Live Picks: 05.24.2012 – 05.30.2012
05.26: Quintron and Miss Pussycat + Lost Bayou Ramblers – Siberia
No band in southern Louisiana may have a more fitting name than the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Led by brothers Louis and Andre Michot – sons/nephews of the legendary Les Freres Michot – they are at the head of a class of modern traditionalists ushering in the most recent Cajun revivial. On Saturday night, they will be warming up the crowd for the valiant return of a man who probably needs no help whipping a group of Bywater concert-goers into an ecstatic frenzy.
Live Picks: 05.17.2012 – 05.23.2012
05.18: Buxton + The Donkeys – Howlin’ Wolf Den
Houston’s Buxton are no stranger to the city of New Orleans, as Friday night’s show at The Howlin’ Wolf Den will be their fourth trip to town in the last 18 months. But these frequent visits – making them a fixture of the local scene in a way even some local bands are not – have all been justified as the last year and a half has been an explosive time for the imaginative folk rock collective.
Live Picks: 05.10.2012 – 05.16.2012
05.10: Caddywhompus + Sun Hotel + Country Club + KG Accidental – 12 Bar
The men in Americana act Country Club have become well-known around New Orleans for their imaginative songwriting, physical talents and drunken raucous live prowess. Unfortunately, it’s all coming to an amicable end tonight at 12 Bar, where Jack Donovan and Co. say farewell to fans and friends, leaving them with one hell of a parting gift. Download new single “Future Days” within, as a preview of tonight’s release of Country Club’s sophomore record, a swan song ripper of an offering.
Live Picks: 05.03.2012 – 05.09.2012
05.06: Rotary Downs – Circle Bar
During Festival Season, you can count on Rotary Downs to come out swinging. After opening up the first Jazz Fest weekend with last Friday’s ripper at Le Bon Temps Roule, a marathon performance that showed off almost a dozen fully-realized new tunes, Rotary Downs will be closing down the festival in similarly epic fashion at The Circle Bar. Sunday night’s show will be the first time the band’s first visit since the bar reopened it’s doors and there’s good reason to expect a thrilling and memorable end to another fantastic Jazz and Heritage Festival, et al.
Live Picks: 04.26.2012 – 05.02.2012
04.27: Givers + Habitat – One Eyed Jacks
The past two years have seen GIVERS band on a creative and touring tear through every section of North America and parts of Europe and as a result this young band has become virtually branded by their pitch perfect live endurance. Lighthearted, upbeat and masterfully instrumental, the five-piece – led by male/female vocal duo Taylor Guarisco and Tiffany Lamson – is a perfect balance between stage spectacle and audience accessibility.
Live Picks: 04.19.2012 – 04.25.2012
04.21: The Tontons + Major Major Major + The Beams – Circle Bar
The Tontons haven’t been through down in about eight months, not since their planned appearance at Chinquapin Records’ first Chindig was cancelled due to weather and scheduling conflicts. However, they’ve picked the perfect weekend to reemerge in the New Orleans underground. Immediately following Block Party (which, while we’re on the topic, features another Houstonian, prodigious earache rapper B L A C K I E), the Tontons will headline a late night aftershow at the Circle Bar along side local power pop four-piece the Beams and Austin-based psychedelic punk act Major Major Major.
Live Picks: 04.12.2012 – 04.18.2012
04.14: Silent Disco hosted by Rusty Lazer – 524 Frenchmen St.
Popularized at outdoor musical festivals looking to keep the party going after local noise ordinances took hold, Silent Discos are at once perfectly inclusive and blithely exclusive; and may be almost as enjoyable for those watching from the sidelines as for those in the private universe of the synced up headphones. With the always-decreasing cost of technology and more and more audio equipment manufacturers getting in on the game, Silent Discos have spread beyond huge events to bars, clubs and even house parties. This weekend, back-to-back local events bring the trend to the New Orleans.
Live Picks: 04.05.2012 – 04.11.2012
04.06: Pizzanity! – Siberia
Just as the New Orleans music scene is undergoing something of an DIY renaissance, so too is the food scene. The last few years have been marked by a wide range of decidedly non-mainstream restaurant ventures such as food trucks, push carts, and pop-ups serving everything from burgers to bahn mi to tamales to tacos. This benefit for Pizza Delicious, kings of local underground cuisine, will rightly showcase some of the kings (and queens) of local underground music including seminal alt-country rockers Happy Talk Band, who spent the back half of 2011 fine tuning a slew of haunting new compositions while somehow continuing to improve the platonic ideal that is their visceral performance of a nearly flawless canon.
Live Picks: 03.29.2012 – 04.04.2012
03.29: Bomb the Music Industry! + The Lollies + Safety + All People – The Big Top > Boyfrndz + Caddywhompus + Sun Hotel + Chicken Gyro – Circle Bar
To be clear, Block Party is going to be the event of the year for the New Orleans punk rock underground, and it will be difficult for any single concert this year to top the twelve hours of non-stop music, records, food and fun that it’s going to offer. But damned if tonight’s double venue whatever-you-call-it doesn’t come close. Teaming up for what amounts to a mini-festival in its own right, the Community and Chinquapin camps plan to give the public a teaser of what’s in store next month on Clio Street.
