Loren's blog

Primus Sucks!

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 10:48:28 -0800

Went and saw Primus at the Orpheum last night. They're on a 'greatest hits' tour of sorts, so a few friends and I braved the frozen urban tundra of downtown Vancouver to go and see them.

Awesome show, just awesome; easily in my top 5. We got tickets for this pretty late in the game, so we were up in the balcony. Fortunately, the sound was surprisingly decent from there. I'd seen other acts from up there in that venue and the sound had been pretty muddy, so maybe they've made some changes since then?

Vicarious

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 10:23:50 -0700

After years of side projects and seclusion, Tool is finally about to break the silence. I recently heard their new (radio?) single - over 7 minutes long, hehe

It starts out relatively formulaic, and proceeds to get rather aggressive as far as Tool goes. Right now, it seems a bit less 'main-stream' than their earlier material. In the past, they've had a way of making the complex sound accessible. However this track seemed to be embellishing the progressive aspects a little. If the rest of the album is like this it may alienate a few casual fans, but I'll be all over it - it's tight, complex and heavy. I mean seriously, they sound like they've been locked in a room for a solid two years without a break!

S.F.A.

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 11:27:57 -0800

I picked up some last minute tickets to Super Furry Animals @ Richard's on Richards.

I'd go into more detail about the whole thing, but it's Monday morning - still recuperating from the weekend. All I can say about it is that it was a pleasure to lose some of my permanent hearing to this show.

I am The Reaper!

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 16:15:07 -0800

Just the name of a track from Deaner’s side project, the Moistboyz. The stuff is simple and aggressive, and isn’t really meant to be much more than that. I must say it’s been growing on me (the juvie part anyways) over the past month or two that I’ve given the stuff the time of day. After seeing them live earlier this month, I’ve been pretty much hooked.

Crazy!

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 13:59:34 -0700

That's apparently what the word "Meshuggah" roughly translates to from Yiddish - makes a great band name if you're into thrash metal

Anyways, I saw them last night at the Croatian Cultural Center in Vancouver. Overall, a pretty good show with great supporting acts. Meshuggah's set wasn't quite as good as when I saw them at the Commodore or Ozzfest, but I wouldn't attribute that to the band itself - they were unbelievable as always. I guess it was the combination of a couple of things.

Always good to have a spare!

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 14:47:36 -0700

Merry Christmas to me

In one impulsive click, I ordered a new drum kit from eBay for about 500 bucks! It was a blowout sale to clear out last year's models, and they were selling them at or below cost I think. A great mid-line set for that price. Works for me

It's another Sonor kit. That's all I've ever played for the most part, with the exception of my very first kit (don't remember the make), which lasted only about a year ... it died of natural causes. After that I got a decent entry level Sonor, which I had through about 10 years of heavy use.

I want one.

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 17:14:30 -0700

http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html

Now I can watch Bono sing that cool vertigo song.

Not that I really need one or anything. I just think Apple made it so that my iPod plays me subliminal messages with the music, telling me to upgrade every two years.

Yeah, that's it.

Those Crazy Swedes

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 17:45:38 -0700

Got tickets for a couple of Scandinavian acts coming to town this month. Meshuggah and Opeth - a couple of awe-inspiring acts indeed.

Opeth is at the Commodore, which is a venue that seldom disappoints. Meshuggah is playing at the Croatian Cultural Center. I would have preferred both at the Commodore, but Meshuggah has torn my face off no matter where I've seen them, and this time shouldn't be any different.

Foster Kare

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 18:04:44 -0700

Whenever I need a kick in my musical complacency, I go and see these guys. Their style of music may be a little removed from what I usually listen to, but that doesn't matter - they thoroughly kick ass at what they do.

The lineup (and name) has changed a bit, but this is their NMC page ... I'll see if we

Shows I saw this week ...

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 17:55:20 -0700

I had the pleasure of seeing two great acts in two nights earlier this week: Nine Inch Nails and Sigur Ros. Both were fantastic shows in their own right.

I had seen NIN when they came through town about 5 years ago. At the time I was a hard-core NIN fan, and thought The Fragile was one of the best things I'd ever laid ears on. Well, tastes can (and did) change a lot in 5 years.

This time Reznor pulled out all the angst laden favourites, plus a good chunk of new material from his latest album "With Teeth". There were even a couple of oddballs I wasn't even expecting ("Burn" was a great choice). As a more objective audience member this time around, I wasn't expecting a whole lot - just a good show. Well I was blown away, again. The band was much tighter this time around, and the stage production was simply awesome. I may have mixed reactions about the new studio material, but there's no question that NIN puts on a great show, and anyone with even a passing interest in the group should check this tour out. It will not disappoint.

However, the show was so god-damned loud. Not that my hearing is getting any better, but my desire to protect what I have left is. This left me looking forward to something completely different the next day - Sigur Ros.

For the most part, I enjoyed the opening act "Anima". They reminded me of kids running around in a music store playing anything they could get their hands on, occasionally breaking into beautifully orchestrated song. They actually stayed on to accompany Sigur Ros as their mini orchestral backup.

The group pulled off a wonderful show, despite the fact that the piano gave out about half way through. They were able to adjust the set accordingly, but you could sort of tell that they were a little taken back by it. Like NIN the night before, they spent part of the set (in this case the first and last song) behind a thin curtain, where they would have visuals projected to accompany the music. It's quite effective, especially when you have a decent amount of lighting coming from behind the band as well - makes for a nicely layered presentation.

Anyways, all in all two very good shows that I forgot to bring a camera to. Luckily there are people who did:

NIN Set 1

Greetings All

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:24:12 -0700

I've been lurking around this site for quite some time now, so I figured I might as well get my space going here with some blog posts. Stay tuned!

P.S. I had to nix my infamous Nick Nolte DUI picture, 'cause that's not what I look like on week days.

Cheers,
Loren