Nada Mucho

Photo Set: Negativland @ Bumbershoot 2014

Posted by Nada Staff September 1st, 2014 2 Comments »

UPDATED September 1, 2014 at 10:55 a.m. PT

Words and Photos by Jim Toohey

Before the show started, I heard someone say: “and don’t forget to make music.” It may have been one of the members of Negativland, the Bay Area sound collective that emerged in the late 70s and has managed to piss off U2 and Kasey Casem in the 1980s; collaborated with Chumbawumba to cut up the theme from the PBS kids show The Teletubbies in 1999; and recorded a song called “Christianity Is Stupid.” It may have been one of the band members.

Watching and listening to their set Sunday afternoon at Bumbershoot’s Pavilion stage, you did not even know if it was music. I don’t know what it was, but I wanted to stay and listen. It was like we were inside the movie Tron. Or withing the mind of a mad scientist crossing between insanity and rhythm. Though the band’s most recognized work was called Escape From Noise (1987) it was never just noise; it always made sense. They would take you away and then bring you back.