Says the PR

On the heels of a highly successful, critically acclaimed sold-out 2012 festival, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2013 lineup, which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 24-27 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The
Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA.

Continue reading "Sasquatch! Music Festival 2013 lineup is here"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Beck/Devendra Banhart at Governors Ball - 6/24/12

"But the real agenda of Sunday's Governors Ball was a day of crescendos. Separated from Saturday -- a day of computerized repetitions and volume control and equalizer tweaks -- Sunday was for bands building at their own pace. It might be the grunge surges of Cage the Elephant or the strategic crescendos of Explosions in the Sky, but it was hand-played and timed to human impulse. On Sunday, the cheers from the crowd showed how well real-time music-making still moves an audience. Guitars -- in Built to Spill, Cage the Elephant, Alberta Cross -- still grab people." [NY Times]

Continue reading "Governors Ball 2012 -- Day 2 pics (Beck, Explosions in the Sky, Built to Spill, Devendra Banhart, Cults & more)"

As mentioned, Governors Ball goes down in NYC this weekend on Randall's Island from June 23-24. You can check out the full schedule for both days HERE. The lineup includes a number of bands who haven't played NYC in a while, like Passion Pit, who have a new LP coming out which you've heard two songs from; Modest Mouse, who also play the Metallica-headlined Orion Music & More festival in Atlantic City this weekend, Beck, Devendra Banhart, and more.

Fiona Apple did play in NYC pretty recently, but those shows were her first in a while and were also small venues for her and sold out instantly. Fiona also just finally released her new album and it's great, which is all the more reason to catch her set this weekend. She also recently announced a ton of new dates and performed on Fallon with the Roots.

Other bands playing include Built to Spill, Explosions in the Sky, K.Flay (who also plays Glasslands on 7/13), James Muprhy & Pat Mahoney DJ Set, Cults, Phantogram, and still many more. In addition to the music, there will be some other activities like ping pong, beer pong, silent disco, lawn games (bocce ball, croquet, etc), and from looking at the weather forecast, probably the most important of them all: free water refill stations. Tickets for the festival are still available.

Shuttles to the festival from Brooklyn and Philly are sold out but regular ferry tickets ($25), and parking passes if you plan to drive are still available. If you are heading down there by car, subway, bike or foot, here are some directions from NYC, Long Island, Westchester, and Jersey. Once you've found your way there, this map should help you get around the festival grounds. Leave your nunchucks at home.

Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

photos by Tim Griffin

Daniel Johnston @ The Belmont on 3/13

"A packed house of fans and well-wishers turned out to the Belmont Lounge Tuesday night for an official South by Southwest showcase to celebrate the release of Daniel Johnston's new graphic novel, "Space Ducks: An Infinite Comic Book of Musical Greatness." The event, which was hosted by Brooklyn Vegan, included performances by Built to Spill, Will Sheff of Okkervil River, R. Stevie Moore, Kimya Dawson and Johnston himself. Alex Maas of Black Angels, Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit and Irish folk singer Foy Vance all each performed Johnston covers before the renowned songwriter took the stage.

Nearly all who performed had some accolades to offer Johnston, the legendarily troubled outsider artist-turned-indie rock darling whose notoriety was cemented by Kurt Cobain when the Nirvana frontman famously wore a T-shirt of the cover to Johnston's album, Hi, How Are You?. [Hollywood Reporter]

It was all in celebration of "Space Ducks" which is out now as a Boom Comics graphic novel, and as a FREE iPad app you can download now, new Daniel Johnston music and tributes included (the soundtrack will get a physical release in a few weeks). Props to the team at Wieden + Kennedy for helping Daniel create something so cool with his art, and to Search Party, Primary Wave, Strike Team, Eternal Yip Eye Music, all the artists who played, and everyone else that helped us make the Tuesday night show and comic happen.

