Author: aftertheshow (Page 156 of 191)

Big Scary at Pianos

October 26, 2012 / aftertheshow

Big Scary, the Australian duo of Tom Iansek and Jo Syme, played at Pianos last night (Wednesday October 24th).

Big Scary have been a band since 2006, and they released their first songs back in 2008 .

The electric guitar driven “Gladiator” as well as the keyboard driven “Falling Away” were really great live, even for people in the audience who hadn’t necessarily heard the album versions of those songs.

Big Scary ended their set with “Purple” off of their Vacation LP, which sounded a bit out of place (it’s more aggressive, with a spoken word chorus) compared to their other songs.

Check out Big Scary’s website & Twitter!

“All Boy Band”: Park Ave.

October 23, 2012 / aftertheshow

“All Boy Band” is a song by Park Ave., a band that featured two members of Tilly and the Wall and Conor Oberst on drums.

Starlight Girls: CMJ

October 20, 2012 / aftertheshow

The first band I discovered at this year’s CMJ is Starlight Girls.

Starlight Girls website

Night Beds: First New York Show

October 15, 2012 / aftertheshow

Night Beds played their first New York show Friday night at Mercury Lounge.

Winston, the lead singer, had a unique vocal setup — he alternated his singing between two microphones, which were next to each other on the stage. One mike had some sort of echo effect which made the vocals sound like they were drifting in from far away.

Winston’s voice was the highlight of the show and the band’s secret weapon. “Even If We Try” showcases those vocals with its acapella beginning.

He seemed to switch guitars between almost every song, and the repeated unplugging/plugging/re-tuning was a little distracting, though.

I noticed a lot of musical transitions within the songs. The drummer was strong, and he switched it up with mallets and brushes on different songs.

“Even If We Try”:

“Night Beds”:

More info. on Night Beds

Mopedrock

October 10, 2012 / aftertheshow

Mopedrock is a band from Vienna, Austria who did a cool live cover of “Ivanka” by Imperial Teen:

*Mopedrock’s website + Mopedrock’s own music on SoundCloud

The Milk Carton Kids @ Largo: 10/4/12

October 6, 2012 / aftertheshow

Photo Credit: Brendan Pattengale

Largo is the perfect intimate venue for The Milk Carton Kids (Joey Ryan + Kenneth Pattengale).

The symmetrical, simple stage setup consisted of 4 microphones — 2 for vocals and 2 for acoustic guitars, with a red velvet curtain as the backdrop.

For the most part, Kenneth focused more on string work while Joey strummed. They were dressed pretty formally in suits, and they harmonized and sang most songs together.

On a couple of songs, though, one took the lead vocally. For example, Joey sang his song “Permanent” and Kenneth took over on “Charlie,” a memorable song to his future daughter.

The audience loved all the jokes, stories, and banter between the two. They also told the crowd about the new album of 12 songs they recorded in 4 days.

Highlights: “New York,” “Michigan,” and the last song before the encore (“I Still Want A Little More”).

*Download The Milk Carton Kids’ albums for free on their website + check out the upcoming tour dates.