The floor of PMK turned to quicksand last night by the time EF, a post-rock band from Sweden, played their second song. Like Mogwai or Sigur Ros, their thick, ambient sound builds slowly and before you know it, it’s rolled over you completely like a blanket of cement. Soft, sometimes too emo vocals, would wind and twist their way into heavy, driving sonic waves of sound before you realized what was happening. I was struck at how good they were and wasn’t sure if I held that opinion because I rolled in with no expectations or because I was genuinely affected. When I got home, only a couple hours before sunrise, I found them on MySpace and decided to take another pass and see…The 6 tracks they have posted are worth listening to but only if you have a quiet moment to let the music transport you to that breezy, sometimes stormy, place all the tracks seem to go. A total surprise show for me, I’m really glad I motivated…If you’d like to see the complete album from last nights post-rock feast, click here.
So I am still kind of reeling from my holiday but trying hard to shake it off and prepare for a very big 2 weeks at work coming up. I tried to relax this weekend, as best I know how, and managed to do a little, I think. I still haven’t quite closed the chapter on EuroWeen as I have yet to compose a new edition of See the Music for my friends at Runaway Dinosaur. All in good time. At least I managed to get the photos edited, the recaps blogged and the myriad emails responded to that I received due to said photographs. I received a really nice response to my Ween shots and want to thank everybody for taking the time to touch base.
Aside from my photographic exploits I also managed my first visit to Wattens swimming pool and was floored at how nice it is. A few laps, a few rays and the bike ride to and fro was my fill of exercise for the weekend. I also took in an odd rendition of The King and I at the Landestheater, compliments of my generous employer, and had to work hard to muffle my laughter at the english-dubbed-german-people-acting-asian. It was 2 steps too far removed for me to take seriously though the production itself was lovely and sparkling and the company was sweet. Toss in some uke chord progressions, some brunch with friends and a drive into the mountains above my house and you have an eventful, mildly relaxing, weekend.
I convinced myself that Hundskopf (dogs head) is going to see me triumphantly standing on top before this summer is over…you are all my witness to this. It might require that I dust off my old climbing gear to pull it off, but that puppy (forgive the pun) is going down! Or better yet, I am going up!
In other news, I was featured again on My-Expressions.com “Member Spotlight” thanks to Sir Elton (and thanks to Jon!) . I also got some linkey love over at Schnitzel.co.uk (thanks Oliver!) due to my EuroWeen 5.0 graphic and my perspective on the shows. Two very rad features and I say, humbly, thank you both.
It’s now time to shut my eyes, my mind (I’ll try) and my laptop so I can rest up and get ready to swing (again with the puns, I apologize) into a new week…Here’s a little tune to help sing me (and maybe you) to sleep. This is the second time this tune has appeared on 2beanornot2bean, now…though still not the original. Guten Abend und Gut Nacht!
Well friends…the time has come for me to pack my bags and head out for a little holiday. This time tomorrow I will be in London, among friends and maybe even rocking out to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds if somebody plays their cards right. No worries if Nick Cave falls through because Thursday comes Ween and after that I’m just gonna slip slide my way around the Western half of the continent and enjoy the ride, the tunes, the picture-taking and the friends. If I’m being honest, I can tell you not to expect too much action over here until I return.
Not to leave you with nothing, I can tell you that See The Music Volume XI is going to be up any day now over at Runaway Dinosaur and this edition is a special double-bill, collaboration, tag-teamed effort that promises to amuse. Trust me when I tell you it’ll be worth checking out…
There are nights that I carry my cameras out into the world and I feel like they are huge butterfly nets, light and airy and filled with limitless potential. Then there are other nights when my gear feels more like armor and, instead of catching music in the air, they serve more as a wall between me and the noise.
Last night was Innsbruck’s version of CMJ and a handful of bands played a handful of clubs in an event called SoundCity. I hadn’t heard about the music marathon until late yesterday afternoon and hadn’t planned on working it but, as I am prone to do, I ended up shooting two of the acts. The first band I saw played the Treibhaus and was called Mauracher. They were recommended to me by a friend with very good taste in tunes and I wanted to check out a new venue in town. Fortunately I got there before the drunken swarms of kiddies and had a good spot up front with my new friend, fellow rock photog Claus.
I have to say that I really loved this band. They had this kind of heavy distortion underlining the overall sound that would crescendo and dissipate in a way that reminded me of Mogwai…only with a chick singing. I checked out some of their studio work when I was uploading my pix last night and was a little sad that the energy and depth of their live show didn’t translate, but they’re still really good and worth experiencing. Here are some of my favorite shots from the set, but click here to see them all.
After what was mostly the full set of Mauracher the club started to feel a little saturated with pretty wasted people and I decided I would catch one more act before rolling back home. Trying to get up the stairs and out of Treibhaus is what made me think of armor. I seriously needed to hip-check, elbow and basically mow people down with my camera bag to exit the joint. It was anticlimactic when I finally made it outside since it was essentially a full-on downpour.
I decided to drive over to PMK to avoid the raindrops and check out Mäuse. When the band took the stage it was clear that this was not going to be the butterfly-catching sweetness that Mauracher was and, as I was realizing that thought, I was simultaneously hit with a mic stand and 2 pints of beer. The kiddes went crazy for these lunatics and after a few dicey minutes shooting from the quasi-mosh pit it was time to get the hell out of dodge. Mäuse is one of those bands I’m glad I saw live but won’t go see again…I’m gonna revisit some of their studio music to see if I like the sound better without the mayhem. Check out the photos by clicking here.
All in all it was worth the energy to leave the house for some new tunes. There’s more in the pipeline so stay tuned.
i was feeling a little funny about leaving the blog on such a quiet note but didn’t want to force any news. as it turns out, i have some genuinely amazing news to share and another couple hours before i have to head to munich so i figured i’d share..
In other breaking news, See the Music Voulme VIII is up over at Runaway Dinosaur. Followers of this blog (I know you’re out there) know that I haven’t seen any music since our friend Pete Doherty in Munich so, as you can imagine, it is Recycled with Anticipation.
Enjoy and I will look forward to sharing some good stories and maybe a couple pretty pictures when I return from my adventure…
