Aug 07, 2010
Live
Web Exclusive
The opening night’s observation that I was about to slip down the rabbit hole turned out to be apt. After a restless night of sleep (Hello jetlag!), I was bundled into a car and taken deep into a rain covered forest. I’m from Los Angeles. This setting? Well…welcome to Wonderland. Today's residents? Potty Umbrella, Tin Pan Alley, Kim Nowak, Something Like Elvis, The Horrors, Art Brut, Lenny Valentino, and Tindersticks. More
Aug 06, 2010
Live
The Midwest's favorite fest, Lollapalooza, kicked off Friday in Chicago's Grant Park and things really couldn't have been better. Bright blue skies paired with an additional 35 acres of grounds, and show-goers found a little more walking room and an overall 'larger' feel to the 3-day music circus. More
Aug 06, 2010
Live
Web Exclusive
Quick: name your 5 favorite Polish bands. Name the top non-Polish bands ruling the charts and hearts of the country. Heck, name anything about their current pop culture scene. If you’re like me, you’re drawing a major blank. Poland is a country of over 38 million. That means somewhere out there, there’s a host of kids, becoming obsessed with their piano lessons, plugging their guitars into worn amps, and shaking garages with their ambitions. It’s also country filled with music fans—thrilling over pop, head banging to hardcore, dancing with reckless abandon. A culture that—until now—I knew nothing about. Then along came an invitation to attend Katowice’s Off Festival. More
Aug 04, 2010
Live
Spiritualized performed their seminal 1997 album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space at New York City's Radio City Music Hall July 30. More
Aug 03, 2010
Live
Web Exclusive
I'd fight the first man who'd claim there might be a better band to usher away the final hours of the NYC's hottest July on record than Sonic Youth. Who more appropriate to put a fork in a month where temperatures frequently topped 100 degrees than a band whose seminal album, 1988's Daydream Nation, dripping with sweaty feedback and featuring vocals that sound like they were recorded in a packed sauna, was laid to tape during another of the city's notorious heat waves. More
Jul 19, 2010
Live
Web Exclusive
The Swell Season rode into Los Angeles on the tail end of the city's first heat wave of the summer, which made outdoor conditions perfect for their headlining concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night. L.A. has been good to the songwriting duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who won an Academy Award here two years ago for "Falling Slowly," one of the songs they composed for Once, the 2007 indie film in which they also starred. During the show, Czech native Irglová recounted about how, prior to their Oscar success, an astrologer told her that she should warm up to Los Angeles, for it would play an important part in her future. And prior to performing "Falling Slowly," Hansard again acknowledged how special that Oscar experience was for them, giving a shout out to fellow Irishman Colin Farrell, who introduced their televised Oscar performance and was in attendance for Sunday's show. More
Jun 28, 2010
Live
The annual KCRW World Festival had its second 2010 event at the Hollywood Bowl last night and it was an eclectic mix music from around the world. Without any sort of introduction, Oakland's Merrill Garbus (aka tUnE-yArDs) walked onto the stage and suddenly started yodeling and playing a ukulele. She then looped her voice using a digital voice recorder, added drums to the mix and became a one-woman music machine. More
Jun 17, 2010
Live
I am not, by nature, a V.I.P. Heck, some days I can barely manage being a “P.” So, when Dangerbird Records invited Under the Radar to come check out Delphic’s first Los Angeles show at their office headquarters, I couldn’t help but be pleased. When I found out there was going to be Cool Haus ice cream, pleased was upgraded to ecstatic, as I had to resist the urge to propose marriage. To anyone and everyone, really. And to think, I hadn’t even gotten to the music yet. More
Jun 04, 2010
Live
Web Exclusive
Thousands of North Westerners packed the normally barren fields of George, WA with bare-bones camping gear and their most exotic festival apparel to witness the epic line-up of Sasquatch! 2010. The list was stacked, and showed why the festival had already sold out by early spring with performances by Mumford and Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and Vampire Weekend among others. More
