Filtering by Tag: NYC
LIVE: The Wombats with Courtship and Nation of Language at Brooklyn Steel 1.10.18
The Wombats stopped at Brooklyn Steel during their highly anticipated return to the U.S, in celebration of their upcoming album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life. Nation of Language and Courtship got the crowd warmed up.
At 8PM sharp, the lights in Brooklyn Steel dimmed, and the Brooklyn-based trio Nation of Language hit the stage with a burst of energy. As their synth-driven mix of post punk and new wave filled the venue, it felt like we had all been transported into a John Hughes film. The three piece had actually been added to the tour last minute, to fill in for UK band Blaenavon, who had unfortunately had to cancel their U.S tour due to medical reasons. However, the crowd instantly warmed to Nation of Language’s refreshingly nostalgic vibes and lead singer Ian Devaney’s vocals that pull elements from the likes of Talking Heads’ David Byrne and The Cure’s Robert Smith. Their 30 minute set included their tracks “I’ve Thought About Chicago” and “On Division St,” which the band mentioned had just premiered that day via Stereogum.
Courtship (stylized “courtship.”) took the stage next, donning matching yellow jumpsuits and immediately displaying their excitement and gratitude to be at the New York venue. As the LA based duo of Eli Hirsch and Micah Gordon and their band enthusiastically played their infectious indie pop tunes like “Sail Away,” “Perfect People,” and the unreleased “Bad Fun,” their happiness and energy filled their entire venue. During their short but sweet set, they never stopped showing their appreciation to be on the stage and on tour with The Wombats; at one point Hirsch addressed the crowd saying, “Literally in eighth grade my number one band on earth was The Wombats,” adding that he once hid in the basement of one of their 21+ shows just to hear them perform. Hirsch also mentioned that he and Gordon had only written their first song together just about a year ago in their bedrooms, making the opportunity to play at a packed venue in NYC that much more special to them. Seeing a performer that happy and excited to be where they are makes the performance that much more special to watch, and the crowd was extremely responsive to courtship.’s energy.
The Wombats burst onto the stage following a 30 minute changeover, kicking it all off with new song “Cheetah Tongue,” from their upcoming album. The three piece consisting of Matthew Murphy, Dan Haggis, and Tord Øverland Knudsen have been making music together since 2003, and their album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life will be their fourth studio album, following up 2015’s Glitterbug. With about 15 years of playing music together under their belt, the trio exuded an incredible chemistry on stage last Wednesday night; whether they were playing one of their oldies or another new song, they were perfectly in sync with one another. The band also crafted a diverse and dynamic setlist that pulled songs from all parts of their discography, like “1996” and “Jump Into The Fog” from This Modern Glitch, “Kill The Director” and “Moving to New York” from A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, “Give Me a Try” and “Greek Tragedy” from Glitterbug and last but not least, new singles like “Turn” and “Lemon to a Knife Fight.” Every song by The Wombat’s features clever and thoughtful songwriting, full of lead singer Matthew Murphy’s impeccably descriptive and witty writing, but they’re also known for their upbeat and catchy melodies. At their Brooklyn Steel show, they maintained an incredible level of energy, with Murphy working the entire stage, often wandering out onto the speakers at the front of the stage while he played guitar, and bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen thrashing around the stage and jumping along to the beat. The audience did a great job of keeping up the pace, but as the set wound down, Murphy encouraged them to get even rowdier, saying, “The paramedics are outside for a reason, so please go as wild as you can possibly can for this next one,” before the band launched into “Techno Fan.” Their classic and crowd-favorite songs in their live set often featured fleshed out introductions and arrangements; for example, the aforementioned “Moving To New York” (which Murphy said has and always will be dedicated to NYC) contained a built up and suspenseful introduction that led up to its recognizable guitar riff that kicks off the studio version. The night closed out with “Greek Tragedy,” which was the band’s lead single from Glitterbug, and everyone filed out of the venue with a grin on their face.
Check out photos from the high energy evening, and see the rest of The Wombats’ tour dates here.
LIVE: Elliot Moss at Baby's All Right 6.24.17
Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Elliot Moss graced the stage at the legendary Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday night. As soon as you walked into the 280-person venue, an eerie yet calming sense hung in the air, a vibe that closely matches the mood in some of Moss's tunes. The singer has described his main goal as taking the listener through an unworldly experience, and Moss did just that this past weekend, using his electro-pop sound and ethereal vocals. Throughout the night, he kept the talking to a minimum and focused on delivering a show that left the audience hanging onto every chorus and craving more.
