Multi-instrumentalist Mike Gordon – revered for his virtuoso bass playing and distinctive singing with the trailblazing jam band Phish – is releasing a new solo album on August 5th, right in the midst of feverish speculation about a Phish reunion; speculation that's been all but confirmed by the band members themselves. As Gordon tells us in this interview, the timing of all this increased Phish chatter is a bit "weird," mainly because he's so excited......

Fugazi's page on the Dischord Records website still somewhat defiantly declares the band's timeline to be "Fall 1987 - present," so one can't completely rule out the possibility that they'll pick up where they left off in 2002, but at this point holding one's breath seems ill advised. Like the others, bassist Joe Lally has been determined to move on and make music on his own terms; his contemplative solo debut, There to Here,......

It's been quite some time since our last installment of NYC Album Art, and today we look at a controversial one that never actually saw the light of day. What you see pictured was the planned cover art for The Coup's Party Music album, designed in June 2001. Boots Riley, the guy in the forefront holding what looks like a detonator, explains his...unfortunate idea: "I came up with the idea with the photographer. We took......

Where, like last year, we recap the biggest stories from the New York music scene of the year. Album of the Year: The National - Boxer What this album did better than any other coming out of New York all year was create images. It tells stories worth listening to. The opener, "Fake Empire," sets the tone for the rest of the record...slow and moody, yet brash and almost apologetic. Every song sounds like it......

In November, Charlie Rose sat down with rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z. The musician is originally from Brooklyn and late in the interview Rose queries about the expected success of the Nets once they move to Kings County. Jay-Z is very enthusiastic about the potential of the team and the virtues of the borough, as he prefaces every statement about Brooklyn with the words "we" and "ours." It is unintentionally comedic then when Rose immediately......

In case you haven't noticed, 'tis the season for giving and all that jazz. You've got a friend/relative/other loved one who can't get enough of the epicurean lifestyle, and you're looking for the perfect gift. Never fear -- 'tis also the season of gift guides, which will steer you to gifts that will guarantee a smile. First, our own five gifts for the foodie under $50, all available online, including a beautiful olive wood mortar......

Naked Guy at Ted Leo Concert It's a tad early for year end awards, but this story is making a strong, late push for the greatest live moment of 2007. At the Ted Leo show at The Music Hall of Williamsburg Wednesday night, some dude from Jersey took off his shirt and threw it on the stage. Not satisfied with merely being topless in a crowd on that snowy night, he eventually followed the shirt......

Maroon 5 Not Terrible Anymore, Played MSG We're sure to take a bunch of flack about this, but bear with us for a sec. Maroon 5? Not so bad. In fact, at least judging by the first two singles off their latest album, they've moved past the tasteless soccer-mom rock into a legitimately perverted cocaine-sex territory (Exhibit 1: Their amazingly over the top video for 'Wake Up Call'). And that's a good thing. Combine that......

American counterculture and literary idol, Kurt Vonnegut, died yesterday at the age of 84. He was in Manhattan, and his death was the result of brain injuries from a fall several weeks ago. Vonnegut came to New York in 1947, moving to Schenectady and taking a job with General Electric Company. Three years later he sold his first short story, “Report on the Barnhouse Effect,” to Collier’s magazine and moved with his family to Cape......

The Dictators 1978 album Bloodbrothers was shot by Chris Colln in a New York City school yard. The front is shown at right, the back can be seen here. The New York punk band is said to have taken "booze, testosterone and attitude (all attributes necessary to survive in the NY scene)" to a "legendary" status. Even Bruce Springsteen is a huge fan, and can be heard counting "1-2-1-2-3-4" during the album's opening track, "Faster......

This picture makes it look like Corn Mo should be singing Love Reign O'Er Me. And if you've ever seen Corn Mo, you know that he can hit those notes as well as Roger Daltrey. You also know that Corn Mo is quite the story teller, and you'll get a few tasty Mo-resels in this interview. What does it mean to rock to you? To give it your all. Sometimes after a show I feel......

Peter Bjorn and John Soar, Crash in NYC debut Reports out of the first two PB&J shows this week at Union Hall and Mercury Lounge were stellar, and the expectations were at an all time high for the sold out Bowery Ballroom gig. Unfortunately the magic from the smaller gigs did not translate very well to the significantly larger venue on night three. The 600+ crowd was harder to connect with for the laid back......

At the first Latin Grammys held in New York City, Shakira swept the top categories, winning album of the year, best female pop vocal album, song of the year, and record of the year. The Colombian singer dedicated one award to Latin immigrants and said, "I hope soon they will receive they recognition they deserve from the government." Amongst celebrities and musicians like Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin, our mayor (and admitted Shakira......

This just in: the New York Dolls are playing the Seaport Music Festival on August 18th. We can't imagine what it's like to see the Dolls in daylight, but we're sure looking forward to finding out. The above is the trailer for an early 70's documentary by rock photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya, who in a period of three years shot over 40 hours of New York Dolls footage. Early performances in......

