Collide – Live at the El Ray
A friend once remarked to me that while he really liked Placebo's albums, he felt that they didn't generate quite the energy that the songs required on record and that it would be much better to see them live. I agreed but as it turned out, Placebo are a terrible live band with even more lacklustre on stage than on their albums. Collide's albums have always given me a similar feeling of unfulfilled potential so it's not much of a surprise that Collide's live album is disappointingly tepid.
Collide's albums Chasing the Ghost and Some Kind of Strange are very good but they always leave me feeling that despite the musical talent displayed, there's some subtle failure to make the deep emotional connection that defines great music. I hoped that in a live performance they might remedy that deficiency but once again I must sadly note that in fact, performing live only exacerbates the problem.
There's a lot of good things about Live at the El Ray mind. The setlist is a nice greatest hits collection, and they've very skilfully arranged the purely electronic, industrial songs for an analogue rock band format. However maybe it's because the backing electronics enslave them to a click, or maybe it's because vocalist Karin (I refuse to type the cutesy industrial alternate caps spelling) sounds as though she's either extraordinarily nervous or high as a kite, there's definitely a lot lacking in the performance department, and this is a pity because they're so close to being truly great, and maybe all it would take to get them there is just a bit less stiffness.
Showing posts with label Goth Princesses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goth Princesses. Show all posts
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Sing! My Angel Of Music!
Nightwish – End of an Era
As previously mentioned on this blog, the band Nightwish underwent a drama filled change of lead woman a couple of years back, and in true ghoulish twenty first century media fashion they have documented it on DVD. We don't quite get to see the look on Tarja's face and the tears in her eyes when she realises she's been ditched, but they've recorded their last concert with her (she was fired immediately afterwards) and included a documentary of the last few weeks of the tour, complete with ominous title cards saying 'X days until Helsinki concert...' and full of retroactively ironic statements by Tarja about her perceived future with the band.
The documentary is a little weird for that reason but fortunately the concert footage is fantastic, despite the best efforts of an obviously demented director whose passion for ill advised post production effects (overlayed flames, slo mo, etc.) is remarkable in it's lameness. Fortunately the performance still shines through. In fact, this DVD makes me incredibly sad that when I see Nightwish in February Tarja won't be with them. I'm sure the new singer will do fine but I very much doubt that she'll generate the same stage presence as Tarja displays here.
Nightwish's stage show is full of spectacle: Rammstein style pyrotechnics, huge video screens and all the over emoting of metal and opera combined, but even that is overwhelmed by the power of their music, which rocks and stomps it's way into the category of unbelievable awesomeness and beyond. Highlights include the old school singles 'Wishmaster' and 'Ever Dream' as well as 'The Siren' and their cover of Pink Floyd's 'High Hopes' (both of which I posted as videos in my review of Once). Perhaps best of all their version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera', which confirms my long held suspicion that that song was always supposed to be done metal.
I think this disc would probably make a great drinking game. Drink every time one of the other band members visibly snobs Tarja onstage, drink for every shot of a teenybopper goth chick crying in the audience, drink every time Tarja changes outfits and I'm sure the astute viewer could think of more.
Here's 'Phantom of the Opera':
As previously mentioned on this blog, the band Nightwish underwent a drama filled change of lead woman a couple of years back, and in true ghoulish twenty first century media fashion they have documented it on DVD. We don't quite get to see the look on Tarja's face and the tears in her eyes when she realises she's been ditched, but they've recorded their last concert with her (she was fired immediately afterwards) and included a documentary of the last few weeks of the tour, complete with ominous title cards saying 'X days until Helsinki concert...' and full of retroactively ironic statements by Tarja about her perceived future with the band.
The documentary is a little weird for that reason but fortunately the concert footage is fantastic, despite the best efforts of an obviously demented director whose passion for ill advised post production effects (overlayed flames, slo mo, etc.) is remarkable in it's lameness. Fortunately the performance still shines through. In fact, this DVD makes me incredibly sad that when I see Nightwish in February Tarja won't be with them. I'm sure the new singer will do fine but I very much doubt that she'll generate the same stage presence as Tarja displays here.
Nightwish's stage show is full of spectacle: Rammstein style pyrotechnics, huge video screens and all the over emoting of metal and opera combined, but even that is overwhelmed by the power of their music, which rocks and stomps it's way into the category of unbelievable awesomeness and beyond. Highlights include the old school singles 'Wishmaster' and 'Ever Dream' as well as 'The Siren' and their cover of Pink Floyd's 'High Hopes' (both of which I posted as videos in my review of Once). Perhaps best of all their version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera', which confirms my long held suspicion that that song was always supposed to be done metal.
