Slow Club at Europa in 2010 (more by Jessica Amaya)

UK duo Slow Club released Paradise late last year (available at eMusic), and played a few US shows in support of it. Now they're returning to North America for a full tour with Air Waves, which hits NYC on February 16 at The Bell House. Tickets are on sale now. All tour dates are listed below.

Meanwhile catch Air Waves TONIGHT (1/13) at Death By Audio with Soft Healer and Juan Wauters. The show is a benefit for Esme Barrera.

Check out the most video from the album, "If We're Still Alive," which came out late last year, along with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Slow Club & Air Waves --- 2012 Tour Dates"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: White Fence - Get That Heart (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: White Wires - Be True to Your School ('Til You Get Kicked Out) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Buffalo Tom - "Arise, Watch" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Modern Skirts - Happy 81 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Modern Skirts - Bumber Car (MP3)

White Fence

It's been kind of a bummer week with way too many great musicians lost (Gerard Smith, Poly Styrene, Pheobe Snow) but Spring is finally here and, well, the beat goes on. Lots of worthy shows this week.

First up is White Fence who are making a rare trip to the East Coast this week, playing a few shows here in NYC: Thursday at 285 Kent with Woods and Spectre Folk, then Saturday (4/30) at Cake Shop. I feel fairly certain that they are also "Beige Swordfights" listed as part of a sweet Death by Audio show on Friday (4/29) that includes The Beets, Fergus and Geronimo and The Sundelles.

White Fence is Tim Presley who also fronts LA psych-rock band Darker My Love. Where that band is more groovy in a JAMC/BJM kind of way, White Fence sounds like a lost nugget from the late '60s flower power scene. White Fence released its debut on Woodsist last year, and the second album, ...Is Growing Faith, came out this January. Both records are weird and wonderful, lots of great songs made more interesting with vintage sound and old-school tape effects. If you like Love, The Left Banke or, more recently, the Lilys (to name three L bands) you'll dig White Fence's scene.

White Wires

Keeping with the color scheme, Ottowa, Ontario's White Wires are back in town for a one-off show on Thursday at Bruar Falls as part of a fun line-up of party rock and power pop. One of my favorite live bands of the last few years, White Wires play no-nonsense three-minute pop and do so with a joy you can't fake. White Wires new album, WWII, gets in and gets out in less than 30 minutes and should appeal to fans of the Nerves, early Tom Petty and The Undertones.

The rest of the show, brought to you by the good folks at Daed Pizza, looks pretty cool too with all-girl trio Babyshakes, and Games which is a new band formed from ex-members of Gentleman Jesse and Busy Signals. Obviously, this is not the synthy Games who now go by Ford & Lopatin. You can listen to this Games' swell debut single over at the Rob's House Records website.

Buffalo Tom

What else? Buffalo Tom play Bowery Ballroom on Thursday (4/28). The Boston trio were once dubbed "Dinosaur Jr. Jr." (being signed to SST and having J Mascis produce your debut, it was an easy joke) but became one of the most popular bands of the early '90s alt rock scene. 1990's Birdbrain and 1992's Let Me Come Over are indie rock classics that were unavoidable on college radio and Alternative Nation (or episodes of My So-Called Life) and still hold up.

The band went on hiatus around 2000 but returned with 2007's Three Easy Pieces and have just released a new album, Skins, which came out in February. It's pretty good. More mature, yes, but Buffalo Tom can still bring the noise too. If you have any doubt, you can download the entirety of Buffalo Tom's Mercury Lounge show from November 2010 courtesy NYC Taper. You can also check out a track from Skins at the top of this post.

Modern Skirts

And finally, Lord Huron are here on Thursday (4/28, the night of Too Many Good Shows) at Mercury Lounge. (And at tonight at MHoW with Femi Kuti) (we're giving away a pair of tickets on Facebook). I like their EP well enough, and the Merc show seems likely to sell out, so I'm really here to say if you're going do go early enough to check out North Highlands who play right before them. It's their first show in a long time, as the band have been putting finishing touches on their debut album which they've been working hard on all winter. The band are promising lots of new songs which is pretty exciting. Anyone who's seen them play know North Highlands are great live and I think 2011 is gonna be a big year for them. Go see 'em! And yeah, stay for Lord Huron I guess.

That's mostly it for this week. A few more daily picks are below:

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27

Blogs may have gotten over their crush on Austin band Oh No! Oh My! but that doesn't mean they've gone stale. Hear their still-catchy indiepop tonight at The Rock Shop tonight. Go early to catch Atlanta's underrated Modern Skirts (check out two tracks at the top of this post).

Diehard, who've been busy recording their Kickstarter-funded debut album, try out some songs live at Cake Shop. One of NYC's best indie rock rock bands.

continued below...

Continue reading "White Fence, White Wires, Games (not Ford & Lopatin), Buffalo Tom, North Highlands, Modern Skirts, Yelle & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: BNLX - Do Without (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BNLX - Where is the Love? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BNLX - When Doves Cry (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sweet Bulbs - Kissing Clouds (MP3)

Mitch Easter

A lot of cool shows this week/weekend, some of which might be a bit under the radar. Let's get into it. Alt rock legend Mitch Easter, in addition to being part of that upcoming Big Star Third show, is on a rare Northeast tour right now that pulls into town Thursday (2/17) at The Rock Shop.

While he's maybe best known as a producer (the first two R.E.M.'s albums [with Don Dixon], Pavement's Brighten the Corners, Moose's ...XYZ among other things), Easter has had a long career as a musician, as a part ofThe Sneakers in the late '70s and frontman/songwriter for Let's Active, easily one of the most underrated bands of the '80s. He's also an incredible guitarist, and Let's Active albums are resplendent with awesome axe-work.

I like everything they ever did but 1986's Big Plans for Everybody is especially great, one of my favorite albums of that decade. Mitch put the kybosh on Let's Active in 1990 and didn't release any original material until 2008's Dynamico, an album which showed he still has chops and songs to spare.

Mitch's set at The Rock Shop is going to be heavy on the Let's Active tunes and if there's a song you really want to hear, like "Talking to Myself" from Big Plans, you can make a request. Opening the show are Brooklyn's own Boy Genius whose album from last year, Staggering, was produced by Mitch and is worth checking out. Also playing: Overlord.

I'm pretty excited about this next one. Minneapolis' awesome and enigmatic BNLX play their first-ever NYC shows this week, stopping at Fontana's tomorrow night (2/17) and The Rock Shop on Friday (2/18).

BNLX seemingly stormed out of nowhere early 2010, releasing a new EP each quarter, featuring hand-printed, Neu!-esque sleeves and press releases like this:

-BNLX has been meeting and / or exceeding expectations since its inception in Q1 2010
-BNLX provides mission-critical services to the entertainment sector in the following categories:
--"music" (noise)
--found art -beatz / rhymez
--mélodies angéliques
--obfuscation / parallax
-these services are rendered in the live, recorded, and conceptual spheres
-BNLX is comprised of both organic and inorganic members
-this allows BNLX to achieve standards of performance surpassing nominal criteria
-Stage One of the BNLX First One Year Plan commenced in March, 2010; it has been successful
-Stage Two - the release of BNLX EP #2 - will be executed June 25th, 2010
-BNLX EP #2 will be available as a numbered limited edition CD art package
-it will also be available through iTunes, other digital retailers, and piracy

That obfuscation didn't last two long as people figured out that BNLX was the work of Minneapolis indie rock mainstay Ed Ackerson, who has led such excelent bands as The 27 Various and Polara over the last 25 years as well as running Susstones Records. His wife Ashley -- they're both also in Moodswings -- is the other half of the band. BNLX have culled the best of the four 2010 EPs as a free sampler which you can download for free. You can also check out a few of the songs, including that Prince cover, at the top of this post.

