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kibbe 10/18/15 kibbe 10/18/15

[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2015 Day Four & Five: Controller, Slum Sociable, Good Morning, Methyl Ethel, Step-Panther, Pierce Brothers, Kingswood, Sui Zhen, Client Liaison, & SAFIA @ Pianos & The Delancey

The last 48 hours of CMJ were a total blur. My big brother came to town early before a cruise he was going on and since family comes first my venue hopping came to a screeching halt. Bro was a champ and helped me pick out the featured images in Day Three's post and got an exclusive first listen to the interviews I did with Good Morning, Jake Isaac, Jesse Ruben, BLXPLTN, and Magic Sword. I did manage to drag him out to Pianos go see my good friends Controller. He also got to finally meet Sprout! It was nice to have my two favorite people in the world in one room. We decided to cut the night short after Controller finished so I could rest up to go all out of the last day of the fest.

After spending the afternoon on Saturday with my brother I scurried over to The Delancey or as I will be referring to the day as "Aussie Heaven" (but really it was the Aussie BBQ). I soon realized as I was confirming which stages Slum Sociable and Good Morning were playing that I haven't been exaggerating all week when I've told people that Australia dominated this CMJ in a huge way.

I'd soon get some intel from Alex Laska, Kingswood's guitarist, about why it felt like I had been hit by a semi truck of awesome Australian music all at once. It never occurred to me that in Australia because it's such a huge country that's mostly populated along its coastlines that being a committed band is a hell of a lot more effort than anything anyone in the US could ever imagine. He explained that driving from one major city to the next could sometimes take at least up to 26 hours. We are spoiled rotten, my fellow Americans! That all said, Laska went on to say that because this is the case that the bands who want to tour are the ones who put in the time to make it worth their while so they're all very talented individuals. They're also very supportive of each other because they usually end up eventually all touring together. He really wasn't kidding when he said, "Every single band that's here deserves to be here." It was really great chat overall, I can't wait to air it next week on #skoaradio.

Kingswood getting their face-melty on @ The Delancey.

Post-my interview with Laska I saw the entire day completely differently. He was totally right, you could tell by the way the bands all interacted with each other that the community there was incredibly close knit. It was actually really refreshing to see bands watching each other perform. I know that's not a rarity here per say, but it felt more genuine and less obligatory. I'm sure that has to do with the abundance of bands that are at one's disposal here so the air is more competitive vs communal. That's really a bummer when you think about it. It'd be nice to find a way to swing that there. I guess maybe that has to happen state by state?

Anyway, the only bummer on Saturday night was when I had to call it a night and head home. After finally having a moment to befriend the Slum Sociable guys I tagged along with them going from stage to stage to see all their friends play. I finally got to see Methyl Ethel after Good Morning told me during our interview that I *had* to see them! I caught a total of 9 bands whilst in Aussie Heaven and I loved every single second of it. Glad to have caught Good Morning and Slum Sociable multiple times. Can't wait to get to know Step-Panther, Pierce Brothers, Sui Zhen, Client Liaison, and SAFIA better. Side note: Client Liaison is crazy in the best possible way. Really glad the Slum fam made me stick around for them. Kingswood was face melty. I'm really excited that I'm getting pulled back to gritty guitars to compliment all the synth-driven pop/rock I've been into lately.

I honestly can't think of a better way to end a CMJ than how I did. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep for 72 hours and see how long until the caffeine withdrawal headaches go away.

