A Sea of celebration for Heliotropes at Glasslands

Brooklyn’s own high-voltage darlings of girl-powered rock called Heliotropes threw a party for the release of their long-awaited first full-length album A Constant Sea last night, surrounded by happy faces, good friends, and a whole-hearted praise from their fans who had seen their steady climb up through the NYC scene to one of the most buzz-worthy bands in the industry. At the former factory spot turned killer venue on Kent Ave in Williamsburg called The Glasslands Gallery, many familiar faces appeared grinning from ear to ear, from members of other bands they had so often played with like Quiet Loudly, Crazy Pills, and pow wow!, to good friends that had supported them all along, to some first timers who had just heard about this amazing all-girl band, all nestled together into the grand rustic open room with spacey light fixtures swarming overhead to enjoy a truly joyous night of music, hugs, and revelry.

FAN-TAN/Bad Cop/Heliotropes album release party, Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn 6/18/13

Reaching that state of grace with The Shins

The Shins opened up the summer concert series on the big dedicated stage set on the Brooklyn side of the East River waterfront now known simply as Williamsburg Park with a brilliant performance set to crystal clear skies, vividly bright sun rays, and cool sea breezes off the ocean, all after a week straight of pouring rain in NYC. Providing a glorious Memorial Day that seemed to pull a big crowd away from their cook-outs and parties would be tough for many bands, but not so for a band with as many devoted fans as the Shins. The scene was a perfect blissful set, full but not too crowded, beer and food lines moved swiftly, and, of course, the music everyone came to see was a perfect fit for the introduction to a beautiful new season of big concerts for all to enjoy.

DIY culture revealed with Corita & Crazy Pills

The small DIY spot called Fort Useless in Bushwick Brooklyn with it’s smooth harmonics of a living-room sized main gallery space, tiny well-stocked and inexpensive bar, and great genuine crowd hosted a show celebrating the release of a book called GROW, which happens to aptly be all about the “Do It Yourself” culture. Of course, the book’s author Eleanor Whitney was in attendance, and so was her band Corita, whom were to play their first show in quite some time and their official last show ever. She had also gathered a couple other prized bands to rock away the night with in style.

GROW book launch with Corita, Crazy Pills, and Paper Fleet, at Fort Useless, Brooklyn 5/25/13

JEFF the Brotherhood skewed & interviewed

After a long two-day stretch of all-day shows at the Great GoogaMooga festival in Brooklyn, I made my way to the Lower East Side of Manhattan to catch a late show at one of the most famed small stages of all of NYC, called Mercury Lounge, and this night they had a special sold out late show with one of the hottest rising rock bands in the industry by the name of JEFF the Brotherhood. After meeting with their managers whom had just rolled into town, and a bit of figuring out where everyone was, we descended into the steamy caverns of the Mercury, through the twists and bends of pipe and supply rack enclosed hallways of their basement, we came across a back room where the brothers Orrall were already drinking beer from plastic cups and relaxing with good friends as they came in to welcome them. So, we sat down and had a great conversation about the past and the future of singer and guitarist Jake Orrall and drummer Jamin Orrall.

Shellshag, Hunters, & JEFF the Brotherhood, Mercury Lounge, NYC 5/18/13

Evolutionary powers of Telekinesis at Bowery

Seattle’s one-man wonder called Telekinesis came to NYC’s Bowery Ballroom on the heels of releasing my still favorite album of the year (so far) called Dormarion. It was with great glee that I get to come and see Michel Benjamin Lerner and his constantly evolving project once again as though it was the very first time.

The Kitten purrs and roars at Rock Shop

It was a rather chill night to head down the slope in Brooklyn to the Park Slope venue called Rock Shop for a fun line-up of bands to fill up the night with joyous rock.

Reunions & trips w/ Robyn Hitchcock & Peter Buck

Robyn Hitchcock has had an amazing career, and at 60 years old, he has shown no signs of slowing down now. On the heels of one of his finest works yet, the gloriously trippy Love from London, he stopped by NYC’s Webster Hall with a star-studded line-up he calls The Venus 3 to help celebrate its release, and in the embrace of even more experimentations convergences to come, as he had even recently admitted, “What makes this record for me is the musicians I was able to gather.” Thusly, it was to be a night of unexpected reunions and guests to thrill the devoted fans who were lucky to experience it.

Breaking in and out of the scene with Veda Rays

A hot and sweaty show overtook the intimate out-of-the way Williamsburg DIY spot called Muchmore’s, whose cheap bar and welcoming opening café that opens to the adjacent dimly lit stage room lined with couches and mural art sprawled across the walls. On the bill was a number of local Brooklyn bands that often appear in extremely muted lighting together, but none of them are formed from the same cookie cutter genre labels, sounds, or looks, and each were certain to bake your face off with amazing rock.

The Presidents Of The United States of America erupt in NYC

The Presidents Of The United States of America came to NYC in a grand buffet of a show at Irving Plaza for their first tour in several years welcomed by the ecstatic wide-open arms of their rabid fans, joined by a couple high-flying local favorite bands to help cook up this savory selection of tasty delicacies. The PUSA was one of those big bands from Seattle in the mid 90’s that got lumped into the explosive genre known as grunge, despite them having little in common with most of those other bands, standing out like an blissfully fun sore thumb both in both looks and sound, more accurately resembling bass master space nuts Primus with a generous helping of the silly wacks They Might Be Giants. The exploded out of the scene in ’95 with the catchalicious self-titled debut, which supplied them with radio hits galore, and even though all gone through many break-ups and re-formations and released several albums since, they are still largely known for that first inaugural, and they are revisiting that release for their devotees by playing it in it’s entirety, but as any of their fans know, they are anything but predictable on stage, so anything could, and most probably would, happen.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs bless NYC’s rock n’ roll heart

The NYC native punkalicious alt-rockers Yeah Yeah Yeahs made their official tour debut at the intimately small venue Webster Hall while giving much love and thanks to the city that started them off on their journey almost 13 years ago. It was way back in 2009 when they last toured, so anxious fans have been devotedly craving another chance to see the power trio with a pop sheen and, of course, the madcap punk snarl of their frontwoman Karen O. In a show that sold out in less than the blink of an eye, this was to be an extra special preview of their new album called Mosquito which was to be released a couple weeks later, and only the second official US date after a set at SXSW just a few weeks prior.