The Rock Shop show is part of the monthly Hard Light party which is a must for lovers of shoegaze, post-punk, '60s psych, Krautrock, metal, Sweden, feedback, '90s indie rock, and guitars in general. In addition to BNLX, Hard Light promises "drink specials- weirdo cult movies - and loudness."

Speaking of shoegazy stuff, Tamaryn is back in NYC for her first proper shows since CMJ 2010. She plays Don Hill's on Thusday (2/17), and then an afternoon show at PS 1 on Saturday (2/19). I loved her debut album, The Waves, which came in at #12 on my Favorite LPs of 2011 list, and it's still in pretty heavy rotation here at TWII Headquarters (aka my kitchen). It reminds me a lot of the first Verve album,  tsunami waves of guitar matched with a nimble, groovy rhythm section and Tamaryn's lovely vocals.

There are a lot of chilly ice princesses out there right now, but I think Tamaryn deserves the crown. (Though I haven't heard the Austra album yet.) I thought she and her band were great at Coco66, those three songs before the cops shut it all down. If you can't make these shows, she'll be back in April touring with The Raveonettes, including two nights at Music Hall of Williamsburg (4/20 and 4/21). All Tamaryn tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Keeping with the theme, let's talk a bit about Sweet Bulbs, "Brooklyn's blurriest pop band," whose album came out this week on Blackburn Recordings. It's choc-a-bloc with seriously catchy songs that are buried under layers of swirly guitars and effects pedals and other sludge. As someone who loved bands like The Swirlies, Drop Nineteens, Lilys and Henry's Dress, this is right up my alley. For those mystified by that litany of obscure '90s indie bands, just know Sweet Bulbs make beautiful noise. You can download "Kissing Clouds" from the album at the top of this post.

Sweet Bulbs play Bruar Falls this Saturday (2/19) with White Laces, Arches, and Tungs. Do check 'em out.

That's the main stuff this week. A few more picks, day by day are below:

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16

The Church play three albums from their catalog in their entirety tonight at Highline Ballroom: Untitled #23, Priest=Aura, and Starfish. That's over three hours of music, which seems like a lot to me even for a devoted Church fan. Maybe if it was Heyday instead of Untitled #23 I'd be more inclined to go. They'll do it again tomorrow (2/17) at BB King's.

Tonight is also the third week of ARMS' February residency at Pianos, this week with The Silent League, Your Youth, Inlets and Thunder & Lightning (which is the new band from Brent Katz who was Todd Goldstein's bandmate in Harlem Shakes). ARMS were teriffic last week, this is highly recommended.

continued below...

Continue reading "Mitch Easter, BNLX, Tamaryn, Sweet Bulbs & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Crayon Fields - All the Pleasures of the World (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Crayon Fields - Make Peace with Love EP (via Bandcamp)

Melbourne, Australia's chamber pop-y Crayon Fields are coming back to America for a tour that will hit NYC during the CMJ Music Marathon. While more CMJ shows will surely be announced, Crayon Fields are at least playing the Chapter Music/Underwater Peoples showcase at Glasslands on October 21 with Air Waves, Andrew Cedermark, La Big Vic, Fabulous Diamonds and Guy Blackman.

Crayon Fields have a new downloadable EP, Make Peace with Love, to coincide with the tour featuring a new song, a live version of "Graceless," a great remix of "All the Pleasures of the World" and a cover of Roxette's "It Must be Love." You can get it for the price of your email address via their Bandcamp page.

If you haven't heard last year's wonderful All the Pleasures of the World, one of my favorites of 2009, you should really rectify that. It's modern baroque pop, full of swoony strings, breathy vocals and memorable melodies. You can download the title track at the top of this post. They were terrific when I saw them at Bruar Falls back in March. Definitely try and catch them if you can.

All 2010 North American Crayon Fields dates, plus some videos, are after the jump...

Continue reading "The Crayon Fields giving away EP, touring in October (dates) "

photos by Jessica Amaya

Air Waves @ Zebulon

"I'm moving away from this city in two weeks," said Nicole Schneit [Thursday] night, between songs at Zebulon. "It's been nice living here."

Ms. Schneit is the leader of the Brooklyn indie pop band Air Waves, whose second full-length will be released this fall through the label Underwater Peoples. The album, which was recorded at the Walkmen's Marcata Studios, is currently being mastered, and if things go right in the immediate future, it'll be done by the time Schneit boards her flight for Austin, Texas in September.

[Thursday] night's show at Zebulon was Air Waves' final New York appearance before Schneit's voyage. It was also the last show the three-piece will ever play with their drummer, Jordan Bernstein, who is leaving after about a year to focus on his five other bands. According to Schneit, she'll be looking for a replacement for him as soon as she lands in Austin. Her bass player, meanwhile, a shaggy fellow named Dan Bryer, is staying put, and will be flying out in October to accompany Schneit on a West Coast tour in support of the new album.

...When the trio prepared to start their set-closing "Sweetness," Schneit looked over at her drummer and her bassist, then refocused on her audience. "New Yorkers always come back," she promised, and launched into it. -[Village Voice]

So far, the only band from that bill with future tour dates on the way is The Wailing Wall, who will support The Duchess & The Duke at Mercury Lounge on 9/4 (tickets), one of two shows for D&D (the second being at Union Pool on 9/3, tickets).

More pictures from the Zebulon show, and an Air Waves video (not from Zebulon) that is part of "Home Page - A Video Music Series", below...

Continue reading "Air Waves played their NYC-farewell show @ Zebulon w/ The Wailing Wall & Sail by Night (pics) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Weekend - End Times (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Weekend - All American (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Procedure Club - Feel Sorry for Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Procedure Club - Rather (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: No Joy - No Joy (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ceremony - Someday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Games - Everything is Working (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Family Trees - Dream Talkin (MP3)

Weekend @ Cake Shop

I hope you all survived the insanity that was last week. Thankfully, this week is not quite as action packed but still a lot of cool stuff going on. Let's get to it.

Lovers of shoegazy noisepop will want to be at Silent Barn tonight (8/18) for a pretty killer quadruple bill at which earplugs are definitely recommended. San Francisco's Weekend and New Haven, CT's Procedure Club are both signed to Slumberland Records. Weekend are pretty clean-cut looking dudes who make a dark-edged squall that shows a direct through-line from Joy Division to Jesus and Mary Chain to Ride and beyond. I caught them last night at Cake Shop and despite a few microphone problems I thought they were pretty good. Loud. Really loud. The band have already released singles on Transparent and Mexican Summer -- download tracks from those at the top of this post -- and the Slumberland album, Sports (is the title perhaps a tip of a hit to fellow Bay Area musician Huey Lewis?), is out in November. Weekend also play Death by Audio tomorrow (8/19) tomorrow night with sonic compatriots A Place to Bury Strangers.

Procedure Club

Procedure Club, meanwhile, are more on the bedroom pop side of things. Their album, Doomed Forever, came out in June and is a pretty low fi affair, but the songwriting begins to shine through the cacophony on repeated listens. Check out two tracks from the album above, and there's a video for "Rather" at the bottom of this post.

