The Best Concerts in NYC This Week: Cloud Nothings + Hamilton Leithauser + The Black Lips + LE1F + We Are Scientists + Gates + Iron Chic + more future musical goodness! - Oh My Rockness

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The Best Concerts in NYC This Week: Cloud Nothings + Hamilton Leithauser + The Black Lips + LE1F + We Are Scientists + Gates + Iron Chic + more future musical goodness!

April 11, 2014

Written by Patrick McNamara

The Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame.

Ha.

Haha.

Ha.

But moving on. As the title of the dynamic original web content article suggests, we’re now gonna talk about The Best Shows This Week!

And the Rockness reader who reads it best gets inducted into OUR Hall of Fame. We’ll put your picture on our refrigerator and give you a commemorative key to our apartment's executive bathroom.

Monday - April 14th, 2014 A.D.

Cloud Nothings play Bowery Ballroom tonight. It’s sold-out. So if you want to go and don’t have a ticket, I’m sorry. But every mistake is an opportunity to learn something new about yourself. So sign up for your free My Rockness account, get alerts when new shows from bands you have saved are announced, and never spend another Monday night crying on your couch again. Forever and Ever. Amen.

Vensaire play Baby’s All Right tonight with Life Size Maps and Bubbles. Hey! I wrote about those two bands! That’s why they are both linked like that! Look closely as Vensaire play and you just might be able to spot a Widowspeak. Hey! I wrote about that band too! So why haven’t I written about Vensaire yet? Because I’m an idiot!

LVL UP (hey! I wrote about that ba…. oh nevermind that.... let's retire that) are good punks from Purchase. They play Silent Barn tonight. It should be a raucous loud lo-fi good time. Listen for the pretty melodies floating above all the noise. The pretty melodies shall set you free.

Summer Camp play Mercury Lounge. They are a catchy synth pop duo from England that I think were supposed to take over the “Other Side of the Pond” a few years ago. I can’t remember if they did it or not. Anyway, here’s a song called “I Want You.” It’s about how Summer Camp wants me.

SEE ALL OF OUR MONDAY SHOW PICKS.

Tuesday - April 15th, 2014 A.D.

You know Hamilton Leithauser. Yes you do. He is the singing Walkman. I’m not going to say “was” the singing Walkmen. Because there’s no way The Walkmen aren’t getting back together at some point. I’m just not going to allow that to happen. Hamilton plays two solo shows tonight at Joe’s Pub (fancy!) and he doubles down there again on Wednesday. I recommend going to this and then either before or after also going to see this hot new performance art musical drumming troupe called Blue Man Group. It’s wacky. Regis Philbin just loves ‘em. And they’re right across the street!

Speaking of solo dudes from other good bands, Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear (my second favorite original bear band…. after Crystal Quick Bear Heart….. obviously) and Department of Eagles plays Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight. His troubadour-istic (sic) songs are pretty pretty. And that’s about the only description I can give ya. Sigh. Sic Transit Gloria. Glory Fades.

Did you know we also list comedy shows? It’s something we dabble in as a side hobby. It’s good to pursue your passions, you know? Anyway, if you scan the list after you click that link you’ll notice W. Kamau Bell performs at The Bell House tonight. He’s a funny guy. And you heard that here 284th! (rough estimation of how many muzik blobs and leading alt pubs have previously said he's a funny guy.)

Other notable shows = Juana Molina at (le) poisson rouge + Langhorne Slim at City Winery + Bad Girlfriend at Death by Audio + Vulture Shit at The Grand Victory + Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! at Town Hall + Pharoahe Monch at S.O.B.’s.

(before scrolling to Wednesday - be sure to blast these booms.)

SEE ALL OF OUR TUESDAY SHOW PICKS.

Wednesday - April 16th, 2014 A.D.

Good news! LE1F plays Brooklyn Museum tonight. Bad news! Tickets are $100 dollars. Good news! It’s a benefit. Bad news! It’s not a benefit for either me or you. Sorry. You need the cash to catch this flow.

Nina Persson of The Cardigans plays Baby’s All Right tonight. “Lovefool” was The Cardigan’s jam. But sometimes it’s the jam behind the jam behind the jam that really has the jam, you know? And in The Cardigan’s case, it’s “Carnival.” I’m sure glad we had this talk behind the talk behind the talk.

Taking Back Sunday play Best Buy Theater tonight. Yes, yes. I know. It’s tricky times with that band. Tricky, tricky times. I’ll tell you what though. They had some catchy songs in their day. Can’t we all just get along and give them that? Granted, they are playing a venue named after a big box chain store that used to undercut independent record stores by selling their CDs for ridiculously low prices and they didn’t care if they lost money because TVs were the real $$$$ thing, you see. So….. this really resolves nothing.

Other notable shows = Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs at Knitting Factory + Jonah’s onelinedrawing at Mercury Lounge + Carl Cox at Output + Las Rosas and Wild Yaks at Pianos.

SEE ALL OF OUR WEDNESDAY SHOW PICKS.

Thursday - April 17th, 2014 A.D.

Those punker rockers known as The Black Lips play Webster Hall tonight. It’s been awhile since I last saw them. Do they still drink each other’s blood and vomit on their instruments and stuff while they play? Maybe they have moved on to diarrhea play? Anyway, bring your protective rain slicker and let’s find out!

Cloud Cult play Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight. They’re a good band. Trivia time. Fun fact. Let’s go Behind The Blob for a minute. Did you know Cloud Cult played an Oh My Rockness show 7 years ago at Emo’s Jr. during SXSW? It's true. Those were the halcyon days. Here's a song from that bygone era.

