Posted in Reviews

Live Review: Mogwai @ Shanghai, China’s MAO Livehouse (11/28)

Bands: Mogwai, Wang Wen
Location: Shanghai, China’s MAO Livehouse
Date: November 28, 2011

Opening for a band you’ve revered for years and based your own music on must be one of the hardest things in the world. The other night, Chinese post rock band Wang Wen was put up to this very task when they solemnly took the stage as support for Glaswegian five-piece Mogwai, who were making their very first appearance in Shanghai.

And for the most part, they held their own, warming up the crowd for the main act. Aside from being surprised by the occasional, shrieking outbursts of the Shanghai concertgoers, Wang Wen found themselves enjoying the attention of a good-natured crowd hungry for some solid instrumental music. As they worked through their tremolo-heavy set, however, it became clear that people were aching to see Mogwai take their turn and the Chinese band good-naturedly wrapped things up, leaving the crew to set up and the venue to buzz excitedly about what was to come.

With a flash of lights and a blast of smoke, Stuart Braithwaite announced his band’s triumphant appearance with a few thank-you’s and waves. With that, Mogwai launched directly into Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will‘s opening track “White Noise”. Complemented by the hazy, smoke-filled venue’s dazzling light show, Mogwai’s music hit hard, sending the crowd into uproar.

Throughout the entire set, they played a lot of old fan-favorite songs that weren’t on the new album such as “Mogwai Fear Satan”, “Auto Rock”, and “Glasgow Mega-Snake”. Each transition was masterfully planned out and it ultimately became remarkable to see Mogwai seamlessly switch from a mellow tone to one that might appear at a metal concert. The build-ups of each song were probably the most impressive aspects of the show, something the band has been heralded for in the past. And from seemingly out of nowhere, Mogwai in unison would shock the crowd with a massive drop, blasting a chord or riff at maximum volume.

Perhaps the weirdest part of the night was the end of the final twenty-minute-long encore. Pumped by the adoration of the crowd, Braithwaite began a relentless wave of, well, sound. With around five different distortion pedals laid in front of him, Braithwaite would press each one in order to intensify the escalation of the song. As he fiddled with the pedals and his amp, he refused to end, building up layer after layer of fuzzy, heart-thumping noise. Ten minutes and a few broken strings later, he finally decided enough was enough and walked off the stage with the sound still going, leaving the crowd dumbfounded but thoroughly impressed by the craftiness of the guitar legend.

All photos by Kevin Ma

Setlist:
01. White Noise
02. Ithica 27 – 9
03. How To Be a Werewolf
04. I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead
05. Mexican Grand Prix
06. Helicon 1
07. Auto Rock
08. You’re Lionel Richie
09. Friend of the Night
10. Hunted By A Freak
11. Mogwai Fear Satan
12. Batcat

Encore:
01. My Father, My King

Live Review: Explosions in the Sky @ Stockholm, Sweden’s Debaser Medis (11/14)

Bands: Explosions in the Sky, The Drift
Location: Stockholm, Sweden’s Debaser Medis
Date: November 14, 2011

Video from Debaser Medis

These days are some of the last days of the fall in Sweden, and the land awaits thick white carpets of snow to wipe off the ghosts of last spring in the form of all the yellow and orange leaves laying on the ground or still holding on to the most reluctant trees.

Autumn, in my opinion, is a season that fits very well with post rock, so there couldn’t have been a better time of the year for me to attend a live performance of Explosions in the Sky, whose European tour brought them to Stockholm and onto the stage of Debaser Medis. This Texas band re-defined the genre, becoming almost synonymous with cinematic, emotional instrumental tunes, quickly gaining the reputation of having a killer live show.

The music started around 8 with opening act The Drift. I really liked this band, and one of the things that made them so enjoyable for me was that despite the fact that the California trio also are defined as instrumental post-rock, their approach was very different from that of Explosions in the Sky, blessing the evening with some variety.

The trio generated a massive wall of sound with the aid of very essential instrumentation (a minimal drum kit, a bass, a guitar and a synth) and their set alternated between static and haunting moments to marching drums and psychedelic rock vibes. Somewhere in between This Will Destroy You and Maserati, but with a retro twist, The Drift entertained (and impressed) the audience of an almost sold out Debaser Medis, (around 1500-2000 people maybe?), all warmed up for the leading act of the evening.

