Reni Lane and Beautiful Small Machines at Webster Hall

Posted on March 27, 2010 by CenterOrch

Reni Lane is ready.  Ready to rock out, not make out.  I was first introduced to Reni back in November at my friend Arjan’s SuperFraiche pop music showcase at Santo’s Party House, and again in Los Angeles in January with her new band.  Friday night marked Arjan’s fourth SuperFraiche installment at the Studio at Webster Hall, and the CD release party of Reni’s album, Ready.

After seeing Reni Lane perform Friday night, I’m impressed with how far she’s come.  She’s stronger, she’s matured, and she’s meshed well with her new band. The young Linda Perry protoge (Linda’s in the audience, btw) played every song off her new pop-rock album including her first single, “Place For Us,” and a beautiful stripped-down version of the song that first caught my ear, “Runaway Train.”  She opened her set and closed with an encore with “Even You.”  But my favorite is the honest and vulnerable “Never Be Another You.”  Good stuff!

Also featured was the electro-pop duo of Bree Sharp and DonDiLego, Beautiful Small Machines.   With one beat, I’m an automatic fan.  Bree has the face of Britney Spears, the voice of Sheryl Crow and an overall look that resembles my good friend, Christine!  Poppy, catchy, retro-future, and then there’s the tambourine.  I love a tambourine.  Go to iTunes and download their EPs, Simple Joys and The Robots in Love.  Favorites included their opener, “Simple Joys,” which was originally recorded with Duran Duran frontman, Simon LeBon.  “Robots in Love” is also a delicious hook of a song.  What’s with all the robot songs lately?  Marina & The Diamonds anyone?

Thank you, Arjan, for another great pop music showcase!  Keep ‘em coming!  I have perfect attendance!

Filed under: Beautiful Small Machines, Reni Lane | Leave a Comment »

Groove Armada at Webster Hall

Posted on March 26, 2010 by CenterOrch

I love a last-minute invitation to a concert!  My friends Ricardo and Greg had an extra ticket for U.K. electro-group Groove Armada, led by Andy Cato and Tom Findlay.  I always thought Groove Armada was more of a DJ group like Freemasons, but to my surprise they’ve dropped five or six LPs and a slew of EPs since the mid-’90s, including their new album, Black Light.

I’m in the middle of a sea of 20-something hipsters (man, I feel old)!   I’m intrigued with GA’s new front woman, the spunky, Robyn-esque SaintSaviour.  As the concert progressed, she gets better and better.  I love, love, love the song, “Time & Space,” which beautifully showcases her power vocals.  I don’t know who the guy was who performed four or five of GA’s songs while SaintSaviour was off-stage, but he was a big crowd pleaser.  Pretty cool show.

Filed under: Groove Armada | Leave a Comment »

Scissor Sisters at Bowery Ballroom

Posted on March 21, 2010 by CenterOrch

I got super lucky two weeks ago when I read on Facebook that a friend got tickets to a super special, super intimate Scissor Sisters show at Bowery Ballroom.  After sharing the pre-sale password with me, I quickly scored two tickets of my own!  (Thanks, Flint)!  First, I have to say that Bowery may be my new favorite venue in New York!  This is my first time here.

I first saw Scissor Sisters back in 2006 during their Ta-Dah tour in Atlanta, Georgia.  Flash-forward four years, and the Scissor Sisters are getting ready to drop their third studio album this summer, so the two shows at Bowery Ballroom previewed a number of new songs… I don’t know them, nor do I know the names of them!  So, I’ll just have to wait until I see them again to report on the new stuff…  But, I love that in Rolling Stone magazine, Jake Shears admits venturing to the “darkest clubs and steamiest sex parties in Germany” before starting work on this disc.  Wow.  This is going to be fun.

In addition to the new songs, Jake, the amazing Ana Matronic, Baby Daddy and my Scissor Sisters crush, Del Marquis, played a number of everyone’s favorites, including “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” “Tits on the Radio” (which featured Sandra Bernhard the night before) and closer “Filthy/Gorgeous.”  Super sexy Scissor Sisters.  Love them.

