by Bill Pearis

Surfer Blood

NIGHTTIME

As I mentioned in that big post about Montreal bands at CMJ, The High Dials are among them and are just great live -- sort of country-tinged jangly shoegaze -- and they're impressive live. They play Lit Lounge at 10:15 and then Arlene's Grocery at 12:30AM. If you like Ride, The Byrds, or Brian Jonestown Massacre, you shouldn't miss these guys. Also playing at Lit Lounge, earlier in the evening (8:30) are Montreal's Black Diamond Bay which features a couple former members of the Dears and feature a similarly bombast rock sound. They're very good live too, especially if you have an appreciation for the live musician O Face.

If you like electro /dance there is an insane lineup at Santos tonight. And it's free. No badges required. The killer lineup includes three UK dancepop acts: Dan Black whose album Un is pretty fun; the borderline-novelty (but fun) Man Like Me and trio We Have Band who played here back in March. It keeps going: there's also Australia's Midnight Juggernauts, Montreal's We Are Wolves, Denmark's Spleen United (somewhere between Placebo and Presents), Toronto's Parallels, and LA's Paparazzi. There's also a slew of NYC acts: Maluca, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Lemonade,Heartsrevolution, Javelin, and The Golden Filter. Did I mention it was free?

At Union Pool, the folks at Panache Booking are showcasing a big handful of their bands, many of which have unnecessary repeated consonants: recent Brooklyn Vegan Day party veterans JEFF the Brotherhood and Lovvers, plus Flexions, zZz, Turbofruits, UUVVWWZ, and Dark Meat. Having seen at least half of these bands, I'm going to go ahead and say this'll be quite a party, whether you like it or not.

If you're going to the Pitchfork/Showpaper show at Market Hotel and wished that it was rock all night instead of switching over to electronic acts/DJs after midnight, your admission will also get you into the show happening down the street at Todd P's Above the Auto Parts Store venue (600 Bushwick), which has four great bands: Sisters, Screaming Females, Surfer Blood (again) and JEFF the Brotherhood (again). To get in for free you need to get there before 11PM; afterwards it's $10.

Or, you might think about heading to Silent Barn before or after (or instead of). Popjew has a great line-up of bands, including much-loved-by-me Let's Wrestle, A Classic Education (who were great at our Thursday day party), twangy West Coasters Slang Chickens, My Teenage Stride and the electro-rock of Jacques Detergent.

And at The Bell House, there's Au Revoir Simone and the related (literally, by marriage) Pursesnatchers; the lush, 60s-ish chamber pop of Florida's The Postmarks, indiepop ska band Still Flyin' and Brooklyn-via-Australia band The Miracles of Modern Science. The Bell House may seem like truly dedicating your night to one venue, but luckily it's one of the nicest, most comfortable in the city.

Other shows tonight include Mum, Sufjan's BQE screenings, the Sub Pop showcase, the Kemado/Mexican Summer showcase, and the Topman party with the Almighty Defenders and Neon Indian.

And then we rest. Saturday day parties HERE. Hip Hop shows HERE. Flyers and set times below.

Continue reading "CMJ 2009 - Bill's Saturday nighttime picks"

DOWNLOAD: TRAA - Don't Haunt This Place (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Orenda Fink - Bloodline (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Orenda Fink - No Evolution (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Old Canes - Taxi On Vermont (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: UUVVWWZ - Shark Suit (MP3)

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson @ Union Hall 10/1 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's Summer of Fear, the follow-up to his 2008 self-titled debut, is set for an October 20th release on Saddle Creek. The label, which recently signed the songwriter, tells the TVotR/Grizzly Bear-littered story of the new record...

TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone--a close friend since the pair met en route to a Grizzly Bear show in 2005--helped bottle Robinson's bruised hymns last winter, ramping up the tension in such standout tracks as "Death by Dust," "Summer of Fear pt. 2," "The Sound," and the 11-and-a-half draining minutes of "More Than a Mess," a haunting epic that deserves its own short film. (Or more than half of Side D; Summer of Fear is spread across two LPs like one of Robinson's favorite records, Tusk.) Since they both "have a tendency toward a generally and hilariously doom stricken worldview," Malone also understood what Robinson was going for with his redemption songs. After all, he was there that summer. He saw it all go down, and now that he's heard the whole thing told through Summer of Fear's relentless and raw tone poems, he can't wait to see what Robinson comes up with next. (Robinson is desperate to record his third record--yes, already. Written last year in the midst of touring to support his unexpected self-titled debut, he describes the disc as containing,"actual songs...as opposed to vaguely melodic litanies of grievance.")

