My friend Jason clued me in to a show last night in the Meatpacking district by two brothers from Chicago who performed several renditions of Black Sabbath’s 1971 track "Into the Void". It was played by a pickup orchestra of local players, combining strings, wind, percussion and a full drum kit. Jason Ajemian, a jazz and experimental composer, transcribed the music and conducted from the top of an overturned paint container; Lucas, a visual artist by training, devised the concept and sang.
It would have been cool just to hear Black Sabbath transcribed for acoustic instruments. But the Ajemian brothers took it further: they played the music backwards. An easy play on the old myth that you can hear Satanic messages when playing heavy metal backwards, but all I heard was driving, intricate music – and one crazy set of vocals by Lucas. Check out this video from their performance in Paris last year, and you’ll hear what I mean:
Great post, it’s weird how it went from alien sounding to half normal after the third performance. It changed into it’s own piece…and summoned satan. Yay!