Ro Samarth

Love St Patrick’s Day? Well, we’ve got news for you. March 17 isn’t just about drinking gallons of Guinness and fighting your way through screaming crowds dressed in green (although, that is a big part). St Patrick’s Day has actually been around since 1631, and there’s a lot about Ireland’s complex history to be learned from it.  There’s a million and one brilliant songs for Paddy’s Day, from traditional folk song to belters by The Cranberries. Some of them can teach you a lot about the history of St Paddy’s, but all of them will make you want to sing along. And given we’ve lost two icons of Irish music in the last year, with the passing of Shane MacGowan and Sinéad O’Connor, there’s no better time to get into the spirit. We’ve rounded up the 15 very best Irish tunes to get those pipes going, ahead of 2024’s upcoming celebrations. Go grab a Guinness – it’s time to get green, folks. RECOMMENDED:🎤 The best karaoke songs ever made🎶 The best pop songs on earth

Let’s be frank up front here: there aren’t that many actual Thanksgiving songs in existence. No one’s out here singing about turkey, gravy and pilgrims, and while there’s probably a couple tunes about colonial genocide, that’d only spoil everyone’s appetite. So if you’re looking to put together a playlist for the big family meal, you’re forced to stick to the more figurative meaning of the holiday rather than the literal or historical implications – that is, showing gratitude. And in that case, there are a lot of bangers to choose from. On this list of the best Thanksgiving songs, you’ll find rappers celebrating their mamas, rock’n’roll cult figures raising a glass to their friends and funk legends giving it up to themselves. You have pop divas appreciating their exes and reggae icons praising Jah. And if you just really need a song that at least has some tenuous connection to the most gluttonous day of the year, we’ve dug one of those up, too.  Written by Rachel Sonis, Vivienne van Vliet, Andrew Frisicano, Hank Shteamer, Ro Samarth, Andy Kryza and Matthew Singer Recommended: 🦃 The most festive Thanksgiving songs for kids🎄 The 60 best Christmas songs of all-time👯 The 22 best friendship songs💑 The 60 best best love songs of all-time

Apologies to Patty and Mildred J. Hill, but on the list of the best birthday songs, ‘Happy Birthday to You’ is all the way down at the bottom. Sure, it’s claimed to be the most recognisable song in the English language, but it’s repetitive, the melody blows, and it doesn’t slap even a little bit. ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ isn’t much better. Way to uphold the patriarchy there, anonymous 18th-century French composer! The good news is, we no longer have to be in thrall to these weak-ass jams on what’s supposed to be the most joyful day of the year. Over the last half-century, songwriters have been working to give us some actual bangers to commemorate our born days. From classic rock anthems to club-quaking hits, here are 30 awesome birthday songs that absolutely do not suck.  RECOMMENDED: 🎉 The best party songs ever made🎤 The best karaoke songs🎶 The best ’80s songs😊 The best happy songs😂 The best funny songs

Devoted recyclists and tree-huggers, listen up! Earth Day is nearly upon us and there are plenty of great things to do outside. We know you focused on going green for St. Patrick's Day, but it's time to trade the boozed-up shamrock shakes for an opportunity to volunteer in NYC. The city's main events include a Union Square parade followed by a free gig, and to get you into the spirit, we assembled a list of our favorite ecologically-minded Earth Day songs—and no, fortunately for you, we didn't include "Waiting on the World to Change." RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Earth Day in NYC

An adjective like “lush” does little justice to the densely designed nuance that Jon Hopkins works into every piece. Each track off last year’s lauded album Immunity takes on an expansive quality, revealing novel details with each additional listen. Though his solo career came into widespread acclaim only recently, listeners everywhere should already be familiar with the producer’s work: Tracks from his debut, Opalescent, found their way onto Sex and the City, and Hopkins has helped produce every Coldplay album since 2008. His latest EP, Asleep Versions, features somnolent reinterpretations of selections from Immunity. In advance of his appearance at the FIXED 10th Anniversary on Fri 21, Hopkins talks gear, process, and self-hypnosis.How did you end up recording Asleep Versions in Iceland?I went to the Iceland Airwaves festival about a year ago, and I just found the location very inspiring. I’d done five or six albums in a row in my little East London space, and I wanted to see what effect a different environment would have on my music. The Iceland studio was actually set up by Sigur Rós with a lot of very old instruments: a 100-year-old harmonium, some glockenspiels, a couple celestes.…You incorporate a number of those kinds of live instruments. Is that a conscious bridging of the acoustic/digital divide?Well, for me, I don’t even see a divide. I’m quite happy taking a sound from anywhere, and if it fits, it fits. And quite often, when you hear electronic sounds on the recor

