Archive: 2009

Actor Jason Segel has previously showcased his knack for clever songwriting in Forgetting Sarah Marshall with his unforgettable songs for his character’s Dracula musical. The How I Met Your Mother star stopped by The Swell Season’s recent Los Angeles gig to debut a new tune about using his celebrity status for his gain… Jason Segel […]

Words: Jonathan ” Kos” Kosakow

Video & Photos: Curtis Stiles

In August of 2007, a blue station wagon pulled up to the Rockwood Music Hall on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. After checking to make sure they were legally parked, Jeff Prystowsky and Ben Knox Miller unloaded their own gear and carted it to the small stage. Rockwood, though comfortable and with pristine sound, only holds a handful of people, so it’s not spacious enough to host any large band – or even a small one with a large following. On that night, the room was hardly at capacity, but the two members who comprised The Low Anthem were able to grab hold the ears of every listener in the small, dimly lit brick room. And, based on the post-show conversation, I was not the only one who felt they had a music-making future ahead of them.

I saw them again two years later at The Bell House in Brooklyn, in August of 2009, opening for Surprise Me Mr. Davis featuring Marco Benevento (a welcome addition to the bill). As Miller told me, Surprise Me Mr. Davis was the first band to ask The Low Anthem to tour with them, so it was a comfortable match-up for both (and it made for a nice encore as they joined forces on a couple of tunes). The video below is a gospel standard the trio played that night, Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around…

Though I had seen the Anthem multiple times between these two shows, it was interesting and inspiring to watch the group, now a trio including Jocie Adams, gain popularity while also growing musically.

READ ON for more from the Noise Report…

Pretty Lights performing at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City on November 19th, 2009.

In the past five years, Great American Taxi has become one of the best-known headliners on the jam band circuit, their uninhibited sound a swinging concoction of swampy blues, progressive bluegrass, funky New Orleans strut, Southern boogie, honky tonk, gospel and good old fashioned rock ’n’ roll. That loose, anything-can-happen feel is the hallmark of […]

MVD Visual and Sexy Intellectual are pleased to announce the DVD release of Revolution In The Head – Rage Against The Machine and the Art Of Protest on February 23, 2010. Arguably the most provocative band of the last 20 years, Rage Against The Machine have since their explosive debut, been the group most associated with the […]

It’s shaping up to be a stellar year for celebrated New Orleans outfit GALACTIC. On February 2nd the band will release their groundbreaking new album YA-KA-MAY, a visionary mix of intertwining New Orleans sounds from jazz to brass band to funk and the distinctive gender bending regional hip hop known as "bounce." Vocals are provided […]

Merge Records is excited to announce that Sweden’s Shout Out Louds will be releasing their new record, entitled Work, on February 23, 2010. Work is the band’s third album and second for Merge. It was recorded in Seattle and produced by Phil Ek (The Shins, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses).

The Shotgun is a series of "shotgun" CD reviews by Eric Saeger

The Pixies have been back together now for four years touring and reliving their late 80’s heyday.  They haven’t recorded any new material, instead they choose to focus on their most acclaimed work and tonight they played their best album Doolittle in its entirety. 

Arcade Fire have been working on their new album with producer Markus Dravs, it has been revealed. Dravs producer the band’s last album, 2007’s ‘Neon Bible’, has been working on the band’s third record for around six months. The collaboration was revealed by Mumford and Sons‘ Marcus Mumford, after they worked with Dravs on their […]