Live Review: Majestic Scene / Yawning Man

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Majestic Scene (NL) / Yawning Man (USA)

06/18/05
Den Hemel, Zichem

They surf in the desert, don't they?

That night at Den Hemel was a lazy music critic's nightmare, as the two performing bands stubbornly refuse to be pinned down to a genre or scene, and both for different reasons. If we presume that most bands out there (say, 85%) nicely follow the rules of the genre they situate themselves in, or manage to reconcile two (or, if they're adventurous, even three) styles, both Majestic Scene and Yawning Man are oddballs, voluntary outcasts that would rather create their own little universes than conform to what is expected of them (be good and keep quiet?). The Dutch band's eclectic mishmash of styles and sounds is both a blessing and a curse, as they'll woo and maybe even convert people that are willing to forget about genre barriers and orthodoxy, but on the other hand, they're not willing to do you a favour if you're a fan of one style in particular. As such, they may please fans of stoner rock, 60's psychedelica, soulful "classic" rock 'n' roll, bluesy hard rock, grand jazz-pop and 70's-derived art rock, but leave all of 'em gasping with an "eh?" in the end. The band started off quite laidback, with two of their gentler efforts. Whereas the opening song was a bit reminiscent of Belgium's Hypnos 69 approach, because of the way in which they updated classic jam-based psych rock (with especially the glacial Isis-in-quiet-mode guitar tone being neat), the second one - the title track from their latest album Soulcorruption - already picked up a tighter rhythm and featured, indeed, majestic playing and intense vocals by front man Joop van der Kuip, who seems to recall Joe Cocker (the spastic moves), On Trial's Bo Mortensen and cabaret veteran Herman Van Veen (but you'll have to be Dutch/Belgian to get this one, I presume). After the elegant intro, the band shifter into a higher gear and unveiled what a bad case of schizophrenia they really suffer from, switching from slightly filler-ish instrumentals to muscular rock with sax parts, big late 60's pamphlet rock with bombastic speak/sing rant, frenetic blues-rock ("Shake 'em on Down"), stoner fuzz and a bluesy grind that ended the set. Occasionally, it became clear that the songwriting wasn't always equally inspired (their loudest songs are easily their most conventional ones), but the band displayed an adventurous spirit and energy that most bands don't have in 'em anymore after fifteen years of playing and recording together. Yay for eclecticism!

Yawning Man is also pretty nonconformist, but their uniqueness is even more fundamental. Whereas Majestic Scene's influences are possible to pin down if you're aware of the past 35 years of rock history, of names and trends and evolutions, Yawning Man's singular approach turns 'em into a band that resides in only their very own sphere. Their instrumental minimalism is entirely devoid of the genre-switching of Majestic Scene and it seems that it's not a band you can discuss in terms of "they've been listening to this," but in terms of "they're doing that, and it sometimes happens to be similar to what band X is/was doing." They're leaders, not followers, and it's quite ironic that many stoner specialists will tell you that this band (and not Kyuss or whatever your pick is) kick-started the whole stoner rock movement two decades ago. When Alfredo Hernandez (drums) and Gary Arce (guitar) formed the band to create a musical equivalent of their surroundings they inspired several bands that would later become much more prominent and be given the credit for this "revolution." It has to be said that Kyuss returned the favour by covering Yawning Man's "Catamaran" on their last album …and the Circus Leaves Town (1995) and that Brant Bjork's output is heavily indebted to the band's almost esoteric minimalism, but apart from that, they're very much still cult heroes. Even though their current line-up consists of Arce, Hernandez and Mario Lalli (another veteran of the scene), the latter was replaced by Unida's Billy Cordell on bass for this tour. Describing Yawning Man's music is a bit of a tacky affair, but if you're a bit open-minded about it it might work. Arce's heavily reverb-driven sound goes back to 60's guitar experimentalists like king of the surf guitar Dick Dale, The Shadows' Hank Marvin and The Ventures' Bob Bogle, but it could also be compared to contemporary surf heroes The Mermen, Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western scores (widescreen format!), the grandiose vibe of Calexico or the languid Eastern sounds that also influenced people like John Fahey a few decades ago. It's a style that may not be easy to get into - this music is not catchy in a 'pop' way - but if you manage to settle into the right mindset and just experience it, it'll evoke an imagery that's way bigger than its simplicity might suggest. As such, Arce's playing is definitely evoking the desert experience, conjuring images of sunsets, parched landscapes, space and a whole lotta nothingness. It grooves and flows, but not in a traditional way, as song titles don't really matter when you got a sound like this. Hernandez and Cordell usually kept things simple as well, disbanding technical boldness in favour of atmosphere and almost trance-like communication. If you're into music for tightness, energy and catchy choruses, attending a Yawning Man gig is definitely gonna be a disappointing experience, but if you'd like to hear what the aural equivalent of a camera capturing desert life for an hour sounds like, they're right up your alley. I hate using the term "new age," but the band exactly did what most acts in that genre are supposed to do: lay down a blanket of sound that'll almost lift you up from the ground, make you forget your surroundings and just, you know… enjoy being there. For that alone, they already deserve credit, because I usually couldn't care less about nonsense like that. As such, Yawning Man is one of the very few contemporary bands that actually have a wholly pure identity that's untainted by pressure and conformity. You gotta respect that.