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As mentioned, Peter Hook and his band The Light have moved on from performing Joy Division albums in full to now doing the first two New Order albums, 1981's Movement and 1983's Power, Corruption and Lies. He actually sang lead on two Movement songs, so maybe it's slightly less outrageous as it first sounds. He's just announced a North American tour of that which stops in NYC on September 13 at Webster Hall. Tickets for that show go on sale Wednesday (5/22) at noon.

Meanwhile, his former bandmates are touring as actual New Order this summer, including their NYC stop at Williamsburg Park on July 24 with Holy Ghost! Tickets to that show are still available.

All Peter Hook & the Light tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Peter Hook & the Light performing New Order's 'Movement' and 'Power, Corruption & Lies' on tour (dates)"

photos by Robert Altman

Josh Ritter @ Terminal 5 - 5/18/13

In "Lights," the concluding track of Josh Ritter's new album The Beast In Its Tracks, Ritter sings "Every heart on Earth is dark half the time," an apt line that seems to sum up Ritter's unique brand of potent folk/rock and poetic lyric. Ritter, a realistic romantic, paints extraordinary love songs with settings that range from an Egyptian tomb to a government controlled missile silo, but balances these resplendent short stories with tales of lost love and regret. The heart is dark half the time.

But...it's ablaze the other half of the time, and this vivacious beating organ was on display at Terminal 5 this past weekend when Ritter and his dashing Royal City Band wholeheartedly rocked a packed crowd with a satiating 20-song set. [The Music Court]

Josh Ritter and The Felice Brothers just wrapped up a tour they were on together in NYC over the weekend at Terminal 5 (5/18). Pictures and videos of both bands, plus Josh Ritter's setlist from the show are in this post.

More below...

Continue reading "Josh Ritter & Felice Bros @ Terminal 5 (pics, videos, setlist)"

by Andrew Sacher

Montreal producer Jacques Greene is releasing a new EP, On Your Side, digitally on June 3 via LuckyMe and physically on July 1. He's just released the title track, for which he lies down a gorgeous UK-garage style beat and How to Dress Well's Tom Krell croons over it with his characteristic R&B approach. It's a great track, and you can check it out below.

It's not the first time this year that How to Dress Well teamed up with a hot producer. HTDW was also just announced as one of the participators in this year's BAM Next Wave Festival.

Song stream below...

Continue reading "listen to a new Jacques Greene song w/ How to Dress Well"

Following a quick romp through Japan and Australia, San Francisco legends the Flamin' Groovies played a hastily arranged show in their hometown this past weekend--the first time this version of the band has played locally since 1981.

The mid-'70s era Flamin' Groovies, with founder Cyril Jordan, George Alexander (bass), Chris Wilson (also of UK band the Barracudas), and Victor Penalosa (drums) tore through a tight set of their near-hits, kicking off with the slow-burning "Yeah My Baby," before running through their power-pop classics, "You Tore Me Down," "I Can't Hide," and of course, "Shake Some Action." - [Mother Jones]

And following a successful hometown show, San Francisco powerpop legends The Flamin' Groovies, now with 3/5ths of the "Shake Some Action" lineup back in action, are going on tour. While a full announcement hasn't been made, Flamin' Groovies will play two shows in the NYC-area: Bowery Ballroom on July 6 and Maxwell's on July 7. Tickets to Bowery and tickets to Maxwell's go on sale Wednesday (5/22) at noon.

Check out a Spotify stream of Flamin' Groovies' Shake Some Action below...

Continue reading "The Flamin' Groovies touring with Chris Wilson in the band for first time since 1981 (2 NYC shows included)"

by Bill Pearis

Prog/psych/folk quartet Syd Arthur hail from Canterbury, England and released their debut album, On and On, last year, which got four stars in Mojo. While the album has its share of time signature left turns and trippy elements, pop songs are at its core -- with some nice jazzy moments too. One of the band's distinct sonic elements is violinist Raven Bush, whose aunt is Kate Bush. Paul Weller is also a fan. Maybe you saw them at this year's SXSW? You you can can stream a few tracks below and the whole record's up on Spotify.

As mentioned, Syd Arthur will be coming to the U.S. next month for a show at Mercury Lounge on June 18 with Celestial Shore. Tickets for that show are still available. It's their only North American show, but all upcoming dates (mostly in the UK) are listed below.

Continue reading "UK quartet Syd Arthur playing NYC in June (dates, streams)"

'Anna Nicole' kicks off BAM's 2013 Next Wave Fest...

BAM has announced the 2013 Next Wave Festival which runs from September 17 - December 22. The line-up features a diverse range of programming including opera, theater, music and dance. This year's fest kicks off with the US premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera Anna Nicole which has performances at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House from September 17 - 28:

The 2013 Next Wave Festival launches with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and New York City Opera co-production of Anna Nicole, an opera by composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Richard Thomas based on the flamboyant life and tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith.

