photos by Andrew Frisciano & Chris La Putt

DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Reaction To Substance M (MP3)

The Deastro & Max Tundra tour is underway and lands in NYC tonight (11/11) for a show at Mercury Lounge. Anamanaguchi and Blast Off! open (not sold out).

A few Saturdays ago Deastro played the free BV/BP party at Pianos. More pictures from that show and all dates below...

Continue reading "Deastro on tour w/ Max Tundra (NYC tonight) ++ Pianos pics"

DOWNLOAD: The Purrs - Stay With Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pete & the Pirates - Jennifer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Let's Wrestle - Tanks (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Records of a Flagpole Skater (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Kudos (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: A Classic Education - We Can Always Run to Hawaii (MP3)

A Classic Education

DAYTIME:

Again today (10/21) I suggest you just stay on the Lower East Side for your free day party action. At Cake Shop is the Terrorbird Digital party with the mod-ish Black Hollies, dark and dreamy Zaza, Nashville's fun Turbofruits, LA all-girl trio Warpaint, Montreal's Silver Starling and San Francisco's Tempo No Tempo. Plus: free cupcakes while they last.

Up the street at Pianos is the Force Field PR party which has Real Estate, Kentucky's These United States, CMJ overachievers Surfer Blood (who were good yesterday at Cake Shop), San Francisco's good time party pals Still Flyin', noisy locals Grooms (who were also good at Cake Shop yesterday), Sub Pop band Holopaw, UK act Stricken City and L.A.'s Seven Saturdays.

And you might even wander down to Santos Party House for the Hype Machine/Babelgum party that has a nice lineup of dance acts: Australia's Midnight Juggernauts, retrofuturist VEGA, Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells, smooth and soulful sounds of Theophilus London, and Norway's Alan Wilkis who puts his own spin on early '80s new wave funk. This one starts a bit later than the other day parties, at a civilized 3PM.

If you're in Williamsburg this afternoon (maybe to pick up your Vice Late Nights info at American Apparel) you might want to swing by Bruar Falls where they'll be a low key day show featuring Bologna, Italy's A Classic Education (who will also be playing the Brooklyn Vegan day party tomorrow [10/21] at Pianos). They were one of my favorites from SXSW. Also on the Bruar bill are three Brooklyn bands: My Teenage Stride, Knight School and Palomar. 2 - 6PM. Free!

NIGHTTIME:

Personally, this is my most conflicted night with at least three shows in completely different places that I feel I could stay at the whole night. If you're downtown at the day parties, you might want to head over to the M for Montreal showcase which starts with a 5PM performance from Parlovr. I was talking to a friend yesterday who was raving about their recent Pop Montreal performance and said they might be the next MTL band to break out. The rest of the M4M bill is solid, including Think About Life who were just fantastic last night at the official BrooklynVegan showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Also dont' miss BEASTand Duchess Says, the latter of whom will also play our free day party Thursday at Pianos.

Then there's also the great show at The Bell House with personal faves Pete & the Pirates and excellent New Zealanders Surf City -- both of whom are also playing the free BrooklynVegan/Bowery Presents day party on Saturday at Pianos. Also on the bill are Pete & the Pirates' Stolen Recordings labelmates Let's Wrestle, as well as North Carolina's The Love Language, the latter of whom will be playing our Friday night loft party. The Bell House show is $14 without a CMJ badge.

There's also a great lineup of bands at Santos tonight on two floors, including Cymbals Eat Guitars and DEASTRO (who both play our Saturday party), Free Energy, Real Estate, and Beach Fossils, plus a couple awesome bands from Norway: Ungdomskullen and I Was a King. It's $15 if you don't have a badge.

Richard Davies

And I'd like to highlight a couple artists who play their only CMJ shows tonight, at the same timeslot (9pm) in different Bleeker Street venues. (I know.) At Kenny's Castaways is Richard Davies who fronted the great Australian band The Moles in the late '80s/early '90s, and then moved to the U.S. where he formed chamber pop duo Cardinal with Eric Matthews, and their sole 1994 album remains one of the best things Sub Pop has ever released. After Cardinal, he put out three very good solo albums (1998's Telegraph is pretty great, actually), and then in 2000 or so, he decided to go to law school and has had his own practice since. But he's started playing again recently and, according to this interview, he and Matthews have restarted Cardinal, which is kind of exciting. But tonight here he'll play as a trio with a new band. Glad to have him back.

The Purrs

And down the street at Wicked Willy's are The Purrs who hail from Seattle and have just released their very good second album Amused, Confused and More Bad News. Mix a little '80s Paisley Underground with '90s Britpop and you're in the ballpark of their sound. You can download their song "Stay Here With Me" at the top of this post. 9PM at Wicked Willy's (149 Bleeker).

What else is good today? Hip Hop recommendations HERE. Flyers and day party set times, and all Classic Education dates, below.

