I just came back from the James Blake show in Williamsburg. I now know what the sound of a room full of ovaries exploding sounds like: basically faint squeals of ecstasy for about 1 hour non-stop.

Master of the subtle, slow build, James Blake has you wrapped around his youthful, tiny little British finger without you even realizing it.

Oh don't mind me, I'm just blowing your MIND right now

As I Rock, I Roll so aptly described it: “James Blake shows are like being masterfully seduced by the most unassuming hot guy ever. SAHWOOON”

Swoon indeed! In addition to creating some of the sexiest music created in a long time, this dude is clearly a hit with the ladies. I swear, I could actually hear hearts breaking as he crooned. One girl screamed, “I LOVE YOUR HAIR!” about five times throughout the show. Another gave James a bouquet of flowers at the end of the initial set.

Are flowers the way to James Blake's heart?

I nearly DIED when I realized that for the encore he was doing a cover of “Case of You” — probably one of my most favorite Joni Mitchell songs EVER. UUuuuggghhh! Absolutely brilliant. Well played, James Blake, WELL PLAYED.

If you listen carefully, I think you can hear my brain exploding in this video:

There’s really only one way to describe James Blake: an extremely attractive musical angel sent down from heaven to remind us that God really does still exist.

Note the heavenly glow

Once again another stellar show from The Dead Weather, this time at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

The band performed songs off their debut album, Horehound, as well as one new song, “No Horse”:

Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture performed tonight with his new pet project/band, Nickel Eye. They played a number of songs, including “Back from Exile”:

and “Brandy of the Damned”:

Unless I missed something, no other Strokes appeared at the Music Hall tonight.

The first song the band played was my favorite… airy, with beautiful harmonies sung by Joel Cadbury and Jamie McDonald of South. (They flew over from England in order to play the show!)

The crowd was far from packed, but there were a good number of people there—surprisingly the crowd looked pretty young (were all the older-timers out in Manhattan?) with a disproportionate amount of Asian girls up in the front.

One blonde girl, who I think likened herself to being the Brooklyn version of Miley Cyrus was hooting and hollering at Nikolai the whole time, shouting out things like “I LUUUUVVV YOUUUU NIIIKOOOOLAAAIIII!” and “YOU HAVE A GREAT A** NIKOLAIIIIII!” Charming, as you can imagine.

Nikolai’s established shy and understated demeanor hasn’t changed as a result of his new job as the leader. His Lurch-like hunch was still present as he strummed the guitar, his hair was coiffed in the same exact pageboy style for which he’s known. He was dressed in “typical” Nikolai attire—casual suit jacket and pants, button down shirt, big belt buckle and shoes. It was almost as if nothing had changed since the last time I probably saw him onstage in 2006(?) during the “First Impressions…” tour.

Yet there he was, singing his own songs with a new band… it was a little bit like the Twilight Zone to be honest.

However, Niko does has a bit of ways to go as a front man, the best illustration of this point was during the 4th song, which was a Bob Dylan-esque folky tune in which Nikolai played the harmonica. Instead of blowing hard into the ‘monica to get a full, rich sound, Nikolai seemed to tweak air into it with the type of force that one would usually reserve to blowing crumbs off the table.

But I’m sure you want to know, who’s solo effort is better? Albert Hammond Jr. or Nikolai Fraiture. That’s kind of like asking me to choose my favorite child, isn’t it? (OK, it’s Julian.) But seriously, I thought some of the tunes were quite good, and thought that Nickel Eye sounded much better live than the recorded stuff they currently have on MySpace.

Whereas some of the recorded tracks sound a bit too much like The Strokes, live they carry a different vibe and gravitas. When I listened to the songs live, I didn’t feel as though they were just discarded Strokes songs—the lyrics are a bit more introspective, linear, and…softer…instead of in your face, nonsensical, and jagged.

All in all a good night, and a job well done for Nickel Eye’s second live show.