Cold War Kids
Robbers & Cowards
Label: Downtown Recordings
Release Date:10/10/2006

Let me say that the title of this album already conjured up images of the classic b-movie Red Dawn. After watching it a few years back, I came to realize that it was a wonderful piece of propaganda. The title brought so much to mind. After listening to [...]

Jose Gonzalez Live at Starbucks Salon, 9/16/06
I read this poem in 9th grade by Francis Darwin Cornford called “The Guitarist Tunes Up,” in which he compares a guitarist’s relationship to his instrument to that of a man and his lover. I remember finding this metaphor ridiculous and contrived, and then I forgot the poem, [...]

This was September 27th at Town Hall.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Regina Spektor fan. So when I had the opportunity to attend her concert in New York, I jumped at the chance to see what I knew would be a fabulous night. Although it was not totally wonderful, Regina definitely [...]

Live Review – Serena Maneesh, Asobi Seksu, and The Evangelicals at the Bowery Ballroom
Put on your overdrive and brush up on your falsetto, we’re off for Shoegaze Night! I went to the Bowery Ballroom and caught good friends of Relative Theory, Asobi Seksu, and Norwegian gypsy masterminds Serena Maneesh, and with them they brought [...]

I was afraid when the Max Levine Ensemble first went on stage. As soon as he began talking, and I saw it was a 3 piece, I began to remember all the shitty makeshift bands I used to watch and was apart of. My preparing for the worst proved unnecessary. With a high voice: think [...]

Thursday, September 7, I made my first trip to the Bowery Ballroom for a night of Canadian electronics (more specifically, to see Ensemble and Junior Boys). As you might already know, Junior Boys just put out a new (and incredible) album on Tuesday and Ensemble drops one on FatCat (Sigur Ros, Animal Collective) next [...]

Last night I subway’d into Polish Town Brooklyn to see Dinosaur Jr. and Blood on the Wall at the Warsaw, my first New York show. I’m aware that Dinosaur has had a reputation for being very loud since 87, so I was disappointed to have forgotten earplugs, but I figured I’d roll with it. Now, [...]

You know when you’ve listened to a band for a long time and then you go see them live and think, “Man, these guys look absolutely NOTHING like I’ve pictured them!”? Well, Of Montreal is in no way an example of those bands. Kevin Barnes, the front man and brain of Of Montreal, is, just [...]

Barefoot and quiet, the Illinois natives berry took the stage tonight at relative theory records, modestly introducing themselves and misleading everyone in attendance away from the explosion of sound that would soon follow. The melodic mix of noise and indie rock that the group brought to the stage was a treat rarely received in this [...]