Camera Obscura @ Grand Ballroom, 2010 (more by Jessica Amaya)

Bad news from Camera Obscura, who were to be in North America this month for SXSW and NYC. From their Facebook:

We regret to announce that we have to cancel this initial run of dates due to family illness. Obviously this is very disappointing for us and we are sorry to those that were anticipating seeing us.

Continue reading "Camera Obscura cancel March U.S. shows (SXSW, NYC)"

We haven't had a new Camera Obscura record since 2009's My Maudlin Career but that drought will end soon. The Glaswegians will release Desire Lines on June 4 via 4AD. The record was mostly made in Portland, OR last year with producer Tucker Martine (R.E.M., Spoon, My Morning Jacket). Says singer Tracyanne Campbell:

Of all our records this was pretty much the most challenging to write, partly because of the situation we found ourselves in with having to take such a long and uncertain amount of time out, but also because it would be record number five and we were getting harder and harder to please. Working in the US with southern gentleman Tucker Martine was a positive experience. He brought a certain calmness to recording that wasn't there before. We were also delighted to have Neko Case and Jim James sing on the record too. What a treat.

All 2013 Camera Obscura tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Camera Obscura announce 'Desire Lines' ++ 2013 dates"

Cincinnati, OH festival Bunbury Music Festival is returning for its second year from July 12 - 14, 2013. The lineup was just announced and it includes MGMT (who were also just announced for Firefly Music Festival), The National (who were also just announced for Bonnaroo and have a huge Brooklyn show coming up), Belle and Sebastian and Yo La Tengo (who just announced a tour together, which includes a Prospect Park show), Camera Obscura, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Savoir Adore, Bear Hands, Oberhofer, We Are Scientists, Chairlift, Cake, Tegan & Sara, Tokyo Police Club, Devotchka, Those Darlins, Buffalo Killers, Sky Ferreira, and more.

Tickets for the festival are on sale now. Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Cincinnati festival Bunbury Music Festival 2013 lineup & tix (MGMT, The National, Belle & Sebastian, Yo La Tengo & more)"

M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel's collaborative She & Him project will be releasing their new album, Volume 3, on May 7 via Merge. The album features 14 tracks (three of which are covers) and guest musicianship from Mike Watt, Tilly and the Wall, Pierre de Reeder (Rilo Kiley), Tom Hagerman (Devotchka), and Joey Spampinato (NRBQ). That's the cover art above and you can check out the tracklist below.

She & Him will support the album on a tour with Camera Obscura which comes to NYC for a show at Central Park Summerstage on July 6. Tickets for that show go on presale Wednesday (1/30) at noon with a general on-sale starting Friday (2/1) at noon. All tour dates are listed below.

You can also catch Camera Obscura in NYC much sooner at their own, smaller show when they play the previously discussed show at Le Poisson Rouge on March 19. Tickets for that show are still available.

All lists of dates, album tracklist, and a video of She & Him playing "You Really Got a Hold On Me" below...

Continue reading "She & Him announce new album and tour w/ Camera Obscura, playing Central Park Summerstage (dates)"

Primavera Sound have announced their 2013 lineup, set to go down on May 22-26 in Barcelona, Spain. The announcement came via an animated video and artists performing include Phoenix, The Postal Service, Blur, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, My Bloody Valentine, Tame Impala, Wu-Tang Clan, Dead Can Dance, Grizzly Bear, The Knife, and loads more. Current lineup is below along with the flyer and video...

Continue reading "Primavera Sound 2013 line-up announced"

Camera Obscura at Grand Ballroom in 2010 (more by Jessica Amaya)

Camera Obscura have been keeping pretty quiet lately. The Glasgow indie poppers haven't released an album since 2009's My Maudlin Career and haven't toured since 2010. They haven't announced any formal plans for 2013 yet but perhaps something is stirring over at the Camera Obscura camp because just yesterday (1/10) they were revealed as one of the bands playing SXSW, and they've now just announced a post-SXSW happening in NYC on March 19 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets for that show go on sale Monday (1/14) at 10 AM.

