My first resolution for 2012 encompasses both my role in the contra blogosphere and my life outside of contra and this blog (yes, as hard as it may be to believe, that does in fact exist): I like finding new music and sharing it with people. So it seemed particularly opportune when Julie Vallimont (accordion and piano player extraordinaire and half of Double Apex) and fiddler Andy Reiner made their world debut as Firecloud at Glen Echo last night. Their focus is a certain brand of "fiddle techno" that combines live, looped, and synthetic sounds, so I was eager to check them out.
My initial impression is that while at times I've heard "fiddle techno" before that has been really heavy on techno and somewhat light on fiddle, Firecloud, at least last night, seemed to more distinctly feature Julie's piano and Andy's fiddle. Despite this being the very first time they played together, the duo blended together really well and the background synth beats did a good job of framing their instrumental collaboration, rather than drowning it out. Part of this may be due to their common reference point being the tradition and their not having as much time to plan a heavier techno influence, but I thought it worked rather well as-is.
They will be touring the Eastern Seaboard in the place of Double Apex the first part of this week. Those of you in Virginia and North Carolina should make a point of going to see them.
Firecloud will be next playing in Greenwood, VA tonight (Monday, January 2). They will be in Winston-Salem, NC on Tuesday, January 3, and in Asheville, NC on Wednesday, January 4. On this latter date, Ed Howe of Perpetual e-Motion will join Julie and Andy to make the evening a really special event -- to those around Asheville who are able to go, please find some way to share on YouTube or similar; I am jealous! Also, apparently Ed Howe will be playing both with John Coté and with Julie Vallimont next weekend for Chattaboogie, at which Steve and I will also be dancing, January 6-8, in Chattanooga, TN.
My initial impression is that while at times I've heard "fiddle techno" before that has been really heavy on techno and somewhat light on fiddle, Firecloud, at least last night, seemed to more distinctly feature Julie's piano and Andy's fiddle. Despite this being the very first time they played together, the duo blended together really well and the background synth beats did a good job of framing their instrumental collaboration, rather than drowning it out. Part of this may be due to their common reference point being the tradition and their not having as much time to plan a heavier techno influence, but I thought it worked rather well as-is.
They will be touring the Eastern Seaboard in the place of Double Apex the first part of this week. Those of you in Virginia and North Carolina should make a point of going to see them.
Firecloud will be next playing in Greenwood, VA tonight (Monday, January 2). They will be in Winston-Salem, NC on Tuesday, January 3, and in Asheville, NC on Wednesday, January 4. On this latter date, Ed Howe of Perpetual e-Motion will join Julie and Andy to make the evening a really special event -- to those around Asheville who are able to go, please find some way to share on YouTube or similar; I am jealous! Also, apparently Ed Howe will be playing both with John Coté and with Julie Vallimont next weekend for Chattaboogie, at which Steve and I will also be dancing, January 6-8, in Chattanooga, TN.
