Tickets to see Death From Above 1979 and Fucked Up play the Governors Ball After Party at Irving Plaza go on Governors Ball presale today at 10 AM. (Password is "JeffGoldblum")

Tickets to see Griz and Cherub play the Governors Ball After Party at Gramercy Theatre go on Governors Ball presale today at 10 AM. (Password is "JeffGoldblum")

Tickets to see The Revivalists, Roadkill Ghost Choir and Swear & Shake at Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets to the BV-Presents Youth Lagoon, show with Majical Clouds at The Bell House  go on sale at noon today.

Father John Misty, who are playing The Great GoogaMooga and Maxwell's in May, have added another NYC show at Terminal 5. Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets to see King Tuff at Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets to see Girls Against Boys at Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale today at noon.

GUNPLAY is playing S.O.B.'s on June 10. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

The Allman Brothers Band, Grace Porter and the Nocturnals are playing Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre on September 7. Tickets for that show go on VIP Package presale today at 10 AM.

Pure Bathing Culture and Monogold are playing Mercury Lounge on June 7. Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale today at noon.

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound is playing Mercury Lounge on June 22. Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Syd Arthur and Celestial Shore are playing Mercury Lounge June 18. Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale today at noon.

by Bill Pearis

Parquet Courts, SXSW 2013 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

It's that time of year again, when The L Magazine picks their all-NYC "8 Bands You Need to Hear." Like usual, it probably includes some bands you've already heard, some you've maybe heard of, and some names new to you. Parquet Courts are without a doubt the band on the list. Here are their 2013 picks with their next NYC show (if applicable):

Free Time
Parquet Courts (April 20, Bowery Ballroom w/ Iceage)
Coastgaard (May 1, Mercury Lounge)
Juniper Rising (April 11, Death by Audio)
Celestial Shore (April 18, Silent Barn)
Caged Animals
Big Ups (tonight [4/10], Shea Stadium)
The Denzels

So who should've made their list but didn't? Who shouldn't have been on the list? Streams from all eight bands if you wanna check out any you haven't heard.

As mentioned, The L Magazine is celebrating its and Kanine Records' 10th anniversary tonight (4/10) at Union Pool with complimentary drinks and performances from Montreal's Valleys, Royal Baths offshoot LODRO and Xray Eyeballs. RSVP is now closed for this free event.

Cover to the "8 Bands" issue of The L, plus those music streams, are below.

Continue reading "L Magazine names 8 more 'Bands You Need to Hear' "

Oberhofer @ The Congress, Chicago 11/10/2012 (more by Chase Turner)

Oberhofer are back with a new EP, Notalgia, which is out April 23 on Glassnote. You can stream the anthemic first single, "Earplugs," below (via Rolling Stone). Shortly after the new EP's release, Oberhofer will be heading out on a short East Coast tour starting in NYC at Glasslands on May 2 with Celestial Shore and Life Size Maps (tickets). All tour dates are listed, plus the Notalgia album art and song stream, below.

Continue reading "Oberhofer readies 'Notalgia,' touring (dates, stream)"

Liam Finn is wrapping up his new album and will be testing out new material with one of his "murmurations," his word for residency. This will happen every Monday in April at Knitting Factory. April 1 is with Rifle/Recoil; April 8 is with Celestial Shore; April 15 has no opener as of now; April 22 is billed as "Liam Finn featuring Railbird"; and April 29 is with Rohypnotize. Tickets to all five shows are on sale now.

You can watch "video letter" about the Knitting Factory murmuration, which features a bit of new song "I," below.

Continue reading "Liam Finn finishing up new album, announces Brooklyn "murmuration" residency"

This Sunday (2/24) at 285 Kent, the Brooklyn venue will be hosting a bittersweet show: on the bright side, it's the third annual birthday for JMC Aggregate and they've booked a great lineup of Sam Mickens' Ecstatic Showband & Revue, Les Bonhommes (mems. Deerhoof, Rainer Maria), Celestial Shore, and DJ Conquerrah. (The location was moved to 285 Kent from Silent Barn, and admission is $10 at the door.)

