Reporting Live, Holy Norwegians: Presenting Team Me

The Best way, (that's right I capitalized the best. So you know this is the final deal) to know an artist's skill and prowess is to go to the live event. However, if you've got dust rolling in your pockets, like me, that might not be so readily available. Let alone in the day and age of where, let's say... Lil Wayne's several hundred dollar per ticket concerts draw drooling airheads from all around (that's right, I'm upping the rage measure. Offended? Get out of my little sanctuary of bias) the four corners of the world, it's hard to even see if a live event actually proves an artist's worthiness for my ears (if you have forgotten. This is MY music blog of extreme snobbery and stuck-upness).

That's why I often resort to checking out an artist first before even considering to go to a live event, which is also why almost all of the concerts I go to consist of reputed 'institutions' and pieces that are long classics. ENO can't mess up a Puccini even if Jesus prayed for that one. Or let's say, try to tell the London Philharmonic to attempt to be less than stellar. They probably can't even if they try to miss a few notes.

So what a god-almighty surprise it was when I saw Team Me last night. My friend had bought the tickets in anticipation of my visit to Bergen, since I noticed that great bands had come out of Bergen. There I was, waiting in this cave-looking pub/venue (seriously, it was a cave, no joke), talking to Maria, after the great opening band, when the main band erupts into this:

Imagine the Invasion of Iraq, except it's Canadians instead of Americans, and instead of bombs, they're dropping candies and jelly beans. That was the kind of sound ecstasy my ears got invaded by once they started booming through the crowd.

Holy, lord, of mercy. These guys, a six-piece band from Norway, were quite the artists. Besides the main drummer, they had another set of toms and crash (or ride?) which one of the front men beat down on without discretion for energy savings. There was the lead singer, who was on guitar, a female support vocal who was playing the keyboard, and then another male support vocal who played the aforementioned toms/crash (or ride? dammit) set and guitar depending on what song it was. These guys were the front men. Behind, there was the bassist, the drummer, and another on the synth and the mixer. In any case, the three at the front were going completely crazy at all times. Especially, the extra drum kit player was quite astonishing in his ability to hype the crowd, not that the hype wasn't well-deserved.

The drum beats were always full of energy, but they were not without purpose, unlike some indie bands that just spam bass drum and toms beats for no good reason. Then there was the depth and complexity of the harmonization itself. Sound effects and multiple melody lines came together without dissonance. The melodies themselves were unpredictable, but in a way that made for sensible transitions. It was great fun following along the melodic tones of the band and experiencing it diverging toward something I had not expected at all.

Lyrics are great. That is quite a simple way to say it so let me explain further. Sometimes I have no idea what they are saying. It's cryptic at points. However, it's much better that way. The lyrics should be left open to interpretation of the listener, to a point that is. Anyways, their video seems a bit more cryptic than their lyrics.

In conclusion, Norwegians are awesome, this band is awesome, Bergen is awesome, and my friend Maria who accommodated me and brought me to this concert, is definitely awesome. Kudos to Norwegia, I mean Norway.

And below is an evidence of that electric night of watching Team Me.

Have Been Thinking A Bit: Presenting Achime

Since this is my music/thought pouring blog, I shall proceed to use it as a place where I write things that belong in a diary. Lately, it has come to my knowledge that I have been working myself to death. Now I don't know if that's a valid association between work and death since if that logic is true then everyone should just start relaxing. By the way, that's something called kidding there you know. Of course I know that's not what it means, but in any case, the modern path of personal growth is really a minefield of complacency. Finding your place in the world, through studying and self-improvement I believe requires much more generation of motivation than let's say, a rebel soldier in Syria. A bullet in the air is quite the motivation to haul ass than a cushiony chair in the Old Building of LSE campus.

In any case I will sound very extreme again, so let me cool my head a bit. Achime. Yes. 아침. That's Korean for 'morning', which brings me to the reminder that I do hope the morning is refreshing for me tomorrow. Haven't had one of those in ages.

