one louder

TONIGHT! I'm deejaying at One Louder at the new venue Movida presented by the GBH Crew... here are the details:

Cheeky B*stard and GBH presents Melody Nelson (Atomique) and Nora K (Popfrenzy). They'll be joining One Louder resident DJ Alex English (Girls & Boys) behind the decks for a night of dance-rock in our new saturday home.

Hosted by Tom & Alejandro, Dagny, Nico XO and May
Drink Specials 2am-3am! 2 for 1 Vodka Drinks :: $3 Vodka Shots

Complimentary Admission on the Cheeky guestlist if you email cheeky@gbh.tv with your name and number of guests.

Doors open at 10pm :: General admission $10
Movida :: 28 Seventh Avenue South at Leroy (the closest subway is the 1 at Houston St.)
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Saints and Lovers at Pianos on wednesday night were phenomenal. The small room made the performance all the more intense and the confidence of the band just keeps growing each time they play. S+L will be playing the Vicious anniversary show at Southpaw next month. Soon, there will be great new recordings, stay tuned. Atomique was nuts this past week, tons of people who stayed really late and just danced and danced. Thanks to all who came!

I went to see The Long Blondes at Cake Shop on thursday night, and though i love Cake Shop, i was annoyed that i couldn't see the band perform at all - there's no stage and the venue is slanted, so unless you're upfront or a giant, you can't see anything. I'm also not sure that the sound/mix did the band justice... with that said, The Long Blondes gave an awesome all energy show, there was some serious movement in the audience. I absolutely love the singer's voice and some of their songs are power-post-punk heaven that remind me of Delta 5 (who coincidently had the same 3 girls/2 guys line-up as TLB). This tune is definitely one of my favorite singles of the year so far:
The Long Blondes :: Giddy Stratospheres [stream]

the long blondes

Don't miss Saints and Lovers tonight at Pianos, they're opening for Pagoda, Aloke and The Hong Kong. Show is $10 and they go on at 9pm. Read a great preview of the show written by miss jinners for Loose Record.

Then right after, bring your lovely asses to ATOMIQUE @ Lit for a good dose of all things rock! I've been going a little crazy with the record shopping, new, old, and stuff i don't even know where it's come from... awesome mix guaranteed. Check out eamon's photos from the past few ATOMIQUE nights.

This week, you'd be a fool to miss the new york debut of fantastic Sheffield band The Long Blondes. They'll be playing at Cake Shop tomorrow night, and at FIXED! at the Tribeca Grand on saturday night.
You can listen to a real audio version of their single Giddy Stratospheres from Michael's WFMU show here (the song starts 19 seconds into the show). NME also has links to their newest video.

rothko

Tuesday June 21 :: 7:30pm :: $10 :: 21+ ::
Jenyk/dot/com and Melody Nelson proudly present VICIOUS @ Rothko!
Sponsored by Filter Magazine in conjuction with ASCAP, featuring:

11pm - The Izzys (Birthday bash for Joe and Tim!)
10:30pm - Tussle
9:45pm - Eat Tapes
9pm - The Affair
8pm - Martin Bisi & The End Credits

Rothko :: 116 Suffolk St. Between Rivington and Delancey St.

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The Fatales are looking for a new drummer, if you're interested, email them here: band@thefatales.com. Also check their myspace profile.

harmonies for the haunted

Those who've been reading this site for a while know that i've been a big supporter of local quartet stellastarr*, and mention them quite a bit around here. If it's been quiet on the stellastarr* front, it's only because for the past few months the band has locked themselves in a studio writing and recording the follow-up to their eponymous 2003 debut album. The new album entitled Harmonies for the Haunted and due out in september, is comprised of 10 songs that i have now been listening to for almost two weeks. It's taking me this long to put words to my thoughts about the record, but come to think of it, it makes perfect sense. You see, the first album was filled with instant hitters, the type of anthemic songs that immediately grabbed your attention with infectious hooks and sing-along lyrics. And perhaps instant hitters is what i expected from stellastarr*'s second album, but instead, i got something completely different, i got a "grower". And that is the best thing that could have happened to me and i'm going to jump here, but probably the best thing that could happen the band as well. Seriously, who wants to hear more of the quick head rush type of tunes about Coco and Jenny, when you could delve right into the band's dark and sweet troubled soul? Here they have crafted one of those albums that you need to let sink in for a few days, maybe even weeks. The kind of album you know will stay with you for quite some time.

