by Bill Pearis

Hazy Montreal rockers No Joy are hitting the road and crushing eardrum, joining Lower Dens on their upcoming summer tour that hits NYC on July 19 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for that show are still available and all Lower Dens/No Joy tour dates are listed below.

Right before that tour begins (June 19 to be specific), No Joy will release Negaverse, a new five-song EP on Mexican Summer which refines the band's swirling maelstrom of big guitars and ethereal vocals. Alan McGee would've signed them to Creation in a heartbeat in 1990. Sounds good today too -- you can stream the EP's lead track, "Junior," alongside the record's cover art and tracklist below.

Continue reading "No Joy ready new EP (stream a track), touring w/ Lower Dens "

by Andrew Sacher

UK producer Gold Panda (aka Derwin Schlecker) released a new single, "Mountain" b/w "Financial District," today (5/15) digitally via Ghostly in the US. It comes out on 7" vinyl on June 12. The artwork is above. Following in the footsteps of his excellent LP, Lucky Shiner, Gold Panda's deftly crafted headphone dance music sounds great as ever on these two new tracks. But the songs are also a slight left turn from his earlier work, subtly weaving hip hop influenced snares into his own beatwork. You can stream them both below or purchase the MP3s/pre-order the vinyl at the Ghostly webstore.

Gold Panda has a few North American club dates scheduled in between the slew of European festivals he's slated to play in the next few months. Those dates include a NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on August 2. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (5/18) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (5/16) at noon.

All dates and streams below...

Continue reading "Gold Panda released a new single (stream it), touring (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

Motion Studies is the musical alias of Tyler McCauley, who has logged time in various Brooklyn bands over the last couple years (Grooms, Teen Witch to name two), though MS is decidedly more beat-oriented. With vocals from Emma Collins and help from friends in Magic Bullets, Night Manager and Spanish Prisoners, McCauley released the Hearts Will Beat EP last month as a free download on Bandcamp. With a slowly rolling bassline and vocoder'd vocals, the title track is sinewy laptop funk that slowly takes root. The other two tracks are pretty good too -- you can stream it at the bottom of this post.

Look for a second Motion Studies EP in June, with the group's live debut happening around the same time.

Continue reading "check out Motion Studies whose debut EP is a free download"

Oneida at Ecstatic Music Fest (more by David Andrako)

As previously mentioned, live concert recording site NYC Taper just turned five years old and is throwing a party at 285 Kent on Saturday (5/12) to celebrate, with performances by Oneida, Sightings and Prince Ruperts Drops. Joining Oneida onstage will be James McNew of Yo La Tengo/Dump fame and Greg Fox (Guardian Alien/GDFX). If you can't make it, we're going to guess someone will make an downloadable audio document of it. Meanwhile peruse NYC Taper's awesome catalog of nearly live recordings. There's nearly 1000 of them at present -- like the recent Lower Dens show at Glasslands, and the Crystal Stilts/Woods show that took place at 285 Kent last weekend. The flyer for the NYC Taper show is at the bottom of this post.

Greg Fox plays the Stone earlier the same night as part of the ongoing Buke & Gase-curated series of shows.

While we're talking about 285 Kent, tonight (5/11) the Brooklyn venue hosts an evening of electronic avant garde and noise, with former Yellow Swan man Pete Swanson, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Forma, and SSPS.

Then on Sunday (5/13), Woodsist Records is throwing a record release party for MV&EE's Space Homestead, with a live performance by the band as well as Steve Gunn and Herbcraft. MV&EE have some tour dates coming up and those are below, along with a stream of a song from the new album....

Continue reading "Oneida, James McNew, MV&EE & more this weekend @ 285 Kent (where Crystal Stilts & Woods recently played)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Zambri - ICBYS (Ice Choir Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ice Choir - Teletrips (MP3)

Fixtures on the Brooklyn scene for a while now, sisterly duo Zambri released their debut, House of Baasa, about a month ago o Kanine records. Dark and sweaty, it's a bit like a Jungle Themed Siouxsie Sioux with a number of standout tracks -- "Carry," "ICBYS," and "Hundred Hearts" which you can watch the video for below. You can stream the whole album below as well.

Zambri have a few other dates coming up -- including the Kanine Records Northside showcase at Knitting Factory on June 14 with Eternal Summers, Bleeding Rainbow, Beach Day and some TBDs -- which are all listed below.

Zambri, with their seriously awesome drummer and complicated microphones, play tonight (5/10) at Public Assembly as part of a pretty good bill. Also playing are Computer Magic (aka Brooklynite Danielle Johnson) who makes appealing retro-y synthpop. Her debut EP, Orion, is out now and you can stream it below.

Openers Test House just released their debut EP, Bitemarks, a couple weeks ago. The duo make glitchy dance music and you can stream the EP below. They have a pedigree too: Peter Schuette used to be in Silk Flowers and Psychobuildings, and James Elliot spent time in Bear in Heaven and School of Seven Bells.

