the long blondes are fucking amazing.

no, no mp3 tonight. i've already posted three or four of them & i feel guilty. go check hype machine or some shit.

one, i've never been in the knitting factory when it's been that packed (or that young; truly, this must be the myspace effect). two, i've never felt the floor shake so.

ok, ok, ok, so kate, yes, but reenie the bassist, placed at the left hand of kate. it's not easy to deadpan when you've got a human cyclotron like kate next to you. but, my. she's the reference librarian of your dreams, that reenie, shooting you looks that you feel are meant for you alone, the kind of look that makes you feel as if you've been caught checking out her gams as she climbs a ladder to access the stacks.

but kate. ah, had i known how amazing she'd be it would have been worth dealing w/ the myspace kidets at the front of the stage--yeah, bummer, all ages--w/ their sunglasses at night indoors, their strings & strings of pearls, their energy drinks & ... their moshing. she's a bit like pj harvey, i guess--kate, that is, not The Kids--only she's more fashionable & fun; she was obviously enjoying herself, swigging a corona between songs--& like everyone else who wanted to drink, she had to wear a wristband, which she probably hated b/c it didn't go at all w/ her outfit, think b&w godard femme.

she's pretty but not the most beautiful girl in the room. i only say this b/c, when she's on, the room, & everyone in it, just seems to disappear, such are her powers. maybe she's known this awhile, kids can be cruel after all, & so she took to solitary pursuits, like books & music & films. she dances, too, like someone who danced in front of the mirror often, by herself, imagining a crowd. her time in solitude was well spent : she's emerged w/ an incredible self who's making up for lost time and having a v. public airing.

to see her in motion, gripping the mic & flailing about like dorothy malone in written on the wind, one wonders how she could be so unlucky w/ guys as to have enough material for all of these songs. perhaps b/c she's used to being on her own? or maybe it's b/c she can't be onstage all the time.

enough on that. i was affirmed in my belief that the music, pulp influence aside, is heavily steeped in the bassy, post-punk dance of the late 70s / early 80s, by bands like essential logic, delta 5 & girls at our best. indeed, the long blondes might be the only band working right now who have a tune--in "giddy stratospheres"--that would fit in perfectly on wanna buy a bridge. i suppose the only downside from my vantage point was having to sit through three opening acts & then not hearing "big infatuation." unless that was played as an encore; i didn't stick around--i realized the band really doesn't have that much more material. (although i suppose they could have played "autonomy boy," but they seemed to avoid their early early catalog. might tonight's setlist hint at what will be on the album?) anyway, setlist as best i remember it:

fulwood babylon (they started the show w/ a b-side!)
lust in the movies ( ... & followed it w/ another!)
once & never again ( ... & then one that only saw release on a cd that came w/ the nme!)
in the company of women ( ... & then a new one!)
weekend without makeup ( ... & at last, the new single.)
swallow tattoo
appropriation (by any other name)
you could have both
giddy stratospheres
separated by motorways