Robinson recently made a video for the song "Woodfriend," which is posted below.

October 20th will be a big day for Saddle Creek (home of Tokyo Police Club, Cursive and Land of Talk). It's also the release date for the latest by new signees Old Canes. The record, Feral Harmonic, is the Lawrence, KS band's second.

Old Canes architect Chris Crisci (also known as half of Appleseed Cast) constructed Feral Harmonic largely alone in his basement studio. He played the majority of the instrumentation himself with additional help from a cast of musician friends contributing various parts, including trumpet, harmophone, cello, and hammer dulcimer, among other instruments. As recording was regularly interrupted by touring, work, other projects, and life in general, production on the album took nearly three and a half years to complete.

Tracklist and album art are below.

The label will also be dropping a new album from Orenda Fink (Azure Ray, Art In Manila, O+S), titled Ask The Night, on October 6th.

Ask The Night was primarily recorded live to 8-track by Stephen Bartolomei (Mal Madrigal) in Orenda's former Omaha, NE, basement (she is now based in Los Angeles, CA), as well as by Andy LeMaster (Now It's Overhead; production on Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Azure Ray) in his Athens, GA, living room.

The album features a wide variety of players and singers, including producers Stephen Bartolomei and Andy LeMaster, Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Dan McCarthy (McCarthy Trenching), and Adrianne Verhoeven (Dri, The Anniversary, Art In Manila), among others. Four songs on Ask The Night are collaborations with Birmingham, AL-based artist and poet Chris Lawson...

Lawson also provided the album's art, which, with the tracklist, is below.

The Rural Alberta Advantage's previously-self-released debut came out on Saddle Creek on July 7th. The band was featured on ABC's Amplified on August 17th, and they have shows coming up. Those include the Positive Jam with the Hold Steady in Ithaca on September 6th, and a show at the Bowery Ballroom on October 7th. Tickets for that go on sale Friday, August 21st at noon.

UUVVWWZ also released an album on Saddle Creek on July 7th, and they'll also be in NYC in October (for CMJ). In fact, they'll be playing what looks like an extremely sick bill at Union Pool on October 24th with An Albatross, Dark Meat, Lovvers, Flexions, ZzZ, and JEFF The Brotherhood.

For a taste of what Saddle Creek has been up to over the past year (before any of the new bands mentioned above), check out the free sampler they're giving away on Amazon. All upcoming TRAA and UUVVWWZ tour dates, and above-mentioned things, are below...

Continue reading "Saddle Creek: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Old Canes & Orenda Fink ++ Rural Alberta Advantage & UUVVWWZ dates"

photos by Bao Nguyen

DOWNLOAD: Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions (feat. Beth Ditto) (MP3)

"On what was expected to be a rainy Sunday, it turned out to be a hazy day at the Brooklyn Pool Party where Fiery Furnaces performed and Simian Mobile Disco spun some music.

If you haven't already heard this new track from SMD's upcoming album Temporary Pleasure, then have a listen." [Persona Sauna]

That new SMD track features none other than Beth Ditto of the Gossip (who have some shows coming up too). Download above. More pictures from Sunday's Pool Party (8/9), below...

Continue reading "Simian Mobile Disco, Fiery Furnaces & Dark Meat @ the Williamsburg Waterfront Pool Party in NYC - pics "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Viva Voce - Octavio (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Holiday Shores - Phones Don't Feud (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jack Penate - Tonight's Today (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dark Meat - Freedom Ritual (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Young Republic - The Alchemist (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Young Republic - The Wolf (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Princeton - The Waves (MP3)

Art Brut @ Mercury Lounge (more by Tim Griffin)

Tonight (6/4) is seriously overloaded with show choices. If you have tickets to Art Brut (who were great on Monday and I heard Wednesday night's show was the best yet) and are looking to do something beforehand, you might consider checking out Jack Peñate at Pianos. He was pretty good at Bruar Falls last night, playing a set entirely made up of songs from his new, world-influenced, Everything is New, which I like way more than his debut. A bit of a nutty dancer, but his enthusiasm (and talent) is there. There's video from the show at the bottom of this post.

