Artist: the manhattans

[Photos courtesy of Robert Kidd. See more of his excellent work HERE .] To paraphrase the late Jerry Garcia, not everybody knows who Mike Watt is, but those who do really appreciate Mike Watt. Having long been established as an elder statesman of punk, post-punk and alternative rock starting with the seminal Minutemen and the inspired fIREHOSE , his versatility has allowed him to play with many musicians of different stripes and genres. He's a bass player's bass player; the go-to guy who you know will [...]

Man Men all day... S/O to ANTHM.

[Photos by acidjack] North Mississippi Allstars guitarist/vocalist Luther Dickinson has made a life mission of keeping Delta blues alive while continuing to expand the genre through his own new efforts. His latest project, The Wandering, finds him teaming up with four exceptional female musicians - Amy LaVere, Shannon McNally, Valerie June, and Sharde Thomas - to honor the richness and diversity of the blues with a new record that combines new tracks and well-loved standards. This show at the grown ups' music paradise Joe's Pub was a perfect platform to showcase the members' individual [...]

[Photos by acidjack] We have featured Cymbals Eat Guitars several times on this site (most recently, a headlining Bowery show from last year ), and we have always found their willingness to take risks refreshing. Not content to simply rework the more poppy sound of their breakout album, Why There Are Mountains , the band remain unafraid to take things in a more caustic direction. This Bowery Ballroom show found the band opening for Cursive (which we recorded, and will post if the band gets back to us about approval...), but the packed [...]

[Not very good iPhone photo by acidjack] For obvious reasons, we end up promoting a lot of NYC-based bands on this site. But it is always a rare treat to get a chance to share a recording by a band from overseas, particularly one that is new to us. This Is the Kit is a Paris and Bristol, UK-based project of vocalist/guitarist/banjo player Kate Stables that produces a grown-up brand of acoustic, blues-influenced rock of timeless beauty and grace - think of Cowboy Junkies or Sharon Van Etten as a reference point. Her music isn't gimmicky [...]

A handsome, young, Lower East Side crowd gathered before the Bowery Ballroom's blue-lighted stage in the high-ceilinged, smoky dance room on Wednesday May 2nd for the Electric Guest's first-ever headlining bill. The bartenders busily filled last minute orders as the silhouettes of the opening band N E W L O O K appeared. Canadian band N E W L O O K simultaneously resemble the eccentrically dressed Divo and a futuristic sci-fi persona. Lead singer and keyboardist Sarah Ruba, one half of the husband and wife duo, delicately put her strap-on keyboard over her shoulders and walked up [...]

I was on my way to see Punch Brothers at Town Hall in Manhattan and was not off to a good start. It was 8 o'clock and I was just getting off work. But first, I had to catch my bus. "No problem," I thought. My bus is never on time, let alone early. So imagine my surprise as I watched the bus speed down the street four minutes ahead of schedule. Oh boy. Somehow, through a combination of luck and walking very fast, I made it to the venue just in time to [...]

[Photos by acidjack and Johnny Fried Chicken Boy] There are two main paths that bands take to success these days: There are the bands with instant buzz, who find themselves on the late night TV circuit and playing large venues instantly. (They tend to flame out quickly, too). Then there are the bands who earn it the hard way - playing 200-plus shows a year, gigging every goddamn festival and radio station and bar in every corner of the country, putting thousands of miles on a broke down van and doubly more miles on their livers and sanity, [...]

[Photos courtesy of Patrick Proctor at Hippies Are Dead ] The Montreal band Plants and Animals has been at this for awhile now - they released their first EP in 2004 - and experience has clearly served them well, developing them into a band with considerable chops and obvious stage presence. This show at Mercury Lounge came on the heels of the release of their third record, The End of That, a document of the three-piece's continuing commitment to big, 70s-inspired rock. Big is a broad but appropriate word for [...]

"Within a year, GHE20GOTH1K was widely recognized as reanimating New York's underground night...

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is the best movie theater chain on Earth. Period. My love affair began in March of 2009, while @ SXSW that year, my last day spent in Austin before flying back to Montreal, my friend Erica brought me to this wondrous theater for a showing of "I Love You, Man". We arrived @ the South Lamar location [...]

