by Andrew Sacher

Beach House at Bowery Ballroom (photo from Ed Droste's Instagram)

Beach House released their terrific new full length, Bloom, yesterday (5/15) and played what is now considered an intimate show for the band at Bowery Ballroom the same night. They walked out around 10:15, dimly lit by purple lights, clouded by fog, and took their places in front of four striped wooden backdrops. They opened with "Wild" off of the new album, accompanied by shooting spotlights, which calmed down when Victoria's vocals came in, going completely dark except for a sole light which shined directly over her.

Though the show was something of a release show for Bloom, the band mixed up their setlist really well, going back and forth between Bloom and Teen Dream cuts in their 17-song set, which also included a couple off Devotion, and "Equal Mind," the b-side to the RSD "Lazuli" 7". Beach House, who have been doing the dream pop revival since a bit before everyone was doing the dream pop revival thing, have really got the aesthetics down perfectly at their live shows.

The visual elements of their show evoke a dream-like state just as well as the music they're playing on stage -- whether its starlike lights on the backdrop, the rising fog over a single color light flooding the stage, or the slow moving propellers that existed behind those striped wooden backdrops. And save for a few energetic moments, the band remain eerily still as all of this happens around them, as if unaffected by all of it, which gives them as strong a stage presence as guitar-thrashing rockers.

After a couple Teen Dream cuts, the band went into "Other People," the strongest track on their virtually flawless new album. Like many Beach House songs, it starts out floaty and deceptively simple, but after the pause that introduces the polychromatic chorus, all of Bowery Ballroom was swaying with the song's rhythm and chord shifts. Hearing the Bloom material live for the first time was by far the most exciting part of the show, but still, the opening arpeggios of Teen Dream's "Zebra" brought the loudest cheers from the crowd of the entire night. They followed that song with another Bloom standout, "Wishes," which fittingly saw those propellers slowly spinning again during the "wishes on a wheel" refrain.

Their pre-encore set wrapped up with Bloom's lead track, "Myth," and the band briefly left the stage before returning for Devotion's "Turtle Island." They followed that with "10 Mile Stereo," which picked up into the heaviest drumming of the show surrounded by flashing strobes. Before leaving the stage for good, Beach House ended with Bloom closer "Irene," ringing out with the repeated, "It's a strange paradise."

Beach House will return to NYC for their sold out Summerstage show on 7/23.

Setlist and some Instagrams from the show below...

Continue reading "Beach House played Bowery Ballroom (review, setlist)"

Just a reminder that, after a quickly-sold-out AmEx presale yesterday, tickets go on sale at noon today (5/4) to see Beach House at Bowery Ballroom on May 15. It's the same day as the Baltimore duo's fourth album, Bloom, is released via Sub Pop. Their East Coast tour begins tonight in Charlottesville, VA.

Speaking of Charm City, Lower Dens play Bowery Ballroom on July 19 and those tickets also go on sale at noon. Lower Dens, play tonight in Washington, DC, released their second album, Nootropics, this week.

All tour dates for Beach House and Lower Dens are below.

Continue reading "Beach House and Lower Dens tickets going on sale"

by Bill Pearis

Baltimore dream pop duo Beach House will play Bowery Ballroom on May 15 -- the same day they release their fourth album, Bloom. $30 tickets go on sale Friday, May 4 at noon (with an AmEx presale happening 24 hours earlier). The Bowery date, which Zomes is opening, will be the the last of a short East Coast tour (all dates are at the bottom of this post). Beach House's next NYC show will be their already sold-out, and much larger, Summerstage performance on July 23.

For the record nerds out there, Sub Pop is releasing a "Loser Edition" of Bloom on 2xLP white vinyl. If you pre-order from Sub Pop, you might just get one of 300 glow-in-the-dark vinyl copies of the record which will be sent out at random. If you haven't heard anything from the album yet, you can stream or download opening cut "Myth" (which sounds a bit like "Eyes without a Face" to these ears) below, and stream Best New Track "Lazuli." Check below for those, along with all announced Beach House tour dates (including a just-announced summer run with Wild Nothing).

