By Simon McCormack
Music: The legendary doo-wop band returns to its roots on Nov. 14.
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By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
Music: Jef UK, frontman and lead singer for Americans UK, has never had an album reviewed in Pitchfork, and he hasn’t established an indie following in Williamsburg. But the Gowanus sci-fi rocker has done something that no other band has done: he’s traveled through time to save rock ’n’ roll.
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By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
Music: What kind of music does the Americans UK play? Use our exclusive feature, “the Algorhythm” to figure it out.
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By David Chiu
Music: If you ever wanted a pop singer to write and record and album all for you, it’ll only cost you $5,000.
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By Meredith Deliso
Music: When your band is named The Dodos and your new album is called “Time to Die,” expect extinction jokes. But for Meric Long, lead singer and guitarist of the San Francisco band that will headline the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Oct. 13, it’s no joke.
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By Sabrina Jaszi
Music: Twice this month, Park Slope’s portion of Fifth Avenue will become a sprawling, open-air music festival.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: But you knew that, given Señor Editor Vince DiMiceli’s inclusion in the “Smash or Trash” team this week.
With video … Comments (4).
By Sabrina Jaszi
Music: The Jalopy music hall on Columbia Street has emerged as one of the city’s leading blues and folk spots. So why is the venue playing with toys next month, when the Paris Uke Fest comes to town?
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By Ben Muessig
Tom Giebel
Music: The Green-Wood Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 560,000 Brooklynites, but it only takes 30 dancers and a troupe of accordion players to make it come to life.
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By Shannon Geis
Music: Computers aren’t usually part of a classical music concert. But on Sept. 18 at the Brooklyn Lyceum, the highbrow show is all about the electronics.
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By Ben Muessig
Music: The Knit has hit the fan. Music fans, that is.
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By Joe Maniscalco
Music: Park Slope is a long way from the hills of Appalachia, but for two days in September, the neighborhood will be filled with the down home sound of fiddles and banjos.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
CBS / John Paul Filo
Music: Everybody’s — or at least every middle-aged editor with two kids’ — favorite band, Care Bears on Fire, rocked on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on Wednesday night.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The band has a new album out, but the Smash or Trash team trashed it. Sorry.
With video … Comment.
By Jared Foretek
Music: The Brooklyn Soul Festival starts on Aug. 28 at the Gowanus music venue.
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By Robert Voris
Music: The Dylan of Doo-Wop is back where it all started.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The Icelandic rocker is doing all five boroughs in one day — and Brooklyn is his last stop.
With video … Comment.
By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The “Smash or Trash” team loved this band’s new song, “Communist Lecture.” See In Cadeo tonight or on Aug. 20.
With video … Comments (3).
By Shannon Geis
Music: Only Peter Block would find his inspiration in the murky Gowanus Canal.
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By Thomas Nocera
Music: A legendary bassoon master has come to Park Slope for an open-ended run — so it’s time for you to give the bassoon another chance.
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By Robin Riskin
Music: Irish folk music joins the lineup at Brooklyn’s pre-eminent folk music champion on Columbia Street.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: Cobalt and the Hired Guns is playing Saturday night at Union Hall — that’s tomorrow! July 25! — so the Smash or Trash team gives them the shot in the arm that they so badly need. This band is a smash!
With video … Comments (4).
By Robin Riskin
Music: Some “genuine legends” of the 1970s punk-rock scene are coming to the Bell House next Friday.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Awesome: Chicago’s favorite band tore through a blistering set in Coney Island.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Paper / Julie Rosenberg
Music: They Might Be Giants sat down with us at Terrace Bagels a few days before Saturday’s family show in Prospect Park. Cool.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Music: They Might Be Giants — a.k.a John Flansburg and John Linnell — have put out 14 studio albums in their 20-plus-year recording career. Their sound is easy to dismiss as kitschy and their lyrics are often derided as gimmicky, but there are few bands that write tunes as catchy or lyrics as sad, funny, witty, poignant and, yes, educational as the Giants. Here are the essential records.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: With a big music weekend upon us, the Smash or Trash team reviews three new songs.
