1997-04-11 - Stubbs, Austin

On Stage :

Solo concert

Setlist : 

No information.

Recording :

Sadly, there's no audio recording of this event. 

If I am wrong, thank you to inform me by email.

Review :

JOSEPH ARTHUR
Stubb's, April 11

Sometimes a buzz starts with silence and the occasional whisper. The silence is typically stunned silence, and the whispers are whispers of reassurance, as in friends asking each other, "Is this as great as I think it is?" That was pretty much the scene throughout Joseph Arthur's first Austin appearance, a solo set that challenged the New Yorker to deliver Big City Secrets, his hip RealWorld debut of astonishing production and musical density. But Big City Secrets is mostly about songs, which made this easy-to-tour transition almost seamless, with the opening take on the album's best rocker, "Haunted Eyes," turning a slow build into a fierce acoustic rave-up -- more like Chris Cornell or Billy Corgan Unplugged than some sort of Dylan at Newport or Hammell by Default. Better still, Arthur's intensity and the audience's rapt attention quickly became reminiscent of another young troubadour's first intimate Austin appearance: Jeff Buckley's phenomenal 1993 Chicago House set. And yet, it was the album's title track that set this gig apart, as Arthur explained he'd be giving us the song by "sampling himself live, with no pre-recorded sounds." And there it was: a pre-song pounding, pulling, and plucking of a rhythm track, which, with simple loops, somehow recreated the "gravel percussion," "vibes," and "treated tubular kit," the album credits five men with producing. It wasn't the loop gadget that was so cool, however, but rather how Arthur was using it; these weren't loops for the sake of techno-wanking, they were loops for the emphasis and accent of the songs, which themselves are singularly narrative and abstract, straightforward and complex. 

And when each song ended, half the fun was watching Arthur lean over his pedals and deconstruct the beats and strokes he'd created in minutes -- emphasizing the performer's live transition from an organic singer-songwriter into vital DJ Shadow-style loop guru. That those effects were just as fresh 40 minutes later and the songs just as compelling earned Arthur even more post-show silence and more whispering -- this time of the "Why did it have to end?" variety. 

-- Andy Langer