Ulrich Schnauss

That's right. I saw Ulrich Schnauss. I know. Please put your underwear back on and scrape your drooling jaw back back off the floor. Unless you have no idea who that is, which is most likely the case.

Ulrich Schnauss produces some amazingly beautiful downtempo electronic music. His second album, "A Strangely Isolated Place", pretty much blew my mind. So I was most shocked to discover that he was coming to SF, what with him being German and all. I'd assume he touring to support his latest disc "Goodbye", which I honestly haven't heard. Its gotten mixed reviews.

I caught a little bit of the opener opener, "Manual", which seemed pretty much in the same genre. While I certainly enjoyed the fleeting glimpse into their world of psychedelic soundscapes, it was a stark reenforcement that I really have no interest in pursing a more active live performance route for my music. Watching them sit in front of their computers and keyboards, tweaking everything with that blank look on their face just doesn't do it for me as an audience member. I would prefer to simply listen to it at home, where the beer and the sound is better.

I ran into Art from Submodern, who is deep in the final stages of producing their new cd. I'll be psyched to check it out when its done. The second opener, fleeting joys!, went on at 10:45, and I really did not enjoy them. Thus I stepped outside for a time killing slice of pizza, which is just as tasty as a "I'm about to pass the fuck out slice" of pizza.

I was pretty beat by the time Ulrich finally took the stage at midnight. Its Wednesday and I'm old. So WTF. Being the headliner and all, he had some sweet projected visuals. Beyond that, he was blankly staring at his giant mixer, computer, and electronic gadgetry, twiddling it all around. It would have been perfect had I been able to lie on a couch and take it in, but alas, that was not the case. It sounded sweet, but I would have just preferred to buy a mix of the set and listen to it at home.

So I bailed at 12:30.