Smith Westerns at MHOW in October (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

After releasing their sophomore LP Dye It Blonde at the beginning of this year, Smith Westerns have gone on a number of tours in support of it, most recently opening for Arctic Monkeys which culminated in a MHOW show at the end of last month. They'll continue in 2012 with a headlining tour that will bring the band back to NYC on January 31 on Webster Hall with Porcelain Raft and Bleached. Tickets go on sale Friday (11/18) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (11/16) at noon. Other dates on this tour haven't been revealed yet, but the tour announcement should come soon. Meanwhile those from the band's hometown of Chicago can catch them for free on 12/2 at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Speaking of Porcelain Raft (aka Mauro Remiddi), he recently signed to Secretly Canadian and will release his debut full length, Strange Weekend, on the label on January 24. You can stream album track "Put Me to Sleep" below, along with the album's tracklist. The show with Smith Westerns takes place during a break in Porcelain Raft's European tour with M83. All Porcelain Raft dates are listed below.

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

Continue reading "Smith Westerns headlining Webster Hall as part of tour w/ Bleached & Porcelain Raft (who announced an LP)"

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Amanda Hatfield

Casiokids @ Public Assembly

Well, another CMJ week has come and gone. How did you fare?

Though Northside summoned a number of my favorite artists to town, the CMJ line-up was rather thin by comparison, so I made it my goal to catch as many new acts as possible this year. With help from BV's tightly scheduled day parties, I managed to squeeze in 46 bands. While it's all still fresh in my mind (ie, before I spend the next week hibernating), here's a recap of my week, complete with my favorite finds...

I kicked things off with trance-inducing, one-man knob twittler Sun Glitters. Figuring out how to bring life to headphone-friendly, sample-heavy music in a live audience setting can be a challenge, but the few I saw this week (Million Young, Chad Valley and Luxembourg's Sun Glitters included) were decent.

If last year was the age of the one-man laptop act, 2011 was rife with lo-fi, synth/guitar-heavy (mostly) male groups cloaked in reverb. Each band had its strengths: Sunglasses (great energy on stage), Gauntlet Hair, Guards (perfectly summed up the sound of the moment), 1,2,3, Balkans (nice balance of in-your-face guitars and sunnily-swaggering vox), Tiny Victories. But after a while, I confess they all started to blend together--especially since a good chunk of these bands came early in the week for me.

What did stand out for me in this category was San Diego's garage-psych outfit Tropical Popsicle. Instead of falling flat, the deadpan vocal delivery of Tim Hines pulled me in and kept my attention, making me forget about my plans to leave midset. Another pleasant surprise for me was Dive, the side project of Beach Fossils guitarist Zachary Cole Smith.

But after a rather slow start to the week when schedule issues and cancellations made me abandon my original plans, things definitely picked up midweek. I spent Wednesday evening shuffling around in the rain to some seven venues. From the synth-driven pop music of Norway's Casiokids (whom I managed to sneak in on my lunch hour) to the decent public radio-friendly folk-pop of The Lighthouse and The Whaler and Lissy Trullie's alluringly husky vocals, the day was full of pleasant surprises--not the least of which was John Maus, easily one of the highlights of my week.

As I walked through the door at 285 Kent, I immediately felt as if I had gone back in time. Thick music pumped from the DIY graffiti-covered space, through clouds of cigarette smoke. On stage, Maus shook with intensity as he addressed the mass of dancing, sweaty revelers. Beneath the shambling chaos of the quick synth riffs and simple drum lines is an unhinged but triumphant quality that is intoxicating. I had heard whispered stories of Maus shows before, but I never really understood the fervor until I saw it for myself.

Thursday was also packed with a number of good finds. I somehow found myself in the 7th floor of a swanky hotel for an "acoustic" (as in not electric; not unplugged) Dum Dum Girls set (though only 2/4 band members were present). Other highlights included the seriously talented and take-your-breath-away-beautiful dreamy folk-pop of Gem Club (who just released their debut album on Hardly Art), and Brooklyn's own, Headless Horseman who make fun, glitchy, hook-laden music with inventive beats (Their song "Wavlngth" was seriously one of my favorites all week.)

