words by Alanna Wray, photos by Deneka Peniston & Jason House

Dick Dale on a boat (by Deneka Peniston)

Last Sunday (one day after the Kvelertak show), backlit with our lady of liberty and the east river's special scum, The King of the Surf Guitar, Dick Dale played the perfect venue-- on the water. The Jewel, one of the illustrious Rocks Off Concert Cruise's fleet, is an intimate, rocking (from side to side) host to a plethora of shows "that don't suck". Dick Dale, the Jewel's latest jewel, graciously glutted his steadfast fans with all the classics: from a blistering "Miserlou", to the anthemic "Let's Go Trippin'" and back to a virtuous version of "Amazing Grace" (which filled the East River with more righteousness than the Slocum Ferry Disaster.)

At seventy four years old, Dale plays with the antics and agility of a rock n' roll wood sprite. His seamless set moved with the graceful fluidity of 60 years of refinement, grooving through his time honored originals into epic covers of Rumble, Hava Nagila and House of the Rising Sun.

Jimmy Dale, Dick's fresh-faced nineteen year son, backed on set gyrating the double bass like an arena heavyweight. Bassist Sam Bolle of Agent Orange fame played a soulful House of the Rising Son solo smokey as slow sex. The vibe was fuzzy, the sound was wet, the energy was slap happy, the crowd was authentic. After the show Rocks Off bossman Jake Szufnarowski had Dick Dale sign his arm, which has since become his latest tattoo. Dale ended with a "thank you for being my medicine"... and if Dale's got a musical prescription that good, we're glad he's sharing.

Here are some pictures from the show. They continue below

Continue reading "Dick Dale played a Rocks Off Cruise (pics & review)"

APTBS @ Terminal 5 in Aug (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

In less than four hours from this post, The Half Moon will set sail from E. 23rd St. & the FDR. Aboard will be the bands Grooms and A Place to Bury Strangers.... and you if you grab a ticket or win a pair from us right now. To enter, email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Strangers). Include your first and last name. A few winners will be picked at random ASAP and contacted. Good luck!

by BBG

Dick Dale shows his MLB colors

Surf guitar great Dick Dale is currently on the road and will swing by NYC for a pair of area dates in late October, none of which are CMJ related. Look for Dale on 10/20 at Maxwell's in Hoboken and 10/23 aboard a Rocks Off Concert Cruise. Tickets for both Maxwell's and the Rocks Off show are on sale. Coincidentally, the film that arguably recharged his popularity, Pulp Fiction, is on blu-ray today.

Just one day before that boat show will be another, more insane boat show with the previouslay announce lineup of Skeletonwitch, Kvelertak, and Tombs, plus new addition Psychic Limb (the BV-BBG/Rocks Off official showcase!). Tickets are still available, or get in with your CMJ badge.

Psychic Limb also play Acheron on Saturday (10/8) with Defeatist (who have a new album), Regents (a new 7"), and the newly added The Year is One (who played Union Pool last week).

And so concludes the world's first Dick Dale/Defeatist/LA Dodgers post. All tour dates and some video is below.

Continue reading "Dick Dale on tour, playing Maxwell's & a boat (one day after Psychic Limb play a boat) ---- dates"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Rocks Off hosted a boat cruise to the Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax). The pictures from the actual concert are coming shortly, but here are some taken on the high seas (the Hudson River) on the way there. They continue below...

Continue reading "pics from the boat ride to Big 4 @ Yankee Stadium"

by BBG

Tombs at SXSW (more by Samantha Marble)

I'm proud to announce the next addition to the CMJ BV Rocks Off boat show on 10/22 with Skeletonwitch/Kvelertak.... TOMBS! This will also be Tombs' ONLY show during CMJ, and is the only scheduled show period for the Brooklyn band who recently completed a round of EU dates with the boys from The Secret. Tickets are on sale. Limited CMJ badges will also get to board.

The show is one of two in NY that Skeletonwitch will play with Kvelertak, the other being at Europa on 10/21 with Turbid North. Tickets for Europa are on sale too.

Tombs recently stopped by Violitionist studios and recorded some songs. Check out live video and streaming audio from those sessions, below...

Continue reading "Tombs added to CMJ boat, played a Violitionist session (video)"

by BBG

Kvelertak at Full Metal Texas (more by Samantha Marble)

As you knew, Norwegian punk-metal crew Kvelertak are coming to the US in October and BrooklynVegan & Rocks Off are proud to announce an official CMJ show on a boat as part of a Concert Cruise on The Jewel on Saturday, October 22nd! The sailing show will feature Kvelertak, a headliner TBA and a third band! Tickets are on sale (limited CMJ badges get in too). Trust me, this show will only get CRAZIER as the days pass. Stay tuned for lineup updates and info on another official (less metal) BrooklynVegan CMJ show coming soon.

