April 3, 2010
Califone, Sonoi @ The Bell House | 3.30.10
JezebelMusic.com @ The Bell House
March 6, 2010 | Califone, Sonoi
On a rainy Tuesday night at 8 PM The Bell House back room was nearly deserted (I was chased out of the cozy front room by a heinous comedy night), and I began to have apocalyptic thoughts: if even Califone can’t pack the Bell House on a Tuesday, what is the music world coming to? Then I remembered that I’m the only jerk who shows up at eight o’clock for an “eight o’clock” show. By the time opening act Sonoi went on (nine), the house was filling up with an appreciative and slightly older crowd (median age 28 or so, but I overheard a greying dude talking about his midlife crisis beard, so there was a nice range and diversity). The audience was less fidgety and less chatty than most rock crowds, appropriate to the dusty morbidity of the headlining act.
January 25, 2010
This Week In Shows (Haiti Benefit Concerts)
THIS WEEK IN SHOWS
Alright, I usually write a little blurb about each show I’m recommending, you know, arguing for why you should check it out. But this week I’m recommending these shows all for the same reason: each of them is a benefit for the relief efforts in Haiti. Hopefully you see something you like here, but if not, why not check out something new? Please help us show these artists and venues some love, but more importantly, let’s show a little love to the world outside our little pocket of the city.
MON, JAN. 25
Amber Rubarth, Ian Axel, Vienna Teng, Wes Hutchinson, Ari Hest and more
City Winery
8:00, $20, 21+
WEDS, JAN. 27
Cold War Kids, Ted Leo, The Wrens, Sondre Lerche, Eugene Mirman, AC Newman
The Bell House
6:00 PM, $50, 21+
El Medio, No Eye Contact, Breakfast in Fur, Drew Citron
Bruar Falls
8:00 PM, $5 with can of food / $6 without, 21+
The Roots, Kaki King, Eric Krasno & Chapter 2 with John Scofield, Matisyahu
Music Hall of Williamsburg
8:00 PM, $35adv/$40do, 18+
THURS, JAN. 28
Flanagan Smith, Matt Jones, Alyson Greenfield, Charlene Kaye, Outernational, Automa
Public Assembly Back Room
8:00 PM, $10, 21+
SAT, JAN. 30
Blag’ard, The Barrens, Sing With Voices,
Fontana’s
7:00 PM, $8, 21+
compiled by Erin Sheehy
November 8, 2009
This Week In Shows
THIS WEEK IN SHOWS
TUES, NOV. 10
Free Energy, Diehard, Small Black
The Bell House
7:30 PM, $8, 18+
I don’t know how I feel when, on their self-titled track, the lead singer of Free Energy says that he’s “making out with the wind,” but they’ve got a great, if sometimes corny, teenage ’70s power-pop feel, especially on the glammy “Dream City.” But the reason I first got excited about this show is that I somehow managed to miss Small Black during CMJ, and after reading our writer Tricia Patterson’s interview, I got all amped up to go see them this time round. (Shameless plug, yes, but also totally true.)
THURS, NOV. 12
Home Video, Dead Heart Bloom, Heads Up Display
Public Assembly
9:00 PM, $8, 21+
Yes, it’s the JezebelMusic.com Monthly Feature Show. It’s also a great chance to check out the gorgeous haunt of Home Video’s electro rock. Their song “Every Love That Ever Was” always makes me picture a montage sequence of some film where a couple has broken up but is still in love; maybe someone shuts a door, then slides down it in tears. Or a Tuesday night when you’re home alone, and you feel alone, and you realize tomorrow will be the same. Not to say this band is oversteeped in depression – their beats tread too swiftly and the keyboards soar too high to wallow – but Home Video has a way of cutting deep, to something structural, a basic human longing.
More on This Week In Shows
October 25, 2009
This Week In Shows
THIS WEEK IN SHOWS
TUES, OCT. 27
Talk Normal, Pterodactyl, Antimagic
Cake Shop
8:00 PM, $8, 21+
Well I had a great time interviewing Talk Normal, and our writer Helen Buyniski claims their live set is awesome, but I’ve yet to see them perform, so I figure no better time than their Sugarland record release party! Visually they’re interesting: drummer Andrya Ambro uses all sorts of unusual objects to augment her percussion, and apparently this noise duo really works a show into a hypnotic drive. Plus, with Pterodactyl opening, it’s bound to be an intense party!
