Bardo Pond at Music Hall of Williamsburg 2009 (more by Lori Baily)

Bardo Pond will play Death By Audio TONIGHT (11/19), as part of a Northern Spy event with Eleven Twenty Nine and Steve Gunn. Doors open at 8PM for the $10 show, and more info is here. Though Northern Spy is hosting the DBA show, Northern Spy artist Hubble will be just down the street tonight at 285 Kent, celebrating a record release and supporting Psychic Ills.

Bardo Pond recently played the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham. Clash wrote...

One of the more frustrating things about Supersonic is just how much great music you end up missing. Pioneers like Silver Apples and Tony Conrad are both sacrificed throughout the weekend, the disappointingly washed out Wolves In The Throne Room and the inconceivably overrated Skull Defekts somehow flickering onto my radar in their place. Yet a band doesn't necessarily need to be innovative or even particularly refreshing to steal the show. Bardo Pond, performing early in the evening in space number 2 and having to negotiate theirs and everyone elses hangovers delight, a gorgeously crushing celebration of wistful acid tracer trails and shoegaze psyche. That these old hands stole the show is perhaps indicative of inconsistent yet strangely satisfying blend that comprised this years festival as a whole.

Thurston Moore has been responsible for choosing the lineups at The Stone since April 16th. Upcoming Thurston-curated shows include U.S. Girls (tonight, 4/21), "Kim Gordon with Guest" on 4/23 which is right before a Talk Normal performance on the same day, and Nancy Garcia on 4/29. Thurston's reign ends on 4/30. Check the Stone's site for the whole calendar.

Thurston, who recently played a Japan benefit, has his own shows coming up at Music Hall of Williamsburg, in Northampton, at the Pitchfork Festival, and as part of his White Out project on a bill with Metal Mountains and Bardo Pond at Le Poisson Rouge on June 18th.

For more Sonic Youth, Steve Shelley also has shows coming up, both as part of Disappears and Spectre Folk.

One day after they play the Stone, Talk Normal share a bill with Grass Widow (like they did when they opened for Sonic Youth in Prospect Park), Broken Water and Tara Jane O'Neil at Death By Audio.

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"

DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Crazy Rulers of the World (MP3)

Surf City at Pianos, BV Day Party during CMJ 2009 (more by Chris LaPutt)

Bardo Pond's last NYC outing was at the much larger Bell House, but they've gone micro for their next one, joining forces with Surf City to play April 9th at Mercury Lounge. Tickets go on Amex presale Wednesday at noon, and on regular sale 48 hours later.

The show is one of two NYC dates scheduled for New Zealand's Surf City, who'll also play April 12 at Glasslands (tickets are on sale). No other North American dates at the moment, but some Australian ones are listed, with a couple of videos below...

Continue reading "Bardo Pond & Surf City schedule shows"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Bardo Pond - "Dont Know About You" (MP3)

Bardo Pond at No Fun Fest 2009 (more by Lori Baily)

After 4+ years away from the studio, Bardo Pond are back and will release their new and self-titled LP via their new home, Fire Records, on Jan 11, 2011. The LP is their eighth outing and features "Dont Know About You" available for download for the first time above, and stream below.

Meanwhile, Bardo Pond have a few dates lined up on the live circuit in anticipation of their appearance at ATP's The Nightmare Before Christmas, including two in the US. The first date sees the band teaming up with Pontiak, Crazy Dreams Band, Tom Carter & Marc Orleans Duo, Silver Summit and Bad Dream for another installment of the Memory Burn Psych Festival (the second this year), co-presented by Electric Temple ,at The Bell House on Saturday, 11/20/10. Tickets are still available. Philadelphia gets the nod four days later when the band links up with James Plotkin & Dan Matz as well as Gods & Queens at Kung Fu Necktie. Full tour dates are below.

That song stream, as well as all tour dates and some video, is below.