As for the rest of the Silent Barn bill, there's LA/Montreal duo No Joy who I've written about before (but still haven't seen) and are possibly the loudest band on a very loud night. The band's debut 7" is out now on Mexican Summer (grab the b-side above) and is recommended to those whose taste leans towards the sludgy side of things. No Joy are also playing the Death by Audio show with APTBS and Weekend tomorrow night, and will then head out on tour with Dungen, and those tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Rounding out the show are Fredericksburg, VA's Ceremony who crib more than a little from JAMC (and Medicine and The Radio Dept.), though their album, Rocket Fire, has some nice moments on it -- you can download an MP3 of "Someday" at the top of this post.

Dean and Britta

Dean Wareham kicks off his "Plays Galaxie 500" tour tonight at the Rock Shop, and he'll do it again tomorrow night at Bowery Ballroom with Crystal Stilts opening. Both shows are sold out so I won't go on and on here, but I'm looking forward to this trip down Memory Lane. Hopefully he'll pull out some of my favorites ("Strange," "Parking Lot," "Oblivious"). Dean talked to the AV Club about the difficulties of rearranging the songs for his current band:

AVC: You play with four people now instead of three.

DW: We like four people, because I listen to the records, and there's generally two guitars, because there's an overdub on each track. Or sometimes Matt [Sumrow] plays keyboards; he switches back and forth. I think it sounds fuller with the live guitar. When I go back and look at the old Galaxie 500 live recordings, sometimes Kramer would get onstage with us and play a few songs. It sounded a little fuller. There are times when it works great as a three-piece, too.

AVC: Does touring the Galaxie songs as a four-piece involve some rearranging?

DW: It involves some rehearsing. The songs are more difficult to play than I remember. I listened to the live Galaxie 500 album from Copenhagen, and I realized that's at the end of a tour, after we had been touring for a couple of months and had gotten pretty good at it. In terms of chord structure, the songs are incredibly simple. For example, a song like "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste" is only one chord, but there's a whole lot going on in it.

AVC: Peter Buck talks about how hard it was late in R.E.M.'s career to relearn some of their early songs. Because they didn't know what they were doing at first, it's incredibly difficult to replicate.

DW: On "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste," when I was going over my guitar solo, I had no idea what I was doing and I was completely lost. Then I'm like, "How did I do that?"

AVC: It's hard to stumble into the same thing twice.

DW: Well, obviously I don't have to replicate it note-for-note. Mind you, I've got fans who get mad if I play "Snowstorm" and I do the solo with the fuzz pedal instead of the wah-wah. "What! How could he do that?"

Deva

And a few more picks, day-by-day of shows that weren't covered above.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18

Family Trees, who probably own a Galaxie 500 record or two, play their dreamy folk pop to Pianos tonight opening for Julian Lynch and Family Portrait. Check out Family Tree's lovely "Dream Talkin'" at the top of this post.

Quality indie rockers Diehard highlight a fun bill at Bruar Falls that also has The Vandelles and The Sanctuaries.

Air Waves, The Beets, Easter Vomit and Rifle Recoil play a benefit for Yellow Fever's Jennifer Moore at Death by Audio.

continued below...

Continue reading "Weekend, APTBS, Procedure Club, Galaxie 500, Games, No Joy, Ceremony, Family Trees & more in This Week in Indie"

Don't worry, this has nothing to do with an outbreak of disease. Just a messed up and costly incident regarding a kitchen knife and airport security...

Continue reading "a Yellow Fever benefit "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Standard Fare - Dancing (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Standard Fare - Fifteen (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lower Dens - Tea Lights (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lower Dens - Hospice Gates (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inocultist - Prophecy for the Summer (MP3)

Standard Fare

Last night was kind of a blowout night for NYC concert-going. So many great shows, big and small, I hope you all went to something and didn't stay home watching Top Chef or something. (I missed it all, I had to work.) The weekend doesn't look quite as action-packed but there's no hurting for great music options.

My top pick for the weekend would be Standard Fare who are over from England and are playing two NYC shows: tonight (8/5) at Bruar Falls and tomorrow (8/6) for the Mondo! party at the about-to-be-renovated Don Hill's. I've written about Standard Fare more than once, so I'm just going to quote myself here:

Standard Fare's The Noyelle Beat (out now in America on Bar/None) is one of the best indiepop records of the year (along with Allo Darlin's debut). Cute, romantic, but with some muscle in there too. You can download a couple of tracks from it above. You should also watch the new video for their great single "Philadelphia" at the bottom of this post.

Inoculist

If you're not at Bruar Falls, you might consider its sister venue, Cake Shop, tonight (8/5) to catch Lower Dens, Air Waves and Inoculist. Lower Dens and Inoculist played together last night at Glasslands and by all reports (the ones I heard anyway) it was a great show. You can watch video from last night's show shot by Bleary-eyed Brooklyn at the bottom of this post. I saw Lower Dens during the Northside Fest and thought they were terrific and have been singing the praises of their debut album, Twin Hand Movement, all summer. The record sounds better now as our shadows get longer and the nights cool off. This is a August/September kind of album.

Inoculist (which I keep mispelling "inocultist) is fronted by Jana's brother John, and the two siblings definitely pull from the same record collection. Inoculist's debut, Spells, is a laid back affair, and comparisons to Low's first few albums are not unwarranted. Hunter and keyboardist Ashlyn Davis' voices are well matched for the band's mellow vibe. Really nice. The Hunters will be touring together for a couple weeks, but will split off mid-month and Inoculist will then head out with Little Gold for a week of shows while Lower Dens go it alone down the West Coast and the South.

Rounding out the Cake Shop bill is Air Waves whose debut album is due out on Underwater Peoples sometime in the near future. See them while you can -- Nicole is moving to Austin at the end of the month. Air Waves still have a few NYC shows left till then, though, including next Saturday's (8/14) Underwater Peoples Summer Showcase -- a blowout at Shea Stadium featuring Julian Lynch, Big Troubles, Fluffy Lumbers, Ducktails and more. Advance tickets are available at the UP website. See the flyer at the bottom of this post for the full line-up, and all remaining Air Waves NYC shows are down there too.

And a few more recommended weekend shows that I didn't cover above:

THURSDAY, AUG 5

Want to see some anthemic rock from popular Canadians? I guess I should be more specific. Want to see some anthemic rock from popular Canadians that is outdoors and free? Metric play Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park with Joan as Policewoman and Holly Miranda.

SHARK? are busy working on their Kickstarter-funded album but are taking a break to road test some songs at The Rock Shop. (Download previous SHARK? releases here.) where they'll play with The Great Unwashed (the ones from Staten Island, not New Zealand), Conversion Party, and The Rabbits.

continued below...

Continue reading "Standard Fare, Lower Dens, Inoculist, Jack Penate, Cut Copy, Metric & more in This Week in Indie "

photos by Erez Avissar

"Seriously, g.lands never had it so good - I was super duped stoked to catch Big Troubles, Ducktails and Julian Lynch last Friday. Them boys soundtracked our waking dreams and made them clouds d-d-d-dance. THANKS. MIND BEEN BOGGLED SO DANG HARD THAT IT'S SHOT NOW." -you boggle my mind

Julian Lynch @ Glasslands

Julian Lynch played Glasslands on Friday, July 30th with Ducktails (a band headed by Real Estate's Matt Mondanile), Big Troubles and La Big Vic. At the end of Julian's set, Matt and Real Estate bandmate Alex Bleeker joined Julian for his song "Droplet on a Hot Stone." A video of that, and more pictures from the show, are posted below.

Julian plays an in-store tonight (8/5) at 9pm at the ESP-Disk store at 990 Bedford Ave with La Big Vic.

