Seeing a band perform in a small space can be very telling. When the number of attendees is less than 150 people, it’s easy to judge the ability of not only said band’s live show, but also how they’re able to connect with an audience in a room that would be just a hair bigger than their practice facility. Those are the challenges that Los Angeles’ The Airborne Toxic Event had last night when they played in front of the…

I’m going to be completely candid here – I am very far from being an expert, or even somewhat knowledgeable about hip-hop and rap. We all have to choose our battles and up until recently, dedicating hours of blog searching time to hip-hop is not something I’ve fought productivity with. Any apparent lack of knowledge, then, is not out of blissful ignorance but out of admittedly ashamed naïveté. I promise, it’s not for a lack or wanting or for a…

Walking into The Crocodile, it was hard to believe that just a week ago at the same venue I was there, in the heart of the hip-hop scene, seeing Nacho Picasso and Cam’ron. To say that a different crowd filled the venue to see LA-based (but Oregon raised) ZZ Ward would be doing an injustice to the word different. Where blunt-smoking youngsters stood just a week before stood parental couples on date nights and dolled-up ladies singing along to the…

New band Hank And Cupcakes packed Pianos to the brim Tuesday night. The bass and drum duo roared through their set like wild things romping through a neon electro-funk jungle with the energy level of a ridiculously high intensity. The now Brooklyn-based couple formed in Tel Aviv, named themselves in reference to Charles Bukowski, and then made their pilgrimage to NYC to be inspired and inspire. If the people-filled sweat fest of a show on a Tuesday was even the…