I Do It Because I Love It

The Long Blondes @ Bowery Ballroom 6/9/2007
Five Ways To End It / Lust In The Movies / Guilt / Weekend Without Make-Up / Only Lovers Left Alive / Heaven Help The New Girl / A Knife For The Girls / You Could Have Both / Giddy Stratospheres / Once And Never Again // Swallow Tattoo / Separated By Motorways

The Long Blondes “Giddy Stratospheres” – The Long Blondes’ Kate Jackson sounds like a cross between Jarvis Cocker and Justine Frischmann on record, but in live performance, she’s a lot more like Gwen Stefani from back when she was in No Doubt. The snarky, erudite persona is still there, but it gets a bit overwhelmed by her girly glamor and star power. Let’s put it this way: I’m not sure whether it’s a good or bad thing that the most memorable thing about the gig was that Jackson looked a like a dead ringer for a ’50s pin-up in her lovely red dress. There wasn’t anything obviously wrong with the Long Blondes’ show — they played all of the songs I wanted to hear, they had some good energy, the audience was fairly into it — but aside from being very excited to hear “You Could Have Both” and “Giddy Stratospheres,” they didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Maybe I was in the wrong mood, maybe I was a bit distracted. I don’t know. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Amerie “Gotta Work” – About ten years ago someone asked me what I’d want to be my intro music if I were to ever have a talk show, and I answered that it would have to be “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” specifically the Reuben Wilson version. It’s still my top choice. I mean, how can you not get psyched up when hearing that hook? All at once, it sounds classy, rakish, confident, sexy, and just a bit anxious. Amerie’s “Gotta Work” is built upon a tweaked sample of that hook, and she uses that odd mix of emotions to her advantage by having it prop up an otherwise banal set of inspirational lyrics. The sentiment might be trite in another context, but between the sample, the busy beat, and her insistent vocal performance, the track feels urgent and down to earth. It helps that the song puts an emphasis on effort and commitment rather than bratty entitlement. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Elsewhere: Dan Beirne and I did a Siskel & Ebert-style review of Crazy Love for the Movie Binge.