Lucinda Williams Does Her Discography The welcome trend of artists playing their entire albums through live in concert has spread to the country world. Lucinda Williams was in town this week for five (relatively) intimate shows at Irving Plaza and Town Hall, each featuring one of her five albums. Lucinda didn't stop at just recreating her past work -- after a short intermission set by up and coming singer/songwriter Fionn Regan, she'd come back up......

SHOPPING: Everyone needs a little Betsey Johnson flair in their closet, and this week you can get some designer dresses without dropping too much dough. There's a two day Betsey Johnson warehouse sale starting now, 80% off! 10am to 8pm (through October 5th) // 263 W 38th St READING: We may prefer listening to, rather than reading about, jazz, but John Coltrane had a whole world of things going on that led up to his......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

Bowery Snags Some Big Bands For Small Shows Earlier this week, Interpol (who if you haven't noticed is suddenly on the verge of massive international superstardom) played a local, intimate show at Bowery Ballroom to a select group of friends, label people and fans lucky enough to snag tickets when they quietly went on sale last week. The show was excellent and the band certainly proved that they've got the chops to push it to......

Irving Plaza is Officially (and Inexplicably) Rebranded On the night Lily Allen played her first post-bloghype show in New York, the ad wizards at Live Nation decided to officially rename the place The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza and drop some fake pseudo-hippie nostalgia to an already otherwise storied venue. It's an embarrassing and senseless stunt thought up by past their prime marketers in an attempt to make a consistent nationwide brand under the......

Clearly, Keith Richards telling NME that he snorted his dad's ashes is huge news, or the tabloids just didn't take to the story about an appeals court making an insurer pay for a boy's breast reduction surgery (the teen is "burdened with unusually large breasts for a boy"). Though it has the better headline, the Post disappoints us by not whipping up some Photoshop fun - like Keith snorting something out of a casket-shaped urn.......

Six years ago, whether you are ready to believe it or not, The Strokes emerged from a lost and muddled New York music scene and gave a kick start to the current indie rock phenomenon that we are experiencing today. The backbone of their sound and style was the rapid fire rhythm guitar of Albert Hammond Jr. Fast forward to 2007 and all of the emerging talents from the beginning of the century are......

Right on the tail of the groundbreaking "bloggers drink in the LES" article in The Observer, The New York Times will not be outdone! Their article, Truly Indie Fans, is about black people listening to rock music, and it has caused quite a stir, with good reason. The article uses the term "blipsters" to describe black indie rock fans, as if another form of the already overused word "hipster" needs to exist - nevermind one......

Things are starting to pick up around here. The weather was nice, people were out leaving the cave from the post-New Years hibernation and getting back on their feet. It's still coming around, but the rock scene is starting to show some life as well... Matt & Kim Shake Up Studio B There was one show everyone seemed to be talking about this week, and that was the big Matt & Kim homecoming at Studio......

Many of us have been enjoying McCarren Park Pool this summer. The Sunday afternoon Pool Parties are free and the music and dodgeball are reason alone to head out there, L or no L. This weekend we went to our first non-free event at the pool, the Mew/Secret Machines/Bloc Party show. We went for the two openers and left prior to Bloc Party. We've been waiting for the Danish band, Mew, to come to town......

This weekend starts the first in the series of free (and not-so-free) concerts at McCarren Park Pool. For those who didn't want to spend 50-something dollars on Bloc Party, JellyNYC has come to the rescue with some great shows. Each one of The Pool Parties has been "curated" by different groups of people, the first by our friends over at Stereogum.com along with IceCreamMan.com. If you don't know, the latter actually has an ice cream......

One of the most energetic and memorable concerts I've ever attended in New York City was Bloc Party at the Roxy for Motherfucker. They were just starting to emerge as the indie powerhouse they've become, and in a Presidents day snowstorm in Chelsea, the traditionally sour and indifferent crowd was more riled up than any I had ever experienced at a NY indie rock show. I still hear people wax poetic about how they wish......

This one's gonna be short and sweet: here's a new, low-key bar offering cheap drinks and we like it. From the owners of Welcome To The Johnson's comes another bar below the Lower East Side, to BelDel, if we're still saying that. We like the comfortable seating, extended happy hour (4pm-9pm Weds-Sun, $2 beers, $2 well drinks) and their choice of a house beer, choosing, like Abilene, the very inexpensive PBR alternative Genessee Cream Ale......

EVENT: Every time a new song by Madonna, Bloc Party or...anyone really, come sout - it's pretty safe to say it'll be remixed within a week. Tonight DJ Spooky discusses the art of the remix at the Apple Store. All you need is a little imagination, some knowledge of modern sampling and production techniques and, of course, a Mac. 6:30pm // Soho Apple Store [103 Prince St] // Free THEATER: Off-off-Broadway and schlocky B movies:......

