the oh so quiet show

“Demetri Martin’s”:http://www.demetrimartin.com/ one-man show These Are Jokes (he added more dates!) is awesome. You should go. Unless you don’t like laughing a lot, in which case you kind of suck. Unless it’s for medical reasons, in which case, that just sucks overall.

Demetri is more entertaining than most comedians in my opinion because his style is…unconventional. Not in a way that would confuse or ostracize the audience, but in a …um… I don’t know. His presentation isn’t brash or in-your-face, but he tells his jokes in a rapid-fire-like action. He’s not exactly subtle but you can kind of feel like he is.

bq. “I just wanted to take some of my favorite jokes and do a nice solid hour of high LPM – high laughs per minute. So I do tons of jokes and present them in different ways; some are with drawings, some with music and some anecdotal. But really it’s just a nice big pile of jokes.” – Gothamist

While telling jokes he would sometimes play music. I don’t know how that came about, but it seemed to make things…funnier. Why would you play a glockenspiel and keyboard while telling jokes? Why wouldn’t you? Don’t you love the word “glockenspiel”? It must take some coordination to play the glockenspiel and keyboard at the same time, but he didn’t mess up. It was a flawless glockenspiel-keyboard-comedy performance. Those are rare, you know.

During the show someone’s cell phone went off. “Is that what you hear when God calls you?” The ring tone was actually pretty nice, about as ethereal as a ring tone would get. Um. Anyway.

If you want to laugh for 90 minutes (not straight; you do get to breathe), you should go. Goooo. GOOOO.

photo by sem

Sony unleased 250,000 brightly colored bouncy balls loose in San Francisco for their BAVARIA LCD tv screen commercial. Although I don’t think of “a world of cheery rainbow-colored spheres” when I hear Jose Gonzalez’s “Heartbeats”, the song goes nicely alongside the deluge of …cheery rainbow-colored spheres. And now I AM going to think that every time I heard the same. Damn. Sony.

I certainly can’t buy their new screen, but I bet the commercial would look really cool on it. [via Scott Wills]

This Friday at The Tank you can check out the Nhebraska Noise Fest, which “Celebrates the concept of noise as sound: circuit-bending + electronics + noise rock + free jazz + new music, and noise in other media: poetry + theater + video + dance + art installation.” [via Tristan Perich, who one-ups the 8-Bit musicians with 1-bit music.] You can’t go wrong with a festival of noise that lasts 12 hours:

bq. Nhebraska Noise Fest is a day-fest exploring noise in various mediums, both performance and installation. Installations all afternoon from 2pm, Friday, October 28th, 2005. Performances begin at 6 pm. Show runs until 2 am.

Fun times! Potentially! I can’t go because Demetri Martin is going to make me laugh. Hopefully.

Stewart made an unsolicited music video for “Jed’s Other Poem” by Grandaddy that is better than most videos I’ve seen in my life. How so? The video was “Programmed in Applesoft II on a 1979 Apple ][+ with 48K of RAM. Seriously.”

As someone who dabbled in computer programming for one school year before realizing that a life of programming would make me hate the world (and result in many computers bashed in with indentations of my fists), watching this video makes me go “Oooohoowhoaa.” Computer animation and effects won’t elicit much of a response from me, but show me some blinky green text and I’m SOLD. Besides that the song is beautiful, the computer is acting beyond its expected role of a dormant, dull, eye-straining box. Machines and technology don’t usually comjure up an idea of beauty, yet…here it is. If you don’t think it’s beautiful, I don’t want to hear it.

I love the video, except for the ending. Then again, I can’t think a good way to end it.

I think there’s a limit to how much of this 8-bit micromusic one can take. “Bit Shifter”:http://www.bitshifter.cc/ went on first before “The Tank”:http://www.thetanknyc.org/ had filled to maximum capacity with mainly tall guys wearing black. Initially, people were sitting on chairs–LAME. YOU DO NOT SIT WHEN YOU CAN STAND! Even when you _can_ sit, you don’t always do that. Then again, the people sitting down gave me a better view.

So…I liked Bit Shifter, his three Game Boys and his spastic enthusiasm/hand gestures, but after that I got rather tired and felt bleeped out or something. It’s not like all the music sounds the same, but maybe the “sushi”:http://flickr.com/photos/roboppy/55058357 I ate beforehand (which was so good, man) did something to my brain. I don’t know. “Amy”:http://amee.diskobox.net/blog/, who practically majors in video games (independent study) came with me and also got bleeped out.

We had a fun two hours though. A few years ago I used to want “Little Sound DJ”:http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/, problem being that they don’t make the cartridges anymore and…I probably wouldn’t use it anyway. I have a tendency to buy music related things and not use them often (*cough* theremin *cough*). But, not joking, there have been upwards of three Game Boys in my house at one time (hopefully not the case now, as we don’t use them) and it would’ve been hell of a good use if I could program songs on all of them.

