Keith Wecker hits Music Waste

Music Waste, Fake Jazz, and Emergency Room (RIP) fixture Keith Wecker will conduct his second piece for large ensemble at the Anza Club Psych Night Music Waste event, on Wednesday (June 1). The as-yet-untitled composition for nine musicians combines elements of the music of American minimalist Steve Reich with the more weirdo-friendly aesthetic of Seattle-based collective the Master Musicians of Bukkake.

“My friend references it as ”˜Holy Mountain rock’n’roll’,” Wecker told the Straight. “Really sprawling epic psychedelic songs that have that Krautrock vibe. It evolves over a period of time—it’s more of an eastern style structure.”

The addition of bass, drums, and synths (the latter courtesy of analog-synth hound Joshua Stevenson) will “take it away from the full-on Rhys Chatham–Glenn Branca style of guitar work”. (Wecker performed as part of Branca’s Hallucination City symphony in Seattle in 2008.) “I totally adore what they do, but there’s that element of it regurgitating or reinterpreting classical music, especially with Branca. If the goal is to make something new and interesting, you have to sort of melt those things and push yourself in a different direction.”

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