20/2/10 - I've been to two of the three gigs I've had lined up for February, and so far they've been good. Assemblage 23 were really good, although the two supports were absolutely dire. The first band were laughably awful and no one was interested, to the point of them making some sarky 'I'm sure you're glad this is our last song' comment. The second band were just pretty terrible and their singer was a fool. He spent half the set making stupid faces at the audience, and singing badly. A23 themselves were really good though. I'd really like to get a copy of the setlist they played, but one hasn't emerged yet from this tour that I've been able to find. Not checked for a few days mind you, but can't be bothered right now. But yeah, good gig.
Lostprophets last night though, that was an awesome gig. Either the 4th or 5th time I've seen them, and it was great. The setlist is up here, although I'm not sure if it's entirely right; it is for the most part, but I don't remember them playing To Hell We Ride at all. The band themselves are weirdos though, and very very very Welsh. To the extent that I don't really have a clue what they were saying for half the time they were talking. They also played about 45 seconds of The Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson between songs, and god only knows why. The supports at the gig were mediocre at best, Shark failed miserably at living up to the high expectations I had for them based on their awesome name, and Kids In Glass Houses started off quite good but their set devolved into noise pretty fast. LP's set was awesome though, particularly A Better Nothing and The Light That Shines Twice As Bright. I would have loved for them to play 4:AM Forever, ...And She Told Me To Leave and Four Is A Five Letter Word, but I'm not gonna complain much about that set. They've played a few tracks at other venues on the tour which I'd have liked to have heard (particularly Dstryr/Dstryr and Kobrakai), but at the same time they've played a few tracks at other venues that I'm quite pleased they skipped out for us (We Are Godzilla, You Are Japan (Okay that song has a brilliant name but it's not a good song), Dirty Little Heart). Plus I hadn't expected Last Summer or Darkest Blue to be particularly good live, but they both were. And of course, they played Shinobi Vs Dragon Ninja, which required me to jump about like a fool. Every time I saw them before the Leeds festival they opened with that rather than leaving it til the end, which I would have preferred since by the end of the gig I was sore and exhausted.
Also, perhaps I'm just not used to the goings-on at gigs like this anymore (the last few bands I saw were Assemblage and before them Massive Attack and Ulver, bit of a different crowd for those ones) but there was some strange shit going on there. When we were queueing to get in, there was random clothing lying on the ground (including hoodies and a pair of boots) from people who had evidently been camped out for ages for the gig. And inside, well. I'm used to cups of water/beer being thrown about at gigs, but there was clothing flying at this one. Hoodies, a few tshirts*, and towards the end a solitary hefty-looking shoe was flying about the place. What the hell? I can't recall ever going to a gig and seeing clothes flying about before. Most people I'd imagine would be quite keen to go home wearing what they went there with, surely. Poor bastard who had to go home with one shoe if he didn't get that back.
*This led to quite a few topless guys jumping about the place. If you are one of these guys, please throw yourself off a bridge. It's thoroughly unpleasant.
I'll end with a quick note on the venues for these gigs. A23 was at The Classic Grand on Jamaica Street in Glasgow. Next to the 13th Note, has to be the smallest gig venue I've been in. Not to mention that it was bloody quiet for the gig anyway, but it was tiny. Sound was surprisingly decent though. I'd happily go back there, but if it was a bigger band I'd hope they wouldn't play there. LP was at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh. I really liked the venue actually, sound was good and it was pretty huge, certainly seemed bigger than either the o2 Academy or the Garage in Glasgow.
30 Seconds To Mars at the SECC on Saturday is next. Looking foward to it, although the setlist from the first gig of their tour is missing a few tracks I'd really hope they'd play, namely Hurricane, R-Evolve and Buddha For Mary. I really hadn't expected them to play R-Evolve anyway though, the other two I'd have thought would be there. Particularly Hurricane since it's probably, in my opinion at least, the best song on the new album. Still, will see what they play at the later gigs.
