If you don’t want a secret to come out in the open, you best not tell legendary musician David Crosby. Crosby spilled the beans about Buffalo Springfield’s plans to tour
Now that’s it’s been just about a month since Jam Cruise 9 returned to land, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on all the music I witnessed. While I was familiar with most of the bands aboard the MSC Poesia, there were a number of acts who were new to me. For this week’s B List, I made a list of the 10 bands I hadn’t seen live before the trip who impressed me the most.
Yes, it’s ridiculous that I hadn’t seen a few of these bands, but now that I have, I won’t miss them again the next time they come around.
10. Big Gigantic
[All photos by Chad Smith]
Colorado’s Big Gigantic features drummer Jeremy Salken and producer/saxophonist Dominic Lalli coming together to forge an inventive sound that’s equal parts electronic and rock. You can’t help but dance to the ridiculously high-energy beats and grooves the pair provides. BG’s Zebra Bar set was otherworldly, not only for the work of Salken and Lalli, but also for sit-ins by the likes of Brock Butler, Eric Krasno and Joel Cummins.
READ ON for more of this week’s B List…
February has been a month of heartache for music fans as breakups and rumors of breakups abound. First, the White Stripes amicably quit their courtship, then LCD Soundsystem announced they’d play their last show in April and there was even a rumor about the Gorillaz calling it quits at the top of their game. All of the tragedy aside, 3GM found it strange that these breakups, whether rumored or true, were uncharacteristically harmonious.
Conor Kelley on LCD Soundsystem:
It’s better to burn out than to fade away.
What could be more rock and roll than following through with that line? Although Neil Young is way past the age where he can burn out, and his new work shows absolutely no signs of fading into insignificance, his lyric is still a tried and true adage of the musician lifestyle. Going out while on top almost ensures a legendary reputation in the rock and roll record books. It’s the George Costanza theory about leaving on a high note, and it works like a charm.
In the ’60s and 70s people would rarely leave the game by choice. It was mostly at the hand of drug overdoses (Hendrix), alcoholism (Joplin), french hookers and baguettes (Morrison) or the occasional peach truck (Allman). These days people are hanging up their guitars for a different reason entirely: they see a project’s creative end in sight and walk away before it becomes stale. READ ON for more of this week’s Three Grown Men column…
A dream came true for the author and other Winos around the country, when God Street Wine came back for four shows last summer followed by two sets aboard Jam
Brothers Past @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, February 5
Words: Carla Danca
Images: Jeremy Gordon
Despite an intimate start to the show, the diehards all came out to support Brothers Past at Williamsburg’s Hall of Music this past Saturday. From the bros in the front row who embodied the “dance like no one is watching” mantra to the Funtown dancers on the stage, the floor kept moving all night long in Brooklyn. While it may have been cold and raining outside, inside things got so hot that there was more than one shirt removed.
[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]
The show began with a set from New Jersey’s own FiKus who were crowded together among the equipment of BP. The tight set up seemed the aid the band as their playing intermixed seamlessly. By adding additional electronic layers on top of the already rich sound provided, the five members of the band dominated the room. Things heated up when DJ Nutritious spun while his two dancers roamed the stage with painted body art that accentuated every curve. Though it seemed a bit risqué, they didn’t quite know what to do when a dollar was thrown on stage… apparently it wasn’t that kind of party after all.
READ ON for more from Brothers Past in Williamsburg…
It sort of seems hard to believe, but it’s been ten years since Jack Johnson put out his debut album Brushfire Fairytales via the small indie-label Enjoy Records (which is
We’re going to fire up the Hidden Track time machine to take us back to my favorite show of 2008 – Paul Simon’s Under African Skies at BAM. This unique
Longtime Phish fan Andy Silver has been seeing the band perform since 1992 and recently spent some time preparing a list that we think will be of interest to our readers. Take it away, Andy…
Trying to get a handle on the evolution of Phish can be a daunting task. For new fans and seasoned vets alike, surfing through nearly 25 years of performances may seem like an exercise in futility. Each of us has special language, tour short-hand, inside jokes, personal preferences and individual memories that shape our perspective on the band, its history and our place within it.
[Photo by Regan Teti Marscher]
Many of us have spent hours arguing the merits of 1992 versus 1995, or the cow funk of 1997 versus the juke box tour of summer 1998. Personally, I find these debates entertaining, albeit somewhat pointless, as beauty is always in the eye (or in this case, the ear) of the beholder. After all, what I choose to put on my iPod may be very different from what you consider to be “must listen material.”
Given this context, I set out to compile a list of shows (and multi-night stands) that roughly document the various stages of Phish, their sound and their emergence as a cultural phenomenon. It should be noted that the list is not intended to be a “best of.” Rather, it’s a guide for those that love the band and want to revisit key moments in Phistory.
READ ON for Andy’s list of 200 Essential Phish Shows…
On his fourth album, Mission Bell, Amos Lee decided to take his time to get it right. Though the previous two releases weren’t bad, Lee admits that they were rushed and were easily lost among a myriad of rootsy singers strumming an acoustic guitar. The result of that deliberation could be a career-defining album.
In the midst of their quick 4-night, 3-city tour, Glide had a chance to catch up with dada, the hard rocking trio from LA. After touring only intermittently during the last decade, the band decided to take a break from recording their first album since 2007, and play three cities where they had an established fan base.
