Mogwai Film

Mogwai Live Film "Burning" Teaser from Nathanaël Le Scouarnec on Vimeo.

The Scottish band Mogwai performs an incandescent show in front of a stunned crowd. As if time stood still, the audience is transported along by musical waves, both poetic and violent. 'Burning' dives into this wild sensual flow. Directors Vincent Moon and Nathanaël Le Scouarnec guide us into a dream where there is no tomorrow. This is a black and white experience of the senses carved by the raw emotion of this pioneering band that doesn't need any words to touch the heart of its listeners. Layered and innovative, the movie has its finger firmly on their pulse, a sonic adventure between hope and rebellion. A lifetime of feelings in just one night.



Presented in Copenhague, during CPH DOX, 13 november 2009.

Press +

Woa.

PRESS + from benjamin ducroz on Vimeo.

Top Five Albums to Put My Baby Asleep To

This list has little to do with 2009. Only one album is from said year. I just find it fascinating what helps calm my 1 year old son Everest to sleep when it's time to hit the hay. Distorted white noise is the champion, but there are many variations on this sound that can involve rhythm and melody. Let's check out the winners:

Expo '70 - Black Ohms
There's something special about droning guitars, and in this case the maker of this music reminds me of the kind of stuff I like to jam on my own pedal setup. Black Ohms is far and away the go-to album to put E-Man to sleep. The music is foggy and dark, but not foreboding. It's more like hanging wisps of velvet caught in a dream breeze. All the delay and reverb clips the minimal guitar riffs into syncopated mantras, which beautifully mirror the human heart. Babies love that, and Easy-E is no exception!

Nadja - Touched
This is the album that got the Nadja project its big credibility, and comes from a time when Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff hadn't released over 50 albums yet. This was one of the first, and its alien distortions and plodding drums represent the quintessential Nadja sound. The noise is enormous, and amazingly beautiful despite its mega-dark tone. There's something warm about it all, and since the metal shoegaze style creates tons of white noise, this is perfect stuff. Relentless and effective.

Caspian - Tertia
Oh jeez. More Tertia worship. I can't help it. No matter what the pundits on my website say about this being a slog in the Caspian discography, I rebel and say this record is stunning and triumphant. Better than everything they've done. The first three tracks have LOTS of guitar distortion. There's a drummer in there, keeping time, but he gets so buried in the collossal storm of noise that these guys crank out. This was the first album I ever put Everest to sleep to, realizing that I could rock while I rocked in a chair. Since the narrative is spicy and rich, it's a special treat to put Tertia on. Especially on vinyl!

Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of...
This band's name must be referencing the magical moment when wake becomes sleep, so who better to help a baby go down? It's not a loud fuzzy affair that fills the air with nowhere to go but the Land of Nod--but it is gorgeous and droney enough. The ambiance is created with symphonic instruments and a lot of long-decaying guitars. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I consider this album to be one of the best of the decade (if not THE BEST). It accompanied Everest's first few weeks of existence, on constant repeat, so it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Machinefabriek - Slaapzucht
This is a tricky one, because the music sometimes goes dead quiet. This was a compilation of two Machinefabriek records (Slaap and Zucht) along with a single "Still." It's the two Zuchts at the end that are the true dreamcatchers, with "Zucht 2" being the absolute mind-frier. Relentless buzz and static absolutely consume the air, making it impossible to remember that you wanted to breastfeed ten minutes ago. The only escape is easy-breezy dreamland. This record stands as a bit of a wild card, as the consistency of sound is not there. In the same way, his album Marijn does the trick as well. Just skip to the end to end the day.

Vinyl: Game On!

Julia got me a record player for my birthday.  Craigslist strikes again, and this time, the item found was brand new, never opened.  The man sold it cheap to piss off his ex, apparently.  One man's broken relationship is another's warm, analog listening bliss.  I can finally share needles!  Spin the black circles.  I have amassed a decent collection of vinyl leading up to this, and I've been listening every day.  Here is the vinyl I want to get next.  You gotta admit this is pretty cool:

The Mystical Shogun Kunitoki Strobe Light from Sami Sänpäkkilä on Vimeo.

