DOWNLOAD: Very Be Careful - La Furgoneta (MP3)

Oberhofer

In addition to the 1/9 date at Living Room as part of KidRockers and the pair of dates with The Vaccines on 1/20 at Bowery Ballroom (tickets) and 1/22 at Glasslands (tickets), Oberhofer have another more imminent date to contend with. On January 7th he'll/they'll team up with Rioux, Great Smokey and Coastal Toast to play Coco66 in Brooklyn. The Rooftop Shout Records (which two of the bands on the bill are associated with) showcase kicks off at 9PM.

All of these dates precede their dates with Tapes n Tapes, who are scheduled to play Music Hall of Williamsburg on 2/4 (tickets). So far, Oberhofer is not part of that MHOW bill, but neither is anyone else.

In related noteworthy-shows-happening-at-the-same-venue-this-week news, Coco66 will house DJ/Rupture the next night, January 8th, a one-off gig for the DJ who can be found on WFMU on Mondays. Very Be Careful are also on the lineup of the Brooklyn show.

Very Be Careful

The Coco66/Rupture gig is also one of three shows that Los Angeles's 'seminal vallenato band' Very Be Careful is playing in NYC this week. It should be a party...

"As you're cruising into the second or third hour of a typical Very Be Careful show -- tequila scorching your tongue, perspiration drenching your torso, accordions and cowbells rattling your ear drums -- it may not occur to you that you're actually listening to some pretty savvy and skilled musicians.

This isn't something that band founders Arturo Guzman, a bassist, and Ricardo, his vocalist-accordionist brother, necessarily want to publicize. Such awareness might compromise the Eastside quintet's image as an easygoing, good-times bar band, dispensers of irrepressible dance grooves for midnight mobs of well-lubricated party animals." [LA Times]

You can also catch Very Be Careful at Bowery Poetry Club on Friday, January 7th, and at 92YTribeca that same night. The 92YTribeca show is the Here Comes Trouble APAP Showcase...

"Trouble Worldwide and Barbès Records present an APAP showcase with Non Stop Bhangra, Very Be Careful, Razia, International Body Music, Sanda Weigl and a Surprise Special Guest.

Here comes trouble, indeed. Forward-thinking San Francisco agency Trouble Worldwide and the worldly New York label Barbès Records have teamed up for the third annual Here Comes Trouble showcase to present six groups that leap borders and continents with a single musical bound at 92YTribeca. A Bhangra dance party closes the night. APAP badgeholders welcome!"

Here Come Trouble's latest album, Escape Room, was released by Barbès Records in 2010. An MP3 from that release is above. And in case you were wondering, Barbès Records is an off-shoot of Barbès the club (which Very Be Care is not playing while they are here).

DJ/Rupture's other upcoming gigs include a keynote speech at World's Fair Use Day in DC, and a pair of dates with The Ex whose March tour also includes a NYC show with Liturgy.

All tour dates and some videos, below...

Continue reading "Oberhofer, DJ/Rupture & Very Be Careful are playing shows"

David Byrne @ Bowery Ballroom with Dirty Projectors in Novemeber (more)

tonight in NYC
* Whiplash @ UCB
* Jim Campilongo @ Living Room
* Rev. Vince Anderson @ Union Pool
* David Byrne (lecture) @ The Bell House
* Uri Caine (seminar series) @ The Stone
* Beachniks, The Surprisers @ Bruar Falls
* Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens @ Joe's Pub
* Les Paul Guitar Tribute w/ Jose Feliciano @ Iridium
* Still Life Still, Hermit Thrushes, Elemeno @ Death By Audio
* The Joy Formidable, The Jaguar Club, Ravens & Chimes @ Union Hall
* Jon Irabagon's One-Song Rollins Tribute Trio, Wowz, CSC Funk Band @Zebulon
* Hazmat Modine, One Ring Zero, Las Rubias Del Norte, The Wingdale Community Singers @ Mercury Lounge

David Byrne has a talk at The Bell House on where he'll "present a short video/audio lecture called 'Creation in Reverse,' speaking to the ways that venue and context shape artistic creation, followed by a Q&A." First come, first served.

