Call it dance, call it pop, call it hip-hop; I caught up with the genre-bending singer/songwriter Robyn after her sold out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Like almost everyone of a certain age, I love Robyn’s music because I’ve been dancing to it since high school. After working with her for the day, I learned that there’s just as much to love about Robyn as a person as there is to love about her music – she’s delightful, she’s incredibly talented and has enormous amounts of love and respect for her fans. Here are my favorite shots and a video from the shoot. (more…)

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Wayne Coyne opened by shouting “this night is fucking perfect!” And, even though he was talking about the uncommonly gorgeous weather (and not the music) he would turn out to be right on both accounts. Complete with moderate temperatures, cheerleaders, a bear costume, a torrential confetti drop, a frontman in a hamster ball and – oh yeah – some amazing music, the Flaming Lips took Central Park Summerstage 2010 by storm. Be sure to check out the lips on their September North American tour and my favorite photos from Rumsey Playfield after the break. (more…)

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I was at a bar in the village a few years back when Jason Stollsteimer told me he was working on a new project that would feature his natural singing voice and the sounds of early rock’n'roll. Fast forward to today, that project is fully-formed and goes by the name of The Hounds Below. They sound nothing like the Von Bondies (instead imagine that Roy Orbison fronted the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) and they’ll have you reaching for the pomade and looking for back-alley brawl within a song or two. Here are a few of my favorites from their gig at Union Hall. (more…)

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Arthur and The Geniuses perform at Ars Nova in New York City on July 22, 2010. (photo by chris owyoung)

Every time I see Arthur Lewis perform, I think to myself – this guy is talented; he can write, he can sing and dance at the same time and he plays piano beautifully. In truth Arthur Lewis has the same amount of talent as every other about to be up-and-coming young artist. What sets him apart from the others (and the reason I think everyone is going to know about him in a couple of years) is that he’s got soul, real soul  - the kind that you can take with you to use as the theme song to the very best and very worst moments in your life. There’s a very small and selfish part of me that feels lucky to be among the few who will be able to look back and say that they were fans back when Arthur and The Geniuses were absolutely killing it in small clubs all over New York. Here are a few of my favorite photos from their recent show at Ars Nova. (more…)

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Erin And Her Cello perform at Ars Nova in New York City on July 22, 2010. Copyright © 2010 Chris Owyoung. All Rights Reserved.

If you’ve never heard Erin and Her Cello, you’re missing out on some of the funniest stuff out there. Seriously, I almost spit my beer out of my nose and onto my camera – twice. The thing that makes Erin’s show ridiculously entertaining isn’t her backup singers/dancers, her songs about Duane Reade counter clerks with grotesquely long fingernails, or her perfectly delivered stage banter, it’s that all of the above combine to give you some sort of lovably twisted Mr. Rogers-style children’s show where Mr. Rogers unzips his face and turns into a cute curly-haired cello player who swills wine on stage and embarrasses the children in the audience during commercial breaks. Read on for more photos and be sure to check Erin at this Saturday at the Living Room. (more…)

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While I usually avoid shooting in tiny, dimly lit clubs, I do like seeing shows in them and sometimes I bring my camera. It’s been almost a year since I went into a show intending to shoot all B+W but Amour Obsur’s special brand of weimar punkaret was worth cranking the ISO and dropping the shutter speed. Here are a few of my favorites from their set at National Underground. (more…)

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Your favorite music photographer siblings had a great shoot with rock icon Melissa Etheridge as she celebrated the release of her tenth studio album, Fearless Love. Todd and I did some stealthy backstage reportage of Melissa’s radio interview followed by a quick portrait shoot and coverage of an intimate performance for a lucky group of die-hard fans.

During the roughly 10 minutes allotted for portraits, Todd and I put together two simple on-location lighting setups consisting of the best DIY beauty dish design around and the Profoto Acute Ring flash.

Since flash photography would have ruined the videos being shot for both the live performance and the radio interview, we switched between strobes and ambient light as the assignment requirements changed.

This was a gig filled with highlights including Melissa’s 14 minute rendition of Like The Way I do (part 1 and part 2) and an absolutely incredible cover of Loraine Ellison’s Stay With Me.

More photos and some great video after the jump!

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Heyley Williams of Paramore performs at The Bamboozle 2010. (photo by chris owyoung)

With a fresh dye job and lighting to match, Hayley Williams lead Paramore through an energetic headline set at day one of The Bamboozle 2010. More photos after the jump!
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Rivers Cuomo rocks out with Weezer at The Bamboozle music festival, 2010. (photo by chris owyoung)

With day one of The Bamboozle music festival behind me, I grabbed a couple hours of sleep, a fist full or cliff bars and headed out to the final day of parking lot punk rock. The Sunday’s lineup featured Weezer, MGMT, Girltalk, MUTEMATH, and NYC’s own Matt & Kim. Here’s a taste of day two.
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