Christian Marclay & Lee Ranaldo
I saw Christian Marclay and
Lee Ranaldo play last night as part of Marclay's exhibition at the
Hammer Museum. By combining the hipsters drawn in by the Sonic Youth/downtown NYC angle and the "art aficionados" who went because it was in a museum, they managed to draw a big crowd. I suppose I fit mostly in the first category.
Christian was awesome and for the final 30 minutes or so was particularly tearing it up and even getting enough of a weird groove going at times to get his head nodding. Lee, well I love Lee, no matter how much you praise Thurston, Lee's contributions are inseparable from the greatness of Sonic Youth. Go listen closely to Daydream Nation and try to imagine it without Lee (especially on the Thurston-penned songs). But, Lee has never convinced me when I've seen or heard him improvise. He always seems unsure what to do. It doesn't show outwardly, but it does come through (or not through really) in his playing. Lee touched a few peaks at last night's show, but there were many moments when I wished Christian was soloing. Several friends of mine had the same comment.
Posted at June 6, 2003 10:15 PM