by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Sneaks - Chase the Tear (MP3)

The Sneaks are from New Zealand, though their base of operations seem to be out of London these days. They are here. They flew in before the volcano started causing problems for everyone and are playing a free show tonight (4/19) at Bruar Falls. While you can definitely hear some of the classic New Zealand/Flying Nun sound in their music, they've also got some Britpop in there too (The Jam/Blur) -- which is to say pretty catchy stuff. You can download the band's new single "Chase the Tear" at the top of this post. Warning: contains whistling.

Actually, there are two Kiwi bands on the bill. Aukland's folky Panther and the Zoo play an early set at 7PM. (They sound a little like Little Joy to these ears.) And if you get there earlier than that, I'm told there's free grilled things in the back patio, weather permitting. Also playing the show tonight are tuneful indie pop band Darlings, psychobilly-ish Cybelle Blood (feat. members of Coasting and Dream Diary), and Night Reports.

Check out videos by The Sneaks and Panther and the Zoo below.

Continue reading "The Sneaks are here - a free show & an MP3 "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Oh No Ono - Internet Warrior (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Oh No Ono - Helplessly Young (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hooray for Earth - Surrounded by Friends (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Field Music - Measure (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Twin Sister - Vampires with Dreaming Kids EP (Zip)

Oh No Ono

Denmark's Oh No Ono are in town this week for their first-ever NYC shows, the first of which was an in-store at Sound Fix last night. Anybody go? I'm seeing them tonight at Mercury Lounge, where they'll be playing with Bear in Heaven, ArpLine and Jaguar Club. Tomorrow they're at Union Hall with Depreciation Guild and Hooray for Earth. Oh No Ono's new album, Eggs, is impressively bonkers and almost impossible to describe succinctly. It's psychedelic, baroque, glammy, 70's AM, with some synth pop and the occasional church choir thrown in. And very catchy stuff too. Maybe they're the Sid and Marty Kroft version of Mew? Hear it for yourself -- there's two tracks at the top of this post. I can't wait to see how they pull all this off live.

Tonight's Mercury Lounge show is sold out, no surprise given they're playing with Bear in Heaven. Tomorrow's Union Hall show is just as solid though, with eight bit shoegazers The Depreciation Guild who will soon head off with Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Kurt Feldman's in both bands) for a tour of Japan. Also playing are Hooray for Earth, who neatly straddle the line between electronic pop and electrified rock. The sound is familiar and inviting yet I don't seem to be able to come up with any obvious comparisons to another band, which is a good thing. They've got a new EP, Momo, that is currently only available through Emusic (the latest in the Emusic Selects series) but I wouldn't be surprised if they were selling it at their merch table. It's definitely worth picking up. You can download the lead track, "Surrounded by Friends," at the top of this post.

Field Music

After cancelling their performance last-minute at Skippy's birthday party back in December, Field Music are back for their make-up date this Saturday (1/30) at the Bell House. If you bought tickets before, they're still valid. And if you haven't got tickets, they're still on sale. The Brewis brothers' new album, Field Music (Measure), is out February 16 and here's what I wrote last time:

...it's another knockout from the Brewis brothers, 20 tracks that further refine their distinctive mix of nervy new wave, prog, krautrock, tea party pop and whatever else they're into at the time. It's a Field Music album, no doubt about it, but it's less buttoned up, more rhythm heavy ("Let's Write a Book" shows that one of them's been listening to Can) and willing to give anything a try. If you've never seen Field Music live before, you should definitely come out, the Brewises are shit-hot musicians as well (David is an especially impressive drummer). There used to be a lot of switching instruments when they were a trio, but now as a four-piece I wonder if that'll still happen.

It really is a great album, probably the best thing the Brewis have done together or apart. You can download "Measure" at the top of this post which is reminiscent of Peter Brewis' The Week That Was project from 2008. Additionally, Field Music have announced dates for a spring North American tour opening for The Clientele that includes a March 23 stop at Bowery Ballroom. All Field Music/Clientele tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Twin Sister

Friday (1/29) at Bruar Falls is a band a lot of people seem to be talking about right now: Twin Sister. To me, there's a little '80s delay-pedal shimmery-ness to them (Cocteau Twins, Disintigration-era Cure), nods to '70s muted-fretboard soft rock soul, as well as a pastoral folk thing going on. Basically, dreamy and beautiful stuff. They also remind me a bit of Montreal's Luyas who, if they ever make it down this way, Twin Sister would make a perfect double bill. Thier EP from last year, Vampires with Dreaming Kids, is a free download from their website, which we link to at the top of this post. A new EP titled Color Your Life is due in March on Infinite Best Recordings. There's a video trailer for the EP at the bottom of this post.