Continue reading "new Bardo Pond album & MP3 ++ upcoming shows too (dates)"

by BBG

Kurt Vile at Brooklyn Masonic Temple (more by Lori Baily)

It's almost final and official, ATP New York is ruling. The best Hudson Valley festival to ever be held in a 1960s time capsule has announced the "final additions" including two comedians chosen by Syd Butler of Les Savy Fav (more to come... that's all "so far"), as well as a few new and interesting additions to the Jim Jarmusch curated date. Behold:

Continue reading "ATP NY announces (almost) complete lineup (GZA, Kurt Vile..)"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: The Entrance Band - "Grim Reaper Blues" (MP3)

Sunburned Hand Of The Man

The 1st Annual Memory Burn Psych Fest is a one night affair on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 @ Glasslands in Brooklyn, NY. Inspired by such psych-minded festivals over the past few years such as the Frisco Freakout in SF, Memory Burn gathers a stylistic smattering of local heady, heavy hitters in New York's psych scene for an evening of tripped-out fun...

Another notable psych-related event in the near future includes The Entrance Band, who will team up with The Growlers at Mercury Lounge for a show on June 12th. Tickets are on sale. The Entrance Band play Bonnaroo just two days prior.

Sunburned Hand of The Man recently contributed to a tribute LP for the fallen Jack Rose, who passed away late last year. The album, entitled Honest Strings: A Tribute To The Life And Work Of Jack Rose, is out now via Fina Music and also features contributions from Bardo Pond, MV & EE, No Neck Blues Band, Six Organs of Admittance, Spectre Folk, and many many other notables. All proceeds from the sale of the record go to the estate of Jack Rose. Pick up that record, and read more about it at the label's site.

The Memory Burn flyer and some video, including a few of Golden Triangle at Sound Fix Tuesday (5/4) is below...

Continue reading "Memory Burn Psych Fest, Entrance Band, a Jack Rose tribute "

Boris @ ATP NY 2009 (more by Ryan Muir)

There aren't many music news items that get me excited as ATP lineup additions. This one is no different. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, Torotoise, Bardo Pond, Beak> featuring Geoff Barrow of Portishead, Sleepy Sun, Avi Buffalo, Sunn O)) & Boris performing material from their collaborative album Altar, Dungen, and White Hills have all been added to the already-stellar bill of the 2010 festival at Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, NY (Sept 3-5). All confirmed artists and more details below...

Continue reading "ATP NY expands 2010 lineup - Hope Sandoval, SUNN O)) & Boris, Tortoise, BEAK> (Geoff Barrow of Portishead) & more!"

Thurston w/ Sonic Youth @ MHOW in November (more by Lori Baily)

Thurston Moore will join White Out (noisemaking duo Lin Culbertson and Tom Surgal) for what, according to their website, is the only the group's third show this year. It happens Friday, December 18th at (Le) Poisson Rouge, and headlining will be Philly psych-rock band Bardo Pond (both acts are on Thurston's Ecstatic Peace label). Tickets are still on sale.

White Out put out two records this year, both recordings of live shows. Senso, captured at the now-defunct downtown club Tonic on December 18, 2004, and featuring Thurston Moore and Jim O'Rourke, came out in September on Ecstatic Peace. The other record, Live at No Fun LP, has guests Spencer Yeh and Carlos Giffoni. It came out on No Fun Productions and was recorded at No Fun Fest 2008 (...both run by Giffoni).

Bardo Pond's only other NYC show this year was at No Fun Fest 2009. They played the same night as Sonic Youth. Their most recent release, peri, is, like batholith before it, a "collection of tracks that were close to the band's heart but for various reasons had never been released."

White Out videos and a show flyer are below...

Continue reading "Bardo Pond & White Out (w/ Thurston Moore) - recent releases & an upcoming show (at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC)"

photos by Lori Baily, words by Andrew Frisicano

Sonic Youth ended the second night of 2009's No Fun Fest with a seated set of distorted guitar noise and drums. Instead of Lee Ranaldo (who was busy at Cannes?), guitarist Bill Nace performed with the band. (No Mark Ibold either.) The noise shifted from heavy chords, made by drum stick on guitar, to strangely tender sustained feedback and sample-and-hold-esque, skittish riffs. Like a standard SY set, Steve Shelley's tom-heavy drums weighted the action and marked changes in movements. His pummels echoed the intro to "Wipe Out" as the three others on stage took to twisting SY's sonic palette into a No Fun appropriate adventure. After one 20-minute-or-so sustained set, the musicians left the stage. A brief encore continued in the same vein. Kim Gordon intoned into the microphone ("I don't want to leave you behind," I think), causing not a few crowd-members to peak up with hopes of some classic or The Eternal material. No such luck. After four more minutes of music, the band left for good.

