Category : Reviews
Anyone who’s seen Andrew Bird live will first gush about the violin and the whistling and the multi-instrumentalism and the distracted absent minded professor mannerisms and the looping brilliance. (It can’t just be me, right?) Then, after they’ve exhausted those subjects, which will probably take a while, they may mention the awesome gramophone speakers he [...]
JellyNYC kicked off this year’s installment of their free Pool Parties series, now on its fifth season, yesterday at Williamsburg Waterfront. Over those five years, there have been a number of changes due to circumstance; first the migration from McCarren Pool to the Waterfront last year, a tenuous arrangement aided by support from Senator Chuck [...]
Peggy Sue takes so many disparate elements that I like in bands and combines them into one neat package. See: lovely ladies! Vocal harmonies! Accordion! Glockenspiel! Instrument swapping! Extra percussion! General delightful British folksiness! Also, they covered a Missy Elliott song, and it was fabulous. Their set at Pianos this past Thursday was totally lovely. [...]
I have a major soft spot for the sweet, sometimes silly, romantic pop songs of Stars. A musical crush, if you will. Amy Millan’s soft, breathy voice carries with it considerable seductive power, like a come-hither coo. When she and Torquil Campbell sing together, you’re rocketed into boy/girl duet bliss. Plus, they have the super [...]
I first saw Holly Miranda last year, when she opened for Florence + The Machine at the very same venue she played on Wednesday night, Bowery Ballroom. I enjoyed her performance, particularly when she was joined onstage by members of Nada Surf, but then Florence came out and totally blew my mind, rendering everything else [...]
On Tuesday night, Stereogum held their inaugural ‘Gum Bowl, which was a sort of indie-star-studded bowling tournament for charity, with lots of beer and video cameras present. That portion of the evening was closed to the general public, but afterwards Woods and Effi Briest performed a free show, with Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) playing [...]
There’s a new indie-electro (whatever, fine genre distinctions clearly are not my strong suit, moving along) it-girl in town, and her name is Sarah Barthel. When the skinny, leggy half of the duo Phantogram took the stage at a sold out Bowery Ballroom last night, she was greeted to shouts of “Sarah I love you!” [...]
Broken Social Scene is back, and as many a music fan can tell you, that’s a damn good thing. The Canadian super-connected – err, super-collective – just released the long awaited follow up to their 2005 self-titled. It’s been a long wait, but the time between hasn’t dulled the group’s keen musical sensibilities. I felt [...]
Sometimes when you’re feeling down and discontent, as tempting as it may be to reach for your old, familiar, dirgey/sad singer-songwriter tunes, the best thing to do is listen to some upbeat, anthemic, life affirming Swedish pop, and dance it out. Work is one of my favorite albums of 2010 thus far for that very [...]
Yeasayer returned home to New York City with a sold out show at Webster Hall on Tuesday night, proving that even in these last few weeks of Lost people can still be persuaded away from their couches – I kid, I kid. At any rate, with the enthusiasm in which the crowd gave itself over [...]