Continue reading "Beach House touring, playing record release show at Bowery Ballroom (in two weeks!)"

by Andrew Sacher

Beach House at Sasquatch 2011 (more by Josh Darr)

Beach House have announced that they'll release the followup to 2010's excellent Teen Dream this year. The new album is called Bloom and it will be out on May 15 via Sub Pop in the US. It was produced by Chris Coady (Grizzly Bear, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and in an interview with NME (via FACT), guitarist Alex Scally said it will be "their own Pet Sounds or Disintegration, not in sound, but as something which feels like a definitive statement." Ambitious, but isn't that every indie band's teen dream?

The album's first single, "Myth," is great and is definitely making me look forward to the new album. You can stream that below, along with the album's tracklist.

The band have also announced an international tour in support of the album which will go down this May and June. That tour doesn't include any NYC shows at the moment but after taking a break, the band will make it to NYC to headline Central Park Summerstage on July 23. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday, 3/16 at noon.

All dates, song stream, and album tracklist below...

Continue reading "Beach House announce new LP, song, tour & Central Park Summerstage show (dates)"

Treasure Island Music Festival is returning to San Francisco, CA on October 15 and 16. The lineup includes Cut Copy, Beach House, The Hold Steady, Flying Lotus, Death From Above 1979, YACHT, Shabazz Palaces, The Antlers, St. Vincent, and many others. 2-Day passes go on sale Wednesday (7/27) 10 AM and single day tickets on Friday (7/29) at 10 AM.

Speaking of St. Vincent, if you haven't already, check out her new track at StrangeMercy.com. The full album is out September 13th via 4AD. More info and tour dates HERE. Still no info on tickets for her Met show.

Full Treasure Island lineup below...

Continue reading "Treasure Island Fest announces 2011 lineup, includes St. Vincent (who recently released a new song)"

Secret Chiefs 3 at Terminal 5 (more by Zach Dilgard)

Instrumental band Secret Chiefs 3 kicked off a European tour last month with DJ FAT32. The tour comes to North America in September. So far it only includes East Coast and Midwest shows, but West Coast dates are "being planned." Look for SC3 and FAT32 to play NYC at Le Poisson Rouge on September 13th. Tickets are on sale. All dates for the Trey Spruance-led band are listed below.

In October Secret Chiefs 3 play the Iceland Airwaves Festival with Bjork (she was just announced and will be doing a Biophilia performance), Austra, Beach House, Liturgy, SBTRKT, Suuns, Olof Arnalds, Tune-yards, John Grant, and many others. Full lineup at their site. The festival runs from October 12-16 and takes place in downtown Reykjavík. Bjork will also play five more shows in Reykjavík in October. All of those dates are listed below.

All SC3 tour dates and some videos below too...

Continue reading "Secret Chiefs 3 tour dates, Iceland Airwaves 2011 lineup"

photos by Josh Darr

Flaming Lips / Modest Mouse

"Rockers The Flaming Lips have long had a reputation for extravagant live shows: Fake blood, torrential confetti downpours, animal costumes and comically oversized fists are all standard fare. The band's Sunday night set at this year's Sasquatch Music Festival was no exception, with frontman Wayne Coyne taking to the crowd in his over-sized bubble. Still, the band managed to make its big, flashy show feel like a more intimate affair.

While playing the landmark 1999 album The Soft Bulletin nearly in full, Coyne chatted genially with the audience, taking frequent breaks during "The Spiderbite Song" to relate the anecdotes behind the song's lyrics. Another set highlight, "Waitin' for a Superman" -- stripped down to a delicate piano and voice arrangement -- was introduced as a tribute to departed icon Elliott Smith. Although the band was forced to exclude a couple of songs due to time constraints, it delivered a personal version of what many consider its finest album." [listen @ NPR]

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2011 - Day 3 in pics & streams (Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, Beach House & more)"

by Andrew Sacher

"expect absolutely nothing from me..." - The Weeknd

Readers of this site should be very familiar with Weekend, who just played a BrooklynVegan SXSW party and who we just interviewed. Their tour with Wire hits New York this Tuesday (4/5). Tickets are still on sale for the MHOW show, and for Weekend's show at Mercury Lounge the next day.

