photos by Toby Tenenbaum, words by Black Bubblegum

"Great fucking show. And! Hotboxed my first port-a-potty. Fun!" - Anonymous | July 1, 2009 1:17 AM

The rain let up, the band came out, and a wonderful evening of music in Central Park ensued. Explosions in the Sky, the Austin based quartet, brought its rolling, meandering, lyric-free virtuousity to the heart of NYC and held a packed crowd in rapt attention at the Rumsey Playfield... Wordless music is often an acquired taste to an audience with limited attention spans and a multitude of distractions. But the sheer power of this band, with intricate interlocking guitar lines and a brilliant drummer has won over a sizable following. I saw them a few years back at the intimate Bowery Ballroom, but this show in the park even topped last year's sold out and packed show at Terminal 5. Fun indeed!
[The Notaworry Blog]

Explosions In The Sky, Constantines and Castanets topped off a noteworthy triple bill at Central Park's Summerstage amidst the rain last night (6/30), creating a little artificial sunshine of their own. The current round of EITS shows is to commemorate the band's tenth anniversary and it showed at Summerstage; the band pulled equally from their prior releases with special attention paid to their 2001 mouthful-of-an-LP-especially-for-a-instrumental-band Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever. Full setlist below.

EITS has an additional few dates on the current leg of their US tour, concluding in their native Austin, Texas on July 4th. If there are fireworks (explosions in the sky...) after the show, that will make it the second time this year that happened to them in their hometown. After that, Austin's instrumental finest will head back on the road, though this time with inflatable plastic bubbles, confetti guns, and skeleton suits in tow.... meaning with The Flaming Lips.

Constantines were recently featured on Volume 6 of the Arts & Crafts sampler curated by Kevin Drew (of Broken Social Scene). Downloadable for free, the sampler contains unreleased tracks by Amy Millan (of Stars), The Hidden Cameras, and The Most Serene Republic as well as contributions for The Stills, Apostle of Hustle, Los Campesinos! and many others. Get that here.

Castanets are going on a tour in July that includes a hometown show at Cake Shop here in NYC.

The EITS setlist and more Summerstage pictures below...

Continue reading "Explosions in the Sky, Constantines & Castanets @ Central Park Summerstage - pics & setlist"

Explosions in the Sky @ Sasquatch 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

Explosions in the Sky, Constantines and Castanets are playing Central Park Summerstage on Tuesday, June 30th. Tickets for that, which is not one of the NYC park's free shows, are sold out.

Castanets also have a NYC show coming up at Cake Shop on July 10th - part of a much larger July tour. All dates below.

Later this summer, EITS will be opening several dates for the Flaming Lips. Billboard writes that, "Concertgoers who buy Flaming Lips tickets online will receive a digital EP with new songs "Convinced of the Hex," "The Impulse" and "Silver Trembling Hands" [from the Lip's forthcoming album Embyronic]," as well as "three digital B-side tracks" and a "digital download bootleg of the concert they attended."

Explosions in the Sky was also scheduled to play Broken Social Scene's Olympic Island Festival on July 11th. That show has been canceled because, among other reasons, the Molson Indy was scheduled for the same day nearby. BSS's Kevin Drew wrote, "For us to ask, Rattlesnake Choir, Apostle of Hustle and Beach House to play while the sounds of racecars roar across the lake is absolutely ridiculous and insulting."

Instead, there will be a free Broken Social Scene show the same day at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre. Rattlesnake Choir will open. The gig is one of a few July/August dates for BSS, who're recording their fourth full-length album in Chicago with John McEntire of Tortoise. The record will be their first without the production of David Newfeld.

Broken Social Scene recently played a surprise show at Arts & Crafts' NXNE showcase on June 17th. The performance included some new-album material and an appearance by Feist who is rarely a member of BSS these days, and who recently sang at a Grizzly Bear show in the same city. Videos, with the above-mentioned tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Explosions in the Sky (Tuesday), Flaming Lips (touring), Broken Social Scene (played w/ Feist) - all dates, other news"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: I Was a King - Norman Bleik (MP3)

Oslo, Norway's I Was a King are headed to America for a fairly extensive US tour, including two stops in NYC: May 30 at Mercury Lounge (with UK's great The Wave Pictures) and May 31 at Union Hall. The band's self-titled debut came out earlier this month via The Control Group, who have released albums by The Figurines and El Perro Del Mar.

