Last time I caught Ladytron, I was surrounded by hundreds of women getting their makeup done and getting glamor shots. This past Wednesday, I managed to catch Ladytron again under more normal circumstances. The show was good, though it was pretty obvious that their older songs had a more butt shaking simplicity to them that really got the crowd going (as going as New York crowds get at concerts).

I did by their new album Velocifero the next morning, so… maybe it’ll grow on me.

The real standout for me, though, was the opening act: Data Rock. I gotta remember to check these matching red tracksuit wearing guys out and perhaps catch them again sometime. (The drummer was especially awesome!)

(images by ananawa)

Thanks to my woman, I caught the Barcardi sponsored B-Live event at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn on Saturday night. Thanks to a nice guy in line and some smooth talking, we enjoyed the show from the VIP lounge with a great view, no overcrowding and free Bacardi. Awwwwwww, yeah!

Talib Kweli was amazing this time around (none of the voice issues from last time), although I got the feeling that the crowd wasn’t really there to see him. The headliner they were there to see, Sean Paul, was terrible. He looked stoned out of his mind and was completely incapable to moving the crowd. Bam! Bam!

I gotta remember to keep this woman, she takes me to some cool shows.

So, my woman came through again with concert tickets to see Sia (bizarre site!) at Hiro. Although I dug Sia when she was in Zero 7 and somewhat enjoyed what I had heard from her since going solo, I wasn’t particularly excited since I expected the show to be super mellow and possibly even boring… I was certainly wrong!

My crappy iPhone capture above, shows how the band came out to start the show in crazy blacklight getups. It was trippy and fun and when they were done with the first song, Sia mentioned that she hoped no one had eaten mushrooms before the show. They then went into a great set of mostly new, unreleased songs off of her upcoming album called “Some People Have Real Problems” punctuated by Sia’s quirky and often dirty nonsequiters between songs.

First she introduced us to some seemingly random kid that joined her on stage for a couple songs. Another time, she dug around in her bra to retrieve a tooth that had been recently removed from the guitarist’s mouth. Another time, she managed to remember the names of 7 or 8 fans she had met before the show giving them all shout-outs. And yet another time, she offered to felate a member of the audience.

Sia was extremely fun and despite the fact that her voice was rough, the show was great. My favorite part was probably when she announced that she hates the ideas of encores, so she would do a “fake encore” by telling us that she would pretend to go off stage then come back so we could all get the feeling without the nonsense. This involved her hiding her face behind her hands while we clapped, then peaking out over them to begin the last song. Fantastic.

I should remember to catch her again sometime and hope that her voice is in better shape.

Since yesterday was so gorgeous, the woman and I decided to hit Habana Outpost for some environmentally friendly food and frozen margaritas. While there, we ran into a couple of friends who explained that the bass booming in the distance was coming from the “First Annual” Fort Green Fest. We hadn’t heard of it, but they said Talib Kweli would be performing, so we went to check it out.

The park was pretty full of a fantastically diverse crowd. There was a decent sized ring of vendors with a surprisingly good sounding stage on one end. Unfortunately, the performers seemed as though they would have been more comfortable in a small club with everyone’s undivided attention as opposed to the wide open space they needed to fill with energy. One act, Liz something, even tried to teach the crowd about phonics… It didn’t go over well.

By the time Talib came on stage, people were dying for him. Unfortunately, I gotta say, he wasn’t as hot on stage as he is on wax. His voice, normally high-pitched and somewhat nasally (giving him a unique sound) was horse and scratchy. One very cool moment for me, though, was when he performed Old School from the ultra-geeky Dangerdoom album: The Mouse and The Mask. People who had known all the words to all the other tracks he’d been performing seemed to have never heard this fantastic song before. The worst part, though, was that they practically threw Talib and crew off the stage but turning down his mikes and music before his set was done. Lame.

I should remember to see whether it makes it to a second annual gig.

Last night my woman took me to see A Camp at Union Hall. Union Hall’s music space is teeny-tiny making the show very intimate. I had never heard any A Camp music, but I’ve been a big Cardigans fan since Gran Turismo. So I was hoping for some great tunes and Nina delivered with a collection of light in sound, but heavy in message tunes that’s got me looking to pick up an album from them.

I should try to remember to catch a full-blown Cardigans show some time.

Update: Better photos here from the annoying guy right in front of us who wouldn’t stop taking pictures.

Back when I heard Siamese Dreams for the first time, I was blown away. Mixed with an almost magical post high-school graduation summer, it cemented itself permanently into not just my musical tastes, but somehow into my very personality. It’s hard to explain. Anyway, when I discovered the previous album Gish while in college, it became official: Smashing Pumpkins had become my favorite band of all time.

