The Lumineers are one of those up and coming bands that I was introduced to by KEXP’s John in the Morning and by the Next Music show podcast. The band hails from Denver but their rustic tones give them a sound from further south and they are currently on tour supporting their self-titled debut album. When the band came through Connecticut, they chose to perform at the intimate StageOne venue in Fairfield, which holds about 225 people seated on risers around the stage. It isn’t as cozy as The Space in Hamden, and not as grand as Ridgefield Playhouse, but the tiers make it so there is not a bad seat in the house. However, this did keep people from stomping and swaying along to the tunes.

It didn’t take more than ten seconds of listening to the first track on The Tel Aviv Session to agree with PopMatters’ reviewer David Maine’s high praise that “this is the best record you will hear this year”. So when I heard The Touré-Raichel Collective was coming to New York, I jumped at the chance to attend. The four member outfit came together when Idan Raichel (piano) crossed paths with Vieux Farka Touré (guitar) in an airport and suggested they collaborate. Skip ahead a few years and four musicians, including Yossi Fine (bass) and Souleymane Kane (percussion), got together for one “magical night”, as Raichel put it, in Tel Aviv for a recording session. The rich evocative music they created sounds so organic and natural that you might think the musicians had been playing together for years. In that studio, friends came and went, joining in on a few songs and adding to the homely atmosphere.

Act II of the ‘Cosmic Opera’ event covered two nights just like the first. But while Act I was called the Overture, Act II was dubbed Imbroglio as the promoters sought to bring out more “intensity, conflict, and charged emotion” in the performance. On the first night, a Thursday, ‘Cosmic Opera’ Act II succeeded in adding more glamour and theatrics with additional stages for frequent dancer appearances and a doubling down on costumes with people attired in either dark Mardi Gras theme apparel or in shimmery silver body suits with blonde wigs. These somewhat waylaid the main complaints that arose about Act I (with Axwell) where the theme was done weakly as PopMatters and others reported. There was little need to create a theme around the event with such a huge turnout for the DJ. I wouldn’t suggest Act II’s improvements were important, but it was nice to see they were trying.

The latest band from Iceland to watch out for is Of Monsters and Men. Their album, My Head is an Animal was released in the latter half of 2011 in Iceland from which they released the single “Little Talks”. As highly improbable as it may sound, it seems the band broke in the States from the enthusiasm radio stations had for them.

The band eventually were signed to a label, reworked tracks like “Lakehouse” a bit, added two new ones (“Mountain Sound”, “Slow and Steady”) and removed “Numb Bears” for the US release of their album this month. Currently on tour, the band found themselves in New York City for two sold out nights, the first of which was broadcast live from the intimate Music Hall of Williamsburg by the Bowery Presents.

Mathew Caws, Nada Surf’s lead singer, greets his audience as warmly as old friends. Creating an immediate sense of intimacy in Toronto’s Opera House, a local rock institution with a high brow name, Caws brought a relaxed, warm energy and an easy confidence to the room, as the band blended their newer material with their ‘90s hits seamlessly, building their energy to the rousing, anthemic new single “When I Was Young”. The touchstone of youth, nostalgia and longing continued through another new song “Teenage Dreams” (a reminder that you are never too old for them).