So a couple days back Sigur Ros unleashed Gobbledigook upon the masses. And I still don’t know what to make of it. It has grown on me a bit but, honestly, if the rest of the record has the same feel I’m likely going to be wondering what the hell they were thinking. At the moment I’m huddled in the corner, quietly chanting, “They are geniuses, it will be ok…they are geniuses, it will be ok.”
Download
Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook
Watch the naked video.
Other than friend and family stuff, I hadn’t felt like I’d missed any major event in Vancouver (thankfully, the Canucks have only won seven games since I left). Not that things aren’t happening back home, but I haven’t gone, “Damn, I really should have been there for that.” Until this.
On May 23, R.E.M. kicked off their Accelerate tour (avec The National and Modest Mouse) at Deer Lake Park. Can you believe that this was the first time R.E.M. ever played Ignoreland live? I guess the election season got to them. Here are 25 reasons I wish I had been there.
1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
2. What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
3. Ignoreland
4. Second Guessing
5. Gardening at Night
6. Man Sized Wreath
7. Disturbance at the Heron House
8. Hollowman
9. Accelerate
10. West of the Fields
11. Houston
12. Electrolite
13. Losing My Religion
14. Time After Time (annelise)
15. Let Me In
16. The One I Love
17. Country Feedback
18. Bad Day
19. Walk Unafraid
20. Horse to Water
———
21. Supernatural Superserious
22. Sweetness Follows
23. Get Up
———
24. I’m Gonna DJ
25. Man on the Moon
That is a fucking awesome setlist. Check out the debut (!) performance of Ignoreland below.
Photo courtesy this guy. Stereogum also has some thoughts.
This seems like a good time to mention that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Matthew Fluxblog’s R.E.M. dedicated blog, Pop Songs 08 for ages now. Each post is dedicated to one R.E.M. song and features Matthew’s insights into one of the more enigmatic bands of the past 30 years. The writing is fantastic, as you’d expect, and I’ve come away from nearly every post with a greater appreciation or understanding of the song. And he’s going to get to every R.E.M. song, eventually. It’s an awesome project and I’m almost tempted to do a Radiohead version.
Last July, Matthew wrote this about the then unplayed Ignoreland:
It seems like a waste for them to not give this song a shot in concert — I can imagine a fairly straight adaptation of the album arrangement working out very well as one of the first three songs in a set [...]
Well played, sir.
So I did it. I listened. I enjoyed.
Back in February I wrote about being excited about a new Clinic record for the first time in ages. That record, Do It!, has since been released and I’m really digging it. It sounds pretty much jsut like what you’d expect from a Clinic record but manages to do it (!) all a little bit better (in relation to the last one anyway) this time around.
Fun Fact: Despite all the gigs I go to, I’ve never actually seen these guys live.
Download
Clinic – Free Not Free
On June 23, Sigur Rós will release their new Flood-produced record called Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. That’s a mouthful in any language but it roughly translates to With A Buzz In Our Ears We Play Endlessly. Thumbs up on the title.
The tracklist is:
1. Gobbledigook
2. Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
3. Góðan daginn
4. Við spilum endalaust
5. Festival
6. Suð í eyrum
7. Ára bátur
8. Illgresi
9. Fljótavík
10. Straumnes
11. All Alright
The first single, actually called Gobbledigook, was played on Triple JJJ today and it’s apparently quite different for the band. In a few hours there will be a further announcement from the band when in all likelihood the single will be available for download from their website. Stat tuned to the DOT.
And despite what the NME says, that is, apparently NOT the band on the cover of the album.
But June 23! That’s less than a month! Anyone else excited like me? The artwork is soooo different for the band…colour! daylight! sunshine! I really don’t know what to expect with this record.
UPDATE
The official “official” site has now been updated and the single will be available to download for free later on today/tomorrow.
I started going to gigs when I was 15 years old in 1995. My first gig was a Canadian band called Our Lady Peace who were then touring their first record, Naveed. They went sharply downhill after that record but in the mid-90s they were easily one of the biggest rock bands in Canada.
I saw them for the first time in December 1995 at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver back before it closed down, had legal issues, got renovated, and reopened. The floor was actually bouncy back then! It was an all ages gig and Tripping Daisy, riding the I Got A Girl wave, opened. It was a perfect double bill for a 15 year old. I’ve been attending gigs ever since.
