[Night Out] VOWS at AVIV (1/24/2015)

For a better view of the gallery above, click here.

2015: The year of awesome. Sprout and I have been waiting patiently for the perfect show to kick off a year that we plan to jam full of music, laughter, hugs, friends, and adventures. This somewhat last minute show by longtime SKOA favorites VOWS (formerly WAZU) could not have been a better way to set the tone for the year ahead of us. This was our first encounter at DIY venue, AVIV, which is tucked away in an industrial part of Greenpoint, complete with absolutely no signage whatsoever and a bathroom that is working hard to be as notoriously nighmarish as the ones at CBGBs (RIP). One foot in the door and Sprout and I were in love with the place instantly. After grabbing drinks from an adorable bartender who was equally as anxious to see VOWS as we were, we proceeded to take our respective places and proceed to drink in the sounds of the evening along with our bubbles.

When last we laid eyes on the dark duo, they were out on the road with Soko. It had been even longer than that since we actually got to see them perform, so we were both pretty anxious to see if their big move out of Brooklyn to Los Angeles was worth us being short a few SKOA family members in New York. As they were setting up I was reflecting on how far their sound had already come along in just 3 years, especially since the first time I heard their debut EP as WAZU, which I had played earlier in the evening while getting ready. 

Then they started soundchecking. I only heard a few notes but I knew instantly that LA had been the right move. Like, so much so that if LA did that to them, maybe we should all consider getting Hollyweird, like, immediately. 

No. Seriously.

Songs that I was already more than familiar with had this aggressiveness and newfound energy to them that I hadn't realized was missing before. Multiple times Sprout and I exchanged awestruck glances from across the room. I could not have been a prouder rock mama than I was last night. 

I am beside myself in excitement to report that the band was in town after a day of recording in upstate New York, which means soon you'll be able to hear what I'm talking about. For now, feast your ears and eyes on "Symbol System" from their self-titled EP, which you would be foolish not to PURCHASE because it is worthy of more than streaming. 

[Night Out] Anberlin's Last Shows Ever (11/25/2014 @ The Ritz in Ybor City, FL & 11/26/2014 @ House Of Blues in Orlando, FL)

Anberlin @ House of Blues in Orlando, FL 11/26/2014

The Friday before Thanksgiving while I was getting ready for work I received a text message from a friend of mine that I had seen the week prior at an Anberlin show at Gramercy Theater. While we were hanging out at that show, I had entertained the idea of heading to Florida to witness the final Anberlin shows ever before the band officially broke up for good. Later the next day, however, I pushed it out of my mind because it wasn't a thing that I could afford and felt incredibly silly for me to go out of my way for considering how many times I had seen the band growing up. She wanted to know if I was still planning on heading home for the holiday for the final Anberlin shows.

As I fumbled to text back, "Can't do Florida. Would love to, just can't", the second I hit send my eyes began to swell with tears and lump in my throat was big that I was having a hard time swallowing. I don't get into it much on here, but a big part of the person who babbles on about music to you that you are reading today was majorly influenced by my upbringing in Orlando. As much as I sometimes wish I had been born and bred in New York, I can't imagine that I would have been the music loving human being that I am today without the experience of being so hungry for music and so eager to support local artists that I traveled all over central Florida following a handful of bands around. Unfortunately, not many of them saw the semi-mainstream success that I had cheered them on for, but to this day I couldn't be more proud of what bands like Copeland, Underoath, and Anberlin have been able to accomplish since we were all idiot teenagers.

After a bit of encouraging/convincing from my friend, I did what any actual fan would do: I did whatever it took to get my behind to Florida.

I had to get to Florida by Tuesday night because it wasn't just Anberlin performing at The Ritz in Ybor City, my longtime local favorites Copeland would be opening. Copeland had disbanded a few years back, so it was a top priority of mine to not miss this unicorn of a reunion-eque performance. I literally flew in, kissed my family, drove where we needed to so I could borrow my mom's car, and proceeded to drive in some of the worst rain I had experienced driving in for an hour to Ybor City. Every 10 miles or so I received text updates from hometown friends already there about the status of the show because I was running so late (thanks again, JetBlue!).

But I made it. Not only did I make it, but it was just in time for "Coffee", a song that I had long spent defining myself to non-Florida friends who didn't quite understand the dynamic of the central Florida music scene. For 5 minutes I would forget that I was rain soaked and stressed out of my mind. The flood of memories and emotions that came was worn basically white knuckling it the whole way to Ybor because it had been years since I had driven in the rain at night. 16-year-old me was so happy that I had gone through all the effort for one more live experience of that song. I thought of the countless times that I had hid what was left of my allowance under one of their t-shirts on their merch table because I knew they were going to be heading out on tour and I wanted to make sure they had gas/food money. I relished in the moments I had with a band that had inspired me for such a large portion of my life.