Erik Enocksson - Man Tänker Sitt

Read my entire review on The Silent Ballet.

People often talk about the music when they see these films, what a dramatic addition it is.  There is something about Enocksson's minimalist approach that is hard not to like, but the music of Man Tänker Sitt is somewhat bland when compared to his other work. Farväl Falkenberg was so bright and diverse musically, and it's as if the subject matter of this newer film set big limitations on the composer, subduing his talents into drab territory.  There's really no way to make Latin sound cool, is there?  I certainly applaud Erik Enocksson for, again, doing something different.  We can hear the talent trapped below the surface, but one gets the feeling that the Latin verses and the repetitive themes are best spread out within the context of the film and not jammed into twenty-seven short minutes.  It's all pretty heavy handed, and may or may not scare parents come caroling season.  If you see a lost child with a byzantine halo wandering around the Christmas tree this year, maybe give this soundtrack a spin.

The Muppets do Bohemian Rhapsody

Black To Comm - Hotel Freund

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Here Be Dragons

Read my entire review on The Silent Ballet.  It's a good one...

Here Be Dragons possesses a unique quality of being stylistically special while at the same time striking a very strong vibration of nostalgia.  Time slows down and folds over as the myriad forms and styles are sent through a kaleidoscopic opium den.  The album cover is a striking acrylic painting done on wood by one Luke Berliner.  The girl depicted in the painting appears to be in a deep trance, eyelids heavy, casting a spell upon those who dare lose themselves within her gaze.  Her androgynous appearance as well as the dark, ambiguous nether-scape sets the mood up convincingly for sultry violins, burly trombones, haunted electronics, and a cast of other earthly and cosmic sounds to conjure a most splendid nocturne.  

Dock Ellis Throws a No Hitter on LSD

This is just a great story and a great montage of images/animation.

Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No - watch more funny videos

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead

Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - "Lead Squid" - Video

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble "Lead Squid" from TheKilimanjaroDarkjazzEnsemble on Vimeo.

Pelican - What We All Come To Need

Read my entire review on The Silent Ballet

Pelican have been using the heavy riff platform to capture a pop sensibility for years, and here on WWACTN we have catchy proto-metal storytelling along with the first taste of the band incorporating vocals. Whether they continue doing this is another matter, but the band sounds more crisp with its song writing. At times their riff-to-riff style can smell a bit like riff-by-number, arbitrarily piecing parts together, but Pelican get to the point more quickly here than on past albums, and it makes for a very satisfying listen -- Maybe as satisfying as the new Pelican Burger at Kuma's Corner in Chicago, who name all their burgers after famous metal bands. A ten ounce beef patty with pan-seared scallops and lardons in a garlic white wine sauce on top of a parmesan crisp, served with white wine-garlic aioli sounds good. If all this doesn't whet your appetite for a band that is doing metallic post-rock as good as anybody, then not much else will.

Nadja - Under The Jaguar Sun

Read my entire review on The Silent Ballet.

Like a Mexican food platter, Nadja's latest opus has options.  I love habanero pepper salsa on a taco, but when it becomes oppressively spicy, I need antidotes like sour cream and fresh lime to soothe my burning mouth.  If I'm busy listening to Nadja, which usually means being consumed by alien guitar distortion and slow, plodding metal drums, sometimes I want out.  As blissed-out as Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff can make their slow motion sludge, the mind occasionally changes gears before the music stops.  Under The Jaguar Sun is the umpteenth release from these dream-doom veterans, but it is the first that offers up a platter of devastating heat and cool, ambient refreshment, as the album features two, count 'em, two CDs to be played simultaneously!

MONO - Live - HFS!

