photos by Eric Rex, words by BBG

"DBA is as packed as i've ever seen it. Royal baths on now,
Ty Segall up next." -soundbitesnyc

"saw #tysegall at death by audio last night. incredible show, but i can't believe people moshed to every ty segall song. drank like 10 #pbr" - Sean McKeown

"about 4x as many people crammed in as last time. bodies everywhere. sweaty flying ones." - 9000

And apparently Death By Audio on 8/13 was so packed for the Ty Segall show that they started to stack people on top of each other. DBA was one of two NYC shows for the sugar-y San Fran garage rocker, with the FIRST taking place a day earlier at Cake Shop. Featuring support from Royal Baths on both dates, DBA also got sets from The Babies (mems of Vivian Girls, Woods, etc) Moonhearts (formerly Charlie & The Moonhearts), and The Zulus. Cake Shop (the day before) got The So So Glos and Weekends. Pics from DBA are below.

Both Ty Segall and Royal Baths are touring in support of LPs. Royal Baths will welcome their debut LP in September via Woodsist, while Ty Segall's fun new album Melted is out NOW via Goner.

The Babies are scheduled to play Cake Shop on Sept 24th in support of Garotas Suecas, alongside Sundelles and Holger. It's one of two dates for Garotas Suecas, with the second just two days earlier at Knitting Factory.

Tons of pics from Death By Audio and the crowd-surfin' mayhem is below, though unfortunately none of Royal Baths (Eric had escaped to the back of the room at the time)....

Continue reading "Ty Segall & Royal Baths played Cake Shop & DBA (pics) "

words & photos by BBG, Off! photos by Brian Reilly

Steve Brooks of Torche is all smiles

OK, guilty as charged. Though there were a zillion other incredible bands all rockin across Austin at that exact same moment, but I chose to see Torche a SECOND time at Beerland on 3/18 (the first was at the BV Day party). The party was called Kill Your Idols and its lineup proved to be much more eclectic, featuring various strains of punk (old school, indie, bratty, garage, post) amongst the lineup with bands like Off! (featuring Keith Morris of Circle Jerks, Mario of Earthless & others), Gun Outfit (80s Sonic Youth-y style post-punk currently on Post Present Medium, owned by Allen Spunt of No Age), Audacity (super bratty punk featuring Damian Edwards of Crystal Antlers), and Charlie & The Moonhearts (garage-y melodic punk).

Off! (by Brian Reilly)

Hey All!

Keith Morris has a new band.......OFF! which is made up of Steve McDonald from REDD KROSS on bass, Dimitri Coats from the BURNING BRIDES on guitar, Mario Rubalcaba formerly of HOT SNAKES,CLIKITAT IKATOWI,ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT and currently in EARTHLESS on drums, & Keith on vocals.

Add OFF! to your friends & check out their upcoming shows @ SXSW in Austin,Texas!

Thanks!
Circle Jerks

I missed Off! at this show (Brian was there though), but caught them later at MWTX (pics for the latter still to come). Their short blasts of riffy 80s punk rock bliss were awesome. Hopefully this band is real, and not just a one off project. I arrived at the show in time to see Gun Outfit who featured some excellent song-writing but lacked in the live show department; I'd be curious to hear their full-length. Audacity were unhinged with energy -almost irritatingly so. Charlie & The Moonhearts struck a balance between the two with both fun stage energy and catchy songs. Torche, well they whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

More pics and some video of Torche performing "Tarpit Carnivore" (my favorite Torche jam) are below...

Continue reading "Keith Morris forms OFF! supergroup, played SXSW w/ Torche, Gun Outfit, Audacity, Charlie & The Moonhearts, others (pics)"

photos by Tim Griffin

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - The Drag (MP3)

Ty Segall is one of many great garage rock acts coming out of San Francisco these days. He recently swung into NYC for a set of dates at the end of June. The pictures here are from his June 27th gig at the Cake Shop w/ Charlie and the Moonhearts and Girls (who also played Mercury Lounge on that trip).

Ty's new, second record, Lemons was released this week on Goner Records. You can peep "It #1" off that, and one track from his debut, above.

Ty's future plans include playing the West Coast portion of Shonen Knife's North American tour in October and November. All tour dates, album art, track list, and pictures from Cake Shop are below...

