[Bang on a Can Marathon at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 9/27/08]

Photos:

I didn’t see Glenn Kotche.

I know, I know, it’s unfortunate, but considering what I saw was fantastic, it’s not tragic in the least.

There were a few logistical issues to Bang on a Can that were understandable, but still made the fest a lot less user-friendly. First off, the marathon’s lineup was a list instead of a schedule, so plainly showing up was how yours truly missed the Wilco-ite. Second, long set changes made it difficult to drop by and be guaranteed to catch music, which is where my plans also fell short.

I stopped by during the middle of the day, and caught the Bang on a Can all-stars doing a four-song set. The twelve-hour-long music event rotated between the Colwell Playhouse theatre and the lobby stage (the one High Places were at during Pygmalion), so even though I planned on coming back to see another show, I wound up waiting too long for a set change and defaulted to Mindy Kaling’s stand-up performance on the Quad. (As my roomate said, Saturday was a big day for Champaign-Urbana, which is quite true.)

The first song I saw, “Overvoltage Rumble” by Annie Gosfield, was a industrial-influenced piece with lots of sudden stops that highlighted the all-stars’ impeccable internal metronomes. The drums drove the most “musical”part of the sounds created, which was enjoyable yet odd, considering that the banging of metal seems to be the most authentic sound in the mix of machinery recreations. Digital keyboard sounds were a distraction from the banging, jangly noises being produced — one of which was a trick we used to irritate our fellow musicians when I was an bass-playing tot — but amid the captivatingly off-kilter sounds they were creating, it was the only complaint.

When I first saw the orchestral setup onstage, the fourteen-year-old orchestra member inside of me panicked out of possible boredom, but as the bassoonist said between songs, they were playing “classical music…but not your father’s classical music,” which became true during my favorite of the songs I saw, “Manhatta” by Michael Nyman, a tune played as the accompaniment to a short black-and-white film. 

The video, featuring hordes of people walking through the streets, men wearing silly, old-fashioned hats and various architectural sites in the city, was brought to life with the upbeat piece, led by loud clarinet melodies, proving that the all-stars were exactly what their name stood for.

If you stayed for other parts of it, comment below and let us know what you enjoyed most!