As mentioned, Still Corners' new album, Strange Pleasures, is out next month (5/4) on Sub Pop. Reduced to a duo of core members Greg Hughes and Tessa Murray, the band embrace synthesizers which gives their sound an Air-y feel. The band are playing Toronto's NXNE Festival in June and will stop in NYC on their way there, playing Glasslands on June 12. Tickets to that show go on sale Friday (4/5) at noon.

Still Corners are one of many new additions to 2013 of NXNE which happens at various Toronto venues from June 10 - 16. All Still Corners dates are listed, along with the updated NXNE lineup, below...

Continue reading "Still Corners playing NYC before NXNE (dates & updated lineup)"

Calexico at Webster Hall in 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Calexico, who released their newest album, Algiers, in the fall of 2012, and who were just announced for Bonnaroo 2013, have scheduled a North Ameirican tour which will lead up to their appearance at that festival. The tour hits the NYC area on June 6 at Tarrytown Music Hall. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (2/22) at noon.

A list of all tour dates and a stream of Algiers below...

Continue reading "Calexico touring before Bonnaroo (dates)"

Weird Al and Bonarroo phone bank (including Mike Birbiglia and Eugene Mirman...

With help from Eugene Mirman, Chris Gethard, Mike Birbiglia, Portugal. The Man and more, Weird Al just began announcing the 2013 Bonnaroo line-up on the Bonnaroo YouTube page which happens June 13 - 16 in Manchester, TN. Weird Al just announced Pretty Lights, Wilco, A$AP Rocky, and The xx, and over the next hour, more artists will be announced. We'll update this post as more announcements come.

Other artists playing include Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar, David Byrne and St. Vincent, Jim James, Big K.R.I.T., Billy Idol, Grizzly Bear, Japandroids, Foals, Wild Nothing, Deap Vally, Killer Mike, Lord Huron, Divine Fits, Nas, Beach House, The Gaslight Anthem, Local Natives, Dirty Projectors, Baroness, The National, The Vaccines, Holy Ghost, Death Grips, R. Kelly, Alt-J, Purity Ring, Cat Power, Wu-Tang Clan, Bjork, Tame Impala, Animal Collective, The Tallest Man on Earth, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paul McCartney, Earl Sweatshirt, Four Tet, Father John Misty, Swans, A-Trak, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Cults, AraabMuzik, DIIV, Charli XCX, Matthew E. White, Frank Turner, JEFF the Brotherhood, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Calexico, Two Gallants, and more.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Saturday (2/23) at noon EST.

There's also now a video of Daniel Tosh announcing the initial lineup, which you can watch, along with the current list of announced names, below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2013 lineup announcement underway"

Icona Pop

As you may know already, Passion Pit are currently on tour and will play NYC at Madison Square Garden on February 8 with Matt & Kim opening. Another opener has been added to that show, Swedish dance outfit Icona Pop. Tickets are still available. After that show, the "I Love It" duo will play a few West Coast shows with KFlay and all tour dates are listed below.

UPDATE: Icona Pop were also just announced on a ton more Passion Pit shows. Now all listed below.

Icona Pop, who are playing the just-announced 2013 Governor's Ball here in NYC, will also play the 2013 Wakarusa Festival which happens May 30 - June 2 on Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, AR. The diverse line-up includes Widespread Panic, The Black Crowes, Of Monsters and Men, Gogol Bordelo, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, De the Funky Homosapien, Calexico and many more. Full Wakarusa line-up is below.

In related news, Icona Pop appear on the new soundtrack for the TV show "Girls", not to be confused with the possibly upcoming reality TV show inspired by it.

A list of all Icona Pop and Passion Pit tour dates, plus Wakarusa 2013 line-up, are below...

Continue reading "Icona Pop added to Passion Pit MSG show (and tour); Wakarusa announced their 2013 lineup"

UK music magazine Uncut put out their list of the top 75 albums of 2012. The top ten leans pretty heavy on long-running '60s/'70s survivors who put out new albums this year, but plenty of the list-topping regulars from newer acts are on there too, along with a few interesting surprises (Sun Araw, M Geddes Gengras & the Congos!). You can check out the full list below.

Continue reading "Uncut's Top 75 Albums of 2012"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Love, Minutemen (specifically the eventual Jackass theme "Corona") and Leonard Cohen were all the target of covers by Calexico during their October 13 appearance at Webster Hall. Check out the set list for the show below, which was part of a round of dates with The Dodos. The tour is in support of Algiers, Calexico's new LP which hit early last month.

