jbc

Jazz Butcher, Gold-Bears & more playing Popfest's Northside showcase; The Bats show moves to Bell House + more

by Bill Pearis

JBC

In addition to the four-day extravaganza happening May 30 – June 2, the good folks at NYC Popfest are also putting on a Northside Fest showcase at Spike Hill on June 15. The night is headlined by someone I am personally super-excited about: The Jazz Butcher. Pat Fish has put out records under variations of the name since the mid-’80s, making droll, often heartfelt VU-inspired guitar pop with a rotating cast of friends, including Bauhaus/Love & Rockets bassist David J and Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom, and many his records came out on legendary UK indie label, Creation.

The bandmate that most JBC fans care about is guitarist Max Eider who really put the Jazz in the Jazz Butcher. Max Will be accompanying Pat for this NYC visit and they’ll play as a duo. Pat and Max released a new Jazz Butcher album, The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers, last year and you can stream the whole thing below, along with some classic JBC material. To say that I am a Jazz Butcher superfan is to put it midly. Pretty sure they haven’t played NYC since 2000 (anybody at that Mercury Lounge show?) so this exciting news. If you can’t make the Northside show, Pat and Max will play Cake Shop on Monday, June 17 as well. Some people (me) will go to both. These are their only North American shows.

Backtracking a bit, the rest of NYC Popfest’s Northside lineup is pretty cool too. Texas Bob Juarez and Mike Stone who are both in the current line-up of Television Personalities. Also on the bill, the hyperactive pop of Atlanta, GA’s Gold-Bears and their neighbors Small Reactions. That is a good show! Advance tickets are not on sale as of yet. Limited Northside Fest badges will be accepted too.

The Bats
the bats

There is more Popfest news. As mentioned briefly in the Speedy Ortiz post, Popfest’s Saturday night (6/1) show was originally supposed to take place across both stage of Public Assembly. As half the venue will be closed for renovations, that show has been mostly moved to The Bell House where New Zealand’s great The Bats will headline the evening that also includes sets from UK groups Tigercats, Flowers, The Hobbes Fanclub and The Proctors as well as Sweden’s Azure Blue. Tickets for that show are still available.

Ringo Deathstarr, however, will still be playing at Public Assembly that Saturday night for a technically-still-official Popfest show that now also has Speedy Ortiz, Sua, and Advaeta on the bill as well. Tickets are on sale now and Popfest passes (also still available) will be accepted.

K

And since our last Popfest post, they’ve added a film screening as well. On Friday, May 31 at Videology in Williamsburg, they’ll show K Records documentary The Shield Around the K. The screening’s at 5PM and is free and open to the public. Director Heather Rose Dominic will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A.

And in related news, this seems like a good place to mention that Cherry Red Records is putting out Scared to Get Happy: A Story of Indie-Pop 1980 – 1989 in July. The five-disc box set is a pretty comprehensive look at the scratchy, twee, shambolic, sweater-inclined genre. A few of the tracks are seeing their first official release. It includes tracks from 2013 Popfest bands The Monochrome Set, Close Lobsters, The Wolfhounds, and The Jazz Butcher. You can check out entire tracklist below.

The Jazz Butcher – “Looking for Lot 49”

Scared to Get Happy

SCARED TO GET HAPPY A STORY OF INDIE-POP 1980-1989

DISC ONE 1. REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT – The Wild Swans 2. GETTING NOWHERE FAST – Girls at Our Best! 3. SHOWING OFF TO IMPRESS THE GIRLS – Art Objects 4. (THERE’S ALWAYS) SOMETHING ON MY MIND – The Pale Fountains 5. THE MISSIONARY – Josef K 6. THE JET SET JUNTA – The Monochrome Set 7. DUMB MAGICIAN -Blue Orchids 8. DON’T COME BACK – The Marine Girls 9. CANDY SKIN -Fire Engines 10. AMBITION – TV21 11. EVERYTHING AND MORE – Dolly Mixture 12. PARAFFIN BRAIN – The Nightingales 13. ALL ABOUT YOU – Scars 14. IT’S A FINE DAY – Jane 15. I THINK I NEED HELP – The Farmers Boys 16. THINGS HAVE LEARNT TO WALK THAT OUGHT TO CRAWL – The Room 17. SUMMERDAYS – Weekend 18. LIONS IN MY OWN GARDEN (EXIT SOMEONE) – Prefab Sprout 19. NERVE PYLON – The Lines 20. FEELING DIZZY – Everything But The Girl 21. THE LOST AND THE LONELY – The Higsons 22. HUMAN FEATURES – Black 23. ROLL ON SUMMERTIME – The Daintees 24. HAPPY BIRTHDAY – The Bluebells 25. NORMAN AND NARCISSUS – Trixie’s Big Red Motorbike 26. A PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (LIVE) – TV Personalities

DISC TWO 1. THE SUN SHINES HERE – Hurrah! 2. IF SHE DOESN’T SMILE (IT’LL RAIN) – Fantastic Something 3. EVERYBODY’S PROBLEM – Pulp 4. DARK 7 – Strawberry Switchblade 5. STOP THE RAIN – The Suede Crocodiles 6. I’M USED NOW – Grab Grab The Haddock 7. SENSE SICKNESS – del Amitri 8. HONEY AT THE CORE – Friends Again 9. OBLIVIOUS – Aztec Camera 10. ARE YOU READY TO BE HEARTBROKEN (INDIE VERSION) – Lloyd Cole & The Commotions 11. KARDOMAH CAFÉ – The Cherry Boys 12. THIS BRILLIANT EVENING – In Embrace 13. DOLLY – Microdisney 14. PLENTY – The Woodentops 15. SOUTHERN MARK SMITH – The Jazz Butcher 16. WHERE THE TRAFFIC GOES – The Jasmine Minks 17. FOREVER – The Hit Parade 18. EVERY CONVERSATION – The June Brides 19. IN THE AFTERNOON – The Revolving Paint Dream 20. HYMN FROM A VILLAGE – James 21. JUST LIKE HONEY (DEMO OCT ’84) – The Jesus & Mary Chain 22. THE CHOCOLATE ELEPHANT MAN – Biff Bang Pow! 23. TEMPLE OF CONVENIENCE – Yeah Yeah Noh 24. GOD BLESS – The Bodines 25. DEBRA – bIG fLAME 26. UP THE HILL AND DOWN THE SLOPE – The Loft