But the bad side is that it's unfortunately the last-ever show for Sam Mickens' Ecstatic Showband & Revue, who are calling it quits after three years of activity. Sam writes:

The Ecstatic Showband & Revue began with a residency at the deeply-missed Zebulon at the beginning of 2009, only about a month after I relocated to New York. It has been a hub of some of my dearest musical friends and collaborators, a wonderful and exhausting experience, and we've left lots of blood on the dance floor. Rather than fade away, I wanted to present the band in a grand burn out, to coincide with my third-annual birthday celebration with the good people at JMC Aggregate. We will be joined by the roiling Les Bonhommes (members of Deerhoof & Rainer Maria) and golden hope of the future Celestial Shore, as well as my preferred selector, the mighty, mighty DJ Conquerrah.

The Ecstatic Showband & Revue leaves to posterity these two singles: "One Final Round" b/w "To Victory or Death" and "Burning Hell" b/w "I'm Evil, as well as a trove of unrecorded music, some of which has been documented in one rough form or another. We are honored to retire the undisputed Heavyweight Soul Champions of Brooklyn(citation) and promise everyone quite literal blood( did I already mention blood?), sweat, and tears on this gala evening.

(Never Surrender Our) Love,
Sam

Not long ago, Sam successfully funded his new album, Kayfabe: Laamb of G.O.D., on Kickstarter, so hopefully we'll still get to hear that and he finds a way to continue his musical endeavors. Meanwhile, you can stream those two recent singles below...

Continue reading "Sam Mickens' Ecstatic Showband & Revue breaking up, playing final show on Sunday w/ Les Bonhommes & Celestial Shore"

Delicate Steve @ 4Knots Fest 2012 (more by Chris La Putt)

Like nearly every notable musician in the universe, Delicate Steve is going to be playing at this year's SXSW Festival and has planned a tour around the occasion. The tour kicks off on March 1 at the Stanhope House in Stanhope, NJ and hits NYC a few days later for a show at 295 Kent on March 5 with Celestial Shore and Total Slacker. Advance tickets are on sale now and all tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Delicate Steve announces 2013 tour, SXSW and NYC included"

Anti-Pop Consortium photos by Melissa Neira

Rafiq Bhatia

His set at Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Friday came at least partially from jazz. Not standards and bebop, but jazz of the past 30 years, let's say, involving solid-bodied guitars. He played a Fender Telecaster, whose bright tone never caught on much with jazz musicians. It was an instrumental music in which the shape and placing of a single sustained note was a matter of importance, and solos broke out, but not at the usual moments. (There aren't many usual moments in his music.) Only at one point, in "Once," did he seem to want to suggest earlier history: an Elvin Jones midtempo drum groove came through like a watermark. [NY Times]

Jazz musician Rafiq Bhatia, who played Cameo earlier this month, has two releases coming out this year, first the Strata EP on September 25, and then his debut full length, Yes It Will, on October 23. The Strata EP features a cover of Flying Lotus' "Pickled!," which you can stream, along with another EP track, "Sunshower," below. Rafiq will celebrate his EP with a BrooklynVegan-presented release party at Pianos on September 25, which doubles as the first night in his residency at the LES venue, which continues on October 2 and October 9. The release show is with Anti-Pop Consortium (instrumental), whose member High Priest is featured on Rafiq's upcoming EP, and Alexander Overington. Tickets for all three nights in the residency are on sale now. The flier is below.

Rafiq has also been added as an opener to The Bad Plus' Music Hall of Williamsburg show (9/26), which happens one day after the release party at Pianos. No opener has been announced for the Bad Plus' show at Mercury Lounge on 9/25. Tickets for both Bad Plus shows are still available.

Rafiq also plays the Aquarium Drunkard CMJ showcase with Foxygen, The Orwells, Dent May, Tashaki Miyaki, and Murals at Mercury Lounge on October 16. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (9/21) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (9/19) at noon.

