From: metlay@netcom.com (metlay)
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth
Subject: D'Cuckoo: Concert Review and Commentary
Summary: Well, I'M impressed.
Date: 29 Sep 92 18:39:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.nv+p=qr.metlay
Organization: Atomic City


On Friday night the 25th of September 1992, I attended a D'Cuckoo 
concert at the DNA Lounge in San Fransisco at the suggestion of
Isaac Salzman through Paul Boutin. I would like to thank them both 
for expediting my exposure to a band that I consider one of the 
more important developments in recent MIDIdom. I would also like
to thank Linda Jacobson for introducing me to the band afterwards.

For those of you who aren't familiar with D'Cuckoo (the band's actual
name has an umlaut over the "u"), they are a quartet of musicians who
play live concerts around the Bay Area and have at least one CD and
two tapes out for sale. Their show is unique in a number of ways.
First of all, their music is heavily rhythm oriented, and their
training in marimba and African and Japanese drumming styles is
evident throughout any given concert, although guitar and a little
keyboard work is also present. Second, their percussion instruments
(four-pad drum units and multi-octave marimbas) are homemade from
piezo crystals, mousepads, acrylic plate and a lot of wirewrap. Third,
their use of MIDI is strictly in the area of interactive video control
and instrument layering/zoning (Nick Rothwell would have had fun
figuring out how their routing worked |-> ); they do not use any
sequences on stage. Fourth, three of them are talented singers who
blend excellent vocal harmonies with the music. And finally, in a 
world dominated by male musicians, they are an all-female quartet.

There is a good, if a bit outdated, article on them in the August
and September 1991 issues of HOME AND STUDIO RECORDING, and I believe
that they were also recently mentioned in either EM or KEYBOARD.
Since that article was written, their personnel have shifted a bit.
Founding members Tina "Bean" Blaine and Candice "The Duchess of Tweek"
Pacheco have now been joined on stage by Sarita Escobar, who has
apparently replaced Patti Clemens in their lineup, and drummer Tina
"Rip" Phelps is on a hiatus for several months, with her parts being
covered by Debbie Lane. While I have never heard Patti or Rip play,
I certainly have no complaints about the quality of the new members.
They, like Bean and the Duchess, are consummate performers and a joy
to watch and listen to.

I am not a dancer under most circumstances. I love rhythmic music, but
rarely enjoy getting out on the floor to dance. For the hour and a half
that D'Cuckoo was on stage, I could not repeat NOT stop moving. These
people are God damn GOOD, folx. They relay a tremendous sense of energy
to their audience, accented by a radiant good cheer that surrounds 
every number. They opened with a couple of slightly "down" songs with
serious (political) overtones, almost as a gesture to the black-garbed
Gothics in the audience, and then cut loose with the fun stuff and 
never looked back, grinning like fiends all the while. And their 
enthusiasm was infectious-- as I looked around me, I couldn't see a 
single person in the club who wasn't having a rollicking good time.

The easiest way to describe D'Cuckoo is as a percussion ensemble.
Their stage setup consists of two large MIDI marimbas facing the
audience and angled slightly toward one another, backed by a Korg
Wavestation on a stand, guitar and bass stands (both holding
Steinbergers), and a large conga. Behind that, on a riser, are the
four "turtles," the four-unit drum pads (rather like homemade DrumKats
but with fewer pads). Normally it's one marimba or two turtles to a
player, but sometimes two people double up on a marimba while one
drummer plays all four Turtles, etc.  The four band members are all
highly mobile, changing places on stage for almost every song as they
change instruments. The stage is littered with cables and a scattered
pile of agogo bells, maracas, gourds, and so on, and both mic stands
and headset mics are in evidence. Roadies and tech crew scramble
across the stage in midsong, fixing loose wires, adjusting mics, and
once even popping the panel on a marimba to fix a problem on the fly.
The four players may have built these boxes, but they were also smart
enough to tour with people who could fix them in real time.

The music itself was absolute, joyous bedlam. I hesitate to use the 
word "professional;" that can imply slickness, coldness, a sort of 
calm competence that puts the notes where they belong but lends them
nothing, and that was most definitely NOT the case with D'Cuckoo. On
the other hand, "amateur" implies slipshod technique and perhaps a
poorly-balanced sound, which was also not the case. The band played
with a loose, relaxed fury, the rhythms and melodies interlocking and
pouring out seemingly without effort. There were clam notes or missed
drum hits every now and again, but these were met with laughter from
the band members rather than winces or scowls-- it was always obvious
that these women were doing what they loved more than anything else, 
and were tight and polished in their delivery without demanding that
every rough edge be sanded down to sterile perfection. 

The stage show included two screens, one of which showed a series of
stills and the other of which showed moving videos, apparently of
computer images created on an IRIS Indigo. The animation was
exceptionally well-suited to the music, perhaps not quite on the level
of Pixar's best but certainly better than a lot of the cowflop one
gets in concerts and on videos by much richer bands. There was a lot
of banter between songs, generally courtesy of Tina and Candice, and a
marvelous break in the show when a huge inflatable beachball, wired
with piezos, was flung out into the audience. As the crowd batted it
into the air, the impacts set off sound samples and wave sequences,
which interacted with an algorithmically generated backing track; sort
of a MIDI volleyball game. Much fun for all.

The club had the band off stage after a quick two-song encore by 11 PM,
so as to shift the audience's attention to the DJs who would spin vinyl
for the rest of the night. I regard this decision to supplant a band
like D'Cuckoo with prerecorded music as barbaric in the extreme, but 
refrained from setting fire to the club because it did, after all, 
provide them with a venue in the first place.....

I was, sadly, short on cash at the time, and couldn't buy a copy of their
CD at the club, but I plan on ordering a copy directly from them. It's
been pointed out to me that Internet rules prevent my posting a mailing
address for D'Cuckoo for those who might be interested in their stuff,
so feel free to email me if you'd like an address to which to send away
for information. (I don't think they have email addresses yet, alas; if
I learn of one, I'll post it for the curious.)

My final take on this band and their music is simple: buy their stuff.
See them live if AT ALL possible. (They may come East next year-- if so,
I will see to it that tour dates are posted.) If you do contact them
and like their stuff, let them know it. We need to encourage those among
us who are doing what they love and succeeding enough to make a living.
Tell them you saw it on the Internet, and Metlay said "Check it out."

Toetappingly, I remain,

-- 
metlay                    | 
                          | General MIDI is God's way of saying "Duh."
                          | 
metlay@netcom.netcom.com  |