If you're not going to one of the big shows, like Pavement or LCD or one of the Merzbow shows this Thursday, you basically have two options. Glasslands or Shea Stadium. Glasslands eeked its way out as our recommended show of the day. While Shea Stadium boasts Juan Wauters, Easter Vomit, and German Measles (plus a band called the Honey Dos, with whom my old band actually played a show in DC- they were ok), Glasslands has more bang for the buck, though the territory may be more well-tread. Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, The Babies, Family Trees, and Big [...]
I've posted about Lower Dens a few times on this blog, but never as the main event. It's Jana Hunter's new band, and they're very good. Think Jana's solo stuff: atmospheric, guitar with lots of space, strange and simultaneously familiar- but a bit rockier. This Baltimore act is going places, so check them out now. Inoculist is a Brooklyn band that keeps popping up in cool places, like Whartscape. Their songs have the same sort of low fidelity cool that a lot of their peers have, but their music is based on really great guy/girl vocal melodies. It's pretty cool! [...]
Oh Sonic Youth. Right up there with George Clooney, they are the poster children for aging gracefully. How many other bands can you think of that play seriously kick-ass live shows, actually make meaningful music contributions, and were one of the most influential bands of all time some twenty-five years ago? The guitar gods rocked the faces off of an incredibly packed Prospect Park bandshell. There were people still trying to get in even as they were playing their last few songs. The band is a monument to practice. When you do something for a long time, you learn to [...]
Wavves hater or not, you have to admit that his new album, King of the Beach , is at least a lot of fun. Personally, I think it's more than that. I might even say it's a perfect slacker anthem album, and it will be on repeat in my apartment until the weather stops making me want to go to the beach every day. If his recent show at the Knitting Factory is any indication, Wavves' live show keeps getting tighter and better, though I'm not sure he can carry a space as large as Bowery (his show at [...]
Someone saved all the amazing free shows for the end of the summer. Three awesome women will be performing this afternoon, making this a don't-miss Central Park show. St. Vincent, of course, is the fabulous songstress behind last year's Actor . She's also got great taste in music videos . tUnE-YaRds also came out with one of the most innovative albums of 2009, Bird-Brains . And Basia Bulat is a Canadian-based singer-songwriter. Check out her beautiful songs on her MySpace . MP3: "Sunlight" - tUnE-YaRds Tagged: [...]
Free Sonic Youth! Free Sonic Youth! Sonic Youth at Irving Plaza in 2001 was the first concert I ever went to. I was a very innocent 15. I went with my older brother and sister, and a drunk girl passed out in front of me. My only complaint about the show was everyone was just standing around instead of getting into it. All of those impressions seem hilariously funny now, and I'm excited that this FREE show tomorrow will be my first time seeing the tock and roll legends since. If you've never had a chance to catch them before [...]
I've been bumming pretty hard on music recently. It's one of those dry spells where nothing new seems to capture your interest. This, however, has pulled me out of my slump. It's hosted by the wonderful blog, Microphone Memory Emotion, and is decidedly one of the best lineups of the summer. You're probably already familiar with Julian Lynch, Ducktails, and Big Troubles. I've never blogged about La Big Vic before, though. They reside in a place of wonderful "scapes," dream-scapes, haze-scapes, sound-scapes. It's a lot of beautiful noise, and somehow ends up being catchy pop music. I'm loving [...]
The National. Beach House. The National. Beach House. Outside! This is one of those really, really great big shows, worth getting excited about. The show is way sold out, but it will totally be worth it to grab a ticket off of Craigslist. Both of these bands have "Best of 20103 albums out, and The National certainly put on a beautiful live show. If you can, make it out to this one. A Brooklyn evening for the ages. MP3: "Slow Show" - The National Tagged: Beach House , The [...]
Well, you missed your chance to see Ariel Pink at a tiny venue. The has-been-around-making-so-much -music-forever-but-is-finally- getting-the-deserved-recogniti on artist of 2010 is moving on up and out to Irving Plaza, for the best non-free show to hit this city since the summer touring slump started. I feel a little guilty talking him up too much because a lot of bloggers have been onto him for awhile, whereas I've only been listening for the last year and a half. So, I'm a little late to the game, but his new album is pretty great and you should check it out if you haven't listened [...]
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are a lot of fun. Getting to Governors Island is not. First you wait on line to get on the line for the ferry. Then you wait on the ferry line. Then they herd you onto the ferry like cattle. Then you wait in line to get off the ferry. Then you wait in line to get into the concert area. You wait on line to get your 21+ wristband, then you wait on line for the bathroom. There's a beautiful view of the skyline once you're there, but unless you're with a ton [...]
