Allah-Las at Webster Hall in April (more by Joe McCabe)

West Coast retro fringe rockers Allah-Las were here not too long ago as part of a trippy tour with Black Angels and Elephant Stone. The band have a quiet summer as of now, but in the fall they'll be touring the West Coast with likeminded Dutch musician Jacco Gardner.

Before that, though, Allah-Las will be visiting NYC again for a one-off show at Mercury Lounge on September 26. Tickets go on sale Friday (6/7) at noon. It's currently their only East Coast show. All dates are listed, along with a video of the band playing "Long Journey," below.

Continue reading "Allah-Las playing one-off NYC show before West Coast fall dates with Jacco Gardner"

photos by PSquared Photography

Black Angels / Allah-Las / Elephant Stone @ The Bell House, 4/10/2013

Austin psych rockers The Black Angels played their second of two NYC shows last Wednesday (4/10) at The Bell House with tourmates Allah-Las from Los Angeles, and Montreal's Elephant Stone. (The first was at Webster Hall.) This was the third show of the week for Allah-Las, who snuck in a headlining set at Mercury Lounge between the two Black Angels shows. All three bands continue their tour as they head towards The Black Angels' homebase for Austin Psych Fest.

More photos from the Bell House, as well as setlists for Black Angels and Allah-Las, are below.

Continue reading "Black Angels, Allah-Las & Elephant Stone @ Bell House (pics)"

photos by Joe McCabe

Black Angels @ Webster Hall 4/8/2013

I love how they get weirder and darker with each other album. They have such a distinct sound, that there's isn't much reason to alter it. Like another band who I have an unhealthy obsession with, Stereolab, the Black Angels stick to what they do best -- recalling the west coast 60s psych rock scene mixed with some dirty, nasty, sexy, seductive guitar riffs. -[MusicSnobbery]

As discussed, The Black Angels played the first of two NYC dates on April 8th at Webster Hall, snagging support from LA's Allah-Las and Montreal's Elephant Stone, the latter of whom's frontman, Rishi Dir, has been guesting with Black Angels on this tour as well. Pictures of the headliner are in this post. Allah-Las last night's show at Mercury Lounge, hopping on a bill with Young Magic (as hypothesized).

The Black Angels shows are in celebration of the band's new LP Indigo Meadow, and you can win an autographed copy of the gatefold vinyl which comes pressed on 180 gram with a download card and 20 page booklet. Details on how to enter are below.

All three bands play a sold-out Bell House tonight (4/10), and then continue on their wide-reaching tour. Black Angels' Webster Hall setlist is below.

Continue reading "The Black Angels played Webster Hall (pics), play Bell House tonight (win a signed copy of their latest on vinyl)"

photos by Joe McCabe

Allah-Las @ Webster Hall last night

The Black Angels are currently in town, having played the first of two NYC shows last night (4/8) at Webster Hall with openers Allah-Las and Elephant Stone. Tonight is an off-night for the tour and Allah-las have confirmed our suspicions that they are the "special guests" tonight (4/9) at Young Magic's show at Mercury Lounge. Tickets for that show are still available. We've got pictures from Allah-Las' set at Webster Hall last night in this post and we'll have ones of Black Angels and Elephant Stone in a while. All three play again Wednesday (4/10) at The Bell House which is sold out.

Meanwhile, Young Magic will be DJing between sets at SZA's show at Pianos on Saturday (4/13). More Allah-Las pictures and a Spotify stream of Allah-Las' album below...

Continue reading "Allah-Las opened for Black Angels at Webster Hall (pics), are indeed playing Mercury Lounge tonight with Young Magic"

Young Magic @ Webster Hall, Jan. 2013 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Young Magic, who not too long ago wrapped up a tour opening for Purity Ring, are hopefully busy working on a follow-up to last year's Melt. In the meantime, the Australian expats who now call Brooklyn their home have a few local dates lined up. They'll play Mercury Lounge on April 9. That show is with "Special Guests TBA," and a "Reverberation DJ set." Tickets go on sale Friday at noon. The band are also playing Ran Tea House on April 19 and, after a trip to Austin Psych Fest, play Brooklyn Museum on May 4.

Back to the Mercury Lounge show. We're not sure what "Special Guests TBA" is but Reverberation is the name of Allah-Las weekly online radio show (the most recent webcast is streamable below) and this show falls smack-dab inbetween Allah-Las' dates with The Black Angels and Elephant Stone at Webster Hall on April 8 (tickets) and The Bell House on April 10 (tickets). We were wondering if Allah-Las might play a show on their own while here. It looks like they'll be DJing but... hmm.

All Young Magic tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Young Magic playing NYC shows around Austin Psych Fest, one with Allah-Las DJing (playing too?)"

by Bill Pearis

Elephant Stone @ SXSW 2013 (via @BurgerRecords4life)

Montreal's Elephant Stone, who are currently in SXSW with most of the known music universe, will soon be on tour with Black Angels and Allah-Las, hitting NYC for two shows: April 8 at Webster Hall (tickets) and April 10 at The Bell House (tickets). Before that tour starts, Elephant Stone will be in NYC to play Pianos on April 2 with Data Romance, Spirit Animal and Desert Stars. No advance tickets to this show for now. They've got a few other non-Black Angels dates as well and all are listed below.