Elliot Moss at Baby's All Right 6.24.17
Kicking things off with “High Speeds” from his debut album, Moss quickly opened up, revealing himself in his songs. Raw, unfiltered emotion comes through in all of his songs, especially during a live performance. With his endless talents, Moss effortlessly goes through each song with his piano and guitar with such passion, that it’s hard to not feel the same emotions he tries to portray through his songwriting. Song’s such as “Even Great Things” and “Slip” deal with issues such as the loss of a loved one and depression. Although the topics are dark, Moss delivers it in a way that shows both sides to each situation, and he's managed to turn the pain into a way for his listeners to cope.
Moss's therapeutic and hypnotizing set consisted of songs from both his first album “High Speeds” as well as his new EP “Boomerang”. By the end of the night, the crowd was begging for an encore. Once again, Moss did not disappoint and delivered with “I Can’t Swim” and “VCR Machine”.
Leaving the venue, the room buzzed with positive remarks about the performance that had just transpired. There is no doubt that there are only good things coming for Moss this year as he continues to tour. You can check him out on the rest of his tour here.
The Set List
- Highspeeds
- Faraday Cage
- Closed Loop
- Falling Down and Getting Hurt
- Plastic II
- Even Great Things
- Slip
- Best Light
- 99
- About Time
- Big Bad Wolf
- Without the Lights
- I Can’t Swim
- VCR Machine
Can't get enough of Elliot Moss? Check out our interview with him here.
Two Feet Delivers a Dynamic Debut Performance in Chicago
Wicker Park’s Subterranean is packed with a sold out, Saturday night crowd as Bill Dess (Aka Two Feet) takes the stage with his bandmate Huff. After kicking off his short and sweet support set around 9PM with a new song called “Love is a Bitch,” Dess introduces himself to the crowd and reveals he’s out on his first tour ever. Although he hasn’t been playing shows for very long and he only released his debut EP in July 2016, Dess delivered a very polished set, showcasing his skills as both a songwriter and producer. The second song, “Quick Musical Doodles” perfectly combines Dess’s bluesy guitar riffs with full-bodied bass.
Dess also proves to be a natural with stage banter, mentioning that his brother works in Chicago and that his dad is in the audience before playing the next song. The following two songs, “Too Long” and “Twisted” are both unreleased tracks, and will be featured on Two Feet’s upcoming EP. Dess and Huff display incredible musicianship as they flawlessly performed these new tracks live, only further proving their adaptability when they played a cover of “Ain't No Sunshine” with a refreshing take on it. Before playing the Bill Withers cover, Dess mentioned that they just arranged the cover a couple of days prior in a hotel room on tour.
The set closed out with the viral track “Go Fuck Yourself,” which has gotten a nod from Martin Garrix and racked up nearly 20 million plays on Spotify. This year has already been a whirlwind for Two Feet, playing SXSW and being added to the Bonnaroo lineup, but we’re sure to be seeing much more from Two Feet after this tour and his upcoming EP. Stay tuned for an interview with Bill for even more on the EP and what we can expect from Two Feet in 2017, but for now listen to the debut EP First Steps:
Keep up with all upcoming Two Feet tour dates here.
Goosebumps, Tears, and Laughter: An Evening With YEBBA and Rag'n'Bone Man
The crowd at The Bowery Ballroom on Thursday evening was blessed by not one, but two performances from soulful and powerful singer-songwriters.
The evening kicked off at 8:30 with the Harlem-based YEBBA, who slayed her short, but sweet mix of covers and original songs. "You probably don't know me, so I'm gonna sing some songs you do know," YEBBA said before transitioning into a stunning performance of "Killing Me Softly." The set moved on with an amazing rendition of "American Boy," featuring an accidental mic drop (or throw), which YEBBA smoothly recovered from. While the cover songs still let YEBBA's incredible vocal ability and raw talent shine through, the real magic happened when she sang her original songs. Emotions coursed through the entire crowd as YEBBA sang her first original song of the evening, which she introduced as a song about losing her mom only 5 months ago. By the end of YEBBA's emotive execution, some of the audience members were in tears. Speaking of being brought to tears, even Ed Sheeran has said that YEBBA's next song, "My Mind," has brought tears to his eyes. Please stop reading this article and take a second to watch YEBBA perform "My Mind" at a Sofar Sounds gig:
Now that we've all been emotionally infiltrated by this song, we can get back to talking about YEBBA's last song of the evening, another original called "Light a Candle." She dedicated this one to anyone who has ever someone close to them, and the feels were real. Incredible doesn't even begin to describe the vibes in the room after YEBBA left the stage.
