am/fm

Irving Plaza is up there on my list of favorite places to see music. It's a good, solid mid-sized club.
But changes are ahead. The dreaded Live Nation is rebranding the spot The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza as part of their effort to commodify the success of the original Fillmore in San Francisco.
From the press release: "Live Nation hopes to establish a live music brand to complement its 11 House of Blues clubs across the country."
Irving will join Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium and The Fillmore Philadelphia as part of Live Nation's national campaign.
What does this actually mean? Well, the main ballroom gets a fresh coat of paint, and the bathrooms will be upgraded this summer. Neither of those are bad things. Live Nation already owns the venue, so I'm guessing there won't me much of a change in the acts that they book there.
Maybe the name change will become significant as a way to tell old New Yorkers from recent transplants, kind of like Sixth Avenue vs. Avenue of the Americas.

Anyway, the debut "Fillmore" show features sneakered-up Brit darling Lily Allen on April 11. Tickets are already sold out, but something might turn up.

-- EH, www.amNY.com

A word before the review: As I get started on another concert-going season (I find it, as do many I suspect, hard to leave my house when it's cold out), I'd just like to say a few words about ear plugs. Yes, I am aware that the little florescent nubs sticking out of my ears make me look like a total dork, but I'm fastidious about wearing the plugs. Music is such a huge part of my life — I listen to music all day and dream about being in a rock band all night (if anyone needs a proficient-but-cute girl bassist, give me a call). Were I not able to hear it 5, 10, 20 years down the line, I would be incredibly sad. I think that's worth looking like a dork for a couple hours each week (which is not to say I wouldn't look like a dork, anyway, but that's neither here nor there). And, we've cultivated a look where even our freaking faux-bedhead haircuts are ironic, is there not room for dorky ironic ear plugs?

Alright, that's my spiel, onto the review...

I must say, Cake Shop is a cozy little space. It opened sometime last year, but I hadn't been until Monday night. Thumbs up.
Trainwreck Riders came on to a full house (50-75 people). Word was out, it seemed, although I think about half the crowd was in some way connected to the band. They had good energy and moved a heavily hipster crowd to dance. Their sound was a kind of electrified rodeo; alt-country/folk with an edge, I scrawled in my notebook Monday night. While the guys were capable, the music wasn't exactly my cup of tea. In fact, truth be told, I left early. Although, I had a good excuse: I was going to see Aziz Ansari at Upright Citizen's Brigade.

Just to bring it back to music, here's Aziz's "Other Music" video. It's an oldie, but a goodie.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

"New York's the greatest, if you can get someone to pay the rent," sings James Murphy (aka LCD Soundsystem) on "North American Scum," from his sophomore effort "Stemsound of Silver."

In addition to witty truisms, the album offers up tasty electronic beats making the album incredibly danceable as well as listenable. The new album continues in the vein of the bratty techno pop of Murphy's self-titled debut, especially the stellar "Daft Punk is Playing at My House."

But you don't have to take my word for it. LCD Soundsystem is at Bowery Ballroom Friday and Saturday.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Although there have been no official announcements, more and more summer concert news keeps trickling out. Brooklyn Vegan has put together a bunch of dates. Check it out.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Though the snow has just melted, it's time to start thinking of summer. Specifically, Central Park SummerStage. Tickets for the Decemberists show on July 16 go on sale Wednesday. Hop to it!

-- EH, www.amNY.com

New York Magazine is enticing you to become a subscriber by throwing a concert/karaoke extravaganza! Not only will psych-pop outfit Of Montreal be playing a set, they'll also be functioning as a backing band for the karaoke stylings of Y-O-U. Also in attendance, Michael Showalter and Flosstradamus.
Sounds like a fun night, right? Well, if you want to go, you're going to have to be a little sneaky. Though the tickets went on sale Friday, they're already sold out. That's the (annoyingly) cutthroat world of the NYC music scene. Damn hipsters. So get out there and work those connections...

-- EH, ww.amNY.com

When Bowie throws a party, you freaking go.
The Thin White Duke is curating the inaugural High Line Festival, a ten-day program of music, comedy, films and art, taking place May 9-19. Tickets go on sale this Friday, so you'd better get your act together.

(For some reason, I think this David Bowie bio is really funny. It's like a 4th graders book report, or something. I'm just disappointed that they left out any mention of "Labyrinth.")

