the oh so quiet show

That dude is wearing a silly hat (Rejected!…if you don’t know what I’m talking about, just ignore me). And he’s carrying around a huge speaker and a laptop, alongside other Shobo Shobo artists in Japan right now. RIGHTNOW! Why? Um. Because they can? I’d love to do that if I didn’t think it would lead to my back breaking in a most uncomfortable manner (as though there’s a comfortable manner). Momus explains it:

bq. Shobus Diary documents Shobo Shobo artists O.lamm, Domotic, Davide Balula, and Minifer during their “Shoboshobus / Mobium Japan Tour 2005″. (Ishida Daisuke is the Japanese host.) Since these are highly original people, this is a bit different from your average rock or laptop tour. Instead of playing concert halls, the French artists have opted to busk. They’ve built portable speakers which hang from their necks, each one supporting a laptop. They’re playing on the roofs of buildings, at the Tsukiji fish market, in malls and car parks, anywhere.

They’ve got some audio and video on their blog, from which I’ve decided that their music could drive me insane if I were nearby and trying to do anything requiring an iota of concentration. But it could also be fun. It’s better than hearing landscapers in the morning, at least.

Broadcasting semi-random noises in a city reminds me of the “Silent Night” thing last winter when loads of people carried around stereos playing dinkly sounds and walking from Washington Square Park to Tompkins Square Park. Many cab drivers were pissed that night. Mehehe.

Broadcast! Webster Hall!

bq. On Sale: Wednesday, August 3 @ Noon
Thursday, November 10
$18 adv – $20 day of show / 18+
w/ Gravenhurst & Tralala

Want to goooo. Yes’m. I love Broadcast as much as I could, having only one album (Haha Sound). Not sure why I never bought the others. I guess I should.

..oh, wait. The only night class I have next semester is. On. THURSDAY! I can still go. But that killed the fun by a smidgen.

Carpark North is playing a bunch of fall dates in Europe. Which doesn’t apply to us. WEE. I’m guessing that they’ll never come to the US.

I think this is about Hakan Hellstrom coming out with a new album [from it's a trap]. In Sweden, yes? Mraah. He’ll never come to the US either.

Well, that was fun!

Don’t you love ZEFRANK? Yeah? Sing-Along Songs For Children W/Short Attention Spans. [via growabrain]

Sing-along songs…suck! I remember having those “Wee Sing” books and cassettes when I was little and wondering what I was supposed to do with them. Sing with them? Or something? Unravel the cassette and play with the tape? I don’t know. I remember having a brown one that i think was meant for camp sing-alongs, ironic because I NEVER WENT TO CAMP (well, not one that would entail singing along with stuff).

However, I loved those Disney sing-along videos. Because of the rich collection of Disney’s Sing Along Songs I inhaled (you inhale them, like indispensable gases) as a child, I know the lyrics to more Disney songs than anyone should know (or anyone who’s not actually a huge Disney fan, nor sings). I don’t want to know the lyrics to “Tiki Tiki Room”, but I do. Well. The chorus. But that’s bad enough…all those animatronic birds clicking their metal beaks…if you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s for the best.

On a totally unrelated note, RESFEST MUSIC VIDEOS, wee! [via I Think So] RES Magazine (one of the few magazines I subscribe to, or rather, I actually pay to subscribe) puts on a little film festival every year, traveling the globe over many months, starting in NYC. I went to a screening last year for “VIDEOS THAT ROCK” and I think I’ll go again seeing that Carpark North’s “Human” is in there. I’m sure everything else is good too (Interpol’s “Evil” weirds me out a bit), but that video is a really good 2:30 of your life. Seeing music videos on the big screen is a lot better than staring/squinting my eyes at them on my laptop, in an even tinier Quicktime or Windows Media Player screen, before realizing that I’m actually watching the video at 200% and the actual dimensions of the movie are the same as my thumbnail’s.

Yesterday morning I thought “Hey, I’ll go to the Beacon Theater to buy my Sigur Ros tickets!”

Actually, that was the night before. And no, I didn’t go to NYC just for the sake of getting tickets, as I’m not that insane. I had something else to do, but I figured I’d wake up nice and early to get to the box office, involving a leisurely morning walk from the Port Authority terminal. We NJ-ers barely walk. It sucks.

