So it’s now, beyond all reasonable doubt, winter time. Unless you are reading this from the other side of the world, it’s getting mighty chilly outside, the nights are drawing in and you just want to curl up by an open fire and listen to the warming tones of some good shoegaze, enter Banjo Or Freakout. BOF is the brainchild of London based musician Alessio Natalizia. With just a few guitar loops, effects pedals and a laptop, Alessio creates dreamy psych melodies, over which he ghoulishly croons. Basically if you like Animal Collective’s new EP Fall Be Kind you will enjoy this.

Tornano sulle scene i losangelini Gliss (dopo un album e un ep) con un album che attinge a piene mani dalle linee guida shoegaze. Parte bene l’album con “Morning Light”, lenta e suadente con il doppio cantato riverberato e prosegue con “29 acts of love”, sostenuta da un giro di chitarra che ricorda certi passaggi “interpoliani”.Si rallenta ancora con “Sleep”; quest’ultima quasi scarna e dolcemente cullata dalla batteria fino al nucleo del brano, sorretto dai rassicuranti rumorismi shoegaze. C’è da dire che sotto gli strati ruvidi di riverberi e avvisaglie indie-rock di forte impatto, puntellato da strascichi elettronici, si nasconde uno squisito animo pop. L’amalgama delle voci (Martin Klingman viene spesso affiancato da Victoria Cecilia) poi, da un tocco di ossessione romantica all’album: “Lovers in the bathroom” ne è l’esempio lampante.

L’unico rimprovero da fare a “Devotion Implosion” è il suono della batteria e degli “effetti” da studio di registrazione, perchè dal vivo l’essenzialità dei soli strumenti, rendono le canzoni ancora più calde e decadenti. Un passo in avanti per il trio che, imparata la lazione dai Jesus and the Mary Chain, cerca di esprimere al meglio le proprie potenzialità.

Sembra tutto sospeso. Tutto in balìa di un evento che di lì a poco spazzerà via la quiete che si estende tra i solchi di questo album. I Japanese Gum restano in equilibrio per buona parte dell’album, con un elettronica eterea e dilatata; un’alba sonora dove i vari elementi affiorano e si dilatano fino a diventare indistinguibili. Il cantato affiora artico e lontano, ed il più delle volte è sussurrato e sovrastato da strati sonori e rumorismi di fondo che ne sporcano la facciata; “Under a pale cold sky” rimanda ai Board of Canada più organici e anche in “Big Whale” sembra di essere sospesi in acque profonde ed insondabili. Mentre “Raskol’Nikov” e “%” si sporcano le mani con i Sigur Ros di “Von”. Ma non di sola elettronica è composto l’album, nel magma sintetico si trovano “No Help for the wicked (the month of the dictators)” e “Chlorine Blue” che portano dentro sè un germe shoegaze da poter sviluppare maggiormente in futuro e vicino agli Epic 45 meno strumentali.

“Hey Folks!…” esce per l’etichetta giapponese Friend Of Mine che sancisce anche il taglio internazionale del prodotto anche se la band è tutta italiana (Paolo Tortora e Davide Cedolin sono genovesi, parenti musicali dei Port Royal?). Inoltre è possibile scaricare gratuitamente dal sito dei JG i primi ep “Talking.Silently” e “Without You I’m Napping”. Insomma un lavoro stratificato che potrebbe farvi perdere il filo conduttore dei vostri pensieri, e quindi da ascoltare senza far altro, possibilmente a luci spente.

http://www.myspace.com/japgum

Lady and the Lost Boys Nov 28,  The Old Fire Station, Windsor

Playing music from the Berkshire school of damp labradors, green wellies, moist Edinburgh woollens and  ‘Mummy Knows Best ’ attitudes, this band played a short but sweet set at the Firestation Arts Centre, Windsor on Sat 28t November.

The smallish crowd sat in patient lines, cross-legged on the wooden floor, humble like children in the school end-of-term concert.

Lady and the Lost Boys are a female lead five-piece band with chunky bass guitar, tantalizing percussion, emotive keyboards and a multi-talented muso who bounces between guitar, keys and even supplemental percussion, providing layers of texture as each song unfolds.

