The Blow Captivates With Crazy Lohan Schtick
By Sarah Cobarrubias in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 15, 2010 4:40PM
We’ve been eagerly anticipating The Blow’s Empty Bottle performance for some time now, rekindling old favorites and preparing our biceps for some serious fist pumping. The act has been stagnant since 2007, when Jonah Bechtolt left the synthpop duo to focus on YACHT and left Khaela Maricich to carry on The Blow as a solo act. Since then, we’ve been longing for more of the Blow’s peppy synthpop, and Saturday night, The Blow satisfied our high expectations.
Despite an underwhelming performance by opening act Blair, the crowd was wildly excited. Maricich accidentally referred to the venue as the ‘Wet Bottle’ and went on about the perks of living in New York, but the crowd ate up her quirky stage banter. She opened with new material - a short a cappella piece that, though at moments strained and off-key, set the vulnerable, solitary tone of the performance. Maricich’s stage act took on the form of a monologue, as she sang, conversed, gyrated awkwardly in the glow of a single spotlight. These theatrical and aesthetic elements were no surprise, considering she’s also a performance and visual artist, and turned the act into a truly intimate, engaging experience.
Maricich played a few new songs throughout her set, which she claimed were taken from an unreleased album made in collaboration with Lindsay Lohan. "Make It Up," is a vigorous pop single that Maricich explains was inspired by a conversation Lohan had with her mother about her lesbian relationship: Lindsay’s mom says, "You're just making it up,” to which Lohan replies “It really does feel like we're making it up. Like we're inventing something new." Maricich fully immersed herself in this strange, invented Lohan collaboration, reading voicemails allegedly left by Lohan and even showing off a pair of pumps she claims were a gift from the tabloid star.
In another track, Maricich discussed her relationship with her own girlfriend, singing, “You had your opinions about my last girlfriend, and you were right. She wasn’t very nice… I’m slow to see what’s good for me, and you are.” Maricich didn’t share the titles of most of these new tracks, but they seemed to follow the same bubbly, narrative synthpop style of The Blow’s previous work. And while we wish Bechtolt were pounding out wacky synth beats behind her, these new tracks managed to engage the crowd as much as the old stuff.
A majority of her set was comprised of old favorites, specifically tracks from Paper Television and Poor Aim: Love Songs, albums made back when The Blow was still a duo. The punchy beats of “Hey Boy,” the sugary melody of “Parentheses,” and the almost militant pep of “Fists Up!” were so catchy and familiar few could resist singing along. And Maricich delivered stunning, flawless vocals; the fluid, warm voice in recorded material transferred consistently to live performance. She closed the show with “Come On Petunia,” warning the audience to savor this last song, because there wouldn’t be an encore - the backup music’s prerecorded and there’s nothing more.