Finger on the Pulse, Deejay Collective...

Foreign Islands are: Mark Ryan Dean Baltulonis James Gelini Johnny McAuliffe Andy Action It's tough not to notice a band that can get you to dance like this. There has been a bit of growing buzz around these guys of late for their angular dance-rock that draws obvious comparisons from legends such as Gang of Four to contemporaries like Thunderbirds are Now! and Bloc Party. Some may claim that this sound has already hit......

A few times a week, Gothamist publishes music reviews by our contributor Jeff Baum. The opinions below belong entirely to the author. The Test Icicles are far from your usual Brit-hype product. They are not your new favorite band, as Amy Philips at Pitchfork so brazenly declared a few weeks ago (see the last item). They aren't cute and cheeky and they don't play songs with instantly recognizable hooks or insightful lyrics. They're simply a......

The summer concerts are here (and so is the summer). From now until around mid-August, the weeks are full of free outdoor show options. We'll try to keep you informed of what's hot (besides this weather). R&B vocalist Lizz Wright is playing four shows at Joe's Pub this week. You can see her for free on Tuesday at the World Financial Center Plaza. The summer concert series at Prospect Park kicks off Wednesday night......

Hello Gothamist readers. Allow me to introduce myself. Some of you may know me as the music-obsessed blogger over at BrooklynVegan.com. Now you'll also know me as the music-obsessed blogger here at Gothamist. I'll attempt to keep you informed of the shows you don't want to miss each and every week. I'll try my best not to miss anything, not make mistakes, and bring you as much variety as possible, but unfortunately I'm only human.......

Since we'll be out of the city all weekend and unable to attend, we'll let you in on some secret shows taking place. First up is Bloc Party at LES club Libation [137 Ludlow St], who in an attempt to bring in some of the jaded downtowners, has started to book shows. The band goes on at midnight, but get there early and wear your best shoes - there's a velvet rope. Just down the......

Friday night Gothamist hung out at casa de Austinist for an exclusive list only party that was essentially put on by New York's own Ultragrrrl. Scanning over the list during the calm of the storm (ie: an hour before the house was invaded by Brit pop bands and the people who love them) we noticed one name that stuck out, Jay-Z. Check it out here. We just hoped he liked Sparks and Red Stripe......

[Finally, Gothamist will be reviewing cd's. On a weekly basis this column, entitled Hard To Explain, will give you insight into one bands music - one cd at a time. Authored by G. Nylund with original photography (specifically shot with each band/cd in mind) by Raphael Rodriguez.] Bloc Party can't be from the UK. They just can't. This is the country that invented the pub crawl, a place where they wean you straight from breast......

Ah, Presidents Day Weekend is here. Really not much to say about that, except those of you with office jobs can add an extra day to your weekend. Which probably means that the LES bars will be equally annoying on Sunday night. To fill up the extra 24 hours of non office time, here are some suggestions which include (but are not limited to) porn and existential clowns: ART: Did you know that the first......

There are some great shows coming up that will get you from Valentine's Day to St. Patricks Day, but you're going to want to buy tickets SOON, before they sell out. Gothamist is particularly looking forward to the Thermals [pictured, reading Nabokov - hott!] @ Knitting Factory, as well as our own Movable Hype 2 at the same venue. And if you don't know who the Kaiser Chiefs are, you will, so just buy tickets......

Coachella confirmations are starting to appear, after many many rumors. This year, the 6th, will be held April 30th to May 1st at Empire Polo Field in Indio, CA (same venue as last year). The lineup is still unconfirmed but you can probably expect Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand and the Killers. Others asked to perform this year are the Futureheads, Snow Patrol, Keane, Bloc Party, Secret Machines, Hot Hot Heat, Phoenix, The Bravery and Radio 4.......

Since Londonist has reported on their local rockers (Bloc Party) done good, we'll report on ours. New York's The Bravery has been given the number one slot in the BBC Sound of 2005 poll. Meaning what exactly? That this is (apparently) THE band to watch in 2005. Last year Keane was named number one, and in 2003 rapper 50 Cent held the position. We aren't that big on lists like this, because who can predict......

Gothamist doesn't really like New Years Eve, it's overhyped and too expensive. So short of suggesting you just stay at home here's a little list of things you could do to ring in '05. We love Marc Ribot and he'll be playing at Tonic as the ball drops. There are still tickets left for Wilco, Flaming Lips and Sleater-Kinney at MSG [we know, not below 14th]. As well as for Patti Smith at Bowery. Gothamist's......