Articles by Liz

San Francisco’s Adam Balbo is at his best when he’s making a particular kind of fun of himself, mocking his own lyrical and metaphoric choices as he considers the greater “purpose” of singer/songwriters.

No pictures this time kiddos! Read on…Despite being nestled in the bustling chaos of Times Square, contributing to the spectacle with its own flashy signage, the Nokia Theater isn’t actually all that bad. Sure, the lobby may look like the interior of a combination night club/food court with low blue light revealing a lunch counter [...]

Say Hi (no longer to your mom, or anyone in particular), is the moniker of basement recorder Eric Elbogen, the contemplative dreamer whose sixth album is the first to come out on the Barsuk label. Oohs & Aahs carries the musician’s signature homemade feel, not due to random background noises or lack of recording quality, [...]

Quickly selling out the Music Hall of Williamsburg (not to mention the Bowery Ballroom – tonight’s show) might not be the greatest thing any musician has ever done, but I’ll be darned if that ain’t pretty good for a 22-year-old newcomer. Swedish darling Lykke Li brought her charming combination of teenage innocence and confident conviction [...]

The Fleet Foxes sure are popular. It can be descried as nothing short of amazing to watch the group go from a humble performance at Union Hall to a shoulder-to-shoulder squish-fest at Webster Hall but a few months later. Humility is key with these guys as throughout their quick ascent to music-world recognition they’ve retained [...]

British electro rockers Hot Chip leap between insanely bouncy pop and slightly more subtle electronic musings on their albums, but their live show forgets preciousness and brings on the dance party. Terminal 5 was packed with beer-splashers Saturday night as the once dance club remembered its beginnings and saw three floors of fans surge in [...]

Creating enrapturing soundscapes that penetrate the brain just so, an ambient noise band have a hard task ahead of them in playing a giant music hall filled with thousands of chattering Saturday–nighters. Rising to the challenge, Kevin Doria and Joe DeNardo of Brooklyn’s Growing casually entered the stage and delivered their set with precision as [...]

A Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill lineup may well have appeared on countless “dream bill” lists compiled by music nerds of all kinds, making last night’s 90’s throwback just, wow. Fresh from having done so for the ATP festival, BTS were there to perform their orgasmic 1997 album Perfect From Now On, whose [...]

Homesickness ran high at last night’s Calexico show as it quickly became clear that I was not the only member of the audience from Tucson. Hoots and hollers of T-town pride sprang from all corners as the band played a particularly enthusiastic set, due in part perhaps to their just having come from a show [...]

Brooklyn’s Big Bang TV are an engaging bunch not simply thanks to the usual attention-grabbers, say, tunes that get the head bobbing or a set of musicians clearly delighted to be playing. This gang certainly succeeds in those tasks, but the real kicker is the refreshing uniqueness in their utilization of disparate musical elements to [...]