So. I got there at around 10:15 AM and there were already people waiting. Jeez. …then again, I was there too. A few more people came along to get Sigur Ros tickets but by 11, we weren’t a big crowd.

And then…tickets! And then…no orchestra seats? Huh? The woman at the ticket counter told one of the first people in line that there weren’t any orchestra tickets, resulting in much disgruntledness (I don’t think she bought any tickets). By the way, you can still buy orchestra tickets on ticketmaster, at least the last time I checked. It was strange that first thing in the morning, we were apparently orchestra ticket-less. However, some people did get orchestra tickets. It was confusing. Not a very organized operation, I guess.

I ended up with loge, row C, seats 27, 29, and 31 for September 12th. That’s not bad, but those seats are in the leftmost section, which I hope doesn’t suck. The seats seemed incredibly random but I figured…whatever. Gimme. It can’t be worse than when I saw Sigur Ros from the third balcony at Radio City, and it doesn’t really matter as long as you can hear the music, yes?

And at least I got the tickets at face value. Each ticketmaster surcharge per ticket costs more than my round trip bus ticket to NYC; boy, that sucks. Even though it’s not as convenient, you can save quite a lot of money by going to the venue to buy tickets (they only take cash and the guy behind me wanted 8 tickets so…damn). And if you’re a bakery hound (wow, digression), for the money you haven’t given to ticketmaster, I suggest getting something at Lady M: ohh, deliciousness. If you don’t like desserts, something’s wrong with you.

Boo to weird ticket system. Yay to Sigur Ros.

Lastly, Sondre Lerche updated his online journal, talking about how he’s getting older (BUT HE’S STILL INSANELY YOUNG) and honeymooning in Norway.

Watch the new video for Hold On at nme.com. [via I Think So]

* Windows Media – lo / hi
* Real Media – lo / hi

I like bits of the video, but overall I don’t get a “black and white” feel from the song. Instead, I see lots of colors and…swirly things. B&W seems too drab compared to the way the song feels if you listen to it with headphones while doing nothing else. But. YAY FOR BANJOS!

From the Magnet newsletter:

Hello Magnet friends,

The new album from MAGNET “The Tourniquet” is released on Monday 22nd August in UK.

It’s preceeded by a very limited single “Hold On” the week before (15 August). This comes in a twin 7″ only format and the tracks will also be available for download via I-tunes. A limited number come with a hand-written note from Even, and all 7″ contain Magnet stickers. The single includes exclusive tracks “The Mute” and “Good Mourning”.

One of the 7″’s will also contain a VIP Atlantic Gold Pass, the person who finds this gets a flight to Norway to see Magnet perform!

To celebrate these releases MAGNET makes a rare live appearance (with full band) in London.

Wednesday 17th August

LONDON 93Ft EAST, Brick Lane, EC1

Tickets are available here or by calling 020 7403 3331 or 020 7734 8932

We hope you’re all keeping well and hope to see you at this show.

We’ll be back in touch shortly with news of the Album and Single in more detail

Until then…

homeofmagnet.com

Oh. My god. I WANT A TICKET TO NORWAY! DAMMIT!

AGRHARGARH ARHA HHGAHGRHGAR!!! *spittle*

As far as I know, there isn’t a set US release date for “The Tourniquet”.

I’m not insane. Really! But I feel compelled to do a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-esque search for the ticket, which makes no sense (nono, I’m not crazy enough to do that…don’t worry). I hope that whoever gets the ticket deserves it muchly because come to think of it, I don’t deserve anything like that. I SPENT $6.25 ON A SHACK SHACK “CONCRETE” LAST NIGHT. I squander my money on tasty chocolate-filled calorically-dense dairy behemoths while in another country, $6.25 could feed a family of four for a month.

I just wondered why I updated this page before home of magnet. …because I can go insane here (ie, be myself) before having to pretend I am not insane. Or something.

I’ve been reading about Nine Black Alps a lot lately (well, about their show at the Mercury Lounge). So for no reason, I’ll share my thoughts about their music. …not really my kind of music. Actually, that’s not true, but for some reason I didn’t get into their EP after listening to it a few times. My first impression was that I’d enjoy them live but not so much just listening to a CD. Am I too picky?

