Portland festival MusicFestNW is returning this year to multiple Portland venues from September 3-8 with a ton of bands including Animal Collective, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Superchunk, Deerhunter, Charles Bradley, Shuggie Otis, Joey Bada$$, Bonnie Prince Billy, Chromatics, Glass Candy, Flume, Youth Lagoon, Washed Out, The Thermals, TItus Andronicus, Bob Mould, Baroness, Austra, Ty Segall, The Bronx, The Men, Mount Eerie, White Lung, and many more. Ticket info is coming soon.

Initial lineup below...

Continue reading "MusicFestNW 2013 lineup announced (Animal Collective, Godspeed, Deerhunter, Shuggie Otis, Ty Segall & more)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Kurt Vile & the Violators @ Bowery Ballroom, 5/16/2013

The set was strong throughout, with certain jaw-dropping standouts. The pulsing "Shame Chamber," arguably the bounciest and most radio-friendly track on Pretty Daze, came to a gripping crescendo of piercing howls, frantic guitar soloing and tireless percussion. It was almost as though Vile was baiting the FM dial only to forcefully back away and maintain his musical independence. "Girl Called Alex," a heady, wafting song that grows increasingly more agitated and electrified as the measures race by, had the crowd applauding before it was even over.-[Williamette Week]

Last night's Bowery shows was one of many on Kurt's tour, that will swing through NYC again next month to headline the 4Knots Fest. Tonight (5/16) Kurt will be on The Late Show with David Letterman. More pictures from Bowery Ballroom are below.

Continue reading "Kurt Vile & The Violators played Bowery Ballroom with Angel Olsen and Steve Gunn (pics); playing Letterman tonight"

One of the most eclectic lineups in the US, Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, NC, will be back for 2013 on September 5 -7. Pulling from all genres, this year's line-up includes names like Big Boi (who plays NYC tonight), Spiritualized, Sleep, Wolf Eyes (who have a new video), The Breeders (performing Last Splash), John Cale, Kurt Vile & the Violators, Gorguts, Inter Arma (who play NYC on Saturday), Double Negative (who played NYC this past weekend), Swearin' (them too), Pissed Jeans, Dan Friel, Waxahatchee and many many others. Three-day wristbands are on sale now with individual day tickets going on sale in June. Full lineup is below.

Continue reading "Hopscotch announces 2013 lineup (Big Boi, Sleep, Spiritualized, Kurt Vile, Wolf Eyes, John Cale, more)"

Angel Olsen @ Glasslands, Nov. 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Angel Olsen has signed with Jagjaguwar (home of Bon Iver, Sharon Van Etten, Foxygen and more) who will release her follow-up to last year's Half Way Home. While we wait for that to happen, Angel recorded an Epitonic Session that just went up and is available for download here.

This weekend, Angel starts a West Coast tour before hooking up with Kurt Vile for a string of dates that includes the sold out NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on May 16. You can, however still get tickets to her headlining show at Glasslands on May 19. Angel has added a few other dates as well and her updated tour schedule is below.

Continue reading "Angel Olsen signs with Jagjaguwar, releases Epitonic session ++ updated tour dates"

Pitchfork Festival 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

The final Pitchfork Festival lineup has now been announced, and in addition to previously announced acts like R. Kelly, Joanna Newsom, and Swans, it now includes M.I.A., Lil B, Solange, Wire, Yo La Tengo, Low, Savages, Toro Y Moi, Phosphorescent, Metz, Autre Ne Veut, Mikal Cronin, Parquet Courts, Merchandise, Woods, Julia Holter, Glass Candy, Andy Stott, Pissed Jeans, Frankie Rose, Ryan Hemsworth, Waxahatchee, Blood Orange, Daughn Gibson, Evian Christ, White Lung, KEN Mode, and DJ Rashad.

Three-day passes and single-day tickets are still available.

In other Chicago music festival news, Lollapalooza early bird passes went on sale today, sold out, and then regular 3-day passes went on sale and sold out. Single day tickets go on sale April 9.

Full Pitchfork Festival lineup and schedule below...

