The Dodos are Far from Extinct The Dodos are about to enter a very interesting phase of their career. The breakout guitar and drum duo (with a provisional third member) are a simple, intimate band. The two of them sit very close together, quietly strum and bang away, and perform like nobody's watching -- which is part of their appeal. You get the sense you've walked in on something you're not supposed to see. So......

Brendan Canty is the drummer for Fugazi, the rightly revered D.C. post-punk band whose page on the Dischord Records website still states "1987 - present." The group hasn’t played together or released an album since their phenomenal seventh LP, The Argument; in 2002 they embarked on what is looking increasingly like a permanent hiatus. Like his bandmates, Canty has been consumed by various other creative projects: he’s produced albums for Ted Leo and The Thermals,......

Kanye Crashes a Museum Party Well this was unexpected! Not afraid to wear a fur coat to the Natural History Museum, Kanye West made a surprise appearance at last Friday's Cool Kids/Kid Sister party. As Kid Sister was finishing up her set, Kanye jumped up on stage to throw in his part of their duet. He then stayed up there to play a short set of all his current hits. DJ A-Trak claimed it to......

THEATER: Blogging playwright Brooke Berman’s new satire, Hunting and Gathering, starts with a homage to all the apartments she’s occupied in New York – twenty in all. What follows is a story of “four interconnected New Yorkers and their thwarted attempts to find their place – without compromise. Jesse has his first date since his divorce, his ex-lover Ruth is living a fantasy, his brother Astor is the 'man with the van,' and Bess has......

ART: Duke Riley brings his latest exhibit, After the Battle of Brooklyn: East River Incognita II, to Magnan Projects. Starting tonight and showing through December 22nd, the works imagine New York during the Revolutionary War and "interweave historical and contemporary events with elements of fiction and myth to create allegorical histories. His re-imagined narratives comment on a range of issues from the cultural impact of overdevelopment and gentrification of waterfront communities to contradictions within political......

THEATER: The annual Soho Think Tank Ice Factory, arguably New York’s most impeccably curated theater festival, has been hosting an exhilarating array of new shows every weekend since July 4th . Starting tonight you can sink your teeth into Vampire University, in which “a struggling vampire family descends on an evangelical college in the Midwest, the dad’s mid-life crisis of immortality triggers a desire to come back to life and the gulf between first and......

White Stripes Shred Irving It seems that every time The White Stripes fade away for a year or two, people seem to forget exactly how amazing they can be live. Perhaps it takes a show like the one at Irving Plaza last Tuesday...filled with hardcore, line-waiting fans and eager and excited members of the media to really drive home just how good a show Jack White puts on, and exactly how impressive Meg is to......

Spankrock, Ghostface WTF the Highline We've never handed our tickets to the door guy at a show before and been asked if we wanted to get a table and buy a bottle. But this, I suppose, is what you get when you go see a show on 16th street and 10th ave. Our experience at the new High Line Ballroom felt as if we were living the opening scene of a Law and Order episode,......

Here's a heads up on sunny summertime shows. Sure, after the first week we'll be complaining about the heat, the smell of the city as it melts, and the lack of shade...but it's always nice to have some music to look forward to. So stock up on the SPF for the following shows: Celebrate Brooklyn picks (full schedule here, always the most diverse lineup) • June 16th Joan Osborne, The Jazz Passengers: The Supremes Project......

Bright Eyes Twangs Out Bowery Remember those tense hours a few months back when nobody could get Bright Eyes tickets? The chance to see the folk-emo megastar at an intimate club like the Bowery Ballroom was a dream come true for hardcore fans looking to get a first listen at material off the upcoming album. This last Friday and Saturday were the days these kids have been waiting for, and Conor and Friends did......

READING: John Sellers will be reading from his book, Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, tonight. Idolizing bands like Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Pavement and Guided by Voices, the book outlines how he developed his taste in music. It reads more like a blog, than a book, which makes sense since Sellers has one. 7pm // Barnes & Noble [675 6th Ave] // Free MUSIC: Todd P brings The Thermals (pictured......

We were caught a bit off guard the last time we caught Rahim live. It was a different band than we remembered. We knew the keyboard player was different, and there were suddenly 4 people on stage. All said, we liked them just fine before, but they sounded absolutely fantastic this time. For once, an added member really completed the sound, rather than acting as a tacked on distraction (See: The Thermals, CMJ). Not......

As we stated before, there is far far more to CMJ than our little series of parties. Over 1000 bands were in town last week, and while nobody could possibly catch them all, the idea is to see as much as you can and maybe discover a few new favorites. Rather than scrape together a drab roundup of the day by day, we decided to award certain aspects of CMJ for making a mark on......

Man in Gray...

We won't lie, pretty much every band is in Austin right now. But don't let that get you down, there are still some things worth seeing in this city over the next four days - and we bet you'll have a more enjoyable time. With everyone out of the city there will be less crowds and less waiting for a drink at the bar...take advantage of it! Tonight at Irving Plaza you can catch the......

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......

After the Arcade Fire show on Wednesday night we weren't sure even going to any more shows was necessary. But we trudged on, press badge around neck and open mind...er, kept open. Reviews of Days 2 and 3 are lost amongst our collective, clouded mind...but will appear in this space within the week. For now we'll jump to Saturday night in which Gothamist closed out CMJ with the Sub Pop showcase at Mercury Lounge (which......

[Ed.: Coolfer dropped off an amazing plan on what you should do this Memorial Day weekend, music-wise. And it's so true - staying in the city over holiday weekends can work in your favor. Thanks, Coolfer!] Why leave NYC over Memorial Day weekend? The clubs and bars thin out a bit, it's easier to get a taxi and you don't have to put up with holiday traffic. Stay in the city, sleep in and see......