Archive: 2011

Over the Rhine is ready to make waves in 2011 with a new release and spring tour dates that will take them to theaters throughout the Midwest and the East Coast. The Long Surrender, the new studio album from the southern Ohio-based husband-and-wife team of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Linford Detweiler and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Karin Bergquist, is something rare […]

Despite incessant howls from the largely intoxicated audience (calling for staple Cold War Kids tracks like "Saint John"), the band remained undeterred in their forward thinking approach, bathing the Bijou audience (including a few rowdy members determined to traverse the stage barrier) in spaced-out arena-pop warmth.

With hundreds of multi-colored balloons waiting at bay near the ceiling of the Tower Theatre, fans patiently awaited the arrival of the Disco Biscuits as they returned to Philadelphia the night before New Year’s Eve to close out what has been a fantastic 2010, and a hectic final week, with back to back nights in their hometown.  To complicate matters in a time of great celebration, the band experienced a devastating blow when drummer Allen Aucoin was treated and hospitalized earlier in the week for a serious asthma attack thus being sidelined for the New York and Philadelphia string of shows.

On his debut solo album, Mikey James rebrands himself under the pseudonym Mikey Jukebox and reinvents himself by packaging a disparate collection of influences. It’s not surprising, given the artist’s background. James cut his teeth as a drummer for post-punk band Longwave and a frontman for punk rockers The Blood. That work is contrasted by endeavors as far from punk as possible – fronting DJ Dick James/Footage and power pop band The Mercies.

The Roots, completing all of this and more while performing night after night on NBC as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a successful role to which they celebrated their one year anniversary of in March.  So what better a way to celebrate 2010 and ring in a new year than an all-night three set marathon Roots show at the Brooklyn Bowl? 

For the second consecutive year, we concocted an innovative little experiment for our year-end Best Albums list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way, we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.

To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of well over 100 nominees, whereby most everything our contributors recommended made this list. Then, we invited our crew of writers to independently and blindly vote on each album within the list on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = epic). We ended up with varying degrees of familiarity for the nominees as some folks voted on just about everything, while some ranked just a few. From there, we deployed our egghead algorithm for rating albums: (two times the average rating) + (the total number of votes). At that point, we took the top 25 highest scores and presto: Hidden Track’s 25 Best Albums of 2010. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.

Let’s kick off our week long countdown of our favorite albums of 2010 with numbers 25 through 21…

25) Sleigh Bells – Treats

Key Tracks: Tell ‘Em, Infinity Guitars

Sounds Like: Electric Guitars and Cheerleaders

The Skinny: Sleigh Bells came out of nowhere in 2010 to emerge as a break out of the highest order. Despite being a just a duo, the boy-girl tandem of Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss manage to slug out bombs with their stomping beats, cutting guitar attacks and anthemic vocal hooks. With Treats, Sleigh Bells have created a genuinely unique twist on amped-up party music.

READ ON for the next four albums in our countdown…

Jam titans Widespread Panic will celebrate 25 years together in 2011. The group starts the year with three shows billed as 25th Anniversary Shows. On February 10th and 11th, Widespread Panic heads back to the Classic Center in their hometown of Athens, GA. On February 14th, Panic returns to the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta, […]

Given their well documented dislike for each other, and public bickering, it’s pretty remarkable that Liam and Noel Gallagher managed to make Oasis last as long as it did. Over the course of fifteen-plus years, the Gallagher brothers have put out seven albums filled with their brand of Beatles-esque Brit Pop, including selling a staggering […]

Glide’s Eric Ward penned a review of Phish’s insane New Year’s Show for Hidden Track and the main site. Check out the beginning of Eric’s review here and then click over to read the end at glidemagazine.com… Words: Eric Ward Image: Adam Kaufman The last time Phish celebrated New Years Eve at Madison Square Garden, […]

As we do every year at Stormy Mondays, we celebrate the arrival of the new year with the music of John Coltrane. This time around we’re looking back to Trane’s collaborations with Miles Davis, and I use that word deliberately. It’s been said that Miles did three things for Trane: hired him, fired him and […]