More pictures from Webster Hall and the setlist are below.

Continue reading "Calexico and The Dodos @ Webster Hall (pics, setlist)"

This one gets a big "!!!!". Listen to the song, with more info about the above-pictured new holiday album, below...

Continue reading "listen to Sharon Van Etten & Rufus Wainwright sing "Baby It's Cold Outside"! (from new holiday album)"

How was your Columbus Day? We didn't take off, and posted a whole bunch on BV, BV Chicago, and BV Austin, and here's even more...

As you can see above, Emceez Ansari is really good at photoshopping Aziz Ansari's face into album covers.

Speaking of funny, get the new Tig Notaro from Louis CK.

Film School Rejects is reporting that Woody Allen has cast Louis CK and Andrew Dice Clay in a new movie (must. see.).

Blur, who just confirmed that they are not done and are playing Belgium's Rock Werchter 2013, are now also confirmed for Primavera Sound 2013 in Barcelona (5/24/13) and Portugal (5/31/13).

Philip Glass Rework is streaming at NPR where you'll also find streams of the new Jason Lytle and Martha Wainwright.

As you may have noticed via an ad on this site, Django Django are running a sale for their new Mercury Prize-nominated album via iTunes. We recently caught them live at Knitting Factory, Bowery Ballroom, and in Chicago too.

--
Purity Ring at Le Poisson Rouge (more by Amanda Hatfield)

If you've seen Purity Ring live this year, you may be wondering what, exactly, is the deal with those interactive light cocoons they use on stage. The Creators Project gets the scoop.

"Red Bull Music Academy" is presenting four upcoming shows in NYC:

1 - BRAINFEEDER SESSION NYC at Villain (October 10)
2 - SBTKRT LIVE at Terminal 5 (October 11)
3 - FOUR TET B2B JAMIE xx at Autumn Bowl (October 26)
4 - GRACE JONES at Roseland (October 27)

Kilo Kish, who has some CMJ shows coming up too, opens the SBTRKT show.

We're also giving away tickets to see tomorrow's Perfume Genius show at Le Poisson Rouge and Calexico and The Dodos at Webster Hall on 10/13 on our Facebook. (Perfume Genius meanwhile plays Music Hall tonight).

Check out an interview with Zammuto who is opening for Ultraista.

Listen to new Trent Reznor.
Stream the new Godspeed! You Emperor album.
Watch a marching band do Zelda , Mario & Pokemon.

Speaking of, PETA released a new Pokemon game.

AND, more stuff below...

Continue reading "ALSO: more Blur dates, John Cusack & Peter Gabriel, Emceez Ansari, Clueless reunion, Purity Ring, Pig Destroyer & more"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Garbage/Feist/JAMC at Osheaga - 8/4/12

Nineties alt-rock heroes Garbage returned this year with a new album, a refreshed attitude and a Shirley Manson who looked like she hasn't aged a day in her life. What's more impressive, though, was the fact that their repertoire of classic cuts didn't sound outdated at all. Instead, we're reminded that synth-laden rockers "Push It" and "Stupid Girl" were, in fact, much more ahead of their time and as a result sound brand new nowadays. Garbage was a cool blast from the past that festivalgoers who were unaware of their age would've mistaken them for a bright and exciting up-and-comer. - [National Post]

Actress Jessica Paré (aka Don's wife and "Zou Bisou Bisou" singer on Mad Men) joined The Jesus and Marcy Chain for "Just Like Honey" (which Scarlett Johansson sang on at Coachella '07) and "Sometimes Always" and video of that is below.

Pictures and review of day 1 are HERE. Day 3 is coming soon. More from day 2 are below...

Continue reading "Osheaga day 2 in pics (Jesus and Mary Chain, Feist, Garbage, Yeasayer, A$AP Rocky, Raveonettes, Black Lips & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Calexico & Ranier -- "Be Prepared" (MP3)

As mentioned in the beginning of June, "Calexico released a video for 'Para,' the first single from their new album Algiers which is out September 11." That's the cover art for the album pictured above and you can watch the video again below.

Meanwhile, Calexico (or its members) have a release in the form of a single song on a reissue entitled "The Inner Flame: A Tribute To Rainer Ptacek", out now (according to Fire Records) or June 26 (tomorrow, according to some sources). Regardless....

