photos by Chris La Putt

Blood Red Shoes @ MHOW

After Chris left the BV Loft Party all the way back on Friday, October 22nd, he headed over to Music Hall of Williamsburg for the Blue Flowers-presented CMJ showcase for a lineup of mostly UK bands including Chapel Club, Everything Everything, and Blood Red Shoes (who toured North America with Sky Larkin in October). Pictures from that show are in this post.

The occasion (to post these belated pics)? SXSW has already announced an initial lineup of bands playing in Austin from March 16-20, 2011, and Chapel Club is on that list (and I wouldn't be surprised of the other 2 mentioned bands end up coming too). Also on the list: Lia Ices, Braids, Asobi Seksu, Wye Oak, Suuns, Sun Airway, A Place to Bury Strangers and more. Full list under the rest of the MHOW pictures, below...

Continue reading "Chapel Club played CMJ w/ Everything Everything & Blood Red Shoes (pics), playing SXSW 2011 (intial lineup)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Phantom Band - Walls (MP3)

The just-announced list of CMJ performing artist is a little light on foreign acts, at least ones I haven't seen before, but one inclusion just made my day: Glasgow's The Phantom Band. While there are surely more shows to be announced, they are playing Knitting Factory on Friday, October 22 with Title Tracks and COOLRUNNINGS.  After CMJ, The Phantom Band will go on tour with Frightened Rabbit, including the October 30 show at Terminal 5 that Plants & Animals are also playing (tickets still on sale).

Last year's debut made my Best LPs of 2009 list, so allow me to quote myself:

Semi-mysterious Glaswegian sextet The Phantom Band sound like a combination of the best moody Scottish groups of the last 10 years: the angst of Arab Strap and Malcolm Middleton's solo work, the sweep of the Delagos, the atmospherics of Mogwai. So it makes sense they're signed to Chemikal Underground, home of all the aforementioned.

Their debut, Checkmate Savage is epic and awesome, nine tracks, nearly an hour long, and not a wasted minute. It's easy to type out a litany of influences (Krautrock, Lee Perry dub, Joy Division, Fairport Convention) but, really, they don't sound like anyone else. At times it's singer-songwritery but then they'll lock into a motorik groove that can only really come from playing together live.

The same week as CMJ, The Phantom band will release their second album, The Wants. You can download "Walls" from it at the top of this post. A little more tightly-reigned than their debut, The Wants is no less compelling. The band also seem to have lost the masks they wore last year, as well as a member if their press photos are anything to go on.

All upcoming Phantom Band shows, plus a video from their first album, are after the jump.

Continue reading "The Phantom Band are coming - 2010 tour dates & new MP3 "

Mirror Mirror have two upcoming shows. The second is opening for Frankie Rose and the Outs at their record release show at Glasslands on 9/15. The first is today, Saturday, August 28th, as part of the 8+ hour "Out In the Streets Fest" taking place at Brooklyn Fire Proof (which is also where you can now find the Sunday Best parties). Out In the Streets is being headlined by Psychobuildings and contains 11 bands total starting at 3 (Tickets = $10). Flyer, lineup, set times and more below...

Continue reading "Out in the Street Fest Saturday @ Brooklyn Fire Proof"

photos by Jessica Amaya, words by Rachel Kowal

Tennis @ Glasslands

Wednesday night's Underwater Peoples bill at the Cake Shop provided a welcome ray of sunshine to contrast the rainy, overcast days that characterized the first half of the week. The three artists of the evening kept their sets short and their sound swaggeringly upbeat. Though it seemed a bit odd choice to have Tennis play first, it was a nice change to see the room packed for the first band.

Tennis is primarily the musical project of married couple Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, but they were joined by a drummer. Unlike some husband/wife musicians (Handsome Furs, ahem), Riley and Moore don't look like they're about to start groping each other on stage. They exchanged just smiles and a chaste kiss on the cheek before the show. Alaina Moore has a surprisingly strong voice with the slightest hint of Southern twang to it though she and Riley currently reside in Colorado. The crowd at most shows builds with each additional act, but for Wednesday night, the trajectory for the evening was a bit unique. The room seemed to be the most crowded for Tennis - not a bad feat for a band making its very first appearance in the city.

Next up was Family Portrait. The crowd thinned noticeably as soon as Tennis had finished playing, but a number of people filtered back in after taking a brief respite from the sweltering basement room. Family Portrait played a brief set of dreamy, woozy, beach music that easily transitioned into the music of its musical cousin Ducktails, which also features a member of the Jersey-based lo-fi band Real Estate.

Ducktails is primarily the solo project of Matt Mondanile, but three other musicians joined him to help create a fuller sound. Before they began to play, Matt leaned into the microphone to address the sound guy. As he spoke, it quickly became apparent that there was enough reverb in his voice to render it almost indecipherable, but the effect nicely complimented the music's hazy, swirling melodies. Given the blissful undertones of the music and the name of the project, it was hard not to feel a wave of nostalgia (even though the TV show is technically spelled differently).

In keeping with the flow of the evening, Ducktails played a short set - just eight songs in all and no encore, but spirits were high and at least a few people in the modestly sized crowd heeded Mondanile's prompt to "shake around and dance a little bit."

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Tennis played their 2nd NYC show the next night, Thursday, at Glasslands. Family Portrait was again on the bill, as was Magic Bullets and COOLRUNNINGS. At least two people I talked to went for Tennis and walked away a fan of Magic Bullets (who one more NYC show on Saturday). More pictures from the Glasslands show and some videos, below...

Continue reading "Tennis played Cake Shop w/ Family Portrait & Ducktails, Glasslands w/ Magic Bullets (pics & videos) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Tennis - Baltimore (MP3)

Concept albums are nothing new, but the story behind the latest seven-inch from the band Tennis feels pretty fresh. The summery, lo-fuzz songs on the "Marathon" EP, which was released this week on Underwater Peoples, are based on the sailing trip taken by the husband-and-wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore in 2009 -- an eight-month journey along the East Coast that took them from "Bimini Bay" in the Bahamas through "Marathon" Florida, "South Carolina" and up to "Baltimore" on their 30-foot "Cape Dory." Not bad for two kids from Denver who'd never sailed before.

With $1,600 and a knowledge of the seas that came entirely from "The Annapolis Book of Seamanship" and DVDs, the couple set off for a year of adventure (sharks, reefs, storms, navigating by hand-bearing compass) that would fulfill Riley's childhood dream. What they couldn't predict was that being cut off from the United States music scene -- limited power on the boat meant that they could only listen to a handful of songs every day -- meant they'd come to discover their own sound. [NY Times]

Much talked about Denver, CO duo Tennis are playing two shows in NYC this week: Cake Shop on Wednesday (8/25) with fellow Underwater Peoples bands Ducktails and Family Portrait, and Glasslands on Thursday (8/26) with Magic Bullets, Family Portrait, COOLRUNNINGS. That 7" EP is now sold out but you can still get it digitally from all the usual places. And if you want to learn more about Patrick and Alaina's adventures on the sea, you can read through the blog they kept during it.

All 2010 Tennis tour dates, plus a couple music videos are below.

Continue reading "Tennis play NYC this week & other dates, MP3, videos "