2012.7.21 河豚子, 盪在空中, 透明雜誌 @ Legacy
河豚子
I knew this indie rock band formed by three young girls through my boyfriend. Their studio recordings sound somewhat like early Dinosaur Jr. minus J Mascis' occasionally tedious guitar solos. The female lead singer has a youthful, carefree voice. When their music was presented in a live setting, the sound was highly reverbed out. The guitar noises became the backdrop to the melodic bass lines, which I enjoyed. However, the drums weren't loud enough, and I couldn't hear the vocals sometimes. I guess their sound needed some fine-tuning, but they have a lot of potential. The clear standout was the song "劍龍", which was almost as fun live as its recorded version.
盪在空中
I'm partial to Hang in the Air. Hands down. It was the first time I saw them perform in a venue where the equipment didn't suck. The improved sound quality made me appreciate their musicianship even more. "一大片的風景" and "公園邊的夢" were fun as always, and it was amazing to witness the audience singing along to the songs even though most people came mainly to see Touming Magazine. The couple of (relatively) new songs they played were great, too. I need to find out about the song names. The last song of the night was of course the 15-minute anthem "直直去", and I would've loved to see it last even longer. I would rather the bassist did not crack so many bad jokes, but I guess that was an important part of the show.
透明雜誌
After having toured extensively in Japan, Touming Magazine had become almost professional. The animation with the band name "透明雜誌" repeatedly falling into place and the cute cartoons with two cats falling in love during "野貓" had a Japanese touch to it. Fortunately, the lead singer possessed enough overdue teenage angst to excite the crowd. It was touching to hear him mention the shutdown of the live venue Underworld. The performance was filled with energy and passion, as always. The band certain deserved the critical acclaim they've received to this day and more.
Three songs from the newly released EP "Forever" were played. I wish there were more songs from the debut album, though. I could never tire of the songs.