Friday, my band-count escalated rapidly, thanks to the BV day showcase at Public Assembly, which essentially had two bands playing each hour. I knocked out a few of the hyped bands in this fashion, including Chelsea Wolfe and Gauntlet Hair. (I also stepped over to Cameo briefly to catch a few adrenaline-packed songs from the Brooklyn duo Hunters.) With her beautifully haunting (but not annoying operatic) vocals Chelsea Wolfe was certainly one of the more memorable acts of the week. Would she be getting as much buzz if she didn't dress like "a medival [sic] reinactment [sic] person from Medival [sic] Times" (to quote an anonymous BV commenter)? Hard to say, but I have to give the woman credit--I couldn't take my eyes off her, and she was one of the few artists I caught twice. But my surprise favorite of the day show was Young Magic. Hip-hop and dark electro-pop may be unlikely bedfellows, but they sure make for quite an interesting pair. These guys are a force.

Other highlights of the day included the eye-catching electro-pop duo Purity Ring (love the name) and one of my favorite SXSW finds from earlier this year, Sea of Bees. At Webster Hall, Purity Ring's bass was so powerful at times that I almost forgot to breathe. Though the band relies on a lot of samples to craft their sound, they are far more interesting to watch due to their onstage chemistry and mysterious gold-piped instrument. Though nothing alike, my other favorite artist of the evening was Sea of Bees. Singer/songwriter Julie Baeziger's genuinely sweet demeanor and earnest acoustic performance are always a pleasant change of pace from the more aloof, laptop-driven artists that seem to sprout with the speed and frequency of mushrooms.

The week concluded not with a bang (I was turned away at the door of Brooklyn Bowl for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, whom I had hoped to end on), but with more of a slow fade-out. Forced to change my schedule at the last minute, I caught a few acts nearby, including Delicate Steve (how those five people were working from the same set list was a mystery at times given the haphazard nature of their sound, but it was fun to watch them put it all together), Races (pleasant and charming), Bleached, and about four minutes of the Kopecky Family Band (fun!) before hopping on the L and calling it a week.

So how does this year's CMJ stack up? Most people I spoke with seemed unimpressed. No doubt, the growth of SXSW--especially over the past few years--seems to have sucked some of the life out of CMJ. (It's hard to compete with free tacos, 76-degree days, and the compact nature of downtown Austin.) But like a hipster chick desperately scouring the racks at Beacon's Closet, I like the challenge of the frenzied search. There's good stuff in there hiding among the dross. You just have to look a bit harder.

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Pictures in this post are from day parties at Pianos (We Listen for You) and Public Assembly (Under the Radar) on Wednesday. More of them below...

Continue reading "Rachel's CMJ recap +++ pics from 2 Wednesday day parties"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Tropical Popsicle - The Age of Attraction (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bleached - "Think of You" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fidlar - Oh (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BNLX - Vaporize (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BNLX - Garbage Strike (MP3)

Anybody see anything good last night? I couldn't make it out, myself, but am planning on making up for it tonight. Lot's of great options, go see some music. Again, this is not some comprehensive guide, just my picks.

Of any city in America, I really feel like I don't have much of a grasp on what's going on in Los Angeles, musically. San Francisco, sure. Seatlle, of course. Portland, uh huh. Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Austin... I think I get the gist. But not L.A. so much, which is why I'm very curious about the indigenous/Spaceland showcase at Cake Shop tonight.

Amongst the angels playing tonight: Tropical Popsicle make hazy, tripped-out indiepop that might take you as high as the 13 Floor if your elevator goes that way. Trop Pop have toured with Pains of Being Pure at Heart and, while the sound ain't exactly new, the songs are pretty catchy. You can download a track off their latest EP at the top of this post. Please, however, don't go to this show yelling for them to play "Everybody Dry Fuck on the Dance Floor" -- that's a different Tropical Popsicle.

