Members of the sprawling Ontario art rock collective Broken Social Scene are on tour in support of founding member Brendan Canning's solo album Something For All of Us... It's the newest record in the "Broken Social Scene Presents" series, in which individual bandmates take charge to create their own set of songs, with varying degrees of collaboration from their fellow scenesters. (You'll recall that the first of these was Kevin Drew's Spirit If..., which established the trend for albums with ellipses.) Reviewing Something For All of Us..., Spin declares, "Brendan Canning makes the case that he might be the guy really responsible for the Scene's glisten, summoning goose bumps with gossamer strings and arranging rockers that simmer but don't singe." more ›

Yesterday was an appropriately blistering day for this year's eighth annual Village Voice Siren Music Festival at Coney Island, which, with the right frame of mind, can be a total blast. Yesterday had everything we've come to expect from the annual indie rock extravaganza: massive crowds of dehydrating hipsters, fresh clams on the mobbed boardwalk, and a bulging, unmanageable lineup of 14 bands on two stages. more ›

It certainly says something about the state of the music industry that perhaps the biggest music story of the week is the placement of some tunes in a video game. But what tunes! At the E3 conference out in LA, Harmonix announced the 80+ songs that will appear in the upcoming sequel to the plastic instrument rock sim. While the list overall is excellent, hitting many genres from the last 5 decades, there were some interesting standouts. Sure, it was a surprise to see a Turn on the Bright Lights-era Interpol track make the cut, and even more shocking to see a 30 year old Bob Dylan classic among those ranks. But who woulda thunk a GnR Chinese Democracy track would make it on here before seeing store shelves? Axl has decided to debut a track from the vaporware album in the game before anyone has even ever heard it -- this may be a legit sign that this album will actually come out before the end of the decade. more ›

Kevin Drew (myspace) is one of the founding members by the wildly successful Canadian art-rock collective Broken Social Scene. The daring, inventive band boasts a fluctuating roster of artists who shift in and out of the line-up depending on their various other musical pursuits; another BSS member, Leslie Feist, is currently absorbed with her suddenly massive solo career, which exploded into mainstream America after her song “1 2 3 4” became an iPod commercial. As... more ›

Well well well, when we reported in August that Lido Bar in Red Hook would be closing we were met with many emails and comments stating this was 100% untrue. Bar manager Molly Franklin even held strong that Lido Bar would remain open and that this was nothing more than "bar gossip." more ›

A fine way for the Seaport Music Festival to send off the summer, with two of the year's biggest breakout bands on a lovely evening. We were taking in both Battles and Dearhunter for the first time last Friday and were massively impressed by both bands. Deerhunter, down a man and with their usual shtick toned down, sounded like a young Sonic Youth or stripped down Broken Social Scene. A much lighter and more accessible experience that we had prepared for by listening to their thumping album. Battles was more what we expected, playing a hypnotizing hybrid of Math-Metal and some Jammy-Groove stuff that somehow works. Stereogum has some pretty pics. more ›

What started off as an excellent concert lineup just got better and better as the date approached. The additions of Spoon's Britt Daniel and Kevin Drew were a bonus treat. Music, reading and charity aside, perhaps the biggest wow moment was show headliner Jim James' new closely cropped haircut. The My Morning Jacket front man sheared his trademark Muppet locks since the last time we've seen him about. Not that it affected the music in any way, which nearly stole the show from some other very capable performers. Check out more thoughts and pics at BV and Stereogum, and check out our interview with 826NYC's Sarah Vowell. (pic via Muzicspy's flickr) more ›

Last night Feist took the Letterman stage with a few of her friends. Nicole Atkins, A.C. Newman, Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew and members of Brooklyn bands The National and Grizzly Bear were her backup singers, taking a page from the Bright Eyes guide to stage wear and donning all white. Watch it below... more ›

Who doesn't love the ice cream man? Not many people. Which is why Matt Allen is pretty popular, since he is, after all, THE Ice Cream Man. Allen drives around the country handing out free frozen treats - so far his travels have taken him (and his '69 Chevy ice cream truck affectionately named Bessie) from St. Jude Children's Hospital to Bonnaroo to McCarren Park Pool (where he'll be this Sunday). Recently, we asked him what life on the good ship ice cream truck is like... more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

Tonight we'll definitely be heading over to the second show of the series, which will feature Andrew Bird. They're calling it a violin recital, which is cute, but we bet he'll even whistle a little! Joining Bird will be the duo A Hawk and a Hacksaw and pianist Steven Beck. more ›

think. It just made us wonder: if it were up to the -ist-a-verse, what would we be voting for? more ›

READING: KGB Bar's Non-Fiction Night is playing host to the Subway more ›

READINGS: An afternoon event for those of you who don't need to be sweltering in a thankless office - Erica Jong has a conversation with writer Ariel Levy and reads from her new autobiography, . The rain venue is across the street from the park at Coliseum Books. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras more ›

MOVIES: DUMBO's weekly evening film event, Movies with a View, begins tonight with The Wizard of Oz. Bring your iPod and play "Dark Side of the Moon" while the movie plays, it'll, like, totally synch up if you press play during the 3rd lion roar. more ›

Last night we made our way to Red Hook for the Tag Team anniversary party. Can't really beat a night at The Hook, free food AND ice cream, full open bar and live music. Especially when the live music is provided by Broken Social Scene. more ›

A few times a week, Gothamist publishes music reviews by our contributor Jeff Baum. The opinions below belong entirely to the author. more ›

We were really knocked out by Mazarin at Pianos last week. Very fun band. One can only hope that this week holds such surprise awesomeness. Some potential candidates: more ›

Metric more ›

We don't know where to begin with show recommendations this week. Emily Haines is in town with her band Metric for shows at Bowery Ballroom and Southpaw. Today Pitchfork declared the new Broken Social Scene album, on which she appears, "best new music." Broken Social Scene's new label-mates, The Most Serene Republic, are opening both shows. Then there's the Decemberists. Back in town once again, they're also playing two shows - Webster Hall tonight (Tuesday) and Wednesday. Nada Surf, Beck, U2, Keane, Robbers on High Street, King of France, Paul McCartney, Social Distortion, Zap Mama, David Gray, East Village Opera Company, Sufjan Stevens, Sons & Daughters, The Raveonettes, Radio 4, The Working Title, and even Jethro Tull are ALL playing two shows each in or around town this week. At least you've got options. more ›

It's been over a week since Gothamist has been to a show we felt was worthy of review. Last night, we attended two. more ›

Raising the Fawn more ›

Movable Hype 4.0 is about a week and a half away! And we're here to remind you about it, because that's what we do. more ›

We still have one act that we'll announce at a later date, but since tickets go on sale today we wanted to announce the details for the next Movable Hype (4.0, for those keeping track). more ›

What a disaster yesterday was. After prominently featuring the Cloud Cult show at Knitting Factory last week, it ends up the show was never actually happening. If you bought tickets, contact Knitting Factory and/or Ticketweb and get your money back. The good news: we wouldn't have been able to talk about Cloud Cult on Gothamist otherwise, so hopefully you discovered a great new band (still haven't listened?). more ›

Enough about the Pixies already. No need to mention them in this column. They're awesome, they're in town, they played on Letterman last night. Enough said. more ›

Yeah, I'm pretty sure there are some shows coming up. Lemme collect myself... more ›