[ATTENDED: June 3, 2022] Natural Information Society
Since the last time I saw Kurt Vile (2018), S. has become a huge fan of Kurt and his music.
So when he announced a tour that would be culminating at Union Transfer, obviously we were going to go. I’m a fan of the opener Chastity Belt, but I was bummed that they weren’t opening our leg of the tour. So that left two possibilities for us: Sun Ra Arkestra or Natural Information Society.
I had seen Sun Ra Arkestra and enjoyed their wild free jazz craziness. I knew S. wouldn’t like them. But it turned out that the question was moot because I was taking my daughter to another show on the Sun Ra night anyhow. So Natural Information Society it was.
I had never heard of them and had no idea what they were like.
But I’m glad I looked them up before the show. The short version is that Natural Information Society is a music ensemble described as “ecstatic minimalism” formed in 2010 and by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams.
And that’s all of the short-version you get from this band. When I found out what they were like, I told S. and said it would be more than fine if we arrive at least half way into their set. Turned out the traffic was pretty light that night and I think we wound up getting there earlier than we intended.
There were four people on stage in a circle. The played harmonium, saxophone, drums and Abrams sat a bit away from the others playing a guimbri (a three stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute). We arrived mid-song. They played the song for another thirty minutes. And they left.
The song didn’t really change.
People talked fairly loudly through the song.
The band didn’t seem to care.
It really was the worst thing I could have brought S. to. At least with Sun Ra, they engage the audience and have fun. Natural Information Society play whether you are there or not. I kind of get it. And I might have enjoyed it if circumstances were different, but they weren’t. And I didn’t.
But MarkitAneight has a video of the full show
Leave a Reply