I think this disc would probably make a great drinking game. Drink every time one of the other band members visibly snobs Tarja onstage, drink for every shot of a teenybopper goth chick crying in the audience, drink every time Tarja changes outfits and I'm sure the astute viewer could think of more.
Here's 'Phantom of the Opera':
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
What I Did On My Weekend
PVC and Corsets Edition
I had no intention of making these posts a regular fixture on my blog but I keep doing things that I think are worth mentioning. I'm sure you'll forgive me a little livejournalness.
Saturday night wasn't that exciting. One group of friends is still holidaying in NZ, others were worn out from Friday night (more on that in a second) and the rest were either busy or boring so I was left on my own. I decided to head out to AbductionX because I hadn't been there in months, and it's comforting to see that nothing has changed. Everyone is drunk and there's a competent but generic thrash band playing. Anyway I got to see a few people I hadn't seen for a while so I'm glad I went, but next time I'll have to make sure I gather a bit of a posse because it can be a little dull on your own.
Friday night was a little more interesting. Once a month there's a fetish club held on Oxford Street called 'Hellfire', and I knew it well by reputation but I'd never been. Anyway my friend N. had gone last month and came back totally buzzed about how great it was and insisted that I come. I was a little skeptical but I decided to go around to his place for pre-drinks anyway. Upon arrival I had a real 'small world' moment when two of the people I met through the Death Metal Kindy Teacher were there. In a city the size of Sydney you wouldn't expect to run into people you know in unexpected places all the time the way you do in Christchurch but it still happens just as often. I guess even if the city is larger the social scenes remain the same size. As it happened there were a lot of people I knew there and they all talked me into coming along.
So once again I found myself in the Columbian, the least gay gay bar in Sydney, for more pre-drinks. It's a place where I have an unfortunate trend to get off my tits, but I restrained myself this time. We then went down the road to Hellfire, and as soon as I walked in the door I was glad I went.
It's not really a serious fetish club, more of what they refer to as an in-betweeners club, where genuine fetishists make up less than half of the attendees and the rest are merely curious onlookers who look just alternative enough to get in the door. It's worth going just to see the outfits and costumes, I suspect that for most attendees it's more about the fashion than any extreme sexual proclivities.
Mind you it must be noted that you'll still see some moderately crazy stuff there. People will just spontaneously start tying their partners up to conveniently placed scaffolds and start spanking or whipping them, or just engage in generally exhibitionist behaviour. The official entertainment involved rather more blood than I expected too. Still, it must be emphasised that it's not nearly as scary as it sounds, since it's a pretty mellow environment and kinky weird people generally tend to be easy going, friendly and approachable. I will probably go again and may even make a small effort to dress more appropriately.
As I write this it's a dirty grey Sunday afternoon and I'm trying to remember what we used to call all this wet stuff coming out of the sky back in NZ. More excitement next week...
I had no intention of making these posts a regular fixture on my blog but I keep doing things that I think are worth mentioning. I'm sure you'll forgive me a little livejournalness.
Saturday night wasn't that exciting. One group of friends is still holidaying in NZ, others were worn out from Friday night (more on that in a second) and the rest were either busy or boring so I was left on my own. I decided to head out to AbductionX because I hadn't been there in months, and it's comforting to see that nothing has changed. Everyone is drunk and there's a competent but generic thrash band playing. Anyway I got to see a few people I hadn't seen for a while so I'm glad I went, but next time I'll have to make sure I gather a bit of a posse because it can be a little dull on your own.
Friday night was a little more interesting. Once a month there's a fetish club held on Oxford Street called 'Hellfire', and I knew it well by reputation but I'd never been. Anyway my friend N. had gone last month and came back totally buzzed about how great it was and insisted that I come. I was a little skeptical but I decided to go around to his place for pre-drinks anyway. Upon arrival I had a real 'small world' moment when two of the people I met through the Death Metal Kindy Teacher were there. In a city the size of Sydney you wouldn't expect to run into people you know in unexpected places all the time the way you do in Christchurch but it still happens just as often. I guess even if the city is larger the social scenes remain the same size. As it happened there were a lot of people I knew there and they all talked me into coming along.
So once again I found myself in the Columbian, the least gay gay bar in Sydney, for more pre-drinks. It's a place where I have an unfortunate trend to get off my tits, but I restrained myself this time. We then went down the road to Hellfire, and as soon as I walked in the door I was glad I went.
It's not really a serious fetish club, more of what they refer to as an in-betweeners club, where genuine fetishists make up less than half of the attendees and the rest are merely curious onlookers who look just alternative enough to get in the door. It's worth going just to see the outfits and costumes, I suspect that for most attendees it's more about the fashion than any extreme sexual proclivities.
