In an ergonomic, minimalist approach at bringing you the best of NYC’s independent bands and songwriters, Jezebel Music will be streamlining its operations in 2009. Guarding the hallow gates of Jezebel Music is a lean, mean triumvirate: the Monthly Feature Show, Resonance and JezebelMusic.com.

Beginning in February 2009, the Feature Show will take place on the second Thursday of each month at Public Assembly. The Feature Show brings our Monthly Featured Artist to the stage for a night of exceptional live music that includes complimentary, local up-and-coming opening acts. This event has brought over 200 bands to Brooklyn’s best indie music stages: Galapagos Art Space for 18 months, Union Pool for 20 months and now taking place at Public Assembly (formerly Galapagos) starting February 2009.

Resonance, a free weekly show featuring four lo-watt bands and songwriters, is proud to have a new home at the excellent Bar Matchless. For over six years, this Wednesday evening event has been host to many of New York’s top singer-songwriters and acoustic bands.

At JezebelMusic.com you can learn about the Feature Shows and Resonance, and read intelligently written views of records, songs, standout artists, the music industry, online music culture, trends and emerging technology.

“The future's in the air / I can feel it everywhere / blowing with the wind of change”

What the Scorpions are so eloquently communicating in this epic power ballad – 18 years late, granted – is the exciting news that beginning Wednesday January 7, 2009, Resonance (like so many other young, hip things) will be leaving the Lower East Side and moving back to Brooklyn! Better yet, the most excellent Bar Matchless will be the new home of Jezebel Music's weekly Wednesday songwriter showcase: Resonance. And best of all, even though rent is steep everywhere, Resonance will remain a FREE show!

Wednesday + January 7 + 2009 + 7:00pm + Bar Matchless + $0 = YOU!

TONIGHT at Union Pool, the December Feature Show promises to rock! To say Team Genius (pictured) is a musical ensemble composed of multiple abnormally intelligent individuals is a bit much. But still, more than is usually the case, this is a band name that holds truths: two truths to be exact. The first being that Team Genius possesses above average musicality and finely tuned songwriting prowess, hinting that someone quite smart is behind the creative wheel. The second, and most important, is the way in which the members of the band/team are interconnected both musically and personally, and the clarity with which the aura of this tightly knit relationship is communicated through song. Listening to Team Genius on record is not enough. Although their recorded material is full of its own merits, this is one of few bands whose music simply begs to be experienced live… at Union Pool, this Thursday with Mercat, Diet Kong, and the Rollo Treadway! See you tonight!

And don’t forget to support Common Ground’s mission to end homelessness at the Benefit Show tomorrow night (Saturday, December 19) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg!

JezebelMusic.com is proud to host its Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground, an organization that uses innovative housing development and outreach to end homelessness. The ticket sales will go toward Common Ground’s Green Design Initiative, which uses energy-saving building technologies and non-toxic sustainable materials, like bamboo and non-toxic paints, in building projects.

Although the main ground of this benefit show is to raise money and awareness for Common Ground, it also happens to feature some of the most exciting NYC bands (most of them past Jezebel Music NYC Monthly Features), and promises to be the year’s best night of local music! Local all-stars Neckbeard Telecaster, Lowry, Wakey!Wakey!, Elizabeth Harper & The Matinee, Project Jenny Project Jan, Abigail Warchild, and J.A.C.K. will perform for the sake of charity and grade A entertainment. Scroll down the page to read posts about each band!

Friday December 19th, 8:00p
Music Hall of Williamsburg | 66 N. 6th, Brooklyn
$15
BUY TICKETS ONLINE!

JezebelMusic.com’s Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground features some of the most exciting NYC bands — Neckbeard Telecaster, Lowry, Wakey!Wakey!, Elizabeth Harper & The Matinee, Project Jenny Project Jan, Abigail Warchild, and J.A.C.K. (pictured) — promising to be the year’s best night of local music, and it’s all for charity!