Kvelertak will also play a 2nd CMJ show one day earlier in Brooklyn at Europa on 10/21, presented by MetalSucks/MetalInjection/1000Knives with other artists TBA, and tickets are also on sale for that.

Look for the deluxe version of Kvelertak's s/t debut on September 27th. "The package includes four live audio tracks, two demos, three music videos, five live videos, documentaries, extended artwork, a poster and more." Preorder it now. All tour dates and some video below...

Continue reading "Kvelertak announce October tour, BV-presented CMJ show included (dates)"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Jonathan Coulton @ Williamsburg Watefront

After playing a waterfront show last month with They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Coulton will take to the high seas on Friday August 19th for a show aboard the Jewel, a Rocks Off NYC Concert Cruise. Tickets are on sale. The show is a prelude to his US tour with TMBG which will occur in two legs: East Coast/Midwest in September and West Coast in November. Full tour schedule is below.

If you can't make it on Friday, you can still catch comedian/songwriter "JoCo" on a boat, but the destination will be much different...

JoCo Cruise Crazy II is a 7-day Southern Caribbean cruise in 2012 on Holland America's ms Westerdam, with music, comedy and performances from Jonathan Coulton and friends. It departs from Ft. Lauderdale, FL on February 19th and returns February 26th, with ports of call at Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Oranjestad, Aruba; and Willemstad (Curacao), Antilles.

All dates and more of a second set of pictures from Coulton's rainy appearance at Williamsburg Waterfront, below...

Continue reading "Jonathan Coulton playing boats & shows with TMBG (more dates & pics from Williamsburg Waterfront)"

photos by Vincent Cornelli

Ska band The Pietasters played a Rocks Off Concert Cruise on July 29th with DJ 100DBs. A set of pictures and videos are in this post.

The Pietasters will return to the area for a weekend of East Coast dates in October. They'll kick off the short run of shows at Maxwell's in Hoboken on Oct 7th. Tickets are on sale. All dates are listed below.

D 100DBs will also be on the 1s & 2s when ska band The Slackers play a Rocks Off Cruise on August 20th. Tickets are still on sale. The Slackers also play a boat show in Boston one day earlier with iLa Mawana.

In somewhat related news, Oi punks The Business will hit Mercury Lounge on September 2nd as part of a larger East Coast/Midwest tour before they loop back for a another leg of dates that will include RiotFest 2011. Tickets for Mercury are on sale. The Business released their last LP Doing The Business last year via Sailor's Grave.

Pics, videos, and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "pics from the Pietasters boat show, more dates & The Business & The Slackers too"

photos by Natasha Ryan

Ty Segall on a boat

1.You can actually get kicked off the boat
Things got pretty rocking on the M for Montreal and Brooklyn Vegan Bruise Cruise Saturday afternoon [June 18th]. But we did find out a useful tidbit yesterday: you can actually get kicked off the boat. You'd think once you were in international waters, there wouldn't be a lot of law enforcement going on. But one dude came within an inch of getting booted off the boat for burning down one too many j's. Turns out security can actually call you a water taxi if you're being too naughty to escort you back to the dock. Or at least they can threaten do that. The guy threw his spliff over board before we got to see it actually happen.

2. Steve McDonald from Redd Kross/OFF is THE Steve
Midway through Ty Segall's set he started to call around for his friend "Steve" to come up and join him for a tune. Steve wasn't in the belly of boat though at the time, so every one started yelling "Steve" not really knowing who they were calling. Turns out it was Steve McDonald from the Redd Kross, who was in town with his band OFF! It was bit of a coincidence too because the last time I had seen him perform was with Redd Kross opening for the Lemonheads at the Opera House in 1993. I also got to see Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield this weekend. So it was like a double-blast from the past.

Continue reading "pics from the M For Montreal/BV NXNE 'Bruise Cruise'"

words & photos by Keith Marlowe

The Bronx on a boat

"We've been a band for a long time, and we've toured all over, and I'll tell you shows like this don't come around very often. We're on a boat going around New York City, and for a couple of you, this is gonna be the best night of your life. This is as good as it's ever gonna get. It's just a long slow slide to death from here," Matt Caughtran told the sweaty crowd from the top of the speaker stack on the Queen of Hearts last Wednesday (6/22).

