Art Brut will save your life! They certainly changed mine. The British quintet finally parked their bus on Houston Street for a gig at the Mercury Lounge this past Thursday. So what if I'm late to the dance and you've already read reviews on Brooklyn Vegan, Yeti Don't (Slam) Dance and One Louder - my night nearly destroyed me.

It all began with a Broadcast show at Webster Hall. Dana came down to meet me at the club and once we shut down, I popped up to the balcony to find her. We were set to bail when I ran into Jocelyn and Jake from the beloved Flavorpill. They were dug on tunes that once again (like Caribou) sounded like they found deep roots in the Neu! krautrock discipline, but with a bit more personal mood draped over the entire sound. If Eddie Argos didn't demand my attention, we would have stayed longer. We darted from the club and into a cab headed a few blocks south.

We hustled into the club and met a crew that consisted of Builder, Sky, Dr. Conejo, Lucy, Tumblerawk, Kelley, The Macchias, Merrida and a few others who informed us that they were four songs into their set. It's a shame any songs had to be missed, but I couldn't have been more psyched on the rest of their set. Eddie Argos is the best front man in the business, (ok, the business being importing cheeky rockers from across the pond). He is commanding. He is comical. He is self-deprecating and cocky all at once. Argos' personal style is a bit funny, but his expression and facial hair recalls Matt Dillon's character in Something About Mary. He constantly badgered his new guitarist, Jasper, in between their tunes. The rest of the band had more of a punk look, especially the 8inches of spiked hair on the other guitarist.

(Pic via Brooklyn Vegan) Yes, one can definitely say that Art Brut 'takes the piss', but I'm a fucking American so I'll say it like this; Art Brut exudes the most sincere 'fuck all' attitude I've seen in a long time. Their music is so fucking catchy that you can't deny the attraction from the start. If I could use a time machine back to take a record back to myself in 1994, it would be Art Brut's Bang Bang Rock & Roll. As they blew threw rousing versions of tracks from this record, I couldn't help but think Art Brut is playing music exactly the way I like to hear / see it. They involved the crowd, had an unreal stage presence and sounded fantastic. At one point I tried convincing Builder to put me on his shoulders and run to the front of the packed room, but he wouldn't go for it.

After the show we hung out in the front bar for quite some time. Lucy and I proceeded to down piles of tequila provided by Greg until she was drunk enough to purchase a t-shirt. Yalan and JC showed up and we continued our beverage onslaught. At some point Paul came by and convinced me (it probably didn't take much convincing) to go over to the Dark Room with him. I don't remember any of this which means I still don't know the layout of the Dark Room. Somebody help me out with that one. If I recall there were two rooms.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was very tame as Mom and lil' sister stayed at 186. On Friday we went uptown with Rachel and Sean for some dinner at one of my Mom's old haunts on 62nd Street called Il Vagabondo for some sick Italian grub. The restaurant has an indoor bocce court! Now all I have to do is learn the scoring before returning. On Saturday, Builder took us to Supper for some solid brunch, but I highly recommend you don't eat eggs with meat sauce for breakfast. Mom, Chris and I went up to the MET where I realized that art no longer matters to me. It's a shame, but a fact of life I'm comfortable admitting. We killed another awesome dinner at Azul Bistro and finished the night at Ino' Ani’ for some coffee before we got back to 186 for a roommate and mom bro' down. Yesterday was a very lazy day, but I did manage to do some cooking. Now there are so many leftovers its perpetually Thanksgiving.

Some Voxtrot News:

Voxtrot lead singer and founder of the Jomo coined, fey dance move, 'Doin' the Voxtrot', Ramesh, has started a blog titled The Voxtrot Kid. Check them out on tour and hope that Ramesh keeps his blog current while they are on the road. Here is their latest set of dates:

12.02.05 :: Dallas, TX :: The Cavern
12.03.05 :: Lawrence, KS :: The Jackpot Saloon
12.04.05 :: Champaign, IL :: Cowboy Monkey
12.05.05 :: Chicago, IL :: Subterranean
12.07.05 :: New York, NY :: Mercury Lounge
12.08.05 :: Waltham, MA :: Bentley College
12.09.05 :: Cambridge, MA :: Pa's Lounge
12.10.05 :: Washington, DC :: Warehouse Next Door
12.11.05 :: Chapel Hill, NC :: Local 506
12.12.05 :: Atlanta, GA :: Lenny's

Now onto the week of Arctic Monkeys.