Having a ticket for a show almost four months in advance is pretty crazy.  Every day is a chance to lose the thing, even when it's magnetically fixed to your fridge, not far from the desperate grasp of a compulsive, exploratory elfin warrior, such is my son.  Everest never got to my ticket, but in the end it turns out I didn't even need it, since Nikki the Seattle Showgal talked to Taka a couple days before and got me and a guest on MONO's backstage list.  So I ended up selling my ticket, briefly talking with Taka to thank him, and witnessing one of the most inspiring shows I've ever seen.

I brought Jon with me, who being fresh off a break-up and lonely, was a good candidate to surprise with this show.  He was having Thanksgiving with his former lady and a bunch of others, and I have a feeling I inadvertently saved him from that situation.  Too bad he missed Maserati, who were simply awesome.  My reaction to their records was tepid at best, but they are a formidable live act.  Jerry Fuchs, as advertised, is an incredible drumming machine.  People talk about this guy, but until you see how relentless he is, you know nothing.  The force with which he hits every snare and every other drum is HUGE, never letting up, no matter how many thousands have preceded the one in this moment.  Somehow he is as strong at the end as he is at the beginning of the set, maybe stronger.  And the band are attractive blokes with surgical skills on the delay.  Got my booty shakin'.  

This wasn't the type of opening band I was expecting for MONO, but it turned out to be perfect.  A little adrenaline preceding emotional catharsis, which is exactly what the Japanese rock group MONO are all about.  They are the champions of the quiet/loud/quiet post-rock, a style which has been all but played out.  MONO are a different breed however, because when they play, they go into a trance and experience absolute bliss.  Sometimes they see the audience, and sometimes not.  They are so involved in the music they make that they ignored their monitors catching on fire at the Montreal show during their first song.  Apparently they were so loud, equipment started smoking.  They finished "Ashes In The Snow" regardless.

I had the distinct pleasure of standing right next to Taka as he played.  At the Biltmore the sides of the stage have a cage along them, but you can look through and have a very intimate experience.  This man and his band are so passionate about music, it turns into a religious experience.  Hair in the face, facial expressions become moot, like MONO are black clad dolls programmed to slay the soul.  I hadn't ever been a huge fan of this band, but there is no doubt why they are so revered.  They are good and they are loud.

"Yearning" was a personal highlight, as I love You Are There as a whole album.  The guitar duet is so delicate at the beginning, it's like sad children playing on the rim of my eyelids, throwing balls of freedom into my tear ducts.  The explosion they launch into near the climax always catches me by surprise and I thought my spinal cord snapped in half when they got me again at the show.  SO LOUD.  Earplugs saved my life (and Jon's I reckon).  Wow are they loud.  Never get caught in front of MONO without them; You will be sorry. 

I was delighted to hear all the Hymn To The Immortal Wind material (sans orchestra) because I really hadn't appreciated it yet.  The songs are so strong and vivid, especially when Taka decides to get up and attack his guitar (like, karate chop it) because he felt like it.  And then later he's on the ground, reaching like a goner in the desert for his flange knob, geeking out in some holy way as he's splayed out for a couple minutes.  It would always take me by surprise when Taka or Yoda would stand up suddenly to really let their guitars have it.  I am not sure Taka even has a guitar strap, so he balanced it on his pelvis as he gyrated.  

This performance was so emotional and inspiring, it was like going to church (but for people who actually seek the divine, not some bland going-through-the-motions drudgery).   I had no idea it was going to be holy.  Wow.  If you expect holy, could be disappointed.  If you live holy, you live like MONO do on stage, because if there is one thing I will take from this it's that doing something half-assed isn't worth doing it at all.  Do what you love, or even better, love what you do, whatever it is.  If you give it all, you are going to be rewarded spiritually or in some other way.  Don't waste your time faking it for the Man or killing yourself with monotony.  GO LIVE, and live powerfully.  MONO might do a lot of build-build-climax-refrain in their songs, but imagine having cathartic movie moments 8 or 9 times in one night!  That's what they do every day on tour!  

There's an interview with Taka that Nikki did the following night (even mentions my name a couple times.  FUN!)  Watch the interview and some of their songs here.

