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photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

messy Palma Violets craziness

Brit rockers Palma Violets brought their tour with Guards to NYC for their first of two shows here last night (5/9) at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The Orwells, who also open for that same lineup at Bowery Ballroom tonight (5/10), opened the show. Pictures of all three bands from the Brooklyn show are in this post.

Both Palma Violets and Guards are out supporting their respective debut albums, 180 and In Guards We Trust, and have been playing much of the material from those releases on this tour. The Orwells, meanwhile, have a new EP on the way, which includes the new Dave Sitek-produced title track, "Other Voices."

Tonight's Bowery Ballroom show is part of the Downtown Music Festival, and festival tickets that will get you into the show are still available. You can also catch Guards in NYC for free in June.

More pictures from MHOW below..

Continue reading "Palma Violets, Guards & The Orwells @ MHOW (pics)"

I'll let the video and press release below. do the talking, but keep your eye out for limited edition Sea Salt-flavored Mast Brothers chocolate bars while doing your shopping at the Park Slope Food Co-op this weekend!

Continue reading "Golden tickets hidden in Mast Brothers Wilco Solid Sound Festival limited edition chocolate bars"

by Andrew Sacher

Brooklyn bluesy rockers LODRO, who have been hitting the local live circuit like crazy lately, have a few songs out and they've just recorded a new single, "Lazy Bones," which also happens to be the song in their first official video. Like their other tunes, this one comes awash in sludgy blues and psychedelia, and the dimly lit video complements that well. You can watch that video below.

Like we said, LODRO have been playing live a lot, and you've got two chances to see them in NYC over the next four days. Their first show happens on Saturday (5/11) at Mercury Lounge with DIIV, Xray Eyeballs, and DJ Dog Dick as part of Downtown Music Festival (tickets). Then on Monday (5/13) at Knitting Factory), they will play a BrooklynVegan-curated Red Bull Sound Select show with Foxygen, Amen Dunes, and Prince Rupert's Drops. Chris Gethard is hosting and BV's Bill Pearis has just been added as the DJ for the night. Like all shows in the Sound Select series, admission is $3 at the door. All ages, no advance tickets.

LODRO also play another show later this month at Shea Stadium on May 31 with a strong local bill of The Beets, Darlings, and Eula.

Video below...

Continue reading "watch LODRO's video for their new single, "Lazy Bones" (BV Premiere), catch them live Monday with Foxygen"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Two Inch Astronaut - "Blood From A Loyal Hound" (MP3)

Two Inch Astronaut live in 2011 (photo by Ann Amrine)

Maryland rockers Two Inch Astronaut are set to release their debut full length, Bad Brother, on June 18 via Exploding In Sound Records, the label that gave us Speedy Ortiz (before they signed to Carpark), Pile, and more. And if you liked those bands, Two Inch Astronaut will be right up your alley as well. On the album's two singles, "Swol" and "Blood From a Loyal Hound," Two Inch Astronaut embrace similar stop-start dynamics to '90s post-hardcore wizards Shudder to Think, but they also have a knack for bashing out crunchy power pop melodies. "Blood From a Loyal Hound" is downloadable above, "Swol" is downloadable at bandcamp, and both tracks can be streamed below, along with the album art and tracklist.

Two Inch Astronaut are playing some shows this month and next ahead of the album's release date, including the previously announced Exploding In Sound showcase in Brooklyn during Northside (it's an unofficial show though) on June 15 at Big Snow with Speedy Ortiz, Pile, Grass Is Green, Fat History Month, and just about the rest of the Exploding In Sound roster.

Speedy Ortiz play a bunch of other shows too.

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

Continue reading "Two Inch Astronaut releasing LP, playing shows (dates/MP3s)"

Lady Lamb at Knitting Factory in February (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As mentioned, Brooklyn folk singer Lady Lamb the Beekeper is on tour in support of her new album, Ripely Pine, and that tour passes through her hometown this weekend for a show at Glasslands on Saturday (5/11) with Slothrust. Tickets for that show are still available.

A month after the Glasslands show, Lady Lamb will head out on a tour with the like-minded Torres, which should make for an excellent double bill. Unfortunately that tour doesn't hit NYC, but you can find out all cities that it does hit below.

Jackson Scott

Meanwhile, Torres also has two of her own shows this weekend (not in NYC), and they're with Asheville, NC's Jackson Scott. The "rising" musician will release his debut LP, Melbourne, via Fat Possum at some point this summer. You can stream that album's first single, "That Awful Sound," which should appeal to Atlas Sound fans, below.

