Denver lo-fi pop duo Tennis have gotten a lot of press recently after the release of their 7” on Underwater Peoples. I succumbed to the pressure from friends to check out their tunes [link] and I couldn’t help but to draw comparisons to Beach House, She & Him, and Wild Nothing who put out three of my favorite records of the year, so I naturally got excited when I heard they were playing Glasslands Gallery in southside Williamsburg. …read full article…

Photo – Andrew St. Clair

On 8/16/2010 on Central Park Summerstage, Chuck D of Public Enemy said that they don’t perform in NYC very often, but then they do it’s like an eclipse. It’s special.

And during a nearly 90 minute set, it was nothing but! PE played many if not all of their classics including ‘Terminator X to The Edge of Panic’, ‘Welcome To the Terrordome’, ‘Bring The Noise’, ‘Don’t Believe The Hype’, ‘Shut ‘Em Down’, ‘Cold Lampin’ With Flavor’, ‘Burn Hollywood Burn’, & ‘Fight The Power’. Basically something for everyone. To see Chuck D and Flavor Flav (who are now in their 50′s) jumping up and down and running side to side non-stop is a sight to behold. And, while Flavor Flav may be the self proclaimed ‘reality star of the decade’, he’s at his best on stage as the best hypeman in the biz.

Public Enemy is on tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 3rd album, Fear of a Black Planet. A dense sample-based epic that was more about social issues and empowerment within the black community and absolutely not about about ‘bling and bitches’.

Check out a ton of pictures of Chuck and Flav “after the jump”.
…read full article…

Photo Credit: Andrew St. Clair

Radio Exile were lucky enough to be present to see Darwin Deez back home for their first show since NME’s Radar Tour. They’ve been described as “near-genius” pop and that’s what we heard and saw on Monday night; something worth taking lots of rad photos of. I am glad I was wearing shorts because my pants WERE charmed off. …read full article…

Photo: Andrew St. Clair

The Static Jacks may write about escaping their home state. But while you can take the band out of New Jersey, you can’t take the New Jersey out of the band. And boy, do they have that Garden State attitude with songs like ‘Parties and Friends (And Bullshit)’ and ‘My Parents Lied’. Their music is best described as the raw energy of a garage band… but with soul. …read full article…

Photo Credit: Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger

So, let’s get this out of the way right off the bat- I’m not a music critic, I just read too much Chuck Klosterman. Tuesday night I went out to see Pearl Jam [Why Pearl Jam Matters Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3] and Band of Horses in Newark, NJ.  Apparently, the concert almost didn’t happen due to inclement weather, so, between that and the fact that this was the show sandwiched between a huge Greenwich Saturday Show and a gigantic two night (tonight and Friday) stint at Madison Square Garden, I was worried the bands would be a bit off and the show a let down.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at the show. …read full article…

The Postelles and Xylos performed at the Taste of Williamsburg after-party at Brooklyn Bowl on Sunday which was a benefit to help build the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center. The show was, overall, really good with the usual highs and energetic bits you’d expect from each act. …read full article…

Photo Credit: Andrew St. Clair

San Antonio’s Girl In A Coma was the opening act for Sia at Terminal 5 and served as a nice counterpoint for Sia’s upbeat jazz/pop vocals. Most of GiaC’s set was from their 2009 release, Trio B.C., including ‘Vino’, ‘In The Day’, and ‘Static Mind’, which are all influenced by The Smiths.

Lead Guitar/Lead Singer Nina Diaz’ vocals are a cross between Morrissey, Erika Wennerstrom (of Heartless Bastards), and Joan Jett, so, it’s no coincidence that they are signed to Jett’s Blackheart Records. …read full article…

Photo Credit: Amoeblog

A Jeff Mangum live review. Did I really just write those words? To review a live show generally implies you SAW said show, which means I SAW Jeff Mangum play live. Wow.

I’m not going to lie – I’m a Jeff Mangum fanboy. I’m the sort of person who, when you think of the worst of the overly passionate Neutral Milk Hotel lovers, you picture me. I have my reasons. I think that Neutral Milk Hotel is one of the most important and influential bands of the past twenty years. I’ve also found their most well known album, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, to be the soundtrack of some of the most important times of my life, a friend that was always there for me, and one of the most fascinating and endearing documents of passion that I’ve ever come across. So keep all this in mind as you read my review. …read full article…

Photo Credit: Andrew St. Clair

Tuesday night was another stellar night for Radio Exile – we had a great giveaway here on the site and our photog-in-demand, Mr. Andrew St. Clair, headed over to Bowery Electric for the “secret show” featuring DeVotchKa and Plates of Cake. Originally, I wasn’t going to come right out and admit that I am totally jealous that I couldn’t make the show, but Andrew got some incredible shots, so come in and check out them all out “after the jump” …read full article…

Hard to believe that it took me so long to get out to Music Hall of Williamsburg but after getting married, the last two years have really been a blur.