Radio23.org, who streamed the SY set and other parts of the fest live, tweeted, "I think we can excuse the Youth as no one else has delved into short-form improv so far... We liked the 3min30sec encore :)" Other bands on the night's bill included Blank Dogs, Mattin, C Spencer Yeh, and Pedestrian Deposit. Hearts Arena wrote...

Pedestrian Deposit: Most thrilling set of the fest so far. Even the dillweeds in the audience were quieted by the end of this. Pedestrian Deposit explores and exploits the frayed edges of sound and texture, wherever they find them on the spectrum. Moving with aplomb from penetrating high ends to heaving silences pulled back from the edge of explosive noise and percussion and then off to the final gorgeous tones of the cello. Soft landing. Everybody in that room knew that something special had just happened. Me, ecstatic.

Yellow Tears was the unexpected surprise of the night, winning over everyone in the room with their meticulosuly warped sample manipulations and sounds. Out of all the bands, here's one that took the twenty minute time slot and really found inspiration, breaking into sweat and taking off their shirts, and getting genuinely into it. The stage was illuminated by a single bright red light bulb. The best part of the set was the member who kept striking a large scrap of metal and sending it through various effects processors, throwing it onto the ground and making a spectacle yet wrenching some pretty freaking insane and wicked sounds from it. Their energy was welcome and the crowd response was thunderously approving from the sold-out crowd. A dude on the L train was raving about them on the way back, displaying the record he bought of theirs; I have a feeling he's not the only one.

Continue reading "No Fun Fest @ MHOW - night 2 (Sonic Youth) - pics & video"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Danielson - Animal In Every Corner (Version) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dan Zimmerman - Symbols In This World (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dan Zimmerman - Everyday In My Heart (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dan Zimmerman - Either Or (MP3)

Danielson (top, middle)& Dan Zimmerman (bottom)

Upon hearing Dan Zimmerman's music, his rich, distinctive, roasted baritone, somewhere in between Lee Hazelwood and Tom Waits, will be your first impression. It's all character, with nothing pretended or imposed. Dan's been singing since he picked up the guitar in 1957, and his resonance is pure experience. He's a Methodist preacher's kid turned '60s art-school van-gypsy, married by a swami, turned Northwestern mountain-man singing at lunch-hour for fellow workers at a tree-packing plant... And that's just the groundwork. Six years in the making, his new album, Cosmic Patriot, features Daniel Smith (Danielson), Emil Nikolaisen (Serena-Maneesh), Josiah Wolf (Why?), Joshua Stamper, Jason Kourkounis (Bardo Pond) and many more. It captures the band and the man perfectly.[Glen Galloway @ Sounds Familyre]

Zimmerman's new disc is his first since 2001's Great Small, which was the Sounds Familyre label's first non-Danielson (and second overall) release. As on that record, Danielson and "Famile" appear in supporting roles on Cosmic Patriot.

Last year Danielson released a retrospective album, Trying Hartz, and played a Halloween show at NYC's Knitting Factory.

All Danielson/Zimmerman tour dates, and an episode of Breakfast at Sulimay's where Danielson gets the Philly diner treatment, below...

Continue reading "Dan Zimmerman & Danielson - albums & shows "

(album artwork features a painting by John Fahey)

Sonic Youth's 16th album, 'The Eternal', will be released on double vinyl, compact disc, and digital album by Matador Records on June 9. Produced by John Agnello and the band, 'The Eternal' not only marks Sonic Youth's return to the independent label sphere (titles on their own SYR label excepted) after a long association with Geffen, but more importantly, ranks as one of their more inspired efforts in a 28 year career.

Recorded through November and December of last year at the band's Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, NJ, 'The Eternal' features many firsts for a Sonic Youth album, including a number of shared vocals between Kim, Thurston, and Lee, and the studio debut of former Pavement/Dustdevils bassist Mark Ibold, a member of Sonic Youth's touring band for the past few years.