One of the main reasons I started this blog in 2005 was to keep track of the shows I’d be going to see. I figured having a blog would motivate me to actually document gigs and, when possible, provide a setlist. I like being able to easily search and see what a band played last time I saw them but scraps of papers in drawers just wasn’t working.
Anyway, this has worked well for the gigs I’ve been to since the blog started but I’ve been wanting to try to document some of what I saw pre-October 2005. So I am. Basically this is a warning. For the foreseeable future there will be seemingly random posts on A Reminder about gigs that may have happened a decade ago. The first two (R.E.M. and Wilco) are already up.
These posts will likely not interest anyone so feel free to ignore them. However, comment away too if you want. Especially if you were there. Most of the gigs will be from Vancouver, some from Seattle and even a few from Europe and Japan. All these posts will be catalogued under the Archives tag.
Regular posting will continue as well. But I just wanted to warn you that this blog is about to get a lot more self-indulgent. Which, honestly, is what a blog is all about.
As mentioned below, in 2003 I attended the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle. Wilco sort of supported R.E.M. I remember being rather unimpressed with their performance but that was likely due to the venue (which was a massive football stadium). It was my first time seeing Wilco and I wasn’t as big a fan of them then as I am now.
Wilco setlist
Bumbershoot Festival
September 1, 2003
Box Full Of Letters
A Shot In The Arm
I’m The Man Who Loves You
Poor Places
Reservations
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
War On War
Jesus, Etc.
Say You Miss Me
Misunderstood
Far, Far Away
California Stars
Kingpin
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
The day after seeing Radiohead at the White River Amphitheatre a bunch of us hit the Bumbershoot Festival “on our way home”. For 15 bucks we saw The New Pornographers, Wilco, and R.E.M. As of now this is the only time I’ve seen R.E.M. and they were way better than I thought they would be. Michael Stipe is a hell of a front man and the setlist was more than I could have hoped for.
R.E.M. setlist
Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle
September 1, 2003
Begin The Begin
Finest Worksong
Maps And Legends
Drive
Animal
Fall On Me
Bad Day
Daysleeper
Exhuming McCarthy
Electrolite
New Test Leper
Nightswimming
The One I Love
At My Most Beautiful
I’ve Been High
Losing My Religion
She Just Wants To Be
Walk Unafraid
Man On The Moon
———
Everybody Hurts
Imitation Of Life
World Leader Pretend
Get Up
It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
I’m a pretty big fan of weird records. And Snowman have just released a pretty weird record called The Horse, the Rat and the Swan. To be honest I don’t even know what to make of it yet. I’ve had a copy for a couple weeks now and I feel like every time I listen to it I’m hearing it for the first time. It actually reminds me a lot of the second and third records by Liars: I am confounded and intrigued all at once. There also seems to be a loose narrative through much of The Horse, the Rat and the Swan (from what I can catch of the lyrics)…if anyone can decipher it, let me know.
Download
Snowman – We Are The Plague
You can currently stream the whole record at the band’s MySpace. I’m thinking there won’t be much middle ground with this record. It will either be one of the best Australian albums of 2008 or one that very few people can latch onto. I’m still making up my mind, but I’m quietly optimistic. Snowman are a great band and this very well could be a landmark album for them.
The Sigur Ros video widget continues to be updated. In the latest titled “Camsett State Historic Park 10th May” the band appear to be shooting promo photos, an album cover, or a video. While wearing no clothes. It’s SFW but I’m not sure the final product will be.
Sadly, no music in this clip.
The flyers for Sigur Ros’ upcoming Australian tour state “New album instore June.” The band have been tightlipped about when this thing is getting released so it seems as though they are about to drop a “shock” announcement about a “rush” release. I’d mark June 30 on your calendars.
Radiohead certainly have changed things…
Earlier this year when Broken Social Scene rolled through Australia they were dropping a couple new songs into the setlist. When I saw them at the Manning Bar they played two newies, one of which is called Water In Hell and it was sung by Brendan Canning. Knowing he had his solo record in the pipeline I assumed that this song would feature on that. But based on the Something For All Of Us… tracklist it looks as though this one may turn up on a future Broken Social Scene record or be lost forever (where you at Jimmy and the Photocall?). Unless of course it’s just got a new name and is on Canning’s record. Regardless, check it out below.
Download
Broken Social Scene – Water In Hell (live @ Laneway Festival, Melbourne)
If you want to check out something that is on Canning’s record for sure, clicky here.
