NYC’s live music scene continues to bang on through the heat & humidity with an interesting mix of shows this week. We’ve got some well-known, genre-crossing singer-songwriters like Bon Iver and Bob Dylan…you may have heard of him. If you’re more into dreamy synth-based rock that harkens back to 80s, there’s Cut Copy at Prospect Park or Small Black’s more intimate (and FREE) gig at Mercury Lounge. For something a little jammy, Zach Deputy’s doing his loop pedal thing at Southpaw and we’ve got two nights of instrumental Zeppelin madness with Bustle in Your Hedgerow at Brooklyn Bowl. On the indie, proggy, experimental side, there’s Woods w/ Ducktails at the Bowery as well as the bigger indie rock darlings like Sonic Youth and Kurt Vile at the Williamsburg Waterfront. But the sleeper show of the week (technically, next week) is a band called Music for Money who’s kicking off four nights in NYC with a show at the Charleston in Brooklyn. If you dig the eclectic, experimental styles of Tortoise or Battles, you’ll want to check them out.
Interesting shows from this week’s NYC concert calendar: READ MORE
The lineup for the Treasure Island Music Festival was just announced, promptly crashing the Treasure Island website and bringing down the Noise Pop site with it. Whoops.
Here’s the scoop from Pitchfork:
The first day, headlined by (somewhat surprisingly) Empire of the Sun, has a lineup that leans toward stuff with dancey electronic influences: Cut Copy, Death From Above 1979, Flying Lotus, Battles, Chromeo, Dizzee Rascal, Shabazz Palaces, YACHT, Buraka Som Sistema, the Naked and Famous, Aloe Blacc, and Geographer. Death Cab for Cutie headline the second day, which is way heavier on guitars, bass, and drums. Explosions in the Sky, Beach House, the Hold Steady, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, St. Vincent, the Antlers, Wild Beasts, Warpaint, Thee Oh Sees, Weekend, Friendly Fires, and the Head and the Heart will all play.
Seeing Flying Lotus and Battles on the same day makes me beyond excited and it may mean I will finally make it out onto the shuttle buses to see this festival once and for all. I’ve heard good things but I’ve also heard the crowd and the vibe skews younger than some of the other festivals that get me psyched up, and despite last year’s LCD Soundsystem headlining slot, I’d never been too amped on who they’d booked to be the main talent on the lineup. This year’s choices of Death Cab for Cutie and Empire of the Sun won’t be enough to change that sentiment but the other talent on the lineup would be great to catch on that floating enclave in the middle of the Bay. READ MORE
I just noticed that we got a request for my TV on the Radio photos from the Pitchfork Music Festival, so I thought I’d post those along with my other remaining photos, and try to wrap things up with some comments about my experience this past weekend.
We’ve already posted photos from most of my key highlights of the weekend, including Battles, Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, and Deerhunter. Battles — now stripped down to a core power trio — seriously tore things up during their Friday afternoon slot, freaking out some of the P-fork crowd by offering up a genre-bending display of electronics, effects-pedal pyrotechnics, and driving beats. Animal Collective also delivered another one of the more challenging sets of the weekend, playing only a few of their “hits” and instead focusing entirely on new material. At times, I’ll admit it was almost too much for me, but I dig their audacity to come out hard with the new material, and I found some of the new tunes to be entrancing and very interesting to my ears. I can’t wait to hear how some of these end up sounding on an official studio release. Another big highlight for me was Fleet Foxes, who took an entirely different approach from AC, hitting on all the key tunes from their last few releases and practically putting on a spiritual revival for the indie-folk congregation. And I already mentioned my take on Deerhunter’s set in some detail, but I was also thoroughly impressed with Cut Copy, who put on all-out dance party with what I can best characterize as a throwback to 80s new wave mixed with euro synth pop (as it happens, they’re Aussies).
Which brings me to the first of three trends I took away from the festival as a whole… READ MORE
A first trip to a historic place is always special. The first day of the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks was especially nice. A cool, sunny day highlighted the already picturesque venue all afternoon. Adding to the atmosphere was probably the best single festival day of music I’ve had all summer. There were no uninspired sets and the only hiccup was Cut Copy not being able to finish an already fire show.
We’ll get everyone a full review as soon as possible but until then here are the best photos of the day. Its easy to shoot at Red Rocks, everything has a background that could serve as its own photo and the staff are as nice as can be. Follow the jump for my highlights from Saturday and some great photos. Hope everyone who went Saturday had as wonderful a time as I did. READ MORE
Though my end of summer extravaganza started last week, I must digress that I haven’t really gone anywhere yet. There have been a a number of shows here in Chicago and there will be more on that later. This weekend is when things really get started when I travel to Denver for the second year of the Monolith Festival.
Monolith really upgraded the lineup this year with at least three bands who are on the verge of elevating to pervasive name recognition. For me, this is the first time I will get to experience a Red Rocks concert and I have been fascinated with the venue since the Dave Matthews live album. I really cannot wait for Sunday night when Justice hits the stage and lights up the beautiful natural amphitheater. It’s gonna be a special weekend with some really good friends. Read on for some can (and can’t) miss shows.
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