photos by Josh Darr

Noah & the Whale @ Sasquatch

"The band's set largely showcased tracks off Last Night, including excellent renditions of "Tonight's the Kind of Night" and "Wild One." Dapper in suits straight from the '70s (vests and all!), Noah and the Whale tore through an hour's worth of songs with a fervent, joyful energy, punctuated by succinct remarks from Fink in a clipped English accent." [SF Weekly]

That review is from the San Francisco show that happened not long before Noah and the Whale's Memorial Day Sasquatch set which is not streaming at NPR, but is pictured in this post.

Noah and the Whale are now on a US tour with Bahamas that ends at Irving Plaza in NYC on June 18th. All tour dates and more pictures from Sasquatch below...

Continue reading "Noah & the Whale played Sasquatch, on tour (pics & dates)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Inlets - In Which I, Robert (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Bright Orange Air (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Pictures of Trees (MP3)

It's a mostly Canadian edition of This Week in Indie, so grab a bag of pickle flavor potato chips and let's dig in. Jason Collett, who is a sometimes member of Broken Social Scene, is here playing tonight (Friday, 4/23) at Mercury Lounge and Saturday (4/24) at Union Hall (tix). Of all the satellite performers of BSS, I think Collett is kind of the unsung hero, making terrific album after terrific album in his understated West Coast country-rock style while Stars and Metric get all the attention. Not undeservedly, necessarily, but Collett's a class act, ace tunesmith, and great performer who deserves a lot more recognition. That includes his new album, Rat a Tat.

As you may have read, Collett is touring with Zeus who used to be his backing band (and will be here) and are really good in their own right. Their new album, Say Us, has a sort of '60s Brit feel, with little moments that make me think of the Kinks, Zombies and late period Beatles. This tour, called the Bonfire Ball, will feature collaborations with Collett and Zeus and, at the Union Hall show, fellow Toronto act Bahamas. (Bahamas aren't playing Mercury Lounge for some reason.) Sounds like a tuneful, convivial evening.

Parlovr @ M For Montreal 2009 (more)

We've written at length about The Luyas being in town for their first-ever NYC shows. I'm kicking myself a little that I didn't go to their secret Loft show on Wednesday (a video is below), but there are plenty of opportunities to see them before they leave. They're playing the teeny tiny Sycamore tonight (4/23), and if you're already going to see The Morning Benders Saturday at Music Hall of Williamsburg, which is/was sold out (tickets back on sale at the moment), do show up early to catch them.

But your easiest opportunity is probably Sunday night (4/25) at Glasslands. As an added bonus, they're playing with their Montreal neighbors Parlovr who I think are pretty awesome and would be worth going to this show just to see them. Here's what I wrote when I saw them at M for Montreal last November:

The band's self-titled, self-released 2008 album does not do them justice, making them sound like a Wolf Parade Jr. Live, Parlovr are way more energetic, fun and melodic -- though it may have also had something to do with a fair amount of new material in their set. Singers Louis Jackson and Alex Cooper semi face each other from opposite sides of the stage rocking back and forth like manic Drinking Birds, flipping their '90s skate rat hair around, while mountain man drummer Jeremy MacCuish holds down the beat. They clearly enjoy playing, and it's a lot of fun to watch too.

This is Parlovr's only NYC show, they just finished up a tour with We Are Wolves and decided to join the Luyas for this last show. It's only $7. Well worth checking out.

Think About Life @ CMJ 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

You could do a Montreal triple play (I guess hat trick would be the more apropos sports metaphor) on Sunday if you go early to the WBAR-B-Q and catch Think About Life who are one of my favorite live bands. You have to try really hard to have a bad time at one of their shows. When they played our official SXSW day party this year, I wrote this:

My favorite set of the day came early. Think About Life are so much fun live, so much genuine positivity, it's hard to be in a bad mood with them on stage. An instant hangover cure. I think this was the first time a lot of the audience had ever seen them play, if the number of people who asked me who they were was any indication. At one point singerMartin Cesar left the stage as if their set was over, only to appear in the middle of the crowd dancing, hyping people up. They were the only band that made me forget how cold it was that day.

If you can't drag yourself out of bed in time to make the WBAR-B-Q (gonna guess they're on before 2pm), which is free, Think About Life are back in the city on Tuesday (4/27) playing at Mercury Lounge playing with Chicago's Light Pollution. There's no LOST this week (not that that should ever stop you from seeing this band)...what else you got to do?

Inlets in a loft (more by Chris La Putt)

One non-Canadian weekend pick before I leave you. Inlets' debut, Inter Arbiter, was released this week and tonight (4/23) is the official release party at Union Hall (with Sparrow House). You can listen to the whole thing over at Spinner. It's a lovely listen, baroque pop with amazing harmonies. I've personally never seen them live and am curious to see how much of this they can reproduce live. I'd imagine that at the record release party there might even be special guests. I am not privy to any inside info,  but Zach Condon [editor's note: whose arm was in a sling at the April 12th John Shade show at Mercury Lounge] and Angel Deradoorian do play on the record (and Sufjan Stevens was there to see them at our CMJ loft party).

And don't forget about Saturday night's (4/24) Bruar Falls One Year Anniversary Party with Micachu & the Shapes, Holiday Shores, Beach Fossils and... balloons! It's free and I have a feeling will be crazy packed (and probably quite debauched) so get there early.

That's it for this week. Some videos and flyers are below...

Continue reading "Jason Collett, Zeus, Parlovr, Think About Life, Inlets & more in This Week in Indie "

Jason Collett, Zeus and Bahamas have announced a North American revue tour featuring all three artists performing together and alone. The three acts have a long history of collaboration, as intertwined as their musical lineage. Instead of the typical show in which each act plays its own set, Collett, Zeus and Bahamas will all take the stage together, playing songs by all three. The tour comes on the heels of new albums for Collett (Rat A Tat Tat, March 9) and Zeus (Say Us, February 23), and songs from both will be featured throughout the evening. [Arts & Crafts]

Zeus initially formed to play as Collett's backing band in 2008, and the group will be in NYC for two shows before the joint tour starts. On February 26th, they'll open for Franz Nicolay (doing one of his first NY shows since his departure from the Hold Steady was made official) and Tim Fite at Knitting Factory (tickets are on sale). They're also playing with The Sadies and People of the North on February 27th at Mercury Lounge. Tickets to that are available as well.

Bahamas is songwriter Afie Jurvanen, and he has backing-band bonafides too. As documented on Alfie's Myspace, "for the last many years he's been playing other people's music-- PasoMino, Great Lake Swimmers, The Stills, Howie Beck, Amy Millan, Jason Collett, Hayden and zeus. He's spent the last few years playing piano and guitar with Feist." Later in February, he'll be opening some Canadian dates for Wilco, who kick off a tour very soon.

The three-band tour starts in earnest this March, and includes SXSW. They'll play across the US and Canada before ending up in NYC near the end of April. There's a Union Hall show in Brooklyn on April 24th (tickets TBA), and one the night before, Friday, April 23rd, at Mercury Lounge (though that one lists "Jason Collett only" for some odd reason). Tickets for the Manhattan show are on AmEx presale now. General sale starts Friday at noon.

Jason Collett's other band, Broken Social Scene, are touring and releasing a new album this summer.

Full tour dates, Zeus' new stop-motion video for "Through Your Head" (and it's making-of), and a free Jazon Collett track are below...

Continue reading "Jason Collett & his band Zeus both releasing albums, playing together & separately, touring w/ Bahamas (2010 dates)"