Have a look at the photos from Day Four & Five in the gallery below. You can also have a taste of Aussie Heaven for yourself courtesy of this handy dandy Spotify playlist I put together.

kibbe 10/17/15 kibbe 10/17/15

[Night Out] OMG CMJ Day Three: Hockey Dad, Vomitface, Dirty Dishes, Mothers, Dirty Ghosts, Kevin Garrett, Mass Gothic, Skaters

I did not train as well for this year's CMJ as I have in years past. I refuse to say I'm getting too old for CMJ. I just know better than to not have perfect sleeping habits weeks prior, etc. I'm suffering in a big way from it. I decided to more than stick to my schedule of hitting up NYC Taper's day party at Cake Shop. Except for the part at the beginning of the day where, you know, I accidentally rushed to Pianos assuming that's where it was (the door guy welcomed me back the same way he did on Wednesday btw). So instead of seeing Womps I caught 15ish minutes of Hockey Dad. They were great, but not what I had been anticipating. Womp wompppp

By the time I got to Cake Shop my new local darlings Vomitface had taken the stage. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the three-piece broke my brain by playfully announcing that they were Viet Kong when they started, which set off a stint of paranoia for at least 3 more bands that I had mixed up venues etc again. I can't tell you how many times I frantically kept checking my schedule until my 2nd coffee kicked in. Anyway, I enjoyed that for a their playfulness that that they're actually a really solid band. They reminded me that I've been meaning to find more local bands to rally for (since VOWWS left a gaping hole in my heart upon moving to LA) so we gradually made arrangements to hang out later in the day.

Dirty Dishes and Mothers both delivered solid sets. The fatigue from all of the running around with little sleep was starting to set in and all of the red lighting for every single set wasn't helping me stay energized even with all of the caffeine flowing through my bloodstream. I knew I had another long night ahead of me so I decided to take a set or two off to save my energy for Dirty Ghosts, who I realized earlier in the day I hadn't seen since their appearance at our SXSW show with the Axis of Audio in 2011. I felt proud watching people dance along to tunes from their new record, Let It Pretend, which dropped last week.

Gotta show love for some folks from the south. <3 Mothers <3

After briefly running into my favorite Canadians (Weaves) and giving away the free beer that NYC Taper scored for me, I accepted Vomitface's kind offer to tag along with them to Brooklyn to go check out their friends in Mass Gothic play at Knitting Factory for the Sub Pop showcase. On the way there I invented a new barter system that I want to try on all of the bands I want to befriend: I buy you all drinks and in exchange I get merch. That's fairly mutual beneficial, no? I suppose I should just be generous and pay for both, but for the times a lady needs to be a blogger on a budget this will [hopefully] work out well in the future. At any rate, I was sad to cut my time short with them because I liked both their company and the sweet sounds of Mass Gothic, but I told myself I wasn't going to miss my chance of seeing Kevin Garrett at Rockwood Music Hall (stage 2) so I hauled it over there ASAP.

I was not prepared for the crowd for Kevin Garrett at all. Plenty of shows this CMJ have been full, but when you're lugging around a backpack with a laptop, camera, etc. you become really aware of how much space you're taking up to slip through a crowd. Everyone was irritated that I dared to arrive late to document what I assume will be a rare setting fairly soon, that being Garrett at any venue that small ever again. I mean, have you heard his EP, Mellow Drama? Anyway, "the hunger" suddenly struck me like a semi truck so I became the room's nemesis once again lugging all of my gear out to go grab food before Skaters.

Kevin Garrett making a packed Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 weak in the knees

Did not realize how spoiled I was for day one of CMJ when it came to how chill the energy was at The Living Room for the Music Is Great Showcase because the crowd for Skaters was nutttyyyyy. It was dark and no one was interested in sitting still, yours truly included. At first I attempted to really go for some killer snaps but by that point in the night I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the chaos. Felt good to know that I was supporting multiple NYC bands in a night, especially because someone you know has heard their new song already that comes out next week and LOVESSS ITTT.

Didn't do too badly in terms of sleep deprivation. I was only out until a whopping 2:30am. Don't worry, I made sure to put the Slum Sociable album on repeat and sing along to it walking home in Harlem so the crackheads didn't bother me. Since I'm writing this you know it worked. :)

You can check out the rest of my photos from CMJ Day Three in the gallery below. You can also listen to samplings of all of the artists I heard from this post in this nifty little Spotify playlist.

kibbe 10/16/15 kibbe 10/16/15

[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2015 Day Two: Car Seat Headrest, Luna Aura, Pinact, BLXPTN, Weaves, Hooton Tennis Club, Magic Sword

I thought Tuesday was supposed to be my craziest day of CMJ, but apparently it's just a slow build. I'm terrified but obviously still excited to see how Thursday goes. After trying to get photos edited in a timely manner for yesterday's post I had to haul ass to Pianos to make it in time for Car Seat Headrest. They played some cuts from their new record, Teens of Style, which I'm really excited for everyone else to hear once it drops on October 30.

