Given my ties to the band, I suppose I should start out by saying that I am, obviously, biased in favor of all things Gates. If that's too close a bond for you, that's fine. You're more than welcome to head somewhere else on the internet to read any number of glowing reviews of Bloom [...]
Tag: Gates
An Interview with Kevin Dye of Gates
Given the occasion, I'm going off of schedule a bit here with a special Friday music post. I've been a big fan of the band Gates for a long time. Their thunderous brand of post-rock is emotionally and intellectually engaging and basically embodies everything that I love about music. It also doesn't hurt that their vocalist/lyricist/guitarist [...]
A Concert Confession
Here's a dirty little secret of mine: unless I really love the band, I'm not particularly crazy about live music. Considering that I played in a number of bands myself for the better part of a decade, that seems almost contradictory or, at the very least, anomalous. And yet it's the truth. If I have [...]
A Weekend in Jersey
In the game room of a bar in north Jersey, I watched as three people casually discussed the merits of astrology on a couch in the corner, four friends exchanged playful barbs and wagers as they undertook an epic game of foosball, and one tall guy in a tight fitting white t-shirt double-fisted neon pistols [...]
Brennan’s Best of 2012: New Jersey Rising
It is news to approximately zero people that music is not made in a vacuum. What may actually be news to a few people is the important role that community can potentially play in fostering a band's sound. There's a reason that we associate Seattle with grunge, St. Louis with the blues, and Detroit with that Motown [...]
2011: One Man’s Take On the Year In Music
Acknowledging that we live an age of excess but also an age of brevity, I have this to say about the 2,000+ word article that lies ahead: it is too short. Alas that time has not been given to me to write a 10,000 word article concerning the intimate details of a dozen different albums. [...]
Songs & Stories 