Archive: 2013

Two more outstanding new music recommendations from Aaron Stein.

For THE BLACK CROWES, it’s always been about musical exploration, and on their “Lay Down With Number 13” world tour in 2013, for which tickets go on sale January 11 at 10:13 AM LOCAL TIME, they’ll keep their shows as fresh as ever. The iconic and influential band will reach deep inside their songbook and […]

Ahh the elder Punk…what becomes of him or her? Most 12 years old slam-dancers want to grow up to be Mike Ness but that can't be everyone's path.  You can keep on the Hey Ho Let's Go! route until you die like godfathers The Ramones, or you could find yourself in some sort of mid tempo vortex of middling hell ala The Scenics with Dead Man Walks Down Bayview

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has added some of indie music’s most compelling acts to the Brooklyn Festival which takes place April 16-21, 2013 at Walt Disney Music Hall.  Friday, April 19 8pm Sharp The Antlers • Chairlift On Sale: January 12 @ 10am | Purchase Tickets: http://laphil.com/TheAntlersFrom the lo-fi bedroom recordings of singer/guitarist Peter Silberman […]

As one of the tracks on Signed and Sealed in Blood declares, Boston’s favorite Celtic punk rock sons the Dropkick Murphys are back and they’re looking for trouble. Signed and Sealed in Blood is loaded with the kind of energy, passion and raucous chorus-like chants that have been somewhat muted on their past couple of releases, and it is a welcome relief for those who have been missing some of the pump your fist spirit that filled the band’s earlier records.

Telekinesis is both a band and a person. It’s taken Michael Benjamin Lerner, now a wizened, grizzled 26-year-old, four years to come to terms with this and understand what responsibilities it does and does not entail, although one would not, from listening to its/his previous two albums, 2009’s self-titled debut and 2011’s 12 Desperate Straight […]

Scotty B.’s take on the first day of Jam Cruise 11.

The AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC and headphone amp is a portable device about the size of a flash drive that offers outstanding audio for desktop speakers, headphones, earbuds or any other audio device.

An examination of Phish’s recent four-night New Year’s Run at Madison Square Garden.

Thanks in part to their ubiquitous catchy shout-along, foot-stomping single, Hey Ho, The Lumineers emerged as arguably the biggest break-out act of 2012. The Denver-based band’s music was seemingly everywhere, from television shows to commercials to a healthy dose of radio play, helping the folk-pop act sell nearly 700,000 copies of their self-titled debut. The […]

Watch the first set of the Disco Biscuits’ recent NYE show in NYC including the countdown medley.

A look at a movie from theater’s golden era starring Clark Gable and William Powell.

The Black Keys are teaming up with the Flaming Lips for a handful of dates in the U.S. in late April and early May. The Black Keys are headlining with The Flaming Lips listed as the special guest on all four gigs. The outing marks the first U.S. appearances booked for The Black Keys in […]

Since splitting with his vaunted backing band The Rumour in 1980, Graham Parker’s been able to maintain his edge working as a solo artist and with various accompanying ensembles. He’s able to wield that edge here in the thirty-year reunion with his former comrades, most effectively as Three Chords Good comes to an emphatic conclusion.

kyline Drive is what happens when 60 Watt Kid guitarist Derrick Thomas downshifts from art-rock to Americana folk. Topanga Ranch Motel is the first offering from the Thomas lead group that drips cinematic, heartfelt, mid tempo, modern day folk numbers.

Lotus announces the second leg of the 2013 tour today in support of the forthcoming album, Build, out February 19, 2013 on SCI Fidelity Records.  The first leg of the tour finds Lotus in the Northeast, Midwest and South including two night runs in New York City (Manhattan’s Best Buy Theater and Brooklyn’s Knitting Factory), […]

David Browie celebrated his 66th birthday this morning with a surprise for everyone else: he broke a long musical silence with the new single "Where Are We Now?" from a forthcoming album, The Next Day, which is due in March. Recorded in New York with longtime collaborator Tony Visconti producing, the unexpected album is Bowie’s […]

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. The current reality is that all new  album releases are going to leak, whether the artists and  labels like it or not. In the most guarded cases, a new album hits the web only  a couple of days before its scheduled release date. In worst case scenarios, an unreleased […]

A sizzling 45 minutes of especially groovy music from the Wayne Shorter Quartet.

Check out a documentary about the criminally underrated Incredible String Band.