Live music viscera (with overuse of the word "viscera")

I saw Swans on their final tour in 1997 at Irving Plaza in NYC. It was a mesmerizing experience, and I left the venue quite numb and overpowered. They played oppressive music that night that you had to submit to that night, though not all their music is like this. Also on the bill were Low, whose music I didn't yet know. I enjoyed how, in the face of Swans lunkheads jeering them, they continued to play, but even slower and quieter. They were supporting my now favorite album of theirs, The Curtain Hits the Cast. I've seen Godspeed! You Black Emperor twice, with the pretty build-up of the first song of disc one on Lift your skinny fists... overpowering, but in a euphoric way. Interestingly, the intensity of the song was lacking the second time I saw them, thus diminishing the euphoria for me. I feel fortunate enough to have seen Arab on Radar once before they broke up. Absolute dumb, spastic-yet-practiced fun! I'm sure I laughed a few times and was smiling for their whole set; so entertaining to see the band do their lurching dances to their music and to hear the composed, cutting cacophony of the songs with the demented drum machine drumming and stupid lyrics and vocals. These have all been great live music experiences, all working to get to some viceral level. But seeing Whitehouse live in NYC November 3rd, 2005 was an experience in a class of its own. Sure, it was viceral—how can having two middle-aged British guys yelling at you over a wall of finely-hewn noise (they call it "power electronics") not be? But it was far more ENGAGING as a live music experience than the others listed above. The lyrics, while filled with curses and "offensive" to some/many, come off as confrontational, but in a way that URGES you to respond. When William Bennett repeatedly asked the crowd how many of us believed in ROCK AND ROOOOLLLL! (Yes, an actual song by Whitehouse) he received a lackluster response from the crowd, which played perfectly into the last line of that song he spoke, "You should learn to stand up for what you believe in." (Or something similar.) It was the most entertaining part of the set for me in the traditional sense. My friend and I got into the set even more through mimicking Philip Best's "Whitehouse pose" with the elbow jabbing towards your feet and a tight fist pointing at the ceiling, with some backwards body lean for effect. I can't forget the addition of the wordless open mouth, making the pose all the more primal. Not all songs were barrages of noise; one or two were just a single pounding drum, but without the comfort of a techno reference point. By the end of the set, they were shirtless and were raising their straight arms above their heads, tracing a semicircle with each hand as they reached up. How could this not bee seen as a euphoric gesture? Their very last track was Movement 2000, a big block of thick, weighty noise that has a wonderfully paradoxical sense of "nothing is changing" within it, yet it conveys a compulsively propulsive force. This felt like a final purification—-you could tell it would be the last track of the night, and this knowledge wasn't a letdown-—moreso a closure (and opening!) that felt right.

Whitehouse's set that night left me feeling cleansed and rejuvenated. It is tough to tell what exactly contributed to this, though I like to think that the set was crafted by Bennett and Best to build up to such feelings. In comparing this experience with the others mentioned above, I feel that Whitehouse create visceral music that allows you to PARTICIPATE in exploring and peeling away layers of yourself that you have built up over the years. To call these layers artifice might not be exactly correct, but it wouldn't be far from the truth. You have to be willing to come halfway to this-—Whitehouse will certainly not lead you by the hand—-it is a challenging (in all respects) prospect, reflected in their lyrics (which will turn some listeners off immediately). Being an active participant in your own visceral response to live music gives one a feeling of agency. This is quite empowering, compared with being a spectator to visceral music which requires submission from the listener. Whitehouse act more as guides than authority figures, though at first glance they might seem to be the latter. I still enjoy listening to the other bands listed above, though with different ends. I will continue to listen to Whitehouse and explore my psyche through their work. And this will be ongoing—-possibly never-ending-—work, because we are such complex creatures.

Addendum::: A friend of mine pointed out that it may come across that I think Whitehouse are the pinnacle of all visceral live music I've experienced. This is not the case--they are the pinnacle in the specific realm of live music I discuss above, building agency and strengthening the spirit, as opposed to squashing it like, say, Swans, who are the pinnacle of that realm. And for balls-out fun visceral live music, Arab on Radar are the pinnacle. However, Whitehouse are far more interesting on a variety of levels, and it is this reason that led me to write on them from the vantage of live experience.