This weekend
The past few days have been nothing short of amazing.
Sunday, I went shopping with Dom during the day. He had to get a tie for the wedding that he, Karen, and I are going to (we're all coordinating outfits, ha) and then we went to h&m (the lo-scale one) and I bought 4 really awesome shirts. Later on that night, I was supposed to go to the Apparat/Telefon Tel Aviv show with closer1000, but his dog got sick so I brought Alexis up with me instead. We drove up to Brooklyn to pick the tickets up and the weather couldn't have been better. It was blue skies, sunny and warm, and we drove with the top down and the music blasting, which is my favorite way to travel anywhere.
When we got up there, we talked to Mike for a few minutes and then went to look for food. We couldn't find the place that Mike had suggested, so we went to some Italian place that looked good. We ordered and our food took a good 45 minutes to come out (probably some kitchen error because our server kept yelling at the window, which was located in the dining room). Food was excellent though, so we couldn't be too pissed. I had planned to bring Alexis to Union Hall for a couple drinks, but we ended up not having time.
We got to the show and it was crowded as shit. Telefon Tel Aviv had already started their set but we managed to finagle our way up to the stage and dance a little. They were playing all brand new, unreleased tracks which was cool. I'm pretty excited for their upcoming album because it sounds a lot dancier than their usual fare.
Apparat was good, as expected. Nothing much to comment on there.
When I told Mike I'd go to this show with him, I just assumed it was a regular show. 830 - 11, maybe then go home. He told us when we picked up the tickets, however, that after the show they were opening up all the rooms with different djs and staying open late into the night for a dance party of sorts. Fuck yeah. Me and Alexis stayed there until 4am dancing like friggin maniacs with these 2 kids we met there. We were all over the place; it was so much fun.
By the time I walked in my front door, the sun was coming up. It was tremendous.
Got up pretty late on Monday, obviously. Finally crawled out of bed around 2. While I was lazing around, I discovered that there was a new music video for Efterklang's track, Illuminant, which I linked to earlier. Here's another link just for good measure. After searching around this guy's site for a while, I found out what a friggin genius he is. Tobias Stretch is a stop-motion animator who uses homemade, large-scale puppets and shoots them in real life settings as opposed to sets or stages. Basically he combines stop-motion with time lapse because there's still real life happening around his puppets as he shoots them. It's really breathtaking stuff. I ended up writing him an e-mail asking him a few questions about his processes and complimenting him on his work. I was and am very impressed by him.
At 6, I went up to the Melting Pot and had dinner with Liz and then walked back home and chilled for a while before driving out to the Unitarian to see Efterklang perform. This was my first time seeing them live and I went to this show alone because no one has ever heard of Efterklang and I think they'd be a little harder to swallow than someone as accessible as Apparat.
I've been to a dozen or more shows at the Unitarian and always saw bands on this tiny stage in the basement. This time, the bands performed in the actual sanctuary, which I was pleased about because I hate having to stand up during certain kinds of shows. This is why I didn't have a good time at the Mogwai show a few years back. Some bands you just need to sit back, relax, and absorb, not worrying about your feet getting tired or who's crashing into you. I showed up after the opening band had started their set. I didn't even know who they were or what they were called, but they were another band from Denmark, like Efterklang. I discovered later that they were called Slaraffenland (which means 'the land of milk and honey' in Danish) and that I liked them a lot. They were 4 guys who all played a variety of instruments, including drums, guitars, trombone, flute, clarinet, and saxophone. Their music featured a lot of the same kind of lush, polyphonic vocals that Efterklang uses. They were also highly interactive with the audience. Two songs after I got there, the band members had started passing out small hand instruments into the audience, like bells, tambourines, maracas, etc and had people playing along with the band. I didn't get an instrument, unfortunately, ha. A little while later, this really cute asian girl who had some bells had gotten up with her boyfriend and started dancing around in front of the stage. The rest of the people with instruments had all gotten up and everyone was dancing and laughing and having a great time. The singer of the band came down from the stage and was walking through the aisles grabbing people to get them to come up front and join the makeshift jamboree. Of course he grabbed me because I was sitting close to the edge of the aisle and I guess looked lonely because I was by myself, haha. So I went up front and danced with some people. It was a ton of fun. Not too often does an opening act generate that much energy from a crowd who's there to see someone else. It was incredible.
Slaraffenland finished their set and all of us who were up front ended up just sitting on the floor in floor between the pews and the stage and waited for Efterklang to come on.
