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

And so begins three incredible nights of music. This bomb-ass shit tonight. Bloc Party tomorrow night. MSTRKRFT on Saturday. Fuck yes. But let’s take one thing at a time - who’s ready for a 1000% life-changing experience tonight? I know I am. Yes, I’ll be at Hiro’s Ballroom when the superstars of the Ed Banger collective descend upon Gotham tonight and if it’s even half as good as the last time I saw Justice it’ll be an event to remember for a longgg time. Plus, the Presets are opening, which is at least fifteen different kinds of awesome considering “Are You The One?” was one of the illest jams of ‘05.

MP3: “Are You The One?” - The Presets ((highly recommended))

Anyway, I’m fully planning on pummeling my sobriety into obscurity tonight in a big way, so in the event that my memory doesn’t serve me all that well tomorrow I thought it would be a good time to feature a guest review of the Ed Banger showcase last month in Belgium, even though we don’t really do the whole guest review thing, well, ever. But I mean, dude, got to experience Ed Banger rocking an abandoned train station to its knees in Belgium, and an incredible experience like that deserves to be documented somewhere. Plus, Kyle’s proven to be a benevolent force for GWFAS, bringing to my attention all kinds of hotness that’s eventually made it’s way onto the site in one form or another, including his very own edit of Busy P’s “Rainbow Man”, which you’ll find below. So, without further adieu, the floor is yours Mr. Christmon. Delight us.

Loyal Airstrikes readers are surely already familiar with Ed Banger Records. For me, it all began last summer when Derek dropped “Never Be Alone” and “Waters of Nazareth” on GWFAS and they proceeded to burn my old 3G iPod into the afterlife. Prior to that, however, I couldn’t claim to be much of an electro fan, although I was one of the lucky many to go apeshit at Daft Punk’s Coachella resurrection. The music of Ed Banger falls into the proverbial “acquired taste” genre, but that doesn’t necessarily preclude its deliberately epic nature (see: the Justice crucifix). A style that Pitchfork’s Tim Finney describes as “enamoured with mid-range blare” is certainly not for the weak of heart and it comes across as cacophonous at first listen. Yet behind the chaos are some truly adept artists poised to give mp3-era music a facelift, or, rather, a botched facelift, considering the sound of many of the label’s finest artists is rooted in what one could describe as mechanical malfunction.

Ed Banger music is kind of like a drug. As Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly put it: “you’re either on it, or you haven’t tried it yet.” Me? I’m addicted like a Hollywood socialite. So I headed up to Brussels a few weeks back and made my way through all the Tintin frescoed buildings to find Recyclart, host to Ed Banger Night Round 2. How was the venue? Let’s just say it was an abandoned train station (read: awesome) and leave it at that.

Truth be told, an array of adult beverages and smuggled Dutch souvenirs made the whole affair somewhat of an amalgamation of incredible moments, but I’ll do my best to distinguish them for you here. I can’t emphasize enough that the shindigs these guys put on are by no means your typical concert and definitely warrant the “party” label – the bar was packed by 21:00 (9 PM for you Americans) and Justice wasn’t wrapping things up until 5:00 in the AM! Suffice it to say, there was plenty of time to kill those brain/ear cells.

Okay, I know it’s odd I’m mentioning the merchandise but I simply must. So-Me and The ERS got all prom-committee on the venue and essentially put up neat shit everywhere. Limited edition t-shirts, sweaters, and tote bags upped the indie cred to an 11. I didn’t want to be one of those guys and buy my shirt before the show and drape it over my shoulder, or even worse, wear it, but fuck, I should have. The whole merch stand thing turned into a bit of a fiasco as they stopped selling before the show and sadly went AWOL later on. Thus, if you want one of these slick pieces of French bling then take my advice and get it when you see it, or, do as I did and be happy you were able to jack a couple posters on your way out.

Needless to say, the place was a full house – even Bob Saget would have had trouble getting in. Following the cattle drive to get inside, I snagged a drink and got prime position for what was to come. Yes, I’m one of those tall douches who stands up front. However, the half dozen Belgian behemoths up there as well absolved me of some of my guilt; not to mention they easily had 60 pounds and several E’s on me.

The “calm” before the storm came in the form of So-Me. I was previously under the impression So-Me was the resident film director/editor but apparently he’s aspiring to be more than that. A DJ/VJ/Artiste extraordinaire? All I know is Kanye isn’t the biggest fan of his work. Either way, the first undercard of So-Me vs. Mon Colonel did their job and got the ball rolling. All the acts throughout the night gave proper love to the notable absent members of Ed Recs (SebastiAn, DJ Mehdi, Uffie) while dishing out equal hotness from other contemporaries (Switch, Braxe & Falke, et al.).

MP3: “Golden Skans To Interzone” (So-Me Remix) – Klaxons

The party was officially underway once Kavinsky took the spotlight. Flossin’ the Risky Business Cruise shades, he showed he’s perhaps the best up-and-coming electronic artist in France not signed to the Ed Banger label (he’s inked to Air’s Record Makers label along with one Mr. Sebastien Tellier). Kavinsky’s set was tight, and though it wasn’t as flawless aesthetically as Justice’s - slight mess ups were indicated by the winces on his face at times throughout the set - he definitely got the crowd going. Two words: Testarossa Autodrive.

MP3s:
“Testarossa Autodrive” - Kavinsky ((highly recommended))
“Testarossa Autodrive” (SebastiAn Remix) - Kavinsky

Kavinsky soon made way for Busy P, who had already made clear his intention to do things Deutsche with his incessant waving of a German flag (which would later wind up in the audience). The brains of the whole Ed Banger operation, Busy P, a.k.a. Pedro Winter, showed the same prowess spinning front-and-center that he has in managing Daft Punk and his present label-mates from behind the scenes. His style isn’t as fluent as Kavinsky or Justice, but he managed to spin hot-fire nonetheless. In this regard, Busy P is the most accessible of the bunch - more of a crowd pleaser - especially considering it’s his product he’s trying to sell. The parties, like the music, are chaotic, as much in the hands of the audience as the performers. They show a fledgling record company attempting to push a new brand of music on an otherwise force-fed generation. This means for Ed Banger what it does for any other indie label: they are artistically liberated but commercially burdened.

