[Photo by acidjack] It's one thing to be unaware of an amazing live act for far too long; it's another for them to be from your own backyard and to be totally clueless about them until they're opening for an established band at Bowery Ballroom . But such is the truth of my discovery of Brooklyn's Superhuman Happiness , and I'm happy to say I'm glad I made my way to them eventually, even if I arrived late to the party. Like the band they were opening for , Superhuman Happiness utilize a [...]
There's lo-fi, and then there's lo-lo-fi. The Babies are bottom-of-the-well-fi, combined with buried-in-the-grass-tech. In other words, their Cry Along with the Babies EP sounds rather like the experiments my ex and I did in our attic, in the '90s – you could hear some great song ideas; and it felt real, and sincere. Occasionally we hit sonic pay dirt, but we were unpredictable; inconsistent. On the other hand, we didn't finish the first track on our demo with a major-to-minor guitar stroke (one of the Beatles' early signatures). I don't know if [...]
Friends is a Brooklyn-based independent that blends a wide variety of sounds into dance-ready indie pop music. The band returns with another single after 'Friend Crush.' "I'm His Girl" sounds like New York disco fronted by Feist. Singer Samantha Urbani and Aurora Halal produced the music video. Lucky Number Records has released 'I'm His Girl' as a download and 7 inch. Friends - "Friend Crush" from stereogum on Vimeo . Sample audio. Download music from Friends [...]
(Right Link + "Save Link As" = Download) The Denzels - "Montrose Next Door" The Denzels - "Slow Death" The Denzels are a four-piece from Brooklyn, NY and their recently released Slow Death EP has been on constant rotation for me due to a handful of reasons: 1) They remind me of bands that used to make great records, namely fellow NYers The Strokes and Interpol (with a dash of The Drums ). 2) The city of SF [...]
} Unsigned Brooklyn band wears it's influences proudly... (Right Link + "Save Link As" = Download) We Can't Enjoy Ourselves - "Stop Moving" We Can't Enjoy Ourselves - "Put Your Blue Dress On" We Can't Enjoy Ourselves - "Charming Man" Every now and again, a band shakes you out of your chillwave winter and into the energy that is warmer weather. That shake, in this instance, is an the NY trio We Can't Enjoy [...]
Samantha Urbani and Lesley Hann front Friends, a quintet from Bushwick that's quickly becoming one of summer's bands to look out for. Only six days after their first impromptu band practice they had their first show. Since then they've been touring relentlessly along with keyboardist Matt Molnar, multiinstrumentalist Nikki Shapiro and drummer Oliver Duncan, gathering a devoted following from Berlin to Texas. Tropical precussion stylings layer hints of salsa and African drum beats, adding a complexity to their music that sets them apart from typical summer dance-pop bands. But the laid back longing of their lyrics is perfect for [...]
Sharon Van Etten - I Wish I Knew The wonderful thing about lurking in the background as a wayward, traffic-oblivious music website is the freedom to idolize lingering obsessions some six months or more after their initial discovery. Sharon Van Etten's forlorn ruminations spent the better part of winter idly swinging their legs from the speakers and turntables of everyone who'd managed to get their hands on them. Etten's collection of melancholy folk songs, candidly titled Because I Was In Love , comes across as the ultimate exercise in self-preservation. [...]
Here We Go Magic - Collector How would it sound if Broken Social Scene and The New Pornographers didn't spend half their albums jerking off? Like the start of the new Here We Go Magic album, which, I'm sorry to report, proceeds to spend seven-tenths of its total running time jerking off. "Collector" remains a standout track. "Land Of Feeling" would as well were it not for a synth-induced identity crisis encountered at its halfway mark. Well, OK, Brooklyn. [ Here We Go Magic on Myspace ]
This is easily the most appropriate monday morning song ever. I am sorry that it is kind of depressing, but I just had to post it on a Monday. Listen to it, and you will understand why this is the perfect Monday song. This is a late find since their most recent album came out almost a year ago, but who cares, right? I am seriously loving this Brooklyn band, Jones Street Station, because they are just a little bit different and four of the band members share the role of "lead singer" which is pretty unusual. They [...]
There have been some controversial (i.e. laughable) labels slapped onto new albums and bands. Most of these labels are hyphenated, nonsensical descriptions used to make it easy to draw comparisons. Bear in Heaven is one of those bands that cannot be contained in any single genre. Listening through the album you can pick up psychedelic tinges and even some glimmers of prog. The album very well could have been dismissed as an experimental/prog band—but instead, they neatly wrapped up each textural song into a three to four minute package and present us with an accessible album. So what am I [...]
Suckers - Easy Chairs A rousing burst of pop to get the week off to a good start. Pretty hard not to sing along with this one; even harder not to imagine 2010 being a good year for this band. The Brooklyn group recently recorded a full-length record for Gigantic, but in the meantime you can buy this limited edition 73 ( or this one ) and check out the Daytrotter session . MySpace [...]
The gushing love affair between hip-hoppers and indie-rock bands (in particular, Brooklyn-based indie-rock bands) in recent months has been well-documented. Jay-Z swooned over Grizzly Bear in Williamsburg. ?uestlove received a special private performance from Dirty Projectors. But these blooming relationships had a certain subtlety to them. Fawning from afar escalated to real life bro'ing out. Well, last week D.C. rapper Wale threw his name into the hat as well when the tracklist to his long-awaited proper debut Attention Deficit hit the net. The news that he was working with producer Dave Sitek on the album is not new news. [...]
Photo by anonymous, Amazing Baby The same label that brought you London's group The Duke Spirit put out the debut album by Amazing Baby . They were the talk of last Fall season, as they were similarly slated to follow in the footsteps of Glasvegas and MGMT but the band pulled back a little further to keep the mystery alive and in doing so produced a fantastic album called Rewild earlier this summer. Rewild is a mixture of psychedelics, pop, and shimmery guitar work featuring tight vocals right in line with dramatic front-men such as [...]
MUSIC NEWS - Brooklynite's TV on the Radio have announced details of its spring tour, that includes headlining and festival gigs at Coachella & Bonnaroo, and some shows with Little Dragon , Dirty Projectors , and Grizzly Bear . TVotR also be releasing a digital EP on April [...]
MUSIC NEWS - The 19th Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert will be held on February 3, 2009 at NYC's Carnegie Hall . The concert; under the direction of Tibet House Artistic Director Philip Glass, will this year feature rock icon Patti Smith along with her daughter Jesse Smith, New York's hometown band, Vampire Weekend , and Brooklyn's The National . In the past, concerts have starred a similar stellar mix of talent ranging across eras and musical genres that included David Bowie and Paul Simon to Sigur [...]
MUSIC NEWS - Schedule for the 2009 Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival has been announced with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah , Chairlift , Beirut and Kaki King participating in the February NY event. The shows which are promoted as a celebration of Brooklyn 's musical talent, will have acts perform in 13 venues across the NYC borough on February 6-7 and 12-14. The thirteen venues have partnered with Brooklyn Academy of Music , whose Howard Gilman Opera House [...]
I have to say, I was surprisingly impressed by Battles . I caught part of their set at Sasquatch and thanks to deafening muddled sound, swore there was nothing to them and I'd never seen them again. Battles inspired performance on Monday of Bumbershoot had me happily eating crow. With an engaged, dancing audience and really good sound, you couldn't help but get caught up in the joy and complexities of Battles. Battles ::: photo by Abbey Battles at Bumbershoot [...]
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Download: Lissy Trullie - "It's Only You, Isn't It"
Ugandan Methods – Beneath The Black Arch
Listen: James Blake - Live Album
