Jason Lescalleet |
Working with reel-to-reel tape players, distressed audio tape, lo-fi samplers, microcassette recorders, and the like, JASON LESCALLEET makes shudderingly intense music: sometimes beautiful, sometimes harsh, rarely boring. For his latest, The Breadwinner (Erstwhile), he collaborated with sound artist Graham Lambkin. Subtitled Musical Settings for Common Environments and Domestic Situations and sourced entirely from recordings made in and around Lambkin's apartment, it reveals the uncanny and unnerving beauty of the everyday. In performance, Lescalleet (who joins Nmperign at the Middle East on Tuesday) cuts an imposing figure as he threads crinkled tape loops from player to player. That may suggest dry and dull as dust, but it’s anything but. Early on in his career, his sets — whether whisper-quiet or howlingly loud — would culminate with a bit of Luddite aggression usually involving the casual toss of a 100-pound amp. The threat of such violence may well be a thing of the past, but a certain glorious palpable tension remains.
GREG DAVIS and KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN are best known as purveyors of finely textured drones (the Lily Pad, where they play next Thursday, May 1, describes them as “drone moguls,” whatever that means), but these generously bearded musicians are far more versatile. Their 2005 release Yearlong (Carpark) was a kaleidoscopic survey of electro-acoustic styles ranging from maximalist noise to minimal (well, yes) drones. In their recent solo work, they've followed somewhat divergent paths, with Davis embracing the soaring, folked-up sounds of “peace noise” and Whitman immersing himself in the quirky intricacies of modular synths. If memory serves, it’s been a while since they last played as duo in or around Boston, so their set could well offer a few surprises.
NMPERIGN with JASON LESCALLEET + X04, KATE VILLAGE, SHARPWAIST, XIPHOID DEMENTIA | Middle East upstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | April 29 | 617.864.EAST | MEGAFAUN + GREG DAVIS / KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN DUO | Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge | May 1 at 10 pm | 617.395.1393
