The half remembered wild interior of an animal life

I went to London for two events. One was a private party with a bunch of friends. The other was the concert the day after. There were actually three bands on the bill: Robots in Disguise, IAMX and MIndless Self Indulgence. I don't like MSI very much but it was worth it to me to see IAMX.

( click here to read a review )

Yeah I know, I've been lame, I haven't been posting music thingys. I've been busy and stuff but I saw a couple of shows that I want to comment on.

Voltaire at TNE - Voltaire's music ranges from very very silly to completely serious, but his shows are typically focused on the silly songs and some of the very twisted songs as well. It seems to be that as a performer he is more comfortable doing a sort of folk/goth musical comedy routine than a straight up concert. It is a very ENTERTAINING folk/rock musical comedy routine though, definitely one I'd go see again. Also the show I attended turned into a big singalong at various times. Voltaire is an animated performer with great audience rapport, especially after he's had a few beers ;)

Ladytron at The Paradise Rock Club - I love Ladytron's music and its clear from watching them play that they're very good at the actual creation of the music itself but... I could have been listening to a CD. Helen and Mira who front the band interact very little with the audience. Mira looked straight up terrified to be on stage. When I watched her actually playing her keyboard she had this amazing intensity, completely absorbed in the task, but when she looked at the audience, nothing. That's pretty much how everyone in the band was; polished sound but no real PERFORMANCE. Much as I like them, I think I prefer them recorded and I probably won't see them in concert again.

Next week I see IAMX in London. Their Boston concert was my favorite live show ever so I have rather high expectations for this one.

Over the weekend your faithful music thingy reporter engaged in sleep depped two nights in a row clubbing. In honor of that, Music Thingy presents songs that cause eustaciavye to sprint toward the dance floor, knocking over all obstacles, in order to assure that she is shaking her tail by the third bar of music.

Also known as the stuff I REALLY like to hear at the club. Not all of these are live clips but that's okay because this is all about what works on the dance floor:

( Destroy me this way )

Subtitle for this entry: I unleash my secret inner hipster.

I have been accused of being a music snob and I suppose there's good reason for that what with my general disdain for mainstream music. However, I actually listen to the radio every day and there's a lot of stuff out there that I enjoy. Today I'm highlighting a couple of bands who have made it relatively big in the US mainstream market that I really like.

( Silversun Pickups and Death Cab for Cutie )

This weeks music thing includes some things I never expected to put in one of my posts:
1) A band I only just started listening to this week.
2) A band which is popular with hipsters and emo kids
3) A band which may very well be named after a Jim Henson puppet.

That band is Ludo and so far I have only heard a handful of songs but I'm loving them all. This is a group of 5 COMPLETE AND UTTER GEEKS. Those of you who saw the igloo video I've been pimping out, well this is them. They have been getting a lot of attention lately and are actually primed for massive commercial success in the US which would add a 4th thing I never expected to see in my posts: a band that actual sells fucking albums in this country of awful musical taste.

I want to marry all 5 members of the band and live together in a big igloo singing silly songs all day. That would rock.

This weeks post also included the multimedia extravaganza that is Voltaire. Singer, songwriter, guitarist, stop motion animator, college professor, toy designer and author of both graphic novels and humorous non-fiction! This guy designs hot wheels cars between concerts between teaching classes and oh yeah, showing up at sci-fi cons. Cause he's ALSO a big geek. And a big goth.

If I can't marry all the members of Ludo at once then I want to marry Voltaire.

( click here to get your nerd on )

This starts with a brief self-indulgent rant but I swear I move on.

When I first moved to the Boston area I got sucked in a bit to the local folk scene. I was already a big Indigo Girls and Dar Williams fan and I thought a whole bunch more great female folk artists would be awesome. But there's a problem... most of them aren't great. I have heard any number of female folk singers (I won't name names because I'm not mean) who are completely interchangeable. Its as if someone decided a long time ago that it was okay for women to sing half assed in wispy scratchy voices about their pain through lyrics consisting entirely of cliches and generic mournful commentary while strumming the same 3 chords on an acoustic guitar and that was good enough, given them a record deal. I am largely disillusioned with the folk scene but there are a few gems to be found among the masses of mediocrity out there, even if you take Dar and the Indigo Girls out of the equation.

( Here be the LADIES! )

I had all sorts of ideas about what I would post for my music thingy tonight, but I scrapped them all for now (I'll do them some other time) because really what I feel like doing is gushing about Patrick Wolf.

When I get bored I watch tv or knit. When 11 year old Patrick Wolf got bored he built a theramin. This is reason number 1883462 why I will never be as cool as Patrick Wolf but that's okay; this way I get to listen to his music. Patrick Wolf is known for playing tons of instruments that would normally not be seen in popular music, making weird noises with ancient synthesizers, wearing crazy ass outfits, and writing brilliant songs. In an attempt to describe his music I have seen him referred to as a glam artist, an electronica artist, a folk artist, a "folktronica" artist (whatever that means, "Avant garde", alternative.... at this point I think the media has given up; he's giving music journalists a collective headache by writing and performing everything from acoustic numbers on the ukelele to what I can only describe as "melodic noise." He started writing the songs for his first album when he was about 16 or 17, or so he claims, but I am not convinced simply because the lyrics are so bloody brilliant

I love him. Click below for a taste of why.

( A few favorites )

This is the beginning of an experiment for me. I'm going to start posting semi-regular unlocked posts which, for lack of a better term we will call "Eustaciavye's music thingy." This serves three purposes:
1) It gives me an excuse to talk about music which is my favorite topic.
2) It hopefully gets some minute bit of attention to some artists I think are wonderful and deserving of success.
3) It is a bit of practice for blogathon in a few months, where i will have to produce content on demand.

oh actually four purposes. It will prove to some people out there who are a bit confused that i do in fact listen to stuff other than Placebo and The Waterboys.

Tonight I am going to introduce you all to my favorite male and female vocalists. I tried to find live clips that were representative of these two singers because let's face it, you can make anyone sound good on a record, but these folks sound fantastic live as well.

We'll start with the female, in part because I know at least lmpshd reads my musical ramblings and he is a cellist and this vocalist is a cellist as well. That would be Melora Creager from Rasputina. The clip below is the only good live clip I could find. Rasputina covers Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and performs one of their own songs: "Oh Bring Back the Egg Unbroken." It's not necessarily their best song but like I said, clips with decent sound are few and far between, and I love Melora's voice on 'Wish You Were Here." Sadly I have never seem them live but I plan to remedy that someday



For the men, I give you Chris Corner, formerly of the Sneaker Pimps now of IAMX and whatever other weird projects he finds himself working on. IAMX is a highly visual band but underneath the black spandex and cabaret accoutrements and hypersexualized performance style is an amazing voice that doesn't seem like it could possibly come out of Chris's teeny tiny self. Again decent live clips are hard to come by but I found this one; it's a performance of the title track from IAMX's second album "The Alternative." I HAVE seen these guys live and I swear if they played in Boston every night I'd be there every night.