Between sets I ran into a girl who I had met at a show over a decade ago. At the time she didn't have enough money for a Copeland CD, so I bought her one. We kept in touch and I'd later introduce her to a friend of mine who would eventually become her husband. She showed me photos of their kids and we caught up a bit. That was a bit of a surreal moment for the both of us. I had forgotten about the Copeland CD bit until she posted this Instagram a couple of days later.

Mind you, this was all before I even experienced any Anberlin music within the state of Florida. A longtime friend of mine got me backstage because I was getting overwhelmed by the crowd. From the side of the stage I sat on some amp cases or something and watched another band that I have literally been experiencing for more than half of my life. I watched their fans sing along so loudly that sometimes I had trouble hearing frontman Stephen Christian. I cried at their show in New York that I attended, but this one I managed to keep it together... at least for this one anyway. After the show a lot of us old school Florida scenesters waxed poetic about days gone by. It was equally weird and amazing to be around people that have been my musical family for as long as they've been.

I had attempted to prepare myself all day for Anberlin's final show at House of Blues. I knew that if the feels had been weird in Ybor that they were DEFINITELY going to overwhelm me in Orlando. After as much facetime with my blood family as I could, I joined my other family inside House of Blues for a powerful set from the forever amazing Floridian five-piece. Throughout the majority of their set I applauded myself for keeping it together, but that was before I exchanged hugs and laudatory words with the band's manager and longtime personal hero of mine, Kyle Griner. He and I have somewhat of a history. He didn't know I existed until well after I would secretly go make extra copies of the flyers for the shows he promoted back in the day (I was painfully shy when it came to things like that for some reason). Since being made aware of this, however, it has been nothing but mutual respect and admiration. Like the bands I poured my heart and (formerly) allowance into, Kyle has been someone that has long inspired me to press on like I have in the 14 years that I have been actively trying to professionally help musicians make all of their musical dreams come true. After the year that I've had, I didn't realize I needed to hear all the nice things he said to me until after he walked away, but that sub-5 minute conversation alone was worth the airfare to Florida.

The band rang out their final note, we all hugged each other, shed a few tears, hung out for awhile, and then just like that, Anberlin had officially converted from touring rock band to fond memory.

If there's one thing that I learned from this particular experience, it's that it's important to not just remember where you came from, but to fearlessly embrace the seemingly awkward pieces of your former self that brought you to who you are today. I used to be really embarrassed about how much I supported the central Florida music scene even after I had moved away to Nashville and New York, but I would never trade the fire that these bands ignited inside of me at such a young age for all the limited edition Beck vinyl in the universe. I will forever be thankful for the contributions to the universe that were provided by both Copeland and Anberlin and never stop being inspired to pour my heart and soul into trying to make someone else feel the same way about another band.

Check out the photos from both shows in the gallery below. Pick up Anberlin's final album, Lowborn, on iTunes. You should definitely also grab Copeland's latest album, Ixora, while you're already there shopping.

[Interview] Don Diablo Talks Anarchy, Family, The First Song He Ever Made

Don Diablo @ Pier of Fear 11/1/2014. Image credit: Sprout Dr

At the end of the day the annual DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs list is just that: a list. Granted, it's a fairly good indication of the DJs and producers that are probably worthy of your eardrums as well as your dollars, but like every facet of the music business, lists like this also get muddied up with the DJs du jour that vanish from the scene maybe a year after the list is published. We’re currently in a bit of a crisis in music where the overall sentiment is that we aren’t going to have any “career musicians” to replace the ones who we will eventually lose. Who will be our next Radiohead, Beck, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bjork, Led Zepplin, etc.? At the current rate that we’re going, it feels like we’re all going to have to accept that these flavors of the week who are fighting for their 15 minutes are as much a standard part of the new music business model as our fairly newly crowned singles dominated sales model, or the reluctant acceptance of streaming for that matter.

When it comes to Dutch producer/DJ Don Diablo, this is not the case. He’s nothing remotely close to a fad. He is an artist that has put in the time to hone his craft, extend his family to include his ever growing fanbase, and gain the respect of the music community breaking all the rules every step of the way. Amidst the never ending swarm of momentary musicians that will come and go, we’ll at the very least have one powerhouse of a DJ that we will all happily grow old with.

Don Diablo and Steve Aoki in his "Back To Life" music video. 

