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[Night Out] Son Little @ Baby's All Right (11/09/2015)

Sprout and I had been waiting for this show for quite awhile. Every time the homey Aaron Livingston aka Son Little had come to town the last few times something always came up and we couldn't make it out. That night we were pumped because it had been close to 2 years since last Aaron had made us weak in the knees. Anyone with a brain who has been following him for awhile knows what I'm talking about. From his Icebird project with RJD2 to his recent self-titled full-length that dropped last month, he's just got this voice that can either break your heart or glue it back together within a matter of minutes.

I'm still trying to figure out where the majority of the audience thought they were during his set. Did they think they were they at a networking event? Their favorite brunch spot? The weirdest looking coffee shop on the planet? Either way, they talked.....and talked....and talked....AND TALKED basically throughout the entire set. About what? I have no idea because I was too busy doing my best to focus on experiencing songs from the new album that I hadn't heard live yet but kept getting distracted.

At one point I'll admit I lost my cool and in between songs and sort of yelled to myself hoping people around me would hear, "WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP PLEASE?" which garnered some shade thrown my way, Apparently the people up in the front were insanely rude as well by Sprout's account of the night, too. In addition to the incessant chattering they made it a point to block her from getting any shots where they were standing directly in front of Aaron taking selfies and the like.

To make matters worse, I found out a few days later that Sprout and I weren't the only ones who felt this way about the show, which makes me all the more frustrated:

Folks, just because bands are on a stage 2 feet higher than you doesn't mean that they can't see and hear every single thing that you're doing. Please be respectful of the time, energy, effort, blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifices that talented individuals have made to try to earn a living off of their craft. I want to believe your parents raised you better than that, but if not, this is your final warning from this Rock Mom.

if you haven't heard Son Little's debut full-length, please spend the next 52 minutes of your life to solve that problem.


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[Night Out] Big Data @ Warsaw (11/08/2015)

It's yah boy Big Data looking bawse as hell at Warsaw (11/08/2015)

So, um, a lot can happen in 7ish months.

Wow. 

I knew that touring pretty much incessantly was going to be good for broadband bud and mastermind behind Big Data, Alan Wilkis, but I did not realize just how fast he would accelerate once it was all set in motion. Inertia is a crazy thing, man. It only took somewhere around 45 seconds of their opening number before I grabbed Sprout's shoulder and disrupted her snapping to exchange delightfully astonished glances and mouth, "OH MY GOD!" to each other. 

When last we met our hero, Wilkis was still feeling out how big to go as a performer, which I know has to be tough considering his backstory hasn't really ever been performance based. What I witnessed on Sunday night was what happens when someone takes the time to actually cut and polish a diamond in the rough. That mofugger **SPARKLED**. It wasn't just his stage presence, which has been updated (nerdy pun intended). *Someone* has also obviously been taking singing lessons because dare I say I didn't miss Jamie Lidell's vocals on "Clean" this time nearly as much as I did back in March. 

Highlight of the night for me was what transpired behind me at what was happening in front of me that inspired me to tweet this: 

Considering his current momentum I just keep wondering to myself if he's ever going to slow down. My guess (and hope if I'm honest) is that he won't. 

You're right, Alan. I didn't know that you were dangerous. 

Catch Big Data on tour with RAC and see what I saw. You can peep dates over on Facebook. 

If you haven't listened to Big Data's debut album, 2.0 you better bump it via the Spotify player below before I shake the stupid outta yah. 

For proof of Big Data's newfound badassery, you can relive our night courtesy of Sprout's snaps below:

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#skoaradio 11/07/2015 liner notes

Really feeling this week's mixtape you guys.

