The Almighty Oracle

I don’t like large venues. But the opportunity of seeing Sigur Rós live is too rare to bail out on it only because they play in front of 6000+ people.

Sigur Rós‘ music is unique and even though when you first listen to their albums you may think it will not transcribe well live, it’s the exact opposite. The band stands behind its music : there are no lights directed on the band members for the audience to see the, instead the lights are behind them so that they almost only ever appear as silouhettes. The visual show is also very well planned, with the occasional rain, snow and confetti, light balloons and black and white films projected on the white screen.

A Sigur Rós concert is not like any other, it’s an experience you have to live to understand the true extent of it. You won’t walk out of the venue the same person you were when you walked in. You may think I’m exaggerating here, but ask anyone who’s seen them and they’ll tell you the same thing. This is a special experience that I hope never to forget.

The setlist (approximatively) :

Svefn-g-Englar
Ný Batterí
Fljótavik
Við Spilum Endalaust
Hoppípolla
Með Blóðnasir
Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
Sæglópur
E-bow
Festival
Hafsól
Gobbledigook
—
All Alright
Popplagið

It was a little short but so intense I even forgive them for not playing Glósóli. It’ll be for next time, right?

For A Minor Reflection, a post-rock icelandic band, opened and they were pretty good. They only played 3 songs – which still covered 30 minutes. They reminded me a lot of Explosions In The Sky with their long measures of slightly distorted sound that only grows into bigger distorted sound where the melody somehow gets lost.

Photos (clicking one of the links will lead you to a website that’s still a work in progress) :

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                 Sigur Rós                //       For A Minor Reflection

mel :: Nov.29.2008 :: Concert Review, For A Minor Reflection, Sigur Rós :: No Comments »

When I sent my Christmas wishlist to my sister a week ago, I promised myself not to buy anything off of it till December 25th (it’s only fair). But yesterday, I was in shopping in town and entered the CD shop and walked directly towards the indie shelves. Bad move, right? I  ended up buying The Organ’s Thieves EP [and Psapp's The Camel's Back - but that'll be discussed in another post].

1. Even In The Night opens as a slow plaintive guitar-less song, for the main part. Deb’s guitar only comes in at the end to conclude the story.

“I thought it again and had that dream again last night
of drowning children in the river, oh good god you’ve got to find me.
Tens of children have drowned in my heart, oh I think you’d better find me
I don’t want all my clothes going back into charitable hands.”

2. Oh What A Feeling is more upbeat with a usual guitar/bass/drums driving combination. I’ve always loved this song live for the part when the whole band sings along near the end. On this studio version, this part is covered by the organ line, it’s quite a shame. It gave even more intensity to the song.

“You let in the ghost of her
Now I see it everywhere
Take yours body back
but oh oh please leave me the fear”

3. Let The Bells Ring was released as a single back in the day and you’ll find the same version on Thieves. The lyrics are cryptic as can be and the orchestration is solid.

“And then I take a sword in my hand and climb up a mountain
And call the names of the people who will rock me in the end
lie rest assured you’ll have your own reverberate the walls”

4. Fire In The Ocean is the shortest song with just 1:49. The drums stand out here along with the occasional over laying vocals. It’s still very cryptic but it’s haunting, as well.

“Who will love me oh like the ocean does
We are so much like eachother
We don’t see the need for each other”

5. Can You Tell Me One Thing  is reminiscent of There’s Nothing I Can Do for the overall melody. It’s probably the weakest songs out of the six.

“Can you tell me one thing, are you alright?
I don’t recognize your verbs tonight
Can you tell me one thing, are you alright tonight?”

6. Don’t Be Angry is very different in the way that its main part consists of acoustic guitar[or ukulele - not sure here] sweetly accompanying Katie Sketch’s voice while the rest of the instruments shyly join in as the song goes. It’s sweet, moving and haunting as well. My personal favourite. This song along makes the purchase of the EP well worth it.

“All that I want was here now it’s gone
Don’t be angry, I will die lonely”

The Organ don’t play happy songs but sad songs are always the best ones anyway, right?  It’s nice they finally released these lost songs even though the band is long gone and burried. They had a special sound, may it be thanks to the organ, the high pitched guitar melodies, Katie Sketch’s voice or the combination of it all and they’ll always have a special place in my personal musical history.

Don’t Be Angry : 

mel :: Nov.10.2008 :: CD Review, Don't Be Angry, The Organ, Thieves EP :: 2 Comments »

Off their new record due for early 2009, Help, I’m Alive appears as a quite simple song. It still has the little Metric touch to it though. It was one of the first songs Emily Haines wrote after she had secretly quit writing.

Of course, this is only the radio edit version. The album one may be slightly different, but we’ll only know about that in a couple of months.
If you want to listen to the stripped down to only piano/voice version of the song, visit ilovemetric.com

Lyrics : Continue Reading »

mel :: Nov.09.2008 :: Help I'm Alive, Metric, Song of the Day :: 2 Comments »

Today’s been a rough day but there’s always a positive side to everything, right? Right. And for me it was the fact that Pitchfork have a new Loney Dear song off the new album streaming.

