The Babies @ Cake Shop - 2/6/2012 (more by Jessica Amaya)

285 Kent, the most difficult venue to keep track of in terms of who is playing, is hosting a show TONIGHT (Thursday, 2/9):

===| THURSDAY 2/9 @ 285 KENT AVE |====
:: Alex Bleeker and the Freaks
:::: the Babies
:::::: Darlings
:::::::: Life Size Maps --- ep release
:::::::::: Heaven's Gate
285 Kent Ave @ South 1st | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, G-Metropolitan, JM-Marcy | 8pm | $7-$10 sliding scale donation | all ages

Continue reading "Vivian Girls playing free Fashion Week event; The Babies are at 285 Kent tonight with Alex Bleeker"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Title Tracks - All Tricks (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pursesnatchers - Baseball on the Radio (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Paperhead - Back to Those Days (MP3)

The Paperhead

First up is The Paperhead who are in town for two shows: Tonight (7/2) at Death by Audio and Friday (7/22) at Bruar Falls. I caught The Paperhead at SXSW during the Trouble in Mind day party where the Nashville band stood out from than the rest of the bands on the bill (or the label). Instead of fuzzed-out garage rock, The Paperhead favor paisley-powered psych. Their Trouble in Mind debut is a nice cup of mushroom tea and the band (who also look the part) are pretty good live.

The Gytters

Tonight's show at DBA is with fellow Nashville residents and tourmates D Watusi, plus The Gytters, The Hairs and which is a pretty good bill all around. Get there early to check out openers The Gytters who I caught a couple weeks ago at Bruar Falls. The band is fronted by Scott Rosenthall who plays keyboards in Class Actress and has played with (and produced) The Beets. Sorta twangy new wave, you can download their song "Divebombers" from their bandcamp site. And The Hairs play this show too. Their 7" on Magic Marker is four songs of near-perfect snarky indiepop.

Friday's show at Bruar Falls is headlined by Conversion Party who manage to be anthemic without the pretense that often comes with it. D Watusi also play, plus Pennsylvania's Royal Shoals and Tank.

Pursesnatchers

You may remember Doug Marvin from mid-'00s band Dirty on Purpose where he played drums and also sang (and wrote) some of the neo-shoegazers' catchiest material. Since DoP went kaput, Doug has continued making music under the Pursesnatchers moniker. Originally a true solo project, Pursesnatchers have become a real band with Doug moving to guitar, for a lineup and that also includes his wife Annie Hart (one third of Au Revoir Simone, and they both play in Uninhabitable Mansions) who also takes lead vocals on a couple songs.

That band made Pursesnatchers' new album, A Pattern Language, which just came out this week. The sound is an extension of what Doug did in Dirty on Purpose: melodic, brittle songs that are bolstered by waves of guitar. It's a really nice record. You can download "Baseball on the Radio" at the top of this post.

The point of all this is that Pursenatchers are playing a record release party for the album Friday night (7/22) at Union Hall with The Thieves and Finding Fiction.

Title Tracks

John Davis' post-Georgie James group, Title Tracks, are also here this weekend, playing Cake Shop on Saturday (7/23) with Face Time, Steel Phantoms and Follower. There's been a little shifting in the Title Tracks camp who are now playing as a (power) trio. There's a new Title Tracks album too, In Blank, which is another platter of terrific power pop in the Nerves/Shoes/Nick Lowe tradition. You can download "All Tricks" at the top of this post. I haven't seen the new line-up but if it's anywhere near as good as previous incarnations, I heartily endorse seeing Title Tracks live.

Parlovr

And finally, Montreal trio Parlovr are in town for two shows: Friday night (7/22) at Glasslands and then Monday (7/25) at Mercury Lounge opening for Cloud Control. Parlovr make good use of their visa and play here fairly often but I really do think they're great live and are absolutely worth checking out. As I wrote before:

Singers Louis Jackson and Alex Cooper semi face each other from opposite sides of the stage rocking back and forth like manic Drinking Birds, flipping their '90s skate rat hair around, while mountain man drummer Jeremy MacCuish holds down the beat. They clearly enjoy playing, and it's a lot of fun to watch too.

