DOWNLOAD: Dustin Wong - "Here We Come 2012" (MP3)

Dustin Wong

As mentioned, Akron/Family are currently on a tour with Bad Weather California that brings both bands to NYC on Saturday (1/21) at 285 Kent. Since the Brooklyn show was announced, Dustin Wong (ex-Ponytail) was added to the bill and advanced tickets went on sale. Bad Weather California (more about them below) also play Mercury Lounge with Woodsman while they're in town (1/22).

Dustin Wong is releasing his second LP, Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads on February 21 via Thrill Jockey. The album art and tracklist is below. He recently posted a song to his soundcloud titled, "Here We Come 2012." It's unclear if this has any ties to the new album but you can stream it below and download it above.

Dustin has also been added as an opener to Hospitality's record release show at Glasslands (2/3). That bill also includes Glass Ghost. Tickets are still available.

Speaking of Akron/Family, member Dana Janssen who creates solo material as Dana Buoy, has been added as an opener to some dates on Youth Lagoon's headlining tour. Dana will open the Bowery Ballroom show on March 27. There is still no opener announced for the MHOW show (3/28). Both NYC shows are sold out (but you can still get tickets to Youth Lagoon's upcoming show with Death Cab). All Dana Buoy dates below.

Akron/Family's tourmates Bad Weather California will be the first band (other than Akron/Family) to release a record on Akron/Family's Family Tree Records, when their album Sunkissed comes out on the label on February 21. The album was produced by Akron/Family member Seth Olinsky. Stream the album track, "You're My Friend," HERE and check out a Brass Tree Sessions video and an album promo video below. The artwork and tracklist are also below. After the Akron/Family tour, BWC have a bunch of dates of their own, including SXSW. Those are all listed below.

All dates, stream album art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Akron/Family, Dustin Wong, Dana Buoy, Bad Weather California"

Akron/Family at LPR (more by Anna Scialli)

Akron/Family are currently touring Europe through the end of November, taking the month of December to recharge the batteries before heading back out for a string of US dates in January. Kicking off with a date in DC on January 6th, A/F will hit the road with Bad Weather California to play shows along the East Coast and the Midwest. The shows include a final date in Brooklyn at 285 Kent on 1/21 with more bands TBA. Todd P says "ADVANCE TICKETS WILL BE ON SALE, DETAILS SOON."

A/F recently made their previously tour-only limited release Live Sound Fields available for general sale. Each disc is "hand painted, hand numbered and unique" and taken from Live shows 2009/2010". Stream one song from the disc below, alongside all tour dates...

Continue reading "Akron/Family going on tour w/ Bad Weather California (dates)"

Glasslands photos by Shanda Boyett, Apohadion by Bryan Bruchman, words by BBG

Delicate Steve on Governors Island (more by Andrew St. Clair)

Congrats to Delicate Steve, whose new LP Wondervisions is out now via Luaka Bop. Check out the video below for the title track featuring Dirty Projector Nat Baldwin (who plays Knit on 2/10 - tickets). Its a breezy funky track smothered in vintage keys ala.... you guessed it, Stevie Wonder.

And though Akron Family will take them out on an extensive run of dates including 2/17 at Knitting Factory (tickets) and 3/5 at Bowery Ballroom (tickets), Delicate Steve will celebrate the new LP with a record release show at Public Assembly on Saturday (2/5). As discussed, he'll be joined by Dustin Wong (Ponytail, Ecstatic Sunshine), Grandchildren, & Strange Shapes. Tickets are still available. You can also catch DS at the Meat Locker in Montclair, NJ TONIGHT (2/4) and at BAR Nightclub in New Haven, CT on 2/9.

A few days after Public Assembly, Wong will cross paths with the Woods/Ducktails tour that hits Monster Island Basement TONIGHT (2/4) with Metal Mountains. The tour recently hit Portland, Maine, and you can check out pictures from the Apohadion Theater show below. Ducktails will be back on stage later this month when they team up with Glory Girls to open for Lower Dens at Music Hall of Williamsburg on 2/25 (tickets)

Dustin Wong recently supported Nightlands, aka Dave Hartley of The War on Drugs, at his debut show at Glasslands on 1/19 with Tony Castles (who play Death By Audio tonight). Check out some pictures from Glasslands below. Nightlands went on to perform another four dates before the tour came to an end in Pontiac, MI. That included a gig in Chicago:

"Playing just his fourth show, Hartley's Chicago set began with a few songs alone with his acoustic guitar and some drum machine samples. Apparently having already mastered looping effects, Hartley was maintaining a strong vocal presence without any accompaniment, but opening act Houses joined him for the final two thirds of his set anyway. They brought with them a mandolin, louder percussion, and a noisier electric guitar. Live drumming was essential to Suzerain, the highlight of Nightlands' debut full-length, Forget the Mantra. And the additional set of voices enabled even more dynamic harmonies, especially for their chorally exultant closer, 300 Clouds."

All tour dates and some video/song streams are below...