Then came the comical portion of the day where I proceeded to run back and forth from Pianos to other venues in the area that the door guy at Pianos kept greeting me with, "welcome back!", "back so soon?", and " hello again". First I darted over to Rockwood stage 2 to catch the little fireball of energy that is Luna Aura. My first coffee hadn't quite kicked in yet so it took me a moment to be able to harness the explosion of energy that she exuded in photographs, but we got there. In addition to a solid cover of Destiny's Child - "Say My Name" which she got some extra special audience participation from, she gave the crowd a sampling of her latest EP Supernova.

Luna Aura getting a little help from a friend at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2

I shot back over to Pianos to catch Pinact. I can feel myself pulling back towards more rock/punk rock this fall after a long stint mostly focusing my attention on electronic-esque bands as of late. I can't put my finger on it, but I found their bassist to be the most amusing person on the planet. I think it's mostly because he looks like he will never give any fucks about what anyone thinks about him. I think I may secretly want to be him when I grow up? Jury is still out on that one.

I ducked out from Pianos the second Pinact finished to go be blown away by Austin duo BLXPLTN. They were another one of those bands that I hadn't gotten to spend a ton of time listening to prior to catching their performance so I'll admit I sort of forgot what I was getting myself into. Their set was as powerful as much as it was inspiring. It's been awhile since I came across a band that had something to say and said it in an approachable enough way that once you're lured in by their badass genre-bending sound that they're doing what they can to inspire change. Once they finished their set I forced myself to not be intimidated by their badassery and beg them for an interview, which you'll be able to hear in full (albeit I need to air it in two parts because it's longer than the standard #skoaradio segments). I also apparently fulfilled a dream of Jonathan from BLXPLTN's by interviewing him while he ate cauliflower? I hope that's not the biggest dream he's ever dreamt, because I see much bigger things for them.

BLXPLTN slaying my face @ Arlene's Grocery

I was so overwhelmed by how awesome the interview with BLXPLTN was that I decided to sit out any other bands I had intended to see and wrap up my Day One recap and use Weaves' set as a reward for pushing out #content even though I wanted to keep running around. By the time I finally wrapped up and got to Pianos they were about halfway through their set. Thankfully, Jasymn is such an performer that I didn't have any trouble getting some fun shots of her. As she would later confirm after their set, they played a couple of new cuts from a record that is in the works in addition to selects from their debut self-titled EP. Jasymn also was kind enough to give me a button after their set, so I'm taking that as a cue that we're going to be best friends any day now. *FINGERS CROSSED*

Jasymn Burke, my future BFF of Weaves at their Pianos set

Upon fueling up on margaritas and a little food I scurried over to Santos Party Haus to see Hooton Tennis Club, who I missed at the Music Is Great Showcase the night prior.

Fun vibes + crap lighting + had to duck out early to make sure I got to Brooklyn in time to interview Magic Swords = not much visual proof of their awesomeness. Oh yeah, speaking of that interview with Magic Sword, that was a fun thing to arrange, especially when you exchange texts like these:

Actual convo with a band I interviewed earlier. Never a dull moment at #cmj2015

A photo posted by [stephanie] kibbe (@heylookitskibbe) on Oct 14, 2015 at 7:05pm PDT

I booked it back to Cake Shop as fast as my taxi could get me there to make it in time for Slum Sociable, who I can say with confidence was my most anticipated show of the week. Two things: #1 - I think I'm going to buy Cake Shop more lights for Christmas so everyone isn't always doused in only red light #2 - if singer Miller Upchurch could bottle the energy he releases for every performance I would buy it immediately and not be complaining on Twitter about how tired I am this week.

