Mick Turner, Shoeb Ahmad, Voss@ The Front, Canberra(14/4/10)

Fri 23rd Apr, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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The Front Cafe & Gallery in Lyneham is a cosy venue, but Wednesday last it felt small with the number of punters milling around outside and stuffed into the interior. There was endless shuffling towards the bar with many a hipster muttering “sorry” and “excuse me” and many more just charging through the huddle like tightly pantalooned icebreakers. Before the wonderful Voss had wrapped up, the bar was at capacity and folk where being turned away. Clearly the word had gotten out that something special was happening at The Front.

Nestled in a plush couch of green velvet, sipping on a Coopers, I soaked up some sounds. Voss put out something beautiful as always, with each artist contributing their often considerable talent to a well arranged whole. It was hard not to get lost in the sound. They’ll be supporting Alasdair Roberts at the Street Theatre in a few weeks. Don’t miss them!

Furniture was hauled out of the main area and a giant projector screen was stuffed into a corner as the preparations began for Mick Turner. As the kerfuffle died down, Shoeb Ahmad began to output his unique sound. His music is composed of droning loops of echoed and sometimes reversed guitar sound, carefully constructed with a constant theme of technique and tone through each movement of his symphony-like performances.

Last time I ran into him he was supporting the Castanets and used electronic Tanpura and Shruti box to produce a similar sound. This time Ahmad utilised his weapon of choice, an ordinary guitar. The drone of the first song ebbed into a cacophony of notes, semi melodic, and then a surge of discord in inharmonious notes of hard strummed chords. This dwindled into itchy distorted scrabble over the pickups which gained distortion as it grew in tone. Slowly real melody formed again as the next movement or song began. Another crescendo and the set was over.

Finally the great Mick Turner arrived. Aka Tren Phantasma, The Dirty Three and a myriad of other names in the history of the Australian musical realm, but Turner hasn’t just submerged his toe in the musical pool – he’s also a renowned painter. Easy to describe, Turner and his accomplice sounded like The Dirty Three, minus the string section.

The same structures were in place that produce the soothing instrumental tone of The Dirty Three, but here, with Mick and drummer Jeffrey Wegener , there was a little more embellishment in the guitar melody, occasionally looped into it’s own accompaniment. Turner’s meandering notes were emphasized with subtle kicks on Wegeners legendary Jazz styled drum-work. An amazing sound and a unique experience, a separate entity from The Dirty Three – although perhaps – it’s cousin.

And now for a paragraph singing the praises of Wegener. I must confess I haven’t seen him since the 80’s and the likes of the Laughing Clowns – youtube it folks – although likely you have heard him unawares. He’s played with Nick Cave and anybody else with talent. Since the stone age of Australian music, Wegener has been quietly over-achieving. His talent is unique, unmatched and perhaps hard to understand until you’ve listened to a whole lot of music. Watching him play it’s easy to see why so many very talented artists have asked him along for the ride.

Unlike the trio, Turner has incorporated his illustrated art into his performance as a duo. A sea of colour washed out over the heads of the crowd at the front. Some light making it past the heads of the onlookers to the hastily erected screen. A recurring image of a blonde woman drawn again and again in different scenes cycled through as Turner and Wegener played. Some scenes linked in a slow animation, a digital artwork forged from analogue paintings.

With the end in sight, it was clear why so many had queued for so long. Mick Turner and Jeffrey Wegeners’s iconic status in the Australian music world was well melded with some of the most unique up and coming talent in Canberra. Unmissable , unmistakable and unlikely to happen again.

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