Continue reading "Delicate Steve playing gigs b4 Akron/Family tour, Woods /Ducktails tour underway, Nightlands & more (dates & pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Akron/Family new album snippets (MP3)

Seth of Akron/Family does his best Ron Burgundy (more by Leia Jospe)

Akron/Family will hit the road in the tail-end of February for the first of a two-legged tour with Delicate Steve. The first leg kicks off on 2/17 at Knitting Factory (tickets on sale 12/10 at 10AM) and conclude at Bowery Ballroom on 3/5 (tickets on sale 12/10 at noon). Full tour dates are below.

Meanwhile, you can catch Delicate Steve at Glasslands on December 9th with Luke Temple of Here We Go Magic (solo), Emil & Friends, Bear In Heaven (DJs), but not Liturgy.

The A/F dates coincide with the release of S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, the band's new LP on Dead Oceans due 2/8. Get ready America, Akron/Family intend to "transcend the internet":

"Finally, after over a month of unanswered emails and text messages, blown deadlines, and pleas to finish and turn in their new album, last week, a large brown cardboard box showed up at the Dead Oceans doorstep.... Opening it revealed a sincere but poorly made diorama of futurist swirling spaces filled with toy astronauts and dinosaurs, four blown out song fragments on a TDK CDR in a ziplock bag, three pictures, a track list written in crayon, and a typewritten note from Akron/Family. A post-it on the bag declared the band refused to send the full album to anyone but the vinyl pressing plant, for fear of leaking and possible lost revenues.

From the note and a short video that arrived days later, we've pieced together that the album was written in a cabin built into the side of Mount Meakan, an active volcano in Akan National Park, on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. It was recorded in an abandoned train station in Detroit with the blackest white dude we all know, Chris Koltay (Liars, Women, Deerhunter, Holy Fuck, No Age). Chris, on tour after finishing the record, commented: "this album will transcend the internet." [Dead Oceans]

In related new, guitarist Seth Olinsky has developed an iPhone/iPad app for his company, New Signal Process, that integrates the Apple device with professional recording equipment. The Breakout is on sale now for all you gear hounds.

New album art, tracklisting, a video teaser and all dates are below.

Continue reading "Akron/Family releasing album on Dead Oceans, touring w/ Delicate Steve (weird MP3 & tour dates)"

photos by Anna Scialli

Akron/Family and guests ("Xtended Family") that included William Parker and Hamid Drake played a special collaborative set at (Le) Poisson Rouge on June 30th to close the 11-day Vision Fest XV. Before, William Parker led his own band Southern Satellites.

Akron/Family also played a semi-secret show at Monster Island Basement the next night (July 1st). NYCTaper recorded their set from that, which you can download.

More pictures from LPR are below...

Continue reading "Akron/Family played LPR (pics) & Monster Island (audio) "

Following the show they played at Le Poisson Rouge last night...

Thursday 7/1
Monster Island Basement (128 River St. & Metropolitan)

9pm -- Spreaders (creepy soundtrack/improv duo from upstate)
10pm -- Man Forever (Kid Millions of Oneida + his new, insane drum ensemble)
11pm -- Akron/Family

$10 at the door -- first come/first serve

by Andrew Frisicano

Akron Family @ Music Hall of Williamsburg in March (more by Leia Jospe)

The Vision Festival, New York's premier Avant-Jazz festival, returns to Abrons. Now in its 15th year, the Vision Festival gathers the country's most innovative music, art, dance, and poetry. These seven nights will transform the Abrons into a fully interactive space with art exhibitions, a site-specific venue installation ,and events occurring in multiple places simultaneously throughout the night! VF15 honors Muhal Richard Abrams for a Lifetime of Achievement, the legendary Fred Anderson, Michael Reed's People, Places & Things Quartet, Open Loose with Mark Helias, Günter Baby Sommer & Wadada Leo Smith, David S. Ware Trio, Matthew Shipp, William Parker's Southern Satellites, Amiri Baraka, Jayne Cortez, Guillermo E. Brown, By Any Means, Joëlle Léandre Stone Quartet, Hamid Drake, Vladimir Tarasov and a bunch of the best drummers in the U.S. paying tribute to Rashied Ali, and so much more!

The closing show for the festival will be Wednesday, June 30th at (Le) Poisson Rouge and will feature a special performance by Akron/Xtended/Family with bassist William Parker and percussionist Hamid Drake joining the band. Also on the bill are William Parker's Southern Satellites and [the] slowest runner [in all the world]. Tickets are on sale now.

The Vision Fest full schedule is here. Southern Satellites opened for Akron/Family at Bowery Ballroom in March and members of the band, including trumpeter Lewis Flip Barnes and gutiarist Asim Barnes, joined Akron during their set. A video of that is posted below...