Almost everyone on the bill covered a Daniel Johnston song, and many came back to join Daniel on "True Love Will Find You in the End." Jeffrey Lewis, with help from Kimya (collectively they are the Bundles), debuted new song "Space Ducks" which Jeffrey wrote for the app at our request. New DJ-inspired songs are unlocked after you work your way through the Space Ducks galaxy. There are also songs in the app, co-curated by Search Party, by Deer Tick, Eleanor Friedberger, Lavender Diamond, and others.

Built to Spill closed down the outdoor show beautifully; it was just too bad that Austin has a 2am curfew...

Co-headliners Built to Spill couldn't begin their set until 1:15, and frontman Doug Martsch vowed to "play until they make us stop," which was going to be 2:00 regardless. It's a common rock show cliché, but true to their word, they kept going until the Belmont's people had to get on the sound system to tell them to stop, prompting a chorus of boos. But the elder indie statesmen were still able to cap it off by driving through an extended version of "Conventional Wisdom," effectively ensuring everyone would still be going home happy." [IDSNews]

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston released 'Space Ducks', celebrated with Built to Spill & friends @ SXSW (pics)"

click HERE for a bigger version of the above flyer.

Hinted at and posted in some form on SXSW's website recently, but now offically announced... BrooklynVegan had the honor of helping put together what will be a very special show happening this Tuesday, March 13, 2012 in Austin as part of SXSW at the Belmont in honor of muiti-talented artist Daniel Johnston's very first comic book "Space Ducks", or more specifically to help celebrate the release of the FREE iPad app version that is coming first, new Daniel Johnston songs and tributes to him included. Read more about the forthcoming app and partially-Kickstarter funded graphic novel, which you can PRE-ORDER NOW, at the end of this post.

The party, big flyer HERE, is open to all SXSW badgeholders. Get there early for drink specials courtesy of Original Moonshine, Tecate and Republic Tequilia, and to experience the entire night of special sets. There will be Daniel Johnston covers and tributes throughout, with co-headlining performances by Daniel Johnston and Built to Spill. It will go like this:

Tuesday, March 13, 2012 @ the Belmont, Austin, TX
8:00 Dinosaur Feathers
8:40 special guest (a band we're not allowed to announce)
9:25 R. Stevie Moore
9:55 Jeffrey Lewis
10:25 Kimya Dawson
11:10 Will Sheff of Okkervil River
11:35 Foy Vance
11:40 Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit
11:45 Alex Maas of the Black Angels
11:55 Daniel Johnston & Motopony
01:05 Built to Spill

This show is happening one night before the BrooklynVegan official SXSW showcase at Bar 96 which is two nights before the BrooklynVegan/Power of the Riff official SXSW showcase at Scoot Inn.

Learn more about Space Ducks, and others who had a hand in this all, below...

Continue reading "BV Presents Daniel Johnston's 'Space Ducks' SXSW Launch Party w/ Daniel, Built to Spill & many more performing"

As posted last night, Modest Mouse are playing Governors Ball on Randall's Island during the weekend of June 23-24 (same weekend as Orion), but they are just one of many artists that are now announced, and listed, along with more information, below...

Continue reading "NYC fest Governors Ball announces 2012 lineup (Beck, Passion Pit, EITS, Built to Spill, Devendra Banhart, Cults & more)"

Lucero in Austin in October (more by Tim Griffin)

As mentioned, Lucero are celebrating New Year's Eve in Boston, but they'll be at Brooklyn Bowl on 12/30 the night before. Limited tickets will be available at the door (and it's possible some are still available on their presale page). Both of those shows and a few others around the same time are with Lionize.

The night after they play the Brooklyn venue, Deer Tick will play Brooklyn Bowl on what is actually New Year's Eve (12/31). Tickets are still available and also available is a combo package that allows you entry to see the Deer Tick show and the Lucero show too.

