AnOceanPearl

Is *that* what you appreciates about him?

They're doing it Vancouver as well so it looks like a tour. LETTERKENNY IS REALLY GOOD EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH IT. So I missed the Louise Burns show last week due to massive anxiety which left me basically confined to my bed after I got home from work that day, so that sucked. I made it to Slowdive tonight and that was one of the best shows I've seen. The band was on point, the soundscapes were incredible, and the visuals were 2nd only to Sigur Ros (and I honestly don't really care all that much about light shows and visuals). And for a good portion of the set, guess who I was standing near? Louise Burns *sobbing*

Happy to say I got the email notification saying vinyl has shipped I paid for the express shipping so hopefully I'll have it in my hands Friday and then I can listen to the vinyl on the weekend (along with Mise En Scene because I'm 90% sure I'm coming home with a their vinyl tomorrow night don't tell my wife)

Uhhhh this song is really really good.

Funny, I actually listened to Underdogs front to back last week for probably the first time in 5 or 6 years. First song I heard from it was Everything is Automatic. I hated it. Then I heard Indestructible and liked it a bit more and Apparitions I thought was wonderful, but not enough for me to buy the album. It wasn't until Beautiful Midnight that I really hopped on the MGB train. Change of Season, Prime Time Deliverance and The Inescapable Us are easily my favorite songs from the album, but it also holds one of, if not my least favorite MGB song (Middle Class Gangsters). I feel like this album was a teaser of what ending up coming - it's a good album that with a few changes could be a very good or even a great album, but for me it isn't quite at the same level as BM/AoB from the band days or HM/LoES from the solo days. I'm also bummed it was the last full length that Geoff played on - I get why he felt he needed to leave, I get that Matt wanted to go for a certain sound with BM, and looking at BM from a bass player's perspective, I'm not sure Geoff's style would have really fit, but I also can't help but wonder what it would sound like with him on it.

I haven't seen Josh Ritter live since the "To the Dogs..." tour and he played in a church in Calgary. You could tell throughout the whole show that he was just loving being able to do what he does and it was a fantastic show! I impulse bought tickets to see Louise Burns and Mise en Scene on the 19th. Vancouver and area folks, if you wanna hear some wicked dream pop, I highly suggest you come to this show.

The vocal levels on the spotify mix don't really bother me, but then again, Source Tags and Codes by and you will know us by the trail of dead has the vocals buried in the mix as a creative choice and I've listened to that album hundreds of times:

So I just listened to the three songs and I'm really digging them all and I know I'll be really high on the album right when it comes out. The big test will be how much I like the album a year after release. I was really high on Arrow and Chaotic and while I still think both of those albums are good with moments of greatness, they just haven't held up in my mind as well as HM or LoES (which I think Matt's solo career high water mark). Super digging the chorus-y new wave sound (but I've been listening to a shitload of Slowdive and Galaxie 500 lately and that dreampop stuff shares a lot with new wave I think).

Yep! I'd be going except I'm getting over a cold so would rather not be coughing my lungs out in a tiny, cramped club.

I seem to remember Matt saying something about this - something like they couldn't figure out how to end Suburbia on BM so they let it fade out and then had to figure out what to do in a live setting after the fact.

Reminds me of I/O by Limblifter.

So Rod Bruno (played lead guitar on Champions and I'm A Window, and I think bass on Boy Come Home) has a country band called Trailerhawk with his wife and some other folks. I'm not really into country music, but this is some really really good shit. Their EP "Half Up Front" is available on iTunes and Spotify, and here's their first single called "Don't You".

The completionist in me says "get the vinyl AND the CD" but the practical-ist in me (and probably my wife) says to get one or the other, so vinyl.

I'm diving into Company of Heroes. Not huge on RTS games but I'm enjoying the little bit I've played. Have also started Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. Right now I'm really into games that let you kill virtual Nazis apparently.

Started playing No Man's Sky for the first time in around year or so. I'm liking it a lot better now than I did at launch. Games I've played and finished since my last post: Horizon Zero Dawn (completed it just after I finished ME:Andromeda) - best game I've played this year Pyre (2nd best game I've played this year) Resident Evil 7 (scariest game I've ever played, and 3rd or 4th best game I've played this year) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (3rd or 4th best I've played this year, stupid title, incredible sound design, bullshit puzzles)

Slowdive is my next concert (and the same week I'm going to see Kurios by Cirque du Soliel which Shay and I are super stoked for)

Hey everyone, Looking to get rid of some guitar pedals so I can buy more guitar pedals. EHX Bass Big Muff Pi (fuzz) - $50 EHX Micro Q-Tron (envelope filter) - $50 Boss OC-2 (octave) - $75 Devi Ever Shoegazer (two fuzz circuits in one - Torns Peaker and Soda Meiser) $100 They're all in good condition. All of them minus the Shoegazer have seen velcro as they've been on my pedalboard at one time or another. Send me a message if interested as I don't go on my desktop all that often and will want the email notification. If you know anyone who might be interested, let them know!

Finished Mass Effect: Andromeda. A little rough around the edges, starts off slowly, a lot of the quest design is bullshit, but the character writing is great and the interactions between squadmates is fantastic. The combat is a lot of fun and when you go on missions with a more constrained level design (like in the original trilogy) instead of the open world map, the game really finds it's stride. It's a shame those types of missions are very limited. Overall, it's solid, but generally unspectacular.

Been playing Horizon Zero Dawn and Mass Effect Andromeda recently (mostly ME:A). Horizon is incredible. ME is fine.

I have a POG on my pedal board, and it's fantastic. The ability to mix dry, sub-octave and octave up sounds together can create some really interesting effects, especially when paired with other pedals, and the polyphonic abilities means you can play chords with it. I absolutely love it. Milos used a Boss OC-2 which only allows for one or two octaves down (or a blend of the two) which can also create some interesting synth like qualities, but because it's not polyphonic, you have to be really clean and precise with your playing because if you accidentally hit an additional note, the tracking gets all screwed up. The POG also handles the lower range of a bass guitar a lot better than the OC-2 does.

My wife wears earplugs at basically every show we go to. For me it depends on venue/artist. Matt played at the Commodore in Vancouver, and for me, about 50% of the shows I've seen there I've used earplugs to get more clarity, the other 50% I haven't, even when standing in basically the same spot. And in fairness, it is a good way to prevent hearing damage from shows. I know I've definitely damaged my hearing somewhat from not wearing ear plugs at shows or during band practice.

My impression of Stu during the Vancouver tour was that he was a very... clinical and precise and guitar player, whereas Jimmy Reid seemed like a more loose, free flowing, almost reckless sort of guitar player. I went to both Vancouver shows during the CN tour - the night of and the night after the Bataclan attack, and while the whole band was just on point those nights, I clearly remember during Harridan on night 1 and Police Cars on night 2 just changing my mind about Stu as a guitar player - he blew me away.

Stu has a lot of boutique pedals on his board. If I have time this weekend I'll see if I can come up with a list of what's on there :)

A few changes I noticed are that it appears that Rorschach, Jenni and Going All the Way are played a half step lower than they were recorded, likely because it makes those songs easier for Matt to sing.

Encore tonight: Apparitions Decades Advertising on Police Cars Weapon