Monday night, Radio Exile grabbed a staff photog (yay photographer buddies!) and headed over to check out Peasant [MySpace] at the urging of several close contacts. I’m always game for discovery; playing a game of musical cat-and-mouse with my inner geek as I try to pin the influences that I hear upon each artist is a hobby. On this night, it was more interesting than usual. Damien DeRose (Peasant), whose music has been described to me as “singer songwriter” material, but the depth of his writing is more than coffee house level work (read: the dude put together some great stuff but the crowd was, quite literally, sitting indian style on the floor). DeRose playfully acknowledged the fact, joking that he was going to do it as well. Hey, the guy knew that the crowd was there for the main act, and were more than respectful of his better material (“The Wind”, “Well Alright)” so as the tour winds on, one can only hope that he gets the type of audiences that he can feed off of and interact with.

We’ve got a gallery of awesome pics available right here, so check them out “after the jump” …read full article…

This is my second year at SXSW. I am now a grizzled veteran who looks with jaded eyes at the whole Shiner Bock-loving, future talking but no actual action taking, skinny jean wearing crowds that throng 6th Street and all points North, East, South, and West. I survey the festival, sniff, and say “it was better last year”.

Not really. I do love this place. SXSW is still my idea of heaven. …read full article…

We’ve talked about Headlights [Official] here in the past (as their video for “Love Song for Buddy” was recently featured in our 8 Great Videos Worth Checking Out Now) but they announced yesterday that they are hitting the road with David Bazan, so catch them if they hit your next o’ the woods.

The band recently sat down to play a session with Daytrotter (“Teenage Wonder”, “You & Eye”, “Secrets”, “Wisconsin Beaches”) that you can check out now as well.

Their latest album, Wildlife, is available via Polyvinyl.

Tour dates and more “after the jump” …read full article…

The Mountain Goats hold a particularly special place in my music-loving heart as it is at one of their shows that I chilled with a close friend whilst looking at hot NYU girls and finally realized, “I’m fucking old”. That sort of association had never been really clear until that night, however, I can smile looking back on that time now and how very far this site and my friendship with that writer have come since then. The above clip comes from our friends at Grandcrew.com and is an entire Parisian concert featuring TMG from this past October.

Super Furry Animals [MySpace] recently played a gig at NYC’s Highline Ballroom (a near 1.5 hour show!) captured by our good friend’s at Baeble Music that had their most ardent supporters out of their mind – simply this was a show to see. If you weren’t a fan but were dragged out to this show, you would have been a massive supporter by the time you left.

Check out the entire concert “after the jump” …read full article…

It stinks when you come down with an illness during any music festival, but especially one with the size and value of last week’s CMJ. After Thursday night’s shows, that was pretty much it for me last week, but not for my After the Jump brethren who on top of hold after parties every night, put on some of the most talked about shows of the week.

Yesterday, Pat from Pop Tarts Suck Toasted posted some great clips that he was able to take from the week (next year I will prepare my immune system better!) and you should definitely head over and check a few out. The one pictured above is the Sound Fix performance of “Kettering” by The Antlers [MySpace]. I wish I was there, but sometimes you just have to rest, people, especially when you feel like ass.

Check out the clip and more “after the jump” …read full article…

We love posting live concert material here at RE, so thanks for the folks at Baeble Music for putting this bit into our mailbox today. It’s from the recent Mercury Lounge performance by England’s Wild Beasts [MySpace] who “bring shape shifting melodies, dense textures, sophisticated compositions, sky-high falsettos, and libidinous lyrics to a very moody Mercury Lounge”. That sounds intense, right?

If that’s got you intrigued, come check out the entire set “after the jump” …read full article…

By the grace of God himself (and by having a super fly hook-up as well), the RE family were lucky enough to grace Terminal 5 with our presence for the finale of the Hennessy Artistry Tourft. Common and The Roots. Along with the usual high-class society folks and celebrity guests (yo, Robin Thicke‘s wife is HAWT!), we were able to mingle with fellow beat heads for several high energy performances and insane real-time mashup/collabos. Oh, and we got to slam copious amounts of Hennessy Cognac in the process, which despite having a bottle heavy enough to smash a back windshield on a 2001 Honda Civic (read: someone did this to me), is still pretty tasty with just about everything save for bacon.

We wouldn’t know. We’ve just never tried it with bacon.

You can’t really go wrong with a free concert with performances by some of the biggest names in hip hop and the concert was sick (especially Common).

