A:
I saw Mount Eerie this weekend.
B:
Oh yeah, where? That's the Microphones guy, right?
A:
At this tiny little comedy theatre called the Lakeshore Theatre. And yeah, that's him, he changed his band name a few albums back.
B:
How were they?
A:
Well... do you listen to them much?
B:
Not really. I have the Shimmer?
A:
The Glow
B:
Yeah, I have that one and like it pretty well. It's all kind of low-fi and fuzzy right?
A:
Yeah, for sure. Well, he's sort of gotten progressively way noisier since then.
B:
Uh oh.
A:
Exactly. He does this thing, which I like really, where it's kind of noisy and staticy, and not really musical at all. And it starts to get kind of old, and then the song really opens up all of a sudden, and he's got this kind of clear voice, and it ends up being really pretty. Plus, it kind of goes with all his songs about nature and landscapes and everything, you know, you can kind of imagine like being underwater during the noisy parts and then finally arriving on land for the pretty parts.
B:
But he didn't do that live?
A:
Well. The whole thing is based on part of the song being atonal, and really kind of irritating, and then the nice parts being even nicer because of that. But that whole thing breaks down when you add the traditional +20% volume that every concert has. The noisy parts become completely unbearable, and the nice parts end up not being just not enough payoff to endure the noisy parts.
B:
Oh, bummer.
A:
Yeah, it was actually doubly disappointing, because we left early, and when I got back home I put the Glow on, and it was still just totally terrific. Live, though, it just came across as kind of abusive. It didn't help that they were having sound problems with their equipment, and ended up with double feedback, the stuff they were putting out intentionally PLUS the accidental stuff.
B:
Yikes.
A:
Yeah, speaking of doubles, they had TWO drummers. 40% of the band was composed of dudes on drumsets, and get this: they were playing the exact same thing!
B:
There were just two so that the drums would be twice as loud?
A:
Apparently!
B:
Bizarre. They had the same kits and everything?
A:
Well, almost: only one of them had the five-foot tall gong.
B:
That seems symptomatic.
A:
It does indeed! Perhaps I actually mentioned the doubled drummers for a reason! Perhaps there is actual cognition driving my utterances!