Arcade Fire, Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA 10/3/10

I have to travel to the Bay Area once a week because I've been interning at a post-production house in San Francisco. Today on the drive down I listened to pretty much nothing but Arcade Fire, trying to remember the amazing performance that happened the night before. Nowadays, I would just tweet a bunch about stuff, but I felt compelled to blog this one. I had a lot of things on my mind I guess.

-One of the best parts of the evening was the double dip of Regine Chassagne songs. Really early into the set they did "Haiti" and "Sprawl II". I didn't think I would hear "Haiti" live, so when they started playing it I may have freaked out a bit. My squeals of joy were hopefully drowned out by the crowd. Another nice surprise was "Ocean of Noise."

-This was my first concert in a year. I went to one show last year which was the second day of the Treasure Island Music Festival when The Flaming Lips headlined. I also saw The Decemberists and Beirut that day but it wasn't that memorable. Mainly because although I love Beirut, I can't listen to them for long periods of time because they make me sleepy. The Decemberists, who I really love, only performed The Hazards of Love beginning to end. I don't really like it when bands do that. Perform one album. It's kind of lame. The Flaming Lips were awesome. Seeing them live is quite an experience, but I don't consider them one of my favorite favorite bands. I knew the words to the songs, and I was dancing and jumping but I don't know. They're right outside the top ten or something for me. The whole reason for me explaining this was because last night's Arcade Fire show was the first time since probably going to concerts in Chicago, that I felt that really amazing feeling of just giving personal energy to the band performing and getting an equal amount of energy back. Being in the presence of a band that you love and seeing them give an amazing performance is one of the best feelings you can experience, in my opinion.

-They didn't play "My Body is a Cage." I didn't even think about that song until I heard it tonight. Now I feel disappointed. Only a little.

-Despite what you may think about "Wake Up," like maybe you think it's played out, or you might not even be familiar with the song, I implore everyone to go to an Arcade Fire show just to hear that song live. It is the ultimate sing-along and dance-along at the end when it gets upbeat. It was an amazing sight to see.

-I noticed that the crowd response for "Month of May" was kind of low. It's not my favorite song on "The Suburbs," and I don't know if I'm part of the majority when it comes to that song. They keep playing that song when they perform though, so I don't know. Funny story though, I was standing next to a girl with her arms folded tight. I wanted to wail in her ear, "HOW YOU GONNA LIFT IF WITH YOUR ARMS FOLDED TIGHT? TELL ME!"

-Poor Will Butler! He ate it hard while running around during "Rebellion." He was playing a drum(maybe a tom?) and he was just running around like a wild man, and he slipped. He quickly got up though. Probably had a lot of adrenaline going inside of him but it looked like it totally hurt.

Based on my enjoyment factor of last night's performance, I can comfortably put Arcade Fire near the top of my all time favorite bands. It's been an interesting journey for Arcade Fire and me. I was one of the few people that didn't really like "Funeral" at first. Besides "Rebellion," I just didn't enjoy it for whatever reason. When "Neon Bible" came out though, I was like "Oh, this is pretty cool." I think because it's probably their most depressing album is what attracted me to it. This year, "The Suburbs" came out, and my album of the year list now reads like this:

1. "The Suburbs" - Arcade Fire

2-100. Don't know yet. "The Bridge" by DLRN is somewhere in there. "Teen Dream" by Beach House. Everything else is a question mark.

The Mad Cuddlez Songs of the Aughts

We're about to get ambitious. Pierre and I want to know want you're favorite songs of this decade are. We're going to tally up your nominations, debate, agree, disagree, and then we will reveal a list of 100 songs that defined this decade. Here are some rules when making your lists.

-No restrictions on genre. As long as you can prove that it came out this decade, go for it.

-Song must have been released this decade obviously. For now we're not allowing covers, so they won't be counted if they're on your list.

-Please number your lists. Ranking plays a big part because songs that are ranked at the top will be awarded more points than songs that are lower ranked. Lists that are not numbered will be scored like this: every song on the list will only get one point.

-Please make a list of at least 20 songs. That shouldn't be too tough. Max should be 100 but I won't stop you if you're feeling ambitious. Please don't give me like 500 songs though.

