lady fingers

CMJ organized a little showcase on thursday night at Pianos... here's what i thought:

The hold steady. Oops, we missed them! Were they good?
The Fever. My first time seeing them after months of hearing "great, amazing, you'll love them, you have to see them play, blah, blah"... verdict: they're good, very rocking, very energetic and fun to move to. sometimes, i wish i didn't hear so much praise, it would place my expectation level lower. Still, The Fever has it, i just need to go to another gig of theirs, sans hype in my head.
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster... did someone say disaster?? uh, well yeah, total disaster. It was heavy, but not melodic... screaming, but not endearing. They get the award for most horrible band praised by NME. Doug said the lead singer was trying to steal my soul with his weirdo hallucinating hand movements. yeah, exactly.

up on a hill...

Big news today (aside from the other big news known as the war), straight from Vince:
----
The long-awaited album from Radiohead will be called Hail To The Thief and will be released on 9 June 2003. The tracklisting is as follows:::
Release date: June 9th

1. 2 + 2 = 5
2. Sit Down. Stand Up
3. Sail To The Moon
4. Backdrifts
5. Go To Sleep
6. Where I End And You Begin
7. We Suck Young Blood
8. The Gloaming
9. There There
10. I Will
11. A Punch-Up at a Wedding
12. Myxamatosis
13. Scatterbrain
14. A Wolf At The Door
----

Other news:
Creem magazine is back! [link from Brad]

"if you don't read TheModernAge.org, you didn't get a [Blur] ticket"... damn right village voice!

Speaking of tickets, i need to take care of business:
1. i have 2 tickets for Godspeed on april 1 at the bowery, but can't make it. i can, however, make the 2nd of april gig instead... i need to swap, email me.
2. A friend of mine is in desperate need of 2 tickets to the Notwist at the knitting factory on april 5th. hook him up, his birthday is that weekend! email me for that one too.
3. Steve needs to sell his ticket to The Walkmen on april 5 at the bowery. email him if you're interested.

all your days will be blessed

Sometimes you start the day thinking that it will be uneventful and that you'll spend the evening home chilling... that's what i thought yesterday until about 5:30pm when i decided i really wanted to go see Ed Harcourt play at Fez. I've seen Ed many times before, and would go see him again and again, but since i'm not particularly fond of that venue, i hadn't initially planned on going last night. Lucky me, i found the last ticket for sale and convinced miss modern age to come along. When we arrived, we thought for a second that it was Blur all over again, as we recognized all the familiar faces from the night before.
Good news was that it was an early show, Ed came on at 7pm.. he was just him on the piano and guitar and another musician playing mostly the saxophone. I must have had a last minute gut feeling, because Ed was really on last night, pouring his romantic self into his songs. I can't remember the exact set list, but i remember: Bittersweetheart, Jetsetter, She fell into my arms, Building a swamp, Apple of my eye, Wind through the trees, Those crimson tears, All your days will be blesssed, Metaphorically yours, Sister Renée... and a couple more.
The whole time, we were all aww-ing at how so sincerely un-cheesy he is, despite a couple of lyrics that could make you think so. I adore his new album, and i think this man deserves a lot more attention .

The show was over at 8pm, i was all ready to go home... but next thing i know i'm going to dinner with friends... and then, as i'm again ready to leave, i end up at irving plaza for the Royksopp show (thanks Nina!)... i only really knew on song, Epie, but the gig was a lot fun!
Basically, it's these two norwegian kids playing with computers, drum kits and other high-tech toys. Everyone around me seemed to think it was a lot more uptempo than on record. They were very energetic, audience was dancing and stuff. There was the cutest furry mascot (who's in their current video i believe) jumping around in the crowd.
I think last night was the first time i pulled a double-feature in one evening!
Best line of the night during Royksopp: "how nice of them to bring this homeless guy on stage... he's not even playing his bass!!"

There goes my uneventful day...

end of a century

A look back on a busy but fun weekend...

Despite a case of extreme fatigue, i decided to go to Tiswas on saturday night, and arrived right on time to see Aerial Love Feed play. I'd seen them once before and i quite liked what i heard. Lots of loudness and distortion, which is always good. First time around, i remember they had a great rythm section but didn't notice that they had a drum machine in addition to the drummer. Some people have compared them to Placebo, but i really don't hear the similarities... Ria pointed out to me that they sounded more like Primal Scream, and that i can totally see -the heavier/newer Primal Scream. Also, i may be the only one thinking that Wade's voice kinda reminds me of Pet Shop Boys' singer... in a good way that is!

Sunday night, we witnessed britpop at its finest, yes the one and only Blur played my favorite nyc venue.
Granted Graham's gone forever, and Alex didn't make it because of immigration nonsense, the show was incredibly incredible. The peeps at the bowery made sure to announce to everyone that jumping on stage would not be tolerated, my initial reaction was... what the fuck? who's gonna jump on stage for Blur? But once i realized the Damon-mania that was happening, i was thinking how much fun it would be to all be onstage and sing with him! There was moshing, screaming, singing, there was so much energy and madness in that little room... but it was all good.
As soon as scruffy Damon arrived on stage, he called Alex from a cell phone, and asked us to say hi on his answering machine, so we did. Then the show started with a couple of songs from the forthcoming album. The night before Vince and i had been watching every single Blur video, and i was so hoping that Damon would be his jumpy and crazy self at the gig the next day.
The man did not disappoint, he was all smiles all night, stealing the spotlight from everyone else on that stage. He kept making eye contact with the crowd and at several occasions came so close to the edge of the stage that we thought he was gonna step on our heads. As soon as Girls and Boys came on, all hell broke lose. I have to admit it's one of my favorite Blur songs, and i couldn't resist but join the insanity. We got a few more oldies, Song 2, Beetlebum, Popscene and This is a low... all the new songs sounded great, a lot more mellow than the old stuff. One of the new songs they called it Good Song, because well, "it's fucking good" as Damon announced. Chris Traynor of Rival Schools, who was standing in for Alex, pulled through very nicely, even joining in some of the singing. Ex-Verve Simon Tong, on the other hand, had no stage presence, and we kinda hope he's not Graham's permanent replacement. The three back-up singers looked out of place on that stage, but did seem to enjoy themselves.
At the very end of the gig, Damon was standing right in front of my head, when this lovely girl pushed her way over just so she could rub his legs up and down, how very daring of her! i told you, it was pure Damon worship last night... but then again, how could you not love such a talented charming man?
Check out full set-list at braquage. Also, indulge in miss jinners' cool photos and the always great mediaeater photos.

Radio 4 opened, thanks to a certain Mr. David Wolter, and as always they were great and bouncy. Too bad the britpop crowd didn't seem to agree.