MICHAEL ROTHER
VENUE UnDer The BriDge, lonDon
DATE 05/04/19
SUPPORT ThUrsTon Moore
It’s rare to see a venue so packed for a support act, but so it proves for the former sonic Youth frontman. it’s an odd choice, as he comes from a lineage more associated with the likes of Glenn Branca
and the no wave scene rather than what came from Germany in the 70s. if Moore had played with his current london-based band, that would’ve offered us a chance to ‘compare and contrast’, but instead he plays an improvised solo set. his Fender Jazzmaster is fed through myriad effects pedals, and the music ebbs and flows, rising from plucked arpeggios through to wigged-out walls of noise and back again.
The last time this writer was at Under The Bridge, we were met with the scarcely believable sight of chelsea Fc owner roman abramovich grinning and nodding his head vigorously to the Magic Band playing ant Man Bee from Trout Mask replica. Tonight’s crowd appear to be oligarch-free, but when Michael rother comes on to deliver his set of irresistible motorik it’s difficult not to nod along. rother was originally influenced by Jimi hendrix before finding his métier in the 70s with neu!, so it’s appropriate that the set opens with a cacophonous blast of guitar squall, before gliding smoothly into a selection from 1979’s katzenmusik.
The trio utilise a lot of technology onstage, with rother using a laptop to produce billowing synth sounds that drift through the songs as they do on his solo
albums, while rhythm guitarist Franz Bargmann occasionally goes through some device that give his instrument the range of a bass guitar. Former neu! drummer hans lampe also plays his relentless rhythms on an electronic drumkit – which sound remarkably like a punchy acoustic set-up.
Tonight’s show celebrates the 40th anniversary of rother’s second solo album, sterntaler – actually released in 1978 – which the three musicians play in its entirety. although the beauty of his music lies in its repetition, the introduction of each piece with a wave of massive power chords, ceding to simple, strong, smooth verse melodies, is impressive, but also a tad predictable.
The set is lifted by a final batch of tracks by harmonia – souped-up versions of deluxe and dino – and by some neu! tunes. hallogallo is slightly but tellingly looser and grittier than much of what has gone before, and Thurston Moore joins in at considerable volume for versions of negativland and e-Musik, which prompt much vigorous nodding of heads from the delighted audience.