playgirl

I'm not a big Ladytron fan but they quite impressed me on wednesday night when they played at the bowery ballroom. I was afraid it would be only computers and vocals, but it wasn't. I really liked the fact that they had a live drummer and bassist, in addition to the 5 or 6 synths and laptop... it really added dimension and texture to the music. They played a mix of both albums, including crowd favorites Playgirl and Seventeen. They're quite a cold band onstage, but i think it suits the whole atmosphere quite well. There was no diversion, the songs were played the exact same way they are played on the albums. I left the place thinking that i appreciate their music a lot more live than on record, it sounded fuller.
Simian was the opener, and they were very good as well (don't you love it when you get impressed twice in the same night?). They have great energy, they play pop rock with an electronic/dancy feel to it. Great drummer.
We only heard Phaser from a distance, and i remember thinking "this is very Radiohead-ish"... and that's a compliment...

Here's the new Placebo video for The Bitter End... [link from Laura]

you know so well

First missed show of 2003: Sondre Lerche... our excuse: too much snow. whoever made it to the bowery, hope it was good. Sondre is a very talented young man, who writes endearing power pop/ballady songs. I highly recommend his debut album, Faces down.

dance to the underground

Remember when i said new yorkers were fucking crazy? well, erm, i think i'm one of them... last night, with the blizzard in full force, a few of us went to Motherfucker (the ultimate rock'n'roll party in nyc)... and when we thought we'd be the only ones there, we were wrong! people here never cease to amaze me, everyone was out partying like there was no tomorrow. Of course having Radio 4 play before the party started was a big incentive for the kids to come out. Radio 4 rocked, they have this killer percussionist and you gotta love those basslines. I have to say i've liked them for a while, but they really impressed me live. They played most songs from Gotham!, starting with Get behind the struggle and ending the set with one of my favorites, Dance to the underground... and dancing to the underground we did, Justine D. played Girls and Boys and Common People at my request, and it was all i needed to have a good time.
Of course, i had expected to be stranded in manhattan, but i found a nice cab driver who was willing to take me all the way to Brooklyn... the funny part is i had to walk a few feet to reach my apartment, as soon as i realized that i had snow up to my knees, i started to run... i swear i felt like Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV (you know the one where he goes to Russia to train). i even sang the theme as i was running in the snow... good thing it was 5am and no one was in the street!