Hot Tuesday night action!! We stopped by Emo's last night to catch The Blow before stopping by the Beauty Bar to catch a set from the always-great Pompeii. Seeing The Blow was a last minute development (I'd forgotten they were playing, and didn't discover the fact until like, 6:30 pm), and I'm totally glad we remembered to check them out. Well, I say 'them' but lead singer Khaela Maricich was solo, accompanied (kinda old-school Britt Daniel solo-show style) by backing beats provided by the absent, mostly studio-only member Jona Bechtolt, played over the PA. Amazingly, the bass on those tracks was so pummeling that it rattled the metal roof of Emo's outside stage and sounded like a little thunderstorm throughout the entire set, which was kind of neat -- though yes, we learned why, as Pinkie pointed out, one never holds a rave in a metal-roof'd warehouse!

Maricich has a fascinating stage presence -- despite the size of the crowd (which was quite large), she was chatty and engaging on an almost too-personal level. She pogoed about the stage, her performance vascilating between charmingly chaste (during "Parenthesis") and downright dirty (during "Pile of Gold"). At one point, she flung herself to the stage in melodramatic Morrissey-like fashion, only to bounce back up and deliver a Missy Elliott-as-done-by-a-skinny-white-girl groove a few moments later. The 'hits' of forthcoming album Paper Television (10/24/06, K Records), already cherished by bloggers, hold up well live -- as well as old fan-faves from The Blow's previous four albums. Though a few people out there seem to want to brand The Blow's latest incarnation as "indie R'n'B" -- but there's enough glitch and electronic skronk and gender politics on each track that they'll probably make you think more of a more happy-go-lucky Xiu Xiu or Casiotone for the Painfully Alone or Dear Nora than of say, the latest Beyoncé track turned inside out. We can't encourage you more highly to catch The Blow live; they're on the road with Architecture in Helsinki through September and with Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins in October.

The Blow -- Pile of Gold
The Blow -- Bonjour Jeune Fille (repost)
VIDEO: Knowing The Things That I Know (an old fave...)

The Blow's website
The Blow's MySpace
Kahela's blog: That Touch Me Feeling

Tour Dates:

Wed 09/20 - Houston TX @ Warehouse Live*
Thu 09/21 - New Orleans LA @ Howlin’ Wolf*
Fri 09/22 - Athens GA @ 40 Watt Club*
Sat 09/23 - Nashville TN @ Exit In*
Sun 09/24 - Charlottesville, VA @ Satellite Ballroom*
Mon 09/25 - Washington DC @ Black Cat*
Tue 09/26 - New York, NY @ Sin-e
Wed 09/27 - Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street (Downstairs)*
Sun 10/15 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
Tue 10/17 - Nashville, TN Cannery Ballroom #
Thu 10/19 - Tampa, FL Tampa Theatre #
Fri 10/20 - Orlando, FL The Club at Firestone #
Sat 10/21 - New Orleans, LA The Parish at HOB #
Mon 10/23 - Austin, TX Stubb’s BBQ #
Tue 10/24 - Tulsa, OK Cain’s Ballroom #
Wed 10/25 - Ft. Worth, TX Ridglea Theater #
Fri 11/3 - New York, NY Irving Plaza (Force Field PR CMJ Showcase w/ AIH, Apples in Stereo, Shapes and Sizes)*

* = w/ Architecture in Helsinki
# = w/ Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins


Photo by Megan Holmes