Julian has an upcoming NYC show August 18th at Pianos with "very special guests." Tickets are still on sale.

But before that, he's on a lineup with the whole Underwater Peoples crew for the UP Summer Showcase at Shea Stadium on Saturday, August 14th.

Underwater Peoples Summer Showcase 2010
Saturday, August 14th -- $5 -- Doors at 7pm
Shea Stadium -- 20 Meadow St, Brooklyn, 11206
No Demons Here
Big Troubles
Family Portrait
Julian Lynch
Andrew Cedermark
Warlords
Alex Bleeker and the Freaks
Air Waves
Fluffy Lumbers
Ducktails

Food will be made available by Last Action Hero (Mobile Deli Unit)

The flyer and more pictures from Glasslands are below...

Continue reading "Julian Lynch & friends played Glasslands (pics), playing Underwater Peoples Summer Showcase 2010 & other shows "

South Street Seaport (more by Chris La Putt)

Bill Pearis teamed up with the folks behind the South Street Seaport concerts to put together a "Lunchtime Series" of free shows at Pier 17 this summer...

"Go local! We're kicking off another season of the Fulton Stall Market with a series of lunchtime concerts every Wednesday in June. Grab a snack from one of the market's farmers and purveyors, then head over to the Seaport stage for a set from some of New York's freshest bands -- playing in more organic form than you may be used to hearing."

Bill will talk more about this week's show (North Highlands), and the rest of the schedule, in his weekly posts. For now, check out the full schedule below...

Continue reading "Sound Bites Lunchtime Series @ the Seaport (free shows from noon-two in May & June!)"

Marc Ribot @ Maxwell's in 2008 (more by Tim Griffin)

tonight in NYC
* Lost
* Aziz Ansari @ the Apple Store
* Bushwick Book Club @ Goodbye Blue Monday
* Those Darlins @ Wonder Bar in Asbury Park
* Scrambler/Seequil, Sugarlife @ The Stone
* The London Souls, The Auctioneers @ Mercury Lounge
* Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Skeletons @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Das Racist cover Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique @ The Cameo
* Oberhofer, Blair, Cabinet Of Natural Curiousities @ Pianos
* Scary Mansion, Pepi Ginsberg, Alps, The Wailing Wall @ Cake Shop
* Retribution Gospel Choir feat. Alan Sparhawk, Object @ Union Hall
* BKLYN2HAITI Benefit w/ Girls In Trouble, Air Waves, Screens, Ill Ease, DJ Jonathan Toubin @ Southpaw
* Get Off Your Knees w/ Sara Schaefer & Kim Armstrong, Kristen Schaal, Claudia Cogan, Adira Amram @ The Bell House Front Lounge

Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Skeletons play at (Le) Poisson Rouge as part of NY Guitar Fest. On Thursday (2/4) Chicha Libre and Gyan Riley close out the Fest when they soundtrack silent films at Merkin Concert Hall. Skeletons play with another multi-venue local fest that night, Sounds Like Brooklyn, at Zebulon with Up Died Sound.

bklyn2haiti at Southpaw tonight "is a benefit concert raising funds for Partners in Health. This organization has been actively providing health care services to the Haitian community for over 20 years." Bands are above. Flyer below.

Das Racist cover Beastie Boys at Cameo tonight. Actual Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, a.k.a Ad-rock, has been making cameos at a monthly show at Joe's Pub called Our Hit Parade. Videos from those appearances below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

today in NYC
* The Rub @ Southpaw
* Beachniks @ Glasslands **
* NinjaSonik @ Mercury Lounge
* late night dance party @ Market Hotel
* Roky Erickson, Love City @ Maxwell's
* Lux Perpetua, Horse's Mouth, An American Chinese @ Cake Shop
* The xx (DJ Set), VHS or BETA (DJ Set), Finger on the Pulse @ LPR
* Steel Train, The London Souls & Harvest Moon (burlesque) @ Brooklyn Bowl

** The Glasslands show has a ton of bands on it in honor of the Beachniks' new record on Captured Tracks. They are: The Missionaries // The Honeydo's // Moonmen on the Moon, Man // Knight School // Tough Knuckles // Air Waves // The Nymphets // My Teenage Stride // The Surprisers // Juan Wauters (of the Beets) // Beachniks // + DJs Emily, Brian and David --- flyer below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Violens Winter Mixtape (website link to Zip)
DOWNLOAD: Acrylics - All of the Fire (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Class Actress - Careful What You Say (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Air Waves - Lightning (MP3)

Violens

A pretty killer line-up at Mercury Lounge tonight (12/9). Headliners Violens just got back from a big European tour opening for White Lies, and this looks to be their last show of 2009. They've been rather pokey in getting out their debut LP, but it looks set to finally come out early next year. You can get a taste on their downloadable Winter Mix Tape which features a couple album tracks, some remixes, demos, a cover of Saint Etienne's "Avenue" (!) -- plus singer Jorge Elbrecht singing overtop Wire's "Outdoor Miner" and The Byrds' "I See You." (The latter, he sings My Bloody Valentine lyrics). If you've never heard Violens before, this is a pretty good place to start, giving you a sense of the disparate influences the band bring together.

Also playing Merc are Acrylics and Class Actress, both of whom are signed to Grizzly Bear Chris Taylor's Terrible Records. I've written about Acrylics a bunch of times are definitely one of my favorite new local bands. Their debut EP, All of the Fire, was produced by Taylor and came out a couple weeks ago and is at its best when Jason Klauber and Molly Shea sing together. The title track, which you can download at the top of this post, finds them at their Fleetwood Mac-iest, with that dreamy pedal steel and echo handclaps.

Class Actress

Class Actress, meanwhile, could be lumped in with the coldwave/darkwave scene depending on what song you hear first -- the synths on "Careful What You Say" are pretty icy -- but there's a strong heartbeat running through Elizabeth Harper's songs, and the EP (produced in part by Violens' Elbrecht) is pretty varied and quite lovely. I haven't seen her perform live yet, so I'm looking forward to tonight.

Yellow Fever

As mentioned previously, Yellow Fever are in town this weekend, ostensibly to play a record release party Saturday (12/12) night at Death By Audio for their debut LP on Vivian Girls Wild World records. Vivian Girls headline. Happy Birthday open. Yellow Fever's album is basically a compilation of everything they've released to date -- a couple CDR EPs and singles. They definitely work the "less is more" angle, with spare arrangements that play off Jennifer Moore's haunting vocals (not entirely unlike Cowboy Junkies' Margot Timmins). They're something special.

If you ask me, at this point in their popularity, Vivian Girls + Death By Audio = too much nutty behavior for me, so I'll probably catch Yellow Fever at Bruar Falls on Friday (12/11) where they play with Tyvek, Air Waves (a nice NYC match to Yellow Fever, download their song "Lightning" above) and Noveller (the musician, not the macroblogging service). Yellow Fever also play Silent Barn on Sunday (12/13).

Mountain Man

For those looking for a quieter option on Friday (12/11), Brooklyn blog Chocolate Bobka has put together a unique show at the Lutheran Church of the Messiah in Greenpoint featuring the spooky folk of Vermont's Mountain Man, Real Estate bassist Alex Bleeker, and Liam the Younger. It's not only acoustic, it's unamplified. The suggest brining blankets or yoga mats to sit on. More info on the exquisite flyer which is at the bottom of this post or available in a big version here.