Lucero recently finished up in the studio, where they were recording their next album, which will be the followup to 2009's 1372 Overton Park. Guitarist Brian Venable spoke to AMP about the new album:

It's been two years since 1372. We're continuing... not necessarily a Memphis soul... but we've got the horns on there again, we've got the pedal steel, you know. It's what we wanted to start with 1372, the obvious direction for us. We kind of joke about it being a "country soul" record, kind of like DELANEY AND BONNIE. There's a lot of that like, FACES, BOB SEGER... You hear about those traveling road shows in the '70s where it would be ERIC CLAPTON, DELANEY AND BONNIE, JOHN LEE HOOKER, and KING CURTIS, you know, just complete mash ups. We've got some rockers, we've got a lot of mid-tempo stuff, but I feel like it's a very mature record. We pretty much just wrote this record, there weren't any extra songs really. We took two or three months off in the spring and just wrote a record. We have a practice space with a recording studio upstairs. We would spend a week downstairs working up stuff and then the next week we would move everything up stairs and put it all down on tape. We'd find out what needed to be changed, we'd go downstairs, work stuff out again, and then bring it back upstairs. Going into the actual studio, the record was fairly realized, which was awesome.

They also recently announced a two-month long tour for 2012 in support of the album which includes dates with Built to Spill, J Roddy Walston & The Business (who opens for Deer Tick on New Year's Eve), William Elliot Whitmore, and others. That tour brings them to NYC on April 20 at Webster Hall with J Roddy Walston & The Business. Tickets for the whole tour are on presale now. Tickets for Webster Hall go on sale via Ticketmaster on January 13 with an AmEx presale starting on January 11.

All dates and a song that Rick and Todd from Lucero wrote and recorded with members of The Aggrolites and Larry & His Flask at Warped Tour below...

Continue reading "Lucero announce new LP, more dates (Webster Hall included)"

photos by Chris Gersbeck

DOWNLOAD: Built to Spill - Three Years Ago Today (live on the boat) (MP3)

"Hopefully this boat isn't built to spill, yuk yuk yuk" - Matthew Conover

Built to Spill played a BV-presented show on a Rocks Off boat last night (9/2), and all those in attendance did in fact safely make it back to shore (aka the West Side Highway) in one piece. Not everyone may remember it though.

If you missed it, or even if you were there and remember every detail, you'll be happy to know that they'll be back in NYC soon. The band will play record release shows on October 5th at Music Hall of Williamsburg and October 6th at Highline Ballroom. Tickets for the Manhattan show are now on sale. Brooklyn show tickets go on sale Friday, 9/10, at noon. The new shows will both be opened by ReVoLtReVoLt, will feature a post-show DJ sets by Doug Martsch (who DJ'd the boat too), and they come right before the Philly show on their recently announced tour.

More good news: NYC Taper taped it and will be posting the full audio soon. In the meantime, you can get a preview of the recording above, and check out the full recording setlist with more pictures, below....

Continue reading "Built to Spill played a boat (pics, setlist & live recording), playing Highline Ballroom & MHOW in October "

Built To Spill @ MHOW in 2009 (more by Chloe Rice)

Built to Spill have extended their US tour that will keep them on the road from the middle of September until late November, but first they'll play the handful of previously announced dates that include the BV-presented Rocks Off Boat cruise happening this THURSDAY, 9/2. Tickets are still available (not many, but some).

The tour is in support of There is No Enemy, the band's release from the tail end of last year. The LP features "Hindsight" which recently spawned a Bob Odenkirk (Mr Show, Breaking Bad) directed video. Chew on that, with all tour dates, below....

Continue reading "Built to Spill announce tour, playing a boat Thursday (dates) "

Built to Spill @ Outside Lands 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

Built to Spill played Irving Plaza on Wednesday, July 28th. Download their set recorded by NYC Taper. One day later later they played a show in Long Island (at the Crazy Donkey). Video and setlists below.

The band continues on tour, playing headlining shows between dates with Kings of Leon. They do the latter on August 5th at Camden, NJ's Susquehanna Bank Center, and the former (aka their own show) at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park on August 6th.

Built to Spill will be back in NYC on Thursday, September 2nd for a BrooklynVegan-presented Rocks Off Concert Cruise. Tickets are on sale now.

