Sean Lennon with Robert Skoro at First Avenue on 12/11/06

By: Charlie Vaughan
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The black winter night wraps completely around my three-season porch. The only light is a pale stare from an idle monitor. It’s late and things are going poorly. And it’s very cold, too cold to bear for any real length of time. This is the fourth season, and the little porch cannot hold it back. The only protection is from the wind; otherwise it’s the same as sitting outside on the concrete steps—including the thick coat and stocking cap. It’s not an ideal setting ...

Joanna Newsom with Bill Callahan at 400 Bar on 12/8/06

By: Billy Graves
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In the days before indie-bands could ride the wave of internet hype to fame, Joanna Newsom was not a household name. Her first album, The Milk-Eyed Mender went almost entirely under the radar. Two years later, Newsom’s second album, Ys, has wooed music reviewers (see Metacritic’s list of accolades for the album), indie fans (who will undoubtedly shortlist the album in their year-end top-ten lists) and even the London Symphony Orchestra (who will play with her for five sold-out ...

Medeski, Scofield, Martin and Wood at First Avenue on 12/7/06

By: Ilya Ratner
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You’d think adding a prolific guitar stud to an all-pro band would be smart.  You’d think the music would flourish and you’d be amazed.  But you’d be wrong.  The addition of Scofield into Medeski, Martin, and Wood appeared to be brilliant, but when they came together on stage, it was a travesty.  It was as if a Mexican doctor had attached a superfluous limb, and it dangled there awkwardly, getting in the way. MMW has been on my A-list since high ...

Joe Bonamassa at Cabooze on 12/2/06

By: Joe Lang
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Joe Bonamassa is the fiercest touring electric guitar player under 30 on the face of the planet, bar none.  No, he doesn’t have the good looks or pop sensibility that some of his “contemporaries” have, like Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Johnny Lang or John Mayer, he just has chops ‘till next Tuesday and a napalm tone that soothes and sears as he streaks up and down his guitar neck with some of the ballsiest playing you ever heard.  The real fuckin’ deal. &nbs...

DeVotchKa with My Brightest Diamond at First Avenue on 11/30/06

By: Mary Rea
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A crowning moment for Denver’s darling, DeVotchKa, came with this summer’s soundtrack for “Little Miss Sunshine” – a collaboration which has taken their ethno folk indie rock to a wider and more diverse audience. Thursday night’s main room show at First Avenue found the crowd primed and ready for the band to outdo their July performance at the Varsity [read Billy Grave’s review of their previous show here] and they did not disappoint. Warming up...

The Black Keys Deliver a Fiery Blast to the Lower Chakra at First Avenue on 11/29/06

By: Lynn Zecca
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The Black Keys played to a sold-out crowd of rabid, sweat-soaked fans at First Avenue Wednesday night, and the duo rocked with enough power behind the pathos to set the coldest Minnesota night on fire. It was a perfect storm of Patrick Carney’s violent rhythms and Dan Auerbach’s shamanistic chord-work and emotionally charged vocals. They ripped through a tight, hour-long set that included half of this year’s brilliant Magic Potion. The rest was equal parts Rubber Factory and...

+/- at 7th Street Entry on 11/24/06

By: Pat O'Brien
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After a spare, loose set from local hot properties Duplomacy (see my review of last week’s show here), it was do or die time for NYC's +/-, a band that I had been back and forth about over the past few months. On record, some of it had been a little too emo for its (and my) own good, but in a live setting it took on a slightly more mature tone; there seemed to be much less whining than I had previously remembered. Instead, the music res...

Bonnie "Prince" Billy with Human Bell at St. James Place on 11/11/06

By: Eamon McGrath
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Seeing Will Oldham, who records and performs under the moniker Bonnie “Prince” Billy, in a church was a must-do.  Not just for the crisp and near-perfect acoustics – although seeing church rafters and stained-glass windows shake is a sight I’ll never forget – but also for the fact that the venue could not have been more excellently suited for one reason and one reason alone: Bonnie “Prince” Billy is nothing short of a spiritual experience. Ba...

Lyrics Born, Cut Chemist and Edan at Foundation Nightclub on 11/2/06

By: Ilya Ratner
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It was as if Bobby Flay had served me the perfect three-course meal: Edan to start, Cut Chemist as the entrée and Lyrics Born as the funked-up desert.  A smile crept onto my face as soon as my buddy drove onto the tracks of an oncoming light rail train.  A great beginning to a great night. We’ll call that the appetizer.  No jacket, it was hyperborean.  My fingers went numb waiting in line before finally walking into Foundation.  A long staircase led...

Beirut, A Hawk and A Hacksaw, Animal Hospital at Triple Rock Social Club on 10/14/06

By: Billy Graves
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A Hawk and A Hacksaw - Photo by Steve Engelmeyer I’ve often wondered why American Idol, the most confusing and frustrating musical phenomenon since white people hijacked swing music, has the authority to say one singer is more worthwhile than another. I guess if you want to help decide the next pliable record company tool, American Idol is a good competition. But if you want ...