The hair bands of yesterday—Motley Crue, Poison, Whitesnake—ain’t got nothing on the biblically voluminous locks of Devendra Banhart and his posse of fabulously furry freak brothers, aka Spiritual Bonerz (at least for Thursday night’s performance). Last night, Dev and the Bonerz took the stage of the soulless Manhattan Ballroom by light breeze, rather than by
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I’ve always had a hunch that girls have richer imaginative lives than boys. When I was eight, it was all guns and explosions and baseball. But girls develop sexually sooner, and that makes all the difference.   Us boys are all heroes in our fantasies, but in girls’ dreams girls seem to play tragic heroes
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Summer may seem to be slipping away, but Saturdaywas another night of great fun over at McCarren Park Pool, as Made Event presented an eclectic pairing of Chemical Brothers with Ladytron. Opening the show, the members of Ladytron came on stage, all dressed in androgynous, black chic. While their electronic pop tunes were pleasantly infectious,
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New York has not experienced an Underworld show since 2003, so it was a long-awaited reunion between fervant fans and band last Friday when the group took the stage at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. Presented by Made Event, the performance felt like discovering religion at a multimedia dance party. Vocalist Karl Hyde was a
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Four years ago I saw Dan Deacon play at a divey bookstore in North Carolina. Place smelled like ancient paper and sweat, and during the day they served really good vegetarian sandwiches. It had just as much business being a rock club as Deacon did being a rock star – which, nowadays, he kind of
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Let Liars freak out.   It’s what they do best, and yet the cavernous space of Madison Square Garden Friday night wouldn’t let them.   Their sound shrunk significantly after the defection of the rhythm section; this was the first time I’ve seen them since. They seemed overwhelmed. Just as they were thumb-sized from my
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The Walkmen continued to build their reputation as one of the best live rock bands alive, on Friday night. Playing the new Music Hall of Williamsburg, the NYC-based band pleased a full house with gutsy performance. The band performed a large amount of new songs, while singer Hamilton Leithauser battled through with a bloody left
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Young girls made up the bulk of the crowd directly in front of the stage. They spoke of how cute the young singer is, and one girl told me that she’s gonna jump up on stage and kiss him (which never did happen). This sort of teen pop fanaticism is unusual for a place like Bowery Ballroom, and this was just Jaimie T performing. Who’s Jaimie T, you ask? Exactly. America has yet to be swept away by this new young English sensation, but give it time and you’ll be hearing his name more and more. The 21 year-old singer/songwriter just recently won Best Solo Artist at the 2007 Shockwave NME Awards, beating out beloved Brits Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke. Spitting out lyrics in a style the immediately draws comparisons to The Streets’ Mike Skinner and Arctic Monkeys Alex Turner, Jamie T had the young crowd singing along with every word. Oddly enough, nearly all of those voices in the crowd were echoing Jamie’s lyrics in their own English accent, as much of the crowd seemed to be from England. Backed by his band The Pacemakers, Jamie T’s performance had a few highlights, including “Salvador” and “Calm Down Dearest,” but it was the hit Sheila that really made the crowd go nuts. Right before playing his biggest hit, Jamie T asked the crowd who would like a special mix-tape of some of his band’s favorite music. Of course, the rabid fans went nuts, with everyone trying to get hold of one of these tapes. A bunch of tapes were handed out, and then the band began playing “Sheila,” while tapes flew from the stage out to the crowd. And they weren’t just softly tossing these tapes, they were really flying. After the craziness Jamie asked the exact question I had in my mind, “how many of you actually still have tape players.” Tape players or not, everyone at Bowery Ballroom seemed to have a really great time under the influence of Jamie T’s catchy rock and British charm.

You can catch Jamie T perform solo at 6pm tonight at Soundfix Records (110 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn). And it's free, so you can use the money you save to buy the cd.

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Photos courtesy of Jonny-Leather
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Fan obsession with the band has at times been seriously fanatical, with three suicides in Japan allegedly caused by the splitting of the first incarnation of The Veils.–Wikipedia

Sweat and tears pour from his body as Finn Andrews quivers with intense emotion as words tremble from his mouth. The Veils sensational front man performs at such a powerful emotional state that some would say he seems possessed. That intensity enveloped the crowd at Bowery Ballroom on Monday. For the last show of their long American tour  (which began at Mercury Lounge), the New Zealand/English quartet put everything that had left into their performance. Finn Andrews, whose father Barry played keyboard for new wave pioneers XTC, remained the central focus throughout the entire set. Andrews must’ve been digging deep into his emotional recesses, because he sang with the same fiery soul as Al Green or Jeff Buckley. When you have that sort of power, you can stand alone on stage and come across as a God. And Finn did have an angelic appearance, as his hat combined with the lighting often created the image of a halo over his head. For their short encore, Finn came back out to the stage decked out in ridiculous stars and stripes pants. Along with the pants came a story/joke. Finn spoke of when he purchased the pants in LA, while on tour. “I asked the lady at the counter if I can wash these with my whites,” the young singer began. “She replied, ‘These colors do not run.’” With that the Bowery Ballroom erupted in laughter, and the band ripped through 2 excellent songs, and Finn Andrews ran into and tore apart the drum kit, leaving the stage in shambles.

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If you ever wondered what it’d be like to see the city’s loudest band play out in the street, you had your chance on Sunday. Participating in the first ever Ludfest, Pichfork’s new favorite band, A Place To Bury Strangers is finally getting the attention they deserve, After a very positive album review from the kings of indie music criticism, the local band has started to see their name pop up in more and more places. With open space around them, the band cranked up the amps far beyond 11, surely terrifying those unfamiliar with their music. The crowd, which filled up a good portion of Ludlow St. between Stanton and Rivington, was a mix of fans, locals, town drunks, and other interesting characters. Some older women watched with disgust from windows in the buildings nearby, and not surprisingly the concert was shut down not long into APTBS’ chaotic set. With the concert shut down on the street, headliner Secret Machines, who had their gear set up next to the stage, had to find another place to launch their kraut-rock attack. Luckily, nearby venue Pianos took them in, and the band carried their gear down the street to their savior venue, where the fans from the street packed in tight.

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