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Stereogum has the news that our man Sufjan is covering the illustrious Joni Mitchell on an upcoming tribute album. His track is "Free Man in Paris."
I've been on the fence about Suf for a while. I think he's doing some daring and interesting things, but mixed in with all that is a lot of pseudo-virtuosic junk. It could be that he just needs an editor, someone to say, "No, man, we don't need an album full of outtakes from your latest overstuffed 'masterpiece.'" His (and I cannot believe that I am about to write this sentence about a musician who has been on the scene a mere three or four years) early stuff is really good. But I just cannot sit all the way through "Illinoise" (to say nothing of "Avalanche").
Anyway, I think that this track may have pushed me over into the "not a fan" camp. OK, he's trying to do something different with the song, but he's taken away from it everything that makes it a great song to begin with. He slows it down and evens out Joni's push/pull phrasing that gives the song its urgency and vitality. (Now might be a good time to compare the two versions at Hype Machine. I'll wait.) This is one of the rare songs that makes me dislike it more with each listen. Yeah, he's made it his own, in that it sounds exactly like every other damn song he's written in the last two years.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

I'm not sure how much stock I'm putting into this, but EW.com is reporting that Wayne Coyne and Aaron Sorkin (!) are teaming up to produce a Broadway musical based on the Flaming Lips' album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots." Crazy, right?

I'm not sure who they think their audience will be. I know I, for one, as a fan of the album, am curious to see what how this might turn out, but I already have my own version of Yoshimi, that black belt in karate, sketched out in my head. Truth be told, I like to think about it while I'm running. And, in this play in my head, I'm Yoshimi. I'm also really not a fan of Aaron Sorkin, so I don't want him to mess it up for me.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

So this song had been going through my head for about two months, and I couldn't figure out what it was until today. It was maddening. I could hear the tune, but I couldn't quite make out the words. Until today, when it just snapped into place.

It's a simple little ditty with the nicest use of whistling this side of Andrew Bird. Unfortunately, this is the best snippet I could find of it online, and I lost my own copy in the great hard drive meltdown of 2004 — not a good time.

Anyway, it's a good song, and if you can track down a copy of "Life on Other Planets" (Go buy an album? I know!), it's worth it.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Gizmodo has more.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

I've been thinking a lot in the past couple of days about the direction I want this blog to take, and Pitchfork today has, not one, but two good pieces on exactly what I've been thinking about. Well, a piece and a quote.

From their review of LCD Soundsystem's "Sound of Silver": "I'm not sure if you rapidly skim the same articles as I do, but apparently 72% of the internet is now made up of free mp3s, while another 14% is accompanying blurbs."

This is decidedly not what I am trying to do.

The other article, Poptimist #2, is a pretty thoughtful meditation on finding new music (and music writing) to love in an age where any song is available to you at any time. There's hardly any time to get to know a given song, let alone write about it compellingly, before its time to move on to the next next big thing.

And, yes, you could say this is a problem created by the oneupmanship culture of music blog snobbery, but it's also an issue created by the democratization of the music industry/removal of big business gate keepers, etc. We're currently living the revolution, and the coming years should bring changes that I for one am not smart enough to predict. But we as listeners will develop strategies to have a meaningful connection with our music.

A semi-related defense of music snobbery after the jump...

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Don't sleep on this.

--EH, www.amNY.com

Brit-rock group Maximo Park was one of my favorite bands of the summer of 2005, although it did seem that they were destined for flavor of the month status. Their first album, "A Certain Trigger," won the Mercury Prize and received a flurry of attention from both blogs and the MSM. But there was still something very "live fast, die young" about the group.
I'm pleased to report that MP is back with a brand new album, "Our Earthly Pleasures," due stateside May 8. You can hear the first single, "Our Velocity," here:

Something about Paul Smith's voice is so plaintive and fragile, you feel compelled to listen just to make sure he makes it to the end of the song without breaking down. And the driving (pardon the pun) "Autobahn" riff they seem to have stolen here totally works to keep the song from veering into complete emo territory.

The band will be at Webster Hall July 12, so mark your calendars.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Check out some shots that Emily Zemler got while she was in Texas ...

Day One:

Against Me

More after the jump ...

