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Concert Tue Mar 25 2008
Guitar Gods
Above: Count the number of strings on Michelle Webb's instrument, win a prize. But not really.
Michelle Webb, an improviser from Las Cruces, NM, slings her 76-string (give or take) across her back and heads north to play Enemy in Wicker Park (1550 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 3rd Floor), along with locals Mykel Boyd and Magic Missile.
Webb lists her influences as Elliott Sharp, Bill Laswell, Taj Mahal, Sonny Sharrock, and Diamanda Galas, among many others, and includes a Sonny Sharrock quote about the necessity of primal qualities to one's music and muse. Her pictures indicate a musician with a strong commitment to unusual guitar-based machinery, strings lapsing well into the double-digits and effects pedals for miles, which is why I'm thinking that Elliott Sharp is going to figure heavily in this event. Sound samples include a track rather suspiciously called "Bailey" - elegy for a recently-fallen legend, perhaps? - which plays both contemplative and engulfing, a thick, effects-driven undertow. I would guess the live experience enhances the whole a thousand-fold - seeing Elliott Sharp and Zeena Parkins way back when, I know that watching the actual attack of the strings in a live context was integral to the musical experience (moreso than most modern experimental music, which comes from boxes), rather than just hearing the swirl of sounds on ye olde digital coaster when I got home.
Mykel Boyd, owner of the Somnimage and Power Silence labels, performs with his digital/analogue driftworks, clean and tight, blinding you with clouds of microscopic feathers.
Meanwhile, the recently reinvigorated Magic Missile (previously a duo of Jason Soliday on guitar and Jon Satrom on electronics and films, now including Animal Law guitarist Geoff Guy on second axe) wraps themselves, the stage, themselves, and their instruments in blinding white light and fabric, detuning, groaning, preparing you for your journey into the mouth of infinity.
As usual, starts early (8 p.m.) due to noise ordinances, and costs $5.