by Benjamin Lozovsky

Yeasayer made a much deserved homecoming Tuesday night at Webster Hall in NYC. Chris Keating pronounced during the show, "There isn't any place in the world we'd rather play." Three months after cautiously debuting material off their latest album Odd Blood, they returned savvier and sassier; even with so many miles behind them, they performed leagues ahead of their February dates.

The band was brimming was confidence throughout the night, with tapered bravado and an improved, fluid grasp of the instrumentation. From the creeping, sinister Children to the redemptive bounce of closer Ambling Alp, Yeasayer championed the nuanced nature of their music as they steadily raised their intensity throughout their performance.

It was a distinct atmospheric shift after the grinding barrage of the opening acts. Sleigh Bells continued their rise and transformation from austere noisy beginnings to full on performance act; part MIA (whose label recently co-signed the act) part Crystal Castles, the duo never let up their potency, even as their newer numbers bled into one another with a hint of monochromatism.

The most intriguing surprise of the night was Seagull's opening performance. Positioned in the middle of the floor, with Webster Hall's gigantic disco ball lowered and looming just overhead, they smothered the venue with sound tantrums and momentary semblances of glitchy beats. Ranging somewhere between sound exploration and outright music, the inexplicably soothing abrasiveness of their performance was topped off by a ground slamming. ski-masked member sitting agitated in a chair.

Sleigh Bells play two more NYC shows this month before heading to Europe. Yeasayer's tour ends tonight in Philly, but after a short break they head to Europe too. All of those dates and more pictures from Webster Hall below...

Continue reading "Yeasayer, Sleigh Bells & Seagull @ Webster Hall, NYC - pics"

photos by Chris La Putt

"Last night, Webster Hall was packed with audience members camped out on the floor and conversing in French or English, sometimes both. Fitting as Charlotte Gainsbourg is fluent in the two languages.

Opener AM was delicate, cool and vintage, grafting folk and rock with Brazilian lounge sounds. The New Orleans artist has just released his sophomore album, Future Sons and Daughters, and plans to soon be touring with the French electro-pop band, Air. The set closed with the song "Darker Days," lyrically, a sophisticated song frosted with AM's warm and pacifying voice." [NY Press]

Charlotte Gainsbourg concluded her first-ever tour, that included Coachella, at Webster Hall in NYC last night. Charlotte's first-ever live shows just took place in January, and were also right here in NYC. More pictures from Webster Hall below...

Continue reading "Charlotte Gainsbourg & AM @ Webster Hall in NYC - pics "

words & photos by Sarahana

Headliner Owen Pallett (no longer called Final Fantasy like he was when he played Webster Hall in December) joined opening act The Luyas for a few songs. Luyas singer Jessie Stein, who has an inviting demeanor, commented on Owen's shirt, "That looks like an 80's mom's shirt." It was a black top with some patterns sprawled around the neckline and printed in gold. He replied that it looked pretty manly. Jessie shared a story about how she and Owen used to be roommates (and then neighbors) when she was about 21; Owen would go down to practice and listen to bands like Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart, and Jessie would think "This stuff is never going to fly".

Extra Life was heavy music with a prominently featured violin, which added refined tragedy to raw anger. You could say Shakespeare meets goth, dorky meets scary. Unlike The Luyas and Owen Pallett, who are both from Canada, these guys are from Brooklyn. Front man Charlie Looker should definitely play Bartleby in a movie.

Owen Pallett's set was spectacular. He played several old songs solo, and had an additional musician, Thomas Gill, play percussion and guitar with him on new ones. Thomas is a talent on his own, which was most obvious when he helped Owen sing the chorus on the last song, a cover of Mariah Carey's "Sweet Fantasy".

--

Extra Life's next show is May 9th at Cake Shop with Queening and Larkin Grimm ("Also in May, Planaria will release a split 12" single with Larkin Grimm, featuring the Extra Life cover of R Kelly's "Your Body's Callin'" and two new exclusive tracks from Larkin.").

The Luyas played a 'secret' show in Brooklyn one night earlier with sometime-Luya Sarah Neufeld of the Arcade Fire. Sarah did not join the band at Webster Hall, and she won't be with them tonight (4/23) at Sycamore.

