DOWNLOAD: DIamond Terrifier - "It's Already After The End Of The World" (Freedom Garden 10-8-11) (MP3)

Diamond Terrifier

Diamond Terrifier (aka Sam Hilmer of Zs) is introducing his new bi-weekly series, 'PRACTICE!' taking place at Zebulon every other Tuesday. This month it takes place on January 17 and 31, and he's performing at and curating each one. The 1/17 show includes Lichens, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix (of Liturgy who are opening for Zola Jesus at Webster Hall), LZA/Dutch E. Germ (of Gang Gang Dance), and DJ sets by Laurel Halo and The Oracle. The 1/31 show includes Dan Friel< GDFX, Rat Attack, and DJ sets by Chief Boima (of Dutty Artz) and The Oracle. All shows in this series are free.

Diamond Terrifier also has a bunch of other shows coming up in NYC this month, including one TONIGHT (1/10) at Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn, where he will perform a live score for the film Shaman of the Blind Country, narrated by William S. Burroughs. He also plays Shea Stadium on Saturday (1/14) with Controlled Bleeding and Dan Friel, and Littlefield on January 18 with Patrick Higgins and Eric Wubbles (tickets). The next night he'll be in Brooklyn again at La Sala (1/19) with Extra Life, and Union Pool on January 24 with Dan Friel, Zulus and Grooms.

Diamond Terrifier is also set to release his first official full length this September via Northern Spy. The album will be produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear. Until then, he's been releasing a single every month on his website. Check out this month's installment, a live recording of "It's Already After The End Of The World" from Freedom Garden in October, below, and download it above.

All dates and the stream below...

Continue reading "Diamond Terrifier playing & curating shows w/ many special guests, working on an album (dates & MP3)"

The solo project of Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor aka CANT will head out on tour in October that includes the previously-announced NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on October 25th. Tickets are still on sale, but you won't have to wait that long to see CANT in Manhattan. CANT will play a free, late night, Spotify-sponsored Terrible Records showcase at Mercury Lounge on August 28th with Blood Orange (who also open all dates on the tour). Doors are at 9pm. First come, first served. Everyone who shows up will get a Spotify invite, and it will be CANT's first-ever NYC show.

Meanwhile head to Mercury Lounge at 10pm on August 25th for the next free Spotify show with Oberhofer, Exitmusic and The Suzan.

CANT's album Dreams Come True is out on September 13 via Terrible Records. The second single "Believe" is streaming below along with all dates...

Continue reading "CANT playing free Spotify show w/ Blood Orange (soon), touring this fall (updated 2011 dates)"

DOWNLOAD: CANT - "Ghosts" (MP3)

Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor aka CANT

In 2009, Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor put out first single "Ghosts" under his solo moniker CANT (MP3 above). He's now set to release his first full length for the project, Dreams Come True (which "Ghosts" is not on). The album comes out on September 13 on Chris' own Terrible Records (that he started with Ethan Silverman). George Lewis Jr. of Twin Shadow, whose debut album Forget was produced by Chris Taylor and released on Terrible Records, collaborates with Chris on the new album.

A full tour is about to be announced and that includes a NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on October 25. Tickets for it go on sale Friday (6/24) at noon.

The October tour also includes a Detroit show, a Cambridge, MA show, and Moogfest in Asheville, NC. All dates TBA.

Twin Shadow, who also play Moogfest, have their own upcoming tour too. They'll play Maxwell's on September 6 and Webster Hall on October 7. Tickets go on sale Thursday (6/23) at 9 PM for the Maxwell's show and Friday (6/24) at noon for the Webster Hall show.

Grizzly Bear meanwhile are hard on work on a new album. On June 17th they wrote that they "just want to thank you all for all the support on here recently, we've been enjoying checking in during this recording process. working, recording, writing, working, recording, writing. Hope everyone's summer is going well! :)"

CANT album tracklist below...

Continue reading "Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear is CANT -- solo album info & tour dates announced"

photos by Bryan Bruchman

Spinner: You had an EP out in October, produced by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. How did you team up with him?

Acrylics: Chris Taylor saw us play some shows, and we had some friends in common. He asked us to record initially one track that was going to be on a split 7-inch, and we got into it and recorded an EP. We had about a week to do it. We were in his church studio, which is a beautiful place to record. We had fun. We had been working on a whole record prior to that, and we're still working on that record, slowly. So it was fun that he gave us the opportunity.

• A flyer for tonight's (3/26) show at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn
• More Acrylics tour dates (w/ The Smith Westerns)
• A video of Acrylics at SXSW
• More pictures of Acrylics at SXSW
Acrylics played many shows at SXSW this year, including the very first one apparently. Great bill at Glasslands tonight. All that stuff below...

Continue reading "Acrylics played SXSW (pics), play Glasslands w/ Lissie Trullie, Bear Hands, Holy Ghost! & others tonight + other dates"

Jamie Lidell @ Highline Ballroom in 2008 (more by Chris La Putt)

Jamie Lidell's fourth full-length album, Compass, will be released on May 17th 2010 (May 18th in the US).

