photos by Sarah Gainer

The National at Mercury Lounge - 5/21/13

After The National played tiny shows at Sycamore and Public Assembly yesterday (5/21) to celebrate the release of their great new record, Trouble Will Find Me, they headed to Mercury Lounge for a third intimate show of the day. Hitting the stage around 10 PM, the band played almost the entirety of their new record plus a few older cuts too, but a shorter set than their tour kickoff show in Ithaca. Pictures and the setlist from the Mercury Lounge show are in this post.

The National will play NYC again at a show which is going to be much easier to get into when their tour hits Barclays Center on June 5 with Youth Lagoon. Tickets for that show are still available and we're also giving away a pair.

More pictures and the setlist from Mercury Lounge below...

Continue reading "The National played Mercury Lounge (pics & setlist)"

by Andrew Sacher

Julia Holter at Bowery Ballroom in 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Art pop musician Julia Holter had one of the best albums of 2012 with Ekstasis, and she's now set to release that album's followup, Loud City Song, on August 20 via her new label home, Domino. Regarding the new album, Domino writes:

The songs that make up Loud City Song have origins that pre-date 2011's debut Tragedy - coaxed out and finessed as demos in Holter's bedroom studio and then finally coalesced into one thrillingly cohesive experience in the latter stages of 2012 by Holter and co-producer Cole Marsden Grief-Neill and an ensemble of Los Angeles musicians. The result is an album of enormous ambition - Holter taking inspiration from Collette's 1944 novella Gigi and using it as a prism through which to explore her relationship with her hometown of Los Angeles and modern life universally, taking cues from the work of Joni Mitchell and the poetry of Frank O'Hara but forging those touch-points into something resolutely unique.

Domino also just reissued her great 2011 LP, Tragedy, this week (5/21) and you can purchase that in 2XLP/CD formats at the Domino Webstore.

As mentioned, Julia is coming to NYC for a show on July 12 at Le Poisson Rouge with Jessica Pratt around the time of her appearance at Pitchfork Music Festival. Julia has since announced a full tour happening this summer, and all dates are listed below. Tickets for the NYC show are still available.

Continue reading "Julia Holter announces new album on Domino (watch the video for the single) +++ updated tour dates"

Bassist Trevor Bolder, who played in David Bowie's Spiders From Mars and Uriah Heep, has passed away after a battle with cancer, reports The Guardian. He was 62.

Bolder played alongside Bowie on his albums Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, Aladdin Sane, and Pin Ups, and also toured with him. To pay tribute to him, Bowie posted the following to his website:

Trevor was a wonderful musician and a major inspiration for whichever band he was working with. But he was foremostly a tremendous guy, a great man.

It is with great sadness that Uriah Heep announce the passing of our friend the amazing Trevor Bolder, who has passed away after his long fight with cancer. Trevor was an all time great, one of the outstanding musicians of his generation, and one of the finest and most influential bass players that Britain ever produced.

His long time membership of Uriah Heep brought the band's music, and Trevor's virtuosity and enthusiasm, to hundreds of thousands of fans across the world. He joined the band in 1976 and, barring one short break, was a fixture until his ill health forced him to take a step back early this year. Prior to joining Heep he was a founder and ever-present member of David Bowie's legendary Spiders From Mars band, performing on all of their key albums and at countless shows. He also performed with Wishbone Ash, Cybernauts and The Rats.

Mick Box said, "Trevor was a 'World Class' bass player, singer & songwriter, and more importantly a World Class friend. He will be sadly missed by family, friends and rock fans all over the world. We are all numb to the core".

Video of the Spiders From Mars performing "Starman" in 1972 below...

Continue reading "Spiders From Mars/Uriah Heep bassist Trevor Bolder, RIP"

(via @liokanine)

Tickets to see Death Grips at Webster Hall go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Peter Hook & The Light performing New Order albums at Webster Hall go on sale today at noon.

RJD2 is playing a HARD NYC event at Terminal 5 on October 4 with Zeds Dead, Paper Diamond, Green Lantern and Branchez. Tickets to that show go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the Ty Segall shows at MHOW and Bowery Ballroom go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for The Flamin' Groovies shows at Bowery Ballroom and Maxwell's go on sale today at noon.

Iggy Azalea is playing The Bowery Ballroom on June 17. Tickets to that show go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the Kisses show at Mercury Lounge go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Mike Birbiglia is playing Carnegie Hall on June 2. Tickets to that show are on sale now.

Week of Wonders, Chalk & Numbers, and Pale Lights are playing Mercury Lounge on July 8. Tickets to that show go on AmEx presale today at noon, with a general on-sale starting Friday (5/24) at noon.

Frenchkiss signees Drowners are opening for Skaters at The Bowery Ballroom on July 19. Tickets to that show go on AmEx presale today at noon, with a general on-sale starting Friday (5/24) at noon.

Tickets for all three Feelies at shows at Maxwell's are on sale now.

As mentioned, Minneapolis' BNLX were just in NYC for a couple shows. Now back in their home state, the band have left us a present in the form of a new video for "Vibrant," a song off last year's full-length debut. The clip was filmed on their recent visit to Amesterdam and it premieres in this post. Watch it below.