The introspective topics of the songs are based upon personal experiences and transparent memories – coming largely from a female perspective. Sipping a coffee in the breaks, petite dark haired vocalist Annabel Jones sings the Legoland, Camberwick Green, Technicolor songs from the Lady and the Lost Boys song-book.  Her delivery reminds me of ‘Alanis Morissette’ and to a lesser extent,  ‘Elizabeth Fraser’ (not so ethereal) and her voice is airy, high register and distinct enough to cut above the harmonic texture of music. Some of the songs ended with melodramatic yet creative ‘shoe-gaze’ blended sounds – others ended on a hand-clap or a jingle.

A few pared down guitar riffs are well hidden and tend to illuminate rather than detract from the amorphous sounds and add drama and insistence when required. The experience is fascinating and calming reminding me a lot of ‘Alison’s Halo’.

One of my favourites was the bass heavy (bass by Robin Pearson) song ‘That’s OK’. This is a song rippling with action, combining integrated piano tinkling and rat-a-tat percussion with honey sweet lyrical content delivered in a breathy, whisper-in-your ear style. The clappy and trilling chorus was nod-headingly joyful and the extraordinarily well-behaved and obviously well educated audience showed their appreciation with understated murmuring claps. Gently unfolding lyrics such as  “How many gold coins should I put aside before I’m out of debt in your eyes . . . “ demonstrate the band’s ambitions as poetic quality shoegazers.

This is a band for a damp autumn evening by the open-fire, or to listen to on your Ipod as you take your golden retriever for a walk down the leaf-fall winter lanes.  Thoroughly recommended.

© Neil_Mach

Link:

www.myspace.com/ladyandthelostboys

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Il nuovissimo ep della band milanese è composto da 3 brani; “Solaris” viene sorretta da una struttura sonora dove le chitarre lievementi shoegaze trasportano la voce di Fiore. “Doran” è un più sostenuta nella ritmica ed anche le chitarre si fanno meno sognanti e più incisive mentre “Vega” (rmx by The Snipplers) cozza un pò con i 2 brani precedenti perchè strutturata come pezzo ballabile da club. In definitiva il lavoro è molto interessante e promette bene ma bisognerà aspettare l’album per capire l’effettivo valore della band.
Intanto chi di voi fosse interessato ad ascoltare l’ep può scaricarlo gratuitamente dalla pagina myspace degli Aim (nel link sotto).

memory cassette – last one awake (friend version).m4a

Similar to: Have a Nice Life – Deathconsciousness

Just as awesome

Afterlives – A Ticking Clock I Couldn’t Stop (V2)

No I’m not talking about a Championship football club from Berkshire. Instead, I’m referring to an Italian electronica group from Genova, Italy. Why? Because their latest album ‘Dying in Time’ is immense, and I’ve had a non-stop ear hammering week listening to nothing else. And, looking back i cant believe i haven’t even mentioned them on the blog before now… It’s about time to share the love with everyone Reading.

port-royal manage to touch on just about every aspect of music that gets me excited. The kind that transfers you from wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, to wherever you like. It’s glitchy and melodic, haunting and atmospheric, loud and delicate. There are nine minute journeys, twisting and turning into different sounds. Changing but always the same. Full on assaults to your ear drums that you can help but turn up extremely loud.

M83, Schnauss, Portishead, Boards of Canada. All, yet none of the above. Dare i say it, but a big reason for my love of port-royal may be the enormous pads, synths and sequencing in some of the tracks, reminiscent of 90’s trance, such as the Three Drives, Bedrock and Michael Woods remix era.

Granted, not everyone will be a fan of port-royal for these very reasons. You can’t really put you’re finger on it. But then that’s why i love it.

Here’s the stand out track from ‘Dying In Time’ – Balding Generation (Losing Hair as we Lose Hope). For those of you that do know me…my favouritism to this track has nothing to do with my ever thinning top!

port-royal – Balding Generation (Losing Hair as we Hope)

If that blew you away and you want a taste of Port Royal’s more ambient side, check out this video of Hermitage 3 (Dedo remix).

You can purchase ‘Dying in Time’ from the n5music website. I would recommend getting the hard copy featuring some nice artwork by Tim Ingham of Winterlight.

