2008

Saying there are an abundance of music festivals these days is like saying Britney Spears kind of lost it for a while there…it’s a major understatement.

It seems like every day there is a new festival with a new name and a new promoter in a different part of the world. The annual staples – Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, New Orleans’ JazzFest, Lollapalooza – are being challenged by newer festivals with slick names that can draw big name acts to sites near major cities making travel in and out easier than ever. Nothing ruins a festival experience faster than poor organization in terms of getting fans in and out.

It used to be one or two musical festivals a year would dot the landscape of the concert scene. But this year, it’s looked more like an urban jungle with festivals popping up everywhere. This isn’t a bad thing as more festivals means more chances for fans to see more music they probably wouldn’t pay to see on its own. At a festival, you can check out multiple bands throughout any given day and skip the bands you don’t want to see. Read on for more…

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of catching Brooklyn’s Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears at the Subterranean in Chicago. I was not very familiar with the material going into it, but had heard of the band through a close friend who checks them out down South. Said friend played me their new Flight of the Knife (out April 4 on Black and Greene Records) earlier in the week, and a surprisingly large amount stuck after only one pre-show listen.

Flight of the Knife is a sprawling epic about The Knife, “the greatest flying machine to ever sail the skies” which no one had seen. The record follows Venus Ambassador on his quest to save the flying machine from the “furthest reaches of the world” where it teeters on a cloud. I don’t think I’ve listened enough to fully grasp the continuity of the plot (which I can only assume is there), but the songs themselves are delightfully poppy while remaining musically interesting and grounded in familiar sounds. They tumble and shift in erratic ways that end up making perfect sense, providing for an incredibly diverse listen.

On the whole, this record plays like Alice Cooper and Ziggy Startust arguing over McCartney melodies, while listening to Frank’s Freak Out having just finished some Gabriel-era Genesis and Beatles (you know, just as George was starting to become a forceful songwriter). Read on for more about this exciting new band…

If you’ve ever searched for a live concert DVD on Amazon you’ve probably noticed how unintuitive the interface has become. We’re glad that Amazon offers 28 billion products, but sometimes

2007 was the year of the reunion, but only a few of the bands that reunited are still playing together in 2008. One of those bands is Crowded House, who

When the one month ’til Earth Day mark passed without a lineup announcement, we were starting to wonder if in fact the Green Apple Festival was really happening this year. Well we finally have a lineup announcement, and the news is better for some cities than it is for others.

Things look good on 4/20 in D.C. where The Roots (and friends), Gov’t Mule, Umphrey’s McGee and Toots head up the killer National Mall lineup. Yet NYCers draw the short end of the stick this time where Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Big Head Todd & The Monsters and Vusi Mahlasela will perform at Central Park.

Meanwhile Denver (The Nevilles, Rose Hill Drive and The Duo), San Francisco (Mickey Hart, YMSB and Brett Dennen), and Los Angeles (Ziggy Marley, Taj Mahal, Juliette and the Licks) all score fantastic lineups, while Miami gets a boy band (Menudo) and Mr. Wendell (Arrested Development).

But it’s not only about the music, it’s about the environment. The Green Apple Festival has quickly become the America’s Largest Earth Day Celebration, and has expanded to eight cities this year. Did we mention the best part of the Earth Day events on 4/20? They are all absolutely free.

Read on for a full list of performers, cities and more…

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