by Bill Pearis

Local indie rockers Old Monk are busy finishing the follow-up to 2012's Birds of Belize, a record that should be out in early 2014. Meanwhile, the band have a stopgap single out now on Eenie Meenie, the very catchy "Seymour." We've got the premiere of its video in this post. Using 8-bit graphics it works in references to Pitfall!, plus a slew of classic films (Safety Last, Annie Hall, The Good, the Bad & the Ugly to name three) and was directed/animated by Josh Carrafa who you may know from his Music History Gifs website. You can check it out below.

Old Monk also have a few NYC shows coming up: June 8 at Knitting Factory with The Vansaders, The Marshmallows and The Brooklyn What (tix); then June 18 at Cameo; and June 28 at Ludlow St. club Leftfield. Those dates are listed, along with that video, below.

Continue reading "watch a new 8-bit video from Old Monk ++ upcoming shows"

photos by PSquared Photography

The National at State Theater - 5/16/13

As mentioned, The National are releasing their new album, Trouble Will Find Me, this week (5/21), and they kicked off their international tour in support of it last week (5/16) just a few hours upstate of their hometown at Ithaca's State Theater. Pictures from that show are in this post.

At that show, they played almost the entirety of the new album, including all three singles, "Sea of Love", "Don't Swallow the Cap", and "Demons", and a number of other highlights like "I Should Live In Salt" and "I Need My Girl." They spread the new tracks apart pretty well though, making room for tons of old favorites like "Daughters of the Soho Riots," "Fake Empire," "Mr. November," "Afraid of Everyone," and more. Check out the full setlist below.

As mentioned, The National's tour brings them to their hometown for their largest show there yet on June 5 at Barclays Center with Youth Lagoon (who also just played NYC). Tickets for the Barclays Center show are still available and we're also giving away a pair.

More pictures and the setlist from the Ithaca show below...

Continue reading "The National began their tour in Ithaca (pics, setlist)"

Coachella 2013 (more by Wei Shi)

Coachella wrapped up another successful year this past April, and they've just announced the dates for their 2014 installment of the festival. Weekend one happens from April 11-13, 2014 and weekend two happens from April 18-20. An advance sale for the 2014 festival begins at Coachella's site on Friday (5/24) at 1 PM EST.

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Butter The Children - "Lupus" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ovlov - "Blue Baby" (MP3)

Butter The Children

NYC pop shoegazers Butter The Children (members of Sweet Bulbs, Night Manager, and Le Rug) play local shows a lot and it's recently been announced that they've signed to Downtown Records. Last year they self released their impressive self-titled EP, and Downtown will presumably put out its followup at some point this year. You can download the EP for free at bandcamp and stream in full below. One track, "Lupus," can be downloaded above as well. The EP is a quick blast of punchy pop rock with MBV-inspired guitar wails, and if you've yet to see them at one of their many shows, they bring that same kind of power to the stage too.

As usual, they have upcoming local dates, including one this Friday (5/24) at Big Snow with Big Muff, Roses, (ex-Deer Tick), and Ceramics. They also have a show scheduled at Death by Audio on June 27 with Ovlov, Suns, and Flagland. Both shows are all ages and admission for both shows is $7 at the door. They're also playing Day 1 of Hillstock, which takes place across various Brooklyn venues from June 21-23.

Ovlov

Newtown, CT's Ovlov, who also play that DBA show, are set to release their debut album, Am, on July 2 via Exploding in Sound, who are becoming pretty consistent in supplying good '90s-inspired indie rock (like Speedy Ortiz, who since signed to Carpark). And like most of that label's roster, Ovlov do the sound well. The album's single, "Blue Baby," has buildups that are straight out of the Sonic Youth songbook, and the singer likely learned a thing or two from J Mascis. Check the song out below or download it for free above.

Ovlov is on a tour now with labelmates Grass is Green which includes other NYC shows happening on June 1 at Big Snow with Appomattox and Miniboone, and the previously discussed Exploding In Sound showcase on June 15 at Big Snow with Speedy Ortiz, Pile, Fat History Month, Two Inch Astronaut, and more.

All dates are listed, along with song streams, below...

Continue reading "Butter The Children signed to Downtown, playing shows; Ovlov on tour, releasing debut LP (dates & MP3s)"

James Blake at Terminal 5 earlier this month (more by Jono Bernstein)

James Blake returned this year with his excellent new album, Overgrown, and has been touring in support of it. He recently wrapped up the North American portion of the tour which came to NYC for two Terminal 5 shows (and a DJ appearance) and he's now just announced another North American leg that will go down this fall and bring him back to Terminal 5 on November 6 and 7 for two more shows at the Manhattan venue. Tickets for those shows are not on sale yet go on sale Friday, May 31 at noon.