Become a fan of port-royal on Facebook

Los chicos de The Joy Formidable han llegado con discreción desde el norte de Gales, autopublicando un primer álbum de 8 canciones que apenas duran 30 minutos llamado A balloon called moaning, sin preocuparse demasiado por la promoción más allá de la gestión de sus propias redes sociales y dar muchos, muchos conciertos. Y a pesar de todo esto, podrían ser otra de las grandes revelaciones del año.

Y es que parece que al final los mejores discos del año están siendo los inesperados, los que no habían entrado en la lista de la BBC ni habían sido anunciados en ninguna parte; ahí tenemos a The XX o The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Además, The Joy Formidable coinciden con estos últimos en ese movimiento que se está desarrollando en los últimos años de rescate del shoegaze, “chicos tímidos mirando sus zapatos mientras se concentran en sus pedales de distorsión”, del que pueden formar parte M83, Mew o A place to bury strangers.

A Ballon Called Moaning engancha de principio a fin, es un álbum de corta duración que no baja el nivel en ningún momento, ni del que puedas desechar ningún tema. Desde el primer tema The greatest light is the greatest shade (bonito título) irrumpen con sus guitarras distorsionadas que a pesar de lo que pudiera parecer, consiguen hacer del mundo un lugar luminoso en el que seríamos capaces de hacer cualquier cosa; y que es como ellos mismos han dicho, «En la música todo debería ser divertido»…

Empiezan el álbum a todo gas, pero mantienen la puntería con los temas que le siguen, desde los singles Whirring, Austere y Cradles pasando por el paréntesis “tranquilo” de 9669 hasta finalizar con Ostrich, que lejos de ser un cierre tranquilo para el disco, es uno de sus temas más apoteósicos, instrumentados y que se acercan al estilo de Arcade Fire.

El caso es que, para muestra un botón, aquí están los vídeos extraídos de este álbum hasta ahora:
Cradle:

Whirring:

Austere:

Aunque en España de momento no se les esté haciendo mucho caso, en Gran Bretaña ya cuelgan el sold out en muchos de sus conciertos, y además salen de gira con The Tender Trap, Passion Pit y Editors. A partir de uno de sus shows el pasado 30 de septiembre en Londres acaban de publicar un disco en directo, First You Have To Get Mad, que incluye un tema inédito, Greyhounds In The Slips, que cuenta con la colaboración de Paul Draper y se puede descargar gratis desde el MySpace de The Joy Formidable, y aunque no es mi preferida, es tan enérgica y redonda como el resto incluidas en su álbum.

Este es el vídeo:

The Joy Formidable está formado por la pareja Ritzy Brian (voz y guitarras) y Rhydian Dafydd (bajo y voz) como eje principal, a los que se une el batería Matt Thomas. Recientemente han pasado por España junto a The Temper Trap en Madrid y Barcelona, y parece que volverán a pasarse por aquí el 17 de abril, en esta ocasión en Granada.

En resumen, que me gustan mucho y recomendado queda, se puede escuchar y descargar desde su MySpace, y en su web oficial encontraréis una sorpresa: el vídeo para Austere que fue censurado en YouTube, creado a partir de imágenes de Beautifulagony.com, no os lo perdáis…

Country: UK
Release Date: October 2009
Netlabel: Lost Children

“This Is My Normal State is a post-rock/ambient band from Bristol, South West England. The band comprises of: Adam Fulford (guitar), Yuka Kurihara (vocals/cello), Mike Dean (bass), Dave Masom (drums) and Non Wilkinson (cello).

Formed in October 2008, the band has just finished recording it’s debut EP: Angel Falls (march 2009).

Taking influences from bands such as Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You, Mono, Mogwai and Joy Wants Eternity to name a few, the band create a sound-scape of interlocking melodies, typified by the use of reverb drenched guitar loops, and the fragile, ethereal vocals.” [archive.org]

This Is My Normal State
Angels Falls++ (Lost Children, 2009)

1. Number 3
2. Angel Falls
3. Phineas Gage

Ulrich Schnauss. Kirsty Hawkshaw. Chapterhouse. Air Formation.

Yes it’s tomorrow. All of the above, live at the ICA, London Thursday 26th. Unfortunately it’s sold out, but if you’re coming, i will see you at the front.

