before you

Happy holidays everyone!
Lots of bloggers have birthdays this week, happy birthday to: Catherine, Ria, and Jinners! Also, happy belated birthday to my friend Steve!

I had the best saturday night in music ever. In order of goodness:

Karen Elson at Sin-é: it's official, i have found my new favorite female singer-songwriter, who also happens to be the beautiful model known as Karen Elson. Saying that she impressed me is an understatement. She has one of the most amazing voices i've heard in a long time. Her songs are dreamy, lush and lyrically beautiful. Think Mazzy Star. It's really tough to captivate an entire audience with a semi-acoustic, kinda quiet show, but Karen had everyone holding their breath in that room. She played a bunch of instruments (acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, harmonica) and was backed by two guitarists (one of whom was James Iha). And when i thought her songs couldn't get any more beautiful, she blew me away with two covers: Joy Division's Heart and soul, and Echo and the Bunnymen's Killing Moon.

Scout at the Living Room: After seeing Karen, i ran to the living room to catch one of my new favorites. I got there late and saw 3 or 4 songs, and kept thinking, wow, they are sooo good. The more i listen to their record, the more i realize how every song is a perfect mixture of everything i like: pop, rock, great voice, buildups, catchiness and sweetness. And their live show is a pure reflection of all these things. I can't wait for the rest of the music world to catch up with this band, they are so ready for it.

The Secret Machines at Sin-é: I thought, well, Scout's finished with their set, so i'll just go back to Sin-é. In the past, i never really clicked with The Secret Machines, but that night something happened, and i was converted. It's hard to explain what happened exactly, maybe, it was the dark melodies that really came to haunt my ears through the distortions and amazing drumming. Maybe, it was the harmonies, the intensity of the songs, or the perfect juxtaposition of brothers Ben and Brandon's voices... or maybe it was just all of the above.