Right from the very first notes, you hear something different about the band. It opens with a slow-tempo song named Lost in time that starts with keys and sets the tone for the rest of the album. By the second song, Damn this foolish heart, you now decipher hints of the familiar upbeat stellastarr*. But it's The Diver, the third song on the album, that had me at the first whispers of Mandy's angelic backing vocals. The song features Michael's signature guitar style, stand-out rhythm parts, and is simply very strong all around. When i heard The Diver live, it stuck with me, and it is now my favorite track on the album. But i have a feeling i'll be changing favorites quite soon and quite often, because that's what happens with "growers", they take you over little by little and the songs that left you confused at first, always end up making their way up your internal music chart.

The band made sure to keep the elements that worked so well in the first album, namely the juxtaposion of Shawn and Mandy's vocals, which are properly showcased on the band's first single Sweet troubled soul, the catchiest of their new songs. Precious Games could easily be In the walls' little sister, but still manages to go into a new territory by the time the chorus hits. As the album progressed, i realized that Shawn's singing style had changed a little. His voice is less yelp-y, less raw, more controlled and dare i say more pleasant? I also noted a slight turn in lyrical content offering deeper introspection that gives a more personal and intimate feel to the album. The best example of it is on the seventh track On my own, a song the band's been playing at shows for a while, and one that sees Shawn pour his heart out by singing "i'm doing the best that i can" over and over. Love and Longing is another track, much like The Diver, that instantly sticks out of the lot with another memorable chorus. By the end of the last tune Island lost at sea, a darker slow-tempo number that brings you back where you started, all you want to do is hit that play button back to the beginning because chances are, you will feel the need to sink right back into what you fell for and what you may have missed out.

Though Harmonies for the haunted is taking the music into a slightly new direction, stellastarr* has certainly kept their unique sense of pop sensibility combined with the dark undertones that first got them on the map. One could say that this new album is more mature, more nuanced and one that successfully comes together as a whole. At the very least, the band deserves credit for trying to insert new elements and taking their sound one step further. It took a while for me to wrap my head around it, but now that i'm completely immersed in it, i can firmly say that HFTH is a solid and excellent second effort that has surpassed my expectations and i hope will surpass yours too.

nublu

Tomorrow night, Gothamist is hosting their 3rd Movable Hype show at The Knitting Factory with a great line-up that you can check out here. Openers Man in Gray are timely interviewed for the website.

Local venue Nublu, the place where the Brazilian Girls got started, announces the launch of a new record label and celebrates 3 years with a week long festival from June 20th to june 26th. Check out the Nublu web site for details of the festivities.

I met Sheila recently when we DJed together at Le One Night Stand, and i just now got the chance to poke around her online magazine, Cha Cha Charming. It's full of great articles about girl pop groups and artists from all over (especially France and Japan). Sheila's specialty is girl groups from the 1960's, and if like me you'd like to know more about that era and genre, i highly recommend this fascinating article Sheila wrote about the history of American girl groups. Great stuff!

You can still enter the Fischerpooner / Vinyl contest here for one more week!

Thanks to all who stopped by Lit on friday night for another oh-so-fun 5 hours DJ run. The last hour was especially fun when i dropped some great slow to mid-tempo sing alongs from The Ronettes, George Michael, Nancy Sinatra, Kate Bush, The Beach Boys and David Bowie.