The NJ Underground's 1st Annual 'Best Photo of the Year' Winners Announced!

The NJ Underground's photographers have been hard at work for the last year, capturing images from concerts and live performances throughout the tri-state area, for your viewing pleasure. Our photographers submitted their 'top 3' photos from 2010 to be voted on by you, the reader, in early December. Several hundred votes came in, excel spreadsheets have been made, and complicated formulas were utilized to bring you, the Top 3 Photos of 2010. A lot was at stake with this contest - a sizeable purse of prizes, but more importantly, each photographer's skill and integrity. The photos that were voted on the most are as follows:

#1

Dan Bassini  |  The Chariot @ Hangar 84

#2

Deena Cavallo | Hanoi Rocks @ The Highline Ballroom

#3

Jeffrey K. Liu  |  Senses Fail @ Starland Ballroom

View All Photo Submissions Here

'Best of 2010' in Photos

Guided By Voices @ Maxwell's 12.30.10

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Guided By Voices played an intimate show at Hoboken's Maxwell's last night, December 30th. The Dayton, OH group reunited earlier this year for a classic lineup reunion tour, which included a sold out stop at NYC's Terminal 5. The indie-rock quintet played an extremely long set that wrapped up just after 1AM. The massive 46 song setlist from last night's show can be found below. GBV are set to play a sold out New Year's Eve show tonight at NYC's Irving Plaza. Videos from last night's special show can be found below as well. Ex Guided By Voices member, Doug Gillard opened the bill.

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Thursday, Four Year Strong @ Starland Ballroom 12.30.10

Thursday (Photos by Brian Reilly)

Four Year Strong

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Thursday made their return to Sayerville's Starland Ballroom last night, December 30th. The veteran NJ group played their most renowned album, Full Collapse in it's entirety. The group also encored with some other fan-favorites and a new song titled "Turnpike Divides". The full setlist from last night's show can be found below. MA's Four Year Strong were main support on the bill, which also included Acid Tiger and We Were Skeletons. Last year Thursday also played a Starland Ballroom holiday show, expect with Glassjaw and Dillinger Escape Plan. We also caught the last time Thursday played Full Collapse live, which was back in October of 2009 at NYC's Bowery Ballroom. Thursday are now set to head out on a massive US tour with Underoath come this January. All of those dates and tickets to those dates can be found here. Our Photo Editor, Brian Reilly 'reviewed' the show via tweets. Check it out below.

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Passion Pit release new song for free download. Tickets to their 12/31 Wellmont date still available.

Passion Pit have teamed up with American Express's ZYNC to make their new song titled "All These Trees" available for free download. You can grab the song, along with tracks from Andrew Bird and The Antlers, over at ZYNC's Facebook page. The new song will not be appearing on the group's new album and is an exclusive track for AE. The Cambridge, MA group are set to kick off their two night run at Montclair's Wellmont Theatre tomorrow night. Tickets for that show (12/30) have already sold out. Don't fret though! Tickets for their New Year's Eve show the very next night are still available and can be picked up here. Look out for our coverage of their NYE date the next day!

Guided By Voices Maxwell's tickets back on-sale!

Tickets are back on-sale for Guided By Voices special Maxwell's performance 12/30. Hurry!!

The English Beat @ Maxwell's 12.14.10

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Photos & Recap by: Jeff Wickliffe

On Tuesday December 14^th, fans braved the 16 degree temperatures to pack the room and party the night away to the unique sounds of The English Beat at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. With 30+ years experience, this band always delivers and this night was no exception. The English Beat brought great energy to the stage and kept the audience moving all night long. The crowd hit every age range and social type, all brought together by the unique mix of Reggae, Ska and New Wave that has made the band such a success for so many years. 

