Austin – It was a chilly and wet night in Austin, TX when the husband and wife duo of Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley (a.k.a. Tennis) took the stage at the Parish. Already having been an unremarkable day in an unremarkable week, I was hoping that this particular night would break the pattern of monotony
New York – Radiating from The Bay in glossy and cascading lo-fi pop, Painted Palms’ sound will warm you straight through the teeth of winter. Vibing in sub-tropic atmospheres, their music teleports audiences to a warm, wild escape. Exotic like an imagined neon botanical garden, their sound is infused with 60’s-style psychedelic rock, yet anchored
Nashville – The brother/sister duo of Blondfire kind of have an unfair advantage. Most bands are lucky if they start working together in high school, but Erica and Bruce Driscoll have been at it since they were little kids. They’ve written a treasure trove of songs together that dates back to the eighties, so it’s
Nashville – It’s hard to pinpoint what is so alluring about Jessie Baylin. It could be her unshakeable composure, the tinge of huskiness in her classic voice, the pictures she posts of her adorable toddler on Instragram, or, simply, her beauty. Whatever it is, something about Jessie Baylin is magnetic. As testament to this, more
New York – In this week’s music roundup of a mixtape, we have a little something for everyone, as there’s been a lot of great coverage and new releases of sounds of a great variety of genres. Caroline reviewed Foreign Fields’ live show in Nashville, a duo who brought Sufjan Stevens circa Seven Swans to
Seattle – Sensory perversion isn’t often given enough credit. When a sound truly assaults your ears, it tends to be viewed (or rather, heard) negatively; this kind of reaction might be automatic but it isn’t necessarily the one that should last. Art can be shocking, can be jarring, can be painful – what makes it
New York – In our time, most people are unaccustomed to elevator operators. So when Best New Band’s CMO Greg Brodsky and I were greeted politely by one Thursday evening, on arrival at the Birdy Showcase in NYC, it was quite a shock (the elevator man does pushups to pass the time). The evening was
Nashville – Eighties inspired synth effects may be cool again, but that doesn’t make working with them any less challenging. I Break Horses’ new album Chiaroscuro is what happens when echoes of the eighties are resuscitated and used with abandon. Artists like M83 (who I Break Horses has opened for), have worked to use updated,
Brooklyn – With its indoor arcades, independent food and art vendors, multiple bars and live music, Brooklyn Night Bazaar is not unlike an adult playground. A festival of glittery indulgence that doesn’t feel so polished after an introduction to the restroom situation, this venue is a simple celebration of what makes life so pretty. The
London – Early 2014 sees the return of James Vincent McMorrow with his sophomore album Post Tropical. After the success of his widely-acclaimed, and platinum selling, debut album Early in the Morning, McMorrow had already hinted at heading down a more R&B route this time round, and a video for the album’s opener “Cavalier” released