W♥M (Archive)

School of Seven Bells at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (10/13/09)

School of Seven Bells-Chain School of Seven Bells    School of Seven Bells Setlist ♥ 7th    Street Entry, Minneapolis (10/13/09) Tour Dates 10/15/09 Lee’s Palace Toronto, ON 10/16/09 Pearl St Nightclb Northampton, MA 10/17/09 Paradise Boston, MA 10/23/09 Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY Read More School of Seven Bells http://weheartmus... School of Seven Bells (aka SVIIB) got their name from some PBS program about some "mythical South...

I'm so glad I got a chance to catch School of Seven Bells on their recent tour. Opening up for them were two solid bands, Warpaint and The Depreciation Guild.

Warpaint ♥ 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (10/13/09)

I actually quite enjoyed Warpaint (myspace), who wowed me with their melodic music as all three girls took turns singing their part. They seem like a lot of fun, and they seem really happy that a lot of people showed up early to see them play. I'll have to admit, 7th Street Entry was pretty packed that Tuesday night.

They opened up with their harmonizing cover version of "My Guy", which may sound a little outdated with such lyrics as "he's the cream of the crop" to rhyme with "I think he's tops". As soon as that song ended, they launched into an instrumental song, and continued for another thirty minutes. Setlist seems short, but all the songs I heard, I did like.

I'll have to find out more about them later, all I know is that they recently released an EP called Exquisite Corpse on the Manimal Vinyl label.

The Depreciation Guild ♥ 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (10/13/09) The Depreciation Guild Setlist ♥ 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (10/13/09)

In some ways, whoever put together this tour did a good job, because all the artists sound at least in the same kind of music genre. So, The Depreciation Guild (official / myspace) sound more or less like the other band on the bill, a little shoegazey with sweet vocals by all very handsome young people on stage (certainly Depreciation had the best hair).

They borrowed some of their musical instruments from Warpaint and borrowed the movie projector-thing from School of Seven Bells. The movie of various colors and blocks played throughout their whole set.

I think all their live songs required some computerized help with the quirky noises, and for the most part it made their music more video gamey. Unfortunately, for one song, there was a hiccup when an unwanted looped noise continued to play onto the next song.

As you can see from their setlist, most of their songs are taken from their 2007 album In Her Gentle Jaws, which got a recent vinyl release (500 copies only) on Kanine Records. I think the future is in vinyl, so I was quite happy to see that all three bands here have continued to release music on this funky format.

When School of Seven Bells came on stage, after the intro song played on for about a minute, the lights on stage were turned off - save for the one lone red light that shined on Benjamin Curtis. I suppose it's to make the movie that were shown in the background to be more of the focus, but I suspect the twin girls might be shy if the spotlights are on them.

I think if I remembered correctly, that Claudia is the one on keyboard, which as it turned out is an Indigo keyboard. Both of the sisters are dressed in mostly black and, I think, Alejandra is in knee-high boots. I have photographs, but in poor light, it's not worth showing (and I'm too lazy to produce any drawing).

My favorite autotune song, "Chain", was played on their set - but it didn't sound 'tuned' live. Instead, there are stretches in the song that extended the song a bit. Other highlight from the show was probably their closer, "Half Asleep". They came back on for a one-song encore, but I don't remember what song it was.

They left a lot of eager fans who wanted more, especially the guy from Madison, Wisconsin, that wanted to have the girls record the call letters to Madison radio station (WSUM?).

Anyway, it looks like Ghostly is re-releasing their Alpinisms in a "deluxe" album on iTunes, so perhaps there'll be a real physical deluxe album release at Ghostly Records in the near future.

 10/15/2009 01:04:54 ♥ vu () schoolofsevenbells.com ♥ myspace.com/schoolofsevenbells 

