Noise Pop 2012: Veronica Falls, Bleached, Brilliant Colors, Lilac @ Rickshaw Stop 2/24/12
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a band must be in want of great hair. Last Friday night at the Rickshaw Stop, which featured four sets of fuzzy guitars, was no exception. Unfortunately I missed Lilac’s set, but I did catch the band’s frontman, Will Ivy, who recently moved down to Los Angeles after six years in the Bay Area. But don’t weep: Half the band is still in San Francisco, so hopefully that means they’ll keep playing shows up here every once in a while. He also cut his signature hair since I [...]
Noise Pop 2012: The Dodos, Au, Cannons and Clouds, Here Here @ Great American Music Hall 2/26/12
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Noise Pop 2012: Atlas Sound @ Bimbo's 2/25/12
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Noise Pop 2012: Favorite photos from this year's festival (Paige K. Parsons)
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Noise Pop 2012: Wye Oak, Sea of Bees, Social Studies, The 21st Century @ The Independent 2/24/12
Photos by Nicole L. Browner There aren't enough superlatives in the English language to describe how incredible Wye Oak was on Friday night at the Independent. If you're a fan of the band's gothic country indie rock (or whatever the hell it is) on record, then you must see them live. No matter how much you like the recordings, you will gain new insight into the band's sound once you hear their songs with extreme quiet-to-loud dynamics — like "Holy Holy" or "Plains" from their 2011 album Civilian, or "For Prayer" from 2009's The Knot — played live. It's a [...]
Noise Pop 2012: Laura Veirs, Foxtails Brigade, Carlos Forster, Tyler Lyle @ Swedish American Hall, 2/25/12
The Saturday Noise Pop evening show at the Swedish American Hall featuring Laura Veirs & the Hall of Flames made me wish I'd also seen the kids' matinee earlier in the day. As Laura described during the band's evening set, many classic "children's songs" have some inherently darker and more mature themes, making them accessible by all ages. Thankfully, Laura & the Hall of Flames chose to perform a couple of the kids' tunes from earlier in the day among the Laura Veirs originals, inspiring a healthy dose of nostalgia among the evening audience and demonstrating her unique fortitude as [...]
Noise Pop 2012: The Soft Pack, Shannon and the Clams @ Cafe Du Nord 2/23/12
From the 60s surf rock of Surf Club and Fidlar to the gritty rockabilly of Shannon and the Clams to The Soft Pack’s mix of 70s punk and 80s garage, Cafe Du Nord functioned as a four-decade time machine on Thursday night. It was Shannon and the Clams that stole the show, though, amidst a sea of beach pop, all despite the fact that a (hopefully well-meaning) fan told Shannon Shaw two songs in that it all sounded bad. It didn’t. Quite the opposite, in fact. Musically, the band is ostensibly an homage to the 1950s -- evoking a sense [...]
Noise Pop 2012: Porter Robinson @ Fox Theater 2/24/12
"Where's Porter?" "When is Porter going on?" "Has anyone seen Porter?" "PORTER, BROOOOOO!" Electro-house/dubstep DJ and producer Porter Robinson may have one of the most loyal fan bases in EDM, as witnessed Friday night at his nearly sold-out Noise Pop show at the Fox Theater. Of all the Noise Pop shows in 2012, this one seemed to produce the most raising of eyebrows, especially if you have kept tabs on the 19-year-old's meteoric rise to fame over the past two years. At 19 years of age, Porter Robinson shouldn't even be able to legally enter a majority of the clubs he [...]
Noise Pop 2012: The Fresh & Onlys, Disappears @ Bottom of the Hill 2/22/12
Halfway through their set, The Fresh & Onlys' frontman Tim Cohen said, "I'd like to dedicate this song to James Kim," referring to their sometime second percussionist (their first being Kyle Gibson), who they often borrow from Kelley Stoltz's band. And then he launched into "Be My Hooker." That was not the first song Cohen had dedicated to someone that night, nor would it be the last. It might, however, have been the only joke he made all evening. (I'm fairly certain, for example, he wasn't kidding when he asked at the end of the show if anyone had any [...]
Noise Pop 2012: Thao Nguyen, John Vanderslice, Garrett Pierce, Bird By Snow @ Bottom of the Hill 2/23/12
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