FLO - That Girl Can Sing

My biggest band crush and band du jour for awhile now has been - Florence and The Machine. Last Tuesday, October 27, it came to fruition by seeing Flo play to a sold out crowd in New York's famed Bowery Ballroom. I felt privileged not only because the Bowery is one of my favorite music venues ever but also because Florence only played this show and David Letterman. In early 2010 she is headed to Australia; she has no scheduled dates in the U.S. right now. Ya hear that, the crowd was selective and I was there! THIS is why I live in New York to all you hating on the Big Apple and it's rain, crazy prices and the smell of hot trash in the summer. The added perk was that the crowd was mostly crazed POMs (property of the monarchy) that had been fans for awhile since she is massive in Europe. One of my favorite attendees was a Scottish girl was a dead ringer for Jennifer Saunders' Edina Monsoon from Absolutely Fabulous. I sought her out at the after party and made friends, which was conveniently at BEAST, the late night bar around the corner from my Lower East Side abode.

My early favorite song on the album was Dog Days Are Over. It just makes you want to sprint in escape and I discovered it at the perfect time when summer was coming to a close and you could feel the leaves growing restless and preparing to make an exit and sweaters making their way into the popular clique in my closet again.

It was at the concert, however, that I discovered how awesome her song Cosmic Love is; a tour de force that was the perfect encore song. The song as a noun yelled at us in perfect pitch ' You had a good time tonight, go get drunker than you should for a Tuesday and moving forward remember to live with more conviction.' Pretty intense right, well I told you I really REALLY liked her.

I made a lala playlist of Flo's album and stuck it to the right of the page - just be sure to click the grey play/arrow button on the top and you can listen to it for free on my site without visiting lala.com. However, for the last bloody time, go visit lala and get a world of music that falls right smack between Pandora and iTunes, blending the best of both worlds. Then start following me - Katie M. - and you will be privy to all of the playlists I make and what songs I listen to and when - enter my weird little world amigos. (Disclaimer: Yesterday was a weird day, I think I channeled a 15 year old with braces from Omaha, so please disregard me listening to the entire new Carrie Underwood album and then switching it up by listening to the New Moon Soundtrack. I listened to the new Fanfarlo album all today to get back on track, which is sooo good).

Finally, I HAVE to love Flo and her Machine because I made the ginger oath long ago: To defend and champion your fellow red haired beauties. Make eye contact across whatever room, let them be the first person you try to meet at a party, share stories, discuss the genius of Ann Margaret and abhor the connection to Lindsay Lohan, and when applicable compare freckles.

Here is a short little interview and Florence playing a stripped down version of the song Boy Builds Coffins. Her drummer 'plays' the park railings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvMfbfZKVbY

Foresighting The XX and Family of the Year as two bands that will get BIG

I am calling it now - The UK band The XX and LA/Silverlake band Family of the Year are going to be big and popular by the end of the year. Both don't have that much information out about them and are newcomers but the buzz has been hitting me wave after wave and I am continuing the trend. I will have official confirmation of how good both bands are when I see them back to back on October 20th and October 21st when they come to New York.

Right now The XX are killing all over Europe, playing some of the dates with Florence & The Machine, which is another band I have really been into. The band is comprised of two boys and two girls from South London, they are only twenty but have producing abilities well beyond their years. Their sound is kind of like Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation or Hot Chip but more lyrical and they have that distant, slightly creepy, spacey sound down perfectly. It is perfect music to play while you are chilling with friends, bumping around the house doing little tasks or while getting some action (which makes sense since the tracks are chockablock full of sexual references). Their influences clearly come from R&B; they garnered a wave of buzz from covering Aaliyah's Hot Like Fire. These are the influences they list on their MySpace page: Aaliyah to CocoRosie, Rihanna to The Cure, Missy Elliott to Chromatics, The Kills to Ginuwine, Pixies to Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake to Tracy + the plastics. Check out The XX album in the playlist on the right side of the screen - Intro, Basic Space, and Heart Skipped a Beat are my favorites. Also, look them up on MySpace for more tracks and other cities they are playing in November and December - http://www.myspace.com/thexx.

Family of the Year is a brand new find. I was told about them by their manager that lives in New York this past week. They are about to self-release their EP Where's The Sun on September 22nd, which is pretty incredible given that they have had such a huge response to their music even though they don't have an official album out yet. Ben Folds just asked Family of the Year to open for him on a few upcoming dates. The band is comprised of four guys and two girls; they describe their sound as 'post-teen spirit' and claim such influences as Chumbawumba, Barenaked Ladies, and System of a Down. They aren't on itunes or lala.com yet but you can hear several tracks on their MySpace page - http://www.myspace.com/familyoftheyear. They only have a few gigs in New York and LA up on their page but stay tuned, it is about to be packed with appearances. You will all have your chance to see them in a small venue the first time around and I suggest you take it. We all have stories about liking a band and not seeing them the first time around and the next opportunity you have is a big venue full of more late to the party teeny boppers than you can stomach.

Check out these other newcomers to my rotation:

Fitz and The Tantrums - good old soul with a modern twist a la Amy Winehouse or Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Their album title is genius Songs for a Breakup Volume 1.

YACHT - like The XX but a bit more pop, get up and dance.

The Antlers - a darker Explosions in the Sky at some points, a dash of Radiohead and pinch of Yeasayer.

Ramona Falls - Menomena side project. Good, creepy rock.

So Here is What I am Listening to...

Hey everyone,

At the request of many people I have built a new playlist and posted it on the right hand side of the page. You can listen to it for free on www.lala.com, I love this site and you should all check it out and start saving a lot of money because almost everything on the web site is free and you can buy an entire album for .80 cents or the actual mp3 files and move them to your itunes or wherever you keep your music.

I hope your summer is as rocking as mine. Next up, working behind the scenes for the Wanderlust Festival in Lake Tahoe July 24-26!

Here are the songs for you, check them out at will:

1. 'French Navy' by Camera Obscura

2. 'Dimestore Diamond' by Gossip

3. 'Eet' by Regina Spektor

4. 'Burial' by Miike Snow

5. 'Paradise Knife Fights' by Vampire Hands

6. 'Folding Chair' by Regina Spektor

7. 'Fools' by The Dodos

8. 'Ramona' by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

9. 'Four Letter Word' by Gossip

10. 'No Fun' by Vampire Hands

11. 'Always the Same' by The Legends

12. 'Quiet Little Voices' by We Were Promised Jetpacks

13. 'Dance Anthem of The 80's' by Regina Spektor

14. 'Cape Canaveral' by Conor Oberst

15. 'Lights & Music' by Cut Copy

16. 'Shout Me Out' by TV on The Radio

17. 'Baby I'm Just A Fool' by Spiritualized

18. 'Dog Days Are Over' by Florence & The Machine

19. 'Transliterator' by Devotchka

20. 'Mexico City' by Jolie Holland

21. 'You And I' by Wilco

22. 'Seven Wonders' by Fleetwood Mac

23. 'Good Times Roll Pt. 2' by RJD2

24. 'Howl' by Florence & The Machine

Concerts I have recently attended or will be attending in July/August:

As always, I highly recommend checking to see when these bands are playing in your area. I wouldn't steer you in the wrong direction:

- Dr. Dog

- Phosphorescent

- Matt & Kim

- Pains of Being Pure at Heart

- Kaki King

- Dirty Projectors

- Magnolia Electric

- The Veils

- Sons of Sons

- Animal Collective

- Friendly Fires

- Kings of Leon