Update: With the current ban on public gatherings of any size, many of the festivals  and concerts below may be postponed to a later date or canceled.  There's no shortage of things to do in NYC this summer—sunbathing at NYC parks, checking out summer music festivals, lounging at rooftop pools… The list is endless. But don't let that distract you from these unmissable concerts in NYC! RECOMMENDED: See our guide to concerts in NYC

Update: With the current ban on public gatherings of any size, many of the concerts and festivals below may be postponed to a later date or canceled.  The month of May signifies the coming of summer in New York—which, for a majority of music fans, means the long-awaited arrival of summer music festivals! But, while we're all for embracing the outdoors, don't forget about all of the month's other awesome offerings for concerts in NYC. Check out the shows below and dig into our weekly list of the city's best parties for some late-night music as well. RECOMMENDED: See our guide to concerts in NYC

Update: With the current ban on public gatherings of any size, many of the concerts below may be postponed to a later date or canceled.  Hey, it's March! There’s always a host of new things to do in Spring, including a fresh supply of concerts in NYC to keep the best live music venues buzzing. While you might still catch the odd icy temp, keep your spirits high and your sights on the many summer music festivals just around the corner. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to concerts in NYC

Update: With the current ban on public gatherings of any size, many of the concerts below may be postponed to a later date or canceled.  April arrives with a batch of killer new concerts, and tickets for the choicest events are already on sale or will be soon. You can catch unmissable acts playing at the city's best live music venues, from next year's biggest popstars on the rise to veteran fringe experimentalists. And if you're looking for some late-night music, be sure to consult our monthly list of New York's best parties as well. RECOMMENDED: See our guide to concerts in NYC

Despite what folks in other cities might think, NYC remains the best place in the world for jazz. So many of the city’s best jazz clubs feature top talent every night of the week, and there’s no shortage of the best music venues to explore. Whether you’re looking for a romantic date idea, or flying solo, these shows won’t disappoint. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to jazz in NYC

Come February, we're all pretty much over the cold, depressing winter. Admit it: you're already daydreaming about all the wonderful things to do in the summer (including all those stacked summer music festivals and outdoor concerts). Luckily, we've found some worthwhile NYC concerts in February 2020 to make the short month pass by faster! RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the best concerts in NYC

November offers a lot more reasons to be thankful than just Thanksgiving turkeys and the best pies. The season of summer music festivals may have passed, but there are plenty of things to do in the fall nonetheless—including a slew of must-see shows. Check out our list of exciting fall concerts, and you’ll see braving the autumnal cold is well worth it. Here's our list of our favorite music highlights for the month. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the best concerts in NYC

You might have heard that a 50th anniversary celebration of the iconic Woodstock festival is coming to its original site at Bethel, NY—this is not that. No, this is a wholly separate 50th anniversary Woodstock celebration. "Why does the world need two," you ask? "Why not!" we say, swinging a Led Zep ‘77 Tour tee wildly in the air. While the former is being thrown by the original site's groundskeepers Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, this three-day fest is straight from original Woodstock co-creator Michael Lang—making it the bonafide "official" celebration. Coming to Watkins Glen this August 16–18, this fest won't be announcing any names on the lineup until tickets go up for sale in February. Considering previous anniversary celebrations (see Woodstock‘94 and the ill-fated Woodstock ‘99) have included the likes of Aphex Twin, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Aerosmith and Bob Dylan, you can be sure to expect a mix of big-name headliners across the event's three stages. Lang has stated that at least 40 acts have already been booked—a massive bill bound only to grow. And just like Max Yasgur's field, which hosted the original event's 400,000-deep throng, the site at Watkins Glen boasts a capacity well into the six-digits.  Though the ‘94 event transpired without misfortune, the 30th anniversary celebration Woodstock ‘99 is infamously remembered as a veritable disaster, plagued by sanitation problems, over-priced bottles of water ($4 was a lot back then), drug overdoses, lawsuits an

