Good Weather For Airstrikes

Two weekends ago I experienced an impossibly good four days of live music. Here’s the breakdown.

ED BANGER SHOWCASE @ HIRO’S BALLROOM, 3.29.07


So yeah… this is going to be brief. A) We already featured a lengthy review of another one of these epic Ed Banger bacchanalians last week. B) I was at least fifteen different kinds of drunk and wasn’t exactly in the state of mind to adequately review the show. That said, the highlights of the evening - “Ross Ross Ross”, when the needle dropped on “D.A.N.C.E.”, the moment when “Atlantis To Interzone” exploded into “We Are Your Friends”, my twenty-minute conversation with one Mr. Kele Okereke (!!!) - remain crystal clear and may never be forgotten by yours truly, and the evening will easily go down as a night of riotous merriment on par with just about anything I’ve ever experienced as far as sheer fun is concerned. Oh, downloadable mp3 content? Sure. Here’s the much sought-after, rare-as-shit Breakbot remix of Justice’s masterful “Let There Be Light”, only available on the Japanese import-only release of the Waters of Nazareth EP.

MP3: “Let There Be Light” (Breakbot Remix) - Justice

BLOC PARTY @ UNITED PALACE, 3.30.07 & 3.31.07

I’ll say it: night one sucked. Granted, that had a lot to do with the fact that my self-purchased tickets had us relegated to the LAST FUCKING ROW of the 3,000+ seat venue. Furthermore, the concert was the first-ever rock show at the United Palace and it showed with the murky sound quality throughout the evening and some extremely questionable set list choices (”SRXT” instead of “Pioneers” in the encore? Seriously?!) didn’t help either.

Night two, on the other hand… UNREAL. Sure, a large part of that was the result of my all access pass (because Syd Butler is one of the greatest human beings alive) that allowed me to go wherever the fuck I pleased, but the sound was much better and the setlist was damn near flawless. The clunkers of the previous evening, “Where Is Home” and the aforementioned encore performance of “SRXT”, were replaced by an absolutely astonishing performance of “Pioneers” and the wonderfully unexpected inclusion of “Little Thoughts” in the main set. Plus, I mean, I was watching the whole thing leaning against the stage less than ten feet from Kele and, well, it just doesn’t get much better than that. Particularly interesting were the people accompanying me in the pit, as there was nary a scene kid to be found. Sure, there was an emo kid here and there, but the people around me were closer to frat boys and teenyboppers than anything else, a good sign for those hoping to see Bloc Party blow up and become commercially-viable in the US this year. It was also a bit ironic to see these polo-shirted frat-types screaming along with Kele’s every word, because you’ve got to think that if they met him on the street, Kele’d just be a walking representation of everything they’re against. I mean, they’re supposed to be these pillars of testosterone-drenched masculinity, and here they are screaming out the words to a song about the homo-erotic sexual tension between teenage boys (that’s “I Still Remember”, for those of you keeping track at home), sung by an openly-gay skinny black dude. Sure, I’m judging these kids unfairly based on stereotypes driven home during my time at Frats ‘R Us (er, the University of Virginia rather), but yeah… interesting still.

But back to the show. “The Prayer” sounded amazing in the live setting and fit the venue well considering its religious roots, and debut album classic “This Modern Love” blew minds with its disarming beauty and an amped-up bass drum beat that brought a whole new intensity to the song. “Hunting For Witches” and “Banquet” got the kids dancing and pumping their fists with reckless abandon, as did “Helicopter” in the encore, which rivaled “Pioneers” as the highlight of the band’s set. The crowd seemed to love every minute of the show and was completely involved from the get-go, as evidenced by the entire venue’s unanimous shout of “SO FUCKING USELESS!” when Kele stepped back from the mic in the final verse of “Positive Tension” (the band’s second song of the night), and again when, as if on cue, the crowd started yelling out the “Hey! Hey! Hey!”s of the intro to “She’s Hearing Voices” before Kele even began to approach the microphone. I’ve always been envious of Bloc Party’s UK fans who’ve gotten to see the band in festival settings there, as the crowd’s just seem so much more into it over there on the live recordings I’ve heard, but you really couldn’t have asked for a better crowd than the one that filled United Palace both nights.

The shows were the third and fourth times I’d experienced Bloc Party live, and every time they just seem to be getting better and better as a live band. They’ve always put on a great show, but as they get further into their career Kele just keeps improving as a frontman, and he seems to be more comfortable and personable every time I see him. Furthermore, he just seems to be so happy to be doing what he’s doing, if the ear-to-ear smile on his face for the majority of Saturday’s show was any indication. Saturday night he even pulled a Bruce Springsteen and pulled a woman from the pit up on stage with him for a dance during “She’s Hearing Voices”, and he spent the rest of the song running around the stage with a huge grin on his face, interacting with the audience and even posing for pictures. Shit, even Gordon’s gotten in on the act. Looking back at concert footage from Bloc’s early days and Gordon would be far and away the group’s most reserved member, and most of the time you kind of felt like giving him a hug and asking who died and if he was dealing okay. But last weekend at United Palace dude was running around stage, rocking out in a power stance and jumping off the amps like a little kid living out his dream. Elsewhere, Russell’s still the man and Matt Tong was shirtless and 100% bad ass on the skins as usual, and it’s clear that Bloc clearly has everything figured out at this point. Some might argue that the band have gone downhill since Silent Alarm, but their dates at United Palace made it clear that this is really a band that’s only just coming into it’s prime. If they keep on fine-tuning their live show to perfection and can steer clear of inter-band drama and continue to write ambitious, yet still commercially-viable anthems like new single “I Still Remember”, then it’s hard to imagine Bloc Party not reigning over the music industry as one of the most popular bands in the world within three years time. I can’t wait.