“Kings of Convenience”:http://kingsofconvenience.com/ headlined a free Clear Channel protest concert on Wednesday at Kamelon in Bergen, Norway because Clear Channel wants to buy the rights to commercial places in Bergen…which isn’t cool. Other artists at the show were “William Hut”:http://www.williamhut.com/, “Karin Park”:http://www.karinpark.com/, Mao, “The Owens”:http://www.theowens.no, and “Orbo and the Longshots”:http://217.13.29.236/orbomusic/index.jsp. [via kings of convenience yahoo group]

Damn, I would’ve liked to go to that. I like at least…50% of the musicians! And of course, Clear Channel is kind of sucky.

NYC’s police officers mean serious business. Watch as they take down highly threatening 8-Bit musicians. I feel much safer now:

bq. While putting up flyers for the International Chiptune Resistance show at The Tank this coming Saturday, Nullsleep and Bit Shifter were approached by two plainclothes police officers, arrested, handcuffed, informed that “a cleaner New York is a safer New York,” and taken to the NYPD 9th Precinct police station for processing and a nice stay in the NYPD’s luxurious high-security accommodations. Stripped of belts and shoelaces (to prevent suicide by hanging), the police missed Bit Shifter’s camera/web-phone, allowing exploitation of some irresistible photo-op moments, as well as an unique opportunity to set Bit Shifter’s AIM away message to “I’m in jail.”

Jail time: it’s a Kodak moment.

[via Music thing]

Not that this music is new, but I like Chessie and decided to listen to them after a friend sent me some Broken Social Scene songs that reminded of…them. The first time I heard them was on WNYU’s Didjilution some years ago, who played “Daylight”, downloadable at Epitonic (along with other good mp3s). I just automatically loved it, which is one of those weird things. Didjilution was really hit-or-miss as I wouldn’t like most of the stuff they played, but every now and then they’d play a song my brain would automatically gravitate to. Yup…brain. Gravitating. Here’s another song I like:

Chessie – Clear Block [removed]

I don’t feel like describing the music so you should just download it and make your own judgement. Epitonic says “swirling, disorienting breakbeat compositions”…yeah, sounds good to me. (nods)

Despite that I’ve had years to amass a collection of Chessie albums numbering more than one, I still only have Signal Series. And damn, I just bought a few CDs on amazon.com today after going to Tower Records and Other Music and realizing “I’m cheap; I’ll go online.” Yes, so I can save a few bucks. Now I can buy a chocolate bar.

From “mtv.com”:http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1511842/20051019/beck.jhtml:

Great news for all you Beck completists out there: pretty soon you’ll be able to own his Guero album again — but this time in convenient, remixed form.

That’s because on December 13, he’ll drop Guerolito a fully reworkedversion of his latest album, featuring remixes by the Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock, the Dust Brothers’ John King and Scottish electronic duo Boards of Canada, amongst others.

I just wanted a reason to type “Guerolito”. Although I like __Guero__, I prefer many of the remixed songs to the originals. Also from the mtv.com article:

“We did an EP of remixes with a couple of artists — 8-bit and Paza — who use the sounds and the engines of retooled Nintendos, so you can write your own music with it,” Beck said in a statement. “It’s something that I felt a connection with, just coming from that whole home-recording, four-track world,” Beck said. “It’s the equivalent of that in the electronic-music world. There’s all kinds of people making music. I mean, those are always my favorite electronic sounds. We were always in the studios always trying to get my keyboard to sound like a video game.”

On that note, I have reason to mention International Chiptune Resistance at The Tank (208 West 37th Street) this Saturday. [via boing boing] It’s an “unprecedented micromusic mega-event”. “Micromusic”:http://micromusic.net/? (Warning: automatically plays audio.) Yup, music made out of video game consoles. If you like music or video games (hopefully you fit into one of those categories), you should go. I’m not very knowledgable in the world of micromusic, but I like The 8-Bit Construction Set. They only have one album (which only has two actual songs on it, the rest of it consisting of samples, loops, and data), but it’s fun and bleepy.

[about four hours ago] I’m writing this from atop the toilet seat as to not piss off my roommate too much.

I asked for Franz Ferdinand tickets from a friend (who could get me Franz Ferdinand tickets) but had waited until almost the last minute for notice that there were tickets waiting for us (which I didn’t receive) before I had to leave for dinner and the show. “Honey”:http://slapchar.blogspot.com/ had already bought GA tickets for three of us (herself, “Yetta”:http://yetta1.blogspot.com/, and myself) but I was hoping to get two pairs of tickets so Diana could come too. Despite thinking that Diana wouldn’t get in due to bad karma (she’s been through a series of failed “guest list” attempts), we went to Madison Square Garden anyway, after a hurried dinner at Zen Palate.

There was still hope. We went to the ticket booth after going through the most incomplete bag check ever (as in, one step above not checking bags at all) where I made a last attempt at getting tickets (the show wasn’t sold out, but it almost was).

“Is there a guestlist?”

“Yes.”

“…can I see if I’m on it?”

With fingers crossed, I watched as from the cubby holes behind the ticket booth appeared an envelope with my name on it. Thank. God.

There were two tickets in it. I had three friends with me. Hm.

“Okay, everyone…um, see if you’re on the list.”

Yetta was the other name on the list, thus giving us four tickets.

“Oh, but what are the seats?”

