Electrelane

* being an NJ resident, that might be worthy of having my license revoked or something.

but of course virtuosity don't matter much at all, so it wasn't just that: the setlist was awful. they would play one song with vocals, and then one long, instrumental jammy monstrosity, and then another vocal song. it gave the set NO momentum (NOmemtum), even though the audience ate up the jammy shit, even though they were only playing two motherfucking chords (i think the nearly all-female audience gave them the benefit of the doubt just cuz they were women; no way would a male band jerking off on stage like that have gotten any love, and rightfully so).

basically the impression i got was that the lead singer has been in many bands before, but all of them primarily men, where her talents were underutilized and she was, most likely, seen as Just The Girl. so now she has her own band with other women and she's trying hard but she's just way above their level. it was like seeing a high school band where you can tell one of them is gonna devote his/her life to music even if it means working in guitar center while the rest will move on to office jobs, cheap sex or drugs once the whole thing falls apart.

there wasn't any grace to their performance. the album works cuz it's understated and easy and mellow and stoned and all of those qualities. but live, they wanted to be THE ROCK BAND and holy fuck did they whiff at it. the two people i attended the show with (both women, btw) hated it. but we honestly seemed to be the only ones.

(the show was at the knitting factory in nyc two weeks ago, fyi)

anyway, I think I'd like electrelane's new album if I cd bring myself round to buying it but that album cover is awful. I saw them live, playing the new material, and they were v. v. good. wht songs shd I download maria, as a taster of the best of the album?

and yes, the frontwoman is the talent in the band obviously. when she just grabbed the sax and started blowing, i was wowed.

You'd think after time #2 or #3 you'd learn your lesson ...

Oh no! The bassist is a girl who was in the year above me at school. and is a very, very nice person, she is quite tiny though, so maybe that's why.

The other thing is Le Mans and that other Spanish band that aren't Le Mans.

I'm going to see them tonight, anyway, as long as it isn't sold out.

btw I like The Power Out a lot more than Stereolab, or at least most Stereolab. It sends me.

Yes! Well, on "Enter Laughing," anyway. Can't quite put my finger on which VU songs this sounds like.

Mia Clarke is like Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo was 15 years ago. The coolest guitarist in the world. She's like this tiny rock fairy with a guitar that's almost bigger than her. More importantly I must say that I think she's the most beautiful human being I've ever seen. Whenever she'd move the hair that fell over her face and smile shyly(she has a great smile) to the crowd I melted. I think we made eye contact once! I am so completly in love with her and I will never EVER complain when girls go crazy for male rock stars. I get it now! I UNDERSTAND

there's another electrelane thread, isn't there? i'm sure i posted on it. hmm.

I have just discovered their album "Axes"... christ, this is great. I was a bit surprised by how straight-down-the-line they were with their up-and-at-em rock sounds, given that I usually expect Wire cover stars to be all noodley and inaccessible. Being straight-down-the-line is a good thing, mind... it's like the rock version of being anti-rockist.

The cover of "The Partisan" is my new favourite tune.

we raced together! i think electrelane put on the better set that night, IMHO.

oh wow

\m/

They’ve been hinting at this for a while now but really cool to see how many people are excited on the socials.

hell yeah

Yes!

Vg

I only just saw that they're getting back together (after they popped up in my Pandora), and they're a band that I am willing to get COVID for (if they're even considering a tour).

I’d love to see them live!

yo, i just discovered this band! they are so great!

otm

Power Out and No Calls have aged very well. They seem more distinctive, even more in their own little sound world, than in the 00s

Axes as well!

this show is so great...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR63neoReGQ

Haven’t seen anything more about the reunion but Verity Susman has a new band Memorials that’s releasing a double album and touring the UK this spring.

With Matt from Wire.

lol that Susman's website link to her band actually leads to memorials (dot) com, to buy funeral related items.

Pretty into the Memorials albums on first listen!

happy 20th to the power out

Still love it and listen to it regularly.

New EP from Verity’s new band, Memorials

https://memorialsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/centre-pompidou-ep

It’s lovely!!

I saw them supporting Stereolab last year. tbf I didn't enjoy it that much but I had dragged a friend along who hadn't even heard Stereolab before so I was probably too focused on trying to make sure my friend was having a good time than enjoying the gig (he did in fact love Stereolab esp the last half of the set when they played the longer songs, so I probably shouldn't've worried)