Holiday Shores

And going on before Mr. Peñate are Florida's Holiday Shores, who have been getting a bunch of coverage all of a sudden. Their set tonight is an early one because from Pianos they're rushing up to the SPIN Magazine offices to play a private party there. Their debut LP, Columbus'd The Whim, is out this summer on twosyllable Records. The songs on their MySpace page, all reverb and fuzz and bouncy melodies, sound interesting enough to merit checking them out. (And there's an MP3 at the top of this post that might help make up your mind.) If you miss them tonight, they're also at new Brooklyn venue Shea Stadium on Friday (6/5).

You could potentially have a very busy night ahead of you on the L.E.S.

Other Thursday options: Doves are playing Terminal 5, a venue I still haven't been to. Their new album doesn't really grab me the way their previous records did, but they are a dynamic live band whose widescreen sound goes well with bigger venues like T5.

There's also Spanish Prisoners, Sisters and Knight School at Public Assembly; and The Postelles, pow wow! and Real Estate at Santos. Both good choices.

Viva Voce

But if I could go to any show tonight (which I can't, unfortunately) I think I'd probably see Portland's Viva Voce at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The until-now husband and wife duo, who made a lot shoegazy pop on their own, recently ballooned to a four-piece for their fifth album, Rose City, which is almost as good as 2006's stellar Get Yr Blood Sucked Out. On record this expanded Viva Voce don't sound that different, but it will be interesting to see how it affects their live show, which was already pretty awesome. Check out the MP3 for current single "Octavio" at the top of the post. The whole bill tonight at MHoW is worthwhile, with Australia's Cut Off Your Hands (Frenchkiss) and James Yuill, who is more entertaining live than you think he's going to be when he walks out on stage.

Dark Meat

A couple other bands of note are in town this weekend. Athens, Georgia's glitter and confetti-loving collective Dark Meat are playing Cake Shop on Friday (6/5) and Bruar Falls on Saturday (6/6). You may have been on a boat with them and Vivian Girls last fall. If you've never attended a Dark Meat show before, it's a bit like walking into a hippie version of Mardi Gras where Frank Zappa is the Grand Marshall. With so many band members, so much going on, so much shiny detritus in the air, it can either be intoxicating or asphyxiating. But it's never boring. Like all hallucinogenics, if you go into Dark Meat with the right mind, you'll have a good time. Both Cake Shop and Bruar Falls will be 1/3 full just from the band alone so expect hi-jinks and wear clothes you don't mind getting paint on.

The Young Republic

And speaking of large masses from the south, also in town this weekend are Nashville's The Young Republic, who are not to be confused with Awesome New Republic, The Most Serene Republic, Savage Republic, Republica, or actual Young Republicans. The six-piece have country, blues and celtic elements into their anthemic sound, which also delves into Tom Waits cabaret territory at times. Unsigned in America, The Young Republic are much popular in the UK where they're on End of the Road Records who also have The Low Anthem and Port O'Brien on their roster. The Young Republic, whose new album Balletesque is due out later this year, play Spike Hill on Friday (6/5) and Pianos on Saturday. Check out two MP3s at the top of this post.

Princeton

Also on that Pianos bill are L.A. trio Princeton who I caught last year at Cake Shop (during CMJ I think) and who make quite charming baroque pop. The band are actually in town to perform on Friday at Lincoln Center's Pope Auditorium. Why? This press release can explain better than I could:

Princeton, the Los Angeles-based trio, join forces with San Francisco's Stephen Pelton Dance Theater in it was this: it was this: an evening of songs and dances inspired by the life and work of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group.

Princeton will perform all of the songs from their recent EP Bloomsbury, each lyrically focused upon a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Portraits of Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes are each presented in a different musical framework with lush orchestral arrangements. The band is comprised of twin brothers Jesse and Matt Kivel and Ben Usen. The band will be joined by 8 additional musicians in recreating their frolicsome, exuberant take on the cast of Bloomsbury characters.

Stephen Pelton Dance Theater, known for known its intimate theatricality and emotional intensity, may be familiar to audiences from previous Woolf conferences. This year the company will perform several new works including the premiere of it was this: it was this: a choreographic study of Woolf's punctuation. Using a single paragraph from To the Lighthouse, the company dances their way from the first word to the last, pausing briefly for every comma, parentheses and semicolon in-between. The company also performs a revised version of The Death of the Moth, first seen at the Plymouth State Conference in 1997.