Filed under: Scissor Sisters | 2 Comments »

Let’s Hear it for New York. Let’s Hear it for Alicia Keys!

Posted on March 18, 2010 by CenterOrch

I love a good Clive Davis prodigy… and tonight I got to see one of his greatest, Ms. Alicia Keys.  The Hell’s Kitchen native (where I live in now) descends on Madison Square Garden with her Freedom tour, celebrating her fourth studio album, The Element of Freedom.

Before the show begins, I’m suspicious of the big stage, the big lights, the big production.  Where’s her piano?  She opens with “Live is Blind,” off her new album, and then appeases the hometown crowd quickly with her 2001 breakthrough hit, “Fallin.’”  Man, can Alicia Keys sing a song.  When she performs her “old soul” songs like “Fallin’,” chills are sent through my body.  But I’m still conflicted with the big production.  I keep thinking, how amazing would it be to see her perform in Joe’s Pub or somewhere tiny, cozy and intimate with just her and a piano?  Why is this trying to be a Beyonce show?

But then I settled down.  It’s my girl, Alicia!  And a sparkling bedazzled piano is finally rolled out onto the stage.  She proceeds with one of my favorite songs off new new album, “Wait Til You See My Smile.”  The falsetto “woooos” and the drums remind me of Carly Simon’s anthem “Let The River Run,” from Working Girl.  Alicia Keys is at her best when she’s just emoting with her voice and her fingers on that piano.  Then she belts out “If I Ain’t Got You.”  More and more chills.

Huge highlight of the show was “Put It In A Love Song,” which is Alicia’s answer to Beyonce’s “Put a Ring On It.”  In fact, it’s a duet on her new album, and I sort of love it.  It’s a fun, peppy, upbeat pop song… she’s such an old soul that I forget Alicia is just a girl in her twenties.  All of a sudden, who shows up?  “Hey, yo B!”  “What up, A?”  MSG goes into a Sasha FIERCE FRENZY!  Granted, Beyonce‘s appearance is less than two minutes long, but it felt like 30. “If you want me baby, work it out.  If you love me baby, work it out!”  They worked it out.  Outstanding.

Rounding out the show, she sticks close to her piano for mega hits, “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart,” “Superwoman” and her 2008 anthem, “No One.”  Every one of those songs was accompanied by 18,000 Alicia Keys backup singers.  And yes, including me!  Finally, she closes with the most anticipated song of the night, “Empire State of Mind,” particularly the stripped down, “broken down” version off Alicia’s CD.  “I’ve got a pocket full of dreams, baby I’m from New York.” 18,000 fans get it here.  Throw that on your iPod and walk around the streets of NYC.  The city becomes your own private music video!  Brilliant.  But then the stripped down version is over and it’s… oh, hell… it’s Jay-Z!  More frenzy.  It’s pretty damn cool to have both B and J make appearances to support their friend, A.  Only here.  Let’s hear it for New York.  Let’s hear it for Alicia Keys!

Alicia and Jay-Z on "Empire State of Mind"

Filed under: Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Jay-Z | 1 Comment »

Marina & The Diamonds Sparkle at U.S. Debut (Finally!)

Posted on March 16, 2010 by CenterOrch

It’s been over a year since I first heard Marina & The Diamonds’ “Obsessions” on YouTube, and her debut in the U.S. has been one of my most anticipated shows of 2010.  So how lucky am I that I got to see her perform TWICE this week!  Sunday night at the Bell House in Brooklyn, and again Monday night at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village.  Later this week, she descends on Austin, Texas, for the SXSW Festival.

Welsh-born Marina Diamandis is just 24-years-old and I’m in love her.  I’m just going to put that out there!  Her last name means “diamonds” from her Greek heritage, and she refers to her fans as The Diamonds, or her Jewels.  Apparently it’s not her band!  And Diamandis herself is so charming, so cute, and so complimentary of the New York crowd (even going as far as to say it’s better than London)!  Ok, she was pandering!

