Young/Forbes/Gonzalez Trio, Terminator 2, Bludded Head Rubber Gloves Monday, August 27
Mike Forbes was last night's MVP. He started behind the kit with Bludded Head, who had literally just returned from a 10-day tour, providing the slowly melting glacier for guitarist Nevada Hill and cellist Darcy Neal to float their low-end on. Hill cited Harvey Milk as a recent influence for our What Are You Listening To series, and their set was certainly heavy on that slow-boiling metal deconstruction.
Denton trio Terminator 2, who'd been on tour with Bludded Head, followed close behind, subbing out guitar for sternum-vibrating bass. House of Tinnitus' Rob Buttrum is the guiding force of the group's sound: He stood behind his tower of effects, which included a reel-to-reel tape machine, manipulating the pitch and frequency, building atop an already wild canvas.
But back to Forbes, who then joined stand-up bassist Andrew Young and drummer Stefan Gonzalez for a reunion of their free jazz trio. I'd watched Forbes play with Shiny Around the Edges last month, but his playing here existed in a completely different stratosphere. As the three bobbed and weaved through their set, Forbes performed mouth to mouth on his instrument, extracting gasps and conveying the trio was a living, breathing pound of flesh.
All three were in their dedicated zones, but still managed to rip apart the canvas and stitch it up with their own collective pulse, the mark of improvisers who know how to navigate every cul-de-sac and alleyway they come upon.