Slum Sociable bathed in red at Cake Shop

After Slum I quickly realized that it would have made sense for me to just stay in Brooklyn but you know, the heart what the heart wants. Either way, I made it back to Cameo Gallery with more than enough time to catch Magic Sword. In fact, they were running fairly late so I had a chance to try to practice the ultra low lighting there on Street Fever. I came in on the tail end of his set so I'm not sure if this is a normal occurrence, but within minutes he picked up a synth, threw it on the ground, and proceeded to beat the shit out of it with a mic stand a la the Office Space printer scene....like a foot away from me. It all happened so fast that I only managed to get this one shot, but even sorta blurry it speaks for itself.

This was moments before he threw it on the ground in front of me and tore it apart.

At that point I was feeling the darkness creeping into Cameo in a big way, but it wasn't too long before The Keeper of the Sword and The Seeker aka Magic Sword took the stage and put darkness in its place. I loved that there were a few fans that had their own light up swords to cheer the band along.

When their set ended it was a little after 1:30am. I remember thinking to myself that Slum Sociable's publicist told me that they were playing another show at 2:15am at Baby's All Right. At that point I was sleep deprived enough that I managed to convince myself that if I walked slowly enough from Cameo Gallery that by the time I got to Baby's that I'd be right on time to see them and then I could go home to bed.

Upon arrival I was a few minutes early,which gave me just enough time to somehow accidentally trick some Australians who were apparently friends of friends of Slum Sociable that I bought them the free Tiger Beer that was being given away that late. They thought I worked for CMJ? I don't even know. At any rate, as you could guess the turnout for a band that's organically growing into their own didn't pack out Baby's at almost 3am. My new Aussie friends took advantage of the minimal audience to capitalize on the number of selfies they could get while the band was playing. They even demanded a few times that I stop trying to enjoy the slightly better lighting vs Cake Shop to take photos of them.

Slum Sociable being lit the way they were meant to at Baby's All Right

Gotta point out though, even with the turnout being less than ideal those guys played they were headlining a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom. Much respect to bands who aren't easily affected by turnout (or in this case lack there of). I crawled into a cab as soon as I could get away from my new Aussie friends when Slum ended. That was about 3:30am. So much for sticking to my healthy schedule to keep me sane!!

You can listen to all the bands I talked about in this recap in the CMJ 2015 playlist below in addition to having a look at all the photos I painstakingly edited today. Be sure to check this week's #skoaradio for an extra special CMJ edition of the show!

kibbe 10/14/15 kibbe 10/14/15

[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2015 Day One: Velise, Good Morning, Crooked Colours, Garden of Elks, Jake Isaac, Jesse Ruben

I decided this year that if I was going to have any sort of peace of mind that planning out my CMJ days as much as possible was a necessity. If day one was any indication of how all my pre-planning will pay off this year, I think this is going to be a really fun few days of music.

Day one was mostly a lot of things I took chances on without doing a TON of research beforehand. After grabbing my badge the first band of the day was Dallas band Valise, who of all the newcomers for the day I had listened to the most (and this was mostly because they got added to my research playlist earlier than the other bands and you know how I feel about shuffle). For haphazardly setting up and starting a little late, it was easy to tell that they'd easily kill at Pianos or Mercury Lounge outside of CMJ.

There was slight change to the days schedule. I'm not sure if it was a glitch in the CMJ app or human error on my part, but Holiday Mountain apparently weren't playing at Pianos anymore because I accidentally starting snapping Crooked Colours from Perth, Australia. Even after re-announced their name and I realized what was going on, their blend of melodic moody synth-rock made me stick around for a couple of songs. In fact, despite it officially being fall now I enjoyed their cover of MGMT's "Electric Feel" quite a bit.

