Mogwai

Guinness in hand, hand in pocket.
Yeah, not the same hands obviously. That'd be like one of those impossible geometry graphics. You know which ones I'm talking about. Anyway, I'm recounting an evening in the Olympia Theatre. It is one of my favorite venues, and I was there to see Mogwai in concert.

Now, my expectations were, well, I don't really know what I was expecting. I was thinking that a band that mainly writes instrumental music could be quite boring to see in a live context. Unless they've got an incredible sense of charisma or attitude, otherwise they'd just have to be that good.

Unfortunately, none of the above was really the case. I did find it a bit hard to get excited about what was going on in front of me. I feel ungrateful saying this, because they are excellent musicians and they did play very well. But, I think that in order to win me over, they needed showmanship where instead they were unassuming.

Now I am not saying it was a waste of funds, and that I spent the concert bored out of my mind. Parts of the concert were absolutely amazing. Nevertheless a major part of the experience fell into a territory that I can't categorize as anything more than, well, good. I don't know if I've spoiled myself by going to too many concerts, but when I go see a band play live… I want it to be amazing.

Luckily, there were moments that reached bliss-inspiring levels. There were three pieces of music in particular that stood out to me as being better than anything else. One of them where they tenderly plucked away at their strings to create the most mellow psychedelic sounds to set the stage for a sudden outburst of distortion that nearly made me jump high enough to spill Guinness on my fellow concert-goers. Another one where they created a wall of sound so dense, and so real that I thought it might sweep me off my feet and take me someplace else.

In fact crescendo is something they do very well. It is like you are standing in a field, watching a storm come closer, and then you let it completely immerse you. They've got this raw primal sound to their distorted guitars that triggers an association to Burzum. I'm guessing it is because both instill mental images of nature and ghosts in me.

I think my issue with the performance is that it felt as though I may as well have gone to some rich audiophile's house and listened to the recorded music. With eyes closed I might've gotten the same effect. They had a backdrop that they did some video projections on, but they didn't really utilize this to create anything. Most of their projections seemed a bit random, and didn't really add that much. I suppose if they'd put a lot more work into creating visuals that really fuse with the music thus enhancing the whole experience, Mogwai would be an amazing live act.

Mogwai played the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, February 15th 2011.

Rehead

Radiohead are releasing their new album this Saturday. It's called The King of Limbs and I'm finding it very difficult to contain my excitement. Now, I don't know if I'll absolutely fucking adore it or anything like that. I always find the wait the most exciting. The anticipation. And it's way sweeter when there's just the right amount of it. Skinny Puppy are driving me near-mental, this is better for my sanity.

I love their way of keeping everything under wraps until the week they're planning to release it. With In Rainbows they uploaded it the same day and asked people to pay what they wanted. Of course there was a lot of controversy around it in the end due to bitrates and whatever, but all that was beside the point. For the first time in a while since it became the expected thing that records leak to the internet way ahead of the marketing date, I think everybody (who are fans of radiohead) heard it at the same time. The feeling that there's potentially millions of people listening to the exact same sounds that you are, right now, it's special to me. I think it's rare that I truly feel connected, and the In Rainbows release was definitely one of those moments where I did.

I think it's good for maximizing profit from an album release as well. Be the first one to release it on the internet and do everything you can do to make your digital download the quickest and most convenient way to listen to it. It seems like such a no-brainer. I'm not sure why everyone's not doing it. I think it must be 'cause they're on dumb major labels, or that they're just dumb themselves. Maybe that is an arrogant statement. But. If it's out on a torrent site first, then I'm gonna grab those digital bits and the likelihood of me purchasing the record later drops by, well, truckloads. It has to be pretty fucking stellar, or promoted at the local record shop just at the right moment while I happen to walk through, otherwise I'm not going to be thinking about it.

Sometimes I kinda reel against the internet and this free flow of sonic information. It has definitely cheapened music. I remember waiting in a line to get my hands on a Metallica album. I can't picture myself ever doing anything like it again. Closest thing was when I dropped into Tower Records on day one of the High Violet release. I wanted that purple vinyl so bad, because it was purple and because it was limited and because it was my new favourite band. (And I couldn't just get it online) - I needed this vinyl in spite of not having a vinyl-playing-device! I'm aware that this is insane, but then I'm very happy to own it. Heh. Anyway, I could easily digress and talk about how brilliant The National are, because, well, they are, but the point I was trying to make was this; The internet and it's adhd-like culture has cheapened music. But although it is easy to romanticize older days, I wouldn't want to go back to the way it was before. Without the internet I would possibly not have been into amazing music like The National, Arcade Fire, Mew and well I could go on for a while so I'll stop there. So yeah, something might have been lost along the way, but I've found some pretty cool music online. A lot of it I've even paid for (just maybe not right away). And I get to listen to the new Radiohead record this saturday, at the same time as everybody else. I find this pretty amazing.

So yeah. Radiohead are releasing a new album and I'm fucking ready!
Quickest preorder I've done since 2007.

Ready

This is the 3rd or 4th reboot of this thing.
I always end up writing really personal stuff that I don't really want to hold up to the light after six months (or whatever) have passed. Like it was all about relationships now, and the angst they inevitably bring. It seemed pertinent to write about it at the time, but it is not so anymore.

The thing is, my personal issues was all there ever was to write about in this kind of format. I'm not sure if I find that as pathetic as I'm supposed to. I mean, everybody vents, and everybody wants a bit of attention now and then. "Find this, read this, and let it touch you." You know, let's communicate like we're fucking satellites. Something like that.

Well it's not like that's all there ever was. I think I used to write about music. The wonder of it. That thrill you feel when you discover a new band that you know is going to define the next six months. The soundtrack to the next few fragments of our lives. I think I'd like to get back to that. I'm old now though, not ancient or anything, but old enough for that thrill to be a rarer thing than it used to be.

I envy my brother in that regard. He's like a spider in the web of spotify and finds new shit on a daily basis it seems. I think my last find that redefined parts of myself must have been The National. Funny thing is that the first post of the first iteration of this thing had a post bemoaning that I just discovered The National like a month after they played Dublin.

So yeah. Hi, this is me. Again.
I go by a few names. Inz on all the pertinent places online. Apparently it's not a terribly original moniker so I find that it's been taken already on twitter, tumblr, you name it. So yeah, I'm Inzx now apparently. I wish it was more clever, but that's what I could think of. It makes me think of my original self with sex and insects added. I guess there are worse things in life.

I don't want to call this a blog by the way.
I was blogging before that idiotic name was dreamed up. I called my online presence The Journal™. It was an integral part of my website. Yeah. All my friends had personal websites. I don't think this is done so much now. There are too many services that lets you share your creations or thoughts or whatever. It was an interesting time though. I don't know what this thing is going to be for. Obviously I haven't had much luck with it so far as I keep clearing it and starting over. I suppose I should just make a conscious effort to grow out of the familiar groove. I mean, people my age don't blog about their personal spheres and feelings so much. It seems to be all about coffee and flowers.