The Lashes

More from Emily Zemler in Austin:

Long Island soaring indie rockers As Tall As Lions, experimental post-punk band Circa Survive and UK buzz band The Horrors were the highlights of Alternative Press’ day party at the aptly named Emos, which took over two outdoor stages and one indoor stage. The crowd was unusually young for SXSW, filled with black eyeliner, hot pink shirts and band hoodies. The Horrors’ raucous performance on the smaller of the outdoor stages had fans and non-fans alike crowded outside the fence in droves after the venue got too full to admit anyone else. Luckily no wine bottles were thrown by singer Faris Rotter like at his NYC show a few weeks ago…

More after the jump...

Here, have some Pogues:

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Emily Zemler reports from Austin:

SXSW keynote speaker Pete Townshend is the man about town this year, offering no actual performances himself, but sending Who fans dashing madly about Austin looking for his next guest spot. Friday saw Pete joining Scottish buzz band the Fratellis on stage at Stubb’s for SPIN Magazine’s annual SXSW day party. Townshend thankfully spiced up a frankly dreary set that sent the scattered audience members dashing to the front of the venue with cameras held high when he came out for the band’s last two numbers.

More after the jump ...

While we're stuck up here with the snow and the cold, our intrepid reporter Emily Zemler is down in Austin, soaking up the indie rock. Here's what she had to say:

Between waiting in line to pick-up my festival badge, running into someone I know/have met/have never met but looks really familiar on every street corner in Austin and trying to determine whether all the tall, skinny guys in tight black pants are actually in bands or whether that’s just the look this year, I managed to see a few bands yesterday…

Punk rockers Against Me! headlined the Shirts For a Cure party at Spiro’s, blowing the minds of the very crowded room in typical fashion. Funnily enough most of the crowd was made up of members of other bands, most of whom were not shy about knowing all the words to every song they played. Rumor has it Against Me!’s new record, off which they played two intriguing-sounding songs, will be out this summer.

More after the jump...

Local band Calla is down doing their thing at SXSW, but they're headed home for a show at Bowery Ballroom April 14. Their sound is moody and intense pop with a touch of paranoia.
Listen: "Bronson" from "Strength In Numbers," which was released Feb. 20.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

I've always enjoyed The Morning News for their hipster literary content, but only recently have I discovered their music coverage. The MP3 digest has some really interesting stuff. This week's is very classic rock- and jazz-heavy, focusing on lost recordings by Hendrix and others. But they always have some neat stuff that isn't anywhere else.

Also on TMN today, "South by South BEST," a piece to make you less jealous that you didn't go to Austin this weekend. It didn't work, but it's still funny.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Yes, the web address of this blog is not exactly memorable; I have to look it up each time, and I log on at least once a day. But so, we've created a redirect! Now all you have to do is type www.amny.com/amfm, and you'll get here. Easy, right?

The lazy animation in this video reminds me of the Robert Smigel videos on SNL, but the song is catchy as hell. I think that I may have even been dreaming about the whistle riff. Peter Bjorn and John is at SXSW this week, but there's at least one person who's unhappy about it. Sorry, kid. Blogging about how you don't like someone won't make them go away. Just think about Paris Hilton, or, more music-related, Ultragrrrl. On second thought, don't.
Anyway, PBJ (isn't that cute!) will be back in New York May 1 and 2 for a pair of shows at Webster Hall. Get your tickets now, because, unless the forces at Stop Peter Bjorn and John succeed, this will be a tough one to get into.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

I'm really interested in music that I can't understand the words to (because it's in another language, not because it's sung in a Vedder-like mumble), so French Canadian popsters Malajube get bonus points for speaking in French. Although, I took French in college, so if I really wanted to, I could probably figure out what they're saying. Good thing their snappy riffs stand up on their own, then. The band has a small buzz on already, and they're playing SXSW this week, and after that, they're touring Europe with Arcade Fire, so I'm predicting we'll be hearing much more from this group. Although I do wonder if they'll have to start singing in English to fully crack the American market.

Their sophomore album, "Trompe-l’Oeil," is out now.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

One of my favorite artists, who is so low key that even I forget that he's a favorite sometimes, is Ted Leo. He's punk, he rocks, he's just awesome.

Check it: "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone."

