MUSIC: One Man Electronica
Solovox
Solovox
Saturday, May 1. The Grove
Taking the synthesized sound and the four-count beat that originally characterized techno to a whole new level, Carl Tietze puts on a one-man show that encompasses almost every electronic genre from amped up ambient to hard, fast techno.
Watching him move between four keyboards and two laptops, triggering loops, samples and beats while jamming on the keyboards at a frenetic pace is the only way you'll believe that one man can create such a raw, complex, layered sound.
Tietze, 33, played piano as a kid and spent about three years studying music before he dropped out of college, joined a band, and learned "more playing on the road than (he) had in three years at college." He took a long break from electronic music, but at Burning Man in 2000 "some really intense experiences playing music" brought him back into the electronic fold.
"I didn't listen to any electronic music all through the '90s," he said. "I wanted nothing to do with it. I was into the rock thing, you know, listening to Jane's Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, classic rock, Pink Floyd, Queen. All that stuff is what influenced me."
He named his one-man performance Solovox, which translates to "single voice." His onstage ensemble includes a vintage Moog Prodigy keyboard, which might explain why the squelching, bending melodies he cranks out sometimes echo the sound of '70s keyboard legend Keith Emerson; well, sort of more like Keith Emerson on meth after a car crash with the Chemical Brothers and Moby. That's no surprise since Tietze said it was their music that first opened his eyes to the possibilities of techno music.
"They're the guys who showed me you don't have to make a straight dance record," he said. "They have such an eclectic mix."
As does Tietze. On "Unstoppable Machine" you'll hear the driving beat that characterizes some of the Chemical Brothers earlier music mixed in with vocal samples and electronic dubs typical of Crystal Method.
On the "The Universe Wide" he mixes an ethereal, melody reminiscent of the techno staple "Rabbit In the Moon," which samples the keyboard riff from "Precious Things" by Tori Amos, with disturbingly dark, industrial percussion overlaid on a background of howling, hair-raising electronic strings. The effect is a richly layered, uneasy composition that is as gritty as it is beautiful.