Speaking of Anti-Pop Consortium (who no longer count Beans as a member), they have a brand new short clip which you can watch below. They also played the New Museum back in July. A belated set of pictures from that show is below.

In related news, APC member High Priest recently released a new album called Cit of On under the moniker HPRIZM via Svakt. You can stream some excerpts from that release below.

All streams, a list of dates, video, residency flier, and pics are below.

Continue reading "Rafiq Bhatia readies EP & LP, kicking off Pianos residency w/ Anti-Pop Consortium (BV presents) ++ other shows & streams"

DOWNLOAD: Railbird - Jump Ship (MP3)

Still from the "Jump Ship" video

Railbird have just released a video for their slinky single "Jump Ship" which you may have already heard and features Sean Rowe and Phantogram's Sarah Barthel. We've got the premiere of the video right here and you can watch it below.

Railbird have a few shows coming up, including two in NYC: Thursday, August 23 at Cameo with Celestial Shore and Zula; and September 7 at The Rock Shop with Xenia Rubinos and Lady Lamb the Beekeeper. You can get tickets at the door for the Cameo show but there are advance tickets for The Rock Shop.

All tour dates are listed below, along with the "Jump Ship" video.

Continue reading "Railbird made a video for "Jump Ship," playing shows (dates)"

DOWNLOAD: The Toothaches - Pretty and Loud (MP3)

To quote a June 7th press release in my inbox:

With the release of their debut studio album, O! Be Joyful (ORG Music), earlier this week, THE TOOTHACHES have unleashed their dynamic, dance-punk sound on the masses.

Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, THE TOOTHACHES are a five-piece band comprised of Zimmy (Guitar, Vocals), Rose (Keys, Vocals), Monica (Tambo, Glock, Vocals), Kiril (Drums, Vocals) and Chris (Bass, Vocals).

Chris, full name Christopher Rapoza, was one of the many shot by that psychopath in Colorado... To quote Gothamist:

With New Yorkers feeling the aftereffects of Wednesday's horrible massacre in Aurora, Colorado, it turns out at least two area residents were among the survivors. Christopher Rapoza, a musician from Brooklyn, and Stephen Barton, a Southbury, Connecticut native and recent Syracuse University graduate, were both at the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises when suspected gunman James Holmes began shooting; both were shot, but are recovering.

Rapoza, who plays bass for local punk band The Toothaches and was in Colorado on a trip with his girlfriend, received a grazing wound on his back during the shooting and was treated at an area hospital. He linked to photos of his wound and bloodied t-shirt on Reddit (and as the photos show, he's lucky!), "I'm doing all right just a little shook up," he wrote on the site. "Me and my girlfriend waited until it seemed the shooting was finished so we were some of the last people out of the theatre and there was a lot of blood." He had also posted on Facebook, "Perry and I were just at a midnight showing of Batman in Colorado when some f***ing psycho decided to open fire on the crowd. "I was grazed in the back with a bullet but am fine. Perry is unscathed, but unfortunately has lost her shoes. A lot of other people weren't so lucky."

So glad to hear Stephen and Chris and Perry (and many others) came out of there okay, and of course our condolences go out to all the families and friends of those who didn't.

The Toothaches, who maybe you caught at Hillstock in June or at Aputumpu Fest in March, cancelled a 7/20 NYC show at The Bitter End due to the shooting, but are still scheduled to play on 7/28 at Big Mouth in Brooklyn with Eula, Celestial Shore, and many more, and on 8/9 at Shea Stadium. You can download "Pretty and Loud" from their new album above.

Doldrums at NXNE 2012 (more by David Andrako)

You should know at this point that the free 4Knots Music Festival happens this Saturday (7/14) at South Street Seaport with a bunch of bands including Archers of Loaf, The Drums, Crocodiles, Hospitality, Bleached, Doldrums, and more. For Doldrums (aka Airick Woodhead), who take the Skippers stage at the early hour of 1 PM, the festival serves at the first of two NYC shows that he'll play that day. Later that night, he'll play a show at the recently opened all ages Williamsburg venue, Muchmore's (2 Havemeyer St. @ N9) with Zula, Celestial Shore and Austin Vaughn. This one's not free (but it's only $5), though it's probably a much more appropriate (smaller, darker) place to catch Doldrums.