Owen (who played as a member of Arcade Fire at Webster Hall in 2005) played Coachella over the weekend and now continues on tour. More pictures from last night at Webster Hall, with Owen's setlist, below...

Continue reading "Owen Pallett, Extra Life & the Luyas played Webster Hall in NYC - pics & setlist "

photos by Ryan Muir

"The LCD Soundsystem show last night at Webster Hall was hands-down, one of the best live shows I've seen in years. Absolutely stupendous." - DJ Bunny Ears

"floor was literally shaking last night. I felt it and just stood still to see if my mind was playing tricks on me but the floor was taking me up and down on its own. and only the people in the front right were really jumping and dancing. if the entire venue was jumping and dancing i wonder how the floor would have moved." [Anonymous]

If I wasn't having so much trouble keeping my eyes open right now, I would write more about how excellent last night's (4/12) Webster Hall show was. I might attempt to compare it more to the life-changing (don't get mad at me for being overly excited and slightly exaggerating) event that was Thursday's gig at Music Hall of Williamsburg, but let's just say that Webster Hall was also awesome, but different due to the band opening with the new song "Pow Wow" off the new leaked album that a less-drunk (which is a good or bad thing depending on your point of view) James Murphy begged the crowd not to leak (it leaked just a few hours earlier) from the stage. Pow Wow was one of three new songs they played, but the only one they were playing for the first time (they also played Drunk Girls and I Can Change at Music Hall). I almost didn't go to Webster Hall because I didn't want to be disappointed, but then I couldn't resist and I'm glad I did.

Next up for the band is Coachella followed by a tour and then three shows at Terminal 5 (I'm definitely going to at least one of those) (and then more touring). The setlist and more pictures from Webster Hall, below...

Continue reading "LCD Soundsystem @ Webster Hall in NYC - pics & setlist"

As promised, LCD Soundsystem are following up their Thursday night show at Music Hall with a Monday gig at Webster Hall. Tickets are on sale!

photos by Brian Reilly

"GIRLS doesn't yet have the power to sell-out Webster Hall, a feat fellow indie giants BEACH HOUSE accomplished in days. But it sure as shit looked like they sold that bitch out, the last row's backs were mashed against the bar. And with good reason. GIRLS 2009 LP Album is packed tight with authentic 60s-touched pop songs spanning all sorts of genres. Christopher Owens is as enigmatic a frontman as you will probably ever find, and Chet White freezes his bass his lines are so cool. Yeah, it's pretty obvious why Webster Hall nearly filled to capacity. Most of the show was pretty slow, and I'll be honest I wish I had a nice couch that shit would have been raw. But it was kinda worth it to stand for the moments when GIRLS straight blew-up onstage. GIRLS does bounce between genres, and they land on slow jams more often than not. But they also stop on land mines, and nowhere is that more evident than on Lust For Life, which is so clearly their best song it's just so phenomenal. And GIRLS just can't help but be GIRLS, putting flowers all over the stage (flowers are kinda their signature) and having a frontman who's legit a little bit crazy. During Lust For Life, Owens lowered his guitar and slung his left leg over the neck, while still playing, as he sang "instead I'm just crazy, I'm totally mad." Yeah." [Right Hear]

Girls and Dum Dum Girls are on tour together. That tour took over Webster Hall for a few hours on Saturday night (4/3). Cambridge's Leisure opened the show (like they'll do four more times on the tour). More pictures from it, and some videos, below...

Continue reading "Girls, Dum Dum Girls & Leisure @ Webster Hall - pics & video"

photos by Bao Nguyen

"They started their set behind a huge white curtain glorified with epic lighting that showed all three members as huge silhouettes dramatically playing "Intro". They played all of the songs on their debut album, including a cover of a Kyla song called "Do You Mind". Going into the show I was worried about how the xx would put the songs together live while keeping the crowd involved and interested. They had no problem. They gave songs like Basic Space and Night Time a new life live, engaging the crowd with extra bass and dance inspired electronics. Romy Croft and Oliver Sim's voices were top notch live delivering all of their lyrics with the same passionate consignment that made their debut so excellent." [We All Want Some]

The above review is from the xx/jj/Nosaj Thing show that happened Wednesday, March 31st at Webster Hall. Those three bands (who played in the same lineup at Big Ears) continue on tour for the next few weeks.