The album was recorded in Los Angeles, New York and Canada, and it includes collaborations with Beck, Feist, Gonzales, Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear and Pat Sansone of Wilco.

Sessions began at Beck's Hudson Studios in Los Angeles, where he gathered Jamie together with Wilco, Leslie Feist and veteran drummer James Gadson (who's played with Bill Withers, Quincy Jones among many others) for Beck's Record Club project (where a group of musicians cover an album in a day). Inspired by the chemistry of those jams, they shifted to the legendary Ocean Way Studios. There, they were joined by producer/keyboardist Brian Lebarton, singer Nikka Costa, and Justin Stanley. All would have an important impact on the album. Pat Sansone from Wilco and Chilly Gonzales (who's played on both Multiply and Jim) were present as "musical meta-spirits", recording their parts remotely and delivering them via the internet. As Jamie says of this formidable line-up of brilliant collaborators - "You don't fuck with them"

Back in New York he began to make sense of this "great big mess on the hard drive". Then it was up to Feist's ranch the Niagara Escarpment, Canada with Chris Taylor, member of Grizzly Bear. [Warp]

The new record's title track, an acoustic-guitar led sonic odyssey, is streaming, along with album art, tracklist and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Jamie Lidell announces some shows & a new album w/ Beck, Feist, Gonzales, Chris Taylor, Pat Sansone & more"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Oberhofer - Away FRM U (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Golden Triangle - Neon Noose (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Morning Benders - Promises (MP3)

Oberhofer

If you were like me, you spent last night at home puzzling over the LOST premiere (or maybe you went to the Bell House to watch it.) But maybe in an alternate universe I chose instead to go see Oberhofer at Pianos last night. And also in that alternate universe, everyone has health care and I own my own apartment and there is a jukebox in every high school cafeteria. I digress. Luckily for me in this world, Oberhofer are playing again this Friday (2/5) at The Studio @ Webster Hall with Radical Dads.

There's no shortage of bedroom rockers out there hawking their one-man-bands on MySpace, but Oberhofer definitely have something. While there is plenty of every home recording enthusiast's best friends, reverb and distortion, Oberhoffer is not Wavves-style scuzz. The most obvious comparison is probably The Dodos (clattery drums, glockenspiel, whistling), but I even hear a little Real Estate in there too on the track "Away FRM You" which you can download above. You can download a seven-song EP via his MySpace by giving up your email address. While the recordings are just Brad, he's put together an actual band which is what you'll The Studio @ Webster Hall on Friday.

Savoir Adore

Savoir Adore will play Cake Shop the next three Thursdays. Their debut, In the Wooded Forrest, is loaded with great big pop songs and made my Favorite Albums of 2009 list and they are great live too, so if you've yet to check them out live don't wait any longer. The band has hand-picked the bands for their residency shows, and this Thursday (2/4) is especially good, featuring the very good and fun French Horn Rebellion who you might also see opening for Hot Chip this weekend. The two bands help each other out live (FHR's David Perlick-Molinari plays guitar in Savoir Adore; Savoir's singer Paul Hammer plays drums in FHR) so there should be a good party vibe going on.

Also on the bill are DJ/electronic artist Pocketknife and singer-songwriter Cameron Hull. If you'd like to go I've got a pair of tickets to give away. Just send an email with "Savoir Adore" as the subject to BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM and a winner will be chosen at random.

Hot Chip's show with French Horn Rebellion happens Saturday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg. It's sold out, but you can also catch Hot Chip one night earlier at Highline Ballroom with Free Energy. The MySpace Secret Show is free - first come, first served.

Twin Sister

There's a lot going on this week. Also Thursday, at Studio @ Webster Hall is another Twin Sister show put on by blog Chocolate Bobka. (Seriously, McGregor puts on shows like some people put on pants [ie fairly often].) I finally got to see Twin Sister last Friday at Bruar Falls and I was pretty blown away by how good they are live. Last year's Vampires with Dreaming Kids EP (downloadable from their website), as good as it is, doesn't really give an accurate picture of what they now sound like. These days, they're combining '80s-back-to-jazz (Sade, Style Council) with more drony/Krautrock type stuff (Notwist, Stereolab). They were just fantastic live, and I haven't come away from a show that excited about a new band in some time. Totally impressed. Twin Sister have a bunch of shows coming up and I do suggest you check them out soon, as I think 2010 is gonna be big for them.

In addition to Twin Sister, the line-up includes Big Troubles -- who I like and have written about them before), as well as Run DMT, Pigeons, and Alice Cohen.

And a few more quick recommendations:

Miniboone have their record release party at Glasslands on Wednesday night (tonight, 2/3) with a few other worthy bands: Shark?, I'm Turning Into and Pet Ghost Project. $8.

The Soft Pack's debt album is out today, well worth buying, and they play a free all-ages show at Cake Shop on Friday (2/5). Doors are at Midnight. One of my favorite live bands of the last two years. if you miss the small venue show, they'll back back in March April to play Maxwell's, Mercury Lounge and Music Hall of Williamsburg (all just went on sale).

