photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Bill Pearis

Veronica Falls @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

The last time Veronica Falls were in town, singer Roxanne Clifford was under-the-weather, making for somewhat subdued performances. Thursday (2/9), though, the band were in fine health and form, the best I've seen since Popfest 2010. (Best-sounding too.) Clifford and James Hoare attacked their guitars in a furious jangle -- The Wedding Present by way of New Zealand -- when not producing minor key harmonies, while the rhythm section of drummer Patrick Doyle and bassist Marion Herbain kept the pedal to the medal. There's nothing twee about this sound, loud and fierce, assured and pretty. In addition to most of their debut album -- plus their awesome cover of Roky Erickson's "Starry Eyes" -- we got four new songs, including the Primitives-esque "My Heart Beats" which was the real standout.

Veronica Falls' tour and labelmates Brilliant Colors also played, bashing out scratchy C-86 style indiepop and were fun despite equipment problems. I missed local openers Grooms, as I was seeing Cate Le Bon at Mercury Lounge (sorry guys) but photographer Amanda Hatfield was there for the whole night and you can click through for lots of pics from all three bands.

Veronica Falls tour with Brilliant Colors continues, with Bleached joining as well starting in Minneapolis on 2/17. All tour dates at the bottom of the pictures...

Continue reading "Veronica Falls, Brilliant Colors & Grooms played Music Hall of Williamsburg (pics, review)"

Willie Nelson @ ACL Live in 2011 (more by Tim Griffin)

Willie Nelson has a number of dates scheduled for the next few months including two in the NYC area happening on May 16 and 17 at Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ. Both shows are billed as "Willie Nelson & Family", and as you can see from one of his recent Austin shows, they truly will be family affairs. Tickets ($95.00, $75.00 & $45.00) go on sale Friday (2/17) at noon with a presale starting Wednesday (2/14) at noon. All dates are listed below.

In related news, if you were watching the Grammys last night, you probably know that a Chipotle commercial aired with Willie Nelson covering Coldplay's "The Scientist." You can purchase his cover of the track on iTunes and watch the video for the commercial below.

All dates and video below...

Continue reading "Willie Nelson covered Coldplay for Chipotle, announces more dates, 2 NJ shows"

DOWNLOAD: Bear in Heaven - "The Reflection of You" (MP3)

Blouse at 285 Kent earlier this month (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Blouse (who was recently in NYC to play 285 Kent) and Doldrums have been added as openers to Bear in Heaven's upcoming tour. That tour culminates in NYC with shows happening on May 8 at Bowery Ballroom and May 9 at MHOW. Tickets for both shows are still on sale. All dates are listed below.

Bear in Heaven's new album, I Love You, It's Cool (due out April 3 via Dead Oceans) is still streaming at 400,000% slower than actual speed at the band's website. They recently spoke to VICE about it...

VICE:Are any of your fans who were drawn in by the pop sound bewildered by this experiment? How's the overall fan response?

Bear in Heaven: So far the response has been great. Bear in Heaven fans can handle our artistic leanings. I read one thing on Twitter where a person asked if we were printing the drone on vinyl. He wanted to know so he could buy a new shelf.

Speaking of Doldrums, he's one of the guests on Grimes' upcoming album Visions, which you can now stream in full on NPR. The album is due out on February 21 in the US via 4AD. Grimes plays three NYC shows on her upcoming tour.

All dates and stream below...

Continue reading "Blouse & Doldrums added to Bear in Heaven tour; Grimes' new album streaming in full"

Devin @ Public Assembly in 2010 (more by Leia Jospe)

The Brooklyn-based Devin, who recently opened for Suckers (also on Frenchkiss Records) at Knitting Factory, and, as mentioned, JEFF The Brotherhood at Maxwells, will be playing a free Valentine's Day show Tuesday at Pianos before heading out on tour with the Heartless Bastards. That tour hits Webster Hall on 2/24. Hacienda are also on the bill. Tickets for the Webster Hall show are still on sale.

The Pianos show is part of a 2-floor, free party that also includes downstairs sets by St. Lucia (part of their February residency at the LES venue) and Tiny Victories, and upstairs music by MNDR (DJ set), Make Out & Psychobuildings. Flyer below.

Devin's debut LP, Romancing, is out on April 10th, via Frenckiss who also released his 3-song EP at the end of 2011. The full album tracklist and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Devin announces LP, playing free NYC show w/ DJ MNDR, touring w/ Heartless Bastards (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Kills @ Terminal 5 - 2/11/2012

"The Kills' show [Saturday] night at Manhattan's Terminal 5 was billed as a 10th anniversary concert, but the band hardly acknowledged the occasion over a 90-minute set focused mainly on material from their two most recent albums. There were a few surprises particular to this show: They were joined by four additional percussionists in matching black leather and red bandanas whose drumming was more ornamental than audible, and they revived the seldom-performed No Wow gem "At the Back of the Shell." But for the most part, this was business-as-usual for a band more invested in their present than their past." [Rolling Stone]

Here are the pictures from Terminal 5. More of them with the Kills' setlist, below...

Continue reading "The Kills celebrated 10 years @ Terminal 5 with JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters (pics, setlist)"

by BBG

Big Freedia at Brooklyn Bowl (more by Erik Erikson)

Austin, Texas fest Chaos in Tejas (5/31-6/3) have announced another round of bands including Absu, Big Freedia (who recently played Brooklyn Bowl), Ceremony (who recently played LPR), the Creamers, Dangerous Boys Club, GG King, Kindest Lines, King Dude, Main Attrakionz, Pop. 1280, Shoppers, Teenage Cool Kids, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments (reunion), and Thousand Foot Whale Claw. Multi-day passes are on sale now and single-day passes are on the way, and the schedule (which is updated as more bands sign on) is now available.

