WIM DELVOYE

WIM DELVOYE

SLEEVEFACE

BIG MUFF

SIOUXSIE

How grand was it to see Siouxsie Sioux slink out onto the Irving Plaza stage like a Goth predator? She kicked off her North American tour this past weekend with two shows at Irving Plaza in Manhattan in support of her new solo album Mantaray (which apparently, is quite good). But really, who cares? It's Siouxsie. The icon, the witch, the queen banshee. She could be sipping lemonade on the Coney Island boardwalk at high noon and the air would still smell of burnt embers. Thirty years after The Scream, Siouxsie stands alone; no Banshees, no Creatures, no Morrissey and certainly no Sid Vicious at her side. She's playing solitaire these days, even striking the 'Sioux' off the credits to Mantaray. She's got a point--there's hardly anyone who approaches her level of pop stardom encased in gothic glamour and feminine mystique. Her allure is legendary, with everyone from My Bloody Valentine to Goldfrapp to Karen O citing her as an influence. And so on Saturday night, Siouxsie slashed and burned through her set like a woman possessed, looking ready to both fire off her tour and to reclaim her rightful title as darkest woman alive. FULL REVIEW

CAT POWER

It wasn't so long ago that Chan Marshall couldn't sit through an entire performance without getting emotionally torn and frayed. The stage fright, performance miscues and general calamities were all well documented. Then came the period of toxins and depression. Then the comeback with the new haircut and renewed confidence (read: sex appeal). In her growth from meek ingenue to bombshell diva, she finally became her namesake, but I can't help but feel some folk heroism was lost along the way. On Wednesday night, she commanded Terminal 5, but she never once strapped on a guitar. When Karl Lagerfeld befriended Marshall last year and made all his Chanel models look like her, that was kinda weird, no? Marshall fully embraced it though, even going as far as a 'CHANel' reference. It was full-on Cinderella at the ball. She looked like she was having a blast hanging with the fashion elite, but you could tell she knew that world wasn't for her. As the show died down on Wednesday night, Chan took her time leaving the stage, ripping the set-lists off the floor and handing them to fans in the front row. Clutching an armful of flowers, she beamed like a mighty Aphrodite. FULL REVIEW

FOALS

BIG BIG LOVE (FIG 2) MP3
FOALS

HOT CHIP

The stage setup for Hot Chip at the Highline Ballroom on Saturday had more inventory than a Guitar Center showroom. Multitudes of keyboards, drum machines, and samplers breathlessly crammed next to bongos, Cuban congos, and miles of patch cables. And when the five unassuming guys from Hot Chip finally appeared, you half expected them to be the sound techs, as they looked more grad school than school of rock. But by the time they launched into their second song, the impossibly catchy "Boy From School," it was clear that these guys had every intention of ripping up the floor with their unique, nervy brand of elastic geek-dance. As Alexis Taylor delivered the song's honeyed centerpiece line "We try, but we don't belong," the crowd fell in and sang along, making one thing for sure--for the next ninety minutes we would all unequivocally agree on at least one thing. FULL REVIEW