That's it for this week. There are a few more day-by-day picks below.

THURSDAY, JULY 21

Dent May has been on tour with Real Estate but plays a smaller show with Real Estate's Alex Bleeker and (underwater) peep Julian Lynch, at Glasslands. Prince Rama will be your DJs for the evening. Dent ditches the ukulele for his great new single "Fun" which is almost a dance track with its groovy bassline, keyboards and electronic handclaps. It's available digitally now, and the 7" is out physically in September. You can stream it below.

Cass McCombs, Lower Dens should make for a lovely evening of mellow music at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

The Monkees play for free at Coney Island at the Cyclones Stadium. While a lot of people just remember them for "Daydream Believer" they made a lot of great music, actually, and hopefully they'll play some deep cuts like "Randy Scouse Git" and "Forget That Girl." Hopefully they won't play that Davy Jones song from the Brady Bunch. Actually that songs pretty good.

continued below...

Continue reading "The Paperhead, Pursesnatchers, Title Tracks, Parlovr, Dent May, The Monkees & more in This Week in Indie"

Real Estate at Bomb Fest 2011 (more by Eric M Townsend)

Congrats to Real Estate (and new live drummer Jackson Pollis), as well as offshoots Ducktails (Real Estate's Matthew Mondanile) and Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, who have all signed to Domino! The label will release the forthcoming Real Estate LP, currently in the throes of production, in October. Details are forthcoming. Meanwhile some new live shows were announced.

With the heat starting to crank up even though its only early June, there may be some reconsideration regarding show choices based on venue coolness and comfort. We already knew that The Feelies will play Maxwell's three times in early July in addition to their FREE outdoor appearance at Prospect Park with Times New Viking and Real Estate. But now comes word that Real Estate has hopped on the air-conditioning train too, by adding a show at Maxwell's on July 24th (the day after the Prospect Park show). Tickets for Real Estate are on sale, and Feelies tix are all still available too: July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

The Maxwell's show, like most of Real Estate's July dates, will be with Dent May. They are all listed below.

Both Real Estate and Ducktails will also hit the Woodsist Festival in Big Sur on July 30th and 31st, where they'll meet up with Woods, Sic Alps (new/old drummer Ty Segall included), The Fresh & Onlys, Woods/Fresh & Onlys Big Band, and many others over the two days. Individual day tickets are still available.

Full Woodsist lineup, some videos and all dates, below...

Continue reading "Real Estate, Ducktails & Alex Bleeker all sign to Domino, schedule shows too (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

BOBBY @ Knitting Factory

"If you were at Knitting Factory last night, you got a trio of entertainment forms. You have the experimental musical stylings of BOBBY, you have projected artistic images and the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. As we know, Cinco de Mayo is when St. Mayo drove five big snakes out of Tijuana using a mariachi band while wearing a big sombrero.

The Massachusetts-based collective are a fairly new band as founded by Tom Greenberg and featuring Molly Sarle of the popular vocal group Mountain Man. When I use the term experimental, that's a code word for "I have no idea what genre of music this lies under". Then I have to admit that music shouldn't need to be defined by genres. With the sparse guitars and a few electronic samplers, keyboards and processors, BOBBY does a fine of job making all that weirdness come together. It does help that Sarle's whoops and moans gives their set an other worldly quality." [Music Snobbery]

BOBBY played after a chill set by Real Estate side project Alex Bleeker & the Freaks (who covered a Mountain Man song). Detroit band Prussia opened the show and impressed with high energy and strong vocals. To quote Flagpole, "Imagine Flowers-era Rolling Stones colliding with Animal Collective while hanging out at Vampire Weekend's house and you're on the right track."

