Playing a little catch up, You Should Know About Cloud Nothings, and My Birthday Playlists

I’ve been quite busy/lazy these past few weeks. I had work to attend, a new apartment to find, and some turning 26 to do. But, as always, I managed to squeeze some shows in there. Here’s a really quick recap:

Warpaint at Mercury Lounge 6/14/2010

I’m always surprised at how much I end up liking the live shows from bands that are too drone-y for me on the recordings. I’m not a huge Warpaint fan (except for their song “Billie Holiday”) but I am a fan of female rockers and the girls in Warpaint are pretty much the epitome of cool (they have that bored-while-playing look perfected). I’m not rushing to listen to more of their music than I was before seeing the show, but I’d definitely go see them again. Also, for the last song, guitarist Theresa Wayman and drummer Stella Mozgawa switched places, which is something I’ve always fantasized about doing (in my dreams I’m a huge rock star).

Suckers at Music Hall of Williamsburg 6/18/2010

Suckers celebrated the release of Wide Smile with a hometown show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. I was disappointed that the venue wasn’t too crowded but Suckers filled the room with their obvious enthusiasm and big sound (opener Class Actress failed to impress me, Sean Bones held his own). The guys took advantage of the big stage area and performed in a straight line (something it seems more and more bands are doing these days). I never realized before how animated their drummer was before this night but his energy added a thrilling intensity to the set. I left before the encore but I regret it after hearing later on that the band was joined onstage by Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and members of Yeasayer…so I guess that makes it 4 times this year I have missed seeing Yeasayer. FML

Wavves at Knitting Factory 6/24/2010

I had company over the weekend of my birthday so I only made it out to one Northside Festival show. But I’m so glad I got to see this one. I’m a bigger Wavves fan than I should be and his shows are always a good time. This one in particular was excellent due to the fact that Caroline and I had never seen so many people stage dive before (apparently neither had Nathan Williams)…or to be more accurate, we had never seen one person stage dive so many times at the same show. The coolest moment of the night was when Williams himself stage-dived (does that work? stage-dove sounds wrong) into the crowd while still playing his guitar. How rock and roll is that? One more thing to add to the bucket list.

Opening for Wavves was Dom (who I missed) and Cloud Nothings. I had read the band name several times while scanning my Twitter feed but never gave them a listen. So glad I caught them last Thursday. Their playing was tight and their songs, though noisy and crunchy both live and recorded (so the perfect opener for Wavves) are insanely catchy. Front boy Dylan Baldi sounds like a bratty, whiny kid when he sings and it’s perfect. I can’t stop listening to “Cool Kid” and “Even If It Worked Out.” You should definitely know about them.

In conclusion, last year I started a tradition with myself of making up a playlist every year on my birthday. The chosen songs are supposed to reflect the year I had, but usually they are just from bands that I saw and loved, or ones that I never skipped over whenever they came on my iPod. I decided to post this year’s playlist as well as last year’s…ooo old(er) stuff. If I’m still blogging when I’m 27, I’ll post that one too. So it will be like a regular thing, OK? OK.

2010 (I didn't have time to put these in a pleasing order, so please forgive me if the songs don't flow together well)

2009

Warpaint photo courtesy of BrooklynVegan.

Suckers photo courtesy of The Line of Best Fit.

Wavves photo courtesy of NYTimes.com.