Sunday’s setlist included old favorites as well as “obscure” tracks such as Teen Love and Big Black Coffin from their second album Falling Out. I must also comment on how amazing the  lighting was! PBJ are seriously one of the most entertaining, fun and energetic live bands, hopefully they’ll be back around again soon!

SET LIST: Tomorrow Has to Wait, Eyes, Let’s Call it Off, It Don’t Move Me, Dig A Little Deeper, Nothing to Worry About, May Seem Macabre, Young Folks, Second Chance, Down Like Me. Encore:  Big Black Coffin, Teen Love, Up Against the Wall.

Dominant Legs supported Mystery Jet’s 12 song set of old and new favorites, but the encore tracks Lady Grey and Dreaming of Another World were cut unfortunately due to time. Highlights included Flakes, Hand Me Down (dedicated to We Are Scientists Keith Murray who was in attendance) and the title track of their new record, Serotonin. View the full gallery of the show here along with the set list below.

Setlist: Alice Springs  // Young Love  // Serotonin  // Miracle  // Flash a Hungry Smile  // Flakes  // Hand Me Down // Hideaway  // Show Me The Light  // Melt  // Two Doors Down  // Behind the Bunhouse

mp3: Mystery Jets – Flakes

mp3: Mystery Jets – Flash a Hungry Smile

M

MNDR’s live show is full of raw emotion, positive energy, an interactive light show and songs you just can’t help but sing and dance your heart out to. It’s always great to check in with her as she hones her craft and deservingly continues to blow up (ie: collaborating with Mark Ronson and this Esquire bio!) Check out my interview with MNDR from earlier this year and don’t miss her supporting set for Miike Snow on October 7th at Terminal 5! I can’t wait!

mp3: MNDR – Fade to Black

T.I. and Mary J. Blige at Capitale

If you visit this site regularly you will notice that I have barely updated this summer.  2010 has been a year for major changes and maturing (if you can believe it) in a sense. After hitting a plateau in every sense of the word with my previous job of nearly 4 years,  I left for greener pastures to work with film (in particular The Angelika Film Center.) One aspect of my job will be overseeing their social media (You can keep up with me by following @AngelikaFilmCen and reading blog updates at AngelikaBlog.com) It’s all very fun and exciting and engaging which is amazing but hard to juggle along with the blog, my social life, family life and real life. I contemplated putting Tastes Like Caramel on a hiatus indefinitely (I did informally), but as I’ve said before this blog is a creative outlet for me.  There is no monetary incentive here but it’s the passion I feel about art, music and film that keeps this alive. I have a lot of history on these pages so I intend to keep it alive. I intend to continue to have fun, go to shows, interview bands and write about it here.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way… my summer was great but uneventful. I started the new job so my head has been focused on doing the best I can but now that I’m up to speed I should be able to do more fun things and share those experiences with you. I cannot believe it is September 1st! Here are a few highlights from August since I was so M.I.A. in the blogosphere.

August 16th: T.I.’s very first post-jail concert at Capitale.

Mary J. Blige, Cam’Ron, B.o.B., Keri Hilson, Swizz Beats all performed with T.I. for a 3 hour long show presented by AXE at the swanky Capitale venue! Free hors d’oeuvres and drinks, wardrobe changes and did I mention MARY J. BLIGE! Wendy Williams and Ciara (accidentally touched my back when going down the stairs) were also in attendance.

Class Actress at Mercury Lounge

August 19th: Class Actress and Brahms at Mercury Lounge

Early in the afternoon I stopped by Virgin Mobile Live to hang with Abbey Braden for an on-air interview and to my surprise Class Actress aka Elizabeth Harper was in studio. In case you forgot I was interviewed her at Brooklyn Bowl in April during the  Kylie Minogue encounter! Elizabeth is always pleasant in person and onstage, which we saw later that night at Mercury Lounge. Brahms played an incredible and visually infectious  set following Class Actress. They’re on my list of bands you must see in 2010!

