Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Do I Dig This Band? Featuring: The Chakras

Ever heard of this band The Chakras? No? Neither have I. Well, not until myspace started force-feeding them down my throat. This past week or so, Myspace added The Chakras to their featured artists section, who according to their biography are Ireland's "most intriguing band of the moment. Whatever that means. So, I was bored, and decided to take a little look at this "intriguing" new band The Chakras just for the hell of it, and this is what I have to say.

If their singer was a mute, I think I might actually enoy their music. The song I listened to is called "Build Me a Swan." The song actually starts out ok, with swooping electric guitar with extra extra reverb, and lots of ambience, which is hard for me not to love. But, then HE starts singing. At first it's great, then it's the worst fucking thing you've ever heard anyone sing. The song is in the vein of bands like Slowdive, Sigur Ros,and Mew... And I could almost, almost almost almost take this band seriously. It's too bad. Maybe if they were just a very melodic jam/prog band, I could get down with 'em, anything without those vocals, pleeeease.

Decide for yourself. Here's The Chakra's video for "Build Me Swan."
The Chakras 'Build Me A Swan'

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Rats of Nimh present: Le Rug Record Release feat. Le Rug, Kirsten Ketsjer (The Rock band) - 4/28

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This post is a little late, but I had to to write something about the Le Rug Record release party that happened on Saturday.

The show was at RayHand's, a kind of bizarre warehouse/loft type space in Park Slope/Carrol Gardens, Brooklyn, that has a lot of potential to be a really amazing place to see a band. The show wa put on by Rats of Nimh, who have been known for throwing parties in spaces you would never think a party could even happen, but somehow turn out amazing.

I arrived at RayHand's a little late, but just in time to catch the awesome set of Danish band Kirsten Ketsjer (The Rock Band), not to be confused with the singer Kirsten Ketsjer. Before their set, Ray (Le Rug) told me that I was going to love this band, but that he didn't really like them. He claimed that they were "too much like that band Deerhunter..." Sounds good to me. Anyways, Ray was right, and I really enjoyed most of Kirsten Ketsjer's set. The songs were very poppy in a Pavement, Wowee Zowee sort of way, and once in a while they would break down into straight-up noise. The perfect combination of sweet pop, and noise destruction.

Le Rug went on around midnight, and played for about forty-five minutes. Prior to their set, Ray told me they would just be playing their songs straight ahead, and they weren't going to have any noise sessions or anything like that (since there were a few reps from various labels in the audience) This kind of bummed me out since I know how well Ray and his band can make spontaneous noise. Still, their set was a very energetic one, but also a remarkably short one despite their twelve song strong set list.

I would really like to see Le Rug again, but not in a situation where they need to impress a corporate/label type.

Here are a couple pictures I took during Le Rug's set. Sorry for the low qualit
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