It’s possible I’m about to make an Augusta-area concert promoter angry. I’m going to tell the world what an excellent job he’s doing.
However, because of the rather private nature of the concerts he presents, I’m not going to tell people where these shows, which take place in a well-appointed basement somewhere between the middle and edge of nowhere, take place. I’m not going to post a link for tickets or list upcoming dates. I’m not doing any of the things I usually do when I discover something I love.
Here’s why.
These basement concerts have been going on for several years now, gaining popularity and an established audience through word-of-mouth, a unique atmosphere and experience and consistent musical quality. They always sell out – almost instantly. My fear, and I would imagine the fear of the mysterious musical benefactor, is that should too many people become aware of these special concerts, they would lose some of the private party vibe that make them so special.
The other reason I’ve decided to treat these shows enigmatically is because I believe they offer a rare opportunity to experience what, historically, was one of music’s great appeals.
The element of surprise.
Technology has robbed music fans of most opportunities they once had to be surprised. Streaming songs, quick access to reviews and myriad other forms of instant gratification have stripped that moment of finding a favorite record flipping through stacks of LPs. It robs us of the exhilaration of tuning into a late-night AM station and being offered the gift of a new song that becomes an old favorite.
Those moments are, for the most part, gone. But they still exist in the basement. They still exist in this special room where people buy tickets not because of the artist, but the experience. They exist because of this small community where people gather because they love music.
RADAR ON MY RADAR. I’ve probably said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but I love it when bands raised on metal discover melody. There’s something about musicians well-acquainted with harnessing raw power that seems to make for interesting and infectious stuff.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Artemia, an exceptional Augusta act that had left much of its hard-and-heavy past behind, opting for a sound that combined metal elements with prog and art rock.
Radar Cinema, another Augusta act that has spent considerable studio time over the past year, shares those roots, but with very different results. The band will celebrate the release of Bird Meets Worm with a CD release show Sept. 30 at Sky City.
Where Artemia takes an almost architectural approach to writing and arrangement, carefully building elaborate song structures, Radar Cinema traffics in a far more organic sound. An Artemia tune is a cathedral – organized and epic. A Radar Cinema song is a supernova – a spectacular frission of elements expanding in space.
What’s so interesting about Radar Cinema’s songs is that while they are clearly carefully composed and intelligently written, they avoid feeling cold and calculated. Instead, they do what the very best rock songs accomplish. They feel like performances that are happening not because a band has crafted the tunes during endless hours of performance, but because plugging in instruments allows for immediate catharsis.
They don’t play these songs because they can.
They play them because they need to be heard.
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