This surfaced during the show. I can’t help but say there was an irritating element of shameless self-promotion to the whole ordeal. I’m in no way disappointed - they gave away a ton of free shit - but this undoubtedly detracted from the atmosphere they did such a great job of creating. It’s as if Busy P was negotiating that ground between independent music and the mass-appeal nature of the electronic/club genre wherein one-hit wonders are forgotten in a week. This held true for the Brussels audience as well, for a good amount of those in attendance it wasn’t as much about the music as it was getting pissed and thrashing… in hindsight, Winter may have something here. It will be intriguing to see how this music is received over the next year, particularly in America.

MP3s:
“Rainbow Man” - Busy P
“Rainbow Man” (K. Christmon’s Slight Tamper) - Busy P

Back to business though - at this point the whole affair was nothing short of a formal rave. The stage was littered with Uffie facsimiles. There were cameras pointed every which way documenting it all, lending to the whole self-reflexive vibe of the night. Ultimately, we all knew we were there to witness the cinematic grandiosity that is Justice and, in doing so, we became part of it.

Then… JUSTICE. What more can I say. They are truly the diamond in the rough for the foreseeable future of electronic music; just wait until “D.A.N.C.E.” drops if you’re not yet a believer. The “frontman” of Justice, Xavier de Rosnay, patiently waited on stage most the night, occasionally tweaking the turntables of his comrades, getting in the zone. Then he just sort of wiggled in and took over. Honestly, he reminded me of Bruce Lee. You know, that part in every movie after he’s arrived to help out at his uncle’s restaurant, the neighborhood cronies are lurking, yet Bruce is as cool as ever, and slowly, in that one scene, as they confront him, everyone realizes that when he decides to bust out there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. This is the defining attribute of de Rosnay, a nonchalance that almost hides the insane audio technician beneath.

MP3s:
“Waters of Nazareth” - Justice ((highly recommended))
“We Are Your Friends” - Justice vs Simian ((highly recommended))

The whole crucifix/Nazareth/biblical thing is such a fitting theme; then again, maybe it’s all just a facade for the masses - dressing on the cake. Still, it’s a trendy but fitting metaphor for not only the label, but the artists and their music. Excuse the extensive filmic analogies but that’s really what Ed Banger Records is: a cult classic. To some, the self-adorned glamour may seem contrived, but when all is said and done it’s a slew of enviable badasses giving us impatient masses what we want.

For those of you who haven’t had the privilege of attending one of these things, by all means try to. As with losing your virginity, it’s a bit messy and confusing at first but ever so marvelous. Ed Banger Records, in their various performing configurations, just launched a US tour in Miami last month, so get to your nearest metropolis and join the club. Below you’ll find mp3s of artists who weren’t actually present at the show, but whose tracks made their way into the various DJ sets of the evening all the same, along with a few other Ed Banger related treats. Enjoy./

MP3s:
“Bossy” (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix) - Kelis
“Pop The Glock” - Uffie
“Where’s Your Head At” - Basement Jaxx
“Ross Ross Ross” - SebastiAn
“Bump (Switch Remix)” - Spank Rock
“Signatune” (Thomas Bangalter’s More Kick Edit) - DJ Mehdi
“We Are Your Friends” (Radioslave & Spencer Park Re-Edit) - Justice
“Phantom” (CA$HMERE Mix) - Justice

Don’t you wish all of our live reviews were this good? Well done, Mr. Christmon, well done. Who’s going tonight? Keep an eye out for me - I’ll be the lanky motherfucker in the blue shirt and brown pants, accompanied by two extremely attractive ladyfriends and possibly a scruffy red-headed fellow as well. See you there.

One of the better Monday nights in recent history, right up there with this. Check it.

PLAN B @ JOE’S PUB

While I didn’t have much in the way of high expectations, this was a phenomenal show. You see, I wrongly passed off Plan B as a mediocre combination of Eminem and the Streets when I first heard of him last year, and even when he opened my eyes with his starring role in Epic Man’s “More Is Enough”, I still wasn’t quite motivated enough to check out his solo material. I was wrong.

Born Ben Drew in Forest Gate, London, Plan B makes “films for the blind”, as he put it last night. That is - he writes songs so tightly woven with detail and description that one can just close their eyes and watch the story unfold before them. And yeah, while his controversial-as-shit lyrics have brought him under fire from the British media on more than one occasion, he’s really just telling a story of things that are really happening that, uncomfortable and depressing as they may be, need to be discussed. Furthermore, he separates himself from the rest of the pack in the British rap scene by setting his songs to predominately acoustic beats and possessing a voice capable of producing vocals that would make even the most trained singer-songwriters jealous. One second he’s spitting caustic rapidfire verses on a track and the next he’s launching into a soulful, passionate chorus, all the while strumming an acoustic guitar like it ain’t no thing.

Joe’s Pub proved to be an interesting venue for the event, as the crowd seemed to be split evenly between people there for Plan B and older couples there for dinner and some post-meal entertainment, but despite lyrics discussing “anal passageways”, “genital warts”, graphic accounts of murder and other fun stuff, they seemed to love it more than anyone else, and his performance likely became the unexpected highlight of their night. Highlights were set opener “Mama”, “Charmaine” and closer “Who Needs Actions, When You Got Words”, the title track from his debut LP. Definitely grab the tracks below and go here and here to see videos of Plan B’s acoustic live performance, and don’t forget to check out Everett’s post on B’s brilliant Paint It Blacker bootleg as well.

