Judy NelsonAs music fans and college radio DJs descend upon NYC this week, those of us who are already here are taking stock on the music scene as it stands. Last year, the CMJ Music Marathon saw a heavy representation from indie bands that were making their...
I went to the third Fuck Yeah Fest, in 2006, four months after I moved to Los Angeles. I went to the fourth one, too. At the third one, the still-ascendant local kids Silversun Pickups might have been the biggest draw, but clearly it was the punks'...
Although bands like Nickel Creek, The Barr Brothers, Shakey Graves and Della Mae hearkened back to the Pickathon Festival's old style, a surprisingly rock-heavy lineup was the face of the festival's 2014 version. Bands like The War on Drugs...
2014 marks the sixth year of Northside Festival, which is a three-day barrage of shows, both free and pay, across Brooklyn venues. On an annual basis, Northside does a nice job of including a range of up-and-coming bands across all genres in...
Sunbathing Animal, for everyone who went mental over Light Up Gold: it doesn’t cohere as well as its predecessor, in which all the songs flowed naturally and felt of a piece. Parquet Courts have been touring endlessly, and Sunbathing Animal...
Vee Hua 華婷婷Lucky me; I’ve managed to see the French electro-surf-punk band La Femme twice in the past month! Touring the States following the release of their insane new 15-track deluxe album, Psycho Tropical Berlin, La Femme are a Parisian six-piece...
La Femme bring their sexy Frenchness, Tei Shi pimps out her vocal skills to UK musicians Glass Animals, Craft Spells return with Nausea, and Hiatus and Shura get lost in an afterlife dust cloud.
On their newest LP, Electric Balloon, New York’s Ava Luna offer a solid rock and R&B framework infused with the pulse of experimental music. The result is something they call “nervous soul” — experimental rock that is as...