So last night was the big anthemic technogaze show at The Middle East in Cambridge. M83 played with The Berg Sans Nipple and Matters and Dunaway.
I was in NO MOOD to go to a show last night, what with it being Monday and all. It was sold out and I told Rob if anyone even offered me face value for the tickets we were NOT GOING. Some Frawnch dude inside the club asked us if we had extra tickets, but by then it was kind of too late, right?
We skipped Matters and Dunaway, who I would actually like to see some day. The Berg Sans Nipple is an assy name for a band, and it was pretty basic sampler and banging on stuff. It wasn't awful, it wasn't amazing, it was pretty good when it was loud.
The show was sold out, and here's an awesome quote from the event's Last.FM shoutbox:Smelled like a refugee camp down there.
I KNOW, RIGHT? The crowd was quite mixed. It was like 50% crafty hipsters - we saw a girl with a shawl that you know she knitted at a Bright Eyes show, with a pattern bought at a Belle and Sebastian merchandise table. 25% were gay boys and who knew. There was even some bear soup. And the other 25% were frat boys and eurotrash, and they were the ones up front. I think Rob and I were the only people over 21.
I wanted to get up close and we lasted there for about 15 minutes. It was really hot and there was some asshat screaming and people jabbering in all kinds of languages and backpacks and knitting bags, UGH. They came on promptly at 11 though and Run Into Flowers was just beautiful. Then Graveyard Girl. It sounded perfect, but there wasn't a lot to look at on stage. Anthony and another frenchie just kind of posing like the European models they are. A drummer behind a sneezeguard. And Morgan Kibby, who's actually from LA and look s pretty LA. I took a portable telephone picture but can't get it off. So here's Anthony, posing.
We went out back for air (there was none) and water (which was room temperature). Like the Middle East was being all cheap by not putting ice in the free water, and not air conditioning the place. We stayed for the whole main set, which alternated between fist pumping anthems and ambient pieces composed of 2 repetitive chords for 5 minutes. Needless to say, the show's pacing was fucked up and not coherent at all. Do I dance? Chat? Wait, is it time to rock again? It was quite good when it was loud. We did not stay for the encore because we had seen enough and it's not like they were going to do anything different. Would I go see M83 again? THE ANSWER IS PROBABLY NOT!!??!!! I will still listen to and buy their records though!!!!! And I will now think twice about shows downstairs at The Middle East, because they are not air conditioned and I am just too old to be sitting in a fire trap like that with children who don't shower.
You know what I forgot to do? Write up what I think of all the records I've been buying over the past few months. At least I keep up with the shows.
Stereogum Presents Enjoyed: A Tribute to Bjork's Post. As much as I love their OK Computer tribute [I skipped the Automatic for the People tribute], this does nothing for me. Most of it's entirely too no wave for my current frame of mind. The only stand out tracks are Liars' "Army of Me" for being so bland and expected, and Xiu Xiu's "Isobel", for being the best track even though it's still pretty mediocre.
I was passed this a few months ago, and it was in pretty heavy rotation then. Better than "Plans", more of a "Transatlanticism" vibe. They're playing in Boston tomorrow, but I'm not going.
Tom Waits on crack. Brilliant. I didn't think their energy would translate onto record, but it did.
Eh, certainly not bad, but not really compelling either. A nice document, I enjoyed it more after seeing his live show.
Not nearly as weak as initial reviews made it seem. Not really compelling either. Do you like music from the 1980's? The standout track is definitely "Graveyard Girl" but not in a good way - the spoken-word breakdown is absolutely cringe worthy.
I'm off to see El Perro del Mar tonight actually. The new record is just as good as her first record, so tonight's sad Swedish girl-group extravaganza should not disappoint.
I love the first two Elbow records, but haven't had the time to consciously sit and listen to their fourth in it's entirety yet. What I've heard is great - I never really bonded with their previous record "Leaders of the Free World", and I'm kind of afraid that's going to happen again. What they need to do is play a goddamned gig in Boston and beat the songs into my head live.
Nine Inch Nails - The Slip is free, and kind of worth it? I love that he rationalizes "This one's on me", which is EXACTLY how I rationalized taking In Rainbows for free - like a frequent buyer punch card. But is it good? The hyper-aggro-industrial-"March of the Pigs" first half does nothing for me, the lush-dreamy-ambient-balladry-pop-trance-"A Warm Place" second half is absolute godhead. The halves are starting to fit together - would the second half be as amazing without the assault of the first half? I think not.
I've Hype Machined the bottom half of the Lollapalooza poster, and not much at all has jumped out at me. I keep liking the Tally Hall songs, I will definitely checkout Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves [holy crap - they're local? And on tomorrow's DCFC bill? Allston rock city represent!] as long as there's no major conflicts, and I just heard Foals today and might have to search them out. Mostly, there's going to be a lot of bottom tier acts to avoid.
More sleepytime music. I'm pretty sure this made the cut last year too, or maybe the year before that. All I know is I remember describing it as the exact point where techno meets shoegaze and that still holds up.
I could pretty much post any track from the record - it's all good. The sixth track is untitled, or "Track 6", or simply *.