live
in the lull that is winter here, out of desperation i have attended:
- sigur ros; considering $32 tickets, it was more of a tribute to the good old times of the first album. the only track that actually touched me was the very last one - slowly building up intensity and vocal wailing on the background, it was a welcome break from all the pop-oriented "ma, we are a band now, look, we've got songs and melody and kids love us". pretty much a disappointment, especially given a venue and a crowd of gushing little girls and stern hipsters.
- mogwai; half the price of the sigur ros ticket (how did that happen? what did i miss there?), intimate performance space with those cathedral-like ceilings. excellent show, even the heavy-metal pieces went really, really well. a peculiar "fullness" of sound - very dense, expansive; very intense.
- death vessel; *sigh* why?!
- the books; a sort of a "comfort" show. it's only been half a year since i've seen them last, but this is a kind of a band that are simply "pleasant" to watch - instead of mounting a cross on their backs and climbing to spiritual golgotha, they tell stories, and show home videos with simple visual effects. very quiet, simple, almost endearing set. i would probably never manage to listen to them at home for a long time, but as a live act they are great.
- growing; i recall sitting on the floor at bent crayon and listening to their earlier album on kranky a couple of years back. it worked wonders then, as a live act they were supremely boring, falling apart into incoherent pile of sounds, barely fitting together. it turned out that the best way to listen to them is outside the stage area, so that their sound becomes muffled, sort of atmospheric noise that belongs to the building itself; at time blasting through the open doors, at times disappearing completely.
- sigur ros; considering $32 tickets, it was more of a tribute to the good old times of the first album. the only track that actually touched me was the very last one - slowly building up intensity and vocal wailing on the background, it was a welcome break from all the pop-oriented "ma, we are a band now, look, we've got songs and melody and kids love us". pretty much a disappointment, especially given a venue and a crowd of gushing little girls and stern hipsters.
- mogwai; half the price of the sigur ros ticket (how did that happen? what did i miss there?), intimate performance space with those cathedral-like ceilings. excellent show, even the heavy-metal pieces went really, really well. a peculiar "fullness" of sound - very dense, expansive; very intense.
- death vessel; *sigh* why?!
- the books; a sort of a "comfort" show. it's only been half a year since i've seen them last, but this is a kind of a band that are simply "pleasant" to watch - instead of mounting a cross on their backs and climbing to spiritual golgotha, they tell stories, and show home videos with simple visual effects. very quiet, simple, almost endearing set. i would probably never manage to listen to them at home for a long time, but as a live act they are great.
- growing; i recall sitting on the floor at bent crayon and listening to their earlier album on kranky a couple of years back. it worked wonders then, as a live act they were supremely boring, falling apart into incoherent pile of sounds, barely fitting together. it turned out that the best way to listen to them is outside the stage area, so that their sound becomes muffled, sort of atmospheric noise that belongs to the building itself; at time blasting through the open doors, at times disappearing completely.