I was pretty excited when they finally took the stage. They we all dressed in very.... Scandinavian looking outfits. Like linen shirts, suspenders, elaborate scarves, and what looked like equestrian pants. They had decorated their microphones with peacock feathers. There were also a ton of people in the band. 8 main people and occasionally people from Slaraffenland would join them for some songs.
Efterklang (Danish for 'remembrance and reverberation')'s show was... just breathtaking. It was the best show I've been to in years and I go to a lot of shows. It wasn't good because of its production value or any over the top manufactured excitement (I love Marilyn Manson's shows, for example, because of the sheer theatrics of it all. His sets and props and all are always outrageous.), it was good because of their stage presence and intensity.
Efterklang's stage presence just demanded awe. They were incredibly engaging for so many reasons. One, they also were very interactive with the crowd. When I watched them, they watched back. Sometimes I'd find myself locking eyes with one of the musicians and they wouldn't look away. They'd stand and play for me for as long as I watched him or her. They weren't in that 'stage bubble' like some musicians get into. They were there for us as much as we were there for them.
Two, they had so much passion for the music they were making. Every band member sang every word to every song, even when they weren't standing behind a mic. They just felt the power of their music and sang along just like the rest of the audience.
Also, they had so much god damned fun while they performed. They looked around and laughed with each other. When one person had a solo, the rest of them would watch them and clap and cheer for them. Sometimes the lead singer would stop and stand to the side and watch his bandmates perform and just smile at them like he was so proud to be a part of the group. In between songs, they'd talk about random things. The singer said something really sweet at one part because there were a few little kids in the audience (like young, like 5 years old) and he said something to the effect of 'i love being here with all of you in this church, it's very intimate, and you can hear the kids laughing and playing in the back, and it reminds me of christmas eve'. It was perfect.
Their whole set was perfect. They played all of my favorite songs and at the very end of their last song, everyone came off of the stage with their instruments and walked around the whole sanctuary playing before returning to the area right in front of the stage where we some of us were sitting. They finished the song together as a group, all playing their hearts out standing right over me. It was really intense. It really was the best show I've seen in so so long.
Of course I brought my camera, but left my battery at home, haha. This was taken from my phone.
So as if that weren't great enough. Before their last song, the singer was doing some typical shout-outs and he made mention to the director of their new video. Tobias Stretch. Who happened to be SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ME. Oh man, I almost flipped. Even though I had just discovered his stuff this afternoon, I'm already such a huge fan. After the show, when people started flocking over to the band members to meet them, I went over to Tobias and introduced myself. I told him that I had actually e-mailed him earlier but he might not have gotten it yet. I told him that I had watched his stuff and was thoroughly amazed by everything he did. I also asked him some questions about his production and everything, like if he works alone, how long his films take to shoot, where he films at, what kind of equipment he uses, etc. I also brought up some specific parts of his videos that I particularly liked and asked questions about them. He seemed really impressed that I knew his stuff so well, but I had seriously watched his stuff over and over this afternoon.
On his site, he has some storyboards posted for an animation he's making for Radiohead's Arpeggi/Weird Fishes song. When I was talking to him, he told me that he was out all day shooting some of his footage for the it and he showed me a little bit of it in motion that he had on his camera. He said I'm the only person besides him who's seen it. It was awesome. The character I saw looked and moved just like I imagined he would. He also showed me some stills of some of the other characters he built and everything looks incredible. After a little while, one of the guys from Efterklang came over and Tobias started talking to him so I excused myself and shook both of their hands and Tobias told me to e-mail him and that he'd be in touch. I'm so stoked. I'm almost tempted to write him and ask if I can stop by sometime and see his puppets and get a firsthand look at how he works.
This might not seem like such a big deal to some of you, but this is totally exciting for me because he's doing exactly what I want to be doing someday. Working with incredible bands making awe inspiring imagery and having a great time while doing it. He said he got to do the Efterklang video simply by writing them and asking them and they simply just said 'yes'. Man..... if I had the balls....
So after Efterklang, I went up to the Barbary again for a little dancing. Saw Virginia, Gary, Deshawn, and Buddy. It was alright fun, but it was hot as blazes in there so I left early around one or so.
All in all.... what an amazing night.
Also, I was so impressed and moved by Efterklang's show tonite that I got a ticket to see them again on Wednesday at the Knitting Factory. Anyone want to come?
