Boy Genius

Entries tagged with: Boy Genius

7 result(s) displayed (1 - 7 of 7):

DOWNLOAD: BNLX - Do Without (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BNLX - Where is the Love? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BNLX - When Doves Cry (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sweet Bulbs - Kissing Clouds (MP3)

Mitch Easter
BNLX

A lot of cool shows this week/weekend, some of which might be a bit under the radar. Let's get into it. Alt rock legend Mitch Easter, in addition to being part of that upcoming Big Star Third show, is on a rare Northeast tour right now that pulls into town Thursday (2/17) at The Rock Shop.

While he's maybe best known as a producer (the first two R.E.M.'s albums [with Don Dixon], Pavement's Brighten the Corners, Moose's ...XYZ among other things), Easter has had a long career as a musician, as a part ofThe Sneakers in the late '70s and frontman/songwriter for Let's Active, easily one of the most underrated bands of the '80s. He's also an incredible guitarist, and Let's Active albums are resplendent with awesome axe-work.

I like everything they ever did but 1986's Big Plans for Everybody is especially great, one of my favorite albums of that decade. Mitch put the kybosh on Let's Active in 1990 and didn't release any original material until 2008's Dynamico, an album which showed he still has chops and songs to spare.

Mitch's set at The Rock Shop is going to be heavy on the Let's Active tunes and if there's a song you really want to hear, like "Talking to Myself" from Big Plans, you can make a request. Opening the show are Brooklyn's own Boy Genius whose album from last year, Staggering, was produced by Mitch and is worth checking out. Also playing: Overlord.

BNLX

I'm pretty excited about this next one. Minneapolis' awesome and enigmatic BNLX play their first-ever NYC shows this week, stopping at Fontana's tomorrow night (2/17) and The Rock Shop on Friday (2/18).

BNLX seemingly stormed out of nowhere early 2010, releasing a new EP each quarter, featuring hand-printed, Neu!-esque sleeves and press releases like this:

-BNLX has been meeting and / or exceeding expectations since its inception in Q1 2010
-BNLX provides mission-critical services to the entertainment sector in the following categories:
--"music" (noise)
--found art -beatz / rhymez
--mélodies angéliques
--obfuscation / parallax
-these services are rendered in the live, recorded, and conceptual spheres
-BNLX is comprised of both organic and inorganic members
-this allows BNLX to achieve standards of performance surpassing nominal criteria
-Stage One of the BNLX First One Year Plan commenced in March, 2010; it has been successful
-Stage Two - the release of BNLX EP #2 - will be executed June 25th, 2010
-BNLX EP #2 will be available as a numbered limited edition CD art package
-it will also be available through iTunes, other digital retailers, and piracy

Keeping things mysterious, you could mainly only focus on the music which is pretty awesome: blistering post-punk inspired rock, with male/female, call-and-response vocals, feedback, harmonies, old-school drum machines and ridiculously catchy choruses. The first three EPs were all originals, and the fourth EP was all covers, including great versions of Rhianna's "Shut Up and Drive" and hometown legend Prince's "When Doves Cry." BNLX actually played the latter at First Avenue last month at an Onion party, which takes balls.

That obfuscation didn't last two long as people figured out that BNLX was the work of Minneapolis indie rock mainstay Ed Ackerson, who has led such excelent bands as The 27 Various and Polara over the last 25 years as well as running Susstones Records. His wife Ashley -- they're both also in Moodswings -- is the other half of the band. BNLX have culled the best of the four 2010 EPs as a free sampler which you can download for free. You can also check out a few of the songs, including that Prince cover, at the top of this post.

The Rock Shop show is part of the monthly Hard Light party which is a must for lovers of shoegaze, post-punk, '60s psych, Krautrock, metal, Sweden, feedback, '90s indie rock, and guitars in general. In addition to BNLX, Hard Light promises "drink specials- weirdo cult movies - and loudness."

Tamaryn

Speaking of shoegazy stuff, Tamaryn is back in NYC for her first proper shows since CMJ 2010. She plays Don Hill's on Thusday (2/17), and then an afternoon show at PS 1 on Saturday (2/19). I loved her debut album, The Waves, which came in at #12 on my Favorite LPs of 2011 list, and it's still in pretty heavy rotation here at TWII Headquarters (aka my kitchen). It reminds me a lot of the first Verve album, tsunami waves of guitar matched with a nimble, groovy rhythm section and Tamaryn's lovely vocals.

