Camp Revival

Marty from Ocean Bump + Ryan from Candy Claws collaborated and put together a fantastic recording from the MBV Denver show (Marty recorded / Ryan mastered and chopped). Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Be a pal and stop by their myspace pages to say thank you!

This past Monday night (4/27/09) I saw My Bloody Valentine here in Seattle. They toured the US last summer but missed Seattle as well as a number of other oft forgotten towns across the U.S., so they decided to do another tour this spring of all those spots that they missed last time around. I was so crushed this summer when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to see them, so I made sure to buy my tickets to this show the second the presale went up. I think in light of how overwhelming this show was it might be helpful to begin at the end, so I will start off with a few facts: it’s two days later, my head still hurts and my ears are still ringing. My expectations were unrealistically high and MBV destroyed them. It was easily one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

I arrived at the show a bit late due to the 17 bus being slow. The highlight of my walk to the show was a massive hobo brawl near a bus stop due to the dropping of an N bomb. I guess it is irrelevant for the purposes of this show review, but it at least gives you a nice picture of local Seattle flavor. Pioneer Square is rough, man.

I walked into the show halfway through Brightblack Morning Light’s set. I thought they were pretty uninteresting, but they are probably the kind of band I will look back in ten years and kick myself for ignoring all those years ago. They played (from what I could tell) very ambient, atmospheric psych rock. Lots of reverb and delay going on there, muffled, faraway vocals, long hair, 60’s clothes, that sort of thing. My friend tells me they are much better on recording, they have a record on Matador so they must be doing something right. They tore down all their own gear, I liked that about them, up the punx. Then some singer songwriter type played. He mumbled his name once and I don’t really remember it. I really wonder how he ended up on this bill, pretty bizarre.

My Bloody Valentine came on stage to the synchronized flash of strobe lights. From the beginning it was apparent that the lights were just as much a part of the show as the music. The feeling I got the whole time was that of being totally overwhelmed. The lights, the huge production and crowd, the perfect melodies, seeing Belinda Butler in person ( I <3 Belinda ), Kevin Shields’ tremelo arm bending masterfully through a wall of amplifiers. It was all too much. I mean that in the best sense possible though, and I am confident that this is what I was supposed to feel, this sense of being subsumed under an experience, extraordinary in so many ways. It was really close to religious, and I don’t mean that in any goofy or sensational way. When they played their 20+ minute wall of sound finale I really felt as though I was about to go into a trance at any moment, I remember fighting hard to stay present throughout it. I won’t try to explain what this noise solo was like, instead here is a surprisingly good video of the first 8 minutes of it. The end of the world begins about two minutes in if you are impatient (thanks Johny Orient).

The video is a nice point of reference (notice how it is shaking the whole time, this is not due to the filmmakers Parkinson Disease, that is an unbelievable amount of air being pushed from lots and lots of speakers). Still, nothing can explain the feeling that 115-130 decibels has on you for that length of time. Your ribcage is rattling, your whole body shudders, your head aches, your balance is thrown off. I distinctly remember feeling that I was about to gag for a while, because of the way my throat was buzzing. Again, it is best summed up with that word: overwhelming.

I was pleasantly surprised at how RAW this band is. The set had so much energy, much more than I would have expected from the band that some say personify the shoegazer genre better than anyone else. I also was surprised at how many people were dancing to their “Glider” type dance tracks, I was certainly one of them. If you get the chance to see this band on future tours, don’t blow it. This should be a priority over pretty much anything you have going on in your life.

Here are some songs that I remember them playing, though it feels so much like a dream and I could be entirely wrong on one or two:

When You Sleep, Only Shallow, To Here Knows When, I Only Said, Soon, Slow, Cigarette in your bed, Thorn, You Made Me Realize, Lose My Breath, When You Wake (You’re Still In A Dream), Feed Me With Your Kiss

School of Seven Bells are the embodiment of what I’ve always imagined sirens sound like. Much like sirens, they lure the hapless listener inexorably forward with their beautiful, ethereal voices. Only, instead of being lead to an untimely end, SVIIB leaves us with Alpinisms; a collection of 11 haunting, yet groove-worthy songs released in 2008. Their infusion of harmonic chanting with beat-driven rocktronica (err.. rock/electronica… dig it) is assuredly a note-worthy feat. Clearly, SVIIB cannot be easily categorized.

