Results tagged “indierock”

Campaign consultant Howard Wolfson once called Mayor Bloomberg "out of touch," but now the sweater-clad, indie rock loving ex-Clinton strategist is ready to join the administration, sources say. Wolfson—who worked on Bloomberg's reelection campaign in 2009—will now take a $300,000 pay-cut to leave national politics and come serve the city he grew up in. more ›

Williamsburg art rock quintet TV on the Radio has just released their third full length album, Dear Science. It's an upbeat, danceable departure from their last opus, Return to Cookie Mountain, but listen closely to the lyrics and you'll find them as troubled as ever with life under the Bush occupation. Of course, main lyricists Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe are smart enough to favor the evocative over the polemical, and it continues to work for them: The verdict on Dear Science handed down from Pitchfork and other critics has been favorable indeed. They play a three night stand at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on October 14th through 16th. We recently spoke with guitarist, singer and songwriter Kyp Malone about the album, the neighborhood and the beard. more ›

Young New York-based band The Virgins, who presumably picked their name with the untapped jihadist demographic in mind, play sweaty yet tightly-coiled garage rock that recalls a dirtier, pre-Interpol era. They've been generating buzz through relentless touring in the U.S. and Europe, and the single off their self-titled debut album, "Rich Girls," has been on Gossip Girl and a bunch of other shows we won't cop to watching. (Hear it on their MySpace page.) Frontman Donald Cumming, who became widely known as a teenager through his association with artist/photographer Ryan McGinley, responded to our questions via email in the wake of the band's well-received performance at All Points West. The Virgins give it up tonight at Santos Party House at 9 p.m. more ›

For their fourth full-length album, BITS, Oxford Collapse reportedly wrote over 30 songs – more than twice as many as they needed. "The economy has been bad, so we decided to write more songs," explains Michael Pace. It was originally assumed that BITS, their second album on Sub Pop Records, would be a double album, but in the end 13 tracks round out the CD, to be released on August 5th. One song, "The Birthday Wars" is on the band's MySpace page for your listening pleasure; the others can be sampled tonight when they play a hometown gig at Southpaw. The band's live show is a total blast, bursting with mean hooks and propulsive guitar work; their set at McCarren Pool last summer was the sleeper hit of the summer. Tickets cost $12 and also get you sets from Frightened Rabbit and The Lame Drivers. more ›

Brooklyn-based quintet The National have spent the last nine years slowly and steadily evolving from bar-band hobby to indie rock royalty, a success built out of old fashioned techniques like laborious songwriting, tireless gigging and the organic cultivation of their own distinct sound: a bruised, moody elegance that swells and crashes under the dreamy baritone of front man Matt Berninger. Their fourth and most recent album, Boxer, was a usual suspect on critical top ten lists for 2007, and the acclaim snowballed into a spot on the bill touring with Modest Mouse and R.E.M. this June. On Friday and Saturday night they play two sold out shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music opera house. more ›

With McCarren Park Pool soon becoming a place where one will hear children splashing in the water instead of hipsters sighing whilst listening to their new favorite band, the search is on for a new outdoor concert space. Of course, the venue simply wouldn't do unless it was in the mecca of indie rock, Williamsburg/Greenpoint. more ›

MOVIE: Every national election year reminds us of that part in The Dark Crystal where the hideous Skeksis systematically drain the Gelfling’s “essence” and drink it to increase their power. If you don’t know the scene we’re talking about, you need to go see it on the big screen tonight – a regular-sized TV monitor just doesn’t do Jim Henson’s creepy masterpiece justice. The one-night-only screening will be introduced by one of the film’s puppet makers, Cheryl Henson, daughter of Jim. She’ll be joined by Robbie Barnett, who operated some of the main Skeksis; the pair will sign merch after the screening. more ›

Tyler Sargent plays bass in a little band called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which may have caught your eye back in 2005 when they played the Gothamist Movable Hype 3.0 show at the Knitting Factory. We don’t want to call ourselves kingmakers, but ever since that night the band’s become kind of a big deal, in part because they were one of the first bands to break wide through blog buzz and a self-released album that moved over 45,000 copies in six months, all distributed out of Sargent’s Park Slope apartment. Tomorrow night they play a benefit concert at Bowery Ballroom for Planned Parenthood NYC; it’s sold out, of course, but mark your calendar for February 15th, when Gothamist anoints a new crop of indie rock darlings at Movable Hype 12.0 (it's also Gothamist’s 5th birthday.) Anyway, at some point over the weekend Tyler Sargent sat down at his computer and processed pithy answers to our questions. more ›