Weekend is not to be confused with the Canadian hazy electro-R&B artist Abel Tesfaye who records under the moniker The Weeknd (in part because he spells it "Weeknd" and not "Weekend"). He's currently all the rage due to his nine-song mixtape House of Balloons which he released last week for free on his website. Hype wars are only adding to the attention. A Pitchfork Best New Music tag and praise from the Village Voice are in controversy with an article from The Guardian which insists "indie-leaning music critics are once again getting R&B spectacularly wrong." Rolling Stone calls the Weeknd an "Artist To Watch" ("mama if you can hear me... i did it.. i'm a rolling stone now..", The Weeknd Tweeted). NY Mag highlights a funny new "PBR&B" subgenre name people are using on Twitter to describe the "hipster R&B" category that also includes artists like How to Dress Well and Odd Future associate Frank Ocean.

Like recent albums by James Blake and How To Dress Well, The Weeknd's mixtape is constantly crossing the lines between indie and R&B. With two Beach House samples (The Weeknd says their management is "cool as fuck"), a Siouxsie and the Banshees sample, and synthy beats that would feel far more at home at Electric Zoo than on an R. Kelly record, The Weeknd (whether he's ruining R&B or revolutionizing it) is certainly up to something worth listening to.

The Weeknd also has support from fellow Canadian Drake, who tweeted lyrics and linked to a song download before the mixtape was fully released. According to The Boombox who say Drake broke the new artist, it's rumored that The Weeknd, Drake and producer Noah "40" Shebib will be working together in the near future.

House of Balloons is available for free download on The Weeknd's website, but if you want to hear a couple songs first, check out the Beach House sampling "The Party & The After Party" and the album opener which contains the disclaimer, "You wanna be high for this," below...

Continue reading "Weekend vs. The Weeknd (get his free PBR&B mixtape now)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Beach House and Papercuts played their second of two shows at Webster Hall on Friday (2/25). The first was two days earlier, and the tour came to an end Saturday night in DC. Pictures and the setlist from the 2nd NYC show are in this post.

Beach House's upcoming gigs include Sasquatch and the Portishead-curated ATP in the UK (maybe they'll add them in the U.S.A. too?).

Papercut's upcoming gigs include tours with Still Corners and Banjo or Freakout. Those dates include Mercury Lounge on March 26th. More pictures from Webster Hall, below...

Continue reading "Beach House & Papercuts @ Webster Hall (night 2 pics, setlist)"

photos by Chris Gersbeck, words by Rachel Kowal

Given Papercuts' recent move to Sup Pop (and Beach House's Alex Scally's long-time involvement with the band), it's hardly surprising that the San Francisco artist would occupy such a highly coveted opening slot. But Papercuts and Beach House have more in common than merely being friends and labelmates. Like the headliners, Jason Quever and his band make dreamy, atmospheric pop music, and they do it well. Perhaps I'm just influenced by the cover art of the last album, but listening to Quever's moody melodies always makes me a feel a bit like I'm floating out in space.

At its core, Papercuts is the musical project of one, but front man Jason Quever often incorporates additional musicians to help spin his multi-layered sonic web. For Wednesday night's show, Papercuts was five men strong. They played a handful of tracks from the last studio album (including the excellent "Future Primitive"), but the majority of their set comprised songs from their upcoming March release, Fading Parade, which you can now stream in its entirety, courtesy of NPR Music.

Once the strains of Papercuts had faded out and the smoke machines had pumped out enough to sufficiently obscure the large room, Beach House stepped on stage and offered a quick introduction. Of course with Victoria Legrand at the mic, even a simple introduction like "good evening" instantly becomes sexy thanks to her distinctive throaty voice. After a brief pause, the trio launched into not a track from last year's hit Teen Dream, but an older one - "Gila."

As is often the case with more subdued, hazy acts, Beach House's performance was a bit lacking in the visual department, but the three large, colorfully lit pyramids lining the back of the stage proved to be a nice focal point - or at least an alternative to Legrand's dramatic hair tosses.

Clearly, the emphasis was on the music. Though the stage banter was often humorous and oddly revealing (Legrand took a moment to both reference her habit of sleeping around and reflect on the Internet's uncanny ability to make everyone get older, faster), for whatever reason, the lighting engineer cloaked the band in darkness when they weren't playing and only threw back on the rainbow colored lights (or twinkling starlit backdrop) when the next song was underway.