They were…seats. Not GA. But was I going to complain? Hell no! Franz Ferdinand is worth paying money for but here I was with not very good seats…but _free_ not very good seats.

“What’s this paper in the envelope?”

“Um…’Your name is on the list for tonight’s after part at: The Tribeca Grand Hotel.’”

“Robyn. We’re going. You’re not getting out of that.”

For those who don’t know, I’m not the party-type. I’m the antithesis to whomever would be the party type. All four of us could bound our non-party-type ness into a giant bouncy ball that could kill millions of children. Or something.

Honey and Yetta had GA tickets they bought before so I sat in the seated area with Diana. However, Honey had gotten three GA tickets with the assumption that I would take one. Later I found out that Honey gave the other ticket away for free to a needy fan who asked her how much GA tickets cost (even though the show wasn’t sold out, the GA tickets were sold out). It was good karma; Honey and Yetta had tried to sell some tickets before the show, almost getting arrested in the process. I don’t know about you but out of all the concerts I’ve seen, I’ve NEVER seen scalpers get arrested. Maybe it only happens around MSG. Anyway, I can’t imagine how scared they felt at that time; I think I would’ve puked some major organ.

On to the concert. Looking at my watch around 7:30, I thought, “Eh, I don’t think it’s going to start soon.” Right after I said that (seriously), the lights dimmed and Cut Copy came out. Damn, that’s some punctuality, eerily so. Cut Copy were awesome but sadly, played to a very empty theater. No, not totally empty, but you could hear their dance beats (which should’ve elicited more movement out of the pit audience) echo in that “empty roller skating rink” way (I don’t know why but that’s the only comparison I could come up with). For once, here was an opener that I thought was awesome but played a paltry 20-25 minutes to a crowd that should’ve been larger. Dammit.

Next opener, TV on the Radio, totally…lost me. I know there are fans out there, but I’m certainly not one. Despite the loudness of the music, I actually wanted to fall asleep. Am I missing something? It’s not like they were really bad; I just didn’t get it. I longed for…Cut Copy.

Our row (K, in section 304) was mainly empty so four of us on the end scooted inward for a better view. When Franz Ferdinand took the stage, which was set up with platforms for the drums and keyboard and whose background was 4 three-sided panels that rotated between the FF logo, the new FF album cover, and the band members’ portraits, a wave of “people standing up” (thank god; can you imagine sitting during an FF show?) spread through the audience. You must stand. Yes.

They started with “Jacqueline” and ended with “This Fire”. In between, they played…a lot of stuff. Even from my view, from which I could make our the band’s general movement on toothpick legs, I was blown away. The sound is a bit funky in the MSG theater but it didn’t kill my eardrums. Being closer would’ve been great but I, someone who rarely shows any inkling of dancing ability, kind of danced. _Kind of._ The first time I saw FF, I wasn’t a fan; afterwards, with the realization, “Holy shit, they made me feel like dancing,” I was won over.

So yeah. Great. Stuff. The audience obviously responded best to songs from the first album but the new songs sounded great too. I was happy to hear “This Boy” and some other new songs I can’t remember right now. “Take Me Out” got a huge response, no surprise…cos it’s awesome. Yup. My reason for most things: “Cos it’s awesome.” At the end, three guys were playing the drum set at the same time. Why? Cos it’s awesome. Someone probably has a setlist, so I won’t try to guess what was played.

Not that it’s very important, but Alex and Nick wore black pants and red shirts while Bob wore all black and Paul wore black pants with a white shirt and black tie. YOU JUST HAD TO KNOW! Now you can dress up as them for Halloween. It helps if you’re really tall and skinny and male.

So. I was happy. However, most memories of the night come from the after party. I could write a whole other entry about that, but I’ll sum up bits of it here.

First off, I never knew the Tribeca Grand Hotel was where it…is. I’ve passed it many times, thinking it was just a nice building. Where nothing happened. (I passed it a lot in the daytime.) It was obviously different tonight since there was a line around the side of the hotel.

We stood in it for a while. It got colder. I didn’t notice how cold it was getting. Mittens would’ve been nice.

While loads of people went strait in from the front entrance (along with, ye know, people who actually stay at the hotel), we waited for what felt like a long time with one pair of women in front of us. At some point, they came back with a fresh batch of neon-pink wristbands. And now…my turn to sound like a moron to the doorman.

“Which guestlist are you on?”

“Uh…” Shit if I know. “I don’t know, what are they?”

“There’s a band list, hotel list, label list…”

“I guess it’s the label list? I don’t think it’s the other ones.”

Obviously, I wasn’t staying at the hotel and my first thought was, “Why would I be on the band list?” My second thought should’ve been “Why would I be on the label list?” There’s no reason. Alas, I think slowly. I told him my name and waited.

“Are you really Robyn Lee?”

My first thought was, “Huh?” What I actually said was a confused, “Yeeeaaah…?”

“You’re on the band list. You should know that.”

Well…that’s true, but I didn’t. By process of elimination, I should’ve figured that out. But you know, I don’t know why I’m in college with such a faulty brain and lack of logic, yet here I am (still sitting on the toilet, if you’re wondering).