MP3s:
“Banquet” (Syklopps Session) - Bloc Party [exclusive]
“Helicopter” (Santa Monica Mix) - Bloc Party ((highly recommended))
“Song For Clay” (RAC Mix) - Bloc Party
“I Stil Remember” (SebastiAn Remix) - Bloc Party ((highly recommended))
“Luno” (Polysics Mix) - Bloc Party

After the show Syd and I headed downstairs to the dressing room for a super secret pizza party with the band, where I quietly enjoyed some serious Domino’s while attempting to hyperventilate as discreetly as possible. I mean, it’s not every day that you get to say you were just, “Y’know, eatin’ pizza with my idols and shit”, but I think I succeeded in maintaining my composure for the most part. They all seem like really nice guys and Simon White, their somewhat famous manager, is great as well, so it was nice to find out they weren’t total d-bags or anything, but we weren’t there long before it was time to roll over to Lit for the after-party. I grabbed a drink there, but the sheer amount of intimidatingly cool scenefolk and the fact that I was clearly the only person under 21 in attendance meant I wasn’t exactly having the time of my life, so I closed the book on my Bloc Party experience for the weekend and rolled out to meet some friends in Union Square. All in all, it was an incredible night of music and, once again, one of the greatest concert experiences of my life, and you better believe I’ll be doing it all over again in a heartbeat the next time Bloc rolls through town.

LES SAVY FAV @ BOWERY BALLROOM, 4.01.07

Les Savy Fav are still the best live band in the universe. Especially on April Fools day. Tim basically sodomized a kid on stage and then took of his clothes and commanded the audience to sign him. Fuckin’ rock ‘n roll and shit. Good times for all.

MP3s:
“The Sweat Descends” - Les Savy Fav ((highly recommended))
“Raging In The Plague Age” - Les Savy Fav

So now that Stereogum’s had their fun with the RAC’s (that’s the Remix Artist Collective, for those of you not in the know) excellent mix of “Hunting For Witches”, we’re here to drop a little exclusive of our own. As with the “Hunting For Witches” remix, the RAC’s take on “Song For Clay” keeps the original lyrical template completely intact, but dresses it up in violent synth stabs, more synthesized strings and, most of all, just makes everything BIGGER. Both mixes are excellent productions completely worthy of official release by the band, no small statement considering the damn near flawless consistency maintained across the remixes A Weekend In The City has yielded to date.

MP3: “Song For Clay” (RAC Mix) - Bloc Party [xxxclusive]

Thanks to one Mr. Nicky Berger, who DONATED HIS ENTIRE SERVER TO US (seriously), we’re back in business. So yeah, we’re all ridiculously in debt to this man and owe him, like, at least 1,000 handjobs or something. Or maybe just a beer. We’ll see how things go.

ANYWAY, what better way to celebrate than with two incredibly sexy remixes from the freshly-leaked I Still Remember EP. First up, we’ve got SebastiAn’s rework which is just all kinds of ridiculous. I don’t even know where to begin, but one thing’s for sure - SebastiAn just established himself as the force to be reckoned with in the remixing game; he’s operating on a whole new level right now. I mean, just look at this remix. SebastiAn takes arguably the safest and most vanilla track on A Weekend In The City and turns it into an absolute MONSTER, drawing you in gently with some seductive spiraling synths before dropping the motherfucking beat at the 0:50 mark, like Zeus himself raining thunder and lightning down on the unsuspecting masses below. Things carry on like this the rest of the way out, as Kele’s “I should have kissed you!” yelps, punctuated by SebastiAn’s massive, bass-heavy synth surges, recall all the desperate urgency of Silent Alarm that’s sadly absent on the new record. SebastiAn, I bow before you.

MP3: “I Still Remember” (SebastiAn Remix) - Bloc Party ((highly recommended))

Next up we’ve got Lull’s stunningly gorgeous remix of “I Still Remember”, the aptly-title “Music Box & Tears” mix. Heavy on strings, twinkly sounds and cinematic melodrama, Lull does for “I Still Remember” what Engineers did for “Blue Light” back on 2005′ Silent Alarm: Remixed - that is, he removes any semblance of guitars or percussion, turns the rock down to 0 and puts the track in ethereal mode and goes full speed ahead. Kele’s original lyrical template remains completely intact as synthetic strings wash across the mix in undeniably epic fashion and twinkling keys tug at your heartstrings like their name was Audrey Hepburn. So yeah, it’s good. Real pretty-like too.

MP3: “I Still Remember” (Music Box & Tears Mix) - Bloc Party