There are a lot of chilly ice princesses out there right now, but I think Tamaryn deserves the crown. (Though I haven't heard the Austra album yet.) I thought she and her band were great at Coco66, those three songs before the cops shut it all down. If you can't make these shows, she'll be back in April touring with The Raveonettes, including two nights at Music Hall of Williamsburg (4/20 and 4/21). All Tamaryn tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Sweet Bulbs

Keeping with the theme, let's talk a bit about Sweet Bulbs, "Brooklyn's blurriest pop band," whose album came out this week on Blackburn Recordings. It's choc-a-bloc with seriously catchy songs that are buried under layers of swirly guitars and effects pedals and other sludge. As someone who loved bands like The Swirlies, Drop Nineteens, Lilys and Henry's Dress, this is right up my alley. For those mystified by that litany of obscure '90s indie bands, just know Sweet Bulbs make beautiful noise. You can download "Kissing Clouds" from the album at the top of this post.

Sweet Bulbs play Bruar Falls this Saturday (2/19) with White Laces, Arches, and Tungs. Do check 'em out.

That's the main stuff this week. A few more picks, day by day are below:

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16

The Church play three albums from their catalog in their entirety tonight at Highline Ballroom: Untitled #23, Priest=Aura, and Starfish. That's over three hours of music, which seems like a lot to me even for a devoted Church fan. Maybe if it was Heyday instead of Untitled #23 I'd be more inclined to go. They'll do it again tomorrow (2/17) at BB King's.

Tonight is also the third week of ARMS' February residency at Pianos, this week with The Silent League, Your Youth, Inlets and Thunder & Lightning (which is the new band from Brent Katz who was Todd Goldstein's bandmate in Harlem Shakes). ARMS were teriffic last week, this is highly recommended.

continued below...

Continue reading "Mitch Easter, BNLX, Tamaryn, Sweet Bulbs & more in This Week in Indie"

posted at 6:39 PM on February 16, 2011 in music | tour dates | Comments (13)

by Bill Pearis (and Andrew Frisicano)

DOWNLOAD: Casper & the Cookies - Little King (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Casper & the Cookies - Pete Erchick Bicentennial Service Area (MP3)

Casper & the Cookies @ NYC Popfest (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Casper & the Cookies are now out on tour this July. The band's NYC-area stops include tonight (7/21) at Cake Shop and tomorrow (7/22) performance at Bruar Falls. Opening both dates will be tourmates Everything, Now. Also opening Bruar Falls will be Boy Genius and Knight School.

Athens, Georgia resident Jason NeSmith has been using variations of the Casper moniker for nearly 15 years, and the Cookies have been in existence since 1999. NeSmith was also a touring member of Of Montreal around the time of Satanic Panic in the Attic, and the Cookies share with that band a love of glittery makeup and off-kilter pop. Casper and the Cookies, however, look more to the power pop of Big Star and Cheap Trick for their inspiration. I thought they were great at this year's NYC Popfest. There's video from their performance at the bottom of this post.

Casper's newest record, Modern Silence, came out May 12th on CD through Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. The vinyl edition was released on July 20th release via People In a Position To Know Records (who are also handing some of the new Wand releases). Details on the record are...

Casper and the Cookies - Modern Silence GATEFOLD 2xLP + 5" lathe cut!: They come in a beautiful, gatefold cover with a different design than the CD. There are only 500 copies made, and only 200 copies are on AUDIOPHILE RED vinyl, in honor of [singer] Jason [NeSmith's] obsession with the Japanese red-vinyl version of Sgt. Peppers and their reputation of being the best sounding version of that album. The first 50 preorders will receive a special clear 5" lathe cut with exclusive songs.

Check out that album art and tracklist below. Two songs off the new record are posted above.

About the upcoming tour, the band writes, "We're planning on keeping you updated with Twitter, sooo if you're out in Tweetyland, and you wanna know what's happening (who knows, there might be a surprise performance or something!!), you can follow us at http://twitter.com/candthecookies."

All tour dates, NYC Popfest video, album art and tracklist, below...

Continue reading "Casper & the Cookies is here - new album & 2009 tour dates"

posted at 1:58 PM on July 21, 2009 in MP3 | music | tour dates | Comments (1)

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Suburban Kids with Biblical Names
Suburban Kids with Bibilical Names

NYC Popfest ended last Sunday with a marathon of a show in the basement of Cake Shop on the Lower East Side. We already posted the pictures of The Drums (with a short summary of that day), and you can browse pics from the first three nights of NYC Popfest HERE. Now check out the rest from day four (5/17), with a bunch of videos, below...

Continue reading "NYC Popfest (2009) - night 4 pics & video from Cake Shop "

posted at 1:17 PM on May 29, 2009 in music | pictures | Comments (19)

by Bill Pearis

The Radio Dept

Enigmatic Swedish band The Radio Dept. are to play their first U.S. show since 2003 (which was in San Francisco), as part of the third-annual NYC Popfest which happens this year from May 14 - 17. Whether or not the band will have finished their delayed follow-up to 2005's Pet Grief remains to be seen, but there are lots of folks who've been waiting years for Radio Dept to play here and, so far, the Popfest date is the only one they're doing.

