TAG: Review

Oct18

Miike Snow @ The Wiltern 10/15/10

Electroindie outfit serenades LA 

While Miike Snow should be familiar to you, URB reader, I was very surprised to see that it was also familiar to the rest of the hipster-mainstream hybrid subculture—that is, the sometimes-overbearing Hollywood scene. Going to this show, I expected to be greeted with a different kind of crowd (not sure exactly which) but I was greeted with people ready for the club (there were also some on the margins ready for the rave as well). While this by no means had an effect on Miike Snow’s performance, it’s an interesting point of note as it describes the atmosphere of the venue, pointing out the secondary effects of the experience of live music in a shared environment with a particular slice of the Southern California population. It also works well as a provocative introduction.

While I did not pay very much …

Share/Bookmark
Oct17

Recap: The Plastic Beach Tour – Gorillaz, N.E.R.D @ the UIC Pavillion (Chicago, IL) 10/16/10

A recap of the Gorillaz and N.E.R.D at the UIC Pavillion.

Share/Bookmark
Oct11

Sufjan Stevens – The Age Of Adz (Review)

Sufjan Stevens

The Age of Adz

Released by Asthmatic Kitty


It's interesting to try to figure out how I felt about this album in the beginning because I was originally sitting in the car, driving and trying to 'decode' what I was listening to. It isn't everyday that someone receives something like The Age of Adz for review. The whole listening in the car was a huge mistake, too many road distractions, not focusing enough on the content and this album even for heavy dub and electronic beats with a dash of autune is so far away from danceable ...

Share/Bookmark
Oct11

Broken Bells @ The Wiltern 10/06/10 (Review)

While I’ve already seen Broken Bells twice before their show on Wednesday 10/06 at the legendary Wiltern in LA, their live performances have always had a particular experiential magic to them, something which I have found special enough to draw me to their performances time and time again. Broken Bells, comprised of James Mercer (of The Shins) and Brian Burton (Danger Mouse), released their self-titled debut album back in March and have been playing shows all across the country, including (albeit secretly) at festivals such as SXSW. The quality of their artistry is undeniable, and their small yet profound body of work gives them accessibility not true for bands with much larger and more thorough discographies. Broken Bells’ novelty stems primarily from their imaginative instrumentation and genre-pushing collaborative work in which, in addition to the group …

Share/Bookmark
Sep28

No Age – Everything in Between (Review)

No Age

Everything in Between

Released by Sub Pop Records


Schizophrenically experimental, noise, shoegaze, punk with some good old-fashioned rock n’ roll sprinkled throughout for good measure, forward-sounding Los Angeles natives No Age outperform themselves in their bright and stellar (in both the judgmental sense as well as stylistically in the sense of the intergalactic and interplanetary) third record Everything in Between (the first two were a compilation of collected singles on 2007’s Weirdo Rippers and their 2008 record, Nouns). A unique and energetic outfit, No Age sound like an upgraded, modified and well-kept out of date machine. With ...

Share/Bookmark