As mentioned, Doldrums will be back in NYC to open for Austra at Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 19. Tickets for that show are still available.

You can also catch Zula, who plays Muchmore's on Saturday, in NYC tonight (7/13) at The Rock Shop with Sean0Sean, Missions, Lean Hounds, and Field Theory. Tickets for that show are available.

All dates are listed below, along with the video for "Copper Girl"...

Continue reading "Doldrums playing Muchmore's in Brooklyn after 4Knots (dates)"

Frankie Rose @ Township (more by Sarah Frankie Linder)

In addition to the Jens Lekman/Of Montreal show at Williamsburg Park, the Northside Festival (June 14 - 17) just announced a slew of confirmed artists who'll be playing this year, including Future of the Left, the U.S. debut of Iceage-spinoff Vår (formerly War), Frankie Rose (playing the BrooklynVegan showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg with more TBA), Grass Widow, Cleveland's Gap Dream, Wymond Miles of the Fresh & Onlys,  Chain & the Gang, Kool Keith and more.

Other 2012 Northside Festival artists we've already posted about include Olivia Tremor Control, GZA, Neil Hamburger, Eternal Summers, Ceremony and Screaming Females and Royal Headache. Badges are on sale now and the full list of confirmed 2012 Northside artists is below.

Continue reading "more Northside Festival artists announced (Frankie Rose, Grass Widow, Felice Brothers, Buke & Gass, Vår, Gap Dream & more)"

HR with Bad Brains at Music Hall of Williamsburg (more by Erik Erikson)

The two-day benefit for Lucinda's Kids at Bowery Electric begins today (4/29) with Marah, Jesse Malin, Willie Nile, Jimmy Gnecco, Dave Milone, Jim Boggie, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Ptter Ericson Stakee.

H.R. of Bad Brains plays night two, Monday, of that Manhattan benefit, but first he'll headline a Brooklyn show of his own at Public Assembly tonight (4/29) with support from Paranoid Social Club, The WonderMics, Groundswell, Matt Pless, and Jay Samel. Tickets are on sale.

The show is one of a few notable events at Public Assembly in the coming months. Xeno & Oaklander will headline Public Assembly on May 11th with David J (Bauhaus), Frank (Just Frank), and DJ sets by CREEP and Todd Pendu. Tickets are still available. Xeno & Oaklander are currently touring in the Midwest.

Also going down in the near future at Public Assembly, Idiot Glee (who we profiled last year) will play with Nick Diamonds (of islands), Celestial Shore, and DJ Udbhav on May 11th. $8 gets you in. Idiot Glee recently posted a new video for "That's All For Everyone" which is viewable below. The track comes from the band's Don't Go Out Tonight 7" and is a cover of Fleetwood Mac. Pick up a copy.

Public Assembly will host The X-Ecutioners, Da Beatminerz and "special guests TBA" alongside resident DJs Total Eclipse and Gen.Erik on May 3rd. Details, including cost, are forthcoming but prepare for a night of jaw-dropping turntablism.

NYC PopFest is coming to Public Assembly, as is Tombs/Ulcerate in May and Martyrdoom in June!

Check out that Idiot Glee video and more videos below.

Continue reading "HR playing Public Assembly, as are Xeno & Oaklander, The X-Ecutioners and Idiot Glee (but not together)"

Ava Luna at BV Holiday Party last month/year (more by Jessica Amaya)

Wintersleep are going on a short North American tour this month which ends in 2 NYC dates happening on January 24 at Mercury Lounge with Pretty & Nice and January 25 at Glasslands with ARMS and Writer. Tickets for the Mercury show and the Glasslands show are on sale now. All Wintersleep dates are listed below.

