• Concert Review: The Meatlocker in Montclair, New Jersey

    Shows at the Meatlocker in Montclair, NJ sit somewhere in between basement shows and legitimate venue shows. Technically it’s the basement to an apartment building, but I’m pretty sure nobody who lives in the apartment actually goes down into that cold, filthy space. Anyone can rent out the space for the night and put on a show, and while big acts such as Ted Leo, Wavves, and Screaming Females have played there, most nights it’s just a bunch of small, scrappy punk bands playing for a couple of people, like the show I went to last night.

  • 'American Idol' Season 13 recap: Jessica Meuse and C.J. Harris Refuse to Come Alive for Top 6

    American Idol got a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll and a little bit of Grumpy Cat last night for its top six performances. For the first time, each of the remaining contestants performed two songs a piece. The first half of the show? Marked by rock songs of all sorts, from Neon Trees to Heart. The second half was all country with two tracks by Idol alumna Carrie Underwood and a few comfy classics.

  • Junk Mail: Future's 'Honest' Album Review...Performed Via Email

    Music Times writers share an office area of roughly 45 sq. ft, which makes having face-to-face conversations totally impossible. Junk Mail is these millenials' attempt to discuss and review the week's hottest album releases... without needing to look at each other.

  • 'American Idol' Season 13 Recap: Top 7 Make Predictable Picks For Contestant's Choice

    After two weeks in the top eight, American Idol is finally down to seven contestants this week and decided to let the remaining singers show their real stuff (yet again) with their own choice of song. Thus, the picks were pretty predictable and everyone performed thusly. It's pretty well established who the stars are on this season of Idol -- Jena Irene, Alex Preston and Caleb Johnson, and those three had the strongest showings. The mediocre singers were mediocre and the boring guys were boring.

  • Concert Review: Cloud Nothings at Music Hall of Williamsburg, 4/13/14

    What sets Music Hall of Williamsburg apart from all of the other major venues I’ve been to is the absence of a barricade between the audience and the stage. For the first time in my life, I was able to stand right next to the stage and rest my arms and my beer on it. I chose to hang around stage left, and it turned out to be the best spot in the house for taking photos of the bands.

  • Concert Review: Mt. Doom in New Brunswick, NJ, 4/11/14

    New Brunswick, New Jersey is a city basically run by college students, and because of this, their basement music scene has become semi-legendary (there’s even a Wikipedia article about it). There are dozens of “venues” that are simply the basements of houses rented out by students at Rutgers, and they all have cool names like “The Candy Barrel” and “The Cooler Ranch”. The name of the house I went to last night was “Mt. Doom”, which I thought was particularly cool, since I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan. Though the basement at Mt. Doom was dimly lit and heavily tagged with graffiti, it was a relatively neat and organized space for a punk show.

  • Ronnie Dunn Delivers Peace Love and Country Music

    Ronnie Dunn's indie debut on his own label, Peace Love and Country Music does a lot of things, but most of all, it proves that he still has one of the best voices in country music today. Whether it's the new, original tunes or the one solitary cover ("You Don’t Know Me," made famous by Ray Charles and Elvis Presley), he's putting his heart into it and making you feel each word.

  • 'American Idol' Season 13 Recap: Top 8 (Again) Time Travel to the '80s

    With past Idol favorite David Cook as this week's mentor, the cream of this year's crop rose to the top with some super solid performances. As this point, though, we know who is going to be consistently good and who's going to be a little shaky. So, without further ado, let's get into who was good, bad and passable on this week's American Idol.

  • Junk Mail: Emailing About John Frusciante's New Album 'Enclosure'

    Music Times writers share an office area of roughly 45 sq. ft, which makes having face-to-face conversations totally impossible. Junk Mail is these millenials attempt to discuss and review the week's hottest album releases... without needing to look at each other. This week: Ryan Book, Caitlin Carter and Carolyn Menyes email back and forth about John Frusciante's Enclosure.

  • A Basement Show in Haledon, New Jersey

    My friend Jeff's house in Haledon is absolutely filthy, and has been ever since I started hanging out there in 2011, but tonight there seemed to have been a few efforts made to clean up the place. For starters, there weren't any broken beer bottles anywhere, and the old laptop that was Office Space-d into a million pieces at the last show had been (mostly) swept up. Of course, Jeff still didn't have any mic stands or power strips for the bands to use, but at least you could safely walk around the space.

  • 'American Idol' Judges Use Season 13 Save on Sam Woolf

    The Top 8 on American Idol remain intact, though they're much less safe than before. For the third week in a row, last night 17-year-old Floridian babyface Sam Woolf found himself in the dreaded Idol bottom three, but this week, he was spared from being sent to retirement and was given another chance. Yes, the judges buckled and finally used the one save per season on Sam. But, did they make the right choice?

  • REVIEW: Cher Lloyd Rejects Your Niceness in 'Dirty Love'

    Cher Lloyd is following in the steps of Kesha... she's all ready for your "Dirty Love." Yesterday (March 30), the British pop sass master/pop star released the third song from her new album "Sorry I'm Late," and the track is a sugar rushed ode to those guys who treat you like crap.
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