If not, then enjoy these… and I wish you were there…

Chapterhouse – Pearl (1991)

Air Formation – Cold Morning (2007)

Johannes Schmoelling – Icewalk (Ulrich Schnauss mix) (2000)

Orbital (Halcyon On+On) (1992)

Yes i may have cheated with the Orbital track and yes Kirtsy Hawkshaw may be singing backwards, but her voice made that tune….

… if I hadn’t spent the past two four six eight weeks writing that last *@&!ing Scandal post:

I went through a late 70’s power pop phase a month or so back, centered around classic L.A. trio the Nerves.  Previously I’d only known them from two cuts on one of Rhino’s D.i.Y. comps (“Hanging On The Telephone” pretty much squashes everything else there), but that actually represented half the band’s official output — they released a single four-song EP in 1976 and then broke up, with members Peter Case and Paul Collins forming the Plimsouls and the Beat (respectively), and Jack Lee having some limited success as a songwriter.  Last year, Alive Records put out a full-length collection of Nerves recordings, One Way Ticket, collecting the EP, the never-released follow-up single, demos, live cuts, and three tracks from immediate post-Nerves projects (including a version of “Walking Out On Love” by interim Case/Collins band the Breakaways that I find superior to the version on the Beat’s first album).  The first eight cuts sound like the core of one of those great lost pop records, and if you can get over the poor sound quality of the later tracks, there’s some great stuff there too.  Alive has also put out a live set(vinyl-only, alas) and the Breakaways demos (on CD), but I haven’t listened to either yet.

Asobi Seksu’s Rewolf, which I mentioned in passing here, has been out for a bit now, and I quite like it.  Gorgeous acoustic re-recordings of songs from throughout the band’s catalog, the album has a mellow, late-60’s folk vibe, the songs largely stripped down to guitar and voice, occasionally augmented by flutes, chimes, or organ.  The renditions vary in how far they stray from the original — “Breathe Into Glass”, for example, makes a 180° shift from the emotionally remote (frigid, even) original recording to a rather intimate, confessional piece, but “Urasaii Tori” (renamed “Bossa” here) largely retains its playful nature.  I’m not sure how well this would work as an introduction to the band, but if you’re a fan, this is quite a treat.

Shonen Knife played at the Rickshaw Stop at the end of October, and I made a rare foray out to see them.  At this point there’s only one original member left (the drummer looks like she hadn’t been born when the band formed in 1981, though Wikipedia tells me that she was in fact four), but the band still plays with infectious amateur enthusiasm.  Their new album, Super Group (released in Japan in ‘08 but just out recently in the States) is fun in the same way: catchy, silly, three-chord pop-punk.

Well, that’s it for now.  Expect this quasi-hiatus to last pretty much forever.

It amazes me how a band as talented, old, and prolific as this, goes under the radar. Still going since 1991, Lovesliescrushing is an amazing crossroads of ambient music and dream pop, leaning heavily on the dream and backing off of the pop. In their relentless pursuit of heavily textured sound, they have as much in common with Tim Hecker as with Cocteau Twins. It’s probably important to note that the word textured gets thrown around a lot with regards to shoegaze bands, but Lovesliescrushing makes Loveless sound as textured as porcelain. Guitarist Scott Cortez uses only guitar to make his otherworldly sounds, running it through endless effects, loop devices, and using many manners of unorthodox ways to get his haunting sounds. Over their career they’ve managed to get as far as possible from traditional guitar sounds, to the point where your jaw drops in astonishment because there’s no fucking way that could be a guitar. Couple that with the fact the band records all their music on a 4 track recorder, and you’ve got yourself ineffably mind-blowing music. But texture isn’t the only facet of their craft, always holding true to their dream pop roots. Singer Melissa Arpin-Duimstra layers her utterly angelic voice seamlessly over the wall of sound. The chords are thick, massive, and uplifting, progressing like beams of sunlight pulsing through sparse clouds. The music drifts and builds until you’re lost in it, floating along with them in a percussionless chorus from an otherwordly heaven. It’s unconventional and experimental without sounding unfamiliar, always retaining that human element.

I’ve sifted through their discography and upped two of what I feel are their best. Xuvetyn is their second full length, and sounds very nineties. It’s more drawn out and thicker, less polished but not any less beautiful. Voirshn is a lot more glitchy and processed; Cortez describes it pretty aptly as “glitch-bliss.”