A good resource to start at is Wikipedia. Check what came out each year to get your brain going. I don't have a deadline for this yet, but it'll probably be a month from now. Then we will reveal the list at some point before New Year's. Depending on the participation, we might do more lists, like movies, games, etc but for now we're sticking to music. Email your lists at madcuddlez@gmail.com Thanks doodes.

SALLY SHAPIRO/MEGA MAN WHAAAA

BUY AUDIOSURF

I am so late on this, but Steam is offering Audiosurf this week for a mere $2.50 this week only. I'm pretty sure anyone reading this will either: not play it because almost half of the contributors of this blog have Macs and I don't think you can play this on a Mac unless you do some magic(not computer savvy at all), or you'll scoff at me and say C'mon Spiz! This shit came out in Feburary! OLD! However if you're in the minority like I am, I implore you! If you like the music games as much as I do you really need to check out this game, especially at that price.

The game works like this. It's part rhythm/part puzzle. You take any MP3 you got on your computer and the game will create a track based on what the song sounds like. The track will rise, fall, curve to the beat. Now the basic object of the game is to stack colored blocks into clusters to clear the board and score points. The video above is like the most basic mode(think it's called Mono) where you only have to worry about one color, but you have to dodge the grey blocks or else you're stuck with those blocks on your board. Like most good puzzle games, very simple concept, but there's strategy and depth hidden. Like in that mode you can hit grey blocks on purpose to stack blocks to create bigger combos for more points. People throw around the term synesthesia for experiences like this(see Rez) and yeah, I get totally sucked into the visuals and the music. It's such a time sink right now.

The sheer fact that you can just input any song and play it in the game makes this an amazing game. This isn't like Rock Band where I get to rock out to "Pump it Up" by Elvis Costello and then cover my ears when that fucking Disturbed song comes up. The one where the lead singer goes OOHWAHAHAHAH which is all of them. My point is I fired up "Trojan Horse" by Bloc Party as the first song on the demo and after that I was sold and played till 3am. The freedom, oh the glorious freedom. I have no clue how the developer got away with this, but all music games should allow you to use whatever music you want. This is easily going to be on my Games of the Year list.

Where are the music videos?

I was thinking about music videos. Do they still make good music videos anymore? Not just a band performing on a stage, but you know like, music videos that meant something. A visual representation of the song. Like does Michel Gondry still do music videos, or did he say "VIDEOS ARE DEAD" a long time ago? If good videos are still being made, where does one watch them? Are they hidden in that black hole where lost left socks go?









They couldn't have done this in 1996.

Disapointments: Voxtrot

At work today, I had the sudden urge to listen to "Sway" by Voxtrot, one of their lesser known songs. Probably because it's a bittersweet ballad and Voxtrot is more known for their upbeat joints. I was in the middle of listening to a podcast, but I try to feed my musical impulses instantly now because: a) I find that listening to podcasts non-stop is quite boring and having brief music breaks keep me awake, and b) I miss music so much I need to find it again. Normally I would just let the idea of listening to music pass while I drown myself in more useless gaming news and information. However now I turn on some music and sometimes I don't go back to the podcast I was listening to which has caused me to get so behind in my podcast schedule that I have to consider cutting back on the amount of shows I subscribe to.

Anyway let me get back on point. First, I love Voxtrot. They make me leap joyfully with my nose in the air like how Snoopy dances when he's excited. Some compared them to the second coming of The Smiths except not so sorrowful, though Voxtrot can pull that emotional gear off as well. The first two EP's got Pierre hooked which in turn, got me hooked. I think his vice is/was "The Start of Something." I am a "Soft and Warm" kinda guy, but all ten of those first songs were hits in my book and I wanted to listen to nothing else for months. I can't wait for the album...where's the album?

Sometimes a band can do no wrong. I waited. They released another EP. More good shit. Give me the album. I want to hear sweet love songs and dance. I know it's going to be best album of the 00's. It has to be. They(Voxtrot) made me wait a whole year. 2006 was a terrible, slow burn.

