DOWNLOAD: Black Dice - "Pigs" (MP3)

Black Dice at PS1 in 2011 (more by Erez Avissar)

Brooklyn experimentalists Black Dice will release their new album, Mr. Impossible on April 10 via the Domino-related Ribbon Music. It's the followup to Repo which was released almost exactly three years prior via Paw Tracks. Grab the single, "Pigs," above and watch the video for it below. The album artwork and tracklist is also below.

Black Dice were added to the Real Estate show at K&K Super Buffet on January 28 in Queens, which is part of Real Estate's tour with The Babies. Dogleather is also on the bill and Oneohtrix Point Never and Ducktails will DJ. $5.00 tickets are on sale NOW.

In related news, Real Estate member Alex Bleeker and the Freaks have two NYC shows coming up. They play Mercury Lounge on February 4 with La Big Vic and Family Portrait. Tickets are on sale now. They also play Glasslands on March 5 with Young Prisms, Boy Friend, and Tanks Amigo. Tickets for that show are on sale now too. The Glasslands show is part of a tour that Young Prisms will be heading out on. All dates for that tour are listed below.

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

Continue reading "Black Dice releasing 'Mr. Impossible', playing w/ Real Estate ($5 tix on sale now) ----- MP3 & Young Prisms dates too"

DOWNLOAD: Woods - "Christmas Time is Here" (VInce Guaraldi Cover) (MP3)

Woods at Woodsist Fest in July (more by Natasha Ryan)

Woods are heading out on a December tour that begins today (12/7) and culminates in a hometown show at Glasslands on December 19 with Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Steve Gunn, and Tide Eyed (DJ). Tickets are on sale now.

Woods are also welcoming the month of December with a cover of a song Dawes also just performed for the AV Club. It's Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here." You can grab that cover above, and stream it below along with all dates...

Continue reading "Woods on tour, covered 'Christmas Time is Here' (MP3, dates)"

DOWNLOAD: Woodsman - "In Circles" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Woodsman - "Tone Cloak" (MP3)

Woodsman @ SXSW 2011 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

"After spreading the gospel in the Rhinoceropolis DIY scene of their native Denver, Woodsman unleashed a steady torrent of brain-burning 7"s and cassettes last year with the help of Mexican Summer and Lefse. On their new full-length, Rare Forms, Woodsman take full advantage of one of Germany's finest exports: the mechanical, "motorik" 4/4, or what Neu! drummer Klaus Dinger once called the "Apache-Beat." Still, their music evokes something more bucolic than the steel and asphalt of the autobahn. Warm guitar tones, distant melodies, grainy feedback loops, and shamanistic drumming summon panoramic landscapes and mystical milieus-- images, I think, that would come to mind even if the band hadn't adopted a pastoral namesake." [Altered Zones]

Woodsman, who are set to release their upcoming EP, Mystic Places, on October 25 via Fire Talk, have a few shows coming up including two in NYC this week. They play Cake Shop on Thursday (8/25) with Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, Orca Team and Flower Orgy and Shea Stadium on Friday (8/26) with Steve Gunn, Sacred Harp, and GDFX. They also play a New Haven, CT show on August 31 at BAR. Grab two MP3s from the upcoming EP above, or stream the same songs with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Woodsman releasing new EP, touring (MP3s & dates)"

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]

Molly Sarle was in fact the female voice on stage with her own band BOBBY at Knitting Factory last night (5/5), a change from BOBBY's last NYC show, and every other show they've played since. Mountain Man member Amelia Meath, who filled in for Molly at the previous shows, instead watched this one from the front row.

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)"