Fri Apr 25
Son Volt -- 9:30 Club ($20), 9 pm doors
The demise of pioneering alternative-country band Uncle Tupelo in the mid-1990s brought much wailing and gnashing of teeth among the music literati. But in retrospect, Jay Ferrar and Jeff Tweedy’s decision to go their separate ways was one of the best things to happen to rock music in the 1990s. If Uncle Tupelo had stayed together, Tweedy may have never been able to exert enough control to achieve the great heights he has reached with Wilco. Ferrar’s post-Tupelo project Son Volt has never achieved what Wilco has musically, but the band has produced very competent alt-country that I still enjoy listening to.
Suitable for Fans of: Wilco, Neil Young, Kings of Leon
Sample track: “Drown”
The demise of pioneering alternative-country band Uncle Tupelo in the mid-1990s brought much wailing and gnashing of teeth among the music literati. But in retrospect, Jay Ferrar and Jeff Tweedy’s decision to go their separate ways was one of the best things to happen to rock music in the 1990s. If Uncle Tupelo had stayed together, Tweedy may have never been able to exert enough control to achieve the great heights he has reached with Wilco. Ferrar’s post-Tupelo project Son Volt has never achieved what Wilco has musically, but the band has produced very competent alt-country that I still enjoy listening to.
Suitable for Fans of: Wilco, Neil Young, Kings of Leon
Sample track: “Drown”
Tue Apr 29
Tokyo Police Club –- Black Cat ($13)
Tokyo Police Club don’t even have a full-length album yet, but the blog hype around this band has been swirling since their 2006 EP A Lesson In Crime, which influential NYC music blog Brooklyn Vegan has called “one of the most well received 16 minutes of music in recent history.” Their sound mixes the harder darker indie-rock sounds associated with bands like Interpol with a deconstructed experimental element reminiscent of Sonic Youth.
Sounds like: Interpol meets Sonic Youth
Sample track: “Nature of the Experiment”
Tokyo Police Club don’t even have a full-length album yet, but the blog hype around this band has been swirling since their 2006 EP A Lesson In Crime, which influential NYC music blog Brooklyn Vegan has called “one of the most well received 16 minutes of music in recent history.” Their sound mixes the harder darker indie-rock sounds associated with bands like Interpol with a deconstructed experimental element reminiscent of Sonic Youth.
Sounds like: Interpol meets Sonic Youth
Sample track: “Nature of the Experiment”
Sat May 3
The Silver State (w/ South and KI Theory)
Rock and Roll Hotel ($12) – 8:30 doors
The Silver State, toe-tapping New York indie-rockers play a bill headlined by critically acclaimed London brit-pop outfit South at the Rock and Roll Hotel.
Rock and Roll Hotel ($12) – 8:30 doors
The Silver State, toe-tapping New York indie-rockers play a bill headlined by critically acclaimed London brit-pop outfit South at the Rock and Roll Hotel.
Tue May 6
Midnight Juggernauts -- 9:30 Club ($15)
French group and 2008 Grammy nominees Justice don’t have the market cornered on the arena-rock meets dance music thing. If you missed Justice’s sold-out show earlier this month at the 9:30 Club, you can still catch Midnight Juggernauts.
Suitable for Fans of: Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk
Sample track: “Shadows”
French group and 2008 Grammy nominees Justice don’t have the market cornered on the arena-rock meets dance music thing. If you missed Justice’s sold-out show earlier this month at the 9:30 Club, you can still catch Midnight Juggernauts.
Suitable for Fans of: Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk
Sample track: “Shadows”
Thu May 8
British Sea Power (w/ The Rosebuds) -- Black Cat ($13)
Manchester band British Sea Power echoes the sound and spirit of other great Manchester bands like the Stone Roses.
Sounds like: Coldplay and Interpol
Sample track: “Please Stand Up”
The Rosebuds
Even if the Rosebuds weren’t natives of my birthplace, Raleigh, NC, this band would be ok in my book. On tracks such as “Get Up Get Out,” they prove they can produce toe-tapping pop confections.
Sounds like: The Cure, Stars
Sample tracks: “Get Up Get Out” and “Night of the Furies”
Fri May 9 & Sat May 10
Manchester band British Sea Power echoes the sound and spirit of other great Manchester bands like the Stone Roses.
Sounds like: Coldplay and Interpol
Sample track: “Please Stand Up”
The Rosebuds
Even if the Rosebuds weren’t natives of my birthplace, Raleigh, NC, this band would be ok in my book. On tracks such as “Get Up Get Out,” they prove they can produce toe-tapping pop confections.
