Menacing clouds and intermittent downpours in Boston last night (July 2) brought Beth Orton’s pair of originally planned outdoor shows to the soft lights and comfy seats of the Museum of Fine Art’s Remis Auditorium.

Last night, at the 10-day Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, Brooklyn's avant-indie rock outfit TV on the Radio introduced an audience of smarty-pants fans and curious festival-goers to their white hot energy and brilliant noise. (Sadly, the large Metropolis venue was about half full, maybe because local heads Bran Van 3000 were playing a free outdoor show down the street.)

A steamy night in the nation's capital was the scene for a sold-out show at Black Cat's backstage last night, June 30. Glasgow's Frightened Rabbit were headliners, but the opening bands demonstrated how exciting music can be on this side of the Atlantic. Takka Takka and Oxford Collapse more than took over the stage, albeit in very different ways.

To celebrate the unveiling of their new fall collection of music-inspired watches and accessories, Vestal Vestal Headquarters in Costa Mesa, CA hosted a parking lot bohemian bacchanalia on June 27 featuring Athens, GA 17-piece Dark Meat.

He’s a revered college-rock icon as a musician, producer, DJ and label head. His deadpan monotone voice and blues-mired guitar elicits a nostalgic assault upon the listener. He’s unleashed the lo-fi in Beat Happening, brought the funk in Dub Narcotic Sound System and spun softly swirling melodies in the Halo Benders.

There's just something to be said for performing in your home state.

Though the bare-bones sound refused to reach past the first two rows, celebratory icing-covered cake traveled throughout Manhattan's Beauty Bar last night (June 24) as Brooklyn indie rockers Love as Laughter treated fans to dessert following an unplugged performance of songs off their new set,

Liz Phair has been performing the songs off Exile in Guyville since the album's release in '93, yet she expressed a bit of apprehension last night (June 23) about taking on the entire set live after so many years.

As the Northern Hemisphere officially welcomed summer this past Saturday (June 21) with sweaty, outstretched arms, Brooklynites, with plenty of perspiration of their own, greeted throngs of musicians invading the streets in the name of musical education programs at local public schools.

Tickets went fast -- really fast -- but thanks to a little patience and a well-trained mouse-clicking finger, I found myself tromping along to the opening chords of "Trucker's Atlas" at 2:45 A.M. as Modest Mouse dove into a much-buzzed-over secret set at Brooklyn's 550-capacity Music Hall of Williamsburg venue.