Sweden’s I Break Horses make post-lush-gaze-pop-tronica. And yes, even though those hyphenated made-up genre words look ridiculous, I bet after reading them you now know exactly what I Break Horses sound like. And isn’t that the whole point of this thing? So, you know, I’m not sweating it either. I Break Horses play Mercury Lounge tonight (and tomorrow at Rough Trade).

Modern Baseball (click that) play Best Buy Theater tonight. But I don’t want to talk about Best Buy Theater anymore. I just want you to listen to this Modern Baseball song. They’re a good band. No tricky times about this one. No, sir. No, ma'am.

Other notable shows tonight = The Coathangers at Baby’s All Right + Dan Croll at Bowery Ballroom + Eaters and Yvette and Dan Friel at Glasslands + Jacques Greene at Output.

SEE ALL OF OUR THURSDAY SHOW PICKS.

Friday - April 18th, 2014 A.D.

Tonight is intense with goodness. There are many good choices. I’ll do my best to break down the best of the best. Because I have #courage and it takes #heart.

Let’s start with something free. Because we are the 99%. Brooklyn Night Bazaar has a bunch of good bands tonight. Fear of Men + Beverly + Alvvays + Beach Day all play and you don’t have to pay a penny to see them. However, the assorted locally made alt trinkets cost extra.

We Are Scientists and PAWS play Bowery Ballroom tonight. Those are two good bands. We Are Scientists are really good at Twitter too. Not quite as good as I am. But almost right there. I’m not bothered by the competition. Bring it on. I welcome challenges. But only those in the social media arena. Real life challenges terrify me and I wither, crumble, die.

(speaking of bygone eras - this jam.)

Grass is Green+ Heeney + some other young punks play Emet (which is Teme backwards - neat!) in Brooklyn tonight. It costs $6 to get in. Because $6 is the new $8 which was the old $10 that was a response to the standard $12 which used to be the alt $15.

Tycho (with Gardens and Villa) play Webster Hall tonight. Speaking of pretty music (which I was, several days previous to this one) there’s not an instrumental electric alt head alive making prettier music than Tycho. And while I haven’t even had a chance to think this claim through, I’m pretty sure I will stand by this statement for the rest of time.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Best Shows This Week without The Good Son. HOW YOU JUST GONNA LET GO OF YOUR SON AS HE’S DANGLING FROM A CLIFF, MOMS?!?!?!?

(The Pizza Underground play The Wonder Bar tonight.)

Other notable shows tonight = The Coathangers at Mercury Lounge + Prince Rama at Baby’s All Right + Horse Feathers at Glasslands + Betty Who at Music Hall of Williamsburg + Rusko at Webster Hall (late) + Krill at Silent Barn.

SEE ALL OF OUR FRIDAY SHOW PICKS.

Saturday - April 19th, 2014 A.D.

Happy eBay Day... errr…. I mean Record Store Day! I hope you all have a really fun time searching for those 3 pressed copies of that limited edition thing that’s going to be gone before it even available to walk-in customers.

Rough Trade is having an all-day free concert to celebrate the day of wanting records you’re not going to get. Hospitality + Nothing + Fear of Men + Milagres + Palehound + more fine bands will play.

Of course, the most important point of Record Store Day is not the limited edition thing. It’s supporting record stores. So go do that. And forget about that limited thing. It’s just something made by some frazzled music industry marketing department somewhere.

(I wonder what Best Buy Theater is doing to support Record Store Day.)

Frameworks and Gates play Saint Vitus tonight. And I’ve been looking forward to this one since I listed this show on the site however many weeks/months ago that was. Both of these punk bands have massively pretty leanings. There’s that word again - pretty. I guess I’m just in a pretty mood this week, guys. And I regret nothing. I’ll see you at this one for sure.

(this is such a great song.)

Iron Chic (click that) play Music Hall of Williamsburg (opening for World/Inferno Friendship Society) tonight. I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration to say that I’ve blasted their album below approximately 97 times since the beginning of the calendar year. Give or take 20-25 times, over/under. It’s really good and it makes me happy. I think it has to do with the guitars. No, I’m sure of it. It’s always been about the guitars.

Barnard College (Claire Rockness’ Alma mater!) has its W-BAR-B-Q today. Like every year, it’s free. And the bands this year include Amanda X + LVL UP + many more mostly punker rockers. Come hang with the outdoor college alts. I’ve got my hacky sack and patchouli juggling sticks sitting by the door ready to go.

(Amanda X also play later tonight at Shea with Slothrust and Weaves and Video Daughters - that’s how good they are.)

Other notable show tonight = Josh Wink and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs at Verboten + Horse Feathers at Joe’s Pub + White Fang at Glasslands + No Joy and Eternal Summers at Brooklyn Night Bazaar.

SEE ALL OF OUR SATURDAY SHOW PICKS.

Sunday - April 20th, 2014 A.D.

Delicate Steve play Baby’s All Right tonight with Dustin Wong and Deradoorian. THIS MEANS I HAVE ANOTHER EXCUSE TO POST “BUTTERFLY” ON THIS THING AGAIN! And as long as Delicate Steve keep playing, I’m gonna keep posting it. It’s called paying it forward and throwing some goodness back into the karma. This song will set you free. Bet.

SEE ALL OF OUR SUNDAY SHOW PICKS.

I got more but the week ran out of days. So it's time for us to say goodbye.

That was The Best Shows This Week. Thanks for reading all the way to the end.

OK. The moment we’ve all been waiting for since the opening.

The first ever inductee into the Oh My Rockness Hall of Fame is… hang on a sec lemme get my glasses………. the winner is YOU.

It’s always been you.

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