Linda live in NY seeing Zola Jesus, and be prepared for some nifty Celine Dion references

Linda in NY: Effie Briest and Zola Jesus live in Los Angeles, 2010

Oi. Red-eye flights may seem like a good idea with the whole you-save-money-on-a-hotel-room scheme and the fact that you don't actually lose time during the day in which you could have done something better than trying to make yourself the slightest bit comfortable in an aeroplane seat that doesn't seem to be made to fit a human body, but oi. If you can't sleep in anything else than a bed (a contraption that has proved itself rather bothersome this last month) than it is absolutely not the best idea. For one thing, because one of the side effects of this kind of sleep deprivation is apparently amnesia. While there were four bands on the bill at Glasslands Gallery in Williamsburg - and I am pretty sure there actually were four bands - I can't seem to remember seeing more than two. I do remember the excellent vegan pizza I had at Vinnie's Pizza (seriously some of the best pizza I had in my life - whether vegan, vegetarian or carnivorous) and I certainly remember the taxi ride home, but in between there seem to be some serious blanks. And yes, I blame sleep deprivation.

With Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls around, and Mika Miko sadly passing away, there seems to be a thing around all girl bands. Well, you could call it a trend, but girl bands are around all the time (what about Sleater-Kinney or the Spice Girls for that matter?); it just so happens that quite a few of them have decided that this is the time to get noticed. Effie Briest, named after the lead character of a novel by Theodore Fontane, are one of those bands. There's six of them, and they have just released their first album 'Rhizomes'. Live, it's a pretty impressive sight with the six of them, and it's not just the looks they're going for. Some songs are driven by catchy bass lines while most thrive on the dual forces of drums and bongos (if those things are called bongos, I'm not that into percussion to be quite honest). As Zola Jesus, they are on the Sacred Bones label, and you can expect something similar, though Effie Briest are more mysterious, or as Loud & Quiet describes them: a sub-lunar art rock sextet. And for some weird reason sub-lunar seems to be a pretty accurate description of their post-punk inspired sound, whatever sub-lunar may musically imply..

Much has been written about Zola Jesus in the past few months, most articles including the g-word. Well, I can say one thing for sure now: anyone using that particular description has certainly not seen her perform live. If I'd had to name someone her performance came close to, I could name no other than Celine Dion. Yes, you've read that correctly. Not that I've ever seen Celine Dion live, or would know any other song of hers other than that Titanic one (oh come on! ‘Think Twice’, ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’, ‘Ziggy’ , etc – ed) , but that's what immediately sprung to mind. Well, if you consider the five fans blowing onto the stage creating the dramatic wind effect, and Nika Roza's size which necessitated a box for her to stand on (it is possible Nancy Whang!), and the combined effect of the two while she was spreading her arms out wide, you'll get my point.

Now, it wasn't just that moment, there was also something in the delivery of her performance which made it more 'Celine Dion'. While the album and the EP might not be the most accessible records, her live performance is at times best classified as pop music, with catchy tunes and an amazing singer accompanying those. Nika Roza manages to give one of those rare credible pop performances, of the kind Sufjan Stevens has been accused of whilst touring with his 'Illinois' album. To back her (in)credible performance up, she has gathered some help in the form of three key/synth players and a drummer, giving herself free reign of the stage and the front of the audience - I'm afraid that if she'd gone further she would have gotten herself lost.

Most tracks featured on the set list are from the Stridulum EP that was released this year, but also last year's album is covered with 'Clay Bodies', which sounds an awful lot better live with less noise covering up Nika's voice. 'Night' is still a personal favourite, although absolute every track sounds right on target when she performs them live. And even Holland gets its turn, as in November she will tour with Xiu Xiu and Former Ghosts and play Paradiso!