I was able to catch only the last night of the David Byrne festival at Carnegie. This was an evening entitled One Note, bringing together various kinds of music centered on a single tone: the "Sufi psych rock" of Haale, the work of Giacinto Scelsi as played by Alarm Will Sound (his Pranam II, together with an Aphex Twin arrangement and a souped-up Saltarello), and the Parisian avant-pop of Camille. I didn't get too much out of Haale's material, but the Scelsi was transfixing, and Camille and her collaborators Matthew Ker and Martin Gamet put together a performance that defies description — a dizzying stream of wistful chanson, nonsense patter, barks and meows, coloratura singing, cool jazz chords, spastic dancing, comic pratfalls, and avant-garde shrieks and shouts, all organized around an unchanging drone. Look for a report from Steve Smith. Mr. Byrne, who introduced the artists, made one audience member feel very cool when he recommended a particular Scelsi article.
