Cloud Nothings @ Casa Del Popolo 24/3/12

Last night I went to go see Cloud Nothings. They've released a pretty good album this year and I heard their live shows are pretty good so I definitely wanted to attend. I went alone because I have no friends. I had to wait a good half hour in line because I didn't buy a ticket before the show. I was worried that I wouldn't have been able to get in, but I did so yeah.

The opening band was an Italian 5-piece outfit called A Classic Education. The mainly play indie rock. The set was alright I suppose. They played with a lot of energy but the crowd didn't seem all that into it, aside from one song (more on that soon). After their opening song, they seemed to have some technical difficulties but soon fixed it and moved on. Their next song was called "I Lost Time", which the vocalist replied "That's fitting." During the rest of the set, some mysterious feedback kept making some unwanted appearances. It wasn't too bothersome, so whatever. Onto the actual songs. The crowd mostly came to see Cloud Nothings, and A Classic Education's music is lighter and less aggressive, so maybe that's why the crowd wasn't as into it. Their song structures were all pretty formulaic, leaving me a little bored. The best song and the crowd's favorite was a cover and not an original piece. From what the vocalist said, the concept of their latest album is basically that the songs were inspired by pictures from an Italian photo book about an outlaw biker gang. It's certainly an interesting concept but the final product fails to deliver something as interesting.

Cloud Nothings came up next. Right away, the technical difficulties came back, this time, it was something about the drums. I'm really glad they fixed it because the drummer is mental. To be fair, all the band members are pretty psychotic. The rhythm guitarist looked like he was having an epileptic episode through out the show. The energy that the band radiates is intense. So intense that a mosh pit started after about 2 songs. I was in the middle when it started. It was unavoidable so I joined in the fun. Not only do these guys exhibit excellent showmanship, but top quality musicianship as well. There performance was highly entertaining, leaving me liking their music more than when I first heard their album. The highlight of the night for me was when a technical difficulty left the rhythm guitarist without any sound for the last song, so he joined the crowd in the mosh pit. It was pretty funny and awesome. One of the funnest shows I've been to. I ended up buying their LP without even owning a record player. That's how much I loved their performance.

Shit Worth Getting 2012 (Part 1)

I haven't posted anything in quite a while, so I'll start this new segment. #Lazy

For those who don't really know me that well, I like listening to new music. I crave it. My goal for this year is to listen to 365 2012 albums. One for each day of the year. I've come across quite a few good releases this year so far, so here are 10 recommendations in no particular order. And no, I won't be uploading any of these because my upload speed is a nightmare.

A Silver Mt. Zion - "The West Will Rise Again"
Post-Rock

Alvin Band - Rainbow Road

Psychedelic Pop

Bondage Fairies - Bondage Fairies
Nintendo-Death-Punk, Garage 8bit

Burial - Kindred
Dubstep, Ambient

Dirty Three - Toward the Low Sun
Post-Rock, Contemporary Folk

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
Post-Rock, Psychedelic Rock

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
Folk Pop

Gangrene - Vodka & Ayahuasca
Hip-hop

John Talabot - ƒin
Balearic Beat, Microhouse

Swans - We Rose From Your Bed With the Sun in Our Head
Noise Rock, Experimental Rock

Enjoy, I guess.

Orange Tulip Conspiracy - Orange Tulip Conspiracy

Orange Tulip Conspiracy is an experimental Jazz Fusion band from US of A and this is their only release to date, back from 2008. The first you will notice about this band is that their sound varies a lot through out the album. It can go anywhere from metal to a ragtime swing; it really runs the gamut, but at it's core, it's Jazz Fusion with a Middle-Eastern flavour. Every song has an odd time signature or weird progression, keeping it interesting. The instrumentation is fantastic. The saxophone is probably my favorite part about this album, but every instrument does shine. They've just reunited from a 2-year-long hiatus with a new lineup and are making new material. Hopefully, they're planning on releasing a new record some time in the near future. For now, we have this underrated gem to listen to.

8 out of 10 conspiracists will like this.

[Mediafire]