by Bill Pearis

Jose Boyer with Harlem, Siren Fest 2010 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Unbeknownst to a lot of people (like us), Austin hopefuls Harlem (whose 2010 LP, Hippies, came out on Matador) broke up some time ago or at least gone into indefinite hiatus, with the members splintering into various groups. Singer Michael Coomers is now in Lace Curtains who released last year's quite good and underheard The Garden of Joy and the Well of Loneliness. Try not to confuse Lace Curtains with Lace Curtain (no "s"), the new Total Control/Eddy Current spinoff.

Harlem bassist Jose Boyer formed Daytona and that band is still going (they played Shea Stadium last night, 2/12), but has a new group, Las Rosas, whose debut EP is streamable below. It's very much in Harlem's sneery, garage-y vein. Las Roses make their live debut on Saturday (2/23) in Brooklyn at Union Pool with Clear Plastic Masks and Northern Bells. $7 at the door.

Las Rosas stream below...

Continue reading "Harlem broke up (?), bassist Jose Boyer's new band Las Rosas makes live debut in Brooklyn this weekend"

Takka Takka whose sole announced upcoming show is the Ernest Jenning Record Company CMJ showcase at Grand Victory on 10/19 (with Dinosaur Feathers, Wild Yaks, Miniboone, and Daytona), have announced a new album, their first in four years. Listen to one of its songs, with more info, below...

Continue reading "Takka Takka announce new LP & song in time for CMJ"

As mentioned in What's Going on Monday, California rawk duo Deap Vally canceled tonight's Maxwell's show (10/15). But there will be no shortage of chances to see them this week, as their CMJ schedule boasts five shows, including the BrooklynVegan day party on Friday (10/19) at Public Assembly. They'll be on early (1:30 PM) and we'll be letting you in on the full schedule real soon.

They'll also play the Fader Fort at Converse Rubber Tracks Studio on 10/17, Bowery Ballroom on 10/18 with MNDR, MS MR, IO Echo, Sky Ferreira, and Gabriel Bruce, Rockwood Music Hall on Friday night (10/19) after our day party with Matthew and The Atlas, Foreign Fields, Matrimony, and KOOL A.D; and finally Cake Shop on Saturday afteroon (10/20) for the Village Voice party with Delicate Steve, Dent May, Heavenly Beat. Vockah Redu and Daytona.

Deap Vally will open for Muse in November on their European tour. CMJ dates and flyers are below.

Continue reading "Deap Vally not playing Maxwell's, are playing BV party Friday"

by Bill Pearis

DONWLOAD: Fenster - Oh Canyon (Slow Steve remix) (MP3)

Berlin-based trio Fenster, last here in March, are returning to the United States for a short tour, starting in NYC during CMJ where they'll play The Trash Bar on October 19 with Zerobridge, Humans, The Blackboard Nails, and Bear Trap. $8 at the door or you can use your CMJ badge if you have one. Fenster will then return to NYC at the end of their tour playing Muchmore's in Williamsburg on October 29 with Daytona, and then Mercury Lounge on November 4 with Howth. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show go on sale Friday (10/12) at noon.

Fenster just offered up a Slow Steve remix of "Oh Canyon" which you can download above or stream at the bottom of this post. (They'll play with Slow Steve in Asheville, NC on this tour too.) The original is on their lovely, minimalist pop debut, Bones, which is out now on Morr Music and streamable via Spotify.

All Fenster tour dates are listed below as is that remix stream.

Continue reading "Fenster returning for U.S. tour, including CMJ (dates, stream)"

Beach Day at Knitting Factory, June 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Hollywood, Florida's Beach Day are visiting NYC again, playing two shows: tonight (7/25) at Public Assembly with The Babies (of a few shows the Babies have going on), Wild Yaks and Daytona; and Cake Shop Thursday (7/26) with charming local indie poppers Chalk & Numbers, and Island Twins. All Beach Day tour dates are listed below.

As mentioned before, Beach Day have signed with Kanine Records who just released the band's debut 7". Echoing early '60s pop, it's custom-made for sunny weather and comes on white vinyl, to match your jeans. You can stream both sides of the single below.

Continue reading "Beach Day playing 2 NYC shows this week; stream their new 7""

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Levek - Black Mold Grow (MP3)

Levek

Gainsville, FL's David Levesque will release his debut album under his Levek alias, Look A Little Closer, on September 25 via Lefse Records. You may remember 2010 single "Look on the Bright Side," which dove deep into widescreen psychedelic funk. Look A Little Closer finds him dipping even more explicitly into '60s tropicalia be it Sergio Mendez-style trippy excursions to more trad bossa nova, as well as delicate folk. It makes for a refreshing listen on these hot humid summer nights we're currently experiencing. You can download the album's first single, "Black Mold Grow," at the top of this post.

