HEALTH at Terrace Club (Princeton University)

All year, I've been meaning to visit a friend at Princeton, and I finally took the initiative to do so last night. HEALTH was playing at the infamous eating club. However, I overspent my time at the downstairs bar area
and HEALTH apparently played an ultra-short set, so I didn't even have time to use my Speedlite. (I spent a good part of my time... dancing.)
Oh well, I'll see them again soon.

Foals at Bowery Ballroom

Foals entertained a boisterous (and sold-out) crowd at 6 Delancey. Taken for Loose Record.
I bumped into drummer extraordinaire Jack after the show and had to commend him for the tight set. He was more than willing to pose for a picture.

For the full (short) set, see Flickr.

The picture below was obviously not taken by me. It's Mario Testino for the Burberry Spring/Summer 08 campaign. The red head is Jack. Click on the link to see a video of the photo shoot, where Lily looks positively bobbleheaded and where Agyness looks snarky like usual.

Grizzly Bear at Columbia University

A last minute assignment for Columbia Spectator. I was planning on going anyway! The last time I saw them was at SummerStage opening for the Decemberists. They wowed me then (even if the venue was so huge, lacking the intimacy that is the essence of Grizzly Bear) and they certainly wowed me again tonight.

Chris Bear. (Name, I kid you not.) New dreamboat.

Boredoms at Terminal 5 [03.30.08]

I attended this concert, in part, for my Music of East Asia class (which focuses primarily on Japan). The following is adapted liberally from my essay. I added in footnotes in spirit of an academic paper.

"Boredoms are like a moon on a lake. Only there is no moon and no lake. Only Boredoms." This quote from Yamataka Eye, the fiercely dreadlocked leader of the described Japanese noise collective, has been circulated amongst fans for so long that its origins are unclear, magnifying the enigma of Eye’s words. The history of the band also echoes this mysteriousness, as Boredoms have evolved from their brash “acid-punk” “spastic chaos-rock period” to their more spiritual, trance-inducing sun-worshiping period [1]. This mysteriousness is also, in a sense, fitting, as those who have not experienced the band before may find it hard to situate Boredoms as a Japanese band, as a modern band, as musicians [2].

Boredoms, also consisting of Yoshimi P-We, Yojiro and Muneomi Senju, played in the round in the middle of the audience area, providing an intimate setting in an otherwise cavernous Terminal 5. This set up also allowed startling perspectives for those watching from the balconies; the centrality of the setup could only be fully appreciated from above [3]. From the third floor, I watched intensely as Eye began in darkness, harnessing two lights in his hands. As he brought them together, static, glitches and booming engines sounds blasted through the sound system. It was like looking in on a tribal ritual – indeed, Eye was yelping and screeching like a shaman – fittingly echoing the mystery and spirituality captured in the abovementioned quote. The overture led into an unrelenting chorus of tightly synchronized drumming (three drummers!), Eye’s seven-necked guitar (played percussively!) and Yoshimi’s intermittent keyboard and foot-piano (!). Considering the different sounds (distorted through complex-looking consoles) and thunderous volumes, the result was unexpectedly orderly and melodic. There was an intense physicality that connected audience to performer. It was like peering onto an unfamiliar ceremony – I can’t necessarily translate all the words, but I felt the significance of the experience. Boredoms totally seized my attention. I stopped noticing the headbangers or the people dancing or the crowd. For the intense, two-hour marathon of drums and noise, it was only Boredoms.
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1. For more details on their extensive history, see Kevin Hainey’s “TIMELINE – Boredoms: The Art of Noise.”
2. Paul Hegarty’s Noise/Music: A History (New York: Continuum, 2007) provides a detailed discussion on this matter. Also a worthy read, "Full of Noise: Theory and Japanese Noise Music."
3. An even more extreme example of benefits of an aerial view comes from Boredoms’ 77Boadrum performance on 7/7/07. I watched the drum circle from the Brooklyn Bridge while other Loose affiliates were lucky enough to be on ground-level.

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.

From the Vault: My History with Arcade Fire

The producers of Coachella announced the complete lineup for the All Points West Music & Arts Festival. I'm not going to go. The lineup isn't compelling enough to make me go to Jersey. Considering that Coachella 2007 was one of the best music experience I've had so far -well worth strategically missing some classes and handing in final papers early. I want my next fest to be a good one too.

It was there I saw Arcade Fire for the first time. I was near the back of the crowd of tens of thousands of people, a noticeable number of which were incredibly into the music; the atmosphere definitely added to the experience.

The next time I saw them was much, much more intimate, considering I was taking photos at the front, and got stuck there after Win ushered everybody to rush to the stage. (There was a Village Voice photographer who gave me a "what is this madness?!" look. Oddly, he was the only other person with a photo pass.) The results were these:

For more of the set, click here.

The last time I saw Arcade Fire was the massive Randall's Island show, where I was a production assistant. (Another Village Voice coincidence: a Columbia friend, Isabelle, also on Spectator, was shooting this!) The only photo I took was from a camera phone:

The double bass is the only recognizable instrument here. I just noticed for the first time that you can read "Icahn Stadium" in the background.

So my history with Arcade Fire went from being in a crowd of 10,000's, to being in a photo pit at a venue holding 3,000, to watching side stage in front of 10,000's.

Anyway, there will be some story telling here, probably somehow related to current music news, while I wait for my Loose Record sonic nighttime photo excursions!