The xx didn't play a show on Tuesday night (that we know of... maybe they played an Auto Show party like She & Him did for Audi last night), but jj used her off night to headline Knitting Factory and Nosaj Thing opened for Kode9 and Flying Lotus at Le Poisson Rouge on that evening (which was the show right after Tanlines and Micachu and the Shapes). Reviews of jj's live show haven't been very positive which used to be the same problem The xx had, but now more and more people are starting to say really nice things about the headliner's live show.

After this tour, the xx team up with Hot Chip for shows that include an April 22nd sold out gig at Terminal 5.

Jamie xx (who's working on a remix of Gil Scott-Heron's I'm New Here) DJed after their Webster Hall show at Santos as part of Fixed. Check out his remix of Jack Penate's "Pull My Heart Away" at WNYC. Jamie didn't remix it, but it should be noted that The Notorious xx, a mashup of Notorious B.I.G. and the xx, has been making rounds online.

More pictures and set list from Webster Hall are below...

Continue reading "The xx played Webster Hall w/ jj (who also played KF) & Nosaj Thing (who also played LPR) - pics & setlist"

by Ben Lozovsky

Shrouded in masks and clouds of rising smoke, Miike Snow brought their consciously resonant electro pop to Webster Hall Saturday (3/27), one of three shows the band played in NYC over the weekend. It was just another incidence of identity cloaking and confusion-inspiring antics from the trio of Swedish producers Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg and American Andrew Wyatt.

But its not just their personas that get shrouded; the music on their eponymous debut album demonstrated an ability to craft music with a widely acceptable reach that was uncharacteristically nuanced and deep. Whether the group masks itself in studio precision and heavily stratified layers of sound, or performs their songs as a bass throbbing dance friendly renditions descending into feral chaos, as they did Saturday night, Miike Snow still have warm emotional messages radiating out like UV rays through the distance and melancholy of their music.

It's a powerful contrast that might have been lost on the screaming, female heavy crowd eager to turn the night into a boy band concert (Karlsson and Winnberg only produced Grammy winning songs for Britney Spears), but Miike Snow managed to please their constituents on all levels; from the undeniable draw of their dance rhythms and melodic nectar to the shrill rising dissonance and dizzying interludes of encircling noise, there was enough of their dualistic personalities to go around.

Equally focused on deconstructed grooves and floor stomping was opener Delorean (who played a show at Coco66 earlier that day aka at 2am). The Spanish band performed their hard-working chamber disco with a usual confidence. Full of gleeful spazz and surprising heft, it was an enticing lead in to the pounding low end that Miike Snow pushed forward.

Miike Snow's next NYC show will take place at Terminal 5 in October. You can currently catch them and Delorean on a tour that continues in Boston tonight (3/31). More pictures from Webster Hall including a post-show jump rope session and the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Miike Snow & Delorean played 3 NYC shows together including Webster Hall (pics & setlist) "

photos by Ebru Yildiz

"Last night we saw the "loudest band in NYC"-A Place To Bury Strangers. One of my favorites" - Chris Buzelli

"A Place to Bury Strangers and The Big Pink made a perfectly complimentary pair last night at Webster Hall. Both bands draw from the same influences, '80s post-punk/noise pop such as New Order and the Jesus and Mary Chain, but their distillation produces opposite results." [NY Press]

The tour also hit Maxwell's in Hoboken two days earlier. More pictures from the Manhattan show, below...

Continue reading "the Big Pink & A Place to Bury Strangers @ Webster Hall - pics "

photos by Ryan Barkan

Tickets are now on sale for this summer's Roots Picnic whose lineup includes Mayer Hawthorne & the County whose current tour brought them to Webster Hall in NYC last night (3/4). More pictures and the setlist from that show below....

Continue reading "Mayer Hawthorne & the County played Webster Hall (pics & setlist), playing Roots Picnic (on sale now) "

Vitalic, aka French electronic musician Pascal Arbez, is currently on tour across the US - he did California last weekend...

