Archive for the ‘ Music ’ Category

Amanda Palmer Defines Intensity

Show date: January 1, 2009
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Bands: Amanda Palmer and the Danger Ensemble, Emelyn Brodsky

Amanda Palmer as the base of this human pyramid

Amanda Palmer as the base of this human pyramid

In the first few hours of 2009 we were stuck waiting for the 6 train. By the time we made it to Bowery Ballroom it was almost 3am. What the hell were we doing there? Testing our concert-going endurance.  That, and seeing if Punk Cabaret could be awesome.

Amanda Palmer was playing a show that was supposed to start at about 2 in the morning, which was an unusual slot. It was apparently a bit of a surprise to Palmer as well, who, instead of eating pizza alone at midnight, threw a party in the Bronx where she interacted with a group of 60 or so closest strangers. We didn’t go. We had to celebrate Communist Gift Exchange first. Later (earlier?), when I was lounging around in the downstairs area, hanging out with a man bearing an uncanny resemblance to Father Time, I found out that she did her best to make eye-contact with all these people, at least once, but this only left them feeling needier. Continue reading →

2009
01/29
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CATEGORY
Music
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Gojira Hits Hard and In Flames Mellows

Show date: December 7, 2008
Venue: Terminal 5
Bands: In Flames, Gojira and 36 Crazy Fists

The time has come for me to let go of the rigid journalistic form which means that articles take hours to complete because of picture uploading, researching, linking, etc. Yeah, I’m taking the easy way out to bring to light awesome shows I would otherwise just not have time to write about.

in-flames

Perfect example: In Flames, Gojira and 36 Crazy Fists at New York’s Terminal 5 this past Sunday. Amazing show, even though I’m not crazy about 36 Crazy Fists (yeah, I punned it, I’m sure I’m not the only one who did). Continue reading →

2008
12/10
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CATEGORY
Music
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A Night of Mischief with the Misfits

Show date: October 31, 2008
Venue: B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill
Bands: The Misfits, Until Destiny, Johnny B. Morbid, Martyrd

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Halloween is one of the few holidays when you can wake up and automatically know it’s Halloween.  It’s spooky out there. Many spend their night at haunted houses or costume parties, but I chose to spend my Halloween with the original Horror Punk band.

The Misfits were celebrating their 31st Halloween at B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill on a night that promises tricks and treats.  Adorned with bats, ghosts, devils, and demons (not to mention the Misfits fans themselves) B.B. Kings provided a fitting décor for the evening’s festivities. Continue reading →

2008
11/29
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CATEGORY
Music
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Wacken Open Air 2008

Festival Dates: July 31-August 2, 2008
Venue: Wacken Open Air, Village of Wacken, Germany
Bands Mentioned, in Order of Appearance:  Girlschool, Mustash, Avenged Sevenfold, Nashville Pussy, Leaves Eyes, Iron Maiden, Synic, Unearth, Job for a Cowboy, Soilwork, Opeth, Gorgoroth, Avantasia, Hatebreed, At the Gates, Lordi
Browser Warning.. a million pictures follow

Wacken Open Air 2008

or

How I made a lot of friends, got a black eye, and lost my passport.

Wacken Open Air is recognized in many nations as the best heavy metal festival in the world. There are some contenders, like maybe Metal Camp in Slovenia, but seriously, there is nothing else out there like W:O:A. The amazing line-up that each year tops the preceding one is only half the story. What W:O:A is truly about is the seventy thousand people who make their way from across the world to this small village in Northern Germany to unite over their love of metal. W:O:A is about the metalheads, headbangers, rockers, punks, fetishists, and of course Vikings. The story of Wacken is the story of these people.