In other news, BTS' Doug Martsch and Brett Nelson covered the band's own songs in a synthy style as the Electronic Anthology Project...

"Dug Martsch and Brett Nelson are both members of Built To Spill.The Electronic Anthology Project is a side project that Dug and Brett made.It's basically one song off of each BTS record,completely replayed by Brett (synths/drum machine) and resang by Dug.If you like Built To Spill and 80's New Wave then you may like the two together."

All tour dates, the Irving Plaza & Crazy Donkey set lists and more, below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill played NYC & Long Island, playing a boat (BV presents), covered their own songs using synths "

Built to Spill @ Webster Hall Oct. 2009 (more by Bryan Bruchman)

Built to Spill and The Black Keys are both opening for Kings of Leon on their North American tour this summer. Their travels together don't come near New York City though. The closest Kings of Leon get is the Altantic City Borgata, and that's with The Whigs opening. Tickets are on sale (and only $125).

The Black Keys' upcoming NYC shows are two nights at SummerStage in Central Park (the full lineup for which just got fully announced) with the Morning Benders. (Check out their "sexy new video" if you haven't already.)

Ends up, Built to Spill will be in NYC too this summer - they play a Wednesday, July 28th show at Irving Plaza. Tickets go on Live Nation presale Thursday at 10am. General Sale starts Friday at 10am.

All Kings of Leon tour dates and their other openers (The Features, The Stills) are below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill touring w/ Kings of Leon, playing NYC too (dates)"

photos by Chris Graham

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

The 2nd Annual Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco this past August benefited from a combination of improved planning and the luck of some of the nicest weather the city had seen all summer. The result was a far more pleasant and exciting experience for festivalgoers at this food, wine and music extravaganza.

The venue for the festival is extraordinary, taking up about a third of the massive Golden Gate Park. Once inside, it's hard to believe you're in the middle of a large city. Giant trees and grassy meadows block out any view of outside buildings, and the festival is arranged around the topography so that each group of stages has its own unique look and feel. There were many secluded areas and empty meadows nearby for those in need of respite from the music. Thanks to the efforts of innovative organizers, Outside Lands truly becomes a world unto itself. [Beachside Resident]

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 - Day 1 pics (Pearl Jam, The National, Q-Tip, Tom Jones, Akron/Family, Built to Spill, more)"

photos by Chloe Rice

Built to Spill, just days after the release of their seventh LP There Is No Enemy, stopped by Cambridge for a three night run at The Middle East Downstairs last weekend. After seventeen years and a handful of different lineups, songwriter Doug Martsch is still at the helm, looking aged but adjusted. The "well-groomed" five-piece took the stage on Sunday, warmed up after two nights in the same venue, opening with a powerful version of "You Were Right," a tune from 1999's Keep it Like a Secret. The song pulled the audience back and forth through a dynamic maze, always climaxing with Martsch's accusation, "you were wrong/when you said/everything's gonna be alright." The song benefited from the controlled layering of three guitars. Most notably, guitarist Brett Netson's overdriven leads cut through the mix at times to reveal a deeper counterpoint against Martsch's riffing. [The MIT Tech]

Built To Spill played the last of four NYC performances in a row last night at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn (10/15). After the show they appeared on Letterman. The pictures in this post are from the third show which was also at Music Hall (10/14). Pictures from the second show, which was at Webster Hall, are HERE. First night's setlist is HERE. The other three setlists, more pictures from the third night, and the Letterman video, below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill played four NYC shows (pictures from Music Hall & all setlists) & Letterman (video) "

photos by Bryan Bruchman

Built to Spill played their second Webster Hall show in a row last night (10/13). That's where the pictures in this post are from (anyone have the setlist?).

Tonight (10/14), the band moves on to Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn where they'll also be playing two nights in a row. They'll then appear on Letterman the same night the NYC run ends (10/15).

