Flockterkit 9-16-2008

It's been a little while since Flockterkit had a show - since last December when I played the music in Chicago. Last November I recorded the music with the west coast lineup - Andy Strain, Jordan Glenn, Kurt Kotheimer, Caroline Penwarden and Anantha Krishnan. The recording turned out very good - but we hadn't had a chance to play the music out here until now. This was a free show at the Uptown in Oakland, I put together a bill with Painted Cakes (Eli Reitz, Shumit DasGupta and Andrew Kitchen), and Ben Bracken playing solo. It was a good night.
Painted Cakes played first - minimalist rock with long forms and interweaving patterns between the guitar, bass, and drums. Ben Bracken's set was one long piece, using feedback from his acoustic guitar to set up a bed for musical thoughts and sounds.
The Flockterkit set felt great - we took our time with improvising and solos - Jordan on drums and Anantha on tabla make a solid percussion section, and Kurt holds it down in between the two. Caroline used pump organ on the entire set, which is a great sound, long sustain, creaky, with dexterity as well.
The crowd that came was mixed, but mainly listeners - each group had a different sound and style which made for a balanced night of music. The good thing about the setup of the Uptown is that the bar is separate from the music room, so the people that don't want to listen can do their talking somewhere else. If only every place was built that way....