by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Butter The Children - "Lupus" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ovlov - "Blue Baby" (MP3)

Butter The Children

NYC pop shoegazers Butter The Children (members of Sweet Bulbs, Night Manager, and Le Rug) play local shows a lot and it's recently been announced that they've signed to Downtown Records. Last year they self released their impressive self-titled EP, and Downtown will presumably put out its followup at some point this year. You can download the EP for free at bandcamp and stream in full below. One track, "Lupus," can be downloaded above as well. The EP is a quick blast of punchy pop rock with MBV-inspired guitar wails, and if you've yet to see them at one of their many shows, they bring that same kind of power to the stage too.

As usual, they have upcoming local dates, including one this Friday (5/24) at Big Snow with Big Muff, Roses, (ex-Deer Tick), and Ceramics. They also have a show scheduled at Death by Audio on June 27 with Ovlov, Suns, and Flagland. Both shows are all ages and admission for both shows is $7 at the door. They're also playing Day 1 of Hillstock, which takes place across various Brooklyn venues from June 21-23.

Ovlov

Newtown, CT's Ovlov, who also play that DBA show, are set to release their debut album, Am, on July 2 via Exploding in Sound, who are becoming pretty consistent in supplying good '90s-inspired indie rock (like Speedy Ortiz, who since signed to Carpark). And like most of that label's roster, Ovlov do the sound well. The album's single, "Blue Baby," has buildups that are straight out of the Sonic Youth songbook, and the singer likely learned a thing or two from J Mascis. Check the song out below or download it for free above.

Ovlov is on a tour now with labelmates Grass is Green which includes other NYC shows happening on June 1 at Big Snow with Appomattox and Miniboone, and the previously discussed Exploding In Sound showcase on June 15 at Big Snow with Speedy Ortiz, Pile, Fat History Month, Two Inch Astronaut, and more.

All dates are listed, along with song streams, below...

Continue reading "Butter The Children signed to Downtown, playing shows; Ovlov on tour, releasing debut LP (dates & MP3s)"

by Andrew Sacher

LVL UP is an indie rock four-piece, who notably shares two members with Spook Houses, and one with Sirs. Their debut full length, Space Brothers, came out in early 2012 via Evil Weevil and they're set to follow that with the Extra Worlds 7", which is due out on April 6 via Double Double Whammy. You can stream the scrappy rocker, "Graveyard," which will appear on that 7", at the bottom of this post. Meanwhile, we've also got the premiere of the video for "Nightshade" off of Space Brothers, a slow-burner that sees co-frontman Nick Corbo howling like Jeff Mangum over chords that sound better fit for a Built to Spill record. It's a solid cut and you can watch the video below.

Last Friday (2/8) during the snow storm, I wandered into a Purchase College apartment (which the members attend/attended) to catch LVL UP packing in some kid's living room, with about 90% of the crowd moshing and shouting the words. They'll be taking that raucous live show on the road this month for a few Northeast dates, including one in Brooklyn on February 23 at Shea Stadium with Krill, Porches, Butter the Children, and High Pop. A list of all dates, which includes shows with Waxahatchee, Eternal Summers, Joyce Manor, and others, is below.

Continue reading "LVL UP releasing 7", playing shows (watch a new video)"

by Andrew Sacher

Grass Is Green

Boston's Grass Is Green hearken back to a time when the lines between post-hardcore and indie rock weren't so clearly defined. Listening to their 2012 album, Ronson, and split 7" with Two Inch Astronaut, both out on Exploding In Sound Records (Pile, Speedy Ortiz), you'll quickly make out traces of the stop-start post-hardcore of bands like Shudder to Think and June of 44. The guitars ring with that kind of off-kilter technicality and the vocalists shout with an emotionally charged cry. You can take a listen to the two aforementioned releases below.

Grass Is Green has two NYC area shows happening this weekend. First they'll play New Brunswick, NJ on Friday (2/1) at Court Tavern with Neur and For Sleeping or Jumping; and then Brooklyn on Saturday (2/2) at Big Snow (89 Varet St) with NYC shoegazers Butter the Children (mems. Sweet Bulbs, Night Manager, Le Rug) and Brooklyn indie rockers Bennio Qwerty.

A list of all dates and streams below...

Continue reading "Grass Is Green playing shows (stream some tracks)"

By Bill Pearis

Chicago's Outside World make hooky, anthemic janglepop in the tradition of Tommy Keene, The Barracudas and The dB's, the latter of whom they opened for in their hometown. (More connections: bassist Hazel Rigby is daughter of dB's drummer Will Rigby.) The band (which features former Brain Idea frontman Ben Scott) have put out two cassette in the last year and you can stream most the songs from them below.

