February 27th, 2009 § 0
I’ve been ill and housebound for two days. As per usual this has meant I’ve been playing quite a few videogames. It would have been nice to read, but my house lacks nice places for sitting and reading. Oh to have an armchair in my room. Also, focusing on a game seemed to result in less sneezing.
Anyway, I’m feeling better now, and am able to inflict my opinions upon you once again. So here’s what I played.
February 26th, 2009 § 0
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February 24th, 2009 § 1
Project 365! is an ongoing series of posts in which I listen to some albums and write a little about them. They’re mostly records I’ve not heard before, and there’ll be one for every day of the year. It should also provide some lols as we all learn more things about which I am ignorant. Good times!
Previous posts in the series: Albums 1-9, Albums 10-13, Albums 14-17, Albums 18-22, Albums 23-32, Albums 33-42.
Here’s the second half of the big fat catch-up batch. Enjoy!
43 – Off With Their Heads – All Things Move Toward Their End
February 23rd, 2009 § 0
Another gig review within days of the last? Just what the hell is going on here? Does it make up for my total failure to post flash fiction for the past fortnight? Read on for the answers to precisely none of these questions.
It’s OIB Records’ second birthday – hurray! To celebrate the occasion they’ve invited Brooklyn’s Parts & Labor down to play for us – hurrah! And it’s £7 – um, hurrah? Okay, it’s a bit costly for those of us raised on super-cheap punk shows, but this is the world of indie pop and to blend in we must learn their ways.
First up tonight is Brighton’s own lonely ghosts. After having watched their set I’m unsure whether I think they exemplify competent mediocrity, or if they’re just another one of those points I keep on missing. They’re good at what they do, and their songs are pleasantly put together and played, but it’s only when they play ‘Happy Lovers Friends Forever’ that I find myself getting drawn in. In fairness this is not my thing, and I should just be happy that there’s one song catchy enough to entertain me, but then I don’t seem to be the only disinterested party present.
(This is a now-unveiled reference to the folks stood in front of me who, it transpired, weren’t too down with the concept of shutting the fuck up and listening to some music for two consecutive minutes.)
Next up is SJ Esau, a name I’m not familiar with but it’s just one guy in front of a small array of instruments and devices. Devices! It’s a good sign of a more experimental approach to music than the openers, and should build up to the headliners nicely… and certainly for the first few songs I’m entertained. What SJ Esau does is clever and must be tricky to pull off live: he uses effects loops and delay to capture vocals, guitar and the occasional crash cymbal and utilise them as percussion. It works nicely and the overall effect is pleasantly dreamy, but unfortunately over time I find that the same conceit being re-used over and over wears thin, and too many of songs lack enough variation to keep my attention focused. There are standouts, though, and I look forward to hearing more from this ambitious solo project.
And, at last, Parts & Labor begin. A fair amount of their set is drawn from Receivers - fortunate, really, given that I’ve yet to work through their back catalogue, but rate that album as a standout of 2008. I squeeze back into the room as they run through the 8-minute ‘Satellites’. The venue is crammed now, but I’m fortunate enough to find myself almost at the front with a perfect view of frontman / electronics maestro Dan Friel and guitarist Sarah Lipstate. Oh, lucky fate etc. It’s fascinating to have this view because, whilst I’d have been happy to stand anywhere in the room and listen to songs this good, it adds an extra dimension to watch Friel and Lipstate switching and adjusting effects throughout.
I’m actually struggling to think of more to say here beyond “I really like this band” and “they delivered a great set”. What else to add? I dragged along a bunch of friends who’d not heard the band before and they liked or loved them? I met a man at the bar downstairs who said they were shit and told him he was 100% wrong? I want to marry Sarah Lipstate (or, at a pinch, Dan Friel)? The complexity of what the band do is head and shoulders above my ability to comprehend, but I guess there’s no harm in describing this sufficiently advanced technology as magic and just enjoying the show.
February 23rd, 2009 § 1
Project 365! is an ongoing series of posts in which I listen to some albums and write a little about them. They’re mostly records I’ve not heard before, and there’ll be one for every day of the year. It should also provide some lols as we all learn more things about which I am ignorant. Good times!
Previous posts in the series: Albums 1-9, Albums 10-13, Albums 14-17, Albums 18-22, Albums 23-32.
This is getting ridiculous. I’m absurdly behind again. Although not as absurdly behind as Daniel, who has leapfrogged from 13 to 54. The big cheat.
I’m determined not to give up on this project, so here’s an enormous batch of very short comments…
33 – Cursive – Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes
February 22nd, 2009 § 0
It’s been a while since I wrote about a gig on this blog. I often have the desire to do so, but this usually occurs the morning after a show, and at such times I’m usually feeling a little under the weather (a civil euphemism for being stinking hungover). Today I’m either level-headed enough to get away with it, or I’m feeling opinionated enough that my wish to get wordy is overpowering my postalcohol-induced lethargy.
(…he says, writing half of this review on Thursday and then not getting round to finishing it until four days have passed.)
The room’s about half-filled as Brighton three-piece Bear Feet take to the stage. I’ve not heard of the band before and they’ve only been on MySpace for five months, which coupled with their not so fresh-faced youth leads me to the conclusion that the band’s a relative newcomer to the local hardcore scene. Fortunately any concerns about their ability to deliver a bruising tune are quickly dispensed. Bear Feet eschew guitar entirely, focusing instead on the low and brutal sounds of intertwining bass and drums. Sometimes their tunes seem so fast that the band themselves are struggling to keep up, but I’m impressed – this music is simple, raw, dirty, and sinks its hooks in deep.
Criminally it’s more than a year and a half since I last saw the Plague Sermon – long enough that I don’t remember much about their sound beyond “loud, also fast”. As it turns out this still applies, but you can also add “intense”, “furious” and “intricate”. In contrast to Bear Feet, Plague Sermon boast three guitarists plus one thing-hitter and zero pluckers of four strings. Their songs are composed of carefully layered riffs over a solid foundation of violently pounding drums. The constrained energy of the music is exemplified in vocalist Aaron, who delivers his words in passionate screams barely audible over the music and thrashes his guitar about like he’s about to fling it out the nearest window. This is severely pissed-off screamo; if you want to get pretentious about it, these intricately built songs are as fine a metaphor for tautly controlled emotion as the subgenre has managed.
After the preceding set I’m wondering if Young Widows might actually have been upstaged. Regardless they take the stage with quiet confidence and presence and kick into a set that wrong-foots me for a third time in the night. Rather than the raw, punchy and gritty hardcore songs I’d expected after 2006′s Settle Down City, or even the faster and tighter violence of past bands Black Cross or Breather Resist, we’re confronted with expansive, sludge metallish riffs that remind me more of Torche‘s stoner doom or the Melvins than what I’ve come to recognise as the Louisville hardcore “sound”. It’s a good surprise, and puts me in the zone: for 40 minutes, I’m focused solely on the music that fills the room, head nodding and heel slamming. The alcohol helps, sure, but I’m liking where Young Widows are going, and it’s clearly time I came along for the ride.
February 22nd, 2009 § 1
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February 20th, 2009 § 0
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February 20th, 2009 § 0
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February 19th, 2009 § 0
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