Marcy Playground @ Mercury Lounge 12.18.10

By: Tina Bock

In 1997, Marcy Playground's “Sex and Candy” topped the billboard charts and became the band's breakthrough song. After falsely being named a “One Hit Wonder”, thirteen years later these guys are still kickin' and rocked the Mercury Lounge on Saturday night. Brooklyn Based pop group Mammal of Paradise opened and played tracks off their newly released debut album Mammal of Paradise. Marcy Playground opened with the soft rock tune “All The Lights Went Out” followed by “Poppies” from their self-titled debut album Marcy Playground.The band included hits off their first album like “St. Joe On The School Bus”, “Sherry Frasier”, and“Opium”. Off of their sophomore album Shapeshifter, the band included “Saturday”, “Wave Motion Gun” and even the devious “Secret Squirrel”. John Wozniak gave us “Punk Rock Superstar” off MP3 and also included “Star Baby” and “Devil Woman” off their recently released album Leaving Wonderland... in a fit of rage. Marcy Playground definitely didn't forget to invite all the ladies on stage to dance to “Sex and Candy”, and surprised the audience by not ending with “Vampires of New York”, but covering Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah”. 

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Guided By Voices playing Maxwell's 12/30/10. Tickets still on-sale.

Guided By Voices have added a Maxwell's show on Thursday, December 30th. The small club show is set to take place the day before their much larger sold out New Year's Eve show at Irving Plaza. The reunited lineup also played an even bigger NYC show at Terminal 5 back in November. Tickets for this very special show went on-sale at noon and are surprisely still on-sale. HURRY!

Guided By Voices - Hot Freaks

Guided By Voices - You're Not An Airplane

Yo La Tengo to make Hannukah mixtapes available for 1 day only.

Yo La Tengo recently wrapped up their 8 night Hannukah run at Hoboken's Maxwell's. Each night of the residency the band or a member of their crew created a mix CD, which they made available for purchase with all of the proceeds going to the same charity the entire residency went too. The band has now decided to make 4 of the mix CDs available for purchase for one day only. The four mixtapes will go on-sale tonight (Friday) at Midnight. Three of the four mixtapes were created by the band themselves. You'll be able purchase the mix CDs over at their website. If you haven't yet, be sure to check out our coverage of Yo La Tengo's 2nd Maxwell's residency show. (via NBC)

Catch 22, Mustard Plug, The Pietasters @ Starland Ballroom 12.4.10

Catch 22

Mustard Plug

Pietasters

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This 2010's Ska-Massive took place this past Saturday at Sayreville's Starland Ballroom. The bill consisted of NJ's own Catch 22 as well as Mustard Plug, The Pietasters, Deals Gone Bad, Hub City Stompers, The Waffle Stompers, The Forthrights and Survey Ska. Though Catch 22 do not have any other announced dates at the moment, The Pietasters however are set to return to NJ on Friday, February 11th at Teaneck's Mexicali Live. More info and tickets for that date can be found here.

The Ergs, Hunchback reunited @ Asbury Lanes 12.5.10

The Ergs (Photos by Alicia Adamczak)

Hunchback

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Two years after The Ergs & Hunchback played their last show together at The Lanes, the long awaited reunion of the two groups finally came this past weekend at Asbury Park's Asbury Lanes. The two instantly sold out reunion shows (day & night) took place to raise money for J. Nixon of Hunchback's mom who has been diagnosed with cancer. Our photographer Alicia Adamczak made it to the matinee show to grab some photos of the special occasion. If you missed it last week we interviewed The Ergs and interviewed Hunchback. Photos of The Ergs setlists from yesterday's shows can be found here.

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Yo La Tengo, Jim Gaffigan, The Parting Gifts @ Maxwell's 12.2.10

Yo La Tengo

The Feelies & Yo La Tengo

Jim Gaffigan

The Parting Gifts

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Yo La Tengo continued their 8 night Hanukkah Maxwell's residency last night. Show 2 included openers The Parting Gifts and special guest comedian Jim Gaffigan. Jim Testa of The Star-Ledger (and Jersey Beat) was there when things kicked off the night before. You can check out his review of Wednesday night here. Excerpt below. Last night's (Thursday) Yo La Tengo setlist & video of Jim Gaffigan can be found below as well.