Get ready for more NYC Album Art posts, in the meantime, check out some non-digital photos at the Morrison Hotel Gallery. The gallery recently had an event at the Apple Store with rock photographer legend Joel Brodsky. He shot the Strange Days album cover we wrote about. At the event he shared his work and the stories behind it. Brodsky has recalled of the Morrison shoot, "The shot on the inner sleeve of the......

We reminded you last week to vote for the Plug Awards, and now is your chance to check out the actual awards ceremony. The awards are tonight at Webster Hall and will include a sampling of some of our favorite bands: Performances by: * BEANS w/ HOLY F**k (representing WARP's nomination for Label Of The Year) * CHAD VANGAALEN (nominated for 2 PLUG Awards - New Artist & Male Artist of The Year) * CELEBRATION......

The Plug Awards are coming up next week (February 2nd @ Webster Hall). "What the hell are those?," you may be asking. Well, they're independent music awards celebrating "artists who live and flourish in the margins." And YOU can vote on everything from Album of the Year to Music Blog of the Year to Internet Radio Station of the Year. So vote now! Langhorne Slim, Gang Gang Dance, Matisyahu (and more) will be on hand......

"Last year Elton John declared that Rufus Wainwright was the greatest songwriter on the planet. Quite a profound statement from the king of pop himself. This was presumably based on hearing 2004's Want One, followed earlier this year by the groundbreaking opus, Want Two." Elly Roberts goes on to say that Wainwright's recent show at The Lowry was "An epic night, and a high watermark of a musician on top of his game, who......

Aziz Ansari, Comedian...

Since this seems to be hard to grasp for some we just want to reiterate that this post is just to let you know that we've noticed a few tickets that are on sale for shows that we believe may sell out. We won't be repeating any ticket listings we posted last time, so you may want to give that list a once over as well. Also, we put a $ sign next to overpriced......

We'll have a full list of April and May shows coming up soon, there are A LOT to cover. We find it somehow comforting that we're already buying tickets for shows in the springtime ... we're ready to thaw! Moving on, so as not to repeat ourselves here is last month's sell outs list which has tickets that are still on sale for upcoming shows. And as for the below list we have starred the......

Thanks to boing boing, Gothamist has been enjoying the experimental-only (not-for-commercial use) Grey Video, which is a video mash-up of The Beatles and Jay-Z, using DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album. It's an imaginative way to bring past and present together, with a Beatles concert suddenly interrupted by Jay-Z...and there's just something incredibly hot about seeing the words "Bronx" and "Brooklyn" flash up behind Ringo. You can download the Grey Album at Illegal Art. And our......

For New Yorkers, this week's concert calendar should be focused on Saturday's Siren Music Festival down at Coney Island. (Hopefully the weather will hang in there. As of today the forecast is for isolated thunderstorms, which I suppose is better than intense heat and humidity.) This year's line-up is a dream come true for the fan of indie rock. Death Cab For Cutie, Blonde Redhead, TV on the Radio, the Fiery Furnaces, Har Mar Superstar,......

Roger Ebert captured this photograph of New York Times chief film critic A.O. Scott in his Cannes Photo Album. The caption reads: New York Times film critic A.O. Scott awoke to find a thief had filched his money, passport and computer. "The hotel loaned me a laptop," he said, "but it has a French keyboard, with the keys in different places."Poor, poor, Tony. The Encyclopedia Brown/Lennie Briscoe in us suspects not some Riviera thief looking......

Gothamist is catching up on music lately. After the "illegality" of the work fuss, Gothamist downloaded DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album, the illegal bastard child of Jay-Z's Black Album and the Beatles' White Album. Who knows what will happen, but our verdict, like many others', is that it's awesome. Download it from Illegal Art. In the legal music corner, we're finally getting around to listening to Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner, which is also......

Meish.org has created an Album Cover Challenge where you try to name the artist and title for 60 different album covers. Some are easy, some just aren't. We wonder how critical album cover art will be, as the boom of MP3s (even legal ones, purchased from the artists) continues to grow. Maybe artists' websites are the new covers of the future.[Via MetaFilter]......

Oscar Commentary
Oscar is celebrating its 75th anniversary, I'm celebrating my 25th anniversary of watching Oscar....

The Grammys are over and the winners now get to calling themselves "Grammy-winning." Remember, so is Christopher Cross (sorry, Christopher Cross, you're just too tempting a punchline). So is a deserving Lauryn Hill, but where are you these days Lauryn? We need you. Norah Jones was the big winner of the night, winning the most prestigious categories, Record, Song, and Album of the Year. Bruce Springsteen represented, winning three, and the Dixie Chicks, Eminem,......

A PDF of the 2003 Grammy nominees. A few initial thoughts: Alan Jackson for best song, and not Eminem? Blech. I think that it's cool that the Nelly-Kelly Rowland song "Dilemma" was nominated, as well as the really infectious Kylie Minogue song, "Love at First Sight," for best dance song. I know the Boss is favored to win in many categories, but I'd like to see The Dixie Chicks win Album of the Year, if......