[Photo courtesy of Eric Groom. See more of his excellent work HERE .] Alabama Shakes recent rise in popularity can be described as nothing short of meteoric. Less than a year ago, they were virtually unknown outside of a handful of bars in the southeastern United States. Getting a push via the internet, word of mouth and their Alabama brethren, Drive-By Truckers , the group began to blow up, playing gigs with DBT and flooring attendees at their NYC debut this past October as part of the CMJ Music Marathon . After [...]

[Photos by acidjack] Yellow Ostrich was the first band I saw last year , at this same venue ( Mercury Lounge ). Back then, the band consisted of creative mastermind and frontman Alex Schaaf and drummer Michael Tapper, working hard to produce an on-stage re-recreation of the simple magic of the band's then-current release, The Mistress . That record was one of those inde gems you might miss if you didn't pay attention to the CMJ showcase circuit and the right blogs; it was a lo-fi, low-profile recording offered on Schaaf's [...]

Photo by G. May 1st General Strike - PASS IT ON!!!!!! Listen up New York! We are ALL sick of the way things have become. There's no doubt about that. Up until now, all we do is complain and just accept our miserable fate that nothing can be done about it. We've made excuses up the wazoo and when organizations like Occupy Wall Street came around and POINTED OUT clearly that WE the masses are in control instead of the 1% of the population that are [...]

I consider it a tragedy that I don't get to see Jenny Owen Youngs play every weekend. Last week, I wrote about how we took a road trip to Cambridge, MA to see her play at the Middle East . Well this week she was back home, playing a packed show at the Mercury Lounge in Manhattan. Gregory and the Hawk opened the show, and she was absolutely lovely. With her wispy vocals and sweet guitar, Meredith Godreau had the already packed room enamored with her. [...]

[Photos courtesy of Joe Papeo. See more of his excellent work at irocktheshot.com .] It's my understanding that the seeds for the New Multitudes project were first sown as far back as 1995 when alternative-country godfather Jay Farrar (Son Volt , Uncle Tupelo ) was tapped to collaborate with Billy Bragg on what would eventually become the ' Mermaid Avenue ' album. After Jay declined, Bragg wound up recruiting Wilco and released two discs of previously unheard lyrics by folk singer Woody Guthrie put to [...]

[Photos by acidjack] The Raleigh, NC based folk band Bowerbirds pulled off quite an achievement when they sold out the Bowery Ballroom - what they called "the best room that we've ever played" - on a Friday night and managed to keep the crowd rapt for their full 70-minute set. Theirs is not party music; the band strikes a modern chord with their lush instrumentation and arrangements, but keeps their vocal and melodic style more traditional than, say, the Devendra Banharts of the world. Band anchors Philip Moore and Beth Tacular have had several [...]

El club CBGB (llamado así por las siglas de: Country, BlueGrass & Blues) fue fundado en 1973 por Hilli Kristal, ubicado en el número 315 de Bowery en Manhattan, Nueva York. Originalmente pensado para presentar artistas relativos a los géneros que le dieron nombre, terminó siendo un foro para bandas punk y New Wave como los Misfits, The Ramones, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, etc. El club se instituyó como un lugar legendario, cerrando sus puertas en el 2006. Para honrar la memoria y las raíces del club, se creó el CBGB Festival , que dentro [...]

[photo courtesy of Bleary Eyed Brooklyn ] Old Monk is a band from Brooklyn with the perfect self-description - indie-prog. The indie part is easy, as they write energetic and catchy guitar-trio indie-style rock. But the tag of "prog" doesn't get thrown around much here. The time and signature changes, abrupt turns in melody and tendency to cram three songs into one characterize the progressive elements of pop music. Their debut album Birds of Belize has more "indie" than prog, as the songs are shorter and more [...]

The homey Radios hit me this morning with a dope video from this young kid, WIKI, out of New York. Pretty impressive if you ask me. JTTS house haters...go! Follow @JKRealize Hit the jump for his latest project, 1993 . 1993 by Wiki