Of course when he’s at the age (which is 90, for you kids at home) that he portrays in his music video for, “Back To Life”, who knows what Diablo will be doing? As we chatted backstage early November at Pier of Fear in New York City moments before his set, he confessed that music wasn’t his first love, but that filmmaking was. “[It’s] weird, right?” he chuckled, “We’re here at a huge rave tonight and this wasn’t even my dream!” His musical beginnings stemmed from the need to find the perfect song for a film that he had been working on with his friends. Since his search left him empty handed, instead of settling for second best, he took matters into his own hands and made music of his own. Although the song would eventually be what got him signed and releasing records at the ripe age of 14, he'll be the first to admit that the song was far from a masterpiece. “It was horrible!” he noted, “It sounded really bad. The production was horrible. I guess there were some ideas in there. A lot of it was based on samples.”

Now at age 34, Diablo has been creating music for 20 years. Things have certainly changed in the way music, especially electronic music, was made since then. “[Back then] it was a time where you really had to invest in making music,” he noted, “You had to buy equipment, learn how to work the machines. It’s different than nowadays.” Despite overcoming the technological hurdles, being a seasoned electronic music veteran who’s not exactly an old timer can have its disadvantages. “Some people think I’m really old.” he chuckled, “They think I’m an old fat German guy because they know records from me from like 15 years ago.”

Having a professional career that began in his early teenage years has made what he considers to be the status quo is pretty mind blowing. “My reality is pretty distorted.” he explained, “I have a pretty weird life in that sense. […] I just grew up living in hotels and planes and doing whatever the hell I want. Sleeping in. Not sleeping. I don’t have a weekend. I don’t have a week. I just do what I feel and I have no boss to account to.”

“They think I’m an old fat German guy because they know records from me from like 15 years ago.”

— Don Diablo

This unruly upbringing would have a profound impact on his approach to his creative process, which he is constantly hinting at very subtly by utilizing the anarchy symbol in his logo. This intentional little detail is his statement to both his fans and musical colleagues alike. “Anarchy means no rules so you don’t have to obey existing expectations or rules,” he explained, “For me, it means that you don’t have to make music in one genre. You don’t just have to be a DJ. [...] I try to break free of the rules and just come up with a different idea and in that sense to me it’s like anarchy.”

This credo of his is seen throughout his work everywhere you look. Most DJs aren't known for directing their own music videos, contributing lyrics or vocals for their songs, genre hopping, or designing their own clothes in addition to a handful of other things. They also most likely wouldn't choose to enlist their mother and grandmother for a photoshoot to encourage fans to vote for them in the Top 100 DJs list over hiring a publicist for a huge press blitz, but again, Diablo dances to the beat of his own machinedrum and no one elses. “I’ve literally been trying to destroy my musical career for years,” he said, “But every time I get more inspired and I get more ideas.” He never allows himself to get burnt out on making music or any of his other disciplines. “[...]When I’m not inspired with making music I get into other stuff,” he elaborated, “I start editing a video or coming up with concepts with videos. [...] You can do other things that are still creative and a part of you being an artist. So that’s how I found a nice little balance for myself so I can be creative 100% of the time.”

Since he’s always working on something, when the time comes for a song to come together, it can happen faster than you'd imagine. “I think the best songs I’ve done, I’ve done in one day,” he divulged, “Like let’s say, 'Anytime'. I finished it in 3 hours. It’s just boom boom boom. Obviously I already had the idea there for a long time. I created all the separate elements and had them in a folder. [...] The actual production only took a few hours.”

“I’ve literally been trying to destroy my musical career for years, but every time I get more inspired and I get more ideas.”

— Don Diablo

However unconventional his methods seem to be, they’re most definitely working in his favor. This past October for the first time ever he made his debut entry on the Top 100 DJs list at number 82. While it comes as no surprise to longtime fans like myself, as usual artists are their biggest critics, "I’ll be very honest," he confessed, "Most of my life I’ve been feeling pretty disappointed in myself. Like, I’ve never really been proud of anything that I’ve done. I felt like my life was a big failure, you know?" Those of us on the outside looking in can see his gradual climb, but Diablo hadn't noticed until it was blatantly obvious, "Yesterday I played in a club and I played like 90% of my own records and people went APESHIT," he gushed, "They weren’t just singing along to the lyrics of my songs, they were chanting along to the melodies. Like during 'Knight Time' they were like, 'dun dun dun, dun dun dun dunn' but in a choir. It really made me feel like for the first time in the last couple of months that everything is coming together. I’m proud of what I’m achieving now."

