Just trust me on this: Ebony Bones is going to be huge. When my friends and I walked into Mercury Lounge on Tuesday night (Jan. 26), we were given feather masks and whistles, if that says anything about what was about to happen. I’ll let the photos say it all because I’m writing about her for real and should save my words for that.
Review of My Brightest Diamond’s Jan. 22 show at Bowery Ballroom on Spinner.com
Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond) absolutely blows my mind. Her records are amazing, but when she performs she is just so incredibly beautiful and captivating and charming and all I can do is be all gushy and mushy when talking about her (oh! and she’s a Michigan native!). She had a girl making balloon hats and swords and animals before the show, the band threw confetti at us right when they got on stage (hole-punch holes + my curly hair = not so great), and gave out party hats. Basia Bulat opened and she was also wonderful and her great new record, Heart Of My Own, came out yesterday.
My Brightest Diamond’s MySpace
Basia Bulat’s MySpace
On Thursday I got to see my cousin Hadar perform and she absolutely blew me away (I am not just saying this because she’s my cousin!). She just released her debut album, In My Shoes, so it was her CD release show, at The Bitter End in Manhattan (yep, the same place Lady Gaga played just a few years ago, before she was Lady Gaga).
A little background: Hadar was born and raised in Israel, went to college at the Berklee School of Music in Boston and moved to New York after that. Her music is contemporary pop/rock, which isn’t generally the kind of stuff I listen to, but, like I said, seeing her perform totally blew me away. She’s a great songwriter, has an amazing voice, and a wonderful stage presence, not to mention she’s one of the many incredible feminists in my family, which really comes through in her music. She’s going to have some more shows coming up in New York so check out her MySpace for more info!
Review of A Camp’s Nov. 17 show at Le Poisson Rouge on Spinner.com
A Camp is Nina Persson from the Cardigans, her husband Nathan Larson, and Niclas Frisk, and at their show last night they played with a bunch of pretty badass musicians, including ex–Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, and members of Beirut and Antony and the Johnsons. The venue setup (tables with a two-item-per-person minimum) was awful and I totally busted my kneecaps from kneeling to take photos for eight songs, but it was a really lovely show (and my first piece for AOL’s Spinner.com, hooray)!
The Noah & the Whale I saw last week = totally not as happy as the Noah & the Whale I saw in Ferndale last April.
Review of Noah & the Whale’s Nov. 2 show @ Mercury Lounge on self-titledmag.com
Noah & the Whale’s MySpace (new album, The First Days of Spring, out now on Cherrytree)
I’m late on posting this, but it just got posted online last week anyway.
Review of Sufjan Stevens’ Oct. 5, 2009, show at Bowery Ballroom on UnderTheRadarMag.com (photos here)
Anyway, this was my first time seeing Sufjan Stevens and he was just…mesmerizing, even though he kinda looked like a bro. He was so, so good and this is one of my favorite shows I’ve been to recently (and that says a lot). It was one of four sold-out gigs in NYC (two at Bowery and two at Music Hall of Williamsburg), all at 550-capacity venues. It was also my first night with my Canon Rebel XS, my first DSLR, and I’m loving it.
This was a little while ago but…one of my favorite shows since I’ve been in New York. So much energy, soooo much fun, and I am so proud that he is a Jewish dude from Michigan. Mentioned it already but his album, A Strange Arrangement (out now on Stones Throw) will absolutely be near the top of my best of ‘09 list…I should probably start making that, eh?
Review of Mayer Hawthorne’s Oct. 3 show at Brooklyn Bowl on UnderTheRadarMag.com
You can check out my photos from the show here.
Woooo, finally posted.
You can check out my photos from the show here
Also, this show marks my last time being in a photo pit with a dinky point-and-shoot! Get ready for much better shots starting with Sufjan Stevens, which hopefully will be up this week. Before that, look out for my Mayer Hawthorne review, which hopefully will be up before that (you can check out my photos here though).
Review of Yo La Tengo’s Sept. 25 show at Roseland Ballroom on UnderTheRadarMag.com
This show was a while ago too but just posted this morning. It was my first time seeing Yo La Tengo live, and I’m sort of embarrassed to say I didn’t start listening to them until this past summer when I was assigned an interview with Ira Kaplan. Trying to catch up on 25 years of music was impossible, but from everything I have heard, it turns out I reeeally love them! Also, their newest album, Popular Songs (out now on Matador), is one of my favorites of the year.
You can check out my photos from the show here.
A few friends and I saw Bowerbirds at the Pike Room at the Crofoot on Thursday night. It was my third time seeing them (Pitchfork on Saturday made four) and, as always, they were absolutely beautiful. They played with a crackling in the background to sound like a campfire (awww), and one of the guys from opening band Megafaun played bass. I always get really excited when I see the stand-alone bass drum because it reminds me of being in drumline in high school…so that was exciting! Megafaun was great too, as were the band members’ huge beards.
Bowerbirds’ MySpace
Megafaun’s MySpace