You've probably heard of Bleached (ex-Mika Miko) by this point if you've read any CMJ coverage this year. Again, familiar territory here but I like what I've heard. Bleached a playing a bunch this week, including the BV day party on Friday (10/21). All CMJ dates below

The rest of the bill: Fidlar is garage pop not unlike Ty Segall whose is out on influential label White Iris (check out an MP3 above). They sing about getting high almost as much as Bethany Cosentino and this is one of three shows they're playing tonight (also 7:30 at Santos, Midnight at Shea Stadium).

Yes, I'm still writing about the Cake Shop show...The Audacity (great name, seriously!) are from Fullerton and have toured with TY on the West Coast and are not to be confused with this cool dude; Races are signed to FrenchKiss and are kind of the odd band out on this bill, musically, as they're big, emotive anthemic rock (they also play the BV show Friday); Guards is ex Willowz, and then there's also Weekend who are from San Francisco but the coast is correct and who play the BV Official CMJ showcase Friday night (10/21) at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

King Krule

Okay, moving away from Cake Shop (and L.A.),  there's the True Panther showcase tonight at Glasslands which is notable for many reasons but probably mostly as the U.S. debut of King Krule, aka South London teenager Archy Marshall who used to record under the moniker Zoo Kid. Marshall looks like he stepped out of 1956 but his sound is definitely now. Check out a stream from King Krule's forthcoming EP at the bottom of this post. KK will also play Gorilla Vs. Bear/YoursTruly's unofficial party at Shea Stadium tomorrow.

Little Red

Also playing are Australia's Little Red who are probably the most straightforward band the label's ever signed. This is the sort of big heartland pop that was unavoidable in the '80s (Springsteen, Waterboys, The Call). This kind of stuff (which Canada's Arkells do as well) is totally out of fashion over here -- though not in Australia -- but the hooks are undeniable. Their album, Midnight Remember, is out next week.

The rest of the True Panther lineup: Tanlines, who really need to make an album (please) and the mayhem that is Trash Talk. Four bands who sound nothing alike! That's what you want at CMJ.

Davila 666 (more by Chris La Putt)

If you like the kind of bands that normally play DIY venues but enjoy a smoke-free envoirnment and good sound, and don't mind paying more for beer to get those things, Knitting Factory's got a great night of garage, punk and garage punk, headlined by the truly aweome Davila 666. They are a party no matter where they play.

Mouthbreathers

Also on the bill are Lawrence, KS's Mouthbreathers whose new 7" is out on In the Red Records and is streamable below. The band features members of Rooftop Vigilantes and Blood on the Wall and make the kind of sneering, melodic punk that is loud, fast and -- in the case of their live shows -- out of control. I dig. Also playing the Knit show are the Barreracudas, HiFi Fantom, and Audacity. This will be a gauranteed fun show.

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Arlene's Grocery seems to be the Canadian musical embassy for CMJ. M for Montreal's big showcase happens there on Friday (10/21) and tonight is the Canadian Blast with five bands from Up There you might not be familiar with. NYC tends to get the artier Canadian bands, from Montreal and Vancouver usually, but tonight showcases the more commercial side of indie, be it rock (Papermaps, The Reason) dance (Bikini, Data Romance) or in-between (Dinosaur Bones).

I'm a big fan of enigmatic Minneapolis duo BNLX who are at the Rock Shop tonight (8PM) with Kaiser Cartel, Pretty Good Dance Moves and more. Actually, BNLX are now a trio, having just added a drummer to aid in their sonic assault. If you like Honey's Dead era JAMC but wished that Morrissey occasionally sung with them and covered Ice Cube, you are going to love them. Wear earplugs. Check out a couple tracks above and if you can't make it tonight BNLX play again tomorrow (10/20) at Rebel at 11PM.

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And over at Webster Hall tonight are The Wombats, the 10th most popular show of CMJ week, at least by those who logged into CMJ's Sched site. I'll admit to liking early singles like "Moving to New York" but that they are filling Webster Hall now seems a bit inexplicable to me. They do know how to write a catchy chorus though.

Unnoficial CMJ:

Tonight's the Domino Records/Stereogum/Todd P party at 285 Kent with Twin Sister, John Maus, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Deradoorian... $10 though a CMJ badge will get you in for half that. Advanced tickets are now available at the venue for this show today.

