Echoes From The Sky – Live At Altercafé – October 5, 2019 – Nantes, France – Band soundboard –
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Echoes from The Sky to end up our unintentional week in France, playing at the Altercafé in Nantes, recorded by the band in October this year.
I was originally going to start the week with one relatively unknown band and go exploring other parts of the world for more unknown, maybe not signed, maybe just getting together or having been together for 20+ years bands and artists I’m not familiar with. Doing it themselves, doing the slog; gig after gig after gig in everything from restaurants to radio studios; there are hundreds if not thousands of bands, all doing the same thing, all doing their best to get heard, bringing their message to anywhere they can by any means necessary.
Gotta say, I ran into a veritable embarrassment-of-riches emanating from the Nantes area of France – a few hours drive west of Paris, in what appears to be hotbed of new music. Lots of Indie, lots of Math-Rock, lot of New-Progressive Rock, post-rock, noise-rock – all coming from tiny clubs, rehearsal rooms and even restaurants – just like this one; Echoes from The Sky playing at the Altercafé, amid frothy banter, falling plates and missed orders. On a tiny stage – hardly big enough for the whole band, let alone amps and electronics – making it sound like it was coming from a stadium even though the room fits maybe 50, tops.
This is where it all starts; the primordial ooze of Rock, or in fact any kind of live music that has one musician or group of musicians, communicating to a bunch of strangers, family members, ex and future girlfriends – and it’s been that way ever since we stopped singing and banging on objects around fires and grunting and figured out notes, chords and scales.
You may have loved the bands I ran this week, or you may have hated them. But the fact of the matter that this is the state of where music is today; pretty much the same as its always been – hasn’t changed. Only your access to it has. And that’s why, I always say it, you gotta go exploring – you gotta hit the Browse button.
And a lot of people complain there’s no new music – no decent music – no good music to be had. Radio sucks, can’t find out what the new music is – clubs come and go and concert tickets are starting around $250.00 a pop for three hours. New music is beige and uninteresting, and you never can find the good stuff, places to make your own discoveries.
First off – you really have to stay on top of the club scene; the small venues and the mid-sized theatres. There is no substitute for hearing new music live – and no better way to support a band than to buy their t-shirts, their albums, their posters because that’s where they are making their money – the money to go from venue to venue, doing it all over every night, scratching out a living. And some of these venues are bargains and can become nightly haunts for you. Hotel Café here in Hollywood has a $10 entrance fee. For that you get anywhere from three to five bands in two different rooms and the artist roster runs the gamut and changes every night, except for the occasional artist/band that does a residency.
As for Echoes From The Sky, they formed two years ago and cite influences like Mono! Black Emperor, Russian Circles and of course Pink Floyd (around the Echoes period). For everyone who thought Prog/space-rock was dead and gone – it’s still very much with us – check out their Soundcloud page and their Facebook page.
It ain’t dead, not by a long shot – here comes the weekend. Go exploring.
And enjoy Echoes From The Sky in the meantime.
