Anamanaguchi @ The Troubadour (10.28.11)

For all you peeps thinking I just go see folk bands and listen to old sad bastard music, I have one reply, ANAMANAGUCHI. What's that you say? You too only listen to old sad bastard music from Norway and Scotland? Anamanaguchi is an 8bit chiptune band. Essentially they compose songs using the synth (modeled or extracted) from an NES system (the original none of this SNES BS).

Having heard a few assorted tracks I was curious how these guys were going to pull it off live. Hear that guitar in the background? Yeah that was what was live at the show. The synths were all presequenced, but it doesn't really matter it was still an awsome show!

They started the evening tossing a box full of glowsticks into the crowd and then all hell broke loose. The photo above is the only one I managed to snap off before the troubadour turned into a pit as I was barely able to hold onto the camera. After that the night was a blur of lights, synths, guitars and bodies flying around. I am writing this a bit belatedly, so unfortunately I can't say much more than that. I highly recommend checking them out.

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Authors Note: Over the last few years I have become a bit perterbed with how teritorial CA concert goers are. From people blocking large areas in front of the stage for missing friends coming back to rail whores etc... On this particular night there was a girl leaning against the wall in the back. I walked up and was standing about 2-3 meters in front... "Hey man, you're in my way" to which I responded "It's a concert." Considering where the evening went that comment is even more amusing.

Gomez @ HOB Anahiem (10.4.11)

GOMEZ GOMEZ GOMEZ GOMEZ! Finally!

Gomez has always been a strong influence for me. Hearing their songs complilated from great tracks from their first album to their most recent hits made me realize just how much of what I play and sing has its roots in this band.

One of the highlights of the evening was "Make No Sound." The cellist from the Kopecky Family Band joined them (to fill in the missing line) and it was just so perfect. Reminds me of another time and another place in my life with lots of warm hazy memories. They also did a great version of "How We Operate." At the onset I found myself wondering how they would cover the banjo part. Interestingly they just left it out and it made for a very interesting vox only intro to the song. The band really got excited at points and really got into the song. I was shocked how many people knew "Airstream Driver" and "Options" relative to all of their other songs. I just didn't expect them to be a band du jour at this point in their careers.

For a good chunk of the show, the kick drum was super hot in the mix and was overwhelming everything else on the stage. When the Olly played anything but the kick everything sounded great. Bad recording engineer... Bad... This is what it sounded like. Granted in this case its clipping the mic, but you get the idea...


What I found particularly of interest was Ben's performance for the evening. All night his vocals were tight. At times he was brilliant on the guitar, playing amazing solos, improvising on set parts and really seemed to be enjoying himself. At other points he seemed to forget what he was playing and his fingers that were lightening fast a few seconds before were made of jello. It was a bit like watching a dog try to use chopsticks. At first I thought it might be he was having a hard time remembering old stuff, but a few of the newer songs he had issues on too. By the end of the set he had recovered and was really tearing into some of his lead parts.

So a conspiracy theory I have been working on is that the band is in their wrapping things up phase. This theory is based on the most recent album's lyrics with songs like



the fact that Ian Ball has been releasing solo albums, and the fact that the band does not all live in the same country. That and their last two albums have been meh and every album before that was top notch. What I found really strange was when Ian walked off stage for half of "Sweet Virginia." This was the only time any of them left the stage. Halfway through he came back (just in time) to add an extra guitar layer to the song. This could all be me reinforcing a crazy conspiracy theory of course. Just glad I got to see them before anything goes down.

Just to appease the rabble (namely a few drunk chicks yelling "Tijuana Lady") they added a shortened version to their encore. I will leave you with that.



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Side note: Ian and Tom both broke strings... Here's a cool picture of one.


Being the showmen they are they kept going like nothing happened. In fact Ian got stuck with a section that featured him and you wouldn't have known it unless you could see it...