Electronica Goes Punk

Shallow pockets have thus far prevented Oiwa from realizing this dream. But he doesn't believe that more folding green would fundamentally change many of the other ways icu operates. "I think for recording, if we had more money, we would use more fancy equipment, not so much for refining the sound but to provide more possibilities for the sounds we have in our heads," he contends. However, the appliance presently topping his personal wish list is a gadget that can duplicate the supposedly futuristic tones of a Moog synthesizer, which many electronica types dismiss as being hopelessly antiquated. "You can plug in the guitar and play guitar and tweak on a knob, and you can make those weird sounds just like a Moog," he marvels.

"We have all been in punk bands and all that, and we got sort of tired of the sound of just a guitar, drums and bass," Oiwa maintains. Yet the indie spirit epitomized by these rock rudiments is very much a part of icu. Whereas most electronica types must struggle to translate their painstaking studio craft into a performance worth watching, Oiwa and company are trying to capture the vitality of their live act on their first long-player, which they are currently mixing. Doing so has not been a cakewalk. In Oiwa's words, "I think it's helping us to reconfigure our songs, because now we're taking them as actual songs with structure rather than as a more spontaneous thing: playing a show, feeding off the energy from the crowd.

"Our songs have always been somewhat loose, with room for change. But in recording, we had to make a decision, and that was hard. We got into a lot of arguments." Oiwa sighs. "If someone listens to our records, then sees us live, they will recognize some songs, but it won't be the same. In recording, we use a lot more variation of equipment. Live, we only have six hands."

icu, with Juno and the Blast-Off Heads. 9 p.m. Monday, March 23, 15th Street Tavern, 623 15th Street, $5, 572-0822.