We had our first snowfall of the season here in NYC this past weekend. But even though the weather’s starting to chill out, the live shows are still keeping up the heat. Check out my preview of the week’s shows with some videos of my top picks…

Monday’s all about a Happy HalloWEEN, with Ween bringing their classic goof-rock stylings to the Hammerstein.

But if you want something with a bit more of a hip-hop and dance groove, then I’d recommend checking out SBTRKT with Araabmuzik at the Bowery Ballroom.

Tuesday, Battles will be dropping their glitchy, shape-shifting instrumentals at Webster Hall. So unique…always love these dudes.

For Wednesday night, I’m really digging these options: Charlie Hunter at the Sycamore, the Drums at Bowery Ballroom, or Yellowbirds at Union Hall (technically an opening slot). Take your pick…

Thursday, I’m tempted to check out St. Vincent at Webster Hall…Annie Clark not only has an amazing voice, but she can rip on guitar. But I’m also tempted to dig into the deep, horn-laden 70s funk of Orgone, who will be at Sullivan Hall that same night. That one’s sure to be a blast, but it’s bound to get a little steamy.

If you’re looking for something a bit more mellow and melodic, I suggest checking out Blind Pilot for some singer-songwriter-y goodness. They’re doing a two-night stand at the Bowery Ballroom.

But for the weekend nights, I think I’m most excited about Steve Kimock bringing his friends — Bobby Vega, Wally Ingram and Bernie Worrell — with him to Brooklyn Bowl for a two-night stand. I already hyped this one up a bit when it was announced, but I think it’s definitely worth mentioning again. Here’s a little sample of the Bobby Vega funk throwdown that will inevitably ensue:

As always, there’s plenty more to choose from, so head on over to LMB for my full list of NYC show recs: LMB NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Oct 31–Nov 6.

This week in NYC shows is a crazy one, with the CMJ Music Marathon officially taking over a good chunk of NYC’s clubs and venues. CMJ is a bit like NYC’s version of SXSW with industry panels, showcase events, day parties, and all manner of nighttime parties and multi-band extravaganzas. Also like SXSW, the concert options are nearly endless and definitely a bit overwhelming. If you’re doing CMJ proper (like, with a badge), then your best route is to hit up the official calendar over at CMJ’s Official Shed site to get all the showcase slots, parties, and panels in one spot for your scheduling needs. Also, Consequence of Sound has a solid round-up of picks and suggestions, and NPR put together a CMJ 2011 Mix to whet your appetite for some of the many artists/bands rolling through town. Keep in mind that, once you’ve made your picks, it’s worth checking show details to make sure you can get in without an official CMJ badge.

Although I can’t possibly touch on every amazing lineup, showcase or day party, I can point to a few bands that I know will put on interesting & entertaining shows. Here’s a quick rundown of some of my top suggestions, in alpha order:

American Babies @ Rockwood Music Hall (and a few of other showcase slots):
Tommy Hamilton’s Americana side project which I covered in depth after their Spring show at Mercury Lounge.

Arctic Monkeys w/ Smith Westerns @ Music Hall of Williamsburg:
It’s like a weird pairing of former indie rock darlings (one from 2005 and the other from five years later). But even if a lot of the hype has subsided for these two, this one still looks like a pretty killer match-up.

The Barr Brothers (various shows):
Nice, rootsy folk and blues tunes from the guitar & drums brothers known for their previous projects, the Slip and Surprise Me Mr. Davis.

Charlie Hunter (@ the Sycamore):
I think it’s safe to assume this has nothing to do with CMJ, but I don’t care. Charlie’s doing another residency at the Sycamore down in the Ditmas Park section of Brooklyn, and it’s bound to be cool, weird and a little groovy.

Delicate Steve (various shows):
Off-kilter, guitar-driven instrumentals that are hard to pin down sonically and very interesting to bored ears. Lots of options for catching these guys.

Small Black (various shows):
A softer, slower, sweeter-sounding electronic rock which others have called chillwave (a term which makes me want to hurl).

STS9 @ Best Buy Theater:
Another show that likely has nothing to do with CMJ, but should be pretty rad for the groove-oriented folks among us.

Stanley Jordan’s Guitar Fest, Wed-Sun nights @ Iridium:
Expect lots of special guests and some serious guitar chops.

Yellow Ostrich (bunch of different shows):
Vocal-oriented indie rock tunes with cool loops and interesting rhythms. Def. dug their set at SXSW.

Overall, it’s quite a crazy week of non-stop options for NYC concerts across all kinds of genres, scenes and styles. But I think my favorite way of looking at it is just checking out our picks for Sunday night. Any week that ends with Dick Dale, Gwar, and Stanley Jordan, is a pretty silly week of live music now, isn’t it?

You can check out my full weekly post and list of shows over at Live Music Blog: LMB NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Oct 17-23

No, Elvis isn’t playing the Apollo, but I can’t resist a good opportunity to post that photo. It’s so iconic. However, Elvis Costello is playing in NYC this week. He’s one of a few interesting artists playing shows in the NYC metro area….which is what I post over on Live Music Blog every week. Check it out:

LMB NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Oct 3 – 9

Read on for the highlights as I see ‘em…

Early in the week, we’ve got Explosions in the Sky with the Antlers at the beautiful Wellmont Theatre (in Montclair, NJ). Elvis Costello — who I mentioned last week — continues to bring his “Spectacular Spinning Songbook” to the area, with a two-night stand at the aforementioned Wellmont. And Portishead – fresh off their weekend duties at the ATP festival this week – is also sticking around town, with two nights at the Hammerstein.

