SoundBites Best of 2006 | Gigs

I think I saw upwards of 70 shows this year, some more memorable than others. Some didn't get written up even though they should've (The Young Knives, Battle, Aberfeldy) and others didn't cause they weren't worth it (dEUS comes to mind). But these ten were probably the best.

1. Hot Chip | Bowery Ballroom | 3.11.2006
   "I hadn't seen a Bowery Ballroom crowd go this bananas since the LCD Soundsystem show a year ago. Heck, I was dancing... and I wasn't even that drunk."


2. Soulwax + Klaxons | Studio B | 9.21.2006
   "Soulwax rival LCD Soundsystem in their ability to bring electronic music to life in a live setting. Or to put it another way, they absolutely rocked. (How many ways will I write a variation on that statement? Read on.) Why did it work so well? A perfect blend of skill, material, presentation and volume."


3. Richard Hawley | Sin-é | 3.23.2006
   "With a velvety croon, reverbed, twangy guitars and lush orchestration, his music recalls Jimmy Webb, Scott Walker, Johnny Cash, Burt Bacharach, and Marty Robbins. That out-of-time quality was reinforced at last night's show at Sin-é that can be summed up in two words: Pure class."


4. Rakes + Towers of London | Bowery Ballroom | 3.21.2006
   "What a raucous night at Bowery Ballroom, with what I'm sure will be the most cups of beer, ice and water ever thrown at the stage, and the most gobbing by a band I have personally seen in the last ten years."


5. Cansei de Ser Sexy | Warsaw | 7.20.2006
   "The queen of the party, however, was singer Lovefoxxx, a Bjork-lookalike who jumped around, stripped off clothing, mooned the audience, jumped into the fray, and generally partied-it-up the entire show."


6. The Dears | Bowery Ballroom | 9.14.2006
   " You can say a lot of things about The Dears, but no one can claim that they don't give 100%. If it were not physically impossible to give 110%, I'm sure they would've done that."


7. New Young Pony Club | Williamsburg White Room | 12.09.2006
   "From the catchy-as-hell, extremely danceable songs, to the tight musicianship, to the effortless charisma of spitfire singer Tahita Bulmer, New Young Pony Club just had their shit together. It was like they were born fully formed, ready for the big time, and I mean that in the best possible way."


8. Belle & Sebastian | Nokia Theatre | 03.02.2006
   "Stuart Murdoch isn't shy anymore; now quite the cheeky frontman, dancing, telling jokes, flirting with the audience... but still forgetting the words. Luckily, Stevie Jackson (looking dapper in a mod-ish suit) knows them all and filled in the missing lines, not missing a beat."


9. Midlake | Mercury Lounge | 6.20.2006
   "There were so many old keyboards, patch-bays, racks of guitars and other stuff up there the band didn't really have much room to move. But they could play. Every member was miked, and the harmonies flowed out dense and beautiful."


10. Art Brut + We Are Scientists + The Chalets | Knitting Factory | 5.18.2006
    This is as far as I got with this review: "I wish the Knitting Factory did shows like this all the time. Let a band currate an entire evening on both floors..." And so began the SoundBites Blog Blackout of Late Spring 2006. Which is now over, obviously.