I cut my time with them short to go meet up with my new Aussie best friends Good Morning for a quick interview before their set at Cake Shop. We had a nice chat about the Melbourne scene, records we were into, etc., all of which you'll be able to hear on this week's special edition of #skoaradio. Again, hadn't spent as much time with all the music I was seeing today as I had wanted, so I was happy to discover that they were

It's not a CMJ day without stressing yourself out by attempting to go back and forth between Manhattan and Brooklyn, so I decided to see what sweet Britches ("Britch" is a term I coined to call Shey which is a combo of British and bitch") were playing at The Living Room for the Music Is Great showcase thrown by the British Consulate.

First up was thrash pop band Garden of elks, who hail from Scotland in Great Britian (hence why music is GREAT, get it!?). Anyway, I noticed the singer/only member of the band kept referring to himself as we, which I noted on Instagram. I didn't learn until after the set that apparently about 48 hours ago the band was actually a trio but there was a falling out of sorts. Not gonna lie, what dude was able to pull together in the name of "the show must go on" was pretty impressive even if there were a couple of rough moments. I hope this is not the last we hear of this project.

Next up was the upset of the night, London's new national treasure Jake Isaac. I had briefly sampled him prior to heading out for the day and apparently he's been in my musical blind spot because a ton of my friends like him on Facebook already. Honestly though, anything you hear recorded won't be as good as the energy and pure charm that oozes out of his body. Accompanied by just a kick drum and his acoustic guitar, Isaac delivered a string of heartfelt tunes, one more powerful than the next. At one point he decided to experiment by leaving the mic and kick drum behind to perform in the center of the crowd, making a point to sing and strum in every direction throughout.

I can't recall the last time I saw an opening act at CMJ get begged for an encore, so I'm going to just say he's the only one I've ever seen get called back out for an encore. He selected what I thought was an ironic cover, Bonnie Rait's 1991 classic, "I Can't Make You Love Me". As he sang out that exact phrase I felt like any second the crowd was going to swoon back, "TOO LATE! WE ALREADY DO! YOU'VE ALREADY WON US OVER!" I know I was certainly smitten. So much so that I grabbed him as soon as I could squeeze my way through the people who lined up immediately to meet him once the crowd allowed him to finish. We had a nice chat on the rooftop of The Living Room. Side note: if you've ever wanted to hear me flustered by a new band and also unapologetically fangirly simultaneously, this week's #skoaradio is a must listen for this interview. He also said he was playing Rockwood the following night. I may have to duck out on Magic Sword a little early to experience that, although they may have to carry me out afterwards from all the swooning.

I ended the night by cabbing back to Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 to be a good friend to my fellow sandwich lover Jesse Ruben, who I learned after our official interview doesn't really like Reuben sandwiches all that much. The songs were great, as usual. The banter in between was better than usual. Apparently there was a lot of coke in the bathroom outside of Rockwood Stage 3 and he just had to share how humorous that was to him. This marked his fourth CMJ performing. I feel like with the new music he's prepping to release to the masses coupled with slow build of opportunities he's been getting lately in the form of placements that he may grow out of his Rockwood home sooner than any of us might realize.

Make sure you check out this week's #skoaradio on TheEnd.fm on Saturday from 12pm -2pm EDT for the special CMJ edition featuring live interviews with as many of the artists that I saw this week as I can get to hold still for a few minutes. You can check out all the photos from yesterday via the gallery below!

kibbe 10/13/15 kibbe 10/13/15

[NIGHT OUT] OMG CMJ 2015: Kibbe's Picks For This Week

It's that time of year again! You know, the one where I bounce back and forth between lower Manhattan and Brooklyn to see how many new bands I can fall in love with. I HAVE SO MANY NEW BAND CRUSHES YOU GUYS AND I HAVEN'T EVEN STEPPED FOOT INSIDE A VENUE YET!! *PRAISE HANDS EMOJI*

If you're out and about in NYC for CMJ, you can catch me attempting to attend all of the following events. If you can't be in NYC but want to follow along, you can add me over on Snapchat: heylookitskibbe (original amirite?).

If you see my smiling/exhausted face grab me and say hi!

