photos by Laura Leebove, words by Rachel Kowal

I missed Des Ark (Aimee Argote), the first act last night at the Bowery Ballroom (10/12), but I did arrive in time to catch nearly all of Death Vessel's. I'm hard-pressed to think of an artist whose name is more misleading than Death Vessel. Far from being emo or hardcore, Joel Thibodeau (the man behind Death Vessel), is more likely to sweep you off your feet than to launch a vicious aural attack on your soul.

With his waist-length hair, earnest presentation, and warm demeanor, Thibodeau seemed a bit out of place last night in such a large room, but the Sub Pop artist made it work. His set-up was simple - so simple, in fact that he arrived to the city by Megabus. For his performance, Thibodeau required just an acoustic guitar... and his surprisingly high voice.

Though the audience was courteous for the most part, the chatter emanating from the back of the room became a bit distracting toward the end of the set. (Apparently, Thibodeau hadn't cast his spell back far enough.) Sensing that he had lost part of the audience, he quickly responded by picking up the pace of his next song. Of course, as he later joked, his range was fairly limited - it was only a matter of choosing between 'quiet and quieter' songs.

Of course, a quiet act is a pretty appropriate opener for Bowerbirds. Going into the show, I admit I was a bit worried we'd be in for a stripped down set. But despite the misleading picture on the Bowery Presents website (which depicted just Phil Moore and Beth Tacular), I was relieved to see five people walk on stage. The group has at least temporarily grown to include Rachel Rollins on violin and Dan "Yan" Westerlund on drums in addition to multi-instrumentalist Mark Paulsen (who has toured with Bowerbirds in the past).

The set got off to a bit of a rough start. There were some technical problems in the first two songs (or "little monsters" as guitarist/lead vocalist Phil Moore affectionately called them), but then the issues resolved. If anything, the early set backs rallied the audience to Bowerbirds' side. The band had to re-start their second song (La Denigracion), but numerous people called out encouragements from the floor.

Though the band has traditionally projected a rich, well-rounded sound, it was even more full-bodied last night with the additional musicians. The homemade marimba was a nice surprise, and the violin(s) sounded fantastic.

After a few songs, Rollins spoke out. "We love coming to New York and playing at this beautiful place that has our namesake." (Bowerbirds, Bowery Ballroom... someone had to say it).

All in all, it was a lovely evening - if a bit sleepy at times. In addition to playing songs from their first two albums, Bowerbirds also showcased a couple of new ones (one so new that it is still untitled). Rollins and Moore's vocals were spot-on as always, and the audience seemed engrossed in the music. Like their openers, Bowerbirds may have been more suited for a smaller, more intimate setting, but they embraced what they had (it was their namesake, after all). For much of their final song ("My Oldest Memory"), they even dared to forsake the mics, which seemed to make the size of the room shrink - if only for a few moments.

The 5-piece Bowerbirds have a few dates left on their tour. Their Bower-setlist with a few more pictures from the show, below...

Continue reading "a bigger Bowerbirds playerd Bower-y Ballroom w/ Death Vessel & Des Ark (pics & setlist)"

DOWNLOAD: Bowerbirds - Beneath Your Tree (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bowerbirds - Northern Lights (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bowerbirds - In Our Talons (MP3)

a Bowerbird (f_letter)

"Bowerbirds have expanded their line-up to a full five members for this tour. Joining Phil and Beth, Bowerbirds' core, will be Dan "Yan" Westerlund, Mark Paulsen, and Rachel Rollins. You can expect added percussion including both a full kit and the old-style bass drum with rim clicks reminiscent of Bowerbirds' first record Hymns For A Dark Horse. On other songs there will be a string section with both Mark and Rachel playing violin. And the ever-clever and always handy Phil Moore actually built himself a marimba which will also be featured on some songs. This will all be in addition to the traditional mixture of accordion, guitar, bass synths, and organ. This is sure to be an interesting new take on the Bowerbirds sound we all know and love."

This previously-mentioned Bowerbirds tour hits Bowery Ballroom in NYC tonight (10/12) with a supporting cast of Death Vessel and Aimee Argote (from Des Ark). Tickets are still available and I have a few pair to giveaway. Contest details and all dates below...

Continue reading "Bowerbirds touring as a 5-person band (dates), NYC w/ Death Vessel tonight (WIN TIX) "

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

"omg omg I love you sigur ros you make me cry @sigurros and thank you jonsi for an amazing concert last night at terminal 5" - Andrew

jónsi: it's super scary. i dunno why. there was a big confusion because first of all i'd been in sigur rós for 15 years. and all of a sudden i went from this safe environment of having three other guys to bounce ideas off. when i get tired i could tell them to take over. it was so easy. i didn't actually realise until i went into this project when i had to do everything myself; everybody's coming and asking things and you have to pretend to know. it's also confusing because this album was supposed to be a small side step from sigur rós - not quitting or anything like that - they were all off having babies, not me. so i thought it was prefect timing to do something else. the first idea was to have a really low-key acoustic album but then it exploded into something totally different. the first demo was acoustic guitars, piano and ukulele. then songs became crazier and i had people in mind i wanted to work with like nico muhly. he's amazing. he did all the arrangements with strings and brass. then there was no holding me back. we were in my apartment and he had one small keyboard and a computer and he did five songs in a night. he is so hyper active; it was really fun and exciting. he had worked on some albums that i heard and liked the arrangements because they were not like sigur rós. i didn't want to have sigur rós arrangements. i wanted something crazier than the obvious choice.

Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi (and opener Death Vessel) played two nights in a row (with his band) at Terminal 5 in NYC over the weekend. We already posted pictures and video from the first night (Saturday). Sunday night, including a series of six videos taken from above, below...

Continue reading "Jonsi & Death Vessel @ Terminal 5 (night 2) - pics & video "

photos by Ryan Muir

"[Jonsi's] concert was a tribute to Nature, both sublime and pitiless. His backdrop was a window onto a dark forest; videos showed plants blossoming, predators pursuing prey and ravaging storms.

While the album starts with its thumping, upbeat songs, the concert took its time, starting with folky acoustic ballads, a somber hymn and Steve Reich Minimalist patterns. Folkiness carried over into the danceable songs. There was always something hand-played, an acoustic guitar or a plinking vibraphone, in the mix. And when the faster songs arrived, with the cosmic advice of "Go Do" -- "We should always know that we can do everything" -- Jonsi's high, clear voice was not only the carrier of insistent pop hooks, but also a messenger of ecstatic hope." [NY Times]

Jonsi completed his North American tour Sunday night at Terminal 5. Death Vessel opened that show and the one the night before it at the same venue. More pictures and a bunch of videos from Saturday (5/8), below...

Continue reading "Jonsi & Death Vessel @ Terminal 5 (night 1) - pics & video "

Jonsi's tour kick in Vancouver 4/6 (A Hermida)

On a set that looked like the Museum of Natural History after a fire (trust me), a tight musical arc that fit the songs into one another like puzzle pieces, and gorgeous projections courtesy of London's 59 Productions, the show was less winsome rock and more serious Theatre. There were costumes, too: All but one band member wore a jacket trailing bright fabric strips that hung like rainbow tree moss.

But when the whole band combined like a marvelous machine, as on the twinkling "Sinking Friendships" or thrashing, thunderous closer "Grow Till Tall," the Jonsi experience reaches its height. Percussionist Samuli Kosminen manages to alternatively scare and soothe with tools both expected (good old drums) and unusual (a rock, I think).

In between, "Tornado" hinted at both orchestra and film score, "Go Do" found a sunny, breakneck pop sprint, and "Around Us" was a hypnotic, trippy epic, complete with live vocal loops.

The pinnacle, however, came in the encore. Jonsi, in full Native American headdress, emerged from the side of the stage and put his plumage on full display. Then he smiled, and it was clear: Sigur Ros is a beautiful thing, but when he goes solo, Jonsi does something amazing -- he lets his freak flag fly. "I want to be a miracle," he sang on "Boy Lilikoi." [Spin]

Jonsi's world tour in support of his solo debut, Go, kicked off last night (Tuesday, April 6th) in Vancouver. The pictures, video (below) and review above are first looks at the sprawling stage show set up for the tour...

[Jonsi] enlisted a design company that creates sets for the Metropolitan Opera Company, the English National Opera and other bastions of high culture. The company, Fifty Nine Productions, was looking to branch out into pop music. "We were all really big Sigur Rós fans. They were literally on the list of people we wanted to work with," says director Mark Grimmer.

For Jónsi, Fifty Nine Productions created a sort of decimated museum exhibit on stage, with heavy use of video projections--without jumbo-sized screens. "We try to integrate the images into the fabric of the shows and project them onto objects that aren't dead when there's nothing on it," Mr. Grimmer says. For instance, video is projected in museum-like exhibit cases along with on Jónsi himself. [Wall Street Journal]

Jonsi and band play Vancouver again tonight (4/7). Their tour goes on to include Coachella and two nights at Terminal 5 on May 8th and 9th. Tickets are still on sale for those.

If you need a Jonsi fix sooner, there's a free listening party tonight at Le Poisson Rouge (no RSVP required) for the new album, which came out today (4/7)...

"Album available to purchase on site, and happy hour drink specials for the duration of the event. The album will be played in full, with giveaways set up for Jonsi/Sigur Ros vinyl, and tickets for Jonsi's Terminal 5 shows on May 8th and 9th. Video footage from Jonsi's new music videos and related projects to be screened as well."

A couple more pictures and videos from the Canada show, the set list and more are below...

Continue reading "Jonsi's album is out & his tour kicked off last night in Vancouver (pics, video, setlist & a bit about the stage setup) "

DOWNLOAD: Death Vessel - Deep in the Horchata (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Death Vessel - Mandan Dink (MP3)

Grant Hart

One half of Husker Du's singing and songwriting, Bob Mould, played two sold-out shows at Joe's Pub in NYC in early April. The other half, Grant Hart, will play two shows in NYC as well. Grant's short North East tour includes a Friday, May 29th show at the Cake Shop with Grass Widow and Querent, and a Monday, June 1st show at the Bell House with Kevin Barker and Death Vessel. Tickets for the Brooklyn show are on sale.

