Crystal Castles at Studio B

Second time seeing these guys. Tight set-- their music translate a lot better live than on record. Took these for Loose Record.

I don't think I'm experienced or important enough to elaborate in depth about shooting notes, but from my previous encounter with Crystal Castles (opening for Metric at Webster Hall), I knew that they use a LOT of strobe. So I knew I wanted to drag the shutter and toy around. I found myself in three modes 1. Narrower aperture + dragged shutter (around 1 second to 3/10), 2. Playing it straightforward (f/2.8 and 1/60 - 1/125), and 3. using the speedlite (not preferred). I figured the strobe-y photos would be truer to the atmosphere of the concert: disorientating and restless. It wasn't the easiest concert to shoot, as there was a raucous crowd and no photo pit, but it was certainly fun.

Full set at Flickr.

HEALTH at Studio B

Yay! I return to the world of music photography after a brief break. By return, I mean forcefully propel myself back into it, as I am slightly bruised and battered after braving the crowd feverish for HEALTH at Studio B last night. Some pictures, taken for Loose Record:
Full set here at Flickr.

Justice at Riviera Theatre (Chicago)

Justice - Mobile-Upload Diptych
Riviera Theatre, Chicago
March 20, 2008

Justice as seen previously:
CMJ 2007

Xiu Xiu at Reggie's Rock Club (Chicago)

While planning my Chicago spring break, I knew that I wanted to see a concert. A few days before leaving, I found out Justice sold out the Riviera (well, I've seen them three times already, so no big deal). Then I realized OhMyRockness.com had a Chicago section, saw a Xiu Xiu / Thao Nguyen / Bird Names listing and quickly bought tickets.

Thao Nguyen was fantastic. Each song felt different because of the range of variations in instrumentation. For instance, I liked how she played her guitar percussively towards the end of the set.

Xiu Xiu was interesting. Although I have Fabulous Muscles sitting in my iPod, I was pretty unfamiliar with the band. I'm more familiar with Parenthetical Girls... Xiu Xiu did catch my interest (guitar distortions!) but overall, they didn't win me over (vocals...). Nevertheless, I should give them another listen, as I was watching the show really really sleep deprived and tired from travelling.

[Note: Actual comprehensive concert photography coming up when I'm back in NYC-- Crystal Castles!]

From the Vault: Kanye West; Related: I love his blog

I was just browsing through Kanye West's blog, like I regularly do when I go through my fashion and style blog roll. Suddenly, I remembered I took a photo of him at a concert once. It was completely unexpected. In January, he swung by a Kid Sister / Cool Kids / A-Trak gig at One Step Beyond at the Museum of Natural History, which I was covering for the Spectator.

About the blog-- I literally spent one night going through a zillion back entries. He's quite the design junkie, and with good taste and a good eye.

Source: Kanye's Blog
Why did he have to post about this Eastpak backpack by Raf Simons? I lust for it now, but can't swallow the €299 (that's the cheapest one on the line! And €1 = US$1.54).

On a related note, I'll be spending all of Spring Break in Chicago. Deep dish pizza, architectural tours, and Justice at the Riviera, oh my!

I'll have new music photos soon afterwards. I can't have wrestling photos on the front page of my Flickr for much longer or else I'll go crazy.