Category Archives: Uncategorized

We back y’all!

So did anyone else get hit super hard by the Pandy? As a publication that reviews concerts, our calendars dried up.

We went back to our sad lives, virtual salespeople, cyber marketers, and a couple of us even became teachers.

Well, we’re back folks. Our festival overalls have become a bit tight around the groin-ular area, and we can’t find our festival boots, all we wear now are Crocs, but those work too! We’re ready to get back into the pits and cover all the coolest events in the world!!

Here’s to a new era. YCV Entertainment, forever!

Glass Animals Are On Fire

By Bryce Horowitz

If you haven’t heard of the band “Glass Animals”, then get on it!

I hadn’t heard of them till this past weekend in Chicago. I was just chilling on a boat with my boy Matt Robinson when this song came on and I knew from the beginning that there was something special about them.

Glass Animals is carried by the main guy Dave Bayley, who writes and produces all of their music. Dave Bayley was born in Massachusets, Lived in Texas till the age of 13, and has lived in Oxford, UK since. Bayley considers himself as “A little blonde Jewish boy from Texas. That’s it”

The group has been friends since 13, but formed when he was in Med school for Neuroscience at Oxford, pretty smart guy ehhh?

In 2016, the band released an album called “How to Be a Human Being”, Which I consider to be one of the greatest albums of all time. In preparation for this album, Bayley met hundreds of strangers, some of whom would tell him their darkest secrets. Although each song on the album originated from some of these stories, Bayley wants the lyrics to be open to psychological interpretation.

Trust me, there are some NUTS stories on this album. “Mama’s Gun” is a song that focuses on mainly mental health (Schizophrenia) and samples “Mr. Guder” by The Carpenters.

“Mama’s Gun” is developed from a story they were told by a Taxi Driver and goes like this: “So I was in a taxi driving through Atlanta. We drove past a strip club and the taxi driver turns and says, ‘I’ve got a good story about a strip club’. She explained she used to be a long haul truck driver, and, to get her jobs done faster, used to take crystal meth to keep her awake. She wouldn’t have to stop once for a week. One day she took too much meth and blacked out, and woke up in a strip club having no idea where she was, she even had to ask the stripper what state she was in. Basically this poor lady, the taxi driver, she’d blacked out for a month. She didn’t what state she was in, she didn’t know she had blacked out for a month, didn’t know where the truck as she was driving. And she woke up knowing she’d done something really truly awful. She thinks she murdered someone. And she will always think she murdered someone and feels incredibly guilty, but there’s no way of knowing, she’ll never know. That weird feeling of not knowing and never being able to know something I wrote about in a track called ‘Mama’s Gun’.”

Glass Animals has now released 3 albums, most recently “Dreamland” on August, 7th. Dreamland is an autobiographical record containing some of Bayley’s most personal stories. “Dreamland” developed after the drummer Joe Seaward got into a horrific biking accident in Dublin a few years ago. Seaward had to relearn all of his motor skills, during this time it forced Bayley to reminisce on the past instead of the future. Bayley said, “I can’t really imagine going back to medicine, I would love to keep doing music.”

Welcome Back Basketball!

With normalcy tough to find these days, it helps to be able to turn on the television and watch some of the best athletes in the world dunk, shoot and pass our worries away for a couple hours. That’s why I was glued to my TV last night as Zion, LeBron and even Alex Caruso put on a show inside the Orlando bubble as the NBA returned to action.

What began as a strange experience watching basketball without fans became somewhat normal as the threes rained down and dishes were served. Oh, and betting on the games helps too.

And the most compelling part of watching professional basketball again? Watching NBA players take this unique opportunity to showcase important issues that need to remain in the social conversation. With Black Lives Matter emblazoned on the court and statements like Equality and Say Her Name on the backs of their jerseys, it’s extremely inspirational to watch these rich, strong millionaires use their large and influential platform for good.

While I am a bit biased and hope LeBron gets his 4th championship, I can’t wait to see how the rest of this season unfolds. It’s just great to have sports back to keep us entertained as the world slowly burns down around us. In Luka Dončić we trust!

Billie Eilish returns strong with new song, “my future” 

Bedroom-pop teenage wunderkind Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell just released her latest single “my future.”

“we wrote this at the very beginning of quarantine. it’s a song that’s really really personal and special to me. when we wrote this song, it was exactly where my head was at – hopeful, excited and a craaaazy amount of self reflection and self growth. but recently it has also taken on a lot of new meaning in the context of what’s happening in the world now. i hope you can all find meaning in it for yourselves,” Eilish said,

The song marks her latest since soundtracking the upcoming James Bond film, “No Time To Die.”

Hum – Live @ Theater Of Living Arts Philadelphia,Pa 2/28/98

After releasing their first album in 22 years earlier in June, the shoegaze greats Hum are back and stronger than ever before. If you haven’t listened to their triumphant comeback album Inlet,  boy are you in for a heavy, good time!

This fan-captured show from 1998 showcases the power that the Illinois space-rock band can bring, dealing out riff after nasty riff for days. Touring on Downward Is Heavenward, their last album before going on hiatus, this 90’s time capsule features a group working at their peak and operating on all cylinders.

To put it simply, Hum shreds and this show rules. Enjoy!

The Chainsmokers’ Throw a Deadly Party

The New York Health Commissioner said that the Chainsmoker’s Hampton’s party “Mocks New Yorkers’ attempt to flatten the curve.” 