Right before the show we hosted a Hornitos Tequila-sponsored Cinco de Mayo party in the Knitting Factory front bar. 21+ ticketholders could choose between a free "Vegan Margarita" (named after the website more than the ingredients) and the "What about Bobb(by)" (or they could have both) (or as many as they could drink/hold in a 2 hour period). Which one did you like better? I thought I liked the "Vegan" better at first, but ended up partial to the "Bobby."

BOBBY return to NYC as part of a tour with Thao & Mirah. Prussia also played a show one night earlier at Mercury Lounge with Dominique Young Unique. Alex Bleeker's band Real Estate has a few shows coming up later this month.

More pictures from the Knitting Factory show, below...

Continue reading "BOBBY, Alex Bleeker & the Freaks & Prussia played our Cinco de Mayo show @ Knitting Factory (pics)"

DOWNLOAD: BOBBY - Sore Spores (MP3)

BOBBY @ SXSW (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

As first experienced by NYC at Bowery Ballroom before a set by the Low Anthem, and then seen and heard in Austin by those at SXSW (see here, here and here), BrooklynVegan is proud to present BOBBY live at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on May 5th with support from Alex Bleeker and the Freaks (and possibly one more band TBA). Tickets are on sale now for what is currently BOBBY's only upcoming live show.

As you know, BOBBY is a band (not a person) featuring a member of Mountain Man (a band not a man) on vocals. Which member of Mountain Man that is, depends on who is available (Molly Sarle is officially the frontwoman, but Amelia Meath filled in on the recent live dates). Mountain Man's only upcoming show at the moment is the Newport Folk Festival, though I wouldn't be surprised if they fill in their schedule by the time that fest comes around.

Alex Bleeker also belongs to another band, Real Estate to be specific, and they have a whole bunch of other shows coming up.

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Melted Toys - Come On (MP3)

Psych and San Francisco have gone hand in hand since the '60s and, in addition to all the groovy garage the city has beeng putting out, there's a nice crop of neo-shoegazers happening over there. Unlike Weekend and Young Prisms who come at you with gale force, trio Melted Toys are more Sunday morning type music. Gently strummed guitars, watery bass and echo-y vocals drift across cheap Casio beats. They've got an EP coming out on Underwater Peoples on February 22 and you can check out "Come On" above, which would segue nicely into the Radio Dept. (or early Primal Scream) song of your choice.

Melted Toys just wrapped up a tour with the aformentioned Young Prisms, and pull into town for a few shows this week in the greater NYC area. They play tonight (Feb. 2) at Maxwell's and tomorrow (Feb. 3) at Glasslands, and both shows are with tourmates LA duo Speculator, Real Estate's Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, and Wet Dream (members of Family Portrait).  Melted Toys also play Friday (Feb. 4) at Silent Barn, again with Speculator but also Eola and Punks on Mars. And if you're up Rochester way, see them at The Bug Jar on Saturday (Feb. 5) with Wet Dream.

Young Prisms also arrive in town tonight (Feb. 2) as part of their tour with the Radio Dept. Tickets for the show at Music Hall of Williamsburg are still on sale. Young Prisms return to the same Brooklyn venue in April for a show with Crocodiles and The Fresh & Onlys as part of a tour at that time. Tickets for the April show go on AmEx presale today at noon.

All Melted Toys tour dates, plus a live video, are after the jump.

Continue reading "Melted Toys are here for 3 shows (2 w/ Alex Bleeker), Young Prisms & the Radio Dept tonight too"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Big Troubles - Freudian Slips (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Big Troubles - Drastic and Difficult (MP3)

Big Troubles' full-length debut, Worry, came out a couple weeks ago on Olde English Spelling Bee. You can download two tracks from it at the top of this post and listen to the whole album via their Bandcamp page.

The band play Thursday (9/23) at Glasslands with Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, Christmas Island, and The Babies (the latter two also just opened for Wavves at MHOW). Big Troubles also have some CMJ dates announced too, including a pretty sweet Saturday, October 23rd all day capeshok/inflated showcase at Bruar Falls with Woven Bones, Eternal Summers, Pregnant, Shrag, Sweet Bulbs, Mathemagic, Dead Gaze, Flight, Oberhofer, Rooftop Vigilantes, and Frankie Rose & the Outs.