...Soon he took the stage and the crowd really got into it. My concert companion made it her mission to get us to the front. We eventually were no more than a handshake away from Vitalic. The crowd, energy, and sweat were drenching and surrounding me.

Concertgoers were continuously jumping up on the stage, then shooed away by security every few minutes. This pretty much happened for the duration of the show. Vitalic never seemed bothered, only energized by it. Driven by the music, people got on top of the speakers. It was awesome.

I danced myself sober. That is the way to gauge the worth of a show. If you sweat and move and dance so much that the alcohol has no choice but to be exiled from your pores, then your show was awesome.... [Spinning Platters]

...and gets to Chicago tonight (2/23). He'll be playing NYC's Girls & Boys party at Webster Hall on Friday, February 26th. Tickets are on sale.

The tour wraps in Toronto on February 27th. Vitalic put out a new record, Flashmob, in fall 2009. Vidoes from that, a flyer and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Vitalic on tour, at Webster Hall Friday (dates) "

DOWNLOAD: Yes Giantess - I'm Not Your Toy (La Roux cover) (MP3)

photos by Tim Griffin

La Roux, with a healthier Elly Jackson than at their October NYC show, played Webster Hall on February 11th with opener Yes Giantess, who play Brooklyn Bowl on Feb 26th and SXSW in March (and who cover La Roux's "I'm Not Your Toy," above).

In a gold-threaded blazer, her recognizable Jimmy Neutron dollop 'do perched prominently atop her head, Eleanor Jackson, one half of British electro-pop duo La Roux, stole the show at Webster Hall Thursday night. Her better half, Ben Langmaid, forgoes touring, favoring anonymity to the limelight.

Jackson, however, managed nicely on her own. An icon in training without the painfully obvious obsession with fame, Jackson's performances come with the same hubris and bite that shines through in her interviews, and her lyrics about lost love and heart break are captivating and candid. The set list included may of her post-heartbreak ballads, including "I'm Not Your Toy," "Quicksand," "In For The Kill," and, perhaps most moving, "Cover My Eyes," a sad one about seeing the one you love with someone else.

Jackson's most famous love song, the badass anthem "Bulletproof," served as the set's encore. In deference to a song about putting on emotional armor, Jackson skipped out in a heavily shoulder-padded leather jacket with gold detailing, revving up the evening another notch with this gem of a final act. Lights strobed as she marched in place, reaching out to touch the hands of fans as the words "La Roux" flashed behind her in succession throughout this closing scene. [Papermag]

La Roux is scheduled to be at Coachella and some of the TBA dates of Lilith Fair.

More pictures of the show, a set list (which included Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb") and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "La Roux & Yes Giantess played Webster Hall - pics & setlist"

photos by Chris La Putt

"Nouvelle Vague show, Webster Hall. French bossanova pop. Wasn't too sure coming in, so far, very impressed. (Hot singers too.)" - Scott Bleicher

Nouvelle Vague @ Webster Hall

Saw Nouvelle Vague at Webster Hall in NYC last night.
It was good, rather than great (they seem to rotate the vocalists - this pair were the least good of the three pairing we've seen . . . at the last gig at Irving Place in NYC last year one of the singers climbed the scaffolding to the balcony, almost got ejected, and then spat a mouthful of warm beer all over me). [Less, But Better]

Though special guests were promised, Chris doesn't recall seeing any at Saturday night's Nouvelle Vague show (1/23) at Webster Hall in NYC. The French group's new album of new wave bossa nova covers does feature help from Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), Ian McCullough (Echo and The Bunnymen), Barry Adamson (Magazine), Terry Hall (The Specials), Samy Birnbach (Minimal Comact) and Chris Bailey (The Saints) though.

Opener Clare & The Reasons, who is currently donating profits from their albums sold to Haiti, will continue on tour with Nouvelle Vague for a few days and then they play West Coast shows with Van Dyke Parks...

The legendary musical genius will be playing some rare (as rare as a good baguette in a small US city) concerts of his very own songs - not anyone else's - his masterpieces. I'm assuming you will want to come to these shows, I know we would - wait, we are!

