live: Alex Bleeker & Mountain Man "Oh Boy"

"Dreaming Of You"

First off, I want to thank everyone who came out to the Church on Friday for what was an extremely memorable evening, to say the least. From No Demons Here to Mountain Man, it really could not have been a better night. While highlights seem to be endless (the entire Liam the Younger set was out of this world), but Alex Bleeker covering the Girls song "Oh, Boy" with Molly from Mountain Man stands on a particularly high peak, gazing at the people below, contemplating existence, reality. The pain and frustration ingrained in the Christopher Owns song is shed on by Bleeker and Molly, however, rather than dwelling in its sadness, the two seem to lift it up by the shoulders, as if to say, "You will be OK. We will be OK." A tear-jerker/goose-bumper/feel-gooder if ever was.

Alex Bleeker & Mountain Man- Oh, Boy (Girls cover)

live: Girls at Primavera Sound

"I Don't Wanna Die"
(photos: craig loschmann)
Barcelona's Primavera Sound sort of played like a list of bands who have literally been in Brooklyn in the past month. For many acts, including Wavves, Vivian Girls, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Vaselines, Bat For Lashes, and Crystal Stilts, this couldn't have been truer, and as fellow Brooklynite and Vice photographer said to me, "we're really spoiled." Sure, it's NYC and all, but there are still acts that we don't get to see very often, and one band, Girls, made it well worth the trip across the pond. San Francisco's Girls played one of the earliest sets on the P4K stage, coming on right after Women, coincidence...I think not. Humble, visibly anxious, and noting that "This is just the beginning", the psych-revival/drug pop band blasted through a set of new material from their now complete, yes complete, debut full length, which will see the light of day by the end of the year via True Panther. While their biggest show ever, by far, was plagued with some technical difficulties (bad cables), they managed to set aside early problems and showcase mostly unheard new songs in front of the dense Mediterranean crowd. The highlight of their set was the first Girls song I ever heard, "Hellhole Ratrace", which will soon be released on seven inch b/w of "Solitude", a new song the band has yet to play live. With all this Girls output set for the rest of 2009, I think its safe to say that the rest of 2009 is going to be, ahum, "totally rad."