Results tagged “weekinrock”

       

Click through for more photos from It Came From Brooklyn, and a review of They Might Be Giants, who played a benefit in town earlier this week.

Once again CMJ is upon us, and our show (which we're co-hosting with the lovely people at Brooklyn Based) is next Thursday, the 22nd at the Bell House [149 7th Street in Gowanus]. The show is FREE, and no CMJ badge is required. You can RSVP right here, and the details are below:

   

Click through to read about Pavement's reunion show in Central Park, Deerhoof's show at Le Poisson Rouge, and Pela's break-up.

    

Click through the gallery for more on Shudder to Think, Sound Fix, TV on the Radio, and Jay-Z.

This just in: an employee over at Pianos on Ludlow Street has just informed us that the venue suffered some damages from a fire earlier this morning. He tells us, "There was a small electrical fire at Pianos this morning—the sprinklers went off and soaked everything, so we're going to have to close the club tonight. Things will resume as normal tomorrow for the Unisex Salon/Vulture Whale show."

TV on the Radio were meant to be seen live. While they might seem like a fussy studio band with their loops and samples and intricate noises, they captivated the crowd Tuesday night in Prospect Park for Celebrate Brooklyn. Tunde Adebimpe led the crowd in a dance fest, slithering across the stage, his hips hula-ing and arms ejecting from his body in sinusoidal jolts and waves to favorites like “Golden Age” and “Playhouses.” Movements seemed to come easily to all, especially since most of their songs seemed about 50% faster (making “Dancing Choose” almost punk rock in speed). Their show is refreshingly organic, and proved that nobody in Brooklyn is too cool to dance. — Jaya Harrover Saxena

   

Click on the images for more about this Week in Rock; this week features Kanye at Webster Hallt, Spank Rock at Siren and on the Williamsburg Bridge, and a Gothamist House (at CMJ) announcement!

   

Click on the images for more about this Week in Rock; this week features Dirty Projectors at the Williamsburg Waterfront, Andrew Bird at Green-Wood Cemetery, and Ted Leo at Pier 54.

   

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Also this week:

• The King of Pop, Michael Jackson died at age 50
• JetBlue announced a live music series at their new T5 terminal
• We interviewed Dr. Dog (who play a free Celebrate Brooklyn! show tonight)
• We also talked to Thurston Moore
• Lou Reed got angry
• Sound Fix will be moving and bringing back live music (but not with the alcohol)
• Nightlife apparently needs to be saved
  Continue reading "Week in Rock: Summer Love Edition"

    

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Click through to see what happened this week in rock.

The legendary jam band is officially back on the road this weekend, kicking off their first tour since 2004. This trip follows their official reunion back in early March, where they played three shows at Hampton Coliseum in Virginia Beach. The summer run will kick off at Fenway Park in Boston tomorrow night, followed by a run of three nights at Jones Beach out in Long Island all next week. From there, the band will eventually work its way down the coast and inland to Bonnaroo by mid-June. Trey Anastasio had a rough go of things during their 5 year breakup, with a DUI and a rehab stint highlighting his time away from the rest of the band, but the four seem back on track now, impressing the Hampton crowds, sounding better than they did before the split. While the shows on this run are all sold out, this should be the first of countless more. Oh, and they also released a brand new 13-minute song.

For better or worse, American Idol has done its part to change with the times over the last few seasons. The show, for the most part, has gotten away from plucking the most inoffensive generic pop stars from the masses, and settled in on some acts with actual personality. While there is still plenty of room for the Danny Gorkey cheeseballs of the world to give it a go, the final two this year boiled down to emo-glam vs. sensitive lite-rock. While these are by no means underrepresented genres in today’s pop landscape, it does take the show into a new direction. And yet, despite his rabid fanbase, Adam Lambert fell short of Kris Allen's more conventional look and approach. It still feels nearly a half decade behind the curve, and there are numerous peripheral issues with the show, but it does seem to live and evolve with the times, which is better than most shows that have come and gone before it.