Mind you it must be noted that you'll still see some moderately crazy stuff there. People will just spontaneously start tying their partners up to conveniently placed scaffolds and start spanking or whipping them, or just engage in generally exhibitionist behaviour. The official entertainment involved rather more blood than I expected too. Still, it must be emphasised that it's not nearly as scary as it sounds, since it's a pretty mellow environment and kinky weird people generally tend to be easy going, friendly and approachable. I will probably go again and may even make a small effort to dress more appropriately.
As I write this it's a dirty grey Sunday afternoon and I'm trying to remember what we used to call all this wet stuff coming out of the sky back in NZ. More excitement next week...
Sunday, January 21, 2007
I Can't Say No To You
Evanescence – The Open Door
There should be some kind of music snobs anonymous group where you can go and admit to all the terribly uncool music that you secretly like. "Hi. My name's Jon and I listen to Evanescence." Maybe I'm just subconsciously biased because Amy Lee is hot but for some reason I'm prepared to accept and enjoy their brand of histrionic goth-metal cheese at face value.
The new album is more or less the same as their first. The band lineup has seen a few changes but you'd barely notice, save for the regrettable absence of Josh Freese on drums. On the first album, Fallen, it was the heavier songs that were worth listening to and the ballads, like the cringeworthy 'My Immortal', were Celine Dion-esque exercises in rectal bleeding. In contrast The Open Door's heavy tracks tend to be generic and forgettable, whereas the ballads range from 'embarassing but fun' (I'm thinking of 'Call Me When You're Sober') to genuinely moving ('Like You'). Usually Amy has a great voice but unfortunately years of struggling to be heard above a distortion laden backing band in a live setting seem to have instilled in her a tendency to go into foghorn mode when the music gets heavy. For these reasons I found the first album to be more consistently good overall but the stand out tracks on The Open Door easily surpass anything on Fallen.
As of the time of writing my Amy Lee vs. Natalie Portman poll had them both tied on six votes each. My analysis of the results is: 'What the hell is wrong with you? Get the fuck off my webpage.'
Having said that, I'm not inclined to argue the point much more, as like all celebrities eventually do Amy has succumbed to Hollywood Makeup Drenched Skeleton Disorder. Disregarding the portraits in the album art, which are so airbrushed as to be considered anime, take a look at these:
Before:
After:
There should be some kind of music snobs anonymous group where you can go and admit to all the terribly uncool music that you secretly like. "Hi. My name's Jon and I listen to Evanescence." Maybe I'm just subconsciously biased because Amy Lee is hot but for some reason I'm prepared to accept and enjoy their brand of histrionic goth-metal cheese at face value.
The new album is more or less the same as their first. The band lineup has seen a few changes but you'd barely notice, save for the regrettable absence of Josh Freese on drums. On the first album, Fallen, it was the heavier songs that were worth listening to and the ballads, like the cringeworthy 'My Immortal', were Celine Dion-esque exercises in rectal bleeding. In contrast The Open Door's heavy tracks tend to be generic and forgettable, whereas the ballads range from 'embarassing but fun' (I'm thinking of 'Call Me When You're Sober') to genuinely moving ('Like You'). Usually Amy has a great voice but unfortunately years of struggling to be heard above a distortion laden backing band in a live setting seem to have instilled in her a tendency to go into foghorn mode when the music gets heavy. For these reasons I found the first album to be more consistently good overall but the stand out tracks on The Open Door easily surpass anything on Fallen.
As of the time of writing my Amy Lee vs. Natalie Portman poll had them both tied on six votes each. My analysis of the results is: 'What the hell is wrong with you? Get the fuck off my webpage.'
Having said that, I'm not inclined to argue the point much more, as like all celebrities eventually do Amy has succumbed to Hollywood Makeup Drenched Skeleton Disorder. Disregarding the portraits in the album art, which are so airbrushed as to be considered anime, take a look at these:
Before:
After:
Friday, January 12, 2007
Wildebeest Asylum User Feedback Time
On account of Jungle Rhino's wrongheaded and unfathomable comment to the previous post:
Oh come on she's not that hot. Now if Natalie Portman goes and gets married before becoming washed up and posing for Playboy - that would be a true tragedy...I have created a completely unbiased poll to prove that he's nuts.
Reference photos:
Natalie Portman:
Amy Lee:
Natalie Portman:
Amy Lee:
Thursday, January 11, 2007
If Anyone Wants Me I'll Be In My Room
Crying.
In unrelated news, cats and dogs now living together. In Soviet Russia, incredibly talented classic rock drummer collaborates with Korn!
In unrelated news, cats and dogs now living together. In Soviet Russia, incredibly talented classic rock drummer collaborates with Korn!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