MP3s:
“Charmaine“ - Plan B
“Mama” - Plan B

Previously:
“Paint It Blacker” - Plan B
“Wild Horses” - Plan B
“Missing Links” - Plan B

METRONOMY W/ HOT CLUB DE PARIS @ MIDWAY

Plan B wrapped up around 8:30, so then we rolled over to Midway to catch Hot Club De Paris and Metronomy put on another unexpectedly fantastic show. Hot Club De Paris opened with a short a capella number before launching into the brilliantly-titled “Sometimesitsbetternottostickbitsofeachotherineachotherforeachother”. The band struck up a great rapport with the audience through inter-song zingers and humorous anecdotes, but they also seemed to know the majority of the people in attendance, to the point that I began to feel like I was actually the only non-Brit in attendance. That didn’t detract from my experience any though, and the rest of Hot Club De Paris’ set was great as well - especially single “Everyeveryeverything”, a self-described “song about everything” - though the highlight might have been when I glanced to my left and realized I was standing directly next to Mssrs. Ford and Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco. I chatted with them (read: lavished them with praise) for a bit and gave my compliments to Ford on his excellent production work on the new Arctic Monkeys single (see below), before moving on and getting ready for Metronomy’s set.

MP3s:
“Sometimesitsbetter…” - Hot Club De Paris
“Everyeveryeverything” - Hot Club De Paris

Now it’s well-documented that Metronomy’s remixes have vastly out shined his own productions to this point, but if his set last night was any indication, that should hopefully change in the near future. I was blown away by what proved to be an incredibly fun set, complete with endearing choreography and blinking lights affixed to all three of the band members chests. The set seemed to be comprised mostly of new material I’d not yet heard, but closer and single “You Could Easily Have Me” was a definite highlight, along with a new song that featured a chorus made by what sounded like an electronic reworking of that brilliant guitar solo from “Reptilia”. “Trick or Treatz” also got the crowd moving, but outside of that the rest of the highlights were mostly new tracks that managed to handily trump most of the songs found on the band’s debut LP, Pip Paine (Pay Back The £5000 You Owe). All in all, it was a surprisingly great set and got me very excited to hear the band’s new material, which will hopefully surface sooner rather than later if there’s any justice in this world. For now though, we’ll have to settle for Metronomy’s consistently-flawless remix output and the highlights off Pip Paine, like the tracks available below.

MP3s:
“You Could Easily Have Me” - Metronomy
“This Could Be Beautiful (It Is)” - Metronomy
“Atlantis To Interzone” (Metronomy Remix) - Klaxons ((highly recommended))
“The Treatment” (Metronomy Remix) - Dead Disco ((highly recommended))

ARCTIC MONKEYS ARE RELEVANT AGAIN!
It had been over a year since I listened to anything by the Arctic Monkeys, after the initial glory of “From The Ritz To The Rubble” finally wore off and Whatever People Say I Am failed to live up to my expectations. But hot damn, that’s all changed now, with the unveiling of their much-awaited new single, the James Ford-produced “Brainstorm”. I generally get excited by anything James Ford’s involved in (see: Simian, SMD, Dead Disco’s “Automatic”, the whole damn Klaxons record, et. al), but he just does a truly phenomenal job here. Fast and furious, the track is a bit darker than the band’s usual fare, but serves as a resounding reminder of just how talented a lyricist Alex Turner is. Dude just has a ridiculous way with words, to the point that you don’t really care if they mean anything at all (see: “See you later, elevator!”) just so long as you can revel in the brilliance of his rhyming schemes for just a little bit longer. Furthermore, Ford gives the track the production it deserves, giving it that dark, future-rock feel that SMD rock so well and even throwing in the backing vocal effects he first showed off in the SMD’s bangin’ edit of the Klaxons’ “Magick”. Color me very excited to see if the rest of Favourite Worst Nightmare lives up to the initial brilliance of the single.

MP3s:
“Brianstorm” - Arctic Monkeys ((highly recommended))
“Magick” (Simian Mobile Disco Mix) - Klaxons

Studio B, how I love you. Seriously, I’m yet to leave you feeling anything less than 1000% awesome when I emerge from your doors; your track record is flawless. Justice? RIDICULOUS. Girl Talk? RIDICULOUS. Shit, even the Throne of Blood party was an excellent time, and that was just a bunch of random DJ’s. Thus, it’s gotten to the point where I’ll go to Studio B for pretty much anything, and “Cobrastyle” was a good enough excuse in itself for me to make the trek out to Greene Point last night for Teddybears headlining gig at the venue, even though I wasn’t terribly familiar with anything else by them aside from “Yours To Keep” and “Punkrocker”. But man am I glad I did - shit was awesome.

We showed up at doors to make sure we could get tickets and then headed to The Palace, the pre-gaming spot for Studio B as far as I’m concerned about 10-15 blocks away at Nassau and Russell. This place is awesome. Why is it awesome? Because you can buy a round of three drinks for 4-fucking-50, incredible considering you can’t even buy one drink for that price anywhere in Manhattan. Furthermore, it’s populated exclusively by Pols and you can smoke cigarettes inside, but that’s really just icing on the cake. $4.50. Ridiculous. Anyway, we did some serious damage there before rolling out just in time to make it to Studio B as Radio 4 (who were opening I guess) were going off, and slid into the very front row thanks to the ease of navigation provided by the always-moving dancefloor driven by Studio B’s incredible resident DJ’s. I grabbed two more rounds and made my way back to the stage just as the ‘Bears took the stage wearing, yes, those awesome plastic bear heads. I love those things.

The next hour is more or less a blur of pure bliss and hot jams, with the two touring MC’s (some Sean Paul-lookin’ dude and a girl who I’m pretty sure looked exactly like M.I.A. if I remember correctly) doing a surprisingly excellent job of recreating the parts of their big name album counterparts. Three songs in they dropped “Cobrastyle” and it was easily one of the single most fun concert moments of my life, as the male MC owned the chorus and the ‘Bear directly in front of us rocked out hard in a power stance inches from our faces. Next came “Yours To Keep” and the introduction of the female MC, who did a serviceable job tackling Neneh Cherry’s impeccable vocals and kept the crowd into it. But it was the finale, “Punkrocker”, where she and the band both shined, throwing themselves into the crowd and going out on a brilliant ending note. All in all, an incredibly, incredibly fun night. Studio B just might be the greatest place on earth.