Continue reading "NYC's Vision Fest XV lineup w/ Akron/Xtended/Family, more "

photos by Leia Jospe

Warpaint

"Warpaint, a four-piece band from L.A., primed the stage with their sultry, pajama-clad jams. Call it psychedelic, call it sexy, call it what you will, whatever is going on here, I want more of it. I have no aversion to all girl bands, and Warpaint gives no reasons to complain. The reverb suspends the sound in a murky haze, with pounding drums in the background. Warpaint is both, exactly what I want to hear on an acid trip, and what I would want to hear if I was deep sea diving. Anything reminiscent of the unknown, dark, mysterious, and curious. These girls invite you to follow them into the rabbit hole, and I'm following their lead.Their EP, Exquisite Corpse is out now, and you can catch them all over SXSW in the coming weeks." [Intercontinental Breakfast]

Continue reading "Akron/Family, Warpaint & Please the Trees @ Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn - pics "

photos by Chris Graham

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

The 2nd Annual Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco this past August benefited from a combination of improved planning and the luck of some of the nicest weather the city had seen all summer. The result was a far more pleasant and exciting experience for festivalgoers at this food, wine and music extravaganza.

The venue for the festival is extraordinary, taking up about a third of the massive Golden Gate Park. Once inside, it's hard to believe you're in the middle of a large city. Giant trees and grassy meadows block out any view of outside buildings, and the festival is arranged around the topography so that each group of stages has its own unique look and feel. There were many secluded areas and empty meadows nearby for those in need of respite from the music. Thanks to the efforts of innovative organizers, Outside Lands truly becomes a world unto itself. [Beachside Resident]

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 - Day 1 pics (Pearl Jam, The National, Q-Tip, Tom Jones, Akron/Family, Built to Spill, more)"

DOWNLOAD: Warpaint - Billie Holiday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Warpaint - Elephants (MP3)

Akron/Family @ ATP NY in September (more by Ryan Muir)

Akron/Family are currently in Europe, and they're playing Australia and New Zealand this December, but come March 3rd, the band will be playing a show at Brooklyn's own Music Hall of Williamsburg. Psychedelic folk ladies (and one guy) Warpaint open. Tickets go on sale AmEx presale Wednesday, November 11th at noon. General sale starts Friday, Nov. 13th at noon.

LA's Warpaint were another buzzy band this past CMJ. Their signing was announced soon after...

We at Rough Trade are happy to announce the signing of LA quartet Warpaint.

Warpaint weave intricate guitar lines,hypnotic vocals and driving post punk rhythms into gorgeous, sprawling songs that skirt the line between psychedelia and intimacy.

At the core of the band are founding members Emily Kokal, Theresa Wayman and Jenny Lee Lindberg who formed the band in 2007.

"We are all very excited about being involved with such a unique and inspiring group and we welcome them to the label".

A 6 track EP Exquisite Corpse will be available in the USA this October and UK & Europe in November through Manimal Vinyl. Rough Trade will be releasing a full length album next year.

Akron/Family's ATP NY set was their last "area" appearance. They write...

In the midst of this amazing tour we stopped off on the Borscht Belt to participate in the Flaming Lips curated ATP. It was a great weekend with one of the most mind/body/soul altering performances we have ever seen by the Boredoms. We also got to participate in Oneida's 10.5 hour performance on Sunday. We had the coveted early slot at noon.

Continue reading "Warpaint, now on Rough Trade (MP3s), opening for Akron/Family in Brooklyn - 2009 Tour Dates "

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Ryan Muir

Steve Albini in Shellac

"We're taking a bath, but I don't care," Barry Hogan told [Sasha Frere-Jones]. We were standing in the makeshift production office for the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, at Kutsher's, a resort in the Catskills.

Kutsher's, where Muhammad Ali trained and a thousand schticks were born, was once the jewel of the Borscht Belt. The main venue at Kutsher's, the Stardust Ballroom, has a capacity of 2,800. But Hogan seemed largely unbothered that only 1,800 tickets to ATP had sold. It is 2009, after all.

Considering the bad coffee situation and the fun that I had the day before, Sufjan was spot on. Clad in tie-dye that the band had purchased at the general store at Kutsher's, the five piece were delicate, light and lilting. Sufjan's bright banjo strums and songs, like the sunny "Sister", resonated so well in the Stardust Ballroom. The Seven Swans album was an excellent choice for a wake-up set on the second day of the three day upstate NY festival (Saturday, September 12, 2009).

After Sufjan, I wandered over to catch a crew of young Aussies named Bridezilla. Though their name is a touch offputting, guitarist/vocalist Holiday Sidewinder has a sexy and breathy coo that recalled PJ Harvey and their her cocktail-dress-ed crew were a surprise and a delight.

Grouper were next, and as a fan of 2008's Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, I was eager to check out Liz Harris's ambient soundscapes. Playing to a projection of an ocean at night, the stage show wasn't much visually but the tides of noise was otherworldly.

Conversely, Black Dice in the same room was a psychedelic mindfuck. Blasts of tribal noise beats nodded heads and shook them in equal measure.

