POSTER BY LYDIA CONKLIN Down at SXSW and here in New York at CMJ each year, we host a party called The Beehive and invite the bands we love the most to share the stage for one special day. This year, for the first time ever, we're bringing The Beehive to Northside Festival ! Join us on Saturday, June 15 for a day of kickass music by long-time favorite Yellow Ostrich , BRAIDS , and Widowspeak (performing as a duo) as well as newfound loves Wet and [...]
GRAPHICS BY SARAH HEINEMANN Austin Psych Fest is still a tiny festival when compared to the titans of the festival world, (I'm looking at you Coachella, ACL and Bonnaroo) - to be honest, though, I don't think I've ever had a better time at a music festival. Everything was so easy: from getting there, to parking, walking around, eating and drinking all were there only to enhance the live music experience, not overpower it. Austin is the perfect town to host Psych Fest as Texas was the birthplace of so many psych bands ( Moving [...]
![HOCKEY PLAYED SECRET SHOW AT SOHO HOUSE [PHOTOS]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4928505_lg.jpg)
With their first album since 2009 hitting shelves next week, Hockey played a secret show at Manhattan's Soho House to a crowd of their biggest fans. The now-Brooklyn band mixed it up with a perfect combination of old and new, finishing the evening with their hit, "Song Away". The new album, Wyeth IS , comes out on May 7. Photos from the show below. Hockey
Not to be confused with the awesome cult classic crime drama in which Christopher Walken gets his bad man on (although it's apparently named after said film), True Romance is the debut offering from English indietronica vixen Charli XCX . Spawned from that overlapping space between indie idol worship and exciting new music, True Romance faced quite the expectation hurdle before it even left the starting blocks. Though it entertains and shows promise, the songs don't quite fit the seismic push they were given. I'm not insinuating that [...]
![SHAKEY GRAVES IS COMING TO TOWN [VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4928507_lg.jpg)
Undeniably one of the most talked about artists out of Austin right now, Shakey Graves has announced his upcoming tour with fellow indie folk artists Wild Child and Marmalakes . They've dubbed it the "Outside City Limits" tour, and to celebrate the announcement, all three artists got together and shot a cover of The Kinks "Dead End Street". So far, the artists have announced the following dates: 6/12 - Ft. Worth, TX @ The [...]
![BELGIAN FOG DELIVERS ECSTATIC, INTRICATE MELODIES [STREAM]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4927853_lg.jpg)
Under the moniker Belgian Fog , Robert Dale melds keen pop sensibilities with smooth, sweeping melodies. His song "Wait for Help" is an amazing blend of infectious synths, playful alternative percussion, and vocals that were made for electro-pop. The track begins with climbing, metallic synth and shakers that juxtapose Dale's crystal-clear falsetto in the best of ways. The chorus of the track is an ecstatic burst of layered vocals, pulsing drums, and electronic claps. The bass is tight, the guitar is poignantly sparse and the slithering synths provide some really innovative and [...]
This weekend marks the inaugural run for Atlanta's brand new Shaky Knees Festival , and I'm stoked to be there to experience it! The two day festival will be held in a newly completed park next to a prominent Atlanta music venue, The Masquerade . The schedule and lineup is a bit light compared to other festival heavy-hitters ( Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, Hangout ), but for a first year festival, the lineup is pretty amazing. The schedule is 12-11 Saturday, May 4, and 12-10 Sunday, May 5. Nearly every act scheduled to [...]
![BRAIDS’ BEAUTIFULLY ATMOSPHERIC NEW SINGLE [STREAM]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4925970_lg.jpg)
Braids' new album won't be released until sometime this fall, but to hold us over until then, they've released "Amends", an immensely atmospheric single found on their new 123 _In Kind // Amends_ due out June 11. The high frequency percussive clicks and glitchy vocals blend perfectly and sound similar to those utilized by Blue Hawaii on their most recent album. A deep, churning drone builds as the track progress, while background vocals swim around the ambiance playfully and an entropic synth pops into the track like a firework before [...]
![CRIMINAL HYGIENE RELEASE BALLS OUT (SOMETIMES LITERALLY) MUSICAL PORTRAIT [VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4925725_lg.jpg)
When Criminal Hygiene released their debut LP, CRMNL HYGNE , earlier this year, we were already on board with their balls out version of LA garage rock. Fortunately for anyone who has yet to listen to the album, though, the band and 17 of their artist friends have created a “visual companion” to the music. Basically, the footage above is a collection music videos for every single one of the songs on the record. Much like the LP itself, each video is all over the place with creativity and [...]
During his most recent trip to our fine city of New York, Villagers frontman Conor O'Brien found his way to Williamsburg, Brooklyn where we spent a couple hours chatting, sharing stories, and then, of course, recording a two-song Buzzsession. The session, hosted at Steven Hero Productions, stripped O'Brien down to the bare essentials, his gripping vocals and a crisp acoustic guitar – a setup in which he proved to shine. Watch "Nothing Arrived", off Villagers' 2013 LP {Awayland}, and Luke Kelly cover "On Raglan Road" below and snag the free recordings using the [...]