We all got in and glared at the dimly lit posh surroundings. Pretty. And dim.

We went downstairs to the lounge-thinger and awkwardly stood by blaring speakers and a tiny mosh-pit to the side of the stage for a long time until “Sons and Daughters”:http://www.sonsanddaughtersloveyou.com/ came out to play. Yetta found out that they were asked to open for FF but couldn’t do it…but they could play the after party, so they did. Although I’ve heard of them, I’ve never heard them actually play.

They’re awesome. I need more. Despite that it was 1 AM and I had been on the brink of falling asleep (have you noticed that this happens often?), their energy and, you know, many decibels, won the crowd. The lead singer had a unique gait. …Yes, I said gait. You either know what I’m talking about or you don’t, because I obviously need to increase my vocabulary.

We only stayed for two songs since by that time, it was getting pretty late (they started at 1 AM). While exiting the big crowded room of drunk people, we passed a couch stuffed with people making out that was straight out of a post-prom party scene from a bad high school movie; it was odd. Amusing.

We hung around the floor, wondering when we’d leave. During the “hanging around,” Bob Hardy came out and Yetta and Honey got photos with him. I’ve decided after seeing him that up close that Bob is one of the most adorable people ever. Ever. I was unprepared for such brain cell destroying-cuteness.

Diana’s from Brooklyn (the far part) so she in particular had to get going.

“Okay guys, I’m gonna go now…”

“NOOO!” I proclaimed, clinging to Diana’s shoulders. Or maybe not, but we prevented her from leaving. It was a good thing too, because she ended up meeting Paul Banks. Hard to miss in his black knit cap with bits of his straight blond hair sticking out, Diana, Yetta, and Honey got photos taken with him. The only strange thing perhaps was that he insisted on taking the photos. Maybe he likes to be in control of the camera? Here’s the result of Paul’s self portrait-age, which didn’t come out too well (hence, why I don’t think Diana would mind you seeing it) because Diana’s camera isn’t made to do arm-length focusing.

A while later as we waited on a super comfty oval cushion thinger that I really wish I had in my house, we saw Daniel Kessler pass by towards the bathroom. We had seen him before but didn’t actually …say anything. The party probably wasn’t the time or place to start approaching musicians you admire, but whatever. We didn’t really fit in anyway.

Diana got a hilarious photo with Dan, who we regarded as “moody.” The photo is hilarious because on the left you have Dan, then a big gap, and then Diana. But in that gap, there’s this super-smiling face of a woman standing farther back (probably oblivious to what was going on), perfectly positioned in the middle.

…okay, I’m done. I ended up staying there until 2:30 (seeing lots of drunk people hobble out over the night…keep in mind, I’m a college student and I’ve never remotely seen that many drunk people before) and catching a cab (for the first time in my life) to go back to my dorm, which took maybe five minutes.

…dude, this night was so weird. And great. I have so many people to thank, but now it’s time for sleep.

— post nap update —

I found out that after I left, Honey and Yetta went back inside the lounge-y place and met Paul since he was…DJ-ing. I’m not surprised, although my uncanny ability to miss things when such things are almost presented right in front of me (in dim lighting) is starting to disturb me.

— link update —

There are lots of other reviews and stuff online. CLICKY:

* lots of comments at brooklyn vegan
* Associated Press photos
* Newsday
* New York Times
* New York Post (I don’t feel like commenting too much on this review but in response to, “In concert, the band’s bloodlessness translated into an audience that lost a little more enthusiasm with each row farther from the stage” I’ll just say that from where I was sitting, the fans were doing very well.)
* mtv.com
* Fake Century
* Novela Urbana
* Last Night’s Party’s photos
* joannablack’s review, photos, and setlist @ FF LJ community
* the_lonelysound’s photos @ FF LJ community
* LRobyn’s photos at flickr
* “Honey’s blog”:http://slapchar.blogspot.com/2005/10/not-even-jail.html

…okay, that’s it.

I got this from someone’s LJ. But…it’s cute. I’m leaving out the questions I don’t have much of an answer for so if you’re bored out of mind, KEEP READING!