Nadja - Live

A much-anticipated show, and I almost forgot to go.  I was busy playing with the family at our neighborhood block party, performing in the yearly gong show with Everest, drinking a La Fin du Monde.  I knew going into it that after a full day (soccer game included) it might be hard to muster up the energy to pull this off.  But it's Nadja.  They're heavy, but oh so chill.

Before seeing them I knew it was going to be a pretty lax show.  If you've ever heard a Nadja record  you know what you're in for.  Dense maelstroms of distorted guitars and alien effects all swirling and shimmery as a sloooooow, plodding drum beat pounds you into oblivion.  Metalgaze?  Ugh, horrible term.  Nadja are interesting because, even though Aidan Baker and Leah Buckaroff have refined their musical style to the point where they have many imitators, they never seem satisfied.  They releases so many albums (about one every two months on average) on different labels and in different formats it's probably hard even for them to keep up with what they've made.  And that's the straight-ahead attitude I've come to enjoy about a lot of my favorite artists.  Sure I love Tool, and I appreciate the fact that they take five years to craft their records.  But Aidan Baker seems to press the record  button, like, every week, and something good comes of it.

More proud than anything just to support these artists, I stepped into the Rickshaw Theater dressed as a dapper dan.  Fedora.  Overcoat.  Mexican wedding shirt.  This theater is very new, quite cavernous in size, especially when about 40 people come to a show.  Forty ain't bad, considering it was only announced a couple weeks prior.  I always wonder about the people who attend obscure shows like this.  Would I want to hang out with them?  I'd probably rather hang out with Aidan and Leah.  They are both fairly short and have understated personalities, I would learn after the show.

Nadja are not a big show.  They have visuals, which were humongous on top of the tall back wall.  They were really pretty, getting more colorful and complex as they played.  Aidan plays a guitar and a suitcase.  All his pedals and tubes and effects are stored inside this pudgy luggage that he sits atop a table.  Leah, meanwhile, plays her bass with her back to the audience.  I usually find this annoying, but it's probably a focus issue.  Nadja's music isn't so much "Let's do this together, audience" but more "Here is what we do" so it doesn't matter if you interact with the crowd.  

Most of the songs they played were from an album called "The Bungled and the Botched" which was released a couple years ago, very limited, on CD.  This year they released it more widely on vinyl.  I honestly didn't care for the songs, on the whole. There was one where they both were using violin bows to make their guitars creeeaaak and shimmer.  It was highly atmospheric, all kinds of sounds fluttering about.  While the plod was kickin', the drum machine didn't sound all that good.  A painful reminder that a live drummer would just be so much better.  There was even a drum kit on stage, and I still don't know why.  No one used it.  Such a tease.  

A lot of it was improvised amidst the general structure they had laid out.  Aidan, turns out, is a really good guitar player.  He was sometimes really wailing with his synthetic effects turned to the max, and was completely buried within the melee of sound.  Pretty cool.  Nadja go up there and do their thing.  Not really an ounce of showmanship between them.  They are not Sunn O))) with the robes and the lights.  It's two regular people conjuring massive sound via small means.  It's just great to see it happen, for once.  I wasn't blown away.  It was what I expected.  The best part was sitting on top of one of the bass-heavy speakers right in front of the stage, Leah's rippling low end massaging my spine.   But then I couldn't really hear much else.  So I had to move around, and depending on where I stood, things sounded quite different.  

After the show I chatted with Aidan and Leah as their albums sold like hotcakes.  I was determined to find out if they drink alcohol.  For my review of Under the Jaguar Sun I was hoping their answer was "no" because that would explain how they output so much music.  You gotta be organized!  I got my answer when someone came up to Leah and asked if he could buy her a drink as part of a trade for an album.  She said "Sour Goose on the rocks" like a pro.  I inquired further, and Leah said "Yeah, we love to drink."  Laughs.  Oh, I think.  Not that I think less of you, but how am I going to spin my writing now??  Dammit!