DOWNLOAD: James Yuill - Over The Hills (Milberg remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: James Yuill - A Lighter Shade of Red (MP3)

Hello America!

It seems my album "Turning Down Water For Air" comes out today (26th May) on Nettwerk. Hurrah!

I'm currently doing a short tour with M83 across the west coast and then working my way to the east side...

Hope you like the album... I wrote and recorded it in my bedroom during many evenings and weekends after getting back from work...so basically it's very home made...

Cheers.
- James Yuill

James's M83-supporting dates have already past, but it's not too late for his three remaining US shows, which happen this week. He'll play Chicago June 3rd, then visit NYC for two shows on June 4th and 5th. On Thursday, June 4th, he'll be joined at the Music Hall of Williamsburg by Viva Voce and Cut Off Your Hands. Tickets are on sale.

On Friday, June 5th, Yuill plays the weekly Ruff Club party at NYC's The Annex with Field Recordings and True Widow.

After that, it's all summer dates around Yuill's homebase of London. The laptop whiz last visited NYC for a pair of shows in April. Cut Off Your Hands were here in May. Last weekend, James's tour partner M83 played Sasquatch...

M83 @ Sasquatch 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

James was at the festival too, but as a member of the crowd....

...this was effectively a day off for me and Paul we took in the sights and watched a few bands. Namely, The Walkman (who were amazing!), TV on the Radio (whose sound was less than amazing), obviously M83 (who in my unbiased opinion were on top form and gave a particularly special show. That's when I took this first video [below].

Then it was the highlight of my day when I got the chance to see Deadmau5. Oh my lord was it brilliant. That's where the second video comes in [also below]. I know the quality of these two videos is not great, but hopefully the mood of the what was going on translates. I haven't felt this good at a dance gig than when I saw Justice at the mean-fiddler in London when they did their album launch party. -James

On June 16th, Yuill will release his new Over the Hills EP in the US via Nettwerk Records. (It's already out on Moshi Moshi overseas.) Two tracks from that EP, the "Over The Hills (Milberg Remix)," featuring Lisa from the Concretes, and the b-side, "A Lighter Shade of Red," are posted above for download. Title track "Over the Hills" also has a new video, and we're premiering it. Check it out, along with the full EP track list, all tour dates, and the videos James shot at Sasquach, below...

Continue reading "James Yuill - video premiere, EP, 2 NYC shows & other dates"

DOWNLOAD: Cut Off Your Hands - Turn Cold (MP3)

Cut Off Your Hands released their debut LP, You & I, via Frenchkiss Records on January 20th. Since then the New Zealand band has spent a lot of time touring North America, including a stop in Austin for SXSW, but they haven't reached NYC yet - not since CMJ 2008 at least. That changes this Saturday, April 4th, when they open for Ra Ra Riot at Webster Hall (Tickets here).

If you're looking for something more-intimate, and less-Ra-Ra-Riot, you can wait until May when COYH will be back again - this time to play a few east coast headlining dates including one at Mercury Lounge on Thursday, May 7th. Tickets are now on sale. All dates below.

No word if the April 4th or May 7th shows will feature drummer Brent Harris, who posted a March 29th message to the band's Myspace announcing his intention to leave the band because of hearing problems possibly related to drumming and live music.

That message, three videos, and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Cut Off Your Hands lose drummer, playing shows (2 in NYC)"

DOWNLOAD: Telekenisis - Coast of Carolina (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cut Off Your Hands - Turn Cold (MP3)

Telekinesis

"On April 7, 2009, Merge Records will release the debut album from Seattle's Telekinesis entitled Telekinesis!. Telekinesis is the project of Michael Benjamin Lerner. Michael recorded Telekinesis! at Two Sticks Audio in Seattle with producer Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, Tegan and Sara). Michael wrote and sang all of the songs and played nearly all of the instruments on the album, but tours with a full band that includes David Broecker (guitar), Jonie Broecker (bass, keyboards), and Chris Staples (guitar)."

Telekenisis have a few shows lined up for the next few months - none in NYC yet, but they will be playing Noise Pop, SXSW, and a bunch of dates with Ra Ra Riot.

