Neon Trees – Irving Plaza (New York City) Show Review

Neon Trees – Irving Plaza (New York City) Show Review

Having been to many, many shows in the last few years, it’s always an interesting experience to come away with a different opinion of the band due to their live show. Sometimes it’s disappointing and the band doesn’t live up to the music on their records. Neon Trees, however, was thankfully the opposite. I came away from the show with a much more positive opinion of the band and their music, which is always a most welcome feeling.

I caught Neon Trees’ sold out show at Irving Plaza on July 22nd and I’ve got to say I was really impressed with what I saw. I saw Coin, the second of the two openers for the show, and they were a fun way to warm up the crowd. I had never listened to them prior to the show and enjoyed what I heard there, but not enough to seek out the music after the show.

Review: New Politics at the Irving Plaza

It was about two years ago, maybe more, when I first heard of New Politics. “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” was everything I ever wanted in an alternative rock band: No hint of that pop sound that seems to be every band’s direction. For a good while, though, I forgot about New Politics. They went on tour with a then-favorite band of mine in Sleeper Agent. Unfortunately, I missed their performance while in LA, but this past Tuesday I was finally able to catch up to the three-piece band from New York performing in their own backyard.

New Politics came to perform at

Defeater – Letters Home

Defeater

One album I cannot seem to stop listening to lately, although a couple of months late to the game, is Defeater’s Letters Home. It is definitely on my top list of hardcore albums brought in 2013 by a long shot as the vocalist’s passion  and the instrumentalists’ originality work in perfect harmony. The first song of the album,Bastards

Five O'Clock Shadows at the Edge of the Western World

Five O’Clock Shadows at the Edge of the Western World

Dangers-Five O’Clock Shadows at the Edge of the Western World

As continuation of a previous post, here is the complete album review of Dangers’ Five O’Clock Shadows at the Edge of the Western World (referred to as Five O’Clock from now on).

Stoney: More Than Animals

stoney

Listening to Stoney‘s new full-length album More Than Animals, what is most impressive is that practically everything was written and performed by just one guy. Of course, that’s not the most uncommon thing in music, but the sheer breadth of styles and sounds found on the album make it a particularly shocking fact. After moving from the U.K. to Austin for “sunshine and change,” Mark Stoney continued to make a name for himself with his band Bobby Jealousy, a collaboration between Stoney, Seth Gibbs, and Sabrina Ellis. But it’s his return to making music on his own that allows him to spread his wings. More Than Animals is at once challenging and impossibly catchy.

Monks of Mellonwah

Last year we enthusiastically shared Sydney-based indie-rock quartet Monks of Mellonwah‘s Neurogenesis, an EP that showed off the group’s technical ability and strong songcraft. And after a year of releasing increasingly great great music like their Sky and The Dark Night concept EP, the Monks are finally ready to release their first proper LP, Turn The People. Listening to the album, you get the sense that the band has fully come into its own skin. Musically and lyrically, the album is confident and polished rather than wide-eyed and over-reaching like many debuts.

Show Review: Cults at El Rey Theatre

cults

I’ve been fortunate enough to see Cults perform three times already in their short career. Last night at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles was one for the books.

Guitarist Brian Oblivion and singer Madeline Follin are the duo that make up Cults. The New York-based duo made a stop in LA last night in support of their sophomore album, Static. Static is the highly-anticipated follow up to their self-titled debut, Cults.

Cults have 60s-esque pop sound that is found all throughout their new album. At El Rey Theatre, they performed a perfect mix of that sound interchanging between their new and old album.

Show Review: The 1975 at the Fonda

The 1975 Fonda Theater

 Editor’s note: We sent the incredible Natalie Angiuli to check out The 1975 at the Fonda. This is her account:

“It’s just you and I tonight, why don’t you figure my heart out?” singer Matt Healy of the 1975 cried out mid-set to the audience at Friday night’s Hollywood show. All the girls in the audience desperately wanted to do exactly that.

Moments after opening act Linus Young departed the stage, the house lights dimmed and the velvet curtains ascended to reveal a glowing rectangle hanging in

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