Whiplash at UCB tonight features comedians Leo Allen, Eugene Mirman (Delocated), Kumail Nanjiani (Jimmy Kimmel Live), Tony Camin (The Marijuana-Logues), Sean Patton & Max Silvestri (Big Terrific).

If you missed UK band The Joy Formidable open for Passion Pit at Terminal 5, you can catch them tonight at Union Hall (with Ravens & Chimes and The Jaguar Club) and Tuesday at Pianos.

Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, on Daptone Records, are at Joe's Pub tonight. Sharon Jones, also on the label, has a new record on the way.

The regular Monday Les Paul Guitar Tribute at Iridium features guest guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli tonight. For its January 25th edition, Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde joins the band. Tickets on sale Tuesday

Mercury Lounge hosts "Barbès Takes Manhattan!" with music from Hazmat Modine, One Ring Zero, Las Rubias Del Norte and The Wingdale Community Singers.

Tuesday night at Mercury Lounge is the Doveman and friends.

Lightspeed Champion celebrated Elvis's 75th birthday by covering and making a video for "Devil In Disguise". Check it out below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

William Parker Quartet

New York Guitar Festival, with shows between January 8th and February 4th, has already been mentioned here in a few different contexts. The "Silent Film/Live Guitars" portion is certainly a big highlight, with one-off performances by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Steve Kimock, David Bromberg and Marc Ribot, Alex de Grassi and James Blackshaw, and the fest closers Chicha Libre and Gyan Riley. Tickets are still available for all but the Vernon/Kimock show.

There's more on the schedule too. World Financial Center Winter Garden hosts a free opening show on Friday, January 8th with Hindustani slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya. There are also theme nights, with Barbes holding Django [Reinhardt] A Go Go (1/24) and 92nd Street Y hosting a Bach Guitar Marathon (1/31).

And LPR has two shows for the fest as well - a night headlined by James Blackshaw (with Max Ochs, Ben Hall, and Nick Jonah Davis too) on January 26th (tickets) and a previously mentioned show with the stellar pairing of Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Skeleton$ (possibly in Big Band form). A video of the Skeletons Big band from their December show at the Stone is below. Tickets for Marc Ribot/Skeletons show are on sale.

(Le) Poisson Rouge is also one of the main spots for the NYC Winter Jazz Festival this Friday and Saturday, when it hosts Jenny Scheinman & Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer Trio, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society and others. Other Village venues are well-stocked with talent too (and getting better - Saturday's Sullivan Hall lineup just added William Parker Quartet). Tickets to day one and two (or a two-day pass to both) are still on sale.

Iyer is also at the Stone this weekend, on Sunday (1/10), as is Tyshawn Sorey, who plays there Friday (1/8) (and plays the Winter Jazz Fest on Saturday).

While on the topic of Iyer, a few other excellent, top-of-their-game, consistently original pianists have shows in the same week (could be called the 'inadvertent piano fest'). McCoy Tyner Trio with special guest Gary Bartz are at Highline Ballroom on Friday, January 8th on a latin-tinged bill with Francisco Mela's Cuban Safari, Jon Batiste Band and Alfredo Rodriguez. Tickets are still on sale.

Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus has a show at LPR, where he'll open with a solo "cocktail" piano set, with The Respect Sextet on Tuesday, January 12th. Tickets are on sale.

Pianist Brad Mehldau, whose new Jon Brion-produced album is due February 23rd, plays two solo sets at Highline Ballroom on January 14th, as a benefit for JazzReach. Tickets are on sale.

The full schedule for the NY Guitar Fest and videos are below...

