John in the Morning, the morning host and show on Seattle’s KEXP is a great resource for new music. Sometime back in August, I caught wind of a band called Houndmouth and their song “Penitentiary” via the station. There may have been something that reminded me of another upcoming band, the Lumineers, in their sound, but whatever it was, I definitely put them on my ‘must see’ list. Unfortunately, it took another eight months before I could do that, but I was well rewarded for my patience. The young band, Matt Myers, Katie Toupin, Zak Appleby and Shane Cody, hail from Indiana and and are eager to share their bluesy music through their constant touring.

In a couple short months the band will see the release of their first full length From the Hills Below the City released on Rough Trade and will accompany the Alabama Shakes on the road for a few dates. In the meantime, you can familiarize yourself with their four-track EP and get all the info about their tour and the new album at their site.

If you recognize her face but can’t place her name, it might be because you recognize her from Broadway’s Once but then you realize her character isn’t given a name more than the simple pronoun of ‘Girl’. Her name is Cristin Milioti and her turn in the girl role in Once has actually come to an end. As she steps out of the massive prints the songs of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (The Swell Season) created, Milioti was invited to perform at Lincoln Center in the intimate Kaplan Penthouse.

Her set consisted of mostly covers, some rocking, some mellow and a couple of her own songs, that unfortunately seemed to get lost in the midst of the high profile numbers. Leading up to the show, butterflies were in Milioti’s stomach as she feared no one would be in attendance. But her sweetness and gratitude through as she shared her inspirations and her challenges with the audience, which included her parents, members of her family and her boyfriend as well. Her song selections varied across genres but mostly appealed to this writer, with an indie/rock bent. Bon Iver and Fiona Apple songs started the night. Later, in a surprise choice, the plucky “Atoms for Peace” by Thom Yorke was included with her bandmate David Abeles (another Onceer) plucking the piano strings from the interior. The finale was a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” that Milioti dedicated to her father who had played this song with her at the piano often when she was growing up. It was Milioti’s charm that held the evening together and, in the end, the audience applauded her for opening up her personal songbook to them.

Green Day has never been afraid to take risks. They give generously to their fans (especially when they do small intimate performances in metropolitan areas) even when they are one of the biggest acts, selling out arenas around the world. So one wouldn’t fault Green Day for performing the same show night after night over the course of a single tour. However, when the set feels like the same show you saw a couple years ago, there is a bit of a problem (I’m looking at you “King for a Day” medley). Despite releasing three new albums in 2013, Green Day hardly performed any of that new material on their current ‘99 Revolutions’ tour. One could blame this on the supposed lack of time the band had to gear up for the tour when their lead singer found himself in rehab for several months.

However, as surprising as that was, there was no reason to complain about the songs Green Day did perform. The swung through vintage numbers like “2,000 Light Years Away” and a lot off of Dookie and made room for several songs off the American Idiot album. Everyone basically kept singing along, even when not needing to fill in the deliberate pauses.

I spent much of the past week at the conference of the (cumbersomely-monikered) Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association in Washington DC. This was my third time at this annual dance, easily among the most exciting of the academic conferences on offer to intellectuals with non-traditional interests.

The PCA/ACA comprises a vast and highly diverse collection of some 2,500 international scholars who come together to share their work on what many people might dismiss as “hobbies”—video games, comic books, sci-fi films, fantasy literature, kink and BDSM, vampires, internet culture, pulp fiction, the ‘60s, pop music, whatever and etc. And, the detractors are sort of correct. This conference is largely about intellectual engagement with “hobbies”. But, importantly, it is designed to offer a space in which the meaning(s) of such “hobbies” can be taken seriously. 

The 9th Annual Nelsonville Music Festival will take place from May 30 - June 2 at Robbins Crossing, located on the campus of Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio. A comparatively young festival that precedes the glut of international summer music festivals in June and July, Nelsonville is one of the best gatherings of musicians you’re likely to see all year. The 2013 lineup is no exception, as Cat Power joins an already impressive lineup that includes Wilco, John Prine, Mavis Staples, Gogol Bordello, Sharon Van Etten, Calexico, Jonathan Richman, and many others.