MP3s:
“Cobrastyle” - Teddybears ((highly recommended))
“Yours To Keep” (Annie Mix) - Teddybears
“Punkrocker” (Squeak E Clean Remix) - Teddybears

Last night Girl Talk almost killed me. Whether it was the relentless unce-unce-uncery of a metric ton of hot jams crushing down on me the entire night, the absolutely packed (read: wayyyyy over-sold) crowd at Studio B, or the countless drinks poured in my eyes, hair and face, I nearly died on multiple occasions last night, but fuck if it wasn’t entirely worth it. Hell, I think I may have been responsible for the death of at least three people in my own right via a few inadvertent elbows to the temple, and those are only the ones I know about. But yeah, shit was INSANE, Studio B was absolute hinges (as in “off the”) all night and even the venue’s ridiculously oppressive no re-entry policy (which resulted in the devolution of the men’s bathroom into an opaque cloud of cigarette smoke) couldn’t keep all in attendance from having the absolute time of their lives.

I first saw Girl Talk in DC two months ago, one of my most triumphant concert experiences ever if only for the fact that I managed to get kicked out (not once but) twice and still succeeded in not missing a single minute of Greg Gilles’ fantastic set, and he made my efforts worth it, putting on one of the most fun shows I’ve ever been to. But the difference between his DC gig and his show last night, his first in Brooklyn in over four years, was astronomical. In DC, Gilles basically went crazy in front of his laptop and played a slightly-updated version of Night Ripper in its entirety, with a very small amount of new material sprinkled here and there, but I was left with no complaints and eagerly anticipated his Studio B show expecting to see more of the same and maybe turn some of my less-musically-aware ladyfriends onto an artist they’d never heard. As if to directly chastise me for my clearly-not-high-enough expectations, Girl Talk decided that he would blow me, along with everyone else in attendance, out of the fucking water with a set of what appeared to be comprised of almost entirely new material.

After waiting in line forever in the freezing cold on the ONE FUCKING NIGHT I forgot my scarf and gloves, we were finally admitted, only to have to wait through two interminable, nigh-unbearable noise rock sets (from Hearts of Darknesses and Pterodactyl, if you must know) before Parts & Labor finally took the stage and breathed some life into the party. I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of noise rock, but while the two opening bands seemed to subject the audience to nothing more than aural torture, with Parts & Labor you could tell that they were doing what they do best and they were doing it well, even if it didn’t necessarily cater to my tastes. But then the time was upon us as Girl Talk took to the stage and then, uh, told us to wait three-and-a-half minutes while he “just [went] to the bathroom real quick”. But then the time was upon us, as he returned to the stage and launched into the opening bars of album-opener “Once Again”, the only(?) Night Ripper track to burst forth from his speakers until nearly an hour later when he wrapped up the main set with an immaculate, incredible, life-affirming extended mix of the seminal moment from that album (and perhaps the entire mash-up genre): Gilles’ triumphant Biggie vs Elton John masterwork that occurs two-thirds of the way through “Smash My Head”. Everything else though - almost without exception - was brand new hot fire that, for the most part, blew the fucking doors off of Night Ripper, as impossible as that might be to believe.

First, there was that part where “Carry On My Wayward Son” birthed the synth line from “My Love”, before Rick Ross dropped by to spit a few verses of “Hustlin’” over the Timbaland masterwork and Mylo’s “Mothafucka gonna drop the preshaaaaaa” verse cut through everything to make me the happiest man in the NYC metropolitan area at that moment. Then later, out of nowhere, dude dropped the climactic synth surges of “Digital Love” over Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On” and brought a roar of approval from the crowd that wasn’t matched for the rest of the night. The Daft Punk hotness didn’t stop there as he brought the verse of “Technologic” into the mix toward the end of the set, and then absolutely destroyed the crowd in the finale of the encore with the synthetic euphoria of “Around The World”. Also making appearances were Talk’s new official remixes of Grizzly Bear’s “Knife” and Peter Bjorn & John’s “Let’s Call It Off”, as well as the unveiling of his long-rumored “Cell Phone’s Dead” remix for Beck, which - if it ever sees official release - is sure to blow some doors off their hinges in a big way. Later, in the final moments of the main set, Gilles threw on “Lithium” over a foor-to-the-flour beat and launched himself into the crowd, narrowly missing my head and smashing head-first into the face of an unfortunately-located Asian girl next to me, which was, y’know, almost as terrifying as it was awesome (she shrugged it off like a champ). After the conclusion of “Smash Your Head” brought the music to a halt for the first time since it began over an hour before, he dangled the prospect of an encore (which we didn’t get in DC) over the audience on the condition that “Everybody better dance like you just got born!”, before a collage of “Bossy”, “Around The World” and a Queen-tastic mix of the percussive beat of “We Will Rock You” and the guitar-hero glory of “We Are The Champions” overwhelmed the room and ended the set every bit as amazingly as it began.

To experience the glory for yourselves hit up the excellent downloads below, where I’ve posted “Smash Your Head”, the essential track off Night Ripper (for the one of you out there who hasn’t heard it), and “Pure Magic”, taken from his recent Bone Hard Zaggin’ 7″, as well as his excellent official remixes of Grizzly Bear’s “Knife” and PB&J’s “Let’s Call It Off”. Enjoy, and be sure to do whatever it takes to make it out to a Girl Talk show if he so much as breaches a 500-mile radius of your location; I can honestly say it’s worth it.