Speaking of Ceremony and Austin, Ceremony are one of many bands playing our SXSW day show at Scoot Inn in Austin even sooner.

Hip Hop duo Main Attrakionz have a bunch of shows coming up even sooner including two in NYC and 35 Denton and SXSW. They're all listed below.

Current lineup of Chaos in Tejas and some videos below too...

Continue reading "Chaos in Tejas expands again - adds Big Freedia, Main Attrakionz, Ceremony & more"

by Bill Pearis

We've been waiting to see Scottish quartet Django Django ever since hearing their debut single two years ago, so Brooklyn Vegan is pleased as punch to be presenting with Popgun Booking the group's first-ever U.S. show at Glasslands on Saturday, March 10. It's a late show (doors 11:30), happening after the Daughter performance early that night, and will also feature the Stateside debut of Warp artist Kwes.. Consider this our pre-SXSW kickoff party. Tickets are $10 and on sale now.

Led by drummer/singer/producer David Maclean, Django Django released their debut single "Storm/Love's Dart" in late 2009. Back when bands still used MySpace, in the "influences" section, Django Django posted thumbnails of 168 albums, ranging from The Beach Boys' Smiley Smile, the first Fun Boy 3 LP, the Blade Runner soundtrack and the Beta Band's Hot Shots II and there's a definite kitchen sink mentality to their music. It's all basically danceable guitar pop, but anything goes.

Relocating to London, the band took their time releasing their debut album, which was released a few weeks ago on Because Music (home of Metronomy, Busy P and more) and is one of the more fun, inventive pop LPs to come down the pike in a while. Influences in a Cuisinart, yes, but cohesive. Django Django get compared to the Beta Band a lot, and there's a similar vocal style and groove, but DD are a little more focused and hyperactive. It's a great album.

You can stream Django Django's debut via Spotify buy it digitally from Bleep, Emusic or the retailer of your choice. (No physical versions in the U.S. yet.) There are also videos for recent singles "Default" and "Waveforms" you can watch at the bottom of this post. After visiting New York, Django Django head to SXSW so if you're gonna be in Austin in a month, do check them out.

Opening is London's Kwes, who has made a name for himself as a go-to producer, working with The XX, DELS, Damon Albarn, Micachu, The Invisible and others. After a couple singles on Young Turks/XL, Kwes signed to Warp who will release the Meantime EP in May. While you wait for that to come out, you can download non-EP track "Get Up" via a widget at the bottom of this post. Also down there is the installment of Vice's "Producers" video series featuring Kwes, which is well worth watching.

Continue reading "Django Django & Kwes playing a BV pre-SXSW show in NYC"

Forget about Arcade Fire and Bonny Bear, who the heck is this old dude playing the Grammys???

Continue reading "Who is Paul McCartney?"

Philip Glass @ Tibet House Benefit 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

today in NYC
* Whiplash @ UCB
* Llama @ Barbes
* DJ Sultan @ Barbes
* Brain Cloud @ Barbes
* Hot Tub @ Littlefield
* Melissa Ferrick @ City Winery
* Doe Paoro, Tezeo, N/A, Wyndham Baird @ Glasslands
* Father Figures, Relatives, Pegasus Warning @ Zebulon
* The Woes, The Dough Rollers, Ghost Pal @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Reverend Vince Anderson & His Love Choir @ Union Pool
* Thieving Irons, Kelli Scarr, First Nature @ The Rock Shop
* Andrea Parkins, Hans Tammen, Didier Petit, Edward Perraud @ Roulette
* McKenzie Eddy, Ski Beatz, Sean O'Connell, DD172, Da$h @ Mercury Lounge
* Bruce Levingston, Lisa Bielawa, Brooklyn Rider (music of Lisa Bielawa, Christopher Tignor, John Corigliano, Augusta Gross, and William Bolcom) @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Tibet House Benefit Concert w/ Philip Glass, James Blake, Dechen Shak-Dagsay, Laurie Anderson, Das Racist, Tim Fain, Lou Reed, Rahzel, Antony Hegarty, Stephin Merritt @ Carnegie Hall
* Tony Scherr Trio with Anton Fier and Rob Jost, Jim Campilongo & special guest @ Living Room

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Who is Bonny Bear?

Philip Glass recently turned 75 and hosts an all-star lineup at Carnegie Hall to benefit the Tibet House tonight.

John Cage would be 100 this year.

Early Bird Orion Music Fest tickets are still on sale.

Ali Lawn left Ra Ra Riot.

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter.

Also follow @bvAustin for just Austin stuff like a new set of live Ume pictures.

Also follow @bvSXSW for just SXSW stuff.

Also follow @bvChicago for just Chicago stuff like a new set of live pictures from The Darkness show that happened there on Saturday.

Madonna Yankee Stadium tickets on sale at 10am.

Adele won 6 Grammys and was the subject of a Target commercial that features a girl from PS22 in Staten Island. Watch Adele's Grammy performance, her first since throat surgery, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

by BBG

Pittsburgh's Slices returns with another wrecking ball of noise-infested nihilism on Still Cruising, the band's latest offering via Iron Lung Records, follow-up to last year's Kemado-released Modern Bride / Chump Change 7", and sequel to their 2010 debut LP Cruising on Iron Lung. For the unfamiliar, Slices utilize a mix of razor-sharp hardcore and noise-punk that recalls favorites like Brainbombs or Pissed Jeans. Clocking in at a taut 20-minutes, Slices' compelling new offering never outwears its welcome and cements the band's vitriolic virtuosity.

Look for the record soon via Iron Lung Records, and stream five tracks from the LP and a song from their Kemado 7", below...

Continue reading "Slices are "Still Cruising" (listen to five new songs)"