Some Reasons will be joining Van Dyke on stage. [Frog Stand Records]

All tour dates and more pictures from Webster Hall below....

Continue reading "Clare & the Reasons touring, played NYC w/ Nouvelle Vague - pics & 2010 dates (some w/ Van Dyke Parks)"

photos by Bao Nguyen

"Drummer Chris Tomson deserves a raise. Or something. Outfitted in a New Jersey Nets jersey and thumping away like a madman all night, Tomson did his best to lend the show some semblance of rock show urgency, veering confidently from Afropop beats to Latin rhythms to reggaeton pop-pop-pops. He essentially picked up his bandmates, slung them over his shoulder and carried them forward as best he could in the direction of a killer live show." [MTV]

Holly Miranda opened for Vampire Weekend at Webster Hall Monday night (1/18). It was the VW's 2nd of 3 NYC shows in a row. The first show was Sunday at United Palace with Titus Andronicus. The last show is tonight (1/19) at Bowery Ballroom with Nat Baldwin (who also plays in Dirty Projectors).

Vampire Weekend are among the artists just-announed to be playing Coachella this year, as are Spoon who just announced a Mercury Lounge show .

More pictures from Webster Hall, including one of the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Vampire Weekend @ Webster Hall in NYC - pics & setlist"

photos by Bao Nguyen

Holly Miranda @ Webster Hall - 1/18/2010

Hello,

I'm am writing to you from lovely California [on December 30, 2009]. I have been here since finishing my last tour of 2009 with The XX and The Friendly Fires on the West Coast in early December.

Being as it is two days before New Years Eve, I have been reflecting on the year that has past. I cannot begin to say how grateful I am to everyone who has come out to support Timmy and I on the road. To those of you who have given us warm, home cooked meals; a cozy bed to sleep in or visited me at the merch table and kept me company. We could not have done it with out you.

From the Midwest tour with AA Bondy, the East Coast with The Antlers, Europe with The XX, and then again with The XX and The Friendly Fires on the West Coast. We have been busy, but there has been no shortage of good music and amazing people surrounding us at all times.

I am happy to announce that it looks like the coming year will be more of the same...

First I am so excited to say that we will be opening for Vampire Weekend in New York on January 18th at Webster Hall!

Secondly, beginning in February, we will be touring across the continental United States with Tegan & Sara!!! The tour dates are below.

Last, but not least, I'm happy to announce that my full-length album The Magician's Private Library will be out on XL Recordings February 23rd!

Cheers! Here's to 2010!

I hope this finds everyone safe and warm and having a happy holly day!

See you in the new year!

xoxo,
Holly

Holly Miranda, who was joined on stage at one point by her friends The Antlers, opened for her labelmates Vampire Weekend at Webster Hall last night (1/18). It was the headliner's 2nd of three NYC shows in a row. The first night was uptown at United Palace with Titus Andronicus. The third is tonight (1/19) at Bowery Ballroom with Nat Baldwin.

Holly's new cover art and tour dates and more pictures from Webster Hall, below...

Continue reading "Holly Miranda played Webster Hall w/ Vampire Weekend (pics) - new album soon & 2010 tour dates w/ Tegan & Sara"

photos by Vincent Cornelli

Eugene Hutz on stage w/ Forro in the Dark

Rick Rubin, Madonna, world tours - it's a long way from Eugene arriving in New York City as a refugee with no money and very few contacts, apart from his kinfolk who had always made him part of a micro community in every town in the world he visited.

Just being in New York was enough after a tangled upbringing in the Ukraine and several years schlepping around East Europe as a refugee: "It would be pretty funny to imagine that a punk rock kid in the Ukraine would listen to folk music at that time. When you discover punk rock you go to the most far away thing possible. You get a musical wanderlust. I was listening to the Clash, Joy Division, Mano Negra, The Fall. It was right around glasnost. Music was cassette driven, word of mouth, hand to hand driven. It was so under the radar that if you would see somebody on the subway in Kiev who had a remotely funny kind of funky haircut you would walk up and start talking to them - 'Yeah man wanna go to my house and listen to the Sex Pistols?', 'Fuck yeah! Let's go!'. There were a couple of places where sub cultural kids would hang out. It was so tight in a city of 3 million - we would have a couple of hundred of us punks - then there would be a couple of thousand of kids who would specialise in beating us up! We were outnumbered by everybody." [The Quietus interview w/ Eugene Hutz, 11/09]

Gogol Bordello played their second of three shows at Webster Hall in NYC last night (12/28). The third and final show is tonight (12/29) with Dillinger Escape Plan. Marianni opened the first night (pics). Forro in the Dark opened the second. More pictures from it, below...

