Off! @ NXNE 2011 (more by Natasha Ryan)

The most memorable thing that happened the year I visited Toronto for NXNE was Iggy Pop & The Stooges playing their big, outdoor, free, no-ticket-or-badge-required show downtown at Yonge-Dundas Square. Last year the Descendents did it. This year they've landed the Flaming Lips which should be an amazing spectacle. And:

NXNE Music has confirmed that Bad Religion, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah and Matthew Good will headline free shows at Yonge-Dundas Square (YDS) throughout the seven-day festival. The NXNE Music line-up also includes performances at YDS and in the clubs by Of Montreal, No Use For A Name, Purity Ring, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Death Grips, The Men, Bleached, Good Riddance, METZ, Ceremony, Plants & Animals, The Death Set, The Sadies & Andre Williams, Oberhofer, Reigning Sound, Action Bronson, 2:54, Yamantaka/ /Sonic Titan, The Hundred in The Hands, Rival Schools, Killer Mike, Young Magic, Hayes Carll, Friends, Hollerado, Bran Van 3000, The Black Belles, Doldrums, Odonis Odonis, Mac DeMarco, Bass Drum of Death, Porcelain Raft, Exitmusic, Violens, Grass Widow, Eight and a Half, DZ Deathrays, Jonathan Toubin, Art vs. Science, B L A C K I E, The Nils and Ivan Julian (ex-Richard Hell & The Voidoids).

Jonathan Toubin!!

This year's fest takes place at multiple venues across Toronto from June 11-17, 2012. Tickets are on sale.

Last year BrooklynVegan co-hosted a boat party with M For Montreal and Bruise Cruise.

photos by Tim Griffin

DOWNLOAD: Japandroids - "Younger Us" (MP3)

Japandroids @ the Mohawk

The Japandroids/Bass Drum of Death tour (which didn't list BDoD on the NYC show when the tour was first announced) hits Mercury Lounge in NYC tonight (9/14). It's sold out, but we have a pair of tickets you can win today. Details on how to do that, with all tour dates, and more pictures from the sold out show that happened inside at Mohawk in Austin on 9/8, below...

Continue reading "Japandroids & Bass Drum of Death on tour, play Merc tonight (win tix!), played Mohawk in Austin (pics)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

"Any sort of mention of Wu Lyf has to explain their anti-publicity and DIY stance. Now, they are slowly revealing themselves. At Friday's show, Ellery Roberts introduced the band. Although his thick Northern England accent was hard to understand. They even did a Radio 1 session last week before they arrived in New York." [Music Snobbery]

WU LYF, after making their US debut in NYC in April, returned and played two sold out shows this past weekend with Bass Drum of Death. The first was at Mercury Lounge on Friday (7/22) and then Knitting Factory on Saturday (7/23). The intense and shirtless headlining band showcased material from their recently released Go Tell Fire to the Mountain.

"The ballyhooed debut album from WU LYF (pronounced "woo life" and an acronym for World Unite! Lucifer Youth Foundation) was self-produced and recorded in an abandoned church and if this is already too "indie" of a narrative for you, let me just quickly re-iterate that the record is really, really good." [Potholes in My Blog]

Pictures and videos from Mercury Lounge continue below....

Continue reading "WU LYF & Bass Drum of Death @ Mercury Lounge (pics, video)"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Death Grips - Ex Military (ZIP file)

Nguzunguzu recently kicked off their tour with Gang Gang Dance and Total Freedom, though as mentioned, neither Nguzunguzu nor Total Freedom will be on Gang Gang Dance's NYC show when they headline a Rocks Off Concert Cruise on July 21. Nguzunguzu will instead play their own NYC show that day (7/21) at Santos Party House. The bill also includes Death Grips, Traxman, Azizaman, and Thomass.

Experimental rapper Death Grips recently released the Exmilitary mixtape, which you can stream (below) and download (above). The mixtape combines lo-fi and glitch hop, but unlike other indie-leaning hip hop, his delivery has more in common with hardcore hip hop. Death Grips also plays one of Jelly's RockBeach shows at the Aviator Sports Complex on July 24 with Bass Drum of Death, MNDR, The Miracles Club, and Night Manager. More dates and three Death Grips music videos are below.

Bass Drum of Death also play two shows with WU LYF on July 22 at Mercury Lounge and July 23 at Knitting Factory. Both shows are sold out.

