Recent Posts in music

February 9, 2010

Kayo Dot performed 2 albums @ The Stone (pics)

words by BBG, photos by Paul Birman

Kayo Dot

Toby Driver kicked off the first Saturday (2/6) of his month as curator at The Stone by inviting his own band, Kayo Dot, to play a pair of sets, both full album shows. The 8PM sett featured Choirs Of The Eye while the later show was their new baby, Coyote. Greg Massi (Baliset) was part of the band and reports:

I am choosing to talk about this because it had a profound effect on me. It was inpsiring to say the least. I got to hear the new KD album in full performed live and during the performance I had visions of creativity and sparks flying into my brain to help me write for the next Baliset album.

And it also was weird because i felt alot like Captain Jack Harkness at the end of Doctor Who season 3. You are teased into believing that he might rejoin the Doctor for adventures but in the end he tells the Doctor that he has his own team now and they need him and that summed up my feelings on Baliset. They are my team now and I feel more comfortable musically with them than anyone else I have ever played with and while it was fun living the fantasy life of being in Kayo Dot complete with a sold out crowd and exhuberant fans shaking your hand and making you feel larger than life, I missed my team.

I am happy with the success we have built for ourselves and if i took one thing away from this whole experience, it is that it gave me a focus point in my head for the next album.

But Toby and the rest of KD know they can call on me for help at any time and as a friend I will help them with whatever they need but as I return to my life of anonymity once again, I do get excited for working on where Baliset my new team is going.

The month at The Stone continues with Gnaw, Steeve Hurdle (Gorguts) this weekend, with appearances by Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhythmia), Yoshiko Ohara (Bloody Panda), and Thrones into the week.

The Thrones date at The Stone happens one day after a newly announced show with Thrones and Carla Bozulich at Ash's Place (on 2/18 at N4th and Wythe).

More pics from the The Stone are below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 4:21 PM | Comments (4)

Little Boots playing shows w/ Fan Death, Body Language, Class Actress & Dragonette - updated 2010 tour dates

DOWNLOAD: Dragonette - Pick Up The Phone (Van She remix) (MP3)

Little Boots @ Bowery Ballroom in September (more by Chris La Putt)
Little Boots

Little Boots has announced openers and additional dates on her upcoming North American tour. That includes Coachella and the previously announced NYC show on March 2nd at Highline Ballroom. Opening that will be Body Language, JDH & Dave P of FIXED and Fan Death (the latter of which open more dates on the tour). Tickets are still on sale and we have a pair to give away. Details are below.

The show coincides with the US release of Little Boots' debut album, Hands, on Elektra Records, which comes almost a year after its UK release.

Besides Vancouver band Fan Death (who have videos posted below), Class Actress and Dragonette (who have a remix above) also open shows on the tour. Of those mentioned, Body Language, Class Actress and Fan Death will be at SXSW.

Class Actress (Brooklyn's Elizabeth Harper and band) just released their debut EP, Journal of Ardency, on Terrible Records (co-run by Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear). She recently played a Glasslands release party for that album, and plays again tonight (2/9) with Yeasayer and Javelin at MHOW. More tour dates are below.

Contest info and tour dates for all the bands are below...

Continue reading "Little Boots playing shows w/ Fan Death, Body Language, Class Actress & Dragonette - updated 2010 tour dates"


Posted by brooklynvegan at 3:44 PM | Comments (0)

Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Carl Craig & François K played LPR (pics) & the Unsound Festival continues

words by BBG, photos by Greg Cristman

Moritz Von Oswald

No one minded that the Moritz Von Oswald Trio had five members when it made its American debut on Saturday night at Le Poisson Rouge, part of the Unsound Festival New York and the Wordless Music series at the club. The trio is an alliance of techno and ambient disc jockeys and programmers doing what they don't do in D.J. booths or remix studios: playing instruments together in real time.

Mr. Von Oswald was surrounded by keyboards and synthesizers. Sasu Ripatti, also known as Vladislav Delay, was at a percussion kit with conga drums, bells and cymbals. Max Loderbauer, a k a N.S.I., was at his own analog synthesizer. And with them were another two renowned D.J.s: Carl Craig, a pioneer of Detroit techno, on synthesizers, and François K, a patriarch of house music, providing mixing, effects and additional sounds.

Their shared improvisation only hinted at the dance floor. It was sci-fi ambient music, with a background wash of pink noise like interstellar dust and puffy tones, pitched and unpitched, arising out of the static. The group's D.J. instincts governed the perpetually evolving structure: riffs appeared, drew responses, repeated, became foundations and eventually dissolved as new ones arrived. -[New York Times]

Moritz Von Oswald Trio were joined by DJ Eric Demby (aka Treeboy) and the LPR Orchestra, who played reimagined versions of Ravel's "Bolero" and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" at LPR on 2/6.

Unsound rolls on today (2/9) with the experimental electronic beats of Zavoloka, NYC artist Bora Yoon, and the ambient noise of Poland's Zenial at Issue Project Room. Tickets are still available.

More pictures from the Moritz Von Oswald Trio show are below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 3:02 PM | Comments (2)

an interview w/ Matt of The Soft Pack who played a midnight show @ Cake Shop (pics)

interview & Cake Shop photos by Gabi Porter

The Soft Pack @ Cake Shop
The Soft Pack

The Soft Pack celebrated the release of their self-titled debut LP on Kemado records at the Cake Shop on the Lower East Side of New York on Friday (2/12) with a free and packed midnight show. We had the chance to chat with lead singer Matt Lamkin after the show and before the boys from San Diego hit the road on a tour of the US and Europe that will finally wrap up at Coachella in April.