Continue reading "CMJ 2009 - Bill's Wednesday picks & stuff (day, night parties, A Classic Education, Richard Davies, The Purrs, more)"

DOWNLOAD: The Wheel - Whimper and Wail (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Records of a Flagpole Skater (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Kudos (MP3)

Dent May

Sharon Van Etten

Cymbals Eat Guitars @ Brooklyn Bowl in August (more by Oren Loloi)

By the time Saturday, October 24th gets here, six BrooklynVegan shows will have come and gone. The first is on Tuesday. Then there are two on Thursday (night and day), and three on Friday (day, night, and night). Finally, the seventh and final BV party of CMJ 2009 (which is not technically part of CMJ) is happening Saturday at Pianos, and the 2-stage lineup is:

DOWNSTAIRS @ Pianos on the afternoon of 10/24/2009

1:15 Surf City
2:00 The Moondoggies (Hardly Art)
2:45 Local Natives
3:30 Still Life Still
4:15 Deastro
5:00 Cymbals Eat Guitars

1:00 Dave Godowsky
1:45 Sharon Van Etten
2:30 The Smith Westerns
3:15 Pete & The Pirates
4:00 JBM
4:45 Dent May
5:30 Nathaniel Rateliff and The Wheel

Not only is this show 100% free, there will be free Miller beer (High Life and Lite) and free Vitamin Water (first come, first served). Same free stuff at all three BrooklynVegan day parties this year (Thursday @ Pianos, Friday @ Fontana's, and Saturday @ Pianos aka this party). Flyer for this party, which was put together in conjunction with Bowery Presents who wanted the same space on the same day (Double Booked!), below.

We talked about Surf City who are from New Zealand, and a bunch about Pete & The Pirates from the UK.

For the Moondoggies, this is one of only two CMJ-time shows. Their other is the official Sub Pop / Hardly Art showcase at Mercury Lounge.

Two bands on this bill are playing two BV parties. LA's Local Natives are also in the loft. Denver's The Wheel are also Tuesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Still Life Still are that band that new Arts & Crafts band that just came through town. You know Dent May from the roster of Animal Collective's label Paw Tracks.

Dave Godowsky and Sharon Van Etten are both singer-songwriters making their second appearances at BV parties in the upstairs room of Pianos. You may have caught Dave when he opened for Dave Bazan at Bowery Ballroom on Sunday night. You may remember Sharon's voice from the new Antlers record (The Antlers are another band playing the BV show at MHOW).

Ghostly International artist Deastro has a tour coming up with Max Tundra in 2010. Don't wait that long to see him.

The Smith Westerns. You remember them. JBM too. And Cymbals Eat Guitars. Maybe another band TBA (probably). I'm too tired to keep writing. Flyer below!

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan & Bowery Presents were Double Booked! ...........(free Saturday day party during CMJ 2009 @ Pianos)"

photos by Tim Griffin

DOWNLOAD: Max Tundra - Which Song (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Reaction To Substance M (MP3)

Deastro and Max Tundra will join up for a tour (all dates TBA) that includes a NYC show at Mecury Lounge on Wednesday, November 11th. Tickets for that are on AmEx presale now. General sale starts Friday, August 28th at noon.

Max Tundra was last in NYC this past Sunday to open for Girl Talk. You saw him in Bao's pics, but Tim's were all of the crowd. More of Tim's (slightly stylized) shots of Max, with all dates, and a video of Deastro live on KEXP, below...

Continue reading "Max Tundra & Deastro to tour - MP3, NYC tix, Pool Party pics"

photos by Katherine Feldhouse

Deastro played Mercury Lounge on Wednesday (6/10). It was the first of their two NYC appearances this week. The second is part of the Ghostly Northside show happening at Studio B tonight (6/12). Before reaching NY, the band stopped into Daytrotter to record a session. After NY, they have a bunch more dates lined up.

More pictures from Mercury Lounge below...

Continue reading "Deastro - Mercury Lounge pics, Daytrotter MP3, show tonight "

DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Vermillion Plaza (MP3)

Randolph Chabot has been making albums since he was 12 years old -- now, at 22, the Detroit-based musician known as Deastro is ready for his close-up...Deastro's full-band debut, Moondagger, arrives on June 23rd, and his "Vermillion Plaza" single -- along with its B-side, a squelchy, lumbering remix by Ghostly Swim featured artist Mux Mool -- drops May 12th on Ghostly International. [says Ghostly International]

Deastro, last in Brooklyn for the opening of Williamsburg venue Bruar Falls on March 27th, heads out on a June North American tour this summer in support of Moondagger. That includes two NYC shows. The first is at Mercury Lounge on Wednesday, June 10th. Tickets are on sale. The next is two days later, on Friday, June 12th, at a Northside Festival show at Studio B. That late show (happening after Sunset Rubdown, Witches and Elfin Saddle at the same venue) is Ghostly International's 10-yr Anniversary Bash. Also on the bill are Lusine, Michna and DJ Mike Servino. Tickets to that gig are still on sale. Four-day fest passes, also on sale, will get you in too (capacity permitting).

Deastro also plays the Ghostly 10 Year Anniversary party happening in his hometown of Detroit on Saturday, May 23rd. The label recently followed him around for a "Ghostly Presents: Deastro" short film. You can read more about that, and watch the video, and check out all tour dates, below....

Continue reading "Deastro - new album, MP3, free EP & 2009 tour dates "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Micachu - Lips (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Chap - Proper Rock (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Choir of Unbelievers - Next Summer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Youth Group - "Start Today Tomorrow" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fumes - "Automobile" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Parallelogram (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Light Powered (MP3)

Micachu @ Cake Shop (more by Tim Griffin)

Welcome to the SXSW Hangover edition of This Week in Indie. Those who went to Austin might not want to go see live music, but for everyone else it's a boon. Most of these bands have been covered before so I'm just going to go night-by-night of the shows I'd recommend...

Continue reading "Deastro, Obits, White Lies, WAVVES, Ladyhawke, Efterklang, Primal Scream & more in This Week in Indie"