These Foolish Hearts Keep On Pumping

Maxi Geil & Playcolt @ Tonic 6/12/2005
Here Comes Maxi / A Message To My Audience / Teenage Extreme / That’s How The Story Goes… / Paying For Something New / Sunday Morning / The Love I Lose / Artist’s Lament / Making Love in the Sunshine

Maxi Geil & Playcolt “That’s How The Story Goes…” – The first two Maxi Geil shows that I attended were at Joe’s Pub (if you’ve never been, it’s this very posh seated club with flawless sound and very expensive drinks) and an auditorium at the Museum of Modern Art, so it was a pleasant change of pace to see them play in a proper rock club environment. It seems that the band conciously tailor their sound to suit the space where they are playing – the Joe’s Pub set came off like an arena show being played for thirty people, and the MoMA set included a cellist and a sax player, so it had this classy vibe that certainly made sense for the venue. This show was raw and dirty, with the band placing a heavy emphasis on the disco aspects of the songs and inspiring a crowd made up mainly of Britpop fans who had never heard them before to dance and move. (A minor success in and of itself, really.) The band, and most certainly Maxi himself, project an aura of total confidence and control, and generally seem more like seasoned road veterans rather than a largely unknown group who only occasionally play out.

“That’s How The Story Goes…” has been a highlight of the band’s recent shows and is being released as a non-album single by the end of the summer, backed up by the dance rock sequel to “Now The Music Stops” from the first album, “Making Love in the Sunshine” (key lyric: “this kind of love is like Das Kapital / I often quote it / know who wrote it / never read it all”). “That’s How The Story Goes…” captures all of the romance and bombast of the debut album in one song, starting off as a gentle new wave ballad before effortlessly transitioning into a smooth glam-disco number with a breakdown that easily ranks among the best pop moments of 2005.

British readers should note that Maxi Geil & Playcolt will be playing their first two European shows in London on June 24th and 25th. (More info.) You really should not miss this. (Click here for the official Maxi Geil & Playcolt site.)

Dragonette “Competition” – Ah, poor Dragonette – they’ve written the perfect single for an imaginary radio format that is just as sympathetic to glammy Scissor Sisters-ish rock as it is to modern r&b chart pop. It could work with Top 40 or VH1, but still, it’s a close call. I’d really rather live in a world where this is an actual pop hit. (Click here for the Dragonette website.)

Elsewhere: Today is my final day filling in on Stereogum.