Some bands have a pretty distinct aesthetic when it comes to their music, how it sounds and how it’s presented. Khruangbin have taken that vision and run with it, all the way to the tailor and back. Laying down the most laid-back grooves one can think of, they coolly play a brand of music […]
FOTOBOM: KURT VILE, JESSICA PRATT @ HOUSE OF BLUES
Kurt Vile had to know that including a song like “One Trick Ponies” on his seventh record would be a vulnerable action, as rumblings from certain cynical/critical corners would gleefully point to Bottle It In and say, “See! He’s just released the same mid-tempo collection of songs he’s always done.” But see… that’s the thing. […]
FOTOBOM: KAMASI WASHINGTON @ ROYALE
Pundits and talking heads say that traditional band-based rock music is dead, and if we’re gonna look back at the fossil record, then jazz has been calcified for a couple of decades. But, like most things, the ‘experts’ have painted the wrong picture. Still, I wouldn’t have put much money on heading to Royale […]
FOTOBOM: COURTNEY BARNETT @ HOUSE OF BLUES
“You know it’s okay to have a bad day.” Courtney Barnett spends a lot of time, thinking about the edges of the daily human existence, sketching out brilliant pastiches of the small moments that everyone experiences. It never hurts to have a catchy song to drape lyrics around, and her case she’s shown […]
FOTOBOM: GUIDED BY VOICES, PARK DOING @ THE SINCLAIR
Fifty three songs. 53! For any bands outside the patchouli-hazed jam world, it would take years if not decades to play that many different songs live, given the rigid set lists of most touring bands. Guided By Voices has no such issue. Granted, leader Robert Pollard has been cranking out full-length records at a […]
FOTOBOM: FARM AID 2018
It’s a bit hard to believe that Farm Aid has been a thing for nearly three and half decades now, but it’s stronger than ever. In its 33th rendition, old friends Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young (along with recruit/”newcomer at 17 years” Dave Matthews) continue to exert their time and energy […]
FOTOBOM: THERE’S NO LEAVING NEW YORK
At first glance, The National might not strike one as a band who command a following that fills arenas. The group’s literate, self-effacing gloom certainly lends itself to a certain cultish devotion, but few artists making music that sounds this way have translated the approach into the clout to personally curate and headline a […]
FOTOBOM: EX HEX, EZTV, E @ GREAT SCOTT
They say variety is the spice of life, if that’s true for bills, this Saturday night’s lineup was a veritable garam masala. The headliner of Ex Hex was the reason the room was sold out well in advance, and Mary Timony along with her crack rhythm section of Betsy Wright and Laura Harris filled […]
FOTOBOM: HUICHICA EAST
While Folk Yeah has been putting on Huichica West for a solid decade, their efforts on the eastern side of the country are relatively new. This past weekend was the third event held at the amazingly bucolic setting of Chaseholm Farm, nestled in the rolling fields and scattered forests of the Hudson Valley. Folk […]
FOTOBOM: PAUL RODGERS, JEFF BECK, ANN WILSON @ BLUE HILLS BANK PAVILION
Age is just a number. It’s a cliché, but like most clichés there is sometimes more than a kernel of truth to it and tonight, this trio of 70s FM radio warriors came together as The Stars Align tour and provided compelling evidence that the number of times they’ve circled the sun is deceptive. […]