Continue reading "M.I.A., Solange, Wire, Savages, Phosphorescent, Julia Holter, Waxahatchee, KEN Mode & more added to Pitchfork Festival"

Pitchfork Fest 2012 (more by James Richards IV

After already announcing R. Kelly, Björk, and Belle and Sebastian as the headliners for this year's Pitchfork Music Festival, P4k has revealed that those artists will be joined by Joanna Newsom, The Breeders (playing Last Splash), Swans, El-P, Killer Mike, TNGHT, Chairlift, Sky Ferreira, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Rustie, Mac DeMarco, Foxygen, Angel Olsen, Trash Talk, and Tree.

More artists are still TBA and three-day passes and individual day tickets are still available.

Current lineup/schedule below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork Festival announces more acts (Joanna Newsom, Breeders, Swans, Rustie, Killer Mike, El-P & more)"

Angel Olsen at Glasslands in 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

As mentioned, folk singer Angel Olsen is opening a few of the Northeast dates on Kurt Vile and the Violators' upcoming tour, including the NYC show at Bowery Ballroom (5/16). It's no surprise that that show sold out, but you'll have another chance to catch Angel Olsen in NYC, when she plays her own show after the Kurt Vile tour on May 19 at Glasslands. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (3/1) at 7 AM.

All dates are listed, along with a video, below...

Continue reading "Angel Olsen playing Glasslands after Kurt Vile tour (dates)"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Kurt Vile - "Wakin On A Pretty Day (MP3)

As mentioned, Kurt Vile is releasing his new album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, this year and since we last spoke, more details on the release have arisen. It's a 69-minute double album and will be out on April 9 via Matador. Like 2011's Smoke Ring for My Halo, it was produced by John Agnello (who also works with Kurt's forefathers, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr). You can download the 9+ minute sort-of-title track, "Wakin On A Pretty Day," at the top of this post or stream it below. It follows in the path of Kurt's cleaned-up sound that he explored on Smoke Ring for My Halo and the subsequent So Outta Reach EP, and if you liked those albums, this new track should be getting you excited for the new album. That's the cover art above and the tracklist is below. You can pre-order the album physically or digitally now.

As mentioned, Kurt will be playing a NYC show this month with Owen at NYU on February 23, and after taking about two months off, he'll head out on a full tour with his backing band, The Violators, which kicks off at Coachella and brings Kurt back to NYC on May 16 at Bowery Ballroom. That show, and many others on the tour, is with Angel Olsen (who we just caught in Chicago) and Steve Gunn. Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Friday (2/15) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Though you'll have to wait until April to get the album in your hands (or you know, on your hard drive), if you're in NYC you can hear it much sooner because BrooklynVegan is presenting a listening party this Tuesday (2/12) at Electric Lady Studios. If you'd like to go, enter via the contest details we've laid out below.

Contest details, song stream, and all dates, below...

Continue reading "Kurt Vile reveals album details, new MP3 & tour dates; win tix to a listening party at Electric Lady Studios!"

Pitchfork just posted their Honorable Mention Albums of 2012, which they consider "20 records didn't make [their] Top 50 but they're not necessarily just Nos. 51-70." There are some similarities to their Overlooked Records of 2012 list that they posted halfway through the year. It also includes Frankie Rose's Interstellar, which did actually get Best New Music upon its release, unlike the other albums here. And it's got Waxahatchee's American Weekend and Jeremih's Late Nights with Jeremih, neither of which were reviewed throughout the year. Though they did review Waxhatachee (Katie Crutchfield)'s sister Allison's band Swearin', who also makes this list, and who (along with Jeremih) made Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks list.

Full list below...

Continue reading "A Few Albums That Definitely Didn't Make Pitchfork's Top 50 of 2012"

by Andrew Sacher

Earlier this month, Marissa Nadler teamed up with Angel Olsen to record a cover of Richard and Linda Thompson's "Withered and Died" under the title, "My Dreams Have Withered and Died." In their original music, both singers genuinely capture the spirit of the loner folk of yesteryear, so it comes as no surprise that the raw, haunting qualities of Richard and Linda's song are fully intact here. You can stream the cover below.