For Frankie Rose, that makes at least two shows you can catch her and band at during CMJ, though it's unclear if either show is "official".

Woven Bones also play the Hardly Art show happening at Shea Stadium that week.

As a onetime '90s shoegaze obsessive, Worry really pushes all my buttons. It's got that gauzy mix of effects-laden guitars, distortion and melody down pat. And while I can hear specific touchstones -- The Boo Radleys, Medicine, Drop Nineteens as well as some of the more obvious ones -- the songs definitely stand on their own. You don't need to have remembered Revolver and Moose to appreciate the album --Worry is choc-ful of catchy songs.  And with a live drummer replacing the sequenced beats on the record, they're good live too.

A couple music videos and all upcoming Big Troubles live dates are below.

Continue reading "Big Troubles playing shows, soon & during CMJ (MP3 & dates) "

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 "

Alex Bleeker

tonight in NYC
* Mr Scruff on a boat
* The Oblivians in Kearny
* The Feelies @ Maxwell's
* The Hood Internet @ The Bell House
* High Places, Toro y Moi @ Whitney Museum
* Huntsville, Opsvik & Jennings @ Joe's Pub
* Alejandro Escovedo, Willie Nile @ City Winery
* Stumblebum Brass Band, Ippazzi @ Mercury Lounge
* Rooftop Films w/ Bow Ribbons @ Open Road Rooftop
* Yellow Fever, Woven Bones @ South Street Seaport
* Marissa Nadler, Martin Bisi, Humanwine @ Union Pool
* Landlady, The Relatives, Uncles @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* OTIS, Bocat, Parlor Grand, The Modern Airline @ Southpaw
* The Hsu-nami, Zoobombs, Dead Leaf Echo, Slowness @ Pianos
* Conspiracy of Owls, Apache, Cum Stain, Cosmonauts @ Don Pedro
* Midsummer Night Swing w/ Orchestre Septentrional @ Damrosch Park
* Reading Rainbow, Family Trees, Slow Animal, Crinkles @ Cake Shop
* Faith No More, Neil Hamburger, Rahzel @ Williamsburg Waterfront
* Scream, Lionize, Dykstra, Chron Turbine @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* Glass Candy, DJ Mike Simonetti, Xeno & Oaklander @ Highline Ballroom
* Fan-Tan, Monogold, Tiny Victories, In Every Room, Papertwin @ Glasslands
* DJ 1000 Times Yes, DJ GDFX, DJ Intl Tapes, So So Glos DJs @ Shea Stadium
* The Specific Heats, Overlord, Party Photographers, Girlfriends @ Bruar Falls
* The Beets, Coasting, Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Dead Gaze, Andrew Cedermark @ Monster Island Basement

FROM TODD P>====| FRIDAY 7/2 @ MONSTER ISLAND |====

:: GROUP TIGHTENER PARTY

:: THE BEETS
:::: Coasting
:::::: Alex Bleeker & the Freaks
:::::::: Dead Gaze
:::::::::: Andrew Cedemark

:: special guests: HARD BOP

| MONSTER ISLAND |
128 River St @ Metropolitan Ave | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, G-Metropolitan, JM-Marcy | 8pm | all ages | $8

| curated by Group Tightener |

====| FRIDAY 7/2 -MIDNIGHT- @ SHEA STADIUM |====

:: SO SO GLOS DANCE PARTAY
:: a benefit for SHOWPAPER - http://showpaper.org

:: dj 1000 Times Yes -- Chris Weingarten
:: dj GDFX -------- mem Liturgy
:: dj Intl Tapes ----- Señor Ric Leichtung
:: So So Glos djsCheck out THIS WEEK IN INDIE for more.

What else?

