Balam Acab at LPR last week (via Balam Acab's tumblr)

Barnard College's radio station is presenting 'Winter Formal 2011 & Goth Prom 1986' on December 3 at Barnard College in the Diana Event Oval (3009 Broadway at 117th in Manhattan) with Balam Acab, Purling Hiss, Leather, and RL Grime. The show is free and open to all ages. The flyer is below.

Balam Acab recently finished up a run of dates including his LPR show with Trust and True Womanhood (11/17). Andrew Kuo from NY Times reported on the show in his usual chart format with lines like "When he isn't awkwardly grinding in place it's just as great as most of the album." His final take on the show's end is, "I'll let the guys apologizing to their girlfriends for the show do the talking for me." If you were at the show, what did you think of it? If you missed it, there's a couple videos of Balam Acab's set below. He performed with a female vocalist and did some vocals himself too.

Balam Acab recently remixed Twin Sister (who are playing a BV Holiday Party) and Lana Del Rey, both of which turned out sounding a good deal like Balam Acab's original material (in a good way). Stream both of those remixes HERE.

Balam Acab's debut LP Wander/Wonder placed at #20 on Rough Trade Shop's top 100 albums of 2011. You can view the entire list here.

All dates, videos and the Barnard show flier below...

Continue reading "Balam Acab playing Barnard Winter Formal & other dates, played LPR (the NY Times charted it)"

Real Estate on a boat cruise (more by Marielle Solan)

WBAR is welcoming its 18th WBAR-B-Q at Barnard College on April 15th, 2011. The FREE, all-ages show will feature free food/drink/music at the Daina Event Oval at Barnard College (117th & Broadway) with performances from Real Estate, Blondes, Arp, Big Troubles, Grooms, Beige, Julianna Barwick, and others.

The show is also one of a few scheduled for Real Estate, who will also play Culture shock the next day, and a show on May 20 at The Bell House with Julian Lynch, Big Troubles and Family Portrait (tickets) and May 21 at Maxwell's with the same lineup (tickets). They also have a few more shows scheduled since we last spoke. All dates, more WBAR-B-Q details and the flyer is below...

Continue reading "WBAR-B-Q 2011 free show lineup & other Real Estate dates "

by Andrew Frisciano

The on-again, off-again rain on Sunday didn't cancel the 17th annual WBAR-B-Q, but it did move the show inside to Barnard's LeFrak Gym, a bit different aesthetically from the lush spring greenery outside but serviceable enough. It helped that the lineup had a focus on experimental noise and noise-inspired acts - every act I saw had the reverb and distortion keyed up, so the added resonance of the hall wasn't really an issue.

The show kicked off with Prince Rama, U.S. Girls and Think About Life, all of whom went on before I got there a little after 2pm. By then the free food was gone too, but the cotton candy machine and sno-cones were stocked all day.

On the center stage, Baltimore's Lower Dens (with guitarist Jana Hunter) played floating, moody distorted rock; drone violinist and loopmaster Burning Star Core/C Spencer Yeh serenaded (with huge bass drops) along the back wall; and Blues Control performed effects-heavy keyboard-and-tape jams.

The room looked fairly empty for most of the day (being a huge gym), but by the time Cold Cave went on people were on their feet and dancing. New member Jennifer Clavin (ex-Mika Miko) played keys and stepped in for vocals, and the band was off after a short-ish, no-encore set. Twin Stumps and their crazily enthused frontman set up on the floor across the gym and kept the show going with dissonant, pointed punk. Liturgy closed the show, but I took off before they played.

It was the second free show of the weekend for Cold Cave, who played the HEALTH-headlined NYU Solar One show the day before (which I heard also had plenty of room for people to move around). They play (Le) Poisson Rouge on Thursday with Cult Of Youth, Beaut, Max (reading), Mike Goodstein (WFMU) and DJ Mike Simonetti (Italians Do It Better). Tickets are still on sale.

More pictures from Barnard and a video of HEALTH at Solar One are below...

Continue reading "Cold Cave (and a lot of bands) played free shows @ Solar One (for NYU) & in Barnard's LeFrak Gym (WBAR-B-Q rain location)"

Xeno and Oaklander @ WBAR-B-Q 2009 (more by Zach Dilgard)

The 17th annual WBAR-B-Q (the outdoor show put on by Barnard College's resident radio station) will be happening this year on Sunday, April 25th. The free show lineup includes Think About Life (as previously reported), Cold Cave, Blues Control, Liturgy, Burning Star Core, Prince Rama Of Ayodhya Jana Hunter
Twin Stumps and U.S. Girls. The full list is below.

While in town, Montreal's Think About Life will also be playing Mercury Lounge on April 27th. Tickets are still on sale. Even sooner you can catch Think About Life on tour and at SXSW where they'll be playing a BrooklynVegan party (again).

As previously mentioned, Cold Cave will be playing at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Thursday, April 29th. Tickets to that are on sale.

Liturgy play a show this Saturday (3/6) at Glasslands with Naam.

More info on the fest and set order is below...

Continue reading "17th Annual WBAR-B-Q lineup (w/ Cold Cave, Blues Control, Liturgy, Burning Star Core, more)"

photos by Zach Dilgard

PackFM

Sunday's free WBAR-B-Q at Barnard College featured performances by Gang Gang Dance, Free Blood, Soft Circle, PackFM, Acrylics, and more. More pictures below...

Continue reading "pics from the 2009 WBAR-B-Q (Gang Gang Dance, Free Blood, Soft Circle, PackFM, and more...) "

Big free show today @ Barnard College
(Take the 1 train to 116th Street, enter at 117th and Broadway)

The Bronx on Thursday (with Videohippos), Barnard College on Friday (with more than 15 bands), and then a tour with The Pharmacy.....

Continue reading "the annual WBAR-B-Q, Drew Gardens, Japanther Tour Dates"