Marissa will be in NYC TONIGHT (11/27) at Le Poisson Rouge for a previously discussed show as an opener for Jozef Van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch. Tickets for tonight's show are still available.

Lists of all Marissa Nadler and Angel Olsen dates, and that song stream, are below.

Continue reading "Marissa Nadler covered Richard & Linda Thompson w/ Angel Olsen, opening for Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch tonight"

JEFF the Brotherhood at ATP NYC 2012 (more by Adela Loconte)

JEFF the Brotherhood are on tour now with Delta Spirit and FIDLAR and that tour hits NYC TONIGHT (11/27) at Irving Plaza. Tickets for tonight's show are still available and we're also giving away a few pairs. Details on how to enter the contest are below.

JEFF spoke to us about their favorite music of the year and gave us a list of their top ten albums. Some of the bands on the list (like Diarrhea Planet and Heavy Cream and Skimask and Cy Barkley) are on their Infinity Cat label, but that doesn't mean we don't believe them. Check out the full list below...

Continue reading "JEFF the Brotherhood told us their top 10 albums of 2012; their NY show w/ Delta Spirit & FIDLAR is tonight (win tix!)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Angel Olsen @ Glasslands Monday

Angel Olsen's current slate of East Coast dates put her in NYC at Glasslands on Monday (11/12), two nights after she played Maxwell's. The Chicago-based vocalist/songwriter teamed with Magmana and Bird Call for the Brooklyn show which is pictured in this post. The NY Times was also there:

Angel Olsen sang 10 songs at the Glasslands Gallery on Monday night, strumming an electric guitar with her thumb, occasionally picking a simple pattern. She beamed forth with a voice that switched between lax -- quiet, neutral, relaxed -- and over the top -- semi-operatic, jumping notes in a warbling rip, in a few 50-year-old ways pointing toward English folk music and Patsy Cline....

Continue reading "Angel Olsen @ Glasslands with Magmana and Bird Call (pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Angel Olsen - Tiniest Seed (MP3)

Angel Olsen at Glasslands, 4/4/2012 (more by Ryan Muir)

Chicago's Angel Olsen recently released her latest album, Half Way Home, her second for Bathetic Records. You can download an MP3 of album-closer "Tiniest Seeds" above, or stream the whole album via Spotify.

Angel, who was last here in April, will return to the NYC area next month for two shows: Maxwell's on November 10 (tickets) and Glasslands on November 12 with Magmana and Bird Call (tickets). There are a few other dates on Angel's tour schedule which are listed below.

Continue reading "Angel Olsen released 'Half Way Home,' touring (MP3, dates)"

photos by Ryan Muir

Angel Olsen @ Glasslands - 4/4/2012

Ryan managed to catch Com Truise AND Purity Ring, and still found time to catch three of the talented singer-songwriters playing Glasslands last night (4/4), one of whom is from Chicago and plays again in NYC this week. More of his pictures from Glasslands, below...

Continue reading "Angel Olsen, Doe Paoro & Cat Martino played Glasslands (pics)"

Angel Olsen at Glasslands in 2011 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Chicago's Angel Olsen is in Brooklyn for two shows this week including Glasslands TONIGHT (4/4) with Sufjan/Sharon Van Etten collaborator Cat Martino, Doe Paoro , and Knox. Tickets for tonight's show are available.

Angel also plays another Brooklyn show at Littlefield on Sunday (4/8) with Companion, Emily Reo, and Alex Drewchin. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Angel Olsen is working on a new album which will be out sometime this year on Bathetic, who released Strange Cacti on vinyl last year. You can stream a track from Strange Cacti at the Bathetic website or listen to the whole album on Spotify. Below, check out a solo performance of the song "Barrier of Bodies," which will "most likely be on her record to come." For her NYC shows, Angel will be joined by Emmet Kelly on bass, guitar, and vocals and guitarist Leroy Bach will also join them both at Glasslands tonight.

