Recently Ulrich Schnauss made his way through Portland and I had the chance to see him. The last time he toured in the US was back in 2003 (or 2004) with M83. His live show was pretty much the same now as it was back then – Ulrich standing behind a laptop with a keyboard and fader controller, with visuals playing in the background. His live set mainly consisted of tracks that blended perfectly with each other – every song except the last 2 and the encore tracks were all played in a row, producing a kind of “DJ” feel with Ulrich’s set. Now I think that most people (Americans) would think that this is very boring to watch, and I admit that it’s certainly not exciting … but the music is so good, and Ulrich does a good job of changing things up for live play. Maybe if more people actually danced or moved at shows, it would’ve certainly been a more exciting experience for everyone. I can’t help but wonder if people over in Europe dance when they see Ulrich play live.
The bands that opened up for the bill were boring at best. Yes, let it be known that I’m not the biggest High Violets fan. I was really hoping for more sequenced/laptop groups that night, like the 2 shows that proceeded mine … which included fellow Morr artist Manual as part of the bill. The Chicago show I’m sure was amazing – Ulrich billed with Manual, Auburn Lull, and Airiel. He even played a couple of shows in Canada with Millimetrik.
All in all Ulrich played a good set, and the visuals were quite lovely and matched the music. Ulrich’s set lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, including two encore tracks … “On My Own” and another song that I can’t recall. I had a chance to catch up with Ulrich after the show, and he says that the tour has been great so far and that jet lag was finally setting in for him. He said that he’d love to come to the US again, and seemed to really enjoy his stay here in the states, albeit a short one. He talked about wanting to come back to Portland and stay for a day or 2 and see the city. We would’ve chatted more if it wasn’t for the club trying to kick us out … plus Ulrich and crew had to get back on the road and drive overnight to San Francisco.
After some good chatting, and a hilarious picture taken by Lorraine Lelis (Mahogany, Somnombulants, Lexico) of Ulrich and I having a laugh, the evening was over and I was left wondering when the next good electronica show was going to happen. It’s a shame that there aren’t that many great electronica acts in Portland (or the US in general) … it’s probably because there’s no support for that type of music from the local scenes, and not enough interest from the talent buyers, bookers, and club owners.
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