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Rating: La Chiave is exactly a place that feels Underground. If you arrive from the south side of the city, you pass through the newly constructed avenue that opens into Piazza Teatro Massimo, where the temple of opera in Catania, the Teatro Massimo Bellini, stands. When you are right in front of the splendid theater's doors, turn left, and you find yourself in a small alley full of bars. One of these is La Chiave. You enter and, next to the counter, you immerse yourself in a narrow corridor, pass through a small door, and you're in a dark room that can hold no more than 48 people (at least that's what's written at the entrance). In reality, there were about a hundred of us packed in, enveloped in a haze of smoke that made the faint lights seem like small will-o'-the-wisps illuminating anonymous silhouettes. At the back, three guys could be seen, barely lit by a reddish light; Ulan Bator.
As soon as I enter, it's declared a sold-out (lucky me!!), and the first sounds were already audible. I don't know the band well enough to remember the setlist mentally, but I will certainly remember this concert. Among the chatter of people ordering drinks, a memorable performance unfolded. What I've heard on CD is a band with a truly refined and sophisticated sound, live they turn out to be a factory of corrosive music with sounds balancing between Noise and post-rock. Tracks like "Soeur Violence" or "Pensées Massacres" cut through the air like sharp blades, not to mention European indie landmarks like "Santa Lucia", whose expanded final drift was a real suspension in limbo.
The concert went on, too quickly for my liking; people were drinking, and when you get to pieces like the stunning "Etoile Astre", the mind is already in the right state to let itself be penetrated by the obsessive melodies on which a grave and spectral voice chanted who knows what (between the French and the voice not perfectly amplified, you couldn't understand a damn thing). The concert closed with a piece I didn't know, a long descent into the hell of psychedelic and dissonant sounds; a deadly pleasure!!
Maybe they wouldn't agree, but I'm glad they're not as widely listened to as they deserve. Ulan Bator is not a stadium band; the same catharsis could not have occurred anywhere other than in the dark and cramped space of an anonymous venue; the dark acidity of their pieces would have dissipated without leaving a trace if let loose in a larger space.
I hope to meet them again.
P.S: They will be touring in other Italian locations, and I recommend everyone to see them, it's definitely worth it.
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