Some Points on Music

My own thoughts of course.

I'm a fan of music, but not of headphones. Music is an element of the world around you, not an insulation from it.

Listen to tons of different music, even if it's crap. Yeah, you don't have to listen to the whole song, but give it a chance. It helps you define what you really do like and strengthen your opinions of music in general.

You're gonna change your taste in music numerous times in your life. Don't be embarrassed by what you used to like, and definitely don't be embarrassed by what you like right now. People might put you down for it, but remember that at least some other people all over the world are bound to like the same thing too. And obviously the people making the music.

I'm a music collector and appreciator, much like the art kind. I know how to play the instruments you had in band class and that's it. I wish I could play the drums well, or the guitar, but I can't. Just because you can't play music doesn't mean can't like it. But I imagine it wouldn't necessarily be in the same way as a musician might.

Research the music you like. Find out who makes it and who influences it. Wikipedia is your friend. Have something to talk about when you talk music. The only downside is finding out the people who make the music you like are a.) ugly b.) dead c.) a computer. But even then a.) you don't have to see them unless they're live b.) Tupac still puts out much more than his fair share c.) there's nothing wrong with electro.

Discover the HypeMachine. Sure it's full of remixes and a hell of a lot more dance/electro than is healthy for anytime that isn't a Saturday night out on the town, but it's a hell of an aggregator. You know what's new, what's popular, you don't have to download anything, and you can search some band's entire discographies if you want to get a taste for them. Bookmark it: hypem.com

Read blogs. Of course this ties in with hypem.com, but get out on your own, find music blogs you like, that are a bit out of your range, and that keep current. Check out rollingstone.com, pitchfork.com, nme.com, all the mainstream music sites. Make yourself knowledgeable. The radio is alright, but you're getting maybe 2% of what's really out there. Especially in Canada.

If you really like music, buy it. I'm not saying go out and download singles, but if you really love an artist, get out and buy their new album, and most importantly, catch their show if they come through town. Nothing makes you appreciate music more than live performances.

Sure your iPod is nice, but that's music you know you like. Don't play the shit out of it. Expand your tastes, keep finding new music and don't get complacent.

Personal feeling 1: rap really is going down the shitter. Hip-hop is close behind.

Personal feeling 2: noise rock is actually good.

Personal feeling 3: repetitive dance music makes for good, mindless background noise for writing.

Personal feeling 4: really good dance music makes you feel like...you guessed it. Dancing. If you want that Saturday night feeling on a boring Tuesday afternoon, get out and find some good bangers.

Personal feeling 5: current artist's interpretations of the 80's are much better than the actual 80's were.

Personal feeling 6: Old Kings of Leon is much better than new Kings of Leon.

I already mentioned Pitchfork. Sure it has its criticisms, but it's refreshing. You don't get a lot of ass-kissing, and when you do (and you're smart) you can pick it out. They're harsh, but if something is really so bad, give it a listen and see if it's justified. If you like it, pitchfork can go suck it. But guess what? Would you have even known about them if not for pitchfork? Probably not.

Remixes are rarely better than the originals. But when they are, they're pretty freakin' good.

Listen to at least a bit of old music. It's nice to know the roots and how we got to where we are.

That's all I've got for now.

Death Cab Concert Review. Mega Post.

Sooo, while it's still fresh in my mind...and I smell like crowded concert...

Alysse won VIP tickets, so we got to go early around 5 to the sound check. There was maybe 30 of us max there. We got to go in, right up to the stage, Death Cab played 3 songs I'd personally never heard, but they sounded good. Only downside was the mixing drowned out Gibbard's voice if you were too close, so standing further back woulda made it sound a little more balanced. The other thing was that depending on where you stood, you seemed to get only that bass or guitar's speaker. We were in the middle and it was nothing but bass.

Got to meet the band about 5 minutes after that. During the sound check everyone seemed really awkward, like we didn't know how to act. That was the weird thing about having so few people there: you don't really get that "concert" kinda feel. Anyways, we lined up, got to shake hands with all the band members, got our pics with them. Great guys, real laid back, introduced themselves and everything. Told the bassist I liked his beard haha.