Levek just launched a little East Coast tour that will hit NYC this weekend with two shows: Friday (7/20) at Pianos with Tropic of Pisces and Bad Girlfriend (tickets), and Glasslands on Saturday (7/18) as part of good line-up that includes Dent May and The Babies (tickets). All Levek tour dates are below.

The Babies

The Glasslands show is the first of four upcoming Brooklyn shows for The Babies who just wrapped up a tour of the West Coast. They're also playing July 25 at Public Assembly with Wild Yaks, Beach Day, Daytona and DJ's Total Slacker (tickets), July 28 at Union Pool opening for The Soft Pack, and August 15 at Union Pool with Deep Time. The Babies new album, Our House on the Hill, is due out on Woodsist this fall but the first single from it, "Moonlight Mile" (not a Rolling Stones cover), is out next month.

Continue reading "Levek readies debut LP (MP3), on tour, playing 2 NYC shows this weekend; The Babies playing 4 upcoming Brooklyn shows"

Tickets for the Swans show at Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Morrissey shows at Terminal 5 go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Justice show at Hammerstein go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Jens Lekman and Taken by Trees show at Terminal 5 go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Calexico and The Dodos show at Webster Hall go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Old 97s show at Webster Hall go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Squarepusher show at Terminal 5 with Mount Kimbie, Holy Fuck, and Bonobo (DJ) go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion show at Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Two Door Cinema Club show at Central Park Summerstage go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for The Presets show at Terminal 5 go on AmEx presale today at noon.

The Babies play Public Assembly on July 25 with Night Manager, Beach Day, Daytona, and Total Slacker (DJ). Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Brother Ali is playing Bowery Ballroom on September 27 with Blank Tape Beloved, Homeboy Sandman, DJ Sosa, and The Reminders. Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale today at noon with a general sale starting Friday (6/29) at noon.

Alberta Cross, who just played Governors Ball, will be back in NYC for a show at Bowery Ballroom on September 13. Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale today at noon with a general sale starting Friday (6/29) at noon.

Tickets for the Kool AD (of Das Racist) show at Mercury Lounge go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Speaking of Das Racist, Heems will DJ at Cameo on Friday (6/29) with live sets by three caps-lock loving bands, SAFE, ARMS, and CRUX. Heems also plays Gramercy Theater on 7/3 with Prodigy.

by Bill Pearis

Field Mouse

It's late April, time for The L Magazine's annual "8 Bands You Need to Hear" list. Like always, there's a few you've probably heard, a few you've heard of, and a few who may be new to you entirely. Here's the list, with the artists' next next NYC area show (where applicable)

Field Mouse (May 3 at the Rock Shop)

Ski Lodge (May 24 at The Rock Shop)

Daytona (April 27 at Death by Audio)

Evi (5/3 at Brooklyn Bowl opening for James Chance)

Black Marble (May 3, opening for Light Asylum)

Starlight Girls (May 26 at Cameo Gallery)

Plates of Cake (No upcoming shows)

Ravens & Chimes (June 1 at WNYC Green Space)

Also, The L Magazine's Northside Festival (June 14 - 21) announced its initial 2012 line-up last week. In addition to GZA, Ceremony and Neil Hamburger (whose Northside shows we mentioned already), bands confirmed for the music portion of the Fest (June 14 - 17) include Of Montreal, Tinariwen, ?uestlove, Dam-Funk, Kool Keith, Chain & the Gang, Magrudergrind and more. Badges are on-sale now.

Click through for streams from all "8 Bands You Need to Hear"

Continue reading "L Mag picked 8 more 'Bands You Need to Hear Right Now', announced some Northside bands"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Lost in the Trees @ Housing Works - 2/17/2012

Chapel Hill ensemble Lost In The Trees are currently out on tour with Poor Moon (members of Fleet Foxes), and arrive back in NYC for a show at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (4/11). Tickets are still available, though if you can't make it, NPR will be streaming it live. All dates are listed below.

Last time LITT were in NYC, they played a benefit at Housing Works with Daytona...

