Hotfox is a band that I found searching around for music for the show.  This song is straight-up pretty.  It’s a great study in how to gradually build emotion and layers in a song.  It’s the #1 reason I like this band.  The #2 reason I like this band is because they are from Bloomington, Indiana, and that is where my sister lived for a long time, and I know for a fact it’s a cool place.  If you’re looking for a song that matches your grown-up style angst (not as angsty as you once were, maybe more concerned about your immediate future and the fact that we’re all turning into robots, etc.).  Please check out the song, and stream the rest of their excellent album on their Bandcamp.

MP3: “Mountain Tiger” – Hotfox

MP3: “On Your Way” – Alabama Shakes

Hello!  It’s been seventh months, but New York Rockmarket is up and running once again.  Over the last half year, I’ve spent all my musical energy music supervising a new show on ABC called Final Witness.  It’s going to air in March, and I can’t wait to share everything I’ve been working on with you.  Some New York Rockmarket favorites will be featured on the show, like Thee Oh Sees, JEFF the Brotherhood, Kurt Vile, Widowspeak, Young Man, Tennis, Parenthetical Girls, and I’ve discovered a ton of new music I love now, like Sean Rowe, Family Band, BOBBY, Barn Owl, Toubab Krewe, Katie Kim, The Bony King of Nowhere, and J. Pinder just to name a few.  I anticipate you’ll hear from me about a lot of these bands.  I also want to say a huge thank you to everyone who wrote to me when I shut the blog down back in May.  It was so nice to hear from people who had been reading– thank you.

I’m still frustrated with the state of music in Brooklyn.  I’ve admittedly been a bit out of touch, but I don’t see the same energy and passion from young bands coming up that I think I saw three or four years ago.  So many DIY venues have shut down, and the community feels dry to me right now.  I don’t think that the shift towards one-man(woman)-electronic-bands helps foster a sense of local community.  And I still don’t care for most of that music.  Still, there have been inspiring things happening since I left off here.  Amy Klein’s amazing blog reminded me of what I was hoping this blog would be, but wasn’t ever able to quite put my finger on- longer, thoughtful pieces on the state of rock and roll’s place in our cultural world.  I didn’t know a blog could be like that AND find an audience.  Impose Magazine continues to be a force for good in the universe, and I continue to run the photo section of their page.  And many of my old favorites, like Real Estate, have gone on to release incredible, mature albums on big-deal labels.  We’ve all grown up a little, I guess.  Still, my favorite things about music are angst, and rebellion, and that feeling you get at shows when you know that you and a room full of strangers completely understand each other without having ever spoken a word.  I’m still very confused about how those feelings fit into today’s Internet-centric music world.

With that in mind, I won’t post here every day anymore.  I most likely won’t write show suggestions, or post every day.  I plan to write about bands I come across that I like.  I plan to publish longer, thoughtful pieces when I’m able.  I haven’t been taking as many photos lately, but when I do, I will post those, too.  In the ethos of this blog, to be 100% transparent, part of the reason I’m posting again is so that I have a place to show potential music-supervising clients the type of music I like.  Not very rock and roll, and a personal conflict I will hopefully address soon in more depth.  But most of all, I will always and forever love good music, and have a compulsion to share it with others.

In that case, I’m very excited for my first new MP3.  It’s from a former classmate of mine at Swarthmore, Dwight Smith.  I’ve known Dwight to be a multi-talented guy for years, but I was pretty damn impressed when I heard these new tracks from him.  The Neutral Milk Hotel/Sufjan influences are there, but Dwight’s voice is clearly special and unique, and blends perfectly with the DIY-folk production of this track.  Check it out below, and visit his Bandcamp to pay what you wish to download another track, too.

MP3: “Ruins” – Dwight Smith

Still, some crazy things have been happening to me job-wise and life-wise.  I need to take some time off from the blog to figure out if NYRM is still something I should do.  Right now I do a lot of things, and I do an ok job.  I hope to do a few things in the future, and do them extremely well.  One of those things might be this blog, one of them might not.

I love writing about music, and I believe that cultural criticism, especially when it relates to music, is an incredibly important task to undertake.  But I’ve figured out it’s pretty much impossible for someone my age to make a living off of writing excellent music criticism (let alone finding the opportunity to become excellent in the first place).  I don’t really want to have a successful blog.  I want to be a successful music writer.  I can’t for the life of me figure out how to make that happen without mooching off of my parents the rest of my life.

