Camden Crawl bears some similarities to the music portion of Austin’s South by Southwest festival, in that dozens of up-and-coming bands perform at multiple sites, all day long, in one concentrated area. And at the Crawl, as at SXSW, expect long lines for the bathroom, and lots of noise and beer. But also expect to [...]
Posts Tagged ‘ Music ’
Sharon Jones = Powerhouse Soul
April 15, 2010
London retro-soul music fans may remember the Dap-Kings as the American band that recorded and toured with Amy Winehouse. But the band’s Wednesday night performance at Koko with their original front woman, Sharon Jones, was an entirely different affair. The full review, on the recent Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings performance at Koko in London, [...]
Vampire Weekend in London
April 1, 2010
A recent live performance by Vampire Weekend at the Garage in North London as part of their current UK tour was a reminder that not all bands embrace the element of surprise. Vampire Weekend played through a set that included songs from their 2008 eponymous first release, a massive hit released on the UK-based independent [...]
Interview: A Place To Bury Strangers
January 22, 2010
For about six years, the New York-based three-piece band has won over audiences–and driven some away–with an ample supply of volume. The New York Times credited them with “reviving the ominous, feedback-drenched drones of the 1980s”, while the Washington Post described them as “the most awesome, ear-shatteringly loud garage/shoegaze band you’ll ever hear.” At the [...]
DJ Shadow’s Shadow
December 18, 2009
Introducing is a talented, Oxford-based nine-piece band with a very specific goal. Every show they perform is essentially the same. With the exception of slight variations in their encores, the set never changes. Their mission? To perform DJ Shadow’s first LP, “Endtroducing”, in its entirety, from start to finish. The full blog post is at [...]
Everything Michael Jackson Comes to London
December 5, 2009
In the final room of the exhibition are several large journals full of hand-written dedications to Jackson. Most entries are addressed directly to “Michael” and written much like high school yearbook entries. “You are the meaning of life,” wrote one fan. Most thank Jackson for helping them in some way. “You were a childhood hero [...]
Jazz Is Not Dead
November 12, 2009
Long before we debated what real punk-rock was, what true hip-hop was, or what made indie-rock authentic, jazz heads grappled with what is and isn’t jazz music. Now, the debate is whether jazz is dying off or not. America’s jazz audience is not only shrinking, it’s aging. Attendance at jazz performances has dropped 30% since [...]
This Was It: Michael Jackson’s Film Opening
October 28, 2009
In London, about 1,100 people gathered in Leicester Square for the premiere. Video screens showed red carpet arrivals from Los Angeles, the dance troupe Diversity — winner of the television competition “Britain’s Got Talent” — performed a Jackson tribute, and enthusiastic fans wore Jackson-inspired fedoras, gloves and jackets. The full story, reported by Ben Sisario [...]
Kanye West’s Self-Help Advice
October 6, 2009
Kanye West’s self-help book is a small, spiral-bound thing, too big for your back pocket but a perfect fit for the coffee table. Its bright yellow, blue, pink and green text is printed on glossy black paper, often in quite large sizes. It’s durable, so much so that you could throw it across the room [...]
Music, Meditation and Maybe Transcendence
September 23, 2009
It doesn’t take an ashram to achieve transcendence. From Sept. 25 to 30, London’s Barbican Centre will aim to prove that enlightenment can occur in a formal setting too, by hosting a series of concerts exploring devotional, spiritual and sacred music from around the world. The Transcender Weekender series will feature music designed to encourage [...]
