Tack>>Head at the Independent (SF)
Tack>>Head
Tack>>Head is one of the most unknown influential musical entities in modern music. It's core consists of Doug Wimbish, Skip MacDonald, Adrian Sherwood and Keith LeBlanc. Doug, Skip and Keith started in the late 70s as the house band for the SugarHill Rap label, playing on such classic hits as White Lines. Adrian is one of the longest top-tier producers in the UK, and the impresario behind the infamous On-U-Sound label. The quartet in various mixtures has appeared on albums in various roles as diverse as NIN, Depeche Mode, ABC, P-Funk, Seal, the Cure, Bim Sherman, the Rolling Stones, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Jungle Funk and the new Black Jack Johnson Project which includes Mos Def and Dr. Know from Bad Brains.
With such a rather bizarre recording past one would suspect their cumulative sound to be a tad unique. This is an understatement, as they traverse a very dense mix of industrial funk, jarring electronic noise, deep cauldrons of dub, terse sonic collage, and various auditory forms of the kitchen sink thrown in in a recording span that has been surprisingly sparse (only a handful of albums and singles from the mid to late 80s under the formal Tack>>Head name, with occasional 12" releases and other one offs done under other names since). The band had not toured in well over a dozen years, and this small club tour was done as a what one hopes is a warm up to a return to studio work -- not that it will eclipse their live work.
Tack>>Head live is a performance entity serving up fucking armageddon size portions of seismic bass, rampant percussion fusillades, and sheets of layered sound, with occasional additional vocals by long time collaborator Bernard Fowler. Starting with a brief drum solo by LeBlanc showcasing his machine-level precision beat constructions (utilizing an electro-acoustic kit) and ambidextrous sticking techniques, soom he is joined onstage by Wimbish and MacDonald, who proceed to fill the room with vibrating molecules. Up in the rafters in the DJ booth facing the stage from the back of the club sat Sherwood, doing the live mix and contributing samples on the fly (Tack>>Head pioneered the use of DJ as live performer within an instrumental ensemble a decade before nu-metal idiots straightjacketed the concept into boredom).
Sticking to largely the late 80s material, along with some new tracks and inventive segues, the band showed how unorthodoxy as a modus operandi can work without being utterly inaccessible. The sound is funky, with slabs of bass by Wimbish that is actually physically accosting, but amazing to behold. His use of stacks of electronics as well as delays and use of taurus pedals to trigger samples makes Wimbish one of the most inventive and unique bassists in any genre. His solo segment was one of the best I have ever witnessed on any stage. Not to be outdone, MacDonald himself shifts between what is easily recognizable as guitar riffs to more angular tweaked phrasing and melodic sculptured effects. LeBlanc never drops a beat, and his distinct cracking snare sound and signature loops style kept everything propulsive like a finly tuned engine. Bernard Fowler was also on hand to sing through various great tracks like Dangerous Sex Body to Burn and Mind and Movement, with his tall dread swagger and bluesy growl.
This is one of those ever rare and essentially flawless shows that really deserves wider attention. For those who may wish to seek out material to hear, most of the Tack>>Head material is long out of print, but the following may be possible to find:
Strange Parcels - Disconnection (essentially Tack>>Head but using vocalists like roots reggae demi-god Bim Sherman instead of Fowler). Basically in a similar vein to many On-U-Sound projects that mix an avant garde sensibility with anything that works to ground it in a more listenable and sweetly brilliant mix.
Adrian Sherwood - Never Trust a Hippy (Sherwood lone solo album released on Peter Gabriels Real World label)
Little Axe - while the recent Champaign and Grits on the Real World label has been gathering a lot of attention, their debut album Wolf that House Built is a true gem of blues-dub with electronica and world beat elements. This is also essentially Tack>>Head but spearheaded by MacDonald in a distinctly Delta direction.
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine If you ever do get a chance to hear T>>H albums like Friendly as a Hand Grenade and Strange Things you will immediately see how much influence Sherwood and LeBlanc make on this album, as the producers and main performers outside of Trent Reznor himself.
Jungle Funk - Jungle Funk A jungle meets rootsy soul with some inventive instrumentation, this is Wimbish and Will Calhoun (his drum partner in BlackJack Johnson and Living Colour as well) with singer Vinx. A sadly overlooked project.
A special note to opening act Tino Corp, featuring Jack Dangers (Meat beat Manifesto, NIN, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Consolidated) which served to see his own sound move closer to industrial dub and bombastic vocal collage and was a well placed appetizer to the main course.