Can't stop. Won't stop. Can't stop working. But it's chill though, the atmosphere I've been launched into has me surrounded by people who are music junkies just like me! In fact, I found Michl courtesy of one of my dope new friends at the office I'm in right now. (Thanks dude!) Sprout and I also hit up Honne on Tuesday this week where we hung out in the dungeon of a basement at Mercury Lounge and chatted with with James and Andy before they got the entire place pregnant. It's good to be busy. Then we had Flagship at Rough Trade on Friday night. Those guys were super great too. Can't wait to interview them and officially usher them into the skoa fam. But yeah, there's a lot going on but the majority of it is awesome. I guess you could say I'm #stressedbutalsoblessed. I hope you enjoyed this week's show. I'd love to hear from you if I just introduced you to your new favorite song (I know I'm kind of obsessing over SOULS right now).

Until next week!

<3

kibbe!

 

And here's the headlines I rushed through that you can read more about (and you should so you're smarter than everyone else):

As always, feel free to snag the Spotify playlist below so you can listen to the sweet jams I picked out for you on the go!

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[Night Out] Flagship @ Rough Trade (11/06/2015)

Flagship fam moments before they rocked our faces off at Rough Trade (11/06/2015)

Southern fried southern pride doesn't even begin to fully express how nice it was to be in the presence of North Carolina's Flagship at Rough Trade on Friday night. Calling the four-piece "southern indie rock" would be a bit of a stretch, but I liken their sound to a southerner moving up north and losing the majority of their accent, save for a few words where you catch a hint of that southern twang here and there. Either way, now all I want is fried chicken, sweet tea, and a Publix sub something fierce. Oh, and to obviously keep their new EP Faded on rotation pretty much indefinitely.

For an opening act they managed to have the audience's attention fairly easily. Someone you know may or may not have been caught clapping and stomping away to their latest single, "I Want You", with a big ol' grin on her face. I suppose the combination of just a salad for dinner and an onslaught of white wine allowed me to forget for a second that I was in Williamsburg where fandom is soooo passé. All that said, after their set ended, we chatted with our new Flagship fam for a bit before I realized that nothing was soaking up the white wine and I was on a fast track to making a fool of myself. 

Y'all need to get on this Flagship EP tho. Yes, I said y'all. See? It comes out sometimes. Shut up. I'm homesick now.

And as usual here are the snaps of our Southern gentlemen from Friday night, courtesy of Sprout:

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[Night Out] Honne @ Mercury Lounge (11/03/2015)

The huggy homies Honne @ Mercury Lounge (11/03/2015) photo credit: @sproutdr

NYers know that Mercury Lounge is essentially the "tipping point" venue for a lot of artists. Usually the trajectory for bands goes something a little like: Cake Shop/Pianos/Arlene's Grocery, Mercury Lounge/Rough Trade, and then the likes of Bowery Ballroom/Music Hall of Williamsburg/Gramercy Theatre, before moving on to the Terminal 5s, Town Halls, United Palace Theatres etc. of the world. Sometimes bands don't graduate to the next level of venues, but then there are other times like Honne on Tuesday night at Mercury Lounge that the energy was so electric that I felt like my hair was going to start standing straight up. It was already common knowledge that after their Merc and Rough Trade gigs this week that they'd be back in March 2016 for a show at Bowery Ballroom, so I think that heightened everyone's overall level of excitement.

To me, there's nothing better than realizing you're watching a pivotal moment for a band where all their hard work is finally about to pay off in a big way. I knew it the second we walked up to Mercury Lounge that night and heard some girls in line ahead of us giggling in excitement because they had seen Andy and James leave the venue a few minutes ago. A lot of times the people seeing shows at Merc are either jaded or too cool to show their level of excitement, but everyone in line was SO. STOKED. TO. BE. SEEING. HONNE. That made me even more excited for my pre-show interview with the band, which was awesome. Sprout and I were immediately greeted with hugs as we all introduced ourselves. Our chat was honestly super great. I can't wait to transcribe it for you all to check out for yourselves. These are some really legit dudes who are worthy of the success that is about to hit them like a semi-truck.

