After passing Secret Project Robot Gallery on Melrose, I made eye contact with a drunk fella speaking Spanish at the next four-way stop, and he turned and kissed a little boy playing with the open fire hydrant. Okay. Turn-turn-turn-park, got out my car, there was a small black plastic bag oozing, and it smelled like rot. Fleeing the scene, I make it back to Melrose in a way roundabout way, and see the words, “Maze event through the yard” on a door. Venturing in, I trip over the entryway, and see Sam Hillmer (ZS, Diamond Terrifier) immediately. He pumps me up about The Maze (a.k.a. the You Are Here Fest), and I enter.
Ann Liv Young was setting up or doing a sound check; I found an installation that involved me placing my hands in a clear box and my fingers on buttons surrounded by tiny different colored circles. As Young continued with the same song, I pressed these colored buttons, activating matching colored lights in various locations around the Maze. I stopped, but it was complementary to the poppin’ off live sound. There were treasure chests with video games implanted in them at some dead ends and potions hanging about labeled “with alcohol” on ‘em. And after about 20 minutes (still same song, I shit y’all not), Ann Liv Young was finished with her set[slash]sound check and unpacked by dispersing throughout the Maze. Saw Patrick Higgins helping them break down, and I dropped a quick handshake and “Hi.” I was mesmerized by the alternating mazes being projected on the walls and stared there until Higgins started setting up. Walked over in the Maze to the double speaker, stood about an arm’s length away, and then he just gutted that guitar.
It was then I realized Higgins has an unusual sense of placement in his art. I’ve listed to his Bacchanalia countless times and have seen him live before, so I don’t know what clicked, just — as I was explaining, his music is very self-sacrificing. To the unfamiliar reader, Patrick Higgins plays (as Time Out New York says) “avant-classical” guitar and swells it with loops, delays, and backward effects, etc. And when this swelling crackles your ear buds, it feels, like, pleasurable. Wave after wave of sheer music is marginally yet boldly heard through a pleasurable reverberation. He grins, it’s over, and you know he knows you’ve a beautiful ringing in your head/brain. Like a bell that plays hundreds of notes.
Word to the wise: take a step out of the Maze on occasion. Although they have ceiling fans and the building is up to fire code (as presented on the wall), it can get quite toasty in there. Then it occurs to me I’ve no idea where I parked my car. ZS weren’t going on for another 30 or 45 minutes, so I figured I’d venture into my own Maze and find the ol’ whip. Thirty minutes of looping blocks, I locate it by following the decaying/rotting smell, and realize I should have worn more than just gym shorts. And somehow I continued to conduct my own Maze in Brooklyn. The event is viral.
Came back to a clogged Maze entrance, and Zs were just grinding up. Talk about a group that knows exactly how each member plays: Watching them is one of those “That’s real real nice” moments, I suppose. The way they go about constructing songs and playing off each other works well in any live venue. Specifically: performance. It’s not something you can nod to; maybe for a second, but not consistently. Just stare and observe and enjoy. You know, it’s fucking-jazz. Maybe that’s not a genre, but if (modern) jazz got to fucking, it’d be ZS. Less in a sexual way and way-way in a “witness-this” way. As performance as performance can get. Maybe-maybe-maybe. At any rate, I got back to may car and it was a Thursday, so I had work early the next morning. That means I split before Miho Hitori’s New Optimism, but I’m sure things were glorious. BYE!
• Secret Project Robot Gallery: http://www.secretprojectrobot.org
• Maze: http://www.troublemaze.com
• Ann Liv Young: http://www.annlivyoung.com
• Patrick Higgins: http://patrickhigginsmusic.com
• Zs: http://www.zzzsss.com