Mp3s: Clogs & Bell Orchestre live in Boston
Posted on November 7, 2005 at 9:18 am | No Comments
Friday brought another perfect evening of music to the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston, as their fall schedule of independent music came to a close with Clogs and the Bell Orchestre. It was the first night of their tour together, and the insane number of instruments on stage makes me damn glad I’m not their roadie. Let’s see, between the two bands we had violas, french horn, trumpet, bassoon, stand-up bass, organ, guitars, drums, xylophone, steelpan, typewriter… I’m no doubt missing many.
How to describe what we were treated to? ‘Classical’ is too broad, ‘post-rock’ is too silly… somewhere in between Rachels and Godspeed, perhaps, with a dash of Dirty Three. Vocal-free (save for one fantastic Clogs number below), seemingly improvisational at times (although Clogs sheet music betrays this), occasionally jazzy (Bell, not Clogs), and you don’t refer to their compositions as ‘songs’, but instead as ‘pieces’. It was great to see these perceived (but not) side projects (Clogs includes guitarist Bryce Dessner and violist Padma Newsome from The National, Bell Orchestre features The Arcade Fire‘s Richard Reed Parry and Sarah Neufeld) bring in a large and entirely captivated crowd: Sold out no doubt due to the increasing attention their more accessible ‘rock’ bands have garnered, and enraptured because of the collective talent displayed on stage. Were the shared players’ respective other bands not so excellent, this night might’ve made them appear to be slumming in ’em by comparison.
Here, for you, are both sets in their entirety…
live at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Friday, November 4th, 2005
1. Tides
2. 2:3:5
3. Canon
4. Voisons
5. Death and the Maiden
6. Fiddlegree
7. Lantern
live at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Friday, November 4th, 2005
1. The Upwards March
2. Quintet
3. Piazolla
4. Recording a Tape (Typewriter Duet)
5. As Seen Through Windows
6. (music box intro)
7. 7 Song
8. Noviembre
9. Organ Song
10. Raj
Bell Orchestre’s new album is ‘Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light‘, out on Rough Trade in Europe and the UK already, and out in North America tomorrow. Clogs put out ‘Stick Music‘ on Brassland last year, and their next one, ‘Lantern‘, will be out in just a few months. Most of the songs above will likely appear on ‘Lantern’, but to truly whet your whistle, check out this preview medley of the songs “Ostinato” & “Five:Four“, or view the beautiful video from French director Vincent Moon for the title track right here.
If you’re in the Boston area, be sure to keep checking the schedule for The Museum of Fine Arts independent concert series, which resumes again in January.
Even though that show was on Friday, it already feels ages ago… I’ve just seen eight bands in three days and I’m reeling. Next week, instead of sharing full live sets, I’ll be offering up a few standout songs from each of the other bands I caught this weekend: The Essex Green, Shout Out Louds, Aberdeen City, The Standard, & Kingsbury Manx. The sheer amount of audio editing I have ahead is daunting, but I’m game.
Standard schpeel: If anyone involved with the bands above has any objection whatsoever to these live tracks being made available, just say the word. I am but a humble fan. Live sets were recorded on a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc recorder, and are shared up for just a few weeks.
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