MP3s:
“Smash Your Head” - Girl Talk ((highly recommended))
“Pure Magic” - Girl Talk
“Knife” (Girl Talk Remix) - Grizzly Bear ((highly recommended))
“Let’s Call It Off” (Girl Talk Remix) - Peter Bjorn & John

INTRODUCING… ENCYCLOPEDIA PICTURA
Speaking of Grizzly Bear’s “Knife”, I’ve never been a huge fan of theirs, but their new video for the track is great. Directed by Encyclopedia Pictura, an up-and-coming directing collective that’s sure to do massive things in 2007, the clip is a breathtaking masterpiece of animation and special effects, complete with one of the best closing shots I’ve seen in a music video in a long time.

Video: “Knife” - Grizzly Bear
Director: Encyclopedia Pictura
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime]

The “Knife” clip is only Encyclopedia Pictura’s second music video to date, and their first, for Zion I’s “So Tall”, upholds (and possibly even surpasses) the impressively high standard shown in the Grizzly Bear video. Check it below, it’s just beautiful.

Video: “So Tall” - Zion I
Director: Encyclopedia Pictura
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime]

NEW HOTNESS FROM PHONES & NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB
It’s always a tricky situation when the remix hits the internet before it’s original counterpart, as you can’t really judge the merits of the remix without having heard the original track, and in many cases the remix can only yield so much insight into the intact structure of the original. This is especially the case when a track is as chopped-up and reworked as Phones’ edit of “The Bomb”, the hotly-anticipated upcoming third single from New Young Pony Club. That aside, I’m not sure if I like the new direction Phones has been taking on his remixes in 2007 (see also: “The Prayer” [Phones Full Metal Jackin’ Mix]). Whereas past remixes of his have seen him updating indie rock hits with a danceable beat and bangin’ electronic flourishes, this year has seen him gravitating towards a more electronic, almost-techno sound, with chopped-up vocal samples and pounding electro beats taking the place of his previous signatures. In fact, it seems to be borrowing heavily from the Simian Mobile Disco bag of tricks in both technique and general sound; check out the blogosphere premier below and let me know what you think in the comments.

MP3: “The Bomb” (Phones Edit) - New Young Pony Club

TIMBALAND… FEATURING THE HIVES
Yeah, you heard me right. Timbaland’s readying his upcoming solo album, Timbaland Presents: Shock Value, for release on March 27th, and it features a ridiculously star-studded cast of guests, including Bjork, M.I.A., Elton John, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake (obviously) and even a rumored appearance by Coldplay. Here’s one of the first tracks to surface, featuring Swedish rockers the Hives, who contribute vocals and guitar-work to the track. According to the Hives, “We do not at this time know when it will be out but Timbaland is famous so you will notice when it is time.” Well put. Thanks to [grindin] for the hotness.

MP3: “Throw It On Me” (ft. The Hives) - Timbaland

LET’S TALK ABOUT BLOC PARTY, THANKS
I’ve got a full post on this (as well as my review of A Weekend In The City) on the way, but let’s just take a moment to talk about how fucking amazing Bloc Party is. I know they’re a pretty polarizing group these days (lord knows I still love them though), but you’ve got to respect the fact that they can drop an album as ambitious as A Weekend In The City and release 11 bonus B-sides (essentially, a whole ‘nother album) to accompany it without so much as batting an eye (no announcement, no advance notice, nothing). Every last song as good as (and in select instances, better than) the actual album; impressive as shit. That’s all I’ll say for now, I’ll go into it in further depth later, but I’ll leave you with one track for the taking to whet your appetite.

MP3: “Selfish Son” - Bloc Party

Now, “Selfish Son” is by no means the best of the bunch (it’s somewhere in the middle of the pack, really), but it’s perhaps the most interesting track of them all for me. You see, by far the most polarizing aspect of Weekend is Jacknife Lee’s production work, with nearly every one of the its detractors uniting to cite over-production as the album’s primary downfall. I’ll go into much more depth on this topic in my review of the album, but for now I’ll just be focusing on “Selfish Son”, a track that lives and dies on Lee’s heavy producton. Moreso than any other new song, “Selfish Son” would be absolutely naked and lifeless without Lee’s work behind the boards, and it makes for an interesting track that sounds more electronic than perhaps any other Bloc Party track to date. Plus, it also features Bloc’s twinkliest chorus yet, and you know I’m a sucker for all things twinkly.

That’s all for now though, check back soon for a massive surprise feature and stay tuned for much more Bloc Party coverage in the next two weeks.

I’m taking a short break from the Year-End List extravaganza as I finish up work on my two grand finale posts (Top 65 Tracks and Top 65 Music Videos of ‘06) to bring you up to speed on what I’ve been spinning lately and to recap Cold War Kids’ brilliant performance at Piano’s last week.

[photo courtesy of The Village Indian]

Last Wednesday was my first night as a resident in the city (not including the month and a half I spent in Brooklyn this past summer), and to celebrate my arrival I went out to dinner with my friend Alex, my Dad, his wonderful girlfriend Kay and her son Syd (Les Savy Fav bassist/Frenchkiss Records founder and owner/nicest human being alive) and his girlfriend Amy at Orchard on the Lower East Side. Dinner was unbelievable, but our post-dinner activities were even better, as Syd suggested we make an impromptu stop down the block at Cold War Kids’ sold-out Piano’s show. I’d written off seeing them this month despite their status as one of my favorite live bands ever, as all of their shows are sold out, but Syd - being the absolute baller that he is – got us in the side door with the band just as they were about to take the stage.

I’d seen them twice now, once at Bowery Ballroom opening for Tapes n’ Tapes and a second time at VICE’s CMJ party at Cakeshop, the former standing out as one of my favorite live performances of all time. The show this time around was excellent as usual and fell somewhere between their two previous shows despite being the first full-length set I’d seen them put on, though you could see they’d really been honing their skills since I first saw them last April. That first show was but a half-hour opening slot, meaning they made sure that every track they played was one of their best, and for that reason their wasn’t a dull moment and their performance was one of the most purely-enjoyable sets I’ve ever seen. This time around they rocked for nearly an hour and a half and while their standout tracks were as brilliant as ever, the long set made for some definite lagging sections, taking away from my enjoyment of the show as a whole. Plus, it didn’t help matters that I just really (really) am not all that into Piano’s as a venue, but I can’t hold that against the band.

