moritat

This feels so long ago....well actually it is. My glasses broke before seeing Moritat and it almost kept me from driving to the venue. I had to figure out how to suspend the lenses in this creative way so I can make it to Township. You know what....I'll be honest. I'm glad everyone else is having a hard time pinning them down. I figure reading about how others see them. We can't even agree on what to call the 800 pound gorilla in the room....sometimes its a pink elephant. Moritat, I just love this band. I see them a lot, and its a great mystery to me how to describe them in fewest words. I didn't have the balls to call them avant rock first. Someone else has and I can use that. Clearly what they do is rock music but thats so woefully insufficient. Just...rock? That's so boring. Because their rock without even trying demands a different name. I tried calling them trip hop, once and that barely covers two minutes, and in calling them trip hop, that also whispers jazz. And their song Yellow House  from their debut reminded me of the Peanuts theme song...that's piano jazz....right? I can't remember the song but it's on their newest Clill Blanzin. My ipod played it on random. I thought it was PJ Harvey. Even when you see one entire gig there is something that you liked but cannot identify what it is. You see flashes of what already resonates with you and that keeps you coming back. They don't just sound like something on the surface. The resonance goes beyond to nameless root. Here I've made all these piano references must mean that Venus commands attention on the keys even when not trying. Thats what got me with Yellow House. It struck me as casual and in no great need of ones attention. I know at this point I'm projecting a lot of my own bullshit embellishments. Yellow House is very long ride away from Blanzin but it always matters what Venus plays. I know there's three of 'em. They all matter. Cory's drums also played into me calling them trip hop. I've gone on about Venus voice. I like Constantine's as well in Snowpusher. Let it not be said that I dislike the male voice. Indeed I do. And Constantine sings in the song they have a video for I Forgot To Kiss Her, in fact. There is no lead guitar most of the time. The better to bring out the keys, the bass and the drums. As great as their recorded work is. The thing is to see them play live. Noise is brilliant. No lead guitar to interrupt the bass of Constantine. Aptly named, Noise does seem to harness random sounds to one purpose, is flexible enough to jam session. I notice this is done with some of their tracks, a moment where its right to just let the three instruments speak to each other, no voice.  This is something the band does live that I have only noticed recently. Its what keeps bringing me back. Its great to see each track in its own way race for that peak and crash back to earth. You feel a deepening relationship with the music because you soaked up what cannot be explained in words but sounds. So there is something to enjoy about the music live as well as...while you are driving from A to B. They will be playing Sunday 21 April at Strobe Studios on 2631 w Division St.
Zig