I saw 133 shows so far this year, with two left in 2011, but these are the unquestionable top ten. Now with photos. (Josh Ritter in Charlotte above.) 1. Josh Ritter, solo acoustic, at the McGlohon Theatre, Charlotte, 11/2011. I didn’t go to another show this year where I barely breathed from start to finish…
Author: brandnewkindof
Photographer, baseball fan, lover of rock music, sweet tea, chili cheese hotdogs, and Matt Wieters.
studio session: the brand new life
I love studio work; it’s desperately intimate and open. Thanks to the Brand New Life for letting me hang around. Full set here.
ten more tracks from 2011 that i loved
Tracks that didn’t make the Christmas mix, for whatever reason, but got a lot of play from me, in no particular order and little to no commentary, but with a zip file [here]. More music I loved! Cee-lo Green, “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”: from the Buddy Holly tribute album, we all know…
christmas mix 2011: something as simple as rock and roll
I’ve been making what I call a Christmas mix — that is, not holiday songs but a mix made at the holidays — since 1997; first they were tapes, then for a few years cds, and finally, in the digital age, the last six years have been downloadable zip files, and this year is no…
mandolin orange holiday show
I have been a terrible blogger lately, you guys; I’m at least three shows behind and I have projects out the wazoo and I swear, I am back on track as of today. The Mandolin Orange holiday show was amazing, and I had the pleasure and privilege of documenting it from all angles; you can…
beirut @ cat’s cradle
I have wanted to have the chance to shoot Beirut since 2008; I just, at the time and since, never thought I’d have a chance to do so in a venue the (mid-)size of the Cradle, and if I did, it wouldn’t be with lights as spectacularly perfect as Zach Condon and band brought with…
two for the road
I’m putting together end of the year lists, like everyone else, but I couldn’t let these two slip through without writing about them. Both out today, 12/6. The Black Keys — El Camino: my love for the Black Keys is pretty well described as primal; their 2010 album Brothers remains an album that I think…
the camera’s eye
I am about to finish watching The Hour, which if you haven’t watched it is simply staggeringly brilliant — Romola Garai is absolutely astonishing, and Dominic West and Ben Whishaw aren’t too shabby either, and I loved playing spot-the-British-TV-regular (“HI MORIARTY.” “HI OWEN HARPER.”). But what really grabbed me about it was the cinematography, the…
american aquarium @ the pour house
It depends on what you ask me, and when, about American Aquarium, whether I’ll be sentimental, or cheerfully cranky, or a million other things — but one thing I will always, always be is fond, is deeply affectionate for those five guys and all 28 ex-band members. There’s no other band where I can tell…
jon lindsay @ slim’s
Jon Lindsay writes the kind of indie guitar pop songs that stick in your head because of a catchy chorus or a well-picked guitar line, and it’s not until you listen to them later that you realize they’ve wormed their way into your head because they’re sly and subtle and impeccably clever; he is a…
brand new kind of photography 