(This post is disappointing HOHOHOHO)

Anyway, I'm tired. That's a whole lot of pointless setup. Voxtrot releases their debut LP in January of 2007. I liked three songs on the album. To me, that was so heartbreaking because obviously the best album of the 00's should have at least ten head exploding-ly good tracks. The songs were flat, boring, and even too pussy for me. I have no problem admitting that I enjoy some pussy rock, but just some lyrics made me squirm not because of the content, but just the cadence of the words coming out of the lead singer's mouth. I still listen to that album in hopes that I will someday be like, "Oh, this is fine. I don't know why I was so hard on it."

My whole aim in this post was to inspire you to write something. Tell me about how you were once disappointed. Like, really disappointed. Not like this stupid story of shallow disappointment. I'll think of something else that disappointed me and I'll make it more interesting.

You know what's disappointing? Vicodin.

I enjoy the chat rooms that we've been doing lately. It's good to talk to you guys. I have a fantasy where the lords of this blog do a podcast. It would be like the chat rooms. Except we would talk. With our voices. It would be funny. No one would listen. NO! Someone would listen. Then we can start advertising on our blog, and make Google monies. Win one of those blog awards. That's my fantasy.

Start of the week in brief

-I voted today. Just skip all the bullshit and do it already if you can.

-Got my wisdom teef' removed. Rockin' the vicodinz, but it's not that great. Might be better with a Sam Adams Oktoberfest, but not today. Also got super charged ibuprofen, and some antibiotix.

-Actually listened to the new Bloc Party and judged it way too early. With the exception of one or two songs, "Intimacy" makes me feel like I'm at a BP show. "A Weekend in the City" didn't make me feel like that. I was head knocking so hard I fucking loved it. Good album.

-Played Call of Duty 4 for the first time in months. Yup, still suck at it. I thought the vicodinz would help me not suck.

Seriously, I can't keep up

I stopped following music in August and I find myself with a plethora of things to listen to. I can't believe Bloc Party, Jenny Lewis, TV on the Radio, and Of Montreal released(or will be releasing)albums. The Of Montreal and TOTR albums are really, really good. Bloc Party and Jenny Lewis, meh. I'm also digging the new Rosebuds which is better than their last album. Deerhoof I haven't listened to the whole thing, but I like what I heard so far. Ladyhawke is sick groove shit. The new Streets, hit and miss. Veronica Maggio is some Swedish pop and I'm a big fan of that kinda music. Woman, I think they're new. That's a cool album too. I guess I don't have much to say because I haven't given everything I've mentioned a deep listen with the exception of TOTR and Of Montreal because I liked those albums instantly. I'm surprised I like the Of Montreal so much because I hated on their last album "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" mainly because I don't think they progressed from "Satanic Panic in the Attic." "Skeletal Lamping" is the last two albums, but super funky. The songs sound like collections of multiple songs, like it doesn't stay in the same place for too long which is a downside at times because you become interested in a certain melody, and you want to hear more, but they abruptly move onto something else. It's okay those because they move on, and you get stuck on whatever new tangent they're on.

Anyway all this stuff has reinvigorated me. I'm actually listening to more music at work than podcasts when just last week, I couldn't be bothered with music. Maybe the shows I'm listening to just have been boring of late, I don't know. The new music is just really good I guess. I listened to "In Rainbows" again. I'm not sick of it yet. I was playing with the idea that it might be my favorite Radiohead record, but saying that feels blasphemous to those popular choices for best Radiohead record(OK, Kid, Amnesiac, throw the Bends in there). I don't know. Rainbows is good man. I can't justify it any better at the moment, so I lose. After that I listened to "You Forgot it in People" by Broken Social Scene because I wanted to see if I really like BSS more than Radiohead. The conclusion I came to was: don't make me choose. YFIIP is timeless for me. We all need to go see BSS live. Go Canadia!

It just sucks I can't keep up with everything. I want to start reading hardcore again. I'm reading Watchmen right now, but very slowly. The busy video game season is about to start too so I don't know how I'm going to get to all of these things. Sucks too because I don't have my own TV to play on so I haven't been playing much lately. Only when Andrea's not around. What are you guys reading/listening/playing/watching?

This is what Rock Band will do to your tastes Part 1

I looove playing this song on guitar, drums, or singing. I get giddu\y whe it comes up on a playlist, but I chenge the channel in a decond if I se the same video on TV? There is something in the publicity...I'll go more into it tomorrow. Whoo-hoo I win!