texture present on Yellow6 recordings not only came across live, but also had a presence and atmosphere that was palpable. The performance also felt excruciatingly intimate-due to the fact that Jon was the only one on stage, and also to the fact that the music is so specific. What I mean by specific is that it explores the same or at least similar sounds on so many of the compositions with such depth, that you can't help but develop a certain sense of intimacy.
Charles Atlas were next and my expectations, once again, were high-this being my first real exposure to the band, and after hearing so much about them. From what I had heard about Charles Atlas, I was expecting to hear "the American version of Piano Magic" which certainly appealed to me. That is not what I got, but what I did get was equally interesting. At this show, Charles Atlas was playing with a guest cellist, who has also played with Tarentel. As it turned out the cellist was not the only thing they had in common with Tarentel and their music was a bit like a slightly less dramatic, less spacious Tarentel. The cold, isolated melancholy, of Yellow6, was replaced with a warmer, possibly more varied melancholy, but that also shared a similar intimacy.
By the time Jessica Bailiff came on stage it was getting very late, which made her music's directness a very welcome change. Jessica's 'band' consisted of her on guitar, or bass guitar, and one other person also on guitars. Jessica's recent work, seems to have surfaced from the haze a little bit, to reveal concise, but very satisfying psych-folk/pop songs. Intimate is, once again, a very appropriate word for the performance, only this time the melancholy-type intimacy was replaced with a very endearing self-conscious kind of intimacy.
The combination of these three sets of musicians was certainly inspired. There was a consistency in tone and, once again, intimacy, but also a satisfying variety of ways of achieving it. Another thing these sets of musicians had in common was restraint. It is often difficult, particularly with bands playing instrumental, atmospheric music, to know when to stop, and performances that begin as fascinating explorations become simply self-indulgent, but all involved here seemed to figure out where exploration ended and self-indulgence began and avoided this pitfall. Three excellent performances by the excellent bands!
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