Unpredictable weather

Everyone seems to be complaining about the snow at the moment.  Everyone except me, and I’m normally the one who complains about it first.  Surprising.

When the snow comes in December and January, many people are excited about it – it looks so beautiful, it’s fun to play in, it brings the nation together and we sometimes get snow days.  Many reasons to love the snow in the winter.  I, however, don’t love snow in the winter.  It does look awesome, but this positive is outweighed, for me, by the facts that it’s cold, I don’t particularly like playing in it (because I get cold very easily), it makes it difficult to get around, and snow days are actually a pain for me.

So, it’s still snowing, and it’s nearly April.  Because this snow is not causing any significant disruption to my life, and because it’s not actually that cold at the moment, I don’t really mind it.  But everyone else seems to have an issue with it.  Common quotes go along the lines of ‘It’s nearly April, it shouldn't be snowing now’.  Snow at this time of year seems to go against people’s sense of what the weather “should” be like.  This sounds like the sort of thing I would say.  I tend to like things the way they “should” be.  But when it comes to the weather, I love how unpredictable it can be in this country.  It amuses me that it could be snowing in April, sunny in December, and pouring with rain in July.  I know the unpredictability of it can be annoying, and can disrupt plans for sport, or picnics, or whatever, and this does annoy me too.  But at the same time, the fickleness of it all amuses me.

I'm a little surprised by the extent to which people are complaining about the recent snow, when they seem delighted with the much larger amounts of it in the winter.  Maybe people are just bored with it now, whereas I was already bored with it back in December.  Maybe it is simply about what the weather ‘should’ be like, and people are now longing for some warmth and sunshine.  Maybe people want either no snow or lots of snow, not these vague snow showers we've been having.  But I like it.  Not because it’s snow – as I've said, I don’t really like snow at all – but because it’s an example of our wonderfully unpredictable weather.

So there you go – a blog post about the weather.  How British of me.

Music Difficulties

I have realised that it is becoming more and more difficult for me to keep up with new music.  Over the last 4 years I have created a soundtrack of the year, and each year the list is becoming longer.  I seem to be buying more and more new albums each year.  Last year it was 21.  This year it is already 12, and we're still in March.
The root of this problem is that I am getting old, so not something I can do much about.  Because I discover new bands every year, there are more bands that I know about every year.  I rarely 'unfollow' bands, so each year there are more albums released that I want to own then ever before, as many bands I follow bring out new albums, and there are new bands to discover too..  I am starting to find that I don't have time to follow everyone.
Occasionally bands disband (see what I did there?) but for the most part, the list of people whose music I want just keeps expanding.  The fact that I'm both loyal and a completionist doesn't help.
There is no easy solution to this.  I could be more ruthless about whose music I buy, but I wouldn't know where to start in deciding who to cut out.  This is starting to worry me.  There are plenty of bands I really like and whose music I want to keep buying, but I also love discovering new artists.  It seems I have a dilemma on my hands.

Sigur Ros

Last weekend I went to a Sigur Ros gig in Glasgow.  Here are some thoughts on it.

• Doors opened at 6.30.  The support act wasn't on until 8, and Sigur Ros until 9.  This was an unnecessary wait.  Especially as...
• The support act, Banck Mass, was the worst support act I've ever seen.  By a mile.  One man, one laptop, two decks.  One thirty minute track, which was just sound.  No groove, or rhythm, or tune.  Just atmospheric synth noises.  Awful.
• The first three songs of the Sigur Ros set were played with a transparent but certainly visible curtain around the stage.  This allowed for some very cool lighting effects on the curtain, but made us feel slightly distanced from the band, especially as the first three songs were 2 brand new tracks and Ny Batteri, which takes five minutes to kick in.  However, it was worth it for the next moment...
• Up until the end of Ny Batteri, the lighting had all been blue, green and white.  At the end of Ny Batteri, as the next song started, all the lights went red, and the curtain dropped to the floor.  And, the next song was Vaka - a classic, one of my favourites and on my soundtrack of 2012.  One of the best moments of the night.
• The band lineup consisted of Jonsi, the frontman and vocalist, who played electric guitar using a bow.  Lad.  He also played piano.  Then a bassist (who also played xylophone) and a drummer (who also played piano and xylophone).  Also an electric guitarist (who also played piano and xylophone) and a fifth guy who switched between drums, percussion and piano.  There were six pianos on the stage.  There were also three violinists, a trumpeter, a trombonist/flautist and a french horn player.  Everyone also sang.  A great spectacle of musicians.
• The sound from Jonsi's guitar was very difficult to identify in the overall sound.  I could hear the drums, bass, violins etc, but not his guitar.  I assume there were huge delay effects going on and that he contributed to the overall atmospheric/synth sound of the music.  Shame though.
• During Hoppipolla, Jonsi played bass.  So there were two basses, drums, piano and xylophone.  No electric guitar.  Interesting.
• Hoppipolla was followed by Med Blodnasir, as it is on the album.  This combination really got the crowd going.  Sigur Ros aren't really a band people sing along to, but they did for these two songs.  Arms were up, lights were stunning, the crowd were almost worshipping.  Spine tingling.  Another of the best moments of the night.
• They played Glosoli.  I was not expecting this, but I was delighted to hear it.
• The band played a 3-song encore.  The penultimate song was Fljotavik, which was beautiful and calm.  The calm before the storm...
• They finished with Popplagio.  Of course they did.  And it was enormous.  Everything you would hope it might be.
• The lighting was continually spectacular, but my favourite feature was the 44 (we counted) lightbulbs perched on sticks around the stage.  They just looked gorgeous.
• One disappointment was the lack of interaction from the band with the crowd.  Jonsi only spoke to the crowd twice, and once was simply to say 'thankyou'.  I know they're not English, but they are fluent and it would have been nice to have had a bit more acknowledgement of our presence.  Having said this, they came back out after the encore to wave and bow.  I liked that.

In all, a very worthwhile evening.  If you ever get a chance to hear Blanck Mass, eat your own heart out with a blunt spoon instead.  If you ever get a chance to hear Sigur Ros, do it.  If Blanck Mass is supporting Sigur Ros, just arrive at 8.45 and you won't miss a thing.