photos by Natasha Ryan

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah did not seem like a band thinking about calling it quits on Friday night, the 13th, at BAM. If anything, they seemed like a band on the top of their game - well rehearsed and with a strong enough catalog to keep people's attention for the 90+ minute show. Old hits were mixed with new songs that sounded great. According to the same person who first told me the band was taking time off, the new songs were the very new songs they had planned to record for their new album before cancelling scheduled studio time indefinitely. Hopefully they think about the image of 2000 cheering and dancing NYC audience members at this sold out Brooklyn show, and get back in the studio to put those songs on a record.

People love to hate on CYHSY, especially for their second album, but you wouldn't have known that from the standing ovation they got after the 5-song encore. As Loud Colors Bright Noises points out...

These guys really gave us some great music, and yet it seems that people feel the need to crap on them. No, I say! Not cool!

"Lead singer Alec Ounsworth was a bit precious, wearing striped pants, a green crocheted cap, and quavering, affected vocals. But he's written some irresistible hooks that flatter his artistic forebears as they command attention. "Is This Love" featured Philip Glass-like organ trills that repeat; "Upon This Tidal Wave of Youngblood" sounded like British new wave; "The Skin of My Yellow Country" has bent guitars like Built to Spill and vocals like David Byrne. In other words: a damned good show." [Feast of Music]

Chairlift opened the night. They were a good opening act, but I think they would have benefitted from a better mix (aka the sound sounded off from where I was). More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah & Chairlift @ BAM - pics & setlist"

Crystal Castles @ MHOW - New Years Eve (more by Ryan Muir)

Al Green @ the Wellmont Theater - Nov 2008 (more by Eric M Townsend)

Superfly Productions and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The eighth annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 11 - 14 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. Every year Bonnaroo seeks to make history by offering unique and exclusive performances by rock's greatest legends as well as its most significant newcomers. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2009 lineup will total over 120 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days. Tickets go on sale exclusively through www.bonnaroo.com on Saturday, February 7 at 12:00 PM Eastern.

Coachella announced their initial lineup less than a week earlier.

Metallica played Bonnaroo in 2008. Metallica played NY & NJ this past weekend.

Full (initial) 2009 Bonnaroo lineup below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo announces initial 2009 lineup (Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Beastie Boys, NIN, Wilco, Animal Collective...)"

DOWNLOAD: Peter Bjorn & John - Lay It Down (The Golden Filter Remix) (MP3) (via)

Peter Moren: I really love New York. I just want to go to some areas I still haven't seen. I haven't seen a lot of Brooklyn and I haven't been up to Harlem. I've covered most parts of Lower Manhattan, and the Upper West and East, but I still have some territories left. It's a good city to explore because you can actually walk quite far and go through different areas without getting too tired. It's not totally hard to find your way. I'm kind of old timey, I like walking around, thinking I'm some old folk singer looking for book shops. [Paper Magazine - April 2007]

Chairlift is also playing in Brooklyn in February, and then touring with Yacht and Sebastien Tellier all before this PB&J tour even begins. Tickets for the PB&J shows won't be on sale until next week. All dates below...

Continue reading "Peter Bjorn & John and Chairlift - 2009 Tour Dates, a remix"

DOWNLOAD: Sebastien Tellier - Sexual Sportswear (Donovan remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sebastien Tellier - Divine (Danger Remix) (MP3)

Sébastien Tellier (born 1975 in Paris) is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is currently signed to Record Makers, a French independent record label. He sings in English, French and Italian. [Wiki]

Continue reading "Sebastien Tellier - 2009 Tour Dates (LPR again, Coachella?) "

CYHSY @ Fun Fun Fun Fest (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are apparently taking a (possibly permanent?) "break" after the previously-announced February 13th show at BAM. The rumor is that they've nixed plans to go back into the studio, and that they have no further dates scheduled. I'm not saying I'm 100% positive this is the last we'll see of them, but it seems likely the show will be the last chance to see them for a very long time, if not ever. Chairlift opens, and tickets are still on sale.

In the meantime, CYHSY's Tyler and Robbie have been keeping busy with Uninhabitable Mansions, who have a show coming up February 27th at Union Hall. CYHSY's drummer Sean continues to play Axl Rose in the Gn'R cover band Mr. Browstone. Their next gig is February 7th at Starland Ballroom in NJ. Alec Ounsworth's latest pastime is being a father.

After BAM, Chairlift are going on a March tour with Yacht, and will be visiting the west coast in April with Sebastien Tellier. Though not confirmed, I'd say the March tour makes it look like they'll be at SXSW, and the April dates have them coming awfully close to Coachella. All dates below...