Every artist has a tipping point in their career. Unfortunately for Diablo, it all started shortly after his father passed away after a battle with cancer 2 years ago. “When my dad passed away I let go of every inch of fear that I had in my body and I also tried not to overthink things." It reinforced his creative process. "I do everything on feeling and out of my heart [now]," he said,  "Sometimes it’s a song that’s very personal, sometimes it’s just a cool tune. I don’t like to linger around too much. I just want to release music.”

Once he freed himself from fear, songs like "Starlight" would find their way out into the world. "Once I had that record," he explained, "I just realized, 'Wow. It’s really connecting with people on a worldwide scale.' Something just snapped in my head and everything I did before in all those years I basically set aside and I started over like I was a new artist." Songs like "Knight Time", "AnyTime", "Back In Time", and "Back To Life" would further propel him forward. As the play counts on Soundcloud and Spotify continue to soar and the dance floor becomes more tightly packed, his inspiration proportionately increases as well. "Right now I’m just insanely inspired," he gushed, "It goes up and down, but for the past 2 years I’ve been on an incredible high. I just had ideas that just go into the studio and music just comes by itself."

Up until recently he was prepping for a proper full length debut, which was tentatively titled, Respect Doesn't Pay The Bills. After an unfortunate series of hard drive failures earlier in the year, however, he took a step back to see what he could learn from the whole experience. "It opened my senses," he explained, "I lost all my music. I lost my whole album. But the album would have kept me on the same path." Throughout the majority of his career, Diablo has been an internet darling of sorts, getting so much love from music blogs that for a few years he was often Hype Machine's Most Blogged Artist, which he obviously is grateful for, but as his scrapped album was appropriately named, respect doesn't pay the bills in this industry. "[...] It’s cool getting good criticism and people on the blogs really loving you," he admitted, "[...] but I wasn’t getting any bookings. I really kind of saw it as a sign." After a month of soul searching he came to the conclusion that he would hold off on a full length for the time being. "I thought, 'Maybe this wasn’t meant to happen. I need to change my direction.' That’s when everything kind of happened for me. I broke through. All the things I’ve always dreamed about have happened straight after that. It really was an eye opener for me."

Instead, he chose to refocus on rebuilding his entire technical system so he could create more easily on the go as well as making the decision to take a singles based approach for the time being.  “I have the songs," he said. "I could release them tomorrow, but my record label and the people I’ve been working with have been saying, ‘Keep building this momentum’[...] I still really have a long way to go." While he estimates that we probably won’t see a proper full length until after summer of 2015, he did jokingly offer to put out one before then, "Maybe I should just start a poll," he chuckled. "[...]I’m gonna go on my Facebook and if I get 10,000 likes from people wanting me to do an album I’ll do an album before the summer of 2015."

That's the nice thing about Diablo, since he's been working on his art for such a long time it's easy for him to adapt to whatever his current situation may be. For example, if his musical career were to end today he thinks he could fairly easily transition back to his first love, filmmaking. “I’ve actually been writing on a couple of scripts," he admitted, "They’re all based around family life." For him, it's important for his art to have an impact on people, whichever discipline it may be. "[...]I’ve always wanted to touch people. Not just in their feet but also in their heart." Just like with his music, he hopes the movies he would make to impact people's lives. "My favorite movies have always been dramas," he noted, "You know, those movies that take you on that emotional journey and really make you walk out of the cinema with that feeling of, 'Wow I need to call my mother or my brother or my friend from back in the day.' It makes you think about life. It’s like art transforming life. It takes you one step further." He went on to detail how his ideal first documentary film would probably be at least partially about his family, who were immigrants from Indonesia. "There’s like a whole dramatic life story with my mother and her brother." he said.

“The most important thing is that you leave [behind] a legacy. I always thought that the legacy would be music, but at the end of the day there’s only one thing that’s important and it’s family.”

— Don Diablo

Family is something incredibly important to Diablo, moreso than anything else in his life. “The most important thing is that you leave [behind] a legacy. I always thought that the legacy would be music,” he admitted, “but at the end of the day there’s only one thing that’s important and it’s family.” I was heartbroken to hear that just two days prior to our interview that Diablo’s adorable grandmother that helped him campaign for the DJ mag list had passed away. He even admitted to the audience during his set that he almost didn’t perform that night because he was still very shaken from it. As seen in his latest video for “Back To Life”, you can see that mortality of man is something that has been impacting his art for awhile now, “[...] If you look at the time series I did (Anytime, KnightTime, Back In Time) they all kind of revolve around the concept of time,” he explained, ”I’ve lost a lot of people in my life in the last 2 years so it really made me realize like how precious and valuable time is.