Check out a performance of “Bonita” featuring Common, The Roots and Q-Tip (as well as photos) “after the jump” …read full article…

Sunday night was Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of Atonement, which served as a somewhat poetic backdrop for “emo” pioneers Sunny Day Real Estate [MySpace], to confess and cast aside their past sins and join together once more as friends and band mates to perform at Terminal 5.

Unfortunately for me, Terminal 5, seems to have broken the greatest and most stead fast of all rock and roll rules and started the show exactly when the doors opened. As such I missed the bulk of The Jealous Sound‘s set, which was upsetting considering they are a dear old favorite of mine. Although many people didn’t realize it, when seeing The Jealous Sound, you are seeing a “supergroup” albeit an obscure one. The band is made up of lead vocalist/guitarist Blair Shenhan (ex-Knapsack), guitarist Pedro Benito (Ex-Sunday’s Best) and drummer Adam Wade (ex- Jawbox and Shudder To Think). They delivered their usual high energy performance but were clearly overshadowed by the enormity of the Sunny Day reunion and weren’t granted much attention or applause.

After a brief respite, like 20 minutes, which anyone who has frequented any kind of show will tell you was really damn fast, Sunny Day Real Estate hit the stage with very little ceremony. The band simply walked out in steady increments. First came drummer William Goldsmith, then guitarists Jeremy Eniqk and Dan Horner and then lastly, as if planned, came the former holdout Bassist Nate Mendel. Before they kicked off their set, they were beseiged with applause and cat calls. Like many of my fellow audience members packed into Terminal 5, I only know the band from photos, books, a scant two records (with the original lineup) and a handful of videos, so to see the four of them on stage together live was truly awesome (as in the biblical sense, not just cool). …read full article…

Location matters. If you think it doesn’t then try and imagine “The Boss” coming from some place other than New Jersey. Location influences both the artist and how the listener perceives the artist. Tell me a band is from Williamsburg and I’m immediately bringing to the table a set of preconceived notions about what to expect. The Dirty Projectors, for instance, sound like 2000′s indie rock by way of Brooklyn and My Name Is John Michael sounds like 2000′s indie rock by way of New Orleans.

My Name Is John Michael [MySpace] is the name of the touring musical entity led by John Michael Rouchell, who, like the rest of his six piece band, is a native of New Orleans. My Name Is John Michael originally began as a 52 week one-song-a-week recording project that Rouchell under took in 2008. Originally conceived as a solo project but spiraling out of control into something much, much larger, My Name Is John Michael now touring behind the highlights of this project some 9 months later. Which brings us to Sunday night at Williamsburg’s Spike Hill. …read full article…

Tom: I’ve written about the Rural Alberta Advantage more than any other band this year. In my (secret) attempt to sway the Radio Exile Best Of 2009 Poll, I’ve begun to try and get other Exilers into the RAA. My biggest success thus far has been Holly Louise Perry.

Holly: The First time I heard The Rural Alberta Advantage was on a mix made by Radio Exiler Tom Williams about four months ago. Bought the album right away. Hooked.

I’m supposed to be on a strict no-concert diet (as I’m Europe bound in a few weeks), but I figured i could sacrifice a glass of Italy’s finest so I could catch them in my ‘hood. Very happy I did.

Tom: Since we both saw the RAA live on consecutive night, Holly thought it would be a really cool idea to do a he said/she said review of their live show. I agreed! Here it is.

Gig Location

Tom: Music Hall of Williamsburg in New York on 8/4/09.

Holly: Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA 8/5/09 (their first gig in Cambridge!)

Beverages Consumed

Tom: One pf something I don’t know the name of. It tasted pretty hoppy. Might have been something from Brooklyn Brewery (which is awesome, by the way).

Holly: One draught Harpoon UFO. This lightweight was flying solo for the gig, and I’d much rather remember the music.

Crowd Vibe

Tom: For me, the best part of the show as the crowd. The RAA first played in New York City only about seven months ago, playing several small venues (100 capacity?). They came back in April and May, playing 200 and 300 capacity venues. And now they’re here playing a venue with a capacity of almost 600. Every time they come to New York their audience size doubles. Not only that but when I first saw them in New York in April, the crowd was into it but they didn’t really know the songs that well. At the show at the Music Hall, half the crowd was singing along! It felt like the entire place knew every lyric. This is a band on a huge accent right now.

Holly: I don’t believe the gig was sold out, but by the time RAA took the stage, it sure was cozy. A lot of people knew the words, and, judging by the applause-o-meter and the “one-more-songs,” you wouldn’t have been twisting anyone’s arm to stay another hour to hear the whole thing again. …read full article…