Another year, another revival of an iconic ‘60s music festival! But this isn't just any year: 2019 marks 50 years since 1969, the date of the original Woodstock. To celebrate, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Live Nations Concerts and INVNT are hosting a new event, the "Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival," to take place at the the original site of the legendary music festival in Bethel, NY. Coming exactly half a century after the famed summer of 1969 event, this anniversary celebration will span three days (Aug 16–18). Collecting some of the ‘60s most influential artists on one bill, Woodstock featured the likes of Joan Baez, Santana, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix. Its 1994 25th anniversary celebration in Saugerties, NY managed to do justice to the original, calling in Sheryl Crow, Aphex Twin, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Aerosmith and Bob Dylan as its headliners. In other words, though the lineup for this year's 50th anniversary remains fully TBA, one should expect great things, as long your idea of good things includes "prominent and emerging artists spanning multiple genres and decades" and TED-style talks from "leading futurists and retro-tech experts." This anniversary fest takes place at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, located at the same historic 600-plus acre site in the Catskills that hosted the original event's 400,000-participant psychedelic reverie. There, festival-goers can also visit the Museum at Bethel Woods, which tells the stor

Back in August 2017, East Village took a hard hit: Webster Hall shuttered its doors for an interminable period of time as it switched ownership to big-name conglomerate AEG. Now, two years of renovation and corporate transition later, the famed venue is re-opening for a new era of Webster Hall. The venue's organizers haven't posted a ton of info yet—rather, on New Year’s Eve, their social media accounts shared a simple video with the caption, “See ya in 2019!” The venue promises more updates to come, and to expect an opening date later this spring. See below for the tweet, and head to the official website to sign up for their newsletter and keep up-to-date on all the latest news. see ya in 2019! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/t5qMyPJNv5 — Webster Hall (@WebsterHall) December 31, 2018

With her surrealist aesthetics and singular brand of super-soulful synthpop, English R&B enigma FKA twigs has been making quite a buzz this past year—enough to secure and sell out a show at NYC's famed Webster Hall tomorrow, Wednesday, August 6, in support of her sensibly titled debut album, LP1, due August 12. Twigs's transition from indie obscurity began last year when her hypnotic bobblehead from the “Water Me” video caught the media’s eye—and didn’t look away. Lush and rickety, vast but intimate, the single from her second EP introduced us to the meditative and eerie world of twigs. The sultry sounds of EP2’s second single “Papi Pacify” are accompanied by well-matched visuals: black and white monochrome shots of twigs contorting in the arms of some muscled dude who can't seem to keep his hands off her neck or out of her mouth.  With latest single "Two Weeks," twigs’s soft-spoken intimacy expands to more majestic heights as the song’s tautly strung tension gestures towards M83-levels of synthpop grandiosity underneath her whispery vocals. The regal setting makes sense: After a year of rising among the ranks, she’s finally taking her seat atop the throne.

Recent years have proven that some artists should stick to songwriting and leave festival-planning to festival-planners (Ja Rule learnt this the hard way). The National, however, shouldn't be mistaken as strangers to the practice—Bryce Dessner founded Cincinatti's MusicNOW Festival back in 2006, organized Copenhagen’s Haven alongside Aaron Dessner and helped curate a night of Pitchfork Music Festival Paris last year with the rest of the band. (Aaron also cofounded Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.) The National has already announced a new MusicNOW-associated event, Homecoming, that they'll be presenting this April (also in Cincinnati), but as if that resume wasn't extensive enough, they're bringing those skills back to their beloved former home base of NYC for a new event this September. Titled "There's No Leaving New York," this two-day mini-fest will take place at Queens’ massive Forest Hills Stadium on September 29 and 30. Aaron Dessner has been quoted as saying that the event was inspired by wanting to recreate the energy of the band's Forest Hills show last October, which was one of their "favorite shows in the history of the band." The National is heading the lineup, with a host of big-name openers that includes Future Islands, Phoebe Bridgers, U.S. Girls, Bully, Cat Power, Cigarettes After Sex, Jason Isbell and Adia Victoria. Keep your eyes peeled this week, as tickets go on sale April 13.   Sign up to receive great Time Out deals in yo

