Battle of the Glamour Girls

Since our last class I’ve been to two concerts, one of which I ended up leaving about a quarter of the way through. Had I actually paid for it I can’t say I wouldn’t have been equally tempted to get out of there. The musician in question? Patrick Wolf, ersatz Bowie heir and U.K. phenom. His sound is invariably described as “dark,” “melodic” and my personal fave, “haunting.” The music itself wasn’t actually bad—apparently Wolf expertly plays something like 10 instruments. Well, he had help I guess. In any case, vocally, the guy did absolutely nothing for me. Not sexy, not soulful, not even haunting like they promised!

And really, if you’re going to ever merit comparisons to Bowie, you need to up your sartorial game. Wolf gets on stage wearing white cutoffs that only enhance his pasty pallor and some kind of sleeveless American Apparel hoodie/cape hybrid. After a minute or so of playing “hide the hipster” under there, the tease, he lowers the hood, sans maquillage and nary a trace of glitter. And he’s wearing a crusty, misshapen broom-bristle wig. Awful. Just awful.

Thankfully I also got to see Natasha Khan and co., aka Bat For Lashes earlier in the week. All of the accolades erroneously heaped upon that weakling Wolf? Well, hackneyed as they may be, they apply to Bat For Lashes. Natasha sounds like a cross between Bjork, P.J. Harvey and Siouxsie Sioux. Her outfit veered toward Sonny-era Cher, but she was absolutely fetching as a boho Indian. Laugh if you will, I loved it. No attitude either. Just gorgeous, lush electro-pop. Natasha even played the triangle and shook(?) a rain stick! I will now buy their debut album and wear a feather in my hair, unironically of course. If you haven't already, check out the video for "What's A Girl To Do." Very Donnie Darko.