While the Radio Dept will no-doubt be the biggest draw, NYC Popfest has put together a pretty great lineup including a few other notable acts, more Swedes: all-girl trio Liechtenstein, who've put out a bunch of great 7-inches and will have a new EP out on Slumberland in May. We'll also get two bands from Finland: Cats on Fire, who made their U.S. debut at last year's fest; and the lovely synth-acoustic pop of Burning Hearts whose debut album, Aboa Sleeping, was released last month.

North America is well represented as you might expect. Detroit gives us Computer Perfection (who are not synth pop despite the name), and offshoot band Hidden Ghost Ship, whose very good debut album you can download for free. (The link is at the top of this post.) There's also Grand Rapids' The Icicles whose song "La Ti Da" you might know from a Target commercial; Boston's awesome Pants Yell! who were one of my favorites from last year's event; Ohio's The 1959 Hat Company and Afternoon Naps; California brings us L.A.'s The Tartans (12-strings and glockenspeil pop) and San Francisco's Eux Autres (janglepop); Vermont's Smittens (who remind me of '90s indie pop band Small Factory); Athens, GA's great power popppers Casper & the Cookies; Chicago's Very Truly Yours (classic twee pop) and Canada's Rose Melberg.

The bulk of the bands are from NYC, and include: My Teenage Stride whose new Emusic single "Creep Academy" is one of my favorite songs they've ever done; Knight School (who I've written about before); Boy Genius (ditto) and The Secret History (double ditto); plus the newly-quintet-ed The Metric Mile, Soft City, Dream Bitches, The Ballet, Strega, and Don Lennon.

Most of the Popfest shows will happen at Cake Shop, with a Friday night show at Don Hill's in conjunction with Mondo! and the Radio Dept. show at The Bell House. Unlike the two previous years, there's no BBQ/day show at Union Pool. Pricing and that sort of thing hasn't been ironed out yet, but the individual night's lineups are below:

Continue reading "NYC Popfest - 2009 lineup, The Radio Dept. included "

posted at 5:08 PM on March 24, 2009 in music | tour dates | Comments (14)

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Loney Dear - "Airport Surroundings" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: AC Newman - "Submarines of Stockholm" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Matador Records Intended Play sampler 2008 (ZIP file)

Loney Dear

I'm excited for Ida Maria, but those shows are a month away. As for this week, you may remember Loney Dear are in town to play two shows with fellow Swedes Melpo Mene. For most of us this will be our first taste of their new album, Dear John, which is out on Polyvinyl on Jan. 27. If the track at the top of this post, "Airport Surroundings," is any indication, the new album is going to be a lot more synthy. And is it just me or does that track start out sounding a little like Warnen G's "Regulate"?

In addition to Melpo Mene (who I wrote about before), the Mercury Lounge show Wednesday (12/10) night also features locals Boy Genius who are getting ready to record their new album with producer Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Pavement, and his own band, Let's Active). The Bell House show on Friday (12/12) is part of Union Hall/Bell House talent booker Skippy's 40th birthday party. Takka Takka and Alina Simone are also on the bill. There could be other surprises too, you never know.

Melpo Mene also has a couple shows in addition to the ones with Loney, Dear. He'll play Rockwood Music Hall on Thursday (12/11, 11PM) and and an early (6PM) free show upstairs at Cake Shop on Friday (12/12). Go see him if you can.

Next Thursday (12/18), why not hit Stanton Public from 8-10 for the AC Newman's Get Guilty listening party? It's free beer n' booze too, you just need to RSVP at Insound. You can get one track from Get Guilty on Matador's free download Intended Play sampler, and another MP3, both at the top of this post. Plus, Carl just announced some 2009 tour dates.

One final pick for this week: I highly recommend checking out School of Seven Bells at Mercury Lounge on Monday. Their debut, Alpinisms, is one of my favorite albums of 2009, and the band just got back from opening for M83 so I have a feeling they probably won't be playing places this small for much longer. And when they can get all their crazy equipment working, it's a mezmerizing show. Some of their videos below...

Continue reading "Loney Dear, Boy Genius, School of Seven Bells & more in This Week In Indie"

posted at 5:52 PM on December 9, 2008 in MP3 | music | To Do | Comments (7)

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Melpo Mene - Hello Benjamin (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Melpo Mene - Good With The Mothers (MP3)

Melpo Mene

Sweden's Loney, Dear has just left Sub Pop for Polyvinyl, who will release his new album, Dear John, on January 27 (track list below). Before that, they're playing a couple of NYC shows in December. As nice as it will be to have them back on these shores, I'm slightly more excited that opening for both shows will be fellow Swedes Melpo Mene who make some very lovely, understated folk-pop. breathy vocals, jazzy arrangements - it's lovely stuff. I liked his 2004 debut, Holes, quite a bit and have been waiting for him to follow it up ever since. BV Mike also did a nice feature on this very site back in February.