At both shows, she kicked off with “Girls,” off her brand new full-length album, The Family Jewels (out in the U.K. now and in the U.S. on May 25).  I just love her attitude:  “I look like a girl, but I think like a guy.”  Amazing.  Next, she plays “Seventeen,” which isn’t on her album, but has been floating about the Internet for over a year.  And then she kicked in “Oh No!” “The Outsider” and the eponymous, “I Am Not A Robot.”  Big, big, big crowd pleaser.

Then she slowed things down, gave her band a break and took to the keyboards herself with the beautiful and haunting ballad, “Numb.”  I was so impressed with the noticeably handsome crowd around me — both in Brooklyn and at LPR.  No one was talking.  It was perfectly quiet.  Everyone was fixated on the gorgeous Marina who sang her face off.   That’s pretty impressive to command the complete attention of a bar crowd.  Next, she sang “Obsessions,” the song that started it all.  At this point, I was reminded of how fortunate I am to see talent like Marina (for $12 nonetheless) before she explodes.  And she will.  I met a Brit named Stephanie at the Brooklyn gig and she said that when Marina returns to the U.K. after SXSW, she will have a nearly sold-out tour waiting for her.  Again, impressive!

But I digress.  Next up iswas the first single off her debut album, “Hollywood,” which has the most fun (and kitschy) lyrics of the set!!  “Hollywood infected my brain… living in a movie scene, puking American dreams… I’m obsessed with the mess that’s America.”  And you know what?  She does look like Catherine Zeta (but I don’t get Shakira).  I loved her Cheshire cat grin when she sang this song to her first American audiences.  It’s cool, Marina.  We get it.  And yes, we are a mess!  Thanks for noticing.  Then came “Shampain,” an ABBA cover.  LOVE it.  So fun.  And she closed with “Guilty,” and her encore, “Mowgli’s Road.”

I am no futurist, but I really, really hope Marina & The Diamonds makes it big!  She’s definitely seems to be the next big thing, alongside Ellie Goulding.  Her gorgeous looks, amazing body, killer vocals, delicious hooks and perfectly cute personality sum up the perfect package.  I will be up front and CenterOrch every time this girl comes to town.  Don’t miss her!

Filed under: Marina & The Diamonds | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

Hot Child! New In Town… Little Boots at Highline Ballroom

Posted on March 3, 2010 by CenterOrch

Tonight I was at one of my favorite music venues, Highline Ballroom in Chelsea, to see Victoria Christina Hesketh.  Better known as Little Boots, the evening marked the U.S. release of her debut album, Hands, which was released in the U.K. almost a year ago.  I immediately like anyone who draws inspiration for their name from the Roman Emperor Caligula, meaning “little soldier’s boot.”  Hesketh herself apparently has very small feet.  Hence, Little Boots.

A wonderful pop music discovery in 2009, Little Boots finally has her sights on conquering the U.S. as she kicks off her North America tour soon with another favorite of mine, Dragonette.  She graces the stage toward the back, wearing a sunglasses and black, shiny hooded robe, and sits at her keyboards and performs a relatively somber opening number, “Ghost.”  I overhear the people behind me say, “so GaGa!”  But she quickly drops the hood/robe combo and GaGa comparisons go out the window.  She dawns a really cute, super short gold lame dress and sings her hit, “New In Town.”  I’m right up close and I get a look  at her amazing shoes… I mean come on, one would expect amazing footwear when you call yourself Little Boots.

For the next hour, Little Boots covers most of the new material off Hands including “Symmetry,” “Meddle,” and the beautiful “Hearts Collide.”  The mega highlight for me was “Earthquake,” when Little Boots debuted her brand new “laser harp.”  Sooooo cool!  Other highlights included her closing song, “Remedy,” my personal fave off Hands, and an encore of “Stuck On Repeat,” both a stripped down acoustic version, and then full throttle.  The only songs I didn’t get to hear was “Not Now” and the Freddy Mercury-penned “Love Kills,” off her Illuminations EP.   “Love Kills” isn’t even on Hands.  Why??

I guess it doesn’t matter.  They’re all on iTunes now.  Catch Little Boots and Dragonette across the U.S. and Canada in the coming months.  She’s fantastic, a lot of fun and cute as can be.  I heart Little Boots!

Filed under: Little Boots | 1 Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.