Entertainment - Thursday, November 19, 2009 14:12 - 2 Comments
Dispatches from the MTVu Woodie Awards
Oh, MTV. The network that pretends it still likes music. In an attempt to remain “cool”, each year MTVu puts on The Woodie Awards, an awards show that recognizes breaking talent in the world of music. My experience at the Woodies was not a pleasant one overall, but it had its bright moments. I separate the night in my mind into two parts: the performances, and the presentations. The former was so infinitely better than the latter it’s actually comical. Due to a probable press embargo until they air, I can’t really yet say who won what, (and if you really want to know, I’m sure you can search Twitter), but suffice to say I was disappointed by most of the winners.
Let’s start with the positives. The opening performance of last night was Matt and Kim’s “Lessons Learned” with the help of some stripping back up singers (one of whom was my freshman year roommate!). This was a take on their amazing music video for the song. I will never quite understand how they keep those gigantic smiles on their faces for the entirety of every performance I’ve ever seen them do. It’s mind blowing.
Entertainment - Tuesday, November 17, 2009 10:20 - 1 Comment
Tuesday Track: “Under the Sheets” by Ellie Goulding
Ellie Goulding has been up and coming in the London indie scene for almost a year now. She recently got a shout out from Perez Hilton and of course now she’s really starting to blow up. While cute singing girly troubadours are a dime a dozen across the pond, Ellie has been able to separate herself from the pack by not only having solid and catchy songwriting but also by embracing electronica and dance beats. She has collaborated with Frankmusik and Starsmith, who produced her debut record due out in early 2010. She also lent her vocals to his remix of Passion Pit’s “Sleepyhead”, re-invigorating a song I previously thought to be a dead horse. Her single “Under The Sheets” combines folk sensibility and soulfulness with electronic manipulation and mashup. Unfortunately she’s not coming to America anytime soon, but most likely she’ll be on a world tour before you know it.
Entertainment - Tuesday, November 10, 2009 14:45 - 2 Comments
Gossip Girl Provides Good Old Fashioned Threesome Fun. Sort Of.
This week’s Gossip Girl was a good example of how much the show has changed since seasons past. And not in a good way. This show, as much as it pains me to say this and as much as I’ve tried to ignore it, has jumped the shark.
The Debutante Ball? I’m sorry, this is something Josh Schwartz usually does very well (see: The O.C.), but this one was a little too interpretational for my tastes. There is a fine line between re-imagining to keep the audience interested and just being totally unrealistic. In season one, the Deb Ball had normal music and girls in some form of white dress, because that’s what happens at a Deb Ball (at least in teen-soap land). As much as I love The Plasticines, they would not be performing “I’m a Bitch” at a high-society function, and what is with the prom ‘06 dress theme? It looks like they ransacked the junior’s section of Macy’s. Continue…
Entertainment - Tuesday, November 10, 2009 13:15 - 2 Comments
Tuesday Track: “Thunderbird” by The Golden Filter
This electronic duo, who hail (respectively) from Australia and Ohio, have only released one single to date (”Solid Gold”), yet have already played SXSW and toured with The Presets. The Golden Filter got its start as many electronic duos do, remixing tracks for Cut Copy, Little Boots, Empire of the Sun, and Peter Bjorn and John. Their new single “Thunderbird,” set to be released on November 16th, is best described as onomatopoeic. Continue…
Entertainment - Thursday, November 5, 2009 13:43 - 2 Comments
Ricky Gervais Finds the Innuendo in Everything
There are few things that will compel me to travel above 14th street, but when I heard that Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office and the star of the UK version, was performing uptown, I quickly realized that I had no choice.
The show started with opening act Todd Barry, perhaps most well known (at least by me) as guest starring in Flight of the Conchords as Todd, the bongo playing “third Conchord”. I thought he was terribly annoying in the show, so I wasn’t expecting much. However, his set was excellent and covered a spectrum of mundane yet hilarious topics including Tom’s of Maine deodorant, Californian’s Mexican food snobbery, and Spanish prostitutes in Barcelona.
Entertainment - Tuesday, November 3, 2009 10:35 - 3 Comments
Tuesday Track: “Ambling Alp” by Yeasayer
I’d been hearing so many good things about Yeasayer this week , and when I finally listened to the track everyone’s been talking about, “Ambling Alp”, their first single of sophomore album Odd Blood, I realized what everyone was flipping out over it. Yeasayer was one of those bands I heard when I first came to NYU. Everyone thought they were the second coming of the Christ. So, while I thought they were a little vague and sloppy for my tastes, I dutifully downloaded “2080″ and “Sunrise” and pretended to like them until I really did like them. But listening to this new single, I can see that Yeasayer have grown into something far more pleasing and mature. This single still has their signature psychadelic-electro backing mixed with tribal beats, but instead of the vocals taking a backseat like they did previously, they are at the forefront. Chris Keating’s folksy lyrics shine beautifully and add a richness and depth to their sound that I felt was lacking in previous efforts. You can download the track here.