You can also catch Azizaman at Santos tonight with Omar Souleyman and Janka Nabay.

Updated tour dates, mixtape and videos below...

Continue reading "Death Grips is coming -- free mixtape & dates (Santos w/ Nguzunguzu, Rock Beach & more)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Bass Drum of Death @ Austin Psych Fest

We've announced that Japandroids are playing Hopscotch Fest and Pygmalion Music Festival. It's since been revealed that these two festival appearances are part of a larger North American tour that Japandroids are going on with with Bass Drum of Death. The tour stops by New York at Mercury Lounge on September 14. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/10) at noon (though note that Mercury Lounge does not list Bass Drum on the bill).

The Mercury show is currently one of the very few on the tour that doesn't list Bass Drum of Death (or anyone for that matter) as an opener. However, BDOD play the Manhattan venue two other times this summer, and two Brooklyn shows too. They open the previously discussed Hanni El Khatib show at Mercury Lounge on 6/24 (tickets) and for Hanni again at Glasslands the next night (6/25) (tickets). The Brooklyn show also has Heavenly Blows and Web Dating on the bill.

BDOD then play Mercury again on July 22 with WU LYF (tickets) and Knitting Factory the next night (7/23) with WU LYF, Young Magic and Dapwell (Das Racist member DJ set) (tickets).

Bass Drum of Death's new LP, GB City, is out now via Fat Possum. Check out the band's recent video for "Get Found", along with more dates and a belated set of pictures of the band at Austin Psych Fest last month, below...

Continue reading "Japandroids touring w/ Bass Drum of Death who played Psych Fest (pics) & are playing w/ Wu Lyf (dates)"

photos by Brook Bobbins

Duo Bass Drum of Death released their debut, LP GB City, via Fat Possum on April 12th, 2011, and are on tour now in support of it. That tour brought them to NYC this weekend for two shows. They're opening for Crocodiles and The Fresh & Onlys tonight (4/23) at Music Hall, and last night they played their own show at Glasslands which is where these pictures are from.

UPDATE: Make that three shows. they also play at 1:30am Saturday night at Shea Stadium with Unknown Mortal Orchestra who play Pianos Sunday night.

More pictures, with all tour dates, below....

Continue reading "Bass Drum of Death on tour, played Glasslands (pics)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Naked on the Vague - Clock of 12's (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Trust - Candy Walls (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Do You Believe in Destiny? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cuffs - Privilege (MP3)

Naked on the Vague

It's spring, it's Passover/Easter, flowers are blooming...let's talk goth. Sydney, Australia's Naked on the Vague are here this weekend for two shows: tonight (4/22) at Coco66 with Sacred Bones labelmates Trust and Silk Flowers, and then Saturday (4/23) at Bowery, kicking off their tour with Zola Jesus and Cult of Youth.

Naked on the Vague's new platter, Twelve Dark Noons, which is also the name of a new film that made its U.S. debut last night (yes I'm a little behind) at 92 Y Tribeca, and the band played an "experimental music" set beforehand. Tonight's show is a little more normal for the band -- it's the record release party -- though may not be normal to you depending on what you listen to.

Core duo Lucy Cliche and Matthew Hopkins have recently expanded the band to a four-piece, making for a fuller-sounding dark and doomy racket. Hopkins describes the new album as "Dracula fronting the B-52s." I'm not sure that's how I;d describe it, but this is certainly a more accessible record than last year's Heaps of Nothing which came out on Siltbreeze. If you like the '80s goth touchstones, you'll be into this. Check out "Clock of 12's" at the top of this post and the video is below.

Trust

Opening tonight are Toronto duo Trust who played earlier in the week at the Wierd party at Home Sweet Home. You may recognize Maya Postepski if you've seen Austra play live (she's their drummer). Along with singer Robert Alfons the duo "combine dark synth arpeggios, live and programmed drum beats with haunting, effected vocals." Hear all those things in Trust's debut single, "Candy Walls," which is downloadable above. (And watch the well-photographed, vaguely creepy video below.) Similarities to Postepski's other group are evident, which is to say if you like Austra but wish the songs were sung by a guy who kind of sounds like the Crash Test Dummies dude...Trust is pretty close to that. And not a bad thing. Locals Silk Flowers open tonight's show.