If you haven't checked out Elephant Stone's harmony-and-sitar-laden pysch-pop, you can stream their terrific new album below.

Continue reading "Elephant Stone add NYC show before tour with Black Angels and Allah Lahs (updated dates)"

The Black Angels at MHOW in 2011 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

As mentioned, The Black Angels are releasing their new album, Indigo Meadow, on April 2 and going on a tour in support of it with fellow psych-rockers Elephant Stone (whose frontman, Rishi Dhir, has played sitar in Black Angels) and Allah-Las. That tour comes to NYC for the previously discussed show on April 8 at Webster Hall. Tickets for that one are still on sale, but if you'd like to catch the band in a smaller NYC location, you can also see them two days later at The Bell House (4/10). Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Elephant Stone are also prepping a new album, which comes out next week (2/5), but you can stream it in full now.

An updated list of dates and the new Black Angels single, "Don't Play with Guns," below...

Continue reading "The Black Angels add 2nd NYC show to tour w/ Elephant Stone and Allah-Las (updated dates)"

Austin's fuzzed-out Black Angels are set to release their fourth album, Indigo Meadow, on April 2. That's the album art above and you can stream the album's zeitgeist-y single "Don't Play with Guns" below.

The Black Angels will be heading out on a two-month tour right after the album's release, including a stop in NYC on April 8 at Webster Hall. Elephant Stone and Allah-Las will open and tickets go on AmEx presale on Wednesday (1/23) at noon with the regular on-sale happening on Friday (1/25) at noon.

Openers Elephant Stone is fronted by Rishi Dir who has spent time in The Black Angels touring unit and you can probably expect him to play sitar on a few Angels songs while they're out together. Elephant Stone's new self-titled album is out February 5 on the Reverberation Appreciation Society, the label run by Austin Psych Fest (which is run by THe Black Angels). Elephant Stone will be at SXSW in Austin before the Black Angels tour and additional tour dates are listed below.

Speaking of Austin Psych Fest, The Black Angels are headlining this year's event which happens April 26 -28 at Carson Creek Ranch.

Continue reading "Black Angels announce new LP and 2013 tour (dates, stream)"

The Fly is the "UK's most popular new music magazine," but if you haven't heard of it, its because it's a free monthly that doesn't really get international distribution. You can however read it online. The mag just released it's year-end issue and topping their Best Albums of 2012 is Sharon Van Etten's Tramp (which was just released in a Deluxe edition, a fine Xmas gift don't you know). Sharon narrowly beat out Grimes, whose Visions came in at #2. The whole list, in ascending order, is below and you can read what The Fly said about each album here.

By the way you can still get tickets for the December 15 show at Cameo that Sharon curated with She Keeps Bees and Speck Mountain and "Special Guest."

A list of the Fly's Top 50 Albums of 2012 is below.

Continue reading "'The Fly' magazine's Top 50 LPs of 2012 (Sharon Van Etten #1)"

(via)

Michael Bolton, who seems to have a good sense of humor about his crappy music, will star as himself in new sitcom Michael Bolton's Daughter Is Destroying My Life according to Deadline. Look for the new sitcom on ABC next year.

Black Sabbath (sans Bill Ward) are finally going to do that album with producer Rick Rubin.

Gothamist wonders aloud if Barclays Center might have a racist metal detector policy (via an article in the NY Post).

I swear the BrooklynVegan not-CMJ day party lineups are coming very soon, though we've already revealed that we've got METZ, Deap Vally and Murals.

The 2012 edition of Austin City Limits, which is switching to two weeks next year, went down over the weekend (sans The Weeknd). Check out our photos from Day Two and Day One. Day Three on the way.

Speaking of the trend of having your festival two weekends in a row now, Ultra Music Festival announced they're doing it too.

Jon Carmanica at the NY Times talks about dance stars evolving to pop fame.

The same issue of the NY Times profiles Ellie Goulding who is dating pop fame dance star Skrillex (who she was hanging out with at Pianos the other night).

Adele's "Someone Like You" has topped another chart: most popular songs at funerals.

The Nick Waterhouse and Allah-Las tour hit Chicago last week. We got pictures.

Speaking of pictures, in NY we recently captured the butt shaking going on at Bowery for Nicky Da B, Flying Lotus and then SBTRKT at Terminal 5, Public Image LTD at both MHOW and Hammerstein, Menomena at Bowery (MHOW on the way), Revelation Records Anniversary Night Two (three and four on the way), and Morrissey not once, not twice, but thrice.

And oh yeah, don't forget the New York Comic Con shots.

Stream Divine Fits' appearance on NPR's World Cafe from earlier today.

Xbox's iTunes-esque new music service debuts tomorrow. Surprise: you're going to have to update your firmware to use it.

Kitty Pride, who plays CMJ this week, hates fellow redhead Tori Amos. For weird reasons.

More stuff below...