Speaking of ARMS, their frontman, Todd Goldstein, is opening for John Roderick (of the Long Winters) at his Mercury Lounge show (1/28), which is three days after ARMS play Glasslands and one day after John Roderick opens for Aimee Mann at her sold out MHOW show. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show are still available.

In other Glasslands/Mercury Lounge news, Har Mar Superstar has a few shows announced including Glasslands on March 7 with Rewards. Tickets are on sale now.

Rewards were also just announced as the opener for the second School of Seven Bells show at Mercury Lounge (3/1). Their record release show (happening at the same venue on 2/28) sold out and Tickets for the new show go on sale Friday (1/6) at noon.

Both Rewards and School of Seven Bells also DJ in Brooklyn next Friday (1/13) at Cameo Gallery with CREEP, who is also DJing. Doors are at midnight for this late show, which takes place after Radical Dads play the same venue a few hours earlier. Radical Dads recently played a great set at our Brooklyn Bazaar Holiday Party.

The day before that Cameo Gallery show, NewVillager and Avan Lava play Mercury Lounge (1/12). Tickets are available.

Avan Lava is not to be confused with Ava Luna, who just played a BV Holiday Party with Widowspeak and Twin Sister, the latter of which they're heading out on tour with later this month. That tour doesn't include any NYC dates but Ava Luna just announced their own NYC show happening shortly after the tour ends at Mercury Lounge on February 24 with Celestial Shore, Darlings, and Cindy Lou Gooden. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (1/13) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/11) at noon.

You can catch Darlings in NYC even sooner when they headline Glasslands on Thursday (1/12) with The Suzan, Fabric, and DAYTONA (mems. of Harlem and Wild Yaks). Tickets for that show are available.

Friends play Cameo on January 24th.

Faris (of the Horrors) and Honor (of Cerebral Ballzy) both DJ cameo this Friday night (tomorrow, 1/6).

More Wintersleep & Har Mar dates below...

Continue reading "Wintersleep, ARMS, Ava Luna, Avan Lava, Radical Dads, Har Mar Superstar, NewVillager, Friends & other upcoming shows"

Just like in nature documentaries, the circle of life continues in the Williamsburg indie community. As Bruar Falls was having a it's Last Weekend Ever, a new DIY venue was having its first shows. Big Snow Buffalo Lodge is located at 89 Varet St. in East Williamsburg, just a couple blocks from Don Pedro. It's run by some of the same folks that bring us It was started by some folks that used to work at Shea Stadium and its first show was last Thursday (10/27) with Dustin Wong, the So So Glos, Lost Boy?, Day Dress and Pigeons.

Big Snow Buffalo Lodge's upcoming slate includes a Chat Logs and Many Mansions record release party tomorrow night (11/5), DIVE (11/10), Celestial Shore (11/12), and Caged Animals (12/01). Has anyone gone yet? What's the space like? Full schedule is below.

Continue reading "Big Snow Buffalo Lodge is a new venue in East Williamsburg, open now (upcoming shows)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Love Inks - Blackeye (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lovers - Figure 8 (MP3)

Love Inks @ SXSW (more)

Can you feel the love tonight? I can though mainly because we've got two bands with that in their name playing tonight. Though not in the same place. First is Austin's Love Inks who, as previously mentioned, are playing NYC for the first time. Tonight (6.2) they're at Glasslands with Rewards, Slowdance, and Celestial Shore. They'll also play Tuesday (6/7) at Pianos with Elastic Summer, Monokino and more.

Love Inks' debut, E.S.P., came out last month on City Slang and, as I wrote previously, it's a pretty little understated thing. Minimalist instrumentation -- guitar, bass, drum machine -- that doesn't get in the way of the band's main asset: singer Sherry LeBlanc's honeyed vocals. (In the same timbre as Beth Cosatino.) E.S.P. is what I like to call Sunday Morning music (Galaxie 500, Belle & Sebastian), and a fine example at that. You can check out "Blackeye" at the top of this post.