2/2/10 - I haven't bothered with a top 10 albums for the last month, simply because I don't think I could really compile one. I've been on a binge of Lostprophets lately for the most part. One of these bands that I was really into when I was younger, then forgot all about for ages until fairly recently. And the listening has been spurred on a lot by the new album and the upcoming gig. Looking forward to seeing them a lot, really want to see the setlist in advance though. I wasn't terribly impressed with the new album on the first couple of listens, and even now in all reality nothing stands out from it in particular, but it's a good album all the same.
Not sure what to look forward to thus far this year. Massive Attack FINALLY have a new album coming out in a week or two, which I'll need to get. They played a few songs off it when I saw them and they seemed pretty good, hoping the album lives up to their older work. I do worry that it'll suck, given that they've not seemed to do very much for the past 7-odd years. If they tour I might go and see them again, depending on the time etc.
Also, Motion City Soundtrack's gig has sold out. Honestly quite surprised by that. Wonder if they'll consider moving it to a bigger venue now; the Oran Mor is far from the biggest in Glasgow, and they'd undoubtably sell more tickets if they do move it.
First gig of the year is coming up in a couple of weeks! Hope I can be bothered to go to it.
15/1/10 - At the moment I have tickets for 4 gigs coming up over the next few months. I can't honestly remember the last time I had more than 2 lined up at once, it seems to be pretty rare that there's a decent number of bands playing in Glasgow. And there's probably other gigs around just now that I wouldn't mind going to either. The one that springs to mind there is Ulver down in London on Feb 10th. Seems a bit weird for them to be touring again, 15 years without touring and now they play London twice within 4 months? Well ok then. But I did see them in October, and I can't justify the cost of train tickets down to London at the moment, so I'm just gonna have to give them a miss sadly.
I had a flick through a flyer for the Celtic Connections festival the other week, and I was a bit disappointed, this has to be the poorest lineup from it that I've seen...probably ever, come to think of it. Still hoping that Dougie MacLean will play Glasgow again at some point soon, only cause I've never seen him. I'm sure he will, it's hardly an exhaustive trip to come all the way from what, Perth?
Also Imogen Heap is playing Glasgow in February, I'm quite tempted to go and see her, but I was really disappointed with her last album, Ellipse. I suppose she's obviously gonna play other stuff too, but I don't think the 3/4 songs that I'd hear that I particularly like are worth the ~£17 the ticket is gonna cost.
The only other band I know that's playing here that I'm tempted by is (hed)pe. But it's been almost 10 years since the album of theirs I really liked was released, and last time I saw them (Gig In The Green back in 2001) they weren't that good live anyway. I'm more curious about that gig more than anything else though. It's at Ivory Blacks which is a pretty tiny venue to start with, but I can't imagine there being many people there! Oh, and apparently Four Tet is playing Edinburgh in March. Kinda tempted by that, but Rounds, while being an awesome album, isn't one that lends itself to being good live.
As for the gigs I'm actually going to! I'm going to see Assemblage 23 on Feb 14th at The Classic Grand. Never been in there before, don't have a clue what to expect. Also gonna be absolutely terrified of the crowd for that gig, EBM is a genre that lends itself to far too many goth-esque weirdos. A quick look at the other people going and I'm already nervous. I shall be hiding in a corner. But I've never seen A23 before, so hopefully it'll be good.
After that I'm going through to Edinburgh to see Lostprophets on Feb 19th at the Corn Exchange. Another venue I've never been to, but then, pretty much the only venue in Edinburgh I have been to is the HMV Picture House. Seen LP live 3 or 4 times before and they've always been good, plus their new album is out this coming Monday, so hoping this will be good!
