St. Vincent @ Bowery Ballroom, July 17th
St. Vincent’s promotions team must have a grin on their faces a mile wide. In April, the wide-eyed, brunette songstress also known as Annie Clark was opening shows for long established act John Vanderslice in small to medium-sized venues. Fast-forward three months and she’s headlining them all on her own. Not as part of the...
Mark Ronson @ Highline Ballroom, Wednesday, July 11th
Though the phrase “big in Europe” has become something of a joke among the music set, for someone like Mark Ronson, it’s no laughing matter. While he was born in London, Ronson’s family moved to New York at the age of 8, and it’s this big city he considers his hometown. After attending prestigious schools...
Jesus & Mary Chain, Bowerbirds, Bright Eyes
Part of the reason that it takes so long to get concert reviews up here is because I admittedly let myself run a little wild and, quite possibly, get a little too extravagant. So, for tonight we’re going to try something new – short reviews! If only because I saw three shows recently that I’d...
Patti Smith @ Bowery Ballroom, Thursday, Apr. 24th
The line for the 10:30 Patti Smith Bowery Session (the last of three) was enormous. It curved around the corner and went around halfway around the next block. I was easily the youngest person in line. At some point, the couple ahead of me (probably also in their 20s, but definitely older than me) had...
St. Vincent & John Vanderslice @ Union Hall, Sunday, Apr. 22nd
It’s never been especially easy for singer-songwriters. It seems like every Jane and John Doe who can play a guitar thinks that means that they can write good songs. With the blogs and MySpace and how the two have completely revitalized how people discover music, it’s become even harder. Any marketing student or employee can...
Goes Cube @ Mercury Lounge, Friday, April 6th
Let’s be upfront, shall we? I know diddly squat about any kind of heavy/hard music. If you’d like proof, I can tell you that the first hard/heavy music I listened to was Metallica. Not Metallica circa Kill’em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, Justice for All or the Black Album, but Metallica circa Load....
Amy Winehouse & The Pipettes @ Bowery Ballroom, Tuesday, March 13th
In late November, early December, one of my co-workers started playing a song over and over again that had the catchiest hook of “they tried to make me go to rehab / I said ‘no, no, no.'” It was sung by a woman with a deep, exotic voice that was accompanied by a dance-rhythmed brass...
Dismemberment Plan to re-member.
This is the best news I’ve heard in a long, long time. Courtesy of Pitchfork: Someone please pinch me. Three and a half years after their voluntary break-up, the mighty Dismemberment Plan will reunite for a show at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. On April 28, the band will take the stage alongside Beauty...
“Two Nights with Explosions in the Sky” or “Yet Another Reason Why Pitchfork Blows”
For a long time, whenever someone asked me about the best concert I’ve seen, Explosions in the Sky was always one of the first bands to come to mind. The first (and up until this week, only) time I saw them was at the now defunct NorthSix in Brooklyn during the Winter of, I think,...
Happy VD with the Blow!
Before the Blow became an overnight blog sensation with Paper Television and “Pile of Gold,” they release a little EP called Love Songs: Poor Aim (not right before, but about 2 years before). It’s full of simple pop love songs, and it’s probably one of my favorite EPs ever. To tell the truth, it’s the...
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