Sunday, I went shopping with Dom during the day. He had to get a tie for the wedding that he, Karen, and I are going to (we're all coordinating outfits, ha) and then we went to h&m (the lo-scale one) and I bought 4 really awesome shirts. Later on that night, I was supposed to go to the Apparat/Telefon Tel Aviv show with closer1000, but his dog got sick so I brought Alexis up with me instead. We drove up to Brooklyn to pick the tickets up and the weather couldn't have been better. It was blue skies, sunny and warm, and we drove with the top down and the music blasting, which is my favorite way to travel anywhere.
When we got up there, we talked to Mike for a few minutes and then went to look for food. We couldn't find the place that Mike had suggested, so we went to some Italian place that looked good. We ordered and our food took a good 45 minutes to come out (probably some kitchen error because our server kept yelling at the window, which was located in the dining room). Food was excellent though, so we couldn't be too pissed. I had planned to bring Alexis to Union Hall for a couple drinks, but we ended up not having time.
We got to the show and it was crowded as shit. Telefon Tel Aviv had already started their set but we managed to finagle our way up to the stage and dance a little. They were playing all brand new, unreleased tracks which was cool. I'm pretty excited for their upcoming album because it sounds a lot dancier than their usual fare.
Apparat was good, as expected. Nothing much to comment on there.
When I told Mike I'd go to this show with him, I just assumed it was a regular show. 830 - 11, maybe then go home. He told us when we picked up the tickets, however, that after the show they were opening up all the rooms with different djs and staying open late into the night for a dance party of sorts. Fuck yeah. Me and Alexis stayed there until 4am dancing like friggin maniacs with these 2 kids we met there. We were all over the place; it was so much fun.
By the time I walked in my front door, the sun was coming up. It was tremendous.
Got up pretty late on Monday, obviously. Finally crawled out of bed around 2. While I was lazing around, I discovered that there was a new music video for Efterklang's track, Illuminant, which I linked to earlier. Here's another link just for good measure. After searching around this guy's site for a while, I found out what a friggin genius he is. Tobias Stretch is a stop-motion animator who uses homemade, large-scale puppets and shoots them in real life settings as opposed to sets or stages. Basically he combines stop-motion with time lapse because there's still real life happening around his puppets as he shoots them. It's really breathtaking stuff. I ended up writing him an e-mail asking him a few questions about his processes and complimenting him on his work. I was and am very impressed by him.
At 6, I went up to the Melting Pot and had dinner with Liz and then walked back home and chilled for a while before driving out to the Unitarian to see Efterklang perform. This was my first time seeing them live and I went to this show alone because no one has ever heard of Efterklang and I think they'd be a little harder to swallow than someone as accessible as Apparat.
I've been to a dozen or more shows at the Unitarian and always saw bands on this tiny stage in the basement. This time, the bands performed in the actual sanctuary, which I was pleased about because I hate having to stand up during certain kinds of shows. This is why I didn't have a good time at the Mogwai show a few years back. Some bands you just need to sit back, relax, and absorb, not worrying about your feet getting tired or who's crashing into you. I showed up after the opening band had started their set. I didn't even know who they were or what they were called, but they were another band from Denmark, like Efterklang. I discovered later that they were called Slaraffenland (which means 'the land of milk and honey' in Danish) and that I liked them a lot. They were 4 guys who all played a variety of instruments, including drums, guitars, trombone, flute, clarinet, and saxophone. Their music featured a lot of the same kind of lush, polyphonic vocals that Efterklang uses. They were also highly interactive with the audience. Two songs after I got there, the band members had started passing out small hand instruments into the audience, like bells, tambourines, maracas, etc and had people playing along with the band. I didn't get an instrument, unfortunately, ha. A little while later, this really cute asian girl who had some bells had gotten up with her boyfriend and started dancing around in front of the stage. The rest of the people with instruments had all gotten up and everyone was dancing and laughing and having a great time. The singer of the band came down from the stage and was walking through the aisles grabbing people to get them to come up front and join the makeshift jamboree. Of course he grabbed me because I was sitting close to the edge of the aisle and I guess looked lonely because I was by myself, haha. So I went up front and danced with some people. It was a ton of fun. Not too often does an opening act generate that much energy from a crowd who's there to see someone else. It was incredible.
Slaraffenland finished their set and all of us who were up front ended up just sitting on the floor in floor between the pews and the stage and waited for Efterklang to come on.