As for something that I’m enjoying lately, Emiliana Torrini’s latest album Fisherman’s Woman is beautiful. I especially like the last track:

Emiliana Torrini – Serenade [removed]

Her latest album has rather sparse acoustic instrumentation (not that there’s anything wrong with that; Emiliana’s voice is the main thing here), making it very different from Love in the Time of Science, which comparatively has a harsher, electronic, produced feel. I love that album, but I prefer Fisherman’s Woman. If you can see her live, DO IT! She’s great and one of the most adorable musicians I’ve ever seen. Or THE most adorable (really). She’s playing at the Summer Sundae Festival on August 13th this year in Leicester (besides Slough, one of my favorite names for a place in England). I went to the festival last year and the line up looks better this year, dammit (not that it was bad last year but I was only interested enough in going on the Sunday instead of the whole weekend).

GO TO SUMMER SUNDAE! I would. I’d also go to Oyafestivalen. I quite sure that I LIVE ON THE WRONG CONTINENT! For more reasons than one. I’d talk about how Americans are all screwed because our food supply seems so unprotected compared to Europe (regulations and such) but …whatever. We’re all doomed guinea pigs. (Whoops, digression.)

Something about Magnet! I guess Music Week had something about Norwegian artists and he was mentioned in there. I’ve never seen this publication before though…hrm. Whenever there’s something in print and in English about Magnet, I aim to find it. There’s something wrong with me.

BC Camplight is doing a residency at The Living Room on August 1st, 15th, and 29th. Check him out if you can. MAKE YER MONDAYS FUNNER! I found the message on the Living Room’s website, “All shows are 21 years and older *unless accompanied by a parent” funny–so when I turn 20, I’ll have to drag my mum with me? Isn’t there something wrong with that? (Yes.) Well. Perhaps it’s better than not allowing under-21s in at all, but really. I’m not bringing my mum–I’m staying home. Because I suck.

On a random ranty note, Myspace…wait, do I have to say anything else? All anyone has to say is “myspace” to commence the cringing of legions of Internet users. I just realized the other day that I had a privacy setting on that required people to enter my last name or email address to add me as a friend (and it’s not like I keep that information padlocked in a vault at the bottom of the ocean) so I turned it off. And then…random friend requests, WHY? I’m going to turn that option back on, along with “Block Friend Request From Bands”. I’m sure these people don’t suck but come on, that’s not cool.

Making your own Coldplay cover art = seconds of fun! [via Kempa.com]

Extended Live Archives

This page doesn’t really work in IE–sorry. Then again, you should be using Firefox, so maybe I’m not that sorry.

Threadless has grown muchly over the past few years (during which I accrued more than 10 shirts, doh) and has recently started having mini-contests to design shirts for musicians and other organizations. The latest contest is for Shout Out Louds and there’s another one for Eisley. Seems like a good way to get fans to design t-shirts. How many times have you seen a band shirt and thought, “I could do better”? Another non-music contest is for Semi-Permanent, a design conference in NYC you (meaning me) may want to go to this fall.

Lastly, this iPod shuffle jacket is kind of…weird. Or cute. But I’m going to go with weird. [from d*notes on...]

The Royksopp show was great last night. As good as their last one? …I didn’t think so. Good enough to make me want to see them again at Webster Hall in September? YUP. You know you wanna.

I’ll start off with the good before the not-so-good. And actually, this doesn’t fit under “good” but the doors were at 8 PM and the show didn’t start until 10 PM. Not a big deal (there was no opener, thank god) but IT CAN’T TAKE THAT LONG TO SET UP. It’s not like they have instruments to tune. But I forgot about the burning sensation in my feet when they started playing, so that’s alright. My friends and I started waiting outside at around 7:30 since other people were already waiting. It wasn’t necessary to start waiting that early, but eh…we know how to kill time, and we ended up up front (that would’ve been pretty sad if we hadn’t).

