music
I have been lucky enough lately to come accross some great music and 3 wonderful "rock" "concerts."
concerts (in chrono. order)
animal collective--
these guys played in el paso of all places, at a club called 101. it was a friday night and the club is a strip joint? by day. well, there were human cages and poles all over the place so I figure it maybe was something. animal collective is a band that I had not heard much of at all before the show. the only thing I was going off of was numerous mentions in pitchfork and my friend faith gave them wide acclaim. faith is good with that sort of stuff. really though there's not many shows that come through this part of the country. some go to pheenicks and denver and austin, but in between those points is a cultural wasteland (if you don't count dia de los muertos). so when a band comes through that I've heard of, however vaguely, I'll most likely go because I don't go to as many shows as I'd prefer or that I'm used to.
the set up at club 101 was pretty interesting. first off it was funny and interesting to see so many 20-something hipsters gathered in one place. they seem to be mostly few and far between round these parts. so the concert folk were good. the second thing is that they had a lineup of multiple opening acts rotating on the indoor main stage and an auxilary outdoor stage, so we got to shuffle back and forth and get a variety of acts as we let our first couple drinks settle.
animal collective came on at about 10:30. the group is composed of 3 males, with one on mainly vocals and few synths and a cymbal/bass drum, one guy on what seemed to be multiple drum samplers, and one guy on a crazy electronic sampler/synth/mixer. about half way through the first song, I was thinking 'this is pretty good, it's really loud and the sound is good so that's nice.' at that point a series of LED banks lit up super bright and the sound increased twofold and the bass kicked in and nearly knocked me on my ass. they maintained this new level of intensity throughout the show.
we migrated closer and closer to the front as the set went on and I have to say these guys definitely earned their $11 they got from me. each band member was freaking out for the entire show, with no lags in sound or movement. the drum guy had a headlamp on and that headlamp was looking like a firefly with restless leg syndrome. the lead singer was sweating and dancing and moving all about and the sampler man (panda) was with his eyes closed most of the show swaying back and forth. I realized that the only choice I had was to completely surrender to the loudness and rhythm or get out of the club. so I surrendered and was made whole by their funk. I don't recommend them for everyone, but I would recommend seeing them in concert.
sonic youth--
this band played for free in marfa, tx as part of the chinati/judd foundation open house. my expectations were quite high for this show and they were met or exceeded on all fronts.
the show took place at an indoor/outdoor concert hall/construction sight on the main drag through marfa. I think this building belongs to the thunderbird hotel but it was not yet finished. Molly and I were with many friends including dwyer, dorn, and several americorps girls. we were able to bring a cooler full of beer right into the venue which was nice. the opening band was pure industrial noise and they thankfully played for literally only 10 minutes then they left awkwardly. sonic youth took the stage soon after to an eruption of screaming.
the set leaned mostly on material from their latest, rather ripped, and their masterpiece, daydream nation. I was getting kind of annoyed with the crowd at first, but molly and dwyer were rocking out and I looked over and dorn was freaking with his shirt off so I figured everything was ok. I was completely spazzing and I kept feeling an elbow in my back which is concert-speak for "the guy behind me doesn't appreciate my freak dancing." well oh fucking well last time I checked sonic youth has never been to marfa (for fucking free) and also what's that again? oh yeah their the best fucking band on the planet right now besides radiohead and you shouldn't even compare the two. so whatever elbow man, I'm not hearing your elbow.
about half way through the show the crowd started to come around and by the end of the show everyone was completely losing it and sweating and moving and screaming. it's kind of religious to be at a show like that. the crowd noise, at some points, got to levels that I would not have expected. it's fun to get caught up in that.
highlights for me include everything. thurston soloed right into the crowd at one point with people clammering at his legs and ax. kim danced amongst hands and screaming of front row fans and lee had a big grin on the whole time. they played one of their faster songs which really got the crowd freaking and they dissolved that song into a 5 minute noise cool down with squelching feed back and free-jazz drums. literally 5 whole minutes of free form electric therapy of mutating string vibrations being fed through a series of modifications to achieve absolutely transcendent levels of feedback, at which point they bring it back slowly into the beat of the originally fast thrashing song and then lead back into full force for another two verses and chorus with everyone recharged by noise and freak ready once again. that was a moment to remember.