As mentioned last year, Angel Olsen (like Mariee Sioux who we profiled earlier today) is one of many Will Oldham collaborators and has toured as a member of his band(s).

Speaking of Will Oldham collaborators, the mostly David Byrne-produced soundtrack for This Must Be The Place has finally been given a release date (4/23), which he and David Byrne contributed multiple songs to under the name The Pieces of Shit. Check out the track, "Open Up," by The Pieces of Shit below. Other contributors to the soundtrack include Jonsi & Alex, Iggy Pop, and Julia Kent (who plays Issue Project Room with Julia Holter during Unsound later this month).

Will Oldham also wrote a book called Will Oldham on Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which according to the NYTimes, "answers nearly every question one might wish to ask about his prolific output." Here's what he has to say about the moniker Bonnie 'Prince' Billy:

"Bonnie Prince Billy is such a ridiculous name. It had no preconceptions to it; nobody could say what the music was going to be like on hearing the name. But it turned the music into an individual, which seemed to be what everyone -- the audience, or at least the people that I was forced to talk to about the music -- was seeking. They were seeking some sort of individual responsible for things, and I was just like, 'O.K. We'll make one up. One who doesn't really exist, and therefore I can continue to feel confident that there is no individual responsible for things, but you can think that there is one!'"

All dates for Angel (and Doe Paoro too), video, and song stream below...

Continue reading "Angel Olsen is here, playing 2 NYC shows; author Will Oldham & producer David Byrne are The Pieces of Shit"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Rachel Kowal

Though I can't comment on the first opener, Baby Alpaca, since I didn't get to see them play, the remaining artists on last Thursday night's bill at Glasslands were united by dark undertones and beautiful vocals - a winning combination in my book. I knew I recognized the name Angel Olsen, but it wasn't until I arrived at the venue that I suddenly remembered that she had been the beguiling chanteuse from Will Oldham's side project, The Babblers.

Stripped of Oldham and placed in front of a talkative crowd, Olsen may have lost a touch of luster, but her richly complex voice was no less arresting, and it was nice to see her in the spotlight. Though she often delves into a lower range, Olsen also shines when - with a charming warble in her voice - she suddenly jumps to a higher register. (Let's just say if I had a voice like that I'd never speak. Just sing.)

I can't say the crowd got much better when Snowblink played, but somehow, the duo managed to maintain their composure even when some kid near the front puked near the end of their set. "Yo, is this guy ok?" singer/keyboardist Daniela Gesundheit broke in, mid song. She and her partner continued to play at a hushed volume. "Ok. We've got a buddy down, so everyone send him some nice feelings," she gracefully said before beginning to sing again.

Fitting for a musical project that got its start in LA before relocating to Toronto, Snowblink's sound seems to be just as appropriate for candle-lit winter nights as it is for lazy summer lounging. Gesundheit's vocals are inherently sweet and innocent, and her interplay with soft-spoken guitarist/vocalist Dan Goldman is pretty charming, too. Highlights of the set included the sparse but no less catchy "Rut & Nuzzle" and a surprisingly good cover of the Dolly Parton hit, "Jolene," which featured especially strong vocals from Gesundheit.

By the time the delightfully sinister tones of Timber Timbre began to resonate through the room, the floor was fairly packed. (Luckily, the puke had been mopped up and the strong odor of cleaning products lingered to mark the spot.)

The majority of Timber Timbre's set consisted of material from their recently released album, the aptly named Creep On Creepin' On. Other orchestral indie folk groups like Lost in the Trees may be delving into similarly dark places through moody instrumentation and surprisingly grim lyrics, but Timber Timbre takes the macabre a step further, thanks to Taylor Kirk's distinctively chilling vocals.

Given the talent of the group and the uniqueness of their sound, it's surprising that their music hasn't caught on as much in the States as it has in say, Canada or Europe, but I suspect it's only a matter of time before they graduate from Glasslands.

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Timber Timbre heads back out on tour in May and June. More pictures and their setlist from the Glasslands show, below...

Continue reading "Timber Timbre played Glasslands w/ Snowblink & Angel Olsen (pics & setlist)"