Never ones to shy away from a wild night out, The Thermals had three in town over the past week. The Portland band returned to their three-piece roots this time through, hitting up Bowery Ballroom on Friday and Saturday and Music Hall of Williamsburg on Monday. The band consistently brings out some of the best crowds the city has to offer and encourages them to let loose. The crowd banged around to a rapid fire set of songs from their latest, Now We Can See, as well as what has become quite an impressive back catalog of tunes. Friday night's Bowery crowd started getting so rowdy (there was nearly a fistfight in the mosh pit) that bass player Kathy Foster had to check in that everyone was all right and threatened, "Don't make us go Fugazi on you guys." While Foster played the show barefoot, singer Hutch Harris showed the dapper side of pop-punk, sweating through the sets in a full suit (before treating fans to some shirts-off time in the encore). It's nice to see a band that revels in the intimacy of a small room to stretch out a run like this, rather than settling for one, big, impersonal gig.

This past Sunday night some of the city's most talented, young and old, stood under the roof of Radio City Music Hall for the Dark Was the Night show. The evening was in celebration of the recent release of the same name, put together by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the National for the Red Hot organization. The night started off with a bang as the Dirty Projectors performed their epic song "Useful Chamber" off their upcoming Bitte Orca release (which will undoubtedly make it to everyone's "Best of" lists year/decade/century/in perpetuity). The night continued with multiple appearances by David Byrne, and sets by the National, Bon Iver, Feist and former-Rikers Island corrections officer turned soul singer Sharon Jones. Stereogum has the full rundown, with setlists, a photo gallery and video.—Jen Carlson

The instrumental Scottish post-rock outfit planted themselves at the Music Hall of Williamsburg this week for a three-night run. While the venue was small for the once Terminal 5 headlining band, the intimacy was to set the scene for a movie they were filming throughout the run. The band explained away their wearing the same clothes each night, for the sake of consistency, but made no apologies for the ear-splitting sets each night. The smaller room created an interesting dynamic for the audience. While the band is almost impossibly loud, the sound still feels very minimalist, and the occasional chatter from the crowd proved to be surprisingly distracting despite the volume coming off the stage. Mogwai seems to have a broad range of fans, and while most of them were able to co-exist, the chatty few put a damper on an otherwise impressive run.

The 2009 festival season has begun. Coachella went off without a hitch last weekend, signaling the beginning of the Summer for many music fans. Despite fears that the economy would keep many home and out of the sun this year, attendance did not seem to be an issue out in the dessert, with the festival reporting the second largest crowd they've ever hosted. This was the 10th year of the fest, which has grown to become one of the biggest festivals in the world, attracting celebrity attendees shoulder to shoulder with the masses. While the likes of Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Killers and The Cure all lived up to fan's expectations, the lasting memory of Coachella 2009 will be, of course, the naked wizard getting tazed. Congrats, young man, you've upstaged a Beatle.

Of Montreal Makes Brooklyn Dance Last night Of Montreal took the stage at Music Hall of Williamsburg for the second show of their three-night run at the venue. After frontman Kevin Barnes rode a white stallion onto the stage at a Roseland show last fall, we knew we had to witness this show with our own eyes. While there were no real animals this time around (these are recessionary times after all), the antics were plenty, with tigers, colorful projections and explosions of pink feathers. Accompanying the over-the-top stage show was the music, of course, and their eccentric brand of indie pop was delivered with the usual extra dose of dance. Take a gander for yourself in the video below, and if you are looking for some Friday fun, we hear there may be some $20 tickets at the door for tonight's show. —Jen Carlson

Despite a staggered start with the release of It's Blitz, which resulted in a rushed digital release pushed out to compete with the leaks, the band's schedule seems to be back on track now. The physical release of the critically acclaimed album hit last week, and this weekend, the band is making two strong local plays to both hardcore fans and the general public. Tonight the band will appear on Saturday Night Live for the first time (Zac Efron hosts) to perform two songs off the new record. Then, on Easter Sunday, it's being reported that the trio will grace the stage at Santos Party House for a (not so) secret show. No word on tickets for Santos yet, but odds are you'll have a better chance sneaking onto Studio 6H than seeing them there. UPDATE: More details on the show here.