YEBBA at The Bowery Ballroom 3/9/17
About 30 minutes later, the two-time BRITS Award winner Rory Graham, AKA Rag'n'Bone Man, graced the Bowery Ballroom stage to play his first ever show in America, backed by his extremely talented band. Like YEBBA, Rory also started his set with a cover. Starting out solo on a guitar, he gave a breathtaking, goosebump-inducing performance of "St. James Infirmary" by Louis Armstrong. The nearly 90 minute, 18 song set rolled right along with the title track from the 2014 8-track EP Wolves. From then on, the audience remained hooked by the dynamic and diverse set.
The set progressed with a trio of new songs, taken from the debut full-length Human, including "Ego," "Your Way or the Rope," and "The Fire." Before each song, Rory gives a brief introduction, making the crowd laugh as he talks about always having to wait for his girlfriend before "Your Way or The Rope." While his stage banter may be funny, Rory acknowledges the depressing nature of most of his music, saying, "I didn't come to cheer you up" before playing "Lay My Body Down," a dark, building tune that was originally released on the Wolves EP and made it onto the full length.
Rory introduces the next song, "Perfume" as one he wrote with Ralph Pelleymounter from the band To Kill a King, and one that he hasn't played in three years. Hearing this song alone made the evening incredibly special, but the set rolled on with gem after gem, including a completely stripped back version of the next single, "Skin," featuring only Rory and his keyboard player. After such an intense, raw performance, that showcased Rory's immense vocal talent, he lightened the mood by mentioning he got high and wrote the next song "Grace." Rory continued to get personal with his song introductions, telling the crowd about his grandmother's strong matriarchal presence before playing "Life In Her Yet," and divulging about his close friend's battle with demons and addiction before playing "Odetta."
As the night steered past the halfway point in the set, the mood lifted back up with "As You Are," which Rory also had to point out was one of his two-three happy songs that he has. The band premiered the track "Fade To Nothing" from Human, which featured a killer drum outro, before moving onto the older tune "Guilty." The crowd energy reached an all time high when the bass line to Rory's breakout single "Human" kicked in, the entire crowd singing along. The first part of the set concluded with another solo performance from Rory, this time singing one of his older songs "Die Easy." As Rory winded down the evening with this bluesy, powerful performance, a hush fell over the entire crowd until the last note rang out. As he walked off stage, the immediate and urgent chants for an encore followed.
The band reappeared, and appropriately, the two-song encore kicked off with "Bitter End," another new track from Human. The magical night closed out with the anthemic "Hell Yeah" from the Wolves EP, which features Vince Staples. After Rory and his band humbly and graciously thanked the audience, they left the stage for good this time to explosive cheers and applause, and it was clear that the first Rag'n'Bone Man gig in America was a glorious success.
If you're heading down to SXSW, make sure you catch one of the following Rag'n'Bone Man showcases:
Stay up to date with all of Rag'n'Bone Man's live performances here, and listen to Human now.
Panorama Festival Line Up : Frank Ocean, Solange, Tame Impala, Alt-J, Nine Inch Nails, A Tribe Called Quest
Another week, another string of festival line ups. Our favorite of recently announced line ups has got to be Panorama because... Frank. Ocean. Enough said. It's been over two years since Frank has performed live, but it looks like this summer will bring several festival performances from Frank.
In addition to Frank, the other headliner names include Solange, Tame Impala, Alt-J, Nine Inch Nails, A Tribe Called Quest. We're also stoked to see S U R V I V E (AKA the band who did the score for Stranger Things), Pinegrove, Honne, Mura Masa, and Kiiara on the line up- just to name a few.
Panorama takes place in NYC from July 28-30th. Check out the entire line up below, and head to www.panorama.nyc/passes for details on ticket options and pricing.
www.panorama.nyc