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)"

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)"

Alexandra Lawn @ Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011

Oh no!

While this is not a 'goodbye', the time has come for me to leave Ra Ra Riot.

Thank you for the wonderful 6 years-- so many beautiful places visited, with incredible fans & close friends made along the way. I will carry on what I have learned from each and every one of you in future endeavors, whether it be music, becoming a pilot, or the next Iron Chef.

Playing music with Rebecca, Milo, Wes, Mathieu, John, Kenny, Gabriel, and Cameron has provided some very special opportunities in my life, alongside all the talented and amazing bands that have shared the stage with us throughout. I have learned so much from all of you, and most importantly, you have have taught me to strive every day to be a better musician and songwriter.

much love,

Alexandra Lawn

The pictures in this post are previousy unposted pictures from Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 which took place in Austin in November not long before the band played Metro in Chicago (pics at the link). Chicago was the fourth-to-last date of the band's November tour. They've maybe played a few shows since then, but not many. More (of these pictures from one of Ali's last shows with the band) below...

Continue reading "Ali Lawn leaves Ra Ra Riot!"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Death By Audio - Wednesday night - 2/8/2012

The Kills, JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters play their sold out NYC show at Terminal 5 on Saturday, 2/11, a date that coincidentally (probably not) falls right during Fashion Week. If we had put two and two together earlier, we probably would have theorized that the band that contains Kate Moss's husband would be playing more than one show while in town. Who caught the invite-only show at The Standard last night?

Who caught JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters (Uncle Bad Touch got stopped at the Canadian border) at Maxwell's instead? We didn't, but we do have a second set of pictures from the show they played one night earlier at Death By Audio in Brooklyn. They continue below...

Continue reading "The Kills played the Standard; Jeff the Brotherhood played Maxwell's (here's more pics from Death by Audio)"

By Bill Pearis

Siren singer. Champion skronky guitar solo-er. Drone princess. Dressed in an iridescent dark green smock-frock, Welsh singer Cate Le Bon looked a like Crannogmen royalty at Mercury Lounge last night (2/9), where she held court over a rapt, smiling audience. Those who didn't come as fans left as converts. There is nobody quite like her and, for me, this is the current show to beat for 2012.

Previous visits from Le Bon have been mostly solo, which fit the general faery folk vibe of her first album. Le Bon's new LP, Cyrk, is definitely a "band" album, however, and the group she brought with her were more than capable of recreating its pastoral psych-rock. The night opened with the icy and discordant "Julia" but things warmed up from there as band members switched places as Cate went from guitar to keyboard and back again for singles "Puts Me to Work and "Fold the Cloth." Only her New Zealander drummer, who was flash-free but rock-steady, stayed in one place the whole night.

He also got the evening's biggest laugh. Cate invited the audience to go on tour with her, at least to tonight's show at Maxwell's where we'd get "the same band, and the same songs." Then the drummer piped in, "...but New Jersey" and immediately hit a rimshot to much groans and laughter. The evening finished as Cyrk does with the two-part "Ploughing Out," which starts off gentle and haunting but grows into a chugging, noisy rocker. In a tribute to Wales legends Super Furry Animals (Gruff Rhys was one of her early champions), the songs comes to a clamorous end with Cate and the bassist crossing their instruments like swords.

Cate plays Maxwell's tonight (2/10) before continuing on tour, again with openers Pigeons, and I highly recommend you go to this show (and then stick around for the comedy). If you haven't heard Cyrk yet, it's one of 2012's best so far. You can download "Puts Me to Work" at the top of this post, watch the video for "Fold the Cloth" below, or stream the whole album on Spotify. But really, go see her live. Click through for a couple more grainy cameraphone pictures from Mercury Lounge, and all 2012 tour dates...

Continue reading "Cate Le Bon played Mercury Lounge, plays Maxwell's tonight"

photos by Devan Council

Summer Camp @ Mercury Lounge - 2/6/12

Summer Camp toured through town this week and played a show with Field Mouse at Mercury Lounge on Monday. Here are some pictures. More of them below...