Twin Sister have a bunch of shows coming up. In addition to Friday's Bruar Falls -- which is free, btw-- they're also playing Saturday (1/30) at the loft above Richie's Gym which is out by the Myrtle JMZ stop. Both those shows are being presented by busy blog Chocolate Bobka and also feature Austin's languid, reverby Pure Ecstasy. The Bruar show also has Family Portrait and Baltimore's Run DMT. Twin Sister have a bunch more shows lined up in February, including 2/25 at Cameo with Toro Y Moi. All dates are at the bottom of this post.

A few other weekend picks, videos and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Oh No Ono, Hooray For Earth, Field Music, Twin Sister, Javelin, Diehard & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Octagon - Suicide Kings (MP3)

The Octagon

I wrote at length already about this week's Serena Maneesh shows. Now here are some other daily picks to take you through the weekend...

Continue reading "The Octagon, Free Energy & more in This Week in Indie "

photos by Lori Baily

"I'll walk you through it, it's kind of funny. You know when you pass by a grocery store and there's this grate that goes into the floor and then there's this narrow metal staircase that goes down into the basement where they have storage and stuff? It's like that. First thing we had to do was fit the staircase with these wooden 2 x 4s so people wouldn't completely die when they went down. So we fixed the staircase, and we built a soundproofing wall in between the space and the street, which was totally remarkable. You couldn't hear anything from the street--we had a subwoofer going off, and Knyfe Hyts and Sleigh Bells were super loud. I was so happy. It totally dampened the sound and that's like two layers of 2 x 4's with insulation in the middle. We cleared everything out of his basement. There's no stage. In the back we put soundproofing blankets on the door and the door to the bar area. In the back there's a bar. We built a bathroom in the back so everything's contained to one floor. We can fit about 125 people comfortably." [Greg Finch to the Villge Voice]

Under 100's third and final show took place at the venue on Thursday, December 10th. Darlings, Dan Friel and These Are Powers were on the bill. More pictures from that show, below...

Continue reading "These are Powers, Dan Friel & Darlings played the LAST show @ Under 100 (in Damon Dash's basement) - pics "

photos by Erez Avissar

"Damon "Dame" Dash co-founded Roc-a-Fella Records, helped launch the career of Jay-Z and discovered Kanye West. He's produced or executive-produced about a dozen films, including the well-received 2002 urban flick "Paid in Full" and the 2004 movie "The Woodsman," starring Kevin Bacon. And he started lucrative apparel lines like Rocawear and Rachel Roy, of which he is still part owner with his wife, the company's namesake.

But the 37-year-old Dash still says he gets snubbed by the music industry. Media reports last year about his alleged financial difficulties and legal problems probably didn't help. "My mistake was watching everyone else's careers and not watching mine,'' he says.

More important was his acrimonious split a few years ago with his old friend and business partner Jay-Z. "It was like, either you are on his side or on mine," he says. "And because of all that, there's resistance on every level with me and the shit just bugs me out." [Billboard]

New venue Under 100 (located in the basement of the Tribeca building where Damon Dash's office is located) is quickly becoming famous, after just two shows. The first, in November, featured sets by Sleigh Bells, Javelin & Knyfe Hyts 81 with help from Mos Def, Curren$y, and others. The second, just two nights ago (12/8), was rumored to include a performance by Blakroc (featuring Mos Def) who were on Letterman that same night. That didn't happen, but The Cool Kids, The London Souls, Curren$y (again), and some others did play. Mos Def and Damon Dash (again) were just hanging out. The third show is....

TONIGHT (12/10):

RSVP @ Lessartistsmorecondos@gmail.com
-- DARLINGS /// THESE ARE POWERS --
$ 7 bucks
09:00 pm Doors
09:30 pm DARLINGS
10:30 pm THESE ARE POWERS

More pictures from the last event, below...

Continue reading "The Cool Kids, London Souls, Curren$y & friends (but not Blakroc) played Under 100 (pics) ++ a show there tonight"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: JEFF the Brotherhood - Heavy Damage (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Coin Under Tongue - The So Far EP (link to zip)
DOWNLOAD: Sisters - Accolades (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sisters - Street Cars (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lovvers - Human Hair (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Darlings - If This is Love (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Darlings - Teenage Girl (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - Machines EP (link to Zip)
DOWNLOAD: Acrylics - Molly's Vertigo (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Clientele - I Wonder Who We Are (MP3)

JEFF the Brotherhood @ Death By Audio (more by Leia Jospe)

JEFF the Brotherhood are back in town! If you missed them the last two times they were in town, well, you've got three more chances this week: tonight (7/15) at Death by Audio, Thursday (7/16) at Cake Shop and a secret show on Friday (7/17) that will be announced day of show via their Twitter. Seriously, Jake and Jamin put on one of the rockin-est, most fun shows I've seen this year. The boys are putting the final touches on their new album, Heavy Days, which comes out October 6 via their own Infinity Cat label. They've also got a new 7" single, "Heavy Damage," that they should still have copies of at shows, but you can download the a-side at the top of this post. They'll also be touring with the legendary Shonen Knife this fall.