As we shake off the last effects of our New Year’s Eve weekend hangovers, I thought we’d ease into the week with some hazy indie-pop from a band that you’ll be hearing a lot about in the coming weeks – Tennis. The husband and wife act, who were inspired to record an album after spending […]

NBC has a busy night on Thursday as Los Lobos plays The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Iron & Wine visits Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly features a repeat of She & Him’s performance from last year. Monday, January 3 [All Times Eastern] Hall & Oates: Behind the Music Remastered [VH1 Classic 6PM] […]

The last time Phish celebrated New Years Eve at Madison Square Garden, it was an overly-hyped comeback show to what would eventually become a turbulent, short-lived second phase of their career.  This time, eight years later, it was a much more comfortable embrace, with the band back on solid ground, an open-ended view of the future, and a proper nod to ghosts of hot dogs past.

We’ve reached the end of the Phish New Year’s Run as the quartet returns to the MSG stage for the third of three shows at the venue.

Sam Davis of Dog Gone Blog and Relix fame will be reporting live from the show for @YEMblog. READ ON for tonight’s setlist…

Gov’t Mule @ Beacon Theatre, December 31

Last night was one of the wildest, weirdest Mule shows ever. On the one hand, they played with as much intensity and firepower as I’ve seen in the last five years. On the other, they played like a band definitely ready for a break — haphazard, slapdash at times, randomly explosive — and after the first set, pretty much threw any concept of show pacing out the window.

First set and the first part of the second set was greatest hits Mule: a combination of classic (and overplayed) Mule songs, I think about 2-3 from each of the studio albums, performed ably to extraordinarily. Highs were many, especially a ripsnorting Time to Confess, a wrenching, emotional No Need to Suffer, and a volcanic Game Face with a gooey, psychedelic middle, each tonal shift flavored with impressive work from Jorgen Carlsson.

Gov’t Mule – Beacon Theatre, New York, NY
I: Mule with Kirk West Introduction, Painted Silver Light, Gameface, Blind Man In The Dark, Bad Little Doggie, No Need To Suffer, Beautifully Broken, Banks Of The Deep End, Trying Not To Fall, Time To Confess with Get Up, Stand Up Tease, Thorazine Shuffle

II: Slackjaw Jezebel, Brand New Angel, Steppin’ Lightly, Broke Down On The Brazos, New Years Countdown, Achilles Last Stand * , Bridge Of Sighs * , Nantucket Sleighride * with Corky Laing, Bad Company * , Yer Blues *

Shakedown Street *, Sugaree with Jon Herington & Bill Evans, Sco-Mule with Jon Herington & Bill Evans, Oye Como Va Tease & Dance To The Music Lyrics, Afro Blue with Bill Evans & Oz Noy, Norwegian Wood Tease
* First Time Played

Source: JamBase via  mule.net & nokin in the comments

After the New Year’s Countdown came the fan-voted covers, and Warren said from the stage that Zeppelin’s Achilles Last Stand and Mountain’s Nantucket Sleighride were the No. 1 and No. 2 voted selections (really?). Achilles was a blast — a rip roaring, mindfucking blast — and the band then moved into slow-marinating, colder-toned territory with Bridge of Sighs. Mountain’s own Corky Laing did what basically amounted to a walk-on — Hi Corky, good to see you! — sitting in for that coursing Sleighride, and then the band summoned two more: a decent Bad Company, and then a nasty, nasty Yer Blues that found Warren howling at the top of his lungs and some guitar acrobatics from both the man himself and Dastardly Danny Louis.

READ ON for more of Chad’s thoughts from Mule NYE…

Last night at Madison Square Garden, Phish threw down for three magical sets in front of their fans both at the show and at home watching the webcast. This year’s New Year’s Stunt involved a Meatstick with a troupe of dancers representing a multitude of different ethnicities. Take a look… Happy New Year’s and thanks […]