Eve Maret
In recent years, I’ve covered livestreams and written artist profiles in the Scene and elsewhere that have schooled me on the constellation of ambient, experimental and electronic scenes in Tennessee and around the South. The pattern that emerges is encouraging: These scenes are inclusive, transgressive and growing.
Where bands were hamstrung by the COVID quarantine, unable to rehearse or tour, solo musicians who were already inclined toward working at home thrived, sharing their work in visually and aurally ambitious online happenings. Some examples: Scene contributor Seth Graves’ 12-Hour LiveDream in May 2020, Circuit Benders’ Ball in March ’21 and Far Out Free Fest, which the Scene crowned “Best Streaming Festival” in our 2020 Best of Nashville issue. Far Out went so well that its organizers decided to keep it online-only for the foreseeable future, including the 2021 edition that happened June 18-19. Over in Memphis, Robert Traxler — who launched the experimental fest Memphis Concrète in 2017 — has been observing carefully.
“Working alone can give you more freedom to explore things you might not be able to with other people,” writes Traxler in an email to the Scene. “I’m not good at keeping a finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist, but I can see how ambient music could be on the rise. People want something nice and relaxing when everything is stressful and going to hell. Harsh noise can be wonderfully cathartic as well.”
Ambient, harsh noise, drone, doom, electro-acoustic, industrial, vaporwave and shoegaze are among myriad left-of-center sonic mutations Memphis Concrète seeks to amplify. After taking 2020 off, the fest is back for its fourth iteration, streaming Friday through Sunday on Twitch and at memphisconcretemusic.com. Twenty-six artists are slated to play, including Nashville-via-St. Louis electronic poptimist and longtime Scene fave Eve Maret, whose Saturday headlining set gets underway at 9:30 p.m.
In 2017, ’18 and ’19, Memphis Concrète took place at Crosstown Concourse in Midtown Memphis, a multistory former factory converted into an art gallery and cultural center in 2015. Once the pandemic began, Traxler started making mental notes on streaming shows’ advantages and shortcomings. By March 2021, the 41-year-old musician was plotting his fest’s return, assembling a bill with an even mix of Bluff City locals as well as artists from around the region and from across the country.
Disaster Trees
Roughly half of this weekend’s performers call Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia home. Those checking in from further out include New Englanders Evicshen and Kristina Warren, New Yorkers Pas Musique and Stupid Lepton, and a pair of Illinoisans, Luct Melod and Post Doom Romance. Playing live for the first time: Memphis’ Towering Flesh, named for a song by D.C.-area grindcore hellions Pig Destroyer. Also appearing: Nashville ambient-doom duo Disaster Trees, consisting of found-sound sculptor Kim Rueger — whose main project Belly Full of Stars made its live debut at the inaugural Memphis Concrète in 2017 — and her husband Chris Rueger, alias wkujater.
Despite the sudden return of in-person concerts, Traxler says he’s remained totally focused on a virtual show and the advantages it confers. Part of that, he explains, is emphasizing the “live” in “livestream.” Where other grassroots online fests have consisted of a mix of pretaped and real-time performances, he promises Memphis Concrète will be “almost all completely live.”
Traxler has worked hard to prevent potential technical hiccups. He spent the first few months of 2021 putting on two- and four-artist trial streams to troubleshoot the system while building anticipation for the June fest. As the date nears, he’s been running individual connection tests with all 26 acts.
“The difference between a prerecorded livestream and an actual one might be negligible to some, but I can feel it. I love the moment where things can go wrong and mistakes can be made in real time. Some people might think that’s a bad thing, but to me it’s the whole magic of the live experience.”
