Saw Mission of Burma at the Iron Horse last night, and it was a heck of a lot better than the UMASS show. Walking in, the place was filling up and as I was trying to choose a place to stand, I walked past the soundboard -- where their tape loop machine was also set up. A pretty basic setup - an old tape recorder (maybe a 4 or 8-track, I don't know this stuff that well), with a loop of tape, and a couple of microphones. The sound guy would record for a bit, and then play it back, forwards or backwards. Once or twice he grabbed the tape to stop it from playing, sort of like mixing with records I guess. The amazing thing about all of that to me is how old-fashioned that is, in a time when it is relatively easy to do this stuff with technology. That tape loop just as easily could have been a computer, they could've used samples instead of live microphones, etc, etc. But this was genuine and visceral, and just really freakin awesome. And the concert itself was great. They played two sets and a decent encore, and it seemed like hours of music. Lots of good tunes, and I'd love to see them again. The list of 'must-see' bands is getting pretty short right now - which is strange. Drove home through the craziest fog I've ever seen from all the melting snow, a strawberry fog in January - weird.