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Live Review: The Avett Brothers @ Georgia Theatre, 10/3/08
Before last week, I'd only seen the Avett Brothers live in festival settings-- all rife with dust, sweat and unsuspecting patrons about to have their notions of the banjo's hokey limitations fully obliterated-- so maybe a certain trend I noticed Friday night in Athens is a long-standing, midsize-venue-specific one that I just never had the opportunity to witness before. Or maybe, like the Grit and the Polish Sausage Man and the Dawgs, it's just unique to that great little town. Either way, hanging in and around the Georgia Theatre that evening was a notable number of young gentlemen dressed in... read more
Found in: Blogs, Ctrl-VLive Review: Atlanta Eighties Punk Reunion @ The Masquerade 10/4/08
[Above: The Swimming Pool Q's, shown here playing in downtown Atlanta in the early '80s, performed at the Masquerade Saturday night.] Full disclosure: I am not the city’s leading expert in the ways of punk. I discovered punk as a seventh grader in the early 1980s, first through new wave bands like Blondie and Devo, then later through a local Macon band called Vex. As high schoolers, my friends and I moved on to shows by local Atlanta and Athens bands, and then to records by more established national bands: Black Flag, Social Distortion, The Ramones, Dead Kennedys. And though... read more
Found in: Local:AtlantaLive Review: Lindsey Buckingham @ House Of Blues 10/2
Gift Of Screws is Lindsey Buckingham's second solo album in two years following a nearly 15-year gap, and he didn't shy away from showcasing the new material at the House Of Blues on Thursday night, even if most of the attendees were likely expecting his Fleetwood Mac hits (and even if many minds were perhaps preoccupied by the concurrent Cubs playoff game and VP debates, no doubt to blame for the less-than-capacity crowd). ... read more
Found in: Local:ChicagoLive Review: Motörhead @ Roseland Ballroom, 9/20
"We are Motörhead, boys and girls. And we play rock 'n' roll." With this simple statement of fact, fabled frontman Lemmy Kilmister opened the legendary British rock band's set at the Roseland Ballroom, launching into a high-speed rendition of "Dr. Rock" that kicked off a night of fist-pumping, pretension-free thrash. In their 45+ minute set, the British heavy metal band ran through almost all of the fan favorites including "Metropolis," "Killed By Death" and "Overkill," as well as the obligatory rendition of "Ace of Spades." They even dusted off their acoustic guitars for an encore performance of "Whorehouse Blues." And though Lemmy and the band... read more
Found in: Local:NYCLive Review: The Stills @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg, 9/18
The Stills neither look nor play like they sound. Saturated onstage in an electronic bonfire glow, vocalists Dave Hamelin and Tim Fletcher didn't resemble the sensitive, love-lorn Canadian art school graduates they portray so well on their three studio albums. Every note they struck accompanied a natural rock god pose or back-flowing hair sweep, and despite the fragile undertones of their albums, the theatrics didn't feel insincere in the least.... read more
Found in: Paste:LocalLive Review: Ólöf Arnalds @ Lutheran Church of the Messiah 9/16
A prominent figure in her Scandinavian music scene or a number of years, the folk singer/songwriter, guitarist and charango player (and new mother to an 8-month-old son) Ólöf Arnalds took the stage on Tuesday evening at Greenpoint's Lutheran Church of the Messiah with openers Sam Amidon and Kría Brekkan to a crowd of wide-eyed Brooklyn fans.... read more
Found in: Local:NYCLive Review: Hot Chip @ Metro 9/29
There is an inherent, if not unspoken, risk in electronic-tinged outfits performing live. On one hand, they could turn out to be soulless programming presentations; on the other, studio wizardry can fail to produce any real electricity in concert halls, and could even fail to translate at all. Thankfully, such was not the case on the second evening of Hot Chip's two-night stand at the Metro, where the band took the stage to a comfortably full room of attendees in rapt attention.... read more
Found in: Local:ChicagoLive Review: My Bloody Valentine @ The Roseland Ballroom, 9/22
There's no more enjoyable way to make your ears bleed than to attend a My Bloody Valentine concert. The attendants at Midtown's Roseland Ballroom even gave nonverbal warnings as they passed out free ear plugs to the crowd that flooded the sold-out show. At 10 p.m., the Irish quartet nonchalantly walked onstage and delicately holstered their shiny, pastel Jazzmasters in front of a wall of Marshall and Vox cabinets. And then, without warning, an entire spectrum of distorted guitar and synth assaulted the venue as many learned why a group that has been absent since 1993 would be greeted back to... read more
Found in: Local:NYCLive Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds @ Riviera 9/28
Each night, Nick Cave aims to knock you on your ass, wait for you to get up, and then knock you down again. For decades now, his trademark intensity has served him well, but it's only been in recent years that he's allowed his subtle sense of humor to sneak out from under all the fire and brimstone of his live oeuvre. Backed by the ever-reliable Bad Seeds (the untamed outback equivalent of the E Street Band), Cave relished the over-the-topness of his Old Testament rants and poetic excursions at Chicago's Riviera Theatre, the first of two sold out nights... read more
Found in: Paste:LocalTealights @ Drunken Unicorn 9/20/08
The last thing I want is to turn into some sort of Atlanta music TMZ affiliate, so I'll try to keep the gossip to a minimum: One Hand Loves The Other was a four-piece Atlanta band that fused electronic compositions with classical instrumentation and pop sensibilities and began getting serious notice last year. What pushed them over the edge and set indie hearts all aflutter, in addition to their blending of past and of-the-moment music into something forward-reaching, was dreamboat front man Lou Rodriguez's soaring, R&B-inflected vocals. Basically, OHLTO was the perfect combination of music's future and past, shined, honed... read more
Found in: Local:Atlanta
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