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SOUND BITES HAS MOVED

The blog is still going but, after six years, I finally got my got my own URL: SOUNDBITESNYC.COM Please update your links and join me at my new digs. Continue reading

Posted May 5, 2011 at Sound Bites

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The sewer people stole my skateboard!

Last night's 30 Rock was the most quotable episode of the show since the classic "Secrets and Lies" back in Season 2. It would be so even without Tracy Jordan's litany of horrific, repressed childhood memories brought to light after... Continue reading

Posted May 14, 2010 at Sound Bites

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Hey Look, it's a New Drums Video

While the song title reminds me of a downbeat Korean bus ride with a lady holding a chicken*, the new Drums single is pretty stellar, a further refinement of their sound -- which answers the question "What would the Pretty... Continue reading

Posted May 11, 2010 at Sound Bites

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Soft Return

Growing up in the late '70s/ early '80s, I spent a lot of time in the car with my parents and the only radio station we could ever agree on was WRON in my hometown of Lewisburg, WV. The FM... Continue reading

Posted May 10, 2010 at Sound Bites

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I'm Down With Prince

I know that when most who think about me actually think of me, three words pop into their heads: Prince Rogers Nelson. Which is why I'm DJing this "Prince Themed" party at Bruar Falls this afternoon from 5 - 8PM.... Continue reading

Posted May 8, 2010 at Sound Bites

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Cats on Fire Will Never Be Your Woman, but They Will Play the West Coast and Release a Compilation

While we wait for Finland's Cats on Fire to make a third album, we can look forward to Dealing in Antiques, a 20-track odds-n-sods compilation from the band's eight year existence. The album is out May 12 on Matinée Recordings... Continue reading

Posted May 3, 2010 at Sound Bites

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SoundBitesNYC is now following The Typepad Team

Mar 15, 2010

The Soft Pack | Cake Shop | 2.05.2010

Folks were just beginning to file downstairs at Cake Shop when the band launched into "C'mon," clearly ready to get on with their Friday night. It was totally a I-won't-do-what-you-tell-me Soft Pack thing to do. The LA band were finishing... Continue reading

Posted Feb 8, 2010 at Sound Bites

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Hot Chip | Music Hall of Williamsburg | 2.06.2010

This year could be for Hot Chip what 2009 was for Phoenix: one where a band who've grown steadily more popular over the years release their fourth album and officially blow up. That's the feeling I got from the band's... Continue reading

Posted Feb 8, 2010 at Sound Bites

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Killer Bs: Veronica Falls - "Starry Eyes"

It's rare when a single's a-side is bettered by the flip. Rarer still that a cover surpasses the original. But I think both those things happen with Veronica Falls' debut 7" on Captured Tracks. "Found Love in a Graveyard" made... Continue reading

Posted Feb 7, 2010 at Sound Bites

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Double Your Pleasure: Django Django and Everything Everything

Here's two bands that use the same word twice as their name. It's almost a trend piece! On Django Django's MySpace page under Influences, the band has put up thumbnails of 168 albums including The Beach Boys' Smiley Smile, the... Continue reading

Posted Feb 5, 2010 at Sound Bites

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Best Live Bands/Shows of 2009

I saw three shows a week in 2009, on average, most of which I never got around to writing up. Here are some of my favorites, or in some cases, favorite live bands. It's a loose list this year. Pete... Continue reading

Posted Jan 10, 2010 at Sound Bites

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Over it Already: Favorite LPs of 2009

I know it's the fourth day of 2010, but I'm just a bit slow with last year's retrospective. Anyway, because you can't not do it, here's my favorite albums on 2009. 1. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (Domino) | BUY... Continue reading

Posted Jan 4, 2010 at Sound Bites

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2009, Ima let you finish -- Some Year-End Mixes

I did three year-end mixes in 2008 and I've now upped it to four for 2009 -- and as I was uploading them I realized I still left some stuff off. (Sorry, Super Furry Animals, Grizzly Bear, Knight School and... Continue reading

