The Raveonettes with Black Acid at The Black Cat

Three sold out concerts in a row in DC- I'm tired today.
Last night I went to see Danish band The Raveonettes at the Black Cat main stage.
The openers were a British band Black Acid whose style reminded me of old British metal of the 70's and 80's. They were actually very entertaining for me- the lead singer had on tight white pants and a sleazy voice.
I love the new album by the Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust. It's their best to date- part Jesus & Mary Chain and part Angelo Badelamenti. In concert, they were really great. Their music needs to be heard really loud because of the feedback and noise made by their guitars- they remind me of the house band in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
I was standing right in front of singer-guitarist Sharin Foo- she looked cool with her really blond hair, dark mascara and blue eyes. I also liked how their drummer only had 2 drum and a cymbal. One highlight of the concert was when they did a cover of Stereolab's "French Disko".

Stephen Malkus & The Jicks with John Vanderslice at the 9:30 Club

Friday night, went to the 9:30 club to see Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks perform in a sold out show. Wonder why he didn't come to Baltimore because it's a title of a song on his new album. Oh well.
The opener was John Vanderslice, who I had heard of, but not actually heard before. Not too bad- he had nice songs and his band was good. He gave props to vegetarian Chinese restaurant Vegetable Garden in Rockville.
This was my first time seeing Malkmus outside of Pavement. Janet Weiss formerly of Sleater-Kinney was also his drummer. They were really good- I still love Malkmus' quirky lyrics combined with his always interesting guitar sound.
He is definitely a big nerd- I recall a reference to the word "Frak" during the show.

Xiu Xiu with Thao Nguyen at the Black Cat

The backstage area of the Black Cat was soldout last night for arty rock band Xiu Xiu and former DC musician currently getting a bit of internet buzz, Thao Nguyen.
Opening up was musician Chris Garneau, a musician who sang low key breathy pop songs accompanied by organ and cello. I was not a huge fan of his songs, and I wished he hadn't played so many songs with the exact same pace and mood.
Clearly the show was sold out because of fans of former local musician Thao Nguyen with The Get Down Stay Down. She was alright- the band had a lot of energy. Similar to musicians like Feist, she reminds me of Cat Power with less angst. I understand her appeal, and I though she put on a good show, but not quite my cup of tea.
Xiu Xiu still blows me away when I see them live. I appreciate how serious they are about their music, and despite half the room clearing out before they started, they were still impressive. Jamie Stewart is a really interesting frontman - his voice is very impassioned, and his guitar playing is interesting.

The Pogues at the Rams Head

Last week, I was lucky again to see The Pogues on their US Tour before St. Patrick's day. This time, they came to Baltimore!
Shane looked better than any other time I've seen him- this time he was upright, and I actually understood 90% of his speech. It was also good to see Phil Chevron play as he was treated for cancer last year.
As a tribute to The Wire, Spider Stacey dedicated "The Body of an American" to Mcnulty, and then asked for no one to give anything away about the last episode.
As usual, the band was on point- the sound at the Rams Head had the best sound of all the times I've seen the band play.
For the finale, when they played "Fiesta", Shane joined Spider in bashing his head with a tray. I hope they decide to come back to Baltimore next year.

Conservatory Avant-Garde Ensemble at Peabody

Last weekend, went to the Peabody Conservatory to see the Conservatory Avant-Garde Ensemble perform George Crumb's "Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)". This was the first time I went to a concert at Peabody, and I was really impressed. The space, the sound, all were impeccable. I loved hearing the Crumb piece performed live.
In addition, they also performed a piece by Peabody student, Amy Beth Kirsten entitled "For a Dream's Sake" (pictured) which was really nice- I particularly liked the vocal part of the composition.
They also performed "Mugam Sayagi" by female Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh.

Matmos at Floristree Space

Last night, went to Floristree to see recent Baltimore transplants, Matmos play a benefit concert for the Transmodern Age art festival.
Despite a noisy crowd during their set, I enjoyed my first time seeing them play their music. It was definitely part performance as well. They started the set with a video projector during the song "Rainbow Flag".
During their song, "Rose and Teeth for Ludwig Wittgenstein", they had two guys drum using bunches of roses, and in the following song, "Germs Burn for Darby Crash", they shaved a guy's hair into a mohawk.

Cornelius at the 9:30 Club

This past weekend, I went to 9:30 club to see Japanese musician Cornelius play.
After eating some great soul food and bearing the set of a Medeski, Martin & Wood-inspired jam duo, Cornelius and his groups came on stage. They started with a large sheet in front of the stage- soon a video projection started introducing the show as the "Sensuous Synchronous Show". Then after seeing band members' silhouettes backlit on the sheet, it dropped down to reveal the band playing.
Cornelius and his band were really good. They changed music styles with great ease- from pop to ambient to metal to disco.
His video show though was pretty spectacular and, as promised, completely in sync with the music. Highlights included a video that started looking like sound waves, but was in actuality flowing water filmed sideways. I also liked another video that had a hand walking around a room.
Cornelius was also very engaging with the audience: he pulled a kid onstage to play the theremin, and he also passed a sampler with large buttons into the front row of the audience to play.
He put on a great show.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings at TLA

This past weekend, we went up to Philly to the TLA for a Daptone Records showcase of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Opening up were label mates, the Budos Band. They played African jazz like the stuff from the Ethiopiques series. Groovy and fun for about 3 songs. The band reminded me of a bunch of band geeks, but they knew how to play.
See Sharon Jones onstage was amazing. She was small, about 5 foot tall, but so much energy. Her voice was spectacular, and boy did she dance on stage. Her style is so retro without any preludes towards kitsch. It was a fun night.

F'n Cartoon Nips

Funny Montreal Signage

The Thermals with Reporter at the Black Cat

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. More venues are not allowing personal cameras- I saw Cat Power and Morrissey recently and they were cracking down hard on people with little cameras. Kind of sucks. Another show I went to, Feist at the Rams Head is viewable on MSN now. I'm the big head middle, towards the back.
So Saturday, went to the Black Cat to see The Thermals for the second time this year. Openers Reporter were pretty fun to see as well. Lead singer Alberta is friends with lickingpants and studioacorn, so I said hi to her at the merch table and wished her a happy birthday.
Didn't get as good a spot as last time to see The Thermals, but yet again, they were pretty great- high energy, fun music.

Patrick Wolf & Bishi at the Black Cat

Last night I went to the Black Cat to see Patrick Wolf play- it wasn't too crowded which was nice. Opening up was singer-sitar player Bishi from London. She mixed Indian music with a dance sound. Her voice was really nice, and it was fun watching her jam on the sitar. She mentioned her sitar teacher was in town but she was reluctant to have him see her as rock sitar is counter to what sitar is all about.
I was really happy to have had a chance to see Patrick Wolf. I've been following his music since Lycanthropy first came out. He is an amazing musician- playing guitar, viola, and keyboards. I wish his acccordion hadn't broke on the trip over.
He actually played a lot of songs from his earlier records- I got the impression he was burnt out on playing songs from The Magic Position.