Tag: music
-
Pukkelpoptastic!
Last weekend I went to the PukkelPop music festival here in Belgium. In part this was because a good buddy of mine (Peter) was going and insisted I’d have a great time, and in part because I wanted to convince myself – having recently passed the 40 mark – that I am not too old to go to festivals (or even gigs in general, despite the wife’s insistence that I’m past it and will just be an object of ridicule to the rest of the much younger audience who probably think I’m only there to chaperone my kids). That said, I did… Read more
-
And now it has a name: Post-Rock
A few years back I heard a rash of tracks on 3WK.com that were unlike anything I’d come across before. These included Montherfucker = Redeemer (Part 2) by Godspeed! You Black Emperor, My Father My King by Mogwai, Auberge Le Mouton Noir by Do Make Say Think, and Com (?) by Mono.  These tracks were long (some clocking in at 20+ minutes), all-instrumental, and generally intense and kind of epic-sounding. I remember thinking that I couldn’t believe people were actually making the kind of music that I wanted to listen to.  I didn’t think it existed. I didn’t know what… Read more
-
65 Minutes of Magic
Last Sunday I realised another one of my ambitions and went to see Mogwai in concert. They were playing as part of the Domino festival in Brussels, at the Ancienne Belgique (a great venue!). Although I only cared about seeing Mogwai, I figured that while I’d forked out EUR22.00 I may as well catch some of the other bands on the bill. I got there in time to catch Wolf Eyes, whom I’d never heard, but had read some good press on. Sadly, they turned out to be just unlistenable noise – the kind of shouty faux-deep vocals you get… Read more
-
The Song Sometimes Remains The Same
OK, now I know my iPod is screwing with me. I have it on ‘shuffle everything’ mode, and it just played All I Really Want To Do by Bob Dylan (from the 1968 album Another Side Of Bob Dylan), immediately followed by World Party’s version of the same song (from the 1986 album Private Revolution). [Out of interest, Dylan does it better…] Now, I know there is a 1-in-7,807 chance of this happening – small but plausible – so I could accept it, but yesterday it played The Mission’s version of Like A Hurricane (from The First Chapter, 1987) followed… Read more
-
Godlike Genius #1: Steve Albini
A few years back I heard Motherfucker=Redeemer (Part 1) by Godspeed! You Black Emperor on 3wk.com. I – no doubt like everyone who hears this for the first time – was blown away by the sheer intensity of it. I bought the album it was taken from (Yanqui U.X.O.) and scoured the liner notes for some clue as to the people behind it (can’t do that with a download!). G!YBE turns out to be a relatively-anonymous Canadian collective (the same ones behind the equally-absurdly-monickered Silver Mount Zion – billed on one release as The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra &… Read more