Tagged: efwasthere

A nice four-band bill took over Mercury Lounge last Thursday, anchored on both ends by a few artists you may have seen/heard from around these parts in the past. We Barbarians, one of our very first Bands of the Week , kicked things off while Maps & Atlases, our recent Q&A subjects , brought it all home. Sahara Shrestha was on hand to capture it all, see the full photo gallery below.... We Barbarians [...]

Even though St. Vincent headlined Sunday's excellent triple bill at Central Park's Summerstage, all the talk afterwards centered upon one Merrill Garbus, aka tUnE-yArDs, aka one of our very favorite people/artists/performers out there. Whether standing strong as a one-woman show in the tiny environs of Spike Hill (a la our inaugural Northside Showcase) or rallying an eclectic ensemble (featuring another of our favorites, Sister Suvi bandmate Patrick Gregoire, aka Pat Jordache) to bring all the nuances of Bird Brains to life before a rapt audience in the thousands, Garbus brings it every single time. Sahara [...]

Well, there was no shortage of free outdoor live music in the city this past weekend. From Coney Island to Central Park, South Street Seaport to Williamsburg, here, there and everywhere, if you could take the heat, it was well worth the effort to abandon the bedside AC for some free tunes. Sahara Shrestha hit up the latest edition of Jelly's Pool Parties on Sunday afternoon to snap the action for EF ; check out the gallery below... [...]

The second annual Northside Festival kicked off Thursday night, and while we were over at Spike Hill rocking the official EF showcase, contributor Sahara Shrestha snapped some excellent pics from the Thao and Mirah with The Most of All, These United States, and Chica Vas show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Check out the gallery below and stay tuned for (hopefully) a photo recap from our own show. Chica Vas [...]

James Mercer's voice can become tiring. I never actually discovered that independently, but as I drove my girlfriend to the airport the other week she pointed it out to me and it made perfect sense. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the Shins ' last offering, Wincing the Night Away , it marked the end of a fling I had with the band. After I hearing that album and watching them at Terminal 5 a few years back, I made little effort to follow their progress on new offerings (which was fortuitous). So, when my brother [...]

The singer-songwriter-guitarist mastermind behind (in front of?) Visqueen is named Rachel Flotard and the most important thing to know about her is that she is a rock star by nature. From listening to Visqueen's most recent album, Message to Garcia , I knew that Flotard's songwriting, guitar playing and tremendous pipes are responsible for making the power pop band as fun as they are. But what I found out on Friday night at Union Hall is that Visqueen's shows are even more enjoyable, thanks in large part to Flotard's outsized personality and perfect comic [...]

Metric and Bear in Heaven hitched up for a handful of dates that brought them to NYC's cavernous Terminal 5 on Sunday night, small potatoes compared to Metric's next tour of duty as openers for the hot-shit arena rock of Muse, right? Well on this night, Metric was the top dog, and with Emily Haines at the helm - among the most capable and riveting front person you're likely to find - they certainly appeared to perform as such. EF contributor Joe Perez was there to catch all the action, check out his photo gallery [...]

When The Lindsey Buckingham Appreciation Society , a collective of very talented musicians who admire guitarist/vocalist Lindsey Buckingham, emerged onstage at Union Hall Sunday evening, Charlie Hall - lead singer, co-founder (along with Patrick Berkery), electro-acoustic guitarist and sometime keyboardist that night - gave us the drill: the band would perform Fleetwood Mac's twelfth album Tusk in its entirety; they would take few breaks and would keep the chit chat at a minimum. The project was not for profit, but for the love of the album and the man behind its songs. [...]

After a 2-year disappearing act, Brooklyn psych-rockers The Big Sleep made a triumphant comeback last night at the Mercury Lounge. They took the stage at 12:30 in front of a tired but eager crowd and woke us all up with their particular brand of screeching guitar, droning keyboards, and pounding drums. It was a short and to-the-point set that pulled from their 2-album catalog and tested out some new material on our sore but happy ears. After such along hiatus, the band was obviously stretching out some underused stage muscles and getting back into the swing of [...]

Ah, the days of youth. Teen Dream , the latest Beach House album, is like an old, soft, favorite t-shirt for me; it wraps itself around me and transports me to a place that's soft, warm, and familiar. It serves up all the playful longing and innocence of youth without confining them into concrete images or expressions. It is visceral and ethereal-feeling before thought, heart before head. Keeping with the "hazy days of youth" vibe of the music, a dilapidated, old-school dance hall such as Webster Hall is the perfect place for a [...]

