Film used: Kodak Gold 400 and Lomography CN 800.

Finally, I get to somewhat write about Death Cab for Cutie. Being generally unemployed as we are, Sarie and I lined up at around 1:30 p.m. for an 8 o’clock show, and we thought that might have been too much. But when we got there, there were two other groups of people who had already been waiting there since 10 and 11 a.m. Call it crazy, but we’ve been waiting for this show for ten or so years.

A few hours into waiting, we caught part of the sound check. It was spine-tingling hearing Ben Gibbard’s voice float towards us across the room, through the glass. (A melody softly soaring through the atmosphere, hehe.) I felt my heart rise up to my throat, and it was a nice preamble to the show we were about to see. Some of the songs they played weren’t part of their set list but we didn’t know it at the time, so it was like an extra show. These were the songs they played:

• “Different Names for the Same Thing”
• “Meet Me on the Equinox”
• “Death of an Interior Decorator” — this was particularly fun. Everyone we were there with sang, Can you tell me why you have been so-oh-oh-oh sa-ah-aaaaahd?
• what we think might have been a portion of Big Star’s “Thirteen”

In the end, I wasn’t allowed to bring in my SLR—hey, a girl’s gotta try!—so it’s been a painful wait for these photos to be processed, since I took with the only other camera I had with me, an LC-A+. With only one range, four focus points, and a dark room, I’m pretty happy with the results.

Sarie, Belle & Helga. We were front and center. It was glorious.

Thinny Ben! He ran all over the stage like a little critter.

Here be the rest of the photographs, the set list, et al.

There are a handful of local musicians that I respect and love with all my heart, so it’s always a joy for me to see them get opportunities to be heard in other places of the world. Outerhope (which, if I’m not mistaken, I got to hear at a high school fair I went to… when I was in college*) was invited to be part of this year’s NYC Popfest, but they needed help with funds, since it’s such a long way to travel.

Attraction! Reaction! organized this event to help raise funds. Aside from wanting to help out people whose music I believed in, I noticed that EGGBOY WAS PLAYING. I love Eggboy, Diego Mapa’s solo project pre-Tarsius, and so you can imagine how excited I am.

They sold merch such as Number Line totes, Outerhope’s CDs, and posters of the show. I don’t even have any more walls left, but I got 2 posters. Thankfully, they set up a project on ArtisteConnect, if you find it in your heart to help them with funding.

———
* I don’t even know what I had been doing there, so don’t ask me.

Click for the rest of the photos

We watched The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a few days after Laneway. I had second thoughts, but I’m glad I let their performance sway me into seeing them again. They were just really so fun to see live, and what more with a lot of other Filipinos.

Funny, right after they performed “Young Adult Friction,” Kurt mouthed to Alex and Connor that they should have played it last. The crowd really went nuts, it was really something else. I wish I got it on camera.

Most of the performance was super energetic, but for the first song of the encore, Kip performed a quiet, solo version of “Contender,” which Sarie thankfully got to film. Here it is, it’s quite beautiful:

See the rest of photos

I was going to make a post on The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s Manila show (finally!) but I had some shots of Bee Eyes, and I decided I didn’t want the both of them to be in one post.

Anyway, this was a really good set by them. I’m not the biggest fan of their live gigs (the little that I’ve seen), but this set was a really, really good one. I got a free EP, too! I think I might be a convert.

Click for the rest of the photos

Film photographs I took at Laneway. Mostly multiple exposures of The Drums, honestly. Agh, I want to go back. My brain does not want to accept that I should no longer be in Music Festival Mode.

For a personal recap of the bands and the festival, click here. Film used: Fuji Supreria 400 (redder tones) & Ferrania Solaris 400.

Yuck.

The Drums.

Setting up.

Twin Shadow.

Evee.

Zaxx, Karen, Sarie.

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I’m working on my intense (!) backlog for Nothing Spaces—updating which I know shouldn’t feel like an obligation, but they’re things I’ve intended on posting about anyway—but here’s one of the little sprinkled joys I’ve had the last month.

I went to the Vincent Moon screening in Big Bag Wolf. Apparently, it was held on the very same day as he landed in Manila. In between shuffling in the airport and the screening, he found himself on a jeepney to Intramuros. Without reading the signs.

Anyway, I’ll save the rest for later. For now, let me gush a little bit about this wonderful man. He made a name for himself shooting Take-Away Shows for a French music blog (his friend’s) and I suppose that’s what he’s primarily known for. Now, he’s reaching a little bit deeper, in pursuit of a more spiritual side to music. That’s why he’s here, anyway.

I gave him my copy of The National’s A Skin, A Night to sign, because humans have this weird quest to collect people’s signatures (a habit brought to my attention by my brother while we were driving after a show). He looked totally bewildered that I had it, muttered something along the lines of “This is my passion,” and signed it. (Later, I will learn that he hated this film and had not seen it in quite some time.)

On the back, he wrote something in French, which stirred that part of me that wanted to learn the language so badly:

How beautiful is that?

The rest of the night was illuminating. At the risk of sounding ridiculously obvious, I was completely over the moon.