Eric Cutler of Autopsy

Bullet belts, flip flops, studded gauntlets, chicken suits... yep, its Maryland Deathfest time again. Though it was milder this week, in true MDF fashion the first of the four day Baltimore music festival (on 5/24) kicked off with high temperatures, humidity and unrelenting sun, making for a strong contrast to the pitch black indoor room at Sonar. Luckily, escape from the sun also meant catching some of the best heavy music out there.

The day started with sets by Extermination Angel and Die Pigeon Die, both of which I missed unfortunately, so the "opening" set by Needful Things was a fierce blast of grind that was a great perk-me-up for the rest of the day's activities. For the most part, a lot of the bands on Thursday I had seen in recent months: Eyehategod at A389 (dudes, please... we need new songs... the set is getting tired), Absu and Agalloch at Inferno, and Autopsy at Inferno and in Brooklyn. All delivered excellent, though familiar (to me) sets with the exception of Agalloch whose focus was on their earlier material (no Marrow of the Spirit here). Excellent way to cater to the crowd and make it special.

Of the remainder of the bands, Dying Fetus's death metal-slam style has never been my cup of tea but Rorschach... that's another story. Rorschach's unique noise/metal/hardcore sound was the clear winner for favorite set of the day for me, coming out with unmatched energy and playing their cover of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" as well as material from their Protestant/Remain Sedate release (which was available in exclusive colors just for this show)(wow). I remember being floored when I saw them at Santos and The Charleston way back when, but this might have been their best set yet. I could watch them play forever, but I'm guessing there's a short window of time left for this band... don't miss them. Rorschach pictures are HERE.

More pictures from Day 1 at Maryland Deathfest including Autopsy's setlist are below. Look for ongoing coverage from the festival everyday here at BrooklynVegan.

Continue reading "Maryland Deathfest 2012 Day 1: Needful Things, Absu, Eyehategod, Agalloch, Autopsy, Rorschach and more"

photos by Joe McCabe

The Gossip played Terminal 5 on Tuesday (May 22), supporting their new, disco-ized album A Joyful Noise which came out the same day. Given the success of the Soulwax remix of "Standing in the Way of Control," it's a logical progression, and Beth Ditto has taken on the new role with the command you'd expect. Maybe you watched the show from your couch, as it streamed live from Bowery Presents's YouTube channel. There are video clips from that stream below if you missed in on Tuesday.

The band jet off to Europe soon for a tour and those dates are listed below. Check out more pictures of The Gossip's T5 set below, as well as openers Ssion and Creep (who got a little help from School of Seven Bells' Alejandra Deheza).

Continue reading "The Gossip, Ssion and Creep played Terminal 5 (pics, video)"

photos by BBG, words by Sally Secret

"See you soon. MDF Thursday, I don't know how many shows in NYC on Saturday and Sunday in NJ." - Rorschach

Rorschach @ Maryland Deathfest - 5/24/2012

The Rorschach show at LPR this Saturday (5/26), that Converge was added to, is now sold out, but if you don't have a ticket, don't dispair. There are plenty of other ways to roar on Saturday courtesy of Black God who are now on an east coast tour. As previously mentioned, the Kentucky band that features members of Coliseum, Young Widows and By The Grace Of God, will play TWO NYC shows on Saturday, and both are sort of a mystery. The first, which was just finally listed on the venue's website with a "secret guest", is a matinee at ABC No Rio. The second is still just listed as "Sa 5/26 (night) - Brooklyn, NY @ Announced Day of Show!". Stay tuned!

Rorschach also play a show at Warehouse Motor Club in Middlesex, NJ on Sunday with Torchbearer, Too Many Voices, and Brain Slug (5pm, $10). They played Maryland Deathfest last night (Thursday). Review coming soon. That's one picture above. More below...

Continue reading "Rorschach played MDF (pics), playing a sold out LPR (and other shows); Black God on tour (2 NYC shows Saturday)"

by Dominick Mastrangelo

In the afterglow of The Afghan Whigs first show in 13 years, fans lingered outside the Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday, still buzzing from the two-hour, roller coaster of memories. Some swapped stories, others dragged on cigarettes, all of them beaming from ear to ear. When bassist John Curley and guitarist Rick McCollum wandered out, fans circled the band members, expressed their appreciation and a round of "I saw you in (insert city)" commenced.

"I saw you in Jersey on the 1965 tour," said one fan to Curley. "I saw you in Chicago," another said to McCollum. I was jealous. My "I saw you..." moment was an "I was supposed to see you..." moment. "In Dallas in '99," I said to Curley.

