CYHSY at Bowery Ballroom in 2011 (more by Anna Webber)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who now have a radically different line-up, will kick off a tour with Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros today, which runs through early October. That tour doesn't come to NYC, but after taking about a 2 month break, CYHSY will play a local show at Brooklyn Bowl on December 6. Tickets for that show go on sale Wednesday (9/12) at noon.

The video for the title track off CYHSY's 2011 LP, Hysterical, and a list of all dates are below.

Continue reading "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah playing Brooklyn Bowl after tour with Edward Sharpe (dates)"

CYHSY at CBGB Fest in Times Square 7/7/2012  (via @Boxset)

We mentioned in What's Going on Saturday? that there's a Cake Shop benefit tonight at the NYC club to help supplement their PledgeMusic campaign. It's $12 - $20 sliding scale entry with a "secret" headliner. Cake Shop's Twitter gave a few clues to who it might be:

UPDATE: Cat's officially out of the bag -- it's Clap Your Hands Say Yeah who played early today at in Times Square as part of CBGB Fest. The Cake Shop show will now be CYHSY's last with Tyler and Robbie. Bands start at 9PM.

Hey everyone,
Just writing to let you know that Saturday's show is going to be my last one with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
I am very proud of what this band has accomplished over the past eight years, and I will miss playing with such talented musicians. I wish Alec, Sean and Lee the best of luck with whatever CYHSY does in the future. I wish Robbie the best of luck with his musical and horticultural endeavors. As for me, I am currently in the process of forming a presidential exploratory committee for 2016.
I hope to see you on Saturday. Expect an epic bass solo.
Tyler

Radical Dads have two shows coming up: July 14 at Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, CT, and July 15 at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge in Brooklyn (with Disco Doom, Grass is Green, and Ovlov).

The free CBGB Festival show in Times Square (Stages on Broadway at 46th Street & 51st Street) happens Saturday (7/7) from Noon to 6pm with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Hold Steady, Duff McKagan's Loaded, Superchunk, Glint, Upper West, and Zulu Wave.

The CBGB Festival starts today (7/5) and runs through Sunday (7/8) at over 30 venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn. We've known that they were staging a big outdoor Times Square concert on Saturday (7/7) for a little while and guessed that Superchunk, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The Hold Steady were going play it. The whole lineup has since been confirmed. Superchunk, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and The Hold Steady are in fact playing, and they'll be joined by Duff McKagan's Loaded, Upper West, Zulu Wave and GLINT. The stages will be on Broadway at 46th Street & 51st Street and the free show runs from noon to 6 PM this Saturday (7/7). In addition to the music there will be food, drinks, music shop booths, and music themed activities for people of all ages.

As mentioned, the festival kicks off today and Krist Novoselic will give the keynote speech at Landmark Sunshine Cinema at noon. Update: That happened. here's a picture:

Krist Novoselic giving keynote speech (photo via A.M. Saddler)

There's tons of other shows at CBGB Festival too, like the big lineup of punk veterans playing Bowery Electric tonight (7/5), which Richard Lloyd unfortunately had to drop off. Fidlar plays The Studio at Webster Hall tonight (7/5) with The Pinz, The Suicide Bitches, and The Wicked Tomorrow (tickets). Plus, there's many more too.

Most of the other shows during CBGB Fest do cost money, and you can either buy tickets for individual shows (if not already sold out) or buy a music pass ($89). The full schedule with set times is online. There's also a film festival going on (schedule), panel discussions, and a "spirits festival."

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in Philly in 2011 (more by Colin Kerigan)

The Times Sqaure show also marks the last for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah with guitarist Robbie Guertin who wrote to fans in an email:

Being a member of Clap has been an incredible experience, but I have decided to move on and see what's next. I will continue to make music with my other band, Radical Dads, pursue miscellaneous artistic endeavors, and also grow some vegetables. I am excited to see what else might come my way. Maybe some tomatoes?

Meanwhile, after CBGB Fest, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will take a bit of a break and are then heading out on a tour with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes this September. That tour will see the band hitting up cities in the US and Canada, but unfortunately none in the Northeast. A list of all dates on that tour is below.