Though Scally promised a Vietnamese sandwich to anyone who danced (specifically during "Lover of Mine"), few people seemed to take his offer seriously and instead fell back on their slowly swaying ways.

Beach House & Papercuts' tour continues in Philly tonight and returns to NYC for another sold out show at Webster Hall on Friday. More pictures, a couple of videos and the setlist from last night (2/23), below...

Continue reading "Beach House & Papercuts played Webster Hall (pics & setlist)"

Big names and regulars aside, there are a few bands I want to highlight on the just-announced Sasquatch lineup: Wolf Parade ("indefinite hiatus" rumors be damned), The Flaming Lips (performing "The Soft Bulletin"), Death From Above 1979 (now three reunion shows total), Guided By Voices (they're not done yet), and... Archers of Loaf (!). The full lineup of the fest that goes down in Gorge, Washington in May (Memorial Day Weekend), is below...

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2011 lineup announced (Archers of Loaf, Guided By Voices, Wolf Parade, DFA 1979 & "The Soft Bulletin" included)"

'I'll Be Your Mirror USA' is not the only 'I'll Be Your Mirror' that Portishead is curating for ATP. As previously mentioned, the English band is also helping pick the bands for the event happening in London in July (tickets still on sale by the way).

So far we don't know any of the bands that will open for Portishead in NJ in October, but it would be crazy if they didn't have at least a few of the same bands on both. This is who they have on the UK one so far: PJ HARVEY (also playing Coachella), DOOM, COMPANY FLOW, THE BOOKS (played ATP NY 2010), FACTORY FLOOR, BEAK> (played ATP NY 2010), DD/MM/YYYY, GRINDERMAN, SWANS, BEACH HOUSE, LIARS, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, ANIKA, and S.C.U.M. The full UK lineup so far, is listed by day below...

Continue reading "the bands playing Portishead's ATP in the UK"

Phil of Kylesa at Public Assembly (more by Markus Shaffer)

Kylesa are having a great end-of-year thanks to many accolades for their 2010 effort Spiral Shadow. I'm sure they'll see many new fans in the audience while touring at the end of Dececmber and through most of January. Tickets are still on sale for their headlining show at Santos Party House.

We asked Phillip Cope of Kylesa what he listened to in 2010. His list makes me think that maybe Beach House is the answer to world peace, or at least that Beach House is something that Broken Social Scene, Kate Nash, S Carey and Kylesa can all agree on (and an album that SPIN and Rolling Stone BOTH put at exactly #17 on their lists). His full list of favorite songs, most of them with video streams, below...

Continue reading "Kylesa's Phillip Cope lists his favorite songs of 2010 (listen)"

Beach House @ Prospect Park (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Kevin Drew's Favorite Albums of 2010 (via)

The National, High Violet (4AD)
Here We Go Magic, Pigeons (SECRETLY CANADIAN)
Beach House, Teen Dream (SUB POP)
Big Boi, Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (PURPLE RIBBON/DEF JAM)
Owen Pallett, Heartland (DOMINO)
Brian McBride, The Effective Disconnect (KRANKY)
Bishop Morocco, Bishop Morocco (HAND DRAWN DRACULA)
Four Tet, There Is Love in You (DOMINO)
Matthew Dear, Black City (GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL)
Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir, Like a Ship… (Without a Sail) [reissue] (LIGHT IN THE ATTIC)

Kevin Drew's band Broken Social Scene is touring soon and playing Terminal 5. Big Boi has a show coming up at Terminal 5 too. Beach House have two shows coming up at Webster Hall as part of a short tour, and they played Conan last night (12/20). Video below...

Continue reading "Kevin Drew likes Beach House who played Conan last night"

PORTISHEAD confirm "I'LL BE YOUR MIRROR" Curated by PORTISHEAD & ATP
23rd & 24th July - Alexandra Palace, London

On the weekend of 23rd and 24th July 2011 at Alexandra Palace, London, All Tomorrow's Parties will present the first UK I'll Be Your Mirror event, which will be curated by Portishead and ATP.

