Kinzaza went to perhaps the best Kings of Convenience performance ever in St. Petersburg. Totally worth the 10 hour trip from Moscow? Yes. Read about it in her journal entry.

First the guys played in the club itself (well, it isn’t even a club, just a few large white tents with a restaurant arranged inside). However, Erlend & Eirik were obviously not prepared for a +30 C degrees at 10 pm in a North-West city, and after having played about 8 songs Eirik suggested leaving the tents and going to the beach nearby.

[…] Following my example, a lot of fans then surrounded Eirik and he had to stop, while Erlend went farther and sat on the sand not far from the water, and about 20 people sat around him in circle. First he we were talking for a while, then he played Röyksopp’s Remind Me and after that I suddenly said “Erlend, let’s sing something altogether! Maybe Homesick?” – “Ok, – he answered, – but not altogether, let’s do it you and me!”

[…] Don’t trust the name of the band – Erlend and Eirik can hardly behave as Kings or as superstars (who they are, in fact:). They’re just 2 simple guys, awfully nice and open to everyone. And they really made everyone happy that wonderful night.

Awwww. I think that’s even cuter than thi blind puppy romping in the snow. Seeing Kings of Convenience live was one of my most memorable concert experiences. I love dem weegies.

Dedicated Japanese Mew fan no snow rounded up lots of photos and reviews.

taken by newstreamer

Flickred:

blueberd
metal guru
newstreamer
marcymakesaparty
irockiroll

Video (by slidesong):

Update: Another video by marcystuckinjersey:Reviews:

brooklynvegan
Central Village
JANEMAG
musicsnobbery
cmj blog
the trip wire
Official Mew Forum topic
Sound Bites

Setlist (plus CJ’s excited comments):

* Special
* Shelter….Swanky
* Am I Wry? No…156
* White Lips Kissed
* She Came Home for Christmas
* Apocalypso….Saviors of JAZZBALLET! (WHAT!?)
* Snow Brigade….Zookeepers Boy
* Louise Louisa
Encore:
* Comforting Sounds (AWESOME!)

“They actually were supposed to play SheSpider but Jonas told me that they were running too long (70+ minutes). ”

There was an after-party at The Annex.

ONE MORE DAY UNTIL…TOMORROW!

Kellynn’s review of kings of convenience – mosaic music festival ’06, singapore

They’re one of the best live bands ever. From my concert experience, they’re the cutest, funniest, most endearing…dammit, they’re awesome. I regret not going to both of their shows when they were in NYC last year. …I went to one. ONE IS NOT ENOUGH.

Don’t miss Magnet upcoming performance on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic next Monday, March 13th. (Or actually…you can miss it and listen to it online later. BUT DON’T YOU LIKE LISTENING TO THINGS IN REAL TIME? Yeah.)

Fans have been putting up lots of great media from Magnet’s North American tour so far. [Sidenote: This is what having no life and using technorati/youtube/flickr will get you.] Check it out:

Reviews:

• Matt’s blog: 2/22, Boston / Paradise
• Harmonium: 2/24, Washington DC / Black Cat
• Musical Hedonist: 2/24, Washington DC / Black Cat

Photos:

photo taken by pressta

• lunarbull: 2/22, Boston / Paradise
• jvanschoick: 2/23, Philadelphia / Beyond
• pressta: 2/25, NYC / Webster Hall
• rowchygogo: 2/25, NYC / Webster Hall
• > Janice: 3/1, Toronto / The Docks

Videos:

peterparker86: 2/24, Washington DC / Black Cat

slapchar: 2/25, NYC / Webster Hall

No one got married. I think.

Of Montreal is too cute for its own good. And awesome. And happy. And jumpy. Besides an artist just performing music, it’s great when they also interact with the audience, tell stories, look freaklishly happy, wear glittery makeup, etc. Outfit changes help too. I’m not saying every artist can do this successfully, but Of Montreal does it all right. Although I’m not the hugest Of Montreal fan (I’m the lower end of medium, only having listened to “The Sunlandic Twins” closely, although I’m currently soaking in “Aldhils Arboretum”), their music is so infectiously boppy and poppy with colorful harmonies coating your ears in cotton candy that your brain might turn into a unicorn just by listening to it…which would be problematic when the unicorn tries to escape your skull and kill you in the process…eh, you’ll have died by then.