Tonight's show at Death by Audio should be deafening. JEFF shares the bill with noise-pop duo Sisters, who I've written about more than once already, and have become big fans of. Third on the bill are Sisters' Death By Audio Records label-mates Coin Under Tongue who make the kind of stoner, punk-inflected hard rock that Sub Pop used to specialize in, in the label's early days. (I'm talking Tad, Mudhoney, Das Damen). There's other influences in there too -- metal plays a big part, as does UK punk and postpunk I suspect. And there are some really nice guitar parts when the guys aren't stomping on the pedals but basically you're getting balls-to-the-wall, scream-the-chorus rock. It goes without saying Coin Under Tongue are really, really loud. But they've got songs to match the volume. They're finishing work on their new album, but have offered up a progress report of an EP that you can download at the top of this post. It rocks.

Lovvers

Thursday night's show at Cake Shop (JEFF plays first, like 8:30) is also a good lineup, with the kickoff show of Brit band Lovvers' American tour. Try not to hold that double V against them, these guys are good, and play sloppy, catchy garage punk. You see Wipers and Germs comparisons thrown around a lot, but I was more encouraged to check them out when they listed '60s-loving '80s UK act The Baracudas as an influence on their MySpace. There's an EP out now -- you can download it's lead track "Human Hair" at the top of this post -- and their debut album OCD Go Go Go Girls is due out in October.

Also on the bill are Darlings who, now that I've seen them play and heard their album, I don't think sound anything like Teenage Fanclub or Sloan (so said L Magazine). To me, it's more '90s slacker indie rock -- Pavement, Sebadoh (which The L cited too), or even Small Factory. Comparisons or no, Darlings' debut, Yeah I Know, is chock-a-block with stick-in-your-head songs, two of which you can download at the top of this post.

Rounding out the Cake Shop line up is Stupid Party and Ex-Humans.

Acrylics

Savoir Adore have been written about more than a few times this year and am a big fan. Sometimes anthemic, sometimes danceable, singer-guitarists Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer write hopeful, melodic, pristine pop and their isn't a dud among the 14 tracks on their debut album, In the Wooded Forrest, which is out this week digitally and has been in constant rotation on my stereo this week. They're even better live if you ask me, giving maybe the best performance I saw during the Northside Fest. You can see them live and pick up the album at their record release party Friday night at Cameo Gallery (7/17). The $10 entry gets you a copy of the CD which is a pretty good deal. You can get three of the album's songs for free via their Machines EP which is linked to at the top of this post.

Making it an even better deal is that the show also features Acrylics who were easily the best Northside Fest performance by a band I hadn't seen before. Like Savoir Adore, Acrylics make '80s-tinged guitar pop with boy-girl harmonies and big hooks. You can download their song "Molly's Vertigo" at the top of this post.

Grand Duchy

You can also catch Acrylics with fellow Cantora artists Francis and the Lights at Music Hall of Williamsburg for the official Siren Fest afterparty. This year's Siren is the best line-up they've had in ages... maybe ever. Built to Spill, Thee Oh Sees, Micachu, Japandroids, A Place to Bury Strangers, Monotonix, Future of the Left, Frightened Rabbit -- it's pretty much good band after good band. The worst thing about it is having to make a choice between bands, or trying to run between stages and miss half a bands set in the process. I would like to call out Grand Duchy which is Frank Black and his wife Violet Clark. If you haven't heard their album, Petit Fours, it's really good and not quite like anything like Frank Black has been involved with before. You can also catch Grand Duchy on Friday at Maxwell's.

Saturday's weather report isn't so hot right now -- they're calling for thunderstorms -- but we can hope they're wrong.

Also this weekend are a couple shows featuring bands who'll soon play Merge Records' 2oth Anniversary spectacular, XX Merge. This Friday's (7/17) edition of the Seaport Music Festival is Superchunk and Versus. Superchunk's influence on indie rock over the last 15 years cannot be overestimated (and I'm not even considering that Mac and Laura started the label) while Versus were one of the '90s more under-appreciated groups who are currently recording their first new album in nine years!

