Ho Ho Ho! Here’s some suggestions if you’d like to give (or receive) the gift of music this holiday season whether it is boxed or unboxed.
New Music Release
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The Hold Steady have become an essential New York band since coming together in Brooklyn about eleven years ago. Three of the guys live in Greenpoint within a few blocks of each other with the remaining members in Manhattan and Memphis. I spoke with Craig Finn and Tad Kubler (pronounced […]
Cool event last night at the intimate Marlin Room (capacity 500) at Webster Hall with Thurston Moore. It was a free show presented by Norton Antivirus and Pandora that you had to RSVP for and it featured an open bar – really! The former Sonic Youth guitarist/singer is now living in […]
The Orwells’ frontman Mario Cuomo told me he really didn’t like the process of recording albums very much. What he loves is playing live. Despite that being the case, the young quintet from outside of Chicago copped a spot in my top ten album list for 2014. They’re in a TV […]
The countdown of the top albums of 2014 begins! We start off with an album of instrumental music that has found its way into my player repeatedly this year – Golden Age – by Nir Felder, the outstanding guitarist from Katonah, New York, who celebrated the release of his debut […]
The Super Soul Revue last Thursday through Saturday at The Apollo was an excellent reminder at the tremendous talent found on Daptone Records. As I’ve been spending some time recently with the outstanding Burnt Offering by The Budos Band, I was keen to capture a taste of their performance and […]
In October, Yusuf released his third album under that name, Tell ‘Em I’m Gone, which followed 11 albums released between 1967 and 1978 as Cat Stevens. The new record was produced by Rick Rubin and features appearances by Richard Thompson, Charlie Musselwhite, and Tinariwen. That same month, his first concert dates […]
When the new album from The Decemberists, What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World comes out in January – it will have been just over four years since their last release so there was a lot to talk about with Colin Meloy. The singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has hardly been idle. He wrote […]
Ace Frehley, who is touring behind his new disc Space Invader showed off his old tricks – and a few new ones – to the delight of a packed house at BB Kings.
Stephin Merritt topped an impressive lineup at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village and offered a handful of Magnetic Fields’ faves to celebrate the release of the third issue of Radio Silence, a San Francisco based magazine whose stock in trade is the cross-fertilization of authors and musicians. It’s […]
When The Wytches’ Kristian Bell tested his microphone before this interview and session for WFUV’s The Alternate Side in The Bronx, he said “We Have Assumed Control!” Evidently this is KB’s preferred phrase for checking levels because he applauded me as the first person who recognized that he was referencing the […]
What a showman – What a band! Gedeon Luke and The People really killed it at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday night.
Eric Johnson & Mike Stern are, of course, tremendous guitar players with chops of doom – but they are also great listeners and intuitive partners – who are thrilled to be teaming up on stage and on their rewarding new album Eclectic.
Remy Ma gave out her new mixtape I’m Around for Halloween. Here’s what the Grammy-nominated rapper had to say about being on the inside and where her head is now…
Carlene Carter is American music royalty. The roots of country music are in her blood. Now, for the first time, the ‘rockingest country girl in the universe‘ breathes her unique life into a full album of the songs of her family: Carter Girl. Get a taste of the in-studio performance […]
The Kooks have a new drummer, Alexis Nunez, who has brought a dance-a-bility factor. That’s according to Luke Pritchard, the very naturalistic rock star who sings and writes the songs. The band‘s fourth record Listen is dramatically different than its three brothers. Peek at their show at The Paramount in Huntington on […]
Cat Power headlined the Modern Sky Festival NYC in Central Park on Sunday. The festival in Central Park was the first American version of China’s Modern Sky Festival. Also featured were The Both composed of Aimee Mann and Ted Leo as well as Stars. Sets were short as it was an all-day hootenanny and […]
Neil Diamond played Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn for a surprise homecoming show – his first ever in the borough. I got turned on to Neil Diamond via my dad through albums like the Robbie Robertson produced Beautiful Noise and the one I really loved Hot August Night. Neil […]
Golden God Robert Plant played a deuce at BAM as part of the 50th anniversary of Nonesuch Records and John Mayer was part of an event in Times Square announcing Rock in Rio setting up in Las Vegas. Les Tambours du Bronx who aren’t from the Bronx but who are […]
Matthew Caws recalls how things came together for one of NYC’s most essential bands – Nada Surf, who played their only show of the year at Rough Trade in Williamsburg to celebrate the new digital release of B-Sides and mark the start of sessions for a new album.
Greg Loiacono and Tim Bluhm of The Mother Hips spoke about their harmonies, going through withdrawal from not playing, and how they’ve come around on the Grateful Dead.
Dave 1 & P Thugg of Chromeo talk their new line of threads and model them during a sold out show in Central Park. The Canadian electro-funk duo‘s new musical release is entitled White Women. Here is a Hollandude review of a Chromeo 2011 Terminal 5 Show.
Steve Diggle gives insight into the new record (and gives a nod to The Ramones) while British proto-punk band The Buzzcocks tear it up at Webster Hall on Saturday.
Brooklyn rapper Uncle Murda spoke about tunes like ‘Self Made’ and gave a taste of his latest ‘By Any Means’ with an in-studio performance at NY1-TV.