Trust will open for Austra on U.S. dates in May (including 5/23 at Mercury Lounge) if you can't see them tonight.

the Fresh & Onlys

Keeping thing within the Sacred Bones realm, San Francisco's Fresh & Onlys are here tomorrow (4/23) at Music Hall of Williamsburg as they're on tour with Crocodiles. The band have been on a prolific tear for the last two years but have kind of slacked off in 2011. It's April and they've only just released their first record on the year. But it's a good one, Secret Walls (on aforementioned label), continues the band's differentiation from the SF garage scene they were lumped in with. There's not one rocker amongst its six tracks. Which is not a bad thing at all. Tim Cohen's songwriting just keeps getting better and the EP's expansive sound here is a great showcase for the superior musicianship found in all corners of the band. Lovely stuff.

The MHoW show is a pretty happening bill. In addition to Crocodiles, you've got Bay Area shoegazers Young Prisms and Bass Drum of Death, the latter of whom also play tonight at Glasslands.

Karkwa

Shifting gears, tonight at Pianos are Karkwa from Montreal who you might remember won the Polaris Music Prize in 2010 for Les Chemins de Verres, the first-ever Francophone album to receive the award. Yes, that means they sing in French though that really shouldn't stop you from digging them. I've described them before as the French-Canadian Radiohead, which is reductive but gets you there. So if you can listen to Sigur Ros and not worry about what they're saying, you can do the same for Karkwa. Check out their video for single "Le Pyromane" at the bottom of this post. They play giant rooms in Canada so to be in a room as tiny as Pianos should be interesting.

Cuffs

As previously mentioned, former Swell Maps and Television Personalities guy Jowe Head is here, playing tonight at Bruar Falls and tomorrow (5/23) at Cake Shop. Tomorrow's show is especially enticing, as it's the NYC debut of Cuffs which is the new band from Andrew Churchman who fronted much-loved Boston band Pants Yell! (That's their exclamation point, not mine.) Cuffs also has Pants Yell! drummer Casey Keenan, as well as "a member of Reports and the blonde kid from Big Troubles."

Cuffs are working on some real recordings as we speak but you can listen to some demos at their Bandcamp site, one of which you can download at the top of this post. For those familiar with Churchman's previous band, you already mostly know what to expect here. He's still writing delicate indiepop, though Cuffs have a little more groove. I remember him saying at Popfest (PY!'s last NYC show) that the new stuff would be more Prefab Sprout influenced and you can hear that lonely jazzy sound in "Albert Kroft."

Pants Yell! were always a louder, more rocking band live than on record, and I bet the same holds true for Cuffs. There also seems to be a little jammy-ness with them too (maybe the Big Troubles factor), so I'm really curious/excited for tomorrow's show.

That's the main stuff this weekend, but there are a few more day-by-day picks below.

FRIDAY, APRIL 22

Personal & the Pizzas, who played last night at Maxwell's, are at Cake Shop tonight laying on the cheese with Georgia's Barreracudas and Los Vigilantes. Personal & the Pizzas and the Barreracudas also play Bruar Falls on Sunday (4/24).

The Bass Drum of Death show tonight mentioned up the post is also with So So Glos, Xray Eyeballs, and Night Manager.

If you like The Drums, check out The Young Friends (who are signed to the Drums' Holiday Records) at The Gutter with Beacon and Kosovo.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23

It's a hard-to-pass-up bill at Glasslands tonight, with Hunx & His Punks, Shannon & the Clams (who played Cake Shop already this week), the wonderful Grass Widow and the K-Holes. Catch Grass Widow again on Sunday (3/24) at Death by Audio with Talk Normal.

And if you want to see that show, chances are you wish you could see Davilla 666 (who played Cake Shop earlier this week too), The Beets and Xray Eyeballs at Knitting Factory.

SUNDAY, APRIL 24

Personal & the Pizzas play Bruar Falls.

That's it for this week. Tour dates and videos are below...

Continue reading "Naked on the Vague, Trust, The Fresh & Onlys, Cuffs, Karkwa, Personal & the Pizzas & more in This Week in Indie "

photos by Amanda Hatfield and Timothy Griffin

Adventure (by Tim)

Braids (by Tim)

Braids and Adventure are on tour with Toro y Moi now. The three bands play sold out shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom on Sunday (4/10) and Monday (4/11).

