Parenthetical Girls and Glockabelle at Bowery Electric were Awesome!
I liked but never quite got into Parenthetical Girls, but when my friend Glockabelle told me she was opening for them I thought I’d give it a shot.
Glockabelle is Annabelle Cazes and whatever awesome musicians she happens to be working with. She plays everything from surf rock to classical on her Glockenspiel, and then plays twin little keyboards and sings in French. Her stage banter is awesome, she’ll say, “This is a song about a gazelle” and then launch into madness. Here’s two great samples:
https://vimeo.com/62483771
We stayed for Parenthetical Girls and they blew us away. Lead singer Zac Pennington is a charismatic demon and stood on amps, came out into the crowd, and performed all over the venue. It’s a good thing he has a long mic cord. In the most intense moment, he came over to the bench we were standing on, grabbed a rolldown movie screen, and pulled it down in front of us so only me and a couple of other people could see him performing for a few minutes. It was so amazing and intimate that I couldn’t resist giving his scrawny arm a little kiss.
It’s been a long time since I saw a show with such panache and engagement. Their recordings don’t quite capture the same spirit but have a listen anyway! Check out the amazing song The Pornographer and its (NSFW if armpit hair is not cool at your work) video:
Anyway, thanks to Glockabelle and Parenthetical Girls for an amazing New York experience!