We're not aware of any other dates at the moment. The video for "French Navy" from My Maudlin Career is below...

Continue reading "Camera Obscura playing NYC after SXSW"

Frightened Rabbit @ T5, Nov. 2010 (more by Lionel Bergeron)

SXSW has just announced another round of bands for the 2013 edition of the annual music festival that will happen March 12 - 17. This brings the total current number of acts to around 1300. Someome of the highlights include Vampire Weekend, Frightened Rabbit, The Thermals, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, Merchandise, Bleached, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Eagles of Death Metal, Parenthetical Girls, Indians, Night Beds, IO Echo, KEN Mode, Prince Paul, Pure Bathing Culture, Sepalcure, UK motorik post-punks TOY, Finnish instrumentalists K-X-P, Toronto's Moon King, UK indie rockers Splashh (not Brooklyn Splash with one "h") and loads more. Head to BV Austin for the whole Round 3 list.

photos by Jessica Amaya

One day after they played the Brooklyn Flea, Camera Obscura headlined Grand Ballroom (with the addition of a string section) as part of their current tour with The Love Language. More pictures and the headliner's setlist from last night's show (6/7), below...

Continue reading "Camera Obscura & the Love Language played Grand Ballroom in NYC - pics & setlist"

the Brooklyn Flea @ 1 Hanson Place - 6/6/2010 (Dean Keim)

"Camera Obscura may not be Brooklyn natives, but many of the borough's residents braved the heated Vault inside the Brooklyn Flea to see the Scottish pop band play a free pop-up show on Sunday. The show was the first of many shows the weekly flea market plans to host this summer.

"There's more people [here] than we anticipated, so that's nice," frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell told the crowd as the band got ready to play their set.

In addition to the 30-minute show, local ice cream shop Blue Marble gave away free scoops of "The Sweetest Cream" in honor of the band's song 'The Sweetest Thing.' Camera Obscura got into the flea market spirit by setting up their own shop and selling limited edition t-shirts and tote bags designed especially for the day's event along with typical band merch." [Spinner]

Continue reading "Camera Obscura played the Brooklyn Flea (videos) "

Camera Obscura @ Coachella (more by Rachel Carr)

Camera Obscura will pay a visit to Brooklyn Flea on Sunday, June 6th to play a set at the market one day before their June 7th gig at NYC's Grand Ballroom (for which tickets are still on sale). Their 2pm performance will be the first live music at the Flea's Downstairs in the Vault location (located at One Hanson Place/Williamsburg Savings Bank, near BAM/Atlantic Center) (the same place the recent National BAM after-party was held).

[Camera Obscura] will also set up their very own table and will sell their wares, including some items created especially for this event. Since you can't have an "ice cream social" without ice cream, our friends at Blue Marble Ice Cream will be joining in the fun and have created a special flavor in the band's honor - "The Sweetest Cream" in honor of the band's song "The Sweetest Thing" - available with or without honey - in honor of the band's song "Honey In The Sun"!

Camera Obscura also has a new 7" out.

Released on May 17, 2010, 'The Nights Are Cold' b/w 'The Sweetest Thing' is a release they've put together in honour of Richard Hawley, as he has been one of their favourite artists for years. The A-Side features them covering his 'The Nights Are Cold' while the AA is Richard's own remix of their 'The Sweetest Thing' (taken from their My Maudlin Career album of last year).

Continue reading "Camera Obscura playing & setting up @ the Brooklyn Flea"

DOWNLOAD: The Love Language - Heart to Tell (MP3)

The Love Language @ BV Loft during CMJ 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

North Carolina' s The Love Language are gearing up for the release of their Merge debut, Libraries, due July 13th. A song from that is above. Around that release date the band will play a few small east coast headlining shows. Those include Mercury Lounge in NYC on July 15th with Arms, Pepper Rabbit and Tim Poovey. Tickets are now on sale.