Xuvetyn (1996)

Voirshn (2002)

Check them out and support the band
They’ve got a box set of rarities coming out next year that looks fantastic.

-Brian S

23 november 2009

A Place to Bury Strangers – exploding head

Ik wist al een week geleden, dit zou ‘m worden, ‘A place to bury strangers’. Openingsnummer ‘It is nothing‘ knalde me tegemoet bij de eerste luisterbeurt, altijd een goed teken, denk ik graag. En dat was het dus ook. Nu heb ik natuurlijk wel een zwak voor postpunk muziek met shoegaze flarden, maar ‘A place to bury strangers’ is ook werkelijk een band met talent. Een middelmatige postpunkbandje zou ook echt niet op de 3voor12 luisterpaal terechtkomen. ‘Exploding head‘ is kortgezegd de ultieme soundtrack voor al je achtervolgingsdromen. Die worden daarmee ook stukken interessanter en spannender. Heerlijke muziek om mee weg te rennen dus, nu is ‘t veel te koud om buiten te gaan rennen vind ik zelf dus ren ik rondjes in mijn hoofd bij elk nummer van ‘exploding head‘. Het tempo zit er lekker in bij deze gasten uit Brooklyn, en ondanks dat de stem van Oliver Ackermann minder authentiek postpunk aandoet, hij moet nou eenmaal mee met dat tempo, is het de stem voor de muziek die de heren maken. Van de andere kant komen klassieke postpunk elementen veelvuldig terug en doet het ritme uiterst shoegazig aan, maar allemaal zo dat je er niets op valt af te geven zoals bij stadgenoten The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Dus ik ga maar eens naar de debuutplaat van APtBS luisteren, eens uitvinden of ik daar ook zo positief over denk.

Álbum: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart EP (Painbow, 2007)

En muchas ocasiones, analizamos demasiado la música, cuando la música es, básicamente, algo primario, que acompaña a la raza humana desde el principio de los tiempos. Y por mucho que intentemos analizar y racionalizar por qué nos gusta una canción y no otra, finalmente son las tripas y el corazón lo que nos hace disfrutar más o menos de una canción.

TPOBPAH, cara a cara con su público

Y en ese terreno es donde juegan y destacan The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. La banda de Brooklyn ha aparecido como un terremoto en la escena internacional, jugando con las cartas marcadas, sí (Sarah Records, The Jesus & Mary Chain, la escena escocesa, etc..) pero cartas ganadoras al fin y al cabo. No descubren nada, pero sus canciones llegan de tal manera que uno parece volver a tener la ilusión de los 16 años y vivir cada canción como si fuese la última.

Dos veces los he visto en directo, y dos veces me han conquistado con su pop adictivo, dejándome con la sonrisa en la cara y una alegría desbordante. ¿Qué más se puede pedir?

Y como muestra, esta canción,  llamada igual que el grupo y parte del primer EP de la banda, boceto de todo lo que vendría a cuajar en su fabuloso LP.

Y es que el indiepop nunca morirá….

no no we will never die, we will never die

no no we will never die, we will never die

Si te ha gustado, descárgatela aquí

Για πολλούς τα φαντάσματα δεν περιμένουν τα μεσάνυχτα για να κάνουν την εμφάνισή τους. Εντυπωσιακό πώς οι δημιουργίες μιας ταραγμένης ψυχής μπορούν να έχουν τέτοια κατευναστική επίδραση στη ψυχοσύνθεση άλλων. Αν φυσικά μπορείς να αντέξεις μια κατάδυση χωρίς τη νευρωτική αναζήτηση φωτός στην άκρη του τούνελ. Ο Thomas Ekelund,  εικαστικός και μουσικός από το Gothenburg, αφηγείται την προσωπική του ιστορία:

Eighteen months ago I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, a both vile and many-faced disease that inevitably drapes every aspect of life in shadows that range from shades of grey to coal black. It causes a polarity of mind, everything is either or, never in between. It makes you feel isolated and alone even in the most crowded rooms. Slowly this imagined isolation becomes a real isolation. You do not allow anyone inside the carefully constructed walls, built stone by stone by a mind so completely preoccupied with guilt and shame that you in fact become unhuman (sic). An empty shell containing oozing, black bile and nothing else. You become the disease….