# Of all the bands/artists in your cd/record collection, which one do you own the most albums by?: Beck, partially because he just has so much STUFF, mainly because at the peak of my obsession, I’d try to buy every Beck related thing possible. No, I don’t have *everything* (that’d be insane, and I don’t amass bootlegs) but I think 40 or so albums and singles is enough.
# What was the last song you listened to?: Even Johansen – My Darling Curse, live on WFMU. It’s my favorite live set by “Even”:http://www.homeofmagnet.com although I doubt many people have heard it.
# What’s in your record player right now?: The record player use about five times a year? Seeland 7″
# What song would you say sums you up?: Depends what I feel like. Probably something by Plone.
# What’s your favorite local band?: As in NYC? (If NJ, I can’t think of any.) Um…does Interpol count? Levy is good too.
# What was the last show you attended?: CocoRosie at Tonic.
# What’s the shittiest band you’ve ever seen in concert?: Eeeh…probably an opener I didn’t care for, but I can’t remember.
# What band do you love musically but hate the members of?: Can’t think of one. (I’m boring.)
# What is the most musically involved you have ever been?: 6th and 7th grade, playing the clarinet when I actually enjoyed playing the clarinet. In 9th or 10th grade I remember taking trumpet and drum lessons at the same time, although another time I was taking guitar and drum, or maybe it was all three. Conclusion? I absolutely cannot play brass instruments. Actually, I’d just avoid all instruments that involve being breathed into altogether from now on.
# What show are you looking forward to?: Imaginary Magnet show. For some non-imaginary, I’m looking forward to Broadcast.
# What is your favorite band shirt?: I used to wear this Beck turntable one a lot in 8th grade. I don’t know where it is now…maybe I threw it out.
# Name 3 flawless albums?: Mraah…three. In no particular order, Radiohead – Kid A (yeah, I really like it, OKAAY), Even Johansen – Quiet & Still, Beck – Mutations
# Did you know that filling out this survey makes you a music geek?: I dunno, maybe loser is a better term.
# What was the greatest decade for music?: An early one. A gazillion years ago, probably.
# How many music-related videos/dvds do you own?: …some. But less than 10.
# Do you like Journey?: …
# Don’t try to pretend you don’t: …
# What is your favorite movie soundtrack?: For a long time, I really liked the soundtrack to Clueless. In 7th grade. I also liked the Lion King soundtrack…when I was 10. If I had the Amelie soundtrack I’d probably like it.
# What was your last musical “phase” before you wisened up?: Pseudo teeny bopper ish.
# What’s the crappiest CD/record/etc you’ve ever bought?: AQUA! Actually, that’s probably not true. But…Aqua? Why did I buy that? (I was 12.) Oh wait, maybe it was that Chumbawamba CD. Why…WHY?! (Um, you don’t want to know what else I bought when I was 12.)
# Do you prefer vinyl or CDs: I really love that 15 lb portable record player I have…erm, CDS, duh.

bq. You fuckers heard of Magnet? Enormous; terrible.

Oh, Nick, that really wasn’t the right thing to say in your Big Outside of Norway article (link via Øyvind). [sigh] Yes, some of us HAVE heard of “Magnet”:http://www.homeofmagnet.com and dare I object to Pitchfork and say that he’s not terrible.

Ah…well, whatever floats your boat. Or sinks it. Mwahaha.

On that note, here’s some Magnet touring news that probably won’t apply to anyone who reads this.

—

Magnet will tour the UK with Athlete and Gemma Hayes later this month in UK.

October

* 25th – Manchester Apollo
* 26th – Manchester Apollo
* 27th – Newcastle Academy
* 28th – Glasgow Academy
* 29th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
* 31st – Brighton Centre

November

* 1st – London Hammersmith Apollo

The Norwegian dates that were due to run at the same time will be rescheduled for early next year. More news on that to come. We apologise for any disappointment with these shows moving and look forward to seeing lots of you on the Athlete dates.

—

I hope “rescheduled for early next year” is AFTER he comes to the US, like he ought to because…um. Because. It’s a country I’m sitting in right now. When he comes over, I’m forcing everyone who reads this blog to see him perform. Or rather, I will give you the choice between seeing Magnet or me doing things to your brain in a way I haven’t figured out yet. Actually, no one has to be coerced into seeing him but I can’t have any of that vague “Um, sure, maybe I’ll go” stuff.

Also, this is random: French radio station playing a live Magnet thing but I can’t figure out the time difference. 1PM for me? Perhaps? Hm.

Reading this list of recommended songs by Norwegian artists made me realize that although at one level I seem to be in love with whatever comes out of Norway, I just don’t talk about the stuff I don’t like. That’d be kinda…pointless. So I won’t.

I haven’t listened to everything on the list because I’m too lazy, so…I ended up picking out an artist not on that list to listen to. You can hear craploads of “Smalltown Supersound”:http://www.smalltownsupersound.com/ songs on Bleep. So far I quite like Sir Dupermann and I don’t know why. Just. Because.

Of course, what I’d really love is some Plone, but they broke up in 2001 (link via Tim). Holy CRAP, I’m slow. By FOUR YEARS. When I read that, I felt something die in my stomach, hopefully a parasite or something that I don’t need. Finding out that one of your favorite bands split up four years after the fact (hey, it’s not like they have a website) is pretty bad. I guess it would’ve been worse if I found out later though. “What, they split up TEN YEARS AGO?!”

As long as I’m semi-talking about electronic stuff, Styrofoam is playing at Knitting Factory on November 22nd, so I shall go.

I thought I had something else to say but I can’t remember. Um. I just ate an apple. I think that means I’m digesting an apple right now.

24 hours ago I was waiting to see “CocoRosie”:http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/band.php?id=8. Yes, still waiting, since they went on at 11 PM.

But…that’s okay. Because I really like them. I’ve been trying to think of a way to make the lack of blood flow in my legs after standing for a few hours stop bothering me, but the only thing I can think of is chopping off my legs, which probably isn’t a good idea. Most of us at Tonic were probably in various states of leg numbness and lethargy (me in particular), or maybe high blood alcohol levels (like the woman who shouted, “YOU SUCK FOR MAKING US WAIT,” as CocoRosie took the stage), but we all stuck around in the packed, body-temperature heated room because…because. We really like CocoRosie.