Sounds like: The Cure, Stars
Sample tracks: “Get Up Get Out” and “Night of the Furies”
Fri May 9 & Sat May 10
Drive By Truckers -- 9:30 Club
I first discovered Drive by Truckers some years ago through the ambitious genius of “Southern Rock Opera,” a two-disc narrative odyssey that chronicles a fictional 1970s era southern rock band that ultimately meets its demise far too early in a tragic plane crash. (Don’t they always?) The four albums that followed never quite reached the sublime heights of “Southern Rock Opera,” although their newest, Brighter Than Creations Dark comes darn close. Front-man Patterson Hood’s consistently strong songwriting and the band’s loud raucous live show makes Drive by Truckers one of the best rock and roll bands in the business. No band captures in music the aesthetic of the rural south quite like Drive by Truckers.
Sounds like: Widespread Panic meets Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sample tracks: “Ronnie and Neil” and “The Righteous Path”
I first discovered Drive by Truckers some years ago through the ambitious genius of “Southern Rock Opera,” a two-disc narrative odyssey that chronicles a fictional 1970s era southern rock band that ultimately meets its demise far too early in a tragic plane crash. (Don’t they always?) The four albums that followed never quite reached the sublime heights of “Southern Rock Opera,” although their newest, Brighter Than Creations Dark comes darn close. Front-man Patterson Hood’s consistently strong songwriting and the band’s loud raucous live show makes Drive by Truckers one of the best rock and roll bands in the business. No band captures in music the aesthetic of the rural south quite like Drive by Truckers.
Sounds like: Widespread Panic meets Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sample tracks: “Ronnie and Neil” and “The Righteous Path”
Thr May 15
Cut Copy – Black Cat ($15)
Cut Copy’s synth-infused indie rock is part of the emerging indie-dance/electro-clash genre that recaptures some of the other-worldly elements of new wave, but substitutes new wave’s sugary coating with grittier influences from indie-rock. Or, as a friend described it, “dance music for guys.”
Contemporaries: She Wants Revenge, VHS or Beta, LCD Soundsystem,!!!, Justice
Sample track: “Lights and Music”
Fri May 16
Cut Copy’s synth-infused indie rock is part of the emerging indie-dance/electro-clash genre that recaptures some of the other-worldly elements of new wave, but substitutes new wave’s sugary coating with grittier influences from indie-rock. Or, as a friend described it, “dance music for guys.”
Contemporaries: She Wants Revenge, VHS or Beta, LCD Soundsystem,!!!, Justice
Sample track: “Lights and Music”
Fri May 16
DeVotchKa (w/Basia Bulat) -- 9:30 Club
Gloriously weird DeVotchKa are so difficult to describe, I’ll let the pros at the gloriously weird (and often unintelligible) music blog Pitchfork do it for me: “A professorial classical violinist. A sousaphone player from a Civil War recreation band. A punk-turned-mariachi-enthusiast drummer raised by polka musicians. A Gypsy-descendant singer more multi-instrumentalist than the other three band members that I just reductively identified according to their "main" pieces of equipment. DeVotchKa invented the Diablo Cody arc, as they've gone from accompanying burlesque/fetish shows to getting a Grammy nod, despite being unsigned at the time.” Right, bottom line they sound like gypsies on acid running amuck….should be a good show.
Best Suited for Fans of: early Camper Van Beethoven, Gogol Bordello
Sample track: Basso Profundo
Local H -- Rock and Roll Hotel
Any listener of late-90s college radio will remember Local H’s post-grunge hit “Bound for the Floor.” What impressed me most about this band was the fact that they managed to work the word “copacetic” into a song seamlessly. Bravo, I can’t even spell the word without the help of spell-checker. “And you just dont get it / You keep it copacetic / And you learn to accept it / You know its so pathetic.” Yeah, you go captain vocabulary.
Best Suited for Fans of: Nirvana
Gloriously weird DeVotchKa are so difficult to describe, I’ll let the pros at the gloriously weird (and often unintelligible) music blog Pitchfork do it for me: “A professorial classical violinist. A sousaphone player from a Civil War recreation band. A punk-turned-mariachi-enthusiast drummer raised by polka musicians. A Gypsy-descendant singer more multi-instrumentalist than the other three band members that I just reductively identified according to their "main" pieces of equipment. DeVotchKa invented the Diablo Cody arc, as they've gone from accompanying burlesque/fetish shows to getting a Grammy nod, despite being unsigned at the time.” Right, bottom line they sound like gypsies on acid running amuck….should be a good show.
