First of all, I love this picture because you can see the whole band. What I love about Electrelane is that they write amazing songs which they count and play perfectly, while barely expending any obvious effort to do so. It’s as if they feel each change instintively. Mia Clarke touches her guitar and it sends off squalls of feedback. It’s hypnotizing watching each note fall perfectly into place. While I was transfixed by their Irving Plaza show, it didn’t feel quite as high every as when I saw them in Paris. They are such a confident band though, they don’t fail to rock and it’s great because when you look at them together, they do not make the kind of music one might stereotypically expect. However, perhaps one can not say that music made by a group of four ladies could have any stereotypical sound. I think the history of women making music, and especially rock and punk, shows that quite clearly. On a personal note, the lyrics to their song “To The East” resonate quite a bit lately, “If you said these words, I’d come to you, where you are, it’s too hard to be apart…”
Category Archives: Indie Rock
Electrelane’s Mia Clarke Shreds
Because seeing Electrelane once is definetly not enough, I had to go catch them again at Irving Plaza last week. Here is Mia Clarke playing her guitar and amp and drummer Emma Gaze. There are way more photos on flickr and I think they turned out better than the Paris ones because I basically glued myself to the stage for the evening!
Electrelane at La Cigale
and here’s the rest of the band…
Electrelane at La Cigale
We also got to see Electrelane at La Cigale, another incredible show. I’m looking forward to their show in NYC next week. This four lady band rocks, with each song building, ebbing and flowing in a really powerful way. As with the time I saw them 2 years ago, they are an extremely “togther” band, each song falls together perfectly. The crowd LOVED them and 2 gay dudes totaly started a mosh pit, something I was glad I was not a part of. I thought there might be a kind of riot when the club would not let Electrelane come on for a second encore. I was suprised that they didn’t play more songs from their new album “No Shouts, No Calls,” which is one of my favorite new albums of late.
Nouvelle Vague at the Rex
Seeing Nouvelle Vague was exciting and strange. They were not quite as bossa nova as we expected, but they did put on a fantastic show. Being the New Order and Joy Division fanatic that I am, of course I felt vindicated hearing their versions of “Blue Monday” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” I have noticed that cell phones have replaced lighters as lighted things to wave during rock ballads, which is pretty funny. I also found it strange that Nouvelle Vague has been covering super-mainstream 80’s songs and songs that are not at all from the 80’s (like Os Mutantes “Baby”). G. and I came up with a list of bands they could cover, like: Television, Orange Juice, Talking Heads, Ramones, Gang of Four, it could go on…
Perils at 169 Bar
This past week Perils played our first show in too many months down in Chinatown. Despite being wildly different from the other bands that played that night and a little nervous, it felt great to play a show for our friends. What felt really cool was friends from Portland, Maine and OR were in attendence, making me feel like there was some kind of history and continuity to my music making. It also made me feel like the ties I have forged through creating music and art are strong and enduring and that is really rewarding. Hopefully Perils will have some more shows coming up, so check out our myspace profile to find out.
The Louse at Crash Mansion
I like this photo of The Louse because it almost manages to catch the fact that they really were rocking out and are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands to go out and see. Their songs are really tight and well done. It’s hard to capture music in photos or in words really and I have to say I’m not a great rock writer or photographer, but well, that doesn’t stop me from wanting to share the great bands I go see in the hopes that soon some small part of the world will know they are in fact, great, and go see them too.
Bottom Bracket at Crash Mansion
So apparently their set was all improvised with the idea of keeping each song to 3 minutes. However, there were vocals and everything sounded like a recognizable “song” to me. Pretty fucking amazing in my mind and totaly rockin’. If you want to know what kind of Bottom Bracket they are, well, you’ll have to visit my myspace page… hopefully they’ll be playing with Perils in the not-so-distant future. But seriously, this band is good and you don’t have to be a bike or music nerd to enjoy them (though you’re cooler if you’re any kind of nerd at a rock show and at a show where bands of people who work in museums play, well, you know there will be a few nerds around). While I’m on a tangent about nerdiness, earlier that night I learned about Bronze Disease and how to stop it from an objects conservator. That’s pretty fucking cool if you ask me.
The Shondes as Brooklyn Lyceum
Last Friday The Shondes played in the historic and cavernous Brooklyn Lyceum. Due to troubles with a rock show there the previous week (or something…) they had to keep the noise below 90 decibles, but they still sounded awesome, energetic and passionate and I could finally hear everything- violin, vocals, all of it! Visit their website at http://www.shondes.com for more information about their upcoming shows.
Full Tank at Rocks in Your HEad
Full Tank are always so generous with Perils, inviting us to play shows and posting sweet things about us online. They also rock in a major way. Whenever I am stuck on the train I sing their song “stupid subway won’t you go, stupid subway go, go, go!”
Killerfemme 