As a fan of Bradford Cox, it was great to see him pull a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning with Atlas Sound. Rolling solo with guitar, harmonica, and some backing tracks, Cox was engaging both in song and with between song banter. I would regrettably end up missing Deerhunter's set a few hours later. Drowned in Sound was there though:

Bradford Cox is a picture of serenity as he swaps his shirt for a more tasteful number and leads Deerhunter into their Saturday night set. He announces that this will be their last performance for some time, causing the band to roll out the hits in quick-fast fashion. They gallop through 'Cryptograms' and 'Nothing Ever Happened', the positively herculean double guitar sound feeling unstoppable and a sense of jubilation ricocheting between the walls as people succumb to these great big shining pop songs. The closing 'Calvary Scars' is a slab of beautiful kraut-pop, with Lockett Pundt's metallic Tim Gane-esque strum leading the way, face-painted kids jerking their bodies back and forth, and Cox looking genuinely sad that this will be the last time these songs will be wrung from his fingers and throat for a while.

Sleepy Sun were line checking when I got back to the second stage, with vocalist Rachael Williams checking her levels in the monitor

"Check. Check. I. Hi. Me. You. All of you. Us. Getting nervous."

If they had nerves, the band channeled them into positive energy. Sleepy Sun's influences fit right in with their hometown, San Francisco, as the band dabble in a psychedelic California sound with some krautrock-y elements. I was most struck by their fantastic drummer Brian Tice as well as vocalist Williams, who ripped out a solo that had the crowd shouting and applauding. Wayne Coyne watched the band from stage left, clearly impressed.

After an elongated line check, El-P came on and with a four-piece band (Chin Chin) and hypeman (Mighty Quinn) to the sound of "Tasmanian Space Coaster". I have a soft spot for El-Producto's Blade Runner beats and post-apocalyptic rhyme styles, and it was great to see a Hip Hop artist who actually puts an emphasis on his live show. As a matter of fact, El-P put a little too much of himself out there, almost falling off the stage after pogo-ing around during "Smithereens". Careful dude... we need a follow-up to I'll Sleep When You're Dead.

I hadn't seen Akron/Family since the then more acoustic-centric band played Tonic many years ago (with Hamid Drake?) and it was refreshing to see their energy were still in place. Against a backdrop of a tie-dyed American flag, the band played a rousing and ripping set. It's good to see that the loss of Ryan Vanderhoof to a Buddhist center hasn't slowed them a bit.

Autolux had the discordant riffs, feedback squalls, and a 90s alt punk sound to hit all of the right influences (Joy Division, Sonic Youth, etc), but unfortunately didn't really distinguish themselves from their influences. Autolux isn't offensive by any means, just not compelling or distinctive, and I find it a touch disappointing that guitarist Greg Edwards was a member of Failure (a band that I dug).

Dead Meadow and their fuzzy freakout psych blues were riffing on Stage Two towards the end of the Autolux set, but by half way in, the crowd had diminished considerably due to Shallac on the main. For shame, as the trio played a ripping set!

continued below...

Continue reading "ATP NY 2009 - Day 2 pics & review (Atlas Sound, Deerhunter, El-P, Boss Hog, Shellac, Animal Collective, Dead Meadow...) "

photos by Leia Jospe

"We arrived at Other Music at 6.25pm only to be greeted by a queue of NYC hipsters that extended round the corner of the block. It was doors 7pm and space was minimal in the tiny record store. We were worried that we wouldn't get in. After all, we came all the way from Ireland.

Happily, eveyone who queued were somehow squeezed into the tiny venue and Akron/Family proceeded with an incredible hour and a half long set, almost as good as when I saw them in Glasgow (almost becuase they didn't play Ed Is A Portal this time round)." [modest mango]

Continue reading "Akron/Family played Other Music in NYC - pics "

All Tomorrow's Parties (ATP) is happy to announce its return to Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, New York for the 2nd annual ATP New York festival. The event will be held Sept 11-13, 2009. Last year's festival, co-curated by My Bloody Valentine, was a critical and cultural success with rave reviews from media and fans. This year's Fest will be co-curated by The Flaming Lips.

Recently added were Crystal Castles, Super Furry Animals, Boris performing Feedbacker, Low Lows and "Oneida presents the Ocropolis" - where Oneida will transport the impetus, spirit and community of their multidisciplinary studio/performance space, The Ocropolis, to ATP for a full day of improvisation, collaboration, and recording, combined with the astounding Mighty Robot Visuals light crew. Other announced acts include Boredoms continuing their BOADRUM series, performing with 9 drummers on stage. Deerhoof will perform with special visuals by Martha Colburn. Caribou will perform as Caribou Vibration Ensemble, with a 4 piece horn section, 4 drummers and a choir and guests that include Kieran Hebden (Four Tet/Fridge/Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid), Koushik (Stones Throw Records), John Schmersal (Enon, Brainiac), Kathryn Bint (One Little Plane), Ahmed Gallab (Sinkane), Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra) and more.

Circulatory System, was added in the last announcement, and have since revealed an entire tour. Dead Meadow play ATP on Saturday and will perform on a boat in NYC that same week. The Feelies have a Brooklyn show scheduled. Super Furry Animals play NYC and NJ in addition to ATP. The list of related shows goes on...

