Two sweet live performances:
Heartbeats
Silent Shout
…yes, they’re weird. So what?
This is one of those songs that is best played with headphones, surround, or in a car (at full quality, of course). It’s simply stunning.
I really haven’t posted in quite some time. This is due to a couple things: finals, papers, graduation, and a trip to Ireland. School was hectic, fun, and sad. I’ll miss the place quite a bit, especially when fall rolls around again next year. Ireland was simply gorgeous and… rainy. They predict that it will rain the entire summer. The postman in a family friend’s town, Youghal, told us “welcome to our miserable little country.”
In the meantime I’ve come across two musical groups that have simply stuck out to me. The first is from Brooklyn and they’re called A Place to Bury Strangers. I came across their song “To Fix The Gash in Your Head” on the Nine Inch Nails’ tour sampler. It blew me away. It combines My Bloody Valentinesque drum beats and Jesus and Mary Chain distortion with modern intensity. It feels as though the distortion and effects pedals would make one’s ears bleed in the best way possible. I need to see these guys live, preferably in a smaller venue.
The other group lies at the much more subtle end of the noise spectrum: Bon Iver. It’s a guy that hails from northern Wisconsin (Wisco pride!). It’s very heartfelt folk with hints of noise and, at certain points, anarchic (see end of The Wolves). This music, to me, is pregnant with fall, winter, and Wisconsin imagery. Luckily, I get to see him perform at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago in a couple weeks.
Enjoy.
A Place to Bury Stranger’s – To Fix the Gash in Your Head:
Bon Iver – The Wolves (Act I and II):
Posted by cfotoole regarding a live video of My Bloody Valentine playing “Only Shallow”:
Man, this was only a little over a month after Loveless was released. If I hadn’t been 5 years old at the time, I would have killed to be at this show.
Yup. I feel the same way. I would have also been 5.
The video:
There are videos from a recent NYC Madonna performance where she debuts new material and I also came across this:
Watching a couple of the songs, it becomes evident that she’s out of practice. For example, on her new single “4 Minutes,” she trudges along while her guest, Timberlake, vocally outshines her. Her voice is low and gravelly and she barely can cling to the melody. Whatever, it’s Timberlake’s song anyway.
I do like some Madonna songs. “Hung Up” happens to my favorite. It brings back memories of clubs and bars in Argentina. It’s precisely the synth and trance beats that make the song what it is. I understand trying to do something different; however, introducing stripped down guitar kills a song that derives its livelihood from high production. The lyrics aren’t particularly impressive and it’s apparent that Madonna is not very talented at guitar…so why strip it down to those two things?
I’d much prefer a Rolling Stones concert.
[Edit 7/9/2008]
Apparently all YouTube videos of this specific performance have been removed. I really don’t need to wonder why.
I was browsing around on the internet the other day and came across the Nine Inch Nails’ friends playlist on YouTube. I’m quite familiar with Ladytron, and consider myself a fan, and Queens of the Stone age, but nothing else really struck a chord. Eventually, I clicked on the video for “Turnstile Blues” by Autolux (below). Anything with “blues” in the title has to be at least okay, right? Well, it wasn’t blues and it borders much more on My Bloody Valentine’s dream pop/shoegazing. The soft vocals and guitar mesh well with strong precise drumming. The last album was released in 2006, but a new one is apparently in the works. Enjoy.