That interview and more pictures from Cake Shop below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 2:24 PM | Comments (7)

The Soft Pack's ten LA shows in one day (in pics)

photos by Rachel Carr

The Soft Pack

As previously mentioned, The Soft Pack (previously the Muslims) "did ten shows in one day in L.A. on January 30th with the help of FYFest's veggie oil powered bus." Photographer Rachel Carr spent the whole day with them. Check out the rest of her pictures (and a reposted video) below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 2:12 PM | Comments (10)

Noveller touring (dates), Valentine's Day show w/ Secret Machines, Bear in Heaven ++ Freelance Whales add NY show

Freelance Whales @ Bell House Haiti benefit, Jan 27 (more by Jonny Leather)
Freelance Whales

Freelance Whales have added another NYC show to their upcoming schedule. The newly announced show is the farthest away - they'll play Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, April 13th. Tickets are on sale.

Before then they open for Mumford & Sons and Shout Out Louds (separately), and go on tour with Cymbals Eat Guitars and Bear In Heaven. That trip goes around North America and includes SXSW. Those two bands, minus Freelance Whales, finish the tour at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 9th. tickets are still on sale.

Before then you can catch Bear in Heaven at Glasslands on February 19th, when they play with Secret Machines, Mon Khmer (who also play a show at Union Pool with Midnight Masses), Noveller (who plays there on V-Day; all shows are below) and PAPA. Ticket info is here.

Video from Freelance Whales' recent NYC show and all tour dates are below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 1:56 PM | Comments (1)

Bad Lieutenant reschedule US dates (Coachella, NYC, more)

Bernard Sumner of Bad Lieutenant/New Order/Joy Division
Bad Lieutenant

After canceling their four US shows last November because of visa issues, Bad Lieutenant aimed to reschedule for the spring. They've confirmed those dates, one of which is at Coachella. Another is NYC's Webster Hall, the last of their four stateside shows, on Wednesday, April 21st. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 12th.

The shows will be the band's first in the United States. Their debut album, Never Cry Another Tear, came out last October on Original Signal Recordings.

Bad Lieutenant is: Bernard Sumner (guitar, vocals) and Phil Cunningham (guitar), along with Jake Evans (guitar, vocals).

The core members of Bad Lieutenant - Sumner, Cunningham, and Evans - will be joined on these dates by former Joy Division/New Order drummer Stephen Morris (who also played on the new album) and bassist Tom Chapman. According to Sumner, "The bulk of the set will be Bad Lieutenant songs, but we'll also play some songs from my past, some New Order songs, some Joy Division, and a few other surprises."
All tour dates are below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 1:48 PM | Comments (5)

Midnight Masses currently in residency at Union Pool - final show is w/ Trail of Dead ('original lineup')

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Midnight Masses - "There Goes Our Man" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Midnight Masses - "Walk On Water" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Midnight Masses - "Heaven" (MP3)

Midnight Masses with Conrad and Jason of Trail of Dead
Midnight Masses with Conrad Keeley and Jason Reece

If it's February 2010 and a Wednesday, then odds are even that Midnight Masses are at Union Pool. The band began a weekly residency at the venue on February 3rd which continues this week (on Feb 10) with Mon Khmer and Light Asylum. Feb 17th includes Living Days (+TBA). Finally, they go out with a bang on Feb 24th, as the band will be joined by "the original lineup" of And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead (Conrad & Jason playing as a duo?).

Midnight Masses recently dropped "Red Ribbon Song (For Those Who've Gone)" for a name-your-price download. All proceeds will benefit the National AIDS Fund and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

All Midnight Masses dates, and a whole bunch of videos, below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 12:39 PM | Comments (3)

John Wesley Harding tour dates (shows this weekend, Freedy Johnston, readings, more Cabinets of Wonder...)

John Wesley Harding @ City Winery Haiti benefit Jan. 20th (more by Tim Griffin)
John Wesley Harding

Songwriter and author John Wesley Harding has a number of different events coming up. He joins his band the English U.K. for three shows this weekend (two of which are in the NYC-area). They play Joe's Pub on Saturday, February 13th. (tickets), then they're at Maxwell's with Freedy Johnston on February 14th (tickets).

JWH, real name & pen name Wesley Stace, will be doing a reading/musical performance at Brooklyn's Greenlight Bookstore (686 Fulton Street) on Febraury 25th. He'll be joined by another author/musician, Rick Moody (who plays as part of the Wingdale Community Singers). Stace's third book is due to come out in 2010.

John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders variety show will return to (Le) Poisson Rouge for shows in March, April and May. Tickets are TBA. Dates for those and all shows/readings are below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 12:24 PM | Comments (2)

MtyMx Fest expands lineup (Dan Deacon, Andrew WK, High Places, Acid Mothers Temple & other bands playing Mexico)

MtyMx Festival

The lineup has been updated for the MtyMx Festival happening March 20th-22nd in Monterrey, Mexico. As it stands, 69 of the 75 or so bands have been confirmed and are listed below.

New additions include Andrew W.K., Acid Mothers Temple, Grant Hart, Telepathe, Hunx and his Punx, Bitters, Male Bonding and Talk Normal. Dan Deacon and High Places will be MtyMx exclusive (as in not playing SXSW).

Three-day passes are still on sale. More info on the fest is HERE. The full list of confirmed bands is below...

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Posted by brooklynvegan at 11:49 AM | Comments (14)