James Blake @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg (12.11.2012)

In September, James Blake announced that he would debut new material from his upcoming album at a few intimate shows.  We last saw James Blake at the Bowery Ballroom in May 2011, not long after his first full length LP came out.  Though we were treated to 1 new song during that set (Enough Thunder), I was definitely excited to hear the direction he was headed in for his next major release. After playing three shows in England, he made his way to New York to play two more shows.  Tickets sold out almost immediately for the first show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg so a second show was added at the Bowery Ballroom for the following night.  I attended his first New York show of this small tour at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Animal Collective @ Terminal 5 (12.4.2012)

We last caught Animal Collective at Prospect Park in 2011 where they played live as a full band for the first time since 2006.  The band has since released a 12" version of the material from their Transverse Temporal Gyrus installation, the non-album Honeycomb/ Gotham 7" single, the full length Centipede Hz at the end of the summer, and a 10" Applesauce single (b/w "Crimson") in November.  Animal Collective began another full length tour when CHz released and have since been playing shows throughout the U.S. and Europe.  They were scheduled to play the Williamsburg Waterfront in October but unfortunately had to postpone the show due to illness.  Graciously, the band not only rescheduled the original show but added a second show for the following night, all to benefit the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief.  We attended the first of their two shows at Terminal 5.