Continue reading "CBGB Fest starts today: Hold Steady, CYHSY, Superchunk & more confirmed for Times Square Show; Robbie leaves CYHSY"

Not too much has changed on the CBGB Festival schedule since we last spoke, but we found out and have confirmed that the multi-day (July 5-8), multi-venue, multi-genre NYC festival will host a free, multi-stage event in Times Square on Saturday, July 7th. The outdoor Times Square show, in addition to live music, will also have food, drinks, music shop booths, and music themed activations for people of all ages. We can't say WHO is playing in Times Square, but we do know that unlike Fidlar, Redd Kross and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., the following CBGB Festival bands are still venueless: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Hold Steady, and Superchunk. Stay tuned for more info.

That said, it's pretty impressive that they pulled this off and it's definitely a rarity to be able to host a big, outdoor event, let alone a rock show like this in Times Square. It has also proved me wrong, at least to the person I was talking to at NXNE in Toronto when I said, "they would never do anything like this in NYC".

CYHSY at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, Sept 2011 (more by Colin Kerrigan)

Superchunk and Redd Kross aren't the only CBGB Fest show happening at South Street Seaport venue Beekman Beer Garden (where we hosted a Hold Steady show last year). Wyclef Jean headlines the venue on July 7 as part of the fest, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah do the same on July 8. It's also the location of the Spirits Festival which also happens July 8, but earlier in the day (2 - 6PM). No advance ticket info (or openers) for either Wyclef or CYHSY, but you can keep an eye on Ticketweb and/or try to get in with a CBGB Fest badge.

There are lots of other shows happening at Beekman this summer, including the 4Knots afterparty with Black Lips (and just-added Jonathan Toubin). Dan Bern, moe. and more.

The CBGB Festival is happening at venues all over the city. Those venues include Webster Hall which will host two big hardcore shows, and Central Park Summerstage which will be home to Guided by Voices and more.

Gabriel & the Hounds aka Takka Takka frontman Gabe Levine & band is releasing an album called "Kiss Full Of Teeth" via Ernest Jenning on 2/28. The album was co-produced by Gabe and Sean Greenhalgh of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and features a large cast of guest musicians including other members of Takka Takka, CYHSY and The National. The full credits are listed below along with the cover art and a song you can listen to.

Still need Valentine's Day plans? Gabriel & the Hounds play an early record release show at Mercury Lounge in NYC TONIGHT (2/14), and many of the same guests who appear on the album, and more, are expected on stage (such as Bryan Devendorf & Conrad Doucette on drums, the horn section from the National & Mia Riddle).

Gabe also has a UK tour planned for March. All dates and the other stuff, below...

Continue reading "Gabriel & the Hounds (aka Gabe of Takka Takka) releasing LP, playing NYC tonight (w/ members of The National)"

"Following last year's 10th anniversary, which crushed previous attendance records and set a new mark for the speed with which tickets sold out, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2012 lineup which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 25-28 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA."

Continue reading "Sasquatch! 2012 lineup announced (Bon Iver, Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Shins, Portlandia, Spiritualized & more) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Radical Dads - Little Tomb (Pursesnatchers Remix) (MP3)

Radical Dads at Bruar Falls, CMJ 2011

As I mentioned earlier, Radical Dads are playing the BV Holiday Party at Brooklyn Night Bazaar on Friday, December 16 that also features headliners Fucked Up, plus Big Troubles, Caged Animals (and more more TBA) as well as Frankie Rose on the decks. All for only $10. One of my favorite live bands in Brooklyn, Radical Dads are definitely worth showing up early for.

Before that you can see Radical Dads open for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah this Wednesday (12/7) at Webster Hall. Waters also play the show and tickets are still available. Robbie Guertin will be a busy man that night, as he's in both bands (drums for Rad Dads, guitar in CYHSY).

By the time of our holiday show, Radical Dads' debut album, Mega Rama, should be out on vinyl (and at the merch table) which would make a great holiday gift for the classic indie rock lover in your life. As I've said before, if you like Wild Flag, this has a similar vibe and great songs, though much less hyped. We've got a version of LP-opener "Little Tomb" remixed by Pursesnatchers, adding a few layers of soaring guitars to the song which was already reaching the stratosphere. Download it above. And you can stream all of Mega Rama at the bottom of this post.

Continue reading "Radical Dads playing BV night @ Brooklyn Bazaar, opening for CYHSY @ Webster, remixed by Pursesnatchers (MP3 debut)"

photos by Anna Webber

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Bowery Ballroom

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who we just mentioned will play a live performance for KEXP at Ace Hotel during CMJ, also have some other upcoming dates coming up. The band will play Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin and then play a few Australian dates before returning to the US for a few shows in November/December which includes Webster Hall on December 7 (three days before the just-announced Antlers show at the same venue). Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Friday (10/7) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (10/5) at noon.

