We’ll be poking our toes around Warsaw in twelve days now. I’ll totally use Mogwai song titles for posts along the way – We’re No Here, Yes! I Am a Long Way From Home and A Cheery Wave From Stranded Youngsters are a few (though hopefully not the last, I suppose). Smooth connection: These are some great Mogwai sessions. Download My Father, My King and You Don’t Know Jesus if you only want a taster. I have no idea how long they’ll remain available. And go see them live if you get the chance; I can’t think of any band more intense.

This is pretty astonishing.

(She could have had it too.)

Regina Spektor at the Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, 20/02/07

Regina Spektor might be one of the oddest creatures on the planet – angular, pale and toothy yet still bizarrely pretty. She can even get away with wearing Borat on her chest.

She came out and of course opened with Ain’t No Cover (or Eight Miles High, whichever) and of course it was amazing. The crowd were silent, almost reverently so and her voice seemed ever more powerful – she really belted the songs out .. Human of the Year was just .. wonderful and Baby Jesus was pure cheekiness cubed. Don’t think she could have whacked her piano stool any harder when she came to Poor Little Rich Boy <3

And then a backing band appeared. Suddenly the nuances and subtleties were gone, replaced with almost silly, formulaic pop songs. Character profiles were lost to guitar blasts and drum slams, her delicate piano playing was practically drowned out and those atonal inflections that make Regina Regina went with it. I wasn’t sure how she decided this band was a Good Thing .. the only songs that came to life were (necessarily!) Sailor Song, Hotel Song and Your Honour, yet it still wasn’t quite the same.

She played a couple of songs solo in the encore but by then the magic, for me at least, was gone. The crowd still adored her and Samson was a particular highlight. It’d be worth looking for a recording just for the strength and awesomeness of the three-fifths she played solo.

Alas Pound of Flesh, 20 Years of Snow and Uh-merica never appeared :`(. Maybe next time..

Smooth Russian connection:

Saw Regina Spektor at the Shepherds Bush Empire on the 23rd, she was fantastic. Her songs are full of bizarre scenarios and character profiles and odd happenings and everything fits together so perfectly it’s as if she made no effort at all in writing them.

Baby Jesus, Pound of Flesh and Eight Miles High are my new favourite songs, Baby Jesus is totally awesome for the matter of fact way she states ‘I could -honestly- say I was scared for my life‘ without sounding at all ridiculous .. take a listen – I uploaded a version she sang somewhere in Seattle on May 7th earlier this year, download it here.

She’s very pretty in a bizarre, angular way that doesn’t make complete sense.