When Torbjørn and Svein (pronounciation = I don’t know) came out, I almost wasn’t sure it was them since their dress code look liked… haute couture? I’ll admit that anything more complicated than t-shirts, shorts, and shirts has the potential to confuse me, but it looked like Torbjørn was wearing a large apron thing that looked like it wasn’t worn correctly, but that was probably the point (compare with 2003 Torbjørn). Svein wore thin poofy-ish pants; yeah, I had to notice them because he was standing in front of me. I DON’T USUALLY NOTICE PEOPLE’S PANTS. Really.

They started off with “Royksopp’s Night Out”, aka lots of drum action stuff going on, aka awesomeness. The songs they played seemed about half and half between the new album and Melody A. M., which means I was really happy to hear Melody A. M. stuff and my likeness towards the new album shot up (I just bought the two-CD version on amazon today). Chris remembers the concert much better than I can, so I’ll just say “uh huh” to whatever he said they played last night. The new songs I liked the most were “Circuit Breaker” and “Alpha Male”; of course, older stuff was what I liked the most. They played “Eple” twice, the second time being their last encore, but that’s one of my favorite songs so I’m not about to complain. I think it was actually the first song I ever heard by them and one of the first Norwegian words I’ve ever learned (and you know I’ll need to say “apple” a lot…or not). The crowd was enthusiastic, although perhaps not dancing as much as Royksopp’s music would inspire (not that I helped out; I’m no dancer and not much is going to change that).

Even though I really liked the concert, I felt like something was missing and wondered why it didn’t seem as good as the first concert. One thing I did differently was wear earplugs, which became a habit this year when I realized I didn’t want to go deaf before graduating college. The volume last night was on the level of “organ jiggling”. But that wasn’t it. There was a bassist last time and this royksopp.net post reminded me how much he added to the show (does he look like a drug dealer?). I lost my review from back then but …that guy was so cool! Yes! Oh well. But it wasn’t just his absence that made things feel different. The keyboards were pretty far back and it didn’t feel as exciting for some reason. However, if I had never seen them before I would’ve thought last night was better than I think it is now. Or was. ….or something. You know what I mean.

Thanks to CJ, JD, and Erika for joining in on the Royksopp-ing! If anyone’s curious, CJ, JD and I ended up eating dinner at Tokyo La Men. If you like Japanese food, try it.

—

Jordan Hagaman wrote a review about the show, or at least about his experience and the setlist. I think this guy stood his copy of the album upright on the stage. Unless that was someone else.

An otherwise crap-filled day was saved by the arrival of Carpark North CDs from CD Skiven, less than a week after I ordered them. (I wrote about their awesome music video a few weeks ago.) I got three copies of All Thinks To All People, the other two being for Diana and CJ. After shipping, each copy was only $23. That might be because it’s on sale but I’m not sure since my Danish is a little rusty/nonexistent.

As usual, I like this album but don’t know how to explain why. I just…do. Maybe you’ll like this song:

Carpark North – Berlin [removed]

It’s pretty. I like pretty things. Give me some aluminum foil and I’ll go, “Ooh, it’s shiny, me like.”

Okay, maybe not. I’d compare Carpark North to something else but I can’t think of a good comparison. Not that their sound is hard to pin down–I’m just not the person to do it. Rock. Pop. “80 style electro-pop” and “dynamic” as described on their website. Worth $23. Quiet & loud (the track “The Beasts” is a good example of that). A band that may never be well-known in the US, which is a shame. Actually, I could compared them to Mew but less rock-ful and more electronic-ish. (Okay, maybe that’s not such a good comparison.)

Besides being musicians, all the band members are computer programmers.

So that’s my album recommendation.

—

I’m leaning towards going to the City Bakery tomorrow for a dessert-filled dinner. I’ve heard about the yumminess of Zen Palate but have yet to experience it.

It is very silly that I had to talk myself into seeing Sigur Ros. Doh. The prospect of seeing them alone didn’t seem too fun though. I remind myself that if not for my interest in seeing live music, I’d be much more closeted than I already am. This might sound stupid, but I never feel totally comfortable at concerts; a part of me feels like I don’t belong there. But my desire to go to them outweighs the uneasiness. Thank god.

—

Luis Katigbak is my favorite music writer. Granted, I don’t know any others but if anything else were as good, I’d remember it. He’s not just a music writer though; all his writing is good. Unfortunately, he lives in Manila (not that I’d mind living there, it’s just a bit far from here) so most of the world will never read his stuff. Kind of like a lot of good music that’s out there that no one will ever hear.

