Live Picks: 10.04.2012 – 10.10.2012
10.09: Bipolaroid + Trampoline Team + Holy Wave + DJ 9ris 9ris – Siberia
Siberia – one of the most consistently impressive musical operations in the city – had to completely clear the schedule when the city started it’s war against music venues. Local psychedelic garage rockers Bipolaroid have the distinct honor of welcoming Siberia back to the fold.
Live Picks: 09.27.2012 – 10.03.2012
09.29: Glish + The Beams + Native America + L.F. Knighton – Circle Bar
At their core the Beams are – simply put – an always pleasant, often loud, occasionally mind-blowing concoction of jangled guitars, heartbreak melodies and charmingly unrefined vocal harmonies. Yet there is always something even more unique about this act bubbling just below its forthright surface.
Live Picks: 09.20.2012 – 09.26.2012
09.21: Big Rock Candy Mountain + Bantam Foxes – Circle Bar
Since they first bust on the scene in 2009, the New Orleans music community has rarely agreed about anything the way we’ve agreed about Big Rock Candy Mountain. They storm back to the stage on Friday with a complete set of new songs in the can and an extra long set to both debut them all and dig into their canon of old favorites.
Live Picks: 09.13.2012 – 09.19.2012
9.16: Breezy’s On Freret Kickstarter Party – Mudlark Theater
There has never been anything secret about our love for Breezy’s, the coffee-shop turned apartment turned multipurpose art space that spent the summer of 2010 as the undisputed king of New Orleans DIY live music venues. It only took six months for the powers that be to shutter Breezy’s first incarnation, but proprietors Mike Twillman and Micah Burns have taken a broad leap towards sustainability by moving Breezy’s underground spirit into a legitimate commercial space: Breezy’s on Freret. This Sunday’s afternoon matinee at Mudlark Theater is part of a final push to bring Breezy’s on Freret up to full speed in time for the jam-packed fall concert season.
Live Picks: 09.06.2012 – 09.12.2012
09.08: Native America + Donovan Wolfington + ArchAnimals – Thermos
Though late night bar and live music culture is a phenomenon that New Orleans will be forever connected to, there is something to be said for those musicians who are unafraid to play wherever, whenever and for anyone. Though there has been a DIY punk movement in the city for decades, only recently have indie and college rock musicians begun to take up the DIY ethos. Nevertheless, that culture has been steadily growing for some time now. Saturday night at pop-up venue Thermos in the Uptown campus area, three of the city’s most talented heatseaking bands get together for the kind of casual, off-the-beaten-path show that local live music fans have come to crave over the last couple of years.
Live Picks: 08.23.2012 – 08.29.2012
08.25: Coyotes + Gold And The Rush + Sports & Leisure – Carrollton Station
After an impressive string of performances earlier this summer and a trip to the studio to put down their first offerings of recorded material, what is obvious to many at this point is how Sports & Leisure has quickly managed to match their complex – often jarring – milieu of folk, indie pop and psychedelic miscellanea with an organic tightness and a fantastic level of onstage energy.
Live Picks: 08.16.2012 – 08.22.2012
08.18: Felix + Cons and Prose + Sideshow Tragedy – Prytania Bar
This weekend, Felix and greatest band in the universe Rotary Downs return to the New Orleans stage. Rotary Downs are back after spending the summer working diligently on a new album, but just as exciting is the long-awaited return of Felix, the most fearlessly awesome band in town.
Live Picks: 08.09.2012 – 08.15.2012
08.09: The Eastern Sea + Native America + Sharks’ Teeth – One Eyed Jacks
In only thirty days time an Eastern Sea performance has gone from highly recommended to nothing short of required, appointment viewing: the new album they just put out is an all-consuming masterpiece and their current 7-piece touring outfit perfectly navigates the tension-filled narratives and robust instrumental panoramas of the long-awaited Plague with an expressive energy that adds yet another dimension to the dazzling compositions on their full-length debut.
Live Picks: 08.02.2012 – 08.08.2012
08.04: Dirty Projectors + Wye Oak – House Of Blues
Dirty Projectors and Wye Oak have spent the last few years making some of the most exciting music around, and very few bands treat their material with such brilliant care in a live setting. Thus, Saturday night’s unofficial White Linen Night after party is one of the rare House of Blues events that is truly worth the generally-bemoaned premium heaped upon national tours that stop at Live Nation’s local outpost instead of the myriad independent venue options in the city.