Fujiya & Miyagi @ 7th St. Entry, 2.11.09

Fujiya and Miyagi - Sore Thumb Fujiya & Miyagi Tour Dates 02/25/09 SPANISH MOON BATON ROUGE 02/27/09 EMOS ALT LOUNGE AUSTIN 03/02/09 RHYTHM ROOM PHOENIX 03/03/09 ECHOPLEX LOS ANGELES, CA 03/05/09 INDEPENDENT SF, CA 03/06/09 DOUG FIR PORTLAND, OR 03/07/09 NEUMOS SEATTLE, WA 03/24/09 L’UBU RENNES 03/25/09 BT59 BORDEAUX 03/26/09 LA FOURMI LIMOGES 03/27/09 LE PHARE TOULOUSE 03/28/09 LA COOPERATIVE FERRAND 04/03/09 TRIPOD DUBLIN 04/08/09 CARGO LONDON 04/09/09 THE FAVERSHAM LEEDS 04/10/09 DEAF INSTITUTE MANCHESTER 04/11/09 THE PLAYROOM GLASGOW 04/12/09 LITTLE CIVIC WOLVERHAMPTON 04/17/09 START THE BUS BRISTOL 04/24/09 CASA D ARTES DE FAMALICAO 05/14/09 NUIT BOTANIQUE BRUSSELS

After a long day of schmoozing and being obnoxiously charming, I couldn’t have looked forward to Fujiya & Miyagi’s show any more than I did.  (My real job involves niceness.)  Turning F&M way, way up on the drive into Minneapolis, I was itching to dance and be in the company of friends.  And luckily, in this case, the build-up made the delivery deliciously satisfying.

 

School of Seven Bells-Chain

School of Seven Bells opened up the sold-out show.  I’d heard them on the radio a few times before and was entertained but not intrigued.  Never had that urge to Wikipedia them or play hooky in order to pick up their album.  And, for me, that feeling carried over to their live performance.  Identical twins, Alejandra and Claudia Dehez, are gorgeous and have the voices to match; guitarist Benjamin Curtis is obviously very talented (and under-utilized, in my opinion) but their set, on the whole, left me with a general feeling of indifference.  If I can say this without sounding like an after-school special, I think SoSB has enormous potential and just doesn’t realize it yet.  Keep your eye on them, though. 

Surprisingly, the crowd thinned out a little after School, which was alright with me since I couldn’t see nor breathe. 

Let’s move on to shakin’ it. 

Fujiya & Miyagi.  Yes, yes, yes.  The fine English gentlemen opened with “Sore Thumb,” a scene-setting song from their most recent release, “Lightbulbs.”  A song that says, “You’re going to need your sexy dance pants for us.”  And that crazy talkin’ song speaks the truth.  Next up was “Ankle Injuries” from 2007’s Transparent Things, featuring (gasp!) a real, live drummer!  Prior to this tour, F&M were a trio with a drum machine.  The addition of said drummer, Lee Adams, was a wise choice, resulting in fuller, cruder sound (there is such a thing as too precisely perfect, you know).

With that excellent and promising start, the boys led us through an evening of spellbinding entertainment, perfectly transitioning from high energy crowd-pleasers to stare-off-into-space soundtracks to your silly little daydreams.  Both Lightbulbs and Transparent Things were well represented.  And with the crowd being so tight, the sound being so together and my hips having a mind of their own, I felt like I had invited all of my friends (and their friends and their friends) into my living room for a spontaneous drunken dance party.  Something about this show felt more intimate, more comfortable than most.  I guess that’s what happens when everything comes together perfectly: David Best’s sultry whispers and complex guitar work, Steve Lewis’ hard beats and fancypants technological skills, Matt Hainsby’s hot bass grooves, and an overcrowded room of eager hipsters.  Damn.

Fujiya & Miyagi are not the guys to listen to when you want to relive your most recent break-up or explore your sensitive side.  I don’t think most people could say they feel an ‘emotional connection’ to this noise but I prefer it that way.  Sometimes you need to turn your head off and move.

This is music you feel in your tailbone; these are songs that dare you to stand still; this rhythm is seriously going to get you (yeah, I just said that).

Fujiya and Miyagi are on tour in support of 2008’s Lightbulbs.  Don’t miss them if you can help it.

Tour dates can be found on their Myspace page at: http://myspace.com/fujiyaandmiyagi.