For Diablo, his family extends past his bloodline to both his fans and his inner circle of friends. It’s seen in the way he interacts with his fans on social media and how hard he’s working to help his friends make their dreams come true as well. “I’m really working my ass off so hard right now and I’m making a lot of money right now, I’ll be honest,” he confessed, “I’m saving that money because I want to create good things for other people, you know? For my inner circle, so I can do things for them. I can help them achieve their dreams and they don’t have to wait as long as I had.” He revealed exclusively to Some Kind of Awesome that he will be starting his own label, which will be officially launching early next year. “It’s the first step to helping other people achieving their dreams.” he said.

Follow Don Diablo on Twitter, Facebook, and Soundcloud.

Make sure you download his latest single, "Generations"...NOW.

Check out the photos below of Don Diablo at Pier of Fear in NYC on 11/1/2014. Click here to view the full gallery in its full glory!

[Night Out] Electric Youth @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (11/12/14)

Click here to go to the full gallery.

The night was just as icy cool as Electric Youth singer Bronwyn Griffin as she serenaded us with dreamy synth pop tunes on that blissful Wednesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Sprout and I were impressed with how effortless Griffin’s performance was as we twirled and swayed about like Molly Ringwald in The Breakfast Club to tunes like “WeAreTheYouth”, “The Best Thing”, “Tomorrow”, “Before Life”, and their latest single, “Runaway” off of their latest album, Innerworld. I must admit though that as a frontwoman that she still has a bit more to learn in terms of presentation. Sometimes her effortlessness almost looked like she was bored with performing, which is unfortunate because the audience was so glued to her that she could have instigated the chillest dance party that MHoW has seen to date. Mind you, that’s just me being critical because I would love for them to see their full potential. At any rate, I would still say that Electric Youth are worth catching live if not just for the opportunity to feel as euphoric as we did exiting the venue that evening.

Make sure you grab the deluxe version of Innerworld on iTunes.

Watch the video for “Runaway” below.

[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2014 Day Five: Soko @ United Palace Theater Theater

Soko @ United Palace Theater 10/25/14 (with our boy Matt on guitar!)

Saturday night Kibbe and I trekked up to the United Palace Theatre to cover Soko (who opened for Foster the People.)  Honestly, I'm glad we didn't try to stick around after Soko because I'm not really a fan of Foster the People. I was still interested in covering Soko nonetheless, especially since one of our friends Matt was going to be playing his gothic heart out on guitar and keyboards to make it worth the commute. For those not in the know, Matt is half of the Los Angeles band VOWS (formerly WAZU). The other half, his gorgeous partner with the hauntingly velvet voice, Rizz, was there supporting him in the wings. So win win, we get to cover an artist that was new to us, and catch up with super talented and genuine humans we know (and love) as Matt and Rizz. 

May I dare say United Palace Theater doesn't have the friendliest security staff and some of them obviously haven't been to photo pit hospitality class 101 but, that's a story for another day. I held my own under their fascist "photo pit" rules and managed to get some fun shots.

Soko entertained us with upbeat rhythms intertwined with hyper banter about her suicide attempts and reminders that "she would be old tomorrow" because it's her birthday. She playfully slipped out of articles of clothing on stage because "it was hot" and then made mention that the crowd from the night before was a "better audience".  I'll agree that the crowd was not as present as they could have been but, I don't know, maybe they just weren't in the mood or their adult sippy cups of overpriced beer ran dry.

Soko's spirited set ended and I swiftly maneuvered up the aisle (in my awesome hot pink Dr Marten boots) to meet up with Kibbe in the lobby. She was talking to some random people and I approached them with my not so happy Sprout pout (which is a rare occurrence, mind you).

Deciding it was time to make like a tree and leave, we headed round back to meet up with Rizz to briefly exchange hugs, catch up on life, and then say our goodbyes.  We were saddened to hear that the big move to Los Angeles hadn't been as fruitful for our friends as they had hoped, which is unfortunate given how talented these two are. It really got to me while Kibbe was on the verge of tears after we parted ways with Rizz. 

We left the venue with a mixed bag of emotions and a laundry list of nuances such as: the not so friendly security people, lack of photo pit hospitality, and a fan base with a pretense so thick that it penetrated the theater's every molecule.

The cab ride back to Kibbtopia provided a forum for the "WTF" convo and I believe an epiphany which inspired the manifestation of a brand new SKoA mission statement (coming soon).I'm going to call this revelation "the big picture". It's not easily noticed sometimes but, it's definitely there if you're willing to really see. This particular 'SKoA Night Out' presented an opportunity for Kibbe and I to truly get a glimpse of the big picture. A scenario that involves our love of music, truly talented artists, and their connection to the music industry.  This combination has become the catalyst to our commitment in changing the way music is revered, celebrated and showcased. We love music and we need it to love us back again. 