A quick change of instrumentation on stage and curtains opened up again, revealing Explosions in the Sky ready to start their set. A quick introduction speech and the music started with fan-favorite “First Breath After Coma”, the wonderful opener to the band’s album The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. The band’s trademarks are its simple, yet intricate guitar textures that perfectly melt on top of the rhythm section, and I think the musicians definitely live up to their reputation as a great live band, being able to re-create the magic of their formula perfectly on a stage, even adding a lot more energy and dynamics.

After the familiar first song, the band moved on to play a track from their new album (Take Care, Take Care, Take Care) called “Last Known Surroundings”, that gets a lot sharper and more aggressive live than on the record, with an extremely distorted e-bowed guitar on a side and a cleaner, more melodic one on the other, all fueled by marching drums and pounding bass. The songs off the new record shine in a different light on stage, bringing in a more progressive feel with overall faster tempo and heavier music. After a brief intersection, the band launched into “Catastrophe and The Cure”, making everyone headbang before abruptly ending with a wall of distortion to set the ground for “The Only Moment We Were Alone”, probably my personal favorite song of the band. One single string hammering the same note on a guitar evolved into an enchanting 3 guitar arpeggio texture and evolved until it reached its emotional and musical climax. Faded background voices and noise introduced “Let Me Back In”, bringing a darker mood to the table along with the older “Greet Death” . The mood then shifted lighter again with the bright, major chords that introduced “Be Comfortable, Creature”.

One of the most emotional break-downs of the evening is probably the intro to “The Birth And Death Of The Day”, where walls of distortion turned into a carpet of arpeggio guitars before finally bleeding into “The Moon Is Down”, an epic outro to a really great concert where both The Drift and Explosions in the Sky carried the audience along with them on a musical and emotional journey.

Review: Das Racist – Relax

Das Racist – Relax

Released: September 13, 2011
Label: Greedhead
Purchase: iTunes | Insound | Amazon

“I’m f*cking great at rapping,” Das Racist frontman Himanshu Suri boasts with quite a bit of gusto on lead single “Michael Jackson”. If these words were uttered on past mixtapes/albums Shut Up, Dude or Sit Down, Man, there would be little to object to. But since they entered our ear canals by way of Das Racist’s studio debut Relax, more must be said.

For some reason, the rap duo seem to have lost quite a bit of the wittiness and charm that made their first two efforts stand out so much. For the most part, Heems unfortunately sounds quite sluggish with his rhymes, failing to deliver quotable after quotable like on Sit Down, Man’s “amazing”, “hahahaha jk?”, and “rapping 2 u”. Instead he chooses to rattle off seemingly incoherent thoughts in a raspy, grungy-sounding voice, leaving us wondering what exactly happened to the sharpness he previously displayed. His partner and long-time friend, Kool AD (aka Victor Vazquez), on the other hand, sounds much the same and provides ample reminders of what made us fall in love with Das Racist in the first place.

The social commentary is still there, the glitchy beats are still there, and the genius is still there. The magic, however, is gone. Everything is still seemingly intact though, so what makes Relax sound so detached and uninspired compared to the rest of their catalogue?  Who knows? Heems, Kool AD, and Dapwell probably don’t even know.

Perhaps it’s a change of focus. As Heems says on what is perhaps his best verse on the album (on opening track “Relax”), “Juvenile shit / I ain’t really tryna rap about / I don’t remember from b-b-ba b-blackin’ out / These days, I’m mostly focused on my bank account / I ain’t backin’ out until I own a bank to brag about.” Making music that sells is certainly different from making music that shines.

Or maybe it’s the fact that Das Racist have already, well, ‘made it.’ The hook for album standout “Power” tackles this issue head on: “It’s too easy. Even if I told you about it, you probably wouldn’t even believe me.” Bursting onto the scene from literally nowhere with the ridiculously infectious and utterly confusing “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” and then securing collaborations with the likes of Diplo, Boi-1da, Roc Marciano, and El-P on their second release. And everything was released to critical acclaim. It kind of reads like a script, one where we got to watch the trio hone their art while enjoying huge amounts of success along the way. Perhaps things were way too easy.