Slide guitarist Rainer Ptacek passed away from brain cancer in 1997, but with a new series of reissues, his influential sound will find new ears ready for his progressive approach to guitar playing. Inner Flame, the first of these reissues, was originally released in 1997 as a tribute and benefit compilation. "Be Prepared," off Inner Flame, finds Ptacek working with fellow Arizona musicians Joey Burns and John Convertino, who later formed the band Calexico. [Rolling Stone]

Between now and 9/11 (the new LP release date), Calexico will play a couple of shows - Osheaga in Montreal and Taste of Chicago (in Chicago). A month after the album is released, on October 10th, Calexico will head out on the road with The Dodos for a tour that visits Webster Hall in NYC on October 13. Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale Wednesday and general sale Friday. All dates are listed with the songs below...

Continue reading "Calexico on Rainer Ptacek tribute, releasing 'Algiers', touring w/ The Dodos (dates, video, MP3)"

The Clean

today in NYC
* Gregg Kallor @ Barbes
* Kelli Scarr @ Joe's Pub
* Hannah Cohen @ The Stone
* Slavic Soul Party @ Barbes
* Blind Pilot @ Webster Hall
* Tell Your Friends @ Lolita Bar
* Labrinth @ Santos Party House
* Johnny Gandelsman @ The Stone
* Knife City, Aimes @ Glasslands
* Jimmy Cliff @ Prospect Park Bandshell
* Man Man, Diamond Doves @ Brooklyn Bowl
*  Hayes Peebles, Last Good Tooth @ Cake Shop
* The Liza Colby Sound, The Juggs @ Mercury Lounge
* Alejandro Escovedo, Jesse Malin @ Bowery Ballroom
* Emeli Sande, Selah Sue @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* The Temper Trap, School of Seven Bells @ Terminal 5
* The Dandy Warhols, 1776, Psychic Ills @ Irving Plaza
* Rodney Crowell & Mary Karr w Steuart Smith @ Joe's Pub
* Beast Patrol, The Stationary Set and Clementine @ Cameo
* Apollo the Great, Freeway, Sean Price @ Apple Store SoHo
* The Clean, Times New Viking, Day Eye @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Cochemea Gastelum, Smoota, Morricone Youth @ Union Pool
*  Tim Rogers (You Am I), Daniel Wayne @ Mercury Lounge
* Beechwood, Glass Vaults, Earth Science, Laura Airaksinen @ Pianos
* Ed Schrader's Music Beat, The Holy Shakes, Mr. Transylvania @ Death By Audio

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter.
Follow @bvChicago for just Chicago stuff.
Also follow @bvAustin for just Austin stuff.

Be our friend on Facebook too, and BV Austin's friend on Facebook and BV Chicago's friend on Facebook.

Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park kicks off tonight with a free Jimmy Cliff show.

New Zealand indie rock legends The Clean play tonight at Le Poisson Rouge with Times New Viking and tickets are still available. Watch a documentary on the band below.

We're giving away tickets to see Friday's (6/8) The Cult and Against Me show at Terminal 5. Visit the BV Facebook page for details.

Calexico just released a video for "Para," the first single from their new album Algiers which is out September 11. Watch it below.

Regina Spektor played Jimmy Fallon last night and you can watch that below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

We just posted about Austra who's coming back to North America (including 9/19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg) after a tour of Europe. She's also one of many artists playing the 2012 Osheaga Festival in Montreal which happens August 3 - 5. Tickets are still available for the three-day event.

In addition to Austra, Osheaga plays host to The Black Keys, Snoop Dogg, Justice, Metric (who play Radio City Music Hall soon), Sigur Ros (who play Prospect Park and are streaming their new LP), Florence & The Machine (who plays Jones Beach this summer), The Weeknd, Passion Pit (who play Governor's Ball soon), The Jesus & Mary Chain, MGMT, Santigold (who just played Irving), Zola Jesus (who just played the Guggenheim) and many many more.

Full Osheaga lineup is below.

Continue reading "Justice, Metric, The Black Keys, Sigur Ros and more playing Montreal's Osheaga Festival in August "

Yo La Tengo @ the Bell House in September (more by David Andrako)

All eight Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows are sold out, and frankly, even catching a free Yo La Tengo show during CMJ can't compensate for missing one of those shows, so I won't pretend this is good news for those that got shut out of Maxwell's, but this is good news nonetheless. Yo La Tengo will play a free Mog-sponsored CMJ opening night show at Brooklyn Bowl on Tuesday, October 19th (M.I.A. style). And it gets better. Screaming Females, also from NJ, will open the free Brooklyn bowling alley show. It kicks off at 8pm (doors at 6).... and UPDATE: Dom is playing it too!