We'll be making a big announcement in the next few days sharing our new mission and vision for SKoA. For now, click here to head over to our Gallery to check out more photos from the show.

[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2014 Day Four: WALTZ, Shilpa Ray, Lost Boy ?, Ron Gallo, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Kate Boy

WALTZ @ Piano's for The Deli Mag Showcase 10/24/2014Fridayyyy. I continued to lose my momentum as the photographs and writeups began to pile up. Sleep deprivation was really getting to me. I kept it low key during the day and then decided to take myself on an adventure for Friday night. I was still amped from the night before and wanted to find more fun new bands to give my heart to, but I didn't want to be influenced by anyone else. I've mentioned previously that in my heyday that I used to randomly pick up albums based on whether or not I thought their album artwork looked interesting, so I took the same approach for CMJ Day Four but with press photos that were readily available on CMJ's much improved mobile app.

First band of the night was WALTZ at Piano's for the Deli Mag Showcase. I arrived a little late and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be some dudes in speedos up on stage while I was getting stamped outside. I didn't think much of it because they were gone by the time I got to the back. It was Australian turned New Yorker Matt Hutchinson's "whatever" scowl sporting an 80s windbreaker in his press photo that had me willing to take a chance. Not sure why, he just seemed like a friend I hadn't met yet or something. At any rate, my gut did not lead me astray. His erratic movements whilst furiously strumming on his guitar with his mic coupled with his tortured monotone wailing stirred something inside of me that lives in my dark and twisty place. Oh yeah, those speedo dudes? They came back. I hadn't noticed before, but they each had a letter painted on their chest to spell out "WALTZ". That part is still a bit of a head scratcher for me. Looking forward to getting more familiar with this band. I briefly spoke to Hutchinson after the set and he said they were wrapping up an album and working to get it out the door to the public, so more on that front as the details become available.

After WALTZ I was chatting up a photographer from Pancakes and Whiskey about the wonders of Bo Ningen from the night before when the keyboardist/guitarist from the band setting up next chimed in to share his love for them as well. I hadn't settled on a next step at that point, but that interaction made me want to stick aroud to see what kind of music this friendly fellow contributed to.

Shilpa Ray @ Piano's for The Deli Mag Showcase 10/24/2014The band ended up being singer/harmonium player Shilpa Ray and her band of chill dudes. I don't know how else to describe Ray other than the ultimate badass bitch that I aspire to be. I hung on to every snarl and howl that rang out with each song they played. Around the middle of their set, Ray came to a full stop and said something to the effect of, "If all these other fucking people are gonna play shirtless tonight then fuck it I'm gonna do it too." She then proceeded to finish her set shirtless as if nothing had ever happened. It didn't seem to distract her or the audience from the performance. If anything it made her all the more fierce and fearless than before. I am anxious to spend some time with her music now, but I know the experience won't be complete until I purchase a nice bottle of whiskey first.

Lost Boy ? @ Trash Bar 10/24/2014Next I ventured into Brooklyn to have a peek at Lost Boy ? over at Trash Bar. The allure with this band was their press photo consisted of the lead singer feeding himself what appeared to be a partially eaten piece of pizza in a passed out dude's hand. I would say that it appropriately captured the essence of the band. They were witty, carefree, and super fun. I'm glad that I kept "accidentally" seeing New York bands that night. I look forward to incorporating them and the other I stumbled across into my ongoing show schedule.

The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die @ Cameo Gallery 10/24/2014As the night progressed on, I attempted to see what a band with an epic name (The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die) and another fun press photo of a dude with a slice of pizza on his face wearing sunglasses (Ron Gallo) that were both playing at the same time. If you had seen the way I darted from Spike Hill to Cameo Gallery and managed to slide my way into semi-prime positioning at both shows you would have been impressed. That said, both had me all "meh" but for different reasons. TWIABPAIANLATD was good, but in a pretentious way that I wasn't really in the mood for. Ron Gallo, on the other hand, was more goofy than playful and I found it to be off putting. Also worth mentioning that the audiences of both bands were really annoying and I didn't want to be associated with them so I bounced.

Ron Gallo @ Spike Hill 10/24/2014Nothing else looked terribly interesting until 1AM when Stockholm group Kate Boy were set to hit the stage at Knitting Factory so I grabbed a Criff Dog and took advantage of my old watering hole for a few drinks and a place to charge my phone. I was sort of anxious about staying out so late on the offchance that Kate Boy MIGHT be worthwhile, but #YOLOOMGCMJ2014 and all that.