And then Sunday, The Clientele are playing Music Hall of Williamsburg -- and you can check out "I Wonder Who We Are," the first released track from their new album, Bonfires on the Heath, at the top of this post.

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

Continue reading "JEFF the Brotherhood, Lovvers, Sisters, Savoir Adore, Darlings, Coin Under Tongue & more in This Week in Indie"

We did a phone interview with this freebie and totally mediocre mag called THE FLY, the one they always have in those venues that you always, always find yourself in? Lovvers' blog 5/4/09

UK band Lovvers has a North American tour coming up in July. That trip includes a tour-opening NY stop on July 16th at the Cake Shop and a tour-closing Death By Audio show on August 1st. Opening the first show are Stupid Party, Darlings and Ex-Humans. At the last will be The Sundelles, The So-So Glos and Babies.

From the band's most recent blog posts, it sounds like they'll have a new record out sometime soon to complement their 2008 EP Think (in May they discussed mastering a new disc). For this tour, the band will definitely be traveling with the third volume of OIB Records' split 7-inch series. Lovvers contribute a track alongside Knyfe Hyts, Best Fwends and The Death Set. The 7-inch officially comes out August 31st.

All tour dates, with a pair of videos, below...

Continue reading "Lovvers - 2009 Tour Dates (Cake Shop, Death By Audio) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Uninhabitable Mansions - Do You Have a Strategy? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hooray for Earth - A Simple Plan (Zip)

Hospitality

In my haste to bring you my weekend picks I realized I left out some stuff. First of all there's the opening of Littlefield, and its two free shows.

Second... Brooklyn's Hospitality, who play at Death By Audio tonight (5/22), have opened for Stereolab and Frog Eyes but remain mostly under-the-radar. (They did make L Magazine's "8 NYC Bands" runner-up list.) Singer Amber Papini's delicate, airy voice matches so perfectly with her songwriting: jazzy pop that kind of reminds me of '60s chanteuse Claudine Longet or Austin's Yellow Fever. I've yet to see them live but I'm kinda in love with the songs. While the focus tends to be on Papini, Hospitality are a trio and the most recent songs on their MySpace (recorded on a telephone, believe it or not) have a definite band feel to them. Also on the bill tonight at Death by Audio: Arizonans Stephen Steinbrink and Hell-Kite (who play at Cake Shop with The Kingsbury Manx tomorrow), and the countryish Little Gold, which all should make for one of the gentler nights at Death by Audio...ever?

Darlings

And on Memorial Day if you haven't been put into a food coma from too much BBQ, there's a great show that night at Union Pool featuring Uninhabitable Mansions, Darlings, Boogie Boarder and Ambergris. The show is a benefit for Smoke Signals, a new all-comics newspaper that Williamsburg comic/book/art store Desert Island is going to start publishing. This is likely to be Uninhabitable Mansions' only show till the fall, as Annie Hart will be busy touring with her main band, Au Revoir Simone for most of the summer. Their debut 7" is worth picking up, and you can check out it's b-side in MP3 form above. Darlings, you may remember, are one of L Magazine's "8 NYC Bands You Need To Hear" and their description of Teenage Fanclub-meets-Sloan is all I need to get me to the show. As for the other bands: Boogie Boarder are noisy low-fi and mostly instrumental; Ambergris have been dabbling in arty psych folk weirdness for a few years now. The show's $8 and all proceeds go to printing costs A worthy cause if you ask me.

And Speaking of Uninhabitable Mansions, Robbie (who is also in Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) and Chris of that band are also in Radical Dads, who play Public Assembly on Wednesday (5/27) with the interesting, somewhat genre-defying Hooray For Earth (I've seen comparisons to Joy Division, Guided by Voices, and Yeasayer... really?) and catchy synth-rockers Zambri.

Videos and flyers after the jump. Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

Continue reading "Hospitality, Darlings, Uninhabitable Mansions, Radical Dads & more in This Week In Indie (part 2) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Beets - What Did I Do? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pow Wow! - My House. Your House. Mine (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pow Wow! - 23 19 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Browns - For the Saints (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Browns - Forgotten Son (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Browns - Two of You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Sundelles - So Long (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gary War - Bounce Four (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Papercuts - Future Primitive (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Papercuts - Future Primitve (Ruby Suns remix) (MP3)