Fiery Furnaces are playing this Friday (12/11) at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Saturday at Bowery Ballroom (Shilpa Ray opens both nights). While I don't like everything the Friedbergers do, it's always good to check back in with them as, chances are, it will sound completely different from the last thing. They've just released Take Me Round Again (out 12/15 on Thrill Jockey), which they're calling a covers record -- Matthew doing some of Eleanor's songs, and vise versa. The reworked versions of songs were also influenced by their "deaf descriptions" project on their website, where fans wrote reviews of FF's other 2009 release, I'm Going Away, before they actually heard the record. The AV Club NY has a nice interview with Matthew this week, where he talks about '70s television theme songs and what's next for Fiery Furnaces:

AVC: How do you see your music evolving from here?

MF: It's good to write music all the time, if that's what you want to do. When you're in a band, when you have something going, the hardest thing you have to do is to put everything into what's ongoing.. Especially these days you never know what you're supposed to do--if you should be more hectic, give away songs, or do a project with the voice from the Muppets. You have to have a record on Twitter. The band lends itself to do that sort of thing,

AVC: You mean gimmicky stuff?

MF: Yeah, we do a lot of gimmicky things, but it comes from us. We don't think that's so strange for us. But we've had people tell us, "Give a song away so you get people's e-mail addresses and you can send them an e-mail saying, 'Buy our box set for $90.'" All these [music] professionals, they don't know what they're doing. What can you do? You just have to do what you have energy to finish. Luckily you probably won't follow through on things you're not really into.

AVC: Does that mean we're not going to see you giving away an album on Twitter any time soon?

MF: Well, we are on Twitter, but someone did tell us, "If you're not on Twitter, you don't exist." That's the way the world is now. You could just be interested in writing in 140 characters, but it's also your obligation to be friendly too. We still have to figure out which way to go with that, so our Twitter posts aren't very interesting.

Continue reading "Violens, Class Actress, Acrylics, Mountain Man, YellowFever, Fiery Furnaces & more in This Week in Indie (part 1) "

Dan Friel @ Cake Shop NYE 2008 (more by Lori Baily)

Parts & Labor have a short string of shows coming up: one in Massachusetts on December 5th, one in Connecticut on December 6th, then a free show at Brooklyn Bowl on Tuesday, December 8th with The Tony Castles. Flyer for the latter and more details below.

Before that, P&L member Dan Friel plays a solo set at Union Pool on December 3rd. Also on the bill are Knyfe Hyts 81, Dinowalrus and Electric Tickle Machine.

Another Parts & Labor affiliate, their former guitar player Sarah Lipstate (she left the band in July to focus on her solo project after being a member for only 14 months), who plays as Noveller, will perform at Bruar Falls on December 11th with Yellow Fever and Air Waves (who are also playing December 5th with Talk Normal, US Girls and Total Slackers at Secret Project Robot).

That's also another show for Austin's Yellow Fever, who are already lined up to play a December 12th show at Death By Audio with Vivian Girls. Yellow Fever's self-titled LP is available now through Wild World, a label run by Vivian Girls, and the show is a release party for that record. Happy Birthday is also on the bill. Yellow Fever also lists a TBA NYC show on December 13th.

Happy Birthday member Ruth Garbus plays a show with her sister Merrill Garbus at The Stone in December too.

As of now, it's the last scheduled Vivian Girls show for '09 before they tour the UK in January.

All tour dates and a poster for the Parts & Labor BK Bowl show are below...

Continue reading "upcoming shows for Parts & Labor, member Dan Friel & EX-MEMBER Sarah Lipstate (Noveller) - 2009 dates"

photos by Lori Baily

Here's a second set of pictures from night one of Sonic Youth at Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 24th (part of their three recent NYC shows). Unlike the first set though, this post also has shots of that night's opener Talk Normal (including some impromptu behind-the-scene portraits with the headliner). Talk Normal play NYC next on Saturday, December 5th at Secret Project Robot with Air Waves, US Girls and Total Slackers.

SY member Lee Ranaldo sat down with WFNX (the broadcast cousin of The Boston Phoenix) before their show there to discuss his favorite albums, SY and otherwise, of the decade...

WFNX: But you, Lee, what's the album from Sonic Youth you think is pivotal to this decade?

Lee:I would say for this decade, it's The Eternal, the most recent one. Because in a way I think it really - it's so cool at the end of this decade when we've been playing together for so long to be really energized about the most recent music you've made. The aughts started for us with Murray Street, made in New York City in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and all that. Sonic Nurse we made with Jim O'Rourke, and then we made another record, Rather Ripped, on our own, and then we hooked up with Mark, Mark Ibold on bass, and made this one, and it bodes well for the future that we're having a lot of fun with this one.

Continue reading "Talk Normal playing shows (dates), played w/ Sonic Youth (pics) ++ Lee Ranaldo talks about the decade (video)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Grass Widow - To Where (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Frankie Rose - Thee Only One (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Mary Onettes - Puzzles (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Mary Onettes - Dare (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Carsick Cars - You Can Listen You Can Talk (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Carsick Cars - Zhong Nan Hai (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: PK-14 - Behind All Ruptures (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Xiao He - MTV (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Answering Machine - Another City, Another Sorry (MP3)

Frankie & the Outs - debut show @ The Woods on Halloween

I'm barely recovered from post-CMJ cold and we've got a week that is so packed with good shows it feels like another festival is in town.

Mercury Prize nominees The Invisible are playing their first U.S. shows this week, starting with a free one tonight at Brooklyn Bowl. Their lauded debut album doesn't fit into one easy category, which befits a band on Matthew Herbert's label. It's all fairly warm and soulful, but with forays into funk, sparse ballads, electro and Krautrock. There's a lot going on and I'll be curious to see how a three-piece can pull it off live. The Invisible also play Santos tomorrow (11/5) opening for Dragonette, and then on Friday at Pianos (11/6) where they'll be on the same bill as Freelance Whales.

The Mary Onettes, here from Sweden, play their first NYC show this year, tonight (11/4) at Union Hall where they'll play with Blacklist. As I said before, like a lot of the bands on Labrador, The Mary Onettes love the '80s and wear those influences on their black-clad sleeves. But their second album, Islands, wears them a little more subtly, though they are still writing reach-for-the-stars chorus -- now with strings. I like them a lot. They also play Friday (11/6) at Studio @ Webster Hall and then Sunday (11/8) at Mercury Lounge.

Grass Widow

San Francisco's awesome Grass Widow are also in town this weekend for a string of dates, starting tomorrow (11/5) at The Woodser with Frankie & the Outs, Air Waves and Hot Box. (There was to be a second show tomorrow, late at Monster Island, but that has been cancelled.) There are more than a few all-girl trios out there playing vaguely C-86 style indie (including fellow San Franciscans Brilliant Colors), but Grass Widow write better songs than most, and I really like both 12" EPs they've released this year.

The Woodser show was to be notable as the live debut of Frankie & the Outs, but then they went and played Halloween night at similarly named Willliamsburg bar The Woods (picture above). Frankie's debut single, "Thee Only One," is out now and is worth picking up -- though I think more for the dreamy b-side "Hollow Life" than the A-side (good as it is, and downloadable above) which is a little more of what you'd expect from someone who spent time in Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts. Frankie's got a way with harmonies, and the less that gets in the way of them, the better. There were a couple of songs The Outs did Saturday which were similarly laid back, and the best songs of the night.