That paragraph didn’t make much sense. Well. A photo is worth a bucket of words, or something, so I’ll just post photos.

strut

After taking off the bridal gown (and giving his ring to an audience member), lead singer Kevin Barnes showed us his slim-ness. Ohhh, I hate people with good metabolism. But I’ll let Kevin slide. He changed into…

mm, jacket

…a denim jacket thing! And later…

mm, shiny

…a shiny gold ruffled shirt thing! And later…

dance, Kevin, dance!

…orange coat thing! As you can see in this mid-bop photo, he bopped around. I was driven to using the movie function on my camera for the first time ever to catch the bop-ness. Enjoy:

So, back to the concert. Um. IT WAS AWESOME! Here’s the setlist, mainly in shortened title form since that’s how they wrote it down on their paper towel setlists on stage:

* Rapture
* So Begins Our Alabee
* Fashion
* Forecast
* Don’t Ask
* Sad Love
* Voltaic
* Chrissy
* Disconnect the Dots
* Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games
* Cato
* Noir
* Lysergic
* Requiem For O.M.M.2
* Spike
* Exquisite Chap
* Oslo In The Summertime
* I Was Never Young
* The Party’s Crashing Us
* encore (4 songs)

You can listen to a crapload of their songs on their website. If you don’t like “Disconnect the Dots”, then…what is up with that? HUH? WHAAAT?

Yeeah, I didn’t think so.

hat!

I really liked how the bassist (sorry, I don’t know everyone’s names) was wearing a ginormous fuzz bucket hat and an extra-long scarf. Maybe he’s cold blooded. COLD BLOODED PEOPLE ARE ALRIGHT WITH ME. Everyone dressed snappily, if I may say that without sounding overly moronic (…too late).

I wish I had more to say, but it’s not like my words can do any justice to the show. If you get the chance, you must see Of Montreal. They’ll charm the crap out of you!

holding hands, aw

Grand Buffet might also charm the crap out of you in a different way. I don’t like rap unless it’s sung by white people, apparently. I’M RAP RACIST? RAP…CIST…nevermind. The only “rap” I’ve listened to voluntarily is by Beck; does that even count? Anyhoo, Grand Buffet (I used to eat at a place called Grand Buffet in NJ, hmm) sing random stuff and say crazy stuff and the tall lanky dude likes to eat baby carrots, which he keeps in his pocket. The other guy likes to chew tobacco. They both like to wear black and sing songs about lemonade and the pope, or something like that. They had me (and much of the audience) laughing crazily. SO EASILY AMUSED, I AAAM.

Good times.

Good! Or kinda good!

“Beat Surrender”:http://www.thebeatsurrender.co.uk/daily/recordbox/fall-at-your-feet-magnet/
“New Noise”:http://www.new-noise.net/us_240.html
“Music OHM”:http://www.musicomh.com/singles6/magnet-3_1205.htm
“Angry Age”:http://www.angryape.com/reviews/2005/11/magnet-fall-at-your-feet
“Music Emissions”:http://www.musicemissions.com/display_review.php?id=2
“Manchester Music”:http://www.music-dash.co.uk/releases/release.asp?item=2662
“Room Thirteen”:http://www.roomthirteen.com/cgi-bin/cd_view.cgi?CDID=2796
“Outline Online”:http://www.outlineonline.co.uk/page.asp?pageid=50

Not so good!

“Channel 4”:http://www.channel4.com/music/outandabout/index.jsp?id=18
“Rock City”:http://www.rock-city.co.uk/content/EEFuZuFZAFhLoOdmmy.shtml
“Drowned in Sound”:http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/6911
“The Communion”:http://www.thecommunion.co.uk/release_reviews.php?id=729

Something that bothers me, even though it doesn’t make much of a difference: Magnet is just Even Johansen and not the whole band. One dude!