Continue reading "CYHSY taking a break?, Chairlift tour w/ Yacht - 2009 dates"

Continue reading "free Twi & Suckers @ Glasslands tonight/Wednesday"

DOWNLOAD: Beirut - Elephant Gun (MP3)

Beirut @ Sasquatch 2008 (more by Chris Graham)

Sounds Like Brooklyn Music Festival is a borough-wide celebration of Brooklyn's musical talent, comprising mainstage events at BAM (performances by Beirut, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Kaki King, and Chairlift), music in BAMcafé, off-site performances at thirteen Brooklyn venues (The Bell House, Bodega, bushbaby, Le Grand Dakar, Frank's Lounge, Goodbye Blue Monday, Monkey Town, Pete's Candy Store, Solomon's Porch, Sputnik, Southpaw, Union Hall, Zebulon), and a BAMfamily event (featuring Guy Davis).

BAM Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo commented, "Sounds Like Brooklyn Music Festival demonstrates BAM's continuing commitment to celebrate the borough's vibrant music scene and its wealth of talent. We're thrilled to partner with many of Brooklyn's most dynamic clubs and venues, and we're excited to present exceptional artists in our own house."

Continue reading "Beirut, CYHSY, Kaki King & Chairlift playing Sounds Like Brooklyn Music Festival @ BAM"

M83 @ Bowery Ballroom (more by Bao Nguyen)

Anthony Gonzalez of M83's Top 10 of 2008:

1. Chairlift, Does You Inspire You (Kanine Records)
2. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (Columbia)
3. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
4. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (XL Records)
5. Hercules and Love Affair, self-titled (DFA Records)
6. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colors (Modular/Interscope)
7. No Age, Nouns (Sub Pop)
8. Free Kitten, Inherit (Ecstatic Peace)
9. James Blunt, All the Lost Souls (Atlantic)
10. Sun Kil Moon, April (Caldo Verde)

Speaking of which, no need to go to MSG to see M83 because they've added a smaller show at Irving Plaza, on the day they have off one day earlier. Tickets for the January 24th show are on sale. All dates below...

Continue reading "M83 name top 10 albums of 2008, add NYC show (on sale)"

photos by Ryan Muir

For the a second time this year, Ryan Muir took pictures of Yeasayer at Music Hall of Williamsburg. It was also the second night of their tour-ending, two-show, homecoming run at the Brooklyn venue this weekend.

"[The two shows at Music Hall] definitely have a homecoming feel. At this point we've played, not all over the world, but we've been back and forth to Europe several times and we played in Australia. We played all over the States. And the Williamsburg Music Hall is one of my favorite venues I've ever played in and, you know, Brooklyn is definitely our home. I have family there and I have friends there and it's been our kind of spiritual center. So yeah, it does have a homecoming feel. And it's kind of Christmas time thing so we're doing like a little Christmas party the day before the second show. I really don't know if it was appropriate to play two shows there, you know, but it seemed like maybe . . . And we'd already sold the one out. I don't know. It's good. I would've maybe rather had just one big bang show, but it's also we have a lot friends that we wanted to have open up and play with and stuff, so it's still good." [Yeasayer's Chris Keating to the Village Voice]

Continue reading "Yeasayer @ MHOW (Feb '08, night 2), Brooklyn, NY - pics"

Bowery photos by Tim Griffin, Santos photos by Faith-Ann Young

TJM @ Bowery Ballroom

"Dressed in a dark blazer and white pants (after Labor Day, mind you!), John MacLean looked more like a professor than a dance-rocker. Perhaps his fashion sense is a remnant from his days teaching English in New Hampshire? Following a set from Chairlift, a Brooklyn-based trio whose career received a kick-start after Apple licensed "Bruises" for an iPod commercial, their fleeting allusions to Television and Bjork were bulldozed by The Juan MacLean's dance floor pastiche and their fondness for disco, house, and techno. Though MacLean's vocals sounded a little off at times (probably due to technical problems), when he's not singing and playing keyboards, he's constantly adding hand percussion and tweaking gizmos that give his music an interesting effect. Most notably, the icy vocal of singer/keyboardist Nancy Whang (of LCD Soundsystem) is a perfect yin to MacLean's yang. Their union shined on "Give Me Every Little Thing," a throbbing, squelchy, funky number laden with Theremin. Thankfully void of needless irony, it tipped its hat to Parliament-Funkadelic. Along the way, they dropped "Happy House," the first single from their forthcoming album, The Future Will Come, and it was a definite highlight. If tonight's performance is any indication, the future for The Juan MacLean looks very bright." [BigShotMag]

The Juan Maclean came on late closing out the DFA showcase...around 12:45- 1? John/Juan the man and his trusty troupe, including Nancy Whang and ex-!!! drummer Jerry Fuchs, brought dance chaos to the cold concrete floor of Santos. He oscilalted between a smorgasbord of samplers, tambourines, and modern electronic gadgets....and tastetested a track from upcoming album, The Future Will Come. Crazed lights and lasers added to the otherworld sci-fi vibe (that and the pills that were going around)... -Faith

More pictures from both Juan Maclean shows below...

