Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Smith

The music supervisor for CBS' new show Smith must be quite the hipster. The pilot featured Rock Kills Kid, and last night's episode had songs from Dirty Pretty Things and Thom Yorke. Must be a fun job to have.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Gnarls + Nokia

Gnarls Barkley played an Advertising Week kickoff party last night at the Nokia Theater. Good, but not great, show. Gnarls was "Weird Science" last night, and the band came out in lab coats and opened with Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science." They went through most of St. Elsewhere, and threw in a cover of Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone." With quite a flair for the dramatic, Gnarls puts on a good performance, but there was something left to be desired. The crowd of advertising peeps were mostly standing around, not paying attention, until "Crazy" came on, which indeed sounds great live.

I was more impressed by the Nokia Theater itself. Good standing space, seats if you need them, nice sound system, easy ingress and egrees, generally clean, and good views from no matter where you stand/sit. At 2100, it's a good place to see a "big" band do a "small" show.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Not so much

The Kasabian show last night at Webster Hall was disappointing. Not the band's performance, which was quite energetic, but rather the new songs off of Empire. They are pretty bad. Very bluesy rock, and unlike the stuff on Kasabian. Kind of like how Give Out But Don't Give In followed Screamadelica (which also coincides with their progression as Primal Scream clones). The new songs also have a touch of Heathen Chemistry-era Oasis, but not as good. Anyway, the surprisingly sold-out crowd seemed to enjoy itself. When Kasabian played their old stuff, like "Club Foot," "Reason is Treason," "Processed Beats," and "L.S.F.", the crows went especially mad. And the band seemed to have fun on stage, putting a lot of energy into the show. If only they stayed away from Empire...

Now, I'm a huge fan of Kasabian's live show, and I've said before that their live show was the best of the year. But there was something lacking last night - mostly when they played the new stuff.

Mew was one of the openers, and much like their albums, they had a couple of great songs, but a lot of slow, boring ones. Mew, whose members look like elves with guitars, has quite the flair for the dramatic - coordinating high-pitched vocals with the light show and bizarre videos behind the stage. "Special" and "Apocalypso" were great, but overall, the best I can say for Mew was that their show was "atmospheric." Very Pink Floyd-esque.

Friday, September 15, 2006

The Diggs and Annuals tonight at Northsix

The Diggs are playing Northsix tonight with Annuals, among others. The bands start at 8:30 and The Diggs are on at 11:30. Only $10. You should go.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

The Truth in Roger O'Donnel

Roger O'Donnell, keyboardist for some of The Cure's better albums (Disintegration, Bloodflowers, and the great live album Entreat), is releasing his first album since leaving The Cure. The Truth in Me is coming out on October 24 on Great Society, a World's Fair label. Inspired by his contribution "Another Day" for the Moog documentary, Roger's The Truth in Me is a collection of songs composed and recorded using a single instrument, the Moog Voyager (a couple of tracks feature Erin Lang's vocals as well). A number of remixes have taken place too, including the fantastic downtempo chillout version of "Treasure" by Acid Paulli below. Roger will be on tour in the U.S. this fall, including a stop at CMJ in New York.

Right click and save:

Treasure (remix by Acid Paulli of The Notwist)

Not Without You

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Yes Please!

This Friday, Loveless Music Group/B*Live presents YesPlease, a shoegaze/indie/electro dance affair at Club Midway. Upstairs: DJ TimmyG (as heard on EVR) and DJ Ryan Skyward (of the famed Project Skyward). Downstairs: The Invisible Kid (DJ set), Soundpool, Elika (album release show), and DJ TedBot.

Friday, 9/8 at Club Midway, 25 Ave. B between 2nd and 3rd Streets
$5 for Downstairs
2-4-1 P.I.N.K. Vodka drinks (the first vodka with caffeine!!)

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

NME in USA

NME will try to get a foothold on America - Britain's "biggest club night", Club NME, is launching in LA on Sepotember 6th at Spaceland in Silverlake. Club NME LA will be every Wednesday night and will only be $3. Much like the UK Club NME nights, the US ones will also feature great live acts and "the coolest" DJs. They are supposed to launch a Club NME NY too. $3, live bands and DJs? I'm down.

NME is also looking for two US reporters. If you're able to write absurdly hyperbolic stories about the best bands ever and have a "bulging contact book", then this position is for you.