VNV Nation!
I just got back from tonight's concert at the Vic Theatre. The last time I saw VNV Nation was almost nine years ago. I actually have a blog post about it, though in the classic fashion of my much earlier posts it mostly takes the form of long-form rambling about my daily life. On the other hand, it's nice that I still have it. That's why I keep posting here instead of migrating somewhere else--continuity.
Anyway, some history. I discovered VNV Nation back in university when I left home, got on a consistent internet connection, and found Napster/Audiogalaxy/Kazaa. I had bought Music from the Succubus Club in high school, and that was my entrance into the world of goth music, and on finding that Dracula's Ball took place in Philadelphia I ended up dragging everyone along in my wake. Anyway, VNV Nation was one of the bands I found in my trawling the interwebs for goth music, specifically after I found a 9/11 tribute which is still online holy crap, and I'm pretty sure the files I have on my computer are still the very same ones I found all those years ago.
And that's all I have. I haven't kept up with anything VNV Nation has done since I first found them, and even at the first concert we went to I didn't know half the songs. How much more so now when I've missed everything after Matter + Form and really only know the songs from Empires? Despite that, when they started playing I felt right at home. I mean, compare Darkangel (from Empires) and Primary (from last year's Transnational) and you'll notice a continuity of sound that a lot of bands wouldn't maintain over 15 years. Compare the Crüxshadows in Jackal Head (Telemetry of a Fallen Angel, 1995) and Sophia (Dreamcypher, 2007), for example.
Oh, relevant to that, I should preserve this comment for posterity:European law forces us to have a sexy techno pause in every track.
Maybe that also explains the stylistic continuity?
There were two songs they played that I knew. Legion, which has always been one of my favorites, and Perpetual, about which I have a somewhat funny story. See, I had this thing where I'd go find a huge mess of music, grab it and say "Oh, I'll listen to it later," and then sometimes not get around to it for ages. I still have an "Unlabeled Music" subfolder in my Media folder which...still has songs in it. I should get on that.
Anyway, in Japan when we got iPhones, I stuck all my music on my phone and listened to it to and from work, and discovered a lot of fantastic songs I didn't even realize I had. That's how I found "Perpetual," when I was staring out the window on the way to Suzugamine and thought, "Whoa, wait a minute? What is this!?" Tonight, it was the last song VNV Nation played at the concert, apparently a tradition. That makes me wonder if we had stayed longer at the first concert, would I have heard it then?
I don't listen to nearly as much goth music nowadays. It used to be the vast majority of my repertoire, but nowadays it's all trance, video game soundtracks, and chiptunes. Tonight's concert and nostalgia is tempting me to make another playlist and put it on my phone, though. Especially listening to "Jackal Head." I used to listen to that kind of stuff all the time.
Anyway, some history. I discovered VNV Nation back in university when I left home, got on a consistent internet connection, and found Napster/Audiogalaxy/Kazaa. I had bought Music from the Succubus Club in high school, and that was my entrance into the world of goth music, and on finding that Dracula's Ball took place in Philadelphia I ended up dragging everyone along in my wake. Anyway, VNV Nation was one of the bands I found in my trawling the interwebs for goth music, specifically after I found a 9/11 tribute which is still online holy crap, and I'm pretty sure the files I have on my computer are still the very same ones I found all those years ago.
And that's all I have. I haven't kept up with anything VNV Nation has done since I first found them, and even at the first concert we went to I didn't know half the songs. How much more so now when I've missed everything after Matter + Form and really only know the songs from Empires? Despite that, when they started playing I felt right at home. I mean, compare Darkangel (from Empires) and Primary (from last year's Transnational) and you'll notice a continuity of sound that a lot of bands wouldn't maintain over 15 years. Compare the Crüxshadows in Jackal Head (Telemetry of a Fallen Angel, 1995) and Sophia (Dreamcypher, 2007), for example.
Oh, relevant to that, I should preserve this comment for posterity:European law forces us to have a sexy techno pause in every track.
Maybe that also explains the stylistic continuity?
There were two songs they played that I knew. Legion, which has always been one of my favorites, and Perpetual, about which I have a somewhat funny story. See, I had this thing where I'd go find a huge mess of music, grab it and say "Oh, I'll listen to it later," and then sometimes not get around to it for ages. I still have an "Unlabeled Music" subfolder in my Media folder which...still has songs in it. I should get on that.
Anyway, in Japan when we got iPhones, I stuck all my music on my phone and listened to it to and from work, and discovered a lot of fantastic songs I didn't even realize I had. That's how I found "Perpetual," when I was staring out the window on the way to Suzugamine and thought, "Whoa, wait a minute? What is this!?" Tonight, it was the last song VNV Nation played at the concert, apparently a tradition. That makes me wonder if we had stayed longer at the first concert, would I have heard it then?
I don't listen to nearly as much goth music nowadays. It used to be the vast majority of my repertoire, but nowadays it's all trance, video game soundtracks, and chiptunes. Tonight's concert and nostalgia is tempting me to make another playlist and put it on my phone, though. Especially listening to "Jackal Head." I used to listen to that kind of stuff all the time.