Brooklyn – Punk rock-electronica outfit Doldrums, led by Montreal-based artist Airick Woodhead, is fresh off the release of the follow-up to 2013’s debut Lesser Evil. The Air Conditioned Nightmare (on Sub Pop Records), shares a similarly sunny title which is in fact borrowed off a Henry Miller novel that references the cultural vacuum and dystopia
Chicago – Last weekend marked the seventh annual Chicago International Movies & Music Festival, better known as CIMMfest, and as usual, close to a hundred bands filled the city with amazing music. Saturday night, Best New Bands made sure to catch the CIMMfest show at The Empty Bottle, which featured one of the best line-ups
Seattle – On Sunday night at The Vera Project, audience members were privy to Kaleo’s first headlining show in the Emerald City. Following a sold-out show with Vance Joy just a few days before at the Showbox, the Icelandic folk-rock quartet rocked Seattle’s all-ages music and arts center with a memorable performance. “The devil’s gonna make
Nashville – California natives bound for Nashville, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers initiated the start of their brief move to Music City with a knockout performance at the Stone Fox. Bluhm, every part a country crooner with a sharp wit to boot, couldn’t have found a more perfect fit here. The band, despite lacking that
Portland – Lord Huron has fans. Thursday night’s sold-out show at the Crystal Ballroom only proved that fact. The venue was packed to the brim as they waited in anticipation, and as the band stepped on stage, the crowd clapped and screamed in unison. The show began with the band’s lead singer, Ben Schneider, turning
Brooklyn – Brooklyn via Minneapolis synth poppers Strange Names are in the midst of performing a string of New York City shows that included one at trendy Bushwick venue Alphaville the other night, alongside Tony Castles and Hints via impeccable curators PopGun Presents. The band, comprised of Liam Benzvi, Francis Ximenez, Fletcher Aleckson and Lawn
Los Angeles – High atop the Sunset Strip overlooking the Los Angeles basin, PHOX played a laid-back set to an eclectic crowd at the venerable Roxy Theater last Wednesday. The Baraboo, WI band gave off a cool, friendly vibe as they performed various tracks from their 2014 self titled debut album as well as a
Nashville – Erik Hall is In Tall Buildings, a stripped-down Chicago-based solo act that pulls so much feeling out of working with so little. Fresh after the release of his sophomore album Driver (on Western Vinyl) in February, In Tall Buildings has since launched a U.S. tour (with two stops in Canada). Famous for his
Berkeley – This past Friday, rising star and Las Vegas native Shamir Bailey (known simply as Shamir) plunged into a blistering 11-song set on UC-Berkeley’s Upper Sproul Plaza. Each song had its own flavor, its own delicious tones and timbres that dare to push the proverbial envelope of modern DIY dance music even further than
Los Angeles – Unless you are punker-than-thou or living under the proverbial music-news rock, you probably know that April 10 marks the start of the first of two Coachella festival weekends. Tens of thousands of hipsters and not-so-hipsters descend upon Southern California’s desert, seeking out the latest and greatest in the alternative music world –