Acting as sister event to ATP Festivals and named after the b-side to The Velvet Underground's original All Tomorrow's Parties 7" single, I'll Be Your Mirror will be a new series of artist curated music, film and art events taking place in cities worldwide.

Portishead will headline both nights, with a different supporting line-up joining them each day. Tickets will cost £59 per day with weekend tickets priced at £100. At this point these are the only UK shows Portishead plan to play in 2011, and you can get early bird tickets at reduced prices here

Today we can announce some of the first additions to the line-up:

Saturday 23rd July
PORTISHEAD
MF DOOM
COMPANY FLOW (original line-up - first UK show in 10 years)
THE BOOKS
BEAK>
FACTORY FLOOR

Sunday 24th July
PORTISHEAD
SWANS
BEACH HOUSE
ANIKA
LIARS
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC

.....with more artists, DJs and other activities to be confirmed for both days in the coming months! Tickets will go on sale Friday 26th November at 9am from www.atpfestival.com

And.......... Portishead plan to play in Europe in June/July and the US during September/October - as plans are confirmed news will be posted here first so keep checking the news page.

The February 23rd Beach House & Papercuts show @ Webster Hall is sold out, so they added another show at the same venue happening two days later. February 25th tickets goes on sale at noon.

Tickets are now on sale for the two Butthole Surfers shows happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg (one being New Years Eve).

Tickets are now on sale for the New Years Eve We Are Scientists show at Mercury Lounge.

Tickets go on sale at noon for the Lee Fields show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets go on sale at noon for the Dum Dum Girls show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon for all three Pogues shows at Terminal 5.

Tickets are on sale for an April 23rd My Chemical Romance show at Terminal 5. The show happening April 22nd, and the December one at Roseland Ballroom, are both sold out.

Updated Beach House dates below...

Continue reading "Beach House add another show ++ other tickets on sale now (Pogues, Lee Fields, Dum Dum Girls, Butthole Surfers & more)"

"Buffalo Springfield issued only three studio albums during the influential band's short two years together from 1966-68: "Buffalo Springfield," "Buffalo Springfield Again" and "Last Time Around."

All indications going into the group's reunion performances last month for Neil Young's annual Bridge School benefit concerts in Northern California seemed to suggest that the operative album title for this latter-day get-together was going to be "Last Time Around."

However, "Buffalo Springfield Again" might be the more fitting choice, as Pop & Hiss is hearing rumblings of some additional performances next year, possibly even a summer tour. (It wouldn't come as a big surprise to any of those who were on hand to witness the joy the group members appeared to be having being in one another's company once again.)

It had been 42 years since Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay last performed together as Buffalo Springfield before they reunited for the Bridge School event, which benefits the Northern California institution that serves severely disabled students and their families. Young and his wife, Pegi, have been staging the annual benefits for 24 years now, and their son, Ben, has been a Bridge School student. (The other two original band members, bassist Bruce Palmer and drummer Dewey Martin, died in 2004 and 2009, respectively.)

Their set included such Springfield touchstone numbers as "Mr. Soul," "Rock and Roll Woman," "For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey, What's That Sound)," "Kind Woman," "Bluebird," "Go and Say Goodbye" and "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing."" [LA TIMES]

Back in 2007, Grizzly Bear headlined a tour with Beach House and Papercuts (it hit Bowery Ballroom). In 2008, Papercuts opened for Beach House on a tour again, but that time Beach House was the headliner (it hit Bowery Ballroom). And now it has been announced that it will in fact be Papercuts who heads out on the road with Beach House in 2011. Tickets for the Webster Hall show go on sale at noon (though you can still also buy them through the presale with a sweatshirt).

No new Buffalo Springfield, Grizzly Bear, Beach House or Papercuts dates to report, though the latter two's tour is reposted, with some videos, below...

Continue reading "Papercuts reunite w/ Beach House, Buffalo Springfield to tour?"

Beach House @ ACL 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

Beach House will return to the road in February. Announced dates so far include a February 23rd show at Webster Hall in NYC (21 days after WAVVES and Best Coast play the same venue). Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon, and then general sale Friday at noon.

