just like heaven

This week, ten years ago i was a senior in my parisian high school going through the hardest and most nerve-wracking end of school exam ever, also known as Le Bac. In the midst of the mental torture, i celebrated my 18 candles. Today, i'm celebrating my birthday by going to a friend's high school graduation, how awesome is that?!

I'm having a little birthday celebration tomorrow night at MisSHAPES and everyone is invited! So come out, have a drink and dance with the old crowd!

Melody Nelson's Birthday Bash + PROM night @ MisSHAPES
Saturday June 12th :: 10pm to 4am
Hosted by: Greg K. + Loveleigh + Geo
With Guest DJs: Ultragrrrl + Jeff (Transmission UK)

MisSHAPES takes place @ Luke & Leroy's located at 21 7th Avenue south, corner of 7th Ave. and Leroy St.
Make sure to rsvp@misshapes.com to get in for FREE.

georgia

RIP Ray Charles.
My dad loves his music, so i grew up listening to a lot of Ray.

never never

I got an email the other day from local band Scout saying that they will be playing their last show on friday night at Sin-e. Sad news. I thought they were a solid indie band with lots of potential. Two of the members will also be spinning next week at our next VICIOUS @ Rothko, full details coming soon.

I'm listening to Cut Copy's new album, which is really good if you like that kind of music. I don't really know much about CC, except that the new album Bright like neon love was produced by one of the guys from the electronic french band Cassius. Right there, it should give you a hint of the kind of sound to expect. Check out the video for Future:
RP Low :: RP Medium :: RP High
WMP Low :: WMP Medium :: WMP High

Tomorrow night, there's a great show happening at Spirit. Have you heard Radio 4's new single Party Crashers? It's great! Can't wait to hear it live. Here are the details:

T H U R S D A Y - J U N E 10th, 2 0 0 4
G I R L S & B O Y S
britpop.indie.newwave.postpunk.electro.shoegaze
& addVICE in association w/ BEN SHERMAN
present:

12am RADIO 4 *live* (Astralwerks Records)
11pm CHROMEO *live* (Vice Records)
9.45pm HOME VIDEO *live* (WARP Records)

DJs:
Boyracer
Geo
Alex Malfunction (Bastion | Trash!)
Alex English (Social!sm | Rothko)

18+ to party :: 21+ to party drunk :: 9pm - 4am
**FREE SPARKS alcoholic energy drink** 9pm - 10pm
$10 advance (ticketweb) :: $15 day of show
SPIRIT :: 530 West 27th btwn 10th & 11th Ave

dimanche en hiver

Interesting piece of news about which bands may be getting cut from Elektra (which i guess doesn't really exist anymore), but Stereolab? That's surprising, not that i'm worried about their future since they do have a solid fanbase. What about Bjork, is she safe? In any case, i hope the sans label bands will find new homes soon.

So i was walking around the other night, when i saw a poster for Keren Ann, a french singer-songwriter, who is actually quite popular in France. The poster stated that Keren is playing every tuesday in june at the Sidewalk Cafe. First, i was so surprised to find out she's playing here. Second, i thought, wow this girl plays to thousands of people in paris, and she comes here to play at this super tiny little cafe that doesn't even have a good sound set-up!
I guess it makes sense that she's playing here since she's releasing (or has already released) an album in english. My french homies turned me on to her a while ago, and i fell for her music immediately. I only have her first french album, but she's got some mp3s on her site that i'm going to check out.
I don't know who i would compare her to from here, but she's soft-voiced and plays mostly acoustic guitar and uses strings for her arrangements. Just very talented songwriter. I'm hoping to catch one of the sidwalk performances. She's also playing other venues in town throughout the month, so you should check her out too. Maybe she'll play some of her french songs as well? That'd be cool.

the dancer

I told you the site would become a PJ Harvey fan site, but just until today, after that i'll go back to babbling about other stuff.
So, miss Harvey played another tiny semi-secret show on saturday night at Pianos. Tiffany Anders (whose album was produced by PJ) opened with a mellow and very melancholic set. Then Polly showed up with her guitarist, a bottle of champagne, a bag of small instruments, and a handwritten list of all of her songs, i presumed to choose from. It was a short acoustic performance, but absolutely mesmerizing. Best of all, she played Rid of me and blew the audience away. She also played The Dancer, which was a really great surprise. She ended up bringing all of her musicians up onstage to sing the "who's" and the "fucks" on a very theatrical version of Who the fuck?
Set list: Uh Huh Her / The Letter / Rid of me / Pocket Knife / Taut / The Dancer / Who the fuck?

Some photos from the show...

On sunday, we listened to the upcoming album from Simple Kid at Pianos. I really enjoyed it, i can tell that this guy is very talented. Then Simple Kid showed up to play just 3 songs, it was a big tease, but still very cool even though he didn't play Average man! He's playing tonight at Sin-e, and totally worth checking out. Before he went on, we got to hear the beautiful voice of Laura Burhenn, a young woman from D.C. whose songs were absolutely enchanting, and filled with great lyrics. I could hear some jazz influences, a little Tori Amos too, but Laura definitely has her own style. The combination of her keyboard and the electric guitar also gave a really nice dreamy feel to her music. I'd highly recommend you check her out.