Περισσότερα ακούς εδώ και εδώ

Here is a video from our last show at spaceland with warpaint.

xo jen.

Υποτίθεται ότι το όνομά τους πήραν από το ντεμπούτο άλμπουμ των Band “Music from Big Pink”(1968), όπου Big Pink είναι ένα κτίριο στη Νέα Υόρκη με ροζ πρόσοψη, το οποίο έπαιξε ρόλο στην ιστορία της μουσικής εκείνης της εποχής, του Μπομπ Ντίλαν και κατ επέκτασιν των Band.

Θα μπορούσε πάντως να το δει κανείς και χρωματικά το θέμα, μια και το βαθύ μαύρο του shoegaze τους συνδυάζεται με το τρυφερό ροζ των ερωτικών ιστοριών και καταστάσεων που απασχολεί το δίδυμο από το Λονδίνο, ένα από τα …βαριά χαρτιά της 4AD για φέτος . Επικοινωνιακά έκαναν πολλαπλό θόρυβο ακριβώς όπως και η μουσική τους. Είναι δύο και ακούγονται σαν δέκα δύο. Μαύρες θολές φωτογραφίες γυμνών κοριτσίστικων μελών στο artwork και στίχοι για πονεμένες αγάπες βιωμένες στην τρυφερή ηλικία με τις ροζ ακόμη πατούσες.

Ο συνδυασμός του ανελέητου σκληρού μαύρου με το κουφετί ροζ ωστόσο, είναι και αυτή μια παλιά ιστορία και μάλιστα από το χώρο της μόδας. Δεν κόβω το χέρι μου, ο Yves Saint Laurent νομίζω ήταν που λάνσαρε πρώτος στη δεκαετία του ΄80 τον ανίερο αυτό γάμο για να υποστούμε έκτοτε τις άπειρες παραλλαγές του από δίχρωμες τσάντες Chanel μέχρι τα σαχλά ροζ φιογκάκια στα μαύρα κατράμι κρεπαρισμένα μαλλιά των emo (αλήθεια, τι απέγιναν αυτά τα παιδιά;) Τέλος πάντων. Όλα γύρους κάνουνε και τα πιο αταίριαστα συναντώνται. Όπως το cover που ακολουθεί.

The Big Pink – Sweet Dreams (Beyonce Cover)

Hoje eu falarei de uma banda que tive conhecimento por acaso em um clipe na MTV. Zapeando pelo canal logo de manhã, me deparo com um videoclipe interessante, onde a música que estava sendo tocada me levou de volta ao tempo para o início dos anos 90, onde se ouvia muitas bandas indie que chamávamos de guitar bands ou shoegaze. Para a minha surpresa, depois de uma rápida pesquisa, descobri que a banda é nova.

O The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart é de New York e lançou seu primeiro disco em 2009, que leva o mesmo nome da banda e foi lançado pela gravadora Slumberland.

Essa é a capa do primeiro disco da banda nova-iorquina.

O  disco tem 10 faixas: “Contender,”Come Saturday”, “Young Adult Friction”, “This Love Is Fucking Right!”, “The Tenure Itch”, “Stay Alive”, “Everything With You”, “A Teenager in Love”, “Hey Paul” e “Gentle Sons”.

Abaixo vocês podem conferir o um dos vídeos da banda. Boa pedida para quem curte um som bem indie que é a cara dos anos 90.

“Everything With You”, é o nome da música desse videoclipe. Recomendadíssimo.

This was quite extreme. Which in the sense of despair that I am living, about music future and beyond music, it was perfect to bring me to some outer place for a change.

If mainstream music, especially in UK, seems to be leaving the jangly guitars for electronic loops, heading back to the plastic era of the 80s, it’s with a sense of hope that I start seeing signs of more basic stuff, emerging from the underground, to fight back.

If this is a consequence of My Blood Valentine reunion, or is the other way round, My Bloody Valentine reunited because they smelled their music was back in fashion, I don’t mind.
Fact is that My Bloody Valentine are back and when asked to curate one of the ATP festivals they have found plenty of bands happy to fill the line-up with elements of this dissident world. A new rock Vs pop war about to break out? Maybe. I know which side I will stand for.

