Heat can be pretty psychoactive. I have suffered through enough late summer DIY shows in this city to know that it can make you feel drunk when you are dry, induce dizziness, lightheadedness, blurred vision, tunnel vision — and, on rare occasions, even predator vision. It can dull your experience of the most bad-ass jam you’ve heard all year while heightening its impression in memory. I am actually pretty glad that I missed Woodsman’s set at Monster Island Basement in Brooklyn last Friday because it don’t think I would have survived to tell the story. When they swung by Newtown Radio last Sunday, the station was probably just as cramped, but the free-standing air-conditioner wheezing dutifully in the corner lowered the temperature to a level that was pleasantly hallucinogenic. Each color and each sound was more saturated than usual, each beat went straight to the temple. Maybe it’s just that Woodsman is so percussion-heavy, but I couldn’t help feeling like was trapped inside my favorite Can video — minus the long and stringy hair.
“Underwater Visitations Episode #10: The Woodsman Episode
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Download the entire episode here
Playlist after the jump.
UNDERWATER VISITATIONS DJ SET
Steve Hillage – Palm Trees (Love Guitar)
Bruce Haack – Program Me
Family Portrait – Gene
Fabulous Diamonds – Track 3 (Fabulous Diamons II)
Harold Grosskopf – Synthesist
CFCF – Raining Patterns
The Gamut – Henry
Daniel Higgs – Say God
Matt Mondanile – Look Out For My Love
Pure Ecstasy – Alexandria
WOODSMAN IN-STUDIO
UNDERWATER VISITATIONS DJ SET II
Pick up a copy of Woodsman’s Collages 12 inch via Mexican Summer, or a their Mystery Tape 12 inch via Lefse.
Words: Emilie Friedlander
Photo: Woodsman’s MySpace.
Tags: Bruce Haack, CFCF, Daniel Higgs, Fabulous Diamonds, Family Portrait, Harold Grosskopf, Matt Mondanile, Pure Ecstasy, Steve Hillage, The Gamut, Woodsman