Ra Ra Riot also have a bunch of shows lined up without Telekenisis. For NYC, it's just January 22nd at Bowery Ballroom which is the Planned Parenthood Benefit with Regina Spektor that sold out before it was even announced that they were also playing the show. They're also playing Noise Pop, and SXSW, and a bunch of dates with both Passion Pit and Cut Off Your Hands.

Cut Off Your Hands officially release their debut LP, You & I, via Frenchkiss Records on January 20th. Download the first single for free above. They're also playing SXSW (as are their labelmates Passion Pit).

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Merge signs Telekinesis, Ra Ra Riot tour dates, Planned Parenthood, Cut Off Your Hands, SXSW, some MP3's"

Wye Oak

In the short time Bill has been here, many bands have been featured in his Week In Indie column on BrooklynVegan. At least 19 of those bands are playing shows for, and during, CMJ in NYC this week. Each of those bands is listed below with links back to what Bill said about them...

Continue reading "'Week in Indie" bands playing CMJ this week "

Cut Off Your Hands @ Market Hotel - July 12, 2008 (piratehat)

today in NYC
* FREE STUFF
* Deadmau5 @ Irving Plaza
* Billy Joel @ Shea Stadium
* Sex Vid @ Knitting Factory
* Matmos @ (le) poisson rouge
* Video Music Box @ Summerstage
* Mary Weiss @ South Street Seaport
* Dizzee Rascal @ Highline Ballroom
* The Mae Shi & friends @ Cake Shop
* Sex Vid & Vivian Girls @ Market Hotel
* Deerhoof "Wordless" show at Prospect Park
* NinjaSonik & Knyfe Hyts @ Death By Audio
* Girls, Hearts of Darkness & Secret guest @ The Delancey
* Times New Viking, The A-Bones & Land of Tomorrow @ Maxwell's
* Love as Laughter, Cheeseburger & Coin Under Tongue @ Mercury Lounge

Tomorrow is the Siren Festival.

What else?

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Crimea - Loop a Loop (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Crimea - Lottery Winners on Acid (MP3)

The Crimea

Just a couple considerations for what I'm sure is an already busy weekend.

Touring here for what I'm pretty sure is the first time are London five-piece The Crimea, who are really easy to write about, even without actually listening to their music, because there's lots of interesting factoids. John Peel loved them, and their 2002 independent single "Lottery Winners on Acid" got them signed to Warner Brothers who put out their 2005 debut Tragedy Rocks. A re-release of "Lottery Winners" scraped the UK Singles Charts and then they were then unceremoniously dropped by WB soon after. Pressing on, they released their second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour, forfree via their website last year (before Radiohead did it, mind you) and put out 16 remixes of the single "Loop a Loop" via 16 blogs (including Music Like Dirt and Nothing But Greenlights). Oh, and singer Davy Macmanus is brother of superstar BBC1 DJ Annie Mac.

While it might not scale the heights of Tragedy Rocks, Secrets of the Witching Hour is as good album, full of anthemic (but not too anthemic) songs, punctuated by the McManus' world-weary lyrics and vocals. Songs like "Loop a Loop" don't sound like much at first but then you sort of catch yourself digging it halfway through. A lot of their songs catch you off guard like that. Will they be any good live? Find out Saturday (7/12) at Cake Shop or Sunday (7/13) at Union Hall. There's also a 7/14 date for "McCarren Park" but what exactly that means I'm not sure. Full tourdates below.

Also visiting this weekend are New Zealand's Cut Off Your Hands who just wrapped up a short West Coast tour with We Are Scientists. You might have seen last year at BV's Pianos day party that happened during CMJ. I missed it so I'm going to try extra hard to make it to one of these shows this weekend -- either tonight (7/11) at Cake Shop (where they're playing with Elephant 6 legends Elf Power) or tomorrow (7/12) at Market Hotel. Weird venues for a band whose records are as polished as COYH's recent singles. I mean that in a good way, their music is as sparkling as it is frantic and catchy. The band's debut album, You & I, is in the can and should be out this fall sometime. I can only assume we'll get a preview this weekend.

A few more notable shows....

