Thomas Gansch
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Load more
Recommended publications
-
Live Among the White Trash: a History of Nono----Manman on Stage
Live Among the White Trash: A history of nono----manman on stage “There are no No-Man concerts scheduled for the foreseeable future.” (from the official no-man website) Anyone who has followed no-man’s career over the previous ten years or so will be acutely aware that the band does not play live. If no-man “exist” as a band at all – and their infrequent releases mean they are more an ongoing understanding between two men rather than an active unit – it is only in the studio. Over a series of uncompromising albums no-man’s music has become ever more complex, yet ironically, “live sounding” than the release which proceeded it. But this organic “liveness” is mainly an illusion; the feeling of spontaneity often the result of numerous edits and takes which only the precision of studio work can produce. Others have tried to perform equally difficult music live: Radiohead ambitiously thrusting their clicks-and- cuts post-rock upon the world’s stadiums, for example. But for a variety of reasons, no-man simply haven’t tried – at least, not since 1994 and not until a one-off performance in 2006. The only comparable case is Talk Talk’s retreat into the studio in the late 1980s. Both bands have undoubtedly crafted their best work without going near an audience. 1 But it wasn’t always so. no-man were once very much a live act, promoting singles and albums with dates and undertaking two full-blown tours – though they rarely played outside London, never went further north than Newcastle, and never played outside Great Britain. -