This is a concert review of Murcof and .pig at the 2007 San Francisco Music Festival.
Last weekend featured an accidental theme of deep relaxation. Maybe it was cosmic alignment, or reaching an omega point of stress and fatigue, but everyone around me was discussing how to relax and feel creative. On Wednesday I reached a state of zen relaxation while sitting in the Artaud Theater at the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival listening to Murcof play ambient atmospheric music over a wonderfully rich soundsystem. I have a sample for you, so that you can try to create a place of zen for yourself with the beautiful song “Cielo” off of Murcof’s new album Cosmos. But first, a review of the band who started off the evening and the entire Festival: .pig an electronic noise band from Mexico City.
.pig and Murcof Represent Mexico’s Electronic Music Scene at SFEMF
The 2007 SFEMF kicked off their annual 5-day event on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 with a show that featured artists solely from Mexico – .pig is two guys from Mexico City and Murcof is one guy, Fernando Corona, from Tijuana.
.pig Noise
.pig jumped right into spastic noise via processed vocalizations, manipulating a record on a turntable, using an extra turntable arm for taps and rubs on the turntable that would be picked up by the needle on the record and then possibly processed, and a laptop. There may have been other things involved, but this what I saw for sure. Here is a pic of the turntable setup:
The two-person team played a brutal set, a sonic assault that had the effect of raising every ear, every hair, and every nerve involuntarily to full attention. It was loud and abrasive and I think it drastically surprised some people in the audience. If people came to this performance to see Murcof, it may have seemed inappropriate to start the show with music that is completely the opposite of what he plays. Sometimes I would agree. But after the show was over, it made complete sense to me. Not just because both artists come from the same nation, but because .pig’s performance as a barrage on the senses effectively disintegrated the listener’s scattered attentions. It was a Wednesday night, most people in the audience probably came from a full day of work, each with their conscious mind and subconscious swimming with different thoughts and distractions. .pig’s performance cut through all of it and unified the attention on the sounds and the effects it was having on the body. It was like a psychoacoustic salt rub before a soothing massage. It roughed up the senses so that they would feel the cool, spacious relief of Murcof’s cosmic synthesis. Of course, this may have been an unintentional bonus, but it worked for me. By the time Murcof came on, my senses were heightened and very accepting of the soft waves of evolving sounds.
Here is a short video of .pig’s performance – don’t let my description scare you from watching it, it’s actually quite fun to listen to. Just make sure your volume is turned down low at first, then adjust it to the right level for enjoyment:
I tried to get better visuals, but it was totally dark other than the backstage light that is shining on the artists.
Click on thumbnails to view the full picture in a separate window.
Murcof Created A Spa Experience For My Ears
With this new found vulnerability that my ears and my nerves had after the .pig performance, I found it extremely easy to sink deeply into the layers of Murcof’s ambient music. For most of his set, I felt as if I were adrift in the middle of the ocean without any concern for survival. My mind was at peace and content as I floated on top of the water and my entire body relaxed and limp. I was lifted by the movement of the smooth waves and then gently lowered again. Once I had let this relaxation take over my body, I lost my buoyancy and began to softly sink towards the ocean floor. Continuing with a sense of total safety, I allowed myself to be pulled deeper into the darkness. When I examined my new surroundings, I realized that I was not actually underwater at all, but rather in deep space. What I had imagined to be the stars reflecting off the water’s surface were actual stars and that I had been adrift in deep space. What had seemed like aquatic echoes of marine animals now sounded like cosmic communication. The vastness of the universe was spread before me, not as silence, but as long, delicate sweeps of sparkling sounds. I might have dissolved entirely into a million specks of cosmic dust and been scattered by one of those sweeps if it wasn’t for the gentle rhythm that emulated my relaxed heartbeat. I don’t know how long this lasted, but the deep relaxation that it produced remains in my body’s memory – ready to be called upon when it’s needed next.
Click on thumbnails to view the full picture in a separate window.
You too can experience this feeling of interstellar peace and drift away to the soothing darkness of deep space wherever you are right now. All you have to do is create a quiet environment in order to relax, and reduce sensory input. You’ll want to turn off all distractions for just a few moments. It will be totally worth it. This four minutes will transcend time. Turn off the phone/tv/etc. and turn off the lights if possible. If you can’t turn off the lights, put a scarf (or tie) loosely over your eyes. Sit or lie down in the most comfortable position possible. You basically want to create an environment similar to the inside a sensory deprivation tank (or a simple quiet bath) so you can leave your body behind for a few moments.
As Tom Snyder would say:
“Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air. … .”
When you are finished, take a few deep breaths and be sure to take your time reintegrating with this reality. Anytime you need four minutes of escape, you now know what to do. And, if you had the whole Cosmos album, you could relax for hours at your leisure.
Cosmos by Murcof
Tracklist for Cosmos:
1. Cuerpo Celeste
2. Cielo
3. Cosmos
4. Cometa
5. Cosmos
6. Oort
If you would like to hear audio samples of all these tracks, click to open this player in a new window:
Amazon music sampler for Cosmos
That’s it for this Murcofian journey. I hope you feel more relaxed and it stays with you all day; until the cosmos pull you in again as you drift off to sleep…..
~inhale~ ~exhhhhale~ ~innnnhale~ ~exhhhhale~ ~AAaAHhhhhh~
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