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] 

TotW - Ametsub - The Solo To Untamed Place

Ametsub is a Japanese IDM glitch artist. His works have a strong Autechre vibe to them. This song is very pretty. It has a smooth flute lurking in the background through most of the song, while glitchy sounds take the center stage. Very good stuff. The album is pretty great as well. I'd recommend it.

The Flashbulb - Opus at the End of Everything

The Flashbulb is the main pseudonym for Benn Jordan's IDM project. He's no newcomer to the music game, with this release being his 12th album. Over the course of these many years, his sound has evolved. He's currently getting more and more atmosphere; it will soon reach open-field nirvana. This album has a whopping 25 tracks, though most of them aren't very long. Because of their short length, most of these tracks hang on to one idea. Each track also segues into the next, so it's not like they end abruptly. That's why it's better to look at this albums as a whole rather than song by song. Like I mentioned earlier, this is a very atmospheric IDM album, with atmospheric pads and some reverb. It also features guest performances on the violin, viola and cello. I like how Benn has lots of ideas and sounds, but sometimes I'd like to see it evolving over time. It's always sad to hear something you really like quickly segueing into something different. I guess it's just the way he does things. The actual music itself is really good though. The guitar throughout the album is fantastic. It sort of has a post-rock vibe. The atmospheric pads/drums is great and cool glitches on certain tracks. The strings are also, like the rest, great. I don't really have any complaints on the instrumentation. My main issue is just that I don't feel like these songs are very memorable, which is another problem I have with short songs/many tracks albums. This is still a very nice sounding album. If you like his music and want him to make more, you should probably buy his album. Although I do post download links, I highly encourage you to buy music and support the artists that you like. Here's his bandcamp.

7 out of 10 people will like open fields.

[Mediafire]

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra @ La Tulipe 19/02/12

To me, Efrim Manuel Menuck is a genius. His music is some of the most influential stuff I've ever heard. His work with Godspeed You! Black Emperor shaped what is my taste in music today. He made me appreciate things I've never cared about before. So when I heard he was touring with A Silver Mt. Zion, I just had to go and, boy, what a night.

The opening artist was Steve Bates. Never heard of him? Don't worry, most people haven't (hipster victory). Hell, I couldn't even find anything about him on Google. Absolutely nothing. I only knew about him after searching for him on What.cd, which had one of his albums. He plays some ambient drone, kind of similar to Tim Hecker I guess, but maybe a little more experimental. Long build ups, pretty textures, loud sounds. One moment, the feedback was a little too loud, that I kinda hurt my ears, but it was an overall solid performance. He didn't really seem to care that the audience was there, though. He never acknowledged us, or even say a single word. Oh well.

Up next was the main dish, A Silver Mt. Zion. And boy did they come out and play masterfully. I enjoyed their live performance more than their studio recordings. The sound is bigger and better. With his whiny voice, Efrim sang his heart out. They played some of their biggest hits, including "13 Blues for Thirteen Moons" (got it on video, I'll upload it when I get the chance), "Black Waters Blowed", "Blind Blind Blind" and "Horses in the Sky" for the encore. They also played "What We Loved Was Not Enough" and "Psalms 99" from their latest EP. Sophie Trudeau and Jessica Moss are brilliant violin players with beautiful performances. I never noticed it until tonight, but the drumming by David Payant is incredible. We can't forget about Thierry Amar on bass/double bass who also pulls off a great performance.

All these pictures were taken by Paul-Emile Hebert. You can find more stuff here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasteldrafts
Download the entire set here.

Might as well mention this. Efrim is quite the comedian. In between songs, he took questions from the audience. I'm mostly paraphrasing, but here's 2 particular things asked.
"What shampoo do you use?"
Efrim: "Your mom's shampoo. If I get closer, I smell like your mom."

"What's with the Stephen Harper picture?" (If you look at the pics, you can see Harper in a picture frame)
Efrim: "We don't believe in Voodoo or magic, but we keep it upside down in the hopes that he dies." He then received a standing ovation from everyone in the room.

Sleep Party People - Sleep Party People

Sleep Party People is the shoegazy dream pop bedroom project of Danish musician Brian Batz. I know that I say this a lot and that I'm starting to sound like a broken record player, but this isn't your ordinary dream pop. He manages to take a normally upbeat and happy genre and turns it into something dark, creepy and sinister. It doesn't help that he wears a bunny mask during his performances and that he names his songs stuff like "I'm Not Human At All" and "Everything Has An End", but whatever. It's an interesting change to the genre. The thing is is that it doesn't always sound dark. The beginning has a pretty upbeat sound. It starts sounding noticeably creepier at around the fifth tracks and just descends from there. It's an interesting evolution to hear. The songs also get longer as the album progresses. I guess I should also mention the weird vocals. Aside from the obligatory reverb, there's some really weird effect as well which makes it sound less human and more, um, rabbit-like, I guess? It's the only was I can describe it. I guess this Brian guy has a fetish for rabbits. Lola from Space Jam must be his wet dream or something. Whatever, I'm not judging the guy, but his music. And his music is good. He has an album coming out in April, so look out for that.

7 out of 10 rabbits will like this. Warning: This video is creepy.

[Mediafire]