they played two encores, the second of which I'm sure they did not plan on playing but the crowd would not allow them to skip. they ended with a new, unknown song which sort of left us hanging and of course was perfect. we stood around like fools with our mouths open laughing and gaping for about 30 minutes after that show.
wilco
these guys played in minneapolis at the northrup, and I got tickets thanks to connoy. wilco is a really great band and they have produced some my favorite albums and songs ever. however, I had just seen sonic youth in marfa. there is a small number of people that understand what that means. in layman's terms, wilco didn't really have a chance of pleasing me that much. I would say they earned a B+, which is a bit of an insult grade coming from a teacher. a B+ is a grade you give a good student that you're disappointed in.
tweedy was kind of annoyed with people for not rocking out more, but then he follows up a snarky comment with jesus, etc. sorry, I don't know how to rock to that song. I love that song, but dont' put me on the spot to freak out about it. they have a lot of great songs that are pretty pedestrian. tweedy calls them, "midtempo," a phrase I knew he would drop at least once during the show.
what to say about wilco? they put on a better show than probably 85% of the bands I'll ever see, maybe. their sound is perfect, they have a complex instrumentation, they are spot on, they mix it up. but then again, it's all kind of contained or packaged and you feel the tension from tweedy. I think he's maybe a little sick of singing these songs, but he got himself into it. this theory might be proven by a rumor I heard from connoy: after the show, wilco quickly made their way to first ave. to watch spoon play their show. we should've done the same.
well that's all for now, I'm slowly trying to fill ya'll in on what's going on and I thought I'd start with this little music review. it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I feel like I don't quite have my voice today, but it was a pretty annoying day at school so I feel like a square. either way, stay tuned blograds.
concerts (in chrono. order)
animal collective--
these guys played in el paso of all places, at a club called 101. it was a friday night and the club is a strip joint? by day. well, there were human cages and poles all over the place so I figure it maybe was something. animal collective is a band that I had not heard much of at all before the show. the only thing I was going off of was numerous mentions in pitchfork and my friend faith gave them wide acclaim. faith is good with that sort of stuff. really though there's not many shows that come through this part of the country. some go to pheenicks and denver and austin, but in between those points is a cultural wasteland (if you don't count dia de los muertos). so when a band comes through that I've heard of, however vaguely, I'll most likely go because I don't go to as many shows as I'd prefer or that I'm used to.
the set up at club 101 was pretty interesting. first off it was funny and interesting to see so many 20-something hipsters gathered in one place. they seem to be mostly few and far between round these parts. so the concert folk were good. the second thing is that they had a lineup of multiple opening acts rotating on the indoor main stage and an auxilary outdoor stage, so we got to shuffle back and forth and get a variety of acts as we let our first couple drinks settle.
animal collective came on at about 10:30. the group is composed of 3 males, with one on mainly vocals and few synths and a cymbal/bass drum, one guy on what seemed to be multiple drum samplers, and one guy on a crazy electronic sampler/synth/mixer. about half way through the first song, I was thinking 'this is pretty good, it's really loud and the sound is good so that's nice.' at that point a series of LED banks lit up super bright and the sound increased twofold and the bass kicked in and nearly knocked me on my ass. they maintained this new level of intensity throughout the show.
we migrated closer and closer to the front as the set went on and I have to say these guys definitely earned their $11 they got from me. each band member was freaking out for the entire show, with no lags in sound or movement. the drum guy had a headlamp on and that headlamp was looking like a firefly with restless leg syndrome. the lead singer was sweating and dancing and moving all about and the sampler man (panda) was with his eyes closed most of the show swaying back and forth. I realized that the only choice I had was to completely surrender to the loudness and rhythm or get out of the club. so I surrendered and was made whole by their funk. I don't recommend them for everyone, but I would recommend seeing them in concert.