Not every number Yo La Tengo played lasted half an hour, but a few of its feedback-drenched dronefests stretched out for well over 10 minutes. Slower, quieter tracks such as crowd favorite “Autumn Sweater” and a cover of NRBQ’s catchy “Magnet” were followed by louder, faster, noisier songs such as “Cherry Chapstick” and “The Story of Jazz.”

With Ward on electric guitar, the set ended with a long psychedelic jam on the instrumental “I Heard You Looking.”

Encores included McNew singing “Angst in My Pants” (a new-wave era song by the band Sparks), Nash Kato of the Chicago grunge band Urge Overkill singing Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”; and finally, “Elvis” leading the band through rollicking versions of “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck” and “Burning Love.”

Then Kaplan said, “Okay, that’s it, we have seven more nights of this,” and everyone left the stage. [Jim Testa]

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The Killers release 2010 Christmas song. Brandon Flowers playing The Stone Pony Wednesday.

Despite currently being on a break, The Killers have still found time to record and now release a new 2010 Christmas song. The new track titled "Boots" is available for streaming here. The holiday tune is pretty good, but NJU's favorite will always be The Killers 06' track. In related news, Killers frontman, Brandon Flowers is set to play Asbury Park's Stone Pony this Wednesday, December 1st. Tickets for the show are still available. The critically acclaimed singer is out in support of his debut solo album Flamingo, which was released this past September.

Interview: The Ergs

One of NJ's favorite pop-punk groups, The Ergs are slated to reunite for the first time since their 2008 break-up this Sunday at Asbury Lanes. The two benefit shows set up to help raise money for their friend's mother with Cancer both sold out instantly. Singer/drummer, Mike Yannich was nice enough to answer some of the questions we had for him regarding the group's reunion. To find out what the members of The Ergs have been up to, what their reunion show setlists are going to include and what they are looking forward to most this Sunday, check out the interview below!

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Senses Fail, Bayside, Title Fight, Balance & Composure @ Starland Ballroom 11.24.10

Senses Fail (Photos by Dan Bassini)

Bayside

Title Fight

Balance and Composure

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By Jason Stives

On the eve of another Thanksgiving, the packed crowd at the Starland Ballroom was thankful for great times listening to great music as they waited to see duel headliners Senses Fail and Bayside. While the crowd rode heavily in favor of the two main headliners, the night’s openers had the unenviable task of setting the crowd up for the kill. Balance & Composure started out the night sending thumping bass lines and fuzzy guitar logic into the crowd. The Doylestown natives looked a bit uneasy in front of a restless crowd but shone brightly with tracks like “Kaleidoscope” and “Burden” which encompassed the all too brief but thrilling set.

Following a stirring start up, Kingston, PA natives Title fight took to the stage with a third of the crowd holding up their work boots with support. The school yard charm of their youthful appearance paled in comparison to their energetic stage show which featured tracks like “Western Haikus,” “Loud and Clear,” and fan favorite “Memorial Field.” The lead singer left enough innocence in the set to tie his shoe as the band closed out their performance. As they exited the stage, the band’s post show glow reminded me why I should’ve stuck to playing guitar in high school.

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Interview: Title Fight

Title Fight are a band that believe in bringing the punk back into pop-punk. The Kingston, PA group's music has been spreading faster than they can even fathom. Going from playing to a handful of kids in their hometown less then two years ago to opening for New Found Glory, Four Years Strong and many other big names has brought them the attention they so very well deserve. TF are currently on the road with Senses Fail & Bayside, which will lead them to Starland Ballroom this Wednesday, November 24th. Tickets are still available and can be picked up here. To find out about how the road has been treating them, details about their forth coming album and what other bands you should be checking out, have a look at our interview with Title Fight below.

Title Fight - Symmetry

You guys have been on the road with Senses Fail & Bayside for quite awhile now, how have the dates been going?

The shows are the biggest we've ever played. The biggest venues, the most kids, etc. It is a really new experience to us. The crowds seem to at least be interested in us but it is completely different than what we have done for our entire career. Other than that though, the people on the tour are nice and welcoming so that is cool.