Tonight's Glasslands show is pretty solid all around. I've been wanting to check out Slowdance for some time. You can download two tracks from their website and both are pretty good: atmospheric rock that is, and yes, danceable. (Though maybe not slowdanceable.) Rewards, as you may remember, is Aaron Pfanning who was in Chairlift; and Celestial Shore are channeling some serious Brian Wilson vibes in a slightly mathy kind of way.

Lovers

The other "love" band tonight is Portland trio Lovers (not to be confused with Lovvers), who are at Cake Shop with Household and Skeleton Head (They played last night at Union Hall...anybody go?). Lovers' most recent album, Dark Light, came out last fall on Badman Recordings and you can download "Figure 8" from it at the top of this post. It's a pretty good representation of the rest of the records: throbbing synths and big choruses. The BPMs are a little to slow to call it dance music, but it's definitely got a groove. Mood music you can move to.

You should get there early for local trio Household who I caught at Bruar Falls a couple weeks ago and really liked. They're in the Lilliput/Raincoats school of minimalist postpunk (or more recently Brilliant Colors or Yellowfever). No releases yet, but Household have a handful of streamable songs on their website which were produced by Andrew Raposo (who plays bass in various DFA-related bands). Definitely worth a listen.

Hospitality @ Pianos in Feb (more)

What else? After what seems like an awfully long time (two years plus), Hospitality are finally getting around to putting out an album. I think it's pretty much done, so hopefully we'll see that sooner than later. In the meantime, the trio are playing a whole bunch in June, starting Friday night (6/3) at Cake Shop where they'll share the bill with country folk act Numbers and Letters, and Edelweiss who kind of sound like first-album Foals and are not to be confused with the shortlived early '90s novelty act of the same name. The show is FREE.

Hospitality also play the final date of my Sound Bites series at the Fulton Stall Market on July 17. All upcoming shows are at the bottom of this post. More Fulton Stall Market (Seaport) shows are listed HERE.

TSOOL @ SXSW (more)

And last but certainly not least, the mighty Soundtrack of Our Lives arrive from Sweden this weekend, playing Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday (6/5) and The Bell House on Monday (6.6). If you enjoy '60s/'70s style rock, there are few bands that do it as well as TSOOL, and certainly not many who put on a better live show. I wrote of their 2009 show at Music Hall of Williamsburg:

A nearly two-hour show of guitar windmills, endless stick twirls, karate kicks, ponderous, psychedelic lyrics and massive riffs. You could watch The Soundtrack of Our Lives and spend the whole time picking apart the references: The Who, Stones, Pink Floyd, Love, Spirit, Faces, Beatles, etc. But to do so is to miss the point of TSOOL, who distill everything that is great about rock's classic late '60s / early '70s era into one incredible band. And an even better live show. Seriously, these guys knock it out of the park every time.

The band have just released a best-of compilation, Golden Greats, which is a fine introduction to the band's catalogue to date (five albums, all doubles) and really showcases what this band does so well. But live is where they make you a believer. TSOOL are promising wildly different setlists for the two shows, and superfans can buy a discounted $35 ticket that gets you into both. These guys love to play, and usually do two-hour sets so... be prepared.

Opening the Le Poisson Rouge show are The Mommyheads ('90s era indie rockers who pop up now and again), and at The Bell House is Montreal's sitar-fueled Elephant Stone (an especially inspired pairing). TSOOL are also on Last Call With Carson Daly tonight (6/2).

That's the main stuff this week. A few more recommended shows, day-by-day, are below

THURSDAY, JUNE 2

Some of you may remember The Barracudas who led the UK surf-rock/garage revival in the early '80s. (If not, there's a video below.) Singer Jeremy Gluck has formed a new line-up of the group and they're playing Union Hall tonight. Don't be confused with Georgia's  Barreracudas on the bill as well. We can only hope they'll hll play together as The Barrarerrarerracudadas.

continued below...

Continue reading "Love Inks, Lovers, Slowdance, Hospitality, Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Barracudas & more in This Week in Indie"