Recorded between 1998-2001, this three year live excursion took the Sonic Catering Band to restaurants and galleries in the UK and Geneva. Disc one is comprised of six tracks that drudge up uncertain static, creating wind tunnels. Hyperbole aside, this trio (Colin Fletcher, Tim Kirby and Peter Strickland) uses electronics alongside appliances to brew their sound concoction. Greek label Absurd hits paydirt again by offering one of their customary limited editions (this one only 477 copies available). With a discography dating back to 1998 I have no idea how I have had no citing of these fellas – but this surfacing has whet my appetite.
Besides conducting a mystical, and foggy, live performance with the allure of the best of Zoviet France, one can find entertainment in the clatter of china and silverware. The all too familiar din of the interior of a dense eatery, here served with all the fixings! They capture their live audience and incorporate sound, presence and intimate collaboration. At one moment the drone is saturated with stunning flare, and briskly a whirling dervish of percussive chaos transforms the scene only to leave you with the vague tit-tat of crystal clinking like vibes. Track three is just lovely here in its moments of meditative clanging, like wind chimes – only better. And all the way through there is an unconscious play on sound that does not encompass the need to feed the ears with typical beat of rhythm.
Live from the Canteens of Atlantis makes its own way into your senses. As I flip over to disc two I notice the care taken to adorn the front cover with an image of the bottom of a metal cooking pot. Right off, the silence retreats with sounds resembling a staple-gun or other meandering wire-cutter type device. Fidgety and intensely accurate sounding in its application, this might be best aided by the live spectacle. The intimacy of the sound is just a little bit of a tease. This hour-long piece varies dramatically from the richer sounds on disc one in that it is a performance piece, stirring, cracking (eggs?), mixing it up in a circle while surrounded by an audience – all at floor level. The sound is sparse at first until things start to boil and steam. The audience is eerily silent as chopping sounds are amplified enough to echo. The sizzle actually sounds like a concert audience at one point – kind of a reversal mimic of environments so to speak. The Band’s use of “zen” recipes that include ingredients traditionally used in the Far East make for a wonderful image of how sensory the experience of actually being there must have been.
This is unlike the Emeril aesthetic with the stir-fried fatso brain audience and the persistent (and slightly unnerving) “BAM!” Once things start melding together, it’s like live sonar, taking the plunge through multiple intangible layers. The snap-crackle-pop of it all is live theater personified.
Live from the Canteens of Atlantis is OUT NOW on Absurd.
