Archive: 2010

The Bad Plus announce their U.S. tour in support of Never Stop, their new release on eOne Music. The tour extends from December 2nd through January 9th, 2011 and includes what has become a yearly tradition: a six night New Year’s Eve run at New York City’s fabled Village Vanguard. Featured stops along the way […]

Gang Of Four, one of the most radical and important groups of the last thirty years, are proud to announce a headlining tour of North America beginning February 4th in Toronto, ON. The band will tour in support of their upcoming album, C O N T E N T, their first new material in 16 […]

Every time Kanye West releases a song or video, makes an appearance on the VMA’s or is made fun of on South Park, it stirs a debate. Is Kanye an incredibly ambitious musician, a public figure of epic proportions tackling race, culture and art all in one fell swoop, or a clown in king’s clothing?

Here’s what Three Grown Men had to say about it…

Jonathan Kosakow on Kanye as musician:

The line that sticks out in my head the most from Kanye’s 35-minute “epic” is probably the last one that he wants to be remembered by. “We ain’t married but tonight I need some consummation.” In other words, Kanye wants to fuck you, but he won’t be giving you anything in return.  

READ ON for more takes on Kanye’s latest video…

As Yo La Tengo gears up for the start of their semi-annual eight-night Hannukah run at Maxwell’s, which gets underway on December 1, the Hoboken-based band has announced a unique twist for their winter tour. The iconic indie-rock trio will split their nights into two sets, with the first 45 minutes of music to be […]

…a desperate search, in a utopia that contained its own contradiction, product of a wish that at once went beyond art and found itself returned to it: “When freedom is practiced in a closed circle, it fades into a dream, becomes a mere representation of itself.”

As one travels through time and space, the layers of the hidden onion peel back, and one remembers the secret within. One takes on the skin of the chameleon like so many times before, and sheds everything old. There it is—the nut of it all. The pursuit of enlightenment yields ultra long periods of prologue and epilogue in one’s life, and the middle, the spine, the meat of the story of one’s life can often feel almost trapped in time and space, isolated from the history, the back story of the life led which resonates, and then drifts away, LOST, replaced by another…everything new is just a random portrait nearby. And on the passage of a few through a rather brief moment in time, it is up to you to find that hidden gem, that lost chord, that chameleon searching for a new language…

We close our Season 4 with a glance at an overlooked classic little film from the early 1980s and our final look at what we leave behind and what we take with us when we move far away from the shoreline of our dreams, look at ourselves in the mirror, a brief moment of reality check, and move forward with our free will intact as we look at the mockumentary with a sarcastic and stinging bite, Woody Allen’s Zelig.

First, let’s discuss reaching number 60 with Hidden Flick. Of course, some of these editions had multiple films being dissected and pondered over, so the total is probably closer to 75, but even 60 is mind boggling. I felt I’d cover 20 obscure films, and be done with it. There was zero planning, no idea whatsoever other than discussing the love of weird cinematic curios, and certainly not any philosophical intent whatsoever. Quite frankly, I began this little journey with two desires: I enjoy films and wanted to talk about them in a tight but loose fashion, and I wanted to write about films that were a little off the proverbial commercial beaten path. Hence, hidden flicks. Would I be entertaining? Uh…doubtful. I think my spin is all about “hey, WOW—I never thought about that,” and the pursuit of the Great Unknown. For better or worse, I jam, therefore I am.

READ ON for more of the Season 4 finale…

We were saddened to see that a band which has been around as long as we’ve been alive – New Orleans’ The Radiators – have announced their breakup after 33 years and over 4,500 live shows. To pay tribute, we offer their unique, funky ode to NoLa and crawfish, Suck The Head… The Radiators – […]

We’re over a week removed from the end of Phish Fall Tour 2010 and now that you’ve had a chance to digest what went down, we’re asking you for your opinion on the 15-show run. Our pal Parker Harrington has put together an extensive survey that you can take through this form. [Photo by Regan […]

Deadmau5 performing at Epic in Minneapolis, MN on 10.20.10.

HT’s Dan Alford continues his look back at the Phil Lesh Quintet in which the Grateful Dead bassist was joined by John Molo, Rob Barraco, Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring. Part One looked at the unit’s start in 2000, Part Two looked at the group’s rise in 2001, Part Three looked at the peak of 2002, while today’s finale looks at the group’s final days…

In the fall of 2002, Phil, Bobby, Billy and Mickey joined forces for another incarnation The Other Ones – featuring Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco, Jeff Chimenti and Susan Tedeschi on backing vocals, playing arena-sized venues with some excellent results, but they were just getting started.

In the late spring of the following year, the group resurfaced with a new vocalist, a new name and a new confidence with the material. Joan Osborne may have seemed an odd choice initially, but in fact she was a denizen of The Wetlands in the early nineties, a road warrior in her own right and Americana soul singer of the first order. Plus, she didn’t hesitate for a second, jumping right into the fray and leaving a mark on the music; like others before and after, Sugaree became her show piece, and her Joan Moan became a staple of the spacey interludes.