Unfortunately missing from the ATP NY schedule is Nick Cave - not that he was ever supposed to be there, but in addition to being very involved with ATP in general, he was recently confirmed to be only a short car ride away just one day after the festival ends. Full 2009 lineup below...

Continue reading "ATP NY final 2009 lineup -- Bob Mould (now official), Eugene Mirman, Menomena, Hopewell & more (but not Nick Cave) "

Akron/Family @ All Points West Sunday (more by Chris La Putt)

APW Day Three: MOST AWKWARD ATTEMPT AT CROWD PARTICIPATION
"We like fun," Akron/Family's Miles Seaton yelled. "Do you like fun?" Well either the crowd truly felt ambivalent about fun or they didn't think the question worth answering. Met with stony silence, Seaton tried again. And again. His one-man chant never inspired the crowd, perhaps because only the most stoned found anything resembling fun in the band's directionless drum circles. [Spin]

The band has more August and September shows scheduled around North America. Before those kick off, the group will be in town for two NYC events. First, band guitarist Seth Olinsky will be conducting a section of Rhys Chatham's Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars on August 8th at Damrosch Park, as part of the Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Festival. The next day (8/9), Akron/Family will appear at Other Music (15 E 4th St) for a 7pm in-store performance ("Free Admission / Limited Capacity").

On select upcoming dates, the band will be traveling with Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard and Slaraffenland (who will join A/K on stage to form the "Akron/Family big band"). They'll also be at ATP NY. All tour dates and more, with a look at the sheet music for Crimson Grail and APW videos, below...

Continue reading "Akron/Family played APW (video), playing Other Music, conducting 200 guitars & other 2009 tour dates "

photos by Tim Griffin and Chris La Putt

"After a soggy Friday and sunny Saturday, the thunderstorms returned for the third and last day of All Points West, this time resulting in major delays and canceled sets for the festival held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. But after the rain cleared and mercifully stayed away, organizers hustled to get the schedule back on track, culminating in a dazzler of a headlining set by British rockers Coldplay.

Sunday's line-up, scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. in the comedy tent and 2 p.m. on the music stages, was pushed back several hours due to severe storms that hit the area midday. Fans who arrived early were turned away at the gates, and it wasn't until just before 4 p.m. that ticket holders were invited to line up at the festival entrance for an even longer wait for admission. Comedians Todd Barry, Christian Finnegan and Janeane Garofalo, originally slated for 45-minute sets at the Queen of the Valley tent, were rushed through with 10 minutes each to make way for the musical acts that followed them. "I might do a tour of entirely rained-out festivals," said Barry, "it's big money for not a lot of work at all."

Some sets were canceled altogether--indie rockers Steel Train and New Jersey punk band the Gaslight Anthem, scheduled to take the main Blue Comet stage in the afternoon, were scrapped to allow later bands to perform at their scheduled times." [Billboard]

MGMT played against Coldplay on Sunday, and Echo and The Bunnymen instead opened for Coldplay on the main stage (with Courtney Love watching in the wings). Akron/Family, Silversun Pickups, Mogwai, Lykke Li, Elbow, the Black Keys, and others also played sets on the shortened, very wet day. More pictures, and the two Coldplay cover videos, and some setlists, below....

Continue reading "All Points West 2009 - Day 3 Pictures (Coldplay, mud, MGMT)"

Sufjan Stevens w/ Clogs @ BAM in February (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

We are extremely excited to announce the addition of Sufjan Stevens to the ATP-curated Saturday lineup. Stevens, who will be releasing Run Rabbit Run (a re-arrangement of his 2001 album Enjoy Your Rabbit) in October, has not played a US show in over two years, and this is sure to be a special performance. [ATP NY]

Sufjan will be joined on the Saturday bill by new additions Shellac, Circulatory System and Grouper (who we previously announced).

On the Sunday, the Flaming Lips-curated bill has added Crystal Castles, who has been touring North America and Europe. They're also on the schedule for All Points West on August 1st.

Other Sunday additions are Super Furry Animals (who are also playing Maxwell's and Highline Ballroom), Boris, Low Lows and Oneida, the latter of which will perform a special set, described below...

"Oneida presents the Ocropolis" - where Oneida will transport the impetus, spirit and community of their multidisciplinary studio/performance space, The Ocropolis, to ATP for a full day of improvisation, collaboration, and recording, combined with the astounding Mighty Robot Visuals light crew.

Continue reading "ATP NY adds Sufjan Stevens, Boris, Shellac, Crystal Castles & more - full updated lineup"

DOWNLOAD: Slaraffenland - Meet and Greet (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Akron/Family - River (MP3)

Akron/Family @ New Museum 3/27 (more by Leia Jospe)

Akron/Family will continue to tour behind their new disc, Set 'Em Wild, Set Em Free, into the fall, with tour dates supported by "Wooden" Wand, Jeffery Lewis & The Junkyard and Slaraffenland. On those shows, "the Slaraffenland horns will join the band on stage each night (a la The Dodos [who have shows coming up] or Megafaun before them) to form the Akron/Family big band."

