Blog: Sauw Space

As the saying goes, third time's a charm. Dear Science is a tremendous third effort by one of the most innovative and mesmerizing bands to emerge this decade. After the near universal acclaim for their second album, 2006's Return to Cookie Mountain , it seemed hard to fathom that they would be able to outdo themselves once again. On their third album it seems like they've done just that. Their decision to shift into slightly more inviting sonic territory and their use of more instantly gratifying tunes has served them extremely well. They have not necessarily sacrificed [...]

Weezer, Weezer, Weezer...what are you doing? Hey...stop it! Okay? Just stop it. I really don't know where to start with this one, the sixth album from the former 90's underground rock Gods, and the third to have a title only classifiable by the background color of it's album cover. Perhaps this is the first sign of Weezer's inability to create anything both original AND exciting throughout the album's tedious ten tracks. I'll admit that the band definitely tries to cover some new ground here, often (even within a [...]

It all started about half an hour before I was about to leave work and head back to my humble Brooklyn abode for another typical, Netflix -infused weeknight. It was around 5:30pm that a knowledgeable friend at work informed me about a very under-the-radar performance by TV on the Radio that would be taking place on the fire escape of the Ed Sullivan Theater as the final segment of a Late Show taping. Seeing as I'm currently obsessed with their new album Dear Science (to be reviewed in the very near future) and that the [...]

Death Cab for Cutie is often cited as one of the greatest indie rock success stories of the last decade, and rightfully so. The seeds of buzz were planted with an eight song cassette in 1997 titled Songs You Can Play With Chords , sprouting more in the early '00s among the indie community (sadly due to their appearances from Fox's The OC) , and finally blooming in 2003 with their critically acclaimed Transatlanticism . With Narrow Stairs, "the little band that could" debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 and is now playing [...]

Hearing Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago for the first time was a both a strange and unique experience for me, and one that I've rarely ever experienced. The sensation was similar to submerging oneself into a frozen lake, but instead of rushing back to the surface choosing rather to embrace the cold and become fully absorbed in it. It's a sound that hits you with a sharp chill and slowly unfolds into something that is pure, organic, haunting, and emotionally moving. Before I get too carried away, [...]

The fact that Yo La Tengo has been together as a rock band for over 20 years should lead most people to naturally assume that they lack the spirit and raw energy of their more youthful days. Let's face it, we've all seen so many aging bands attempt and sadly fail to match the musical prowess that they once had. There's no question that the spirit of rock and roll will always inherently be linked to youth. However, Yo La Tengo proved today at McCarren Park Pool that the ability to rock, I mean to [...]

With Consolers of the Lonely , Jack White and his accomplices take another stab at making the rock-God-status-achieving album that they were hoping for with their first LP Broken Boy Soldiers two years earlier. However, as much as Jack White ("Jack White III" being his new, hopefully temporary moniker) wants people to think that the Raconteurs aren't just a "side project" for him, it's hard not to think of it as anything but this. Despite this second effort being much more musically and conceptually ambitious than their first, it [...]

I've said it once and I'll say it again, seeing Radiohead live today is the closest you're going to get to an experience like seeing The Beatles play live in the 60s. Over a decade after their genre-defining, post-modern masterpiece OK Computer , the band is just as important now as they ever were, and debatably the most important band of the last 15 years. With the most recent release of the cryptically beautiful In Rainbows , they are still prepared to both melt your mind and your heart with [...]

When considering the typical output a modern singer/songwriter tends to put out nowadays, it's safe to say that Alex Turner is one ambitious guy when compared to his peers. Already having put out a pair of fantastic LPs with his UK-conquering, garage-rock revival act the Arctic Monkeys, he's already putting out a side project at 22. And don't let the album's title fool you, this is certainly no light affair. Turner, with the assistance of The Rascals' Miles Kane, has assembled a sweeping and rousing ode to late-60s symphonic pop. The album seems like it would be more appropriately placed [...]

The opening track "Starlings" off of Elbow's most recent LP perfectly foreshadows the greatness to ensue on one of 2008's best releases so far. The first 15 seconds begin with a "Day in the Life" accumulation of noise that builds until abruptly halting, only to make way for a gentle, lulling harmony that draws you in to an unknown and unpredictable sonic territory. The song continues to cycle through a bewildering series of building, exploding with horns, and careening strings. [...]

It's apparent from the very first track of their newest offering that this ain't gonna be your typical Coldplay album. What this track also tells you is how heavily Brian Eno's signature sound will permeate through the LP. At this point, Eno has been credited for producing some of rock's greatest offerings from some of its greatest bands, including U2's legendary The Joshua Tree and Talking Heads insanely creative Remain In Light . Now it's Coldplay's turn for a [...]

Around 9pm on a clear, peaceful summer evening in Brooklyn, the four members of Spoon walked onto the Prospect Park Bandshell stage to kick off what would be one of the most thrilling sets I've ever seen. Wisely, they decided to ease into their performance with the swaggering "They Never Got You" off of their lauded 2003 LP Gimme Fiction, which served as a good taste of the band's winning formula for both fans and new listeners. The band then erupted into barrage of much loved new and old material, unsurprisingly playing the majority of tracks from their (future classic) [...]

Before heading over to McCarren Park Pool today, I had read many internet/magazine articles featuring confident claims of The Hold Steady as being the best live act in the US right now. The fact that these are songs aimed to please the sing-along, fist-pumping fan is pretty apparent just from listening to their anthem-filled rock library (that has quickly accumulated into four albums over the past five years). So when The Hold Steady started playing their first song "Constructive Summer" off their upcoming album "Stay Positive", all of my doubts [...]