ballade de johnny-jane

A wonderful article on Serge Gainsbourg, but it's in french (thanks to Maxime and Nicolas for sending me the link, practically simultaneously!). If i were a nice french person with lots of free time in her hand, i would translate it... but sorry i'm not (nice that is!).
Basically, it's about how Serge has been appreciated in the UK for years, and that outside of France, he has a small but solid following of fans, including here in the US. And now, the UK label is releasing a compilation of sorts called Initials S.G. The article also talks about how Jarvis Cocker, Brett Anderson, Brian Molko and Beck, amongst others, are huge fans of Serge, and are continually inspired by his music... they even mention that Beck's Paper Tiger is a hommage to *cough*rip off*cough* a Melody Nelson song. The article ends by talking about the complexity and brilliance of Serge's lyrics and that despite many translating attempts (including Mick Harvey's), it has been really hard for anyone to translate them to english. The writer of the Initials S.G. CD booklet would like to see someone who is a musician, a poet and a fan try their hand at translating. She even suggests Leonard Cohen because apparently he adores Gainsbourg! Wouldn't that be fantastic?
It's always great to read about the timelessness of Serge's music and its constant influence on young artists.

notice

If you went to Sin-e on tuesday night to see Dennis play and expected jumps, kicks and a stage wreckage, then you must have been highly disappointed... or not! I certainly wasn't, because his performance was simply brilliant. It's always great to discover someone's multi-musical-facets. Dennis' solo music is very different from The Realistics'... it's soft, quiet and quite breathtaking, with his voice being the main instrument and his guitar the mere support. And man, does he have a voice! Seriously, probably one of the best voices in nyc. He played a lot of never-heard-before solo songs, some very quiet, others more mid-tempo. We also got to hear a couple of accoustic-style Realistics songs, which sounded really great and were definite crowd pleasers. Check out Jo Divestar's video footage. I say, don't miss his next solo show, you won't be disappointed.
Right before Dennis came on, Hightower Smith took the stage. Now, i haven't heard Hightower's band The Doc Marshalls yet, but i heard a Hightower demo that is really impressive. Also accoustic, but more folky and alt-country-ish, he delivered a really nice set of his own songs, and even did a Hank Williams cover. And isn't Hightower the coolest name?

ny press

"Blogger Gurls. And the indie critics throw a party."
Andy, you're a rock star. Thank you.
Now, people, you have no excuse not to attend next week's Vicious @ Sin-e!!

moongirl

I don't think there's anything i can say about friday's show that you're not expecting me to say. It was simply amaaaaaazing (sorry buddy, had to do it!).
Aerial Love Feed, whose first time it was playing the bowery, looked right at home on one of the best new york city stages. And man, does good sound system really make a difference! They absolutely shined, playing their industrial-britishy-dancy inspired songs. I'm pretty sure they got tons of new fans. And they left us with a newly self-released EP. Bless.
When Elefant came onstage, we all looked at each other with big rounded eyes... was Diego really wearing silver eye shadow!? Indeed. And he wasn't the only one in the band. He even had a silver and black scarf to match the makeup. The man does not kid around with his performances. The fact that i keep seeing him wearing that v-neck california t-shirt that he gracefully stole from one of the Good Time Women at a recent Sin-é gig still baffles me. One day, i'll get an answer to all my Diego questions, like dude what are you on? (and can you please share, i too, want to scream out to everyone that it's alright, it's ok...). Makeup aside, Elefant delivered a solid performance. Talk about a band whose songs really come alive onstage. They've come a long way since i first saw them, and i have no doubt that this just the beginning for them.
Of course, the real bright stars of the night for me were stellastarr*... are you sick already of all my praisings? Well, it's only gonna get worse from here my friends, because every time they surpass my expectations and impress the fuck out me. This time around, the touring really seem to pay off, and after three weeks away, they returned home tighter than ever. Most notably, Shawn Stellastarr*'s voice was in top shape, so was Mandy's. I got to hear all my favorite songs: In the walls, My Coco and A million reasons, just to name a few. A couple of new ones (or ones i hadn't heard before), inlcuding the opening song On my own. The (tall) old schoolers were all there, scaring the new faces in the crowd with their half-dancing, half-moshing moves. As for me, i was ecstatically jumping and lip-synching along... which brings me to send a very special thanks to our new york doll, without whom, i wouldn't even know that the lyrics are just as amazing as the melodies. This show was just, yet, another confirmation of what i've been saying all along... 2003 belongs to stellastarr*.

Everyone, listen up... tomorrow night, you gotta come out see two very talented singer-songwriters play at Sin-é (not together!): Hightower Smith and Dennis Realistics. Both usually play in bands, but for this special show, they decided to go solo and grace us with some of their most personal work. Should be a fantastic night.