Continue reading "Gogol Bordello & Forro in the Dark @ Webster Hall in NYC (night 2) - pics "

photos by Paul Birman

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

"This'll be our last gig for a long time," reckons Friendly Fires front man Ed Macfarlane, before the band bursts into Lovesick in front of a lively, beered-up crowd at The Coronet [in London].

We hope he's just being dramatic, because tonight's gig proves that live, Friendly Fires are even better than their intelligent, original, pop-carnival-dance album suggests. And we're looking forward to seeing more of them. Soon.

Although their reception is magnified by the audience's boozing and the lateness of the hour (it's 1.40am), the acclaim is totally deserved. [Londonist]

That review comes from Friendly Fires' London show which was not long after their December 5th show at Webster Hall in NYC where this second set of pictures are from. They're continued below...

Continue reading "Friendly Fires @ Webster Hall in NYC - more pics "

photos by Paul Birman, words by Elina Miller

Eugene Hutz & Gibby Haynes

Brazilian songstress Marianni readied Gogol fans - an eclectic mix of hipsters, aspiring gypsy punks and gritty Russians clad in all black - for the sold-out spectacle at Webster Hall on Sunday (12/27). The crowd erupted in elation as she announced a "Russian-Brazilian" song and a buttoned down, almost clean-cut Eugene Hutz emerged to perform a duet.

Later in the night, despite having taken several generous swigs of red wine, Hutz still mustered up the quick-witted coordination to dodge a bra and a roll of toilet paper hastily hurled at him from the depths of the audience. Think Bush Iraqi shoe style if Bush had a handlebar mustache, an acoustic guitar and boasted 1% body fat. In a nod to his motherland, Hutz did accept a Ukrainian flag that had been waving wildly in the crowd and draped it over his shoulders. He also managed to stick his head through the t-shirt of Gibby Haynes from Butthole Surfers who unexpectedly emerged from backstage to perform "I Don't Give a Fuck" alongside Hutz.

If Gogol Bordello is the circus then Hutz is the fearless ringmaster. Building off his raw energy and emotion, the band always manages to whip the expectant crowd into a frenzy. I've never left a show without tapping my foot wildly and wanting to punch up my wardrobe with purple. This time was no exception.

Gogol Bordello continue their three-night run at Webster Hall tonight/Monday (12/28) and Tuesday (12/29). More pictures from Sunday night, including one of the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Gogol Bordello (and Gibby Haynes) & Marianni (and Eugene Hutz) played Webster Hall in NYC (night 1) - pics & setlist"

words by Ilya Blokh, photos by Jason Jamal Nakleh

Mike Armine of Rosetta with ppl rocking the f out.

Saturday (12/12) brought Tombs, Junius, Irepress and Rosetta to The Studio @ Webster Hall for a somewhat bizarre cross-section of heavy genres. Tombs are fresh off a month-long European tour promoting Winter Hours with Buried Inside, while Rosetta have just released a three-way split with Year Of No Light and (the newly revamped) East Of The Wall.

Rosetta opened the show with a mind-blowing set - easily the highlight of the show. Their vast, powerful, and almost nautical sound reminds me a lot of Russian Circles. The singer, Mike, was clearly not a fan of the stage and spent most of his time down on the floor with the crowd - always a welcome gesture. The crowning moment was when the audience literally peer pressured the guys into playing an encore - it's always great to see this sort of connection between band and fans. Can't wait for their next show in January with Tombs, Battlefields and City of Ships.