With video … Comment.
By Thomas Nocera
Music: Forget the BBQ and drop those hot dogs this Fourth of July — and get ready for a real celebration of indie-pendence.
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By Joe Maniscalco
Music: Borough President Markowitz’s summer concert series lineup is out — and it features some big names…from the past.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Music: Sorry for the late notice, but Freedy Johnston is playing Union Hall tonight.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The Smash or Trash team hated the husband-and-wife band, Post Honeymoon.
With video … Comment.
By Joe Maniscalco
Music: Borough President Markowitz’s summer concert series lineup is out — and it features some big names…from the past.
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By Ben Muessig
Music: The Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival is back — with bigger names and a second stage.
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Al Pereiracc
Awesome: David Byrne, the legendary frontman for Talking Heads in the 1980s, opened up the 31st annual “Celebrate Brooklyn” summer festival in Prospect Park in bright white style on Monday night, performing with his Latin-influenced band before a crowd of about 10,000 people.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Music: The keyboardist for Wilco has spoken: our ticket giveaway for the band’s July 13 concert in Coney Island is “great.”
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Smash or Trash: Our contest to win two free tickets to Wilco’s July 13 show at Coney Island ends on May 31. Enter today!
With video … Comments (5).
By Ben Muessig
Music: Next weekend, there will be four great shows to benefit the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: On the eve of two weekend shows, Title Tracks gets a rave from The Brooklyn Paper’s “Smash or Trash” team.
With video … Comment.
By Ben Muessig
Music: Brooklyn music lovers will no longer have to trek to Austin — or Manhattan — to check out a premiere indie-rock festival.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Music: The best folk festival in the city just got one bold-faced name better.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
By Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Paper / Michael Short
Music: The last time a concert was billed as “three days of peace, love and music,” an upstate New York farm bloomed into the epicenter of rock music.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Awesome: As if you needed another reason to celebrate Brooklyn, you just got a big one: the schedule for the annual “Celebrate Brooklyn” summer music, dance, film and arts festival has something for everyone.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: Electronica legend Dan Deacon sent us his new CD and asked The Brooklyn Paper’s Smash or Trash team to do what it does best in reviewing the hit “Getting Old.”
With video … Comments (1).
By Ben Muessig
Music: An indie supergroup has found a bizarre, but fitting, venue to unveil its new record — a Russian bathhouse in Kensington.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Awesome: We got ‘em, you want ‘em: two tickets to Wilco’s July 13 show at Coney Island. Click above to find out how to enter our giveaway contest!
With video … Comments (2).
By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
By Gersh Kuntzman
Awesome: Another day, another giant piece of concert news: They Might Be Giants revealed on Tuesday that the band will be doing a “free family concert” in Prospect Park on July 11.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Awesome: This is the biggest news since Dylan! Wilco. Keyspan Park. July 13. Free tickets from The Brooklyn Paper.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: They wanted our review before their show next Sunday — but then cancelled the show. Too bad, because the Smash or Trash team actually liked their song.
With video … Comments (1).
By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The Suckers wanted The Brooklyn Paper’s “Smash or Trash” team to review their new single before their April 23 show at Glasslands. We’re happy to oblige, though we doubt the band will agree with our conclusions.
With video … Comments (2).
By Ben Muessig
Music: Leave it to head Talking Head David Byrne to get people talking.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The heavy metal band, The Inevitable Backlash, asked The Brooklyn Paper’s “Smash or Trash” team to review its song “My Two Brookes” in advance of the band’s April 26 show at Cameo in Williamsburg. Sorry, but when your name is The Inevitable Backlash, our Smash or Trash team had a pretty easy time helping you live up to it.
With video … Comment.
By Ben Muessig
Music: The Wrens may be seen as a Jersey band, but the lead man is from Brooklyn, baby! The group plays the Bell House on April 10.