Then I'm seeing 30 Seconds To Mars on Feb 27th at the SECC. Slightly concerned about this one because it's at the SECC, you never know how it's going to sound there. When I saw Slipknot (Ok, In Flames, my brother and I left before Slipknot actually came on stage) there a while ago the sound quality was pretty dismal. And that was generally the norm for there from what I can remember, although the last gig I went to at the SECC was Eric Clapton, and the sound for him was excellent. So I'm hoping that 30STM will have discernable sounds. I'm looking forward to seeing them quite a lot actually, they're a pretty recent discovery for me thanks to Sarah (and Guitar Hero), and they have some amazing songs.
The last gig I've got coming up is miles away on March 30th, Motion City Soundtrack at the Oran Mor. I'm really looking forward to seeing them live again, but if they do a gig like the one they did last time I saw them at The Garage, I'll be fucked off with them. All their best songs are slower ones, in my opinion, but they just played all the fast pop-punky stuff, and they were on stage for about an hour. The support band overplayed (and they were shit), and The Garage put a time limit on the gig because they were still running a normal club night afterwards, so MCS got kicked off by about 10:30, in fact it might have even been 10. Not surprised they're not doing the same venue though, they were bitching about the place during the gig. I had actually assumed they wouldn't come back here, but I'm glad they are. Same with LP, new album coming out this Monday too, which is good. Although it does mean that I'll see LP and MCS live and not know half the songs they play. Oh well!
Finally, I bought In Utero by Nirvana again the other day since I've been listening to them a fair amount lately. Played it through, remember why I sold it off in the first place. Blah. I should stick with my memories on this, Nevermind was the only album of theirs I really liked. Doesn't matter how good the other songs sound on the Unplugged or Live albums, the studio versions aren't as good.
7/1/10 - Pretty rare that I feel an album is good enough within a few listens to merit me recommending it to others, but I have to do exactly that with Kings of Leon's last album. My god, it is awesome. I'll go into a vague amount more detail about them to start with, and why I waited until now to buy an album that was released in September 2008. Which comes as a shock to me anyway, I was quite sure this album came out in summer 2009! Oh well.
I remember very little of KoL's first album. I'm fairly sure I worked in Virgin when it came out, I certainly heard a lot of it on the radio they played in the store, and I remember thinking it was quite good, but I was never quite impressed enough to buy it. I will go back and get it sometime soon, particularly after hearing this and having been reliably told by a few people now that their first album was also really good. Their second album is the only other one of theirs I bought, and it was a complete impulse buy too - I went down to Asda one night just to get out of the house, and they had it for a fiver, so I thought 'why not' on the basis of quite liking King Of The Rodeo and The Bucket. And it is a pretty good album, there's a few duff tracks on it, but on the whole it was a good buy.
The third album though, different story there. I think I was in Borders when that one came out, and it got played quite a lot on the store CD player, and I thought it was conceited rubbish. I don't remember a single song off it, and the clips on Amazon don't make me want to remember any of them either. I gave that one a miss, and on the basis of that, I gave their newest a miss for a long time too.
I knew the songs Sex On Fire and Use Somebody, particularly Use Somebody, because of radio play. I don't listen to the radio much myself in Scotland, in fact I pretty much never do at all by choice, but when I'm in Florida we will have the radio on in the car and that's the kind of stuff that would be played. I did like Use Somebody quite a lot, although in all honesty despite it being one of the better songs on the album, I'm bored of it already. I don't really know what the impetus was for me to actually buy the album though. I think I randomly heard Use Somebody on the TV the other week and thought I might as well try the album since it was about 4 quid on Amazon and I wanted to order a couple of other things anyway.
But the album itself is awesome. The only truly duff track on it is 17, which I don't think I'd even bother skipping on my iPod if it came on, I'll actually just delete the sod. But otherwise the tracks vary between good and awesome. My personal favourites after 5 or 6 listens to the album are Closer and Be Somebody. Closer is just a really good, catchy song, and there's something about it that I just find intensely appealing. Certainly a bloody good opening track for an album, and the bassline is incredibly simple but still sounds great, which has led to me spending at least an hour solidly tonight just playing along to it. Be Somebody is probably my favourite track on the album though. There drums in the verse, to me at least, are really reminiscent of We're Going Wrong by Cream, which is another of my favourite tracks. That and the vocal style just fits in so perfectly, in both tracks really. I can't even pin down what it is about the bloke's voice, perhaps his terrible, terrible enunciation of words (I mean seriously, I believe the line is 'And it's coming closer'. It doesn't sound even remotely like that's what he's saying. Not to mention he sounds like he's saying something different every time he does utter it) or just the weirdly almost strained manner in which he sings, but it works perfectly.