The concert, including “Dirty Projectors”:http://www.westernvinyl.com/dirty_projectors.htm and “Diane Cluck”:http://www.unicornsounds.com/diane.htm, raised money for Amnesty International Firefly Project to spread awareness about human trafficking. I’ll admit total ignorance; I don’t know anything about human trafficking. I know a little more now, but it’s just another one of those…sucky things. A sucky thing to keep in my mind as I freak out over losing my keys and other stupid meaningless things.

Anyhoo. I wasn’t very into Dirty Projectors (the guy got the audience to clap and stuff though) but Diane Cluck was good. If my brain were more in working condition, maybe I would’ve bought a CD after she was done playing. She has a lovely voice, and due to my limited vocabulary, I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s. It’s…lovely. Soft? She plays folksy music. Yes, another not-very-helpful description; I’m full of them. She mentioned funnel cakes (as a reason why Pennsylvania is better than NYC, other reasons being trees and air and abundant nature) so that automatically makes her awesome.

OOOKAY, so at some point during the night as the room got more and more crowded until I was sure you couldn’t shove any more people in there, CocoRosie came onstage, starting amidst the chattering crowd (the people in the back were quite noisy at the end of Diane’s set, not so nice) with K-Hole. Sierra plucked away at her harpstrings with a mask of a crying face on the side of her head (like in this photo by central village) and wearing a Bronx Zoo sweatshirt, loose blue pants with underwear peeking out, red shoes, and…no, I don’t know what socks she was wearing. Bianca stood on the other side of the stage, singing in her Chipmunk-esque manner. I’m not sure how to describe her voice so yes, that’s all I can come up with.

For reasons I can’t explain, I love her voice. Sierra’s operatic voice is quite different (unless we’re talking about a chipmunk opera…nope) but both sister’s voices just…go together. It’s a peanut butter and jelly-like combination, although in this case, chipmunks and opera.

Other songs they played were Lyla, Bear Hides and Buffalo, Dizzy Dog, Beautiful Boyz, a song with rapping, a song having to do with a left shoe (or not), another song I can’t remember, Noah’s Ark, ,aybe some other songs, and one of my favorite songs, Tekno Love Song.

CocoRosie – Tekno Love Song [removed]

It’s pretty, yes? The live version, which had a drum beat and harmonizing from Bianca for most of the song, was a nice change from the album version. All the songs were a little different for the most part since they had a drummer and a bassist and an intense rapper for some songs (who was she?). There was also a guest singer for Beautiful Boyz and two dancers for one of the songs. The drumming and bass parts usually threw me off since…I dunno. They just did. I love the random weird animal-esque noises of mewing cats and neighing…equine animals. They have a bunch of random toys that would be good for “circuit bending”:http://www.cafepress.com/getlofi.33086251.

It was a fun night, planned somewhat last minute since I got my ticket on Tuesday night (eh, I usually plan more ahead). Although tired, I generally felt okay inside Tonic, or at least non-asthmatic. When I got to the subway station (which is right around the corner) and felt the need to hack-cough, I felt the beginnings of asthmatic wheezy lung syndrome set in. SUBWAY = ASTHMA. Just so you know.

Cool musicians who blog.

They’re like you and me, except more interesting.

[Warning: I'm really tired. This probably isn't well written.]

Boy, Friday sucked beyond the suckiest of suck. The night was much better. Thank god.

Since I didn’t really have anything else to do, I got to the Hammerstein Ballroom around 4:10. Yes, that’s really early; there was only one other fan waiting at that time. Arriving there that early didn’t help me much with getting a good spot; I was in the front row, but way over on the right. After a bunch of us had already formed a line by the door (and as the rain picked up), security guards shuffled us into two lines to separate those with floor tickets from those with mezzanine tickets. Oh well. I hadn’t been to the Hammerstein Ballroom in about 3 years but it seemed as annoying/disorganized as it was before. My day had pretty much been a Katamari Damancy ball, picking up more and more crap, rainy NYC weather and a late door opening time.

The crowd felt different from any other show I had been to in a long time. Less mature, more Beck-insane? It’s not a bad thing, but it caught me off guard for some reason. Maybe it’s a sign that I’m getting too old; soon I’ll be using the word “whippersnapper”.

Whirlwind Heat opened around 8:15. Since I had no idea what they sounded like, there was no way for me to expect insane spastic-ness from the lead singer and insane bass guitar playing and insane drumming. That’s my description. If I liked that kind of music (“that kind” being distorted and spastic) I’d have more to say. Fun to watch, especially the end where bassist and lead singer attacked each other with bass guitars, but not something I’d want to listen to.

More waiting. I heard that Beck went on at 9:00 the night before but he went on at 9:30 last night. Ooh…but opening with “Loser” got the crowd out of their “Where the [bleep] is Beck?” mode and into “Let’s all scream ‘Sooooy un perdidor’” mode.

Beck’s new band was awesome and having a VJ livened things up. I’m most fond of the Midnite Vultures set up with the tubes and brightly colored junk, but having screens with random videos flashing by in a “we’re putting sublibminal Beck messages into your head” type fashion was cool, or at least 10000% better than watching the Guero DVD (which I think has some of the same clips) on your home computer.