Considering CYHSY's last NYC show was at Bowery Ballroom and it sold out pretty quickly, Webster Hall seems to make sense this time around. Speaking of that Bowery show, which was one day before that Philly show at Union Transfer, here are some pics from it.

Check out their video for "Maniac" off the recently released Hysterical, their performance of "Same Mistake" from the same album on Fallon, more Bowery pics and all dates below...

Continue reading "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah played Bowery (belated pics), playing Webster Hall (and other dates)"

Zola Jesus at Pitchfork Fest (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Seattle's KEXP will present free daytime live radio broadcasts during CMJ from the lobby of NYC's Ace Hotel again this year.

On October 19, Zola Jesus, We Are Augustines, Portugal. The Man, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will perform during the day with "Matador, 4AD, and Rough Trade DJs" at night. On October 20, there will be performances by Widowspeak, Givers(who opens for Portugal. The Man at Webster Hall), Dum Dum Girls (who also plays Bowery Ballroom), and The Lonely Forest, and DJ sets by Acephale Records and RVNG INTL. On October 21, there will be performances by WATERS (who has other CMJ shows), EMA (who has two other CMJ shows), Atlas Sound, and one more TBA, and DJ sets by Group Tightener and Merge Records. You can just show up and watch, or else tune into KEXP to listen on those days.

Speaking of Zola Jesus, her great new LP, Conatus, came out today via Sacred Bones. Stream the entire thing at The Guardian. She has other CMJ shows at Knitting Factory and Le Poisson Rouge.

Full CMJ KEXP schedule below...

Continue reading "KEXP recording CMJ sets @ the Ace Hotel, new Zola Jesus out today (and still streaming)"

words & photos by Colin Kerrigan

Rumors that Sean Agnew of R5 Productions was planning to open his own venue had been swirling around for a couple years now but were always denied by Mr. Agnew. However, everyone had a sense that it was bound to happen eventually. Earlier this year it was finally confirmed. Agnew/R5 Productions teamed up with NY promoters Bowery Presents and Avram Hornik and Mark Fichera of Four Corners Management to open a new Philly venue.

Union Transfer, which was most recently a gigantic Spaghetti Warehouse and was apparently at one time a train depot back in the day, had captured the attention of all the music lovers in the city prior to its opening. Everyone wanted to know what it was like and what the sound was like (R5 boasted that it would be the best sounding venue in the city). On Wednesday night they found out.

The space has very tall ceilings with chandeliers hanging down, both standing and seated balconies (with great sightlines), three different bars each with their own unique atmostphere, plenty of floor space and the sound lived up to expectations.

Even though the venue has had only one show so far but it's safe to say that the venue is one of, if not the best, venue in the city.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Polica played that first show at the the venue (one night after they played Bowery Ballroom in NYC). Here are some pictures from the show. They continue below...

Continue reading "CYHSY & Polica played the 1st show @ Philly's new Union Transfer (pics)"

by Andrew Sacher

Channy with Gayngs at Stubbs in March (more by Timothy Griffin)

Polica (pronounced po-lisa), the new project of Channy Casselle (formerly of Roma Di Luna and currently the lead female vocalist of Gayngs) are set to release their debut LP this year. The album was co-written and produced by fellow Gayngs member Ryan Olson (also of Marijuana Deathsquads), mixed by Jim Eno (of Spoon), and features guest vocals by Mike Noyce of Bon Iver on two songs. The album's got a sort of electro-R&B influenced indie rock feel and Channy belts out some incredible melodies which are aided by pretty tasteful voice manipulation. You can hear two tracks from the album at Polica's website now, including "Lay Your Cards Out," which features Mike Noyce. The album's tracklist is below.

Polica recently kicked off a short run of East Coast dates opening for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on their tour which includes the sold out Bowery Ballroom show tonight (9/20). If you've got tickets, get there early to check out Polica's set.

If you weren't able to get tickets for tonight's show, you can catch Polica in NYC again at the last night of Gayngs member Ryan Olson's other group Marijuana Deathsquads' residency at Bowery Electric with Har Mar Superstar in October (tickets).

Polica tracklist and dates below...