He was recently featured on WOXY.com's Lounge Acts podcast, and not only is he a gifted musician, he's an engaging storyteller as well. It's definitely worth a listen.

And, while we're on the subject, I've been meaning to write about WOXY for a while. It's a fascinating story. Once upon a time, WOXY was a Ohio-based radio station with an alternative bent. (They were even name checked in "Rainman": "97X--Bam!--The Future of Rock & Roll.") In 1998, they made the leap to the internet. In 2004, the station owners announced that they were shuttering their terrestrial base to go internet-only, but they needed to find a new source of funding by May of that year. Unfortunately, they couldn't find the money, and shut down, leaving the world devoid of one more non-Clear Channel station.
But then, in a "Damn the Man, save the Empire"-type moment, two anonymous investors came out of the woodwork to put WOXY back on the air. Or, back on the internet, at least. They went back online on July 17, and have been broadcasting quality "alt-rock" (whatever that means) ever since.

UPDATE: AOL has this "job interview" with the man.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

So there are an awful lot of bands out there, named after places that they're not from. Of Montreal? From Athens, Ga. The Brazilian Girls? They're from New York, and most of them aren't even girls.

More geographically confused bands after the jump...

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

This is pretty cute.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

I was never really a big Dylan fan, but he's popped up a few times in my life this weekend (as a concept, not the man himself). Even this morning, on my way to work, I was reading Nick Hornby's "Housekeeping vs. the Dirt" — a collection of his "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns from The Believer magazine — he mentions Dylan's autobiography, which Hornby makes sound really compelling. I think I'll have to pick it up.

But I think this is my new favorite song:

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Arcade Fire, "Neon Bible": Eh. They've gotten a ton of positive press, but I've spoken before on how I feel about AF. Win Butler sounds a lot like Bruce Springsteen (who I also don't like, so take that for what it's worth), and I just couldn't make myself care about this album. To be fair, they're doing what they do with skill, it just doesn't interest me. At all.

Teddybears, "Soft Machine": Like I promised, I dug up the group's album and gave it a spin. The rest of the album it very different from the Iggy Pop track — very electro Euro disco. It's good party music, but I'm really only interested in Iggy,

Hella, "There's No 666 in Outer Space": You can't listen to Zach Hill's frenetic, off-kilter drumming and not go a little bit crazy. This album is definitely a challenge to listen to, but very rewarding when you break through the noise.

Check out "Anarchists Just Wanna Have Fun":

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Seriously.
Tickets are "available only by special arrangement" (we're guessing that "special arrangement" involves hundreds and hundreds of pounds sterling), but the prolific bad boy of the alt-country world is giving a concert at the historic monument this summer. Let us know if you go.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

One of my favorite live acts of the past year is coming back to NYC! Britain's Art Brut -- whose charismatic frontman Eddie Argos is really singing about his old girlfriend Emily Kane in the above video -- has a new album coming out this June, and they're coming to the area for TWO shows in April to get us all pumped up:
Apr 17 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Apr 18 - Brooklyn, NY @ Studio B

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Though their US label V2 let the band go, in a surprise move in January, The White Stripes have a new album ready. "Icky Thump" is to be released "as soon as corporately possible," according to the band's website.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Covering someone like Eliot Smith is always a dicey proposition. Smith's music was beloved even before his tragic early death, and the mythos that has grown up around him since, has made him all but untouchable.
Local musician Chris Garneau, has done it, however. His cover of "Between the Bars" takes a few listens, but eventually, if you give him a chance, Garneau steps out from under Smith's shadow. He sings — in a voice that could be a young girl's — to a sparse piano accompaniment.
The track is the closer to his latest album, "Music for Tourists." And if you like what you hear, check him out tonight at Bowery Ballroom, or Sunday at the Living Room.
As Stereogum so succinctly put it: "We like to think of Chris Garneau as everything we wish Damien Rice actually was."

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Apparently, Sufjan Stevens played a secret show at Union Hall last night. Which actually probably was pretty fun for the "30 or so people" who were there, according to a Gothamist commenter.
Sometimes I think that Sufjan is playing a big joke on us all, and in 10 years we'll look back and think, "Really? State-themed big band music that sounds like something from a well-produced middle school play? Is that what we were listening to?" But despite some of his cloying qualities, the kid has some good music.
An oldie, but a goodie: "Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)"

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com