Who are Psychic Drive? They are Lizzy (guitar/lyrics/vocals), Connie (drums), and Kristin (bass/vocals). Their sound is hard-driving, feedback-drenched, and tinged with psychedelia. Reminiscent of the Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine (who are playing at Roseland in September), their music features rich sonic textures, multi-layered guitar effects, and a pounding rhythm section.

However, I would never call Psychic Drive a “shoegazing” band, simply because they never shoegaze. Lizzy is a performer from the old school. He’s never content to just play a song; he wants to give you a show. As he dances across the stage, you can see every note and lyric reverberate through his body. Not afraid to engage the audience, he’s been known to jump into the crowd to play a solo, or even to use other peoples’ bodies as musical instruments. (True story!)

Psychic Drive has been perfoming in NYC for 3 years, and have played at all of my favorite haunts - Arlene’s Grocery, Niagara, Pianos, Luna, Lit, the Delancey, and the Bowery, where they shared a bill with Blondie.

I was fortunate enough to see them at Arlene’s Grocery last Wednesday, where I filmed them playing Cartoon Christ (video embedded above), Hide, and Ray of Sunshine. I also had the opportunity to ask Lizzie and Kristen a few questions. Our Q&A is after the jump.
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For this week’s post, I planned on doing a concert review. However, since the band that I wanted to review this week isn’t playing until NEXT week (d’oh!), this is my opportunity to abuse you with my taste in music.

Be forewarned: listening to these bands will not make you cool. I’d be shocked if anyone you know is into them. They don’t have new albums out, and they’re not coming to a venue near you. Half of them don’t even exist anymore. They are, however, damn good bands. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!

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For those who don’t know, Pandora is a brilliant web site that allows you to create your own internet radio stations. You give it a list of bands and songs that you like, and it uses this information to decide which songs to play for you. Besides playing music that you already like, it will (in the best case) introduce you to new bands that you’ll enjoy. That’s actually how I’ve found some of my favorite bands, including one that I saw in concert a few weeks ago .

There are people in this world who will tell you that Pandora is worthless. They’ll say things like, "It always thinks that I want to listen to Twisted Sister when I really want to listen to Neil Young." Or they’ll say, "It plays the same stuff over and over again."

The thing about Pandora is that you’ve got to have a strategy. Those of us who know and love Pandora know how to build good stations. Here are some tactics that I’ve learned over the years.

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FreeBees are listings for anything free around the city, whether it’s a concert or an ice cream cone. Have a FreeBee for us to list? Drop us a line at tips (at) neighborbeeblog.com.

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and pop piano crooner Ben Jelen is playing a free concert at the Replay store in SoHo. 10% of all of Replay’s proceeds this week are going to the Ben Jelen Foundation, a charity that supports protection of the natural environment via education, political outreach, humanitarian outreach, and investment in new technology.

Have a job that lets you out before 5 pm? Stop by and nourish your ears, the earth, and your poorly stocked summer wardrobe all in one fell swoop.

Ben Jelen @ Replay: Tuesday, 4/22 @ 5 pm

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Hey all, I’m Afroblanco, and I’ll be writing The Waggle Dance, the music column for Neighborbee. For those of you not versed in apiculture, I shall explain: when honeybees find a good source for pollen, such as a particularly tasty flower bed, they return to the hive to tell everybody about it. Upon arrival, they perform what is known as a Waggle Dance, which is a special set of motions that communicates to their neighbor bees where the pollen source may be found. And that’s pretty much how I envision my role here - returning to the hive to let you know where all the good music is.

And so, without further ado, I shall present my first column - a review of The Helio Sequence’s recent show at the Bowery Ballroom.

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