Airport Surroundings is a typical Loney Dear song, except a little more upbeat than usually. The soft percussions, the bass, the different layers of keys topped with Emil Svanängen’s sweet voice harmonizing with itself. When you know this is the work of just one man, it’s simply amazing. (the band only comes in for live performances)

I remember my first encounter with Loney, Dear (yes, there was a comma, originally)  as they were opening for Vic Chesnutt who was also opening for Andrew Bird back in November 2007 (time flies!). They took the stage while there were a total of 4 people in the venue, Emil decided he didn’t need the microphone for the first song and that was a priviledged moment and a nice way to make a connection with everyone. The set was quite short but a very memorable one (Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl was mesmerizing!). At the end of the night, I gave Emil a thumb up (which got me a free button), bought all of the Loney, Dear available albums and had a pleasant chat. I promised him that I wouldn’t miss a chance to see him and the band live whenever they come back around. I just noticed they’re actually playing 3 hours away from here next week when I have some time off but I can’t just drive off to Cologne (or anywhere) spontaneously all the time. But I hate breaking promises.

Visit Loney Dear on myspace.

mel :: Nov.07.2008 :: Airport Surroundings, Dear John, Loney Dear, Song of the Day :: No Comments »

An Horse has gone from being completely unknown to me to favourite band in only a couple of weeks. After obsessively listening to their Not Really Scared EP on repeat for days and days, I found out that their album, Rearrange Beds, had been released on iTunes on October 21st.

Rearrange Beds features 10 songs, including the 5 ones that were on the Not Really Scared EP which was a bit of a downer but the result is a short but very solid debut album. Most of the songs are upbeat, feel-good music (Postcards, Horizons, Camp Out) with some exceptions : Listen, the closing song, is a plaintive melodica/guitar song and Little Lungs which reminds me very much of The Kills and has the best song progression of the whole 10. Overall, An Horse released a very good first album that’s worth checking out.

Tracklist :

1. Camp Out
2. Postcards
3. Company
4. Horizons

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

5. Rearrange Beds
6. Little Little Little
7. Little Lungs

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

8. Scared As F**k [known as Warm Hands on the EP]
9. Shoes Watch
10. Listen

mel :: Nov.02.2008 :: An Horse, CD Review, Damon Cox, Horizons, Kate Cooper, Little Lungs, Not Really Scared EP, Rearrange Beds :: 1 Comment »

One sweet day back in February, I fell in love. With a song. With an album. With a band.

Here’s Louder again, since it’s the song in question : 

Vermillion Lies‘ 2006 album, Separated By Birth is full of lovely guitar driven songs, their style could be called circus folk [yes, I just made that one up]. Overture features electric guitar, trumpet and strange ghosts sounds that lead to Circus Apocalypse and Circus Fish which show the most original side of Vermillion Lies along with Shark Serenade and its toy piano melody. Bad Man is a less surprising piano song followed by the strange Tfird which is simply a part of Drift played backwards. The second half of the album flows in nicely with mostly ballads (Should Fly, Louder, No Good) until White Picket comes up with its crazy beats and Pet Me, Feed Me’s overall craziness [it's actually become my favourite song]. The hidden track, Middleground is wonderfully orchestrated and ends the album on a sweet heartbreaking tone.

Separated By Birth is a debut CD that’s only a tease for what the Boekbinder sisters are capable of. Each song fits a different mood and that’s what makes this album one of these gems that you’ll keep playing over and over again.

In 2008, the sisters released their second album, What’s In The Box? The title refers to their stage show when they pull weird accessories out of a big box after having the audience ask the question.
Grandfather opens the album and sets the strange atmosphere for the rest of the collection of songs. Long Red Hair is an accordion driven “scream along”, Global Warming is fun as can be, Done Wrong is poppy and has kazoo in it!, Wednesday’s Child is emotionally intense, Blue is playful with all its bells and kazoo, She Comes‘ handclaps rhythm is heavy, Interlude 1 brings in the strange again to introduce Bone Yard and its slow melody and harmonies that have to trigger some emotions each time. The Astronomer is great fun with the very cleverly written lyrics, Take Off Your Shirt is pure sweetness, Interlude 2 starts as a serious accordion/drums track but soon becomes hilarious, Dignified reminds me of the Ditty Bops for all the harmonies, Found Myself closes the show with a folky sound.

What’s In The Box brings the craziness of Vermillion Lies to its full dimension and it’s very enjoyable. The Boekbinder sisters write catchy songs that will eventually also amuse you without turning ridiculous and that’s a real performance. It’s different, it’s refreshing and it never gets old.

If you’ve read this post until this point, I have a reward for you! These two albums [plus another EP] are actually available for free here. So, follow the link, listen to them and if you like what you hear, please buy their music!

Since you’ve made it all the way through this post, here’s a bonus :
Vermillion Lies‘ first ever video for Take Off Your Shirt :

mel :: Nov.01.2008 :: CD Review, Kim Boekbinder, Separated By Birth, Vermillion Lies, What's In The Box?, Zoe Boekbinder :: No Comments »