Ryan Bingham wrote “The Weary Kind,”  the Academy Award-winning theme to Boozy Crazy Heart, starring Jeff ‘The Dude’ Bridges. He has a rowdy new album, his third for Lost Highway, called Tomorrowland, produced by the unsinkable T-Bone Burnett, who partnered with him on the Crazy Heart soundtrack. He’s a little bit like Townes Van Zandt without all the drugs and insanity. Oh, he’s also, like, really handsome, too, if you are into that kind of thing. Bingham’s tour in support of Tomorrowland stops at Union Transfer on Friday. We have a pair of tickets (a $50 value!) to give […]

These guys ain’t no joke, but this video is f*cking hilarious. We have a pair of tix to see them tomorrow night at Union Transfer for the 12th person to sign up for our mailing list (SEE right, below masthead). Go on. What are you worried about? That we’re gonna leave a bag of flaming dog poop on your door step? No, no, no. Not your physical address, your email address. What are we going to do? Leave a bag of flaming dog shit on your email doorstep? Is there such of a thing? Oh, who can keep up with […]

  Currently promoting his new autobiography Who I Am (see below), Pete Townshend will be speaking at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on Wednesday at 7 PM. This event is COMPLETELY sold out, but we have a pair of tickets to giveaway to the 27th reader to sign up for our mailing list. The sign up window is just to the right of this post at the bottom of the masthead. (Don’t worry, we will never share or sell your email address, unless you do something really bad on national television and the cops make us […]

  This track from their new album, Observator,  is pretty mind-blowing. They seem to have replaced black-and-white B-movie noir for witchy post-hippie Hotel California noir. It’s only fitting that it was recorded at L.A.’s Sunset Sound, where The Rolling Stones mixed Let It Bleed given that this song has all the satanic majesty of “Gimme Shelter.” It makes the ghost of electricity howl in the bones of your face. You have been warned. We have a pair of tickets to see The Raveonettes @UnionTransfer tomorrow night to give away to the 20th reader to sign up for our mailing list. […]

Artwork by BALDERDASH Because we love, you we have a pair of tickets to see Animal Collective tomorrow night at The Mann to give away to the 20th lucky Phawker reader to sign up for our mailing list. The sign up window is just to the right of this post at the bottom of the masthead. (Don’t worry, we will never share or sell your email address, unless you do something really bad on national television and the cops make us eat saltines under hot lights until we crack, because, we must admit, we would not hold up long under […]

Alabama Shakes exploded onto the music scene in 2011 with the release their first single “Hold On” and followed up the single with their highly anticipated debut album, Boys and Girls. Last night at the Electric Factory, the Shakes delivered everything the album promised and more. Launching into their set with “Party” and “Hang Loose,” they had the audience hooked from the get-go. Frontwoman Brittany Howard shifted effortlessly from a shy croon to a bombastic crescendo that made the hairs on the back of your neck sit up and take notice. Setting down her guitar for “Be Mine,” she stomped […]

MXDWN: Sunday night’s headliners, Canadian ensemble Godspeed You! Black Emperor, pretty much have ATP to thank for renewed interest in their work, and their own interest in making new work. GY!BE were dormant until they played and curated ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas in 2010; full tours and studio rumors blossomed afterwards. It’s easy to plant the post-rock label on them, but GY!BE aren’t just about the jam. Twenty minutes of music at a time aren’t jams, they’re damn near statements. Lit by their signature projection loops and surrounded by an ocean of amps, pedals, picks and other sound modifiers, they […]

Los Lobos 1992 masterpiece Kiko was/is the Pet Sounds/Smile of Latin music. To mark the album’s 20th anniversary, Los Lobos’ will play it from beginning to end tonight at the Keswick. We can hardly wait. RELATED:  Just as Brian Eno became an aural architect for Talking Heads’ new sound, Los Lobos began a collaborative partnership with producer Mitchell Froom and engineer Tchad Blake that crafted sounds for Kiko that simmer and undulate. As the band and recording team have related, when it came to instrumentation and recording techniques, nothing was off the table, be it running guitars through cheap, pawnshop […]