TUESDAY OCTOBER 13TH

Valise @ Rockwood Music Hall - 3pm
Holiday Mountain @ Pianos - 5:10pm
Good Morning @ Cake Shop - 7pm
Garden of Elks @ The Living Room - 8:45pm
Jake Sherman @ Pete's Candy Store - 9pm
Jake Isaac @ The Living Room - 9:30pm
WALTZ @ Cameo Gallery - 9:50pm
SYKES @ The Living Room - 10:25
Jesse Ruben @ Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 - 11pm

THURSDAY OCTOBER 14TH

Car Seat Headrest @ Pianos - 2pm
Luna Aura @ Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 - 2:15pm
Pinact @ Pianos - 2:30pm
BLXPLTN @ Arlene's Grocery - 2:45pm
Expert Alterations @ Pianos - 4:30pm
Weaves (!!!!!!!) @ Pianos - 5:15pm
Beverly @ Pianos - 6pm
Hooton Tennis Club @ Santos Party House - 8:15pm
Slum Sociable @ Cake Shop - 10pm
Pompeya @ Pianos (Upstairs) - 10:45pm
Cardiknox @ The Studio At Webster Hall - 11:15pm
Lara Snow @ Fat Baby - 11:45pm
Magic Sword @ Cameo Gallery - 12am

THURSDAY OCTOBER 15TH

Womps @ Cake Shop (NYC Taper Showcase) - 1:45pm
Vomitface @ Cake Shop (NYC Taper Showcase) - 2:20pm
Dirty Dishes @ Cake Shop (NYC Taper Showcase) - 2:55pm
Walking Shapes @ Elvis Guesthouse - 4:15pm
Dirty Ghosts @ Cake Shop (NYC Taper Showcase) - 5:30pm
Cardiknox @ Ganesvoort Hotel (Meatpacking) - 6pm
Soft Sirens @ The Flat - 7:15pm
Kevin Garrett @ Rockwood Music Hall - 9pm
Saint Pé @ Matchless - 10:45pm
Skaters @ The Living Room - 12am

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16TH

**my brother is going to be in town Friday & Saturday so unless he wants to come out to stuff I'll only be out after dark :/ **

Controller @ Pianos - 8pm
Dirty Ghosts @ Baby's All Right - 9pm
Lara Snow @ Leftfield - 11:30pm
KINGSWOOD@ Fat Baby - 12:30am

SATURDAY OCTOBER 18TH

Slum Sociable @ The Delancey - 5:30pm
Frankmusik @ Rockwood Music Hall - 9pm
KINGSWOOD @ The Delancey - 10pm

Please enjoy a sampling of the bands I'm going to go check out via the playlist below!

kibbe 10/11/15 kibbe 10/11/15

[Night Out] Mansionair @ Pianos & Jesse Ruben @ Rockwood Music Hall Stage 1 (10/02/2015)

When last we met I had decided that Australian band Manisonair was worth seeing twice in a week. This was of course before Hurricane Joaquin was threatening to get all Sandy all over NYC, which brought a nice chunk of rain to the city that never sleeps. For those that don't live in NYC and have the luxury of automobiles to drive around in when it's raining, most NYers rage quit on any plans they make whenever they are faced with a potential downpour. I was literally moments away from this point in my evening plan making until my favorite local troubadour, Jesse Ruben, tagged me in a tweet that he'd be doing a set later in the evening at Rockwood Music Hall stage 1. After verifying that I had enough time to get down to the Lower East Side but also show hop, I grabbed my biggest umbrella and trudged out in the mini-monsoon for what I affectionately referred to all evening as "CMJ practice".

Just like their set at Baby's All Right, Mansionair killed it yet again. They proved in that performance that it didn't matter the size of the stage or audience, they were always going to give it their all. The audience responded accordingly to their energy. In fact, it sounded like I wasn't the only one at Piano's that was a repeat customer for the band. I heard several references to Summerstage and Baby's All Right. That spoke volumes of their stay power, imo. They finally got around to the song that I had waited all evening for, "Shadows", which prompted the one and only note that I took for the entire evening, which reads (and this is a direct quote): "SHADOWS IS THE PIANO SONG THAT BROKE YOUR HEART". There is currently no recording of this song yet so you are going to have to take my word for it for now.

