Anjelah Johnson - Nail Salon

Ah...all Viets are proud/slightly embarrassed about this one.

Kaki King - Bone Chaos in the Castle

Awesome.

Kaki King - Fashion Tattoo (Bubonics cover)

Kaki King's version of a German metal band's song. You think she's so soft...and then you hear her rock out. So cool.

Nada Surf - Je t'attendais

It really sucks to be a Nada Surf fan in the U.S. They are infinitely more popular in Europe, so they release a lot of bonus tracks on the European version of their albums. I had no idea this existed. But yes...showing off their multilingualism. Yo espero a que hagan una cancion en espanol!!

Je T'attendais

Je t'attendais
Dans les loges chez des amis,
Je t'attendais dans la rue et dans la nuit
Je t'attendais
T'es bien ici

Les années que j'ai gaspillé
Je m'inquiétais
A la fin, tu m'as trouvé et rassuré
Dans les loges chez des amis
Je t'attendais
dans la rue et dans la nuit
je t'attendais

comme une île
quand même bien
mais à moitié endormi
j'ai reconnu mon destin
je formulais une vie
les années réinventées
tu as un tel effet
tu ne dois pas oublier
t'és ma sorcière et ma fée

Je t'attendais
Dans la rue chez des amis,
Je t'attendais
dans les loges et dans la nuit
ensorcelé
T'es bien ici, t'es bien ici

comme une île
quand même bien
mais à moitié endormi
j'ai reconnu mon destin
je dirigeais ma vie
mais ton visage près du mien
ça, ça me donne envie
les années réinventées
tu as un tel effet
tu ne dois pas oublier
t'és ma sorcière et ma fée

Kaki King - Playing With Pink Noise Video

So I went to my 5th Nada Surf concert yesterday. So far every single one of their shows has sold out. I'm so happy for them, and naturally they put on an amazing show!

Kaki King was their 2nd opening act and my god ,she has sick chops! Unfortunately none of her recorded stuff really does justice to her live performances, but if you get a chance to see her live, you must. She does sing too, but again I don't think any of her other songs really show her wicked guitar skills.

As for Nada Surf...what can I say? I got to party with them in Spain, so this time I hung out on the balcony to take in their performance without having to compete with tall people. Their setlist was more or less the following:
Proximity Effect - 80 windows

Let go - Blizzard of '77, Blonde on Blonde, Inside of Love, Killian's Red, Fruit Fly

Weight is a Gift - What is your secret, Blankest Year, Always Love

Lucky - See these bones, Beautiful Beat, Whose Authority, The Fox, Ice on the Wing, Weightless, I like what you say

Matthew did a funny bit where he wore a fox hat for "The Fox," for which he confirmed my suspicions that it is a rant against Fox News.
All in all, a very comprehensive overview of all of their best stuff. I really wish they'd played Your Legs Grow, or something else from Proximity Effect...but I can't be too hard on them :) It didn't even seem like a concert to promote their new album but just to be like "hey, this is who we are," as if introducing themselves to the crowd. And imagine my shock when they said "This song is from the Proximity Effect" and I was one of 5 people who cheered. Ah and when Ira was setting up his drums I was the only one who recognized him...seemed like everyone else thought he was just a techie. I was not happy with the crowd either. It was sort of like being at a frat's reunion...by that I mean people who definitely looked like they were out of college but wanted to party like they were still there. Some obnoxious people booed Kaki King even though she was awesome. And oh my god, who does the lighter and the bullhorns at rock concerts anymore?? Are we at a Kiss concert in 1980??

And get this - we were standing next to a 10-year old and her mother,and both looked absolutely miserable and they left early. We could not figure out why they were even there. Maybe the girl couldn't get tickets to Hannah Montana so she settled for some random concert. Who knows. But it's totally inappropriate to bring a kid like that to a rock concert, I'm sorry, parents shouldn't be so naive.

But aside from the annoying people, Nada Surf was wonderful as always. I will say Daniel looked a little aloof the entire night. He barely did backup vocals and didn't talk much to the crowd, which is strange. But I'm probably just overanalyzing and he was probably just baked out of his mind :)

Matthew also said a little schpiel about how April 19th is Record store day, and that people should continue to support record stores that are starting to close down. I wholly agree! Everyone is against buying CDs now because it's so easy to download, and it's more modern, and it "fights the evil record label corporation..." but as with anything, decreased profit affects the lowest on the food chain first...which are the local record stores. To quote Matthew, "when you're 13 and 14, you dream in a record store. You can't dream the same way in front of a computer screen." Thanks for always keeping it in perspective!

Animals - The House Of The Rising Sun

One of the first songs I learned on guitar....it is amazing! And the lead singer is unconventionally handsome. Maybe it's that come-hither look that is so enticing!