The Free Design #3

The healing arts finally made it to town. A little bit above and beyond the call of duty considering how screwed up their schedule has been, but like troopers they trooped down to chilly Portland. I read that listening to Stereolab is like “tuning into AM radio frequencies which may, or may not, be from the future”. It’s the case as well. It was a little sad seeing them without Mary Hansen, and Laetitia must really miss her. She carried on though, beautiful and in control. The band was a seven piece this time round, along with house sound, VJ tech, and merch. guy. The band seemed a little tired maybe, but played with backbone and focus. They hardly engaged the audience at all but to me it really didn’t matter – it was the music that engaged everybody. Tim Gane played guitar and swung his head back and forth like a bobble-head metronome all evening. His eyes were closed like he was real gone. Down the wormhole. Spiraling in and out of spaces and times. Riding riffs of drum machines, synths, French Horn, Trombone. Andy was amazing. He's the drummer. And Laetitia like I said was beautiful. The photos curiously enough are what the music actually sounded like right at that moment.
Total freedom. Liberation. Music.