Continue reading "check out Polica (Channy Casselle of Gayngs & special guests) -- in NYC now on tour, streaming 2 songs"

Union Transfer rendering

Lots of interesting stuff to report in the world of live concert promotions...

NYC concert promoter Bowery Presents, who already has expanded to NJ, Boston, Maine, and Canandaigua, NY (not to mention MSG, Jones Beach, the Meadowlands, Radio City, etc), is opening a new music venue in Philadelphia this month. In partnership with Philly's one and only Sean Agnew of R5 Productions, and Avram Hornik and Mark Fichera of Four Corners Management, Union Transfer is...

... "named after the original train depot station that occupied the building [and] was developed by the group to meet Philadelphia's need for a mid-sized live music space and will accommodate 600 people. The general admission venue boasts a flexible capacity and can manage up to 1,000 people for larger crowds. Located at 1004-26 Spring Garden St, steps from Center City, Union Transfer is slated to open on September 21, 2011.

In perhaps less exciting news for Bowery Presents, Mercury Lounge talent buyer Jay Belin has reportedly moved on and started booking Irving Plaza, Gramercy Theatre and the new Paramount Theatre in Huntington, Long Island for Live Nation.

The Paramount Theatre is...

...located on New York Avenue a block and a half north of Main Street. The space is the former home of the nonprofit Inter-Media Arts Center (IMAC), which closed its doors in 2009 after 26 years of hosting jazz, folk and blues concerts.

The 1,500-capacity venue has been undergoing renovations for months. Among the changes, there will be a VIP lounge on the balcony and a member's only "Founder's Room" with a separate entrance in addition to the general admission floor.

"With both the architecture and the vibe of the venue dedicated to quality sound, hospitality, and experience, The Paramount is sure to be a hotspot for all of Long Island, and especially for Huntington," the founders said in a news release." [Long Island Press]

Speaking of moving on, Rock Shop booker Jack McFadden aka Skippy has moved to the music capital of Texas. He is still booking the Brooklyn club (and other NYC rooms) though. You just won't see him there as much.

Speaking of expanding, the race is on to see who can open in Chicago first. Will it be Brooklyn Bowl? or City Winery?

Speaking of Brooklyn Bowl, and last but not least for this post, the Wetlands is having a Class of '96 reunion at Brooklyn Bowl on Sunday (9/11). Ex-employees of the famed Tribeca club who will probably be in attendance include Rocks Off founder Jake Szufnarowski, Bowery Ballroom (and Union Transfer co-booker) Johnny Beach and of course ex-Wetlands owner and current Brooklyn Bowl owner Peter Shapiro. Brooklyn Bowl hosted a Wetlands get together of sorts in 2010 too, though that one was on a much sadder note, as it was to remember Wetlands' very first employee Dave Nolan who died of a heart attack last year.

photos by Ryan Barkan

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Conversion Party played a last minute BrooklynVegan-presented show, announced that morning, at Littlefield on Monday. Here are some pictures. More of them along with the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah & Conversion Party @ Littlefield (pics & setlist)"

CYHSY @ Sasquatch 2007 (more by Jerry Yeti)

Surprise! Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, whose sold out 9/20 Bowery Ballroom show was your next and first public time to catch the band in NYC since their return, will play a BrooklynVegan-presented show at the smaller (but 21+) Littlefield in Brooklyn TONIGHT (8/8) with Conversion Party . A very limited number of tickets will go on sale at noon, and we're also giving away 15 pairs!

Details on how to win, widgets to download two new songs and more tour dates below....

Continue reading "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah playing Littlefield TONIGHT (win or buy tix) +++ updated 2011 Tour Dates & new songs"

Slayer at Izod Center (photos by Samantha Marble)

Slayer, Thee Oh Sees, Public Enemy, Girls, Danzig Legacy, (Danzig + Doyle von Frankenstein playing Misfits, Samhain & Danzig), Hot Snakes, Diplo, Major Lazer, Henry Rollins, Ted Leo & The Phramacists, Spank Rock, Murder City Devils, Hum, Lykke Li, Passion Pit, Four Tet, Rakim, The Damned, Austra, Purity Ring, and Flynt Flossy are just a few of the acts announced today as part of the Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 lineup. Another amazing year! Check out the full lineup below and stay tuned for more announcements coming in August and September.

