Blog: am/fm

I'm a little slow on the uptake, but the lineup for Siren Fest was announced. NEW YORK DOLLS WE ARE SCIENTISTS MATT AND KIM THE BLACK LIPS DR. DOG NOISETTES LAVENDER DIAMOND THE DETROIT COBRAS ELVIS PERKINS THE TWILIGHT SAD I do love Siren Fest. Indie rock at Coney Island, what is there not to love? Maybe it's just me, but I rarely have the sticking power to stay all day. Between the sun and the standing and the fast and loose [...]

I'm either suffering the wrath of allergies or on the brink of a major cold, but either way my head is a little fuzzy and I'm not completely on my game today. But no excuses. You don't care, you need new music! Well I've got some for ya. If you head on over to Dead Oceans, they have a Bishop Allen MP3 available for download. The Bishop, to my surprise, is not at all country, not even that neo-folk country like Bonnie "Prince" Billy — I don't know why I [...]

NME has the down low that the band billed as Beat Up Old Fellas is actually our beloved We Are Scientists! They changed their name for the shows in order to test run their new album live and will not be playing any songs from 'With Love And Squalor'. "It's a good way to see The Long Blondes for free" Keith Murray told NME.COM. "And we don't want people to come and ask for 'Nobody Move'". If you really need to hear their hit single, here it is... [...]

I've been in a Bob Mould mood these past few days, and he's perfect rainy-day music, so, "See a Little Light." I really of enjoy the stripped down sound of solo Bob. There's always a time for the harder-edged sounds of Husker Du and Sugar, but Bob's solo output is like the sonic equivalent of changing out of wet socks and sipping hot cocoa (spiked with rum, of course — I don't want to get too unicorns and kitty cats on you here). It's just the right mix of dreary and comforting, is what I mean. [...]

Stereogum is on fire today! What are you doing over here? You should be reading over there. First up, they have the above AOL video which takes Mo Rocca back to his fish-out-of-water "Daily Show" roots when he interviews a bunch of hipsters about Broadway musicals. I really enjoy that the girl in the blue (there actually is more than one girl at Other Music in this video) is visibly uncomfortable talking to Mo. She cannot get farther from that microphone and still be in the shot. The 'gum also has a bunch [...]

Free outdoor concert series River2River kicked off this weekend, and I made it to not one, but two events! Roky (which is pronounced Rocky, BTW, not Row-key) was at Castle Clinton in Battery Park. Unfortunately, due to poor planning, by the time I got there, the free tickets were gone. But we could hear fine sitting out on the lawn. The enterprising couple next to us brought a picnic. I wasn't so familiar with his music beforehand, in fact, all I really knew was this song, which was on the "High Fidelity" soundtrack: [...]

Friday was the 40th anniversary of the release of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," and as I've discussed before , I do love the album, but I'm a little ambivalent about all the boomer nostalgia. But in the latest installment of the All Songs Considered podcast Bob Boilen discusses his first discovery of the album in a lovely little snippet (that I cannot find online, sorry). He talks so lovingly of the first time he heard "Sgt. Pepper" that accusing him of navel-gazing would just be mean. [...]

Hmmm... this week's 10 CDs were grabbed at random, and we're off to a rocky start. First up: 1 The Sharp Things "A Moveable Feast" This is a large local chamber pop ensemble. They've been playing together since the mid-'90s, and it shows through in their musicianship and ability. But resembling as it does the more-stylized portion of Elvis Costello's output, I just never got into their stuff. Then: 2 Matt Nathanson "Some Mad Hope" 3 Erika Jayne "Roller Coaster" [...]

I can understand how people can hate hate hate Kanye West. He's arrogant and full of himself, and he's always got a grievance against someone who's done him wrong. I love it, though. I am a firm believer in being your own cheerleader. Kanye does it with charm and style, and he has the freaking talent to back it all up. Idolator has a few tracks from his latest complaint compilation. This time his target is the journo-entertainment complex. It's vintage Kanye. On this track, [...]

• Kanye West - Young Folks

BV has photos from The Breastfeeders at Mercury Lounge. A Montreal band singing in French, something about these guys reminds me of Stereo Total . Whatever. Upbeat rock in French with a slightly retro feel. It's good. You can hear track by Les Breastfeeders (which, by the way, there's something wonderfully cheeky about that name) here . — eh, www.anNY.com