I was pretty excited when they finally took the stage. They we all dressed in very.... Scandinavian looking outfits. Like linen shirts, suspenders, elaborate scarves, and what looked like equestrian pants. They had decorated their microphones with peacock feathers. There were also a ton of people in the band. 8 main people and occasionally people from Slaraffenland would join them for some songs.
Efterklang (Danish for 'remembrance and reverberation')'s show was... just breathtaking. It was the best show I've been to in years and I go to a lot of shows. It wasn't good because of its production value or any over the top manufactured excitement (I love Marilyn Manson's shows, for example, because of the sheer theatrics of it all. His sets and props and all are always outrageous.), it was good because of their stage presence and intensity.
Efterklang's stage presence just demanded awe. They were incredibly engaging for so many reasons. One, they also were very interactive with the crowd. When I watched them, they watched back. Sometimes I'd find myself locking eyes with one of the musicians and they wouldn't look away. They'd stand and play for me for as long as I watched him or her. They weren't in that 'stage bubble' like some musicians get into. They were there for us as much as we were there for them.
Two, they had so much passion for the music they were making. Every band member sang every word to every song, even when they weren't standing behind a mic. They just felt the power of their music and sang along just like the rest of the audience.
Also, they had so much god damned fun while they performed. They looked around and laughed with each other. When one person had a solo, the rest of them would watch them and clap and cheer for them. Sometimes the lead singer would stop and stand to the side and watch his bandmates perform and just smile at them like he was so proud to be a part of the group. In between songs, they'd talk about random things. The singer said something really sweet at one part because there were a few little kids in the audience (like young, like 5 years old) and he said something to the effect of 'i love being here with all of you in this church, it's very intimate, and you can hear the kids laughing and playing in the back, and it reminds me of christmas eve'. It was perfect.
Their whole set was perfect. They played all of my favorite songs and at the very end of their last song, everyone came off of the stage with their instruments and walked around the whole sanctuary playing before returning to the area right in front of the stage where we some of us were sitting. They finished the song together as a group, all playing their hearts out standing right over me. It was really intense. It really was the best show I've seen in so so long.
Of course I brought my camera, but left my battery at home, haha. This was taken from my phone.
So as if that weren't great enough. Before their last song, the singer was doing some typical shout-outs and he made mention to the director of their new video. Tobias Stretch. Who happened to be SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ME. Oh man, I almost flipped. Even though I had just discovered his stuff this afternoon, I'm already such a huge fan. After the show, when people started flocking over to the band members to meet them, I went over to Tobias and introduced myself. I told him that I had actually e-mailed him earlier but he might not have gotten it yet. I told him that I had watched his stuff and was thoroughly amazed by everything he did. I also asked him some questions about his production and everything, like if he works alone, how long his films take to shoot, where he films at, what kind of equipment he uses, etc. I also brought up some specific parts of his videos that I particularly liked and asked questions about them. He seemed really impressed that I knew his stuff so well, but I had seriously watched his stuff over and over this afternoon.
On his site, he has some storyboards posted for an animation he's making for Radiohead's Arpeggi/Weird Fishes song. When I was talking to him, he told me that he was out all day shooting some of his footage for the it and he showed me a little bit of it in motion that he had on his camera. He said I'm the only person besides him who's seen it. It was awesome. The character I saw looked and moved just like I imagined he would. He also showed me some stills of some of the other characters he built and everything looks incredible. After a little while, one of the guys from Efterklang came over and Tobias started talking to him so I excused myself and shook both of their hands and Tobias told me to e-mail him and that he'd be in touch. I'm so stoked. I'm almost tempted to write him and ask if I can stop by sometime and see his puppets and get a firsthand look at how he works.
This might not seem like such a big deal to some of you, but this is totally exciting for me because he's doing exactly what I want to be doing someday. Working with incredible bands making awe inspiring imagery and having a great time while doing it. He said he got to do the Efterklang video simply by writing them and asking them and they simply just said 'yes'. Man..... if I had the balls....
So after Efterklang, I went up to the Barbary again for a little dancing. Saw Virginia, Gary, Deshawn, and Buddy. It was alright fun, but it was hot as blazes in there so I left early around one or so.
All in all.... what an amazing night.
Also, I was so impressed and moved by Efterklang's show tonite that I got a ticket to see them again on Wednesday at the Knitting Factory. Anyone want to come?