We remember Z100 fondly. It was our morning listen for much of elementary school, and for better or worse, has stuck to the same broadcasting formula for all this time. The annual Jingle Ball is a fun tradition, if for nothing else, as a convenient year end recap of all the biggest pop hits of the year we might have missed. Getting all these names together for one night only is no easy feat. They had your Fall Out Boys and Backstreet Boys, Alisha Keys and Avril Levine, Timbaland's bizarre soft-rock crossover protégées and many more. They all got a slot to perform their one hit wonders to the obsessed, shrieking masses. The biggest story coming out of the concert may have been the state of Ashley Tisdale's schnoz, but the music itself was a perfect storm of mainstream glitz that just seems fitting for this crazy season. (pic via Z100.com) more ›

Last month in Rolling Stone's November 15th issue, the magazine turned 40 -- and while going "over the hill" they may have crossed the line. The issue contained a four-page fold-out section called Indie Rock Universe, which amongst other things included the names of Indie's elite. more ›

Since settling in New York in 2001, promoter Todd Patrick – known through his website as Todd P – has established himself as a major force in the avant-garde rock scene. In the fastidious spirit of a modern day Bill Graham – though without the passion for profits – Patrick has distinguished himself with his commitment to producing shows at atypical, under-the-radar locations like lofts, rooftops and funky, “illegal” clubs. Often eschewing such vagaries as... more ›

READING: Dave Eggers has delivered two (out of three) great novels, and tonight he reads from last one (which is just out on paperback), What is the What. He'll be at the Strand discussing the book and he'll also give a slideshow presentation from a recent trip he took to Sudan. More info here. Friday // 7pm // Strand Bookstore [828 Broadway] // Free EVENT: We love a good pillow fight, and tonight there's a... more ›

Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did some extensive coverage of last weekend's Fun Fun Fun Fest, which featured over 80 indie rock/electronic/punk bands like Girl Talk and Battles—there's also a video recap of the festival, viewable in HD. more ›

Sufjan Keeps it Local We really enjoyed Sufjan's BQE show last Friday at BAM. It was a great, refined, change of pace evening for the indie rock crowd. The evening was really a sum of it's parts, all told. The entire presentation of the BQE piece was far more engaging than the actual music itself. It was solid, but not up to Suf's lofty magical standards. But the little things...the gritty video clips of the... more ›

Anyone yet unfamiliar with Portland's phenomenal guitar rock quartet The Joggers (myspace, website) can glean a lot about their music from this photo of their drummer, Jake Morris. For one thing, he's pouring sweat for a reason; the band's propulsive, serpentine arrangements demand a high-degree of octane from the guy behind the kit. And as the microphone indicates, everyone in the band pitches in on vocals to fill out lead singer Ben Whitesides's theatrically ambitious... more ›

Those who missed out on getting tickets to the electrospazzy one-two punch of Dan Deacon and Girl Talk at Webster Hall last Saturday night fell into a bit of luck as the weekend approached. A last minute, late night show was announced for Bowery Ballroom that same night, and the formerly out of luck were now sitting pretty, seeing the two perform in a smaller room at a better hour and for less money. Great deal, right? Well, not so fast. By the time Dan Deacon came on around 12:45, the place was a total disaster. Puke in every sink, girls crying on the sofas and drunk kids getting hauled out of there so frequently by security it started looking like a WTO protest. While this didn't directly affect the music, Girl Talk in particular, who then followed Deacon's hypnotizing set, relies so much on the behavior and interactivity of the crowd that it really became quite a chore to enjoy. Far be it from us to tell the majority of the crowd at a concert they were behaving poorly, but surely we weren't the only ones who were distracted and annoyed my the amateur antics on display. Then again, maybe we've just outgrown the shtick. (pic via JKART's flickr) more ›

Not too long ago Ronen Givony started the Wordless Music Series, which is pretty much just what it sounds like it would be. Sonic worlds collide and fuse classical with indie, jazz with electronic and listeners with instrumental-only music. In the next week audiences will enjoy the sounds of Do Make Say Think and Beirut from an intimate setting for just such an experience. more ›

The Californians in Earlimart have apparently taken the West-Coast indie sound out of their West-Coast indie rock. Tonight you can catch them on this coast, where they'll be doing a show at Joe's Pub in support of their latest release Mentor Tormentor. Do you want to go? Email us at GothamistContest(a)gmail dot com and let us know -- the winner (who we'll choose by noon) will get two tickets. For now, get to know the leader of the band, Aaron Espinoza. more ›

Last night (a little less than a month after the release of his latest album Emerald City) we met up with John Vanderslice, who has been playing a unique brand of blog shows for a while now. The world wide (web) tour consists of filming, in collaboration with different blogs, his songs in different cities. For his New York stop, we took him up to the roof of the Hotel Chelsea where he performed one of his songs... more ›

John Vanderslice's reputation as "the nicest guy in indie rock" couldn't be more spot on. Last night we enjoyed some time with him on the roof of the Hotel Chelsea where he sang us a 'lil song. You'll be seeing video of that later, but first - get to know the man behind the reputation. He'll be at Sound Fix tonight at 7pm for a free show, and he was also kind enough to provide some As to our Qs... more ›