I saw K Holes at Cake Shop just a few short weeks ago, and they left quite the impression. Full of nervous New York energy, not afraid of the free jazz, and totally rocking at the same time, I thought they were one of the more musically creative groups I've seen for awhile. So much so that I can say that I definitely recommend this show on an already jam-packed Friday. Gary War are pretty interesting, too. They play really distorted songs that sound vaguely like 8-bit at times, vaguely like television jingles, and definitively like eerie, barely breathing rock [...]
Yes, yes, yes, we've talked about The Antlers and Dinosaur Feathers so much that they're old news by now. But this show is outdoors! And it's free! And it's Thursday. Don't you deserve to see some great live bands? Yes, yes you do. Go ahead! Get out there! Marvel at the beauty that is Peter Silberman's voice and Dinosaur Feathers' harmonies. You won't regret it. MP3: "Cold Arabella" - Dinosaur Feathers Tagged: Dinosaur Feathers , The Antlers
A really good pop song is a really good pop song. I put "Home" on my 2009 Favorite Songs List, and people have continuously picked it out as one of the songs they liked most. I think nearly everyone has heard it by now, whether from a music blog or a commercial, but perhaps you haven't seen the video above. It's by far the most charming performance I've ever seen on a late night television talk show. They have absolutely no regard for the camera, seem like total weirdos, and Jade Castronos is one of the most compellingly honest performers [...]
It's that time of year again. Get out there and sweat with the best of them at Siren . Eat some hot dogs, walk on the boardwalk, ride the cyclone. If you do decide to brave the crowds and the heat, make sure not miss these bands, my picks for this year: Dom, Wye Oak, Ponytail, and Harlem. I've usually only seen these bands in tiny, tiny places, so it should be a lot of fun to watch them rock and enormous outdoor stage. Have fun, and don't forget to wear sunscreen! MP3: "Beautiful and [...]
No surprises at this show, as far as Heartless Bastards are concerned. Erika Wennerstrom and her merry band came on stage, melted face, and ruled the medium-sized crowd with good old fashioned Southern rock and roll, Black Lips style but with a feel all their own. They're just such a solid band. And solid is the right word in every way. Impenetrable, present, staid. Even if it does lack a little excitement, it's a good show. The Builders and The Butchers were an unexpected delight. They play the kind of music that really good musicians who are bored [...]
Finally, an excuse to talk about Julian Lynch again. I've been loving his stuff for a long time, and now he has a brand new album out called Mare , and boy is it good. His was the first show I saw in 2010, and I was blown away back in January by the power of his noise-ish jams at Bruar Falls. There's a quality to his music that makes me feel like a very good, kind soul is behind it. Plus, his fascination with New Jersey is definitely a plus. Make sure to catch him now at Silent [...]
I'm not recommending this show so much on the merits of the bands' music, but rather on the potential character of the evening. Violens don't do allll that much for me, sort of like a toned down version of Neon Indian crossed with Yesayer, but the songs on their MySpace aren't too bad. Beige, though, Beige I really like. Their song (posted below) was recently featured on Altered Zones (so they must at least be cool, right?), and it's drony and angsty in all the right, subtle ways. I also like the little band description they've posted on [...]
Heartless Bastards rock. Big, grand songs with Erika Wennerstrom's seriously bad-ass Southern-style rock and roll voice make Heartless Bastards a long-time favorite here. There's nothing hip about this band- just great rock musicians playing with a boatload of attitude. The Builders and The Butchers have a Southern American/bluegrass thing going on. If that's your thing, then they're pretty good, from what I understand. And Peter Wolf Crier is also on the bill. They're from Minneapolis and are on Jagjaguwar, AND I really like the song below. That's three strikes in their favor. Should be a show full of some really [...]
I can't do either of these men justice in this little column. That's why they have to go together. I finished Slaughterhouse Five nearly two months ago, have read multiple books since then, and have still been stuck on the proper song with which to match Vonnegut. I usually have a few vague ideas for these posts after finishing a book, and when they don't work it's almost always because I don't feel that the tone of the music matches that of the novel. For Vonnegut, on the other hand, the problem was that no one was cool [...]
The Beets are always a good time. There's a few you're guaranteed any time the Beets come back to town. Truly delightful jangly songs. A high-energy performance. A whole bunch of their friends who are going to come and be a little drunk and make sure that everyone's having fun. I've never been to a Beets show with bad vibes, and would expect this to be no different. German Measles are also playing. German Measles are an objectively bad band. Their songs sound like songs you would write if I handed you a guitar for the first time right now [...]
The New York Rockmarket
Avicii – Two Million
Yellow Magic Orchestra edit from Chrome Canyon
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
H&M Lookbook Mujer y Hombre Otoño 2012.