UPDATE: "Pre-sale tickets are available now at http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com and are packaged with an ultra limited Beach House sweatshirt that will not be sold anywhere else."

A picture of the sweatshirt and all dates below...

Continue reading "Beach House touring in February (2011 dates & presale) "

photos by Jessica Amaya

Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr (who play the BV day party Saturday) have nothing on Lower Dens (who play the BV day party Friday and) who might actually win the award for most CMJ shows. All Lower Dens tour dates, and a set of pictures from the Chouette day party they played yesterday (10/20), below...

Continue reading "Lower Dens played Bruar Falls, continue their insane CMJ run, touring w/ Beach House (pics & dates)"

photos by Tim Griffin

""This festival is super-cool," said Strokes singer Julian Casablancas from the stage at Austin City Limits on Friday night. "Lotta stuff." It's true: The festival, now in its ninth year, packs 130 bands onto eight outdoor stages arranged around the 350-acre Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. The lineup is a mix of huge rock acts (the Eagles headline Sunday) and big-name indie bands, plus DJs, country singers and the occasional rapper. With an expected attendance of around 70,000 a day, the festival similar in size, if not in spirit, to Lollapalooza. "Lollapalooza has that city energy. It's like the hot girl you want to take home," one organizer, Lisa Hickey, said. "ACL is more laid-back -- it's like your best friend." And unlike South By Southwest, the music and film showcase that takes over the Texas town every spring, ACL doesn't have much of a music-industry angle -- it's almost strictly for fans.

On Friday night, the packed lineup presented the crowd with a happy problem: Four big-name guitar bands -- Spoon, Sonic Youth, Vampire Weekend, and the Strokes -- all had sets starting within two hours of each other, and seeing each set in its entirety was impossible."
[Rolling Stone]

Kings Go Forth pictures are HERE. The rest of the pictures from the first day of the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival (where Ezra Koenig joined Miike Snow on stage), continue, with a bunch of setlists (including Spoon's which points out that Eleanor Friedberger played a Fiery Furnaces song with Spoon) (video proof too), below...

Continue reading "ACL 2010 Day 1 in pics (Strokes, Phish, Black Keys, Spoon, Beach House, Vampire Weekend & more) "

photos by Jessica Amaya

"Beach House killllllllllllled it, radio city music hall is gorgeous" - Luisa Opalesky

"Mom if you really love me you would let me go to the Vampire Weekend concert. Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease )':" - Tanya Ramos

Ezra and his unstoppable jazz hands

Us Weekly, with host Mary J. Blige, honored the 25 Most Stylish New Yorkers of 2010. The magazine says its list "celebrates the 25 quintessential New York celebs who make the city so uniquely chic."

Most Stylish New Yorker Mary J. Blige hosted the evening, which honored Katie Couric, Will Arnett, Olivia Munn, Rachael Ray, Iman, Kelly Rutherford, Kristin Chenoweth, Bethenny Frankel, George Stephanopoulos, Beth Ostrosky Stern, Scott Disick, Gail Simmons, Kelly Cutrone, MSNBC anchor and Today Show contributor Tamron Hall, Olivia Palermo, Alexis Bledel, Swizz Beatz, Yaya DaCosta, Simon Doonan, Jonathan Adler, Vampire Weekend, bloggers The Sartorialist Scott Schuman & Garance Doré, DJ Kiss, Lisa Capparelli, and club owners Richie Akiva and Scott Sartiano. -[Fox]

In other news, Ezra of Vampire Weekend appears on a new iTunes-only track by Chromeo from their out-now Business Casual LP. Stream that track under the rest of the Radio City pictures, below.

Continue reading "the sytlish Vampire Weekend played Radio City Music Hall w/ Beach House & Dum Dum Girls (pics) "

DOWNLOAD: Young Man - Five (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Young Man - Heart of Chambers (Beach House cover) (MP3)

Recent Frenchkiss signee Young Man will be opening for his label-mates Local Natives at their Beach at Governors Island show on August 7th. We Barbarians, a Cali band with a few other NYC shows that are listed below, also open. Tickets are still on sale.

