Los Angeles – Wild Child has a ton of L.A. groupies. It’s surprising—a gypsy band from Texas, whose main components are a goofy guy with a thick mustache and a ukulele, and a barefoot, bed-head blonde playing a violin. They’re not exactly Justin Bieber swoon-worthy. But their performance felt less like a stop on their
New York – Every month, Red Bull puts on this concert series called Red Bull Sound Select, where they get a collective of local curators in a city to put on a show where they introduce new bands they think people should hear about. The latest Sound Select show was curated and hosted by East Village
Seattle – Those Darlins and Diane Coffee played Seattle’s Barboza. I’m going to assert that Those Darlins were having an off night because I refuse to accept that a band with such promise and clout as performers regularly put up such a tiresome act. I still have faith in Those Darlins. Diane Coffee, on the
Nashville – Jared Bartman is as much a poet and folklorist as he is an orchestral arranger. The power of song lyrics don’t often translate well to the written page, but this is not the case for Bartman. Listening to his new album, Misery Makes Strange Bedfellows, is like taking a hot air balloon to
Chicago – “If giving left me lonely, if giving was my friend, I’m keeping all the old themes, I’m keeping my loose ends.” “Cupid Deluxe”, the second album from Dev Hynes’s retro R&B project Blood Orange, is a vulnerable retrospect of the fragility of love, cloaked in slow jam new wave, throwback drum loops, and
Seattle – Following the release of their self-titled debut, Cool Ghouls have spent the year touring up and down the West Coast and making some pretty weighty connections. In 2013 alone Burger Records has welcomed them with open arms and they’ve worked with fellow San Franciscans Fresh and Onlys. On a recent stop in Seattle,
Los Angeles – Last American Buffalo is a very accurate description of what this band is: ‘70s cowboy. A cross between hoedown and Led Zeppelin, with the flannel shirts, high-heeled boots and bolo ties to match, they’re like the American buffalo itself – steeped in history and representing an all but forgotten genre. Playing at Silverlake venue The Satellite, to a sparse hipster crowd
Nashville – Maps is the third full-length album from Jerome Alexander, the multi-talented British artist who goes by the moniker Message to Bears. The album sounds as though Alexander never came down from the slow-motion, rainbow clouds he rode on his first album, Folding Leaves. Acoustic guitar, synth, and Auto-tuned vocal loops fold over each other, creating visceral soundscapes that are just right for
New York – While the Black Friday shopping experience has become as big a part of the Thanksgiving ritual for some as Thursday’s turkey feast itself, 2013 marks just the fourth year that Record Store Day has organized it’s own holiday event for the more than 700 independently owned record stores in the U.S. (and thousands more internationally). But
New York – What is it about “girl bands” that makes us feel the need to include the gender qualifier? It’s not like all girl bands are super rare or play any differently than a band with all guys, or guys and girls. Or is it? What’s the difference? Sure, it’s not impressive unless the