In case you haven't noticed.
We're on hiatus.
No more concerts this year, and lack of host is finally getting to me.
On the plus side, next year looks to be really good as well, with A TON of sophomore releases due, including Wolf Parade, Arcade fire and Bloc Party, a bunch of follow-ups (Emperor X, Modest Mouse, Final Fantasy).
Hopefully Chin Up Chin Up and Baby & Hide will play a couple all-ages shows...
We'll be back. I swear.
In the meantime, these names:
Matt & Kim
Jeremy Warmsley
Final Fantasy (new album "Heartland")
Continental Divide
Peter Bjorn & John
Magic Weapon
Arms
Dooey Decibel
(Also, I'm recording an album in my living room. More on that later.)
See you all later.
Belated reviews and whatnot pt. 1-- Wolf Parade/Holy Fuck/Frog Eyes
Hey. It's been awhile. (Pause.)
The following is the write-up that was intended to be posted on the Wolf Parade forum, but we were not meant to be. Image hosting sites hate me and my cheap obsolete dial-up connection, and I'm tired and need to, you know, record a cover tomorrow, so this is how it forms. If you are from the Wolf Parade forum, hi. If your head is in any of my pictures, tell me.
A little under a week ago I attended my first concert at the hailed metro. The L was so very slow, (and apparently has been since it caught on fire), and so my bedraggled sister and I found the metro by its obscenely long line of indie kids spilling onto the sidewalk. We waited for a while, taking note of the various Wrigleyville cafes and such, and the very tasteful Metro sign.
FROG EYES
HOLY F K
WOLF PARADE
The unprepared will call line another good deal of time, but we secured Spencer-side fourth row spots. Basically the only ones standing, we watched everyone sit around and talk, play bejeweled on their cell phones (obviously the cheap cell phone game of choice), and try to amuse themselves. A group of two twentysomethings ahead of me started a spirited game of (crap, what is it called? you know, the game where you try to clap your hand off the other one's hand in unison but it basically fails in a couple seconds because your mind wanders because, dude, it's not really that interesting in the first place, but you start it again anyway. [?] What game is that? I call it Chinese water torture but that's not the proper name......)
Yes, I'm just ending that paragraph RIGHT HERE.
Anyway, in due time Frog Eyes came on. [dB reducing earplugs in] I had never seen them before (actually I had never seen ANY of the bands before) and they opened with a skewered version of "The Oscillator's Hum" that I didn't really like compared to the original. However, they followed that with a new song I had never heard before with Spencer arpeggiating the hell out of some chords and "Caravan Breakers" and each song seemed better than the last. Carey was really into the songs (both in movement and in spit, I was glad not to be in the front row), and while offputting during "The Oscillator's Hum", in the later songs it really worked and just FIT, and as a whole the show was really good. Carey was personable in between songs to boot. The bass player was awesome as well. And so was Melanie the drummer.
In a related note, Spencer now sings a little for FE, and the song with the "kiss you on the corner of the eye" song was my favorite of the set.
Next up was Holy Fuck, and though they took ten years to set up, the reason why was pretty clear. Holy Fuck are basically improvisational. With two massive board tables and keyboards and pedals and samplers and a film reader comboed with a drummer and bass player, they went wherever they felt in a hit or miss set that mainly hit. When they tried to play more dark, grungy material it didn't really fit the funjoy persona and tended to go nowhere. When, as on the last song, they messed with an almost videogamey melody, they could ride it out however they wanted, and it flowed and rocked. Bonus points for the inclusion of a melodica.
Lastly came Wolf Parade, who most people came to see (shame on you if you missed the openers as almost a quarter of the crowd did). Wolf Parade was awesome. They played EVERYTHING-- Sons and Daughters, I'll believe in anything, You are a runner to Fancy Claps, Disco Sheets, Modern World, It's A Curse, Shine a Light, and they even closed their regular set with This Heart's on Fire. It was awesome and to my relief the crowd was in to it in a good, honest-fan way, as opposed to the hipster-kid way I feared.
But I imagine people would like to hear about the new songs. I had noticed an acoustic guitar was next to Spencer's stuff and so knew that some new songs would be coming. Just as Spencer got the (sound) levels right, though, the bass player from Frog Eyes snuck onstage and threw some odd mirrored sunglasses on him. Spencer tried to start the song but realized he couldn't see at all. "I can't fucking play with these on," he admitted as he popped them on his keyboard.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't take them off fast enough.
Spencer Krug, rock star The new songs were good but still in their infancy. I remember liking Dan's a little more than Spencer's, but we'll have to see.
Later, Dan was in between songs and took the time to humorously lament Dante's wind chimes. "He gets them coated so they don't break. There goes the gas money... Yeah, what do you have to say to that DeCaro?"
"There goes the gas money."Spencer was as sharp as he was on the last set, and everyone else was great too. Dan and Hadji both had an awesome concert, seemingly working in unison.
They came back on after a fierce call for encore. Even Spencer felt it, replacing his usual "Thanks. You guys are great." to "Thanks. You guys are fucking awesome."
They closed their encore with an extended version of Dinner Bells that I had found not good on bootlegs but is simply transcendent live. The crowd danced it away.