Naked, just because

Naked, just because

We offer you a miniscule portion of all the many stories and tales that weave their way around the magical time of July 31-August 2, 2008. We give you the account of two girls from New York City who decided that it was a good idea to go for an international camping trip with thousands of drunk and high strangers who are there to worship music by hammering each other with fists, wallowing in mud and vomit, running around naked, and refusing to shower. This is our story. Continue reading →

2008
11/07
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CATEGORY
Conventions/Festivals
Music
Travel
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Obituary Unleashed

Show date: October 5, 2008
Venue: B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill
Bands: Obituary, Unleashed

Ralph Santolla of Obituary throwing up the horns

Ralph Santolla of Obituary throwing up the horns

The marquee outside of B. B. King’s stated:

Obituary
Unleashed

I was hoping this would be a fitting description of the show to come. D42 was a little worried when she saw all the guys with denim and leather vests show up. Unleashed was an new band to us, and that kind of gear generally speaks of thrash metal, which is not my favored genre. Unleashed turned out to be a Swedish death metal band. I still thought they sounded more thrash then anything, but if that is what they’re going for, more power to them.

Unleashed are a band of showmen. Their music was good, but the show itself was great. We showed up fashionably late, and Johnny Hedlund (vocals) was already on stage riling up the crowd. Continue reading →

2008
11/01
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CATEGORY
Music
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Samael Gets Your Attention But Amorphis Owns Your Soul

Tomi Joutsen loving it

Tomi Joutsen of Amorphis

Show date: September 29, 2008
Venue: B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill
Bands: Amorphis, Samael,

Lately my music cravings have been sated exclusively by men from cold harsh climes, generally famed for their inapproachability and cruel mythology. I was understandably excited about Samael and Amorphis joining up to play B.B. King’s on the 29th of September. D42 concurred and accompanied as per usual.

I have a bit of a history with Samael. They played Wacken Open Air 2007 and from the shivering depths of my tent I heard the strains of distortion and glottal fry of Vorph. I couldn’t force myself out that night and when my sudden tentmate woke me up at 3am to tell me how good a show I missed a seed of discontent was planted. Surely, seeing Samael open for Amorphis in a small venue in NY isn’t as awe inspiring an experience as seeing them on a German battleground at 2am with thousands of rabid metalheads, but I still felt a little better. There is a large portion of my music worshipping being dedicated to the industrial sound, which is why I’m still babbling about this Swiss ensemble of black, doom, and above all industrial metal.

Amorphis, hailing from icy Finland, was new to me. I knew in my heart of hearts that I blasphemed by not getting their music earlier, but somehow I just let them slip through my fingers until now. With Tomi Joutsen on vocals they offer not only the death metal screech or growl, but also clean vocals, which admittedly is manna to my ears in the usual discordant mess of music that I subject them to. Continue reading →

2008
10/04
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CATEGORY
Music
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Trolling It Up Again

Show date: August 24th, 2008
Venue: B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill
Band: Finntroll

Mathias "Vreth" Lillmåns vocaling it up

So the trouble with not waiting a good year or so before returning for a show is that fewer people will make it a prerogative to purchase tickets. The crowd was pretty non-existent for the opener, Lethal Strike and grew only a smidgen for Warbringer. In fact, I had a lingering suspicion that Lethal Strike brought all their friends down. This was only confirmed when three guys started freaking out all over the floor trying to start a mosh pit, and even a circle pit—though that mostly meant that they just chased each other until they got tired.

John Kevill - Warbringer Vocals. I did say ecstatic.

Both Lethal Strike and Warbringer looked ecstatic to be onstage. Although the former is only now recording a demo while the latter put out an album in 2007, both bands were mugging for the crowd and drinking in the energy while being amazing clichés. Things like “We will tear you all down with a… LETHAL STRIKE” were uttered onstage. It was also explained to us that humanity sucks and we will all eventually feed upon ourselves. I assume Warbringer expects a Zombie Holocaust, although none of their lyrics confirmed this. The bands didn’t sound particularly novel, but weren’t bad either.

At 9 both openers were finished and we prepared ourselves for a two-hour set of Finntroll, since that’s what they delivered last time. They finally came out at about 9:45, not really strutting, just sort of wandering out on stage and launched into Kitteldags off of the Jacktens Tid album. The crowd was already kind of worked up due to the three guys mentioned previously who felt that people weren’t giving their all to the pit. My thoughts on this are, you can’t tell me to move, I will move when the music makes me. This time though no amount of music was going to make me do a thing because I recently sprained my ankle and gored my hand and so stayed away from belligerence. Continue reading →

2008
09/11
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CATEGORY
Music
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