Like I hinted at before, their performance was electrifying. I haven't seen that much dancing in Mercury Lounge in awhile. I'm also fairly convinced that come 9 months from now that there is going to be a baby whose middle name is Honne, Andy, or James, if you catch my drift.

Is it March 11th yet?

If you haven't bumped their latest baby-making jams yet, you most definitely need to check out their new EP Over Lover:

You can also have a look at the photos Sprout took of the night in the slideshow below:

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[Night Out] Blackbird Blackbird @ Brooklyn Bowl (10/24/2015)

Mikey Maramag aka the homey Blackbird Blackbird @ Brooklyn Bowl (10/24/2015)

I honestly couldn't tell you how I came across Blackbird Blackbird. It was such a long time ago now. I just remember the first time I heard "Pure" and I knew what one man band Mikey Maramag was doing was something very special and I'm glad that in the 5 years since I heard that song that I wasn't wrong. Anyway, the planets finally aligned and at long last I go to see my longtime Twitter homey grace us with his presence at Brooklyn Bowl. I've been listening to him for such a long time but it never occurred to me how much is going on when he plays live. It made me respect him even more, honestly. The layers of textures that he's carefully crafted together have always been my favorite thing about his sound and it translated incredibly well live.

I'm bummed that we didn't get to hang as was initially planned, but as they say life is what happens while you're busy making plans. I have no doubt that he'll be back soon enough and maybe next time when I literally bump into Dave 1 while grabbing pre-show tacos that he'll be by my side like a true taco bae does.

If you haven't heard Blackbird Blackbird's latest album, Strawberry Light then you are truly missing out on greatness.

Oh yeah, and have a look around at the photos I snapped at Brooklyn Bowl in the slideshow below:

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[Night Out] Idlewild @ Gramercy Theatre (10/23/2015)

Idlewild @ Gramercy Theatre (10/23/2015) photo credit @sproutdr

I hadn't realized until CMJ just how much of the music I had been surrounding myself with was very synth heavy. Not that it's a bad thing, but I was raised on rock and had noticed that I had felt a little off for awhile. Seeing Kingswood at the Aussie BBQ finally made me see the error of my ways: I need to get more guitar solos back in my life. When the opportunity to catch UK's Idlewild at Gramercy Theatre you bet your sweet ass I couldn't wait for that Friday to roll around. As soon as we were on the other side of the Little May show I was bumping Idlewild's latest album, Everything Ever Written in anticipation.

The show was great. You can tell these guys have been together for a long time by how at ease they are with each other. It kind of felt like we were watching a family band play. It's hard to explain. Anyway, they hopped around a bit through their fairly extensive catalog, making longtime fans beside themselves with excitement.

Britpop, I have missed you dearly and I promise that I am not going to let myself go without you for as long as that last stint, okay?

If you haven't already, you really should check out Idlewild's latest album, Everything Ever Written

Make sure to have a peek at the snaps that Sprout took from the show in the slideshow below:

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[Night Out] Little May @ Mercury Lounge (10/20/2015)

Little May @ Mercury Lounge (10/20/2015) photo credit: @sproutdr

Still riding the fumes of my CMJ high, I proceeded to see how long I could make my at least one band a day streak last. Obviously CMJ had me at 5 straight days, that Sunday I went to see Good Morning play Rock Shop in Brooklyn sans-camera, and then I remembered that Sprout and I had Little May that Monday at Mercury Lounge! I went a full week! It was awesome. Not to mention that Little May are Australian too so I technically had a 3 day streak of Aussie kids to support, so that was great as well. Sprout and I had been super pumped to see them ever since we first heard, "Home" back in July. The trio certainly did not disappoint. With their debut full-length For The Company being just a couple of weeks old at that point, you couldn't tell by how much the rest of the crowd was into it. With the kind of energy they were able to harness inside Merc, I see big things for them on the horizon.

Make sure you check out their debut album For The Company if you haven't already.

Here are all of Sprout's snaps from the show:

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