The setlist and comments from night one (10/12), which it ends up NYC Taper taped, are HERE. More pictures from last night, below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill played Webster Hall again (pics, live recording), start Music Hall run tonight, and then Letterman "

Built to Spill @ Webster Hall - Oct 12, 2009 (joshbg2k)

"I shelled out for the Tuesday show, though it is annoying how expensive the tickets are. I sincerely wish I could see DinoJr with them again, but what can you do. I'm going to need a sick setlist Tuesday, or I will be a bit annoyed. I don't doubt that it will be a great show, as they almost always are." [Anonymous]

Continue reading "Built to Spill played Webster Hall (setlist) - again tonight "

Oct 12 @ Webster Hall
Oct 13 @ Webster Hall
Oct 14 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Oct 15 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Recent live videos below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill kick off four-show NYC run today (tix available)"

"CANT BELIEVE THEY REPLACED BEASTIES WITH TENACIOUS D ??????????????????????AND IF I PULL OUT THEY SUE! SO REALLY? TENACIOUS D AFTER ME? P.S I ORIGINALLY BOOKED ON SHOWS COZ BEASTIES WERE HEADLINERS , BUT NOW THEY AINT DOING IT AND I JUS WANNA SAY , WE HAVE TO GO HARD!!!" - M.I.A.

When Tenacious D was asked - eventually - to step in as the closing act for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival next Sunday after the Beastie Boys were forced to drop out at the last minute, the guys didn't hesitate. In their mind, the substitution seemed like a natural fit.

"I think there are more similarities than differences, really, when you put us together," announced Jack Black, who formed the folk-metal duo with his friend Kyle Gass long before he became a big-time Hollywood star. The band may not have been up to much since starring in the feature film "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" three years ago, but when we spoke to them last week they promised, "The D will be in fine form."

SF GATE: Who got the call when the Beastie Boys had to drop out?

Jack Black: I assume they just called our manager. We actually have the same manager as the Beastie Boys.

Neither M.I.A. nor Tenacious D will be viewable on the stream, but Built to Spill and The Dead Weather will be. Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands Fest in SF this weekend, streaming on YouTube -- Tenacious D playing, M.I.A. not happy"

Built to Spill @ the 2009 Siren Music Festival (more by Tim Griffin)

"Over the past 17 years of touring, Built to Spill have become as famous for their cover songs as for any of their own material, having paid homage live to acts as diverse as M.I.A., David Bowie, the Talking Heads, Neil Young, Macy Gray, Modest Mouse, Ozzy Osbourne and on and on. The band is so fond of playing other people's songs that according frontman Doug Martsch, "when we play a cover it's the highlight of the evening for me every single night."

But as one would imagine for a band that has built such a reputation, BTS take the art of the cover song very seriously. "We're like a real cover band when we do covers -- we try to do it straight up for the most part," Martsch tells Spinner. "We don't make a joke out of it. We're trying to convey how great that song was in the first place."" [Spinner]

Continue reading "Built to Spill - cover songs & updated 2009 tour dates"

photos by Tim Griffin

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the four upcoming NYC Built to Spill shows. That includes the two at Webster Hall, the two at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and two-day passes for each venue.

Built to Spill's last NYC performance was on Saturday evening at the Siren Festival. Our final set of picture from that event is continued below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill - NYC tickets, two-day passes, more Siren pics "

photos by Joseph Juechao Xu

"TORTOISE was good and everything, but way better the first year i ever went (when i was 14) probably because they were the headlining band that year and played late at night when it was dark. and their setlist flowed better....the request the night thing was cool but i think it really put a damper on the band's moods. EXCEPT! for the JESUS LIZARD. that was so awesome and intense. they didn't act old at all. BUILT TO SPILL on the other hand was a disappoint. sadly :( they looked like they were having the worst night of their life and i could barely hear it. to top it off....drunk bros were behind me screaming the words. you don't scream or dance or yell for built to spill. they even "wooed" the instrument parts between singing. bleh. but it was still pretty sounding and cool to see. i didn't watch YO LA TENGO. i think they're eh." [maybemae]

Tortoise is on tour and plays Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on Tuesday night. The rest of the pictures from Day One of the 2009 Pitchfork Festival, below...

