There’s some music that makes me want to gather it up in my arms and squeeze it so tight that it sinks into my body. I want to absorb into my bones, so I can carry the feeling it gives me around with me forever. Ladyhawk’s music is like that.

I’m a huge sucker for melancholy music, and they definitely have a melancholy vibe, but it’s not an overwhelming melancholy. Their music has something to it that makes it joyful at the same time that it sounds like your world might be caving in. The singer has this fantastic quality to his voice. A vulnerability. It’s the same kind of baring-my-soul quality that Husker Du (one of the greatest bands ever) had at times.

The show was at Spaceland, a small bar/club in Silverlake, a sort of trendy neighborhood in Los Angeles. Not trendy as in Madonna’s gonna live there. Trendy as in poor twenty-somethings who like to go to clubs are gonna live there. (It’s where Silversun Pickups are from.) I like Spaceland because it’s a good size (which means, small) and if you get there early enough you can get a bar stool at a table.

Only drawback to the show: Ladyhawk were an opening band and therefore couldn’t do a long set. (I’m not familiar with the other bands on the bill, and I didn’t hang around to check them out. I would have liked to, but an early night was more important to me this week—and I was home and in bed by eleven, since Ladyhawk went on first.)

They opened with “You Ran,” a song from their new album, Shots. It’s a short tune that manages to inspire both foot-stomping and swaying back and forth as you sing along. You can go either route with the song. Good opener.

Then came “The Dugout,” from their first album. It’s sweet, with a nostalgic feeling to it. Here’s video of it that I took at the show:

So tell me the truth of your heart
Please tell me, please tell me
I’m haunting the basement again
Turn your light on
Turn your light on me

They did “War,” which is from their “let’s do some shrooms and record some songs this weekend” EP, Fight For Anarchy. Probably my favorite song from that EP.

They did “S.T.H.D.” from the new album. The bassist was cute, he would dance around and fling his long hair every which way. Sort of like he was head banging only in a circular motion.

He also was wearing the tightest jeans in existence. I think he may have put them on 5 years ago when they were loose and then just grew into them.

They did “Fear,” one of my favorites from the new album. It borrows a Beatles line, “I was alone, I took a ride, I didn’t know what I would find,” but my favorite line comes in the chorus: “I just want to feel something other than fear.”

The drummer is a really tall guy, and his set is really small and low. It didn’t seem funny when he was playing, but when he got up to put it away later and I saw how tall he was, it was kinda funny. He sang back up. (Always impressed when a drummer sings.)

They also did “(I’ll Be Your) Ashtray,” one of their songs that starts out quiet and builds, getting louder towards the ened. There was a song I didn’t know that the guitarist sang (maybe a cover?), and “New Joker.” There was a really great moment during one of their songs with quiet parts—I think it was “New Joker,” where it was just the singer and his guitar, and the rest of the band sang along. But they didn’t sing into their mics, just sang along on stage, almost like they were in the audience singing along. It was pretty cool. The band sang along to the songs a lot, I noticed, and I love it when band members do that. Without mics, I mean. It just shows a love for their music.

They closed with “My Old Jacknife,” one of their funner, more rousing songs.

They said they were just finishing a long tour. They’re from Vancouver, BC, and said they were happy to be back on the west coast. If you want to check them out more, this is their myspace page, and here is their website. Kulturblog also did a band spotlight on them here.

Apologies for the darkness of the video, but the venue doesn’t have very good lighting. My camera does good with sound though, which is more important.