All dates are listed, along with the video for "Retrograde," below...

Continue reading "James Blake announces North American 2013 fall tour (dates)"

Jennifer O'Connor at Maxwell's in 2009 (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

As mentioned, indie rock vets Come reissued their debut LP, Eleven: Eleven, earlier this month (5/7) and they're supporting that reissue with a tour. And since we last spoke, openers have been announced for that tour. The NYC show, which happens on June 28 at Bowery Ballroom, will be opened by Come's Matador labelmate Jennifer O'Connor. Tickets for that show are still available. It's Jennifer's only announced date at the moment.

Updated Come dates are listed, along with some videos, below...

Continue reading "Jennifer O'Connor opening for Come (updated dates)"

Portland, OR's Eat Skull were once known for the sort of blown-out punk some called shitgaze but the band have begun turning the levels down to 9.3 and the band's move from Siltbreeze to Woodsist is telling. Eat Skull III, which came out back in February on Woodsist, is on the jangly side with forays into weird synth postpunk, plus melodies and everything. You can stream vaguely tropical "How Do I Know When To Say Goodnight?" as well as the whole album via Spotify, below.

Eat Skull are currently on a tour that will hit NYC this week for two shows: Wednesday (5/22) at 285 Kent with PC Worship, Vaz, LODRO, and Call of the Wild (who also play with Weed soon); and Thursday (5/23) at The Flat with Modra and The Abandos. All tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Portland band Eat Skull released new LP on Woodsist, on tour, playing two NYC shows this week (dates, streams)"

by Andrew Sacher

Vancouver's Weed make the kind of sludgy, melodic rock that bands like California X have also been helping to revive lately, and if you liked Cali X's album, or you know, Dinosaur Jr., this band is for you. They've got a few EPs/singles under their belt, including 2012's Gun Control, and their debut album, Deserve, will be out this July via Couple Skate Records. The album's first single, "Set Me Back," is less lo-fi than the band's past releases and even more hooky. Check it out below.

Weed are currently on a tour with Cascadia which comes to NYC this month for a show at Death by Audio on May 29 with Call of the Wild (who also play with Eat Skull soon) and Giant Peach. Admission for that show is $7 at the door.

All dates are listed, along with the song stream, below...

Continue reading "Weed releasing an LP (stream a track), on tour now (dates)"

by Andrew Sacher

Ann Arbor, MI four-piece Pity Sex may have ties to the emo scene (they're about to tour with The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die and they're on Run for Cover Records), but their new album, Feast of Love, which is due out on June 25, is straight up shoegaze/dream pop in the realm of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and it may very well win over fans of that scene. No music has been revealed from the new album yet, but you can check out a video of them playing one of its songs, "Drown Me Out," along with "Coca Cola" from 2012's Dark World EP at Brooklyn's Suburbia this past October along with a stream of the whole of that EP, below.

Pity Sex are about to wrap up a tour with Run, Forever which hits Long Island tonight (5/20) for a show at Zebra Club in Copiague, NY, and in June they'll kick off that tour with The World Is A Beautiful Place and Dads which hits Brooklyn on July 20 at Suburbia. Daylight are on that show and a few others too.

UPDATE: The band just released the first single from the record, "Wind Up," which you can listen to below (via Stereogum).

All dates are listed, along with that video, below...

Continue reading "Pity Sex releasing 'Feast of Love', touring (dates & live video)"

by Andrew Sacher

KIngston, PA punks Title Fight, whose 2012 emotionally charged post-hardcore record, Floral Green, was one of the best of its kind that year, just returned home from a European tour with Whirr and they've now got some upcoming US shows scheduled for the summer. A full tour announcement hasn't come yet, but they were recently announced for LA's FYF Fest. They've got East Coast shows happening sooner than that though, including the PA stop (6/14) on the Merchandise, Milk Music, and Destruction Unit tour (tickets) and a NYC show aboard a Rocks Off Cruise on June 16. That show is being presented by Shirts for a Cure and tickets for it are on sale now.

As mentioned, on Record Store Day, Title Fight released a split 7" with Touche Amore where the two bands covered each other, and you can now pick up that 7" on grey or pink vinyl at the Deathwish E-Store. The purchase comes with an instant MP3 download of the release. You can also stream a sample of each song below.

Touche Amore, who also play FYF Fest, are working on a new album which is due out this fall via Deathwish. They recently began work on it with producer Brad Wood (Sunny Day Real Estate). Check out a trailer video of the band in studio below.

All Title FIght dates are listed, along with a full stream of Floral Green and all other streams/videos, below...

Continue reading "Title Fight playing shows, released a split w/ Touche Amore (who are working on an LP)"