NYC Scene Report – Rue Snider, Lion Babe, & more

This week’s NYC Scene Report features a rough breakup for singer-songwriter Rue Snider, something funky from Lion Babe, LES rock n roll from Mick’s Jaguar, and the debut of indie rock artist Elke.

* Sometimes, no matter how hard they try, things just don’t work out between a man and a giant pink teddy bear.

This is the story at the heart of Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Rue Snider’s video for his song “Vamonos.”

Rue explains the clip, and the real meaning behind the song, saying, “The song lyric is incredibly earnest. I wanted to create something visual that represented the emotion of the song, but went in an extreme direction to lighten it up and make the viewer laugh rather than cry. We went super DIY and tried to make everything in the video obviously move in that direction. My thought was, ‘What if we play up the ridiculousness and overwhelming nature of a breakup by making the story of the video a bit silly?’ Everybody has a friend who felt like they were dying while breaking up with someone who was never the right fit to begin with. What if we repositioned that terrible fit to be a fun-loving, pink stuffed bear? It's the inability to let go of something that is obviously not right for you.”

“Vamonos” will be on Snider’s upcoming album, City Living, due out this summer, and you can check out the video right here.


* If you’re looking for something to get the party started, either on the dance floor, or at your next BBQ, look no further than Lion Babe’s latest, “The Wave.”

“The Wave,” which also features Leikeli47, is a funky, groove-based track that will spark flashbacks of bellbottom jeans, platform shoes, and Soul Train lines.

In an interview with BBC1 Radio, the Lion Babe duo said of their musical growth, “It’s really just the two of us out here making the records we’ve always wanted to make and the sound is really coming into its full form because we’ve been doing this for a little bit so we know what we want to do and we’re going for it!”

Click play on “The Wave,” and get your groove on to Lion Babe.


* Mick’s Jaguar is a rock n roll sextet born as a drunken Rolling Stones cover band, that has morphed into something that sounds nothing like the Stones, but a lot like something that would have been perfectly at home on stage at CBGBs at 1am.

In the words of their bio – “Mick’s Jaguar is a product of their environment: a windowless dungeon practice space 20 feet below the trash covered sidewalk of the Lower East Side.”

The band’s debut album, Fame and Fortune, will hit stores on June 22nd via RidingEasy Records. The recording sessions were reportedly, “fueled by a steady diet of Allen’s Coffee Brandy,” and, “resulted in only one hospital visit.”

Give the album’s lead single, “Blood On The Snow” a listen. With three guitarists in the band, Mick’s Jaguar are aiming to rock some faces off.


* Brooklyn-based indie rock artist Elke (pronounced “el-key”) is full of surprises. First there’s her voice.

“I really have owned the fact that I kind of sound like a man,” Elke said in a statement, “I didn’t do that for a really long time.”

Another surprise is that Elke originally wanted to be a pop star, but after a bevy of life experiences, including dropping out of boarding school, moving to NYC, and dipping her toe in the modeling world, she found herself as an indie rock artist.

Elke’s debut EP, Bad Metaphors, was released late last month. The lead single off the EP is “Without The I,” and you can check out the video for it right here.


For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.