Continue reading "The Crimea, Cut Off Your Hands & more in This Week in Indie"

Shaky Hands @ BV show @ Bowery Ballroom - Oct 16, 2007 (CRED)

-----VS-----

Cut Off Your Hands @ BV show @ Pianos - Oct 17, 2007 (CRED)

More photos & comments on the Shaky Hands show, HERE. The Shaky Hands also played a show at Mercury Lounge.

The DeathSet also played the show that Cut Off Your Hands played - as did the Meat Puppets - and Celebration. The NY Times stopped by too. How many shows did you see? How many times did you see Cut Off Your Hands?

DOWNLOAD: Team Robespierre - 88th Precinct (MP3) (via)
DOWNLOAD: Joan As Policewoman - Eternal Flame (MP3)

Team Robespierre & Joan as Policewoman

As you know, I'm throwing a total of five shows during CMJ this year. The first is Tuesday night October 16th - an official showcase that you can buy tickets for. The second is the very next day - a 2-floor (whole club) FREE day party at Pianos on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Bon Iver, Sparrow House, and others (TBA) are playing upstairs. Here's who is playing downstairs....

Wednesday October 17, 2007
12:00 Cut Off Your Hands (album stream & more info)
12:45 Team Robespierre (MP3 above & more at MySpace)
01:30 Le Loup (info)
02:15 Joan as Policewoman (MP3 above & more info)
03:00 THE DEATHSET (info)
03:45 The Meat Puppets (info)
04:30 Celebration (info)

No badges needed. No money needed. Just get there before it fills up. 21+, Drink specials and more details to be announced soon.

Annie Mac (BBC) will also be our very special guest DJ in the front room from 4-5pm. Other DJ's TBA too.

DOWNLOAD: Cut Off Your Hands - You and I (MP3)

The EP is streaming at AOL. It is for sale at Iamsound (not to be confused with Insound). The story is at BrooklynVegan.

DOWNLOAD: Cut Off Your Hands - You and I (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Shaky Hands - Maker Make (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Shaky Hands - Whales Sing (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Shaky Hands - Why And How Come (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Shaky Hands - Another World (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Shaky Hands - The Sleepless (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Shaky Hands - Soul (MP3)

Hey there,
We are a four peice band from New Zealand, originally called Shaky Hands but now Cut Off Your Hands....

This was due to the threat of legal action from a band from Portland, Oregon. They didn't like us using the name (or anything similar) in America as they did get to that teritory first and it would have been too time consuming and costly for us to take this matter to court.

We did think about still calling ourselves Shaky Hands and having the name Cut Off Your Hands just for America but that would have got too confusing hence the complete name change. We got the name Cut Off Your Hands from the title of our EP, the EP is now called Shaky Hands..

So to find us please go to www.myspace.com/cutoffyourhands

We love you all for being our friends & look forward to seeing you soon!!

us
xoxoxo

The red, white and blue album cover pictured above is the "Shaky Hands" (formerly "Cut Off Your Hands") EP by Cut Off Your Hands (formerly Shaky Hands) (New Zealand). The album to its right is "The Shaky Hands" LP by The Shaky Hands (Portland, Oregon).

Cut Off Your Hands are pictured above being silly with grass in their mouth and some fake chickens in the background. Here is a picture of The Shaky Hands being silly in the trunk of a vehicle:

The Shaky Hands share a member with the Castanets, and have been compared to Neutral Milk Hotel, R.E.M., and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Saying "Cut Off Your Hands Say Yeah" is a funny joke, even though Cut Off Your Hands' music sounds nothing like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

Both of these bands are playing CMJ. Both of these hands are playing BrooklynVegan shows. The Shaky Hands are playing my Bowery Ballroom show on October 16th with The Rosebuds, Dean & Britta, Miracle Fortress, Bon Iver, The Most Serene Republic, and one more unannounced band. Tickets are on sale. Cut Off Your Hands are playing my Pianos show on October 17th AT NOON. Celebration, Black Ghosts and many more unnanounced bands are also on that bill (full show TBA soon). It is free. All tour dates below.....

Continue reading "Cut off Your Hands vs. The Shaky Hands"