9th Annual Siren Music Festival

illustration by Paul Antonson

9th Annual SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL™ Saturday, July 18, 2009

BUILT TO SPILL, SPANK ROCK, THE RAVEONETTES, FRIGHTENED RABBIT, GRAND DUCHY, MONOTONIX, A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS,
THEE OH SEES, FUTURE OF THE LEFT, JAPANDROIDS, MICACHU & THE SHAPES, TINY MASTERS OF TODAY, BEAR HANDS, THE BLUE VAN, JUSTINE D. and DeadHeat DJs Play the Siren Festival this weekend!

SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL returns this Saturday, July 18, 2009 from noon — 9pm! This free, all ages festival features performances throughout the day on two outdoor stages in historic Coney Island, NYC.

+ Click Here For More Details

- Sonic

Sphere: Related Content

Brand New Brand New Song - Bed

As promised here is a live video of the song "Bed" which will be on Brand New's new record entitled Daisy coming out September 22nd 2009.

- Sonic

Sphere: Related Content

Brand New: Music Hall Of Williamsburg 07.11.09

Music Hall of Williamsburg is a rather small venue for a band like Brand New, and as our very own Mitch will tell you it sold out in minutes. There was a 2 ticket limit and a will call only policy on the show to prevent people from selling tickets for ridiculous prices.


The first half of their 90 minutes ish show was mostly songs off of Your Favorite Weapon and Deja Entendu. Then they played a few songs of their upcoming album Daisy which will hit the US on September 22nd. On first listen I definitely liked it, kind of in the vein of God And The Devil Are Raging Inside Me but a little heavier.


They finished the show with "Soco Amaretto Lime" and the whole place was singing along. A great show and I know a lot of you missed it but they will be playing Nassau Coliseum with Glassjaw on November 27th so keep you eyes and ears out for ticket info. I will also have an exclusive video up of them playing a song off of Daisy so check back tomorrow!

- Sonic

Sphere: Related Content

H2O at Knitting Factory 06.21

Maximus Morse showing off his guns

H2O did a benefit show to raise money for Toby's (Singer for H2O) son Max's charter school. This was also H2O's last show for 2009 so I figured I'd get my ass down to the show. The Knitting Factory was supposed to move to the old Luna Lounge in Williamsburg but yep, it's still in NYC. Anyway, the show was sold out and although Ticketweb made it seem like there were tickets available at the door, there were not.... and Goodchild will tell you there were a bunch of fans who came and couldn't get in.

Lou giving Toby some help

It was a nice father's day show hardcore style with the kids of the band members checking out their dad's from the stage. There were a ton of cameo's as any good hardcore show would be incomplete without. The above pic is Lou Koller from Sick of it All doing his part from "What Happened?".

Rusty, Adam and Toby of H2O

H2O was fun and energetic as always, pumping out their classics and a bunch of tunes from their latest album. With no barricades and plenty of stage diving, it was like 1995 all over again going to see all those hardcore shows when I was a wee little lad.

Mitts filling in for Todd

The usual guitarist for H2O Todd, Toby's brother was not around for some reason and Mitts from Madball filled in and did a great job.. he even did some singing and pulled of some great harmonies.

Chad and Freddy

After H2O, Hazen Street played which was awesome because I thought I had missed their set. Chad Gilbert from New Found Glory and Freddy Cricien of Madball is shown above during the Hazen Street set. Apparently they are recording another record soon which is good news and Mitts will be replacing David Kennedy on guitar.

H2O

- Sonic

Sphere: Related Content

Titus Andronicus @ Music Hall of Williamsburg - 06.06.09

photo by Sonic

I finally got a chance to see Titus Andronicus live over the weekend at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The show wasn't sold out but it was a good turn out especially since they have played the NYC area several times already this year and they were headlining this time around.

They busted out new material during the middle of their set which was a 15 minute long non-stop medley of songs or quite possibly one long ass song. No one really knew which of the two it was, but I think it may have been the latter taking into account what singer Patrick Stickles said. Apparently their label (XL Recordings) is not too crazy about the idea for their next record.

The show was high energy and super loud and the front half of the crowd was going nuts all throughout the set. Some might say they are terrible live, and that they are just loud noise and unintelligible vocals. But there will also be people that will say they are great. My experience was both of those things, and although I feel they can polish their performance a little they still kicked ass. I hope they figure out their situation for their next record because from what they played it is going to be rockin' whether it is a 15 minute tune or not.

photo by Sonic

- Sonic

Sphere: Related Content

Northside Festival

People at The L Magazine have teamed up with local music businesses to put together the first annual Northside Festival taking place in Greenpoint and Williamsburg Brooklyn from Thursday June 11th to Sunday June 14th. It will showcase bands and artists of the independent music and art scene in the NYC area.

Some of the bands playing include The Hold Steady, Bishop Allen, O'Death and Aa. The Williamsburg Gallery Association will be helping out featuring artists throughout the art spaces in the area. Tickets are $45 passes for all 4 days and they are not doing single day tickets apparently. It is cheap considering but it is only available for all of us 21 and older. I think you can get tickets for the individual shows through the venues though. My friends O'Death are playing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg and I'm pretty sure you can get tickets for that specific show online.

It's pretty much an uber hipster festival I'm assuming, but I can totally be wrong and on the flipside it's a music and art festival what can go wrong? Check out their website for complete line-ups and schedules. www.northsidefestival.com

+ The Northside Festival - Snooze [Lucid Culture]
+ The Northside Festival is coming to Brooklyn [Brooklyn Vegan]

- Sonic

Sphere: Related Content

Highlark Was There: The Thermals at Bowery Ballroom 05/09/09

So I went to Bowery Ballroom on Saturday to check out The Thermals. They were great and I had a lot of fun. Here is a live video for their song "We Were Sick" which I took on my camera... it's kind of crappy but the audio is pretty good I think. Check out our YouTube Channel for the live video of The Thermals performing "Now We Can See."

photo by Sonic

photo by Sonic

photo by Sonic

- Sonic

Sphere: Related Content

Highlark Was There: Alkaline Trio, Saves The Day - Starland Ballroom 4/25/09

This is a first, hopefully of many photo-blogs from shows that we go to. I haven't been to a show in a while and this was kind of a great kick-off as we head into summer. It brought me back to almost 10 years ago when I first started listening to these two bands. Goodchild and Panda Bear were there also! Good times.

+ Alkaline Trio, Saves The Day - Starland Ballroom: Sayreville, NJ - 04/25/09

Saves The Day - photo by Sonic

Saves The Day - photo by Sonic

Alkaline Trio - photo by Sonic

Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio - photo by Sonic

Alkaline Trio - photo by Sonic

The Crowd - photo by Sonic

- Sonic

Sphere: Related Content