Ulrich Schnauss

We took in Schnauss on both sides of the country last week. The two parts of this post were written completely independently of each other. The plan was to edit them together into one post, but I think the similarity between the two says it all about Airiel's role in Ulrich Schnauss' current live performances.

Galway, Thursday 1 May

Ulrich Schnauss & co. started their journey around Ireland in the intimate surroundings of DeBurgho's last Thursday. Galway's Boetpoet (left) got proceedings underway, impressively entertaining the early arrivals. Using only a rare 'mono' to trigger sounds through Ableton, we were treated to an improvised performance joining the dots between ambient and IDM to produce an excellent appetiser for what was to follow. Airiel took to the stage shortly after. Being Schnauss' tour band and collaborators we were entitled to expect them to complement his sound in terms of quality and direction in some shape or form. How wrong we were. Maybe it was the acoustics, maybe it was the system or possibly a combination of both but they left us with no alternative but to escape to the aural safety of the front bar to prevent hearing damage. Similar reports from their appearance the following evening in Dublin only serve to reinforce the prevailing sentiment in Galway.

Ulrich Schnauss then took the stage, or more correctly the middle of the floor, and we were back on course for a while. The intro to the first track was played expertly by Schnauss using a keyboard to trigger a software instrument. The sense of anticipation in the room was almost tangible when he turned to his laptop and began to layer melodic synths over the recorded loop. Sounds flowed nicely from there, the crowd began to feel at ease once again and started to move to Schanuss' atmospheric electronica. Then KABLAMMO!!, 30 mins into a growing and endearing set, Airiel got back in on the action. The distortion and feedback from their input easily took the sheen off what had been a hypnotic last half hour. When Schnauss began his encore with what was, for me, his best track of the evening we were once again on a road to somewhere. But, you've guessed it, on came those Chicago lads once again to desecrate what was a beautiful soundscape. For me, the combination just didn't work live. I'm sure with the benefit of a studio and some EQ polishing the end product could be palatable but on this occasion the ingredients simply did not mix well.

While it was great to Mr Schnauss in Galway for the extremely decent price of €8 and the Stress!! lads deserve enormous credit for such a coup, it was the local lad who really stole the show for me. Cian Ó'Cíobháin included Beatpoet's 'Tao' on the An Taobh Tuathail Vol. 1 compilation released last August. Info and tracks available to sample at http://www.myspace.com/beatpoetmusic.

Ed

Dublin, Friday 2 May

A confusing gig. Chequerboard opened the night and confirmed what we thought - he is fucking class loch. Then Airiel came on, and after getting a headache from their first song we decided to go for a well earned half hour coffee in Temple Bar square. Arriving back just as they finished their last song left a sweet taste of victory. Schnauss, after a brief technical glitch, got going with his ableton and keyboard solo performance, treating us to a selection of his truly beautiful shoegaze/electronica, which was accompanied by a really nice picture show. 4 or 5 songs in there was a sense in the room that the crowd were being treated to a really special show. But then Airiel appeared back out and played the last few songs with Schnauss, including the encore. While some of it was still palatable, the distortion and noise-experiment style was really out of sync with what we had expected from a night involving Schnauss and Chequerboard. While some of these later tracks did evoke Mogwai-ish memories, a lot of it was just too much for these ears. While certainly treated to some of what we had expected from Schnauss, the overwhelming feeling on leaving was "eh?".

Ferg