Their 30th anniversary just three years away, indie rock pioneers They Might Be Giants remain as resilient as ever. It's certainly easy to take these brainy workaholics for granted when living in New York, where the duo got their start rocking East Village performance art parties; their steady touring schedule has them gigging around town at least half a dozen times a year. The casual listener need not catch every single show, but anyone who ever appreciated songs like "She's an Angel" or "Ana Ng" or "Dr. Worm" or "Subliminal"—all of which were played Saturday night during their reliably jocular set at Le Poisson Rouge—might be surprised to hear how fresh they sound after all these years.

This is pretty cool: Brandon Stosuy at Stereogum has put together a one-of-a-kind charity event at Housing Works in May. Björk, she of (most recently) MSG and Coachella headlining fame, will be performing at the 300 capacity bookstore on Friday, May 8th to benefit the non-profit. She will be joining forces with The Dirty Projectors, and performing a new suite of music created by lead-Projector Dave Longstreth. Ticket prices are a bit steep, ranging from $100 standing room tickets to $400 VIP balcony spots, but considering the cause, size and uniqueness of the show, it's surely worth it if you can spare the coin. They go on sale officially April 1st (no joke) on their venue’s website and at the store, but there are some tickets available right now if you act fact.

On May 3rd, Pete Seeger will celebrate 90 years on the planet with a star-studded birthday extravaganza at Madison Square Garden. The concert will double as a benefit for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. As expected, the concert will feature a ton of stars who have been influenced by Seeger's legendary career, including Joan Baez, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen, who recorded an album of Seeger covers a few years back. Tickets start going on sale next Monday morning, with the cheapest seats going for $19.19 (The year of his birth) and most of them priced at $90. For the full list of bands scheduled to play, check out Brooklyn Vegan.

After months of rumors, scheduling and ticket controversies, Phish has finally taken the stage once again. They officially reunited at Hampton last weekend for three nights, playing long and varied sets spanning their entire existence. With fans perhaps feeling a bit rusty in the way of attending one of these shows, reports came out after the weekend that police confiscated over a million dollars of drugs and thousands of dollars of cash, with hundreds in attendance going to jail (Smoking Gun has some mug shots). Not that this ruined the fun for the rest of the around 75,000 who made the trek to Virginia Beach, who now look forward to their upcoming summer tour. If you regret missing out on the fun, grab a live recording of each show at LivePhish.

While surely everyone has let Michael Jackson cross their mind over the last few years, who actually still thinks of him as something capable of performing music? Well, for those who forgot, The King of Pop is making a comeback...to solidify his retirement. He will take the stage once again in London for the first time in over a decade before closing the book on his performing career "forever." Expectations are surely to be mixed, and details are still sparse, but organizers insist Jackson is in good enough physical health to sing and dance once more. The Family Residence Essential Enterprise (FREE), who are one of NY's largest local special needs organizations, are hoping MJ reaches out to them during rehearsal for the big shows. The group, despite their physical obstacles, have re-created the original "Thriller" video over 100 times, and would love to give Jackson a refresher course on how to make it all work. They hope that Jackson's continued commitment to charity organizations will have him take notice.

There was lots of excitement surrounding Conan O'Brian's final New York show before shipping out to LA, with weeks of clips and memories from the show's 16 year run. The final episode featured one of Conan's favorite band, The White Stripes, performing for the first time together in a couple years. The duo seemed a bit rusty, performing the acoustic "We're Going to be Friends," but created a memorable moment, despite not always hitting the right chords. In a way, the performance fit with the aesthetic Conan has always maintained on Late Night, slightly sloppy and not taking itself too seriously, but personable and real. Whatever Conan has in store for his new LA show and timeslot, it will hopefully maintain the always impressive musical booking schedules, giving both major and up and coming bands a bit of TV time. For the video from the performance, check here.

   

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This week saw the passing of Erick Purkhiser, aka Lux Interior, frontman and founding member of The Cramps. Lux started the Cramps in 1973 with his future wife, Poison Ivy, and the band was a fixture of the then emerging CBGB punk scene, despite playing more of a bluesy surf-rockabilly sound that differed from many of their contemporaries at the club. The band had a long and well-respected career, with quite a hardcore following. Lux and his wife had been touring with the band as recently as Fall 2006. That final tour had them play the MotherF**ker party at Avalon that Labor Day, which was an appropriately outrageous venue for what turned out to be their final New York show. Lux had a pre-existing heart condition, which ultimately led to his death. He was 62.