Coursing Through The Wires #22-A

I've got three live show reviews, attended in a span of 10 days ... so I'm breaking up the package into multiple posts (for my own sanity as well as your reading comfort and ease).

The Pipettes, Smoosh, Monster Bobby -- Black Cat, Washington, DC -- 2 June 07

Monster Bobby -- Founding member of the Pipettes goes solo and comes off somewhat like The Postal Service, plus classic english black/wacky humor and (importantly) without Gibbard's self-righteous whine. "Let's Meet In A Hospital and Die Together" started the set and really was the standout.  Despite the sequencer troubles, a nice warm-up to the evening.

Smoosh -- with a new band name, these Seattle teens could take over the world.  Amazing drumming, great depth in the vocals (you'd never know she was 15), decent hooks in the songs.  Keyboard and drums for the most part, with the littlest sister on bass for half the set and a couple tunes trading guitar for keyboards.  Due to the "sisters from Seattle" angle, I kept thinking of Heart, but only if it were possible to strip back three layers of studio trickery off their songs.  I haven't yet heard their recorded output, but this is definitely a group to watch.

The Pipettes -- as advertised, non-stop 60s girl-group fun.  Strong harmonies, lyrics from the darker side of the love-lust-lost songbook, and high energy throughout.  On this particular night, Becki was the weakest of the three ladies, in that the dancing just didn't come naturally to her and her lead vocals were the thinnest of the three.  Due perhaps to the heat, the Cassette skipped the monogrammed "tank tops" (or "sweater vests" for Americans), instead opting for the mesh over-shirts worn by substitutes on an English football team (or by one side in an intra-squad scrimmage in any sport).