AltWeeklies Wire
Tune In to the Turned-On Dropouts, Asa Ransomnew
"I Like to walk to the center of an intersection!" wails Jacob Bills, lead singer and sole guitarist of Brooklyn-based four-piece rock noisemakers Asa Ransom, a touch of whimsy and madcap paranoia in his voice. Playing up on the extreme highend of his guitar’s neck, his bandmates musically swirling around him, Bills's description of playing amidst traffic seems pretty apt.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
01-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Castanets Built This 'City' on Rock 'n' Rollnew
Castanets nomadic mastermind Ray Raposa, no stranger to fusing his freak-folk with dissonance, noise or near-emptiness, is at his logical conclusion on Refuge. All his signature elements are incorporated, but the spare, hushed nature of his work is intensified.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
10-09-2008 |
Reviews
My Bloody Valentine Massacres Eardrums in NYCnew
The Lilys hour-long allotment was the formalist of formalities—an unnecessary, sure-to-be-disregarded warm up for an un-warm-up-able crowd of over 3,000. How could you possibly be warmed up for My Bloody Valentine?
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
10-02-2008 |
Concerts
Tags: my bloody valentine
In a Dark Room with Future Islands, Our Man Sees the Lightnew
Future Islands are riding a synthesized post-wave and might help to subside the sarcastic tides (a black water, too often mistaken for irony by a culture that disguises brazenly ugly sentiments with gushes of its artistic merit) cascading into the strands of hipsterdom.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
09-25-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Future Islands
The Mae Shi is Like Los Angeles: Sprawling, Vast, Dynamicnew
The Mae Shi is the sort of group that can lose a lead singer (in this case founding member Ezra Buchla) but remain comfortably intact, enlisting a brand-new member (Jonathan Gray) to yelp into the mic without losing its manic stride.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
07-17-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Emperor X Speaks a Private Language that Remains Accessible to Allnew
I watched Matheny, who records and plays out solo under the Emperor X moniker, strum a charmingly small six-string acoustic as pedal-delayed tones pouring out of his tiny amp.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
06-26-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Where's This Year's Song of the Summer?new
After Gnarls Barkley raised the bar, we're still waiting for this summer's hook-filled hit. And Walter Meego has my vote.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
06-19-2008 |
Music
Will Johnson and Centro-matic Finally Graduate to Bowery Ballroomnew
From one-man sets at the Knitting Factory Tap Bar to full-band, what-American-rock-should-sound-like engagements with Centro-matic at Mercury Lounge and Union Pool, Will Johnson has headlined at New York's smaller stages in an almost Sisyphean effort to return to the city.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
06-12-2008 |
Concerts
A Punk Band Glos in Brooklynnew
The So So Glos may sound like The Clash, but their brand of Brooklyn punk is powerfully paradoxical.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
04-24-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
How Indie Rock Morphed into Adult Contemporarynew
Sufjan Stevens and Feist are just the beginning.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
02-14-2008 |
Music
Beat the Devil May Carenew
Playing the Hindi harmonium with soul.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
07-12-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Beat the Devil