Don't want to wait in line to maybe catch Screaming Females for free when you can guarantee your way in the door to see the same band two nights later? Want to see them twice? Hate bowling alleys? Don't go out on Tuesdays? You're in luck, because as previously-mentioned, Screaming Females are also playing the official BrooklynVegan CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 21st with the stellar lineup of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Blow, Yuck, and Young Man. Some tickets are still available (and we'll be letting in a whole bunch of people with CMJ badges).

Yo La Tengo recently got back from Vegas where they helped Matador celebrate 21 years in legendary fashion, but before that they took part in a Brooklyn show that may be remembered as a legendary show for alternative NYC comedy (though not necessarily for nice reasons).

In November, City Slang is having a 20th birthday party in Berlin. Yo La Tengo are playing that anniversary celebration too. Full lineup, including The Notwist playing "Neon Golden" from start to finish, below...

Continue reading "Yo La Tengo playing a free NYC show w/ Screaming Females, 20 Years of City Slang in Berlin"

We Used to Wait (The Wilderness Downtown)

...is pretty cool.

--

The band's latest set of tour dates, and more info on the video, below...

Continue reading "Arcade Fire's interactive multi-window new video..."

DOWNLOAD: Ra Ra Riot - Boy (new MP3)

Scissor Sisters @ Mercury Lounge in 2008 (more by Kevin Tachman)

today in NYC
* CREED @ JONES BEACH
* Mogwai screening @ MHOW
* Shelley Burgon @ The Stone
* Ra Ra Riot @ Sound Fix Records
* Motel Motel, Bronze @ Union Pool
* Bill Frissel & friends @ Village Vanguard
* Marianne Dissard, Cordero @ Joe's Pub
* Scissor Sisters, Sammy Jo @ Terminal 5
* Kayo Dot, Cleric, Bad Girlfriend @ Bowery Electric
* Thieving Irons, Yellowbirds, The Poison Tree @ Union Hall
* Hard Nips, Moepion & Moepions, Starscream @ Death By Audio
* 80s hardcore reading & signing @ Powerhouse Arena
* Ra Ra Riot (DJ set) & Vampire Weekend (DJ set) @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Chiddy Bang, Donnis, XV, 2AM Club, Samuel @ Highline Ballroom
* Khann, Mockingbird, Before The Eyewall, Divider @ The Acheron
* Groundation, iLa Mawana @ Rocks Off Concert Cruise - The Jewel
* The Press & The Canon Logic (Cross Pollination) @ Pianos
* Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers & My Morning Jacket @ Izod Center
* Edan, Paten Locke (+ a screening of Edan's "Echo Party") @ Knitting Factory
* Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Teenage Bottlerocket & the Flatliners @ Irving Plaza
* Midnight Masses, Submarine Bells, Monogold @ a Rocks Off Concert Cruise
* Jessie Torrisi & The Please, Please Me, Bird of Youth w/ Charles Bissell, Caravan of Thieves @ The Living Room

Marianne Dissard, the female voice in Calexico's song "Ballad of Cable Hogue", plays Joe's Pub tonight with Cordero who I saw live when they opened for Calexico.

Thieving Irons is the new band from Pela Nate. They play Union Hall tonight.

Tonight will be one of the last Cross Pollination shows at Pianos, and it's on the main stage.

As BBG previously pointed out, "Florida's Khann will team up with Mockingbird, Before The Eyewall, and Divider for an all ages show at Acheron on August 24th. $10 gets you in the door. Khann are prepping their new LP, Erode, due on Black Market Activities later this year. The band recorded the LP with Chris Owens (Lords) during a recent East Coast tour that saw them appear at Lit Lounge with Tiger Flowers."

Scissor Sisters play their first of two shows at Terminal 5 tonight.

Ra Ra Riot will pull double duty today, and their new album (the occasion for it all) is streaming at AOL. The new video for "Boy" is below..

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

Calexico...

Calexico have some shows scheduled this summer. Those include at Bonnaroo in June and other festivals like Newport Folk Fest and Ottawa Folk Fest. They'll also play City Winery in NYC for two nights: July 19th (tickets) and July 20th (tickets). All dates below.

Before that, songwriter Alejandro Escovedo & the Sensitive Boys with Bobby Bare Jr will also be doing two nights at the same NYC venue, with shows on June 29th (tickets) and June 30th (tickets). Alejandro's new album, Street Songs of Love, comes out June 29th. He also plays Central Park SummerStage's Simon & Garfunkel benefit night on June 8th. All dates below.