As discussed and/or pictured HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, we threw a free, three stage party with M For Montreal at Swan Dive and Barbarella in Austin on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, to all the bands who played and to Ramesh for DJing. Sorry to Bass Drum of Death for not getting to play due to some confusion. Thanks to the cast of Workaholics for stopping by and for doing some hosting (catch their show on Comedy Central now!). Thanks also to Izzoz, Sensible Portions, Honest Tea, VegAustin, Raw Revolution, NadaMoo, Firefly Vodka, Line 6, Korg, Vox, Blackstar, Nudie Jeans, and ASCAP. Thanks to everyone else that helped and to anyone I forgot.

A whole bunch more pictures from the whole day are below...

Continue reading "BV/M For Montreal Austin Day Party in pics (Braids, Adventure, Owen Pallett, Little Scream & many more)"

If you've been following along, you know that this is finally the NINTH and FINAL BrooklynVegan SXSW 2011 show announcement! This one happens on Saturday, March 19th in Austin, at both Swan Dive and Barbarella (they connect). It runs from noon-6pm and is 100% free. We are doing it with our friends from M For Montreal and it looks like this:

STAGE 1 (SWAN DIVE)
12:00 PM New Moods
01:00 PM Oh Land
2:00 PM Austra
3:00 PM Little Scream
4:00 PM Owen Pallett
5:00 PM Braids

STAGE 2 (Barbarella main stage)
12:00 PM Baths
1:00 PM Misteur Valaire
2:00 PM !!!
3:00 PM Trail of Dead
4:00 PM Mount Kimbie
5:00 PM Daedelus
HOSTED BY: the cast of Workaholics
DJs: Ramesh (of Voxtrot) & 70's Bush

STAGE 3 (Barbarella small stage)
12:00 PM Bass Drum of Death
12:45 PM Adventure
1:30 PM Versus
2:30 PM Malajube
3:15 PM Suuns
4:00 PM Weekend
5:00 PM PS I Love You

I'm ready to fall over.

And this party will also have:

• FREE vegan Izzoz breakfast tacos while supplies last!
• lots of FREE snacks courtesy of Sensible Portions!
• a lot of FREE Honest Tea!
• FREE Raw Revolution bars to eat.
• FREE vegan ice cream from NadaMoo
• FREE Firefly Vodka cocktails all day (while supplies last.)
• more FREE DRINKS TBA.

AND THANKS TO:

• Our official microphone sponsor Line 6.
• and our backline sponsors Korg, Vox & Blackstar.
• our sponsor Nudie Jeans.
• and to ASCAP for sponsoring too.

Stay tuned to @bvSXSW on Twitter for SXSW news and announcements all week long, and because it's where we'll be giving away a Blackstar HT-5 Amp.

To celebrate the BrooklynVegan + M for Montreal party, Nudie Jeans is also giving away 5 pairs of jeans (one pair for each day leading up to the party). For your chance to win, friend Nudie Jeans on facebook and send an email titled BROOKLYN VEGAN to nudie@wantagencyinc.com. For those at the party, we'll also be raffling off more Nudie Jeans you can win while you're there.

We're also happy to announce that, for the second year in a row, we'll be partnering with our friends at VegAustin to host a vegan bake sale for charity at the party. All proceeds will be donated to Compassion Over Killing.

Check out the flyer and stuff below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan & M For Montreal Free Saturday Austin Day Party lineup (3 stages @ Barbarella & Swan Dive)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Bass Drum of Death - Heart Attack Kid (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bass Drum of Death - Get Found (MP3)

Bass Drums of Death

Mississippi duo Bass Drum of Death are in town for two shows this week: tomorrow (1/18) night at Glasslands with Smith Westerns (now sold out) and Wednesday (1/19) at Pianos where they'll open for the Captain Shafts (Smith Westerns were originally on this bill too, but dropped off a while ago).

On record, Bass Drum of Death is essentially John Barrett, but is augmented by basher Colin Sneed. After a slew of 7"s and EPs over the last couple years, BDoD are finally ready to drop their full length debut, GB City, on February 22. I think it's probably the most tuneful, enjoyable slab of garage pop since Ty Segall's Melted. You can check out two tracks from the LP at the top of this post.

If you can't make these shows, look for Bass Drum of Death on tour in the spring, including SXSW in March. Look for The Smith Westerns on tour through March.

The Capstan Shafts, on tour now, also plays The Rock Shop on Thursday with Medals (ex-Jaguar Club) and Cabinet while he's in town. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Bass Drum of Death releasing 'GB City', playing NYC w/ Capstan Shafts (MP3s & tour dates)"