Big Troubles w/ Babies @ Death By Audio, December 18th, 2010

Even with a sunny and cool Babies headlining set, featuring the hot girl from Vivian Girls, and a dude from Woods, openers Big Troubles won the night, with excellent Pains of Being Pure of Heart-esque shoegaze pop, meets early 90's british alt-indie. They were so convincing, I even bought their last LP "Worry" which I'm happy to report will require many excellent repeat listens. Reading Rainbow also played a set, and while they have a pretty fantastic band name, there's just something about their music that really annoys me...

Hunnie Bunnies w/ Skimask @ Party Expo, December 9th, 2010

Hunnie Bunnies are cave-men bunny rabbits drenched in bunny blood dropping blitzkreig hip hop beatz over heavy vocal feedback. By destroying everything cute in their band name and the world, they reveal the charade that anything is truly innocent (even bunnies), and leave the audience wanting to rage. That's a good thing. There are too many pretty little bands out there trying to "make it big" for the glory of their own inflated ego. HB inspires you to run around the room like a wild dog, raise your fist to the moon, and rip your hair out in frustration at our inability to live in a modern society without being exploited for greed. This is "release" music for the post-reagan 99% global corporate slave generation, where the only brave yet desperate gesture we have against conformity is to recreate the sounds of a bunny being skinned alive, and amplify it as loud as we can.

PS. Skimask is the perfect opener, like a disillusioned 90s rural noiserock band attempting a big city bank robbery as revenge for the 2008 financial crisis.

Hauschka @ Manhattan Inn, October 25th, 2010

Hauschka is a neo-classical german composer who somehow managed to break into the indie-rock scene in Brooklyn. Here's a nice recording I've made of the last song in his set. Beautiful.

Cloud Nothings @ Don Pedro's, October 23rd, 2010

You might not notice it from the recordings, but Cloud Nothings has pretty much the sickest punk drummer out there right now. He was doing like 16th notes on the Kick without a double bass pedal! Yeah, you know a band has BIG potential (like Vampire Weekend big) when the hipsters form a mosh pit and start crowd surfing in a venue smaller than my apartment.

Candy Claws, Tape Deck Mountain, Wise Blood @ The Delancey CMJ Showcase, October 20th, 2010

I guess Candy Claws were the reason why I trekked out to The Delancey for this CMJ show. Their new album Hidden Lands is dreamy, like the soundtrack to some psychedelic stop-motion christmas movie with paper mache elves and talking snowmen. And they're from San Diego, what's not to like? Okay, so they lose points for the zorro masks, but gain points for wearing headphones on stage. See, it all works out! I really liked what the guitar player was doing, fabulous stuff. Their songs don't follow a straight traditional rock structure (verse, chorus, verse). It's more classical, with key modulations and variation on a theme, less repetition. Different! Good!




Tape Deck Mountain is an awesome band name. Guess what? It's also a damn fine band. Kinda post-shoegaze? This was Carl's favorite band of night. I really liked their lyrics, which surprisingly, you could make out loud and clear. The drummer was simultaneously playing a keyboard throughout, the guitarist had an elaborate looping effects setup, and the bassist plays through a Rat pedal. Cool!

I like bands that get wasted before their CMJ showcase, scream their guts out, rip off their shirt, sample The Beatles, and only play for 15 minutes, like Wise Blood.

Women w/ DDMMYYYY @ Knitting Factory, October 9th, 2010

Phew! Women were amazing. One of the best shows I've seen in a while. You know who they remind me of? The Joggers! But a little more 60's pop psych. I just love those jangly guitars! Their new album Public Strain is really solid, def in my top ten this year... I only saw the last few songs from DD/MM/YYYY, but they're also fun! Spazzy artsy uptempo indie math rock at it's best =) Good dudes too.

Deerhunter @ Apple Store Soho, September 28th, 2010

Oh boy! There was some serious B.O. at this show. Honestly, Deerhunter fans need to take a shower. We couldn't see much (the Apple Store doesn't have a 'raised' stage) and it was pretty packed, but the sound was excellent (Bradford has the same Marshall stack as me!). Overall I think I still like Mikrocastle better, but there are some excellent new songs on Halcyon Digest that were cool to see live (my favorites so far are Helicopter and He Would Have Laughed). Too bad I wasn't close enough to see their effects pedals, I bet they have some good ones...