Celebrate Brooklyn! is putting on free, outdoor concerts this summer in Prospect Park.
Norah Jones played the opening night show a few days ago, and some highlights of the line-up include The Swell Season (July 30), Sonic Youth (July 31), Holly Miranda (August 5), and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (August 7).
Part 1 of “How to Discover New Music” (read it here) was all about good music podcasts.
Part 2 is about attending concerts.
Make sure to get there early to catch the opening acts of bands that you already like. Sometimes, the opening bands are chosen by a band’s record label rather than by the band itself, but seeing opening bands nevertheless exposes you to music you probably haven’t heard before.
I’ve stood through my share of awful and/or boring opening acts, but I’ve discovered some of my favorite artists just because they were the opening band for another band I already liked.
Real life examples: Ben Lee opened for Phantom Planet, Eisley opened for New Found Glory, Brandi Carlile opened for Hanson, and The Bridges opened for Rooney.
On the flip side, say a band you like is opening for a different (bigger) band that you haven’t heard of before. Don’t just leave right after the band you came to see played — stick around for the headlining act, and you just might discover a new favorite band.
Real life example: The Like opened for The Sounds.
Steel Train’s upcoming album will be released along with an all-female companion album (called Terrible Thrills, Vol. 1) featuring covers of each of the new album’s 12 songs.
Steel Train chose the artists, and the choices are great — Scarlett Johansson, Holly Miranda, Tegan and Sara, Alia Shawkat (didn’t know she sings), and Amanda Palmer are some of them.
Even for music lovers, listening to the same music can get stale. If you feel like your iTunes is repeating the same songs over and over again, you need to update your library!
Keep things fresh. There’s a lot of music out there that’s either plain bad or that you don’t connect with, doesn’t move you, or just isn’t special. But, there are many ways to find new music that you really like.
One word…Podcasts. Some good music podcasts to subscribe to are:
1. KEXP Song of the Day
2. The Interface (Spinner.com)
3. iTunes Celebrity Playlist Podcast
4. KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic
5. NPR: Live Concerts from All Songs Considered
6. XM Weekly Music
7. Suggestions for other good podcasts that you listen to in order to discover new music? Leave them in the comments section, or tweet them to After_The_Show.
On Friday May 28, Reni Lane played at LA’s Viper Room.
Although her set was short, she and her band played songs from her debut album including “Place For Us,” “Even You,” “Drive,” “You Are Here,” and “Never Stop.”
Reni Lane’s debut album has a lot of other good songs, like “We Don’t Forget” and “Never Be Another You,” which she unfortunately did not play at this show.
Nada Surf played two sold-out shows at LA’s Troubadour on Tuesday and Wednesday (May 25th and 26th).
The band played a mix of old and new songs. They played songs from previous albums such as “Happy Kid,” “Blizzard of ’77,” “Inside of Love,” “Do It Again,” and “Always Love.” “Electrocution” was their best new song.
Unfortunately, they didn’t play “The Way You Wear Your Head,” “I Like What You Say,” or their cover of “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.” They did, however, play a great cover of “I Fought The Law.”
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