Continue reading "the Juan Maclean played Bowery Ballroom & Santos (pics) "

Photos by Tim Griffin

Two of the bands packing venues (MGMT style) this CMJ are Passion Pit (I'm partially predicting the Annex & Pianos's future) and Chairlift (like yesterday/Tuesday at the Annex and Pianos). Chairlift are now basically done with CMJ because they leave on a tour Thursday with Yeasayer. They do play one more public show at Pianos tonight though (10/22). The pictures in this post are from the set they played on Saturday with The Juan Maclean at Bowery Ballroom (10/18). More of them below...

Continue reading "Chairlift @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - pics (Pianos tonight)"

This is in addition to all the other shows Chairlift are playing. More Suckers dates below....

Continue reading "Suckers/Amazing Baby/Chairlift/Violens tonight @ Danbro"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Chairlift - Evident Utensil (MP3)

Chairlift played a free show at the 92YTribeca last Saturday, October 11, but if you missed that, there are still plenty of NYC chances to catch the Brooklyn three-piece in the next week.

First, this Saturday night (10/18), a Bowery gig with dance guru Juan MacLean and a Holy Ghost (DFA) DJ set (Tickets $15).

Then the band plays a packed CMJ-Tuesday (10/21) with three different showcases: After the Jump @ Pianos (5pm), NME @ the Annex (7pm) and the Deli Magazine @ the Hiro Ballroom (9pm).

The band (friends of MGMT) will then take off with Yeasayer (who previously toured with MGMT) for a bunch of October dates before taking off on their own to Europe. In December they rejoin Yeasayer in DC and then open the first of two shows Yeasayer are playing at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The date of the Brooklyn show is December 5th. Tickets are still on sale. Tickets are also on sale for the December 6th Yeasayer show. No openers are listed for that one yet

Grab and an MP3 above, and check out Chairlift's song "Bruises," off their new Kanine Records album Does You Inspire You, in an iPod commercial (btw if you haven't heard of these yet, what a fantastic, fantastic product).

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "iPod commercial stars CHAIRLIFT - 2008 Tour Dates (CMJ, Juan Maclean, After the Jump, NME, Deli & Yeasayer)"

Violens @ South Street Seaport (more by Chris La Putt)

92YTribeca (200 Hudson Street, Ground Floor, NYC) doesn't officially open until October 18th with a show by John Vanderslice, but there is a free show there this Saturday, October 11th to test out the space. It starts at 8:30 PM. Crystal Stilts, Violens & Chairlift are on the bill, and it's FREE if you RSVP. Ro RSVP, e-mail BSisto@92y.org (subject: 10.11.08 - 92YTribeca - BV). Make sure you get the subject right. Include your first and last name so they can put you on list. More Crystal Stilts dates HERE.

today in NYC
* TI @ Highline Ballroom
* Nomi @ The Zipper Factoy
* Ben Folds @ Terminal 5
* Raphael Saadiq @ SOB's
* The Bird & The Bee @ Spiegeltent
* Chairlift @ Tribeca Grand Hotel (see above)
* Old Mill, Pin Me Down, Strega, My Glorious Mess @ Rehab
* These United States, The Loom, Band of Annuals @ Union Hall
* Damien Jurado, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Linfinity @ Mercury Lounge

What else?

Titus Andronicus @ McCarren Pool (more by Jason Bergman)

Fiasco have a bunch of interesting shows coming up including one tonight (Sep 5) at Death By Audio and one tomorrow (Sept 6) at the LES Howl Festival in Tompkins Square Park (on the North Stage):

SHOWPAPER Presents (Saturday)
4.00pm The Crayons
4.20pm The Sediment Club
4.40pm No One and the Somebodies
5.00pm FIASCO

Howl! Presents (the last band)
5.30 Left Over Crack

Titus Andronicus are also playing a show tonight (Sep 5). Sup Mag presents this one at Lit Lounge. Chairlift and a "special guest girl band" are also on the bill. Titus's next area show is at Maxwell's in October (for now anyway). That's the show with Love is All & Abe Vigoda. All dates below...