When I got to Rockwood stage 1 I was pleasantly surprised at how full the room was considering Jesse was filling in last minute. As soon as he started playing though, it was pretty apparent that most of the people there were just happy to be in a warm/dry room and drinking alcohol. It didn't take too long for Jesse to win the majority of the room over. He's good for that. He even managed to get the room completely quiet for the entiretyof one of his softer tunes. Gotta give the guy props. There's never a doubt in your mind that music is his one true passion once you've sat through one of sets.

I've thought a lot about what it would take for him to see more national/mainstream-esque success. I've yet to put my finger on what the answer is. I know a few songs are seeing air time on some MTV shows and his charity project based on his song, "We Can" continues to gain traction in schools nationwide, so maybe good things are just around the corner for my favorite sandwich-loving singer-songwriter.

Listen to Mansionair's latest EP, Pick Me Up.

And obvi check out the homey Jesse Ruben. My favorite songs of his are on his EP, Thoughts
I've Never Had Pt.1, which you can check out below.

kibbe 10/11/15 kibbe 10/11/15

[Night Out] LA Priest & Mansionair @ Baby's All Right (09/30/2015)

It's always exciting to hear that bands that you were thought were gone forever aren't, even if means that a member or two continues to trudge on. That's why when I discovered that Sam Dust, former frontman of one of my favorite bands in 2008, Late of the Pier, was now making music under the moniker LA Priest, you bet your sweet ass I jumped at the opportunity to be in the presence of greatness once again. And great it was. I felt like I was at the best pajama dance party of all time.

Thinking back to the LotP show at Irving Plaza, I remember the energy being a bit on the intense side (which fit with their debut album, Fantasy Black Channel). My evening at Baby's All Right, on the other hand, was playful and inclusive, with Dust sampling the crowd to loop during a song before going out to dance amongst the audience at the end of his set. As much as a part of me is still bummed that LotP isn't still a band, it seems that Dust is much better suited in this easygoing setting.

The surprise of the night was Mansionair, who I admittedly hadn't really planned on getting to the venue in time to see. Riding the high of opening for CHVRCHES at Central Park Summer Stage earlier in the week, the three-piece delivered a powerful set featuring tracks off of their recently released EP, Pick Me Up. While I immediately took to them, there was one song in particular that singer Jack Froggatt nearly broke my heart with his performance to the point that when they announced from stage they'd be playing Piano's later in the week (more on that later) I made sure to clear my schedule that evening.

Listen to LA Priest's debut album, Inji below.

And when you're done with that, have a listen to Mansionair's EP, Pick Me Up, too!

kibbe 10/8/15 kibbe 10/8/15

[Night Out] Ghost @ Terminal 5 (09/27/2015)

On a chilly Sunday night, which also happened to be the night that there was a "super blood moon" looming over New York City, I don't think that Sprout and I could have picked a better place to be than at Terminal 5 for the "ritual" that was Sweden ghoul-rock band Ghost's performance. Surrounded by a sea of men with long locks that Sprout would describe as, "a Pantene commercial for Satan" frontman Papa Emeritus III and his faceless ghouls would direct us all through the evening's ritual.

Normally any show at Terminal 5 not tucked away up in VIP is a total nightmare, but I forget that for the most park that the hard rock/metal scene hasn't been infiltrated by swarms of hipsters waiting to gobble up the next fad genre that comes their way, so everyone was polite and ultra pleasant. We even saw a few very well behaved children! YES, CHILDREN WERE PRESENT AT THIS RITUAL. I meant to keep an eye on them to make sure they weren't sacrificed backstage after the show, but #bffl and I wanted to make sure we got to make some face time with the super blood moon and shout our wishes at it (don't ask me about this, ask Sprout tbh).

Have a listen to Ghost's latest release, Meliora below. The band is currently touring like crazy in North America so be sure to have a look at their tour dates to see if they're coming to a city near you.