Sigur Ros, Blanck Mass. Gig Review SECC, Glasgow

Sigur Ros were back in Glasgow again this weekend. Last time that I saw them they put on a great show at the Carling Academy. Tonight it was the less atmospheric setting of the SECC but as Partick Thistle had beaten Dunfermline 4-0 in the afternoon I started the evening in a good mood, ready to forget these things.

When I saw the "Valtari Film Experiment" recently, a collection of random films to tracks from the latest Sigur Ros album, to be honest I was glancing at my watch a few times to see how long there was to go. I don't know if this was the fault of the films or the music from Valtari which I found to be a bit on the bland side. Maybe the band agree, as tonight's show only featured a couple of tracks from their latest album, included 3 new tracks not yet released, and a mixture of stuff from previous albums such as Takk, Hvarf/Heim and even Agaetis Byrjun. The line-up has shifted a bit too with Kjartan Sveinsson having left to pursue his interests in scores for films and classical composition, and the band have promised that their next album due out in 2013 will see a change in direction.



Blanck Mass, noodling away behind the mosquito net

First up was Blanck Mass, Benjamin John Power off of Fuck Buttons, doing his solo electronic thing. Twelve months ago when I last saw him in a wee basement room in almost total darkness at the Art School I felt he struggled to get much of an atmosphere going, so I feared that his introspective set that night would vanish in the SECC's main aircraft hangar hall. To be honest I think it worked better in the big space, despite him spending the whole time hunched over his laptop shrouded behind a giant mosquito net. However the ambient, almost whale sound of his stuff, as he nods his head over the laptop is going to make it hard to engage with any crowd which isn't completely stoned. Without the frenetic rhythms of Fuck Buttons it becomes music to stroke your chin to. I like his album and often listen to it if I've got to do a long drive or I'm reading but I just find that when it is performed live it leaves me cold.

Jonsi, playing guitar with his bow as usual, and Sigur Ros came on stage next and the reason for the mosquito net became apparent as they performed the first few songs surrounded by it whilst clouds and forest were projected onto it. 

Sigur Ros, amidst the shrubbery

They don't go in for much chit-chat but hold your attention by providing a complete 'son et lumiére' show, with the big screen behind them on the go once they dropped the netting. It looked like about 11 musicians on stage, including strings and a brass section. They played all the crowd pleasers - Hoppipolla, Vaka, etc and finish on a full bloodied Popplagid. The new songs were interesting, but veering dangerously close to Muse at times when everything was getting chucked in on them (particularly Kveikur), but I think they sound like a step in the right direction away from Valtari which at times becomes a bit characterless. They were on stage for about 2 hours, put on a great live show again and I await their next album with interest.

Varied weekend entertainments, Glasgow

My head is spinning after a very random selection of outings this weekend. The problem I have is that I see something that seems interesting, then order tickets whilst forgetting what other stuff I've already booked. This leads to weekends like the one just past where I have a very incongruous selection of nights out.

Friday Night is Poetry Night
The Aye Write festival in the Mitchell Library had a sell out show by the laureate poets of Britain, Wales and Scotland; Carol Ann Duffy, Gillian Clarke and Liz Lochhead. I was familiar with some of the work from  Carol Ann Duffy and Liz Lochead but it is always given new vigour when a poet explains the process and thinking that went into making a poem. Liz Lochead discussed some of the pressures of being a poet who has to write on demand, but from the examples she read, she clearly does it with aplomb.

Saturday Night is Comedy Night
Saturday was obviously a day for celebrating, what with Partick Thistle winning 5-0 down in Dumfries I was not surprised at all to see Sauchiehall Street littered with drunken bodies from early evening. THen it clicked, when I realised I was the only one who didn't have a Guiness hat on, green and white balloons tied to my wrist and a shamrock painted on my face. It was St Patricks Day and as Mark Millar accurately described it recently Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night at the best of times now resembles Arkham Asylum. We were off to see Rich Hall at the Garage, up for the Glasgow Comedy Festival. He had noted the carnage outside too and did a great show rambling on about that and other stuff, singing with his guitarist and drummer accompanying at times and showing an old hand's knack at improv. He seemed like a man you could pleasantly spend an evening sharing a beer with. We passed a couple of bars on the way home and I had to dress like the locals so as not to stand out.

Obligatory dress-code in town Saturday night

Sunday Night is Music Night
What with my fellow admirer of eclectic music not currently in the country I had to go to the gig at the Art School on my own as nobody else could be persuaded that Blanck Mass supported by Konx-om-pax was a good idea. So I went alone, sat in a bar reading poetry about a skinhead desecrating graves first to get me in the mood, then went downstairs to get into the chin-stroking groove. First up was Konx-om-pax. It was dark down there so don't be surprised if you can't see anything in the video below, and the only action onstage was a man playing Angry Birds or something on his iMac whilst we nodded appreciatively to his drone, distortion and electronic beeps. (I actually rather liked it.)

Konx-om-pax

Next up was Blanck Mass, a side project of Bristol's Benjamin John Power, half of the experimental/noise duo Fuck Buttons. I enjoy the energy of the Fuck Buttons stuff and had it on today when I was out running and though I enjoy the ambient, wafting feel of the Blanck Mass stuff it can become quite introspective. Certainly he had more lights, buttons and wires on his table than the support act, but at times it was like watching Scotty concentrating on doing a particularly fiddly teleportation over 15 minutes, (except Scotty had swapped his red jersey for a green and white T-shirt that said Jamaica on it, but you know what I mean). It was a gig where several people ended up sitting or lying on the floor to help them stroke their chins, but I prefer to have a bit more head-nodding and toe tapping.

Blanck Mass

Anyway that ended the weekend on a relaxing note, a weekend on which Partick Thistle won 5-0, Rangers got beaten by Dundee Utd and just about lost the League, and Celtic got beaten by Kilmarnock in the League Cup Final. An all round good weekend.