August 21st: Crystal Castles deathmatch at Terminal 5

Photo-pass issues at Terminal 5 for Crystal Castles (no surprise) so I didn’t even bother taking pictures from the audience, in fear that my camera would be destroyed. Amazing fun, annoying crowd, loud, chaos and epic moshing. Check out my review/pictures/video from their show at Irving Plaza if you don’t believe me.

mp3: T.I.  – Hell of a Life

mp3: Brahms – Brought it Out

mp3: Crystal Castles – Insectica

mp3: Class Actress – All the Saints

Beside distracting jerks in the audience it was a fantastic night with 2 solid sets by The Golden Filter and one of my latest obsessions The Hundred in the Hands. Check back soon for my interview with The Golden Filter and be sure to catch The Hundred in the Hand next week at Cameo to celebrate the release of their EP The Desert.

mp3: The Golden Filter – The Hardest Button to Button (White Stripes Cover) [alt]

mp3: The Hundred in the Hands – Sleepwalkers [alt]

I was floored by how effortlessly the trio smashed their set, especially digging the sound effects between songs. Très Rock. The band is still unsigned but I highly doubt that will last very long! Be sure to catch The Joy Formidable somewhere along their tour throughout summer!

mp3: The Joy Formidable -Austere

mp3: The Joy Formidable – Whirring (BRAHMS Remix)

I really enjoyed the set that night but Monday’s show at Mercury Lounge  was an amazingly polished reinvention of 2008′s Lemonade. 2010′s Lemonade brings to the stage a bigger and better sound along with a much more confident stage presence. With Delorean‘s amazing remix of Big Weekend under their belt, this band is destined to provide the soundtrack to those late summer nights.

As I mentioned in my review of Delorean’s gig last Friday, it is absolutely impossible to not lose yourself in their live performance. Monday night’s crowd was not nearly as aggro as Friday’s (given it was a Monday) but as soon as Deli kicked off in the set we were all thrust forward into the stage. Normally that would be quite annoying but I smiled to myself watching both girls and boys rage out, crowd surf and nearly break Mercury Lounge’s light fixtures! Delorean got in on the action, powering through the set with injuries and even crowd surfing!

mp3: Delorean – Grow

mp3: Lemonade – RealSlime (Mashpest Remix)

Cold Cave at Mercury Lounge 2.4.10

It was a bitter cold Thursday night but weather was not a deterrant for ticket holders and hopefuls who lined up outside of Mercury Lounge for the ultra cool and sold out self-titled bill!

Ramona Gonzalez and her band Nite Jewel kicked off the night at 10 PM with a fantastic, dark and spacey set of 11 dance tracks. For those who missed out, the entire set (which included a killer cover of Suicide’s Shadazz) is available for stream on WNYC.

Shortly after 11 PM, Cold Cave assumed positions behind their 3 standing synths for a detached headlining performance. Cold Cave’s numbing melting pot of synth noise, darkwave and standoffish vocals are an infectious cross-pollination of industrial, goth and disco that comes across flawlessly live.

Like their 9-track debut Love Comes Close, Cold Cave’s live set is short but definitely worth facing the harsh elements for.

Keep your eyes on CC’s MySpace page for tour dates! Upcoming Nite Jewel tour dates can be seen HERE.

mp3: Nite Jewel – Heart Won’t Start [alt]
mp3: Nite Jewel – We Want Our Things [alt]
mp3: Cold Cave – Youth and Lust [alt]
mp3: Cold Cave – Life Magazine [alt]

Nite Jewel at Mercury Lounge 2.4.10

Luckily, I arrived early to Mercury Lounge to catch Brooklyn quartet Mon Khmer‘s supporting set for Savoir Adore last month. I’d never heard of the band prior to that night so it was a great surprise to catch the band’s captivating live show. Rather than following the current  psych/electro trends of modern rock, MK have carved out an updated classic rock sound that flows organically live and on the record. Mon Khmer will surely gain a bigger following throughout their spring tour as well as their gigs during SXSW.

Keep an ear open for Mon Khmer and check out a few of my choice tracks from their EP released last year below! More pictures from their Savoir Adore supporting set can be seen below as well.

Update: The songs below were part of an unreleased demo EP I got my hands on, the band personally requested they be removed as they were unfinished. Stay tuned for their upcoming full length!

Stream: Birthplace

mp3: Mon Khmer – Change [alt]
mp3: Mon Khmer – GTS [alt]
mp3: Mon Khmer – Populist [alt]

Savoir Adore played  an enchanting 10-song set which was a visible hit with their growing number of fans. SA returns to New York next month for a residency at Cake Shop before setting their sites on Austin, TX for SXSW. Stay tuned and be sure to visit their official site for 3-free tracks!

View more pictures from the show HERE.

MP3: Savoir Adore – Bodies or zShare

MP3: Savoir Adore – MERP (Database Remix) or zShare