Saturday night was the finale for CMJ 2012, five days jam-packed (literally) with panels, shows, powwows, and late nights. It was like cramming a month into a week. The final show that I was not mad about at all was Wild Nothing, BRAIDS, and Weekend at Bowery Ballroom. In a way, this show summed up
Django Django just sounds musical, even if you didn’t know that was the name of an eclectic experimental psychedelic band from London. The term “psychedelic” is used broadly here, more in the way that Django Django creates unique musical paths that make take a few listens to wrap your mind around, instead of just wah
Lower Dens played to a sold out Bowery Ballroom, filling the space with their densely layered sound, full of metaphors relating to thought and existence. The band formed a half circle on stage, with band leader Jana Hunter on the right end, drummer Nate Nelson at the back, and bassist/vocalist Geoffrey Graham rounding out to
Caveman is having a great year so far. They spent much of last year building up a big buzz in their home base of Brooklyn and beyond, and this year shows them continuing to live up to that buzz. They recently received a wide release of their debut album, CoCo Beware, via Fat Possum Records,
Modern Americana rock outfit The War on Drugs kicked off their North American tour last week, and are playing their first SXSW show at Pitchfork’s day party today (Image by Samantha West). After making the southern music mecca rounds in Ausin, they’ll be heading west as co-headliners with Sharon Van Etten. Their following headlining leg
Carter Tanton was who I went to see for this sold out Bowery Ballroom show, after falling in love with his song “Murderous Joy,” although Sharon Van Etten as the headliner could in no way be a disappointment, plus opener Glass Ghost proved themselves to be a fresh gem. Tanton is a singer-songwriter, whose musical
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. will be releasing a special Detroit-themed 12″ for Record Store Day. The EP will feature “We Almost Lost Detroit,” a Gil Scott-Heron cover that also appears on their full length debut It’s A Corporate World, as well as two covers of songs by fellow Detroit artists Madonna and Sixto Rodriguez and three
When Caveman headlines (and sells out) Bowery Ballroom, the stage becomes a cave. Before playing a single note they set the mood with a fog machine, spooky lighting, and a projection screen with the band’s name in Misfits typeface against a skull. It was a bit Halloween-esque, but when they began their set with “Easy
Sam Herring, the frontman of Future Islands, is a madman in the best way. Future Islands played to a packed house at Bowery Ballroom, creating an energy level that kept building and building to intense proportions. Herring started off with bounds of energy immediately, striking like a snake at the crowd and bobbing and weaving
Talkdemonic (Lisa Molinaro and Kevin O’Connor – shown above) is somewhat of a recent discovery for me, and after just hearing their music first, I was surprised to find out that all that music is made by only two people. Last night at Bowery Ballroom, I got to see how they did it. The use