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Published on 9/26/08
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Knitting Factory; Sat 22
What a long, strange trip it’s been for Circle, the Finnish hypno-drone outfit whose stock is finally soaring in the American underground. Although its robust early material dealt in krautrock mesmerism and noise-rock bluster, the band, founded by Jussi Lehtisalo in 1991, has since engaged itself in a deeply weird game of postmodern hopscotch. Fortunately, the quartet’s current jumble of ’80s metal, ’70s avant-garde and ’60s psych iconographies—say, a devil-horned guitar strut deflated by eerie tape loops and tacky keyboards—is usually anchored by kick-ass riffs and tasty repetition.
Circle’s deluge of new releases is absurdly inconsistent but undeniably provocative. Arkades (Fourth Dimension; U.K.), a live double CD partly recorded at Jersey City’s WFMU-FM, finds these Nordic spell-casters concocting divine potions from ominous synths and random, tormented vocals. Their latest studio efforts, however, are much more perplexing: Clinical, electronic minimalism bookends a flight of violently cool hardcore on the import-only Panic (Ektro; Finland), while the U.S.-issued Katapult (No Quarter) achieves a symbiosis between oddly atmospheric headbanging and breezy, percussion-packed Dada pop. Are these discs high-concept celebrations of artistic freedom or impudent attempts at alienating audiences?
Irrespective of the group’s intentions, Circle’s concerts are visceral, visual events; Lehtisalo just might tear the T-shirt off his bearlike physique. His mates, donning spiked bracelets and Zorro masks, elaborate on songs from recent albums or plunge into an improv netherworld. Saturday’s show could be sensational or completely confusing (or both), but it definitely won’t be boring.
