Antisocial Zuckerberg

I went to watch the Social Network

Perfect Match

Just came back from Seabear's concert at Pod Minogą. After seeing Olafur Arnalds a week or so ago, it is hard not to conclude that Iceland has inexhaustible talent for engaging, atmospheric music. The young septet gave a marvellous performance and was coerced into encored by thunderous applause. Their sound is rich and poised, thanks in large part to the presence of violon and keyboards, as well as frequent male-female chorus vocals, alternating between guitar noise and sleepy, dreamy tunes. After a slow start (and making a bad impression by being late), they picked up pace in the second half of the gig and there was not a single gap-filler to speak of, full dedication from all band members. In some tracks, they sounded disarmingly youthful, especially when the entire stage was involved in these echoing vocals, as if syren calls. In fact, out of six band members, two are women (violin, keyboards), with eye-pleasing, folky sort of looks and phenomenal, honest smiles. The lead singer emanates the kind of intense energy you tend to expect of commited artists, even though in the first part he seemed a little distant.

When I read Metro on a tram to work earlier today and it said Seabear is Sufjan Stevens meets Archade Fire I knew straight away I would have to see them live. A couple of songs really took me far away.

Q&A

Here is a decent interview series in the Guardian called Q&A.

Bruised again

Like many men, I tend to be rather passive with my ailments and injuries, so I duly did nothing when my nail got badly bruised in a pick-up game of football in the summer.

It wasn't the first time round my foot had suffered some inconveniece in the heat of competition. In fact, a few years ago, at Easter in my hometown, I said yes to joining my friends' team as a guest player. It was a tough, 11-a-side, no-hostages-taken battle in a local league from which I walked away one toe nail lighter. The immediate culprit were too small cleats, but it was really my childlike inability to call it quits halfway through the competition or even sooner and my dogged determination not to let my mates down that were to blame. It cost me my nail (no worries, it regrew) and a few weeks of discomfort that this bruised toe kept giving me when running, walking or, indeed, sleeping.

So, here I am again, waiting for the bruise to heal and the nail to fall off. Luckily, there is no regrowing limit.

Swell Season in Wrocław

It was a long and passionate performance a week ago from the Czech-Irish band Swell Season and its flair and atmosphere were highlighted by the compelling acoustic features of Polish Radio Wrocław's concert hall. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, the creative due behind the act, were met with an enthusiastic reception of a room filled to the brims with fans, drawn to the first gig in Poland by the Once soundtrack authors. Luckily, their own engagement matched the level of anticipation in the audience giving rise to an explosive mixture that is a guarantee of a great concert.

Unlike some other listeners, I was glad that a big part of the concert was based on the latest album, Strict Joy, which I find a delight, rather than just smash hits from Once. Glen's voice sounds even more powerful, aching and engaging live than it does when you listen to the records and I reveled when the band went on to play my favourites, such as Paper Cup or Feeling the Pull. There is simplicity to Swell Season that touches you straight to the bottom of your heart with tender melody, considerate, original lyrics and this straightforward feel of travelling street musicians. There is also plenty of positive energy emanating from everyone on stage, particularly Glen, who might be a modest-looking bloke but detectably takes pleasure in connecting with the audience by trading jokes, telling anecdotes or simply making noises. I can barely imagine what he had to feel like when one fan threw himself from the roof of the stage to meet death mere feet away from where Glen was standing during their concert in Saratoga, California.

In the end, before they left the stage after half an hour or more of encores, they hadn't only managed to play out all their Once anthems, but also a couple of covers, including Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere and Van Morrison's Into the Mystic, both sending shivers down my spine, plus a series of crowd-pleasing sing-alongs. The response was a standing ovation a few times over and the room full of beaming faces, of fans and artists.

The funny thing was that there was a group of Czech people sitting next to me and at one point in the concert, Marketa said her family had come from her hometown to see her in person since she currently lived in New York. She dedicated one song to her sister who'd brought her new boyfriend with her. The hapless bloke seemed a little out of place there, especially in the second part when fans' roaring and clapping kept the performace going and going, to his visible dissatisfaction.

The act of the evening were supported by Bratislava's Longital, a young, electronica-driven duo whose leader played the guitar with a violin bow and spoke suspiciously fluent, idiomatic Polish. Towards the end of the gig, they came on stage to redo one of their songs with the Swell Season.

You and Yours

BBC 4's You and Yours is a fantastic consumer affairs programme that ranges in topic from the use of energy to gardening.