Even left a message in “his guestbook”:http://interactives.alxnet.com/cgi-bin/slither/Driver.py/WebTools//Guestbook/Guestbook.render?guestbook_id=39227. He’s playing two shows this week, but they’re in Norway so you’re probably not going! Hopefully he’ll be in the US for SXSW (and then make his way to other parts of the country), although he’s not listed on “their page”:http://2006.sxsw.com/ yet.

When I listen to a new CD by an artist I’ve never listened to before and don’t know what to expect, the first thing that comes to my mind before even putting the CD in the CD tray is, “Don’t suck.” Or rather, “I hope I like this. Not that this would suck if I don’t like it. But still…don’t suck.” And then I wait for the first notes to play while clenching my teeth.

When the beginning of “New America Apathy” (download it at her jazz) by Mazarin came out of my crappy computer speakers in all its twinkly and drum-filled goodness, I felt…happy! Like so:

I’m sure you needed that visual. The rest of the album, We’re Already There (I & Ear Records), had the same impact. I couldn’t think of many good descriptions for the music besides a few boring words that popped into my head: pop, jangly, guitar-y, drum machines happy, like something from the ’60s…in a good way, the kind of stuff that will get stuck in your head, for better or worse.

Sorry, that sucked. Thankfully, there are lots of reviews online. Here’s a bit from Advanced Alternative Media:

bq. It is happy music, but not really carefree or cutesy at all…From atmospheric noises that occupy the background to a myriad of keyboards, drum sounds, guitars and effects, there is never a dull moment.

Yeah, sounds good. I liked this bit from her jazz:

bq. Mazarin would still prefer to float in through the window rather than crash right through your wall and the half stuttering / half steadied rhythm of this song sounds not unlike beatmatching gone awry, removing any heft from its social commentary.

Yup. Floating. Windows. That also sounds good. This music floats. FLOOOAAAAT! (Wow, that’s a weird word to look at all dragged out.)

They just played at Soundfix on Sunday and I wish I had gone. Or could’ve gone. Instead, I was bakery/food store-hopping, probably staring into the sugar depths of a cupcake while they were performing. Damn cake.

Thanks to Ice Cream Man for recommending Mazarin. (Now all I need is ice cream.) You might like them. So. GETTHEIRALBUMNOW! The end.

I’m mentioning it now because of Ice Cream Man’s Coachella Review. Food and music together, good lord. Ice cream is good. The site is cool and has lots of photos and reviews, but…

…ICE CREAM.

Actually, I don’t even like ice cream that much, but ice cream trucks make me happy. I think that instead of beer and other non-exciting substances, music venues should serve milkshakes, sundaes, and pancakes. I have yet to find anyone who wholeheartedly agrees with me on this idea, but come on! Shakes! Mm!

The end.

…oh wait, not the end. Check out the Make Your Own Coachella Blog Post [from Boing Boing]. I think this just applies to guys. Here’s my favorite part because I think I’ve read sentences like these on a number of occasions:

Speaking of religious experiences, I think I can die now. I FINALLY got to see New Order live. I’ve loved those guys since {I was a kid/I first heard The Killers/somebody told me I was supposed to} and needless to say, they didn’t disappoint. I left after their set because I had an early flight home. No worries, I heard that Bright Eyes {sucked/sucked/sucked} anyway. So whatever.

No mention of ice cream though. [sniff]

Uh. Yeah. Laundry. Oh, I’m supposed to talk about music.