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Loose Limbs - Red Hands (Martin Clancy Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: New Numbers - Islands EP (Zip)

Broken Social Scene @ SXSW (more by Bryan Bruchman)

Aquarian Weekly: Where does Broken Social Scene go from here? Are there any cinematic soundtracks on the horizon?

Brendan Canning: We've got a lot of cinematic music in the can. There's a few movies we're working on while we do a month of touring and festivals to promote the record. We're involved with Daydream Nation, It's Kind Of A Funny Story, and This Movie Is Broken, which mixes Broken Social Scene live concert footage with a plot line that's half fiction thrown in. Now's the time to work hard, stay on top of things, and know this is our moment.

Continue reading "Zeus, Broken Social Scene, New Numbers, Penguin Prison, The Primitives, Alex Bleeker & more in This Week in Indie "

The Wedding Present @ Bowery in 2008 (more by Tim Griffin)

tonight in NYC
* Lupe Fiasco @ Irving Plaza
* The Antlers @ Vino Wine Bar
* The Fuzzy Lemons @ Knitting Factory
* Brujeria, Sr. Fuss, Pro-Fe-Cia @ Webster Hall
* Fred Armisen & Andrew Jeffrey Wright @ Family Bookstore
* The Wedding Present plays Bizarro @ Bowery Ballroom
* Young, Dicker, Snyder, Nancy Garcia, Neice @ Zebulon
* Legendary Shack Shakers, Danny Barnes @ Mercury Lounge
* Dream Diary, Lil Daggers, Sundelles, Shark? @ Glasslands
* Issue Project Room "opening" w/ Ne(x)tworks @ 110 Livingston St
* Signal play Philip Glass's "Glassworks" and more @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Viennagram, Big Gunz!, Baby Brainwaves, Slam Down Birthday Cake @ Party Expo
* Michael Forbes/Andrew Scott Young/Weasel Walter,Mick Barr,Zevious @DeathByAudio
* Kayo Dot, Bauder/Cymerman/Evans/Wooley Amplified Quartet, Kevin Hufnagel @ Union Pool
* Chris Barron, Jerry Joseph, Jonah Smith, Paula Valstein, Craig Greenberg @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Twin Sister, Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Weed Hounds, Second Floor Stories & Baybee Teeth @ Silent Barn

Issue Project Room's new 110 Livingston St space has a special preview open house with music from 11:30am-5:30pm. The program is one, long song, Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2 performed by Ne(x)tworks.

Th' Legendary Shack*Shakers are at Mercury Lounge tonight. They play with Monotonix and Old Time Relijun on Wednesday, April 14th at Brooklyn Bowl.

Mexican garage rock Mentira Mentira, who played MtyMX, are still in town - they play tonight at new venue Party Expo.

Twin Sister opened for Xiu Xiu Friday night at Bowery Ballroom. Tonight catch them with Alex Beeker of Real Estate and others at Silent Barn.

We're hosting a free screening of the new Banksy documentary at Knitting Factory today. Flyer below...

Xiu Xiu's new video for "This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy)" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

Thanks @realyrealestate, family portrait, alex bleeker + freaks & ALL who came to MICRO-PIXEL-RITES party! Even the cops showed up! -georgiakral

photos by Rhiannon Marino, second set by Erez Avissar

Real Estate were the not-so-secret guest at the Alex Bleeker & The Freaks/Family Portrait apartment show in Bushwick on Saturday, March 6th. Alex Bleeker is also a member of Real Estate.

All three of those bands will be at SXSW. Alex Bleeker & Family Portaits' Austin shows include the Micro-Pixel-Rites Showcase at 1204 Salina Street on Thursday, March 18th. A flyer and video-trailer for that are below.

According to the schedule below, Real Estate will be cramming ten sets into their four-day Austin trip (none of which are even one of our seven parties unfortunately). But before that, they're playing this Friday, March 12th at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Woods (who they're touring with), Happy Birthday and Wild Nothing. That show is sold-out, and sadly no longer includes the Bitters - you'll have to catch Bitters down South or with Best Coast in NYC on April 6th and 7th.

