I always knew that for me to absorb the full impact of Pink Floyd’s music required a live stage with instruments, singers, and visual effects; so when the opportunity to see The Australian Pink Floyd Show (TAPFS) in New York City came to fruition I just had to be there.

People often say that my music reminds them of the music of Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Jason Mraz and sometimes Nick Drake, but with my own unique twist (hopefully)

The only thing that separates predator from prey is skills, and New York based lyrical alchemist, NOTAR, has a surplus big enough to fill an aircraft hangar.

With stellar songs like “Bad Jesus,” “Red Rats,” and my personal favorite, “Dirty Sexy Pig,” the album should have been titled kick your ass and leave you begging for more because that is exactly what it does. In the age of poppy crap rock Sweet Cyanide has written the blueprint for a modern rock music masterpiece.

When Justin Currie performed at New York City’s famed Joe’s Pub in mid-June the place was packed with people of all ages expecting to hear tunes from the group he co-founded in Scotland during the mid 80’s called Del Amitri. Songs like “Kiss This Thing Goodbye,” “Just Like A Man,” and “Always The Last To Know” gained notoriety because of Currie’s ability to combine uplifting tunes and darker lyrical themes

Maura Kennedy, one-half of the folk-pop mavens, The Kennedys, released her first solo album on Planned Effervescence Recordings on January 19, 2010. Parade of Echoes is a thirteen-song soliloquy to the light and dark sides of pop, cast in the brilliant sheen of her carillon harmonies and bell-like lead vocals.

Vampire Weekend is back with their sophomore album, Contra. The four-piece indie rock band met at Columbia University before producing their debut album in 2008. The band has said that their influences are drawn from popular African music and western classical music. Give one of their songs a listen and you’ll quickly realize how true this is – and indeed, how great it sounds.

AT SEA’s captivating audio presence can be likened to a conglomeration of Jeff Buckley meets Muse meets Pink Floyd. In the spirit of fun — the band is unafraid to explore new territory in all directions, creating both walls of sound and quiet ballads, and performing in various configurations, stemming from an intimate one-man unplugged gig to shows housing a full–band-with- occasional special-guests appearances. “In the end, it’s about taking the listener on a ride,” says Jason, lead vocalist and founding member.

Uplifter is the ninth studio album by American rock band 311, released on June 2, 2009 by Volcano Records. It is the band’s first album in nearly four years, the longest gap between albums in 311′s career.

While getting hit by a “HA-DOU-KEN” or “SHYO-RYU-KEN” may land you in the hospital being pounded by a “SONIC BOOM” can leave you wanting more like it did for a packed Santos Party House when the Boom Boom Satellites (BBS) unleashed a barrage of audio mayhem on the big apple this past November.

Also known as the “Techno Capital of Norway,” Tromsø has produced many talented musicians like Bjørn Torske, Frost, Kings of Convenience’s guitarist/songwriter Erlend Øye, and most notably Röyksopp’s Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, who in late November lit up New York City’s Webster Hall brighter than Tromsø’s winter skies.

UnRated NYC caught bassist Geoff Council, drummer Jeff Olson, guitarist Andrew Burns, and lead vocalist/guitarist Jason Brody on stage at The Suffolk in late October performing tracks off their self-titled EP to a group of enthusiastic concert goers.

If her music is uncommon, so is Maiysha’s back story. Born to an attorney father and a TV journalist mother, Maiysha grew up as a self-described “Cosby kid-I have no shame about it,” she says, “to the extent that my parents even nicknamed me Denise, because I was a little quirky, with weird outfits and big hair.”

The Almost’s second album for Tooth & Nail /Virgin Records began taking shape just as soon as the band came off the road after touring for their 2007 debut, Southern Weather, including a stint on that summer’s Warped tour.

AM Taxi began establishing a rep as a dynamic live outfit with headlining performances at local clubs like the Metro and soon after recorded their second EP, The Good, The Bad and The Fed Up. Entering an Austin studio with producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Patty Griffin, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), AM Taxi proceeded to record a major-label debut that reflects the group’s diverse influences.