No word yet on a new album from Death Vessel. His last release, Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us, was put out by Sub Pop in August 2008. His first release, Stay Close, is available as limited vinyl from Immune. The Bell House show is one stop on a bigger tour for Death Vessel. All dates below.

In February, Grant Hart wrote...

I have a new album in the can and if anyone wants to talk about it, talk to me. It has been recorded in Montreal with members of A Silver Mt. Zion and Godspeed You! Black Emperor and in Minneapolis with members of Rank Strangers and Fat Kid Wednesdays. [MySpace]

No word on a release yet.

In other Husker Du new, ATP NY this year will feature No Age performing a Husker Du LP in its entirety along with a "special guest vocalist" who may or may not be Bob Mould.

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Grant Hart (Ex-Husker Du) touring, playing 2 NYC shows (one with Death Vessel - also on tour) - dates"

Jane's Addiction - @ Echoplex, Los Angeles - Feb 16, 2009 (revolute)

Live Nation and Adam Zacks are pleased to announce this year's line up for the Sasquatch! Music Festival at the legendary Gorge in Eastern Washington. The festival, now in its eighth and most ambitious year yet, has evolved from a unique, homegrown & low key fest into a full blown three day extravaganza. A festival-goer's dream, it comes complete with camp-outs, canyons, sunsets, three stages and new this year, an expanded comedy and dance music tent. The tent will feature performances from comedians throughout the day, and then come dusk, will spotlight electronic and dance music artists.

Already the official opener to summer for music fans, the Sasquatch! Music Festival is becoming a certified monster of a musical event: this year features another exciting and diverse line-up for the musically adventurous, and ups the ante on an event already hailed for its independent spirit. Tickets go on sale Saturday February 28th at 10AM

Jane's Addiction, reunited once again, played a show at the Echoplex in LA last night. They announced it last week via their website and mailing list.

Today it was announced that Jane's (feat. all four original members), NIN, Kings of Leon, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Santigold, and many others are playing this year's Sasquatch Festival (May 23, 24, 25, 2009 @ The Gorge in Quincy, WA). Full lineup and ticket info below...

Continue reading "Jane's Addiction played LA, headlining SASQUATCH Festival (which just announced most of the 2009 LINEUP)"

Photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Our Thursday (10/23) day party at Pianos got a late start - the upstairs anyway. That ended up being a good thing for Twi the Humble Feather whose set time switched from 12:15 pm to the usually more-desirable 2:00.

Unlike the Mercury Lounge show where they had a full choir, Twi (rhymes with eye) played this one as a trio, each of them with a guitar. To quote L Magazine,

The exclusively acoustic three-piece come across as a live-action tape-loop of sorts, their chanting falsettos bleeding through cycles of finger strumming dwindles and swells. It's part Gregorian chant, part Christmas carol and part Panda Bear's Person Pitch unplugged.

One excited patron of the Pianos shows called them otherworldly.

Your next chance to see Twi is November 11th at Music Hall of Williamsburg when they open for The Sea and Cake. Death Vessel, another artist that utilizes a high voice (though unlke Twi I think his isn't falsetto), is also on the bill. More The Sea and Cake dates HERE. More Twi pictures and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Twi the Humble Feather - 2008 tour dates & BV party pics "

The new space at Webster Hall is hosting free shows all week long during CMJ 2008. More details below...

Continue reading "free CMJ shows @ The Studio, VICE & Stereogum included"

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Brendan Canning show at Mercury Lounge.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Death Vessel show at Mercury Lounge. The show at Union Hall is on sale too.

Tickets are on sale for a Damien Jurado show at Mercury Lounge.

Tickets are on sale for four Spinto Band shows at Union Hall.

Paul Weller's Nokia show goes on sale Friday.

Now on Presale: Opeth & High on Fire

Reduced in Price: Sonny Rollins @ Summerstage.

FREE: a Radiohead & other tribute bands @ BB King's

ALSO FREE: everything listed in the free show calendar.

DOWNLOAD: Oxford Collapse - The Birthday Wars (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Death Vessel - Bruno's Torso (MP3)

Death Vessel


Oxford Collapse's new Sub Pop album "Bits" is out August 5th. Oxford Collapse have three NYC shows coming up including one tonight.

Death Vessel's new Sub Pop album "Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us" is out August 19th. Death Vessel played a show in NYC last night and has two more scheduled for the future.

Deer Tick @ Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY - June 30, 2008 (Stark)

Solo, frontman John McCauley's songs echoed with the classic sadness of Townes Van Zandt - with his band, the songs came alive and crackled with energy. His drunken, mostly hilarious stage banter remained the same. McCauley brought along a tasteful and talented upright bass player and drummer for the evenings performance. They laid in the pocket and stayed out of the way and let the almost rockabilly-country songs and vocals come to the forefront. [Stark]

Deer Tick played a show with Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson at Southpaw last night.

Today (July 1) it was announced that Deer Tick will be playing with Death Vessel at Knitting Factory tonight. The show is the first of many that Death Vessel has coming up. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "Death Vessel - 2008 Tour Dates ++ Deer Tick tonight "