Photo by Judith Levitt

For the NYC rock fan who frequents local venues, forever in search of the perfect band, the world can be full of disappointments. When everything does come together, the result is true, cathartic magic. Lucky for rock fans everywhere, there exists J.A.C.K.

J.A.C.K. consists of Scott Holland (vocals/guitar), JP Gilbert (guitar), Christopher Tordini (bass), and Tim Monaghan (drums). The members of J.A.C.K. are rock scholars with love for a wide variety of musical genres. The lion’s share of the band’s sound is derived from pile-driving 70’s metal acts like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath; it’s their refusal to rely on shortcut genre clichés that keeps their songs fresh and familiar at the same time. When Holland croons, “somebody turn the light on” during “Extinguisher,” the band is acknowledging a fondness for Motown ballads. A minute later, Television guitars propel a buildup that eventually explodes into a metal version of the original refrain. “I Cut My Arms Off” features Verlaine/Lloyd guitar interplay before taking on an intensity that the Strokes have never achieved.

This is an earnest rock band that takes pride in their musical ability. In Holland, J.A.C.K. has one of the most gifted vocalists a group could ask for. In the course of a single song, he can conjure up the pristine wail of Jeff Buckley, the howl of Ian Gillan, the rasp of Bon Scott, and some downright scary vocal overtones that would make any Mongolian throat singer proud. Eyes closed, a listener might imagine Bruce Dickinson on steroids, foot on the monitor, leaning way back in a gratuitous rock god pose; open-eyed reality reveals a calm, confident singer/guitarist. Monaghan embraces the responsibility of a band being only as good as their drummer and delivers a hard-hitting performance, attacking every part of his drum kit with confident zeal. A versatile player who keeps his cards close to his chest, Gilbert is able to release a ferocious variety of blues licks and Sonic Youth-inspired guitar wails when the moment is right. Tordini opts for minimalist restraint, securely anchoring the bottom end during Holland and Gilbert’s soaring excursions.

J.A.C.K.’s fanbase has been growing rapidly in the New Year following a slew of successful shows. With two EPs under their belt, the band has recorded the full-length Deletist, released in 2008.

Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground
Friday December 19th, 7:00p doors
Music Hall of Williamsburg | 66 N. 6th, Brooklyn
$15
BUY TICKETS ONLINE!

JezebelMusic.com’s Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground features some of the most exciting NYC bands — Neckbeard Telecaster, Lowry, Wakey!Wakey!, Elizabeth Harper & The Matinee, Project Jenny Project Jan, Abigail Warchild (pictured), and J.A.C.K. — promising to be the year’s best night of local music, and it’s all for charity!

Fueled by a healthy desire to “outsweat each other” onstage, Abigail Warchild lives up to its name: muscular, tuneful songs that come across like battle cries. What exactly the band is fighting remains buried beneath the noise; while the group is happy if its audience catches on to some of the sociopolitical lyrics, there is no effort to indoctrinate the crowd.

The songs themselves are anchored by the rhythm section, Hart consciously trying to keep the band anchored during the moments when the guitarists burst into extended, J Mascis-inspired squalls of feedback. With the guitars leaping from order to chaos in the drop of a kick, Davenport’s organ helps the band maintain an identifiable sound throughout the set. While Sanders may show up at practice with an almost-completed song, nothing makes the set list until everyone in the band has “had a whack at it.”

A heavy drumbeat kicks in, then a distorted B4 organ droning away with its lower drawbars, then the foreshadowing “ka-chink-a-chinka” of an electric guitar. By the time vocalist Michael Sanders begins to shout into the microphone the listener is waiting for the inevitable twin-axe assault. When the Sabbath-heavy guitars finally kick in they’re surprisingly tuneful, but this is first and foremost “assault rock.” When Sanders states that he aims to hold the audience in the palm of his hand it’s only half the story; he wants to smash them like a fly for 40 minutes of visceral emotion.

Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground
Friday December 19th, 7:00p doors
Music Hall of Williamsburg | 66 N. 6th, Brooklyn
$15
BUY TICKETS ONLINE!