Unfortunately, rumors have it that the final Game of Thrones season might not air until the spring of 2019 (or even later). But here's something to keep you occupied while you're waiting out the intervening year-and-half: Compser Ramin Djawadi, who wrote the series’ soundtrack, has assembled a stunningly vast live concert version of the show that involves a full orchestra and incredible visuals. The Game of Thrones Concert Experience, which kicked off its inaugural tour earlier this year, is planning another round of shows in 2018 through both Europe and North America, including a return to NYC’s Madison Square Garden on October 3 and the Prudential Center on September 26. The scale of the event is enormous, with immense video projections backing a full orchestra, choir and even the occasional pop star to boot (Serj Tanakian of System of a Down and Matt Berninger of The National have both made special guest appearances). You can grab tickets, which go on sale Friday at 10am, at Ticketmaster and Time Out. Get ‘em while you can—winter is coming, or whatever.

Want the buzzing atmosphere and massive stages of fests like Governors Ball and Panorama in an out-of-town setting? Look no further than Mountain Jam, a big-tent musical extravaganza in a rustic, woodsy setting. Though the festival had modest beginnings in 2005 as a single-day, five-band event, it's since grown to an veritable modern-day Woodstock, with three days of performances across multiple stages. When and where is Mountain Jam?  You'll find this year's edition, like every year, hosted at Hunter Mountain (a ski resort) in the Catskills of upstate New York. Expect about a three-hour journey by car or bus. The fest will take place across three days: Friday, June 15 to Sunday, June 17.  Who's playing? The diverse roster includes genres ranging from alt-rock to jam bands to country and folk singer-songwriters. The highlight's on this year's bill include Portugal The Man, Jenny Lewis, alt-J, The War on Drugs, The Decemberists, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Jack Johnson and Kurt Vile & The Violators (among many others). Check out the full lineup here. What if I get bored of rootsy music? Mountain Jam also features a host of other activities to keep you occupied all weekend. Take part in a yoga program that offers 14 different classes each morning or check out unique multi-disciplinary works by artists from across the Hudson Valley and Catskills—including oil paintings from Jack Laroux, visual sculptures from Shelley Parriot and lyrical pieces from Michael Hunt. And

Cut Worms In a snap: Max Clarke, who dropped his project’s debut LP, Hollow Ground, on May 4, is a one-man jukebox of sepia-toned ’60s pop. Why we love him: Though the Brooklyn troubadour’s aesthetic sounds like it was unearthed from a dusty thrift-store rack, he isn’t your run-of-the-mill nostalgist. He has a pleasingly warm voice (think the Everly Brothers) and an encyclopedic ear, drawing from the lovelorn haze of the Byrds, the Kinks and early Beatles.  Why his sound is summer-ready: It’s a perfect soundtrack for a rooftop sunset.  Intro track: “Don’t Want to Say Good-Bye”  Hollow Ground by Cut Worms Hear it live: Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 North 6th St, Brooklyn (718-486-5400, musichallofwilliamsburg.com). May 18 at 8pm; $18. L’Rain In a snap: As L’Rain, Taja Cheek, a curator at MoMA PS1, brews totally singular, soul-inflected ambient- pop soundscapes. Why we love her: Melding spiraling tape loops, intricately arpeggiated jazz guitar, eerily lilting vocals and tight drumming chops, L’Rain charts a genre-hopping terrain all her own. Why her sound is summer-ready: Her self-titled debut delivers a fully enveloping experience, great for a musical staycation if you’re short on dough. Intro track: “Stay, Go (Go, Stay)” L'Rain by L'Rain Hear it live: Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St (212-505-3474, lpr.com). May 25 at 8pm; $12–$15. Yaeji In a snap: The producer’s distinctive dance music winds between house and hip-hop as her hushed vocals flip from Korean to English. Why we