NYCers can next catch Akron/Family at either All Points West or All Tomorrow's Parties. Slaraffenland are playing a NYC show on September 22nd at a venue that is still TBA.

Akron/Family is releasing a series of 7" singles through Dead Oceans. Those records will be available mainly on tour, and contain 'Em Wild a-sides and exclusive, unreleased b-sides. The first of those, featuring "Everyone is Guilty," is out now; the second in the series, "River," comes out in September. Details on those singles below.

Slaraffenland's new album, We're on Your Side, will be out September 15th on Hometapes. "Meet and Greet," that record's first single, is posted above. In addition to their dates with Akron/Family, the Danish group has a TBA NYC show penciled in for Tuesday, September 22nd. They also recently collaborated with filmmaker Vincent Moon (of The Take Away Shows) for a video filmed in their native Copenhagen.

Moon also recently taped Akron/Family's March 29th Union Pool show. That video, with all tour dates, album info, and some background on Slaraffenland, is below...

Continue reading "Akron/Family - new records & summer tour (w/ Wand, Jeffrey Lewis & Slaraffenland - who have a new album)"

DOWNLOAD: Wand - Arriving (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Wand - Saturday Delivery (MP3)

James Jackson Toth @ Pianos 8/23 (more)

Earlier this year, James Jackson Toth "aka Wooden Wand aka Wand" put out two albums (both as "Wand," which I think is what he's mainly going by now). One of those was a b-sides and demos release called Hard Knox on Ecstatic Peace. The other was a limited-edition release called Born Bad on People in a Position to Know and Toth's own Mad Monk imprint. Two songs off Hard Knox are posted above.

The People in a Position label has a few more Toth releases in the works, including the debut of his band the Jescos. He also has a record coming out on Michael Gira's Young God Records set for early next year.

Wand will be touring the east coast this summer. Those dates include supporting gigs for Michael Gira, Woods and Akron/Family. The first of his NYC stops will be a show with Gira at the Issue Project Room on Saturday, July 25th.

Then, he'll be playing the Studio at Webster Hall on Sunday, July 26th with Larkin Grimm (who is also on Young God Records and whose upcoming shows include the Musicka Mystica Maxima Fest at Santos in September). Tickets are on sale.

Toth teams up with Akron/Family in mid-August to open several dates on that band's extensive summer/early fall tour. All Wand and Larkin Grimm tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Wand (James Jackson Toth) - 2009 Tour Dates (includes a NYC show w/ Michael Gira, one w/ Larkin Grimm) "

Mutek banner in Montreal - May 27, 2009 (bneely)

Mutek, the electronic music festival celebrating its tenth year, is currently underway in Montreal. The five-day fest runs to Sunday, May 31st, and it's streaming online. Moderat, the Modeselektor & Apparat supergroup, performed at Mutek on Thursday, May 28th; the group plays NYC's Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, May 30th (the show was originally planned for Webster Hall). Tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of parties up North this summer... three other biggies are Ottawa Bluesfest (July 8th-19th), Vancouver Folk Music Festival (July 17-19th) and Calgary Folk Music Festival (July 23rd-26th). Each of those suitably transcend the "blues" and "folk" labels, hosting bands like The Dead Weather and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (in Ottawa), The Weakerthans and Rock Plaza Central (in Vancouver), and The Decemberists, Apostle of Hustle, Kid Koala and Akron/Family (in Calgary). Full lineup for the Calgary Fest (Ottawa in particular is much too massive to post) and ticket info below.

And don't forget about the previously reported Breeders-headlined Sled Island Fest in Calgary on June 24th-27th, Montreal's Osheaga, NXNE, and Toronto's Olympic Island Fest on July 11th, which will host Broken Social Scene and its Arts & Crafts cohorts.

Across the pond, UK's Glastonbury Festival, which runs from June 24th to 28th, has been sold out since February even though the full lineup wasn't announced until this week. Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Blur will be joined by The Specials, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Spinal Tap, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Madness, Tom Jones, Animal Collective and many others.

And finally in the States, Monolith Festival, which runs from September 12th to 13th at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Colorado, has announced its intial lineup, Girl Talk, Passion Pit, and The Walkmen included. The whole thing is posted below.

The weekend before Monolith, Bumbershoot will take place in Seattle (September 5th-7th). That fest's lineup has been updated too. New additions include Vivian Girls, Akron/Family, and Elvis Perkins. All new additions, with previously announced acts, are below. Tickets are still on sale.

In Michigan, the Rothbury Festival over July 4th weekend will feature the only summer fest performance by The Dead, as well as sets by Bob Dylan, String Cheese Incident, Broken Social Scene and more. A few more jam-friendly acts were also just added to the bill. Full lineup below. Tickets are on sale.

Info on all the above fests, with ticket info, below...