I'm not going to pick out any other particular tracks from the album. If you've heard Sex On Fire or Use Somebody on the radio/anywhere else and you've liked them, then you'll like the album. If you've never heard Kings Of Leon before, then this is the place to start. Frankly, at least in my opinion, this is one of the best albums of the last few years, and I'd say everyone should at least give it a listen or two.
Now I'll shut up. I do really hate writing reviews of music, primarily because it's so massively subjective that in all honesty I think reviews and opinions count for absolutely bugger all unless they're made on a personal level to a single person from someone who explicitly knows your tastes. But secondly, it's so hard to write a review without just appearing like a complete tosser. Thankfully I am usually utterly oblivious to when I'm doing this, so I can post this and ignore everyone thinking that.
Back to listening to Closer on endless repeat. Maybe one day I'll get tired of this song, but I can't see it happening any time soon.
30 Seconds To Mars - This Is War
Lostprophets - Liberation Transmission
My Dying Bride - 34.788%... Complete
Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett
The Offspring - Greatest Hits
Orishas - Antidiotico
Juanes - Un Dia Normal
Do Make Say Think - Other Truths
Placebo - Placebo
Dougie MacLean - With Strings
I had quite wanted to try to do a top 10 albums of the last decade type thing, but frankly I can't remember what was and wasn't released over the last 10 years. Ten years, that stems back to when I was 13, I have absolutely no idea what's been out since then and I sure as hell couldn't pick a top 10 anyway. Top 10 gigs of the last decade is just as hard.
I've never been one for patriotism, and generally speaking I'm not a fan of Scotland, but I do like Dougie MacLean a lot. I recently heard his rendition of Auld Lang Syne, which I love. Don't even know why. Good track though.
I've not listened to a lot of albums recently, I've been jumping around from song to song more. I finally got round to buying the last Kings Of Leon album the other day, which I've still to listen to in it's entirety, but I knew the songs Sex On Fire and Use Somebody were really good anyway. I need to give the album a go though, I'm curious to see what it's like. I really liked their second album, somewhat reluctantly too because the first few times I heard them I thought they were complete bollocks. The third album though, that actually was complete bollocks, which is why I put off getting this one for so long.
I'll find a new album to obsess over sometime soon too, I imagine. I spent a hell of a lot of time listening to Lostprophets recently, which is good timing too since their new album is out in a couple of weeks and I'll be seeing them next month. I've been playing that My Dying Bride album absolutely extensively though, since it's so bloody good.
Fancied going to see Ulver again in February down in London, but train tickets are already up at 90 quid or so, so it's a bit too steep. I'd like to see them though, particularly if they do a different set to the one in September. Oh well, seen them once already at least. There's been very little announced so far for this year, both album and gig-wise. Hoping it'll be a good one, but we'll see. I'd love to see new albums from Massive Attack and The Offspring, both are very much due. I'd love to finally see The Offspring live too if I get the chance!
Still, Lostprophets and Motion City Soundtrack albums out very soon, so that's something to keep me going.
Anyway. I was recently introduced to 30 Seconds To Mars; I'd heard a couple of songs before (most notably The Kill because it features in either Rock Band or Guitar Hero, heh) but I'd never bothered with them before. Had almost bought an album in HMV months and months ago, but decided against it cause I didn't have the cash. Anyway, they're really good. Picked up their new album today, listening through it at the moment, and it's pretty good thus far, although I'm only 5 tracks in. It's having to compete strongly for my listening at the moment though, as the other day I started listening to 34.788%... Complete by My Dying Bride for the first time in a good couple of years, and I forgot how much I absolutely love that album. Particularly the tracks Heroin Chic and The Whore, The Cook & The Mother. I dunno what Amazon is up to with that track listing, it's very wrong, but it's an excellent album.