Continue reading "Jesus Lizard, Tortoise & Yo La Tengo @ 2009 P4K Fest - pics"

Built to Spill @ the Siren Festival (more by Chris La Putt)

Pitchfork: So the album's called There Is No Enemy-- how can you be so sure?

Doug Martsch: [laughs] That's just the name of the record, it's not a philosophy. I have plenty of enemies, myself.

Pitchfork: You guys seem to be taking your time recording this album. It's been three years since your last record.

DM: Yeah, we're not in any hurry to put anything out. There are plenty of Built to Spill records-- no one is in a hurry to hear something new.

Pitchfork: Really?

DM: Well, I hope some people are looking forward to it. But it's not like we're a new band with just a few songs.

Pitchfork: Is there such a thing as having too many songs?

DM: There are lot of bands that have too many songs, I think.

Over the weekend, Built to Spill played the Pitchfork Festival, the Siren Festival, and Maxwell's in Hoboken. Built to Spill will be back in NYC during the month of their new album release to play 4 more shows. October 12 & 13 is at Webster Hall. October 14 & 15 will take place at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Disco Doom opens. Tickets will go on sale this Thursday. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Built to Spill - a new album & 4 more NYC shows in October "

photos by Chris La Putt

Thee Oh Sees

"Largely unfamiliar with the bands on the roster, my husband and I went to Coney Island on Saturday to see Built to Spill headlining on the main stage of the annual Siren Music Festival. Normally, I love free shows. I like the freedom to walk away from a disappointing or uninteresting performance-as we did from Monotonix-without feeling guilty. And ticketless shows tend to draw all types, which appeals to the voyeur in me. Neither of us had been to Coney Island before, so it was mildly amusing to see the confluence of century old kitsch and aggressive marketing tactics by softdrink companies. (We tried a sample of something called Vio, "the world's first vibrancy drink," and it tasted vaguely like flourescent lighting and perfume.)

Anticipating the rush toward the stage as Built to Spill began, we found a decent spot where we'd be able to hear the band, if not see their faces. It was as close as we could get without my cheeks grazing across sweaty pectorals while trying to squeeze through. This is the point at any show when the fan in me starts to grin and breathe faster, to feel like I'd rather be right here than anywhere else in the world. To our horror, not only were the people around us talking so loud that we could barely hear the music, they weren't even facing the stage. The crowd was mingling as though at a singles mixer, drink in hand, shouting over the din, completely oblivious to the band on stage.

Now, while I've been known to complain about NYC hipsters at opportune times (like when I'm on the downtown L train), I generally think people are too hard on them. They're pretty benign as far as contrived fashion/music subcultures go. But when they prevent me from hearing and seeing a live performance by one of my favorite bands, simply because they can't stop yakking and flirting for a single minute, I feel, well, displeased.

Next show is hopefully Trail of Dead at All Points East. I'm bringing pepper-spray and my slapping hand." [Home on the Fringe]

Chris's Built to Spill pics are HERE, Raveonettes pics HERE, and the rest below...

Continue reading "the 2009 Siren Music Festival in Coney Island - pics (part 1) "

Siren photos by Chris La Putt, Pitchfork photos by Joseph Juechao Xu

"Even if you weren't a big fan of Built to Spill--and I was never converted by their postmodern updates of classic Neil Young and Crazy Horse guitar jams--you had to pity bandleader, guitarist, vocalist and Idaho native Doug Martsch for having the unenviable task of trying to follow the Jesus Lizard, headlining over that band in its home town.

Martsch and his bandmates tried their best, making impressive use of dramatic dynamics shifts with quiet interludes exploding into six-string rave-ups. But it was sort of like following a gourmet meal with a Twinkie for desert: It might have been fine as a snack at a different time, but after what had preceded it, there simply was no point." [Jim DeRogatis - Chicago Sun Times @ Pitchfork]

Continue reading "Built to Spill played Pitchfork, Siren Festival & Maxwell's (pics, setlists, & videos)"