The Bronx played their first album from start to finish, and closed with a bunch of songs off their last two records. People were clutching the ceiling to keep back the constant push of the crowd, coupled with the slant of the boat to the back where the stage is, and the constant rocking from the water. Anyone who got on top of the crowd had to keep themselves from smashing into the top of the boat as they got tossed around. A couple times I heard the unmistakable sound of skulls hitting metal over the blaring music. And I got yet another opportunity to hold a mic so people slamming into the stand didn't smash out a friend's front teeth while he sang. Boat shows are great for that. They closed out the night with the brutal "History's Stranglers" that had everyone screaming along 'Motherfucker I want your bloooooooooooooood.' Awesome.

Cold Fur opened the show, announcing this was their fourth show as a band, also their first and possibly last boat show. Cold Fur played a fast, heavy set, which is what you'd expect from a band made up of dudes from Rye Coalition and the Want.

The Bronx returns to town Tuesday night (6/28) to play a free show at Brooklyn Bowl as Mariachi El Bronx with Th' Legendary Shack*Shakers and The Two Man Gentlemen Band.

I've known the Bronx guitar player Ken Horne for about ten years, from him touring as the lead guitar player for the Dragons. They used photos of mine on their albums on Junk and Gearhead records. I got a chance to talk to him a bit at Union Pool after the boat show. Our chat and more pictures from aboard the Queen of Hearts are below.

Continue reading "an interview with The Bronx, pics from their boat show"

GGD @ the Creators Project (more by Ryan Barkan)

One day after they finish a July tour with Nguzunguzu and Total Freedom, Gang Gang Dance will headline a Rocks Off Concert Cruise. Tickets for the July 21st NYC show are on sale now. Two days later they'll play a DJ set at Warm Up. All tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Gang Gang Dance playing a boat, touring (dates)"

DOWNLOAD: The War On Drugs - "Baby Missiles" (MP3)

The War On Drugs at Webster Hall in April (more by Amanda Hatfield)

The War On Drugs are releasing Slave Ambient on August 17 via Secretly Canadian. In support of the new album, the band is going on a North American tour with Caveman. The tour hits NYC on August 19 at Cameo Gallery (tickets) and August 20 at Mercury Lounge (tickets), though note that the Mercury show is the only date on the tour where Caveman is not currently listed as an opener (nobody else is either).

Caveman are also supposedly playing the Northside Festival, and play a Rocks Off Cruise on June 25 with Hollis Brown. Tickets are on sale for the boat show.

All tour dates, War on Drugs album artwork and tracklist below...

Continue reading "The War on Drugs announce new LP, tour w/ Caveman (dates)"

Here is the initial lineup for Willamette Week's MusicfestNW, scheduled for Sept. 7-11, 2011 in Portland, Oregon, and it's pretty great. The multi-venue fest includes big outdoor performances by Band of Horses (Sunday, Sept. 11), Explosions in the Sky (Saturday, Sept. 10), and Iron & Wine (Friday, Sept. 9), in addition to shows with everyone from Archers of Loaf to Big Freedia to Butthole Surfers to Neurosis. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 3rd. Check out the full list below...

Continue reading "MusicfestNW 2011 -- dates & initial lineup"

The Greenhornes at Garage Fest 2010 (more by BBG)

The Greenhornes just finished up a tour with JEFF the Brotherhood, and have announced a few more shows this summer including the Rocks Off Concert Series with The A-Bones. If you're not familiar, that means both bands will be playing sets during a three-hour boat ride around NYC. It rules and will rock. Tickets are on sale now.

JEFF the Brotherhood will be back in NYC on tour in June. They play 285 Kent with a whole bunch of "special guests."

The Ettes

The Ettes, who didn't play with the Greenhornes last night in Memphis due to weather, and who will be touring with JEFF's friend Heavy Cream in August (dates TBA), have a new album on the way. Wicked Will will be releaed on 8/2 via Krian Music Group / Fond Object / Fontana. Listen to the first track, "Pendulum", below.

Speaking of Heavy Cream, they were added to the upcoming Japanther/Shellshag show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. They have some other shows coming up too.

All tour dates for everyone, below...

Continue reading "The Greenhornes are playing a boat w/ A-Bones, The Ettes releasing an album, Heavy Cream playing shows & stuff"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

BOAT

In honor of our ramped up coverage of NYC Popfest 2011 (with more coming soon), here is an unposted set of pictures from NYC Popfest 2010 (day 3 & 4). More below...