Then came the wave of b-sides and the fantastic bootleg performances some of which I still quote to this day: “I hear you and I’m getting the message!” It was some kind of perfect musical mirror for my life as my world expanded further and further out from the tiny island I grew up on where I first heard Today. Towards the tail end of this period I even ran into James Iha at a house party out in Brooklyn where… uhm… nefarious activities took place. All these things continued to build up the band in my mind.

Then one day… they just didn’t matter anymore.

Yeah, I bought Adore and enjoyed it, but something had changed. When Machina came out, I didn’t even bother picking it up and to this day, I don’t think I’ve listened to the whole thing.

Now, Smashing Pumpkins returns with an album pompously entitled Zeitgeist. I downloaded it yesterday, turned up the speakers, and blasting it, tried to re-open myself to the experience of bombastic drumming, fuzzy guitars and Billy Corgan’s eclectic vocals.

I have to admit, it rocked (especially tracks like United States and Tarantula).

It almost got me back to the magic I used to feel for the band… Almost. I don’t know. Some small thing was missing. Was that small thing missing from me and not from the music? Maybe.

Without a doubt, Zeitgeist is Smashing Pumpkins best album since Melon Collie, but that’s not saying much.  I should try to remember Smashing Pumpkins as the band I loved in the 90’s (complete with D’arcy and James Iha), not worry too much about the band they’ve become, and just enjoy these new tracks for what they are: some damn good rock songs.

I can sum up this concert in one word: embarrassing.

I was embarrassed for the entire crowd that sat down through the performance. (Since when did that become OK!?) I was embarrassed for Feist who seemed to grow more and more frustrated with a crowd that wouldn’t participate in her singalongs, whistlealongs or clapalongs. And finally, I was embarrassed that the opening act Grizzly Bear was so unbelievably whiny and annoying that they literally drove me from my seat to purchase a $6 shot portion of cheap wine (the jug it came from probably cost $6) from the extremely overpriced bar selling drinks you couldn’t even bring into the performance area. I simply couldn’t take any more of their unbearably mind-numbing whining!

Of course, my reaction may have been in the minority judging from the review of the show on Brooklyn Vegan.

I need to remember never to buy tickets to that venue again… Oh, and steer as clear as humanly possibly of Grizzly Bear. (Damn, I hated that band.)

(Photo by brooklyn heathen)

Thanks to my woman, I caught Bloc Party waaaay uptown on 175th street at a new venue called the United Palace Theater last night… and this morning woke up appropriately singing I Still Remember to myself.

The funny thing is, I was expecting the show to be terrible. The location was super far away, I’d never heard of the place, it was billed as a seated affair (The seats which my woman had turned out to be excellent, but who wants to sit?), I hadn’t loved Bloc Party when I saw them last year in McCarren pool (despite loving their first album), and, to be honest, I haven’t been too into Weekend in the City.

As it turned out, all those worries were wasted. The trek up there was quick on the A train (although the train home took forever), the venue (a semi-converted church) was absolutely gorgeous with gold trimming to spare, no one bothered sitting, and Bloc Party made all the wimpier songs off their new album rock to the point where pieces of the ceiling were falling down on them! It was a ton of fun and I left there dripping sweat from jumping around almost their entire set.

Björk plays the United Palace Theater next month and although I haven’t heard anything from her new album yet, just imagining her live in that bizarre space makes me feel like the show would be fantastic. I need to remember to try and find tickets for under $500. (Damn scalpers!)

Additionally, I need to remember to give a listen to Albert Hammond, Jr’s album Yours to Keep. I really enjoyed his opening set.

(Image: Bloc Party @ United Palace Theater, originally uploaded by tammylo.)

After reading about The Kings of Reggae compilation CD on Cool Hunting, I headed over to Amazon and pre-ordered it. Arriving this morning, I was mildly amused by the fact that I hadn’t purchased a physical CD in quite a while.

Anyway, I popped it in and have been putting my office subwoofer through its paces all morning. Some of the jams are true gems I could never have identified by name, but remember enjoying way back when during my childhood in the islands. If you’re looking for something to push the dreary days of winter away, you could do mutch worse than this killer 2 disc set.

I need to remember to load this up on my iPod for the next time I head down to the islands.

Ladytron at Capitale, originally uploaded by mmeltdown.

The show last night was a ton of fun. Ladytron sounded even better live and since the event was put on by Camel with them trying to get women to try their new Camel 9 brand, it was wall to wall women! Which is always nice.

I should remember to keep an ear out for more of these special concerts seeing as how great this one and that Gnarls Barkley one last year were.