I'm going to see 30STM in February, so I'm glad the new album seems to be good. Their last album was excellent, so it ought to be a good show. Also going to see Lostprophets in February, their new album is out fairly soon too. Hoping that'll impress also, particularly since this will be either the 4th or 5th time I've seen them live, and I'm going through to Edinburgh for it.
I'm fast running out of bands I'd like to see live now, too. I've seen pretty much every band I want to, Ulver was the last glaring omission, but since they hadn't toured in 15 years prior to this one that made it a bit more acceptable. I'd still love to see Jimmy Eat World and Matchbox Twenty, and to a lesser extent Radiohead. I'd happily go see Godspeed You! Black Emperor too, but that's never going to happen, and at least I did get to see A Silver Mount Zion a few years back.
Certainly won't be going to any festivals for any of those bands though, I don't think there's any band that I would actually go to a festival for any more. Leeds was just, not pleasant. And camping? Never again.
2/11/09 - Stealing this from my last.fm page, since I can't be bothered to even try to do journal posts about music on that anymore, I might as well make use of this page a bit. For a fair while on last.fm, during each month I'd do a top 10 albums, which was basically what 10 albums I'd listened to the most. There's no reason or purpose for it, other than for fun. So, I'll do it here. And rather than do it on the 20th of every month (I don't even know why the hell I did that), I might as well do it now, just as the last month as ended.
So, top 10 albums for November 09! And probably very different from what I said on last.fm!
The Gathering - If_Then_Else
30 Seconds To Mars - A Beautiful Lie
Motion City Soundtrack - I Am The Movie
Lostprophets - The Fake Sound Of Progress
Agalloch - The Mantle
Do Make Say Think - Other Truths
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#infinity
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This To Memory
Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory
I knew you'd be interested. Yep, I just knew.
Been listening to just whatever a lot lately, had random playlists playing for the most part or just not been able to decide what I wanna hear. Fallen back to a few old standards of mine which I've maligned a bit of late, particularly Motion City Soundtrack, Oasis and Agalloch. I need some new music though. Really want to get a copy of Lauryn Hill's album at some stage. I also want to pick up a couple of other Aspects of Physics albums, they're good background listening for when I'm sick of post-rock and endless replays of Stars of the Lid stuff. A few good albums coming out in the next few months though, 30 Seconds To Mars, Lostprophets and Motion City Soundtrack. Will keep me entertained for a little while at least, or until I find some other album to steal my attention for months.
Lately I've been listening to an awful lot of post-rock stuff. I got into this ages ago when a mate of mine recommended a Godspeed You! Black Emperor album to me, and it was awesome. It just went on from there.
I got a copy of Do Make Say Think's latest album:
It's been quite a long time since I've had a listen to post-rock stuff really, given the average track length is probably around 10 minutes there's not an awful lot of opportunity to fit them in. But this album is absolutely awesome, definitely one of the best post-rock albums I've heard in a very long time, and quite likely my favourite album release of 2009.
Incidentally, I've linked to Constellation Records above for the album. If you're planning on buying anything from them, I strongly urge you to do it directly from the label rather than through stores or Amazon or the likes. It might cost a bit more, but I think it's important to support labels like Constellation who are trying to push the boundaries a little.
Not to mention that they are genuinely awesome people, it's rare that you find a record label that seems to take the time and effort to be grateful for their individual fans. For example, I ordered a copy of Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#infinity on vinyl from them, and I got a hand written letter along with it thanking me for my support. It's perhaps irrelevant, but it's nice that they put in the effort.
Other bands in the genre worth checking out: A Silver Mount Zion, Fly Pan Am, Exhaust