You pays your money and you takes your choice.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Maze's End

























The last night of the Maze came in bursts of rain and color, while the Dome Theater denizens hoisted a red umbrella to meditate on themes of politics and religion, Reagan and Jesus in a reinvention of participatory theatre, perfectly unexpected and perfectly suited to the unexpectedness of the Maze.

As were the face-painters, and for the record, I was surrounded by genuine painted indie-rock revelers, all in glittering silver, red and gold.
Emcee BJ Rubin seemed to appear out of the ether after every act, filling the dead air between sets with rambling anecdotes.

One of these was the ethereal Sarah Lipstate, who performs her one-woman act under the name Noveller. A former member of longtime Brooklyn noise legends Parts and Labor, her album "Red Rainbows" came out earlier this year. Her music is full deep, alluring layers guitar noise, stacked harmoniously over each other like some magnificently organic landscape of trees and bushes. Live, she plays her guitar alternately like pedal steel or like a violin, baffling the rapt crowd, who equate the beauty of her music with the mystery of her person.

"What makes her so alluring?" a painted girl asked her male companions, but they had no answers -- they were too busy staring.

Mick Barr (of Connecticut metal band Ocrilim) has the endurance and speed of a superhero on his guitar, delivering a 20-minute set, fraught with layers of crushing distortion, his fingers flying over the fretboard in what I would call a post-modern version of classic metal shredding.

I asked DBA's Edan what would happen at the place after the Maze closed, since I found his upcoming shows page, when I looked at it on Thursday, rather disturbingly blank.

"I'm going to bed," he said. It's not exactly what I meant, but it seemed somehow apt. (By the way, in case you were worried, the page has been updated since then. Whew.)

Mp3 - Noveller - Brilliant Colors

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