Bell @ Rockwood Music Hall - 19 October 2007

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Bell. Their sound is a unique blend of styles ranging from classical to jazz to pop to rock to lounge to experimental - pretty much everything I enjoy gets touched upon in one way or another. As a result, I generally try to catch any of Olga Bell's shows that I can. And sadly my schedule has been such that I've missed out on most of her recent concert appearances. Sigh.

Don't cry for me though. This post is me telling you that I just saw Bell on Friday night at the very intimate Rockwood Music Hall. The set was as entertaining, sprightly, interesting, and sing alongable as I had hoped it would be. Olga had the audience in the palm of her hand with her cheery lyrical impression of the L train, with many of my favorite Bell songs, and with an interesting Radiohead into Thom Yorke cover blend (listen below). The rest of the band was as solid as ever, with a couple of very fine guest vocalist appearances and a bit of extra percussive punch from Gunnar on drums.

Some day you're going to thank me for telling you about Olga Bell early enough in her career that you were able to catch one of her shows at one of NYC's smaller venues. If you're a fan of an artist that combines aspects of Bjork, Radiohead, Fiona Apple, hand claps, Chopin, blips, beeps, and popular songs of the '90s; look no further, you've just found what you're looking for in the music of Bell. I'll see you at the next show.

Listen:
"Brown Bear" (live from this show)

Watch:
"Brown Bear" live (from this show) on YouTube | download QT

See more pictures of Bell (from this show and many others) HERE.

Visit Bell on MySpace.