Tack>>Head is one of the most unknown influential musical entities in modern music. It's core consists of Doug Wimbish, Skip MacDonald, Adrian Sherwood and Keith LeBlanc. Doug, Skip and Keith started in the late 70s as the house band for the SugarHill Rap label, playing on such classic hits as White Lines. Adrian is one of the longest top-tier producers in the UK, and the impresario behind the infamous On-U-Sound label. The quartet in various mixtures has appeared on albums in various roles as diverse as NIN, Depeche Mode, ABC, P-Funk, Seal, the Cure, Bim Sherman, the Rolling Stones, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Jungle Funk and the new Black Jack Johnson Project which includes Mos Def and Dr. Know from Bad Brains.
With such a rather bizarre recording past one would suspect their cumulative sound to be a tad unique. This is an understatement, as they traverse a very dense mix of industrial funk, jarring electronic noise, deep cauldrons of dub, terse sonic collage, and various auditory forms of the kitchen sink thrown in in a recording span that has been surprisingly sparse (only a handful of albums and singles from the mid to late 80s under the formal Tack>>Head name, with occasional 12" releases and other one offs done under other names since). The band had not toured in well over a dozen years, and this small club tour was done as a what one hopes is a warm up to a return to studio work -- not that it will eclipse their live work.
Tack>>Head live is a performance entity serving up fucking armageddon size portions of seismic bass, rampant percussion fusillades, and sheets of layered sound, with occasional additional vocals by long time collaborator Bernard Fowler. Starting with a brief drum solo by LeBlanc showcasing his machine-level precision beat constructions (utilizing an electro-acoustic kit) and ambidextrous sticking techniques, soom he is joined onstage by Wimbish and MacDonald, who proceed to fill the room with vibrating molecules. Up in the rafters in the DJ booth facing the stage from the back of the club sat Sherwood, doing the live mix and contributing samples on the fly (Tack>>Head pioneered the use of DJ as live performer within an instrumental ensemble a decade before nu-metal idiots straightjacketed the concept into boredom).
Sticking to largely the late 80s material, along with some new tracks and inventive segues, the band showed how unorthodoxy as a modus operandi can work without being utterly inaccessible. The sound is funky, with slabs of bass by Wimbish that is actually physically accosting, but amazing to behold. His use of stacks of electronics as well as delays and use of taurus pedals to trigger samples makes Wimbish one of the most inventive and unique bassists in any genre. His solo segment was one of the best I have ever witnessed on any stage. Not to be outdone, MacDonald himself shifts between what is easily recognizable as guitar riffs to more angular tweaked phrasing and melodic sculptured effects. LeBlanc never drops a beat, and his distinct cracking snare sound and signature loops style kept everything propulsive like a finly tuned engine. Bernard Fowler was also on hand to sing through various great tracks like Dangerous Sex Body to Burn and Mind and Movement, with his tall dread swagger and bluesy growl.
This is one of those ever rare and essentially flawless shows that really deserves wider attention. For those who may wish to seek out material to hear, most of the Tack>>Head material is long out of print, but the following may be possible to find:
Strange Parcels - Disconnection (essentially Tack>>Head but using vocalists like roots reggae demi-god Bim Sherman instead of Fowler). Basically in a similar vein to many On-U-Sound projects that mix an avant garde sensibility with anything that works to ground it in a more listenable and sweetly brilliant mix.
Adrian Sherwood - Never Trust a Hippy (Sherwood lone solo album released on Peter Gabriels Real World label)
Little Axe - while the recent Champaign and Grits on the Real World label has been gathering a lot of attention, their debut album Wolf that House Built is a true gem of blues-dub with electronica and world beat elements. This is also essentially Tack>>Head but spearheaded by MacDonald in a distinctly Delta direction.
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine If you ever do get a chance to hear T>>H albums like Friendly as a Hand Grenade and Strange Things you will immediately see how much influence Sherwood and LeBlanc make on this album, as the producers and main performers outside of Trent Reznor himself.
Jungle Funk - Jungle Funk A jungle meets rootsy soul with some inventive instrumentation, this is Wimbish and Will Calhoun (his drum partner in BlackJack Johnson and Living Colour as well) with singer Vinx. A sadly overlooked project.
A special note to opening act Tino Corp, featuring Jack Dangers (Meat beat Manifesto, NIN, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Consolidated) which served to see his own sound move closer to industrial dub and bombastic vocal collage and was a well placed appetizer to the main course.
posted by theloniusfunk at 1:17 AM
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