Friday 20 September 2013

Ringing ears

before I start this blog, i'd like to apologise for the amount of the times I use the word 'gig', but it can't be helped..

This monday, I went to a gig in Brighton with my dad. I know, it's not a common thing going to a gig with your parents but I was perfectly happy to do so. This wasn't only because my dad was driving me there from college, but also because we both were interested in the music that we were going to see.
In fact, I actually discovered the music we were going to see from my dad, as one of his friends had shown it to him in the past and he took an interest in it. I then saw the announcement of a tour, and thought it would be interesting to see what they would be like live.

After I finished college, my dad picked me up from college and then we drove to Brighton. My dad was suggesting going to get some fish and chips to eat before the gig, but while we wandered around, we found a nice looking thai restaurant and stopped there. I was worried about being late, and felt that having a full meal would be a very bad idea before a gig, but in the end, the gig started later than I expected, and there was a perfect amount of food, not too much, not too little. This was a little unexpected, as  I thought we would quickly pick up a take away or a sandwich, so it was a pleasant surprise having a decent meal!
From the restaurant, we then went on down to the gig..

It was an ambient electronic music gig, the genre would be hard to define, but I think the music can be roughly described as 'drone'. To attempt to describe it, the music is very bass driven as you would expect, but also reliant on dynamics to make it interesting.
In all honesty I think when it comes down to describing what it's like, it's easier just to actually hear for yourself..

This was a first for me, as I have never been to a gig to hear electronic music. All I have ever seen live is either rock or metal. While there are various types of electronic music I enjoy listening to (such as house, drum and bass, ambient and trance) I would usually prioritise seeing a metal or rock band over electronic music. When it comes down to it, I can be quite picky when it comes to electronic music, much more so than any 'traditional music' (rock, folk, metal etc. )
So, I wasn't really knowing what to expect from this, but I was optimistic. It turns out I was right to think that way.
I took a few pictures and attempted to get a few videos during the night. Surprisingly, given the levels of noise present, one or two of the videos sound alright and could be used as a representation of what the gig was like sonically.

The artists that I saw were 'Fuck Buttons' and 'The Haxan Cloak'. Each were different in their styles of music, but they complimented each other well.

The Haxan Cloak is a solo artist, producing music by himself. His music is very atmospheric, with the music being based on opposing dynamics. It can be very soft at times, but then also incorporate either very low bass frequencies in or samples such as voices or acoustic noises. The other side of the music is a driven distorted bass, unlike anything I have heard live before because it sounded so dark, yet clean. He generally uses a mix of these two styles of production, which makes it sound very powerful. I find the juxtaposition of these two styles so great, as it makes the music very interesting and also gives you a varied listening experience.

Here are some pictures and videos of The Haxan Cloak:





Fuck Buttons are a group comprised of two individuals, who perform together. Their music is different to The Haxan Cloak's, with less clarity and dynamics, but is more relentless and has a much harsher sound. They are also more structured than The Haxan Cloak, which allows them to be more melodic. Their bass and distortion was less clean as well, which suited their more relentless style of music. However I still would say tone wise I preferred The Haxan Cloak.
I personally feel that even though Fuck Buttons were headlining, The Haxan Cloak stole the day and were that slight bit better.

Here are a few pictures and videos of Fuck Buttons:





                                      

In terms of the crowd, it was a very tame gig compared to what i've been before. People there were mostly just nodding their heads to it. This doesn't mean it wasn't any less packed though..by the time Fuck Buttons were playing, there was barely any room to move.

Over all it was an awesome gig, I would definitely see them both again live, despite the fact I know it will destroy my ears (they were ringing for two days after the gig..). I should mention that the videos I posted are not great, but I just find they are an okay representation of what the gig was like. I'll post a link to a album song or two here. Sadly, there are very few videos on youtube of The Haxan Cloak's work.






                                          


I'd also like to thank my dad for this great evening. Now this is our sort of father-son trip!

Fuck Buttons setlist:
Brainfreeze/Surf Solar/Colours Move/Olympians/Sentients/The Red Wing/Hidden XS

To briefly discuss future matters, upcoming things are my 18th birthday soon, which i'm pretty excited about! Also, There are a few gigs coming up in the next four or so months. I'll probably do another blog post and write about them there.

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