Before then, the group will hit the road for another short string of dates, but this time as opener for their not-labelmates Camera Obscura (they used to be on Merge, but are now on 4AD). That includes the show at Grand Ballroom at The Manhattan Center on June 7th. Tickets are still on sale. All dates below.

For Record Store Day earlier this year, the band also put out a split 7-inch with their Merge label-mates Let's Wrestle.

On June 20th they're playing the Taste Of Randolph Street Festival in Chicago with Superchunk who also have two NYC shows and other tour dates coming up.

All Love Language tour dates, the new album cover and tracklist, and a video of frontman Stuart McLamb and producer B.J. Burton snowed in at the studio are below...

Continue reading "The Love Language releasing 'Libraries' on Merge (MP3), touring w/ Camera Obscura & alone - 2010 tour dates"

photos by Rachel Carr

Devo

"An aggregate 225,000 people bought tickets to see a [Coachella] roster headlined by Jay-Z, Muse and Gorillaz during the April 16-18 event at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio.

The previous attendance record was set in 2007, when the headliners included a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Final figures are still being tallied, but AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips said the gross will exceed $20 million.

Phillips said the future looked bleak for AEG Live's nascent All Points West festival, which took place in 2008 and 2009 across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J.

"We're probably going to kill it," said Phillips. "As beautiful as (the site) is, it's very hard to get New Yorkers to cross that river. All Points West is an experiment that just didn't work." [Reuters]

Continue reading "more photos from Coachella, more confirmation that All Points West is not happening"

photos by Rachel Carr, words by Daiana Feuer

"Wow. The Sahara is past capacity at Coachella for Die Antwoord. No midget. Waiting for the trainwreck but people dig it." - The Scenestar

"Seeing a shirtless Danny DeVito run across the stage while Faith No More played pretty much made my #coachella weekend." - stovn

Die Antwoord, Faith No More

Flopping phalluses are in this year according to Major Lazer and Die Antwoord. Each presented the intersection of beats, party-hyping, gross humor, and dancing in your underwear. Day 2 of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival had an overall far-out theme. Some with sexually explicit lunacy, others with psychedelic music. South Africa's Die Antwoord introduced zef-rap to the festival, South Africa's version of white trash hip hop-a bold, fearless expression of crazy stick a finger up your bum entertainment.

Before arriving at these culminating moments, the day progressed through a series of psychedelic and/or raunchy expressions. John Waters kicked things off with thoughts on crawling through pig poo, taking poppers, the pleasures of sploshing, and strange things he wants to do before he dies. Gossip's Beth Ditto hoped he was watching her blazing disco soul performance but was afraid to look backstage and see him smiling and waving at her. Gossip put on a set that inspired revelations on reality in the most self-empowering ways.

John Waters & Beth Ditto @ Coachella (this pics via Jermey Scott)

The day's best covers include Faith No More doing "Reunited" (they also covered Michael Jackson's "Ben"), Portugal, The Man's jamming Bowie's "Moonlight Daydream," and Girls' flawless "All I Have To Do Is Dream" by the Everly Brothers. The last was a most appropriate choice for the band with an Ariel Pink sensibility towards '50s ballads. MGMT brought the futuristic 1960s with songs from its new album. Many pointed out that the band didn't play "Kids", but that seems to miss the point that MGMT put on a pretty sophisticated, experimental live performance of the band's signature Indian headdress on Phil Spector Fraggle Rock sound.

The Raveonettes played as a duo and sans drum machine, adorably sharing a mic sometimes. The rest of the band remains trapped under lava in Iceland, figuratively speaking. Camera Obscura also shouted out bands stuck in the UK, dedicating "Let's Get Out Of This Country" to those who could not make it.

