five toys

The girls of Tall Boys in the voice.

And in case you missed last night's last call with Carson...

Girls and boys, please stop sending me messages about how you're getting all crazy-obsessed over Mandy Stellastarr*, you psychos are clogging my inbox.
[Thanks to the stranger who sent me the photo.]

pulp song

Don't forget...
Stellastarr* to make their national television debut tonight.
Their performance on Last Call with Carson Daly will air TONIGHT, THURSDAY 4/10 on NBC at 1:35 am right after Conan O'Brien.

A quick word on a great project involving lots of talented people...
As daylight breaks is a documentary about a young boy, who suffers from Canavan Disease, and his mother's struggle to find a cure for the disease: ""As Daylight Breaks" depicts the struggle of love and the connection of two human souls combating a disease that threatens to part them."
The film premieres on may 19 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in new york city. The soundtrack features Mary Timony (who wrote the original score), Interpol, The Walkmen, Yo La Tengo, Brendan Benson and more... All proceeds for the project's soundtrack, film and merchandise will go directly to Jacob's Cure and Canavan Disease research.

touch you touch you

Were you at Hot Hot Heat last night?! Insanely fun, that's what it was. I mean, first off, you've got to get Knock Knock Knock and Make up the breakdown. Some of the catchiest and poppiest songs are on those records. You may remember that we saw Hot Hot Heat opened for No Doubt not long ago, and that was pretty much a mess... but all was forgotten and forgiven last night.
They opened with Talk to me, dance with me, played songs from the EP and album, came back for 2 encores, played a new song they didn't really know and ended the night with Aveda, which apparently they don't play that often. Highlights: No, Not Now - Talk to me, dance with me - Bandages - 5 times out of 100.
Overall, loved the dance moves, the stage presence and the "let me sing in your face" style, but my advice to anyone going to see them in the future: stay away from the front rows, because when Steve Heat decides to shake his big curly head, sweat drops will come flying on your lovely face.
On a side note, does anyone else think that Steve Heat kinda looks like a fish? Don't get me wrong, i think the boy's kinda cute, but yeah there's space in there for a third eye. I say a fish, Vince says a Simpsons character... you tell me.

Everyone's linking it, everyone's loving it... Seven Army Nation video. [link from Jason]

danger! danger!

Looks like The White Stripes entered the charts at #6 in the US (it's #1 in the UK), making it the most sold new release. If you're a geek like myself and like to know useless information, that means they sold 119,000+ albums in its first week of release. I didn't think it'd be so high, good for them!!

Stellastarr* on UK tour in may with The Raveonettes - two hot bassists, one show, a must see. Check out dates/city info in the Shows section.

Last night's quick recap:
The Candys: fun, rocking, catchy, british, NME material.
Electric 6: kinda fun, cheesy (especially the singer), fans who can't dance and shall we not forget: play the hits! we don't care about the other songs.
The D4: we left after they played their only one good song... otherwise they sucked. there i said it.

wake up

A few words on saturday night...
First, we went to see Surefire, a band made up of four quite young men.
Last summer when i asked Ben, singer/guitarist, "what do you want to do when you grow up", he would say "i'm in band, that's what i'm gonna do." I told him that he was crazy, that being a musician is a tough thing these days, that he'd have to be fucking good, and he needs luck and well he shouldn't count on it... but Ben wouldn't have any of it.
So when i entered the Elbow Room to catch my first Surefire gig and heard the first couple songs, i could not believe my ears. The stuff they played was sooo good! And i wasn't the only one feeling that way, everyone around me, who didn't know anything about them, was as blown away. Musically, they're inspired by their british idols, The Verve, Coldplay, The Stone Roses, Starsailor just to name a few. They do bring some freshness into the genre, great musicianship, not to mention, how many american bands do you know play good british rock? Not that many. Well if all goes according to Ben's plan, soon you will. When he asked me after the show "so you don't think i'm crazy anymore?" i said "NO, i don't". Because his band is fucking good.
Surefire is currently recording a demo at The Walkmen's Marcata Recording, and will be playing more new york dates soon.

And speaking of The Walkmen, i got to see them play after Surefire. I've missed them twice last year, both times i got sick. They were great, much better, much louder, much more intense than i expected. I wasn't too happy that they joked about French vacation right before playing it, they called it "Freedom" vacation. Not too happy, because when you're french, let me tell you the joke gets old very fast! But thankfully, that didn't prevent me from enjoying myself.

The treat of the night was that the one and only soviet panda came all the way from Chicago to hang with us (ok, not to JUST hang with us). He joined in to see Surefire, and got a taste of our craziness!

she can read

Watch Interpol's video for Obstacle 1 here.
For the video they removed the part of the song where Paul sings: "Her stories are boring and stuff / she's always calling my bluff"... hmm, i wonder why. The girl in it has got to be best friends with Alison VV Kills!