I thought the key was to get a related music-industry job and blog in my spare time.  That sort of works.  But I’m beginning to suspect that the only people this whole thing is a good deal for is the people in the bands, the people actually making the music.  I want to be creating something worthwhile and bringing people together through entertainment and excellent critical thought about that entertainment.  So, while I figure out how to do that in a life-plausible way, I’m going to take a blogging break.  It might be a week or two or a few months, and I might never start back up again.  Only time will tell.  And if you know how I can make money writing, well, you know how to get in touch.

Thanks,

Madalyn

MP3: “Answering Machine” – The Replacements

Lightning Bolt is crazy.  They have the loudest, rumbliest, most rocking live show, and it is something not to be missed.  Combine that with the outdoors on a nice spring day- the juxtaposition is sure to be magic!  Plus, you also get to see Pterodactyl, Ducktails, and So So Glos.  AND enjoy street booths manned by NYU students.  Which, you know, might be a good thing or a bad thing.  The music, though, that’s definitely a good thing.

MP3: “Dead Cowboy” – Lightning Bolt

Awhile back, I shared a new comic with you about going to The Bell House with my friend Meredith.  We posted another installment last week, this time at The Bell House.  We saw some really excellent talented new bands, including Grand Rapids and Balkans.  Both definitely worth checking out.  And, of course, The So So Glos ruled.  Check out our interpretation of the whole night over at Impose.

MP3: “Edita V” – Balkans

I’ll be honest, I’m mostly recommending this show because it’s free.  But that’s fantastic, because this is a pretty damn good quality show for no money!  You have to RSVP here, and entrance is based on capacity, but Cults are fun and Oberhofer is one of those deservedly-hot-right-now young bands that it seems like we’ve all been talking about for years (but it’s actually only been since October).  Puro Instinct (they used to be Pearl Harbor), well, I think their music is mediocre at best and that people have taken a shine to them because they photograph well, but hey, maybe you like bands that photograph well.  Either way, I think this is going to be fun, and you really have nothing to lose.  Grab a few friends, get there early for the MHOW happy hour, and enjoy some great free tunes.

MP3: “I Could Go” – Oberhofer

Technically, The Crocodiles are headlining this show, but what I would do is go for the first three bands.  The Fresh & Onlys!  Young Prisms!  Bass Drum of Death!  That is some good rock n roll on a nice, big stage with a nice, big soundsystem.  I’ve been listening to a lot of Fresh & Onlys lately, and I’m consistently impressed at the clever way they put their albums together.  They’re the kind of garage band where every song sounds totally different, which isn’t the easiest thing to do.  Check one out below.

MP3: “Dude’s Got A Tender Heart” – The Fresh & Onlys

This show happened, but I wrote this up and forgot to post it.  And the MP3 is really good:

When your average indie music fan is presented with instrumental, more experimental music, I think the general reaction tends to be, “Okay, that’s nice, but I’m probably not going to listen to that, and it would honestly probably be boring to watch an entire concert of.”  They might not admit that out loud, but I’m guessing they’re probably thinking it.  Maybe they sort of like Mogwai, but that’s the extent of it.

Woodsman isn’t something that you’re going to put on in the car on your way to the beach (probably not) or on Saturday night at your dinner party (probably not), but if you want to expand your musical box just a little bit, then this band is for you!  They create instrumental compositions that are most successful when compelled by guitars, though they’re pretty heavy on the electronics, too.  It’s not noise music, but it isn’t as easy as something like Mogwai- nor as difficult as some more out there Sonic Youth.  The music is often pretty and often exciting, and watching them live adds another great element, as you can watch to see how they’re creating the many layers in their songs.  They have a fantastic new track out, and you can download it below or check them out at Cake Shop.

MP3: “Tone Cloak” – Woodsman

It’s an epic battle of two shows this Wednesday, vying for your favors in a Austenian struggle of awesomeness.  Bowery Ballroom is seductively batting its eyes at you with DOM, MINKS, Fergus & Geronimo, and Total Slacker.  A total babe!  How could a show get better than that?  It seems like the obvious choice.  But then Cake Shop comes around writing you love letters with Davila 666, Hunx & His Punx, and Shannon and The Clams, and it’s suddenly clear that Cake Shop is actually Mr. Darcy.  Sure, they’re playing again on Saturday at Glasslands (and with K-Holes, too, but sans Davila 666), but the more intimate venue will make for a much snugglier setting.  And trust me, proximity during a Hunx show is always a good thing.

I can’t let an opportunity to talk about how great Shannon and The Clams are slip away, either.  Girl has serious, serious presence and should be a role-model to young rock and rolling ladies everywhere.  I love her last album so, so, so, so much- demented 50s prom night to the max.  Either night you go, make sure you don’t just show up for the incredible Hunx, but for Shannon, too.

MP3: “Troublemaker” – Shannon and The Clams