Situated on the sixth floor of the Time Warner Center on Manhattan’s Upper Wide Side, lies arguably the city’s best kept secret of a music venue – Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Allen Room – a venue which typically caters to a more affluent audience, than its downtown rock club peers. Set up like an amphitheater, it boasts easily the most amazing views you’re ever going to get at a concert hall in an urban environment with its gigantic floor to ceiling glass windows, that directly overlooks the passing traffic going around Columbus Circle and a stretch of 59th Street that you can see clear all the way to the East Side.
Last night, the Allen Room played host to the kick off concert for Lincoln Center’s thirteenth season of its American Songbook Series, with a show from folk-rockers The Low Anthem. Dressed liked they had just stepped straight out of Greenwich Village’s pass-the-hat folk circuit circa-1964, and surrounded by a mix of both familiar and slightly obscure, and long forgotten instruments, which included a gigantic church organ they had specially brought in just for this show, graciously paid for by the folks at Lincoln Center. The band took to the stage to a mesmerizing view of glowing head and tail lights, and flickering lights from the posh apartments that surround Central Park West.
The Providence-based act, fresh off their second appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman the night before, used nearly all of their hour and a half-long set to showcase the songs from their upcoming studio album Smart Flesh, which is due out on February 22. Ben Knox Miller & company set the tone for the night by opening with the hushed To The Ghosts Who Write History Books from their critically acclaimed sophomore album Oh My God Charlie Darwin
READ ON for more on The Low Anthem’s show…
With only two Tuesdays left in the year for new album releases, and nothing really noteworthy on the immediate horizon, we can start looking towards what’s coming down the pike
As we saw our first snow flakes here in New York City yesterday, there is nothing that gets us through the winter faster and thinking about the warm months ahead,
With a seemingly rotating door on music festivals over the last handful of years it’s assuring to know that you can continually count on the Newport Folk Festival to be there year in and year out, offering up a high quality and diverse lineup in one of the most serene settings imaginable. Returning once again to the historic Fort Adams State Park, the fest delivered an amazing swath of artists from folk to funk and everything in between.
Much like how there are those musicians that are referred to as a “singer-songwriter’s singer-songwriter,” well now after having attended Newport Folk the label of a “music fan’s music fest” might be the best way to describe it. With three stages and 30-plus acts to choose from, it seemed relatively easy to plant yourself in front of one stage for the day – like many did – and take in all the action. For the ambitious music lovers though, the close proximity of the Fort, Harbor and Quad stages made it a breeze to catch an impressive amount of music over the two-day span.
Saturday kicked off with one of the fest’s biggest success stories – The Low Anthem – who just three years prior were picking up trash as on-site volunteers and now found themselves with a main stage slot. The Providence-based band showcased their gorgeous folk music, which features an odd menagerie of instruments – crotales, harmonium and clarinet – along with the obvious guitar, bass and drums. Taking in just a handful of songs, which was highlighted by a sublime take on Apothecary, and their interpretation of Rev. Gary Davis’ Sally Where’d You Get The Liquor From?, I had to pulled myself away from really the one lone conflict of the weekend to see a full set from A.A. Bondy.
READ ON for more of Jeff’s recap of Newport Folk…
While we may never seen a full-on Pink Floyd reunion again, the band’s bassist – Roger Waters – hasn’t been shy about touring behind the group’s most well-known material. It’s
With the 2010 baseball season upon us, we wanted to continue a Hidden Track tradition started in 2007 where we chat with of our favorite musicians about their love for America’s past time. For the first part of this year’s Baseball Preview, we asked them for predictions on the upcoming season, while the second part of our questionnaire got a bit more personal.
Batting second in the 2010 Hidden Track Baseball Preview line up is The Low Anthem’s bass player – and baseball historian, having taught the subject for High Schoolers – Jeff Prystowsky. We spoke with Jeff about his beloved Cardinals, his thoughts on the upcoming season, his favorite ballpark and many other subjects. Check it out…
Hidden Track: What team do you think will win the World Series and what team will they beat in that final series?
Jeff Prystowsky: St Louis Cardinals vs. New York Yankees, with the Cards winning it all.
HT: Which pitchers do you think will win the AL and NL Cy Young awards?
JP: NL Cy Young – Tim Lincecum (San Francisco Giants), AL Cy Young – C.C. Sabathia (New York Yankess)
HT: Which players do you think will win the AL and NL MVP awards?
JP: Albert Pujols (St. Louis Cardinals) and Dustin Pedroia (Boston Red Sox)
READ ON for more of our baseball convo with Jeff of The Low Anthem…
Earlier this week, news leaked that Levon Helm would take his Ramble on the road to appear at the 51st installment of the legendary Newport Folk Festival. Well, today festival
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the gorgeously shot Take Away Shows, who have featured some amazing performances in equally unusual locales. The site recently posted this stunning
While indie-rock act Spoon have long been critic’s darlings, their 2007 release Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga helped bring the band’s music to a larger audience with the help their
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…
