tiny avalanches

The Realistics make people happy. I did not see one non-smiling face last night at the mercury lounge. The formula, simple, take four young men from new york, add perfectly crafted rock tunes, an ounce of poppiness, a bit of a late 70s rock edge, a vocal range that you'd kill to have, funky dance moves and poses... and there you have it: good music, great show, happy people.
It wouldn't surprise me if in the near future, you see them on, ahem, last call with Carson Daly.

Michael Goldberg does it again: "Rock 'n' roll doesn't get any better than Fever to Tell." Michael, can we please disagree at least once?

Coachella photos from mediater and miss modernage.

tell the king

Yes to the Siren Music Festival! Saturday july 19th, and who more appropriate than Hot Hot Heat to play it! I think we all remember the many sweaty faces and armpits who attended last year. Nice line-up so far this year, hoping for more good ones.

The Libertines. I did enjoy the spectacle at Coachella. Last night the CBGB gig was alright, you know, fun but not impressive. It just goes back to the fact that i'm not so fond of Up the bracket. When What a waster came out, i was ecstatic and could not wait for the debut album. Besides two or three standout tracks, i don't love the record. Live, the energy's there, the intentional (or so we hope) sloppiness is there, but there's something missing about the songs. I do like the whole Peter and Carl show. Notice how Peter, the loud one, is always trying to share the microphone with Carl, the quiet one, as if all he's waiting for is either lick face or fist fight with his bandmate on stage. There's definite chemistry, but charisma?
For their last song, I get along, they like to have the audience come up on stage. It's very un-new york to do that (you know too cool for school and all) so most people looked a bit confused up there. I have to say though Jay Divestar looked so cute on stage, acting all paparazzi on the boys in the band!
There's something to be said about the venue too. The reason why it's exciting to see bands play there these days is because they get excited about it. The Libertines didn't give me that impression. Who knows maybe they'll go crazy at Luxx or the Bowery.

Change of subject. I'm so glad to see all of you loving the Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, how can you not be obsessed with it? My new thing is to go around, and in a very Tick way scream at people "you look like shit!"... i know, i know, i'm sweet like that.

light and day

Holy shit, Access Hollywood mentioned the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' release?!
Happy Fever to tell day!

I am back, alive and deaf!!
But great times it was! Even though it is the only festival i've been to (twice), Coachella has got to be one of the best outdoor events. Clean, really well organized, most gorgeous location, and of course excellent line-ups.
Bands i saw play:
Saturday: South - Idlewild - The Rapture (new web site!) - The Hives - Blur - Queens of the Stone Age - Ladytron - Gomez - Groove Armada - The Libertines (Part I)
Sunday: Whirlwind Heat - Soundtrack of our Lives - The Polyphonic Spree - The Von Bondies - Sonic Youth - The Libertines (Part II) - Primal Scream - The White Stripes - Interpol

Best saturday act: The Rapture, who brought the grooves and moves to the rather hot and statuesque californian crowd. Casey Spooner, Dustin Heat and Damon Gough all watched in awe.
Most confused band: The Hives... Hello Pelle! The festival was held in Indio, NOT Palm Springs! A.K.A I.D.I.OT!
Glad you're back: Alex from Blur! While Damon was a lot more subdued this time than at the Bowery show, Alex was barefoot and rocking it. Woohoo!
Festival divas: Ladytron, whose roadies took an hour to set up their keyboards? and put everyone behind schedule. The joke was that it'd better the best act of the weekend, it wasn't, but they were good nonetheless.
Festival coup: Thanks to Ladytron taking forever to set up, The Libertines got shut down after two songs. Peter threw the mic at the crowd, while Carl poured champagne all over us, that's anger for you. They got a second chance to play the next day, and were much better than i expected.
Best crowd reaction: Whirlwind Heat!! The kids loved them... like a trash bag helmet!
Best sunday act: The shiny-happy Polyphonic Spree... they amazed me, my favorite of all weekend.
Most popular (lesser-known) band: The Von Bondies! In addition to their friends Jack White and Whirlwind Heat watching them perform, Juliette Lewis was there dancing, and Kelly Osbourne + friends stopped by. Also present the Mooney Suzuki. Nice family picture, huh?
Scariest band: Queens of the stone age! Everytime i took a photo of Nick Oliveri, the man was going to grab the eyeballs out of my head. They rocked though, probably harder and better than anyone who played over the weekend.
Most tired band, but we still love them: Interpol... the boys played a festival in France the day before, flew that same day from Paris to LA, drove to Indio, arrived exhausted two hours before their performance... only to find out-of-tunes guitars and bass. They caught up and ended the festival on a brilliant note.

Misses and regrets: Hot Hot Heat, because Blur was playing at the same time... Iggy and The Stooges, who i heard from afar but didn't really watch. When they played I wanna be your dog, i knew i was missing something good.

I took TONS of photos, i promise i won't sleep on these!
At times being there really felt like being at the bowery ballroom, in addition to the few new york bands, lots of familiar faces were attending and we all felt this nice new york connection. I hope to see lots more of you fine new york bands play there next year!