sonic youth--
this band played for free in marfa, tx as part of the chinati/judd foundation open house. my expectations were quite high for this show and they were met or exceeded on all fronts.
the show took place at an indoor/outdoor concert hall/construction sight on the main drag through marfa. I think this building belongs to the thunderbird hotel but it was not yet finished. Molly and I were with many friends including dwyer, dorn, and several americorps girls. we were able to bring a cooler full of beer right into the venue which was nice. the opening band was pure industrial noise and they thankfully played for literally only 10 minutes then they left awkwardly. sonic youth took the stage soon after to an eruption of screaming.
the set leaned mostly on material from their latest, rather ripped, and their masterpiece, daydream nation. I was getting kind of annoyed with the crowd at first, but molly and dwyer were rocking out and I looked over and dorn was freaking with his shirt off so I figured everything was ok. I was completely spazzing and I kept feeling an elbow in my back which is concert-speak for "the guy behind me doesn't appreciate my freak dancing." well oh fucking well last time I checked sonic youth has never been to marfa (for fucking free) and also what's that again? oh yeah their the best fucking band on the planet right now besides radiohead and you shouldn't even compare the two. so whatever elbow man, I'm not hearing your elbow.
about half way through the show the crowd started to come around and by the end of the show everyone was completely losing it and sweating and moving and screaming. it's kind of religious to be at a show like that. the crowd noise, at some points, got to levels that I would not have expected. it's fun to get caught up in that.
highlights for me include everything. thurston soloed right into the crowd at one point with people clammering at his legs and ax. kim danced amongst hands and screaming of front row fans and lee had a big grin on the whole time. they played one of their faster songs which really got the crowd freaking and they dissolved that song into a 5 minute noise cool down with squelching feed back and free-jazz drums. literally 5 whole minutes of free form electric therapy of mutating string vibrations being fed through a series of modifications to achieve absolutely transcendent levels of feedback, at which point they bring it back slowly into the beat of the originally fast thrashing song and then lead back into full force for another two verses and chorus with everyone recharged by noise and freak ready once again. that was a moment to remember.
they played two encores, the second of which I'm sure they did not plan on playing but the crowd would not allow them to skip. they ended with a new, unknown song which sort of left us hanging and of course was perfect. we stood around like fools with our mouths open laughing and gaping for about 30 minutes after that show.
wilco
these guys played in minneapolis at the northrup, and I got tickets thanks to connoy. wilco is a really great band and they have produced some my favorite albums and songs ever. however, I had just seen sonic youth in marfa. there is a small number of people that understand what that means. in layman's terms, wilco didn't really have a chance of pleasing me that much. I would say they earned a B+, which is a bit of an insult grade coming from a teacher. a B+ is a grade you give a good student that you're disappointed in.
tweedy was kind of annoyed with people for not rocking out more, but then he follows up a snarky comment with jesus, etc. sorry, I don't know how to rock to that song. I love that song, but dont' put me on the spot to freak out about it. they have a lot of great songs that are pretty pedestrian. tweedy calls them, "midtempo," a phrase I knew he would drop at least once during the show.
what to say about wilco? they put on a better show than probably 85% of the bands I'll ever see, maybe. their sound is perfect, they have a complex instrumentation, they are spot on, they mix it up. but then again, it's all kind of contained or packaged and you feel the tension from tweedy. I think he's maybe a little sick of singing these songs, but he got himself into it. this theory might be proven by a rumor I heard from connoy: after the show, wilco quickly made their way to first ave. to watch spoon play their show. we should've done the same.
well that's all for now, I'm slowly trying to fill ya'll in on what's going on and I thought I'd start with this little music review. it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I feel like I don't quite have my voice today, but it was a pretty annoying day at school so I feel like a square. either way, stay tuned blograds.
posted by j0eb0t-xj9 at 5:39 PM
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