Yes, don't tell me. That seems like a girl lifting her skirt there on the album cover. Not my decision, it was theirs. Aside from that, I really like this song. Funky alt-rock is always a treat. Speaking of which, here's another one.

By that second song I knew that I had found another unique K-indie band. Founded in 2008 was pretty much all I could find about them, as they are another one of those really elusive bands outside of Korea. Shame I'd say. Just for the music I'd go to Korea.

Here's a video with all their faces showing.

First of all, if you're Korean and into rock, you should totally try to get these guys' stuff on your smartphone/ipod/or whatever the kids these days carry.

Secondly, I ask, to people especially say they're 'into' Korean culture, why don't bands like these get focused in this K-pop craze that I hear about all the time? You knew any of these guys? I feel like all the boy bands and girl bands and the rest of the 'idol' crowd get unjustified attention in place of real talent. They're great to look at, but peel their faces off and they've got nothing but necks that aren't good for singing and barely any talent in their noggins. Oh, and don't forget those stick figure bodies that can memorize a few dance moves. Give me a face like theirs and a major production company sponsorship and I guarantee you, I could probably clone their 'success'.

Same things go for others. If you don't know who Jung Myung-Hoon is, you don't know Korean culture at all. Just because you know Justin Timberlake, you don't KNOW American Culture. Just because you know Celine Dion, that doesn't meant you KNOW Canadian Culture. So if I hear once more, about someone putting SNSD and Korean Culture, or like, Shinee and Korean Culture in the same sentence, I will probably do nothing but secretly hope to cause nightmares for you in your sleep.

In any case, I've diverged too far already. Let me get back to the point. These guys are fantastic, and yes, they do have some stuff posted on iTunes. I highly recommend them. With that note, I'll sign off by leaving you a fantastic clip of them playing live.

Check Please! These Guys Are F*CKING AWESOME, Presenting: Glen Check

Okay. I usually don't flaunt national pride, but this time I have to. Glen Check, Korean Indie Band. I'm not even going to do any explanations, I'm just going to jump right into the point. You ready? You really ready? Okay here we go.

Holy awesomeness. I have not heard a band that I was crazy for as much as I've been for Glen Check since I found Nell five years ago, which is another Korean indie-band. There was a time two years ago when I fell in love with Escort, but that was because I was feeling disco craze. I'm a bit picky when it comes to bands. The coordination and the right amount of consonance/dissonance. So many times I'll hear some boring four-chord spamming band without even a solid melody and some really cliched lyrics that have been picked out from a random list drawn up by a mainstream radio station. The litmus test I do is whether I can guess the next chord or not. Sad thing is I usually do, and when I do I just crumple that band up in a ball and throw them in my memory trash can. These are about 95% of all the bands out there in the world.

Then there are some bands that try too hard, and they usually end up sounding like a cacophony of random notes with a direction that cannot be saved by a musical Indiana Jones with a compass. I am so desiring to name-drop some of those over-achievers but gosh, I won't. I'm not here to defame anyone.

These guys though. There is definitely dissonance, the uniqueness of seemingly separate notes that are coming together when you take a step back. Then again, there is balance. Just enough so that it doesn't turn anyone off.

I'm not getting the tennis balls but I will buy it from the seeming reference of the title, that there is 'racket' being caused. Anyways these guys are Koreans from abroad. One of them is definitely from UK, since the vocalist's voice has an accent and they've confirmed that one of them is indeed from UK. In any case, they are all about simple but cryptic-enough lyrics that complements their sound just right.

Their first studio album, Haute Couture, has been out since 2012. Buy it. Seriously. I've only ever bought from iTunes twice in my life. Once for Escort (a simply sweet disco band led by a korean-american), and Glen Check. They are worth supporting. I want them to give me more. I want them to play wherever I am. I want to go and watch them play wherever they are. This was the Dreaming Jukebox and I will sign off because the blogger is currently going through technical difficulties by the means of musical seizures in his brain.