Sometimes spending a full day at a summer music festival is all about picking your spots and making do with the best you can get. Friday's All Points West lineup offered a glimpse at transcendence: the sun fighting its way through hours of cloud cover to end the Yeah Yeah Yeahs set with a final bust of light before sundown followed by a rapper headlining a rock show, opening with a cover of the band that most had bought tickets expecting to see. Yesterday's festivities sounded a little more on the aggro side with Tool's Maynard James Keenan overheard barking at the crowd, "You just can't f*** with Jersey...unless you want your ass kicked." more ›

Weezer has always felt like the biggest personal band ever. The type of group whose fans don't seem to realize how many other millions of people have had the same emotional relationship with their music over the years. So seeing them headline Madison Square Garden, maybe a decade past their prime, but with 18,000 fans singing along to every word, was an strange scene. A band that has always thrived on being small and intimate was forced to connect with a nearly full arena. And while a Weezer show can almost run on auto-pilot these days, with their timeless tunes doing most of the heavy lifting, there was still a curious void between the performers and the fan experience. Granted, this awkwardness is part of their charm, but in contrast to the sharpness of their now time-worn classics, it doesn't seem to add up. How can they seem so unsure of themselves while performing some of the greatest songs of a generation? more ›

Not too long ago Ronen Givony started the Wordless Music Series, which is pretty much just what it sounds like it would be. Sonic worlds collide and fuse classical with indie, jazz with electronic and listeners with instrumental-only music. In the next week audiences will enjoy the sounds of Do Make Say Think and Beirut from an intimate setting for just such an experience. more ›

different that it's not falling under the indie rock category. They have been known to pack houses, start sets with instrumentals and have surely dazzled even the most disaffected looking hipster with their slightly obscure-lyrics and melodic tunes. There's a spectrum here in the music world, and they are spanning it and breaking beyond any boundaries that were previously set. The guys were even kind enough to let us ask them some questions this week...let's hear it for brevity! more ›

The first time Gothamist heard Asobi Seksu we didn't know what to expect, we'd heard them described as a more sultry Sonic Youth, a competant rock band reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. Did they live up to their influences and comparisons? Yes, but they surpassed their reviews as they turned another corner to create their own unique sound. It isn't just the occassional Japanese lyrics that sets them apart but a layered effect that combines the best of rock with something more mystical, something we'd never heard before. Asobi Seksu is Yuki (Keyboard, Vocals), James Hanna (Guitar, Vocals), Glenn Waldman (Bass), Keith Hopkin (Drums)...and Gothamist couldn't be more psyched to see them @ Mercury Lounge tonight! They were even kind enough to let us ask them some questions this week... more ›

The new Black Rebel Motorcycle Club album, Take Them On Your Own, is out today. Their debut album, B.R.M.C., summoned comparisons to Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine with its dreamy-aggressive style. Bassist/vocalist Robert Turner tells the Post, "The first album was more abstract, a wall of sound. This album is more of a statement." Gothamist can't wait. more ›

Lost in Translation, the upcoming film directed by Sofia Coppola, might be one of the loveliest movies you see this year - it certainly is for Gothamist. Also written by Coppola, Lost in Translation is the Tokyo story of the new friendship between two Americans; Bill Murray plays an American movie star shilling for Japanese products and Scarlett Johanssen is the lonely young wife who tagged along on her photographer husband's business trip. A valentine to frenetic modern Tokyo (cinematographer Lance Acord manages to make the city shimmer at some moments, dull at others, but always interesting), Lost also has a wonderful Bill Murray performance that is at times physically hilarious and at others very tender. Imagine Herman Blume less beleagured and more joyful, karaokeing to Elvis Costello. The film just unfolds before you, inviting you to get to know the characters better and then you are practically participating in their lives. There is also a fabulous soundtrack (Air, My Bloody Valentine). more ›