• Phil Lesh Quintet: Year One, Year Two, Year Three

The group churned out plenty of killer music on its summer tour, including an especially great gig in Hartford, a slew of Dylan sit-ins across the Midwest, and a pair of nights at Jones Beach that boasted acoustic sets. But the band also kept the PLQ off the road until the fall of 2003 when the group returned for its final 20 dates. READ ON for more on the Phil Lesh Quintet ’03…

Last week, we hit on a few of the highest profile Halloween shows, most notably Phish and their Little Feat musical costume, but this week we wanted to tie in some of our other faves from around the scene and highlight some of their musical excursions outside the norm. Across the live music landscape, Halloween has essentially become synonymous with cover tunes, so we thought we’d dump out our collective pillow case filled with musical treats and have ourselves a taste.

Lotus – Iron Man, Roseland Theater, Portland, OR,  10/30/2010

Quickly becoming one of the most festive young bands to go big for Halloween, Lotus kept up the Halloween spirit for two nights this year as they worked in a whole slew of video game tunes on Halloween night, but also treated fans to a Headbanger’s Ball on the 30th as they celebrated the 40th anniversary of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album. Get a load of this monster rendition of the ultimate Sabbath song, Iron Man.

READ ON for more goodies from Halloween shows…

The Drive-By Truckers continue their prolific as fuck ways with today’s announcement that the sextet will release a new album titled Go-Go Boots on February 15th via ATO Records. You might recall that the Truckers just released The Big To-Do back in March. You see, the group recorded 40 songs in ’09 and ’10 and […]

I’ll be the first to admit I really don’t know too much about jazz, having only scratched the surface of the somewhat daunting genre mostly based on recommendations from friends who know way more about it than I do. Over the last few weeks I’ve been mildly obsessed with one of those suggestions –  Bill […]

The Mike Gordon Band spent the last few days in California, where the group kicked off a month-long tour with a pair of sold-out shows and a free performance at the historic corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco.

On Saturday at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, Mike and his solo band tore through a number of songs from his recently released Moss album as well as cover debuts from the likes of Tower of Power (Down to the Nightclub), David Essex (Rock On), Little Feat (Sailin’ Shoes) and a new tune called I Miss My Mind plus an intense version of the GRAB-era chestnut Suskind Hotel.

Sunday found the ensemble moving up the coast to San Francisco for the previously mentioned free show – where the MGB performed five originals – and a sold out gig at The Independent. Cactus busted out his band’s version of Lit O Bit – a Rita Clarke & The Naturals song that Phish performed at Great Woods back in June – and debuted The Void off of Moss as part of the two set performance.

READ ON for Mike Gordon Band setlists and videos…

Last Thursday, a handful of the HT staff headed to see The Black Crowes as their Say Goodbye To The Bad Guys tour rolled through New York City for a five-night stand at the recently renamed Best Buy Theater in Times Square. The Southern rock and boogie act treated fans to three-plus hours of music […]

Conan O’Brien will launch his new TBS late-night show tonight at 11PM with some help from his old friend Jack White, who will serve as the musical guest for the initial broadcast. Other guests for the first show include actor Seth Rogen and Gleekster Lea Michele. Soundgarden stop by tomorrow. Monday, November 8 (all times ET) Jack […]

Public Domain (Spire Artists) is the follow-up to Charlie Hunter’s first such album, 2000’s Solo 8-String Guitar, now long out of print on disc from Contra Punto Records (though still available as a download). As indicated by its title, this new work consists of largely familiar tunes, all of which have been around long enough for their copyrights to expire (as stipulated by law, after seventy years). In doing justice to the material in his own imitable fashion, however, Hunter insures the songs will retain their indelible mark on contemporary culture.

Kelley Stoltz has put together a snappy collection of 50’s-60’s dreamy garage-pop with his most recent effort To Dreamers.  Echo vocals, glimmering tambourines, a dash of feedback and random horns all come and go like the breeze as Kelley sings about “getting the girl” and “all of our stars aligning”.  The retro vibe is obvious, but this album was certainly produced in the digital age with clear sound and at times too many instruments/sounds trying to make a mark like on “Keeping the Flame”. 

The Disco Biscuits have announced a four-night run in Colorado, Thursday January 13 through Sunday January 16 2011. The band will spend two nights at the Boulder Theater, Thursday and Friday January 13-14, before heading to Denver to close out the long weekend at the Ogden Theatre on Saturday and Sunday January 15-16.  An extremely […]

On December 14th, JEMP Records will release Alpine Valley 2010, a two-DVD/two-audio CD collection capturing Phish’s entire August 14th, 2010 performance at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI. The box set will also include bonus video footage from the band’s August 15th show at Alpine, a steeply sloping amphitheatre with an enormous lawn. […]

It was chilly air and cloudy skies during the day, but Widespread Panic was sure to warm everybody up and make it a beautiful night. The up-tempo and loose “Wondering” soared like a sports car going 90 miles an hour on an open highway, while the heavy thunder of “Imitation Leather Shoes” hit like a Mack truck crashing 90 miles an hour into a brick wall.