Melpo Mene's second album, Bring the Lions Out, just came out in Sweden on Imperial Recordings (home of Jose Gonzales) and you might have heard the album's first single, "I Adore You," in a Volvo ad. (Not my favorite song on the album but the appeal is obvious.) Hopefully these New York shows will bring some attention from U.S. labels though you can get both Melpo Mene albums Emusic. In addition to the two shows with Loney, Dear, Melpo Mene will also be playing a show at Rockwood Music Hall.

All dates, videos and ticket links below...

Continue reading "Melpo Mene playing NYC, twice w/ Polyvinyl's Loney, Dear"

posted at 12:14 PM on November 13, 2008 in industry | music | tour dates | Comments (3)

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Crystal Stilts - Shattered Shine (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: caUSE co-MOTION - Which Way is Up? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bearsuit - I Thought You Said You Were Blind (MP3)

Crystal Stilts

A few items of note that I neglected earlier in the week. Brooklynites and Slumberland Records labelmates Crystal Stilts and caUSE co-MOTION are playing Death by Audio on Saturday (10/4) which is a warm-up, of sorts, to their nine-date U.S. tour together that officially kicks off two weeks later with some shows at CMJ.

Both bands have their Slumberland debuts coming out on October 28: Crystal Stilts' much-anticipated full-length debut, Alight of Night, which I think is one of the year's best albums, reminiscent of The Chills and Felt, but also late '50s twangy rock and, yes, Joy Division; and caUSE co-MOTION, who don't have a song yet over to hit the two-minute mark, compile their five, brittle Glasgow-influenced pop 7" singles for a 14-song, 20-minute blast.

caUSE co-MOTION (yes, the capitalization is annoying to type) will also be opening for Franz Ferdinand on Wednesday (10/8) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg show, which seems a good match. Both bands (CS and CC) are playing a load of shows at CMJ, including what is maybe the show on Thursday, Oct. 23, the Force Field PR showcase at Pianos that also includes Au, Duchess Says, Fight Bite, Physics of Meaning, Donovan Quinn & the 13th Month, and Stars Like Fleas.

caUSE co-MOTION

If you want to make an entire day of it in Williamsburg on Saturday (10/4), come in the afternoon to bookstore Spoonbill and Sugartown where Peter Saville will be signing stuff and talking to people from 1 - 3PM. If you're a Factory Records aficionado or just saw 24 Party People, you probably know Saville is the man who designed all of Joy Division and New Order's album covers, as well as Section 23, A Certain Ratio, Happy Mondays and also records for Pulp, Suede, and, uh, Gay Dad.

Saville deserves a place in history if for nothing else than the famed floppy disc replica that was New Order's "Blue Monday" 12" single. He's got a couple recent coffee table books, including Art, Fashion and Work for Hire: Thomas Demand, Peter Saville, Hedi Slimane, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Cristina Bechtler in Conversation, and last year's Peter Saville: Estate 1-127, though if you brought a copy of Unknown Pleasures he'd probably sign that too.

If you have interest in Saville's work, which includes typography, you might also want to swing by his website which includes free downloads of most of the fonts he created for New Order and Joy Division over the years. Pretty cool.

Bearsuit

Lastly, UK band Bearsuit are coming over later this month for their first-ever American tour, including NYC stops before and during CMJ. The six-piece, who hail from Norwich, are not unlike Los Campesinos! with their shouty, girl-boy vocals, manic pace, and catchy songs. They also have adorable, cutesy-poo graphics, tend to dress in matching costumes (though not in bear suits), and often have giant inflatable BEARSUIT letters with them onstage. It's the kind of thing you either find totally endearing or totally vomitous. I'm on the endearing side and can't wait to see them.

Bearsuit's show at Cakeshop is with local Brooklyn band Boy Genius who I've meant to write about for some time but haven't. Boy Genius are definitely within the indiepop realm but not too sugary, not too precious, relying on well-crafted melodies and gentle, mostly-acoustic instrumentation to carry the songs. They'll also be playing with Elk City (featuring former Luna guitarist Sean Eden) at Union Hall on October 18th. You can get a new Boy Genius song, "Eleanor," for free on the new mix from Norwegian indiepop blog Eardrums (also featuring Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Pelle Carlberg, the Lodger and loads more, worth the download.) Boy Genius deserve more attention than they've gotten, hopefully that will come soon.

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "caUSE co-MOTION, Crystal Stilts, Bearsuit, Peter Saville, Boy Genius and more in this Week in Indie"

posted at 9:58 AM on October 2, 2008 in MP3 | tour dates | Comments (9)