OK, Break's Over...

Well I haven't gone to a concert since Art Brut, unless you count the two Gomez Listening Parties which I don't count. But May and June have some great indie acts coming through New York, and my schedule is starting to fill up.

Here is what I have planned so far; I will post links to music and bios for the bands shortly:

May 5 - Josh Ritter and Hem at Bowery Ballroom

and you gotta hear this Hem song

May 7 - Alice Texas and Spotiswoode and His Enemies at Living Room
May 15 - The Mugs at Gigantic Studios (KEXP session)
May 16 - The Go Station at Gigantic Studios (KEXP session)
May 16 - Chris Thile at Living Room
June 4 - Tapes n Tapes at Bowery Ballroom
June 7 - James McMurtry, Willie Nile, Tim Easton at Bowery Ballroom
June 13 - Eels at Winter Garden/World Financial Center
June 15 - Bottle Rockets and Bobby Bare Jr. at Maxwell's

Eels and Bottle Rockets the same week is a real treat for a RadioParadise listener, and for anyone really.

In July I don't think I can prevent myself from being at Castle Clinton twice, unless it's really hot like last year. Okkervil River plays July 13, and the Hold Steady plays July 27.

Gomez Listening Party in San Francisco; Some Jazz & Blues to Enjoy

Wasn't able to get to the live shows in San Francisco that I was considering, but I was able to make it to the Gomez How We Operate Listening Party at the Boom Boom Room. I had a blast. Great group of people there, I hung out with Ed, the host of the party, for a while after the show; very knowledgeable guy when it comes to music.

Ed turned me on to a few acts I was unaware of:

Snooks Eaglin - Ed mentioned Snooks to me when I expressed my interest in Sonny Landreth, my favorite slide-guitar player. Real down-to-roots New Orleans blues. Blind guitarist with a lot of personality, Ed says he is amazing live. I wasn't able to find much in the way of tunes from this guy on the web, but there are song samples from one of his albums here, and you can hear songs from his other albums at the same site.

Astral Project - While I am mostly into alt-indie music, my tastes run quite eclectic, and this jazz band from New Orleans is striking. Starts out seeming like straight jazz, and then as you listen you hear a lot of elements from all sorts of other musical influences. My favorite cut so far is Bongo Joe from one of their older albums.

Garage A Trois - another great jazz band. I had heard of these guys, but hadn't heard any of their material. They swing. They provide full versions of songs on the discography page, and there are several live shows available at their live music archive page.

I probably won't be featuring jazz that often here, but the above are great acts that I am grateful to Ed for letting me in on.

Marika Hughes - Musician Extraordinaire

Really cool thing happened on the plane to Oakland last night. We were getting on the plane and my wife asked the woman next to us, "Do you play the cello?" Turns out it was none other than Marika Hughes, who my wife recognized as the cellist from a Vienna Teng concert we saw at Joe's Pub at least 2 years ago.

Marika is a very prolific artist involved in several projects, among them Charming Hostess and 2 Foot Yard. She is also involved in a new project, Red Pocket, in which she has co-written the songs. As big Vienna fans, my wife and I were interested in her recent experiences with her; Marika is on Vienna's new album which is due out in July.

Marika's music is very avant-garde and quite interesting, from what I have heard so far. I definitely remember her solos at the Joe's Pub show. She is touring in Europe in May.

Appel Farm Music Festival - Saturday June 3

I have attended the Appel Farm Music Festival in the past; always a great lineup, usually terrible weather. Hopefully the weather will be better this year, as 5 of my favorite artists are performing in one day. This year you won't have to make difficult choices between the headliners as they are not playing opposite each other on the two stages.

If Friday's weather isn't rainy (meaning a muddy field) and Saturday is also OK, I will be heading down to Elmer NJ (about 2 to 2.5 hour drive from NY) to see:

Fountains of Wayne
Duncan Sheik
Klezmatics
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Richard Thompson (hear some RT songs here)

... and others, ALL IN ONE DAY!!

Vacation

I am off to Bay Area for vacation today. Except for a possible concert Friday (either Black Crowes Acoustic at the Fillmore, if I can get a decent-priced ticket, or Luka Bloom at Great American Music Hall), I am not planning any concerts while I am there. Slim pickens compared to New York and Seattle music calendars, that's for sure...

If you are reading my blog, please let me know what you think so far. This is a work in progress and I an only starting to define its direction.

When I return, I will list the concerts I am considering, the summer concert series are heating up and there are many good options. I know I am going to Eels at World Financial Center on June 13. Should be a great show.

