Posts by Carter Gray Shelter

This past Thursday night in New York City on March 17th, Walker, self-professed “minor league indie rock star”, rolled through the city’s famed Bowery Ballroom for a hometown show full of great songs, an unexpected amount of laughs, and some seriously impressive musicianship. The show was opened by comedian Adam Friedland – enlisted by Ryley […]

When this reviewer first saw Khruangbin live in 2017, co-headlining a 1,000-person venue with Chicano Batman, he might not have pegged the mostly-instrumental Texas trio as a band that would be playing sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall less than five years later. But, in a testament to both the skill of the band […]

“We’re gonna play a lot of songs tonight. It’s the last night of the tour, we’ve got a little bit of gas in the tank, why not? We’re gonna play most of the songs we know,” announced Pinegrove’s Evan Stephens Hall midway through the band’s sold-out show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday. He […]

Last Friday night guitar sensation Mdou Moctar brought his tour behind last year’s standout Afrique Victime back to Brooklyn for a special performance at the Howard Gilman Opera House at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Billed as the first time he’d perform the entire album, the concert served as the first in a series curated […]

It’s been two years since renowned psychedelic funk trio Khruangbin teamed up with R&B singer/songwriter Leon Bridges for Texas Sun, a collaborative EP that paid homage to their shared home state. Now, both with new albums of their own under their belts (Khruangbin’s Mordechai and Bridges’ Gold-Diggers Sound) they’ve joined forces once again with the […]

Following a sporadic handful of shows and festival appearances last year, along with the release of her debut album Juno, Internet funk-pop phenom Remi Wolf embarked on her first proper headlining tour this winter; rolling into New York City’s Webster Hall for two sold out nights last week, the second of which on February 11th […]

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, the fifth album from American folk-rock force of nature Big Thief, isn’t so much a culmination of their career up to this point as it is the beginning of a whole new chapter. Like a butterfly freshly emerged from its chrysalis the album bears some of the […]

After releasing one of last year’s strongest debuts and establishing themselves as one of the most unique and exciting new bands to arrive in years, English post-punk outfit Black Country, New Road make their mark permanent with the monumental Ants From Up Here. The band brings their sound to a new level here, shaving off […]

After a brief hiatus that had her questioning her future in music, Mitski has made her return with her sixth album, Laurel Hell, a tight collection of singalong hooks alongside calloused ruminations on the nature of the muse as well as where her career has led her along with the toll it might have taken.  […]

After spending the last decade building her Hadestown project into a Broadway phenomenon and reworking traditional folk songs with Bonny Light Horseman, singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell has returned with her first solo album since 2012. After shaking up her songwriting style working with the Bon Iver and The National-affiliated 37d03d collective, Mitchell delivers a tight set […]

With 11:11 Pinegrove builds upon their distinct blend of indie, emo, and country-rock by trading out some of their usual suburban bustle in favor of something knottier; both contemplative and expansive. With some of his most striking and memorable writing since the group’s breakout 2016 album, Cardinal frontman Evan Stephens Hall sifts through climate anxiety […]

Earlier this year, on Valentine’s Day no less, Robert Ellis released the best album of his career. Texas Piano Man is filled with high-octane, country-tinged piano rock and some of Ellis’ strongest and most exciting songwriting to date, so when his tour swung its way through Brooklyn on Tuesday night (4/2) there was an unmistakable […]

Since her arrival on the scene in 2016, Lucy Dacus has been a breath of fresh air in the world of indie rock singer-songwriters. The poetry of her lyrics and the way they’re brought to life by her warm alto is a powerful weapon and last year’s masterful Historian, along with boygenius the collaborative EP […]

The last decade has seen the jazz world reignited as a force for musical exploration. While stateside names like Kamasi Washington and Thundercat have been turning on a new generation of listeners, London has found itself home to one of the most boundary-pushing jazz scenes to emerge in some time. The crop of young musicians […]

There is a single moment from Robyn’s triumphant show at Madison Square Garden on Friday, March 8th that is forever seared into my mind. As the Swedish singer reached the first chorus of her 2010 hit “Dancing On My Own” she and her band dropped out and let the crowd take over, and suddenly the […]

Watching William Tyler play live it’s almost impossible not to be immediately pulled in; mesmerized by the melodies that unspool from the strings of his guitar and wrap themselves around the room. His songs don’t demand your attention, they ask for it and you’re only ever too happy to give it. With the release of […]

It feels lately as though Brandi Carlile has defied the odds. Since splashing onto the scene more than a decade ago with her sublime sophomore album, The Story, she’s built up a sizeable following and released a consistently solid string of records, but for the most part, it seemed as though things had plateaued for […]

[rating=7.00] The story goes that in setting out to record the follow up to Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s masterful 2015 record, Multi-Love, the band’s mastermind Ruban Nielson opted to shake up his routine. In a quest for further inspiration, Nielson and the band ventured outside his home studio to a host of other locations around the […]

Since their early days playing “itty bitty shows” at New York’s intimate Rockwood Music Hall, The Lone Bellow have developed a reputation as one of the most consistently exhilarating live acts in the Americana scene. Pouring every ounce of themselves into performances that often verge on spiritual, it’s no surprise the band has developed a […]

“Can the rest of my band please come to the stage?”About to kick off the last show of a whirlwind, year-long international tour at Brooklyn’s Market Hotel on March 23rd, Shame frontman Charlie Steen sounded just a little exasperated as he waited for his bandmates to work their way through the packed crowd to meet […]