At 13 Thames, you can catch Spanish Prisoners, Sun Glitters, Chrome Sparks, fthrsn and Bushwiccan. Spanish Prisoners brand new album, Gold Fools, is a free download on their Bandcamp this week only. It's definitely worth checking out.

At Death by Audio it's Talk Normal, Grass Widow, The Golden Awesome, Coasting and Brute Heart.

And DIY venue MHoW has The Arctic Monkeys.

Ok that's my picks for tonight. What am I missing? What are YOU going to see? Videos, flyers, streams, etc are below.

Continue reading "CMJ 2011 - Bill's Wednesday nighttime picks (LA bands, King Krule Davila 666, Fidlar, Bleached, BNLX & more)"

STAGE 1 (front room)
12:00 Races (new Frenchkiss signing)
12:45 Bleached (ex Mika Miko)
01:30 Widowspeak
02:15 Young Magic
03:15 A Place To Bury Strangers
04:15 Chelsea Wolfe
05:00 J Mascis (solo)

STAGE 2 (back room)
12:30 Cold Specks (1st-ever US show)
01:15 Lord Huron
02:00 Emmy the Great
02:45 Silver Swans
03:30 Xeno & Oaklander
04:15 Hospitality
05:15 Gauntlet Hair

In addition to free music, here are some more reason to stop by Friday. We will have FREE SNACKS courtesy of popchips and Raw Revolution and FREE DRINKS courtesy of Sailor Jerry and our official CMJ wine partner HobNob Wines. Check out HobNob's Facebook page for free music downloads and go to Sailor Jerry's website to read more about all of their CMJ events.

We'll also have FREE BrooklynVegan t-shirts for the first 25 people in the door (not many of these exist - we sold them for charity at CMJ last year).

As mentioned in our Thursday Day Party announcement, we've also partnered with Spotify who are offering 48 hour free Premium trials (playlist for this party coming soon) and Sony Bloggie (stay tuned for our post-CMJ video series) for all BV CMJ/not-CMJ events including this one.

Thanks to Zach Jaeger (Tonally Dude) for the flyer you see above.

See you Friday! And meanwhile to see A Place to Bury Strangers at Union Pool tonight, and see you Thursday afternoon at Knitting Factory too.

by BBG

Total Abuse - Prison Sweat art

If you weren't paying attention, you might have missed Total Abuse's Mutt, which surfaced its ugly head last year on Post Present Medium Records (Dean Spunt of No Age's imprint). The eleven track ripper encompassed elements of early negative hardcore, wearing its Void, Necros, and Black Flag influences on their tattered, punk-patch covered sleeve.

Austin's Total Abuse definitely have similar influences to bands like Cold Sweat, Men's Interest, Sex Vid and some of the Youth Attack crew, but also dabble in noise/power-electronics on their latest LP Prison Sweat which is out NOW via PPM. The LP, which opens with seven-minutes of brutal noise, blasts off by the second track "Early Morning" and is propelled with a similar furious energy throughout the remainder of the LP until it hits the final title track. From there Prison Sweat moves into a different mode, falling in line with side-2-of-My War Black Flag and latter feedback-obsessed hardcore bands like Drunkdriver or Pissed Jeans, but also venturing into borderline Swans/Godflesh style noise destruction. Stream all of Prison Sweat for the first time below.

Total Abuse only has one show scheduled as of now, at the PPM 10 year anniversary party in LA at The Smell on 11/4 - 11/6. The three day festival will feature appearances from No Age, Abe Vigoda, High Places, John Wiese, Gun Outfit, Dunes, Eric Copeland, Bleached (who play a BV CMJ party on 10/21) and many more, including an appearance from Total Abuse-related project White Dog, whose new album Triumurate is also out now on PPM. Stream tracks from White Dog, and all of Total Abuse's Prison Sweat below, alongside details of the PPM Anniversary show.

Continue reading "stream Total Abuse's new LP 'Prison Sweat', see them at PPM's 10th Anniversary fest (if you're in LA)"

DOWNLOAD: Bleached - "Think of You" (MP3)

photos by Tim Griffin

the Clavin sisters (Bleached) @ Mohawk on 10/10

SanDiego.com: How long have you been writing songs as Bleached?