Anyone versed in the Whigs history know they never made it to that show and the band called it quits before they made it back. So, when Greg Dulli crooned "I waited long, the waiting's over," during "Bulletproof," it probably resonated a lot more with me than most of the sold-out crowd who already had their live moment over a decade ago. And the Whigs did not disappoint. They weren't as advertised - they were better. There was never a chance Dulli would get the Whigs back together only for them to fall flat.

A 20-song set with two encores spanned most of the Whigs catalog, but was focused mainly on the last three records: 1965, Black Love, and the critically acclaimed Gentlemen.

Early on, they dipped all the way back to Congregation for "I'm Her Slave" which they performed the night before on Jimmy Fallon. Dulli thanked Sub Pop records pioneers Megan Jasper and Jonathan Poneman more than once on the night for giving the band a shot (as well as making them the first non-Pacific Northwest band to sign to the label.)

Dulli trash-talked a heckler during one of those shout outs, describing in graphic detail what he would do to him if he dared step foot on stage. "Did I kiss your girlfriend?" Dulli asked, before adding an insincere "I'm sorry."

And that bravado permeates the Whigs catalog, in songs like the bruising "Fountain and Fairfax" during the first encore and "Debonair." "Tonight I go to hell for what I've done to you / But this ain't about regret" Dulli screamed on the latter.

As much as the night was about celebrating the past and screaming along to "Crime Scene Part One" or "66" (or pretty much any song they played on Wednesday) it was more about reveling in the reformation and hopefully the prolonged second act of The Afghan Whigs.

The Afghan Whigs will be playing much bigger venues when they return to the NYC area. In addition to Duuli currating this year's ATP I'll Be Your Mirror in Asbury Park, NJ in September (tickets are still available), and then will play a sold-out Terminal 5 show October 5.

More pics of Afghan Whigs' Bowery show (including opener Joseph Arthur) and setlist are below.

Continue reading "The Afghan Whigs played Bowery Ballroom (pics, setlist)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield; words by Bill Pearis

"comet gain & pooh sticks were great last night @ public assembly in brooklyn. only took approx 15-20 years to see them live." - @dfarecords

The Pooh Sticks

It was the kind of night that could really only happen at Public Assembly. The back room rumbled from the crush of Ulcerate (who had their gear stolen later that night) and Tombs, while the front was hosting the third evening of NYC Popfest, which made for a culture clash in the mutually shared hallway. With The Pooh Sticks on the bill, it was hardest Popfest has ever come to "rocking," what with the legendary Welsh band's proclivity towards crunchy powerpop a la Slade or The Sweet. No better example of that than their 1991 single "Young People," with it's twin guitar leads and lyrics that rang of even more irony now that that song is old enough to drink. (And it was ironic when first released.) A truly fantastic set.

Despite the gray hair, frontman Hue Williams was a bundle of energy and the band was tight and, yes, rocking. In addition to "Young People," we got pretty much all The Pooh Sticks' well-known material, including early indiepop sides "I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well" and "On Tape," as well as later tracks like "Who Loves You" and "The World is Turning On."

Headliners Comet Gain rocked too, albiet in a more shambolic indie kind of way, despite frontman David Feck's threats of putting the audience to sleep after the Pooh Sticks killer set. But Comet Gain fans are fervent and the crowd was pumped and loaded for the band who hadn't played NYC in four years. (A little too loaded, some friends of mine got hit by projectile vomit from someone who couldn't hold their booze.) Check out video of their set at the bottom of this post.

The evening started with Sweden's Pushy Parents who were playing their second-ever show, but they sounded pretty together to these ears. Speedmarket Avenue's Isak Klasson played drums. (His own band played earlier in the week.) It was a short set, highlighted by current single "Secret Secret."

The rest of the night: Seattle's winsome and tuneful Seapony were good but needed to be louder (the metal show next door won that round); and Sweden's Electric Pop Group were pleasant enough but with a laptop rhythm section, maybe they should've played first.

Earlier Saturday it was the Popfest day show at Spike Hill with Filipino duo Outerhope, Sweden's Lisa Bouvier and locals Pale Lights and Habibi. I didn't make that one, but our photographer did and pictures of all Saturday Popfest action are below, along with Bleary Eyed Brooklyn's videos.

Continue reading "NYC Popfest 2012 Day 3: Pooh Sticks, Comet Gain, Seapony, Pushy Parents, Habibi, Pale Lights and more (pics video)"

photos by Toby Tenenbaum

The Polyphonic Spree played Webster Hall last night (5/23), which was recorded for a future live album. The front of the stage was covered in a wide red ribbon, from which Spree leader Tim DeLaughter cut out a heart, from which the rest of the band -- 22 of them this time -- emerged. The rest of the theatrical set included a medley of The Who's Tommy, and an encore where the band appeared at the back of the room, making their way through the crowd back onto the stage.