All tour dates and two full set of pictures are below...

Continue reading "Real Estate played a 'secret' apt show w/ Family Portrait, Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, playing more shows (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Beach Fossils - Time (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Campo-Formio - El Joke (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Total Slacker - Crystal Necklace (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Diehard - Cool Kids (MP3)

Total Slacker

Tonight's the last show of The Babies' three-night Williamsburg run, this one part of a five-band bill at Glasslands. I didn't go to their show last night at Brooklyn Bowl with Real Estate, but most of the word I heard from friends who was pretty positive, including BV's own Andrew Frisicano. (When did Babies add the "The" to their name, btw?) The show tonight (1/6) is a solid line-up, maybe the most interesting of the three. Beach Fossils, who get better each time I see them, are set to have a busy 2010, with singles on Woodsist and Captured Tracks and a debut album in March that's a joint release between those two labels. The first taste of that is the song "Time" which you can download above. Sounds like they've dropped the weird vocal effects that I've disliked in the past, so that's the last I'll say on that subject. They're big hopes for this year. Beach Fossils head out on tour with The Beets and San Francisco's Christmas Island in February (Cake Shop on 2/9), and those dates are at the bottom of this post.

Also playing are Total Slacker, whose music sounds a lot like their name -- hazy, lazy with some majorly sarcastic lyrics. I spent much of this morning listening to the songs on their MySpace, none of which get above Galaxie 500 velocity but have high repeat listenability. ("Video Store Rental Guy" is pretty funny.) You can download one of them, "Crystal Necklace," at the top of this post. Total Slacker have a few more shows lined up if you can't make it to Glasslands tonight and those dates are at the bottom of this post. Also also playing tonight: Washington DC's True Womanhood and The Sundelles.

Diehard

Thursday (1/7) at Union Pool is the record release party for local band Diehard's new EP, Oh So Premier. I wrote previously that they "channeled mid-'90s indie rock" and I think that comes through on the very tuneful tracks on the new record -- you can download "Cool Kids" from it at the top of this post. Singer Ezra Selove has one of those Indie Rock Voices, like Quasi's Sam Coomes or the Delgados' Alun Woodward, that sounds good paired with distorted guitars and female vocals (in this case, guitarist Liz Schroeter). These guys are good. Also playing: Mr. Dream, a band that features two rock journalists (Former Pitchfork and Village Voice writer Nick Sylvester and P4k's Adam Moerder), and experimental art-folkers My Favorite Things.

Also Thursday night (1/7): can-bashing Philadelphians Drink Up Buttercup play The Studio at Webster Hall. Their debut album, Born and Thrown on a Hook, is out March 23 on Yep Roc. The show also features Alex Bleeker and The Freaks, which is the country-folky side project from Real Estate bassist, and a few others.

Campo-Formio

Friday night (1/8) at Silent Barn is a real international affair, with bands from France (Subtle Turnhips), Puerto Rico (Campo-Formio) and two completely different parts of Brooklyn (My Teenage Stride and Electricians). There's not a lot of information out there about enigmatic Franco-garage punks Subtle Turnhips but apparently they've been around for a long time. You can download their entire new album for free from their website. One of the tracks from is is linked above.

Campo-Formio describe themselves thusly: "An intense power trio influenced by the sounds since proto-punk. We have a lot of energy to blast people's faces in our live performances. A twangy, shimmery guitar with a creative strumming, a deep bass and intense drum patterns beautifully present one ugly presentation." You can check out their creative, Unrest-like strumming on the track "El Joke" at the top of this post. In addition to the Silent Barn show on Friday, Campo-Formio also play Meat Town in New Bruswick, NJ on Saturday (1/9) and then Don Pedro's on 1/15 and Arlene's Grocery on 1/16.

Flyers and tour dates after the jump....

Continue reading "Beach Fossils, Total Slacker, Diehard, Drink Up Buttercup, Subtle Turnhips, Campo-Formio & more in This Week in Indie"

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) "