Jennifer Clavin: Me and my sister started writing songs right when we realized we weren't going to do Mika Miko anymore. So that was late 2009. We thought we were going to be able to just start Bleached right away but then other things happened. So now we have a lot of songs that actually aren't recorded yet.

You said that kind of ominously. What sort of other things happened?

JC: I joined this other band Cold Cave. So I was in that for a year. We were trying to do Bleached and I was trying to do Cold Cave at the same time so I moved to New York for a little bit, but then it just wasn't working because I really missed playing my own music and with Cold Cave I just sang.

How did you like living in New York City?

JC: At first I loved it there; before I moved there when I was just visiting. Then I decided to move there and I really did not like it... But then after a year of being there, I came back to L.A. and I was like, 'Fuck now I really miss New York.' So I was trying to figure out if there's an in between kind of place, but I think it's one or the other.

Mika Miko, which played their last show on the first day of 2010, is now split into the Bleached, Dunes, and Cold Showers camps, the latter of which released a single on Mexican Summer. As noted above, Jennifer was also in Cold Cave for a while. Jenna Thornhill-DeWitt also had a stint as a member of the Strange Boys.

Bleached (Jessica and Jennifer Clavin of Mika Miko) also have a release to their name with the Carter 7", out now via Art Fag. Download "Think of You" above and check out its corresponding video below.

Bleached is currently on the road on their way to CMJ 2011 where they'll play a bunch of shows including the BrooklynVegan Day Party at Public Assembly on 10/21 and Fader Fort. More details are forthcoming, but until then, check out pictures in this post from the show they just played (10/10) at Mohawk in Austin with The Carrots & Rayon Beach. More of them, with all dates and previously dicussed stuff, below...

Continue reading "Bleached (ex-Mika Miko) are on tour, playing CMJ shows, played the Mohawk (pics, MP3 & dates)"

Though most of the lineup has yet to be revealed - except for King Krule, Metronomy (who also play MHOW), Purity Ring, Fat Trel (pictured above) and Bleached (more on them in a sec), this year's CMJ Fader Fort RSVP is up and running for their 10/21 and 10/22 shows at 443 w 18th St in Manhattan. More details, including the lineup, TBA soon.

Those dates are the same as the two free BrooklynVegan parties happening at Public Assembly in Brooklyn (no RSVP required), though Fader Fort runs 2-9pm, and the BV parties are from noon-6pm.

Vice's Noisey party with Twin Shadow happens at Santos Party House on the night of 10/19, and as previously mentioned, Twin Shadow are also playing another show which is now announced and is also free and also requires RSVP. The newly-announced show also happens at night, but on Saturday, 10/22, at Le Bain. It's the "Making Time" party and Seekae is also on the bill.

Making Time is FIXED's Philly sister, and FIXED have a CMJ party of their own as well. Their showcase will take place at Public Assembly on 10/19 with Teengirl Fantasy, Still Corners, Lemonade, Chad Valley, Radio People, Warm Ghost, CFCF (DJ Set), and Resident DJs JDH & Dave P (who also DJs Making Time). Tycho was originally scheduled to play this showcase but has since cancelled all of his CMJ shows in favor of a single pre-CMJ show happening at MHOW this Sunday. Tickets for the FIXED show are on sale.

Twin Shadow at Webster Hall (more by Vincent Cornelli)

We spoke too soon regarding where Twin Shadow would be next. Now that they've played Webster Hall, it was announced that they'll be around NYC for CMJ too, for at least one show, possibly two or more.

Twin Shadow will headline a Noisey CMJ showcase on 10/19 at Santos Party House, alongside appearances from hip hop group Main Attrakionz (who also play the same venue with Youth of Today), Bleached, Caveman, Inc, Pujol, and Fidlar. The show is FREE with RSVP. More details on the show in the flyer below.

Stay tuned for more CMJ & Twin Shadow annoumcements.

Continue reading "Twin Shadow playing Noisey CMJ show (RSVP is open)"