Archive for January, 2008



Thao Nguyen at Barden’s Boudoir review

by michelle

A friend recently saw Thao in SF and told me I absolutely had to go see her. I had been reading her name all over the place, so I moseyed on over to her MySpace, fell in love with her sound, bought a ticket, and went to a great show last night.

Thao Nguyen’s folk sound has drawn comparisons to Cat Power, but I don’t really hear that. I suppose the tenor of her voice is similar, but she is so childishly gleeful without being twee (the downfall of many a female vocalist, in my opinion). Cat Power’s more somber, subdued melodies don’t really aspire towards that. I kept seeing a little girl singing to herself at the top of her lung, endearing in its lack of self-consciousness.

She was so charming and likable, while remaining a really confident guitar player. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a performer with great between-song banter. She also does a pretty impressive beatbox, which is barely audible in this recording of “Bag of Hammers.”

Thao Nguyen – Beat (Health, Life, and Fire)
Thao Nguyen – Bag of Hammers

Now for the eye candy.

Thao Nguyen 1Thao Nguyen 2Thao Nguyen 3

Look at them fingers go!


Tingtastic

by michelle

Last night I went to the Hoxton Bar and Grill to see the Ting Tings. I know, I know, I’m late to the game, and they’ve already blown up and out for those who know, but so what.

This month I heard “That’s Not My Name” and got totally addicted. I have no idea why this Drowned in Sound reviewer gets so angryabout it! It is what it is. It’s not a new branch of philosophy, it’s just really fantastic pop. And I don’t think it’s same as the commercially churned-out superpop of the ’90s because they’re not the polished puppets of a marketing machine. This is abundantly clear if you see them perform. Despite their infectious melodies, their performance is kind of ragtag in a really heartfelt way. Katie sings in an endearing shouty, pouty voice as Jules bangs the drums and sings back-up vocals.

My camera sucks, so forgive the bad photos.

Tings1

“If you close your eyes, you can feel Jesus in your heart.”

Tings2

She bangs the drums. Ar har har.

Ting Tings – That’s Not My Name


Hello little widget.

by michelle

Songkick now has personalized widgets! There are two types, a user widget and a blogger widget.

The user widget displays your bands on tour based on who you’re tracking. So, for example, here’s my personal widget.

The blog widget does something a little more complicated (and cooler, in my opinion!). It will actually read the content of your blog and identify artists on tour. That’s why you have to verify your blog URL, because we can’t read all blogs right now, but we can read 795 blogs! If you tried to verify your blog, and it didn’t work, just enter your email address, and we’ll let you know as soon as we can read your blog. So, for example, Songkick’s blog widget is live in the sidebar right now.

Let us know what you think! It’s still in progress.