This September, The Bell House is celebrating ten years of existence with a slate of shows. After so many closings the past year, celebrating one venue's thriving future certainly feels good. The full lineup is yet to be announced, but we do know three shows definitely on the schedule: Hard-rocking trio Ex Hex plays alongside laidback, grooving outfit EZTV (September 7); indie luminaries Waxahatchee plays with Night Shops and Anna St. Louis (September 8); and finally the Steve Alibini–fronted powerhouse Shellac (September 10). You can grab tickets at the official website. To add to the venue's big plans, The Bell House is also organizing a summer concert series running from June to October in Courtyard 1/2 at Industry City in Brooklyn's Sunset Park. The courtyard will also be home to The Bell House Outpost, a seasonal outdoor bar open to the public Wednesday through Sunday starting June 1. On the lineup for that, you'll find acts ranging from New Orleans brass bands (The Soul Rebels on June 1, who kick off the series) to veteran indie rockers (Guided by Voices on August 16). Other highlights include Kevin Morby (June 14), Kevin Devine (August 23) and a two-day music festival Analog Live (July 21, 22). Topping it all of, there will be cocktails and bocce ball available—no tenth anniversary is complete without them. Speaking of tenth anniversaries, another one of our favorite venues, Le Poisson Rouge, is also celebrating its 10-year birthday with a special run of shows all summ

LCD Soundsystem lead man James Murphy is touching down at Ridgewood's Knockdown Center this month with some very special gear in tow: a unique, custom-made high-fidelity sound system (LCD's not included) known as “Despacio.” Built back in 2013, the system consists of seven 11-foot-tall stacks of McIntosh amplifiers delivering 50,000 watts of power—a hefty 30-ton setup that usually only gets aired at festival environments due to its enormous transport costs. On the rare occasion that Despacio does get taken out on the town, you can expect an optimal disco dance floor experience. Alongside legendary audio engineer John Klett and mashup masters SoulWax (David and his brother Stephen Dewaele), Murphy designed the system with the intentions of re-prioritizing “dancing” in a mainstream “dance music” culture that has been ironically losing focus on the field's titular intentions. Audiophiles can experience the system across three nights at Knockdown, from March 29–31, as Murphy, Stephan and David each take over the decks for eight-hour sessions that run from 8pm to 4am. If it's anything like Murphy's Despacio set at Panorama in 2016, you can expect some serious dance-floor decimation. Grab tickets on the official website here or via Time Out here. Sign up to receive great Time Out deals in your inbox each day.

Take a trip through all the city's best havens for vinyl on April 21, as Warner Music Group hosts its third annual record store crawl for Record Store Day. For the past three years, this international celebration of independent brick-and-mortars has escorted lovers through the city's best record stores accompanied by special performances at some of the stops. Similar crawls will take place in other cities around the world from May through October. While last year's NYC trip featured the Heliotropes, this year's dates include pop-up shows from artists including Lionize, Eddie Berman, SISTERS and Walker County among many others. You can find tickets at the official website here, which will provide you with a seat on the Record Store Crawl bus, access to Record Store Crawl exclusive vinyls (including releases by Alice Cooper, The Notorious B.I.G., Royal Blood and Dio) and a gift bag of limited edition treats. Sounds to me like Chuck-E-Cheese, but less fun. Sign up to receive great Time Out deals in your inbox each day.

Noreaster who? Doesn't ring a bell. All we have on the mind at the moment is: Summer's right around the corner! (Give or take a few months.) Ok, maybe it's not time to break out the swim trunks just yet, but with all the recent announcements of outdoor concerts coming up this sunny season, it's hard not to break a sweat in anticipation. From Forest Hills, Queens, down to Coney Island's Amphitheater, we've collected all the biggest announcements together for your perusing pleasure. Our favorite highlights include Chicago rap vet Common, who kicks off BRIC's staple series at the Prospect Park Bandshell with a free gig on June 3; twee-pop institution Belle and Sebastian at Forest Hills on June 8; and a double-header bill featuring indie-rock faves Grizzly Bear and Spoon (we interviewed both last year) on June 13. The bulk of the shows are ticketed "benefit" concerts that support two of the summer's free music series, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn and SummerStage Check out the rest below and plan your summer accordingly. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to summer concerts in NYC Outdoor Summer Concerts 2018 June 3 Primus + Mastodon at Ford AmphitheaterJune 5 Common at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! (free)June 8 Belle and Sebastian at Forest Hills StadiumJune 9 Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats + The Head and the Heart at Forest Hills StadiumJune 13 The Decemberists + M. Ward at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!June 13 Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters + Sheryl Crow at Forest Hills StadiumJune