For all intents and purposes, I Was A King are a duo: Frode Strømstad, who's a Norwegian indie gadabout and owner of Hype City Records) and Anne Lise Frøkedal (who also fronts her own excellent band, Harrys Gym). The album was actually made in Brooklyn, at the Ladybug Transistor's Marlborough Farms studio with big help from head Ladybug Gary Olsen and fellow Norwegian Emil Nikolaisen of Serena Maneesh. Sufjan Stevens helps out on a few tracks, as does Danielson. Live, the band is fleshed out to a five-piece, including ex-Serena Maneesh member Håvard Krogedal on bass.

If you like '60s pysch pop, '90s psych pop (Elephant 6), Dinosaur Jr. and Teenage Fanclub, chances are you're going to like I Was a King. Teenage Fanclub, actually, are punnily namechecked on the band's first single, "Norman Bleik," which you can download at the top of this post. Video of them performing the song on Norwegian television and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "I Was A King (from Norway) - 2009 Tour Dates, video & MP3"

Apostle Of Hustle, a.k.a. Andrew Whiteman of Broken Social Scene with bassist Julian Brown (Feist) and drummer Dean Stone (Sarah Harmer, Amy Millan), will play the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on Wednesday, June 10th with Forro in the Dark. Tickets go on AmEx presale today at noon, and general sale Friday at noon.

Before then, Apostle of Hustle has a short late-May tour around his homebase of Toronto, Ontario. That's right around the release of AoH's new album, Eats Darkness, out May 19th on Arts & Crafts.

"Recorded in Toronto, and working once again with renowned producer and sound technician, Martin Davis Kinack (Sarah Harmer, Broken Social Scene, Hayden), Eats Darkness is based on the notion that the greatest art is often drawn from the darkest of experiences - consuming darkness to expel light."

Apostle of Hustle is also on the bill for the Olympic Island Festival on July 11th. Also playing is Broken Social Scene, Explosions in the Sky, Beach House and more. The annual fest takes place on the island of the same name, which is near Toronto. Tickets (which include a ferry ride from downtown Toronto) are on sale. More details below.

The Constantines, whose new album Too Slow For Love was released by Arts & Crafts on March 17th, are opening for Explosions in the Sky at Central Park Summerstage.

All AoH tour dates with Eats Darkness art and track list, and Olympic Island info, below...

Continue reading "Apostle of Hustle releasing new album, playing Bowery Ballroom & Olympic Island Festival with BSS & EITS "

"Though promoters around the country report strong early ticket sales for festivals and summer tours, the recession is causing jitters. This year Coachella, which has the most glamorous reputation of all American festivals, began selling tickets on layaway, and 18 percent of its customers took that option, Mr. Tollett said.

The proliferation of big festivals, like Bonnaroo near Nashville and Lollapalooza in Chicago, has not been without casualties. This year Langerado in Miami shut down, citing the economy. The Pemberton Festival in British Columbia is on hiatus after only one year, although its promoter, Live Nation, said the problem was permit delays." [NY Times]

With all the leaks of bands playing Lollapalooza this year, there are almost no surprises in the official lineup announcement, except maybe the Animal Collective DJ set... The whole thing below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2009 - the official & complete lineup"

Summerstage in 2008 @ Born Ruffian show (more by Ryan Muir)

Constantines will open the Tuesday, June 30th Explosions in the Sky show at the Central Park Summerstage. Tickets for that show, which does cost money, are still on sale. More EITS dates HERE.

UPDATE: I'm told Constantines is not 100% confirmed for Summerstage.