The new additions to the Austin, Texas festival, which takes place from 11/4 - 11/6, are in addition to the the previous "lineup leaks" that included Brian Posehn, Odd Future, Okkervil River, M83, X (performing "Los Angeles"), Reggie Watts, Flying Lotus, Tune-Yards, Ra Ra Riot, Kid Dynamite and others

2011 is the festival's sixth year, but first at its new home Auditorium Shores (no more Waterloo Park). Tickets are on sale now.

Slayer also has a NYC performance coming up with Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth as part of the "Big Four" show at Yankee Stadium on 9/14. Tickets are still available.

Fun Fun Fun 2011 flyer and almost-full lineup is below.

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 lineup (Danzig Legazy, Passion Pit, Slayer, Lykke Li, The Damned, Henry Rollins & much more)"

Ted Leo, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Sun Airway, Booker T, Ra Ra Riot, and Emmylou Harris are some of the artists NPR is streaming from Camden, NJ (hear Philly) this weekend.

As discussed, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are gearing up for their return (a comeback?) with a new album and live shows. More dates have been added to their tour and that includes September 20th at Bowery Ballroom. That's the same day Hysterical (the new LP) will be released in the US. Tickets for the NYC show goes on sale Friday at noon. All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Clap Your Hands Say yeah announce more tour dates (including Bowery Ballroom)"

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ BAM in 2009 (more by Natasha Ryan)

"We have a new album coming out! It's called Hysterical, and it will be available on September 20th in the US, and September 12th in the UK, Europe, Japan, and Australia. ALSO, we are re-issuing our 1st album on vinyl. It has been remastered. We always thought the vinyl could sound better. That will be available on June 14th." - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

A Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album teaser video and some initial tour dates, Outside Lands Festival included (they were not part of the festival's lineup announcement), below...

Continue reading "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah return, new LP & dates announced"

photos by Bao Nguyen

Cold War Kids offering a free bootleg of the Terminal 5 show

CYHSY frontman Alec Ounsworth just finished opening a string of dates or Cold War Kids including two shows in NYC - January 28th show at Music Hall of Williamburg, and the 29th at Terminal 5. The pictures in this post are of CWK at Terminal 5. Bao missed Alec due to a slight ticket mix up at the door.

Cold War Kids, whose have just one upcoming date advertised at the moment (in Alaska), but Alec, who recently released two solo albums (one of which came out on ANTI-), is now on his first headlining tour...

Ounsworth's band is Matt Sutton, Peter Modavis, Brian Ashby and Jonas Oesterle. They will be playing songs from Mo Beauty, Skin and Bones as well as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's catalog.

Cold War Kids, who didn't end up playing the Bell House Haiti relief benefit on Wednesday, January 27th, recently put out an EP called Behave Yourself. The video for the song "Audience" off that is below. The song is also downloadable at RCRDLBL. That video, more pictures and dates are below..

Continue reading "Alec Ounsworth (CYHSY) played MHOW & Terminal 5 w/ Cold War Kids (pics, bootleg), now on headlining tour (dates) "

photos by Chris La Putt, words by Bill Pearis

Au Revoir Simone have spent the better part of 2009 working on, promoting and touring in support of their second album, Still Light, Still Night, wrapping things up -- for now, at least -- with a Brooklyn show at the Bell House on October 24 (tickets), which is part of the CMJ Music Marathon. The Bell House is also where their new video, "Shadows," was filmed. You can watch it over at the David Lynch Foundation Television website. Lynch has been a fan ever since he and ARS were paired together for that Barnes & Noble Upstairs at the Square event two years ago. He even wrote a nice little blurb for the girls:

"I LOVE AU REVOIR SIMONE ..... THESE GIRLS HAVE WHAT IT TAKES ..... MUSIC JUST FLOWS OUT OF THEM SO NATURALLY - AND IT'S GREAT MUSIC ...... THIS VIDEO FOR "SHADOWS" - FROM THEIR NEW ALBUM "STILL NIGHT, STILL LIGHT" IS MIGHTY - THE COLOR AND THE LIGHT ARE STELLAR - THE MOVES AND LOOKS - MINIMAL - CLEAN - MODERN AND SOLID ..... IT ALL COMES ALONG SO WELL SUPPORTING THE GIRLS AND THEIR MUSIC ..... ANNIE, ERIKA AND HEATHER HAVE GOT THEIR ACT TOGETHER - THEY'RE BIG - BUT THEY'RE GONNA BE BIGGER - THEY'RE GONNA BE REAL BIG"

In November, Au Revoir Simone travel to China for shows in Beijing and Shanghai. Tour dates are at the bottom of this post, as are more pictures from Au Revoir Simone's Bowery show from back in June. Findlay Brown, who is also playing CMJ at the same venue (Bowery), opened that June show.