They raced out of the gates hard, front loading their set with UK single “We Used To Vacation”, followed closely by fan-favorites “St. John” and “Hospital Beds”. The rest of the set was destined to have difficulty living up to the incredible first half-hour, but show-highlight “Hang Me Up To Dry”, which sees release as a single in the US this month, provided a much-needed energy boost after a few slow-burners in the second half of the set. “Tell Me In The Morning” was another highlight, and the Kids also treated us to some new material in the form of new tracks “Golden Gate” and “Every Valley Is Not A Lake”, the latter of which is the better of the two (get it below) and is featured as a b-side on the aforementioned single release of “Hang Me Up To Dry”. An unexpected highlight came in the show’s final minutes with “Heavy Boots”, before the band slowed things down and closed things out with “Quiet Please”, both tracks taken from the bands under appreciated and often-overlooked debut Mulberry Street EP.

For now, Cold War Kids don’t quite have the catalog to sustain the brilliance and energy of that first performance for the duration of a full-length headlining set, but frontman Nate Willet is one of the best vocalists in the game and the band have an energy unrivaled by any band this side of the Arcade Fire. 2007 sees the band primed to blow up both in the US (if Downtown Records – those crazy kids who brought you Gnarls Barkley – play their cards right) and the UK, where the BBC gave CWK the #4 slot on theit Top 10 Artists To Watch in ’07 (and they generally know their shit). 2007 will hopefully bring a new album as well, which isn’t an unreasonable expectation considering their 2006 debut LP, Robbers & Cowards, is almost entirely culled from previously-released material. If the new album lives up to the expectations set by R&C, the Kids should have enough rousing material to become one of the best live bands in the business by 2008. Thus, you better believe you should keep an eye out this year for the band’s potential rise to international stardom, and don’t be surprised if Cold War Kids are being hailed as the new White Stripes in the not-too-distant future.

MP3s:
“We Used To Vacation” – Cold War Kids ((highly recommended))
“Hang Me Up To Dry” – Cold War Kids ((highly recommended))
“Every Valley Is Not A Lake” – Cold War Kids
“Heavy Boots” (New Version) – Cold War Kids

MORE HOT FIRE FROM SEBASTIAN
Klaxons new single “Golden Skans” should be enough to get them to the top of the charts in the UK when their album is released at the end of the month, what with those heavenly “ooh-ooh-oohs” and that undeniable chorus, and as if the track itself wasn’t incentive enough to buy the single, it comes complete with two incredible remixes as well. Erol Alkan and SebastiAn are two of the most highly sought-after remixers in Europe right now, and both live up to their names with incredible reworkings of Klaxons’ pop masterpiece. Erol goes the ambitious route, turning the track into a sprawling, 8+ minute epoch, though I think I might prefer the instrumental dub version to the official remix found on the single. Get the Ekstra Spectral Rework (the officially-released remix) at Discobelle here, while the Instrumental Dub is available exclusively at Fluokids. It’s the SebastiAn remix, though, that really gets me all hot and bothered. It’s like “My Love” on ecstasy, what with that synth line that sounds like it was lifted directly from Timbaland’s flawless production work on the Justin Timberlake megahit, and it just might be the greatest thing you’ve ever heard.

MP3s:
“Golden Skans” – Klaxons ((highly recommended))
“Golden Skans” (SebastiAn Version 1.2.0 Remix) – Klaxons ((highly recommended))

And shit, did I mention that SebastiAn remix isn’t even the official version?! Looks like we’ll have to wait until next Tuesday (when the single is officially released) to hear that one, but if it’s any better than this one I just might implode. In other SebastiAn news, I threw his remix of Kelis’ “Bossy” up on my Top Remixes of ’06 post as a bit of an afterthought, but it’s since become my favorite mix of his by far, a remarkable feat considering how much I loathed the original track.

MP3: “Bossy” (SebastiAn Remix) – Kelis ((highly recommended))

YOUR COVER’S BLOWN: LILY ALLEN, GUILLEMOTS AND MORE
Holy shit, I love this song. And I fucking hate the Kaiser Chiefs, which I guess is kind of odd considering how much I loved the rest of the British dance rock takeover of 2005. But Lily Allen’s cover of “Oh My God” is just… unbelievable. Obviously, the fact that the esteemed Mark Ronson is working the boards on the track doesn’t hurt - in fact, it’s probably the main reason it’s so amazing to begin with - but Lily Allen just sounds so perfect singing the track that it’s hard to imagine she didn’t write it in the first place. My favorite song at the moment.

MP3: “Oh My God” – Lily Allen ((highly recommended))

Lily’s proven her proficiency for covers before, recording this beautiful version of the Kook’s “Naive” at her last appearance on Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge on BBC Radio One. I definitely prefer “Oh My God” (but let’s be honest, I’d prefer it to just about anything right now - it’s that good), but the original “Naive” is one of my absolute favorite songs of ‘06 and Lily’s version does it justice and more.

MP3: “Naive” - Lily Allen

Speaking of Live Lounge, the new Guillemots single was released today and it’s all kinds of wonderful. The band’s latest run at chart success (which has curiously evaded them so far) rides on the shoulders of an updated version of “Annie, Let’s Not Wait”, and while I can’t say I prefer the new version to the album version, I’ve come around to it, thanks in part to the brilliant shadowbox-animation video by director Corin Hardy (which you can [and should] view here). The real treat on the single, however, is the ‘Motts frantic, rollicking cover of Franz Ferdinand’s modern classic, “Take Me Out”, recorded on the Live Lounge and available for download below.

MP3: “Take Me Out” - Guillemots

Finally, the Blag Party remix/cover project that’s underway over at Blog Party has produced pretty mixed results so far (though the acoustic “Banquet” cover is awesome), but this electro-pop cover of “Like Eating Glass” is pretty great.

