Diario

http://www.stereojealousy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/m831-199x300.jpg

Fri 12 Dec – M83

Originally posted on my blog: www.stereojealousy.com
It is dark inside St Giles, an eighteenth century church deep in the West End, and Anthony Gonzalez has just walked unannounced between the pews. He steps alongside his transparent box of tricks as analogue hiss seeps from the speakers. Slowly Gonzalez builds and tweaks the waves, heading towards a gentle pulsating crescendo. It's an unassuming yet fixating live introduction, and begins a gig that I have awaited with absurd levels of excitement.

The night didn't start that well - due to a late soundcheck the doors didn't open for over an hour, leaving a cosmopolitan queue snaking it's way along St Giles High Street on a cold December night. Once the doors opened, it was strange to head down the aisle of a church and file into the pews, facing an altar spread with all sorts of wired boxes and synths. To my great pleasure there's a full drum kit alongside an electronic equivalent. …

Sat 29 Nov – M83, School of Seven Bells

It's a rare treat to see two such talented electronic music bands on one night, and School of Seven Bells and M83 proved to be a great combination in terms of playing their unique styles of sonically powerful music and pleasing the packed Los Angeles crowd. Not everyone can easily connect with such complex and intricately produced layers of instrumentally dominant songs, as a few audience members left early due to boredom. Those unfortunate souls missed out on a full and amazing set of over 2 hours by M83, one of France's finest exports.

School of Seven Bells is a three-piece band of two guitarists and a keyboard player backed by a drum machine, but that doesn't limit the range and quality of their sound. The band consists of Ben Curtis (ex-Secret Machines) and pretty twin sisters Claudia and Alejandra Deheza (formerly of On!Air!Library!), whose operatic vocal harmonies (reminiscent of artists like Jem and Dot Allison) provide the perfect emotional…

My record-breaking fourth visit to Pustervik for a concert in less than three weeks lived up to its promise. Both Bon Iver and The Deer Tracks won me over (A Silver Mt. Zion not so much), but neither came close to rivalling French electronic savant M83.

To warm us up for Anthony Gonzalez and his crew, Swedish/Danish electropop diva As In Rebekkamaria put on an odd indian-themed show filled with high-pitched wailing and kitten photos. With the kind of stage manners you would expect from a mainstream pop, schlager or dance artist, she wasn't able to convey much of her energy to the crowd, but since the poorly ventilated venue was fortunately already filled to capacity, we really didn't need warming up. Still, her beeing so out-of-place made me even more disappointed that the concert promoters hadn't booked a Swedish band more akin to tonight's headliners, such as The Bridal Shop or The Morning Paper, as I encouraged them to.

From the very first minute of their set, M83 created intensely beautiful soundscapes…

I've decided (with the insistence of Leah :P) to make a Top 23 albums of my lifetime. One for each year.

They are going to appear in alphabetical order.

And I'm limiting myself to one album per artist as well.

I'm feeling somewhat nostalgic today, and respectful towards the roots of my music taste.

This was not easy to do AT ALL. And I'm sure that it would differ on a different day, under a different mood.

But here we go.

Adrenaline - Deftones
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/mistercrinkles/adrenaline.jpg
This was an album that I acquired in ninth grade. This was after people had already started listening to Rage, a band I had been into for quite some time. I needed something else to charge me up, and low and behold there was Deftones. Instantly I was blown away by their sound. They had the grunge sound of a few years prior with the angst and energy that fit my life so well at the time.
Favorite track: Lifter

Aenima - Tool
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/mistercrinkles/aenima.jpg
…

Post your top twenty bands/artists, the first song you heard of theirs, the song that made you fall in love, and your current favorite.

1. Radiohead
First heard: Creep
Fell in love: Creep
Current favorite: Street Spirit (Fade Out)

2. Guillemots
First heard: Little Bear
Fell in love: Made Up Love Song #43
Current favorite: Who Left the Lights Off, Baby?

3. The Arcade Fire
First heard: Rebellion (Lies)
Fell in love: Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Current favorite: Wake Up

4. of Montreal
First heard: Wraith Pinned to the Mist & Other Games
Fell in love: A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger
Current favorite: Gronlandic Edit

5. Bright Eyes
First heard: Bowl Of Oranges
Fell in love: A Perfect Sonnet
Current favorite: Four Winds

6. M83
First heard: Don't Save Us From the Flames
Fell in love: Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun
Current favorite: Moonchild

7. Patrick Wolf
First heard: Prelude
Fell in love: Pigeon Song
…

I'm doing this although i should be doing a lot of other things for my coming up exams, but I'm bored of that, and I couldn't help myself coming up with this, after aimlessly surfing this site today for almost two full hours. I'm taking a little self-explanatory snapshot of my current top ten. It's going to change over the coming months, and i find it pretty interesting to sum up things,a t this stage. You can see this as just another top ten thingie.

1 - Aphex Twin
I'm not surprised Richard D. James is number one. I've been listening to him a lot in the past months, albums on top of other albums, and i feel I've only scratched the surface of his work. Amazing dude. His music is very influential and original, but too abstract to be enjoyed at the same immediate level as.. Coldplay, for example.

First song I've heard from him: Windowlicker
First song I've loved: Vordhosbn
Current favorite song: Icct Hedral

2 - The Doors
Recent new entry. 399 plays in just about 3 weeks. …

I've compiled a mix of some of my favourite instrumental songs. It took a great deal of consideration and there are many that didn't make the final cut. If you have any suggestions for additions or just want to suggest some good instrumental stuff then just then let me know in one of those little ol' comment boxes so conveniently placed below this entry. Side One is the more upbeat one and Size Two is more "mellon collie." Haha, I'm so freaking funny.

SIDE ONE
Da Funk
War Photographer
The Number Song
Left Hand Suzuki Method
J.A.T.S. Are Go!
Busy Child
Big lost
Frontier Psychiatrist
Mandarine Girl
Fender Bender

SIDE TWO
Lovely Head (Miss World mix)
Don't Save Us From the Flames
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Crazy (Instrumental)
Highschool Lover (Theme from The Virgin Suicides)
Moonchild
Dumb This Down
Ghostwriter
Tristesse Globale
Lux Aeterna

Yes, I know. One of the unwritten rules of making mixes is to not include two songs by the same artist. …

Allow the piece to travel you and overwhelm you with feelings. On top of my list for "Brainstorming Tracks", list soon to come.


The soundtrack of my technical report.