A Place To Bury Strangers are among those ATP bands.

Local gigs are great ways to add a bit of a thrill in the crap midweek nights of our vague and short presence on planet earth.
When a band comes all the way from New York to treat its fans in the back room of a Cambridge pub, the last thing I want to do is to have an excuse not to go.
I happily didn’t find any, in fact I rode my scooter to (god save) the Portland Arms.

It’s late when A Place To Bury Strangers finish to set up their instruments and start playing. A couple of support bands, a couple of pints and a chat with friends is a much more pleasant way to let the time pass than twittering on a 3G phone. Being literally 3 minutes away from my bed, with no trains to catch, no replacement buses, no extra costs makes things easy.

A Place to Bury Strangers came to my attention recently as a combination of two coincident events.
First, I stumbled upon the cover of their latest CD, Exploding Head, at Rough Trade. At a first glance that undefined, abstract “black and white something” hit my curiosity and I pulled up the shop hearphones to give it a listen. I haven’t bought the CD there but decided to check their live dates, I always prefer to live check bands!

Second, I discovered that throughout their UK tour (apart from this date!) they were supported by the almighty Japandroids, probably my best surprise of the year.

A band so brave to come on stage after a live set by the Vancouver duo must be an interesting one to watch. No question.

APTBS (shortened) are from Brooklyn. Easy. A classic of present times.
Oliver Ackermann leads the band. He takes guitar and vocal duties but it’s definitely the axe he is in love with.

Shoegaze is defined by an uncompromising sound and APTBS music doesn’t do no concession. Distortion, reverb and feedback erupt from Oliver’s guitar generating multiple layers that add up an incredible number of decibels. The result is the audience floating in the room, sustained by a wall of guitar noise.

A Place to Bury Strangers have been defined “the loudest band in New York City” and I wouldn’t argue with that. Louder than this police would come to free the venue, switch the power off and arrest the owner and the musicians.
Earplugs are on sale as a band gadget. They advise you, no excuses.

Jono MOFO (odd name, I know, let’s trust Wiki) is the guy on bass. Physically he reminds me of Jimi Goodwin of the Doves. His style, however, is what I could imagine Peter Hook may have done in the place of New Order if Joy Division instead of had ended in 1980 would have in 1990. Raucous and persistent, obstinate at moments, nevertheless he is the one keeping a sort of melodic line while the guitar blasts.

Seeing his face, in the rare moments the fog generated by the smoke machines at his feet clears, he looks annoyed by the vicinity of my lenses, literally few inches from his instrument. Sorry man, hope you like the shots, though.
Is this the reason why he persists on is machine and saturates the room in smoke? Don’t know, the sensation of floating on a cloud, sustained by the noise is apparent, though. The best description of shoegaze I can think of.

Jay Space sits on drums and provides the solid foundations of the music despite it is built on a cloud and he is hidden in the cloud.
If the bass and the scarce vocal interventions are responsible for the melody, to match the noise, the precise drumming is responsible to keep the pieces within a sense of rhythm. Without it the entire construction would crumble. Tonight it sounds as solid as rock.

The gig starts in complete darkness with just a spotlight on the back who sends multiple rays. They become tiny circles on every surface they met. I am now worried about my chances of covering this gig, if it is not going to change there are no chance to have a single negative frame impressed.
The only signs of lights are the reflections on the guitar body and the Peroni (!?) bottles.

The music starts gloomy too. It needs a couple of songs to fill the room. Simultaneously the spotlight become stronger and shapes the figures through the smoke. Things start making sense. I start taking photos.

My ears, despite the plugs, are overwhelmed by the sonicwave. My eyes try to catch something out of those impossible conditions. I like it, though. Photographically I am stimulated by any challenging situation. After few hundreds bands shot over the years, I am bored to take pictures of teenage kids standing in front of a mic pole.
Such dramatic conditions are difficult but the challenge becomes the driving force. The contest that there is not a concert which will prevent me getting some shots. I am competitive I know, so competitive I compete against myself!

Being allowed to keep shooting for the length of the gig, with no security stopping me is a rapture. The reason why I am still preferring music on these stages then posh auditorium and halls.