We've survived the sirens for many years, and if this truly was the last Siren Fest ever, it certainly went out with a bang. Coney Island was packed full of thrifty music fans for the 7th annual Siren Festival this weekend. Despite the current trend of awful weather for every worthwhile free outdoor concert this summer so far, nobody could complain about the perfect day at the beach this past Saturday. more ›

THEATER: HERE Artistic Director Kristin Marting concludes the OBIE-winning art center’s season by directing performer/dancer Alexandra Beller in us, “a highly athletic, sensual and dynamic blend of movement with song, text and a layered soundscape. Beller created this deeply personal commentary on the state of the union from the perspective of a woman who is at a crisis point in a love relationship.” As we haven’t seen it, we’ll defer to The New Yorker on this one: “The former Bill T. Jones standout dresses herself in the American flag, uses it as a jump rope, breast-feeds it. A sound score assaults her with conservative rhetoric, circa 2004, and she enlists the audience in pointing out contradictions in Leviticus.” Just another reason why we love New York. ENDS SUNDAY! – John Del Signore more ›

MUSIC: Tonight The Ladybug Transistor (who sadly just lost a band member) have their record release show (band pictured at right). Joining them on stage will be Pipas and Alasdair Maclean from The Clientele performing an acoustic set. Buy tickets here. more ›

Call us shamelessly grandiose, but when the dust settles on the first disheartening decade of our new century, we're certain that Andrew Bird will be widely acknowledged as one of the artists who best captured (and playfully tweaked) our era's portentous zeitgeist. Indie-rock critics and bloggers have been lauding him for years, and now Bird is finally selling out the big clubs (and touring in a BioDiesel bus). On his albums, his rich, multi-textural sound defies definition as it plunges into dense, hypnotic reveries mottled with lyrics that are often as emotionally stirring as they are whimsical. In concert, Bird's songs become a high-wire marvel to behold, as he lays down multiple loops of himself on a variety of instruments with which he then plays along, joined by and his current fearless and talented tour-mates, Martin Dosh and Jeremy Ylvisaker. more ›

Over the past quarter-century They Might Be Giants have become such a consistent presence in the indie rock solar system that it’s quite possible to take them for granted. Because they were there at the ignition of "alternative" rock and never took their feet off the gas, one assumes they'll keep rocking all the way to the end, with "Don't Let's Start" providing the dance music for cockroaches' post-apocalyptic revelries. But despite their expansive musical output – in addition to their numerous “adult” rock albums, the notoriously productive duo keeps busy making brilliant kids’ albums, composing tunes for everything from Dunkin’ Donuts to Disney’s Meet the Robinsons, posting dozens of podcasts on their website and touring the world with their super-tight band – they somehow manage to keep flying just slightly below the mainstream radar. more ›

If there's one NY Times Weddings & Celebrations write-up you read this week, read the one for Claire Israel and Oren Silverstein. Not only did the couple get married at Cupid’s Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas (but they'll have another service in Brooklyn next month), they also described how their initial online courtship had its roadblocks:

When the couple met online in April 2005, Ms. Israel was as concerned about where Mr. Silverstein lived (New Jersey) as he was about who she lived with (her two cats). more ›

It's been something like 9 years since the last time Faithless played in New York. Considering that the band is one of the largest in England and the rest of the world, selling out soccer stadiums and headlining major music festivals year after year, their return to the States is a pretty big deal. Hitting a couple club dates on their way to Coachella, they stopped by Webster Hall earlier in the week and completely blew the roof off the place. Read more at Music Snobbery. If you're in Indio tonight, make it your business to catch these guys before they leave the continent. (pic via ultrahi's flickr) more ›

Every year that tragically hip (used to be Downtown) now-Midtown magazine, Paper, gives us a list of all the beautiful people. Some are famous, most you've never heard of, all of them are pretty on the inside (and/or outside!) and most importantly - they're all doing something cooler than you. Let's take a look at some of this years BPs: more ›

Of the many bars that line Atlantic Avenue between Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill, The Brazen Head doesn’t seem like much of a draw. They don't have bocce ball, an indie rock juke box, an old man sailor vibe, or even a full menu. The garden they advertise from the street is a triangle of concrete reaching some 10 feet out and overlooking an abandoned lot. So why should anyone go? more ›

Six years ago, whether you are ready to believe it or not, The Strokes emerged from a lost and muddled New York music scene and gave a kick start to the current indie rock phenomenon that we are experiencing today. The backbone of their sound and style was the rapid fire rhythm guitar of Albert Hammond Jr. Fast forward to 2007 and all of the emerging talents from the beginning of the century are all growing up and branching out. Modest Mouse found a sound that got them the #1 album in the US this week. Jack White sold out clubs around the world with three guys not named Meg. And Al Hammond is now touring to support a pretty darn good solo album, finding a balance that maintains the Strokes edge while forging a sound completely his own. more ›