FRI, OCT. 30
Pissed Jeans, Awesome Color, Drunkdriver, Sleepies
(le) poisson rouge
6:00 PM, $5, all ages
Ye be warned! This is a NYU-sponsored show. But I, for one, don’t care, really. I’m mostly just impressed that NYU is going so hard. It seems very much in the Halloween spirit to go out and get bludgeoned by sound, and lord knows Pissed Jeans and Awesome Color know how to ravage a space with noise. To be honest, the psychedelic sounds of Awesome Color are a bit more my style than Pissed Jeans, plus I already know that I love their live show. (I was blown away by their set at Market Hotel this summer.) And on another note, after learning so much about Sleepies last week, I feel like I should see them in action, too.
September 20, 2009
This Week In Shows
THIS WEEK IN SHOWS
MON, SEPT. 21
Rain Machine
The Bell House
7:30 PM, $15, 21+
In case you haven’t heard, TV On The Radio is going on a yearlong hiatus to pursue some of their other projects. But you won’t be hurting for music from these guys – Kyp Malone, for one, is already going full-force on his new project, Rain Machine. His album drops on Tuesday, and this show at The Bell House kicks of a month-long US tour. Hells yeah, this should be pretty interesting.
TUES, SEPT. 22
The Drums, Knight School, Kordan
The Mercury Lounge
8:00 PM, $10, 21+
I’ve yet to see Knight School live, (though I desperately want to), but I will tell you that The Drums and Kordan played our JM.com Feature Show in July and had the crowd in a frenzy. I hate to use the word “poppy,” but The Drums are just the poppiest, most endearing live band I’ve seen in a while. They combine eighties synth with a fifties girl group sound and sing songs about the beach. They even whistle. The whole thing is terribly cute, but not in a gross way.
More on This Week In Shows
September 4, 2009
See Ya Next Week!
Hey Everyone!
We won’t be posting much this week because we are giving ourselves a little makeover, but we’ll be back in full force next Monday.
Turns out some other Brooklynites are taking a break too, albeit a longer one. We were a little sad to hear that TV on the Radio is taking a year off, but we’re excited for the TVOTR side projects this year will bring. Listen to the new track from Kyp Malone solo project, Rain Machine, and maybe you’ll get excited too. Rain Machine plays The Bell House on September 21, and his self-titled album hits stores the very next day. Then it’s off on a monthlong U.S. tour. Whew, some break.
LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ The Bell House
August 8, 2009 | Harvey Danger, Jukebox the Ghost, Valley Lodge
photo by Jessi Bautista
Last Saturday The Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn, hosted the second show of Harvey Danger’s six-stop farewell tour. It was one of those rare existential crisis-inspiring shows that makes one wary of the ageist nature of rock music and the fickleness of pop. It was a show that ultimately inspired a sort of optimistic and perhaps obvious understanding that the real impact of a band isn’t the amount of records sold (or the popularity of a single), but its meaningful influence on a small number of people.
The opener, Valley Lodge, had a ’90s-inspired sound that was remarkably appropriate for the occasion. The band blasted into the song “Every Little Thing”, which sounded like the slacker side of Dinosaur Jr., or a loving tribute to the Old 97’s. Lodge is a project of the writer/comedian/UCB regular Dave Hill, who introduced each song as one of their “greatest hits,” and shredded his fair share of guitar solos. The band is a treat to watch, and I recommend that everyone in the New York area check them out.
More on Harvey Danger, Jukebox the Ghost, Valley Lodge @ The Bell House | 8.8.09
SEE IT LIVE
JezebelMusic.com @ The Bell House
August 8, 2009 | Harvey Danger, John Hodgman, Jukebox the Ghost, Valley Lodge
[All images copyright 2009 Jessi Bautista]
Valley Lodge
Jukebox the Ghost
John Hodgman
Harvey Danger