Montreal's We Are Wolves are in town this weekend, and play The Studio @ Webster Hall on Friday (2/5) and Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday (2/6). The Saturday show is also the Hot Chip MHOW afterparty with a DJ set by the band.

Golden Triangle's debut for Hardly Art, titled Double Jointer, is out on March 3 and you can download an MP3 from it, "Neon Noose," at the top of this post. The band will be going on tour around that time as well (tour dates below) but play a one-off show this Saturday at Union Pool with the Cramps-y garage of K-Holes. This should be a fairy debauched good time.

Acrylics play twice this weekend: Friday night (2/4) at Brooklyn Bowl with Tanlines as part of BAM's "Sounds Like Brooklyn" Festival. Then they're on a kind of amazing bill the next night (2/5) at Glasslands that is officially the record release party for Class Actress' debut EP. Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor (who runs Terrible Records that both bands are on) DJs. The show also features Blood Orange (aka Dev of Lightspeed Champion) and The Morning Benders. That's a good show!

An MP3 from The Morning Benders' new album Big Echo (out March 9th on Rough Trade) is above. All of their March and April tour dates in support of the new record are below.

There's a new video for Acrylics' "Molly's Vertigo" after the jump as well, along with tour dates and flyers...

Continue reading "Oberhofer, Twin Sister, Savoir Adore, Golden Triangle, Acrylics, Morning Benders & more in This Week in Indie"

Live bands included. More details below...

Continue reading "2009 WFMU Record Fair this weekend (w/ live bands)"

Nico Muhly, Chris Taylor & Ed's arm @ BAM (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

"Produced by the band's own Chris Taylor, Veckatimest - named for a Massachusetts island the band visited during recording - is a stunning collection of twelve songs, featuring guest turns by composer Nico Muhly (whose string parts grace four of the tracks) and Beach House's Victoria LeGrand. It's an album of homespun elegance, bubbling with orchestral flourishes, haunted harmony vocals by all four band members, and a graceful, unrestrained beauty. Splitting their time between recordings in Cape Cod and a church hall in their native Brooklyn, Grizzly Bear's attention to details in the studio is felt on every track. The songs and arrangements are more complex than any of their previous compositions, a result of the band writing together in solitude for months on end. Despite their many layers, there remains a sparse, singular quality to these tracks that ultimately makes them so affecting - in between their fine lines are slow-burning emotions and dynamic melodies. Veckatimest is ultimately confident and delicate, sophisticated and alive; a line no one walks with quite as much panache as Grizzly Bear."

Continue reading "Grizzly Bear - all the 2009 North American Tour Dates "

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Department of Eagles played their first full show at the Bell House in Brooklyn last night (Oct 6, 2008). Nat Baldwin (ex-Dirty Projectors) opened the show and played as a DoE band member along with core members Fred Nicolaus and Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear) and additional band members (as seen on Conan a few days earlier) Angel Deredoorian (current-Dirty Projectors) and drummer Christopher Bear (Grizzly Bear). Christopher Bear is not to be confused with Chris Taylor, the (blonde, other Chris) Grizzly Bear member who produced the Grizzly Bear albums (past and future), Dirty Projectors, and the new Department of Eagles album In Ear Park (that was released today and got Best New Music on P4K).

For a first show, it was a great show. The five songs they played as a full band were my favorites and the song Fred sang by himself was an unexpected highlight and crowd favorite, though not as much of a crowd favorite as "No One Does It Like You" which Dan then told the crowd was their only pop song aka we're all suckers for pop songs. DoE play a shorter show at Town Hall tonight (Oct 7). Paul Simon is also on the bill. More pictures and the setlist from last night below...

Continue reading "Department of Eagles & Nat Baldwin @ Bell House, NYC - pics"

photos by Zach Dilgard

Slaraffenland

Efterklang

The Danish bands Efterklang and Slaraffenland passed through NYC to play Knitting Factory on Wednesday night (May 28, 2008).

Slaraffenland played first and was joined on stage by Efterklang's drummer for a few songs (see below for why). Efterklang played last and was joined by all of Slaraffenland during the encore. That put around 13 or 14 people total on stage at the end of the show, including..... Christopher Taylor from Grizzly Bear who got to show off his skills on the tambourine. Casper Clausen of Efterklang said that every time they see Christopher, he gives them some haircuts.

Everyone seemed to be into both bands for the most part, but Bill from Sound Bites definitely preferred Slaraffenland...

Live, Slaraffenland are pretty fascinating to watch, as all the members sing and play at least two instruments... often within the same song. The guitarist played the oboe; the percussionist played a variety of woodwinds; the bassist also played flute; and the keyboardist / sampler was often seen with a trombone. I'm sure the drummer also was a multi-instrumentalist but he was absent at Knitting Factory -- a new father, he had to leave the tour early for daddy duty.

were a little too affected for my tastes, both musically (a lot more precious and grandiose) and visually (they band wore turn-of-the-century garb, including those weird golf/riding pants that are baggy at the thigh and tight through the calf).

Continue reading "Efterklang, Slaraffenland & a member of Grizzly Bear @ Knitting Factory, NYC - pics"