Continue reading "ALSO: Michael Bolton's sitcom; Adele tops new chart; ACL, Black Sabbath, PS 22 does Tame Impala, Madonna stripped ++ more"

by Bill Pearis

Los Angeles' Allah-Las will release their Nick Waterhouse-produced debut album next week (9/18) on Innovative Leisure. You can stream it now below via Spotify. If you like leather fringe jackets, 12-string Rickenbackers, lush harmonies and jingle-jangle mornings, the Allah-Las do this sort of thing really well. You can also check out the video for their single "Busman's Holiday" below as well.

As mentioned before, The Allah-Las are on a tour with their producer Nick Waterhouse which will hit NYC on October 6 at Bowery Ballroom (tickets are still available). The band have added a headlining show, which happens the night before (10/5) at Union Pool. Union Pool's website says advance tickets will be available but there's no link yet.

All Allah-Las tour dates are listed below along with the album stream and video.

Continue reading "Allah-Las playing Union Pool before their Bowery Ballroom show with Nick Waterhouse (updated dates & LP stream)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Nick Waterhouse - Some Place (MP3)

Nick Waterhouse

Meet angel-faced, starched-shirted, vintage glasses-sporting producer and musician Nick Waterhouse, whose driver's license says he's 24 but whose record collection suggests he was born in 1942.

Amy Winehouse might be gone, but old-style soul and R&B lives on via musicians like Charles Bradley, Adele, Sharon Jones and L.A.'s Aloe Blacc. Now, here comes a kid from Huntington Beach with an ear for some of the rawest, most rug-cutting R&B ever pressed to vinyl, his preferred medium. "If I'm going to bother to use a real guitar," he says later, "I want a real sound wave.

He's just starting the first recording session for his debut EP on up-and-coming local label Innovative Leisure, which launched throwback garage-soul rocker Hanni El Khatib into the stratosphere. He's also in possession of a bevy of offers to produce and record, including with Weekly favorites the Allah-Las and a series of plum gigs, including an opening slot for Booker T. (of immortal soul band Booker T. & the M.G.s) and a spot at the Sunset Junction festival this weekend. He has a small but potent and quickly growing collection of fans, many of whom have become enraptured by his self-released 45 rpm vinyl single "Some Place," which sold out in an instant and now changes hands for almost $100 on eBay. [L.A. Weekly]

Nick Waterhouse's debut album Time's All Gone is out May 1 on Innovative Leisure. You can download "Some Place" from the album at the top of this post or stream it below. Around the same time, Nick hits the road with backing band His Tarots, a tour that rolls into NYC on May 19 at Mercury Lounge. All tour dates are below.

I caught a few songs at SXSW and he definitely had the joint jumping with his brand of in-the-red R&B.

--
Allah-Las at SXSW 2012

At the same showcase I saw Waterhouse's fellow Angelenos and labelmates Allah-Las, which was one of my highlights of SXSW 2012, where I wrote:

12-string guitars, Vox bass, bolo ties, nehru collars... Los Angeles' Allah Las are a pristine recreation of '60s West Coast pop with great songs like upcoming single "Tell Me What's on Your Mind." Not pastiche, the real deal.

That single (produced by Waterhouse) came out this week and you can watch video below which is definitely in a mood with song (and slightly NSFW).

The Allah-Las and Waterhouse also share sides of a Record Store Day split single. It's an 8", which I suppose is the vinyl equivalent of "this one goes to 11." Gotta admit it looks pretty cool but good luck fitting it in your singles box.

Click through for Nick Waterhouse tour dates and track stream, as well as that groovy Allah-Las video.

Continue reading "Nick Waterhouse releasing 'Time's All Gone', touring in May, produced new Allah-Las single & RSD 8" (MP3, dates & video)"

The Fresh & Onlys @ Psych Fest 2011 (more by Tim Griffin)

The Reverberation Appreciation Society and The Black Angels have released the initial lineup poster for the 5th annual Austin Psych Fest. This year's fest, running from April 27th - 29th (in Austin), will take place at Austin's two newest big venues, recently opened Emo's East and the soon-to-be open Beauty Ballroom which is next door.

Emo's East is now the only Emo's since their Red River location closed on 12/30, and the Beauty Ballroom is (hopefully) having their rescheduled Grand Opening on January 27th (with Theophilus London and Treasure Fingers) and continuing on January 28th.

APF will feature around 60 bands over the three day, two room event. About 40 are included in the poster below, with another 20 or so to be announced in March. Announced bands include the Black Angels (who played Emo's East on New Year's Eve), the Black Lips, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dead Meadow, Olivia Tremor Control, Wooden Shijps, and many more. Weekend passes go on sale this Saturday (January 21st) at 12pm CST at austinpsychfest.com.

Check out photos from the 2011 edition of Psych Fest (held at Seaholm Power Plant) HERE.

Chaos in Tejas, a different kind of Austin music fest that happens in June, also announced bands on their lineup today.

SXSW, which is in March, continues to announce bands all the time and recently posted their initial schedule.

Psych Fest 2012 poster, lineup and Bandcamp mixtape, below...

Continue reading "Austin Psych Fest annnounces initial 2012 lineup, new venue; SXSW posted their initial schedule"