Spree keyboardist Sweet Lee Morrow opened the show with a mix of songs and comedy. In addition to the live album, The Polyphonic Spree, who play Philly tonight, will release a Christmtas album later this year. Check out more pictures from the show below, along with a list of remaining tour dates.

Continue reading "The Polyphonic Spree played Webster Hall (pics)"

photos by Joe McCabe

Ben Gibbard @ Beacon Theater - 4/29/12

NYC showed Ben Gibbard and his band Death Cab For Cutie much love during a recent three night run at Beacon Theater. Ben did not return that love in a recent article about baseball stadiums in Rolling Stone. Ben said:

PNC Park is by far the most beautiful park in all of baseball. The place feels so intimate and old-fashioned in all the best ways. I love the design of their out-of-town scoreboard. The views of downtown Pittsburgh and the bridges across the Allegheny River at night are spectacular. You can also buy a gigantic bucket of hot wings there that will stop your heart. The new Yankee stadium is by far the worst I've been to. It might look like the old one from the outside, but inside it's more like a gaudy, Long Island shopping mall than a ballpark. A classic example of what happens when people have too much money and very little taste. Plus, it tends to be full of Yankees fans.

We already posted timely pictures of nights one and two of Death Cab's three-night run (along with news of their continued tour that hits NJ next time). Here is a set of pictures we've been saving, from the third and final night at Beacon with Youth Lagoon. More of them below...

Continue reading "Ben Gibbard disses Yankee Stadium, played 3 nights @ Beacon Theater with Youth Lagoon (here's the last set of pics)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Willie Nelson & fan @ Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ

Willie Nelson, who recently collaborated with Snoop Dogg and got a statue of his likeness unveiled in Austin on 4/20, came to NJ last week for two shows at the Wellmont Theater with fellow Texas singer-songwriter Robert Ellis. We have pictures from one of those shows, and there are more of them, along with video of a performance Willie did at SiriusXM while he was here, below...

Continue reading "Willie Nelson played 2 nights @ Wellmont w/ Robert Ellis (pics)"

Webster photos by Eric M. Townsend, Bowery photos by Bryan Bruchman

Nada Surf @ Webster Hall

Nada Surf @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Chart Attack: What kind of relationship do you have with [your breakout 1996 single] "Popular" now?

Nada Surf's Matthew Caws: One new thing is it's starting to be a very long time ago. It never had been before. Our relationship with it is relatively simple: It's one of our earlier songs, it got us a lot of attention, it's funny - I still think it's really funny - but it doesn't always sit in the set list comfortably. Not only because it's goofier than everything else but also because the exterior perception of it is kind of loaded. I don't necessarily enjoy playing it at every show. I really like it at festivals, it kind of gets the crowd going.

But it's funny, we can't win. If we don't play it somewhere, somebody in the crowd is going to get huffy. But when we do play it, you'd be surprised at how many indier-than-thou audience members will be like Grumble grumble grumble! Why did you do that? or Don't remind me! or I wanted to hear something else. All in all my relationship with it is very positive, because it gave us an enormous jump-start. Had we not had that song we might've ended up on this kind of label like Barsuk that we really love eventually, it just would've been a different route. And we wouldn't have had the little leg-up of having our name be well known.

Continue reading "Nada Surf discuss relationship with 'Popular', played Webster Hall & Music Hall of Williamsburg (belated pics & setlists)"

photos by Joe McCabe

Jake Shears @ Bowery Ballroom - 5/6/2012

Scissor Sisters' new album Magic Hour is out May 29, though you can already get the first single "Only The Horses" at iTunes, where you can get four remixes of the song too. Check a new informercial for the LP starring QOTSA's Josh Homme, below.

Don't ever accuse Scissor Sisters of not keeping it real. Though the band is clearly able to fill substantially larger rooms on multiple nights, the NYC crew, as they always do before a new album, played a small show at Bowery Ballroom on May 6th with Zebra Katz.

The Sisters played 7 new songs... including the first two singles "Only The Horses" and the rap-infused track "Shady Love." The dance party/answering machine message "Let's Have A Kiki" was also played and included a great choreographed routine with Jake and the back-up singers (see photo below). "Keep Your Shoes On" is a dance track that is destined to become a Scissor Sisters classic. "Years of Living Dangerously" is a slower song that the audience was definitely vibing to and "Baby Come Home" has a groove similar to "Laura." ...Sandwiched in between the new songs (all of which made their US live debut), were classic Scissor Sisters songs such as their cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb," "Take Your Mama," "Mary," "Invisible Light," "Skin This Cat," "Kiss You Off," "Any Which Way," "Music is the Victim," and "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'." -[Zimbio]

Continue reading "Josh Homme does informercial for new LP by Scissor Sisters (who played Bowery Ballroom) -- video, live pics & more dates"