It seems almost every DJ this weekend has sampled Major Lazer's "Pon De Floor" except Flying Lotus, who took the stage all on his own (no Thom Yorke cameo included). After warming up the crowd with some first grade experimental hip hop, FlyLo brought out the big guns, sounds combined in layers and pitches that act like quaaludes on the light speed continuum. The Dirty Projectors girls evoked cool electronic birds and the Dezurik Sisters with their harmonizing powers. Beach House cooed the audience romantically as 50% of the band, Alex Scally, rubbed his slide up and down the frets.

Did that sound sexy? It's time to talk about sexy. The xx provided the mellow arousal Blonde Redhead and Portishead have given Coachella the last two years. People like The xx because they want sex that fits this soundtrack. They also want sex as excitingly goofy gross as Die Antwoord and to fall in love with a gal like Sia, all at the same time. Sia's beautiful voice closed the night in the Gobi tent, and though her accent rendered her side comments completely incomprehensible, everyone laughed and agreed with anything she said. On the other hand, as great and sexy as the Dead Weather sounded, I don't know if I want to bed someone who demands I treat her like my mother. Old Crow Medicine Show suggested letting a woman rule your mind leads to troubles during "Minglewood Blues." Instead, let her win your heart with country-fried dinner.

Faith No More's twelve-song set included a cameo by a semi-streaker who happened to be Coachella regular Danny Devito. You can see that happen in one of the videos below. Faith No More's whole setlist is down there too.

Porcupine Tree, Tokyo Police Club, Hot Chip, The Almighty Defenders, Les Claypool, Devo, and Muse were also on the bill Saturday. Our review, pictures and videos from Friday are HERE. Saturday continues below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2010 - Day Two in pics, video & review (Die Antwoord shots & Faith No More's setlist included)"

Camera Obscura @ MHOW in 2009 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Camera Obscura will visit North America in April for a tour that hits Coachella and Sasquatch and keeps them on the road into June. The NYC show is currently the final show of the tour and happens at Grand Ballroom on June 7th. Tickets for that one go on sale Friday, April 2nd at noon. All dates below...

Continue reading "Camera Obscura tour dates - Coachella, Sasquatch, NY, more"

We'll get a more complete press release in the morning (and confirm what is listed below is 100% correct), but in the meantime below is a picture of the 2010 Sasquatch poster (that someone Tweeted) and the lineup as read by Bradford Cox at tonight's Atlas Sound show in Seattle (and being listed all over the Internet)....

Continue reading "Sasquatch announces 2010 lineup (includes Massive Attack & My Morning Jacket) (and many more) "

Wow...Public Image Ltd, The Specials, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen, Grace Jones, Fever Ray, Devo, Hot Chip, Phoenix, Orbital, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sunny Day Real Estate, Yo La Tengo, Mew, Camera Obscura, Gil Scott-Heron, The xx, John Waters, Dillinger Escape Plan, Deer Tick, Gary Numan... Full Coachella 2010 lineup below....

Continue reading "2010 Coachella line up announced (Faith No More, Pavement, Muse, Gorillaz, Thom Yorke, Jay-Z, LCD Soundystem, ???)"

DOWNLOAD: Camera Obscura - The Blizzard (MP3)

words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

A small group huddled around Kenny McKeeve and Gavin Dunbar not long after Camera Obscura's sold-out show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday night (11/22). One globe-trotting fan from Toronto had recently seen and met the band in Barcelona and Glasgow on their recent tour across Europe prompting McKeeve to quip, "You've clocked a lot of miles, haven't you?"

Yet, the same could be said for Camera Obscura. It's hard to think of 2009 as a breakthrough year for a band that's been around in some form since 1996 with several critically-hailed records under its belt. But that's precisely what it was. They produced one of the finest records in 2009 - My Maudlin Career (4AD) - crossing the globe almost non-stop in support. They sold out four shows in New York City in venues of various sizes, made their US late-night television debut (video below), turned out three smartly done videos and still have more touring lined up at the start of next year.

The band showed no effects of their exhaustive schedule on Sunday. And there were several stretches where leadsinger Tracyanne Campbell could have not sung at all such was the crowd's voice on several of the songs, most notably, "French Navy". "Good singing," said Campbell after the song.

