Liz Phair @ Hiro Ballroom, Thursday, June 26th
She might be from Chicago, but when Liz Phair came to New York City’s Hiro Ballroom, she was treated like a hometown girl. In a city where the sex lives of its women have been turned into national entertainment, her fem-rock opus Exile in Guyville is not just embraced, it’s understood. Wearing a vest with...
Destroyer @ Bowery Ballroom, Wednesday, April 23rd
Image courtesy flickr user forklift The New Pornographers put on one of the worst concerts of recent memory at the Bowery Ballroom last August. It was so unbearable that writing a review would have been like rubbing alcohol on an open wound. A.C. Newman was acting like a real prick in-between songs, talking for longer...
Mountain Goats @ Webster Hall, Tuesday, March 18th
Much like John Darnielle himself, the Mountain Goats’ audience at Webster Hall on Tuesday night had a tendency to flaunt its wit. Every time someone called out a song request – which was frequently, because in this cultish fan base, everyone has a favorite – someone else had a witty thing to yell in retort....
Enablers @ Knitting Factory, Sunday, March 9th
San Francisco’s Enablers are more an amalgam of music and poetry than the average band. This distinction is forged primarily through the use of speech only loosely set in pattern with the music instead of sing-song verse. In a live setting – in this case New York City’s Knitting Factory, at the Tap Bar –...
Joanna Newsom @ BAM, Thursday, Jan. 31st
A Joanna Newsom album has never sounded as good as she did when she played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last Thursday. Even the most middling of fans, the most ardent of critics, could not possibly have walked away unswayed by the remarkable skill and charm she emanated throughout the evening. Accompanied by the...
Band of Horses or Band of Hypocrites?
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=s6vohX4HV10[/youtube] It’s awfully hypocritical that after Ben Bridwell’s insufferable ranting about being famous for only “the Funeral,” — or, more specifically, people at certain shows only interested in “the Funeral,” same ballpark — Band of Horses allowed it to be used in a 2008 Ford Edge commercial. Remember this? Here’s the key excerpt: But then...
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