JezebelMusic.com’s Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground features some of the most exciting NYC bands — Neckbeard Telecaster, Lowry, Wakey!Wakey!, Elizabeth Harper & The Matinee, Project Jenny Project Jan (pictured), Abigail Warchild, and J.A.C.K. — promising to be the year’s best night of local music, and it’s all for charity!

Photo by Judith Levitt

Sporting one of the most unclassifiable, danceable and hilarious live shows in New York, Project Jenny, Project Jan is reeling in their fans one booty at a time. PJPJ’s idea of entertainment is a little edgier than most bands. “[We] wanted to freak people out… get them scared,” is the way vocalist/MC Jeremy Haines describes the original intention of the music which has become the opening theme for the bands live shows. From there, most PJPJ newcomers are often dumbfounded during the first three or four numbers as they try and get their ears around on the band’s act. This party music is packed to the brim with jumping genres and runs the lyrical gamut from the innocent humor of “Chinatown Bus” to the Slick Rick, potty-mouth porn story “Negative.”

Like any good frontperson (or comedian), Haines aims to achieve consistency in his control of the crowd. A self-described “snake-oil salesman,” he studies up on legendary performers like James Brown in order to do this. Programmer/keyboardist Sammy Rubin programs dense musical backdrops that thump, funk and swing with an almost schizophrenic intensity. With his shades, suits and winning charisma, Haines ties it all together. Onstage, Project Jenny Project Jan makes its goal known from the start: deliver the good times; getting a reaction is crucial. One of the band’s favorite fan quotes comes hearsay from a friend. At a recent Mercury Lounge performance, the crowd was hanging out at the bar. A patron returned to the backroom to find his friend transfixed by PJPJ on stage:

Patron #1: "What is this?"

Patron #2: "I don't know… but it’s amazing!"

Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground
Friday December 19th, 7:00p doors
Music Hall of Williamsburg | 66 N. 6th, Brooklyn
$15
BUY TICKETS ONLINE!

***BANDS is tonight at the Delancey! Naked Hearts, the Party Faithful, the Loom, and Bridges and Powerlines will perform!***

JezebelMusic.com’s Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground features some of the most exciting NYC bands — Neckbeard Telecaster, Lowry, Wakey!Wakey!, Elizabeth Harper & The Matinee (pictured), Project Jenny Project Jan, Abigail Warchild, and J.A.C.K. — promising to be the year’s best night of local music, and it’s all for charity!

Photo by Judith Levitt

Several years back, songsiren Elizabeth Harper stepped off a bus from Los Angeles; her sound couldn’t be further from the West Coast, so the relocation to NYC is understandable. The East Coast and U.K. are her live stomping grounds and her unapologetic love of Morrissey, Mazzy Star and Elliott Smith fits right in. As winter prepares to strike its first blow over New York City, Harper’s music presents itself as the perfect soundtrack for brainy, single urbanites looking for a flirt with disaster.

When Harper stepped onstage at the 2007 Williamsburg Live Songwriter Competition, it was the undeniable strength of “The Sea” that carried her on to the semifinals. The performance itself was admittedly awkward, and within the first five minutes of talking with Harper, an explanation for her solo slips reveals itself: this songwriter is in love with her band, and is an incredibly powerful performer when surrounded by them. The band members all approached Harper about playing these songs, and the artist cites the band’s strength as the force behind their focused sound.

Harper started out as an actor, and her flare for the dramatic is always on display. No matter what sort of heartbreak falls into the lap of her characters, it’s apparent that they love every minute of it. This approach results in compelling songs that are never overbearing and can resonate with young urban singles who dive into trouble for the thrill of it. As long as there are women who love a bit of drama and men who like to date them, there will be a market for Harper’s lovely songs.

Third Annual Benefit Show for Common Ground
Friday December 19th, 7:00p doors
Music Hall of Williamsburg | 66 N. 6th, Brooklyn
$15
BUY TICKETS ONLINE!