Continue reading "Ty Segall - album out now, MP3, pics from Cake Shop w/ Girls & Charlie and the Moonhearts"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - The Drag (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Charlie & the Moonhearts - Cagemouth (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Most Serene Republic - Heavens to Purgatory (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Your Nature - Triangle Eyes (M4A)

Ty Segall

This week it's all about San Francisco, as far as this column is concerned. (Actually, next week will also be all about San Francisco, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Especially, I've already digressed into a long parenthetical statement after only one sentence.) As mentioned previously, garage rock wunderkind Ty Segall will be in town this weekend and I really hope you go see him. His new album, Lemons, is just fantastic, much better than I was honestly expecting and I like his debut. It's thick and sweaty sounding, perfect for the hot and humid nights that are just around the corner. And while the sonics are not so difficult to master (reverb, in-the-red levels), it's the songs that has kept Lemons on repeat lately. The album's not out till July 14, but he'll have copies for sale at the shows: Saturday (6/27) at Cake Shop and Sunday (6/28) at Death by Audio.

Both shows are with Orange County's Charlie & the Moonhearts. At Sunday night's DbA show, you also get New Jersey's Liquor Store and currently hot, constantly gigging Beets.

Girls with girls

Saturday's Ty Segall show at Cake Shop is the don't miss show of the week, however, as San Francisco's hazy, folky, occasionally very very loud Girls are also on the bill. It's been almost a year since they last played in town. I saw them twice then -- at Market Hotel and Glasslands -- and they had people going crazy then (as you can kind of see in murky video I shot, which is at the bottom of this post) with only one single out. A year later, they still haven't released much else but that will change soon -- their debut album is due out on True Panther Sounds on September 22. You can still download two tracks from RCRD LBL, including the awesome, epic "Hellhole Ratrace" which will be released as a 10" single (it's nearly seven minutes long) prior to the album's release. The just-released video for the song is at the bottom of this post.

Actually, all three shows Girls are playing this weekend are worth seeing. Tonight (6/25) is the first, at Mercury Lounge where they share the stage with St. Louis' Radical Sons, Philadelphia DFA signees Free Energy (who are kind of like the Strokes covering Journey, which is better than that may seem), and Texans The Paper Chase whose new album, Someday This Could All Be Yours, just came out on Kill Rock Stars.

Friday night (6/26), Girls play Monster Island Basement with Real Estate (kind of a perfect match), Kurt Vile & the Violators (now on Matador) and Beach Fossils. (Both Real Estate and Beach Fossils also play the Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival next week.)

If you miss Girls this time around, they'll be back in August with Los Campesinos!

--

Other worthy show choices for you: Tonight is also the latest Adult Swim Presents' Summer Series at Santos Party House. I feel confident in saying that, apart from maybe a festival somewhere down the line, this may be your only chance to ever see Cheeseburger and A.C. Newman on the same bill. Mr. Newman, if by chance you're reading this -- wear old shoes. The stage will be an inch-thick in beer after the mayhem that is a typical Cheeseburger set. There's also the garage rock sounds of Atlanta's Woggles, and burlesque fun with the Pontani Sisters. The evening is hosted by "Jon" from Adult Swim's very funny Witness Protection Program reality show Delocated. As I said, it's free so get there early if you want to get in. Doors are at 7PM, 18+.

Following the Adult Swim mayhem, they're gonna mop the stage (well, they should) and get ready for the second show of the evening: The Phenomenal Handclap Band, who've been gigging a lot lately, which isn't surprising as their debut album just came out this week on Friendly Fire. If you haven't seen them yet, you should definitely make a point to do so -- they are quite the '70s disco/rock explosion. If you RSVP, admission is free for the first 100 through the door -- after that it's only five bucks. If you don't RSVP, you're dumb, and it's $10. Doors are at 10PM, and this one's 21 and over. We've also got a couple pair of tickets to give away.

(editor's note: the triple PHB attack was not planned)

The Most Serene Republic

Also tonight (6/25): Canada's Most Serene Republic are in the midst of a short East Coast tour, revving up interest in their new album, ...And the Ever-Expanding Universe, which is out July 14. While I often find their music a bit too complicated for its own good, I have always found them fascinating live, that they can actually pull off those complex arrangements. I haven't heard the new album, but "Heavens to Purgatory" which you can download at the top of this post, clocks in at a mere 2:34 and is pretty catchy. So maybe they've turned over a new, concise leaf. Most Serene Republic play tonight at Cake Shop with Your Nature who sound like a lot of things I liked in the '80s (U2, The Chameleons come to mind), and you can download thier song "Triangle Eyes" as well at the top of this post. MSR also play Union Hall on Saturday (6/27) with Pursesnatchers and Adam's Castle. In between (6/26), they fit in a Philadelphia show too. All tour dates at the bottom of the post.