Continue reading "NYC PopFest 2010, Day 3 & 4 in pics (belated pics)"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Dam-Funk - "Don't Give Up" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Fright Night (Nevermore)" Dam-Funk Remix (MP3)

Dam Funk at Fun Fun Fest (more by BBG)

Dam-Funk will team with his live band Master Blazter (Computer Jay & J-1) to play a funky Memorial Day party aboard 'The Queen Of Hearts' as part of a Rocks off Boat Cruise on May 30th. Joining Dam-Funk will be the silky smooth vocals of Steve Arrington (of Slave, who has been known to collabo with Dam-Funk, and who will also have a full band), Bryant K, and Beautiful Swimmers. Tickets for the NYC show are on sale. Flyer below.

The boat show happens one day after Dam-Funk plays B.O.M.B Fest which is one day after he plays the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. All dates are listed below.

Dam-Funk recently released an unreleased and unmastered "Don't Give Up", a remix for the Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti track "Fright Night (Nevermore)", and a new mixtape (culled straight from vinyl... atta boy). All tracks are either downloadable above or streaming below.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is scheduled to play Irving Plaza on June 2nd with Silk Flowers and R. Stevie Moore. Tickets are still available for the show which happens right before The Roots Picnic in Philly.

Continue reading "Dam-Funk remixed Ariel Pink, playing a boat w/ Steve Arrington after B.O.M.B. Fest & other dates"

3/4 of Kyuss (no Josh Homme) announced the creation of Kyuss Lives! last year. Original Kyuss members Brant Bjork, John Garcia, and Nick Oliveri, along with guitarist Bruno Fevery, have live dates scheduled this year in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South America and now North America too. So far it's just two U.S. shows, but more will be announced. One of those is at The Fox Theater in Pomona, CA on October 8th, and the other is at NYC's Terminal 5 on September 23rd (the same venue Queens of the Stone Age recently played). Both Kyuss shows are with The Sword, and tickets for both go on sale this week (Terminal 5 goes on sale Friday).

In semi-related news, stoner-blueshounds Clutch will hit the road with Corrosion of Conformity (Animosity lineup) to play a string of dates together that will include Brooklyn Bowl on 7/20 (tickets go on sale Friday). The following day, Clutch play a solo show aboard the Temptress on 7/21 (a Rocks Off Concert Cruise). Tickets for that show are not yet listed.

All tour dates and some videos below...

Continue reading ""Kyuss Lives!" announces shows w/ the Sword +++ Clutch touring w/ Corrosion of Conformity (and playing a boat)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Craft Spells - After The Moment (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Craft Spells - Party Talk (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Crazy Rulers of the World (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bare Wires - Ready to Go (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bare Wires - Seeking Love (MP3)

Craft Spells

First up is Craft Spells who make their NYC debut tonight (4/8) at Music Hall of Williamsburg, opening for fellow Captured Tracks band Beach Fossils, plus Crinkles and an "Unannounced Special Guest" that might drum up some excitement if anyone could figure out who that might actually be. Craft Spells also play Saturday (4/9) at Glasslands with Cloud Nothings and the Sundelles, which is also a pretty solid lineup.

On record at least, Craft Spells is basically Justin Paul Vallesteros who made his debut album Idle Labor in his home. Vallesteros is making a go of it, having recently moved from Stockton, California to Seattle where he's turned Craft Spells into a quartet. Idle Labor is very much a bedroom pop album (and a very good one), clearly created by one guy who loves a lot of '80s music (OMD, Pale Fountains come to mind, as does New Order though mainly through the album art).

You can download two tracks from Idle Labor at the top of this post. But the Craft Spells live experience eschews the keyboards for a straight-up guitar pop sound that I'm told is a little more akin to Orange Juice. Which sounds pretty good too. We shall see.

Sebadoh

As you're reading this column, you're probably well aware that the '90s are totally back. Which means bands from that era are totally back too. Bands like Sebadoh whose classic albums Sebadoh III, Bubble and Scrape and Bakesale helped define the sound of "indie rock." (I tried in vein to find a clip of Lou [wearing a Joy Division t-shirt] talking at length about breakups on MTV's Sex in the '90s. Somebody get on this please.] And they're totally back -- in NYC -- this weekend, playing Bowery Ballroom on April 9th and 10th. It looks like the Sunday show still has tickets at the moment.

To be fair, Lou Barlow, Jason Lowenstein and Eric Gaffney started playing together again in 2007 but it seems a lot more interesting now, what with Yuck slyly cribbing their moves and all. Oupa -- Yuck singer Daniel Bloomberg's side project -- are supposed to open for Sebadoh Saturday, though it's not listed on the Bowery website now. For sure you'll get Richard Buckner, who's opening both nights.