For some reason, the early part of the week seems to have a lot of the big highlights, with an especially bumpin’ Wednesday night that includes the following: Black Star, Mos Def & Talib Kweli @ Irving Plaza, Deadmau5 @ Roseland Ballroom, James Blake and Chairlift @ Webster Hall, Ted Leo at Knitting Factory, and the aforementioned Portishead show @ the Hammerstein. But personally I think I’m most interested in Wednesday night’s lineup at Le Poisson Rouge where Toubab Krewe’s sharing a bill with Zongo Junction and Superhuman Happiness. Long-time readers already know how much I love me some Toubab, but I’m also digging what I’m hearing from Zongo Junction and Superhuman Happiness. Another interesting Wednesday-night option is Fang Island at Glasslands, which is perfect if you’re more in the mood for some triumphant dual-guitar pyrotechnics.

Thursday, I’ve got my money on Ducktails at Glasslands, which I’d recommend for those who dig the droney, woozy psych-rock of bands like Real Estate, The War on Drugs, and Woods. But for something even more out there, I’d jump to Saturday night, when Anamanaguchi plays the Museum Of The Moving Images in Astoria. These dudes do an interesting form of 8-bit punk rock (no, seriously, they hacked some old NES gaming systems to make some rockin’ live video game music…surprisingly good times).

I just posted my weekly NYC Live Music round-up over at LMB, with a few notable heavy-hitters and plenty of solid club shows, including: Radiohead, Elvis Costello, Primus, Panda Bear, Bruce Hornsby, and American Babies. Check it out: LMB NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Sept 26 – Oct 2

Plenty to choose from on the concert calendar this week, including a two-night run by Wilco at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park.

Dig in: LMB NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar

After taking a week off last week for some much-needed vacay, I’m back in town and I had just enough time to finalize a little live music round-up for NYC shows. There are a ton of great concerts happening this week, and as usual, that includes a bunch of bands I’ve blogged about here on this site (including The Dodos, Greensky Bluegrass, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, & Washed Out).

Check it out: Live Music in NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Sept 13 – 19

I just posted my NYC concert listings for this week over at Live Music Blog. A few highlights include bands/artists I’ve covered on this site before: Joe Russo, Marco Benevento, and Small Black.

Dig in: LMB NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Aug 30-Sept 5

I just posted my NYC concert recs for the week over at Live Music Blog, including more Deerhunter shows and an old fav in the live, electronic improv space: Brothers Past.

Check it: LMB NYC: This Week’s Concert Calendar – Aug 22 – 28

Luckily, we did our research and really honed in on a couple of key areas during a separate trip where we basically walked half of the city (well, maybe only a quarter, but it sure felt like half on Sunday!). It may have been a bit excessive, but I am really glad we made the scouting trip. Upon our return to the city, we were able to focus our apt. hunt on just a few areas of Brooklyn, including Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and Park Slope.

After two days of endless viewings, phone calls with brokers, and some serious pavement-pounding, we checked out a place on Smith St. that felt about right.

We liked the exposed brick, decent-sized rooms, and the old-school ornate ceilings, among other things.

The place itself was fine, but it was really the neighborhood and location that made it.  Smith Street is one of the main strips of the Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill area and offers tons of options for restaurants, stores, bars, etc…

The proximity to one of the city’s few Trader Joe’s stores was also a huge plus.

We were able to talk them down on the broker’s fee and the monthly rent, so that pretty much sealed the deal for the Smith St. place. Done and done. Once we signed the checks and the lease, we checked out some of the local fare at Chance, a nice little Asian/Sushi place a few blocks south of our new spot. The Chance lunch special and cold beers were a perfect way to finish out the apt. hunt:

All in all, I’d say the overall process with the multiple trips was long and a bit tiresome, but not as bad as I expected. It seems that we picked a good time to make the move to NYC. We recently made the official move — which was probably the most tiring part of this entire process — but I’ll spare those details from this account. We are now starting to really settle in to our apt., check out our new hood, and get used to the new digs. We can’t wait to really dig into all the NYC has to offer!

Check out the full photo set

Linds and I took an “exploratory trip” to NYC this past weekend, our first visit to NYC since we finalized our plans to make the move there this summer. With a city so vast and amazing as New York, we decided we needed to take a weekend just to explore some neighborhoods and see what would be the best fit for us. This photo above pretty much sums up the entire weekend, as we walked huge portions of the city (a good 4-6 hours each day). It was a great way to see a number of neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn, even though my feet were hating me by the end of each day. As Linds said, it felt like we went on a backpacking trip in the city. It was fun and exhausting, but the tasty food options really helped ease the pain…

This photo was taken at a small sushi place we tried in Cobble Hill at the tail end of our visit. We really liked the Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill area of Brooklyn, so much that I think that this area currently tops our list of possible places we’d like to live.

As we make the transition from mellow Charlottesville in Central Virginia to the one and only Big Apple, I hope to document a bit more of our process along the way. Wish us luck!