If that sounds a little high falutin', don't be afraid of the Woolf references, Princeton's pop is pretty easy to swallow, though an appreciation of The Left Banke and Village Green-era Kinks is probably advised. There's an MP3 at the top of this post. And there will be no dancers on stage at the Pianos gig, as far as I know.

That's it for this week. Videos and tour tour dates after the jump....

Continue reading "Viva Voce, the Young Republic, Princeton, Dark Meat, Holiday Shores & more in This Week In indie"

photos by Tim Griffin

Friday (10/3) morning they found out they received Best New Music from Pitchfork and Friday night they played on a boat around NYC with the VICE signees Dark Meat who have lots of members and paint faces and stuff. Tim took the boat ride and this is what it looked like...

Continue reading "Dark Meat and Vivian Girls played a Rocks Off boat - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Vivian Girls - Blind Spot (Daisy Chain cover) (new MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Vivian Girls - Where You Run to (MP3)

Take a Friday night boat ride with Dark Meat & the Vivian Girls. $20 tickets for tonight's NYC show are still on sale AND I have a pair to giveaway to a lucky winner who emails BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM before noon. Include your first and last name. Winner will be picked at random and contacted.

More Dark Meat dates HERE. Vivian Girls' self titled album will be released on In the Red on October 7th. The tracklist and all VG dates below...

Continue reading "boat cruise tonight (win tickets) ++ other Vivian Girls tour dates, MP3s, etc.."

Dark Meat have announced a tour that includes a NYC show on a boat with Vivian Girls on October 3rd. Tickets are on sale. They're also playing Market Hotel in Brooklyn one day later. All dates below...

Continue reading "Dark Meat - 2008 Tour Dates (a boat w/ Vivian Girls)"

speaking of confetti....

Dark Meat @ SXSW 2008 (more)

Ex-Models are opening for the flamboyant, makeup and confetti-loving VICE-signees Dark Meat tonight in Brooklyn at Music Hall of Williamsburg (May 28, 2008). I have a pair of tickets to give someone who emails BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: meat). More DM tour dates here.

photos by Bryan Bruchman

More photos of last night's show (April 7, 2008) @ Flickr.

DOWNLOAD: Dark Meat - Well Fuck You Then (MP3)

Musically they weren't that memorable, but they definitely give you lots to look at. Be prepared to have your face painted if you check out Dark Meat at one of their many upcoming shows. Tonight's (April 7) show at Union Hall with Monotonix should be pretty crazy all around.

Apr 7 @ Union Hall w/ Monotonix
Apr 8 @ Union Pool
Apr 20 @ Cake Shop w/ Monotonix
May 28 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

More photos below......

Continue reading "Dark Meat @ a VICE day party in Austin (pics) & more shows "

photos by Ryan Muir, words by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Monotonix - Summers & Autumns (MP3 from the upcoming Body Language EP out April 22.)

Take Eugene Hutz (almost literally... a similar manic energy, voice, even looks to some degree, but with a more impressive 'stache) and dial him up a few notches, put him in front of an insane-o heavy garage punk two-piece with a blues bent, and you have Israeli madmen Monotonix. Comin' straight outta Tel Aviv, Monotonix have a new EP on the way (Apr.22 on Drag City) recorded by Tim Green (ex-Nation of Ulysses, current member of The Fucking Champs). And if "Summers & Autumns" (download above) & "Body Language" (streaming at their myspace) are any indication, Body Language is probably a killer.

For now though, I'll stick with what I know: there is alot of buzz about their live show. Flaming drum heads, hanging from the rafters, beer baths.... check out the mayhem for yourself in videos (below). Check out the pics Ryan took at their March Noise Pop show with The Gutter Twins (in this post).

Monotonix and their much talked about live show will swing into Union Hall tonight (April 7) with the colorful recent VICE-signees Dark Meat, as well at Cake Shop (again with Dark Meat) on the 20th, and Death By Audio on the 25th (a Todd P show). More pictures, the videos and full tour dates, below.......

Continue reading "Monotonix - MP3, 2008 Tour Dates, videos, pics, Dark Meat (Union Hall tonight, Cake Shop, Death by Audio)"

DOWNLOAD: Dark Meat - Freedom Ritual (MP3)

Here is what VICE is doing at SXSW this year, and here is more info on their newest signing Dark Meat who is also one of the many bands playing a SXSW VICE party....

Continue reading "VICE signs Dark Meat, 'Saves Texas' - parties & tour dates"