Author: JB Mellin
Having watched countless live performances on YouTube and managing to catch them at Pitchfork Fest earlier this year, you could say that I was excited to see South London-based band black midi live again. After releasing their critically-acclaimed debut album Schlagenheim earlier this year in June, black midi have garnered attention from a wide cross-section of people, something my friends and I experienced first-hand at The Crocodile here in Seattle. Among others, Metalheads, psych fans, and punks surrounded me at the beginning of the show. The reason so many people from so many different genres and backgrounds come is simple: black midi puts on an incredible live show.
After waiting for a few minutes, black midi’s opener Ami Dang came out onto the stage while the lights dimmed. Flashing in the front were vibrantly atmospheric shades of blue, orange and yellow. Holding a sitar and her laptop, Ami Dang sat down right in front of the crowd. The entire room was quiet.
Once the performance began, I found myself hypnotized by the incredible microtonal notes coming out of Dang’s sitar and the repetitive, arpeggiated synthesizers that accompanied her. After her first song, Dang introduced herself and explained her Sikh background and the kind of music and stories she grew up listening to and reading and how they influenced her music and most recent album, Parted Plains. Though her set lasted almost 40 minutes, it seemed like as soon as she stepped out, Ami Dang was thanking the crowd and singing her last song. With Ami Dang’s exceptional set done, the stage was ready. We were all soon set to visit Schlagenheim.
After about twenty minutes, six orange and blue lights began to shine weakly on the stage. A booming voice shot through the silence and said something along the lines of: “CONTESTANTS: SET. STAGE: SET. ARE YOU RRRRRRREADY TOOOOOO RRRRRRRRUMBLEEE?!”. I immediately got goosebumps. The band walked out onto the stage and shortly after, began with the nightmarish fourth track off Schlagenheim, “Near DT, MI”. As soon as they started, the mosh pit erupted around me and continued to do so throughout their entire hour-long set. One of the many things I find entertaining about black midi is the fact that they all look like they’re much younger than they are. Evidenced by the photo below, these aren’t the type of people you’d expect to create such dissonant, noisy music.
At times during their performance, the band members would stop playing completely, throwing off the mass of jumping, pushing, yelling fans of which I found myself a part of on several occasions. I could see distinct smiles on guitarist/singer Geordie Greep and (phenomenal) drummer Morgan Simpson during these moments, and it was incredibly contagious.
The bassist, Cameron Picton, alternated between his lovely blue Rickenbacker 4003 bass and midi keyboard + laptop all throughout the show, often exchanging the raw tone of his bass for a more synthetic sound. The other guitarist, Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin seemed to be having guitar troubles as he was frequently tuning his guitar. I felt bad for him, and on the track “Talking Heads”, one of his strings snapped altogether. He played through to the end of the song though, and for that I have a lot of respect.
Over the course of their performance, I was excited to hear different renditions of each track on the album. Oftentimes, they would switch up the tempos on songs, drawing them out or making them even more explosive and quick. It sounded a lot different from the record, but in the best way possible. I was also shocked and elated to hear songs that were definitely not on Schlagenheim. One of my favorite things about the album itself was that it was their debut. There is still so much more for them to accomplish and create, and for such a young band I’m sure black midi and its’ members will be making music for a long time to come.
JB Mellin | theymovedwithsuchapurpose | KXSU Music Reporter