Continue reading "Mutek underway, Monolith & Glastonbury lineups, Rothbury, Bumbershoot, Calgary Folk & other festival updates"

by Andrew Frisicano

Download: Baby Gramps - Shake It 'n' Break It (MP3)
Download: Baby Gramps - St. James Infirmary (MP3)
Download: Baby Gramps - Teddy Bears' Picnic (MP3)

[Baby Gramps] plays his songbook of old-timey songs with the dexterity of an, erm, old-timer (he plays what he calls "stunt guitar" and what others have termed "extraordinary"). No longer "knee-high to a tootsie-wootsie" (as he would say), he's officially grown into his geezer status. Some date Gramps' beginnings on the Seattle music scene as far back as the early '60s. "Before that, I was in Texas by way of Arkansas by way of Alabama," he told Patrick Ferris in an interview reprinted on Gramps' website. And though you might be inclined to file Gramps under roots -- blues and folk in particular -- he's also found a niche among the rock crowd as a street performer and opening act. I recollect seeing him on every trip I've ever taken to Seattle that involved entering a nightclub. I asked my friend, Seattle-based author and journalist Charles R. Cross, for the hometown perspective on Baby Gramps: "He is a Seattle institution, along the lines of the Space Needle, Pioneer Square, and the Pike Place Market." [Crawdaddy]

Baby Gramps occasionally leaves his Pacific Northwest homebase for jaunts around the North East. That's what he'll do this June, as he plays Upstate New York before coming to NYC for a five-night run. Starting with a Friday, June 12th show at Terra Blues, Gramps will play Barbes on June 13th (Sat), Jalopy Theatre on June 14th (Sun), the Kitchen Club on June 15th (Mon) and finish with a show at Zebulon on June 16th (Tues).

His song "Cape Cod Girls" opened the Hal Willner-compiled Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys collection, which came out on Anti in 2007.

A video of Gramps performing "Cape Cod Girls" with Akron/Family on Letterman (a venue that doesn't do his full-on vaudeville act justice), with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Baby Gramps - 2009 tour dates w/ 5 NYC shows in June "

Akron/Family @ the New Museum (more by Leia Jospe)

tonight in NYC
* stuff @ Rockwood
* Ólöf Arnalds @ Sycamore
* Patrick Wolf @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* JG Thirlwell's Manorexia @ The Stone
* Whoopie Pie with Marc Ribot @ Zebulon
* John Doe and the Sadies @ City Winery
* The Harlem Shakes, Cringe, Sean Bones @ Pianos
* Alex Battles and the Whisky Rebellion @ Hill Country
* Your Nature (ex-Frankpollis) & Wild Yaks @ The Annex
* The Octagon, Electric Owls, Stars Like Nesseth @ Pianos
* Fear, Mongrel, Tall Black Girls, Violent Bullshit @ Europa
* MC Lars, The Beatards, Schaffer The Darklord @ Mercury Lounge
* Modern Creatures, Teenage Night War, Twin Crystals @ Bruar Falls
* Happy Ending Music and Reading Series with Vampire Weekend @ Joe's Pub
* Lady Sovereign, Chester French, Hollywood Holt @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Akron/Family, Charlyne Yi, William Parker's Southern Satellites @ Bowery Ballroom
* Lowry, Elizabeth and the Catapult, The King Left, April Smith, Kaiser Cartel, Mia Riddle @ Southpaw

The Your Nature show is the first of four weeks of a residency, with special guests, at the Annex. Flyer below...

pro-shot video of Akron/Family playing at SXSW, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

Lincoln Center Damrosch Park bandshell - August 2008 (miro.m)

This year's Lincoln Center Out of Doors (LCOOD), three weeks of FREE music and dance on the plazas of Lincoln Center, will run from August 5 through August 23. The 39th annual edition of the festival will present a wide range of music and dance events by dozens of international, U.S. and local artists, highlighted by New York, U.S. and world premieres and debuts and special commissions. Out of Doors opens Wednesday, August 5 with the worldwide debut of the Asphalt Orchestra, a new marching band developed by Bang on a Can, premiering works commissioned for Lincoln Center's 50th Anniversary from Goran Bregovic, Tyondai Braxton (of Battles), and Stew and Heidi Rodewald. The band will also perform original arrangements of iconoclastic rock, jazz, and classical material--all to movement created by MacArthur Fellowship winning choreographer Susan Marshall. Asphalt Orchestra will kick-off the first five consecutive nights of Out of Doors at 7 p.m., performing in different locations across Lincoln Center's campus, with a varying playlist each night. The opening night concert at the Damrosch Park Bandshell at 7:30 is a double-bill with Out of Doors alum The Dave Brubeck Quartet (marking the 50th Anniversary of the landmark album Time Out) with guest soloist, oud virtuoso Simon Shaheen, and Iraqi-American jazz trumpeter Amir ElSaffar leading the New York debut of his Two Rivers Large Ensemble.]

