This week in NYC live music brings another interesting and eclectic mix of shows, including a week-long run by Richard Thompson, an all-star cast at the Tibet House Benefit Concert, lots of New Orleans-style funk/soul/jazz, plus shows by Big Gigantic, Mates of State, Yellowbirds, and Zola Jesus, among others. Read on for the weekly highlight reel and show listings...

One of indie rock's favorite boy-girl duos, Mates of State , are tour warriors. They hit the road regularly to support their albums (in this latest case, the album is called Mountaintops ). It looks like the latest batch of shows isn't very long, but the New York City comes out pretty good on the schedule. The band first play the City on February 17 at Le Poisson Rouge. They cross the river into New Jersey the next night to play Maxwell's. The full list of dates is below. Mates of [...]

Hitting Philadelphia, NYC, Hoboken and more.

Catch 'em at: Feb 16 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer Feb 17 - New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge Feb 18 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's Feb 20 - Richmond, VA @ Canal Club Feb 21 - Norfolk, VA @ Jewish Mother Backstage Feb 22 - Durham, NC @ Casbah Feb 25 - Vestal, NY @ Binghamton University Mates Of State recently dropped by NPR. Purchase Mates Of State items via Insound. MP3: [...]
Connecticut indie-pop group has announced some new Spring tour dates starting this February. The duo just released a new self-produced record entitled Mountaintops, which was released in September of 2011 to much adoration and praise. Mates of State also recently performed on the Late Show with David Letterman. You can view the performance here:Mates of State on LettermanSpring Tour dates:Feb 16

Mixtape: Twenty Years of Noise Pop (Podcast #269) In February, the Noise Pop Music Festival turns twenty by gathering over one hundred local and touring bands from across the indie spectrum for a week of exciting concerts all over the City. Two decades of championing independent music is an accomplishment worth celebrating, and this mixtape collects twenty bands that have performed at Noise Pop events in years past. As you'll hear, a whole bunch of big names graced Noise Pop bills before achieving fame, as past festivals [...]

Mates of State at FFF Fest 2011 ( more by Tim Griffin ) Mates of State are about to announce a set of February dates including at least two in the NYC-area. Those two are happening on February 17 at Le Poisson Rouge and February 18 at Maxwell's . Tickets for the LPR show and the Maxwell's show are on sale now. All currently known dates are listed below... Continue reading "Mates of [...]

Remember a while back when Mates of State were going to play at the Canal Club, but had to cancel the gig because they got the chance to perform on David Letterman? And remember when I threw a little tantrum when they canceled ? Well, my little outburst made its way through the internets and managed to get the attention of Mates of State's promoters, who assured me that they would return to Richmond. Mates of State themselves even tweeted at me (I know, right??) and promised to come back, although [...]

COVER ME! #10 » Seleção especial de covers Covers, covers, covers… Tem uma versão bacanérrima do Starfucker para o clássico "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" , de Cyndi Lauper , Friendly Fires tocando Kings of Leon e o duo americano Mates of State revisitando "Laura" , do Girls . Enjoy! DOWNLOAD! Mates of State - Laura (original by Girls) [...]
Hopefully this list will inspire you to get off your couch and check out some of these bands live. We all need a little rock n' roll to make us feel good. If you have additions to the list please email me at amy(at)rockerzine(dot)com and I will be happy to include them in the next update. Click the band you want to see dates for below, or scroll to see em all! Adam Ant *~* Ryan Adams [...]

Frank Yang Most bands that name themselves for prehistoric entities - your Mastadons, your Dinosaur Jrs - seem to do so at least a little for the heavy and/or primal connotations that come with it. Not so much for Brooklyn's Caveman , who seem to have chosen the name ironically as there's nothing raw or neolithic about their smooth and polished debut album Coco Beware . Rather than club you about the head with a bone, Caveman makes an impression with shimmering guitars, floaty synths and tight harmonies delivering [...]
We're still working on the Best Albums of 2011 list, but in the meantime here's my annual recap of my favorite live shows of the year. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch as many concerts in 2011 as I typically do (getting old I guess?), but I still managed to see quite a few memorable shows. I chose the 15 shows of 2011 that I loved the most for this list. Make sure to visit the musicforants.com flickr page to check out all my concert pictures from this year. 15. Youth Lagoon @ Canopy Club [...]
It's been pretty quiet around here for awhile (so quiet that we're pretty sure just our mom's are checking this thing at this point) (hi moms!), but even though we haven't been writing all that much, we promise we've still been listening to loads of good music. So putting this list together has been a good chance for us to finally put down how we feel about some of the great stuff we've heard this year. We just hope it's as fun for you to browse through as it was for us to pull together! Before reading on, [...]

Género: Alternative. Martes trece. Si tiramos de estereotipos, mal día para los gallegos que suelen ser supersticiosos. Amable debe ser una excepción ya que hoy es el día que ha elegido para presentarnos su tradicional disco de este 2011 que se acaba. Hoy se cumplen dos semanas desde que lo tengo en el player de mi coche, con el beneplácito de quienes me suelen acompañar, sin intenciones de ser retirado, y eso es mucho desde que me obligo a reseñar diariamente por estas virtualidades escafandristas. Sintomático, veréis. [...]

Monday, December 12, 2011 After a number of fruitless years, the experimental collective known as NewVillager finally made their proper introduction this past year in a self-titled work that's bypassed the difficult and seemingly impossible act of capturing a concept. The album manages to illustrate the creativity of the very group that produced it, and it's an imaginative journey that captivated me from the start. : NewVillager - Lighthouse : [...]

The eclectic trio is currently recording in Connceticut.
Woah. Since winding up his fall tour, the Phish guitarist has been making a daily commute from his New York City home to Bridgeport, Connecticut's Tarquin Studios, recording with his band and members of the National and Mates of State for the last month. Peter Katis, who owns the suburban studio and has produced a [...]

Photo by Debi Del Grande There's another unexpected collaboration in the works, this time between Phish frontman Trey Anastasio and members of The National and Mates of States , as SPIN.com reports. They've all come together to record Anastasio's next studio album, with Peter Katis serving as producer. The connection? Katis produced The National's Boxer and Mates of State's Rearrange Us, along with The Pants' Eat Crow , which Anastasio championed upon its 1997 release. According to SPIN, the acts [...]

Frank Yang For a guy who made his name on being sad and lonely, Justin Vernon sure has a lot of friends. The first Bon Iver record, For Emma, Forever Ago , became the soundtrack for broken hearts when it was released in 2008 and with this year's self-titled letting some sun into his secluded musical cabin, so to speak, his legion of followers continued to swell. As of this past Tuesday night, he could list two sold-out shows at Massey Hall (approximately 5500 people), four Grammy [...]

Their Tiny Desk set featured: Sway Desire My Only Offer Enjoy the full playback here. Mates Of State recently dropped by Letterman . Purchase Mates Of State items via Insound. MP3: Mates Of State - Sway (Diamond Rings Mix)