On Saturday, The Chainsmokers threw a $25,000 per ticket, promotional party to support FuckJerry’s tequila release. The CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, performed as a DJ, opening the show.

How, you may ask, did we get here? Why would so many people think that partying during a pandemic, as a deadly infection virus sweeps the nation, is a good idea? How could nobody have stopped this?

It’s beacause everything is terrible.

But we’re not the only ones who are pissed about the party. New York’s Health Commissioner, Howard A. Zucker, who has worked tirelessly for almost 6 months to flatten the curve of infections in New York, and did so to an impressive extent, expressed his anger in a letter he released.

“This is not just a lack of common sense, but an illegal and reckless endangerment of public health…

I think what struck our collective nerve was seeing so many with so much to their advantage — concert attendees were generally young, healthy, and, as indicated by the $850 ticket prices, able to afford health care if they should need it — be so cavalier about taking a risk that could have dire consequences for many.

You don’t have to be the commissioner of health to realize that when it comes to contracting and transmitting a contagious and dangerous disease, every one of us is a card-carrying member of the rank-and-file. COVID-19 is an equal-opportunity infector: It doesn’t recognize skin color or the thickness of stock portfolios.”

Look, we love a party. We all want to party. But we’re not partying because it could possibly harm people. Nobody likes a party that hurts people.

But it’s one thing to throw a bad party, it’s another if your party could potentially murder people.

Rap Battles in the Age of Covid

Imagine, if you will, you’re inside of a dank basement or an underground warehouse full of sparks and sweat, so humid you can see the moisture and fear in the air. Two men stand toe-to-toe, locked at the eyes, with nothing but fire and tension between them. The moment builds, the crowd of anxious hyenas wait silently, patiently. One man grabs the mic:

“2 CHAAAINZ”  

He declares proudly as the room explodes with deafening cheers.

M-M-M-Maybach Music”

The tension hangs so thick in the air, you can taste it on your tongue. It tastes of pride, aggression, and the will to survive. Who wants it more?

Welcome to the World of Battle Rapping, and during the times of Covid and social distancing, they don’t happen in fiery warehouses, there are no musty basements. It’s happening right inside your house. 

On Thursday, August 6 at 8 p.m. EST, Rick Ross and 2 Chainz will go head to head in a Verzuz virtual rap battle. Hosted by Ciroc and Apple Music, the two rap giants will compete in the most primal of rap activities, a battle.

Verzuz pairs up rappers for a virtual rap battle, because that is what happens when there are no concerts or music festivals. We need new content, and it has to be virtual.

To watch the battle, head to Verzuz’s Instagram, or watch on Apple Music.

Phoebe Bridgers Invites the Apocalypse in Her Epic “I Know The End” Video

One of the joys in music is how brutally it can strip away all ego. I’ve seen grown men cry at Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” I’ve seen a band of young Japanese girls play the hardest metal you’ll ever hear. 

When it comes to music, the feeling you get when that song starts, or how you lose yourself in the lyrics, is all that matters. 

Phoebe Bridgers makes impossibly pretty, yet emotionally carving indie rock. Her music has this ability to cut you to the core, yet keep you coming back for more. 

This is her gift as a songwriter, to craft something so approachable, and making it deadly. She’s the human embodiment of a butterfly knife- floating delicately along, until it cuts you.

On her latest album, Punisher, she cuts deeper than ever before. “I Know the End,” the climatic album-closer, is one of the best songs of the year. 

What starts as a strumming guitar grows into an erupting volcano. Bridgers’ voice is light as a feather, almost like a whisper in the breeze, until it comes crashing down around us. The song builds and builds into an all out apocalypse of guitars, drums, and shouts to anyone who’ll listen.

The result is nothing short of stunning, and the video is no different. Director Alissa Torvinen finds Bridgers in a bleak, world, gone past the brink of extinction. As the song builds to its crescendo, the fire and flames do too.  

It’s a victory lap for an artist at the top of her game, and exactly what a world currently in shambles needs to see right now. 

Mercury Uprising

With the announcement of the 2020 Mercury Awards came the typical debates over which albums got snubbed. But one notable record, Rina Sawayama’s incredible debut SAWAYAMA, was omitted for a particularly strange reason.

According to the Mercury Awards rules: “Artists must be of British or Irish nationality. Artists are of British or Irish nationality if they hold a passport for either the United Kingdom or Ireland and/or a birth certificate from the United Kingdom or Ireland (‘British’ or ‘Irish’ respectively).”

Sawayama, who has lived in the UK for 25 years since moving from Japan, maintains immigration status, or indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Due to this minor stipulation, Sawayama’s incredibly unique record isn’t eligible for the prize awarded to the top album in British music each year.

It’s worth noting that Elton John called SAWAYAMA the “strongest album of the year by far.” Hey Brits, maybe you should fix this rule and appease myself, Elton and the rest of the Pixels with a Merucry nom!

The Comet Is Coming: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Let’s face it: these are strange and chaotic times that we’re living in. I don’t know about you but I’ve been finding comfort in loud, wild and energetic music, much to the dismay of my neighbors and eardrums.

That’s exactly why this NPR Tiny Desk show from jazz-funk greats The Comet Is Coming has been hitting all the right chords recently. Featuring Shabaka Hutchings, one of the most talented saxophonists in the world, this blast of sound is sure to get you going and offer strength throughout the day.

Get lost in the psychedelic grooves, intricate drum patterns and mind blowing sax that can only come from this cosmic trio. This is one of my favorite Tiny Desk Concerts ever, which is definitely saying something!