Linda Laban
Village Voice
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Past articles by Linda:
Humming to a Different Tune at the Manhattan Inn With the Hum
Every Monday night in April of last year, Greenpoint’s Manhattan Inn hosted the Hum, an evening of first-time, unique collaborations between New York City-based musicians. It was so popular that the venue brought the series back that October. That edition was even more popular, so the Hum is returning to... → Read More
Life Is But a Dream for Brooke Waggoner on 'Sweven'
Sweven — pronounced like "heaven," not "Steven" — is, to quote the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, a “Middle English noun meaning sleep, dream, or vision.” The word is derived from Old English and was the kind of noun Chaucer would have bandied about. Nashville-based singer, songwriter, pianist, and orchestrator Brooke Waggoner thought the ancient... → Read More
I Am The Avalanche Will Weather the Storm For a Brooklyn Reunion Show
It could have gone so horribly wrong. Indeed, for several long tense minutes, the interview with I Am The Avalanche’s frontman, Vinnie Caruana, was impl... → Read More
Cass McCombs Is a Folkie (or Punk, or Pop-Rocker, etc.) Apart
"It'll be a big winter party," says singer-songwriter Cass McCombs of his upcoming concert at the Bowery Ballroom. "It will get cold," he warns, addressing the oncoming chill in the face of December's uncharacteristically warm weather. "We will have to warm ourselves. It will be great to play a long-ass... → Read More
How 'Crankiness' Inspired Mirah to Try Her Hand at Some Lou Reed Covers
“I’ve been listening to a lot of Lou Reed lately. It’s been really fun,” declares singer songwriter Mirah. She isn't confessing to some guilty pleasure ... → Read More
Richard Lloyd Is Leaving New York
It's safe to say that New York's fabled downtown rock scene wouldn't have been what it was without Richard Lloyd and Television, the band that put CBGB on the map in the Seventies. But after living in the city for some six decades — give or take a few years... → Read More
For Chris Botti, 'Home For the Holidays' Means 30 Shows at the Blue Note
It’s not surprising that Chris Botti is on a train when we speak, even if the cell phone connection goes amazingly uninterrupted. The pop jazz trumpeter is traveling from New York City to play three shows in Boston, after which he heads straight back to Manhattan for a run of... → Read More
How 'Psycho' Inspired Elvis Perkins's First Film Score
Elvis Perkins began the year with the release of his third album, I Aubade, and then he spent the rest of it sharing it with the world in person by supporting it with a tour. During his travels, however, he managed to compose his first feature film score. The music... → Read More
An 'Older and Wiser' Very Fresh Is Looking Forward to Diving Into Her First Full-Length
Cindy Lou Gooden arrived home last night around 4 a.m. Given the fact that this indie rock musician has a full time job at a software company and this was a mid-week late night outing, you know exactly what she means when she sarcastically claims, “Yeah, it was a fun... → Read More
From High School to Holiday Spectacular, Everything Connects for Landlady's Adam Schatz
“I’ve been putting on shows with this kind of extra push behind them since I was in high school,” says Landlady’s frontman Adam Schatz, referring to his upcoming second annual Holiday Spectacular at the Bell House on December 6. “It’s an evolution of my strong belief that a music show should feel... → Read More
Arlene's Grocery Turns 20 and Throws Itself a Three-Day Birthday Party
For Lower East Side rock institution Arlene’s Grocery, 2015 marks 20 years of hosting live music, and the venue is celebrating this month in typical downtown, low-key style. Over three nights this week, Arlene’s Grocery’s stage will display the talents of eight different acts, among them Janita, Sharkweek, LuxDeluxe, Jennah... → Read More
Scott Fagan on Songwriting: "I'll Do It 'Til I Drop. I Don't Know What ‘No’ Means"
In short, the facts are these: In 1968, Scott Fagan released his debut album, South Atlantic Blues, which is highly regarded as a psych folk masterpiece and is reissued via UK indie Saint Cecilia Knows and Fagan’s Lil’fish records this month. Originally released on Atlantic imprint ATCO, South Atlantic Blues... → Read More
Postmodern Jukebox Serves Up Golden Age Hollywood Vibes to Staten Island
For some artists, YouTube is a springboard or stepping-stone to the traditional music business path, a means of exposure good for securing some kind of record or management deal. For others, YouTube is the medium. One such troupe is Postmodern Jukebox, whose vintage renditions of such well-known pop tunes as... → Read More
Son Little Steps Away From His Sideman Gigs and Into the Spotlight
“It’s a small operation,” admits Aaron Livingston as he crosses a fall-painted mountain landscape east of Nashville. Livingston — a/k/a Son Little — and his crew are en route to the next gig on the first tour for his self-titled debut. “Just drums, bass, and another guitar,” he explains of... → Read More
Exclusive Premiere: Watch Brian Carpenter & The Confessions' New Video for 'Savior of Love'
“This is fragile stuff,” Brian Carpenter says with equal softness and insistency. “These songs are tricky. One false move in the arrangements and it all falls apart.” Carpenter is talking about his latest record, The Far End of the World, which was released this October, and marks the recording debut... → Read More
How Did a Brooklyn Band Wind Up Playing the Largest Cathedral in the World?
“This is a very unusual show for us. I am pretty nervous,” says Mike Wilbur, the saxophonist and singer from Brooklyn-based trio Moon Hooch, which plays the Cathedral of St. John the Divine this week. The performance is part of an art exhibition at the cathedral titled The Value of... → Read More
The Album Leaf Finds a 'New Soul' Just in Time For CMJ
The Album Leaf — a/k/a Jimmy LaValle — returns with "New Soul" and a new album just in time for the 2015 CMJ Music Marathon and All Tomorrow's Parties. → Read More
Noel Heroux's Mass Gothic Formally Introduces Itself to New York (and the World)
A band by any other name would sound as… Well, misquoting Shakespeare aside, it’s hard to say whether the tunes of Noel Heroux's next musical venture will sound sweet, sour, or utterly dour, as its dark name, Mass Gothic, might suggest. Because, as yet, there’s very little music available publicly,... → Read More
Expect New Songs, a New Label and a New Outlook From The Joy Formidable
The Joy Formidable are back and are putting the final touches on their third album, which they're releasing on their own label, C'mon Let's Drift, in 2016. → Read More
Tom DeLonge is a Y.A. Novelist & Musical Theater-Penning Renaissance Man
“To all the dreamers out there on spaceship Earth, anything is possible.” That's how the dedication at the beginning of Tom DeLonge’s new novel, Poet Anderson …Of Nightmares reads. If anyone dreams big and puts those dreams into action, it is DeLonge, the former Blink-182 vocalist and guitarist, who fronts his... → Read More