Meanwhile BNLX are prepping another of their "serial indoctrination campaigns," like the quarterly EPs that first introduced the band. They're also about to play their first-ever West Coast shows, including dates in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Those are listed below.

Continue reading "watch the video for BNLX's "Vibrant" ++ updated dates"

Ty Segall in Chicago in February (more by James Richards IV)

Ty Segall has been busy with his proto-metal-inspired band Fuzz (who play NYC soon), but not counting Ty's January reissues, it's been over 6 months since he released an album, which in the world of Ty Segall is like a century. Luckily, we can all breathe again, because last week he announced a new solo record, SLEEPER, will be out on August 20 via Drag City. No new music has been revealed from the album yet, but you can watch a trailer for the new album below.

Ty Segall was recently announced for LA's FYF Fest, which takes place this August, and he's since announced some other dates surrounding that fest. A full tour hasn't been revealed yet but we do know that he'll be coming to NYC on August 29 at Music Hall of Williamsburg and August 30 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for both NYC shows go on sale today (5/22) at noon.

All currently known dates are listed, along with the new album trailer and a video of Ty performing "You're The Doctor" from his last solo album, Twins, on 'Letterman' in 2012, below...

Continue reading "Ty Segall releasing new solo LP, announces summer shows"

PA photos by Fred Pessaro, Sycamore photos courtesy of Ditmas Park Corner

"So great that I made it for The National's concert. Really small venue and great vibe. Highlight of the day. #NationalTrouble" - Alejandro Masferrer

"brah I'm just so fuckin hyped to watch the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY BEE!!!" - Nic

It was a flurry of activity for Brooklyn indie stalwarts The National today. Not only did they release their great and critically-acclaimed new album, Trouble Will Find Me, but they also announced, this morning, that they'd be celebrating it with three tiny NYC club shows in one day, today. Around noon they played a free show at super-tiny Sycamore in Ditmas park. They then packed up their gear and headed to Williamsburg to play the also-very-small back room at Public Assembly (which, like the front room, will soon be closed for renovations). Pictures from Sycamore and Public Assembly, which just finished, are in this post, PA setlist included. If you got in, what time did you get there and did you wait in line?

The band, who kicked off their tour the other day in Ithaca and were on Letterman last night, will play again at Mercury Lounge tonight at 10 PM. (How many of you were able to get tickets?) Clearly these guys don't have a problem with long days. As mentioned, for those who couldn't make it to any of their release celebration shows, you can still get tickets to their big Barclays Center show on June 5. More tour dates are HERE.

More photos and a "Vine' from Public Assembly are below...

Continue reading "The National played Sycamore & Public Assembly (pics); Mercury Lounge is later tonight"

by Bill Pearis

As mentioned, Kisses (Jesse Kivel of Princeton and Zinzi Edmundson) just released their second album, Kids in LA, via the Cascine label. Mining '80s synthpop sounds, the duo have a strong sense of songcraft and the record (produced by Saint Etienne's Pete Wiggs) makes for great light summer listening. You can stream the whole thing below.

Kivel also features on "Borderline" from the new Classixx album (they play LPR next month) and you can stream that track below too.

You can catch Kisses and a few of their labelmates (including Selebrities, Rush Midnight and Chad Valley) at the Cascine/New Town Radio Northside Festival Showcase on June 13 at Cameo. Tickets are still available.

If you can't make that show, Kisses will be back in NYC a month or so after to play Mercury Lounge on July 19. Tickets to that show go on on AmEx presale on Wednesday (5/22) at 10 AM with the regular on-sale happening Friday (5/24) at noon. Kisses have a few other East Coast dates as well which are listed below.

Continue reading "Kisses released 'Kids in LA' (stream it), add tour dates"

As mentioned, Peter Hook and his band The Light have moved on from performing Joy Division albums in full to now doing the first two New Order albums, 1981's Movement and 1983's Power, Corruption and Lies. He actually sang lead on two Movement songs, so maybe it's slightly less outrageous as it first sounds. He's just announced a North American tour of that which stops in NYC on September 13 at Webster Hall. Tickets for that show go on sale Wednesday (5/22) at noon.

Meanwhile, his former bandmates are touring as actual New Order this summer, including their NYC stop at Williamsburg Park on July 24 with Holy Ghost! Tickets to that show are still available.

All Peter Hook & the Light tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Peter Hook & the Light performing New Order's 'Movement' and 'Power, Corruption & Lies' on tour (dates)"

photos by Robert Altman

Josh Ritter @ Terminal 5 - 5/18/13

In "Lights," the concluding track of Josh Ritter's new album The Beast In Its Tracks, Ritter sings "Every heart on Earth is dark half the time," an apt line that seems to sum up Ritter's unique brand of potent folk/rock and poetic lyric. Ritter, a realistic romantic, paints extraordinary love songs with settings that range from an Egyptian tomb to a government controlled missile silo, but balances these resplendent short stories with tales of lost love and regret. The heart is dark half the time.

But...it's ablaze the other half of the time, and this vivacious beating organ was on display at Terminal 5 this past weekend when Ritter and his dashing Royal City Band wholeheartedly rocked a packed crowd with a satiating 20-song set. [The Music Court]

More below...

Continue reading "Josh Ritter & Felice Bros @ Terminal 5 (pics, videos, setlist)"