Magnetic Fields Attract Crowds to Town Hall No "Lost" spoilers in this post. Stephen Merritt doesn't bring the band around too often, so it's always a treat when The Magnetic Fields take the stage in town. Despite the band hailing from Brooklyn, this is the first local show they've played in quite a few years, and the sold-out 4 night run at Town Hall did not disappoint the anxious fans. While their latest album, Distortion,......

THEATER: It would be pretty boss if The Cherry Orchard Sequel – a long-overdue follow up to Chekhov’s play about downwardly mobile Russian aristocrats – involved the titular clear-cut orchard rising from the ashes to go on a rampage against their axe-wielding oppressors. But playwright and director Nic Ularu took things in a different direction, and the result sounds just as interesting. His story picks up again 18 years after Chekhov’s play ends, and......

Hot Chip, Almost Ready for the Floor We've come around on Hot Chip in a big way over the last few years as they've risen to stateside popularity. Their latest album is a total burner, highlighted by a killer lead single, Ready for the Floor, and the last few times we've seen them live it's been a blast. So needless to say, our expectations for last Saturday night's show at Highline were through the roof.......

Coachella Lineup Announced Sure, with the All Points West Fest announced, Coachella may not have the same appeal for east coasters this year, but the lineup announcement is still an exciting annual event. Over the last few years, it has established itself as the granddaddy and standard bearer of the American festival circuit. Unfortunately, most people are finding this year's lineup is a bit of a dud. Coachella's been operating at such a high level......

EVENT: Tonight's Downtown Third Thursday seems promising. Pete Hamill, author of Downtown: My Manhattan, will be on hand at 41 Broad Street, a "Classical Revival style building designed by Cross and Cross Architects completed in 1929 as the headquarters of the Lee-Higginson Bank. The original grand banking hall with its marble mosaic columns now houses the Broad Street Ballroom." The NY Times has more on the rarely seen space. 6pm // 41 Broad St //......

Where, like last year, we recap the biggest stories from the New York music scene of the year. Album of the Year: The National - Boxer What this album did better than any other coming out of New York all year was create images. It tells stories worth listening to. The opener, "Fake Empire," sets the tone for the rest of the record...slow and moody, yet brash and almost apologetic. Every song sounds like it......

MOVIE: Nessie's taking off from the Marine Park salt marsh in Brooklyn, but you can catch the creature on the big screen. The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep stars Emily Watson and Ben Chaplin and traces a boy's discovery of a mysterious egg that hatches into the sea creature of the Scottish legend. Way better than finding a sea monkey. Various times and theaters, details here MUSIC: If for some reason you just couldn't......

EVENT: This is pretty...interesting. The Sprinkle Brigade "unveils the future of Urban Beautification. Their upcoming show entitled, 'EQUIPPED' at the Riveria Gallery, focuses on the cutting edge in dog poo decoration." The brigade say the "art form" came about after spending "several years of experience wandering the streets of New York, decorating what most people consider to be the enemy." The opening is tonight and the show runs through the 23rd. Leave the pooper scooper......

Sufjan Keeps it Local We really enjoyed Sufjan's BQE show last Friday at BAM. It was a great, refined, change of pace evening for the indie rock crowd. The evening was really a sum of it's parts, all told. The entire presentation of the BQE piece was far more engaging than the actual music itself. It was solid, but not up to Suf's lofty magical standards. But the little things...the gritty video clips of the......

Most Overrated Live Band: Justice There is no denying the greatness of Justice's album, "Cross," and there is no argument from us that it isn't the type of music that is perfectly suited to be blasted in a massive dance club. But those two things alone do not automatically lead to a good live show. These two are sloppy, to put it simply. Too many changes were missed, beats were a half step off, and......

Björk @ MSG You might better picture Björk in some sort of magical Garden rather than the Garden, but nonetheless the avant-queen took the big stage earlier this week and brought her elaborate, over the top live show with her. She's been a busy gal all summer, headlining many of the major American music festivals, and with this being her second time through NYC. The last time she was in town she played increasingly large......

Dave Longstreth has been recording music under the name Dirty Projectors since 2003, and currently tours with a band made up of three others. Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian and Brian Mcomber help him put on one of the more amazing live shows this city has to offer -- just check out this Take Away Show (and this one) filmed around New York earlier this year. Their sound is bi-polar...anxious and somber, muddled and crisp, a......

There's a band looking for a frontman in Brooklyn...and they're bypassing Craigslist postings, MySpace bulletins and good 'ol fashion flyers to get the open position filled. They say "we like internet" and are therefore selling their frontman position on eBay in this Buy a Rock Band auction. The band currently has no name and consists of four members. The rhythm guitarist, Bill, is 25 and includes Fall Out Boy in his list of influences. The......

TIP: Starting tomorrow Opera-For_all begins the first of three nights of performances. For cheap! The New York City Opera is selling tickets to every seat in the house for just $25. Over the course of "opera season" 50 or more seats in the front orchestra will be priced at just $25 as well. As for this week, here's the sched: Thursday, September 6the OPERA FOR ALL Concert, with party to follow (this will showcase the......

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READING: Today NY Mag asks, "What does Tina Brown have to do to get some attention?" Well tonight she's signing copies of her new book (a tell-all on Princess Di) called The Diana Chronicles. 7pm // Barnes & Noble [33 E 17th St] // Free MUSIC: That band in the bubble, Cartel, that you've undoubtedly already forgotten about, is playing a free show tonight. Go visit the bubble boys, help them re-enter the real world......