BOAT

Keeping with the '90s indie rock vibe, don't forget Seattle's BOAT are playing Mercury Lounge tomorrow (4/9). It's a relatively early show -- BOAT are on at 9PM -- so you can go do something else after. They are super fun live, even when massive equipment failure threatens to derail them. BOAT persevere with good humor.

Surf City

One of the things you could do after BOAT is just stay at Mercury Lounge for the late show, featuring post-rockers Bardo Pond and New Zealand's Surf City. While they've never really broken up, Bardo Pond are best known for their late-'90s canon on Matador, full of lengthy spaced-out jams full of crashing waves of guitar noise and throbbing bass. The band's hazy groove sounds intact on last year's self-titled new album.

Surf City, meanwhile, are indebted to the classic Flying Nun sound, meaning a whole lot of the Clean, a good dose of The Jean Paul Sartre Experience, and maybe a little Bats for good measure. Their new-ish album is called Kudos and is loaded with catchy, noisy guitar pop, like "Crazy Rulers of the World," downloadable above. Coincidentally, Crazy Rulers of the World is also the title of my forthcoming coffee table book about novelty measuring sticks. Go figure.

Surf City also play Glasslands on Tuesday (4/12) with Darlings, Lingering Doubt, and Little Racer.

That's it for this week's This Week in Indie. A few more daily picks follow.

FRIDAY, APRIL 8

Boston power pop band Pretty & Nice play Spike Hill. These guys are solid.

The name is kind of horrible and I'm personally not crazy about the music but I'm told Gobble Gobble's live show is unforgettable which might be reason enough to go check them out at Glasslands tonight. With Headless Horsemen.

SATURDAY, APRIL 9

Dinowalrus, She Keeps Bees, Total Slacker, Gunfight, Quiet Loudly, Pet Ghost Project, Mussels, Data Dog, El Jezel, Nature Boy, Shark? and more play the Brain-Cave Festival at Shea Stadium. Starts at 2PM, $10.

SUNDAY, APRIL 10

Garagey power pop band Bare Wires are at Cake Shop on Sunday with Fergus and Geronimo. Bare Wires are great, go out and see 'em!

OK, that's it! Tour dates, video, and flyers are below.

Continue reading "Craft Spells, Sebadoh, Surf City, BOAT, Bardo Pond, Bare Wires & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: BOAT - Forever in Armitron (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fleshtones - Bite of My Soul (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: STRFKR - Death as a Fetish (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Obits - You Gotta Lose (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Destroyer - Chinatown (MP3)

Destroyer

Welcome to the You Didn't Get Tickets to LCD Soundsystem edition of This Week in Indie. Or maybe some of you don't care about James Murphy's Last Hurrah, and if so you can consider this the I Don't Give a Crap About LCD Soundsystem edition of TWII. Luckily for everyone, this is another bonkers week for shows and there's bound to be something for everyone -- even if I don't write about it here.

Let's begin with what is my most-anticipated show of the weekend -- Destroyer, who play Webster Hall on Sunday (4/3).  (Tickets are still available.) I have friends who are Dan Bejar obsessives, but I've always been more of a casual fan. Destroyer's new album, Kaputt, is a masterpiece and easily my favorite of 2011 so far. Gone are the chintzy synths and thin production, replaced by glorious '80s widescreen pop that brings to mind (mine, at least) The Blue Nile and Prefab Sprout. It's got the scope and the arrangements I always imagine Bejar wanted for his songs but never had the means to make real.

It's also the first album I've loved in a long time that has this much saxophone on it. I don't think there's a song on Kaput without it, and it's of the variety that makes you think of a city in the rain. Maybe the saxophonist is playing in the rain on a fire escape somewhere? Or maybe that's just every music video from the '80s. Anyway, Kaputt is evocative of that era for sure but Bejar's unmistakable urbane style keeps it out of cheeseball territory.

For this tour, Bejar has assembled an "eight-piece Destroyer orchestra" to bring Kaputt to life on stage. My friend Toby (who does the blog The Finest Kiss) saw the show in Seattle and said, "Seeing Dan Bejar play with a small band or solo under the his Destroyer moniker was always good, but I had never been blown away. I knew I was going to hear the songs from his latest Kaputt, but I had no idea that what I would get would far exceed that very good record and as well as any expectations I had." That raises my expectations quite a bit, but it does make me more excited... even if the show is at Webster Hall.