In between now and ARS's trip to China, ARS member Annie Hart will spend some time with her other band, Uninhabitable Mansions, which also features Robbie and Tyler from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Uninhabitable Mansions' debut album, Nature is a Taker, is out now digitally, with the CD version due at the end of October and vinyl in January. Uninhabitable Mansions, which now includes Annie Hart's husband (and former Dirty on Purpose member) Doug Marvin on drums, has two NYC shows coming up: a free show next Wednesday (10/14) at Cake Shop which is part of the MIXER Reading Series, then they'll play the Bell House on October 22 (part of CMJ) with Robbers on High Street, Freelance Whales (who are also on the Bowery Ballroom show Findlay is playing), Pomegrates and others. After that, they're going on a short East Coast tour, ending with a October 30 show at Union Pool. Then the band's on hold until the new year when they expect to launch a more extensive U.S. tour.

And while we're here, Robbie and Chris of Uninhabitable Mansions have another band,Radical Dads, whose new self-titled EP is downloadable for free.

CYHSY front-man Alec Ounsworth meanwhile has been doing his own thing and is appearing at Mercury Lounge during CMJ, as well as at a free BrooklynVegan day party at Pianos that same day (10/22). More details TBA.

Tour dates for Au Revoir Simone and Uninhabitable Mansions, plus more pictures from Au Revoir Simone's June 28 Bowery Ballroom show are below...

Continue reading "Au Revoir Simone, David Lynch, Uninhabitable Mansions, Radical Dads & CMJ - tour dates, pictures, free music & more"

Thursday, 10/22 - CMJ showcase @ Mercury Lounge in NYC

Sean Bones 1:00
Local Natives 12:00
Hockey 11:00
Ambulance LTD 10:00
Alec Ounsworth (of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) 9:00
Patrick Watson 8:00
JBM 7:00

Continue reading "Alec Ounsworth playing shows (dates), CMJ w/ Ambulance LTD, Patrick Watson, JBM, Sean Bones & more"

There's a few of my songs in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut "Whip it". Drew was really nice, she flew me out to LA, we had a cup of coffee and she showed me some clips from the movie. Usually I say no to film synchs because you just get a short synopsis from someone's agent's agent, and I always feel awkward my song will end up in the wrong context. You know, I write my songs for specific people, I find it hard to find them applied to someone elses story. But Drew listened to my concerns and we discussed the scenes she had in mind.

At some point our conversation drifted away and I think we were talking about monkeys, and it just struck me right there and then how surreal my life has become. And how absurd it is when anyone expects any kind of real compensation in this business. Compensation for what ? I've been touring on and off like crazy, I've put so much work into recording and writing. And in the end what I make my money from is talking to Drew Barrymore about monkeys...

The soundtrack is compiled by Randall Poster, who put together the soundtracks for the Wes Andersson movies among others. His soundtracks are like amazing little jukeboxes of random goodies. I haven't seen the movie but it seems to be falling smoothly into the category of American movies about teenage love and alternative sports. From Breaking Away to Bring It On. -Jens Lekman

The film itself stars Ellen Page and is about roller derby. Its trailer, which includes a nice chunk of Weezer's "Pork and Beans," is posted below...

Continue reading "Drew Berrymore movie 'Whip It' stars Jens Lekman (songs) "

Alec Ounsworth to Pitchfork: That's precisely the confusion with this [ANTI solo] record. I actually have another project right now called Flashy Python that's more about me trying to erect some grand statement [laughs]. Not to say the Alec Ounsworth record or Clap Your Hands aren't personal statements. But the Alec Ounsworth record was me going down to New Orleans for a short period of time and trying to piece something together based on a collection of mostly old songs. I figured this would be a good opportunity to purge myself of those songs in a very precise and particular setting.

The Flashy Python record includes contributions from members of the Walkmen (Matt Barrick the drummer), Dr. Dog (Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken), and Man Man (Billy Dufala). Alec's wife also plays some trumpet. He plays just about everything. Grab one track below...

Continue reading "an Alec Ounsworth solo record is out NOW (not the ANTI one)"