Los Angeles – The Peach Kings’ Paige Wood and Steven Dies have some kind of onstage love affair. They face each other, he kisses her forehead, and she wipes sweat from his brow. She eyes him for most of the show, singing to the crowd but watching his closed eyes and his crumpled face, playing
Austin – There is something kind of off-putting about a performance that is too practiced. But in Austin last Saturday, the rock band Cage the Elephant revealed that being prepared doesn’t mean you cannot also be exciting. An obviously well rehearsed performance, the band managed to be both genuine and deliberate in their execution of
New York – Tuesday night at the Mercury Lounge in Brooklyn was an intimate affair. Following a dynamic set by Ski Lodge, the energy at the venue was ready to boil over as Brazos took the stage around 10:45 PM. Yet, the show Brazos was about to deliver scaled down the frenzied atmosphere and reassembled
Austin – “The first thing I saw was a mirage”. So goes the opening line of the enveloping tune, “Dreamer’s Song”, by the alt-rock quartet, Dinosaur Bones. Accordingly, these were the first words sung by frontman Ben Fox as he and his band mates bathed in the quirky image projections of Austin’s Empire Control Room.
New York – It was past 10:40 on Monday night when Here We Go Magic took the stage at the Brooklyn venue Baby’s All Right, beers in every hand like a troop of champs. Broken-off bottoms of colored bottles makeup the backlit mural of the stage. Against this backdrop, the band stood boldly silhouetted by
Los Angeles – The Glass House on Saturday felt like a high school dance. Between the gymnasium floor, the Christmas trees on stage, the red and green spotlights and the floating, twirling mirror ball hanging from the ceiling rafters… It was romantic. Like Christmas. And then there was the youth factor. “My first boyfriend was
London – After a somewhat turbulent couple of years, Los Campesinos! followed up 2011’s Hello Sadness with the release of the highly anticipated No Blues in late October. The band’s first album since the departure of founding member Ellen Campesinos! in December last year was supported by a mini-tour at the start of December with
Nashville – Washed Out’s set at Exit/In began with “Entrance,” the first track off the new album, Paracosm. Ernest Greene walked on to the stage about a minute into the song, just as it sounds like the gates of heaven are opening with harps and cooing angels to greet those who enter. Half a goofy
Chicago – “Hello, this song’s about myself.” This was the introduction given to the sold out crowd from a very modest Archy Marshall, aka King Krule before kicking things off with “Has This Hit” from his latest album and retrospective spectacle “6 Feet Beneath the Moon”. It was also the extent of any artist/audience
New York – Leah Siegal is a true artist. She’s inventive, she’s interesting, and indisputably talented. It’s no surprised that her list of collaborators and accomplishments is already impressive, having worked with members of Broken Social Scene, Metric, Sean Lennon, and several other respected names involved with the music scene in Brooklyn and beyond. She’s