Gomez Listening Parties - New York April 27

Gomez is coming out with a much-awaited new album, How We Operate, on May 2. They are on ATO, Dave Matthews' label, and are doing some shows with them. According to XM's "Nude Music Review," they may just be about to take America by storm, finally.

There are listening parties scheduled all over the country, the one in New York is at Jake's Dilemma Thursday, April 27 on the Upper West Side. I am attending both this one and the one at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco on April 23.

Those not familiar with Gomez' music can become acquainted by listening to the HWO title track streamed at Myspace. Their back catalog is remarkable; their first album, Bring It On, won the Mercury prize, upsetting both the Verve and Massive Attack. They were doing things in 1999 on Liquid Skin that Beck didn't discover until Guero.

people of paper has a couple of songs from the new album...

...and Golfo has some gems from past albums.

KEXP NY Sessions are up! May 15-19

This comes around a couple times a year and is one of my favorite music events in New York. Kickass public radio station KEXP Seattle hosts a week of private (very private) sessions of 4 or 5 songs and interviews with one of the KEXP DJs. Both local and national acts participate, although the focus is on New York Area bands.

They are FREE! All you need to do is sign up, do it fast as this is getting more popular each time they come to town. Here is the signup form.

I am attending the Mugs session at 12pm Monday and the GoStation session at 12pm Tuesday.

I have been to 7 of these sessions since 2004. I have seen Baskervilles, Concretes, Sondre Lerche, Caulfield Sisters, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, Goldspot and Youth Group with maybe 20-50 people in the room. It is also a real treat to see the KEXP DJs practicing their craft. These are the people who are guiding our musical exposure to a great degree, and this is an opportunity to let them know how much we appreciate them and see some awesome sessions as well.

I hope the new venue (the previous sessions were broadcast from Museum of TV and Radio) is just as intimate...

A Note about Popups on my Blog:

As of this posting, I have coded a single popup screen for the links I send you to. This is so you can keep the main blog page open while navigating to my links. I am only sending you to one screen, which will be reused for eack link you click. I am doing this to prevent multiple popups while enabling you to retain easy access to this page. Too technical?

Art Brut

Went to Art Brut last night. It wasn't boring.

My new friend Bolts of Melody was there and has a review and pictures.

Upcoming shows for me:

May 5 -- Josh Ritter/Hem -- Bowery Ballroom
May 16 -- Chris Thile -- Living Room (Amazing mandolin player from Nickel Creek, doing 4 shows in May at the Living Room.

It's time to take a break from shows. I am showed-out for a while.

And so it begins...

Hello everyone, I am Hipster Replacement. I go to a lot of indie music shows here in NYC, and want to share my passion for music with anyone who chooses to read my brand new blog. Occasionally I suppose we'll discuss other issues, but this is primarily an attempt at an urban music blog in the tradition of Brooklyn Vegan.

I am in my early 40's, hence the name Hipster Replacement. While I find that I am generally on the older side of the audience at the shows I attend, I can easily establish my music-knowledge credibility. At first people seem to think I'm a narc or something. I have learned to find this amusing.

New York is such an amazing place for a live-music aficionado, I have been going overboard for the last 3 years or so since discovering the small- to medium-sized venues and the great bands they showcase. Tonight I am going to see Art Brut at Southpaw, great small venue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I usually go to these shows by myself since it is hard to find people my age with as much time and interest in going to all these shows, but I am always open to going with other people. My wife joins me occasionally when the show is worth getting a babysitter...

Rather than rehash all the shows I have been to recently, and there have been many, I will post when I find a worthy show.

My main music resources are:

RadioParadise -- my favorite eclectic radio station, internet only. Definitely try this to expand your music horizons, no matter how broad you think your taste is currently.

KEXP Seattle -- by far the best public radio station for indie/alternative music I have ever heard. Hits you with new stuff every day, and the programmers/dj's are extremely knowledgeable. John Richards and Cheryl Waters are my favorite DJ's and I listen to the Morning and Afternoon shows whenever I can.

I actually stream both of these stations into my ipod and listen while at work or on the subway. I am surprised more people don't do this, I have been doing it for more than 3 years, before podcasting became a trend. I am happy to talk about how I do this with anyone interested.

The aforementioned Brooklyn Vegan -- I can't even count how many shows this guy has found for me. Indispensable resource for band and tour information.

That's it for now; I could go on for days about music but moderation is key...