 02/24/2009 21:35:12 ♥ kate () ♥ fujiya-miyagi.co.uk ♥ myspace.com/fujiyaandmiyagi 

School of Seven Bells

School of Seven Bells-Chain School of Seven Bells Tour Dates 01/16/09 PR (Self Titled Party w/Free Blood, Juan Maclean (live acid set), & Justin Miller (DFA)) New York, New York 02/06/09 Wellesley College Wellesley, Massachusetts 02/07/09 Terrace F. Club Princeton, New Jersey 02/11/09 7th Street Entry (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Minneapolis, Minnesota 02/12/09 Bottom Lounge (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Chicago, Illinois 02/13/09 Magic Stick (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Detroit 02/14/09 Alfred University Knight Club (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Alfred 02/15/09 Paradise (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Boston, Massachusetts 02/18/09 The Trocadero (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 02/19/09 9:30 Club (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Washington DC, Washington DC 02/23/09 Whelans Dublin, Ireland 02/24/09 Captain’s Rest Glasgow, Scotland 02/25/09 Cockpit Leeds, UK 02/26/09 Cargo London, UK 02/27/09 Night & Day Manchester, UK 02/28/09 Start The Bus Bristol, UK 03/01/09 Audio Brighton, UK 03/04/09 AB Club Brussels, Belgium 03/05/09 Le Point Ephemere Paris, Ile-de-France 03/07/09 Gleis 22 Münster, Germany 03/08/09 Bang Bang Club Berlin, Germany 03/09/09 Molotow Hamburg, Germany 03/10/09 Studio 672 Cologne, Germany 03/12/09 Flex Vienna, Austria 03/13/09 Atomic Cafe Munich, Germany 03/14/09 La Casa Milan, Italy 04/07/09 The Ritz (w/Bat for Lashes) Manchester 04/08/09 Queen Margaret Union (w/Bat for Lashes) Glasgow, Scotland 04/09/09 Stage 2-Northumbria University (w/Bat for Lashes) Newcastle 04/11/09 Metropolitan University (w/Bat for Lashes) Leeds 04/12/09 Birmingham Town Hall (w/Bat for Lashes) Birmingham 04/13/09 The Regal (w/Bat for Lashes) Oxford 04/15/09 Anson Rooms (w/Bat for Lashes) Bristol 04/16/09 Brighton Corn Exchange (w/Bat for Lashes) Brighton 04/17/09 Sheperds Bush Empire (w/Bat for Lashes) London See Also Bat For Lashes http://weheartmus... A friend of mine asked me to check out this errie music video for "What's a Girl To Do" by Bat fo...

School of Seven Bells (aka SVIIB) got their name from some PBS program about some "mythical South American pick-pocket academy", as mentioned on their their interview/music session on KCRW (incidentally, check out KCRW's vox page). Although Alejandra have admitted to not being able to verify the name, I can tell you that the so-called school is from the Andes Mountains outside Bogota, Colombia.

I am assuming that the Andes Mountain shown in the PBS program might have inspired the naming of their debut album, Alpinisms (the term refers to the European mountain range, often called the Alps). Strangely, however, the cover artwork by Bryan Collins, well, it looks like it was pulled from a picture of Yosemite National Park's famous Half Dome.

The band consists of two real life twin sisters called Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and bassist Benjamin Curtis, formerly (?) of Secret Machines. The band was formed in early 2007, and they are bringing back an old familiar sound of electronica, mixed with a little shoegazing/dreampop - mostly because of the harmonies of the two sisters.

I think grouping the band into the shoegazing category might not describe them, these aren't really sad/depressing songs (with the exception of the slow-moving song, "For Kalaja Mari"). Instead, surprisingly, the album is pretty upbeat, thanks to noisy sounds and quirky keyboard and sound effects. It's like half dance and half awkwardness (because they're not like typical dance rhythm).

My favorite songs on the album is "Wired for Light", a strange violin-ish scratch sound and afro percussions made this song stand out. Obviously, "Half Asleep" is big hit for them. It's pretty melodic and poppy, I can see why they chose this song to release as the single.

My absolute favorite is "Chain", however. Which I'm sure most people won't like for its use of vocal-correction effects. I think it fits the song, especially with the various samples (or at least I think they're samples), and overall gives it a dancey vibe to it. "Chain" should be a real crowd pleaser if they play it live.

And speaking of live, be sure to check them out on tour this year, see the two handsome sisters for yourself, as they play with some other indie-favorites such as Fujiya & Miyagi and Bat for Lashes.

Fans of 4AD, Movaje 3, Cocteau Twins (wow, will someone please do an article on them?), Au Revoir Simone, and Blonde Redhead, will immediately fall in love with SVIIB (if you haven't already). So pick up their wonderful album, Alpinisms, at any online retailer or their record label, Ghostly (where you'll find some EPs for sale as well).