DJing between sets is Pains of Being Pure at Heart drummer Kurt Feldman who also fronts '80s romo-loving Ice Choir. Feldman remixed Zambri's "ICBYS" which is downloadable above, and they just dropped the first taste of Ice Choir's debut album, Afar, which is out in July on Underwater Peoples. You can download that above too.

Streams and Zambri tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Zambri released 'House of Baasa,' playing tonight with Computer Magic, Test House & DJ Ice Choir (who have a new MP3) "

by Andrew Sacher

UK producer/musician Chris Clark aka Clark released his new album, Iradelphic, last month via Warp. The album features the immediate standout track, "Secret," which owes a bit of its immediacy to featured vocalist Martina Topley-Bird, who has also contributed her vocals to Tricky, Massive Attack, and others. But the album benefits from its instrumental work as well. The three part trek, "The Pining," is a great piece which combines beats and live guitar (played by Clark) in a manner that brings to mind Rounds-era Four Tet.

The album includes other tracks that interwork live instrumentation and electronics, and in between those it works in jazz-piano interludes ("Black Stone"), ambient passages ("Broken Kite Footage"), and another track with Martina Topley-Bird ("Open"). You can stream the tracks, "Secret," "The Pining pt2," and "Com Touch," below.

Clark has a North American mini tour planned for next month which includes shows in Montreal (Mutek), LA, Chicago, and NYC. The NYC show is a live set happening on June 10 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets are on sale now.

All dates and streams below...

Continue reading "check out Warp artist Clark, playing shows in June (dates)"

Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween) released, Marvelous Clouds, his first solo album under his real name, this week via Partisan Records. Freeman's record release show at 92Y Tribeca tonight (5/9) is sold out, but we're giving away a pair of tickets. Details are below.

Marvelous Clouds is a tribute to famed poet and songwriter Rod McKuen, whose songs have been recorded by a lot of famous people, including Frank Sinatra and Madonna. (Terry Jacks went to #1 with his version of McKuen's "Seasons in the Sun" in 1973.) You can stream the song "As I Love My Own" at the bottom of this post.

When you're done listening, feel free to let Freeman know what you think. He's given out his phone number ([609] 542-0751) and is encouraging people to leave him messages.

Joining Freeman tonight night will be Mitch Marcus, Joe Young, Brian Fishler, and Ween sideman Dave Dreiwitz who last night (5/8) backed Michael Moore (yes, that Michael Moore) at City Winery, and who plays the Levon Helm tribute at Brooklyn Bowl on June 4.

Details on how to win tickets to the 92Y show, Aaron's only upcoming date at the moment, and the song stream below...

Continue reading "Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween) released 'Marvelous Clouds' (call him & tell him what you think), playing 92YTribeca (win tix)"

by Bill Pearis

Closing in on the band's 25th anniversary, Giant Sand will release their new album, Tuscon, on June 12. It's a road trip rock opera that has expanded the group's scope and sound, to the point that founder Howe Gelb has renamed it Giant Giant Sand. We've got the premiere of one of Tuscon's tracks, "Detained," which you can stream at the bottom of this post.

While no word yet on the U.S. live debut of this bigger version of his group, Gelb is playing Thursday (5/10) at Joe's Pub . Gelb and the rest of Giant Giant Sand will spend most of the summer in Europe and the Netherlands (which much of his group call home) playing festivals and other shows. All 2012 Giant Sand and Howe Gelb tour dates are listed, along with the "Detained" stream and Tuscon tracklist and artwork, below...

Continue reading "Giant Sand now Giant Giant Sand, releasing 'Tuscon' (song premiere); Howe Gelb touring, playing Joe's Pub"

by Bill Pearis

Southern California's sample-happy indie popper TV Girl has dropped his first full-length on the world on last Friday. Out via Das Racist member Himanshu Suri's Greedhead label, they're calling The Wild, The Innocent, The TV Shuffle a "mixtape" but it sounds like an album to these ears. (16 songs, all originals.) Like 2010's "If You Want It" single which borrowed a chunk of Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me" (and got them in a little trouble for doing so), Trung Ngo and Brad Petering work in some clever samples into their songs this time around, including Love's "Alone Again, Or" and the frenetic intro to Billy Joel's "Angry Young Man," as well as a voicemail from one of their approving mothers.

The mixtape is a free download that comes with a snarky activity book, and well worth the click to do so. You can stream it below.

Continue reading "stream or download TV Girl's new "mixtape""

Passion Pit are finally getting around to following up their 2009 debut, Manners. The new album, Gossamer will be out July 25 on Columbia Records. You can stream the album's first single, "Take a Walk," at the bottom of this post and the song will be available to purchase digitally on May 8. The band doing the outdoor festival circuit this summer, including a June 23 performance at the Governors Ball Fest. All Passion Pit dates are below.

Continue reading "Passion Pit share a song off their new LP, schedule dates"