Posted Dec 31, 2009 at Sound Bites

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2009 ÷ 64 = My Favorite Singles/Tracks of the Year

It's always a better year for songs than albums, and here's my list of Favorite Songs of 2009. I've stopped using the word "best" as that implies some sort of higher standard. People can argue that "Lisztomania" is not the... Continue reading

Posted Dec 29, 2009 at Sound Bites

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So Not the Best of the '00s

What a decade, huh? This one's notable as having been spent entirely in NYC, and entirely of the digital age which changed the way everybody listened to music. (Maybe not my parents but everyone else.) We had more access to... Continue reading

Posted Dec 16, 2009 at Sound Bites

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Chinese Kids are Chowin' Down

In these wintry economic times, everyone can appreciate a bargain, especially a delicious one. On German Measles' debut EP, the Brooklyn band sing the praises of five-dumplings-for-a-dollar joint Fried Dumping. "There's a groovy place where you can always go, just... Continue reading

Posted Dec 8, 2009 at Sound Bites

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CMJ '09 Highlights: Pete & the Pirates

I overdid it this year at CMJ, breaking most of my rules of weeklong festival-going -- "don't forget to eat," "no booze after 1AM," "make time for a nap," -- and spent most of the week following in bed with... Continue reading

Posted Nov 1, 2009 at Sound Bites

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No Matter What You Call it, Goth is Goth

I got in an discussion/argument with someone during last week's CMJ festival about recent Matador signees Cold Cave when I called them goth. "They're not goth," said a friend of mine to which I replied "Have you seen pictures of... Continue reading

Posted Oct 29, 2009 at Sound Bites

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@david, you are right of course, and i even knew that as my friend toby saw them in seattle and wrote about it on his blog, the finest kiss... http://finestkiss.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/my-weekend-was-pretty-damn-good-how-was-yours/ i was talking to frankie after the show and she said to me "not bad for our third show, right?" so i had that stuck in my head not thinking she meant with her playing drums. the real moral to this story: never blog after 2am. I've edited this post to reflect correct info.

Commented Oct 26, 2009 on CMJ '09: Dum Dum Girls | Mercury Lounge | 10.24.2009 at Sound Bites

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CMJ '09: Dum Dum Girls | Mercury Lounge | 10.24.2009

This was the first day of Dum Dum Girls existence as a live band, but clearly they spent a lot of time working out the details, from the look -- bangs, gorgeous Silvertone guitars and bass, extremely short black dresses... Continue reading

Posted Oct 25, 2009 at Sound Bites

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The Funky, Baroque Animals of Zoos of Berlin

Zoos of Berlin are from Detroit and are fronted by Trevor Naud who also spent time (maybe still does) in the notoriously unprolific but occasionally awesome Pas/Cal. Unlike that band's sunshine pop, Zoos of Berlin are more buttoned up and... Continue reading

Posted Oct 16, 2009 at Sound Bites

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Fanfarlo | The Bell House | 9.22.2009

It's kind of amazing to think that before this week Fanfarlo's only other New York show was at last year's CMJ, at LES club Fat Baby which holds about 50 people and was not full when they played. Less than... Continue reading

Posted Sep 23, 2009 at Sound Bites

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The Intelligence | Market Hotel | 9.11.2009

Honestly, I wasn't expecting all the moshing and crowd surfing. I'd hopped in a cab seconds after seeing Wild Beasts for a third time in one week and headed to Market Hotel to see Seattle's finest purveyors of bent surf... Continue reading

Posted Sep 13, 2009 at Sound Bites

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Read Your Music: New MOJO visits Abbey Road, Prefab Sprout, The Cribs and More

I was about to give up on MOJO. The magazine always has always covered current musicians, but they usually kept them off the covers in favor of historical pieces on important albums and musicians of yore. And they never do... Continue reading

Posted Sep 9, 2009 at Sound Bites

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