Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Kaelan Mikla’ Category

Alcest (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, February 20, 2025)

Posted in Alcest, Kaelan Mikla, Kælan Mikla, Mono, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on February 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 20, 2025] Alcest 

I hadn’t heard of Alcest before this tour.  I was mostly excited when I saw that Mono was playing Union Transfer.  But when I listened to Alcest, I rather liked them.  Especially their latest album Les Chants de l’aurore, which is the album they were touring.

So Alcest has been around for almost 20 years, although their first album came out in 2007.  After some lineup changes, the band was solely the work of Stéphane “Neige” Paut who played everything.  In 2009, drummer Winterhalter from Les Discrets joined Alcest, after eight years with Neige as its sole full-time member.  Neige still plays everything except drums on the records.

Since 2010, the live shows include Pierre “Zero” Corson on second guitar and backing vocals and Indria Saray on bass.

I was really pleased with my spot near the stage when, with moments to go before the band came out, two women pushed their way up next to me taking up more room than there was between us.  And when the band started she proceeded to either really get into it or was just messing with me as she kept putting her hands through her hair and then raising her arms high and wide for minutes at a time.  I’ve literally never had one person ruin a show as much as this sociopath did.

Fortunately she (presumably) got sick after four songs.  She was clearly very drunk, and then after a couple of songs she seemed to just stop and stare straight ahead of her and then after the fourth song she bolted for the back of the room (to which a guy behind me said, thank god).  Her friend (who was very short) then proceeded to take up enough space for both of them, headbanging in a way that ensured you didn’t want to stand behind her.  A song or two later, she received a text and then headed to the back of the room.  In my mind, the tall one got drunk and nauseous and them ruined the second half of the show for herself and her friend after she ruined the first part of the show for me and everyone around me. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Mono (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, February 20, 2025) [ALCEST]

Posted in Alcest, Kaelan Mikla, Kælan Mikla, Mono, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on February 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 20, 2025] Mono

I saw Mono back in 2019 and I was blown away by their show.  I haven’t been able to see them since, and I was mildly bummed that they were opening instead of headlining this show.  But any chance to see them is a good one.  And, it introduced me to Alcest!

The crowd was really really into Mono.  In fact a couple of people up front left after their set.

They played mostly new songs.  All of their songs are instrumental and sound vaguely similar, so I can’t tell them apart.  That’s not an insult, they play seven to ten minute epic tracks that build to varying degrees of intensity and I could listen to them all night.

I was in front of guitarist Hideki “Yoda” Suematsu who is described as a rhythm guitarist but who does a lot more than that.   Bassist Tamaki Kunishi was in the middle (except for the one song she played keys on).   And Takaakira “Taka” Goto was on the far side of the stage (and hard to see on the mostly dark atmosphere).

Their drummer Dahm Majuri Cipolla was tucked in behind a rack of amps, and it was hard to see him.  He also had a gong!  And I was a little bummed that I could only see a part of it, but it was cool to see him smack it on two different songs. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Kælan Mikla (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, February 20, 2025) [ALCEST]

Posted in Alcest, Kaelan Mikla, Kælan Mikla, Mono, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on February 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 20, 2025] Kælan Mikla

I had never heard of Kælan Mikla before this show was announced.  And, since I love music from afar  Was instantly intrigued by this is Icelandic band whose name means (according to Google) The Great Chill or (according to Wikipedia) Lady of the Cold.

They are a trio of Laufey Soffía on lead vocals, Margrét Rósa Dóru-Harrýsdóttir on bass and Sólveig Matthildur Kristjánsdóttir. on keys and more (although only keys for this show).

They came out on stage in dark and spooky lighting (later when I saw them at the merch table, I saw that they had interesting cracked and cobwebby makeup under their eyes.  And Soffia was dressed in an all black gown (seemingly made of toile) with super long fingernails.  It was like a goth flashback and I loved it.

So I guess this music is darkwave, a genre I don’t really know.  I feel like the few darkwave songs I’ve heard I didn’t like.  But maybe seeing it live is a different story, because the whole gothy presentation was fantastic.  I couldn’t really hear Soffia’s vocals (in part because they were in Icelandic, but mostly because of where I was standing), but she sang in variants of quiet, almost whispery singing and screams.  But it combined perfectly to generate a really retro spooky feel with cool modern feminist trappings.  (more…)

Read Full Post »