NYC Scene Report – Fiona Silver, The Motor Tom, & more

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Fiona Silver feeling “Dark Blue,” The Motor Tom looking to “Burn It to the Ground,“ Rabbi Darkside musing on “The Idea of Me,” and Andrew Thompson having a “Misunderstanding.”

* NYC’s super soulful indie rock artist Fiona Silver first caught my ear back in 2017, and longtime readers may remember I wrote about her a handful of times in this column, and ranked her album, Little Thunder, as one of 2017’s best. Then she disappeared … actually, to be more factual, I was following so many artists she temporarily got lost in the mix, and it was completely my fault. Thankfully, I saw her tweet about the release of the video for her single “Dark Blue.”

“Dark Blue” is another standout from Silver, and it immediately reminded me of why I fell in love with her voice, and her vibe, three years ago.

Nearly missing out on “Dark Blue” inspired me to put together a Twitter list specifically for this column. Feel free to follow it – Adam’s World: NYC Scene Report – and check out “Dark Blue” right here.


* Consistently proving that indie rock can be both thought provoking and incredibly fun, The Motor Tom are entering the new decade with a bang. The band recently released a new EP, titled Lava Land, which is the first of a series – how many EPs will be in the series is yet to be determined – and they have a great video for the kick ass lead single, “Burn It to the Ground.”

This is basically a perfect rock song, so click play, and proceed to “Burn It to the Ground.”


* NYC indie hip-hop veteran Rabbi Darkside devised a unique plan for his work at the beginning of last year – “I set my musical intentions around self-reliance.”

At the end of the year that plan culminated in a six song EP titled  A Skeleton at a Typewriter.

“For me, (it was) a return to the minimalism of rap poetry, and magnetic catharsis of creative control,” Rabbi Darkside explained in a statement, adding, “The songs here capture a moment comprised of constant movement. Not unlike the flow of blood within the body’s casing. Liquid bars in a mason jar replete with cracks and leaks. Here is the emptied vessel and the dried ink of season’s change. The stones on the river bed. A skeleton at a typewriter.”

Check out the lead single, “The Idea of Me,” and hear why Rabbi Darkside continues to be one of the most respected artists in the scene.


* Late last year Andrew Thompson released a video for his song “There Must Be Some Kind of Misunderstanding.” A fun, catchy, indie soul-pop tune, the melody ended up stuck in my head for hours after just one play. A few things about the song, however, and the man behind it, are a bit of a mystery.

Maybe my Google game is slippin’, but I couldn’t dig up anything about Andrew Thompson. I couldn’t even find a social media page for him. In addition to that, when I looked for more info on the song I found a Discogs page that says it was originally released in 2005!

Could this be the misunderstanding the song is about? Did I just crack the code … or perhaps there is no code to crack, and this is simply a great song for everyone to enjoy.


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