So. It's been a while.I know this week is the CMJ Music Marathon and all, but schoolwork has prevented me from going to any shows. And really, I'm not terribly excited about seeing any of the bands, aside from Broadcast on Tuesday (sold out) and School of Seven Bells and the xx tonight (ditto). I guess I got burnt out on shows somewhere along there.These days, most of my writing can be found he...
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1:00 AM Sten "The Gate" The Essence (Kompakt) CD 1:08 AM Matthias Meyer "Tout Va Bien" Tout Va Bien / The Anger (Liebe*Detail) CD 1:16 AM Rhythim is Rhythim "Strings of Life" Strings of Life (Transmat) CD 1:24 AM Seefeel "Spangle" ...
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Every Thursday night (technically Friday morning), I do a radio show at WNYU.org called Telephasic Workshop (like the Boards of Canada song). I play techno, minimal, deep house and IDM. You can listen live from 1 to 3 am, and the show gets archived immediately afterward, so you can stream and download it right away. Here's this week's show, enjoy.Playlist:1:00 AM Namito...
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Hopes were high for Summer Hymns on the eve of the release of the band’s fourth album, Backward Masks, in 2006. The quartet had already been exulted by Pitchfork Media, the premier indie rock tastemaker, for its previous albums, receiving 8.4 and 8.8 ratings out of 10.0.“I was thinking, ‘Best New Music,’” says Lucas Jensen, the band’s publicist at the time, referring to the web site
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Scanning the riotous "Going Out of Business" signs, I found myself remembering.It was just a few years ago when another behemoth closed, ten blocks downtown. I'm unconvinced that these were both illegal download-related fatalities. Real estate and economics played a role, surely, but so did mismanagement and greed. The Times Square Virgin Megastore, and its more familiar, Union Square cousin...
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Three months. A quarter of a year. A lot of albums, and a lot of news.I haven't been ignoring things - it's very difficult not to hear change when the ground is shaking around you - but it's fair to say that I haven't been broadcasting myself as much. My passion became a job, of sorts. Interviews started sounding the same. Shows were repetitive - or at least covering them became so.But it'...
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This feature appears in today's Washington Square News.It’s showtime in a tiny venue on the Lower East Side, and Megan Heckard is worried about fire — specifically, twirling it around her waist, neck and limbs.“I had to make a judgment call — you’re worried about your personal safety, but you’re even more concerned for the safety of your audience,” Heckard said.With its low ceiling a
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My first four shows in NYC, ever.From IndustryDrivel:A week back, I was looking forward to a couple shows - the ArtBattles event at Le Poisson Rouge, and Modeselektor at Bowery Ballroom. I usually try to be prepared for an event - either having a ticket in hand or a guest list spot secured. But my plans were somewhat spur of the moment, and I took a calculated risk. In this case, the calcula...
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From IndustryDrivel, my new blog on music marketing.It’s a frosty night in Williamsburg a few weeks ago, and I am getting squished. If there is any place on the planet where people would flock to see vaguely twee indie pop from Cardiff, Wales in subzero climate, it would be Brooklyn’s nexus of hipsterdom. But I type such a sentiment lovingly – I have similar priorities. The band tonight pa
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Last month, Angela Poe, Online Marketing, Promotions and Social Media Director at Eenie Meenie Records, an independent (“indie") record label based in California, was laid off.Instead of using conventional job-search methods, Poe used her publicity background to market herself, sending out an e-mail that linked to her resume. The message was picked up by blogs, including those she had worked w.
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The front page of today's New York Times contains a story from Jidda, Saudi Arabia, about an all-female band called Accolade - unprecendented in the "ultraconservative kingdom." The band's name is inspired by the above painting. (“I liked the painting because it shows a woman who is satisfied with a man,” Guitarist Dina says in the article.) While hardly a huge force of revolution in itself,
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This is a review I did a few weeks back, actually for class, and while a bit late, I like this record and think it's worth posting about.Brooklyn duo High Places has a friendship that most of us can only dream of. Mary Pearson and Rob Barber met in 2006, and moved in with each other two days later. Their beguiling, abstract pop took longer to emerge - earlier this spring, they released a shim...
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These days, it seems pretty easy to fade away. I've lost my focus here, from a combination of school, work and perhaps being a little burnt out. It's not that I write or report less - I'm trying my hand at real estate - and I listen to plenty of music, but there needs to be some changes here. I still love live music, but reviewing show after show becomes a burden when you're constantly fallin...
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My long overdue writeup for CMJ begins on Tuesday, when brooklynvegan took over the Music Hall of Williamsburg. British singer-songwriter Emma-Lee Moss of Emmy the Great opened the night with appealing, acoustic pop, echoing the past success of Kate Nash and Lily Allen. The Sammies, the self-described "rock portion" of the show, followed her with Southern accents hollering alongside galloping...
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This feature appears in Washington Square News.Brian Eno called his watershed ambient album “Music For Airports.” By that logic, M83’s fifth album, “Saturdays = Youth,” is music for high schools.From the album cover’s “Breakfast Club” teenager doppelgangers to its ’80s synth-pop sound, “Saturdays” is a celebration of being young. But M83’s leader Anthony Gonzalez isn’t fr
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From Washington Square News' CMJ Roundup.Last Friday I found myself in a strange part of town for a CMJ show: Chelsea. I was there in hopes of seeing the Irish singer Roisin Murphy, a European import who sings like Kylie Minogue. She was playing at Mansion, on 28th Street and 11th Avenue, and my hopes of getting in were fading as I came across a staggering mass of people.“Hey, is this the line .
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Irving Plaza has become a pretty popular stop of late, actually eclipsing the stalwart Bowery Ballroom, and I have to give Live Nation and pals some credit for booking some interesting acts over the last couple months. I do have to say that the lighting is pretty terrible, though. Anyhow, Stereolab played a bunch of shows here at the beginning of October, and I was fortunate enough to catch t...
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Our long CMJ hangover is finally over. Full coverage is coming up, but first, here's a short and sweet acoustic set from Trembling Blue Stars, a band that unfortunately seems to have given up touring. That's a shame, because their most recent album, The Last Holy Writer, is filled with pretty, jangly pop songs. The highlight is "Idyllwild," which ranked pretty high on last year's song list, a...
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During “You Made Me Realise,” the last song of My Bloody Valentine’s second show at New York’s Roseland Ballroom, the venue grew eerily quiet. In actuality, the band was creating punishing waves of feedback, but with earplugs stuffed in firmly, it felt like the eye of a storm. The atmosphere was foreign to a rock concert. Instead of exultation, there was serene anticipation.Fans of the
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I cried a little inside when I saw the venue for this show. To think that Stars, the most romantic band I know, would be playing a venue as unemotional as Terminal 5 was a shame. Would the magic that was so vivid in their Music Hall show last year be sustained? Could their narratives translate in such a cavernous setting? Turns out I shouldn't have worried, as it turned into something spectacu...
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