Photo from Flickr user If979883 under the Creative Commons License
Entertainment - Monday, October 26, 2009 14:49 - 1 Comment
CMJ: Your Final Roundup
Okay readers, we’ll be honest. We got a little burnt out by the end of CMJ, for various reasons. Midterms, combined with all the free drinks, led to a lack of concentration in the last few days. But everyone did manage to see a few acts, so here you have it:
The xx at Music Hall of Williamsburg, by Jake Moore
Contrary to non-popular opinion, The xx is not a subversive marketing campaign for Dos Equis. Just a four-piece London band who happens to be the biggest thing at CMJ this year. We went into the show with literally two minds: skeptical, unfamiliar Keyana, and die-hard fanboi Jake (he embarrassingly scooped up the setlist at the conclusion of the show).
The band, draped in black, slithered in from the shadows with practically no fanfare save two massive glowing X’s at either side of the stage. Singer and guitarist Oliver Sim quickly adopted his signature sultry, thousand-yard stare that’s aimed at nothing in particular. They kicked things off with the closest thing they have to a single, ‘Crystalised.’ Despite the abundance of cool, we quickly came to the conclusion that The xx plays a pretty comatose show, replicating their studio recordings note for note. But somehow they stay fascinating despite the lack of spontaneity. It was like watching four alchemists pouring out a solution drop by drop, combining spare guitars, overlapping vocals, and staccato beats with ridiculous exactitude. End verdict? Jake’s blind faith was only slightly shaken, while Keyana remained entirely unimpressed.
Entertainment - Friday, October 23, 2009 12:00 - 1 Comment
CMJ Wednesday Roundup
Jake (who also took all of our beautiful pictures FYI) saw Fanfarlo (above), the five-piece band from the UK, who seem to have been produced by a trihybrid cross of lumberjacks, turn-of-the-century organ grinders, and pure flannel. At last night’s CMJ show at the Bowery Ballroom, the band produced folksy indie-rock on an epic scale, in the tradition of Beirut or Arcade Fire. Their rough-around-the-edges antique aesthetic doesn’t seem forced or affected, even as they indulge what seems to be an obscure instrument fetish; their songs featured mandolins, a clarinet, and even the melodica, the shunned bastard child of a bagpipe and a keytar. Fanfarlo pulls off an excellent trick: they manage both a symphonic hugeness and, more importantly, an authentic warmth. Maybe it’s just all that flannel.
Keyana went to see Field Theory at Bruar Falls, one of those obnoxiously named, obviously kitschy (there was wallpaper on the ceiling, for god’s sake) Williamsburg hipster hangout bars. Their songs ran the gamut from poppy indie melodies, to straight-up rock, to Radiohead-inspired soundscapes. Ordinarily I’d say that’s a disjointed mix, but it seemed to work well for them, and I was too busy bobbing my head/dancing to really care. Most of the band members were visibly nervous during the first few songs of their set, and the guitar was kind of out of tune — but their songwriting was solid, their timing was impeccable, and they brought horn players. Any time a rock band can incorporate a couple of good horn lines into their songs, I’m happy. Makes me wish there were more than just 40 people paying attention.
Continue…
Entertainment - Friday, October 23, 2009 10:30 - 2 Comments
CMJ Tuesday Roundup
Reporting CMJ: It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it. Free drinks, tons of bands, general revelry; it can be tough at times. But being the dedicated journalists we are, the Entertainment staff combined our powers to tell you about the standout acts we’ve seen so far this week.
Tuesday was a bit of a warm up day for everyone. After the CMJ-sponsored media mixer at the LimeWire Space kicked things off, it would suffice to say that we were very warm. Despite the deliciousness of the free cocktails and the fact that Margaret Cho DJ-ed, I’m pretty sure this was just a ploy by CMJ to get all the people who were going to write about the bands they showed so liquored up that they would just go nuts over everything they saw. It may have worked.
For people put off by excessive happiness and enthusiasm (I know you’re out there), maybe give Jukebox the Ghost (pictured) a pass. The three-man band’s Bowery Ballroom show last night had a certain gleeful insanity to it—largely due to frontman Ben Thornewill’s dinner plate-sized buggin’ eyes, wild keyboard-pounding and manic gesticulations.
Continue…
Entertainment - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 13:16 - 1 Comment
Double Teaming “Gossip Girl” Like Chuck [Maybe] Double Teams Dudes
Last night’s “Gossip Girl” was pretty great. Yes, masterpiece status eluded it, but if you were looking for ridiculous things to laugh about, it was perfect. This week, Natan and I (Samantha) joined forces so you get to read both of our illustrious opinions about NYU’s official TV show. Here’s what we thought:
1. We are torn on the Olivia Burke character. Natan loves her and hopes she stays. I’m not so sure. Although this may be partly due to the fact that I kind of feel like HIllary Duff’s acting hasn’t really progressed all that much since she played a sort-of-famous person in the Lizzy Maguire movie. Feel free to disagree.
2. We’ve been waiting for it since season 1, and we finally got it, albeit under pretty inauthentic circumstances: Chuck’s Gay Scene. Yes, he kisses a boy, but it’s only for a game-that-isn’t-really-a-game-that-Chuck-isn’t-aware-off. However, the line where he asks Blair, “you think I’ve never kissed a guy before?” was just perfectly delivered. Oh I love you Chuck, even though every week my roommate says you look like a wet cat. (Which I can see, honestly.) Continue…
