the oh so quiet show

Patrick Wolf

Last week I became semi-obsessed with the music video for The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf:

Happy colors! Dancing! Smiles! Craziness! Basically the opposite of my world, which is full of earth tones, sitting, frowning, and normality! Or something! I love the continual movement of the camera in all the non-dancing scenes and every little step and pause taken by Patrick and all the twirls and claps in between. Is that weird? Choreographed walking? Strolling? I don’t know. I really like the pause at the 1:15 mark, but I have no idea why.

I thought that I wouldn’t like any of his other songs—I’ve listened to bits of his older albums before and never got into them—but then a friend kindly donated the album to “Robyn’s iTunes” and it turns out that I like it. A lot. At least until I get sick of it. It’s a weird mix of…stuff. Hell, I’m not writing an album review; there are no standards here. WEIRD MIX OF STUFF, THAT’S WHAT IT IS. Stuff that expands in your brain and fills in every squishy crevice with beeps and thumps and pianos and horns and maybe the screechings of soaring fireworks.

He’s playing at Bowery Ballroom on May 9th. Which I only just realized is the day before my (second) graduation ceremony. Crap. Stupid graduation. I’ll just be very tired that day.

Travis makes me smile

Closer
Closer…to Cooper Union?

It’s mainly Fran’s voice that makes me smile, but the whole band is…pretty important, last time I checked. So! Travis makes me smile. Watch the video for Closer, the first single off their upcoming album, The Boy With No Name coming out on May 10th [via torr]:

My thoughts while watching the video:

  • Supermarket…oookay
  • Damn, I really don’t want to work in a supermarket. Again. (My first job was bagging at Stop & Shop in high school)
  • Fran…is a giant chipmunk? This is a weird supermarket.
  • …This song is very pretty.
  • Aw, everyone is like, HAPPY AND STUFF, and full of so much joy, they have forgotten the suckiness of being in a supermarket!!! Fran’s singing heals all emotional wounds. Wow.
  • Fran is sweeping his arms around. Why that makes me happy, I don’t know.
  • CAMEO, OH DEAR GOD.
  • Aha…pwnd.
  • Muzak kills everything.
  • Kissing between random young peeps feels oddly serious for me. Should’ve just stuck with hugging. Yay! Hugs!
  • I want a happy hug.
  • …Now I am filled with sadness.

I didn’t say they were deep thoughts or anything.

Most of Travis’s videos are great, not in the groundbreaking sense but in the “it will make you smile and maybe laugh a bit” sense. Which is good for those times when you realize life sucks. …Which is most of the time. Especially when, after listening to this song, I thought about who I have in my life that I wouldn’t mind leaning on. Or rather, wouldn’t mind me leaning on them and crushing them with my lead-like density (yes, I’m thinking of the physical sense of leaning on someone, not the…I dunno, mental lean-age). And there are very few people who fit that description. It’s possible that I could gain more of these people, but I think I’m more likely to lose the ones I have now.

In conclusion, woo Travis!

Colleen

Note to self (or anyone else who’s reading this):

Colleen (aka Cécile Schott) makes beautiful music. How so? Uh. Loopy layered soft twinkly-ness? Most horrible description ever? Yes. So just listen yourself, or watch this video:

Andrew Bird = some kind of happiness

IMG_0538
bescarfed

Sometimes before going to a super awesome concert, I get that jittery feeling. Or the feeling that my blood cells are going to explode. You know, tingly, on the verge of happiness-induced death. Hopefully you know the feeling.

I didn’t feel that way before seeing Andrew Bird at Union Hall last night. Maybe the cozy, “just like your friend’s basement” setting put me at ease. Or not. Despite that I was very excited and have been intensely listening to Andrew’s music for the past few months, there was no tingle, not even when my friend pointed out that we’d be standing just a few feet away from him.

All I did was expect greatness. Yup, that’s it. Perfection in an imperfect way. And I feel like that’s what I got.

thingy behind him is ...rotating
yes, the room is very colorful

The band quietly went on stage in front of the 100-odd crowd and went into…awesomeness. Andrew is like some crazy perfect whistling machine who can pluck/play violin and guitar while playing footsie with his delay modeler (good god, I want one) making sure to plink on the xylophone every now and then and spin the giant thingamabobber when he feels like throwing violin sound waves around the room and ARRGH, IT’S CRAZINESS, YOU JUST WONDER WHY NO ONE ELSE WILL EVER BE AS COOL AS ANDREW BIRD.

Or something.

intense.
squinty

It’s peaceful craziness. His voice. HIS VOICE. His…oh whatever, I can’t really describe it. Ridiculously beautiful? Yes. It wraps around you like a blanket. That’s my favorite kind of voice—the warm soft blankety voice. But I’m sure this kind of voice varies with different people. And there are different kinds of blankets. I would call Andrew a…quilt. Maybe. A large fluffy homemade quilt.

There were some sound issues, but to me the show was perfect. I felt…comfortable. Like I was surrounded by friendly people. And the show didn’t start at some crazy late night that would result in me crawling back to my apartment after midnight. He started around 8 PM and played for about two hours. I sadly watched his gargantuan tour bus roll down Union Street sometime after 11 PM, signaling the end of the night. Or any will to live.

…just kidding. I’ll be seeing him again in May at Webster Hall. It won’t be nearly as awesome as last night, but it’s a million times better than nothing.

Setlist:

Intro
Imitosis
Fiery Crash
Spare-Ohs
Dear Dirty
Heretics
Simple-X
The Supine
Armchairs
Skin
Scythian Empire
Dark Matter

Oh Sister
Glass Figurine

Update: Some more reviews…

Fists With Your Toes
Daily Refill

dancing around paris

I don’t care to watch people dancing. Unless the “dancers” are wearing bathrobes and invading public spaces throughout Paris.

Institut Bonheur to the rescue:

I don’t know what the point of IB is, but they amuse me. So. They’re cool. [via le méchant garçon]