Kate Boy @ The Knitting Factory 10/25/2014I'm happy to report that I was able to end the evening on an ultra high note. Kate Boy is pure pop fire that consumes you in their pulsating beats, succinct synths, and bright vocals. I'm just mad that this didn't make it to my radar sooner. Tracks like "In Your Eyes", "Self Control", and "Open Fire" have already made it into my rotation since then. I look forward to their forthcoming debut album, whenever that is slated to drop. Don't worry, I'm already working on getting more details shortly.

You can check out photos from my night out in the slide show below!

[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2014 Day Three: Flavor Raid, Bo Ningen, HSY, Weaves

Weaves @ Shea Stadium 10/23/2014Thursday. Weird vibe all day during the day. Had planned on rushing to see The Kickback and then hit up the Texas Takeover Party at The Delancey but Sprout's camera that she graciously let me borrow just did not want to be BFFs with my computer so getting photos sorted for Wednesday's wrapup took longer than I had ever dreamed of. I was bummed about missing The Kickback, Catch Fever, Ravin' Symone, and overall just not making the most of my time off during the day. I guess the lack of sleep attributed to my inability to move more quickly, but I was reminded throughout the evening that you don't need a perfectly planned itinerary for CMJ in order to have a good time. Sometimes you need to just roll with it and some really cool bands end up right in front of you.

Flavor Raid @ The Delancey for the Texas Takeover Party 10/23/2014I tried to stick to my schedule. I really did. As soon as I was set free from the chains of SD card insanity I scurried down to The Delancey to see if Flavor Raid and the rest of the Texas Takeover party was all that it was what I had been stressing over. I think the best word to describe the half hour I spent there was...lackluster? Nothing on Flavor Raid. I had been genuinely excited to check them out. It was just the wrong night, wrong set up, wrong everything basically for me.. I did get a kick out of their song about shitty high fives and the need for elbow fives though. Overall, there weren't gonna be enough strobe-y light sticks in the world for the crowd to play with for me to really connect. If you're relying on your stage gimmicks to get people to like you, it's likely that you won't get very far. Not giving up on those guys, but this just wasn't their night in my opinion.

That set made me decide not to mess with Texas the rest of the night. I needed to shake the vibe of the day so I hit up my friend Dan who was already making a go of it in Brooklyn to see if we could meet up and maybe catch something worthwhile. You know when you're in a weird mood and you put on a bunch of different records trying to shake it and nothing seems to work? That was totes my feel bro between the time I left the LES and by the end of Bo Ningen's 1st song at Baby's All Right.

We just showed up. We were open for anything. While Dan was having a cigarette we chatted about how the music industry has reached this crazy saturation point where things come and go so fast and there's so much of the same thing that things like CMJ seem like marathon moments of futility. I was hardcore feeling that and wasn't sure how to make that feeling in the current moment.

Bo Ningen @ Baby's All Right 10/23/2014But then Bo Ningen, y'all. Dang. Did not see that one coming. The Japanese four-piece brought the fury down on all of us in the form of blazing guitars, screeching vocals, and enough long jet black hair that I don't even want to imagine what the shower drain in their hotel room must look like. They played with such intensity that by the end I felt like I had eleventy billion shots of espresso. I was PUMPED to hear more music, specifically with all the guitars I could find. I texted my friend who was over at Shea Stadium to see if my needs would be met there. As luck would have it, they had some Canadian bands that unbeknownst to me were about to make my evening.

When I arrived Toronto four piece noice punk outfit HSY (pronounnced "hussy") were just finishing setting up. Admittedly, I'm not sure that they're for everyone, but man they just hit the spot like nobodys business for me. I especially enjoyed how few fucks they gave, specifically guitarslinger Anna Mayberry, who made several laps into the crowd screeching and howling the whole way. It was terrible in terms of being able to get any snaps of them since it was dimly lit inside Shea, but they left a lasting impression on me that no photo could.

HSY @ Shea Stadium 10/23/2014And then came Weaves. *SWOON*. I was already riding on this high of fuzzing guitars from HSY and the intensity of Bo Ningen when singer Jasmyn Burke opened her mouth and starting sassily wagging her finger at the crowd. All of my insides tightened up like someone just informed me that Beck was coming over to my house for a tea party. I was smitten almost immediately. It's been awhile since I fell that hard that fast for a band. I couldn't keep it together as a "professional". I kept leaning over to the other photogs there and yelling, "OH MY GOD I LOVE HER SO HARD I JUST WANT TO TAKE PICTURES OF HER FACE ALL DAY". I was so in awe of the way she managed to just yank everyone in the room to focus and give her their undivided attention. I tweeted it that night and I will say it here again: This is a band is about to blow the heck up. I give it less than 6 months. Their self-titled EP that dropped back in April does not do them justice, in my opinion. It does a pretty good job bottling up Burke's energy, but then again she does not seem to be the kind of woman that you simply contain.

