tons of awesome shows coming up during the month of may… here’s just a small sampling of those i plan to attend/wish i were attending.

GOING - may 6: the pains of being pure at heart, twin shadow @ webster hall. pains have established themselves as one of my favorite bands of late, and i can’t wait to see how the latest album belong translates live.

WISH - may 10 & 14: IAMDONALD tour (donald glover & childish gambino) @ bowery ballroom and music hall of williamsburg, respectively. donald glover is absolutely killing it, both on community and with his rap alter ego childish gambino. mark my words: these will be the last times you’ll be able to see him doing either stand-up or a live music show on stages this small.

GOING - may 12: dale earnhardt jr. jr. @ the rock shop. maybe my favorite new band of 2010 - i absolutely can’t wait for their full-length to come out this summer. if their ep and live shows are any indication, we should expect good very things.

GOING - may 15: sleigh bells and CSS @ bowery ballroom. i suspect i’ll need to bring the earplugs for this one… but i probably won’t. sleigh bells should absolutely destroy this venue after CSS starts the dance party.

GOING - may 18: gruff rhys @ the knitting factory. love this guy, and fell in love with his live show when i saw him at a much smaller venue this past january. since the knitting factory is easily my favorite brooklyn venue, this whole show should be a major love fest.

first post in foreverrrrrr, and this is what it took. hot chip’s alexis taylor’s side project about group released their second (i didn’t know they existed before this one) album start and complete last week, and i like what i’m hearing… particularly from the track posted above, “you’re no good.” dare i say… the maestro’s best work yet?

love these guys. i personally think the npr synopsis of living thing is a bit harsh, as i actually liked it more than their debut (“young folks” obviously excepted). regardless,  i like what i’m hearing so far from gimme some, and it’s got one of the best album covers of recent memory to boot!

enjoy until its release on march 29th.

my absolute favorite song from 1994 - 1997. RIP Nate Dogg.

the first time i saw bright eyes was in the winter of 2003, when conor took the stage at new york’s old knitting factory space on leonard street with an acoustic guitar, a stool, and three bottles of wine. oh my, how far he’s come.

for the second time, i saw conor and his new 7 piece band at radio city music hall earlier this week. clearly grown up but still somewhat insecure, conor roared through a 2 hour set of old favorites as well as newer hits from his brilliant new record the people’s key. the album itself shows how far conor has come from the morose, insecure kid who released fevers and mirrors more than a decade ago (to say nothing of his earlier bedroom recordings).

switching amongst acoustic and electric guitars, keyboard and simply a mic, conor captivated the crowd over the course of 24 songs. at many times throughout the night, he actually walked and danced around the stage like the rock star he’s become.

posted is my all-time favorite bright eyes song which, not coincidentally, was also the strongest performance of the night in my opinion. enjoy “the calendar hung itself,” pick up the new album and do your best to see bright eyes at one of the various festivals they’re playing this summer.

arcade fire’s only legitimate competition for “greatest band in the world,” radiohead, is back at it again. after much speculation about a possible new radiohead album some time in 2011, the band shocked the world this past monday by announcing that the king of limbs would be released, in true radiohead fashion, the following saturday (today). further adding to the mystique, the band actually released the album yesterday through their own webstore.

early reviews have been generally positive (duh), and mine is no different (again, duh). i will say that the first half of the uncharacteristically short album (8 tracks, just under 38 minutes) plays much better than the second half, with “morning mr. magpie” and “little by little” as the standout tracks. the first single, “lotus flower,” is accompanied by a video that’s been quickly making its rounds, and is very reminiscent of thom yorke’s solo work from 2006’s the eraser. “give up the ghost” is my early favorite for this album’s dark horse - the kind of song that could make or break itself when re-created live.

all in all, this is the kind of album that i think radiohead fans will enjoy, and put it somewhere near the middle of the rankings when comparing to previous works. that said, i don’t think it has the crossover appeal of in rainbows or even ok computer, although it does its job of quenching a three and a half year thirst for new radiohead tunes.

buy, download, enjoy and watch for summer tour dates - these guys are even more of a treat live than you might expect.

full disclosure - a good friend of mine recently joined this band as a vocalist/keys player, but they are actually really rockin’ with or without her (although much moreso with her, based on the demos i’ve heard).

check out their stuff (including one of the new demos) on their myspace page, and then click on the link in the title of this post if you like what you hear!

due may 3. (via grufffhys.com)

(via coachella.com)

official line-up announced. as always - wow, i want to go to there.

highlights for me personally include kanye west, arcade fire, bright eyes, the national, the strokes, cold war kids, sleigh bells, cut copy, interpol and robyn, among others. the ultimate highlight in my eyes is the completely unexpected reunion of death from above 1979 - i absolutely love these dudes and keep a spot for their debut full-length you’re a woman, i’m a machine on my imaginary “best albums of the century” list. i was devastated when they broke up after such a brilliant album, having not had an opportunity to see them live. don’t think i’ll make it to coachella, but if you do, check them out. as for me, here’s to hoping this reunion leads to a nationwide tour.

i’ve been a big fan of these dudes for a while now. up and comers from DC releasing their debut album mirrors on tuesday, january 25th. check out their myspace page to hear “equestrian” and my personal favorite “every summer,” then check out the live performance on tuesday night!