Multimedia performance artist Laurie Anderson and downtown producer/bassist Bill Laswell took the stage to a standing room only crowd just 7PM at the River to River Festival show at Castle Clinton last Thursday.
The duo played an almost exclusively instrumental set that was closer to the ambience of Brian Eno than the avant-noise of recent collaborations with John Zorn. Anderson started off the evening with introductions using her "Voice of Authority / Fenway Bergamot" voice filter and switched off during the set between her electric violin and keyboards. There were no breaks during the duo's hour long performance so there wasn't any clear delineation where songs started and stopped but there sounded to be three - four distinct pieces. Almost coming full circle to where they started, Anderson added a brief snippet of spoken word vocals from "My Right Eye" (from 2010's
Homeland) to the duo's final number.
Laurie Anderson is playing another free show on August 10th as part of Lincoln Center's "Out of Doors".
Laurie Anderson, the reigning performance artist of our time, has performed at Lincoln Center on numerous occasions, most recently at Lincoln Center Festival 2008, with the evening-length work Homeland. In roles as varied as visual artist, composer, poet, photographer, filmmaker, electronics whiz, vocalist, and instrumentalist, Anderson has toured the United States and internationally with shows ranging from simple spoken word performances to elaborate multimedia events. On August 10 at Damrosch Park she performs on a double-bill that features a younger generation of experimenters and innovators led by composer/arranger/violinist Todd Reynolds. Reynolds is joined by singer/multi-instrumentalist provocateur Sxip Shirey (The Luminescent Orchestrii), human beat-box vocal performer Adam Matta (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and a “Who’s Who” violin section: Caleb Burhans, Conrad Harris, Pauline Kim Harris, Yuki Numata, Courtney Orlando, and Ben Russell.
Links:
Laurie AndersonBill Laswell
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