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By Heather Holland
Music: Now is the time to celebrate the trombone!
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The New Haven techno band, Eula, asked The Brooklyn Paper’s “Smash or Trash” team to review one of its songs in advance of the show’s April 4 show at Death by Audio. The results were mixed: Gersh hated it, but Ben and Mike loved the song. Watch all the action as Gersh over-rules the team!
With video … Comments (2).
By Evan Gardner
Music: The hills of Brooklyn will be alive with the sound of music — jazz music — throughout April.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: Sarah Lentz asks the “Smash or Trash” team to review her song. How did it turn out? Not so well!
With video … Comments (1).
By Heather Holland
Music: It’s time to take opera out of stuffy concert halls and theaters and get it where it really belongs — in bars.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: Sarah Lee Guthrie — Arlo’s little girl — invited The Brooklyn Paper’s Smash or Trash team to “review” her latest hit single, “Dr. King,” in advance of her performance at Jalopy on Thursday, March 12. Good news for her — it’s a smash!
With video … Comment.
By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The Brooklyn Paper’s Smash or Trash team is back — this time “reviewing” Brooklyn-based quartet Cholo and the band’s new song, Just Aks. This one is a classic.
With video … Comment.
By Emilia Brock
Music: Catch Kimya Dawson, of “Juno” soundtrack fame, at Club Europa on March 10.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: A band makes the dangerous decision to be reviewed by our “Smash or Trash” team. How did it turn out? Click above!
With video … Comment.
By Emilia Brock
Cameron Wittig
Music: Fresh from last year’s new album, “Walk It Off,” the Minneapolis-based quartet Tapes ’n Tapes will slam into Brooklyn with its hard-driving drum-backed twangy indie rock sound for a must-see concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday, Feb. 26.
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By Mike McLaughlin
Music: The woman behind the international 1996 smash hit, “I Love You Always Forever,” will play at Southpaw in Park Slope on Sunday, Feb. 22.
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By Ben Muessig
Music: For some, Williamsburg is a post-collegiate playground dotted with discos and drinking establishments. For Conrad Keely — the lead singer in the indie rock band …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead — it’s an inspiration.
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By Evan Gardner
The Brooklyn Paper / Emily Lavin
Music: It will be remembered as the day the music died: After five years of free music, one year of free stand-up comedy, and lots of noise complaints, Sound Fix, a Williamsburg record store, is closing down its bar and live-music space.
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By Ben Muessig
Music: Neil Young said that it’s better to burn out than it is to rust. Obviously, he’s never rocked in Bay Ridge.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Music: One of the coolest acts to come out of Brooklyn’s music scene is a country-crooning Jewish cartoonist from the New Yorker magazine who has two creaky chords and a voice that sounds like it was run over by the kind of beat-up Dodge that rumbles through his songs.
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By Gersh Kuntzman
Music: Finally, the Care Bears on Fire are not just for kids anymore.
Comments (4).
By Ben Muessig
Michael Muller
Music: Mumiy Troll, the seminal Soviet-era rock group, is undergoing a musical Glasnost.
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By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The Brooklyn Paper’s Smash or Trash team is back — this time “reviewing” Brooklyn singer-songwriter Jessie Killguss’s new hit, “Gristmill,” in advance of her Jan. 17 show at Rose Live Music [345 Grand St., between Havemeyer Street and the BQE in Williamsburg, (718) 599-0069]. Brooklyn Paper poohbah Gersh Kuntzman executes a coup over the rest of the team in this very special “Smash or Trash.”
With video … Comments (1).
By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team
Smash or Trash: The Brooklyn Paper’s Smash or Trash team is back — this time “reviewing” Russia’s hottest rock band’s new single, “Queen of Rock.” It’s in Russian, but that doesn’t faze this team of rock monsters.
With video … Comment.
By The Brooklyn Paper Smash or Trash team