Fortunately for us, however, Das Racist don’t stray too far away from their fundamental skeleton. Play the record for anyone familiar with the group and it’ll be clear that it is indeed a Das Racist record. The repetitiveness and non-sequiturs on “Michael Jackson”, the danciness of “Booty In The Air”, the posse-cut “Power”, the unabashed self-referencing on “Selena” – everything is still distinctly Das Racist. The only difference is that altogether the whole record feels less densely packed with references and much less technically satisfying. Even production by Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij fail to make a big impact – without looking at the credits, it’s hard to even tell what songs they worked on (“Middle of the Cake” and “The Trick” respectively).

There’s no need to take these reviews seriously, though. A group like Das Racist obviously isn’t out searching for approval from critics; all they need to do is take everything in stride and just relax. Then, finally, they can come back when they’re ready to put together a more inspired effort.

We’ll be ready.

6.6

Standout Tracks: “Michael Jackson” and “Power (feat. Danny Brown & Despot)”

Review: Artifex Pereo – Ailments and Antidotes

Artifex Pereo – Ailments and Antidotes

Released: July 23, 2011
Label: Unsigned
Purchase: iTunes

Over the past several years, a new species of alternative rock has emerged, characterized by bands that embody a “technical-meets-catchy” approach to making music. Last year, several more high profile bands of this ilk released full lengths; Circa Survive‘s Blue Sky Noise, Tides of Man‘s Dreamhouse, and PMtoday‘s In Media Res all garnered strong critical and consumer reception. So perhaps it’s surprising that, thus far, similarly-styled albums have been so rare in 2011. Yet even so, Artifex Pereo‘s Ailments and Antidotes is an undeniable testament to the sub-genre’s well-being.

Ailments and Antidotes opens with “The Baker Act”, a track that demonstrates both the band’s musical aptitude and frontman Evan Redmon’s impressive vocal range. Arpeggiated guitar leads introduce Redmon’s high, emotive tenor, soon swirling into an ambient section complete with twinkling piano, before an organ glissando transitions the band back into high gear for the chorus. It’s the same “loud-soft-loud” formula many of these types of bands thrive on (and often over-utilize) but the execution and instrumentation is so precise that the track involves, rather than bores, the listener. The lyrics are really the only negative (albeit a minor one); Redmon emotes, “Your poison is the scent that saturates the air/Grab your clothes and head for the back door before the devil knows you were here”, and though poetically phrased, the sentiment is a bit trite. In fact it’s difficult not to recall Anberlin‘s “The Feel Good Drag” (“Your lips, your lies, your lust/Like the devil’s in your hands”), because the songs are so extremely thematically comparable.

The next three tracks are all heavier tracks, similar in sound to “The Baker Act”. Of these, it’s “Suburbanite Sprawl” which excels the most. The groovy guitar riffs are reminiscent of The Chariot in the noisier parts of the tune, and snaking bass fills and sychopated drumming demonstrate the rhythm section’s capability. Redmon is at his most versatile here, soaring into the upper reaches of his range with ease. However, at this point, due to the congruent sound of the first four tracks it’s easy for the listener to infer that the rest of the record will be more of the same.

But the catch is that such an assumption would be incorrect. The middle portion of the record focuses the band’s talents on much more ambient, softer tracks. It’s this that gives Ailments and Antidotes the variety so many albums of this manner (including Artifex Pereo’s own debut EP, Am I Invisible) lack. And what’s more, the added variety doesn’t at all detract from the quality of the record. Because, despite the difference between tracks like “Butcher Hands” and “Mrs. D” and tracks from the first, heavier section of the album, it’s clear that the same band composed this entire collection of songs. Not to mention that Artifex Pereo are more than competent at performing this softer sound. In fact, “Devil and Water” is probably the best song on the record, bringing to mind the ambient sections of Circa Survive’s Juturna with its noodling guitar lines. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also the lyrical apex of the record; Redmon tells of an unhealthy relationship, singing, “Loathing you proved to be inadequate, so I will love you in my sleep and this will be less of a burden on me.” It’s hardly a novel concept, but the word choice and vocal delivery cause the words to ring startlingly true.