DISC THREE 1. VELOCITY GIRL – Primal Scream 2. GO OUT AND GET ‘EM, BOY! – The Wedding Present 3. THRU THE FLOWERS – The Primitives 4. SAD – The BMX Bandits 5. ALL DAY LONG – The Shop Assistants 6. SOMETHING HAPPENS – The Mighty Lemon Drops 7. XX SEX (DEMO) – We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It 8. IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE? – Mighty Mighty 9. QUITE CONTENT – The Soup Dragons 10. RED SLEEPING BEAUTY – McCarthy 11. MOTORCITY – Age Of Chance 12. COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY – The Chesterfields 13. CUT THE CAKE – The Wolfhounds 14. LOGGERHEADS – The Servants 15. DON’T WORRY (DEMO) – The Close Lobsters 16. SICK LITTLE GIRL – Pop Will Eat Itself 17. BIG PINK CAKE – Razorcuts 18. IT’S A GOOD THING – That Petrol Emotion 19. ALMOST PRAYED – The Weather Prophets 20. VOTE FOR LOVE – Jamie Wednesday 21. BEATNIK BOY – Talulah Gosh 22. SHE DAZZLED ME WITH BASIL – The Dentists 23. A GENTLE SOUND – The Railway Children 24. BABY BLUE MARINE (ALTERNATIVE VERSION) – The Groove Farm 25. THE RAIN FELL DOWN – Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes 26. (WHATEVER HAPPENED TO) ALICE? – Rosemary’s Children 27. BALLOON SONG – 14 Iced Bears 28. A WONDERFUL DAY – The Wonder Stuff

DISC FOUR 1. SHINE ON – House Of Love 2. SOMETHING ABOUT YOU – The Shamen 3. THE ALBUMS OF JACK – The Bachelor Pad 4. ALBERT PARKER – Gol Gappas 5. LOVE IS BLUE – Hangman’s Beautiful Daughters 6. HEAVEN FORBID – Whirl 7. DELILAH SANDS – The Brilliant Corners 8. SHIMMER – The Flatmates 9. GRUESOME CASTLE – The Wake 10. ENGINE FAILURE – This Poison! 11. IF I SAID – The Darling Buds 12. TIDALWAVE – The Boy Hairdressers 13. SHE LOOKS RIGHT THROUGH ME – The Waltones 14. ROOM IN YOUR HEART – The Rosehips 15. LOVE RESISTANCE – Apple Boutique 16. TAKE YOUR TIME YEAH! – Laugh 17. SHE’S A NURSE BUT SHE’S ALRIGHT – The Raw Herbs 18. TOY – The Heart Throbs 19. TRANQUIL – The Clouds 20. YOU MAKE MY HEAD EXPLODE – The Groovy Little Numbers 21. MY FAVOURITE WET WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON – The Siddeleys 22. TUG-BOAT LINE – Rumblefish 23. THE WORLD IS – The Hepburns 24. ONE OF THOSE THINGS – Bubblegum Splash 25. BE SMALL AGAIN – The Corn Dollies 26. LEE REMICK – The King Of Luxembourg 27. SON OF A GUN (DEMO) – The LA’s

DISC FIVE 1. THE HARDEST THING IN THE WORLD – The Stone Roses 2. KEEP THE CIRCLE AROUND – Inspiral Carpets 3. INDIEPOP AIN’T NOISE POLLUTION – The Pooh Sticks 4. SOLACE – The Sea Urchins 5. ONLY (A PRAWN IN WHITBY) – Cud 6. LANDSLIDE – The Popguns 7. ALL ABOARD THE LOVE-MOBILE – One Thousand Violins 8. I’M IN LOVE WITH A GIRL WHO DOESN’T KNOW I EXIST – Another Sunny Day 9. STRAWBERRY WINDOW – East Village 10. CHOIRBOYS GAS (HACK THE CASSOCK) – Bad Dream Fancy Dress 11. CIRCLE LINE – Rodney Allen 12. I’VE GOT A HABIT – The Orchids 13. SKIN STORM – Bradford 14. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? – The Charlottes 15. PICKING UP THE BITTER LITTLE PIECES – The Claim 16. DREAMABOUT – The Poppyheads 17. ADAM’S SONG (POUR FENELLA) – The Sun And The Moon 18. JESSE MAN RAE – The McTells 19. CECIL BEATON’S SCRAPBOOK – The Would-Be-Goods 20. SPEAK TO ME ROCHELLE – The Desert Wolves 21. DRY THE RAIN – The Rain 22. FOREVER HOLIDAY – Blow Up 23. SUBURBAN LOVE SONGS – The Fanatics 24. ROSES – The Milltown Brothers 25. SUN IS IN THE SKY – The Seers 26. PERFECT NEEDLE – The Telescopes 27. CATWEAZLE – The Boo Radleys