Concert Reviews
Sarah McLachlan mixes old and new at Lilith Fair
Sarah McLachlan’s performance Tuesday night at the Merriweather Post Pavilion was a curious mix of opportunities.
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Sarah McLachlan’s performance Tuesday night at the Merriweather Post Pavilion was a curious mix of opportunities.
Understated may have been the best way to describe Wednesday night’s performance at the Black Cat.
Get ready for the most melancholy trip to Urban Outfitters ever.
Anyone looking for a departure from the electronic and dance inspired music that seems to be all the rage these days should be sure to check out The Last Tibetan Midnight, the latest release from psychedelic rock group The Greening.
Los Angeles is well-known for its hidden surprises, the trademark hole-in-the-wall places and inconspicuous, rickety buildings that genuinely shock people the moment they rush inside.
The history of rock is full of “Eureka!” flashes of brilliance. Chuck Berry had the idea to fuse country with the blues. Bob Dylan took folk music electric. Nikki Sixx realized that the line “I’d say we’ve kicked some ass” could rhyme with “I’d say we’re still kickin’ ass.” For the Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, the big light bulb idea came in 2005: Get huge by thinking small. Write scrappy little Brit-punk tunes about the humdrum town you’re stuck in, the pissy little pubs you can’t get into, the local girls who aren’t desperate enough to dance with you. Give… Read more »
Death Cab for Cutie kicked off its U.S. tour last night with a stop at Philadelphia’s Tower Theater, a converted movie house with acoustics ready-made for frontman Ben Gibbard’s supernaturally clean and earnest whisper. Gibbard, recently engaged to fellow indie icon Zooey Deschanel, took the stage after solid performances from opening acts Cold War Kids and Ra Ra Riot and delivered an intimate solo rendition of “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” to a quiet, seated crowd. The rest of the band emerged and hit their stride with “The New Year,” a cut off of 2003’s “Transatlanticism” that ended… Read more »
Deleted Scenes admit to being meticulous about their multi-layered music, and the group’s debut CD, “Birdseed Shirt,” took about a year to record and mix. “We’re a very slow-working band,” said singer-guitarist Dan Scheuerman. “The mixing process was long and exhaustive and exhausting; my brain was mush by the end of it. [Recording engineer L Skell] is the most detail-oriented, verging-on-obsessive person I’ve ever met.” But his obsessiveness gives “Birdseed Shirt” (What Delicate Recordings) a haunting sonic depth, with a sound that is big but not cavernous. The band’s patience and attention to detail paid off, too: “Birdseed Shirt” is… Read more »
As Portishead finished its meticulously sparse evening performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the typically reticent Beth Gibbons suddenly leapt off the stage and ran a 100-yard dash along the fenced-in crowd, exuberantly shaking their hands. Percussionist Geoff Barrow and guitarist Adrian Utley soon exited more quietly. Barrow, though, paused in front of a microphone to say, simply, “Thanks for waiting.” After a ten-year hiatus, Portishead is back. This is not a reunion bow, though, but rather an energized reboot of a band that ten years ago found itself burnt out from a rock ‘n’ roll life… Read more »
Given the radical image changes that Panic! At The Disco has undergone in the past year, it’s hard not to read the lyrics to its new album’s opening song as a pre-emptive strike against critics. “Oh, how it’s been so long/we’re so sorry we’ve been gone/we were busy writing songs/for you,” bassist Jon Walker sings, by way of apology for the two-and-a-half-year lag between 2005’s “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” and the new “Pretty. Odd.,” due March 25 via Fueled by Ramen/Atlantic. Then, he launches into lines meant to comfort fans who have no doubt noticed that their favorite… Read more »
