Neil Young & Crazy Horse played Madison Square Garden

My only prior experience seeing Neil Young, was in 2008 when he was doing a combination of his greatest hits and new pleasures. This was not that same show. This time around, Neil has taken Crazy Horse out for another wild ride and watching these guys jam for over two hours was surely a sight to be seen. It has been called the "Crazy Horse Huddle", where Neil, Billy Talbot, and Frank "Poncho" Sampedro stand in a close-knit circle and repeatedly blast each other with monstrous guitar solos so larger than life, it's a wonder any of them can still hear and that their guitar necks don't break on a nightly basis. Entering to the Beatles' "A Day in the Life", stage hands dressed as crazed scientists assembled ten foot tall amps reminiscent from the Rust Never Sleeps era and the legends launched into "Love and Only Love" before the classic "Powderfinger". Gargantuan licks erupted from the band and Neil's signature thundering guitar seemed to be just as powerful as ever. From here on out, the band alternated between some classics and new tunes from the recent Psychedelic Pill. "Walk Like a Giant" can easily be seen as the junior to Neil's classic "Like a Hurricane" and it definitely has an ego complex. Stretched out to an epic 16+ minute long jam, junior might not be appropriate, however the homage to its older counterpart is crystal clear. The juggernaut of a tune culminated with a five minute long noise jam that you would expect from Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr, but clearly the Godfather of Grunge is not ready to hand over his title any time soon. At this point in his career, Neil is privileged enough to do what he wants, such as recycle riffs that worked for him decades prior and in a sense, reinvent his own wheel. Midway through his two hour performance, the acoustic portion of the set kicked off with the onstage banter from Live Rust and fake rain poured down on the stage as Neil delighted the crowd with "The Needle and the Damage Done". After the brief acoustic stint, it was back to the rocking classics. Another new jam, "Ramada Inn" was followed by an enthusiastic "Cinnamon Girl" from the Crazy Horse time machine and really saw people rise to their feet. The night concluded with "Mr. Soul" from Neil's days with Buffalo Springfield before the droning closer "Hey Hey, My My". For many in attendance, the show did not feature enough of the classis, which Mr Young certainly has enough of to make up an entire setlist, however watching these four men jam out with brilliant guitar playing was definitely a treat. For almost half a century, Neil Young has been a pioneer in both his song-writing and colossal sounding guitar and his performance at Madison Square Garden certainly aided to the idea that this living legend has inspired countless acts over the years even well into his tenure, Neil can outplay many that linger in his shadow.

Setlist:
01 "Love and Only Love"
02 "Powderfinger"
03 "Born in Ontario"
04 "Walk Like a Giant"
05 "The Needle and the Damage Done"
06 "Twisted Road"
07 "Singer without a Song"
08 "Ramada Inn"
09 "Cinnamon Girl"
10 "Fuckin Up"
11 "Mr. Soul" (Buffalo Springfield song)
12 "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)"
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13 "Roll Another Number for the Road"

Metz played Mercury Lounge

After obliterating the Knitting Factory during Sub Pop's CMJ Showcase, it was made clear that Metz was an act never to miss. As Mercury Lounge fell into darkness, the Toronto thrashers erupted in sonic furry that bubbled up into oblivion before collapsing into an absolute audio assault. In a year when punk has been resurrected to the indie circuit with bands like the Men channeling their inner Dinosaur Jr and Hüsker Dü and Titus Andronicus echoing the Replacements, Metz have angled their sound towards the more agressive and noise ridden tendencies of the Jesus Lizard and Big Black. Their striking and violent guitar is brought forth with sinister melodies and blood-curdling screams that are enough to give anyone an instant asthma attack, yet these guys still found time to joke aboot being from Canada. Jagged guitars rip at the pulsating bass lines and cymbals crash down like thunder; there was no stopping these three. They wrenched their guitar necks with such vigor and in such syncopation; their rhythms completely locked into a solid groove. "Get Off" and "The Mule" had some particular angst, but really there was never a dull moment. From the jolting opening until the ear bleeding finish, Metz were razor sharp delivering blow after blow to a masochistic crowd and a hyper-extended "Wet Blanket" delivered the knockout punch to end the trio's lightening set.

Widowspeak - "Ballad of the Golden Hour"

Widowspeak (my favorite Brooklyn band at the moment) has announced that they will release Almanac, the follow-up to their brilliant self-titled debut album, on January 22 via Captured Tracks. The album was produced by Kevin McMahon who also worked on Real Estate's Days and Titus Andonicus' The Monitor. You can check out the album art above and download the first single "Ballad of the Golden Hour" below as well as the full tracklist.

Widowspeak - "Ballad of the Golden Hour"

Tracklist:

01"Perennials"
02 "Dyed in the Wool"
03 "The Dark Age"
04 "Thick as Thieves"
05 "Almanac"
06 "Ballad of the Golden Hour"
07 "Devil Knows"
08 "Sore Eyes"
09 "Locusts"
10 "Minnewaska"
11 "Spirit is Willing"
12 "Storm King"

Buke and Gase - "Blue Monday"

Brooklyn lo-fi folk punks Buke and Gase have released a cover of New Order's epic "Blue Monday" to benefit relief efforts in Red Hook, Brooklyn from Hurricane Sandy. Living in New York City for almost seven years now, I cannot begin to describe the events of the past week. It was unlike anything I've been through as a New Yorker and hopefully something that no one will have to live through again. Stay safe everyone!

Atoms for Peace - "What the Eyeballs Did"

Here's a new one from Thom Yorke and Co. (now known as Atoms for Peace) called "What the Eyeballs Did". It's the b-side to "Default" which they debuted a few months back and was premiered yesterday by Mary Anne Hobbs (you can here her talking at the end). As you would expect, Flea lays down a killer bass line.

Their new album is expected in early 2012.