And Lincoln Center and Wordless Music are again planning a performance of Rhys Chatham's Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars. It'll be happening Saturday, August 8th at Damrosch Park. Let's hope they've secured a rain location, or this could be an annual thing. Section leaders include David Daniell, John King, Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family) and Ned Sublette. The fest is taking applications to volunteer as a guitarist or bassist for the event. Also on the bill for that is "seminal funk-punk band Liquid Liquid."

Other highlights on the schedule are "a pairing of Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré with Raul Midón", The Derek Trucks Band, and Slavic Soul Party.

Closing out the festival will be the 26th Annual Roots of American Music Festival at the Damrosch Park Bandshell, an event that'll touch on the blues (Four Women: A Tribute to Odetta, Miriam Makeba, Abbey Lincoln and Eartha Kitt), Creole music (The Louisiana Renegades), country (Texas Tornados: Tribute to Doug Sahm), and "Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos: The Lost World of Latin-Jewish Sound" with Afro-Jazz bandleader Arturo O'Farrill.

Full schedule below...

Continue reading "Lincoln Center Out of Doors 2009 lineup - another attempt at Rhys Chatham's 200 Electric Guitars included "

Boss Hog @ Maxwell's (more by Tim Griffin)

Friday will feature a first New York show in a long time by The Jesus Lizard and newly announced, ATP favourites Iron and Wine. They will join the Don't Look Back shows also taking place on Friday: The Feelies performing Crazy Rhythms, New York's finest Suicide performing their first LP, Dirty Three performing Ocean Songs and The Drones performing Wait Long By The River... The evening will be rounded off with the Comedy Stage hosted and curated by the one and only David Cross.

Saturday is curated by ATP and is headlined by Animal Collective and an exclusive performance by Panda Bear. Other confirmed acts include the newly announced Boss Hog, Deerhunter and Bridezilla, plus the previously announced Melvins, Black Dice, Dead Meadow, Autolux, EL-P, Akron Family, Antipop Consortium, Atlas Sound and the hotly tipped Sleepy Sun.

Sunday is curated by the outlandish Flaming Lips. Every act that plays will perform an exclusive special show, bespoke for this event. First up are the Boredoms who will continue their BOREDRUM [BOADRUM?] series, performing with 9 drummers on stage. No Age will perform a whole LP by Husker Du including special guest vocalist [um... Bob Mould?]. Deerhoof will perform with special visuals by Martha Colburn. Caribou will perform as Caribou Vibration Ensemble, with a 4 piece horn section, 4 drummers and a choir and guests that include Kieran Hebden (Four Tet/Fridge/Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid), Koushik (Stones Throw Records), John Schmersal (Enon, Brainiac), Kathryn Bint (One Little Plane), Ahmed Gallab (Sinkane) and more. Finally Stardeath and White Dwarfs also join the line-up, with lots more to be announced!

Continue reading "ATP NY 2009 adds more acts & crazy stuff w/ Boredoms, Iron & Wine, Boss Hog, Deerhunter, No Age & more..."

Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival is taking place this year August 28th-30th at Golden Gate Park. Tickets for the fest go on Visa presale Wednesday, April 15th at 1pm ET, and general sale Sunday, April 19th at 1pm ET.

Like last year, the San Francisco fest shares a headliner with NJ's All Points West. In 2008, it was Radiohead. In 2009, it's the Beastie Boys.

Also on the schedule for the fest is the Dead Weather, Jack White's new band. Dead Weather plays its first show tonight (April 14th) at the Bowery Ballroom.

M.I.A., Ween, TVOTR, Mastodon, Os Mutantes, Extra Golden, Tom Jones, and many others are also playing. Full Outside Lands line-up and poster below....

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 festival lineup, Dead Weather tonight"

photos by Leia Jospe

Decider: Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free is more percussive, more rhythmic. Is this the result of one member taking the lead, a concerted group effort, or sheer randomness?

Dana Janssen [of Akron Family]: Well, we didn't necessarily strive to achieve this, but I think what's come out is our affinity for African music. We've been deeply impacted by the work of King Sunny Adé, Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté, Fela Kuti, a lot of the Afrobeat stuff, music we've heard [like] Malian guitar players and desert nomads like Tinariwen. On tours recently, we've been having these big percussion jams where we hand out toys to audience members so they can participate. It's all coming out in the music.

"The bi-city band, based in New York as well as Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was full of whimsical energy Sunday night as they surged through an 11-song set without so much as a pause. Song bled into song, the transitions carried by any combination of the nine people on stage. Of those nine, three drive the madness that is Akron/Family - Seth Olinksy (guitar), Miles Seaton (bass) and Dana Janssen (drums). They have their primary roles, but much like a freak-folk version of Broken Social Scene, they're all multi-instrumentalists, and vocal duties shift, with Olinksy usually taking the lead." [PopDose]

And then the band is on the bill for both All Tomorrow's Parties on September 12th and (with its recently announced line-up) All Points West on August 2nd.

Updated tour dates and more pictures from the New Museum show below...

Continue reading "Akron Family played Union Pool (twice) & New Museum (pics), playing APW, ATP & other places next (dates)"