Back to the music, not because things become easier. In the last 20 minutes while they are playing the most inflexible stuff of the set, I see bassist Jono MOFO kneeling down, again. This time he is not manipulating those bloody smoke machines, worse! He switches on a small strobe light at his feet. It will scatter the stage for the rest of the performance, relentlessly, creating that sort of slow motion effect strobe are intended for.

Beyond the fact that I can now count out the possibility of being even remotely epileptic, as a friend pointed out, the dramatic light effect combined with the uncompromising music the three are playing, makes this concert the closer thing to what I would define a radical music experience (excludes John Zorn grindcore projects).

Oliver Ackermann throws himself on his guitar, mistreats it, pulls the strings beyond the break-point, they go, he insists. With all the pedals on and all the volumes set at 11/10. The output is awesome, the soundtrack of the end of a city.
The ruins left are nothing else than… a place to bury strangers. Dicto.

Thankfully I count no casualties. We are all alive, happy and kicking, there is more to come. Another scratched guitar, white body, appears from the wreckage for more noise, more feedback, more scratches, more abuse.

The hour long set finishes few songs later. It is interesting to see how everyone looks amazed and jubilant, but at the same time no one even dare to ask for an encore. That was perfect as it was.
The band leaves the stage in the same darkness they started, the fans walk out stopping at the rich (of 7″, 10″, 12″ vinyls) merchandise desk.
Everything feels saturated, the air, the room, the ears, the eyes. Everything apart from my stomach which hasn’t seen any food in the last 10 hours.

A quick bye to friends, the scooter waits for me in the cold, 3 minutes I am home, the cat waits at the door. Food for both. Food for thought.
I need more of these nights. They are uplifting. Stimulating. Inspirational.

If you don’t know A Place To Bury Strangers and are intrigued by the noisescapes they can produce, check their official sites to catch them live [website] [myspace] and [facebook]

If you can adventure yourself into the world of [spotify] there is both albums available to listen. Don’t forget to pump up the volume beyond your ear tolerance.

Photo tip

It may be because they simulate a cinematic, motion effect. Strobe lights are enemies of photographers. You can’t predict the results when these strong white bulbs flash intermittently at such a speed no one can control.

Try this, set your camera in one of the automatic modes and see yourself how the exposure meter goes crazy. The chance of catching the right exposed image is only a question of luck.

Solution is the same as usual, take control. Shoot in manual mode, try few combinations of shutter times/apertures that give you confidence that the exposure is approximately correct and hope that some of the shots happens when the light is fully on. Concentrate on the composition, that is still something you can control.

Strobe lights are usually mounted on the ceiling or on the side of stage venues. Tonight the small strobe was at the band’s feet.
I tried to give some film shots a try, curious to see what developes in the darkroom, and it’s nice to see that the light is so quick you get the effect of a double exposure within the time of a single one!

I also gave my mobile camera a go. It lacks the optical quality of a SLR but has the advantage that you can see what comes out, control it and even post it online in real time.
It should be my attraction to photographic challenges, but using a limited device to obtain something that has a visual value is something I love.

On the phone camera I learnt that the strobe flashes so quickly to freeze the shutter movement. Some pictures are half black, half exposed, some have a strip of a brighter light in the frame.

It’s unpredictable but with some luck, some of the results are startling.

Second part of this tip is easy, don’t stop trying to achieve something unusual. It is when conditions are out of the ordinary that surprises arrive. You never know. In photography, any photography, there are no limits but your mind.

The only rule that I always suggest to everyone asking for my secret is to get as close as it is allowed. Once there, do one step more. That is the spot, where no one else is, but you… and the disappointed musicians, but they will understand, not!

lymbic systym : teddy

Απορώ…Εσύ ακόμα μετράς προβατάκια;

(sorry for the small art, it’s all I could find)

Last.fm(second entry on wiki)

Buy

“Holy Roman Empire is the solo project of Lucas Williams. After playing with a host of bands throughout high school, Lucas began experimenting with solo recordings, using a single microphone with multiple tracks, making each endeavor more elaborate than the last, the result was Holy Roman Empire.

HRE has a unique sound that beckons to the disparity of shoegaze, yet is inspirational with the musical ingenuity of layering multiple classical and indigenous instruments in every song, creating a sound all his own.” – from Last.fm

Does anyone have more info on this band?