Best Suited for Fans of: early Camper Van Beethoven, Gogol Bordello
Sample track: Basso Profundo
Local H -- Rock and Roll Hotel
Any listener of late-90s college radio will remember Local H’s post-grunge hit “Bound for the Floor.” What impressed me most about this band was the fact that they managed to work the word “copacetic” into a song seamlessly. Bravo, I can’t even spell the word without the help of spell-checker. “And you just dont get it / You keep it copacetic / And you learn to accept it / You know its so pathetic.” Yeah, you go captain vocabulary.
Best Suited for Fans of: Nirvana
Sun May 25
Seawolf -- Rock and Roll Hotel
Seawolf’s smooth, emotional, indie-rock has made them a blog favorite. Give “You’re a Wolf” a spin and see what you think.
Best Suited for Fans of: The Shins, Belle and Sebastian
Seawolf’s smooth, emotional, indie-rock has made them a blog favorite. Give “You’re a Wolf” a spin and see what you think.
Best Suited for Fans of: The Shins, Belle and Sebastian
Tue May 27
Duran Duran -- Merriweather Post Pavilion
The kings of 80s New Wave play Merriweather. Worth noting at least…
The kings of 80s New Wave play Merriweather. Worth noting at least…
Fri May 30
She Wants Revenge -- 9:30 Club
She Wants Revenge are a bit dark and take themselves a little too seriously, but the band has produced some undeniably great songs. "Out of Control," "Tear You Apart," and "These Things" are all stellar. Also worth checking out is “Time,” a collaboration with uber-producer/MC Timbaland.
Sounds like: Depeche Mode
Sample track: “Out of Control”
Sat Jun 8
She Wants Revenge are a bit dark and take themselves a little too seriously, but the band has produced some undeniably great songs. "Out of Control," "Tear You Apart," and "These Things" are all stellar. Also worth checking out is “Time,” a collaboration with uber-producer/MC Timbaland.
Sounds like: Depeche Mode
Sample track: “Out of Control”
Sat Jun 8
M83 -- Black Cat
For fans of M83, one of the most celebrated ambient-electronica outfits around, it will be a huge treat to see them perform at the Black Cat. However, people who think of ambient as nothing more that futuristic elevator music will probably be bored out of their skulls.
Suitable for Fans of: Orbital, Brian Eno
Sample track: “Coulers”
Sun Jun 9
For fans of M83, one of the most celebrated ambient-electronica outfits around, it will be a huge treat to see them perform at the Black Cat. However, people who think of ambient as nothing more that futuristic elevator music will probably be bored out of their skulls.
Suitable for Fans of: Orbital, Brian Eno
Sample track: “Coulers”
Sun Jun 9
Death Cab for Cutie -- Merriweather Post Pavilion
(6pm Gates)
On Sale Saturday, March 29 at 10am click here to purchase tickets
Death Cab for cuties melody driven indie pop has become a fixture on the I-Pods of the soccer mom’s of America making them no longer cool amongst the indie-rock literati. But, we think Ben Gibbard’s strength as a songwriter and vocalist still justify inclusion on our list.
Suitable for Fans of: The Shins
Sample track: “Soul Meets Body”
Wed Jun 11
The Breeders -- 9:30 Club
The Deal girls, no longer the little sisters of indie-rock, now more like the cool hippie aunts, play the 9:30 Club.
Sat Jun 28
(6pm Gates)
On Sale Saturday, March 29 at 10am click here to purchase tickets
Death Cab for cuties melody driven indie pop has become a fixture on the I-Pods of the soccer mom’s of America making them no longer cool amongst the indie-rock literati. But, we think Ben Gibbard’s strength as a songwriter and vocalist still justify inclusion on our list.
Suitable for Fans of: The Shins
Sample track: “Soul Meets Body”
Wed Jun 11
The Breeders -- 9:30 Club
The Deal girls, no longer the little sisters of indie-rock, now more like the cool hippie aunts, play the 9:30 Club.
Sat Jun 28
Thievery Corporation w/ SeuJorge, TV on the Radio, Ladytron, Turntables on the Hudson, Federico Aubele
Merriweather Post Pavilion
(4 pm Gates)
click here to purchase tickets
Merriweather Post Pavilion
(4 pm Gates)
click here to purchase tickets