Also on the schedule at City Winery are Clem Snide, who play there on July 16th (tickets) and whose latest LP, The Meat of Life, came out February 23rd via 429 Records. The venue also has shows from Steve Earle & Allison Moorer, Rhett Miller (who have residencies) and Nicole Atkins coming up.

Calexico, Clem Snide and Alejandro Escovedo tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Calexico, Clem Snide & Alejandro Escovedo are all touring, playing shows @ City Winery - 2010 dates"

Newport Folk Festival 2009 (more by Jim Brueckner)

Newport Folk Festival will be happening again at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 31st and August 1st. The fest will also host a Friday night show on July 30th at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino.

The lineup so far includes Levon Helm's Ramble on the Road, John Prine, Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket, The Swell Season, Andrew Bird, The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Doc Watson & David Holt, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Calexico, Blitzen Trapper, Richie Havens, Sam Bush, The Low Anthem, Tim O'Brien, The Felice Brothers, Justin Townes Earle, Tao Seeger Band, A.A. Bondy, The Punch Brothers with Chris Thile, Dawes, Nneka, Horse Feathers, Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three, Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore, Sarah Jarosz, Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons, O'Death and Liz Longley.

Tickets are on sale.

Here are pictures from DAY ONE and DAY TWO of last year's fest. Videos from last year and the list of the artists playing this year, by day, is below...

Continue reading "Newport Folk Fest 2010 - initial lineup, dates & tickets "

After a hectic day of updating the constantly updating Bonnaroo lineup page, the entire thing has been announced. Gwar, Norah Jones, and the rest of the lineup below...

Continue reading "the complete 2010 Bonnaroo lineup (Stevie Wonder, The Melvins, Kings of Leon, Isis, Local Natives & many more) "

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.

For what was the worst day weather-wise for San Francisco's Outide Lands Festival, its last day (Sunday, August 30th) may have been the best musically. Cold fog and wind took the place of cloudless, sunny skies, but those who attended witnessed sets by Modest Mouse, the Dead Weather, the Avett Brothers, Band of Horses, Calexico, Matt & Kim , and soul legends Robert Randolph and Betty Layvette, and MIA, who complained via Twitter about the fest's substitution of Tenacious D for the Beastie Boys, then covered two Beasties songs, "Intergalactic" and "Sabatage, in her set.

Scrambling to find replacement headliners for the Beastie Boys was a common theme for festivals in summer '09, after the group was forced to cancel all dates when Adam Yauch was dianosed with cancer (he's since had sugery, and reports say that part of his health regiment is a vegan/organic diet). Beastie Boys' slot was filled by Jay-Z at All Points West and Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Lollapalooza

More pictures from Day Three below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 - Day 3 pics (Tenacious D, MIA, Ween, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Dead Weather, more)"

photos by Vincent Cornelli

The set was awesome: she played songs from every single one of her albums and each song was accompanied by a group of images or cartoons visuals projected onto a screen behind her.

She also joked about the wattage of the amplifier and her microphone-alluding to her getting shocked by it at her New Jersey show the previous night.

But we come back to her voice. She truly is one of the best singers out there today. She makes singing seems so effortless and simple but the clarity, power, and purity of her voice is worthy of awe. She blew off the roof of Beacon Theatre and all I could say at times was simple: Wow. [TheNinthDragonKing]

Continue reading "Neko Case & Calexico @ Beacon Theatre, NYC - pics & setlist"

photos by Chris La Putt

Neko Case's tour hit The Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ last night (11/15). The show was on the short side, possibly due to some electric shocks Neko got from the microphone earlier in the show. According to Mike Van Den Broek, it was "18 songs, 65 Minutes. Zero Encore. Disappointed to say the least." Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico opened the show, and will do so again tonight (11/16) at the Beacon Theatre in NYC.

Neko did play an encore two nights earlier at the Calvin Theatre in Massachusetts...

Case was certainly in excellent form Friday in Northampton, where she and her band played an 80-minute set that focused on songs from her latest album, this year's "Middle Cyclone," and mixed in older tunes, too.

Hers is the sound of vast, twilit skies and distant freight trains, weed-strewn industrial lots and deep sighs. It's enveloping, unknowable and sometimes powerfully lonesome: Her voice, strong and clear, intertwined in harmonies with backup singer Kelly Hogan, the band surrounding them with rippling waves of trebly guitar, dense silver curtains of pedal steel or the low groan of a bowed upright bass.

