Björk @ MSG
You might better picture Björk in some sort of magical Garden rather than the Garden, but nonetheless the avant-queen took the big stage earlier this week and brought her elaborate, over the top live show with her. She's been a busy gal all summer, headlining many of the major American music festivals, and with this being her second time through NYC. The last time she was in town she played increasingly large theaters night after night, and MSG acted as a spectacular encore. There were lasers, pyro, confetti and, perhaps most exciting, another guest appearance by Antony, whose haunting voice eerily echoed around the arena in a duet. An impeccably executed show, throughout. (pic via elcunzio1's flickr)
Buzz Bill at Cake Shop
Last night we hauled ourselves out to the dregs that are the Cake Shop to see a handful of recent buzz bands we had been hearing nothing but swell things about recently. We got there in time to catch The Forms take the stage (they also took our SXSW stage earlier this year). The mathy quartet were on point, playing a set of songs off their first two albums to a comfortably filled basement. This was their first show since getting rained out after 3 songs a the Seaport several weeks back, and both their anxious fan base and the band itself seemed excited to be back in the swing of things. Finishing off the show was the hottest indie band in Brooklyn for the last couple days, Yeasayer, whose unique upbeat drone sound seems to be an odd enough combo to impress the internet for the time being. Keep an eye on these fellas, whose album is coming out soon. They should make quite the splash at CMJ next month.
Kate Nash Does it For Free
You know how you always hear about those British artists who schedule all these dates in America, only to have to cancel them because their visa application gets held up and they can't get into the country? Well British singer-songwriter Kate Nash found a loophole to this previous perceived problem, and gained a nice little PR push in the process. When told that she would not be able to work in the US while here, rather than shutting the whole tour down, she just agreed to make her shows free instead. The young, sorta-Jenny Lewis look-a-like, songstress played three shows in NYC this week without picking up a dime, and appeared to have picked up some new fans and respect along the way. We hope she makes it back here soon in a more profitable manner, cause we like what we've heard. (pic via Ryan Dombal's flickr)