[LITT Frontman] Ari Picker, whose voice has the same high lilt as Ben Gibbard, revealed that this was the band's first public show in six months as they've been holed up in the recording studio working on their second LP, A Church That Fits Our Needs, set to come out next month. This was my second time seeing the band, having first been wowed by their classically-honed chops back in 2010. This time, their music had a spikier edge to it, punctuated by violin, cello, horn, and those new fangled things called electric guitars. -[Feast of Music]

The band's new record A Church That Fits Our Needs was released on 3/20 via ANTI. Album track "Golden Eyelids" made its debut at KCRW back in February. Today we present the premiere of its video which you can watch below. Says Ari, "The idea was to create a video that takes place entirely underwater, composed of evocative moments of eerie and angelic beauty to underly the mood of the song." They succeeded in that, literally. Check it out, a collaboration between the band and CreatoDestructo, along with the slightly older video for "Red", the live pictures, dates and more, below...

Continue reading "Lost in the Trees made a new video (BV PREMIERE), are on tour (NYC tonight), played Housing Works (belated pics)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Fenster - Fantasy II (MP3)

Fenster

Berlin-based trio Fenster are making their U.S. debut tonight (3/5) at Cake Shop. The band's charming, minimalist debut, Bones, is out next week on Morr Music. It's Sunday Morning Coming Down music with a little Beirut grandiosity to it at times. You can download "Fantasy II" from it at the top of this post and stream a couple more tracks below.

In addition to tonight's show Fenster will play Pianos on Wednesday (3/7) with Doe Paoro, then head to SXSW and then on the other side will be back in NYC for shows at Ars Nova on March 29 and the Knitting Factory on April 4. All Fenster tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Daytona

Tonight's show, as well as the Knitting Factory date in April are with Daytona, which features Jose Boyer who is also in Harlem and Hunter Simpson of Wild Yaks. The Brooklyn trio's rounded out by drummer Christopher Lauderdale. All three sing. You can stream their debut EP at the bottom of this post -- it's definitely different than either Harlem or Wild Yaks. (Plaintive but poppy indie rock.) In addition to the two dates with Fenster, Daytona are also playing Littlefield on March 21 (opening for Ed Askew), plus some out of town dates as well, all of which are below.

Continue reading "Fenster are here, playing NYC before & after SXSW, sometimes with Daytona (dates)"

Ava Luna at BV Holiday Party last month/year (more by Jessica Amaya)

Wintersleep are going on a short North American tour this month which ends in 2 NYC dates happening on January 24 at Mercury Lounge with Pretty & Nice and January 25 at Glasslands with ARMS and Writer. Tickets for the Mercury show and the Glasslands show are on sale now. All Wintersleep dates are listed below.

Speaking of ARMS, their frontman, Todd Goldstein, is opening for John Roderick (of the Long Winters) at his Mercury Lounge show (1/28), which is three days after ARMS play Glasslands and one day after John Roderick opens for Aimee Mann at her sold out MHOW show. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show are still available.

In other Glasslands/Mercury Lounge news, Har Mar Superstar has a few shows announced including Glasslands on March 7 with Rewards. Tickets are on sale now.

Rewards were also just announced as the opener for the second School of Seven Bells show at Mercury Lounge (3/1). Their record release show (happening at the same venue on 2/28) sold out and Tickets for the new show go on sale Friday (1/6) at noon.

Both Rewards and School of Seven Bells also DJ in Brooklyn next Friday (1/13) at Cameo Gallery with CREEP, who is also DJing. Doors are at midnight for this late show, which takes place after Radical Dads play the same venue a few hours earlier. Radical Dads recently played a great set at our Brooklyn Bazaar Holiday Party.

The day before that Cameo Gallery show, NewVillager and Avan Lava play Mercury Lounge (1/12). Tickets are available.

Avan Lava is not to be confused with Ava Luna, who just played a BV Holiday Party with Widowspeak and Twin Sister, the latter of which they're heading out on tour with later this month. That tour doesn't include any NYC dates but Ava Luna just announced their own NYC show happening shortly after the tour ends at Mercury Lounge on February 24 with Celestial Shore, Darlings, and Cindy Lou Gooden. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (1/13) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/11) at noon.

You can catch Darlings in NYC even sooner when they headline Glasslands on Thursday (1/12) with The Suzan, Fabric, and DAYTONA (mems. of Harlem and Wild Yaks). Tickets for that show are available.

Friends play Cameo on January 24th.

Faris (of the Horrors) and Honor (of Cerebral Ballzy) both DJ cameo this Friday night (tomorrow, 1/6).

More Wintersleep & Har Mar dates below...

Continue reading "Wintersleep, ARMS, Ava Luna, Avan Lava, Radical Dads, Har Mar Superstar, NewVillager, Friends & other upcoming shows"