I’d write about more things in one topic but then the title would become…the post.

I decided to update my “currently playing” thing on the right and realized that I don’t listen to a crapload of stuff. I just got Coldplay’s new album in exchange for some website work (pay me in CDs, yes!) and even though I’m not a huge fan, I…can’t…help it…must listen to Coldplay…for the love of god, WHY?! Seriously.

I’ve been listening to the new Royksopp album lately in preparation for the Irving Plaza show this Wednesday but sadly, I can’t say I like it a whole lot. At least, not compared to “Melody A.M.”, which I really like. I think it’s due to the lack of Erlend action; no Erlend = not as enjoyable. Or maybe it’s because the people they got to sing on the new album irritate me a bit (I can be over-judgemental with people singing voices). I’m not saying The Understanding is bad–I’m just not liking it as much as I’d hope to. It’s selling well in Norway, but that’s not surprising.

I found a way to get around the stupid “should I go to Sigur Ros” internal debate; get a pair of tickets and write it off as a birthday present! Do I deserve a birthday present? Not really. Birthday’s aren’t a big deal in my family (on a semi-related note, today is my brother’s 23rd birthday; and what do you know, he’s still at home looking for a job). I think Sigur Ros is a good birthday present though, so as long as I can get tickets (which go onsale July 22nd), I’ll go to the 9/12 show.

On a totally unrelated note, A-Ha is playing at Irving Plaza on 9/12. I didn’t grow up listening to A-Ha. Should I have?

Okay, back to Sigur Ros. Their coolness factor has risen due to the presence of their flickr account. [via Brooklyn Vegan] If you like taking photos, flickr is awesome and definitely worth paying for. DO IT.

Central Village looks at real ticket prices: oh crap. I’m not paying $50 to see BRMC. $50 for TWO tickets…alright, that makes much more sense! I have to go back to elementary school so I can learn how to read. Apparently, I am lacking this ability. Uhoh.

Damn, this is getting too long. Can someone inform me about Irving Plaza’s bag policy? I’ve only been there twice but during the first time they didn’t make me check in my bag, while during the second they pretty much forced me to. Hm. Also, if anyone has recommendations on where to eat around there (yeah, I should know these things and if I have to I’ll figure out something) let me know.

Sondre Lerche recently got married in NYC to Mona Fastvold, the girl from his video for “Days That Are Over” [thanks Erik]. Watch the video, it’s funny and a bit strange. I forgot how young Sondre is and the idea of anyone I know getting married at 22 years old freaks me out a bit. …On that note, congratulations to the newlyweds!

I still haven’t decided whether I want to see Sigur Ros or not. …actually, that’s not true; of course I want to see them, I just don’t know if I actually will make the effort to. The opposing forces in this decision are 1) price and 2) lack of concert-going companion. By the time I make up my mind, the concert will be sold out, and then I won’t have to make up my mind. WEE.

The new Sigur Ros album is called Takk, to be released September 12th (UK, at least). The album’s second track “Glósóli” will be available to download on August 15th. Look at the flyer thing!

I feel quite cheap after deciding not to see Sigur Ros upon finding out that the tickets were $50, plus whatever other fees get tacked onto that (I checked out the pre-sale night when nothing was sold out yet). Since that’s from the pre-sale, I’m guessing Ticketmastercrapheadsatanthing (unofficial title) will be worse. So. I’ll probably will skip out on Sigur Ros this time. All day I actually thought about whether the tickets were really expensive and I guess they’re not, but if I had to think about it all day then that must mean I’m not dying to go.

…but they are very good, so if you can go, go.

Actually, I found $55 in an old Christmas card while cleaning out my drawers. Hm.

Random memory: I think I saw a guy eating nachos the last time I saw Sigur Ros. It may have been during the intermission, but still. Nachos? I was in the last row at that concert, but it was kind of a mixed blessing since I got to sit high on the chair and lean against the wall.

On an unrelated note, Do Make Say Think is playing at the Bowery Ballroom tomorrow. $13! I’d like to go, but I’m not.