No Fun Fest 5/15/2009 (tix)
Bastard Noise / Thrones / Grey Wolves / Xeno and Oaklander / Carlos Giffoni / Chris Corsano / Axolotl / Raglani / Noveller / DJs: Greh Holger, Steve Lowenthal

No Fun Fest 5/16/2009 (tix)
Sonic Youth / Bardo Pond / Rafael Toral with C. Spencer Yeh, Trevor Tremaine / Sons of God / Pedestrian Deposit / Blank Dogs / Yellow Tears / Mattin / Pulse Emitter / DJs: Invernomuto, DJ JONBENET

No Fun Fest 5/17/2009 (tix)
Merzbow / Skullflower / Con-Dom / Black Pus / Emeralds / Peter Rehberg/Marcus Schmickler / Cold Cave / Jazzfinger / Conrad Schnitzler Con-Cert / DJs: Mike Bernstein,CG Warrior

Tickets weren't supposed to go on sale until Sunday, but as someone pointed out, they are actually ON SALE NOW (that includes the $60 three-day pass).

All SY tour dates and the new album tracklisting below...

Continue reading "No Fun Fest tix on sale, Sonic Youth's The Eternal on Matador "

No Fun Fest 2009. May 15,16,17 at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Daily Schedule,ticket info/prices will be announced by January 12.

Continue reading "Sonic Youth, Merzbow & Bardo Pond playing No Fun Fest 2009 (full 3-day, Brooklyn lineup)"

photos by Zach Dilgard, words by Black Bubblegum

Zach & BB are up at Kutscher's this weekend for the first-ever NY All Tomorrow's Parties festival...

Patton Oswalt

"I feel like David Lynch would walk into this place and say 'This is perfect! Production designer, you're fired.'"

Leave it to Patton Oswalt to say exactly what I was thinking.

"I half expect to walk by a room and see a guy getting blown by somebody in a bear suit."

Kutscher's Country Club is an odd "resort"... a decaying, frozen-in-time artifact from the 60s with shag-carpeted walls, pale pink wall paper, musty smell, and brown water showers to prove it. But let's get real, no one came to Kutscher's for the surroundings.... It was for the sights, sounds, and overall vibe and in that respect, the location for the New York version of All Tommorrow's Parties delivers in spades.

Tortoise

Due to more traffic traffic than I anticipated, I ended up missing both Bardo Pond and Meat Puppets, sliding into Kutscher's slightly before Tortoise hit the main stage, the Stardust Room, on Friday (Sept 19, 2008).

The Stardust Room is circular, comparable in size to NYC's Nokia Theater and also tiered, presumably for dinner-shows. It's painted black and covered in stars and while it may have passed for "class" in the age of the beehive, in 2008, Stardust feels more like a rejected set from Star Trek. Where it counts though, the sound, I was definitely impressed, and from all viewpoints.

words to be continued. more assorted photos from Friday below....

Continue reading "ATP NY part 1 - BB & ZD arrive, Patton Oswalt jokes - pics"

Bardo Pond

All Tomorrow's Parties is pleased to announce some additions to the bill for ATP New York, its first east coast festival set for September 19-21 at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, NY.

As previously announced, the three day festival is curated by both My Bloody Valentine and ATP, and will be headlined by My Bloody Valentine in their first US appearance in 16-years.

Alongside previously announced choices, Dinosaur Jr., Lilys, Yo La Tengo, Mercury Rev and Mogwai, Sunday curators My Bloody Valentine have also chosen, Bob Mould, Sonic Boom, Le Volume Courbe, Gemma Hayes and Wounded Knees. ATP adds in Les Savy Fav, Alexander Tucker and Apse to join Shellac, Fuck Buttons, Low, Growing, Edan With Guest Dagha, Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra, The Drones, Polvo, Wooden Shjips, Harmonia, Om and Autolux on their day. Finally Bardo Pond Performing Lapsed joins the Friday Don't Look Back day that also sees Thurston Moore Performing Psychic Hearts, Tortoise Performing Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Meat Puppets Performing Meat Puppets II and Built To Spill Performing Perfect From Now On.

Continue reading "more bands added to ATP New York (Bardo Pond)"