MP3: “Like Eating Glass” – Tempera[mental]

AND EVEN MORE REMIX HOTNESS
We’re only two weeks in and 2007 is already shaping up to be an even better year for remixes than ’06 was, which is no small feat to say the least. We’ve already got those Erol Alkan and SebastiAn remixes of “Golden Skans” sitting at the top of the pile, but Hadouken!’s indie-grime reworking of “The Prayer”, South Central’s obliteration of the Maccabees “X-Ray”, and Girl Talk’s mashtastic remix of Grizzly Bear’s “Knife” ain’t nothin’ to fuck with either.

MP3s:
“The Prayer” (Hadouken! Remix) – Bloc Party ((highly recommended))
“X-Ray” (South Central Remix) – The Maccabees
“Knife” (Girl Talk Remix) – Grizzly Bear (via P-Fork)

And as long as we’re on the topic of Hadouken! (as in Ryu’s signature move in Street Fighter – I know, awesome band name), I might as well throw up their bomb-ass take on “Atlantis To Interzone” as well, though the quality leaves a bit to be desired.

MP3: “Atlantis To Interzone” (Hadouken! Remix) – Klaxons

Yeah, that’s all for now. Stay tuned though, I promise these lists are almost done.

So, HUGE bummer two weeks ago (almost on par with Sunday’s humiliating Redskins loss at the hands of the Titans) when I got all pumped to see Regina Spektor for the second time this year at DC’s 9:30 Club, only to get there to find it sold out. You see, I had no money on my credit card (and no way to get money on it at short notice since there isn’t a JP Morgan branch in Charlottesville), so I couldn’t get a ticket in advance, and since it wasn’t sold out when I left I figured as long as I got there by doors I had a pretty decent chance of getting a ticket, even if I had to get it from a scalper outside. Also, it was my mom’s birthday the next day so I figured I’d bring her present up with me and surprise her if I couldn’t get into the show. With the always-lovely Jia Tolentino as my co-pilot we made record-setting time on the first half of the commute, but ran into standstill traffic just 10 miles outside of DC, in which we stagnated for two hours before finally making it to the venue as she was taking the stage, and suffice it to say, the show was sold out and I was too late to even get any scalper loving. Fortunately, Jia had a ticket and was able to meet up with her other friends inside and enjoy the show. I was able to persuade her to do a brief recap of the evening’s events, which you’ll find below. For once you get to read a review on here that’s concise, to the point and not ridiculously long-winded; rejoice!

“Watching Regina Spektor is like playing with a kitten - a musically brilliant, adorable kitten. After every song of her October 3rd performance at the 9:30 Club, Spektor sort of nuzzled herself and smiled winsomely, immediately leading the crowd to yell “I love you!” and “You’re so fucking cute!” and “Hey, play Samson!” (which she did, eventually.) Playing with a bassist, guitarist, and faux-hawked drummer who all contributed back-up vocals, Spektor’s set was unusually lively, upping the ante notably on “That Time,” “On the Radio,” and “Sailor Song.” Her encore, which was just her solo at the keyboard, turned into a fittingly adorable sing-along when she urged the sold-out house to sing with an enthusiastic “Come on, people!” Spektor sang “Us,” “Ghost of Corporate Future,” “Fidelity,” “Samson,” and brought the band back on for her last song, which I can’t remember because - to be perfectly honest - I was high. I feel like she’d be cool with that, though. I’m still convinced she wrote “Ghost of Corporate Future” on shrooms.”

Yeah, that sounds good and all, but I got to do something nice for my mom, which I don’t really do nearly enough (unless of course throwing parties at your parents’ respective houses and getting caught on a regular basis is now considered doing something nice for your parents, I’ve been slacking in that department). One of the casualties of that June hiatus I went on was that I didn’t get to review the secret Regina Spektor show I attended at the Oren-Santz church, the oldest (and most beautiful) church in Manhattan. The incredible venue yielded one of the most amazing and unique concert experiences of my life. Unlike her 9:30 Club show, Regina played solo, alone at her piano in front of the 50 or so awestruck concetgoers in attendance, and the natural acoustics of the venue were just unbelievable. Suffice it to say, it was majestic as shit. Loose Record was at the same show and wrote up a nice review, but if even if you’re not big on words (in which case I have no idea how you made it this far), you should definitely make sure to check out their stunning pictures of the show to get an idea just how unbelievable the scene was. Aside from the sheery beauty of the venue, another awesome factor was the open bar, and since I guess they assumed everyone in attendance was over 21, things worked out quite nicely for me in that regard. I’d just picked up her new album at the time, Begin To Hope, which Everett and I were both obsessed with (documented here in Evro’s artist profile of Regina) and pretty much still are, so all of the new songs were an obvious highlight, as well as her incredible solo rendition of “Us” and a song I hadn’t heard before, which I’ve since come to discover is called “Baby Jesus”. Unavailable on any album, the song sees Regina at her most playful and showing off her most whimsical vocal acrobatics ever. Fortunately, I was able to track down an extremely high quality recording of Regina Spektor’s 2005 show at the Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh, Scotland, which features Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls (for whom Regina was opening at the show) on “Uh-Merica”. It’s a fairly pristine recording, and Regina performs solo just as I saw her in NYC this summer, so it’s an added bonus that you get to here their songs in their most intimate and stripped-down versions.

