Nicole Atkins’ music has always leaned heavily on early 70s psychedelia and heaping doses of guttural blues and leaping, honeyed soul, but her latest album Mondo Amore is also infused with compositional experimentation that makes for an exhilarating concert experience. Songs like album opener “Vultures” sweep you out and back in fits of lull and crash, like a blustering sea storm. On “Heavy Boots,” Atkins’ cryptic lyrics and coppery voice, at once coy, seductive, and pleading, simultaneously lift your breath to the top of your chest, and pull your heart down like a thousand anchors. And when Atkins finally unleashes the full power of her Joplin wail on “The Tower,” you aren’t ready for the blinding light it shines. You need a pair of cataract glasses to see this woman live.

Part quick-witted Jersey girl, part North Carolina flower child, and part savvy, social Brooklynite, singer/songwriter Nicole Atkins curses, loves, and leads in equal measure. A high priestess of what the soul-driven chanteuse has termed, “psychedelic crooner blues,” Atkins’ latest album, released by Razor and Tie, documents the breakup that prompted her most recent exile from her home state of New Jersey, back into the arms of McCarren Park. The album also marks her newfound freedom from her old label Columbia Records, and the formation of new backing band, The Black Sea, whose musical dexterity adds a darker, denser hue and effortless fluidity to Atkins’ brooding compositions.

READ MORE

On the evening of August 17, TV On The Radio performed to their seemingly loftiest height. With buzz steadily growing around blogs and social networks about a special event in the works, a large crowd had already formed by the time the Williamsburg based band climbed to the top of a billboard in Soho. Rising up the scaffolding stairs slowly and methodically, the band paused for a group huddle, before hurtling through a searing yet poised four-song set. It was just the latest act of a well-oiled machine set on permanent steamroll.

After a tumultuous time stuck in Los Angeles recording their latest effort Nine Types of Light, a long, world-spanning tour that began in April in support of the record, and above all, the tragic loss of their friend and band mate Gerard Smith to lung cancer several gigs into the tour, the remaining four members of the group continue to staunchly power forward. By the time this is published, they will have performed a giant homecoming show on the Williamsburg Waterfront, one of many dates they have planned for a tour that resumed in late August and seems to be endlessly extending, with new gigs added almost weekly. If delving this acutely into the distractions of work during a personal tragedy is TV On The Radio’s form of therapy, the band might as well have written the clinical guidelines for such treatment.

READ MORE

Silicone Sister, the self proclaimed “rock band from Brooklyn” played on Friday night at The Local 269 on East Houston (the former location of the lesbian hip bar Meow Mix). There were several bands lined up, but I came in at Eye of the Dawn, a band made up of studio musicians and musical directors—they put on a good show and Aneurysm June, Europeans doing mostly Nirvana covers—they did them really well, by the way.

But I was there to see Silicone Sisters, a power duo with Anthony Moore on guitar/vocals and Babar Peltier on drums. Moore and Peltier met in bar in Bushwick less than a year ago, talked music the entire night, decided to jam together, formed a band. These boys love rock & roll. And they love it fast, no slow songs in their set. Which was fine by me because between the two of them they make a wall of sound (with fists through it). Peltier, a high energy driving drummer, has the ability to switch into “delicate” moments on cymbals, which was as much fun to watch as it was to listen to. Moore, bringing the rest of the sound on guitar and vocals, has a solid technique and tons of passion. I noticed how long his fingers are, chord changes made easy, he delivered rhythm and raucous melody.

Set highlights were opening song Q/A.  Black History Month is also a beautiful song possibly the most “sensitive” and I really like Release the Hounds which can be listened to on their Myspace page. Moore has a beautiful tenor voice, sometimes sounding at the edge of strained which is super appealing actually. They play their respective instruments hard and independently, but at times haul off into a perfectly synched instrumental of the same thrashing rhythm. I liked these moments throughout the show—it unified the set.

READ MORE

Friends, I know I have reported back on a lot of the exciting SXSW events, but I decided it would be a shame to leave Austin without showing you some of the local color.

Okay, maybe these weren’t real, authentic Austinites, but they were some of the more enthusiastic participants in the shenanigans on 6th street, which served as party central for the music portion of SXSW.

READ MORE

It turns out, once the music portion of the SXSW festival starts, you have exactly two options when it comes to what you’re doing at any given point in the day. You are either watching live music, or you’re eating.  No exceptions. This, in theory, sounds incredible — two of my favorite things, all day long, for five days in a row? HELL YEAH. And yet, in practice? Let’s just say, it’s only day two, and I’m having trouble standing up for long periods of time. Also, I need to eat an apple. Some greens. Really, anything but a taco, or a variation thereof. Let’s look into how I got to this state.

When you’re running around Austin at breakneck pace all day long, you get hungry.  Duh.  And the easiest food to grab on the go comes to you from an endless variety of trucks, parked on Austin’s sidewalks and in her parking lots. Some of the finer fare I’ve sampled from these mealhouses on wheels has included the tasty Argentinian empanadas from mmmpanada (they also make an asparagus and proscuitto empanada that may be on the menu for tonight), and a divine “pork chop bun” from an asian fusion cart on Austin’s 4th street, called Whazabi. When I ordered this little guy, I had no idea what to expect, and what I got was a lightly fried pork chop, served with lemongrass and asian-style barbeque sauce. Worth flying to Austin for.

READ MORE