Posts by Jeffrey Greenblatt

For the last 30 years Thurston Moore has been best known as the front man of the psychedelic noise rockers Sonic Youth – whose influence most recently can be heard all over the new crop of lo-fi, psych rock acts like Woods, Kurt Vile and Bear In Heaven. While Sonic Youth last put out an […]

During the 1980s Neil Young found himself experimenting with a variety of musical styles with different degree of success. We highly doubt that there are  many people out there who would list Re-ac-tor, Trans or Everybody’s Rockin’ anywhere near the top of their list of favorite Young albums. With 1985’s Old Ways, Young returned to […]

It’s been riot-inducing hot for most of the country this past week, with temperatures today topping out at the 100 degrees mark featuring a heat index of a mere 108 here in NYC. While there are plenty of songs about summer heat that would be appropriate to use, I thought that we’d turn to Mr. […]

As we mentioned yesterday the latest issue of Spin magazine is dedicated to to the 20th anniversary Nirvana’s seminal album Nevermind, with the cover story dedicated to answering the question – What Nevermind Means Now. The album, which essentially eliminated hair metal, introduced the world of the heavy rock sounds emanating from the Pacific Northwest […]

We keep our eyes peeled for new tour dates announcements each week and compile them on Tuesdays for this handy column… On September 13, quirky funk-rock act Primus will release Green Naugahyde, their first album of new material since 1999 via ATO Records and Prawn Songs. Featuring the band’s 1988 lineup of Les Claypool (bass/vocals), […]

While Norah Jones may have gotten all the notoriety for helping to revive the tradition of female jazz-influenced vocalists in the early aughts, some credit should also be paid to Madeleine Peyroux, whose debut album Dreamland came out six years prior. Peyroux, whose vocal style has justly garnered comparisons to Billie Holiday, began singing professionally […]

Since releasing their 2009 album I and Love and You, roots-rock act The Avett Brothers have exploded in popularity, thanks in part to Rick Rubin’s production and their reputation for high energy concerts. The Concord, NC-based act, who are currently recording their follow-up with Rubin, which is rumored to be out early next year, recently […]

Bowery Presents has easily cemented themselves as the premiere concert promoter in the New York City area, booking shows in their fully-owned and operated venues as well as places like the Beacon and Radio City. After recently expanding their empire to both Boston and Maine, Bowery Presents has now announced that they will be opening […]

We keep our eyes peeled for new tour dates announcements each week and compile them on Tuesdays for this handy column… Considering all the buzz they’ve received over the past few months and the gigs they’ve played supporting the likes of The Decemberists, Iron & Wine and Death Cab For Cutie,  it’s hard to believe […]

Is it possible that a band who’s over 15 years into their career such as Gomez can still be somewhat of an underrated and under-appreciated band? Birthed in the post Brit-pop movement of the late ’90s that spawned acts like Travis, Radiohead, and The Verve, Gomez looked more towards American music than their contemporaries, embracing […]

For the latest season of VH1 Stoytellers, the music network stayed away from legacy artists, instead focusing their attention of on a slew of contemporary acts. During Ray LaMontagne’s highly enjoyable episode the slightly introverted singer-songwriter shared some deeply personal and moving stories closing out the show with a fantastic take on Neil Young’s Out […]

With my turn in the Friday Mix Tape rotation serendipitously coinciding with me dropping my Top 6 Of The First 6 list yesterday, it seemed only appropriate that I use the opportunity to showcase some music from my favorite releases of the the first half of the year. So whether you’re already familiar with these […]

When we first mentioned the name Kurt Vile, it was back in January of 2009 as part of a Blips piece on the band The War On Drugs, a group that he helped found.  In the two-plus years since that write up, Vile left the band to go solo, putting  out four albums on his […]

With the first six months of 2011 beginning to feel like a distant memory, I figured it was time to continue a tradition by taking a look at my favorite six albums of the first half of the year for the Top 6 Of The First 6…

6) The Head And The Heart – The Head And The Heart

I’ll admit it, I had it in my mind that I wasn’t going to like The Head And The Heart’s self-titled debut, solely based on Bob Boilen of All Songs Considered fame not really being into it. It wasn’t until I caught the band’s exuberant performance of Lost In My Mind on Conan that I was finally ready to embrace the band’s brand of folk-pop, which doesn’t fall too far from the Blind Pilot tree. The Seattle-based act’s album is full of extremely likeable songs that immediately get stuck in your head, bouncy rhythms and lush three-part harmonies that are anchored by lead singer Josiah Johnson and beautifully accompanied by on the high end by Jonathan Russell and Charity Rose Thielen’s sultry, smoky vocals.

READ ON for the rest of Jeff’s Top 6 Of The First 6…

After several years of being available exclusively in Europe, music streaming service Spotify will finally cross the pond and will soon be available to music fans in the United States. The site, which boasts with a library of over 13 million songs, will offer users both a free ad-based service and a subscription model – […]

We keep our eyes peeled for new tour dates announcements each week and compile them on Tuesdays for this handy column… For the last seven years, including 2011, influential music website Pitchfork has curated their own eclectic multi-day music festival in their hometown of Chicago, IL. Come this fall P4K will take things over seas […]

As all of the staff here at HT know, the creative process of putting pen to paper – or in our case hands to keyboard – doesn’t always flow as easily as we’d like it to each and every day, so we can certainly sympathize with the plight of Gillian Welch. After releasing a string […]

Since we first featured Dawes as one of our Blips selections nearly two years ago, the California country-rock revivalists have exploded in popularity thanks in part to relentless touring, song placement in several commercials, and of course the power of lead singer Taylor Goldsmith’s songwriting. Early last month, the band dropped their sophomore effort, Nothing Is […]

Easily one of the feel good stories of the is year has to be that of Nicole Atkins. This Neptune, NJ native not only split with Columbia Records, but also went through a break up with both her band and her boyfriend. The experience led to the inspiration for the material on her highly recommended sophomore […]

On September 13, Sony Legacy will release a new deluxe box set commemorating Jimi Hendrix’s six show, three night, October 1968 run at San Francisco’s famed Winterland Ballroom, as part of four new archival releases due out this fall. The 4-CD set simply titled Winterland, expands on the original 11-track 1987 release, featuring 24 additional […]