Continue reading "Summer Camp played Glasslands & Mercury Lounge with Field Mouse (pics)"

photos by Diana Wong

Kimbra & Gotye @ Bowery Ballroom

Gotye's recently announced giant show at Terminal 5 with Kimbra is SOLD OUT, much like Monday's much smaller Bowery Ballroom show was, and Kimbra was there too...

When it finally came time to play the song everyone was waiting for, the guy standing next to me said, "Already?" and then begrudgingly removed his cell phone and started filming the stage. Truth be told: Gotye's set, which lasted a bit over an hour, was about three-quarters done. So it seemed as good a time as any.

De Backer joked with the audience that perhaps he'd sing the song in a creepy low-octave vocoder. Nobody laughed; they didn't want anyone messing with the song they'd come to see.

And as the band played, crisply and assured, it remained a bit puzzling that this song is as catchy and perfect as it is. Its simple verse line sounds straight out of a modern folk-rock tune, nothing out of the ordinary, with the Brazilian guitar sample plugging along in the distance. But then that chorus! The doubled vocals and easy-going nature of the whole thing. Kimbra, the 22-year-old Australian artist who guests on the song and in the video, came out from backstage in a black romper to sing her second verse and belt out some "aahs" during the final chorus. [Huffington Post]

Continue reading "Gotye sold out Terminal 5, played Bowery Ballroom with (Kimbra and) Sea of Bees (pics)"

photos by David Andrako

This Will Destroy You @ Merkin Concert Hall

This Will Destroy You are really mixing it up on this tour. Last night they played the fancy Merkin Concert Hall on 67th Street as part of the ongoing Ecstatic Music Festival, and on Saturday (2/11) they'll play a just-announced show at DIY space 285 Kent in Brooklyn with Wires Under Tension. Tickets are on sale for the show which happens the same day they play Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken with their tour-mate Amen Dunes (who they also played Lincoln Hall in Chicago with). Pictures from the Ecstatic gig are in this post

Last night (2/9)'s show was split into three acts:

Act 1:
A Far Cry - Steve Reich "Triple Quartet"
A Far Cry and Christopher Tignor - Christopher Tignor "Thunder Lay Down In The Heart"

Act 2:
Slow Six with A Far Cry

Act 3:
This Will Destroy You with A Far Cry

Continue reading "This Will Destroy You played the Ecstatic Music Fest (pics), playing 285 Kent Saturday (on sale)"

photos by Chris La Putt

""Occupying the original occupier" tUnE-yArDs in Columbus Circle." - Bill Bragin

Merrill Garbus in Columbus Circle - 2/9/2012

As tUnE-YarDs' show at Lincoln Center's Allen Room, part of the American Songbook series (which Bill Callahan played one night earlier), was coming to an end last night, the tweets started pouring in: "@brooklynvegan tUnEyArDs will be playing Columbus Circle within the hour. Get there!", "@brooklynvegan can u spread word that Tuneyards doing free show out by Lincoln Center fountain", "@brooklynvegan tune yards are playing in Columbus circle NOT lincoln center fountain", and "@brooklynvegan She said it was NOT a show. A gathering." Whatever it was, it included video cameras, and you can see what it looked like along with pictures from the actual show and the setlist from the show, below...

Continue reading "tUnE-YarDs played Allen Room & then Occupied Columbus Circle (pics & setlist)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Dum Dum Girls @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

After playing a secret show at Cake Shop one night earlier Widowspeak, The Babies, and Punks on Mars played a much larger and public show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday (2/7), but this time Dum Dum Girls were dressed all in white!! Proof is in this post.

Dum Dum Girls (usually all in black) and Windowspeak with continue their joint tour with another area show at Maxwell's this Saturday (2/11). Tickets are still available.

Widowspeak have also announced a Glasslands show with Mac DeMarco who is signed to Captured Tracks whose SXSW showcase Widowspeak is also playing.

More pictures from MHOW, including a shot of the headliner's setlist, below...

Continue reading " Dum Dum Girls wore WHITE at Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Widowspeak & Punks on Mars (pics)"