Also also, a bunch of good show options on Friday: The Feelies play an special, acoustic show at the Whitney on Friday; Blonde Redhead and the Olof Arnalds play a free Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park; and I did a double take when I saw that '80s Australian noisemongers Lubricated Goat were playing Don Pedros. Was unware they were still together -- clearly I don't follow this site close enough.

The Legends are also here.

And finally, Steve Wynn and his current band, The Miracle Three, will perform The Dream Syndicate's classic 1984 album, Medicine Show, in full on Saturday (6/27) at the Bell House (tix) -- the first time the album has been played live start-to-finish by Wynn, ever. (They'll do it again in LA on July 9.) One of the originators of LA's '80s "Paisley Underground" scene, The Dream Syndicate were one of those bands that never quite managed to capture the magic of their live performance on a studio album -- but Medecine Show comes pretty close.

Videos, tour dates, and flyers after the jump...

Continue reading "Girls, Ty Segall, Most Serene Republic, Legends, Lubricated Goat, Steve Wynn & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - The Drag (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Charlie & the Moonhearts - Cagemouth (MP3)

Ty Segall

There is no shortage of great garage rock coming out of San Francisco these days and two of the city's newer acts -- Ty Segall and Charlie & the Moonhearts -- are about to head out on a U.S. tour including stops at Cake Shop on June 27 and Death by Audio on June 28. Both Ty and Charlie were members of the Epsilons and now doing their own thing, albeit right after one another.

When I saw Sic Alps and Thee Oh Sees at Death by Audio last September, Ty was the surprise of the evening. With his blonde hair and striped t-shirt, he looked like he just came from a Beach Boys press photo circa 1965, but he banged out a garage racket to rival either of the other bands on the bill... and he did it by himself, playing drums, guitar and singing all at the same time. If his songs weren't as good as they were, it would've just been an impressive gimmick.

Ty's solo debut came out last year on Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer's Castle Face label (check out "The Drag" from it at the top of this post) and this year he's really amping up his output. His second album, Lemons, is out July 14 on Goner Records (check out "It #1" for a taste) but Ty says he'll have copies to sell for the tour. Additionally, he's also got a double LP, Horn the Unicorn, that compiles a couple cassette and 7" releases; a split LP with Black Time titled Swag, as well as two new singles, one on Goner and the other on True Panther Sounds. All those should also be available at the merch table.

Ty's also no longer a one-man band, expanding to a trio for this tour. And he's also joined Sic Alps full time as their drummer. This guy's no slacker.

Charlie & the Moonhearts, meanwhile, have a new 7" on Tic Tac Totally (who put out the So Cow album), and the label describes them thusly:

First time I heard their Goodbye Boozy 7" I was fucking floored. They immediately recalled 80's sounds of then-youthful Orange County punk experimenting, and then colored it in with the fuzzed-up guitars and scuzzy but melody-driven stylistic tendencies of 60's garage rock writing. All of this finding its way into songs that most importantly (and above all else) do not sound contrived, rehearsed, too thought out, or anything that's less than a straight kick to your head.

The Moonhearts come from a tight-knit group of local bands, sharing members and sleeping with each other on a regular basis, especially Mikal, who is a total whore to varied underground luminaries like Ty Segall, Okie Dokie, Party Fowl and more. All kidding aside, its a pure and homegrown sound that these guys have developed. Just based on pumping out dirty little anthems and putting em right through the ringer of the sleaze machine at maximum dB. For any fans of the KBD, no bullshit punk/rock type sounds out there, we have a new record for ya. It's just fun, loud, good shit. What can I say? I mean fuck. Enjoy.

In addition to that single, the Moonhearts have split 12" with Teen Anger which features a suprisingly great version of "Tequilla." You can hear their song "Cagemouth" from that EP at the top of this post. Full tour dates and some videos are after the jump...

Continue reading "Ty Segall & Charlie & the Moonhearts - 2009 tour dates, MP3s"