The Bitters

Grass Widow also play Market Hotel on Friday night (11/6) along with Vivian Girls, The Bitters and Stupid Party. If you haven't heard The Bitters, the Toronto duo feature Ben Cook of Fucked Up (who play Thursday at Masonic Temple) and Aerin Fogel. They've got a single and an EP on Captured Tracks, the latter of which I dig (haven't heard the single yet). While definitely on the "low" end of the "fi" scale, Bitters are different from anything else on Captured Tracks with an early-'60s rock n' roll vibe (or early '80s West Coast punk), and Ben and Aerin's harmonies front-and-center.|

Grass Widow also play Saturday (11/7) afternoon at the Brooklyn Museum with Crystal Stilts and the Beets, a show which finally today was officially announced by the museum...

"Inspired by Gail's idea, and because we love Brooklyn photographers, on First Saturday we are inviting local photographers to come and shoot the bands that are playing and post their photos to the Brooklyn Museum's flickr group. Afterwards, Bob Gruen, a rock photography legend who is featured in the exhibition and has shot the likes of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and The Clash, will look at the photos and blog about his favorites here!" [Brooklyn Museum]

Carsick Cars

There's also the China Underground Invasion tour this weekend, with three of Beijing's best indie rock bands: Carsick Cars, PK-14 and Xiao He. In particular, I'm excited about Carsick Cars who I've actually heard of prior to this tour thanks to a friend who is living in Beijing and occasionally sends me music. They're definitely of the Sonic Youth/Dinosaur Jr school of noise n' drone. I only just got their new album, You Can Listen, You Can Talk, but have been listening to their 2008 debut a lot, and am told that its "Zhong Nan Hai" is like the Beijing indie anthem. The tour hits PowerHouse Arena tomorrow (11/5), Glasslands on Friday (11/6) and Santos on Saturday (11/7).

Tonight (11/4) is also the second week of The Answering Machine's three-week residency at Coco 66. The band has also added three more NYC dates while they're here: Nov. 9 at Pianos, Nov. 11 at Bruar Falls and Nov. 12 at Cake Shop.

Tahiti 80

And finally, Saturday night (11/7) French pop band Tahiti 80 play Mercury Lounge (tickets). When it comes to Franco-pop, Phoenix get the lion's share of the attention, but Tahiti 80 have been at it almost as long (if not just as long) and have made four danceable, hook-filled albums. The most recent of which, Activity Center, came out last year in France but is just now getting an American release. The band have retreated a bit from the full-on disco that was 2005's Fosbury, and gone back to the '60s sunshine of 2002's Wallpaper for the Soul which definitely suits them better. I haven't seen them play in ages, but they were always a good live band. Opening is Brookville, the other band from Ivy's Andy Chase -- who also produced Tahiti 80's first two albums.

Videos, tour dates and flyers are after the jump...

Continue reading "The Bitters, Grass Widow, Tahiti 80, The Mary Onettes, Frankie Rose, The Invisible & more in This Week in Indie "

The Almighty Defenders @ Root Studio last night (by Andrew Frisicano)

Jeff the Brotherhood @ Above the Auto Parts Store last night (by Andrew Frisicano)

tonight in NYC
* Girl Talk at a pier
* Math the Band @ Silent Barn
* Xeno & Oaklander, Led Er Est @ Fontana's
* Satyricon, Bleeding Through @ Irving Plaza
* The Almighty Defenders, US Royalty @ Maxwell's
* Van Morrison @ Theater at Madison Square Garden
* Thursday, Far, Midnight Masses @ Bowery Ballroom
* Air Waves, Gray Goods, Tijuana Panthers @ Union Pool
* The Blind Boys of Alabama & John Hammond @ City Winery
* Youth Group, Findlay Brown, Jacob Augustine @ Littlefield
* An Albatross, Dark Meat, Jeff: The Brotherhood, Ill Ease @ Cake Shop
* Wild Yaks, Blood Warrior, This Frontier Needs Heroes, Beat Circus @ Glasslands

JEFF the Brotherhood, who played a totally packed lineup of CMJ shows over the past week, tacks on one more, with a show at at Cake Shop tonight. An Albatross, Dark Meat and Ill Ease play too. JEFF's last gig on Saturday was a 2am set at Above the Auto Parts Store. A picture from that is above.

BK's Air Waves also did a number of CMJ shows - tonight they play Union Pool with Gray Goods and Tijuana Panthers.

The Almighty Defenders played a short, tight headlining set at the Root Studio party last night (picture above). Tonight they're at Maxwell's with US Royalty. The King Khan & BBQ Show have Friday and Saturday NYC shows later this week with Dum Dum Girls who played Saturday night at Mercury Lounge.

NYC gets its first look at the reunited Far when they play tonight with Thursday and Midnight Masses at Bowery Ballroom.

Van Morrison plays the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

If you test drove a Kia, you can see Girl Talk tonight.... (like we saw many people doing as they drove by Pianos on Thursday and Saturday)

What else?

by Bill Pearis

Cymbals Eat Guitars @ Bowery Ballroom in May (more by Ryan Muir)

Okay, so Saturday is officially bonkers. I think every band in town this week is playing somewhere, sometimes more than once. There are so many good shows you may get an ulcer trying to narrow down your choices. Here we go:

DAYTIME

Surely there's no place you'd rather be Saturday afternoon than at the free Brooklyn Vegan / Bowery Presents party at Pianos. We've got both floors going, with Cymbals Eat Guitars, Deastro, Pete & the Pirates, Surf City, BEAST, Smith Westerns, Dent May and many more. Plus free Miller and Vitamin Water, and, before and during BEAST's set: free bloody marys. Set times below.

But apparently there are other daytime shows. You might be forgiven if you snuck out and went to Music Snobbery's day party next door at The Living Room. I'm a big fan of Savoir Adore and Sissy Wish, and he's also got Denmark's Choir of Young Believers, Dawn Landes and Bird of Youth.

Then in Williamsburg (which is giving Ludlow St. a run for its money this year)... blogger collective After the Jump have put together a great free show at Brooklyn Bowl, with Surfer Blood, Harlem, Savoir Adore, Soft Black, Grooms, Bear in Heaven, and Small Black. Maybe we'll even get a supergroup of Soft Small Black. Anything can happen on the last day of CMJ.

Then there's the Pitchfork-curated Showpaper benefit at Market Hotel is so big it actually goes till 6AM. (Though it's just DJs after midnight.) It's a good opportunity, especially, for the under-21 crowd to see a lot of the CMJ bands (Surfer Blood, Delorean, Cold Cave) who have otherwise played bars. It's not free, but the $8 goes to keep Showpaper going, which is probably the greatest source for all-ages shows in the city.

Underwater Peoples have put on three showcases during CMJ week, and this last one is at Cameo Gallery. 14 bands from noon to 7PM, including Air Waves, Fluffy Lumbers, Frat Dad, Big Troubles, Spanish Prisoners, and Family Portrait. It may be getting a bit more chilly, but the beachy vibe will be present here this afternoon. Not free, but only $7.

A post with the Saturday night shows is HERE coming soon. In the meantime, it's still Friday night. Saturday day fliers and set times below...

Continue reading "CMJ 2009 - Bill's Saturday daytime picks"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Beach Fossils - Vacation (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Horrors - Sea Within A Sea (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fool's Gold - Surprise Hotel (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Raveonettes - Last Dance (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Raveonettes - Suicide (MP3)

The Raincoats

It's almost CMJ time and if you (and by "you" I mean "me") were smart you'd rest up till Tuesday... but there's a lot of good shows between now and then, so it's easier said than done. If you don't mind the rain and cold that this weekend is bringing.