To put it simply: I had a good, good time tonight.
SEMI-EXCLUSIVE: Swan Lake
I despise YouSendIt. Oh well. Lyrics and song.
mp3:
Swan Lake --
All FiresYou have a father;
There is another;
You have a sister—
There are no brothers.
You have good friends;
You have a lover;
When friendships end
You will still love her.
But this Teresa they love the best.
There was a flood;
A world of water;
The mason’s wife
Swam for her daughter
One thousand people
Did what they could;
They found a steeple
And tore up the wood.
Five hundred pieces means
Five hundred float;
One thousand people mean
Five hundred don’t.
And it’s Teresa that they love the best.
And I’ve said it before
And I’ll say it again;
All fires have to burn alive.
All fires have to burn alive.
From near his heart
He took a room
Where all fires have to burn alive to live.
From near his heart
He took a room
Where all fires have to burn alive to live.
So it’s Teresa that I love the best.
Beautiful.
Emperor X at the Elk Grove Village clocktower
Thursday afternoon, I attended the strangest/most awkward/probably best concert of my life.
Backstory: I had innocently contacted Emperor X (who goes by Chad in the daytime) on whether his show at Subterranean was 21+ plus or all ages. He led me to his booking agent, who replied 21+. I thanked Chad for getting me there, and he replied by offering to play a show before the show. Through a series of emails, I ended up here:
about two minutes walking from the poliice station, ready for a concert.
They arrive and survey the crowd. That is to say me, my mom, and my sister. Chad hands me a notebook and tells me to pick the setlist, and they start.
Emperor X was, that day, Chad on acoustic guitar and singing, Joel on bass and keyboard, and someone whose name I never learned (Isaac? maybe?) drumming with an assortment of things, including Joel's shoe.
They also had a photographer whose name I also never learned.
They opened with Addison Aceh and just played well. Never mind the fact they were playing for a family in the middle of nowhere with around 90 degree temperatures they just seemed to enjoy themselves. There is little I could write to give the clearest of pictures to this concert, so on with the pretty colors:
YOU MAY NEED QUICKTIME
Setlist: (As picked by me)
Addison AcehSpieltierRight to the RailsUse Your HandsDirt Dealership; no video; this is I when I took pictures
Everyone in JacksonvilleDon't Gather 'Round the Dinnertable
Here.
We love women. We do.
Hey! I shall be one of many guest bloggers participating at the
Clever Titles Are So Last Summer portion of the charity Blogathon! [2006] The idea is that you stay up and post once every half hour for 24 hours. Needless to say, Bethanne from
CTASLS is
not in fact a drug addict, so she's called out for the help of guests, (at least 13 of them so far). If you have a blog, go contact her! 48 posts in 24 hours. It shall be fun and exciting, and I've already got two posts written in my head.
It will benefit the
Global Fund for Women. DONATE HERE! NOW!
No mp3s for you; I must sleep now.
The Eraser
First things first-- The Eraser is a beautiful CD. The only color in the whole CD package, it is a vibrant purple skyline, actually also the artwork for the Harrowdown Hill single, and it is perfectly gorgeous.
Now to the music itself. It opens with "The Eraser", and the sheer brilliance of the song comes out by its first chorus. "Please excuse me I forgot to ask," he almost sneers over his C6 chord, "Are you only being nice because you want something?" Unfortunately, it follows with the much less catchy and meaningful "Analyse" which just basically has Thom following the piano with his vocals one beat later, which is a cool effect but not cool enough to warrant a full song. "The Clock" begins The Eraser's massive song improvement crescendo by starting off with some vaguely Arabic sound effects and vocals before we get to the redeeming part of the song-- the humming chorus. "Black Swan" is basically neo-funk, but it works as neo-funk IS enough to warrant a song. "Skip Divided" to me is where the album launches itself into greatness. Thom Yorke comes out with a curveball -- a humming line followed by a harmonic synth line followed by his super-low vocal line in which
he sounds like a vampire in an awesome way, and it takes the song into an awesome direction. "Atoms for Peace" has a melody line that doesn't make any sense at all until the vocals come in, and then the song beautifys your head off, especially in comparison to the last track. "And it Rained All Night" perfectly represents The Eraser as it rides both the lowest bassline and highest vocal-- "I can see you; But I can never reach you..." Then comes "Harrowdown Hill" the guitar infused track that will be the single and uses all repeated lines for emphasis-- all repeated lines except this one -- "We think the same things at the same time- we just can't so anything about it." Then it closes with "Cymbal Rush", a solid end to an album.
The one gripe I can think of is that evil what if-- in this case, what if Thom put "The Eraser" last instead of first. Just a sequencing change, but I would elevate this review's hypothetical points way up. Still an extremely solid album. Even if XL sold out it put it on iTunes.
Don't turn away.
Tomorrow, tomorrow
I'm gonna wake up early tomorrow and post. A lot. So far, I've an album review of The Eraser, random things I learned through my iPod shuffle, and maybe I can get my poet alter-ego to post.
Fun!
Also, in a related note, I set up a show. Myself. With help of a certain Chad Matheny. Come if you want. I'm gonna have some digital camera footage, quality unknown.
I believe that is all.