After that we got to chill in the VIP lounge, got a wicked little buffet and everything. The Rogers people were there to whore out their new phones and the prizes you could win for texting...lucky us, we've been Telus customers for years. There were two girls there that for God-knows-why, changed their outfits in between the sound check and the concert. Go figure. Another couple there had won tickets from Nokia to fly down for the concert, plus they got a new phone.

We got to watch everyone line up, starting around 6:30-7 I guess. Shitty day outside, overcast, and it didn't seem like they even opened the Dal SUB, so everyone had to wait outside no matter how early they got there. Recognized a few people in line, til it started curving around the block. We heard there were 1000 tickets up for grabs...I heard 150 before that somehow, dunno where or why or when though. Judging from the venue (McInnes room upstairs SUB) 1000 was NOT happening.

We got to go in for the show earlier than everyone else cause of VIP, so we got front row views, but it was further back than sound check. The place started to fill up pretty well, but definitely didn't stretch to the back, and there was maybe 500 there, not even close to the 1000 available. It started getting pretty hot, but I couldn't leave my spot to get water cause I was sure to lose it. I ended up being second row with my friend Jocelyn in front of me. Pretty much 5 feet from the stage either way.

After about half an hour of waiting for the opener to show up, The Midway State finally got on stage. The time seemed much shorter either way though, they had two screens up from projectors with 4 texts showing at a time from everyone in the crowd who submitted one. Pretty funny ones, pretty lame ones. Lots of marriage proposals. Not many screams of "Yes!"

Frankly, The Midway State wasn't all too bad, but all their songs sounded the same. The lead singer was totally overdramatic...and his afro was appropriately inflated to match. They had a pretty good instrumental opener, they seemed happy to be there, but the songs just weren't doing it for me. There was no subtlety at all; they played every song hard, there was tons of noise and guitar and drums filled every noise crevice; no silence to kind of absorb it in. 

I really think the lead singer ruined them for me either way: drama queen, and his voice always sounded strained and like he was gonna cry, but in a really wussy way. The other part I really didn't get was the guitarist: they gave him a solo basically every song, no matter what. He ripped pretty well, but there was one particular solo I remember that was absolute shit; like literally it contained every single thing I hate when it comes to guitar. Low note to low note, chords that were really sad and didn't mesh well...think of something absolutely horrible and melodramatic from the worst 80's rock song you can think of, and then imagine this guy playing it. It was not only bad, but he repeated the same progression. Not impressed.

Anyways, they did their big song "Never Again" then I think one more about rain and why the girl didn't love him. Boo-hoo. I don't think they're going anywhere really; it'd be nice to have them make me eat my words, but I could care less.

Anyways, Death Cab came on after like a half hour of the crew playing around with the drums and the keyboards and guitars. What was the point of the sound check? Don't ask me. They had the set list up on one of the speakers and me and the people beside me tried for a solid 5 minutes to zoom in and find out the order, but the most we figured was that "Cath" was smack dab in the middle. I had a strong feeling they'd open with "I Will Possess Your Heart" cause of the awesome long intro which builds really well and takes a solid 5-6 minutes. Nope.

Ben came out solo with the acoustic and started strumming "I Will Follow You Into The Dark". The crowd went crazy and everyone knew the words which was awesome; especially big cheer when he sang "from Bangkok to Calgary". By the way, if I haven't mentioned yet, everyone was crammed together, the boards were bouncing underneath our feet, and it all smelled like sex. Don't ask. We all belted that song out anyways, but Gibbard never really looked amused. In the back of my mind by the way, I'm comparing this whole thing to The Weakerthans show I saw the other weekend. The whole show, their lead singer was happy to be there and looked amused/bemused by the whole idea of the show and everyone there to watch him/them. That didn't seem evident with DCFC; I think they've been doing it for too long in too many places to really be excited anymore.