Weaves @ Shea Stadium 10/23/2014When the show ended it took everything in my being not to run up and hug her. I settled on stammering to Anna from HSY that I thoroughly enjoyed them as a compromise, but I was in East Williamsburg and not acting terribly Williamsburgy, so I split shortly thereafter to avoid any further embarrassment.

You can check out all the photos from my night out for CMJ Day Three in the slideshow below:

[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2014 Day Two: Oh Cassius!, Pompeya, François Ier, The Kickdrums

Oh Cassius! @ Bowery Electric 10/22/14If I'm honest, none of the day shows really seemed worthwhile to me. I decided to try and take it somewhat easy until nightfall. While I was prepping for who I was going to check out on Wednesday I also made the decision to try to see as many bands that are super far away from NYC because duh I live here.

First show of the evening was a quick bite of Bridgeport band Oh Cassius! over at Bowery Electric. If I hadn't been so determined to make it out to Cameo Gallery by 8 I would have definitely stuck it out for their entire performance. The band is fronted by a fun little vocal duo who really play off of each others energy super well. I had to bounce about halfway through their set, but I intend to put them into my regular rotation very soon, specifically songs like, "Carpenter".

Now you may be asking me, "Kibbe, if you had been bitching about the rain so much on Twitter, WHY would you trekk all the way to Cameo Gallery in a cab when a perfectly good lineup was right before you at Bowery Electric!?"

Well I'll tell you why: I've never had a favorite band from Moscow before and now I do so stfu.

I knew the second that singer Daniiil Brod took the stage and said something to the effect of, "Hey. We're gonna play six songs and then we're gonna go" that Pompeya were the kind of dudes that I'd like to have a beer with because they're not too fussy about what they do. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but I did ruin a few good shots because I kept involuntarily swaying and moving my hips around. I really take Sprout for granted in that regard because she normally does all the snapping and I do all the dancing.

Pompeya @ Cameo Gallery 10/22/14I wasn't familiar with their material other than their single, "Does", but you'll find their music is really easy to get on board with. The second I hit 'publish'on this post I will begin nagging for their upcoming album, Real so I can give you plenty of reasons to pick it up when it drops on February 17th of next year. For now, you can grab their Night EP over on iTunes.

I debated sticking around for Walking Shapes since they were up next, but they're Brooklyn based and that was against the rules for the day. I will probably have to check them out at their next show on October 25th at Spike Hill though.

Instead, I thought I'd outsmart the rain and train it on down to Le Baron to check out François Ier at the France Rocks Party down in Chinatown. I checked out his Neptune EP over the weekend and was thoroughly impressed so I thought I'd experience some of it live.

When I arrived François was treating a bunch of ungrateful French implants who were talking over his lush rhythms about lord only knows what because it has been over a decade now since I was in a French class. They had this poor kid shoved in the corner while they were getting things ready for the next full band that followed him. That felt a little bit disrespectful to me, but I guess I get it. At any rate, I wanted to stay longer, but after experiecning my first $14 well drink in over 3 years and realizing that with the rain that it was going to take me longer to get to Arlene's for my last show of the night, I said "Au Revoire!" and headed back towards the LES.

Nobody should be François Ier in the corner, but they did at Le Baron 10/22/14I know I had the whole, "only bands from really far from NYC" rule for the night, but after trudging through the rain back and forth from Manhattan and Brooklyn all evening, I really just needed a dose of familiarity and awesomeness. That was obviously going to be The Kickdrums at Arlene's Grocery. I've grabbed coffee with Fitts a couple of times in the past year, but it had been awhile since I had seen them perform. It was definitely before they dropped their last album, Thinking Out Loud, which came out over a year ago. Eek! So yeah, obvi long overdue but I am happy to report that the band is aging like a fine wine. They played cuts from all but one of their albums (which happens to be my favorite one, Just A Game). It was certainly a showcase of how much their sound has developed over the years.

None of us were down to party after the show, so Fitts, Jeff, and I walked over to Sugar for a tea and a chat before I wrote the majority of this blog post on my 40 minute subway ride back to Harlem. You can check out more photos from my night out in the slideshow below.