Continue reading "Fiasco, Titus Andronicus, some upcoming shows, Howl!"

Yeasayer @ Central Park Summerstage - Aug 4, 2008 (Taylor T-Sides)

Yeasayer announced a whole bunch of tour dates including two shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg in December.

Promised on this tour will be:
- brand new songs not heard on previous N. American tours
- a repaired voice for the son of Cricket, Anand Wilder
- new stage design incorporating projectors, lcd grids, and possibly a weather balloon

Continue reading "Yeasayer - 2008 Tour Dates (2 nights @ MHOW)"

photos by Chris LaPutt

Chairlift called out sick, so Soiled Mattress and the Springs played the first set of the day at the Yard on Saturday. It also happened to be their last show ever. They ended their set by putting the band's banner inside a flaming trashcan and setting fireworks inside it and giving out free t-shirts to the crowd. Despite wind that was causing the main stage awning to fall off and some technical difficulties, Soft Circle played a decent set. Ninja Sonik was supposed to play next, but was running late so Knyfe Hyts went on instead. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Knyfe Hyts, Soft Circle & Soiled Mattress and the Springs @ The Yard, Brooklyn, NY - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Ariel Pink - L'estat (According To The Widows) (MP3)

Ariel Pink was already an accomplished illustrator when he first gained recognition for what had always been his true passion, music. He had been writing and recording songs since age ten and by seventeen had accumulated hundreds of his own cassette recordings. It was during this time, while working in virtual isolation, that Ariel Pink began to develop a cult following in his hometown of Los Angeles and around the world. In 2004, at the behest of New York's Animal Collective, Pink received his big break and was projected into a much broader arena.

Since then, Pink has been working to assemble a band of musicians to do the near impossible: to recreate the rich sonic universe of his records in a live setting. Finally, he has succeeded in this task; Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is comprised of accomplished music scene veterans including keyboardist Kenny Gilmore (Lilys), bassist Tim Koh (White Magic, Lavender Diamond, Miho Hatori/Cibo Matto, All Night Radio, My Barbarian), drummer Jimi Hey (Beachwood Sparks, All Night Radio, Devendra Banhart, Mark Olson/The Jayhawks, Chris Robinson, Indian Jewelry, The Rapture, Strictly Ballroom), and guitarist Cole M. Greif-Neill (Ethnik Klensr, Young & Natural, The Samps).

Continue reading "Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - 2008 Tour Dates"

This has turned into THIS.........

Continue reading "Mid Summer Outdoor Party @ The Yard - July 12, looks nuts"

MGMT/Chairlift @ Glasslands, NYC - April 7, 2008 (the blendband)

MGMT played at 1 am, came on stage messing around playing "The Youth", "Brown Eyed Girl", "Purple Haze", an Alice in chains song and jammed out and played some other stuff. -David

photos by Ryan Muir

Chairlift @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Valentine's Day (Feb 14) 2008

Chairlift opened that MGMT/Yeasayer show at Music Hall of Williamsburg back on February 14th. All three bands call Brooklyn their home. All three bands are friends, or at least Chairlift and MGMT are because the two bands are going to play some more shows with each other when they leave on a short tour together later this week. And although MGMT is not advertising a Brooklyn show, I'm pretty sure that the band "Tenspeed" (listed on Glasslands' schedule) that is playing with Chairlift at Glasslands TONIGHT (Monday April 7, 2008) is really MGMT in disguise (possibly now with a new member).

In related news, MGMT made this really cool 3-D video that you can actually use 3-D glasses to watch on the Internet. I am a sucker for 3-D stuff, and besides the fact that the video takes forever to load, I have to admit it's pretty cool. Find a pair of 3-D glasses (or make your own) and watch it at their site.

More Valentine pictures, and tour dates, below.....

Continue reading "MGMT 3-D video, a secret show, Chairlift Tour Dates & pics"

photos by Ryan Muir

Yeasayer played their second of two NYC shows last night (Valentine's Day) @ Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. More pictures below....

Continue reading "Yeasayer @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, NYC - pics"

If you missed one of the many shows Peasant played in NYC recently, you have another chance tonight - Wed Feb 13th @ Midway. It's a Stranded In Stereo party with The Red Romance, Apache Beat, and Chairlift are also on the interesting bill. Flyer and more tour dates below.....

Continue reading "Peasant - tonight in NYC & other 2008 Tour Dates"