The Los Angeles quartet Warpaint has steadily moved from their more rock roots towards an electron-based, soft synth, dream-pop sound, and now on their fourth studio album, Radiate Like This,
The lineup for this year’s Coachella dropped early this morning and it’s no joke. Goldenvoice put together a well-rounded bill that starts with headliners Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, The Strokes and Kanye West and includes HT faves The Felice Brothers, Tame Impala and Trampled By Turtles.
Here’s a look at the lineup in poster form…
Coachella 2011 takes place at Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA on April 15 – 17. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 AM PST.
READ ON for an A to Z (or ! to Z) rundown of the bill…
In our never-ending quest to dig up great bands whose tickets cost less than a corned beef sandwich at Katz’s, we bring you another round of Blips. Blips highlights some great bands that are largely still in their larvae stage, but will soon morph into their beautiful butterfly. In this edition, we have some really cool new music, so take a sec, poke around the bands’ various websites, and see what you think of these four under the radar acts…
Best Coast
In music critics never-ending quest to label every sub-genre we now have something called “chillwave”. While I won’t wax poetic on that subject, one of the acts that have been lumped into this ever growing movement – along with the likes of Neon Indian, Beach Fossils and Memory Tapes – is Best Coast (whether they actually like it or not). The two-piece act, fronted by Bethany Cosentino, have been garnering a lot of much deserved blog attention over the last year after releasing a series of much buzzed about 7-inch singles. READ ON for more on Best Coast and three other acts…
The summer concert season is upon us and the Hidden Track staff know that it’s virtually impossible for us to afford every show we want to hit, and still be able to pay our insanely expensive New York City rents. Luckily for us, there are a plethora of fantastic free concerts throughout the summer that don’t cost a dime. We decided to weed through all the listings and present to you our 3rd Annual NYC Free Summer Concert Picks. Let’s take a look…
HT Recommends: She & Him / Oakley Hall
Where: The Beach @ Governors Island
When: Sunday, July 4, Beach Opens At 10 AM, Show 4 PM
Official Info: She & Him make music for an eternal springtime, when the temperature is warm enough to go riding with the top (or at least the windows) rolled down and the radio turned up. They occupy an alternate universe where the saddest of songs feel as warm as sun showers; the rain may be coming down, but somewhere nearby, everything looks bright. What began as a fascinating, no-strings attached collaboration on 2008’s Volume One has evolved into a bona fide, touring band, and She & Him are here to stay. Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward are as comfortable and complementary a musical pair as Les Paul and Mary Ford; hearing them again on Volume Two feels like getting together with two old friends. This time, the harmonies have grown more angelically layered, the string arrangements more dramatic, the songwriting even sharper and more confident. But, as with Volume One, the prevailing mood is bittersweet, dreamy, and romantic.
Other Free Shows At Governors Island: 6/5 – Yeasayer, 7/3 – Portugal. The Man / Alberta Cross, 7/10 – Lucero, 7/16 – Caribou / Phantogram / The Chain Gang of 1974, 8/8 – Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band / Justin Townes Earle / Dawn Landes & The Hounds, 8/14 – Neon Indian, 8/15 – Dr. Dog / Cheif
READ ON for the rest of our list of free summer concerts in NYC…
With MGMT’s much buzzed about sophomore album Congratulations hitting stores today, the Brooklyn-based act has revealed their summer touring plans. Andrew VanWyngarden & Ben Goldwasser, who kicked off a sold
Throughout the 1990s Perry Farrell’s traveling Lollapalooza festival was a staple of the summer concert season bringing together an eclectic mix of acts from the worlds of alt.rock, metal, hip
Words: Jonathan “Kos” Kosakow
Each year, the CMJ Music Marathon descends upon New York City for five days in October. For bands, it is a chance to be discovered. For journalists, bloggers, photographers and the recording industry, it is an opportunity to stumble upon the next big thing. And for the fans, it is a chance to discover new music, a chance to witness the origins of a band, and perhaps more importantly, a chance to run around New York City for five days without a plan or a clue as to what they will find.
There is no “right” way to get through CMJ. Of the almost 1,100 musical acts who performed over the five days at this year’s marathon, even those fans heavily immersed in the music scene were familiar with only a small percentage. Some choose to see only the bands they already know and are familiar with. Some choose to pick a venue and stick with it for an entire evening. Others choose to pick bands based on their names, and still others just go to an area with the highest concentration of shows (generally the Lower East Side of Manhattan), and bounce around between venues. But no matter what method you choose, you are bound to find something you love, something you hate, or something completely weird.
As I am just one man, I was only able to see a (very, very, very) small percentage of the music played. But of the bands I was able to see, here are my recommendations.
These United States bring a sound similar to a combination of The Black Crowes and The Band, with vocals slightly reminiscent of the Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz. Comparisons aside, this quintet had a sound too big for Piano’s, the small bar that played host that evening. By adding a steel pedal guitar to the classic southern rock, they are allowed much greater diversity of sound and can bring in many more influences. And that may be their only true drawback – the lack of a definitive sound. Give them a little bit more time to find their true sound, though, and I’d put some money on seeing these guys in much larger venues.
READ ON for more of Jonathan’s recommendations…
