Roky Erickson at Webster Hall in 2010 (more by Kurt Christiansen)

Psych rock legend Roky Erickson is on the move, playing a few dates around the country, mostly in association with festivals. In addition to playing the Orion Music & More Festival in NJ on on June 23, the former 13th Floor Elevator frontman will also play a much more intimate show at Maxwell's the night before (June 22). Tickets for the Maxwell's show are on sale AND the Orion festival are on sale. All Roky Erickson tour dates are listed below.

In other news, Roky's performance at last year's Austin Psych Fest 4 has been immortalized on video in the form of a new DVD which is out now. In addition to Roky the concert film also has footage of Spectrum, A Place to Bury Strangers, The Fresh & Onlys and more. This year's Austin Psych Fest recently wrapped up, and you can check out pictures of day 1 HERE and day 2 HERE.

Check out the trailer for the Austin Psych Fest 4 DVD and the list of Roky Erickson tour dates below.

Continue reading "Roky Erickson touring, playing Maxwell's & Orion Fest (dates)"

Woods at Austin Psych Fest 2012 (more by Tim Griffin)

Woods kicked off a tour with Mmoss last month surrounding Austin Psych Fest which included a NYC-area show at Maxwell's on 4/20 (how was that?). The tour is wrapping up this weekend with a Philly show last night (5/4), a NYC show tonight (5/5) at 285 Kent with Crystal Stilts, and a show at Storm King Art Center on Sunday with Widowspeak (who kick off a tour with 2:54 in June).

For Crystal Stilts, tonight's show is their only non-festival date, though they've been playing more and more lately. As far as festivals, they're on the lineup of this year's Capitol Hill Block Party.

All dates and a video of Woods at Austin Psych Fest below...

Continue reading "Woods played Psych Fest, playing Storm King Sunday, ending tour w/ MMoss at 285 Kent tonight (with Crystal Stilts)"

Lotus Plaza at Austin Psych Fest last week (more by Tim Griffin)

Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt's project Lotus Plaza just wrapped up a tour with Disappears in support of his great new album, Spooky Action at a Distance, which included a Brooklyn show at Glasslands (4/19) and Austin Psych Fest (click the link for more pics). Unlike most of Deerhunter bandmate Bradford Cox's shows as Atlas Sound, Lockett has been playing with a full band on his Lotus Plaza tour.

The band is continuing to tour during the first half of this month and after a short break, will hit the road again in July surrounding Pitchfork Festival which brings them to NYC on July 18 at Mercury Lounge and July 19 at Knitting Factory. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show are on AmEx presale now and go on sale to the general public on Friday (5/4) at noon. Tickets for the Knitting Factory show are on sale now.

All dates and a video of Lotus Plaza at Glasslands from a Pitchfork "+1" episode below...

Continue reading "Lotus Plaza announces more shows, played Glasslands & Psych Fest (pics & dates)"

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"

photos by Tim Griffin

Black Moth Super Rainbow @ Psych Fest

"We came back."

While Black Moth Super Rainbow won't win any points for enthusiasm in the above website update, most likely they'll save some of that for their ridiculous costumes and dancing at a forthcoming set of live dates. Announcement of the fall shows, which kick off in early September in the Midwest and the East Coast, coincides with the release of an expanded edition of the Dandelion Gum that includes an additional 14 tracks and is called Dandelion Gum Extra Flavor Deluxe Reissue. Look for BMSR on the road, including at Le Poission Rouge on 9/22 (tickets) and Bell House on 9/23 (tickets). All dates are listed below.

Black Moth Super Rainbow was one of many psychedelically tinged artists to make their way down for Austin Psych Fest. We've previously posted pictures of Prefuse 73, Black Ryder, Spectrum, Bass Drum of Death, and more but swing below for a belated set of pictures of Black Moth Super Rainbow from the fest as well. Those pictures and all tour dates, which also include an appearance at Camp Bisco with Four Tet, are below.

