#Leonard Cohen

ONLY NOISEWhat I Learned From Bad Covers of “Hallelujah”

ONLY NOISE explores music fandom with poignant personal essays that examine the ways we’re shaped by our chosen soundtrack. This week, Erin Lyndal Martin takes comfort in unexpected covers. “Hallelujah” is pretty much a perfect song. Appearing on his 1984 LP Various Positions, it took Leonard Cohen...

Erin Lyndal Martin

ONLY NOISEA Year In Song

Certain songs have a way of tangling themselves in our days, weeks, and months, eventually embedding themselves in our psyche, forever to be associated with the particular time and place in which they meant the most to us. Here, Madison looks back on 2017 by recounting the songs that dominated each...

Madison Bloom

NEWS ROUNDUPMarket Hotel Is Back, NYC's Cabaret Law and More

Market Hotel Ends Their Hiatus Bushwick’s Market Hotel will host shows again starting on November 1st, with yet-unannounced special guests playing the grand reopening show. It's been out of commission while Todd P. and his crew secure the proper licenses t0 turn the longstanding DIY club into a...

Emily Daly

cc-train-nyc-1982--richard-sandler--the-eyes-of-the-city

ONLY NOISEBack In The New York Groove

It was native New Yorker Lou Reed who sang, “Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor/I'll piss on 'em/that's what the Statue of Bigotry says” in “Dirty Blvd.” The wry piece of poetry was one of many city-centric tracks to grace Reed’s New York LP from 1989. While Reed’s lyrics sound hateful...

Madison Bloom

ONLY NOISECover to Cover

Cover songs as a genre get a bad rep, it seems. Covers = karaoke, or worse, Covers = Cover Bands.

Madison Bloom

ONLY NOISEMemento Mori - Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen, though enormously different than David Bowie, was similar in the sense that he never tarnished. In his decades of writing and recording, he remained at his own golden standard, one that few others have touched.

Madison Bloom

NEWS ROUNDUPLeonard Cohen, The Election and Jessica Hopper

This week was evil. Here's some music news.

Emily Daly

ARTIST OF THE MONTHAndy Ferro

To begin with: Andy Ferro's Dad. The man remembers the the first time Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" aired on Australian radio. But more importantly, he crammed his son's young ears with as much jazz and blues as they could contain. Meanwhile, Ferro spent his childhood ping-ponging back and...

Joanie Wolkoff