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Ben Folds @ Wellmont Theatre 11.18.10

Ben Folds (Photos by Colin Rieser)

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Esteemed pianist & songwriter, Ben Folds stopped by Montclair's Wellmont Theatre last night, November 18th. The Nashville based musician recently put out a collaboration record with award winning novelist, Nick Hornby. Not much of a reader? Well, you may still know some of Nick's work considering quite a few of his books were adapted into films such as: High Fidelity, About a Boy and Fever Pitch. The two put out Lonely Avenue this past September via Nonesuch Records. Folds wrote the music for the album while Hornby handled the lyrics. Be sure to pick up the record here. Columbia Spectator recently did an in-depth piece on the making of the album, which you should check out here. Excerpt below. Ben's massive 27 song setlist from last night can be found below. All of Ben Folds upcoming tour dates, which include a show at NYC's Beacon Theatre December 14th can be found here.

Although recording the whole album was an 18-month process, the turnaround time for each song was incredibly short. “It usually took about 15 minutes to an hour for me to get the form, the melody, and everything hashed out,” Folds said. He would sort out any missing pieces later that day in the studio while the other musicians learned their parts. They recorded. And that was usually what appeared on the record.

Despite having recently released “Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!” and including a song about a college professor on his album, Folds does not work with a college audience in mind—or any audience, for that matter. “You’ll write some song and realize that there’s 15-year-old boys who are into it when you thought it was for housewives or something,” Folds said. “You cut yourself off from the important stuff when you worry about who the audience might be.” [Allison Malecha]

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Interview: Ace Enders of I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business

Ace Enders is one of NJ's most dynamic musicians. He's found success in multiple music ventures such as: The Early November, I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business and his solo work. The South Jersey native is currently touring and releasing music under his I Can Make A Mess Like Nobodys Business moniker and is set to hit Asbury Park's Paramount Theatre this Friday in support of Nevershoutnever. Ace was nice enough to answer some of our questions regarding to his upcoming release, his last release, touring and what he's currently rocking out too. Also, be sure to catch I Can Make A Mess's headlining date at Mexicali Live December 21st. Tickets are on-sale now!

What was the writing process for your upcoming album like?

I have to say this is actually the first album I've taken time to do.. Usually I'll have a bunch of songs I've been working on and just bring them to life in the studio.

This time I brought them to life months ago and will record them once I get home from this tour. So during the process of making the last album, I was already planing for the new one. 

I have to say as Im sure every band does.... It's my best yet. But for real i've made a bunch of records and I feel like I now understand finally how to filter my thoughts into sounds properly. Not that anything I've done in the past was wrong but this is the first time I feel really confident about how it will come out. 

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Citizens Arrest's Brooklyn reunion show sold out. Philadelphia still on-sale.

Citizens Arrest's Brooklyn reunion show at Knitting Factory on Friday, December 17th has already sold out. If you were not one of the fortunate ones to grab a ticket you can still buy tickets for their Philadelphia date the very next night at Kung Fu Necktie. These will be the hardcore punk band's first shows in nearly two decades. NJ's Ted Leo who originally appeared on the groups demo will be manning guitar for the reunion shows. 

John Butler Trio @ Wellmont Theatre 11.11.10

John Butler Trio (Photos by Colin Rieser)

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In between opening four arena dates for Dave Matthews Band, the John Butler Trio stopped by Montclair's Wellmont Theatre this past Thursday, November 11th. The veteran Australian trio are out supporting their fifth studio album, April Uprising, which dropped this past March via ATO Records. Though we were unable to keep track of John's Wellmont Theatre setlist, you can check out his Madison Square Garden setlist from the very next night below. The eclectic roots band are currently in the middle of their US run that will take them all the way out CA, where it will wrap up at Oakland's Fox Theatre December 3rd. John Butler & Co. will then head back to Australia for a string of headlining dates.  All of John Butler Trio's upcoming tour dates can be found here.

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