ART: FreeNYC reminds us that the new gallery Honey Space is opening tonight with a little shindig. The night will include a solo show by Thomas Beale, "otherworldly food, homemade drinks, one New Orleans circus star, a 9-piece brass band, and the products of years of concentrated effort." 6 to 9pm // Honey Space [11th Ave at 21st St] // Free MOVIE: March of the Penguins kicks off the Outdoor Lawn Chair Summer Movie Series......

Arcade Fire vs. The Venues They Choose To Play There has been much to-do about the anti-establishment efforts of The Arcade Fire at their recent Radio City concert, urging the fans to rush and outnumber the security guards keeping the aisles clear. What was overshadowed was that this is perhaps the best live band touring right now, and they were absolutely at the top of their game this week, playing each of these shows as......

Superbowl MVP, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is set to host Saturday Night Live tomorrow. Saying, "The only thing I've done live is play football, and that's the best thing I do. I've told everyone those commercials are very taped and very edited, but being live is kind of like a game." Statistically he's one of the best quarterbacks of all time, but he'll be taking on a new challenge hosting the show. He's been tackling......

FILM: Who doesn't like a rendez-vous? Tonight come to Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. The event is in its 12th year and will introduce you to what's been playing on Parisian movie screens. Tonight is the first night and Olivier Dahan’s La Vie en Rose plays - the film will educate you on French legend Edith Piaf. Through March 11th // Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts [70 Lincoln Center Plaza] // $22......

Ford & Fitzroy are a fairly recent creation, and we hear their live show is "the kind of show that makes you want to see unknown bands more often. Surprising, strange and wonderful at the same time, it made you feel like the insider on something special." With a review like that, and two tracks floating around that we can't stop listening to, we couldn't be more psyched to see this band at our Movable......

THEATER: The esteemed Classical Theatre of Harlem is reviving Peter Weiss’s masterpiece Marat/Sade. The dizzying action takes place in an asylum in France, where the infamous Marquis de Sade is sequestered in 1808. To pass the time, he directs a play about the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat during the revolution. His asylum casting pool yields up some magnificent performances, though the production is almost squelched by the hospital administrator, a tool of Napoleon’s post-revolutionary regime.......

As we've been mentioning, Movable Hype 11.0 is coming up fast, and the show will also be our 4th Birthday Party! We've introduced you to the host, and two of the bands, and now we have the rest of the lineup for you. The World Without Magic caught our attention pretty recently, and after seeing their live show we wanted to see them again and again. They'll be closing the night out, which is perfect......

Photo via nafees Flickr Portland, Oregon resident M. Ward (or "Matt", as his friends call him) is an enigmatic good 'ol fashioned singer/songwriter. Appearing detached and independent from the world he connects to through music, he seems to come to us from another time and place. Without pretense he delivers songs with a voice that hangs in the air, enchanting an audience of listeners who are always left wanting more. An old soul with......

Andrew Bird, whose inspired 2005 album The Mysterious Production of Eggs was an indie hit, brought his sublime genre-defying songs (and socks) to a sold-out Bowery Ballroom last night. He was joined on percussion and keyboards by regular collaborator Martin Dosh and Jeremy Ylvisaker – a new addition to his road show – on bass and guitar. It’s always exciting to watch Bird weave his songs together live; in addition to playing violin, Gibson hollow-body......

SIGNING: If there is one person we could think of that doesn't need an autobiography...it might as well be Rupert Everett. Yet, he'll be signing his new book "Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins: The Autobiography" tonight. He wasn't just in "My Best Friends Wedding", he was also friends with Warhol and has been to easter egg hunts in Elizabeth Taylor's garden. Fabulous. 7pm // Barnes & Noble [33 E 17th St] // Free SHOP:......

THEATER: The Phoenix Theatre Ensemble’s production of Antigone begins previews tonight. They’ve chosen the French dramatist Jean Anouilh’s adaptation of Sophocles’ classic tragedy, “which challenged 1940s Vichy France with an enduring story about resistance: a young girl defies a king in order to honor burial rites for her brother. This ancient tale of one person’s stand against the unjust policies of the State resonated then, and continues with fresh relevance now.” - John Del Signore......

Photo by Jamie Goodridge Last week Tall Hands played our Movable Hype show, since then we've seen them one more time. Yes, twice in one week, they are that fun! Mix a little bit of an up-tempo Velvet Underground sound with some Maker's Mark, add ice and shake nicely - and you'll get something that resembles this bands live show. A sound that amidst all the live energy, comes out crystal clear through the......

Peelander Z is: Kengoswee, K.O. and Antonio Kazuki Well, we haven’t had had the pleasure of seeing yet for ourselves, despite them playing around New York fairly regularly, but all reports seem to say that a Peelander Z live show is just about the most bizarre thing you'll come across in a downtown rock venue. They label themselves as "Japanese Action Comic Punk", and, dressed up in primary colored costumes, the shows usually consist......

The first time I saw Pete Holmes live was at the Doug Benson Interruption at the UCB, but most people's first experience with Pete probably comes from Best Week Ever, where he's a frequent panelist, or Comedy Central. Or it might be Cosmo Girl. What part of the college do you usually perform in? Most of it hinges on that question. You go through such black and white experiences doing colleges. I did a show......