Continue reading "NY Guitar Fest, Winter Jazz Fest & a bunch of great piano shows kick off Friday - updated schedules, venues & dates"

Holden is a French duo who began recording in 1997. Band members are Armelle Pioline (vocals) and Dominique Dépret (aka Mocke, guitar). With Pierre-Jean Grapin (drums), Evan Evans (clavier) and Richard Cousin (bass), they released 'L'arrière monde' in 1998. In 2001, they met the producer Senor Coconut aka Atom aka Uwe Schmidt, who mixed their second album, 'Pedrolira' (2002). They recorded their last album, Chevrotine, in Chile, 2006

Holden's newest album Fantomatisme was released in 2009. The four songs streaming at their MySpace are great. Time Out describes it well: "Parisian duo Holden offers wistful, transporting folk-pop, accented with bossa nova and jazz. Armelle Pioline's yearning French vocals make us feel like we're inhabiting an early Godard film." The slower / bossa nova songs remind me of Keren Ann or Astrud Gilberto, though in some videos (below), they also rock out a little more.

Supposedly the band is big in France, but nobody knows about them here. That means we get to see them in intimate venues while they're visiting NYC for five shows this week. The first was Saturday night at Zebulon (did you catch it?). Sunday (11/15) the show is at Sycamore. Monday is at Matchless. Tuesday at Barbes (as well as a WNYC radio session with David Garland earlier that day), and then Wednesday they end the run at Pianos (they play right before Violent Soho who play before... Group Sounds?!). All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "French band Holden are here - 5 NYC shows & a WNYC appearance (2009 tour dates & videos) "

by Andrew Frisicano

Download: Baby Gramps - Shake It 'n' Break It (MP3)
Download: Baby Gramps - St. James Infirmary (MP3)
Download: Baby Gramps - Teddy Bears' Picnic (MP3)

[Baby Gramps] plays his songbook of old-timey songs with the dexterity of an, erm, old-timer (he plays what he calls "stunt guitar" and what others have termed "extraordinary"). No longer "knee-high to a tootsie-wootsie" (as he would say), he's officially grown into his geezer status. Some date Gramps' beginnings on the Seattle music scene as far back as the early '60s. "Before that, I was in Texas by way of Arkansas by way of Alabama," he told Patrick Ferris in an interview reprinted on Gramps' website. And though you might be inclined to file Gramps under roots -- blues and folk in particular -- he's also found a niche among the rock crowd as a street performer and opening act. I recollect seeing him on every trip I've ever taken to Seattle that involved entering a nightclub. I asked my friend, Seattle-based author and journalist Charles R. Cross, for the hometown perspective on Baby Gramps: "He is a Seattle institution, along the lines of the Space Needle, Pioneer Square, and the Pike Place Market." [Crawdaddy]

Baby Gramps fingerpicks an old National steel guitar and shares at least a few similarities with Tom Waits: his outward appearance borders on hobo chic, his voice growls like a idling Buick, and his origins are purposefully mysterious in a way that transcends age. It's hard to place Baby Gramps in a specific context other than "America" and a time other than "somewhere in the past." He's never put out a studio record, despite playing consistently for the last 40-plus years. The samples above come from 2003's Same Ol' Timeously, one of Gramps's three live CDs released on his own Grampophone label.

Baby Gramps occasionally leaves his Pacific Northwest homebase for jaunts around the North East. That's what he'll do this June, as he plays Upstate New York before coming to NYC for a five-night run. Starting with a Friday, June 12th show at Terra Blues, Gramps will play Barbes on June 13th (Sat), Jalopy Theatre on June 14th (Sun), the Kitchen Club on June 15th (Mon) and finish with a show at Zebulon on June 16th (Tues).

His song "Cape Cod Girls" opened the Hal Willner-compiled Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys collection, which came out on Anti in 2007.

A video of Gramps performing "Cape Cod Girls" with Akron/Family on Letterman (a venue that doesn't do his full-on vaudeville act justice), with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Baby Gramps - 2009 tour dates w/ 5 NYC shows in June "

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation have announced Wednesday, July 9, as the start date for Music At The Bridge, a new free summer music series being presented in the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park section of Brooklyn Bridge Park. For each of five consecutive Wednesday nights, starting at 6:30pm, a different Brooklyn music venue will curate a three-hour jewel of a program, taking direct aim at the musically adventurous.

If you are adventurous, check out the lineup (of jewels) below...

Continue reading "Music at the (Brooklyn) Bridge - kicks off tonight"