I’ve got to be honest with you: when I get album review requests, I end up ignoring most of them. It’s not because I don’t think there’s good music out there begging to be reviewed (there’s a lot of good music out there, period), it’s really just more of a timing thing. PR companies typically…
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Eastern Hollows is one of those bands that you’re just waiting for to make it big. Their brand of shoegaze, indie and rock is totally refreshing and undeniably good music. Their kind of DIY, community-oriented attitude reflects a love for Brooklyn that can best be summed up as awesome. The band’s warmth shows through in…
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When I was first approached to review White Rabbits’ third record Milk Famous, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Brooklyn-based band has been around for about five years, but I had never really listened to them outside of some singles heard at bars or parties. I knew that White Rabbits has two drummers, which…
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It’s not every day you meet two sisters who grew up on a Hare Krishna commune. Even less frequent are two sisters who grew up on a Hare Krishna commune and now make music taking inspiration from horror soundtracks, revelatory psychedelic explorations, the codeine drone of slowed and chopped rap, and, of course, Hare Krishna…
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It’s been a while since I’ve heard a really good, musically sound rock album. In the past five years, it has become rare to see a rock band that is just a tried-and-true rock band with no other gimmicks. As production technology advances and computerization becomes increasingly standardized, it becomes a little difficult to find…
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Most of the time I am furious about several things out of my control in regards to living in New York City – sometimes the trains just don’t work, most of the time the weather is atrocious (like this weekend, there’s some hurricane set to destroy the world), and almost all the time I hate…
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On August 10, 2011, I headed to Prospect Park (my favorite Brooklyn venue) for a sold out Bon Iver show. This band, led by the sensitive “bear hipster” falsetto-voiced Justin Vernon, has been one of my favorites for a couple years now. I was drawn in by the overall intensity of 2007’s For Emma, Forever…
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Back in November, I saw Sufjan Stevens for the first time, when he was on tour supporting his 2010 radically electronic masterpiece The Age of Adz. The show was in a seated New York City theatre, which strangely confined the audience for the mostly exuberant celebration of life and art and space and everything good that is that…
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Sometime within the past month, I received a really interesting package in my makeshift Brooklyn mailbox. Considering that I am used to getting bills, random cards from my parents and a weekly subscription to TV Guide even though I don’t have a TV (thanks Nana!), this package was certainly out of the ordinary. On the front…
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On May 17, 2011, Emily Zuzik (and her band) delivered a killer performance at Spike Hill, one of the most active live music venues in Williamsburg. This show was interesting, as it was part of arts crowd sourcing website RocketHub’s “Take off Tuesdays”; weekly showcases wherein musicians are interviewed in person about their creative processes…
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Back in February 2011, I got an email informing me of the third album release from Ducktails, Matthew Mondanile’s one-man psychedelic pop project. I must admit I wasn’t able to really listen to Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics until last week. I remember looking at the extremely laudatory write up and accompanying photo of a somewhat…
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On February 17, 2011, I headed to Brooklyn’s The Knitting Factory for Akron/Family’s kickoff performance in the tour supporting the February 8, 2011 release of their new album, S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT . After listening to the promotional copy of the album non-stop for the past three weeks, I…
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I’ve been a fan of electronic noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells since long before that pesky USA Skins promotion. They became big last summer when I was working at an online record store in Brooklyn, thanks to a few key live performances and media spots, and suddenly I heard that infectious noise pop in every dive…
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On Thursday, October 21, 2010, I attended the CMJ Mexican Summer Showcase at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. CMJ (College Music Journal) is an industry resource that features album reviews, gig reviews, ticket information, community events, blogs, and merch from or about generally under-the-radar musicians. For the past ten years, CMJ has silently been…
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