Earlier this spring, back in Seattle, we bought tickets to see the Junior Boys, both being huge fans of their last album, So This Is Goodbye. Blonde Redhead had a show scheduled for the Showbox, but when we went to buy those tickets we realized it was on the same night as the Junior Boys show. Luckily, Kelly's diligent research uncovered a Köln stop later on in the tour. That show was last night.The end of a busy day, it was an excellent show. But then, Blonde Redhead are one of the best live bands around, so why wouldn't it be? They were already playing when we arrived, but continued to play for another 75 minutes, with two encores. If I'm not mistaken, all selections were culled from their three most recent albums. Speaking of which, their newest album, 23, is really incredible. I don't mean that in the this-band-is-always-good-and-this-album's-no-different way. I mean, its one of their best albums. Hey, what the heck, here are two of the album's highlights.
23
Silently
Doesn't that second track sound like it be in The Neverending Story or something? Anyway, unlike most Seattle shows, this one was over and done with well before midnight, so we were tucked in and asleep at a decent hour. As for the crowd, we kept checking for familiar faces. Looked and acted like a typical Seattle crowd - heavy on beard, light on faux-hawk.
Oh and what the heck, here's a noisier Blonde Redhead circa 1995, just to round things out.
(I Am Taking Out My Eurotrash) I Still Get Rocks Off
7 comments:
That "23" track is quite hot indeed, and gives me a desire to run about with a luck dragon, hide in garbage cans and say things like "not that it matters, but yes."
And it rocks my world, so why is eMusic being hater-tastic and not putting it up there? Damn them!
I dig that song quite a bit and I'll be talking you into hooking me up when you're in Seattle if eMusic hasn't posted it by then.
Did you get the "My Name Is A Blackbird" mp3s I sent your way? I think you'd enjoy a lot of that...
You're prompting me to get my butt moving on some blogging myself...
Holy Hot DAMN!
I'd only heard 23, which vaguely made me think your "Neverending Story" reference made some sense... just popped on "Silently."
I'm doing a little happy dance here right now... And I'm at work. People are staring... I'll yank the headphones out, and I guarantee there'll be an office full of booty shaking reporters doing their own little happy dances.
*shake shake shake the booty!*
Now I need this album... Is the rest as good as these?
That's just great. I get back to Seattle only to find that you two have already left for Germany. I hope you are both enjoying yourselves and that if Ari or I make it over to Germany in the next year that we can abuse your services as cheap tour guides.
Hey Kyle! We'll be in Seattle briefly this month; maybe we can grab a beer.
Aaron, I was gonna speculate that the album's absense on eMusic was due to BR's switch to 4AD (a perfect fit, I might add). But, actually:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Blonde-Redhead-23-MP3-Download/11016358.html
I've always tended to prefer the songs that Kazu sings on, but yes, the whole album is quite strong. And all the Kazu tracks are of equal quality to these two, I think. Far as I'm concerned, I don't need to mess with indie rock in 2007, now that this is out.
Oops. It is on eMusic, but not for download in the US. We'll take care of you when we're back in Seattle. Or else I think the Muffin has it.
Some of us resorted to buying the actual CD, when it became apparent eMusic wasn't going to have it anytime soon. It was well worth the $10!
It's up for real now:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Blonde-Redhead-23-MP3-Download/11016357.html
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