Young Man, the brainchild of Colin Caulfield, has its debut EP, Boy, set for proper release on Frenchkiss on October 12th. The mini record is streaming in full here, and the first track off it is available above. It only takes ones quick listen to hear the Animal Collective influence in his music. Appropriately, Animal Collective & Panda Bear are sone of the artists Caulfield has covered and posted to his popular YouTube account. There you'll also find great covers of others artists that Young Man fits right in with - Beach House, Ariel Pink, Grizzly Bear, Deerhunter and more. You can watch some of them below, and download the Beach House cover above.

Live, the group fills out to a four-piece, and their tour dates include a show with Dawes and stint with the Lou Barlow + the missingmen/Wye Oak tour. All those are below...

Continue reading "Young Man releasing/streaming debut EP (MP3s, tour dates, Frenchkiss, Animal Collective & Beach House) "

photos by Amanda Hatfield

"Officials plan to reduce the number of Canada geese in New York State by two-thirds, eventually trimming the population to 85,000 from 250,000, according to a report prepared by several city, state and federal agencies.

The reduction is part of a larger plan that also calls for the near halving of the Canada geese population in 17 Atlantic states, to 650,000 from 1.1 million. The New York Times obtained a copy of the report.

In New York City, the report says, the current goose population of 20,000 to 25,000 is "five times the amount that most people would find socially acceptable," suggesting the number would be reduced to about 4,000...

...The first steps outlined in the plan went into effect last summer, when 1,235 geese in the city were gassed to death. The total for this summer remains unknown, though nearly 400 were killed after being rounded up in Prospect Park this month" [NY Times].

"I think this is the first show we've played that we can walk to", said one of the Dessners to the beyond sold out hometown crowd at the celebratory show. And it was only one of three big sold out NYC shows the band is/was playing in less than two months (the first being Radio City) (the next being Thursday at Terminal 5) (more dates HERE).

The weather was perfect and the setlist was 21 great songs long. you can read it with more pictures of the show that Beach House opened (they sounded their usual good, album-like, dreamy selves), and a video, below...

Continue reading "The National & Beach House played Prospect Park (RIP geese) - pics & setlist"

photos by Kate Gardiner

Major Lazer @ Pitchfork Fest Sunday

"The tempo picked up again with Major Lazer at 6:15 p.m., and--hallelujah!--it stayed at a pretty high level through the end of Pitchfork 2010...

...Though Young is missing from the [Pavement] reunion, Stephen Malkmus and his bandmates were musically concise, tight, and focused, and they delivered many of their best songs--"Range Life," "Frontwards," "Greenlander," and "Unfair" among them--in versions that were every bit as strong as they were back in the day, and better in some cases than that last stage of the group. Since the music always seemed timeless, there was less of a taint of nostalgia here then with, say, the Pixies reunion, though to be sure, the motivations probably were very much the same, and mostly colored green... [Jim DeRegatis]

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest 2010 in pics & setlists (Day 3 - Pavement, Big Boi, St Vincent, Major Lazer, Lightning Bolt & more) "

DOWNLOAD: Dum Dum Girls - D.A.L. (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La (MP3)

Dum Dum Girls @ SXSW 2010 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Dum Dum Girls are touring with their very good friends Crocodiles in June and July along the West Coast (Dum Dum frontwoman Dee Dee is married to Brandon from Crocs, who played as part of the band at their first show in 2009 and on their LP).

After that, Dum Dum Girls go on tour with Beach House and Vampire Weekend beginning in the end of August. That includes the three-night Radio City run. Both bands open on all three days from September 15th-September 17th. Tickets for all of those are still on sale. All dates listed below.

Beach House's summer shows also include another NYC gig - Prospect Park with the National on July 27th (that is currently sold out).

You can download two Dum Dum Girls songs - (via their label Sub Pop, "the first, 'Bhang, Bhang, I'm a Burnout,' is the second song from their Sub Pop debut, I Will Be...the second is 'Pay for Me,' which was previously only available on their Record Store Day split with Male Bonding") - here. You can download two more above.

Dum Dum Girls playing "Bhang Bhang" live, other videos, plus all Dum Dum Girls & Beach House tour dates (including the stops on DDG's current European tour), are below...

Continue reading "Dum Dum Girls & Beach House opening for Vampire Weekend, playing other shows - 2010 dates & MP3s "