Took a trip down to Baltimore, Maryland last night to catch Slacking & Private Collector on the miniature tour they are on right now. They were joined on a mixed bill with several other local bands, so a friend and I were really there to catch the noise. Took closer to the 2 hour end of things both ways, but both performers made things more than worth it to travel.
Slacking went first for the two, and delivered nothing short of a spectacular set. Since 2023, I have had the pleasure of seeing Jim's sets develop from longform bursts of psychedelic noise into more refined journeys that dare to stretch the borders of noise and general experimental music. Last night was no different, as tape loops and oscillator screeches brushed elbows with ritualistic drones and even calming passages of beats that felt very Boards of Canada to my ears. Throughout the entire set, I thought to myself "wow, he's got things locked in. I wonder if we are seeing songs for a future release." Turns out, NO, we are not. That was just a totally improvised occurrence. MAN! Now that is even more impressive to see; someone who has such total command of their sound palette that they make even winging it look totally intentional. I am excited for my next chance to see Slacking after this, as I think that the forward-thinking nature of Jim's working process lends itself to expansion that will only guarantee a more improved result on the next outing. But I should still say, this was definitely my favorite time catching him live up to this point.
Private Collector was an act who I was very curious to see after a promising release on Tribe Tapes and some thoughtful conversations exchanged. What I could not have expected was to be totally floored by how hard he rocked it on this dreary Sunday! Prior to the set, when discussing sound, he mentioned that much of what he is going for is the sound of multiple signals with high gain fighting for dominance in the mix.
"Oh you, mean like Skin Graft?"
"Sort of, but my volume knobs are much lower."
Certainly were! But funny enough, whether intended or not, the kind of hot-blooded intensity I would expect from the work of Wyatt Howland was present throughout this Private Collector performance. It made for perhaps the most intense lowkey set I have ever seen. Signals continued to push each other aside at a moderate hum, with each static change feeling like a seismic shift in the set. There was some tape introduced, but it felt so buried in the mix of electronic decay that I imagined something akin to fidgeting around a broken tape deck to figure out why there's some hum whenever you try to enjoy some light listening. Each choice that the artist made managed to build upon the previous one in such a thrilling manner. By the time it was over, I could not believe what I had seen. Such intensity! Wow. And here I thought that the Slacking set might have been the peak of it all. Nope. This fresh face delivered a knockout of equal proportion.
Not often is one treated to a touring bill that just blows you away on all fronts. I hope to see more of these two on the road (and maybe on recording) together. There is some sort of spiritual connection in their respective works that makes sense and elevates them both to greater heights.