Just to keep track of things I might want to go to in the fall (and why isn’t anything going on NOW that I want to go to?! My music tastes are too limited):

* 9/12 or 9/13: Sigur Ros
* 9/15: Arcade Fire (highly doubtful)
* 9/21: Royksopp
* 9/26: BRMC
* 10/16 or 10/17: Franz Ferdinand (echoing Central Village: The Theater at MSG? Mrrh? NOOO! But they’re so good… BUT WHYYY!?)

I’ve seen these bands except for Arcade Fire. Something tells me I won’t need to see Royksopp again since I’ll be seeing them next week, but…mm. See what happens. As much as I’d like to see Arcade Fire, I think I’m giving up before tickets even go on sale. I’M SO LAZY.

Today someone messaged me asking if I knew anything about Plone’s whereabouts. Nope. They might be dead, but I hope not. I first heard Plone’s wonderfully bleepy bloopy happy videogame-esque childlike electronic music during the intermission between Beth Orton and Beck at his concert in Boston on February 11, 2000, aka my first real Beck concert (I went to a Beck show a few months before that but it was a TV show taping), aka the worst concert experience I ever had for some reason. Here’s a photo taken before the age of “when I had a digital camera”:

I guess I was surrounded by zombies and moving lights.

OH, back to Plone. I remembered their songs for ages after the show was over, mainly “Top & Low Rent” from their album For Beginner Piano. The friend who came with me to the show found out who the band was and put “Bibi Plone” on a mixtape for me (mixtapes?…god, I feel old). And magicalness ensued. You can find a bunch of reviews for their album if you search for it but there aren’t many fansites out there, probably because they have ONE ALBUM, a few singles and a smattering of other releases. I made a crappy one a few years ago (hard to read, crappy layout, blindingly pink; thus was the beginnings of my website making) and the first one I saw was at movingunits.com (creator of beck.com). The last time i updated my site was when I heard they were making a new album, which was years ago. Hmmm.

So here are some songs that aren’t from their debut album. If you like these songs, you SHOULD get their album. Yes? Yes. If you don’t like these songs, don’t tell me because I will think you kind of suck.

Plone – Tricky Disco: okay, this isn’t actually Plone but it’s one of my favorite songs, whether remix or not [removed]
Plone – Plaything: Happy things bouncing around. Can either be really cute or semi-nightmare-ish. [removed]

The popular CMS Plone is named after Plone. Don’t a gazillion people use Plone? Do they not wonder about the origins of the name Plone and where the three guys (Mike Bainbridge, Mark Cancellara, and Michael Johnston) that make up Plone are up to now? Making Plone-y music? Snuggling puppies? Eating chocolate bars? WHY DOES NO ONE KNOW?

Okay, I’m done being weird. (Well, not really…I’ll just go be weird in another blog.)

Actually, I’m not done. If you like Plone, here are my recommendations for artists that kind of sound like Plone but don’t, because nothing really does:

* E*Vax
* Lineland
* Mum
* Console
* B. Fleischmann
* Ilkae
* Phonem
* Solvent
* Satellite Grooves

Oo, Royksopp is doing more US tour dates in September (from pollstar.com):

* 09/15/05 – Portland, OR, Berbati’s Pan
* 09/16/05 – Seattle, WA, Showbox
* 09/19/05 – Chicago, IL, Metro / Smart Bar
* 09/20/05 – Toronto, ON, Opera House
* 09/21/05 – New York, NY, Webster Hall
* 09/22/05 – Boston, MA, Paradise Club

If the July 13th show is good, I’d go to the Webster Hall show too.

BRMC is touring this fall also, specifically Sep 26 at Irving Plaza for NY-ers. See the rest of the dates on their homepage. [from Torr]

Do Make Say Think is playing at Bowery Ballroom next weekend. I wouldn’t mind going if it didn’t start at 10 PM.

CMJ Music Marathon is coming up and just from glancing at the performer list I spotted a crapload of artists I’d like to see. NoooOOOOooo….ooOOO! (Or…yaay!…) I wish it were later. Isn’t it about a month earlier than last year’s marathon?

“You’ll be itching to use it.”

It’s funny. Really. Watch the iPod spoof commercial at nytimes.com. [from core77]