Continue reading "Black Moth Super Rainbow released expanded 'Dandelion Gum', announced tour, played Psych Fest (pics & dates)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Spectrum @ Psych Fest

In addition to the previously announced 6 free shows this summer, Vans are presenting a 'Create Your Mark' event at Brooklyn's House of Vans on June 25. The show will feature performances by Spectrum, The Smith Westerns, Grand Rapids (whose Clara Balzary is one of the Create Your Mark presenters), and Chairlift with "an epic visual experience" by Joshua Light Show. The event is private but Vans is inviting 200 BrooklynVegan readers. The first 200 people who RSVP to vanscreateyourmark@gmail.com and put BROOKLYN VEGAN in the subject line, will get on the list. The free show takes place from 4PM to 11PM and is 18+. There will also be "food, drinks, and freebies."

In related news, Chairlift also have shows coming up at Cameo on June 21st and June 23rd at Glasslands.

Spectrum toured through NYC back in April on his way to Austin Psych Fest. We have a belated set of pictures from the Austin show that are in this post. More of them, with the Vans show flyer, below...

Continue reading "Spectrum playing free Vans show w/ Smith Westerns & Chairlift (RSVP QUICK), played Austin Psych Fest (belated pics)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Bass Drum of Death @ Austin Psych Fest

We've announced that Japandroids are playing Hopscotch Fest and Pygmalion Music Festival. It's since been revealed that these two festival appearances are part of a larger North American tour that Japandroids are going on with with Bass Drum of Death. The tour stops by New York at Mercury Lounge on September 14. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/10) at noon (though note that Mercury Lounge does not list Bass Drum on the bill).

The Mercury show is currently one of the very few on the tour that doesn't list Bass Drum of Death (or anyone for that matter) as an opener. However, BDOD play the Manhattan venue two other times this summer, and two Brooklyn shows too. They open the previously discussed Hanni El Khatib show at Mercury Lounge on 6/24 (tickets) and for Hanni again at Glasslands the next night (6/25) (tickets). The Brooklyn show also has Heavenly Blows and Web Dating on the bill.

BDOD then play Mercury again on July 22 with WU LYF (tickets) and Knitting Factory the next night (7/23) with WU LYF, Young Magic and Dapwell (Das Racist member DJ set) (tickets).

Bass Drum of Death's new LP, GB City, is out now via Fat Possum. Check out the band's recent video for "Get Found", along with more dates and a belated set of pictures of the band at Austin Psych Fest last month, below...

Continue reading "Japandroids touring w/ Bass Drum of Death who played Psych Fest (pics) & are playing w/ Wu Lyf (dates)"

words by Bill Pearis, photos by Tim Griffin

DOWNLOAD: The Black Ryder - Gone Without Feeling (MP3)

the girls of Black Ryder @ Austin Psych Fest

Australian duo (and band) The Black Ryder are in town this week, after having played Austin Psych Fest over the weekend (pictures in this post). They played Glasslands last night (5/3) with the Big Sleep, and will play the downstairs room at Santos tonight (5/4) with Heaven and My Best Fiend. Before Psych Fest they went on a short tour with Spectrum.

Made up of former Morning After Girls members Scott Von Ryper and Miss Aimee Nash, The Black Ryder released their debut Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride in late 2009 which got released in America last year on Mexican Summer. Members of Black Rebel Motorcyle Club, Swervedriver and Brian Jonestown Massacre guested on the album which should give you a good idea of what they sound like. To give you an even better idea, download "Gone Without Feeling" at the top of this post.

The openers at Santos tonight are pretty good. My Best Fiend are not that far from Spiritualized angelic comedown vibe -- download their Jesus Christ EP for free here. The three guys in Heaven have played with Adam Franklin, Dean & Britta, the Comas, The Big Sleep and others and lay down a dreamy/heavy sound of their own. It's a well-curated night of bliss-out music at high volume, and stick around for the afterparty with Calle's Aurellio Valle DJIng (and others).

NYC show flyer, a video and more pictures from Psych Fest, below...

Continue reading "The Black Ryder played Austin Psych Fest (pics) & Glasslands, playing Santos (tonight)"