When Wild Beasts came to New York City last fall, they found themselves in the pressured position of having a lot to prove. They’d made only one US trek beforehand, to SXSW. Members of the press came out in droves to hear and see the UK foursome, now on their second album, Two Dancers, which [...]

Murder City Devils are no longer the kind of band that sets their drums on fire, or plays dive bars. For quite some time they were technically no longer even a band. But for now, having reunited for a series of shows instead of just one, they were a band. The kind of band who [...]

Alternately titled: How I got in to Two Sold Out Yeasayer Shows in New York City, A Tale of Happiness & Triumph
One of the biggest challenges a music writer can face is writing about a band you adore. Sometimes you like something so much that the task of describing it is an overwhelming pressure. You [...]

Hey, look at that – we’re still alive! Complete truth: I meant to post this a good week earlier, but was having server troubles.
2009 was a rough year, personally, for your poor webmistress, but it would take quite something to stop the compiling of year end lists. Though, 2009 wasn’t such a competitive year for [...]

An overwhelming 27,000 people showed up to see David Byrne play a free show at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn on Monday night. The show was the opening of the 2009 Celebrate Brooklyn concert series. Celebration was easily the theme of the night, whether you were celebrating the fact that it didn’t rain, the [...]

Summer’s basically here. I can taste it. Spent my Memorial Day Weekend in the green bounty of Vermont. The minute my train rode into Vermont’s green border, the smile on my face couldn’t be removed. Managed to get a little work done while I was there, though –
Wrote an 8+ for Ear Farm on the [...]

Save the massive excitement surrounding what was claimed to be his first and only show in the U.S. (though it seems he played Chicago three nights prior), everything about Wolfgang Voigt’s show at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre on Friday night was minimal. Performing under the name of his popular ambient electronic project, GAS, Voigt was [...]

Pattern Is Movement have certainly lived up to the Movement part of their name, touring relentlessly since the release of their excellent fourth album, All Together. Seeing them for the third time since October, Pattern Is Movement’s set at Webster Hall last Wednesday was yet another in a line of charged, exciting performances. The duo [...]

It’s Spring, and the album releases are heating up! Expect more of these coming soon.
Over at Popdose, I talk about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ glitzy new album, It’s Blitz!…
I make a triumphant return to Bullz-Eye with a dissection of Cursive’s latest, Mama, I’m Swollen…
I stop in to the Contrast Podcast again to talk about one [...]

After seeing jam-freak-avant-folksters Akron/Family put on an incredible show at Brooklyn’s Union Pool in March, there was only one thing left to do: Go home, go online, buy tickets to see them again. After seeing Akron/Family put on an incredible show at Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom last night, there’s only one conclusion that can be made: [...]