BOAT

This weekend also marks the return of Seattle's BOAT, longtime TWII faves whose scrappy underdog status may be in jeopardy. Pitchfork, who has barely acknowledged their existence in the past, gave BOAT's great new album Dress Like Your Idols a 7.6 (besting the day's big review by about two points):

"BOAT's fourth album, then, finds the Crane-fronted four-piece going through something of an underachiever's quarter-life crisis. On one hand, Dress Like Your Idols sees Crane, drummer Jackson Long, bassist/guitarist Mark McKenzie, and multi-instrumentalist Josh Goodman finally making their way into a real studio for the first time. On the other hand, that studio-- Seattle's Two Sticks Audio-- is already defunct. And the songs, like the album cover, are as inspired by the band's youth as ever, merging Stephen Malkmus's obliquely deadpan twang, Tullycraft's sugary scene-skewering, and Modest Mouse's "reptile boy" yelp. Where some slightly younger slackers have been opting for warped 1980s synth-pop, BOAT continue to love the 90s: an era when they didn't know, as per the rueful title track, that "the job you wanted doesn't exist." The result is the best album yet from a band whose style finally appears to be back in vogue, though its sometimes-bitterly sardonic humor still won't be for everybody."

BOAT play The Rock Shop on Saturday (4/2) with Miniboone, Landlady and Creeping Weeds. This is the start of an East Coast tour that will have the band back in town next weekend for an early show at Mercury Lounge on Saturday, April 9 with Moon Taxi and The Human Hearts.

Obits

Also Saturday night (4/2) is the record release party for Obits' second album, Moody, Standard and Poor, which is happening at The Bell House. As a bunch of indie rock vets, Obits aren't so much set in their ways as they know what they like. You know what you're getting with an Obits album, but this new one has a little more breathing room than I Blame You, but rocks all the same. And anyone who's seen Obits play knows they bring it live, no muss no fuss.

Also playing the Bell House show are California's Tijuana Panthers who were last here in December. As I wrote then, these guys are pals with The Soft Pack and evoke a similar -- if less aggressive,  more party-oriented -- style of '60s surf rock. You can listen to the entirety of Tijuana Panthers' self-released debut, Max Baker, via a widget at the bottom of this post. Good stuff.  Tijuana Panthers also play Friday (4/1) at Pianos as part of a solid bill that includes the Sundelles (also playing Obits' show), Shark?, and Air Waves. That is an excellent Friday night option.

Wu Lyf

What else? As you may have heard, WU LYF are making their U.S. debut this weekend, playing tomorrow night at Glasslands (a show BV is presenting) which is sold out, and then Saturday (4/2) at Shea Stadium. To go to the Saturday show, you have to  RSVP. And once you get there, you have to pay $10. I don't know what to make of this Manchester band -- they are careful controllers of their image and we haven't heard much in the way of released music -- but I am intrigued. Says UK music mag The Fly:

Far from being arrogant or appearing above their audience, tonight the band seem lost in their own world, having left the window open for all to see. Roberts is an intense and unforgettable performer, but his bandmates back him with a sound that flits between sparkling and cavernous with a rhythm section pounding a self-affirmed beat destined for far bigger venues than this South London archway. Connected to his organ throughout, Roberts only separates himself from the instrument to sip from a teacup between songs. The cacophony of noise he and his band make is not ground-breakingly unique, a meeting point of Nick Cave and Wild Beasts as displayed on 'Spitting It Concrete Like The Golden Sun God' for example, however, the fire burning inside Wu Lyf, a light that only shines in the souls of a select few, is a truly special one off.

That's the bulk of this weekend's action. Actually that's not true, there's lots more but I hit most of the stuff I'm interested in. More picks, day-by-day, are below.

JEFF the Brotherhood

THURSDAY, MARCH 31

JEFF the Brotherhood are at Santos tonight. Their second album, We Are the Champions, is out sometime soon and features songs called "Ripper" and "Shredder" so you know it both rips and shreds. It does! JEFF rules and surely you've seen them by now and if you haven't...go to this show! And more reason to go: Screaming Females, Juiceboxxx and Teen Witch. They also play their NYC spiritual home, Death by Audio, on Saturday but I'm gonna guess that show will be sardine city...not for the squeamish!

PS I Love You and Diamond Rings are at Glasslands tonight which is also a highly recommended. It may seem like an odd pairing but both these artists love each other's music and you're gonna get their collaboration "Leftovers" for sure.

continued below...

Continue reading "Destroyer, BOAT, Obits, Tijuana Panthers, Wu Lyf, Fleshtones, Starfucker, Dam Mantle & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: BOAT - (I'll Beat My Chest Like) King Kong (MP3)

Seattle's masters of sloppy pop, BOAT, will release their fourth long-player, Dress Like Your Idols, on Magic Marker Records on March 22. Of the title, Boat captain D. Crane says, "My idol is Doug Martsch. But I am not sure if I want to dress like him." Marstsch's band gets a nod on the album art which pays tribute to nine of the band's favorites. How many can you name?

