Dither at Listen/Space

Friday night, I had the pleasure of seeing the relatively new (1 year old) guitar quartet, Dither, perform at Listen/Space in Brooklyn. It was both my first time at Listen/Space and my first time hearing Dither. The group, who's members are Taylor Levine, James Moore, Josh Lopes, and Simon Kafka, was inspired by Fred Frith's legendary quitar quartet, and regularly plays the compositions that were created for that group. Last night's set included 'A', 'F', 'G', and 'B' in that order (but not consecutively). The program also included pieces by Lainie Fefferman, David Lang, Arvo Pärt, Simon Kafka, and Nick Didkovsky (who was an original member of Frith's group). The program was a bit on the long side and actually could have warranted an intermission. But one possible benefit of presenting so many pieces back to back, is that you can start to get some sense of the nuance and limitations that this instrumentation provides.

Frith's pieces are clearly the mainstay of the group. He has an amazing ear for timbre and counterpoint, and these pieces were definitely the strongest parts of the program. I should have written this immediately after the concert (which I will attempt to do from now on), but I do remember certain pieces clearer than most. Frith's 'A' based itself off of a pulsating note coming from Levine's guitar. From there, the remaining guitarists entered in slow succession, each adding a note or two in a playfully polyrhythmic fashion. Never did any one pattern emerge like in the minimal music of Steve Reich, but a similar energy resulted. A nicely traipsing composite melody resulted over the ever-present rhythmic drone. At the exact point that I began to wonder how the piece would end, the players trailed off, and each picked up a tape recorder. This transition was unfortunately made very clumsily and any positive effect that could have resulted was lost. On each performer's tape player was a recording of his part. Obviously, this could provide an interesting "sonic memory" altered by the electronics in the pickups and tape machine, but it was handled more like an uncomfortable gimmick. What was an otherwise beautiful piece ended in disappointment.

The other pieces by Fred Frith handled timbres and rhythmic devices with equal authority. One other aspect (not present in 'A') that I have always enjoyed in Frith's music is his ease of incorporating different genres into the fabric of his music. In particular, he understands the language of guitar music, and specifically ELECTRIC guitar music and plays with all the various tropes and stereotypes therein. He knows how a certain type of distortion or delay coupled with the right melodic line can point to prog-rock, metal, or fusion jazz, while managing to subvert those very things. I feel like he's always treading water with kitsch, and often he drowns in it. But it is so upbeat and well written that I don't even care. I happily dive right in!

Nick Didkovsky's pieces were a welcome extension of "pedigree" for Dither, since Didkovsky was part of the Fred Frith quartet. His pieces, like Frith's, are wonderfully intricate and playful. He isn't afraid of either counterpoint between guitars of differing timbres(often creating....dare I say it?...klangfarben melodies!) or of genre play. Didkovsky has sort of a prog streak in him, too. Though they offered a fair amount of complexity, his pieces were downright heavy at times. Very fun.

Included on the program were two pieces by younger composers, Lainie Fefferman and Simon Kafka, who is also one of Dither's guitarists. I don't remember too much about Kafka's piece except that it began with a texture-drone of open guitar string resonance that was produced by knocking or hitting the head, body, or neck of the guitar, after which some vaguely tonal melodies were played. All in all, I was a bit underwhelmed, but the piece fit into the general context of the program.

Lainie Fefferman's piece was in three parts. The first part began with a strummed drone (sensing a theme here?) over which other textures emerged and grew. After reaching a sort of "climax"(though its hard to call it that since it was more of a drone), the parts faded out. After an abrupt and slightly awkward pause, the second section began, in which Mr. Moore pounded on his guitar and created a bass drum-like timbre. Over this, the guitar writing was a crude (and unsuccessful) attempt at "rock". Pretty blasé, though there were some well thought out interlocking parts now and then. I'm forgetting the details of the final section of the piece, but I remember liking it the best, and in hindsight it bared resemblance to the first Frith piece in some regards. All in all, it wasn't a bad piece, and it was much better than others of hers that I've heard. However, it seemed less of a coherent whole and more like three separate ideas. I wish they had worked better together, and that each piece had actually gone somewhere. Form can be a tricky thing.

David Lang's piece (a guitar duo) was one of the best pieces of his that I have heard in a while. I attribute this, at least in part, to its brevity. Maybe only about 10 minutes long, it can be summed up in a single word: heterophony. The two electric guitars were played through similar, though distinct, distortion and their tones easily melted into one another. What Lang did is play with the idea of a subtly shifting unison line that the guitarists perform together. Sometimes, the line is offset by an eighth note, other times, a sixteenth, and sometimes a different note is thrown in here and there. Each phrase begins with a strong unision (making both players nod [read: headbang?] together). From that point, the line diverges in different, rhythmic ways. I was surprised by how engaging and interesting this piece turned out to be.

The show ended with a transcription of an organ piece by Arvo Pärt, the Estonian minimalist and neo-medievalist. This was a good, if long, reading of his piece, and Dither did a great job translating the various voices' roles. Melodic lines were plucked (softly with fingers) by the two outer players while the slower legato lines and harmonies were playce by the other two using volume pedal swells. Pärt's music was a wonderful way to end the concert; perhaps an electric reverie to the medieval lute music of the past (filtered through Pärt's version of that history???).

All in all, I enjoyed myself. The music was not "difficult" in the least to listen to, and I mean that in at least some sort of critical way. While there were elements that I could trace and find interest in, it isn't music that I would be able to gain much from multiple listens except for the Frith pieces and perhaps the Lang. Most of it suffered from a vapid language that hinges too much on the neo-tonal / modal worlds that seem to plague a lot of new music. However, both the Frith and Didkovsky pieces were a welcome change from the others. Theirs are vital pieces that come from from players who have been active in the avant-rock, jazz, pop, and improvisation worlds for a while. The members of Dither would do well to study not only their music and interests, but their approach to performance. While executed well for the most part, there lacked a certain spark that would liven up much of the music and lend certain parts (I'm thinking here of the second section of the Fefferman) more authenticity. It was as though Dither was afraid to leave the music behind and let the music breathe (or rock?) on its own. In a small, intimate concert space (hall), this is only amplified. They are electric guitars, for goodness sake! Visible counting of the beats (spoken, not grooved), playful acknowledgment of mistakes and shrugging when an amp gives off too much ground hum are distractions that take away from the immediacy that most of this music could have, and instead made me focus on how much it was like a formal concert. Surprisingly, the Lang was one of the few places where the performance shown through and benefited the piece, even though it wasn't a "perfect" one.

A word about Listen/Space- This is a very nice and intimate new venue on Skillman Ave off of the Graham L train. It is kind of like a mini-Stone in size (think 2/3 the size, without the piano, and the walls are white instead of black). But, it was a little bit too small for an electric guitar quartet, and they could stand to do something about the insane amount of reverb in the room. I'm not quite sure how anyone who wasn't wearing earplugs would be able to hear very much, actually. That said, I'm really glad that there's a venue like this popping up so far along the L train, or in New York City at all! We need more spaces like this that are dedicated to creative music, and I'll be sure to check out what they will be curating further.

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After I got home, I finally saw Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing". All I can say is that was one amazing movie. Wow. And then today was "a scorcher" as well....