Perhaps the most interesting show of the night is at Knitting Factory where legendary all-female post-punk band The Raincoats play as part of The Royal Flush Festival. With odd instrumentation, unconventional songwriting and a generally itchy, discordant vibe, the London group's three original albums (1979's self-titled debut , 1981's Odyshape, 1984's Moving) were mildly successful on the UK indie charts but proved highly influential. (Their records have aged exceptionally well.) Kurt Cobain was a huge fan, and actually got his label DGC to reissue the Raincoats' albums and convinced the band to reform and open for Nirvana on a 1994 UK tour, though he would die a week before it was to start. But the reformation proved creatively successful, and Raincoats recorded a third album, Looking in the Shadows, in 1996. They've stayed sporadically active ever since.

Tonight's show also features Soft Power which is the project from onetime Autoclave/Helium singer Mary Timony -- reason enough for many to go right there. Timony was one of the '90s most distinctive guitarists and songwriters, and her post-Helium solo work has been good too. Soft Power is apparently more of a collaborative effort -- bandmates Jonah Takagi (who plays a homemade baritone guitar) and keyboardist Winston Yu write and sing as well. The two songs on Soft Power's MySpace sound pretty good. The show is rounded out by onetime Slits guitarist Viv Albertine.

If you miss it, Soft Power have another show scheduled on November 14th at Southpaw.

The Horrors @ Bowery Ballroom earlier in the tour (more by Oren Loloi)

The Horrors are back in town tonight (10/15) playing Music Hall of Williamsburg, wrapping up their U.S. tour (their Maxwell's show was cancelled) supporting their great new album Primary Colours, which I've gone on about a couple times already. But we are getting close to Halloween, so what better time to embrace your goth side with this show? Tonight's show is with JAMC/Spacemen 3-loving San Diego band Crocodiles, a definite good fit with The Horrors, and soul/blues/gospel/punks Black Diamond Heavies.

Air Waves @ The Yard over the summer (more by Sarahana)

Meanwhile, over at Market Hotel is a solid, all-locals line-up, headed by Beach Fossils. I've had quibbles with their sound in the past (silly vocal effects) and they need to write a few more songs, like soon, but they've become a good band very quickly, and the last time I saw them they really had it together. As I've said before, there's a definite New Zealand vibe going on (maybe a little early R.E.M. too), super catchy songs with bouncy arrangements. I like them a lot. Also playing are Air Waves who've been playing around for a while now but have just gotten around to releasing their first EP which is really quite lovely, in a folky Velvet Underground kind of way. Singer Nicole Schneit is a talented songwriter and Air Waves' keep things simple and focused on the songs. Rounding out the bill are acid-prog collective Prince Rama of Ayodhya and PC Worship.

Speaking of Air Waves, they're looking for a drummer:

Someone reliable, good drummer, quick learner, committed, fun. After a bunch of CMJ shows, we have a 2 week European tour for February, and a March tour down to SXSW for the third time.

20-34 if possible. Female or male.

Love, Nicole

Fool's Gold

L.A's Fool's Gold, not to be confused with A-Trak and Nick Catchdubs' record label of the same name, hit town for a string of shows that begins tonight (10/16) at the Cameo, continues Saturday at Cake Shop and runs through CMJ. Conceived by Israeli-born singer Luke Top and guitarist Lewis Pesacov, Fool's Gold are draw heavy influence from Afrobeat, but sing almost exclusively in Hebrew, and the band numbers anywhere from 8 - 11. There's a lot of buzz about Fool's Gold right now, the video for single "Surprise Hotel" has been making the rounds (and you can download the MP3 above). I'm not 100% on these guys yet, but I'm curious enough to see them live. The Cake Shop show also features a DJ set from Lemonade.

In November, Fool's Gold goes out on tour in support of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. That tour includes shows at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for both are on sale. All Fool's Gold dates are at the bottom of this post.

I should briefly mention Echo & The Bunnymen who play tomorrow (10/17) at Mercury Lounge which will certainly be a fun tiny place to see them if you got tickets. If not, they're back playing Hammerstein Ballroom on November 22. Much like 2005's Siberia, the new album, The Fountain, is better than I was expecting it to be, thanks mainly to Will Seargent's still-inventive, soaring guitar-work. He's a true original. Ian McCulloch's cigarette-fueled vocals are like a great big hug, warm and nostalgic, though his lyrics at times are more than a little cringeworthy ("I love that sweet sack you're in / I love your saccharine"). But they still sound like the Bunnymen (well, circa 1987).

And finally, if you missed The Raveonettes at Webster Hall (or Maxwell's) earlier this week, you can still see them at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday (10/18). The band have never really strayed from their Phil Spector meets JAMC formula, but Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo began perfecting and elevating it with last year's Lust Lust Lust, and while they turn down the volume (or at least the distortion) for the new In and Out of Control, I think it's their best batch of songs yet -- nearly every song on it could be a single. You can download two of them at the top of this post. And even when they were making less inspired records, The Raveonettes were always a good live band. And here they're coming off two strong records. Go see them. Opening are Austin's Black Angels, who sound a lot like the Brian Jonestown Massacre but do it pretty well.

That's it for the weekend. Get ready for the CMJ onslaught. Tour dates and videos follow.

Continue reading "The Raincoats, Soft Power, Fool's Gold, Air Waves (need a drummer), Horrors, Bunnymen & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Sarahana

Future Islands / Screaming Females

"OH GOD, THIS PARTY WAS A LOT OF EFFING WORK, BUT IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT. I'VE NEVER BEEN SO OBSESSED WITH THE WEATHER CHANNEL, PRAYING AND PLEADING FOR IT NOT TO RAIN. BUT IT ALL TURNED OUT FUCKING GREAT AND I FELL IN LOVE AGAIN WITH ALL THE BANDS WHO PLAYED. CHECK OUT THE NEW IMPOSE T-SHIRTS! - THANKS TO SEASICK MAMA APPAREL FOR PRINTING THEM.

THANKS TO: BOOGIE BOARDER, FUTURE ISLANDS, AIR WAVES, SHARON VAN ETTEN, SILVER SUMMIT, ZS, SCREAMING FEMALES, PSYCHIC ILLS, SEASICK MAMA, VIVA RADIO, COLT, CINEMA 16, AND ALL THE VENDORS!!

STAY TUNED FOR PARTY WITH TABLES IN JANUARY!"
[Karen Aragon]

Continue reading "Screaming Females, Future Islands, Boogie Boarder, Psychic Ills, Sharon Van Etten, Air Waves, more @ Bklyn Yard - pics "

by Andrew Frisicano

Future Islands @ the 1896 in January (more by Lori Baily)

This Saturday (August 29th) Impose Magazine is hosting "Party with Tables," a day-show benefit for 826NYC at the Brooklyn Yard. The diverse lineup includes Screaming Females, Zs, Sharon Van Etten, Future Islands and Psychic Ills. There's also going to be an evening program by Cinema 16 afterward (that's the film series that pairs silent movies with new live scores from contemporary musicians). On top of those, there'll be a record and craft fair running all day. Tickets are on sale.

The gig is actually a pretty good window into the coming weeks, as most of the bands on the bill have their own gigs on the horizon. Zs are actually playing tonight (8/28) at the Cake Shop. They'll be at Glasslands on September 3rd and Death By Audio's MAZE in October (not surprising as Zs member Sam Hilmer is one of its organizers).

Screaming Females have a September 1st show at the Mercury Lounge (tix) with other shows planned too.