Each time a new song would start, Ben would look at the set list and nod at everyone else. There wasn't much interaction during songs other than the bassist turning and playing facing the drum set for half of each song, and Gibbard exchanging awkward stares with the drummer. The other guitarist Chris was off in his own world on the far end (I was standing exactly between the lead singer and bassist, about 7 feet from each...Ben was sweating profusely and it was whipping off him onto the stage every time he twisted his body in the his awkward little high-stepping/prancing around the stage. Strange, but hey, he can have some eccentricities, he's allowed) and he seemed to be singing Ben's parts occasionally, though there was no mike around him to be heard.

I'd say they played 15 songs? and I knew around 6-7...one of the few who seemed to recognize a song they said came off their first album "Something About Airplanes". I think it was "State Street Residential" but no one seemed to know it and it's pretty dark and cynical sounding anyways, not really sure why they played it. You could tell the songs everyone knew and loved though, like "Summer Skin" and "Sound of Settling" which was upbeat and one of the highlights of the show. They never really slowed it down much, though when they did get around to IWPYH, the intro was nice and long, the effects were great, and it was very true to the album version. That's the one thing about DCFC though, they're not really about the effects, just straight up two guitars, a bass and drums (plus piano for some songs and a little drum-machine thing for others). Respectable and really well done, but nothing out of the ordinary. 

My favorite part of the whole concert though was them playing "Cath". They rocked it really hard, the sound was awesome and very true to the real thing...but sadly, two things happened. Not many people seemed to know it, and this was the time they started handing out water to anyone who needed it. Distracting, but I still had a blast during that song.

They didn't talk much in between songs, but they made sure to thank us for having them (greeted to raucous applause) and wondered why the didn't come earlier. I think the more the show went on, the louder we cheered and the more we appreciated them. When he announced the last song and finished...I have literally never heard anything louder in my entire life. The cheering, the screaming, the yelling, the whistling, the clapping, the "en-core!"s the "death-cab!"s, the insanity of it all...my eardrums have never felt like that, ever. We must've cheered our hearts out for a solid 3 or 4 minutes. We knew they were coming back anyways, but that didn't stop us from going berserk. It was astounding really.

It was just Ben again I think who came out. Right now, I honestly forget what song he started with though. They played about 4, maybe 5 songs. I was blown away though by the closer, "Transatlanticism". I've never heard it before, but the progression between the awesome start of Ben playing piano and the timbre in his voice, that great acoustic feel, his bandmates standing around taking it all in, giving their guitars a strum here and there for atmosphere...then him getting back to his guitar, the song picking up, and them just absolutely rocking it out for a solid 2 minutes instrumentally and the awesome, repetitive "I need you so much closer". It was easily the most "into" a song any of them were. The bassist was thrashing, getting on his knees at the end...the drummer was murdering the set, the cymbals were flying, it was just awe-inspiring. I caught myself actually exhaling when it was all done, one of the best musical experiences of my life. It really brought the concert up a notch in my mind and it was an amazing close to it all.

Overall, it wasn't one of the better concerts of my life. I frankly even had more fun at The Weakerthans. The main reason? I knew going in Death Cab isn't necessarily the best group to watch live; their music is great to listen to at home, chill to, really take in and appreciate the lyrics. It's not the best at a concert, where the words are drowned out and some of the music is too soft to even bob your head to. When they played their "rock" songs, you could see the energy pick up, and you have to wonder why they don't give that to all their songs. Even when it came to singing and the lyrics, you could FEEL it when John Sampson was singing, no matter what it was. You could feel the pain or the joie de vivre in his voice and you could see it in his face. That wasn't always there with Death Cab, which I felt took away from it a bit. I dunno if that's just how their show is all the time, or if it was just this one.

Disclaimer: I didn't buy the tickets. Alysse won them. There's at least 10-15 bands I'd put ahead of Death Cab that I'd love to see live, so this was more of a "they're in town, it's once-in-a-lifetime, why not?". I did come away impressed, but only by Death Cab though, not in terms of them compared to other bands I've seen live. Overall? 8.2/10 if I had to put a number on it. Would I pay $400 like I heard some people did though? Never.