School of Seven Bells has quite an interesting history. They formed when Benjamin Curtis of the Secret Machines and the identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza of On! Air! Library! met on tour and decided to quit their respective bands and make beautiful music – a solid choice. The band is named after a mythical South American school for pickpockets. Their process is very lyrically driven as Benjamin comments in an interview with NPR “the sound is usually inspired by the words, rather than vice versa,” Curtis adds. “We always do the vocals first in this band. That’s a really big deal for us.”

I happened to see them live with Bat for Lashes about a week back. SVIIB sound great live and it was quite amusing to watch Benjamin entirely engrossed in rocking the guitar in-between the relatively calm twins. I am considering seeing them again in a couple of weeks, they were that good. They are currently touring Europe, but will begin an American tour in late May. Indeed, they will be playing Sasquatch! Festival. Sigghhh. Missing Sasquatch! is one of the major disadvantages to London life. You can see SVIIB’s complete tour schedule on their lovely myspace as well as a cool tour blog on their website.

This band needs no introduction. The video does all the talking.

I have three favorite things about this video.
1. The portly keyboardist hidden in the bushes. Is that a Casio?
2. The lead singer’s spike bracelets. It’s just a matter of time until Hot Topic gets wind of these. Also, I’m pretty sure this guy was my waiter at Shoney’s the other night.
3. The little choreography interlude where they up-down-up-down together.

After watching this several times, I couldn’t help imagining the following exchange in my head.

“Mom, can Brian and I borrow the camcorder again?”
“No honey. Thursday is job hunting day, remember?”
“Mom! I’m 36! Stop telling me what to do!”
“Fine, sweetie. But can you tell your brother and his friends to put their shirts back on? They’re getting my loveseat sweaty.”
“Okay! And where is your makeup purse at again? I…forgot something in it.”

Utah has good music and good people, and I have a story to tell. Last Friday night, a band Desert Noises showed up to a local coffee shop. Despite the rainstorm, I loaded in a PA for the show, and from a mini trailer attached to the back of their station wagon, the band loaded in their gear. We talked a little about skateboarding and shared stories of touring. I found out they had been sleeping in their car most of this tour (w/ Drew Danburry), so I offered them some beds at my house. In the end, the three boys from Desert Noises, Drew, and his drummer Travis stayed the night in my basement. Desert Noises has a self-titled EP out on Northplatte Records. You can purchase it here!

Drew Danburry also has a really great new album out. It is called This Could Mean Trouble, You Don’t Speak For The Club and was released on Emergency Umbrella Records (home to Gentlemen Auction House, Sinkane, and other greats). I picked up a copy when I saw him last in February. You can purchase it here! It seems like Drew is always on tour. I have seen him four or five times now just in my area. Be sure to catch him in your hometown. He is a true and kind person.

Here are two music videos.

“New Man” by Desert Noises (directed by Drew Danburry and Will Thomas)

“Memorial Day” by Drew Danburry (directed by Drew Danburry and Will Thomas)

The very first post that graced this blog featured the band Sharing Stone. Both members of Sharing Stone (Trent and Ethan) have their own solo projects. Recently Trent released three albums of FREE music through his myspace page that highlight all of his solo work. This is an incredible gift from Trent. I don’t use the word incredible lightly; this music has depth. Trent is a young man, but his voice carries wisdom and soul; he is also a tasteful violinist. Enjoy the music and feel free to stop by Trent’s myspace to say thanks.

Download:
Athru..Z
Circle Maze
Wiremaps

Samples:

What’s the pain all about

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Broken love

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Night Horse

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Leave leave

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It’s not Hip Hop. It’s not Hipster-Hop. It’s good music. Last Thursday Champagne Champagne played an incredible show at Nectar in Seattle. Kyle from Camp Revival caught the show. They performed a new song. It was caught on video, thanks to: Drop-bomb blogspot:

Here are some other songs that the group performed that night: