  urlLink Les Sans Culottes 04-02-04 @ BOTH Openers: CocoRosie, urlLink Rene Risque and the Art Lovers CocoRosie: Two Sisters, one Bjorkish with a scratchy squeaky craggy voice, one with a vibrato-heavy opera voice.
Bjork sister played on children's instruments and a toy car that made noises, the opera singer chose the more conventional instruments of keyboards and guitar. When the Bjork sister sang, Abby remarked, "She is half-girl, half-sheep" because she didn't so much sing, as bleat. It's like when you're a kid and you try to make the sound of a creaky door with your voice. Kind of like "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" Now imagine someone singing like that. I enjoyed their set a lot because of the strange weird singing from both these sisters. In a club setting, hearing someone casually sing opera while picking a guitar is really weird as is someone bleating like a goat while playing a small car.
Rene Risque were a bunch of broadway singers in a faux-band. It was very Hedwig in that they all played characters, had glammy clothes on (wigs and platform shoes), and played glammy 70s-style Hedwig-esque rocknroll. Too campy for my taste. I go to shows for whispered vocals and hearts on sleeves or straightforward rocknroll from earnest Swedes, but not for canned camp. RR&tAL were a cabaret act that belonged in a seated theater, not BOTH. At the merch table, they sold shirts that said "I fucked Rene Risque" and I was grossed out at that idea. It's meant to be funny because Rene is supposed to be this jet-set-fun-loving-ladies-man-type, but to me he looked just like Andy Dick.
And Andy Dick is an ugly man. Les Sans Culottes--Another hokey concept band. I had high hopes for LSC because I knew they were from Brooklyn and sing in high school French, but I thought they'd evoke Serge Gainsbourg and Umbrellas of Cherbourgh, not frenetic 60s gogo style. They were ridiculous in their campy outfits with one singer named Celine Dijon and the other called Kit Kat Le Noir.
I wasn't impressed by their hyper need for attention and the sheer amount of band members on stage: 7. How many people does it take to start a band? These days, 2. Historically, 3-5. More than 5 is suicide. I convinced Abby that they were no good and we left after three songs. BTW, XX was there with a bunch of his friends and he stayed for LSC's set and enjoyed them.
He said they did a cover in French of "These Boots Were Made For Walking", which made me yawn uncontrollably. I prefer my music with a little angst or misery. People say I should stop going to shows blindly and listen to the music first, but I don't really care. For every Les Sans Culottes and Rene Risque, there's a worthwhile CocoRosie. And I love going to shows! 