I think he played “Black Tambourine” after “Loser”, which like all the songs from Guero sounds a gazillion times better live, in my opinion. Dancing guy (I know he has a real name…but it’s easier to call him “dancing guy”) did his awesome crazy fist-pumping splodging all around the stage. He’s perfect for the…um..the job of playing percussion and dancing strangely and having to wear silly things every now and then.

Like a traffic controller getup to make sure the giant boombox of Beck-ness descended from the sky above in perfect condition. I forgot what song it was that he first carried out a regular sized boombox, then another larger but still carry-able by a normal sized human boombox, and then the ginormously monstrous boombox that couldn’t possibly do anything, but looked cool (I suppose it distractedme). The huge boombox is just a symbol of how awesome Beck and his entourage is. Or something.

It wouldn’t been really cool if it were a pinata. But anyway.

Fast forward: Beck played “Nobody’s Fault But My Own” and went into a Beck medley while the band sat down and ate at a table on stage. Something awesome about Beck is that he can play random medleys. I know I’ve heard one before (although I can’t remember when) and it was hilarious. This time he started off with “He’s a Mighty Good Leader” and went on to…a bunch of other things I can’t remember, but they probably spanned a few albums (which is another great thing about Beck; having a ridiculous repertoire of material to choose from, hence why he can go from “Nicotine & Gravy” to “Hotwax” to “Lost Cause”, although probably not in that order). He also played “Debra”, always a funny song and one of those Beck songs you just have to hear live.

I’d say more but my brain’s gonna deflate any time soon. Basically, it was a great show, with my only complaint being that it wasn’t longer (not that it was short at 90 minutes, but…well duh, I’d want it longer). (Actually, I felt like the stage was darker than it should’ve been but maybe I’m going blind.) Although I’ve seen him more energetic, he and the band were really into the performance, as were the fans around me who seemed stunned by the awesome performance.

…which, being the poop I am, made me think about the best Beck concert I’ve ever been to. Seven is not a crapload of concerts, considering that it’s been within the past seven years. Easily, the best Beck concert for me was at Alice Tully Hall, made even more significant in that I was sitting in one of the last rows and I didn’t have a camera with me in the theater (rare, but so is going to a concert at Lincoln Center where they give you the option of checking your camera in for free). Frankly, nothing’s going to make me as happy as that or seem as good. But last night was awesome and happiness inducing, except for the really tall guy next to me that I thought was going to hit my face every time he pumped his right first in the air.

—

Lastly, as for the aforementioned Beck thing that almost made me want to kill myself, that’s actually the third time something Beck related has brought me to a point so psychologically perturbing that I couldn’t function for a period of time, a “period” which has lasted from a few hours to a few days. Two of those times happened in a single week when I was in 9th grade; hopefully I’ve changed a bit then (but only a bit). I thought of some reasons to justify why I’d be unable to meet Beck, but I’ll keep them to myself.

—

I remembered some other things:

* fake “dueling banjos” between Beck and Ryan (aka dancing dude) during Sexxlaws
* Where It’s At = the song with the ginormous boombox
* random “jam” after the band was finished eating at the table
* apparently the medleys weren’t medleys but just shortened songs
* after Beck was done with his acoustic set, he “called” the band (you know, the one right behind him) on his “cellphone” (you know, the …normal phone) to tell them he was getting lonely…and I think I just used too many quotation marks
* Beck calling out random names of people he “recognized” in the audience from the night before (oops, more quotes)

So…um. The other day I got an email about doing a little Beck interview since the interviewer had to be a college student in the NYC area. (I’m a bit of a Beck fan.)

Being a moron, I thought about it for a few hours. My biggest problem was that yes, I am very shy, whether or not there is a camera. Long story short, I said probably not, for the sake of an intelligible interview and not puking on Beck or something. Also, I figured there were bigger Beck fans than me…

…except no, apparently the person they got isn’t as big of a Beck fan than I am, which makes this very disappointing. If I had known I’d feel like crying and puking and would completely lose my appetite all at the same time because I didn’t get to interview Beck (as opposed to my fear that that’s what would happen if I did), I wouldn’t have had to think about it.

…um, I shouldn’t have told you this. It’s embarassing. Oh well. That’s what blogs are for. You can think less of me now. My desire to go to the Beck show tonight has somewhat lessened, which is pathetic.

I think I’ll go outside and get run over by a cab.

Watch as Aziz Ansari is forced to carry around a boombox playing the world’s shittiest mixtape. [via stereogum]

Damn, I wish I could’ve seen that in action so I could cringe in horror. If my roommate hadn’t been in the room while I was watching that, I would’ve laughed much harder. Oh. Poor, awesome Aziz.

I seriously hate that Crazy Town song. If you liked that song when it was popular (and thus made it popular, you heathen), WHY? WHYYY?! I remember being able to endure other shitty songs but that one would actually make me get up and turn the radio off. Forever.