Outside World are heading out on tour with two NYC stops: on January 27 at Cake Shop (who calls them "our favorite new band") with Butter the Children (ex-Sweet Bulbs); and January 28 at Death by Audio with The Doozies.

All tour dates are listed below along with song streams.

Continue reading "Chicago's Outside World touring, playing NYC (dates, streams)"

by Bill Pearis

photo by Katiera Lyn (via)

Brooklyn's Grand Resort have been around for about a year and recently released their debut EP, Vanguard Dreams. (Though at 30 minutes and eight songs, I consider that an LP but who's to say?) It's loaded with shimmery, super-catchy pop and you can stream it below.

Grand Resort have a few local shows on the horizon actually, including playing tonight (12/13) at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge with Eastern Hollows, The Meaning Of Life, and Softskull. They're also playing the "Rough Smooch" party at Legion on Sunday (12/16) we just posted about, plus Pianos on December 28 with Slonk Donkerson, Butter the Children (ex-Sweet Bulbs), Spires, and Sham-poo; and Union Hall on January 18 with Los Entantados, Chase King and Soft Collapse (tickets).

All tour dates are listed below, along with the EP stream.

Continue reading "Grand Resort released EP, playing shows (dates, streams)"

Hilly Eye at Cake Shop in June (more by Andrew St. Clair)

Brooklyn's Hilly Eye have a few shows coming up, including a couple this week during and around CMJ. As mentioned, they play the Life or Death showcase at 92YTribeca on Saturday (10/20) with DIIV, Maria Minerva, Mac DeMarco, Twerps, Starred, Kilo Kish, Slug Guts, Jozef Van Wissem, Sky Ferreira, and Dogbite. After that, they'll play an unofficial post-CMJ day party at 285 Kent on Sunday (10/21) with Blanche Blanche Blanche (who played Glasslands last month with Chris Cohen), Ireland bands Squarehead and So Cow, plus local bands Heaven's Gate, Ava Luna, and Butter the Children, and Massachusetts' Potty Mouth. The show runs from noon to 6 PM and there will be DJ sets by Grand Resort, Noah & Emily, and The Pelly Twins. The show is free to the public.

About a month later, Hilly Eye will play another local show at Saint Vitus on November 30 with their Don Giovanni labelmate Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield formerly of PS Eliot) and Corita. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Some song streams and videos are below.

Continue reading "Hilly Eye playing CMJ and post-CMJ shows (one with Blanche Blanche Blanche, one with Waxahatchee)"

Fiasco at Silent Barn, June 2010 (more by Leia Jospe)

Dear beloved Fiasco fans,

All good things must come to end, like the Star Wars trilogy, the Roman Empire, and the Montreal Expos and Fiasco is no exception. We feel that it is time to move on to other projects, especially with the fact that one member has switched coasts and is trying to permanently live there (sorry for the East Coast betrayal). As some of you may know, we are notorious for not getting our shit together. The new t-shirts are still in a basement in Chinatown, and we still haven't released our newest album which was recorded before we all started college (year number 4 coming up by the way). The lack of not having our proverbial "shit" together has cost us momentum. For this reason, "The Front" will be released, as well the rest of our discography, for free on Bandcamp in the coming weeks...

...The seven years we were a band were absolutely fantastic. We all feel we've accomplished a lot (two full length albums, two tours, made it to South by Southwest twice (unofficially and officially) and played shows in 3 different countries. It's been a blast, and we'd like to thank each and every one of you especially all the people who gave us opportunities to get our music out to the world. (A full list of "thank yous" is coming soon.)

In the meantime, keep an eye out for announcements on our blogspot/twitter/ whatever the hell social media we started that we forgot about (remember myspace?). Also look out for our other projects/bands (Zulus, Tetsuo, Acid Cum, Old Table, etc)

For the record, we were a noise-pop-math-punk band. Don't you forget it.

-Jonathan, Julian & Lucian

ps. if any of you want to buy our bass half stack, or a giant-ass bass cab for a reasonable price, email us at thefiascoband@gmail.com or keep your eyes on craigslist. - [Fiasco]

Brooklyn noise-pop-math-punk trio Fiasco called it quits last month. They've announced that before leaving for good, they'll play their last show ever and it happens in their hometown of Brooklyn on Friday (8/24) at Shea Stadium with Dope Body, No One and the Somebodies, Infinity Shred (formerly Starscream), Butter the Children (mems. Sweet Bulbs, Night Manager), and Cave Cricket.

No sign of Fiasco's final album, The Front, on their Bandcamp yet but you can stream their 2008 LP, Native Canadians, below.

Continue reading "Fiasco broke up, but will release final LP and play one last NYC show at Shea Stadium"