The crowd, which spanned from scenesters to indie pop kids and beyond, shook off pretensions and danced to all the upbeat numbers like "Honey In The Sun" and "Let's Get Out of This Country" while couples swayed and held onto each other during slower songs like "James" and "Pen and Notebook." It was timeless pop executed in winning fashion by a band performing at the top of their game.

On December 8th...

...they will be releasing a holiday single [via 4AD]! 'The Blizzard' will be available as a 7" & digital single with the album track 'Swans' as the b-side. 'The Blizzard' is a pretty dour song as far as "holiday" tunes are concerned. It was written by country artist Jim Reeves and is about a gentleman trying to get home to a gal named Mary Anne. He's riding a lame pony in a blizzard, and, well - it doesn't have a happy ending. He ends up just 100 yards short - ie: freezing to death before he gets there.

Papercuts is on tour with the band until December 3rd and opened this Brooklyn show. More pictures, the CO setlist, and all dates, below...

Continue reading "Camera Obscura played Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Papercuts (pics & setlist), releasing holiday single (stream)"

Best of 2009: Top 10 Amazon Picks

1) Neko Case
2) Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3) Phoenix
4) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
5) The Avett Brothers
6) Girls
7) Animal Collective
8) K'Naan
9) Jay-Z
10) Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura @ Webster Hall 6/24 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

New Camera Obscura fall North American tour dates are coming together now announced. One of those shows will be on November 22nd at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon. Papercuts opens all the November and December dates.

Camera Obscura last visited NYC with a show at Webster Hall in June. That was one of a few NYC shows and many North American gigs for the band this year in support of their newest disc My Maudlin Career, which came out in April on 4AD.

The video for "French Navy", and all of the band's current tour dates, which include a long stretch across Europe, are below...

Continue reading "Camera Obscura & Papercuts - 2009 Tour Dates (MHOW)"

words and photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

The perpetual rain provided a fitting backdrop to the melancholy pop of Glasgow's Camera Obscura at Webster Hall on Wednesday (6/24). The Scottish five-piece were more comfortable in the songs from their new record, My Maudlin Career, since March when they road tested new material at two warmup shows in New York.

Lead singer Tracyanne Campbell's voice was every bit as fragile-sounding as it is on the record always sounding as if she's ready to break into a good cry, especially on Maudlin's slow-moving "James." The band was without bassist Gavin Dunbar who left the tour last week following a death in the family. That resulted in the band cancelling two of their shows.

MTV, not so surprisingly, supplied the head-scratching moment of the night courtesy of a member of the game show Silent Library as he clattered in and knocked over people, and generally disrupted everyone's enjoyment of the show near the stage. Only the restraint of several in the audience kept him from getting pummelled. Campbell even took notice from the stage, shooting a wary eye, mid-song, toward the pushing and shoving going on before her.

Songs like "Let's Get Out Of This Country" and "Hey Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" received plenty of applause at their introduction and for the encore the band opened with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Tougher Than The Rest" before the set-closing standard "Razzle Dazzle Rose" and its crescendo building flourish.

Anni Rossi opened the show. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Camera Obscura & Anni Rossi @ Webster Hall in NYC - pics "

Anni Rossi

Brooklyn label Social Registry is presenting the show at 92YTribeca in Manhattan tonight (3/27). Sian Alice Group, Lights, Zs, and a group we recently featured, Mountains are on the bill. Updated Mountains tour dates below.

Speaking of NYC shows happening tonight and Mountains... the Mountain Goats, and John Vanderslice are here for their show at the Society of Ethical Culture.

Also related to today (3/27)... Having just played a few shows at SXSW, including the official showcase of her (and the Mountain Goats') label 4AD, Los Angeles/Chicago's Anni Rossi is currently on tour and plays a show at Union Pool in Brooklyn tonight with Midnight Masses and Wild Yaks. You may have also caught Anni when she opened for her label-mates Camera Obscura at Mercury Lounge the other night.

