Mark: Best of 2010
2010 was a great year for shows. I got to see several bands that I had been waiting a long time to see, new bands that I just discovered, as well as classic bands that I can't enough of. Living in NYC, there were a lot of special anniversary, farewell, and one-off shows that I got to catch (More...)
Jbird: Best of 2010
2010 was a strange year for me and music. It seemed like every other week (especially in the first half of the year), yet another of my old favorite bands was releasing a brand-new album: The Hold Steady, Wintersleep, The New Pornographers, Shout Out Louds, Les Savy Fav, Wolf Parade, Apples in Stereo, and on and on… (More...)
Dragonette: Gone Too Far, Pick Up the Phone (Live)
Dragonette released my favorite album of 2009 with "Fixin' to Thrill". Making it to the top of my year-end list is an impressive feat in itself, but is even more impressive when you take into account that I've only acquired 3 or 4 albums that were released in 2009. The album has consistently made it's way onto my daily playlist (More...)
Atari Teenage Riot: Atari Teenage Riot (Live)
Back in the early to mid 90's, about the time Prodigy was causing a big stink about "Smack My Bitch Up" it seemed widely evident that the future of music was to become a hybrid of hard rock infused with what was then nascent techno beats and energy to create a new unholy Godzilla type rock n roll juggernaut (More...)
Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500): Cheese and Onions (Live): CMJ
Dean Wareham has played Galaxie 500 sets a few times now which have been consistently fantastic, but there also has been a fairly consistent set list, so for a repeat viewer such as myself, I appreciate a few surprises. Well this set had quite a few zingers (More...)
The Blow: True Affection (Live): CMJ 2010 Part 9/10
The Blow, as seen live at least, is Khaela Maricich singing unaccompanied other than by a pre-recorded rudimentary synth melody and drum machine beats. A girl singing to backing track sounds like a total snooze, but there is certainly nothing boring about the performance. (More...)
Matthew Dear: You Put A Smell On Me (Live): CMJ 2010 Part 8/10
I believe there is a fair amount of buzz surrounding Matthew Dear. I was pleasantly surprised that after seeing one of his CMJ performances, I didn't get where he was coming from or what his influences were. (More...)
Octant: Halo (Live): CMJ 2010 Part 7/10
The most memorable and lasting CMJ experience isn't so much hearing or seeing the next big thing but rather stumbling on to something odd or really special. This year I got a tip from TSOI's own Kevin to see Octant, a project of Matt Steinke of Satisfact/Mocket fame (More...)
Candy Claws: Catamaran (Live): CMJ 2010 Part 6/10
It was fairly hard to truly appreciated the short but excellent Candy Claws set at Glasslands, due to incessant chatter - a common CMJ liability. I become increasingly impressed by the songs buried under the fuzzed squall - like listening to a good Mercury Rev song (More...)
Crocodiles: Hearts of Love (Live): CMJ 2010 Part 5/10
Other than the slew of keyboard fronted bands, the other trend, or mini-revival if you will, is the continued return of the shoe-gaze sound. Crocodiles, Candy Claws, and Dead Leaf Echo, who all performed at CMJ2010, are making a point of keeping the shoe-gaze torch going. (More...)
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