The Chemical Brothers were placed at #44.

Having never been to Glastonbury, I can't say whether that's accurate. Nonetheless, nice to see the boys get some recognition of the last tour.

http://www.telegraph...ances-ever.html

Hi everyone. It's been pretty dead here lately, and I'm not quite sure what to do to revive the flow of posts, other than to start spreading rumors around about a new Chems' release.

In an effort to get some people talking, I've created a thread here with the sole purpose of allowing for people to vent their frustrations about life in general.

Why? A lot of times, you see the shit that other people are going through and realize that, well, life's not all that bad for you. And even if it's the worst for you, at least others can kind of feel your pain.

So to get the ball rolling, I'll start:

I studied for years to get to where I am, but I can't really do what I want to do until I pass this huge test (i.e., the California State Bar). I get results in like a week, and I don't know that I'll pass.

Some motherfucker backed into my car in a parking lot and took off. I got his license plate number but he didn't have insurance, hence the taking off part. He doesn't have to pay anything and no consequences will come of him running into me. I had to pay a $500 deductible, but at least I got a new bumper out of the deal.

Another wonderful car issue is that there is a crack that has grown across my windshield, and now it legally needs to be replaced. I would venture to guess that it's going to be another $200.

My $40 french press slipped in the sink and broke. I got to buy another one of those.

My cat got fleas. I had to spend a hundred bucks to buy flea treatment and flea spray, and then spray everywhere in my apartment for fleas. I may have to get an exterminator. We'll see.

I was excited to get a bit of money to do some online copyediting. Then I found out that I'm getting paid half the rate I was quoted by my friend. Nowhere near what I need.

I would like this bad-luck Brian shit to stop happening. But I know it never stops. Oh well.

But hey, that actually felt kind of good to vent. Cheers everyone.

Admittedly, this wasn't the most convenient show to get to. But I've driven from San Francisco to Coachella before, and it's not the most terrible drive in the world. Pioneertown is about as far away as Indio is from the Bay Area, and a friend and I managed the 505 mile drive in about 9 hours.

Me: "So, I think I get it, but... why this place?"

James: "I produced an album out here for someone else and we have friends out here. We've actually been practicing at a friend's house the last few days. The opportunity for this venue came up, and, well, the timing was just right."

Still, what the fuck is Pappy & Harriet's? Did I really just point my car in the direction of nowhere to get stuck in the middle of the desert?

Pappy & Harriet's is a place that seems very well suited to country music bands, or psychedelic rock fueled by acid. It's an interesting place in the desert--I'll give it that. It has a quaintness about it wrapped in mysticism, like the Mos Eisley Cantina, except you don't have to worry about getting shot. I think. Apparently it was largely a bar for biker gangs from 1972 - 1982, but has since been used for movie shoots, and more notably a place for notable performers like Sean Lennon and Spiritualized.

Unfortunately, we didn't know it was an open-air venue, and it gets cold in the desert at night. Another friend met us there whose warmest clothing was a light sports coat; but at least he classed up the place. Well, it actually paled in comparison to the old guy dressed in nothing but sequins. But we traveled far, and we huddled together. And we sat through the psychedelic, experimental rock band that went on before SMD.

James: "Traditionally, rock bands come together and record an album by jamming. That's what we wanted to do here."

I overheard some talk at will call--about 50 people had asked about getting a ticket for the show that night already. I had to admire the people who stuck it out, waiting to see if the sold-out venue could hold any more extra spots. I think everyone who wanted to get in got in--the outdoor space was spacious indeed.

As the rock band cleared out and SMD began to set up their newly-acquired gear, people began to gather at the front of the stage. The techies tested the fog machine, which unfortunately had little effect in the wind. Nonetheless, they filled the stage with as much fog as they could as the beginning tones of the synths began to fill the air.
People cheered as the lights dimmed, and everyone prepared to hear the debut of the first new full-length material from SMD in over a year. It was a new setup--an adventure in music-making--and it was a welcome surprise.

James: "We wanted to do something completely different. . . . There's no pre-recorded music, nothing is pre-sequenced. Everything is live."

There is something about the barren desert that seemed to fit with the debut of Simian Mobile Disco's new music. The opening of their set, and presumably the new album, was pure energy, ambient and formless. The setting gave it a feel of adventure, and from a musical standpoint, that's exactly what it was.

The beauty of SMD's sets in the past, for me, have been in the way that they seamlessly blend all of their music together, and the best moments have been when you're dancing to an entirely different song, not realizing that the past song has ended. The spontaneity of Jaz and James has, in the past, been nothing but impressive.
For this performance, at least, they doubled-down on that spontaneity. It was wonderful to hear them playing around with the synthesizers and slowly making their way from one track to the next, sometimes with fantastic results.

The most notable thing about the album is that not all of the music seems to be driven around creating music to dance to. There are a number of tracks, it seemed, that were a bit more Aphex Twin style, where the composition of the music was not really meant for dancing, but rather a landscape for a different sort of experience.

I closed my eyes for most of the set and let myself drift with the music. It was an absolutely enjoyable drift. As is the style with SMD, some of the noises that came up were a bit jarring at first--uncomfortable at first and eyebrow-raising--but the noise blended with the main parts of the song, as it always does, and it made sense in the end.
After the album was done, they came back on for an encore. The crowd kept moving, dancing away when the kick drum kicked in, and then all of a sudden, a few familiar notes were heard. The timid opening line. The pleasant melody of Cerulean. And everyone moved in unison.

It was a new presentation of the old material, and I could tell they were having fun playing it. Which then begged the question... are they going to play anything else? They're on their encore, after all.

An arpeggiated synth line. Again, something pleasant. And some familiar chords. And HOLY FUCK THEY'RE PLAYING SLEEP DEPRIVATION.

And holy fuck indeed. I had hoped that they would play some old tracks, but I didn't expect anything. Better to just go in and expect to hear the new album, and leave without feeling like you missed out on something. But having them play their most well-known song helped to round-out the set and give it a more complete feel, something that everyone wanted to hear. And hearing it in an entirely new way, performed with an entirely different feel to it was a wonderful experience.

If there is anything negative that I had to say about the experience, it's that it was entirely too short--but then again, their sets are always too short. The new album seems to be around an hour in length, and I can only hope that their live sets will become a little longer in the future, especially with so much material to work with.

For now, I'm eagerly awaiting the new album, and can't wait to hear how they integrate the album into their live sets in the future. I am proud of Jaz & James for pushing themselves into uncomfortable territories, trying new things, and producing some wonderful, new auditory landscapes to venture into.

God speed you two.