Pelican, Mono, Eluvium – 2006-06-03
June 4th, 2006I don’t think Eluvium will ever get the sort of attention he deserves at a concert. I fear that he’ll never be a headlining act and that he’ll always be placed as an opening act at a concert where people want to talk, drink, be merry and not pay attention to the beautiful music he’s making. All throughout his set people chatted with their friends instead of listening to the beautiful music he was creating, though, a lot of people shut their noiseholes during the crescendo of “Under The Water It Glowed” because it’s hard not to appreciate how gorgeous that song is.
I loved that he took the stage and did not say a word. He sat up there at his piano and waited for the soundguy to kill the house music, then he just started playing. Between songs he didn’t say anything and I don’t think he even had a microphone. When he finished his last song he just looked up, smiled and waved his hand as if to say “Thanks for listening. Bye.”
During Mono’s set, he walked by my stand, pointed to the mics and smiled at me. I told him “I’ll send you a copy.” and he touched my shoulder lightly and did a scooping head nod (you know, where your head just kind of swoops down with your shoulders). He said “Thanks.” I half expected him to add “…my son” after. He’s just so humble and meak and unassuming and I would pay to see him play everyday of my life if I could.
Eluvium – 2006-06-03 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: eluvium2006-06-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: eluvium2006-06-03sample.mp3
Mono is one of my favorite post-rock bands of late. As far as the genre goes, few bands can build a crescendo as beautifully as these four tiny Japanese musicians can. I love how they can draw a song out to a point where you really can’t say when it will be finished, but at the same time you would be completely satisfied if they played the song for hours. At least I would. Because I’m a sucker for post-rock.
Much like Eluvium, the band did not say a word during their set. This may have partly been due to the language barrier but I think it’s more to do with the fact that their music says everything they need it to. Words are for losers and Mono knows this.
Also, I really am not good with their song titles or knowing where the tracksplits are. Sorry. (Update: Thanks to Skim for the song titles. The text file has been updated.)
Mono – 2006-06-03 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: mono2006-06-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: mono2006-06-03sample.mp3
I wasn’t too familiar with Pelican’s body of work before the concert but I decided to give them a try. Unfortunately, they bored me to the utmost degree. Their music never seemed to build up to anything. There was no crescendo and no payoff, no big breakdown that made you say “Hell yes I want the world to end.” I think that’s what I like in a lot of instrumental rock bands and Pelican just didn’t do it for me. Every once in a while the guitarist would bust out a really cool little riff or the drum beat would kick into double-bass action and I’d get excited, but those moments were not very frequent.
I will say that upon giving the recording another listen at home, I enjoyed it more than I did last night. Maybe Eluvium and Mono had just tired me out on the whole instrumental rock thing.
Pelican – 2006-06-03 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: pelican2006-06-03.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: pelican2006-06-03sample.mp3
UPDATE: I’m turning off commenting for this entry because the numerous mentions of the word “mono” (you know, like the illness) has drawn the spambots like moths to a disease-ridden flame.
June 4th, 2006 at 9:36 PM
I anticipated people would be talking during his set just because he is the opening band, so I got as close to the stage as possible. Matt is not given enough credit, period. I went upstairs when Mono took the stage, and thankfully they were loud enough to drown out the hipsters talking behind me. I immediately bought all their albums after their set, I had no idea Mono was so amazing live. I decided to opt out on Pelican, and after reading your review, I think I made the right choice.
btw, Thank you for posting these live tracks.
June 4th, 2006 at 10:36 PM
THANK YOU so much for going and taping. It is much appreciated.
Please let me know if I can tape a show for you down here in san diego ever
tyler huff
san diego, ca
June 5th, 2006 at 12:05 AM
Thanks alot especially for the mono recording. One of my favorite artists within his corner. Whenever i feel stressed or paranoid he calms me down. Thank you so much.
June 5th, 2006 at 12:50 AM
It frustrated me deeply when people constantly flapped their jaws while Matt played. However, the music he was making was so beautiful that I stood there with my eyes closed following his aural lead.
Going from Eluvium to Mono was a perfect segue in terms of the emotions captured. I have to say that I was glad to see how involved this band was onstage (Yasunori especially)…as it was the lack of this that slightly flattened my experience in seeing Mogwai a few weeks ago.
As much as I like Pelican, I think I could’ve done without them this night. The constant heavy riffs and metal didn’t flow well with me after experiencing the previous two bands. Technically they were good, but I suppose I was fatigued to enjoy them fully.
June 5th, 2006 at 5:35 PM
My ears will never be the same because of Eluvium and Mono. They are still ringing a little even after a day and a half, but it was well worth it. Who cares if Matt is never the headliner or never gets big recognition..he is a well kept secret in the genre of Post rock/ Ambient music. He is amazing, and if people dont give him a chance especially at a live show then they dont deserve it ever.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:53 PM
great blog! thanks for all the songs.
June 6th, 2006 at 11:33 PM
No problem. I don’t have much planned for the next two weeks… the next show I’ll be taping is Tapes ‘n Tapes on the 19th. Other than that, if someone sees something worth taping, shoot me an e-mail.
June 8th, 2006 at 1:19 PM
I enjoyed the show immensely. There has never been a show where I have actually enjoyed the opening act enough to want to buy their material or at the very least look more into it, however Eluvium truly succeeded in standing out. Mono put on a very good show that went on too long and began to just do the same thing over and over, which wouldn’t have become so evident had their set been a bit shorter.
I went to the show to see PELICAN and loved them, although I can understand the complications that stopped people from enjoying it as much as I did. Everybody was emotionally and tolerance-wise drained, and although they still technically fit in the same vein of music, for those who don’t know the songs it’s a confusing and awkward show of ups and downs, song structures with 20 to 30 parts to them that are fully enjoyed when you know them and can hear them. And the sound. The drums were too loud, often overpowering the rest of the instruments during certain parts, and the lead guitar on the left side of the stage remained relatively unheard for most of the set. I suppose it’s their own fault for making a perfect and powerful mix on the album that can’t be fully duplicated for the stage. However, as far as the set goes, I couldn’t havge asked for more. Opening and closing with flawless versions of two of their best songs was a good move on their part, and then throwing in the new song that I had heard on a previous tour of theirs, aswell as a powerful version of Sirius, was simply the best thing they could have done.
The set was solid, climaxing perfectly until they played Mammoth for the encore which was generic, bland riff rock which sounds alright recorded when it’s heavy as hell but comes off looking like a joke, standing out even more so at the end to such a solid set.
All told, a very unique and great show. I hope everyone else enjoyed seeing these three very visionary and important bands doing their own thing and each of them doing it very, very well.
August 25th, 2006 at 7:38 AM
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October 2nd, 2006 at 12:54 AM
[…] This was a pretty great show. A band I’d seen before redeemed themselves, a band I’d never heard but heard good things about impressed me, and a band I’d never heard of at all made a damn good showing. […]