Live music review: Stick Men with Oogwei at 13th floor
What could bring out a crowd of experienced music lovers on a hot, sticky Tuesday, September 8 night? The progressive mastery of Stick Men. With Tony Levin on Chapman stick, Markus Reuter on touch guitar and Pat Mastelotto on drums, they are one of those three piece bands that somehow create a much larger sound than should be possible. The trio played a well crafted and substantial set supporting their September release of Let’s Thrak Again. This album is a direct descendant of King Crimson’s Thrak and that relationship set the musical agenda for the evening.
Fans were lined up outside The 13th Floor before doors opened. The crowd was engaged and ready to prog rock. The 13th Floor proved to be an ideal venue for this show. The vibe was good, the sound was excellent and loud, the staff professional and friendly.
ATX heavy hitters Oogwei opened with furious energy and heavy psychedelic sounds swirling, sweeping and rushing in the packed room. They played a short, intense set that was enthusiastically received by the crowd. They may have picked up a few more Gen X fans with that support slot effort.
Stick Men took the stage and started immediately tapping, bending, and blending sound into a hypnotizing cascade. Falling into a performance like that feels like being witness to some ancient primal alien ritual. Relentless and engaging, the music flows over you and moves you through their constructed landscape like a non-Euclidean tour bus. The set alternately lurches and glides through aural worlds epic and mysterious, obscure and familiar. The current vision blocks the view, leaving the next step in question. It still draws the listener along like a worn, familiar footpath that reforms itself continually into the only way it could have been and always was. Utterly immersive and vast, you can get completely lost in Stick Men’s music in the best way.
Stick Men manage to create a sound that is technical and complex while remaining primal, gritty and raw. The individual members are virtuosos and showed it. They worked together seamlessly to produce a tight and musically dense set. The crowd was into it and showed their love accordingly.
Catch them if you care to explore alien lands and their impressive sonic arts or if you just, you know, like King Crimson. Stick Men have one remaining date in Tucson on September 30. Tickets are still available.
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