Sharon Van Etten has a show at Joe's Pub on September 4th with Meg Baird (tix are on sale). She's also opening tour dates for Great Lakes Swimmers, which also has NYC stops.

Future Islands play later the same night (as the Yard show) at Market Hotel with Celebration and Sam Mickens' Ecstatic Showband & Revue.

And Psychic Ills are going on tour with the Butthole Surfers this fall. All tour dates for the mentioned bands, with the show's full lineup and a flyer, are below...

Continue reading "Impose show @ the Yard Saturday, Butthole Surfers tour, Screaming Females, Sharon Van Etten, Zs, other dates"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Blind Man Color - Heavy Cloud Hustle (JVG Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Beach Fossils - Vacation (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mitch Easter - Time Warping (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mitch Easter - Sudden Crown Drop (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Asteroid #4 - Flowers of Ours (MP3)

Beach Fossils

Hope everyone stayed cool this weekend. Before I get into picks for the first part of this week, I'd just like to point out that we've got a remix (a BV exclusive, I'm told) of Blind Man's Colour's "Heavy Cloud Hustle" in the popular MP3 format to download at the very top of this post. The band were in town this weekend and I caught their Saturday night set at Union Hall where I was surprised to see a traditional guitar-bass-drums-keyboard setup for a band whose album, Season Dreaming (out tomorrow 8/18) leans heavily into Animal Collective sound collage territory. They pulled it off pretty well for only have played live for a month, though the band could use a few more peppy songs.

That night's show -- that also included San Diego's Lights On and Philly's Drink Up Buttercup -- was stolen by locals Beach Fossils who've figured out a distinctive sound: two guitarists but neither of them play chords, just single notes that play off each and the bouncy basslines. The band bounces around a lot too; nobody stands still in this band. It's a sound somewhere between the Clean and early R.E.M. and it's hard to dislike. I wish they'd drop the vibrato effects on the vocals which I think are an unnecessary affectation, but otherwise I'm a fan. They haven't put out anything yet, but they've got records out sometime soon on Woodsist and Captured Tracks (not surprisingly they played the festival put on by the same two labels), and you can download an MP3 of their track "Vacation" at the top of this post. They've also got ties to the Underwater Peoples Records who are putting on a show at Market Hotel this Saturday (8/22) that Beach Fossils are playing -- along with every band associated with the label. That includes Ducktails, sister band Real Estate, Air Waves, Fluffy Lumbers and bunch more. The show's only $5 and doors are at 4pm. Full schedule for the show is at the bottom of this post.

Ambulance LTD

Rewinding a bit, Ambulance LTD play their first shows this week since finally being released from their contract from former, bankrupt label, TVT. I really like their 2004 debut and hopefully we'll get to hear its John Cale-produced follow-up sooner than later, but you can get a taste live this week. The band's show tomorrow night (8/18) at Mercury Lounge is sold out, but you can still get tickets for tonight's show (8/17) at Union Hall. Both shows are with the great Savoir Adore so get there early and be sure to pick up a copy of their debut, In the Wooded Forrest, which is only available at their shows (or digitally) right now.

In town for two shows this week is North Carolina indie rock legend Mitch Easter, who plays Southpaw on Tuesday (8/18) and Maxwell's on Thursday (8/20). While he's maybe best known as a producer (the first two R.E.M.'s albums [with Don Dixon], Pavement's Brighten the Corners, Moose's ...XYZ among other things), but Easter has had a long career as a musician, as a part of The Sneakers in the late '70s and frontman/songwriter for Let's Active, easily one of the most underrated bands of the '80s. He's also an incredible guitarist, and Let's Active albums are resplendent with awesome axe-work.

I like everything they ever did but 1986's Big Plans for Everybody is especially great, one of my favorite albums of that decade. Mitch put the kybosh on Let's Active in 1990 and didn't release any original material until last year's Dynamico, an album which showed he still has chops and songs to spare. He opened for the dB's at Bowery Ballroom two years ago where he played most of Let's Active's big songs ("Every Word Means No," "Waters Part," "Fell," "In Little Ways") and has since been touring with his "Let's Active cover band" Gravel Truck that splits the set between classics and new songs. Easter helped shape the sound of the underground in the '80s and '90s, and is absolutely still worth checking out.

Both shows are with Amy Speace whose new album 'The Killer In Me' was engineered by Mitch.

The Asteroid #4

And lastly, Philadelphia's The Asteroid #4 is playing Tuesday night (8/18) at Glasslands in Brooklyn. The band recently toured with The Brian Jonestown Massacre which gives you a good idea of what you can expect, and they're not unlike Philly neighbors (The Sounds of) Kaleidescope... but they're better. Last year's These Flowers of Ours, is pretty ace, a nice blend of The Byrds, Ride and Spiritualized. You can stream the whole thing here and download the album's title track at the top of this post. The Glasslands show is with a couple likeminded bands: Austin's Runaway Sun and Brooklyn's Revival Times.

That's it for now. Tour dates, flyers and videos after the jump...

Continue reading "Beach Fossils, Ambulance LTD, Underwater Peoples, Mitch Easter, Asteroid #4 & Blind Mans Colour in This Week in Indie"

"For 4 years now Wham City has been organizing the WHARTSCAPE. What started as a summer warehouse party turned into a much bigger, multi-day outdoor festival with thousands of bands, performers, and folks traveling to Baltimore from all across the US and Europe.
Since, we organize this festival out of pocket and in our spare time, it is important for us to keep it comfortable and enjoyable for us to do. One thing we talked about at the end of last year's festival was shrinking it down slightly and having it feel more community based and familiar.

This year isn't focused around headliners, but mainly performers and friends that make up the community we tour, work and live in.
We are also greatly reducing the number of MEGA-PASSES (the 3 day pass ticket that grants you entry to every show and every day).
ONLY 300 Mega-Passes will be sold; this is the only guarantee that you can see all the shows.

Tickets will be sold to the individual shows, but it is strongly suggested that you buy a Mega-Pass, as it saves you money and assures you take in the entire poo-poo.
Whartscape will take place July 10-11-12 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Studio Center Parking Lot, and Load of Fun.
We will begin selling tickets at 12 Noon, Monday, June 29th.

Continue reading "Whartscape - 2009 Wham City festival dates & lineup "

Sunday June 14th @ FORT TILDEN BEACH
:: FREE ALL AGES UNAMPLIFIED ACOUSTIC BBQ 2009
:: each year we throw an informal, quiet party in a beautiful public place, w/
:: many diverse musicians playing two or three songs w/ no amplification
:: this year, it's on Fort Tilden Beach in the Rockways! best beach in NYC! [Todd P]

Continue reading "Todd P's UNAMPLIFIED ACOUSTIC BBQ 2009 (at Fort Tilden)"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Ida Maria @ Union Hall

It is ungenerous, maybe, to call Ida Maria the thinking person's Katy Perry. But just as Ms. Perry's generally execrable "I Kissed a Girl," a No. 1 pop hit last year, mixed equal parts titillation and coyness, so too does Ida Maria's song "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked," itself something of a flirty stunt.

Last year that song became a hit in Britain, a blog favorite and a misleading advertisement for this talented Norwegian singer: unlike Ms. Perry, Ida Maria, who performs under her first two names, has a story behind her wink.

And at the Mercury Lounge on Thursday night, when she and the crowd shouted the chorus together -- "I like you so much better when you're naked/I like me so much better when you're naked" -- it was a reminder that the song isn't so much a tease as a cry for help. [NY Times]

Continue reading "Ida Maria @ Union Hall, Brooklyn, NYC - pics & setlist"