Irving Plaza: Electrelane and The Blow

Greetings and salutations from Boulder, Colorado. I'm back home visiting family and as my car doesnt work and I am stuck in the house, so I decided I should get some blogging done. I'm starting to realize I think about blogging alot more than I actually post them. On the plane ride here I was editing blog posts in my head that I had been meaning to post for days. So, now I'm trying to remedy this.

Tuesday night was the Electrelane and The Blow show that I kept talking about. I thought I was an Electrelane fan before but now Im a total convert. They were better than I ever would have expected live. And, can I just say, I have never in my life seen a girl look more f#$!ing bad ass in a dress than lead guitarist Mia Clarke. Hard as I tried I couldn't come up with a pic to illustrate exactly what I mean. But here's a shot of her last year wearing a Ramones shirt... just as good. Choice in clothing aside, Clarke's guitar prowess really surprised me. Mind you I knew the band was good but I wasn't expecting to leave the show with another guitar hero. Whether it be delivering a deliciously clever and complicated riff, banging the guitar into her amp to create feedback noise, or coaxing it into a madcap run of scratches and wails, she did not for a second crack that calm exterior you see above. Which of course made the bad-assery all the more awesome. And yes, I did just say bad-assery. Verity Susman also impressed me with her multi-instrumental talents. She seemed just as comfortable behind the guitar as she did the keyboard and approached them both with a sort of barely contained ferocity. She was especially impressive behind the keyboard durring the first few songs, and I couldnt tell whether to look at her or Clarke.

Khaela Maricich of The Blow, was also a force to behold as she preformed without her recording partner Jona Bechtolt. It takes serious nerve to get up on stage by yourself without even an instrument to hide behind and entertain a group of people not necissarily there to see you. But of course, that is exactly what she did. She was funny, exuberantly quirky, and never stopped moving. She was so good in fact I almost really just dont know what to say. So instead here's a clip of the genius at work from a show in seattle earlier this year.

In my search for more info I came across this really good article about the blow from Fader magazine, that contains some really nice photos (like this one) of the band taken by Jason Nocito. Jason Nocito. So check that out.

In summation the only thing missing from the evening was our dear Tender Forever. Seems to me that would have made it a perfect concert. But we can't have it all and it was DAMN good anyway. Also I promise to start ranting about more than just these four bands. Really I do.