Next up were Irepress. Instead of focusing on a coherent sound, they threw a pile of disconnected elements - dance beats, proggy guitar noodling and some basic breakdowns - on top of each other, in a quantity over quality approach. Why have a keyboardist if he spends most of the show playing air drums? In any case, part of the crowd was clearly into it and there was a decent amount of "dancing", including a strangely epileptic mix of drum'n'bass moves and flying kicks.

Junius played next, with a heavier take on the old goth/darkwave sound that moved from straight pop songs to darker and more complex pieces, straying even into some Radiohead'ish moments. Not my cup of tea really, but it was well put together, soothing and a nice break before the last band.

The excellent sound at Webster Hall was a good match for Tombs' wall-of-sound approach, which tends to get lost on sub-par sound systems. Easily the most consistent and hard-working band in the NYC scene, the guys tore through a solid set with their trademark, all-business approach (have you ever seen one of them smile?) which, as always, ended with at least one band member smashing their instrument on the ground. They are at their best when the drums slow down and a little groove enters the mix and hopefully we'll see more of that in the future.

More pictures from the show are below...

Continue reading "Tombs, Rosetta & friends @ The Studio @ Webster Hall - pics"

Webster Hall - New Years Eve 2008 into 2009

"When most Americans think of New Years Eve, the Big Apple may be one of the first things that come to mind. Millions of Americans all around the country tune in to watch the ball drop in Times Square on television as they ring in the New Year.

For those not able to make it to Manhattan for this special night, why not bring a little bit of Manhattan to your New Year's Eve party? A New York City themed New Year's Eve party requires a bit of creativity in the party planning. Brainstorm all of the things you associate with New York City from food to attractions. For food, you may want to consider having lox on bagels and cream cheese, pizza and cheesecake.

For drinks, try making Manhattan cocktails and see if there are any New York based beers available in your area; Brooklyn Lager is a popular brew." ["Have a Big Apple New Year's Eve in your living room"]

Ha. Well, for those who actually live in NYC, two more New Years Eve options are below...

Continue reading "Passion Pit DJing Pianos on New Years Eve, MSTRKRFT will be at Webster Hall "

words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Webster Hall seemed a perfect fit for the Danish band Mew on Friday night (12/4). With songs that require so much space to swirl about, the venue was better suited than their show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in the summer. All the wondrous video projections were back though the set list changed around from their last visit. Unfortunately, gone was the opening one-two punch of "New Terrain"/"Introducing Palace Players" (that lead off their new record, No More Stories...) and worked to perfection at MHOW. "Terrain" made an edited, stripped down appearance during a medley midway through the show. "Palace Players" was arguably the highlight of the night, sandwiched into a flurry of sprawling rockers including "Special" and "Am I Wry? No". The wandering intro gave way to the Flaming Lips-like choral arrangement (reproduced via synth live) before dropping into a back and forth between Bo Madsen's jagged guitar riff and Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen's pulsing back beat, which held the song up for the briefest of moments, before the bass launched the song forward and it was on from there. Lead singer Jonas Bjerre's falsetto was clear and pitch perfect during the intro to "Sometimes Life Isn't Easy" (complete with school children's choir projected on screen behind them) after the instrumental "Reprise" turned intro for the beautiful, mid-tempo "Silas The Magic Car". "Louisa Louisa", "A song we haven't played in a couple of years or something," Madsen told the crowd, finished off the show.

Editor's note: Part of me knew I was in a venue more suited for Mew (as Dominick pointed out) than the smaller Music Hall of Williamsburg - the massiveness of the crowd and strobes even made it seem all the more epic, but as someone who got there just in time for the headliner (aka I was stuck all the way in the back of the packed venue and/or peering over people's heads in the balcony), I was longing for the more intimate and focused experience I had at Music Hall.

Bear in Heaven opened the show. Echo & the Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch played a set in the same building on the same night. More pictures from Mew (with the setlist) below...

