Live at Le Guess Who is exactly what the title suggests: a live recording from the much loved Utrecht experimental music festival documenting a single set from mighty Austin collective Water Damage. The band’s motto is “Maximal Repetition Minimal Deviation.” Its members pursue the collective liftoff that comes from grinding a riff down so hard that it turns into something else. “Reel 28” carries the faint echo of Oneida’s “Sheets of Easter.” Instead of one note, there are five, but the way that tight, repetitive discipline yields transcendence and expansiveness is exactly the same. This is music as mantra, blotting out mind chatter and opening passages to otherness.
Category: Water Damage
Water Damage :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Maximal repetition with minimal deviation: This is the guiding principle of Water Damage, the amorphous Austin, Texas-based collective specializing in 20-minute slabs of hulking, relentless drone-rock for people who think two notes is one too many. An awe-inspiring racket that sounds like Earth taking a crack at making dance music, or a bulldozer covering Faust.