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I had seen the posters. They featured the outline of a figure blurred by a tie-dye pattern, reaching out to an LSD-inspired vortex. It promised a “trip-topia” of “out music.” I was convinced that at the new musical showcase Anti-Pop, I would find MGMT-style tribal war paint, synth lines and perhaps a solid light show. When I arrived at Brewer’s Next Generation Theater, nestled in the back of the knick-knack-packed Between Friends Gift Shop, I was greeted with something quite different – and quite interesting.
The show began with the first-ever live performance of the Anti-Pop Quartet. It quickly became clear these four musicians had no intention of playing any music this time around. One by one, each member received a call on his or her cell phone, bringing his hand to a halt just as they were about to strum or pluck a string. It was initially awkward but increasingly humorous as their voices became a chaotic mess, each player attempting to speak over the others. With the joke made, Anti-Pop organizer Noel Walsh leaned into the microphone and resolved the point, asking the audience to “Please, turn off your cell phones.”
One member of the quartet remained on stage to mark the genuine opening of the show. John Deschere was alone on stage with his upright bass — the give-away this was not to be an electro freak fest, as expected. Deschere played strange post-classical arrangements that featured rapid shifts and unconventional ways of using his instrument: drumming on it with his hand or scraping the bow against the body.
Next came fellow Anti-Pop Quartet member Nicole LePera, armed with a drum, harp and chilling voice. As psychedelic imagery was projected on a screen behind her, LePera drummed and strummed over recorded loops of her drumming and strumming, making for an eerie layered sound. Her voice took center stage as high-pitched, wordless calls made her sound entranced.
Martin Chartrand, co-organizer of the event, came to the stage to team up with LePera and electric bassist Joe Gates for an unnamed musical project. The trio played three songs characterized by strange repetition and featured lyrics about staying true to yourself or indicting excess commercialism, wealth and power. Following their set, Gates remained on stage to play a series of technically impressive pieces — one completely improvisational, on his fretless guitar. After Gates’ performance came a brief intermission.
When the crowd returned to the speakeasy-like theater in the back of the gift shop, a man named Josh Baker had set up something called an “offset needle radius,” — a bike wheel turned upside down. Baker spun the wheel, drumming on the spokes with silver rods as two improvisational dancers moved around the stage and among the crowd. As Baker continued, the performance got progressively more interesting, employing looping techniques, homemade horns fashioned from some kind of tubing and intentionally induced feedback to make for a fascinatingly bizarre few minutes of sound.
Walsh returned to this stage, this time with bassist Tony Margaronis and a collection of “found” instruments. As Tony strummed the bass lines of a mad man and the dancers continued to glide about, Walsh picked up his collection of stuff and banged or crumpled it anyway he could. Everything was completely improvised. Among his armaments were a can of Natural Light and an empty jar of Top tobacco, two products well-known by many dirt poor college student and thus added a certain humorous element to the set.
Anti-Pop’s final act was Les Trois Etoiles, a group of four experimental music veterans led by Gene Nicholes, University of Maine at Machias professor of music. Nicholes and his crew took roughly 10 minutes more than other acts to set up, littering the stage not just with a wide variety of instruments but a hodgepodge of toys, baskets and plenty of other objects.
Les Trois Etoiles were about controlled chaos. Each man floated around the stage, playing whatever he decided to pick up. Remarkably, they had an affinity for building off each other no matter what they were playing, largely giving their set some semblance of melody, harmony and song. Toy pianos battled, voices yodeled and ukuleles were strummed as the sound changed rapidly but fluidly.
I may have been misled by its advertising, but Anti-Pop was still a rewarding show. It was good to see skilled local musicians — some of which you are likely to see at Woodman’s Bar and Grille or the Bear Brew Pub — together doing something highly creative. It was equally nice to enjoy the Next Generation Theater, a venue that will see Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson tourmates the Wiyos Oct. 14th. Stay tuned for more good things to come.
Bangor Daily News