At times, Case sang as if to herself, musing quietly at the start of "Maybe Sparrow" and mournfully recounting an ill-fated infatuation on "Polar Nettles." Other times, her voice filled the room, ringing with authority on "Deep Red Bells" and spilling over with indignation on "The Tigers Have Spoken." [Courant]

Continue reading "Neko Case got shocked, played a short show @ The Wellmont Theatre in NJ (pics) -- plays Beacon Theatre in NYC tonight "

Neko Case @ All Points West 2009 (more by Chris La Putt & Tim Griffin)

Neko Case has some new stops on her fall North American tour. Her previously announced date at Beacon Theatre on November 16th, with Joey & John of Calexico opening, seems to only have single tickets available. One of the new shows is a performance the night before (11/15) at Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ. Tickets for that go on sale Friday, September 18th at noon. Joey & John of Calexico open NY & NJ (and a few other dates on her tour).

Case is also on the lineup for the New Yorker Festival (October 16th-18th). More specifically, "Neko Case talks with Sasha Frere-Jones: A Conversation with Music" happens at 7:30 p.m. at Acura at Stage37 on 508 West 37th Street on Saturday, October 17th. Tickets for that and all New Yorker Festival events also go on sale Friday at noon.

The singer recently stopped by NPR's World Cafe Live for a session on September 11th. She's currently on a short UK tour, that included a stop in Nottingham on September 12th...

Neko Case took us on a whirlwind tour of her wildlife theme park with songs from Blacklisted, Tigers Have Spoken and Fox Confessor, all evidence of her growing stature as one of alternative country's most original writers.

Orchestrally, "Middle Cyclone" was a quieter number, her backing singer Kelly Hogan playing a poignant musical box.

Hogan supplied most of the spoken intros. "Things That Scare Me" opened a group featuring "People Got A Lotta Nerve", "Fever" and "I'm An Animal". "Hold On, Hold On" was a cracking product of the redhead's partnership with the Sadies. [This is Nottingham]

Continue reading "Neko Case updates tour schedule (Wellmont Theater), New Yorker Festival tix on sale Friday"

Neko Case @ All Points West 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

"Without doubt, Neko Case was one of the highlights of this year's Lollapalooza. Prior to her Sunday set, I wasn't really sure how she'd come across in the music festival setting. So much of her material is thoughtful and intimate and suited for venues that allow it to shine, not a huge grassy field filled with hot, sweaty drunk people.

Somehow, though, Case managed to make it work wonderfully.

As soon as she started playing the Budweiser Stage at 4:30, it was clear the sound was 100 percent on target and that the set would be a welcome change of pace. She played a variety of songs from her latest record, Middle Cyclone - including "This Tornado Loves You," "I'm an Animal," The Pharaohs" and the marvelous, jangly single "People Got a Lotta Nerve" - in addition to back catalog favorites such as "Maybe Sparrow" and "Deep Red Bells." Case's clear, pure voice couldn't have sounded better, and she was charming and down-to-earth throughout - no doubt one of the classiest acts on this year's bill." [Chicago Examiner]

Continue reading "Neko Case - 2009 Tour Dates (Beacon Theatre) "

Andrew Bird * Calexico @ Radio City - June 18, 2009 (grace wu)

Andrew Bird @ Radio City Music Hall - June 18, 2009 (joshbg2k)

"Ephman thinks that even Andrew Bird was surprised that he was playing Radio City Music Hall. He thanked his manager, and sounded like he was accepting an award. After the show was done Ephman was probably even more surprised then Andrew was. He seems like a nicer fellow then most people that hit that stage. He was humble, spoke from the heart, and totally played his guts out." [Ephman]

Continue reading "Andrew Bird & Calexico played Radio City Music Hall - setlist"

"STREET SCENE, one of the nation's longest running music festivals, will celebrate its 25th anniversary with two full days of music Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29. The Black Eyed Peas, M.I.A., Thievery Corporation, Modest Mouse, The Dead Weather and Cake are among the more than 35 acts that will bring the streets of downtown San Diego's East Village neighborhood alive with music and entertainment from 4:00 PM to midnight daily. The venue site will include Tailgate Park (adjacent to Petco Park) in the heart of East Village, incorporating 14th Street as the main thoroughfare and bordered by Imperial Avenue to J Street."

Continue reading "San Diego's Street Scene Festival announces 2009 lineup"