Pulp – Common People

Photo: Andrew D. Keller

It was an excellent show tonight at the Bell House. I think she noticed that I knew pretty much all the words to all the songs. It was her first show in the US! It was a big excited crowd and a warm welcome.

Update 4/7 Ok so obviously she noticed. From her blog:

I had 2 sold out shows in new york which may have been the most enjoyable experiences of my life.

I think this is a pretty good review of Marina & the Diamonds’ debut album: it notes the Dresden Dolls influence (particularly evident in this song) and makes the following observation:

But it’s her taste for the bleeding obvious which, ultimately, holds her back from greatness. … It’s this kind of route-one thinking which reins in The Family Jewels … the song about being an outsider is called “The Outsider”. The song about being rootless is called “Rootless.” The song about feeling numb is called… OK, you’re ahead of me.

Indeed! (And that’s another similarity with Amanda Palmer.) But there’s something wonderfully, obscenely uncensored about this obviousness. Like the video for her single Hollywood. Because yep! There can be no doubt from the look on her face that she, Marina Diamandis, is indeed obsessed with the mess that is America.

I hope she’s looking forward to her upcoming dates in NYC. We are very much looking forward to seeing her.

Marina & the Diamonds – Are You Satisfied?

The song below is the B Side on her Obsessions single which appears only to be available on 7″ vinyl in the US. I think it is for sale on CD in the UK though, so I recommend you fly there and get it.

Anyway, I love this song—reminds me of Lene Lovich kinda—but I was reading her blog and was v disappointed to learn that she must be colorblind or something because how could she be so wrong about the colors of the numbers? I must set the record straight and prevent this misinformation from spreading.

Three- Green (SO fucking green) ORANGEY BROWN
Four- Purple [CORRECT]
Five- Red [CORRECT]
Six- Blue SILVER
Seven- Gold/ Yellow WHAT?! BLUE
Eight- Deep Purple BROWN
Nine- Brown GOLD
Ten- Black YELLOW
Eleven- Silver NO COLOR

Also, she didn’t cover these, but

One- BLACK
Two- WHITE

Marina & the Diamonds – Mowgli’s Road

(via Georgia)

Wire is a mini revelation for me.  I found out about their albums Pink Flag and Chairs Missing in Pitchfork Media’s 100 Best Albums of the 1970s.

Wire – Reuters
Wire – Mannequin

They have a wonderful minimal punk sound.  It’s atmospheric but with attitude, not empty.  It turns out they wrote The 15th, the Fischerspooner track that I posted about here.

The photographer above has a bunch of fantastic photos on this site, as well as a  show at Etherea on Ave A which runs through next week.

Last Friday night, I was told I was like “Adam Ant.  You know, ‘don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do you do?’” Well, that got me started thinking about all the other ways I’m like Adam Ant, namely

• I wear makeup to emphasize my cheekbones
• I have a braid coming down in front with a little ribbon
• I spend all my cash on looking flash
• My wardrobe is like Bladerunner meets The Scarlet Pimpernel

The only difference between us, really, is that I didn’t write these amazing hit songs, and he did:

Adam & the Ants – Stand and Deliver
Adam & the Ants – Antmusic
Adam & the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier

I’m not sure why you don’t hear people trying this ‘Burundi beat’ more in their pop songs.  Oh wait, you do:

Ok Go – Don’t Ask Me

In a futile attempt to return this blog to respectability after the last post (it’s probably better if you never download that last song), here’s a classic:

The Small Faces – Itchycoo Park

I love this.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces that they’re inducting the Sex Pistols, and in response they get called a ‘piss stain.’  Rock!