Chicago - Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers, the San Francisco sextet that beautifully blends together the colors of indie rock, soul, a touch of blues and a nice layer of folk, will be traveling to Chicago and making themselves at home for more than a single show! Strewn amidst other performances on their current tour, the
Los Angeles – One thing is for sure – London’s Palma Violets have the swagger and stage theatrics that is the inevitable byproduct of being critically lauded from the moment their first song was released. The infamously trigger-happy British music magazine NME cast Palma Violets into the pantheon of “next big things” in 2012 when
Chicago – On a hazy Sunday night, music lovers and beer drinkers found themselves dancing to The Living Statues’ rock ‘n’ roll, thanks to Schubas’ 100% Off Bands, a series of free local shows, which touts $2 beers and a good time. The Living Statues drew quite the crowd, especially considering they’re not exactly local.
Austin – SXSW officially ended Sunday, but that’s a mostly ceremonial date: Saturday night hosts the last of the big showcases. Whether SXSW was structured this way or we accidentally put together a theme, Best New Bands’ Saturday schedule was made up of loud, energetic, party-all-night sets from Joey Bada$$, Sweater Beats, and Earl
London – Best New Bands’ Tony Hardy was one of 40 U.K. based music writers invited by Glastonbury Festival to select a long list of 120 artists from thousands of entries to the 2015 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition. A panel including festival hosts Michael & Emily Eavis then had the similarly daunting task of choosing
New York – As the longest, coldest winter since the Ice Age comes to an end, we (in the Eastern and Northern parts of the U.S.) look forward to switching from layers of sweatshirts, scarves and coats to eventually just a long-sleeved T-shirt. Despite nature’s cruel sense of humor, Best New Bands decided to ignore
New York – The Boom Boom Room at the Standard Hotel is barely a music venue. It’s mostly a swanky bar on the top floor of a trendy Meatpacking District hotel where tourists and new-money Manhattan-ites gather to preen and feel exclusive and eat frites, which is what you eat if you want to seem
Austin – Day three marks roughly the halfway point for SXSW, and it featured some of the best day shows yet. Which was fortunate, because the weather really took a dive. Making it to both Viet Cong and Ibeyi, whose sets were just ten minutes apart, was a bit of a personal victory. Viet Cong
Los Angeles – After several opening bands took turns pummeling audience members at Jewel’s Catch One last weekend, headliners Naomi Punk put on a dynamic and loud performance. These three gentlemen from Olympia, Washington have been churning out noisy, chaotic noise rock since 2008, producing two full-length albums, 2012’s The Feeling and 2014’s Television Man.
Austin – A lot of people say SXSW Music doesn’t really start until Wednesday, but those chumps missed out on day one. It was a little slower than usual as people waited in line to collect wristbands, but careful planners could have filled up their schedules. Or, just stayed at Spotify House. They had some