Baltimore's Future Islands touched down at Death by Audio Saturday night and shredded to an insanely excited crowd. Having recently released both an EP In The Fall this past month and proper full-length In Evening Air on Thrill Jockey this past Tuesday, the band is now in full-throttle touring mode for the next two months. EF photographer Sahara Shrestha was on hand Saturday and up for the challenge of shooting the madness, below is a photo gallery from the show... [...]

With a fresh Best New Music album nod and bona fide viral hit video between them, The Tallest Man on Earth and Nurses rolled into town on 4/20 atop a wave of good cheer, acclaim, and of course most importantly, some truly excellent tunes. From Sweden to Portland, folky freakouts to freaky-folk, the pair seemed destined to share the road together. EF contributor Sahara Shrestha was there to catch Tuesday's action, check it out below.... Nurses [...]

Before the super-not-so-secret-special guests had even been revealed for Tuesday night's show at Union Hall, it was already an absolute must-see. Somehow, despite graduating to Bowery Ballroom-sized clubs on the strength of an already classic debut LP and growling live show, Plants and Animals found themselves playing opener in the space's small basement. Not that they seemed to notice or care ; instead, they whipped through the majority of their forthcoming LP La La Land with the same knack for reconstructing their own material live that they had showed with their debut, making those [...]

Two of The L Magazine's Top 8 NYC Bands You Need To Hear played Cake Shop this past Tuesday night - or, technically, three of them did; alas, I arrived too late to catch Ball of Flame Shoot Fire ... at any rate, it was a refreshing bout of home cooking for me. Having spent all of March on the road traveling, seeing all manner of bands around the country (most popular genre, seemingly, at the moment out there: über delay heavy post-rock), it was nice to be back in the familiar surroundings [...]

• Ava Luna - Clips
• MiniBoone - 03 Devil in Your Eyes

Micachu and the Shapes are becoming masters at anticipation. With one moment of still silence amidst the chaos of fuzz and dissonance they can suck the air out of a room. Or they begin with an intro so painfully slow that each hair stands up on the back of your neck as you await the tsunami of sound that is sure to crash into you , any moment (see "Golden Phone"). Once it hits, your breathing resumes, at least until the next song. This is impressive. For starters, Mica (a few rapper friends nicknamed [...]

My admiration for the Walkmen is well documented, just look below for proof. Integral to this respect is the reassurance in always knowing exactly what I'm going to get at a Walkmen show. This holds true even in circumstances such as last night, when the band downsized to the cozy setting of the Bell House to try out a bunch of new songs from their forthcoming record (which singer Hamilton Leithauser assured the packed house was "almost finished"). Yes, the songs are new, but they are still Walkmen songs, meaning they breathe [...]

This review is going to be a bit of a love fest, so bear with me here. I showed up at the Bowery on Saturday night just in time to catch the second band on the triple bill, Wye Oak (pictured above). This was my second time seeing Wye Oak, and I can happily report that they were even better than I remembered from the last time. Wye Oak is a two-piece act comprised of drummer/multi-instrumentalist Andy Stack and guitarist/singer Jenn Wasner. Their sound is a ten-ton brick of crushing guitar, sultry vocals, swelling [...]

While it's a shame not all of us could be there, EF contributor Victoria Lebron did more than enough to compensate as our eyes and ears for this year's SXSW. The following is a diary of all the madness of SXSW 2010 from her perspective; in other words, it's show and tell time, Austin style... This is the diary of a SXSW newbie. The experience was amazing, fun and overwhelming… and I'm still catching up on sleep. Three words: totally worth it. March 18, [...]

Do you like the Beach Boys? How about Grizzly Bear? Well, if you do, maybe you should check out The Morning Benders , from Berkeley, CA. After working hard since 2005, starting out as a twinkle in Chris Chu's eye, the band released their first full-length LP, Big Echo , on March 9th with a release party at Cameo Gallery the night before. I got to chat with Chu for a few minutes prior to the show and learn more about the band, how they feel about heading to SXSW and how they have grown over the [...]

• the morning benders - Promises

We're not sure who's in charge of Student Activities over at NYU these days, but they're doing a helluva job booking live shows. NYU students, be thankful, because it's not everyday that a sweet triple bill like Man Man , Born Ruffians , and Javelin arrives all nicely bundled on your doorstep. Everyone else, back to work on crafting fake student ID's so you can gain entry next time. Sahara Shrestha was there on behalf of EF and caught all the goodness firsthand, check out the pics below.... [...]