SOUND QUALITY: B+

Regina Spektor, Live @ The Cabaret Voltaire: DOWNLOAD .ZIP [follow link]
01. “Talking Intro”
02. “8 Miles High”
03. “Pound of Flesh/Ezra Pound”
04. “Sailor Song”
05. “The Flowers”
06. “In Another Town”
07. “Dance Anthem of the 80s”
08. “Names and Faces”
09. “That Time”
10. “Mermaid”
11. “Apres Moi”
12. “On the Radio”
13. “Poor Little Rich Boy”
14. “Carbon Monoxide”
15. “Consequence of Sound”
16. “Fidelity”
17. “UH-Merica” (w/ Amanda Palmer)
18. “Samson”
19. “Us”
20. “Baby Jesus” ((highly recommended))

You can grab some more Regina mp3s by checking out Everett’s profile of her from last May here, or hit up the Hype Machine for more. Below is “Us”, my favorite Regina track, as well as a surprisingly excellent remix of the song courtesy of mc DJ of Illin’ Noise fame, with “That Time”, my new favorite track on Begin To Hope, just thrown in for good measure. As one final bonus I’m also reposting below Regina’s 2003 b-side collaboration with the Strokes, originally posted in Everett’s artist profile and titled “Modern Girls And Old Fashioned Men”.

MP3s:
“Us” - Regina Spektor ((highly recommended))
“Us” (mc DJ Remix) - Regina Spektor
“That Time” - Regina Spektor ((highly recommended))
“Modern Girls And Old Fashioned Men” (ft. Regina Spektor) - The Strokes

Shit, I really can’t get enough of this girl… here’s “Samson” as well. “Samson” was originally featured on Regina’s Songs album, but has been reprised on Begin To Hope because it’s just so amazing. With glossier production and the classy addition of strings, the new version doesn’t differ greatly from the original out side of these touches and some altered lyrics, but it’s still the best song Regina’s ever written and will benefit from the exposure gained by its inclusion on Hope, as otherwise it might remain forever buried in obscurity on her much lesser-known Songs.

Bonus MP3: “Samson” - Regina Spektor ((highly recommended))

NOTE: Sorry there are no pictures, Bank of America Pavillion was all “No Cameras” and we didn’t want to get our shit jacked so we obliged.

Anyone whose been reading this website for any time at all can pretty much immediately discern that my favorite band is far and away Bloc Party, and for this reason I already knew Bloc’s show in Boston two nights ago would be one of my all-time favorites before it even happened. However, it was a longer journey than usual to get to the venue, as we had to take the ferry over to the mainland from Martha’s Vineyard before driving about an hour to Boston to get to the Bank of America Pavillion, which proved to be my favorite large-scale venue I’ve ever attended and a pretty great environment for Bloc Party’s anthemic, fist-pumping angular guitar-rock. With me were my favorite trio of indie girls, the always-lovely Merry, India, and Lizzy, and despite a glaring lack of testosterone outside of that which was supplied by me (which is to say, not much), we had a fucking splendid time.

As anticipated, the band did not dissappoint, ripping through every track I’d wanted to hear from Silent Alarm as well as two amazing tracks from their upcoming and as-yet-untitled sophomore album, “Waiting For The 7.18″ and the incredible “Uniform”. While I’m extremely upset I didn’t get to hear “Hunting For Witches” (another new track that’s seen some exposure in live settings) as the audiences the next two nights in New Jersey and Brooklyn did, I’ll settle for what was, with the exception of the inclusion of “Tulips” over “Little Thoughts”, essentially the perfect Bloc Party setlist. Kele and co. even hooked us up with “Two More Years”, the exclusion of which from the band’s Intonation setlist last month nearly reduced Lizzy and I to inconsolable messes at the time, as well as set-closer “The Pioneers”, another phenomenal track we missed out on last time around.

More and more, Kele is proving himself to be one of the most intelligent and charismatic frontmen in indie rock, and at no point was this more apparent than when a surely-inebriated prototypically-surly Bostonian in a Red Sox jersey jumped up on the corner of a stage and started clapping and drunkenly-dancing in front of the audience during “Price of Gasoline” in the encore. Rather than letting the security guards take care of the man, Kele walked over and put his arm around him while still singing, and brought him over to the mic to share lead vocals on the chorus with him, before leaving the man to take over vocals on his own. When the guy had difficulty keeping up with the words, Kele gently led him over to Gordy’s mic to take over on the much more simplistic backing vocals (just grunting “ugh” every other second or so). Afterwards Kele took the man aside and they shared a laugh about something before the certainly overwhelmed fan returned to the audience. It was certainly interesting to see Okereke, who wrote such a scathingly-anti-American song as “Helicopter” (with it’s “stop being so American” lyrics), embrace a fan so obnoxious and stereotypically-American as this dude was in his drunken grandeur, but this sequence of events was a true testament to his charisma and ability to work a crowd as a rock and roll frontman.

Bloc Party is in a very exciting place right now as a band, and their next album should elevate them to an entire new level of popularity and critical acclaim. With Silent Alarm the band garnered nearly unanimous critical praise but also gained the band a lot of haters who called the group Gang of Four knock-offs and accused them of being just another run-of-the-mill guitar rock band trying to cash in on the dance rock fad. However, with their new album Bloc are trying to shake such accusations (”dance punk will not be a noose around our neck”, Kele said in a recent interview) and have traded in their danceable, angular guitar riffs for much a much more languorous, morose sound like that first hinted at on “Two More Years”. In fact, with the exception of possibly “Hunting For Witches”, there’s nary a single track that’s 100% danceable the entire way through, as the lion’s share of the songs are either much slower-paced, moody affairs all the way through or follow the formula established by “So Here We Are”, in which the song starts out slow and builds to furious climax before it’s completion, as can be seen in both “Waiting For The 7.18″ and “Uniform”. Peep the setlist from the show below, and download the best-available live versions of the new songs as well as two rare acoustic tracks taken from the Pioneers CD-single while your down there as well.

Bloc Party, Live @ Bank of America Pavillion 7.28.06:
01. “Waiting For The 7.18″
02. “Positive Tension”
03. “Banquet”
04. “Blue Light”
05. “She’s Hearing Voices”
06. “Uniform”
07. “This Modern Love”
08. “Like Eating Glass”
09. “So Here We Are”
10. “Helicopter”

Encore:
11. “Two More Years”
12. “Price of Gasoline”
13. “Tulips”
14. “The Pioneers”