Other highlights include... the New York premiere of Jem Cohen's "We Have an Anchor" at BAM Harvey Theater from September 26 - 28:

DIY auteur and consummate independent filmmaker Jem Cohen (Museum Hours, Instrument, Benjamin Smoke) collaborates with a supergroup of acclaimed musicians-- Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), Jim White (Dirty Three), T. Griffin (The Quavers), Efrim Manuel Menuck and Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion), and Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt. Zion), plus guest vocalist Mira Billotte (White Magic)--in this cinematic love letter to Nova Scotia's Cape Breton.

And there's "21c Liederabend, op. 3" featuring compositions by compositions by new-music's finest: Thomas Cabaniss, Christopher Ceronne, Thomas Cipullo, Anna Clyne, Mohammed Fairouz, Judd Greenstein, Ted Hearne, Marie Incontrera, David T. Little, Tod Machover, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Olga Neuwirth, Paola Prestini, Huang Ruo, Timur and the Dime Museum, Michael van der Aa, Alexandra Vrebalov, Julian Wachner, Holcombe Waller, Eric Whitacre, and Du Yun.

There's also Questlove with "Electronium: The Future Was Then," which happens at Howard Gilman Opera House on October 25 & 26:

Following the success of Shuffle Culture (2012 Spring Season), BAM welcomes back Questlove with Electronium: The Future Was Then, a freely-associative and impressionistic musical homage to pioneers in the electronic music scene between 1948 and 1979. Questlove will be joined on stage by artists including Jeremy Ellis, How To Dress Well, Sonnymoon, and others to be announced. In Electronium, seminal electronic and archival recordings will be paired with modern riffs on classic electronic music models such as Busoni's New Esthetic in Music and Pierre Schaffer's Cinq Etudes--in addition to music from technological innovators such as Bob Moog, Stevie Wonder, and George Clinton.

Choreographer Bill T. Jones will have the New York premiere of his colaborative work, A Rite at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House from October 3 - 5:

Coinciding with the centenary of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, director Anne Bogart and choreographer Bill T. Jones present the collaborative work A Rite. A true dance-theater piece, A Rite examines the revolutionary score through the lens of our present cultural moment, incorporating the writings of physicist Brian Greene, musicologist Severine Neff, and Jonah Lehrer's bestselling book Proust was a Neuroscientist. The cast of dancers and actors blend seamlessly--from a discourse on the piece and its controversial reception to large group dances that reflect Nijinsky's famous steps--all set to a deconstruction of the score that ranges from a modern recording to an old crackling one to a section sung by the cast.

Then there's Gary Lucas - "The Edge of Heaven" at October 4 & 5 at BAM Fisher:

Acclaimed American guitarist and songwriter Gary Lucas returns to BAM with a live performance of his album The Edge of Heaven (2010), a series of Chinese pop tunes from the 1930s, arranged and performed with a blues inflection. Those songs were made famous by two of the biggest music and film stars--Bai Kwong and Chow Hsuan--in an era when Shanghai was known as the Paris of the East. The Edge of Heaven album reached number one on the World Music charts in Canada and was chosen as one of the Best Discs of the Year by the French newspaper Libération. Featuring Lucas, his band Gods and Monsters, and two female vocalists--Sally Kwok and Mo Hai Jin-- from Shanghai, the cabaret-style performance received standing ovations in 2011 at both the 64th Holland Festival in Amsterdam and the 28th Nijmegen Music Meeting.

And also post-classical string quartet ETHEL who are premiering their new work Documerica on October 2 at BAM Harvey Theater.

Season tickets to BAM Next Wave go on sale June 10 to Friends of BAM and June 17 to the general public. Tickets to individual performances of Anna Nicole, The Blue Dragon, and We Have An Anchor go on sale August 5 to Friends of BAM and August 12 to the general public. Everything else goes on sale August 26 to Friends of BAM and September 3 to the general public.

There's lots more than this happening at BAM Next Wave and the rundown of all this season's programming is below.

Continue reading "BAM 2013 Next Wave Festival announced: Anna Nicole Smith opera, Questlove, mems. Fugazi, Godspeed ++ more"

Austra at Music Hall of Williamsburg in 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As mentioned, Austra are releasing their sophomore album, Olympia, on June 18 via Domino/Paper Bag, and will be touring in support of it over the next few months. That tour hits NYC for a show on June 20 at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Mozart's Sister (sold out) and a BrooklynVegan-presented show on September 22 at Webster Hall (tickets).