The album features 13 super-catchy indie rock songs in the patented BOAT style about love, fear and Frank Black. The album's first single, "(I'll Beat My Chest Like) King Kong," is out now splattery-colored vinyl. You can download the A-side at the top of this post.

BOAT will also be doing an East Coast/Midwest tour in April, including a 4/2 stop at The Rock Shop and 4/9 at another NYC venue yet to be determined. Says Crane, "We are touring the east coast for the first time with charter member J. Goodman. He will be helping us in our goals to eat more bagels than any other New York bands. The bagel is in your court Tim Harrington." It's always good to have a goal, guys.

The band were here last in May for NYC Popfest 2010. All 2011 dates, plus a promo video for "King Kong" are after the jump.

Continue reading "BOAT idolize Doug Martsch, like King Kong, touring in April "

photos by Chris Gersbeck

DOWNLOAD: Built to Spill - Three Years Ago Today (live on the boat) (MP3)

"Hopefully this boat isn't built to spill, yuk yuk yuk" - Matthew Conover

Built to Spill played a BV-presented show on a Rocks Off boat last night (9/2), and all those in attendance did in fact safely make it back to shore (aka the West Side Highway) in one piece. Not everyone may remember it though.

If you missed it, or even if you were there and remember every detail, you'll be happy to know that they'll be back in NYC soon. The band will play record release shows on October 5th at Music Hall of Williamsburg and October 6th at Highline Ballroom. Tickets for the Manhattan show are now on sale. Brooklyn show tickets go on sale Friday, 9/10, at noon. The new shows will both be opened by ReVoLtReVoLt, will feature a post-show DJ sets by Doug Martsch (who DJ'd the boat too), and they come right before the Philly show on their recently announced tour.

More good news: NYC Taper taped it and will be posting the full audio soon. In the meantime, you can get a preview of the recording above, and check out the full recording setlist with more pictures, below....

Continue reading "Built to Spill played a boat (pics, setlist & live recording), playing Highline Ballroom & MHOW in October "

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Detroit Cobras

The girls in Heavy Cream opened for the girls in Detroit Cobras on the Rocks Off boat 'Half Moon' on Friday night. For Heavy Cream it was their first of six NYC shows happening before September 8th. More pictures from the boat show, below...

Continue reading "Detroit Cobras & Heavy Cream on a boat (pics) "

words & photos by Keith Marlowe

The Black Lips are a tough band. The first time I shot them was in 2004, and they're in as good, if not better, shape now then they were then. They've toured hard, constantly, for over seven years, playing every conceivable venue from derelict house parties to huge festivals. It takes strength, mental and physical, to hold up for that long on the road, many bands can't take it and fragment under the pressure. The Lips play shows that turn into near-riots, survive being crushed by the crowd, go out and party all night, and wake up and do it the next day. The boat show on Monday was no exception. Both the opening bands also seemed to know what was in store, and really laid it all on the line.

Brooklyn darlings the K-Holes opened the show before we were barely out of the dock, and gave the crowd a taste of the insanity that was to follow. I can't say enough nice things about them. Check them out for yourself. They raged, got paid, thought they were MC Hammer rich, and their singer ate all the profits.

Natural Child are from Nashville, Tennessee. They have a loose sound, are really fun and a good fit with the Black Lips. I talked to Seth (singer/guitar) to find out a bit more about them. "We started 15 months ago. Wes and Zack (other two dudes in the band) had eaten a bunch of pot brownies. They kept calling me, all day, telling me I had to be in a band with them. I finally told them I'd do it if they would practice five days a week and tour a lot, they said cool, and here we are." They're in the middle of a two week east coast tour right now and have a new 7" out called "Bang My Head."

The crowd was getting thick even before the Lips started playing. When their set began, there was about a five foot gap between the monitors and drums, where Ian, Cole and Jared were standing. By the end of the second song they had been pushed back into the drums. The bass amp Jared was borrowing had a beveled back and kept tipping over. I jumped behind it and jammed my foot into the space so he could keep playing and helped Joe reset the drums when he needed it. You know it's a good party when the drummer gets swarmed.