The Beets @ Bruar Falls

As you may have heard, L Magazine put out their annual "8 NYC Bands You Must Hear" issue this week. Tonight (5/1), three of the eight are playing live... and two of them are playing the same show. Those two would be pow wow! and The Beets who play at the Red Star bar in Greenpoint and I heartily give the thumbs up to both of them. I caught the latter last Friday when they played with Box Elders at Bruar Falls and thought they were great, maybe even just a smidge better than the Box Elders. In a weird way, The Beets kind of remind me of a more simplified version of '60s frat rock (The Troggs, Swingin' Medallions) by way of New Zealand. Though live their songs don't so much end as stop, somehow it all works. Their vinyl-only album, Spit in the Face of People Who Don't Want to Be Cool (a nod to WWE's Carlito), is well worth seeking out. They've got a new EP on Captured Tracks coming out sooner than later too, so be on the lookout for that too. An MP3 is at the top of this post.

I've written about pow wow! previously and have seen them a couple times now and they are a lot of fun, and have the kind of party vibe about them that would make them perfect for a residency at Ruby's Bar in Coney Island. If such things existed. At both shows I saw, pow wow! had the crowd dancing. Also on the bill are The Wild Yaks and The Subjects. Entry's only $4 and there's free Colt-45 from 9-10. Flyer below.

The other L Magazine trumpeted band playing tonight are Darlings who'll be at the 92Y Tribeca. I'm not so familiar with them, but here's what the L said:

They call to mind a sloppier Teenage Fanclub or Sloan at times, with whimsical melodies that feel completely timeless. Then, out of nowhere, they turn into a loud, screamy rock band, like early Replacements or the Jason Lowenstein contributions to Sebadoh, or maybe even... Nirvana? Basically, they've held onto the idea that this whole music thing was always supposed to be fun because you get to bang on shit really, really hard -- it just so happens they bring an awful lot of other stuff to the table as well.

Comparing a band to Teenage Fanclub and Sloan is a quick way to get me to listen. Darlings play with Snakes Say Hiss, and Boogie Boarder. They also play May 7 at Glasslands with pow wow! and the Sundelles.

Speaking of, The Sundelles also play tonight (5/1) at Matchless with The Browns who made the L Magazine's "Honorable Mentions" list:. Both bands are on 1928 Recordings which is also home to The Soft Pack and sound not dissimilar to that band. (Actually, Browns frontman Ryan McReynolds owns 1928 Recordings so maybe it all makes sense.) And like The Soft Pack, The Browns do that uninterested-but-sneering-with-contempt attitudede thing particularly well. The Sundelles are a little happier and a little more low-fi, but also quite good. MP3s for both Browns and Sundelles are at the top of this post.

My other recommended Friday show would be The Dears.

Kurt Vile @ Silent Barn (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

Moving on to Saturday, there's a potentially good show at Silent Barn (not my favorite Todd P venue i must admit) featuring Kurt Vile and Gary War who have played together there before. They both share a love of putting out a zillion releases in every format and as many labels as possible. Philadelphia's Kurt Vile is a good musician -- don't let his low-fi aesthetic fool you -- and his Woodist album, Constant Hitmaker, is very good. (His EP on Mexican Summer is less interesting to these ears.) Gary War is a bit weirder, more psychedelic and, like Blank Dogs, he likes to run his vocals through weird, watery effects. And also like Blank Dogs, he gives away his music on his blog, including the whole of his new album, New Ratheonport, which features "Bounce Four," which you can download at the top of this post, and a way-trippy cover of Alan Parsons Project's '70s soft rock classic, "Eye in the Sky." Two bands separate Kurt and Gary on the bill: Sightings and Drunkdriver.

Papercuts

And last but not least this week, we've mentioned before that Vetiver are in town for two shows: Sunday (5/3) at Bowery Ballroom and Thursday (5/7) at The Bell House. As much as I like the headliners -- and I do -- I'm more excited about openers Papercuts, who've made one of my favorite records of the year so far, You Can Have What You Want, which came out two weeks ago. The nom-de-rock of San Francisco resident Jason Quever, his second album is dense, layered, melodic and sounds like a warm Sunday morning, not unlike Cass McCombs. I liked Papercuts' 2007 debut, Can't Go Back, but this new one is just miles better. I have yet to see Papercuts the band (Quever augmented with a few friends) play live, and I know previous NYC stops have gotten mixed reviews, but I can't wait to see what they're like.

Videos and tour dates are below...

Continue reading "The Beets, Papercuts, The Browns, Gary War, pow wow! & more in This Week in Indie"

8 bands

The did it in 2007, and again in 2008, and this year L Magazine is back with their list of "8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear" (plus some runner-ups). Check out the 2009 list, and discuss, below...

Continue reading "L Mag's 2009 list of "8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear""