Music Videos
Claire
I have to say, I’m not too fond of their choice of band name (for some reason “purity ring” makes me think of the Jonas Brothers and that sincerely freaks me out), but Megan James and Corin Roddick of Purity Ring put on a solid live act and their records will fill your eardrums with joy.
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They recently played a rather rocking set at the Triple Rock Social Club a couple weeks ago. Entering the venue, the first thing I saw was a huge bass drum hoisted off the ground like some inflated musical lollipop. That quirky touch, to begin with, definitely piqued my interest---weirdly placed musical instruments will always have a special place in my heart. As I waited in line for overly-priced alcohol, I saw that the stage was cut in half by a single black sheet. The lack of space helped focus the audience’s attention directly on the duo.
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From the second Megan and Corin stepped on stage the show felt distinctly intimate. The audience was in their own world. Purity Ring was in their own world. But the weird thing was that there was no disconnect. It was as if we were each getting a secretive glance into each other’s respective worlds and reporting back about how awesome it was. It was disconcertingly magical.
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Megan James was truly transfixing. She never made eye contact. Her eyes were either tightly shut or periodically glancing upwards. Confident-creepy- beautiful was how I described her to a friend and in every way I meant that as a compliment. Her ghostly croonings were accompanied by periodic sledgehammer-like poundings on the aerial bass drum as it turned from green to pink to a deep blue. I sufficiently dug the effect. The beats, themselves, slapped you out of your pre-show stupor and demanded some body-bumping attention.
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Opening acts are sometimes thought of as the ugly step-sisters to the Cinderella headliners they introduce, but I have found that it is always worth showing up early to snag an earful of these sets. More often than not, I am pleasantly surprised and impressed. The best overall shows I’ve seen have been when the auxiliary bands just kill it and prove that they are more than up to snuff. Purity Ring was one of these acts. They opened for Neon Indian and, I have to say, it was difficult for me to decide which set I liked better, which is saying something coming from a long-standing Neon Indian fan like myself.
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That being said, I truly hope you, dudes and dude’ams, snag a listen to some of their songs or, even better, catch them in concert. You won’t be disappointed.
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If You Call Me Emo I Will Hit You With My 1965 Buick Riviera
Saturday, 05 November 2011 11:30 Published in Blogs
Have you ever felt that way, where your mind is buzzing so loud that the outside world just becomes white noise? Well, this is the place where I usually hang out, getting high on everything and nothing. God, that sounds annoyingly abstract. Meh. Anyways, when I’m feeling obsessively introspective like this I like to put on a certain type of music that really helps the inward ramblings.
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First up is Cloud Control’s “Gold Canary.” The track is a perfect blend of ooey-gooey folky goodness, filled with infectious harmonies and tinkering tambourines. Every sound is well-crafted and beautifully crisp. Their melodies fill your spirit with doses of mood-lifting-musical helium right from the get-go. Whenever a Cloud Control track pops-up on one of my Steve Jobs machines, I can’t help but bump up the volume several notches. Hopefully you all feel the same way:
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The next song is strikingly stripped and has just the right amount of weirdly bright melancholy. “Planes Like Vultures” begins with eerily reverberating vocals and builds to a boisterous round of echoing lyrics and deliberate instrumentation. Listening to the track makes you feel caught in an odd spiritual ceremony of some kind or as if you had happened upon the frantic pleadings of some religious diehard. Either way, you feel transported somewhere far, far away from wherever here may be. Take a wander:
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Finally there is “Love, Love, Love” by The Mountain Goats. The sound is uncomplicated and straightforward, but the lyrics tell a much more intricate story. And while the song may be construed as a bit angsty, there’s something sadly refreshing about the construction of it all. The excessive repetition of love, love, love is met with muted realism and the juxtaposition of the two creates something so basically beautiful. Now, disregard all my musical dissection and just listen:
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