sub rosa: an evening of films and music Sept 19, 1996 - the Cooler, NYC Facts: David Shea, Nus, David Shea again, and then Scanner inbetween live performances, "films" and dj emmanuel angel Details: films: boring - basically screen savers, and display art - not FILMS or Cinema per say. However, I guess it was nicer and more hypnotic than just an empty stage in between sets. Music: Amazing, Amazing, Amazing - sorry you missed out! :( Didn't see any other top-offs or nyc-ravers there. David Shea was amazing. He created the most intense atmospheres. Mixing beat and beatless ambient and time-based feelings. All on a ensonic keyboard with maybe a dat storage for the samples, beats, etc. Now the reason I love ambient music, is for the incredible atmospheres that the best artists of the genre create. This is how and why I get so high off the music alone. Just shut your eyes, and feel yourself somewhere else - somewhere differnt - someplace slower and just a little better. First set was cut short because of some problems with the equiptment - maybe the dat? Wound up goofing the time with some out-of-place keyboard playing. Oh, and the beats in the first set were pure goof and cheese but in the best sense. His second set after Nus (to finish up) was sublime. Lets see - some of the genre atmospheres were like swing-era jazzy stuff - kinds like some of the muziq sensibility but more total transport to another time and era. ALso fun were the horror show beats - screams as beats - sweet! Otherwise general synth and beats and smooth and no beats and beautiful So the quesiton is WHAT ALBUM DO I BUY - WHAT ALBUM MUST I BUY? Thank you. NUS were next - an ambient pop trio. Two guitarists and one vocalist. Opened up with guitarists, one doing swirly background (was that an infinite guitar or something else?) and the other playing "lead" in a sense. First song was just the guitarists. SUBLIME. Second song, some beats were added in, ang vocalist started. I enjoyed this one too. The vocals were high in the mix, and half spoken/half sung. Please no one shoot me, but the singer's voice reminded me (and the band) of Queensryche - a metal band which I adore. I love crazy guitar riffs tempted by slow soothing syths - and if you only know Sweet Lucidity, go buy Operation Mindcrime or Rage for Order...but I digress ;) In any case, the next couple of songs were beatless and low on guitar dynamics - more like a more folky Low or Labradford. However, once again, the close of the eyes helps the body to slow down to the new tempo of the night. I was impressed and would see them again live. Scanner was next, and sad to say, the least enjoyable set of the night. I am not very familar with Robin's recorded output. However, the tracks I have heard have been minimal sythn-laden ambience topped by intercepted cellular-phone conversations. Today's story was synth like sweeps, one or two cellular convos (at least one from NYC - sounding like setting a doctors appointment. Not very titilating stuff) and BEATs. More beats, approaching IDM, but dull, than was appropiate (IMHO) for the evening. What was a night of delicate and widely ranging atmospheres (both previous acts and "films" and music accompaning) was replaced with mono-tone beats. In any case, Robin seemed to have a good time synching everything up and doing the live thing. One trick I didn't comprehend was the every so often gesture of his hand near the scanner off to the side - did it do anything? Was it a volume or level or something? Was he searching for a live unsuspecting conversation to steal and present? In any case, it is time for sleep after a satisfying after all evening. See you all on Saturday at Liberty Science Center for the hoedown from goa (via England...) /\/\ichael PS: Hi Jake :)