M. Ward is playing Summerstage this summer as well. His Saturday, August 1st show is free -- and the openers are... Mike Watt and Nels Cline. It's not clear yet whether the duo will actually be playing together, separately, or as The Black Gang. As previously mentioned, "[Watt's] upcoming recording plans include...a separate project to be done with the black gang (Nels Cline from Wilco and Bob Lee), about what he calls 'my autumn.'" Last year some studio footage of Watt & Cline in the studio was posted to YouTube. You can watch that below.

Before all that, Mike Watt, with the Missingmen, has a huge tour planned for late spring. It kicks off on April 17th and runs straight through to Sasquatch Fest on May 24th, with a few days off in early May to record in Brooklyn. It's around that time that Mike appears at both Maxwell's and Mercury Lounge

Nels Cline is in NYC as we speak - continuing with a set of dates this weekend (April 10th-12th) at the Blue Note as part of the Jenny Scheinman Trio.

All Constantines tour dates and Black Gang Videos below...

Continue reading "Mike Watt & Nels Cline opening for M Ward @ Summerstage, Constantines touring, opening for EITS in Central Park?"

Yeasayer @ NYU (more by Leia Jospe)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Blip Festival
* BB King @ BB King's
* Brian Posehn @ Comix
* Red, Hot & Rio 2 @ BAM
* Twisted Sister @ Nokia Theater
* Suicidal Tendencies & Madball @ Starland
* Glenn Kotche & Kronos Quartet @ Carnegie Hall
* Lemonade & Bell @ Zebulon
* The Duke Spirit @ The Wonder Bar
* Stellastarr* & Irv Irving @ Pianos
* Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ Webster Hall
* Passion Pit, Red Foxx & Shuttle @ Glasslands
* Yeasayer, Chairlift & Fang Island @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* O'Death, Titus Andronicus & Wye Oak @ Bowery Ballroom
* LA Riots, Tittsworth, Klever & BM Linx @ (le) poisson rouge
* Tim Hecker & Wordless Music Orchestra @ (le) poisson rouge
* Aa, Dinowalrus, Say No! to Architecture, Effing, Liturgy, Orphans & Magnet City Kids @ Death By Audio

There's a craft fair at Knitting Factory on Saturday.

Tim Fite is opening for Constantines at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday.

The Constantines' (new?) video for "Credit River" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Friday?"

Toronto quintet Constantines have announced a slew of North American dates later this fall including their first ever trip to Mexico in continued support of their fourth full-length, Kensington Heights, which hit stores this spring on Arts & Crafts. The band is currently in the midst of traveling to four Ontario universities as part of the Flick Off Express tour, promoting smarter energy consumption. The Constantines will then head to Mexico City to perform November 8 at ManiFest. Kensington Heights will be released in early November on Arts & Crafts Mexico. Canadian and U.S. dates run from November 27 in Waterloo, ON to December 19 in Hamilton, ON including shows in Boston, New York and Chicago.

Tickets for a December 7th Music Hall of Williamsburg show in Brooklyn, NY go on sale at noon. All dates below...

Continue reading "Constantines - 2008 Tour Dates"

Constantines @ Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY - Apr 19, 2008 (Jason Bergman)

The Constantines played their 2nd of two NYC shows at Southpaw in Brooklyn on Saturday night. Jason has a few more pics at his Flickr.

More interesting: the cover the Constantines recorded with Feist of Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton's hit song "Islands in the Stream". You can listen to it at MySpace, or HERE.

As previously mentioned, the Constantines next NYC show will be in Prospect Park with Spoon, and tickets are on sale. All dates below...

Continue reading "Constantines - played Southpaw, sang w/ Feist, tour dates "

Two of Arts & Crafts most-recent signings have shows coming up. The Constantines are playing Mercury Lounge on March 3rd. Tickets are on sale. And as previously mentioned, The Stills are playing Maxwell's in NJ on March 7th. They're also playing a few other shows includng Bowery Ballroom the next day. Tickets are (about to be) on sale for that.

Not on Arts & Crafts, but also Canadian: Frog Eyes is also playing Mercury Lounge in March. Tickets are on sale for that too. All dates below...

Continue reading "Frog Eyes & Constantines & Stills shows (tour dates)"