I've been listening to The Blow's self-titled latest incessantly for the past few weeks. It's got some great tracks ("Invisible," "From The Future," "I Tell Myself Everything") and a stylish album cover (always a plus). When I found out the duo was on tour I knew I had to check them out.
Full disclosure: despite being a thing for a few years now, I knew next to nothing about The Blow before seeing them out at The Constellation Room this past Sunday in Santa Ana. I thought I had them figured out: synth-y, electronic sounds? Check. Female vocals? Check. I've seen this dozens of times before, there was no way I was going to be surprised, right?The night was bittersweet with the news of Lou Reed's death still fresh in everyone's minds; his passing underscored by a set of songs from the original rock and roll animal himself booming over the PA as set opener Kisses cleared the stage. When they left and took with them all of their gear leaving the stage completely bare save for a couple of lights and a camera placed on a tripod at the back I had no idea what I was in for and I loved that. What I got was something that was equal parts funny, sexy, scary, punk and cool.
The stage was more a canvas for front woman Khaela Maricich than anything else. It almost seemed too small for her ambitions, barely containing her as she prowled the stage, set to Melissa Dyne's backing beats, until she had to escape into the audience. At times Maricich almost seemed as interested in the crowd gathered as they were in her, probing and prodding them both verbally and literally.When it was all over I was in daze, not knowing exactly what I had just seen but knowing that I had seen something and was a part of something. Maricich facetiously referred to The Blow's performance as a show in a rock club, the kind of place where, as she put it, you go to hook up and get high (paraphrasing of course, I was too buzzed and busy making out to recall anything from the night in great detail) but that's what Maricich and Dyne delivered, high brow intentions be damned. Call it performance art, call it what ever you want, one thing's for sure: a night out with The Blow is a lot of fun.
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