People in the front had both arms stretched up, clutching the upper deck in an attempt to keep from getting shoved into the band. As the show went on, the wall of people with their arms up got thicker and thicker. A couple people jumped from the upper lever, and things really got crazy. There was no way to hold out forever, and bodies began crashing over the band like ocean waves. After slamming into them, they tried to brace themselves against the amps and drums as the crowd kept pushing in. Jared was pushed farther and farther backward, until the only way he could keep singing was to turn the mic, face the drums and turn his back to the crowd. He had to constantly keep his foot on the mic stand leg to keep from getting hit in the face too hard. Between songs people kept crashing down on him. He muttered, "There isn't even any music. What the fuck......." The band couldn't always see each other, so they had to shout out what the next song was gonna be over the PA.

Near the end, some Justin Bieber looking idiot decided to grab the mic to sing along, disconnecting it and losing the cord underneath all the feet. He was to busy singing with his eyes closed to realize the mic was unplugged, so I found the cord and grabbed the mic from him. At this point, the stand was long gone, so for the last two songs I just held the mic for Jared. Not really the kind of show I wanted to shoot one-handed, but what're ya gonna do?

As I held it, bodies slammed into Jared's back, I could feel the impact of his teeth hitting the microphone, and he looked at me with this big smile. It was like he was in a tornado of people. A huge crush came in, and he was gone under a writhing pile of bodies. When he scrambled up, still playing, he got on top of the crowd and climbed up to the second level of the boat to finish the show.

I talked with him downstairs after their set. He told me they're recording a new album, and it's being done on the fly, like most of their other albums. "It's 60% done. We've been working on it whenever we get a chance. It'll be out next spring, and we're gonna do a big tour with Deerhunter." Other future plans include, "We're trying to play Iraq, we've got friends over there, so we're working on that. Hopefully that'll go smoother than our trip to Kurdistan, where we missed our flight because Joe forgot his wallet," he laughed. "We're gonna take a break from long tours and finish this record. One-off shows and stuff, but no long trips in the van til next year. It's the longest break we've had in over seven years." Some of their one-off dates in August are Austin on the 10th and the Hellow Festival in Monterray, Mexico on the 28th.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Black Lips, Natural Child & the K-Holes rocked a boat (pics) "

Built to Spill @ Outside Lands 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

Built to Spill played Irving Plaza on Wednesday, July 28th. Download their set recorded by NYC Taper. One day later later they played a show in Long Island (at the Crazy Donkey). Video and setlists below.

The band continues on tour, playing headlining shows between dates with Kings of Leon. They do the latter on August 5th at Camden, NJ's Susquehanna Bank Center, and the former (aka their own show) at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park on August 6th.

Built to Spill will be back in NYC on Thursday, September 2nd for a BrooklynVegan-presented Rocks Off Concert Cruise. Tickets are on sale now.

In other news, BTS' Doug Martsch and Brett Nelson covered the band's own songs in a synthy style as the Electronic Anthology Project...

"Dug Martsch and Brett Nelson are both members of Built To Spill.The Electronic Anthology Project is a side project that Dug and Brett made.It's basically one song off of each BTS record,completely replayed by Brett (synths/drum machine) and resang by Dug.If you like Built To Spill and 80's New Wave then you may like the two together."

All tour dates, the Irving Plaza & Crazy Donkey set lists and more, below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill played NYC & Long Island, playing a boat (BV presents), covered their own songs using synths "

by Klaus Kinski

As a former Boston skinhead with a former penchant for Ska and hardcore, it's safe to say that The English Beat's music radiated from my car speakers more than a few times as I delivered pizza back in the day. Though they weren't my favorite band of the genre, when they're good, they are freaking amazing. Now as an older skinhead-via-heredity, it's with mixed levels of enthusiasm that I announce that Dave Wakeling and the English Beat are embarking on a pretty serious Summer/Fall North American Tour, eventually skanking their way to Webster Hall on August 21, 2010. Bad Manners is supporting, which is AWESOME. Tickets go on sale July 9, 2010 (Amex presale begins today, July 7th, at noon).

Why the mixed levels of enthusiasm? Well, I am no purist, but I can't really get jazzed about seeing a band, any band, with only one original member. And though it is a scientific fact that David Wakeling (English Beat founding member and currently the only original member) is an EXTREMELY awesome guy, I'm not sure he necessarily deserves his title of "Legendary King of Ska". I can think of about 10 'ska legends' before he would even enter the picture, and ain't one of them a white dude from the UK. Legendary? Maybe. King? Hell no.

That said, between the Bosstones coming to Irving Plaza, The Pietasters playing on a boat (tickets), The Slackers also playing on a boat (tickets), and more Ska shows inevitably popping up, it's gonna be a good season for skankin' in NYC.

All English Beat dates (including a show in the Hamptons this Friday) below...

Continue reading "The English Beat tour dates & other upcoming ska shows"