Yet, perhaps in an effort to avoid boring listeners with a heavier musical taste, Artifex Pereo revert back to the sound found at the beginning of Ailments and Antidotes for the album’s closing two tracks. While neither are as memorable as “The Baker Act” or “Suburbanite Sprawl” both hold their own and finish the album nicely. It’s interesting that in a scene where so many bands utilize the “loud-soft-loud” formula to writing music, nary a single one has crafted an entire album in the same format, as Artifex Pereo have done here. And Ailments and Antidotes certainly proves it is a blueprint that, when followed by a skilled band, can be very successful.

8.5

Standout Tracks: “The Baker Act”, “Suburbanite Sprawl”, and “Devil and Water”

Note: Evan Redmon is no longer the vocalist of Artifex Pereo. You can check out a video of the band playing an acoustic version of “Edgar Suit” with his replacement, Lucas Worley, below.

Review: The Rosebuds – Loud Planes Fly Low

The Rosebuds – Loud Planes Fly Low

Released: June 7, 2011
Label: Merge Records
Purchase: iTunes | Insound | Amazon

The great thing about music is that it is never meant to be an isolated entity, always finding a way to intertwine itself with the listener’s emotions and experiences. Some music simply embodies the meaning of the word “fun,” while others speak to us when we’re in the darkest of moods. The Rosebuds have always been hard to define on this musical spectrum of emotions, ambiguously falling somewhere in-between. Their upbeat indie rock/folk sound has always been “enjoyable” musically, but lyrically, this happiness always been neutralized by their darker, tempered tales.

Their fifth studio album, Loud Planes Fly Low, is another beast entirely. After the release of 2008’s Life Like, the North Carolina duo divorced and the future of The Rosebuds was in grave danger. Loud Planes Fly Low is the byproduct of their life after divorce, capturing the whirlwind of emotions that Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp experienced while reconciling their partnership. With so much source material to draw from, the two manage to create their finest release yet and arguably one of this year’s best as well.

But Loud Planes Fly Low isn’t an album about break-up in general. It’s about a transition in their lives, finding the subtle balance between their romantic and working partnerships. It’s painful, but the two don’t mope; it’s been done before, but not cliché, it’s filled with sorrow from start to finish, but not depressing; it’s subdued at times, but not restrained. The record is a surprisingly quiet expression of the intense feelings being shared; although the music isn’t overtly powerful (cautious tempos and generally down-played melodies), the emotions shine through.

Calling for a new beginning rather than a return to older, happier times, the two seem troubled, yet ultimately content on where they stand. On album opener “Go Ahead”, endless waves of synths, organs, and layered vocals blend together to create a feeling of serenity inspired by Howard’s fantasies and dreams. “Go ahead, let’s plant a forest / Where we can hide when the city expels us. / We can sleep in the branches / Our own little outpost in the trees,” he croons, painting a bittersweet picture of what could have been. On album standout “Come Visit Me”, Crisp returns the favor with her painful admission, “And I want to feel something way out here / I need something to happen now, even if it fucks me up / Come visit me, way out here / I need you to see me, even if it makes it worse” with Howard harmonizing in the background. The two, as troubled as they are, make light of their pain by crystallizing it and expressing it fearlessly.

Employing poetry in its rawest form, the minimalistic “Without A Focus” and closing track “Worthwhile” solely feature Howard and his guitar, showing that while the feelings of acceptance and reconciliation are there, the heartbreak that he has felt is still raw and apparent all over; wearing his heart on his tattered sleeves, Howard pleads as he just manages to eke out, “All I want is to make this all worthwhile.”

In all respects, The Rosebuds have managed to create a gem that is clearly deserving of universal praise. It certainly wasn’t an easy recording process for the two, but they manage to do so, struggling with their own personal problems rather than directing their disappointment and pain at each other. The result? A powerful outpouring of emotions that engulfs listeners from the very start. While there’s no clear sense of closure here, that’s okay: Loud Planes Fly Low may signify the end of their romance, but it isn’t the end of The Rosebuds.

9.4

Standout Tracks: “Go Ahead”, “Come Visit Me”, and “Worthwhile”