A Life Spent With No Cell Mate

Some Girls “Necessito” – I was going to say that this song is the best thing that I’ve heard by Julianna Hatfield since “Universal Heartbeat” (you know, the one that goes “a heaaaaaaaart, a heart that hurts is a heaaaaaart, a heart that works”), but then I realized that this is probably the best Julianna Hatfield song that I’ve heard other than “Universal Heartbeat.” Please understand that I’m not trying to dis Ms. Hatfield – it’s just true. This is a particularly strong bit of glossy indie rock with some charmingly paranoid lyrics and as pretty a reading of the line “putting on my bug spray” as you’re likely to hear anywhere. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Interpol @ Hammerstein Ballroom 11/11/2004

Next Exit / Evil / Length Of Love / Obstacle 1 / Public Pervert / Say Hello To The Angels / Not Even Jail / Hands Away / NYC / Slow Hands / Narc / PDA // Leif Erikson / Roland /// Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down

There isn’t very much to say about Interpol’s live show. They aren’t much to look at, given that their stage show seemed like a visual exploration of all the ways that a mostly motionless band can be backlit. They are very tight and perform the songs almost exactly as they sound on record, though Paul Banks’ voice seems more cartoonishly nasal and the bass and percussion sound more dynamic and urgent in person. Though they played every song that I wanted to hear, I question the judgement of playing the dullest, least essential songs of the night as encores. I suppose that if you look at encores as being bonus material supplemental to the regular show, then it’s actually quite considerate of the audience, but realistically, they opted to end the show with an anticlimax. Personally, I can’t fathom why they wouldn’t choose to close out the night with “NYC,” which is one of their biggest hits and has a particularly satisfying conclusion.

The Secret Machines began and ended their set very well, but lagged through the middle mostly due to their repetitive sense of dynamics. Someone needs to explain to the drummer that though it can be kinda awesome, not every song needs to sound like “When The Levvee Breaks.” Also, I don’t remember the singer sounding quite so much like Geddy Lee on the album. Weird.