by ·Comments Off on Magnetic Field and Music in the ‘hood

While at Magnetic Field last night to see Goes Cube count up some of their new songs (the debuted Goes Cube songs numbered 47, 48 and 49), I realized that I’ve seen some excellent bands play the Field recently that I’ve been meaning to write about.
Low Red Land trekked out from San Francisco to play some shows in their old east coast stomping grounds. They’ve become very excellent, conjuring the sounds of country-tinged Americana twisted through distortion. I’m not quite sure how to classify their music– maybe the alcoholic bastard offspring of Neil Young, Sonic Youth and Wilco?
Modern Skirts have strong pop sensibilities and bring fun. With a lot of piano, their music is lighter than most of the indie rock. There’s a good bit of Ben Folds and REM informing the Skirts’ sound. Strikes me a lot like Voxtrot– who I saw at the Field thinking that they are going to be moving up in the music world (and have since). But I think the Modern Skirts have a higher potential upside– they’re more of a pure pop band.
And Goes Cube continues to sound unique. And loud. Did I mention loud? Beckon the Dagger God was released this past week on Cordless Records (Warner):

Ear Farm Matt has a higher resolution download of the New Music Video for Goes Cube Song 34

by ·Comments Off on One More from Michael Brecker

Morning Edition had a nice piece about Michael Brecker this morning: Brecker’s ‘Pilgrimage’ a Welcome, Not a Farewell: “Musicians list the components of Brecker’s signature sound: His rich tone. His fluid and lyrical flow. His recent growth as a composer. On Michael Brecker’s musical farewell, one can hear all these things. What you can’t hear is a sense of goodbye — Pilgrimage stands as one of the most energetic and welcoming albums of his career.”

by ·Comments Off on Is the NYC music scene dying?

The front cover of AM New York today questions whether the NYC rock music scene is dying out because clubs in Manhattan keep closing: City’s clubs falling silent: “Buyers, lured by the mystique of the Lower East Side’s arts and music scene, pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to live at the center of it. A few years later that same edgy nightclub goes out of business, having received many noise complaints from the new condo owners, and pinched by skyrocking rents driven up by those same well-heeled neighbors.”
Can venues afford to pay the same rents that national chains and expensive co-ops can? No. Indie rock and experimental music are not a big money industries. Is the LES scene dead? No. Or at least, not yet.
While Tonic and Sin-é closed, The Mercury Lounge, Pianos, Cake Shop, The Living Room, The Delancey, Rockwood Music Hall, Fontanas, and The Annex are the venues in the LES hosting live music that I could think of off the top of my head. Sin-é, for one, offered little that’s not matched or exceeded by the surviving venues in the area. Tonic, on the other hand, was a good sized and great sounding room that programmed a solid mix of avant-garde and emerging mainstream music.
But the opening and closing of venues is part and parcel of the vibrancy of New York’s music scene. Take CBGB’s, for example, which ceased to be relevant long before it finally closed its doors.
Besides the venues in the LES, Brooklyn has a hopping scene. Union Hall, Magnetic Field, Southpaw, Trash, Union Pool, Galapagos and the new Luna Lounge are among the conveniently located venues offering interesting shows that I can think of off the top of my head. That’s not even adding in venues further out in Brooklyn, such as the places that Todd P books.

by ·Comments Off on Metro music

The Washington Post sends world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell to busk in the metro, with his Stradivarius: Pearls Before Breakfast – washingtonpost.com: “It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by.”

by ·Comments Off on The Apples in Stereo

I’ve been enjoying the latest album from The Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder. The songs are densely-layered poppy and catchy. And while I’m not a fan of the songlets– short transition pieces between the songs, the core songs are well-done– Energy and Same Old Drag jump out as two of the stronger tracks.
This video for Same Old Drag is fun, too:

by ·Comments Off on The Sopranos in 7 minutes

The first six seasons of The Sopranos summarized in seven and half minutes:

New episodes of The Sopranos certainly fills up the Sunday void left by the 9 month wait until the next season of BSG.