All the photos are kind of …CRAP! But that’s okay (much better/amusing photos by brooklynvegan). The Decemberists are great live, although I don’t think I would have taken the opportunity to see them outside of school where it would probably cost more than $6. They started with The Infanta and played lots of songs I didn’t know (which is anything not on Picaresque). So what I did recognize were “We Both Go Down Together”, “Sixteen Military Wives”, “Engine Driver” (one of my favorites from the album) and “Mariner’s Revenge”, which they played as an encore. I wasn’t really into the song before but they went kind of INSANE playing it live, which made it sound better and…funner (great way to end the show). We were informed beforehand that we’d have to scream at the point that the whale eats us (the screaming is weak in the album version–I never noticed it!), an act performed by the electric guitar player (sorry, I don’t know the band members’ names). The guitarist was a funny guy. Actually, the whole band seemed really fun and happy during their performance, more so than most bands I’ve seen. Or perhaps all of them. During the last song, the drummer kind of crawled on the floor and undid the bassist’s shoelaces to tie them together. Bwaaa. He didn’t succeed but it was an interested attempt. Everyone in the band performed very well because they’re all crazy talented or something, I don’t know.

The crowd was good. Large. Enthused. Lots of big fans, it seemed. My friend (that I met at the Doves concert and is in my writing class) and I started waiting at 7:30, which seemed to be the golden time when EVERYONE started waiting (there were two other girls who got there around the same time). My friend and I didn’t think the Decemberists were on Kill Rock Stars but they are. I dunno why I’m mentioning that. I never thought about what label they were on. I just bought Picaresque (from amazon) so I shall have CD…uh..yes. I hope the liner notes are cool or something, haha.

There were two openers. I wasn’t very into the first (all girl rock type band..thing..not really something I’d listen to) but the second was a girl playing a ukelele. SHE WAS AWESOME. Because she was insanely cute and funny. I wasn’t into her songs but her personality won me over. Her parents were in the audience and she pointed them out. I wish I remembered her name…oh well.

The Village Voice recently profiled the Decemberists. I’m afraid I forgot to mention the heartthrob-ness of Colin Meloy…hm. Um. I can’t say I swoon over anyone largely because of massive cuteness (no, really…) but I can see why Colin would get the ladeeez. I wouldn’t pick him as my swoon-ee but then again, I really like penguins. And that has nothing to do with that, but I just wanted to put that out there.

M. Ward played for 90 minutes and his guitar playing-ness made me think “Maybe I should just burn my guitar and then chop off my hands for not being worthy of playing guitar.” His acoustic guitar-ness is much fun to watch. When I hear it on his albums I think “Ah, that’s pretty” and when I see it live I think “Jebus what’s he doing whaahATAHSDASD” in addition to “God, my feet hurt like a mother…”

Breaking into new shoes is not fun.

Okay, concert. Crowd seemed good, shouting requests every so often, not being annoying. I think there were two encores. Or. Three. For a long time the songs seemed pretty low-key, solo stuff with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica, but then the whole backing band came out and the mood completely changed. And then back to solo-ness. And then back to band-ness. I guess it’s good to mix things up.

It was hard to see M. Ward very well since he was wearing a hat. But I think he was happy or he wouldn’t have played so much. Uh. Yes.

AHragsdbrainmelt, I’ll update this later.

— many hours later —

I don’t have much else to say, actually. I enjoyed the show and Rachel Blumberg’s drumming besides M. Ward’s (I always feel inclined to say “Mmm, Ward” as thought I’m about to say “Mmm, donut”) guitar playing. Drums, I love thee.

The second photo is of Coco Rosie (not a very good homepage, unfortunately), one of the openers besides Devotchka, whose music I’ve never heard before but really enjoyed. When choosing between buygin Devotchka’s album and Coco Rosie’s though, I picked Coco Rosie’s (or CocoRosie? Mrrh?). I heard that people either love them or hate them; I ended up loving them. Or really liking them. They’re pretty strange but not really. …Um. God. You know I hate trying to describe music.

I’ll attempt anyway. Their singing may be off-putting but I like it. AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. It sounds kind of immature. And not. I enjoyed their use of children’s toys/keyboards to make sounds (or animal noises) but the Care Bears video in the background freaked me out a bit. It’s a matter of personal tastes but my overall impression is that they’re different from other stuff that’s out there and it’s refreshing. You can listen to a song at epitonic.com.