To say that Anni Rossi has given new life to the viola is an understatement. Together with her alternative folk style and lilting vocals, Rossi has reinvented the way this classical instrument is typically used and given new light to how Americana music is structured and presented.

Entrancing and beautiful, Rossi shared several songs with the Current from her upcoming CD, "Rockwell," out in March of 2009. [Minnesota Public Radio]

Camera Obscura also played a show at The Bell House in Brooklyn the other night, and tickets are now on sale for the show they have coming up at Webster Hall.

Midnight Masses (playing Union Pool with Anni) just went on tour with, and share a member with, Trail of Dead (who we also caught at SXSW).

Continue reading "Anni Rossi, Mountains, Social Reg, Noah & the Whale & stuff"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Micachu - Lips (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Chap - Proper Rock (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Choir of Unbelievers - Next Summer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Youth Group - "Start Today Tomorrow" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fumes - "Automobile" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Parallelogram (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Light Powered (MP3)

Micachu @ Cake Shop (more by Tim Griffin)

Welcome to the SXSW Hangover edition of This Week in Indie. Those who went to Austin might not want to go see live music, but for everyone else it's a boon. Most of these bands have been covered before so I'm just going to go night-by-night of the shows I'd recommend...

Continue reading "Deastro, Obits, White Lies, WAVVES, Ladyhawke, Efterklang, Primal Scream & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Tim Griffin

"We got to have an awesome pals pre tour reunion with the dear Sky Larkin last night, which involved heading into New York to watch them support The Grates at the Mercury Lounge. Incidentally this is where we performed our first ever New York show, our name misrepresenting us and leading to us being put on some kind of world music bill showcase. It was reminiscent of the cd incident at Lollapalooza, where they ordered in a shipment by the Peruvian folk band Los Campesinos De Michigin by mistake.

It was lovely to see the Larkin and try and contain our ridiculous smouldering unrelenting jealously over SXSW, but we prevailed and Doug had some nice snazzy new glasses I admired. Post gig we managed to rush over to Cake Shop and see Micachu, another British band who were awe inspiringly ace. Although I did get asked if I was friends with the band because of the accent, its like when you say you are from the UK and people assume you live in London and know that guy Brad they hooked up with once. To score a hat trick I popped along to watch Peggy Sue and The Pirates a few doors down at Pianos. It was one those really hip places which started out selling pianos but then realised giving mixed drinks to wide-eyed scenesters would be more profitable.

Anyway those ladies have a very large lung capacity, and have got a nifty drummer since I saw them last. He had a good trilby on, so well done.

It did seem like the British were out in force though, as we stumbled into Huw Stephens and gazed at Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura." [Los Campesinos BLOG]

Continue reading "Sky Larkin played SXSW & Mercury Lounge (pics) - Los Campesinos was in the audience"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career (MP3)

Camera Obscura @ The Bell House - March 24, 2009 (Greg Chow)

Camera Obscura played the Bell House in Brooklyn last night, March 24th (check out the set list below). The band stays in NYC today for a show at the Mercury Lounge tonight (3/25).

Camera Obscura next head to the UK and Ireland for a series of shows in April, and then the band returns for a May/June North America tour. That includes a Wednesday, June 24th Webster Hall show in NY. Tickets go on Am Ex presale today/Wedneday at noon, and regular sale Friday.

The Scots are coming off of an Austin/SXSW stint that included a performance at the Central Presbyterian Church)...

The good news/bad news is the songs from the forthcoming album on new label 4AD sound just like the songs from the last album, "French Navy" being the best of the bunch. Tracyanne was as fragile and adorable in real life as she sounds on record, at one point commenting on the "fuckers" who were walking out of the church early. The crowd was one of the more eclectic-looking of the night. [Houston Press]

The Bell House set list, all upcoming tour dates, and above-mentioned video, below...

Continue reading "Camera Obscura played SXSW & the Bell House, announced more 2009 TOUR DATES (including Webster Hall) "