This is probably one of those things only I’d be interested in, but Kenneth Ishak (songs at purevolume), a member of Norwegian band Beezewax, is playing at Lit Lounge (anyone know if it has an age limit?) on October 18th. [via it's a trap] He just happens to be in the area to attend a wedding so this isn’t something that would happen very often. Unless a lot of people get married.

Hmm…I’d like to go. Perhaps.

I was planning to see Franz Ferdinand on October 16th, which I would’ve sworn was a listed date, but I don’t see it anymore. If I see them on the 17th instead, I don’t think I’ll want to go to another show the next day (I guess my not being caffeine-enhanced makes me unable to see things two days in a row; yeah, I’m pathetic). I’ll keep it in mind though. But what happened to the other FF show? I’d much rather go on a Sunday! MRAAH! FRAANNNZZ!!! MOOO!

Although I’m not a ginormous Interpol fan, I’ve been listening to them for a few years and have wanted to see them…for a while. Maybe not a few years but at least within the past 365 days. I was thinking that I just have to see them once so I’ll be happy, but I wouldn’t mind seeing them again and endure the sonic blasts spewing forth from loads of screaming fangirls.

But that’s part of the fun. I think. I mean, I have earplugs; what do I care? “PAUL, YOU’RE SEXY!” Yes, yes, he knows. There was a funny part before the first encore where two zealous fans’ screaming was interrupted by one of the girl’s questions; “Isn’t this ritual silly? I mean, we know the band’s going to come out again.” Hence, why I, the party pooper, don’t raise my hands and flail madly; someone else will do that for me. Heehee.

So obviously, the place was packed. Even though it was a sold out show, I think they still had tickets at the door for less than what just about every else had paid. Ooh well. I got there at 6 PM, knowing there’d be a long line, which there was, thus ensuring that there would be more humans than I’d prefer for there to be between me and the stage, but that’s alright. Waiting for two openers to entertain us was less alright, but “Boom Bip”:http://www.lexrecords.com/boom-bip/ definitely has a new fan (me…yes, because you needed clarification). I wasn’t very into the first opener, Child Ballads, not that they performed badly, but maybe a little awkwardly. Watching the lead singer push his mic around and around was somewhat distracting, or maybe his mic stand had issues.

At some point (maybe 10:30PM), Interpol came on stage. Actually, it was dark for a prolonged period of time, and then they came on stage. They played just about all of Antics (except for two songs…but I’m too lazy to actually find the setlist) and half of Turn On the Bright Lights, finishing off with Specialist, where my not-a-giant-fan-ness shone through as I couldn’t sing along with just about the rest of the audience. There was a lot of singing along, although I didn’t actually partake in any, choosing instead to stare at Paul’s sweat-drippy head and feel like I was about to collapse from …standing a lot and getting “noodly leg” syndrome. But it was still great, because they played “Not Even Jail,” which for whatever reason I have dubbed to be my favorite Antics track. They also played “Roland” which is one of my favorites from Turn On the Bright Lights (no one single song stands out for me on that album, but I like a bunch of them…a lot), although I think it’s just because of the beginning lyrics of butchers and knives (KNIFIN’ AROUND, HA HA HA, ow), after which I stop paying attention and go back into comotose mode.

Random thing: while everyone in the band sported black clothing, the keyboardist distanced himself from the regular band members by wearing a kelly green shirt. I wonder if that was intentional or if they had a discussion; “YOU CAN’T WEAR BLACK! Now wear this kermit-colored shirt. And stand in the corner.”

I’m getting off track. Uh. Did I mention that the concert was awesome? Cos it was. If I had to rate it on a scale that I made up just now and has no value whatsoever, I’d put the concert a smidgen below “amazing”, since I heard some other fans say that. Maybe if I were closer it would’ve been amazing. IT’S MY FAULT FOR NOT BEING MORE AMAZED, DAMMIT! They’re great live, pretty intense. Paul looked insane a lot and I mean that in the best way one could look insane. Carlos bops around a lot, which I wasn’t expecting.

Final thoughts: as much as I like “Evil”, every time I hear it I just think of the creepy puppet from the music video. Seeing it live at least gives me different visuals, but in the back of my head, that pupper is lurking, ready to stab me with hospital instruments and swallow me whole with that ginormous mouth.

Do you have an artist that you can listen to whenever you don’t know what to listen to? Maybe having too may choices is spoiling because sometimes I’m not in the mood to listen to any one particular artist. Then I put on The Innocence Mission and feel better.

Otherwise, songs I have been listening to way too much lately are CocoRosie’s “Noah’s Ark” and Soulwax’s “E-Talking”. Yeah, they’re not exactly…similar. “Oslo in the Summertime” by Of Montreal has also been stuck in my head a little too much.

Wanna hear a really scary song and accompanying animation? Kinda? Do You Like Waffles? (flash) It’s kind of awesome. And scary. Waffles and pancakes make you go insane.

Tomorrow is the Interpol show at Webster Hall. I like Interpol and haven’t gotten to see them live yet, but for whatever reason I’m not dying to go…partially because I’ve been sick for a few days and I’m sure I won’t be fresh as a daisy tomorrow. I’d have to be near death/never-ending fountain of mucus to not go though.