All dates are listed, along with streams from all three artists, below...

Continue reading "Lady Lamb on tour, playing shows w/ Torres who has shows w/ Jackson Scott who signed to Fat Possum"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Youth Lagoon / Magical Cloudz

Youth Lagoon brought his tour with Majical Cloudz through the NYC-area for shows at Maxwell's on Monday (5/6) and a BrooklynVegan-presented Brooklyn show at The Bell House last night (5/9). Pictures from the latter are in this post.

Youth Lagoon's been keeping his setlists heavy on the Wondrous Bughouse material but still found time to include some favorites from his debut like "17." Meanwhile, the magical Majical Cloudz continue to preview material from their upcoming Matador debut, Impersonator (which they were selling vinyl copies of the show) and were great as always.

Youth Lagoon will be back in NYC to open for The National at their Barclays Center show (6/5). Tickets for that show are still available, and we're also giving away a pair.

Majical Cloudz will be back in NYC even sooner for the previously discussed album release party at Glasslands on May 21 with Gobby and a "SPECIAL GUEST!" Any guesses on who it could be? Tickets for the release party are still on sale.

Majical Cloudz will get to NYC a day before that to do a free in-store at Other Music on May 20 at 8 PM. Other Music will have copies of their new album available that day too.

More pictures from the Bell House show below...

Continue reading "Youth Lagoon played The Bell House w/ Majical Cloudz, who play an Other Music in-store before LP release party (pics)"

Dave Lombardo & Jeff Hanneman of Slayer

From the official Slayer website

We've just learned that the official cause of Jeff's death was alcohol related cirrhosis. While he had his health struggles over the years, including the recent Necrotizing fasciitis infection that devastated his well-being, Jeff and those close to him were not aware of the true extent of his liver condition until the last days of his life. Contrary to some reports, Jeff was not on a transplant list at the time of his passing, or at any time prior to that. In fact, by all accounts, it appeared that he had been improving - he was excited and looking forward to working on a new record.

Both Tom and Kerry have dropped off eulogies at the Slayer site, and now estranged member Dave Lombardo has done so on his Facebook:

"Jeff was the guy that shaved his head and shared the music he was so inspired by. I enjoyed DEAD KENNEDYS, CIRCLE JERKS, BLACK FLAG and THE GERMS with him.

"My drumming was getting faster and Jeff was writing original songs with a punk attitude.

"The fusion of heavy metal and punk took over SLAYER's early mediocre style, hence a new force was born.

"Thank you, Jeff, for your inspiring discovery of punk rock that has continued to shape my personal drumming style."

Guards at the Slipper Room in 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Indie pop crew Guards are playing a hometown show as part of the Downtown Music Festival at Bowery Ballroom tonight (5/10) with Palma Violets and The Orwells (tickets), and they've just announced that they'll play another one next month. The newly-added show happens on June 18 at Brooklyn Bowl, and it's part of that venue's Local x Local series, which means it's totally free as long as you RSVP.

The band have a number of other dates announced too. All of those are listed, along with the video for "Ready to Go" from their debut LP, below...

Continue reading "Guards on tour, playing a free Brooklyn Bowl show (dates)"

Merchandise on Lamar Pedestrian Bridge (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Merchandise are here now, and getting geared up to play this afternoon's Strawberry Fest at NYU with Mission of Burma, followed by solo sets later tonight at 285 Kent (tickets).

In addition, the band dropped off a new short film for "Rush of Blood," available for viewing below. The film was "conceptualized, directed, and edited by frontman Carson Cox with an original score by guitarist Dave Vassalotti."

Merchandise will also be back in NYC to play Northside with Milk Music and Destruction Unit on June 15th at 285 Kent (tickets). All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Merchandise are here, touring, released a new short film"

More changes at the storied Village Voice. A pair of editors handed in their resignations yesterday...

Will Bourne, who became editor last November, and Jessica Lustig, the deputy editor since January, met with the staff at 11 a.m. on Thursday to announce their departure. In a phone interview, Mr. Bourne said that Christine Brennan, executive editor of Voice Media Group, had told them to lay off, or drastically reduce the roles of, five employees on the 20-person staff. Rather than carry out the cuts, he and Ms. Lustig resigned and left immediately, in the middle of closing next week's paper.

The Voice subsequently denied the layoffs, but insisted that "further structural and staffing changes" were required.