Early 2018

Bette Smith - I Found Love
The Hold Steady - Entitlement Crew
Rodney Crowell - Shake Your Moneymaker
Superchunk - What A Time To Be Alive
Reina Del Cid - Beverly
L7 - Dispatch from Mar-a-Lago
Hockey Dad - I Wanna Be Everybody
Penguin Prison - Turn It Up
Destroyer - Tinseltown Swimming in Blood
Bahamas - Way With Words
Dude York - Break Up Holiday
The Spook School - Best of Intentions
The James Huunter Six - I Got Eyes
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - You Worry Me
Alex Lahey - Every Day's the Weekend
The National - Day I Die
Weaves - Walkaway
Stars - Real Thing
Calexico - End of the World With You
Jade Bird - Cathedral
Long Neck - Elizabeth
Brett Dennen - Already Gone
Hippo Campus - Traveler
Sufjan Stevens - John My Beloved-iPhone Demo
Metz - Cellophane
Daniele Luppi & Parquet Courts - Flush (feat. Karen O)
Roadkill Ghost Choir - Classics (Die Young)
Lissie - Blood and Muscle
Tom Misch - Movie
The Autonomics - Southern Funeral
The Social Animals - I Guess in America
Boulevards - DonezoNow Now - Yours
No Age - Soft Collar Fad
Karen O. featuring Michael Kiwanuka - Yo! My Saint
Wolf Parade - You're Dreaming
Inara George - Young Adult
Dan Croll - Tokyo
Erika Wennerstrom - Extraordinary Love
Ezra Furman - Love You So Bad
Goodbye June - Liberty Mother
Moby - Motherless Child
Gord Downie - A Natural
Rural Alberta Advantage - Brother
Brandi Carlile - The Joke
Lady Lark - Love
Sondre Lerche - I Know Something That's Gonna Break Your Heart (solo)
Orquesta Akokán - Mambo Rapidito
Glen Hansard - Roll on Slow
Mt. Joy - Silver Lining
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Mainland
Last Import - One a Day
Breckin' - The Story Bridge

Albums:
Superchunk - What A Time to Be Alive
Bat Fangs - Bat Fangs

Elvis Costello and the Attractions @ Brooklyn Steel

Elvis Costello and the Attractions
@ Brooklyn Steel
Brooklyn, NY - March 7, 2018

Not rain nor sleet nor snow could keep Elvis and company and a strong number of fans from this rather intimate show at the 1800 person standing room only old warehouse off the beaten path (well, not that off the beaten path at all, just far away in 3 inches of slushy ice whipped by winds).

Playing from across the whole span of his career, E.C. had the boys in fine form, which usually means "it's like the Mocambo in '77!" but for the first time, one had the first whisps of Age. Only in that Elvis' penchant for rumination seems more like that of an older man than it ever has before and he's really starting to make use of that big sign of rock aging - youthful back-up singers (though his career-long love of all kinds of music should be factored into the presence of the singers). But Mellow Costello is still a rock n roll fiend. You get the vibe enough and you can feel that "Radio Radio" is coming after "Miracle Man". But that also means some surprises ("Green Shirt") and at long last, at least by this fan's lights and experiences", Blood & Chocolate, his last perfect record is finally getting its due with not one but two appearances ("I Want You", not an unfamiliar one but we also got "Blue Chair" which nearly had my knees buckling).

After the Imperial Bedroom do-up the year before last, it was good to hear from other records again. And the Face In the Crowd Broadway songs are definitely ready for their close-up. The cherry on top was the announcement that yeah why not let's make another record for old times sake. History indicates it will have at least one fan going "it's like the Mocambo in '77!"