The Webster Hall show and many of their other August/September shows are with fellow Canadians DIANA, who just signed to Jagjaguwar in the US and Paper Bag in Canada. Their debut LP, Perpetual Surrender will come out on August 20 and you can watch the video for its single, "Born Again," below.

Regarding Austra's upcoming album, in a recent interview with Stereogum, singer Katie Stelmanis talked about the differences recording this one with her band, as opposed to entirely solo like Austra's debut:

Yeah, it's something that I was kind of craving. I feel like when you hear a solo record from someone you can kind of always tell that it's a solo record. Like, if literally one person did everything on the record it's like you're following their train of thought. Everything is predictable and fits into this certain box. It's one person's idea, and I was very aware of that, and I wanted to create something that's a little more dynamic. And so doing that I wanted to bring in more ideas and bring in other people and it made it more interesting for me because I was able to bounce ideas off of other people and just co-writing with people was pretty new and fun.

The album's single "Home" is being released this summer with remixes from NYC producer Ital and Detroit techno legend Kevin Saunderson.

Stream both of those remixes, along with the list of all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Austra remixed by Ital and Kevin Saunderson (listen); tour w/ DIANA starts soon"

by Andrew Sacher

Jessica Pratt at Maxwell's - 5/17/13 (via @cbruno1983)

Loner folk devotee Jessica Pratt just wrapped up a tour supporting Father John Misty, which hit the NYC-area this past Friday (5/17) for a show at Maxwell's, where FJM played solo acoustic, unlike his theatrical performance at The Great GoogaMooga the next day. Jessica played backed by a keyboardist and sounded delicate and wonderful as ever. Check out a video from her set below.

As mentioned, Jessica is about to do a few dates with Grouper, including one in NYC on June 2 at Le Poisson Rouge with Raajmahal and a DJ set from onetime Cocteau Twins bassist (and current Bella Union label head) Simon Raymonde. Tickets for that show are still available. Jessica has since added her own NYC show happening a day earlier (6/1) at Union Pool with Gambles (aka ex-Levy member Matthew Siskin) and Zachary Cale. Tickets for the Union Pool show are on sale now. Show flyer below.

And as discussed, Jessica will return to Le Poisson Rouge on July 12 to open for Julia Holter, which is one of a few shows the two musicians are playing together that month. Tickets for that show are still available

After she wraps up her run with Julia Holter, Jessica will do some West Coast dates with White Fence. Updated dates are listed, along with the Maxwell's video and Union Pool show flyer, below...

Continue reading "Jessica Pratt played Maxwell's w/ Father John Misty, playing more shows (updated dates & video)"

The Feelies at The Bell House last Saturday (more by Greg Cristman)

Jangly post-punk legends The Feelies just played two NYC-area shows last week, and they've since announced the return of their annual July 4 shows, which they'll play in their hometown of Hoboken this year. The shows will happen on July 4, 5 and 6 at Maxwell's. Tickets to night 1, night 2, night 3, and all three nights are on sale now.

They've got a few other upcoming Northeast dates scheduled too. All dates are listed, along with a video of the band playing "Crazy Rhythms" off their classic 1980 debut LP of the same name at The Bell House last week, below...

Continue reading "The Feelies playing July 4 shows at Maxwell's (& other dates)"

photos by PSquared Photography

Tom Jones @ Bowery Ballroom, 5/18/2013

Jones's voice is so gigantic that it can seem like a put-on, and he's always known it; part of his charm is the way he'll play it up, often with a hoarse cackle at the end of a line, or between songs. But this is a good time for adult-leaning vocal interpreters from the rock generation, especially with atmospheric backing - see Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's Raising Sand, for starters. Jones's new Spirit in the Room (Rounder), produced by Ethan Johns, isn't the first time Jones has put together something of this nature - Johns also produced 2010's gospel-leaning Praise & Blame - but it's clearly a departure from his Vegas-identified norm. - [Rolling Stone]

Tom Jones, who doesn't normally play small rooms like Bowery Ballroom, did just that this past weekend (5/18), one of a few club shows plugging his rootsy new album, Spirit in the Room. Those hoping for a glitzy, hit-packed set may have been disappointed -- only his 1966 #1 cover of "Green Green Grass of Home" was played (no "It's Not Unusual" or "Delilah") -- but they did get the Welsh legend's mighty pipes in an intimate setting without the sound of slot machines in the background.

Opening the night with a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song," he also gave the audience earthy renditions of The First Edition's "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)," John Lee Hooker's "Burning Hell" and others, plus a tribute to the recently-departed George Jones with "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Setlist is below.

More pictures from Bowery, plus video of him performing "Green Green Grass," below...

Continue reading "Tom Jones played Bowery Ballroom (pics, setlist)"