Continue reading "Mew & Bear in Heaven @ Webster Hall in NYC - pics & setlist"

words & photos by Erez Avissar

LA's Nite Jewel was a three-piece, joined by a live bassist, which boosted their show tremendously. They played a pair of new tracks, but the highlights to me were the familiar moments: when Ramona Gonzalez asked the sound guy to turn up the bass, I should have known they were about to launch into their evocative noir-disco banger "What Did He Say". It left the crowd no choice but to move their feet and hips. Hearing that devastating bass line played with real fingers and strings brought serious force to the delivery, and I think that that track in particular deserves to go down as an Italo classic. They received lots of shout-outs and volume love from the crowd, and judging by the amount of people who asked me what they're called, successfully won over the house.

Röyksopp opened with a slow-burning builder before launching into a setlist which basically went: hits, worthy gems, hits. Their live vocalist, Anneli Drecker, played such a fitting substitute to Karin Dreijer Andersson that you had be looking pretty close to tell the difference on those songs - every inflection sounded uncanny. Her execution was absolutely flawless, and when they rolled out with the surprise of the night, a note-for-note cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights," she put on a dead-on Kate croon.

Röyksopp stand behind their setup on an elevated riser in the back, occasionally popping out to strut, sing, or bang on something, but mainly leaving the focus on the prominent Drecker, with her many outfits, the light show, and mainly, you know, the music. Their 90-minute set left everyone in the house satisfied, and judging from their faces when the house lights went up, totally drained and disoriented from the experience. As good a sign of a great show as any.

Röyksopp and Nite Jewel played two nights in a row in NYC at Webster Hall (Monday 11/24 - Tuesday 11/25). The review and pictures in this post are from night one. The pictures are continued, with the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Röyksopp & Nite Jewel @ Webster Hall (night 1) -pics, setlist"

Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar @ Bimbo's 365 Club, 10-24-09 (pneyu)

John Roderick of the Long Winters is the opener of the Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar Kerouac-tour that ends with a show at Webster Hall in NYC tonight (10/28). Tickets are still available. John will then stick around for a day, and headline his own show at the intimate Union Hall in Brooklyn on Thursday (1/29). Tickets are on sale for that too.

Greg Kot was at the Gibbard/Farrar show in Chicago the other day...

"The one-week old band," as Farrar called it, devoted the show to playing the album in its entirety, plus a handful of loosely related songs: Farrar's "Voodoo Candle," Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and Tom Waits' "Old Shoes (And Picture Postcards)."

The "Big Sur" songs put the focus squarely on Kerouac's lyrics, which detail the dissolution of a drunk looking for sobriety and inspiration in a cabin on a remote stretch of the California coast. The material's tailor-made for Farrar: His voice has a natural slope to it, an ache that shades even his most optimistic sentiments, and his melodies are steeped in mourning.

Videos from the show in LA, below...

Continue reading "John Roderick opening for Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard (Webster Hall tonight), playing Union Hall "

photos by Tim Griffin

"Maybe the space has some tough acoustics, but it was definitely one of the worst-sounding shows I've been to in a while. Which is a shame, because Lucero played for close to two hours. Aside from the new album (which they played in its entirety, save for "What Are You Willing To Lose?," [majorly disappointed by that, but whatever] "Sixes and Sevens," and "Halfway Wrong"), they hit a lot of the older classics: "That Much Further West," "Chain Link Fence," "Nights Like These," "Tears Don't Matter Much," "Sweet Little Thing," and "What Else Would You Have Me Be?" So yeah, a very solid set. I didn't realize that Ben Nichols does lead-guitar on some songs. I always assumed it was the larger guy with the bushy beard who played lead. So that was cool." [Brian]

Lucero's Ramblin' Roadshow tour hit Webster Hall on Saturday night (10/17). Right before the show we had Chris Denny interview Ben Nichols. Check that out, and the rest of the pictures below...

Continue reading "Lucero & Amy Lavere @ Webster Hall in NYC - pics "

photos by Bryan Bruchman

Built to Spill played their second Webster Hall show in a row last night (10/13). That's where the pictures in this post are from (anyone have the setlist?).

Tonight (10/14), the band moves on to Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn where they'll also be playing two nights in a row. They'll then appear on Letterman the same night the NYC run ends (10/15).

The setlist and comments from night one (10/12), which it ends up NYC Taper taped, are HERE. More pictures from last night, below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill played Webster Hall again (pics, live recording), start Music Hall run tonight, and then Letterman "