![HOW SAD WILL MAKE YOU VERY HAPPY [PREMIERE]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4924332_lg.jpg)
We’re totally pining for the up-tempo, Montreal-bred How Sad , and feeling, well, everything but sad about it. This is why we’re incredibly pleased to introduce the threesome’s punked-out summer track, “Hot Blur”. Trust us, you don’t want to go a minute longer without it. It’s beautifully freeing, it’s juvenile, and it knows you better than you know yourself. The band's cloudy, tech-pop beats seem to murmur of romance, spirited youth, and rebellious release, all the while alluding to an undying optimism. Not surprisingly, “Hot Blur” checks in with just the right [...]
If the releases this year have taught us anything, it’s that hotly anticipated records are a dangerous business. Sure, you could end up like Justin Timberlake and sell a billion (yes, that's an exaggeration) records in the first week, but you could also attempt the same feat and leave a lot of people disinterested. When you ask people to wait for something forever, they have forever to let their imaginations run wild and postulate just how good and game-changing it must be, simply because it’s taken so long to make. The end result is rarely [...]
Week's Top Releases The Albums You Need to Know About Every Week Hey, guys! Hope this week's release day finds you well and ready to do some listening. I decided to (sort of) list the releases from oldest band to newest band this week, which takes us back to 1983 - the year indie rock vets Guided By Voices was formed. They've been in the game for thirty years now and are still creating relevant, really interesting music. Going even [...]
![WARNING: THERE IS DANGER IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE [FREE MP3]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4923379_lg.jpg)
There Is Danger is the musical project headed by I. Riske, of Phoenix, Arizona, and backed by 5 musicians wielding an impressive number of instruments (“guitars, drums, bass, violins, flutes, melodicas, a variety of keyboards…”). which are masterfully inserted and arranged into meticulously crafted Americana pop that I can’t stop listening to. The vocals meander coolly, churning out a striking stream of poignant, painful lines, sometimes intensifying but never losing its head. The guitar riffs, the melodies, the harmonies, the instrumentation, the lyricism - it’s all there. This is a complete record, fully [...]
![LISTEN TO DAUGHTER’S DAFT PUNK COVER OF “GET LUCKY” [STREAM]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4921357_lg.jpg)
One of our absolute favorites, Daughter , just dropped another chill-inducing cover, this time of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky". The original may be disco-fabulous and feature Pharrell Williams, but this version is stripped and striking like only Daughter can manage. The slower, more restrained cover hits your ears from a whole new angle, going from dance jam to insightful and melancholy - and Daughter does melancholy better than anyone else. Check out this cover recorded exclusively for BBC's Radio One Live Lounge on Saturday, April 27th. Daughter [...]
Samuel Beam, the folksy singer-songwriter behind Iron And Wine , has never shied away from building off-kilter and interesting ideas around his contemporary brand of Americana. His fifth studio album Ghost on Ghost is no exception. However, where this record differs from his latest run of releases is that it feels more much relaxed. Beam sounds much more at ease with himself and his songwriting, and although this means the gritty, introverted, intensity of past material isn't present, in its place lies a much more fluid, freewheeling and dare I say fun experience from a musician [...]
![DALE EARNHARDT JR. JR. PLAYED MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG [PHOTOS]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4921359_lg.jpg)
Photos by Justin Lawes As fans waited anxiously for the show to begin, two expressionless girls entered the stage with white tribal face paint, handing out little white flags. For the rest of their set, these girls would dance their hearts out, backing up front man Tunde Olaniran with plenty of support from the crowd. The band reminded me very much of their hometown, Flint, MI. They seemed to blend the city's urban grittiness with their heavy hip hop, giving their sound a sort of raw character. [...]
![DAVID RAMIREZ STUNS WITH NEW TRACK ‘GLORY’ [PREMIERE]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4917657_lg.jpg)
As David Ramirez continues to prove, the right delivery can completely transform a song. Heartfelt vocals can take simple, well-trodden lyrics and turn them into fresh, universal words to live by, and the right, raw recording can make gentle guitar picking feel more lush and impactful than a full-scale production. With his latest song, "Glory", taken from The Rooster EP , these powerful ingredients are all present. So, sit back, close your eyes, and prepare to be gently knocked out.
![SPLASHH, COMPANION AND GENERATIONALS PLAYED BOWERY [PHOTOS]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4917440_lg.jpg)
Photos by Ethan Feuer Generationals teamed up with Splashh and Companion on Monday for a show that ran the gamut of musical styles - moving from soft, downtempo harmonics to the feverish guitar drones, playful pizzicato and wavering, breathless vocals that we all know and love. Companion was first onto the stage. Though the band hadn’t yet polished all the green from their silver, their sound was heartfelt and ambitious in a way that drew the crowd [...]
Like many bands before them, French indie pop outfit Phoenix had put in a lot of time and hard work before breaking through in 2009 with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix , the band's most commercially successful LP and the catalyst to their success. Following the same formula in hopes of capturing lightning in a bottle twice was an understandable option, but an option they were not prepared to take. Rather than rest on their laurels and re-sketch the outline of W.A.P., Phoenix , although very much keeping with their pop sensibilities, have taken a somewhat different tact [...]
the WILD honey pie
“We Can’t Stop”: Feeling All Of The Feels Regarding The Miley Cyrus Video
Stream: Little Daylight – “Glitter & Gold”
Craig Hallsworth of Tangled Star Interviewed on RTRFM Today
Kanye West - [Album]
