DOWNLOAD: The Stepkids - "Shadows on Behalf" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Stepkids - "Legend In My Own Mind" (MP3)

The Stepkids

Spotify Late Nights at Mercury Lounge continue this Thursday (8/18) with Delicate Steve, The Stepkids, Parlovr and DJ Young Elz (RCRD LBL/Our Show). Admission for the 21+ show is free, doors are at 10 PM and the show is first come, first served. Those in attendance will receive an access code for Spotify US.

The Stepkids also head out this September supporting The Horrors on their tour. The tour culminates on October 4 at Webster Hall. Tickets for that show are still available. The Stepkids will release their self titled debut LP on September 27 via Stones Throw. Grab two tracks from that album above, and watch a video for another below with all dates....

Continue reading "Stepkids playing free Spotify show w/ Delicate Steve & Parlovr, touring w/ The Horrors (dates)"

photos by Toby Tenenbaum, words by Andrew Sacher

"The highlight had to be Ra Ra Riot coming
on stage to "Raining Blood" \m/" - Debbie Encalada

Ra Ra Riot played a free Celebrate Brooklyn show, the second to last one of the summer, in Prospect Park Friday night (8/5) with support from Buke & Gass and Delicate Steve.

Buke & Gass kicked things off with their unique brand of avant-pop, driven by their self-built instruments and whatever percussion the duo can manage to pull off with their feet. The circumstances definitely weren't the best for the Brooklyn-based band, who were opening a large, sparsely filled out venue for a much poppier act. But given the attention they deserved, Buke & Gass were able to prove that they've got some really interesting material. The duo focus more on rhythm than melody (which are usually far off-kilter) and are able to loop you in to hypnotic patterns, somewhat similarly to tUnE-yArDs, who they have opened for. On top of the attractively unsettling chord progressions, singer Arone Dyer delivers with a surprisingly beautiful voice, unlike the howls of the aforementioned tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus. As I said, the circumstances were not ideal, but I was definitely won over by their set and look forward to hopefully catching them in a smaller venue.

Their set was followed by Delicate Steve, who I first saw when they opened for Yeasayer at Governors Island last summer, and they haven't changed a bit. They played a mainly instrumental set which was sonically more fit for the jam scene, except for the fact that everything felt way too scripted. The band's bland chord progressions and overused jungle drum beats were added to only by uninspired, repetitive guitar solos.

At around 9 PM, the lights completely darkened and Slayer's "Raining Blood" blasted through the PA system as Ra Ra Riot ran out onto the stage. WIthout saying a word, Slayer faded out and Ra Ra Riot went directly into "Too Too Too Fast" off 2008's The Rhumb Line. The band played what they said may have been their longest set ever, which included most of both full lengths, a track off their self titled EP, and two covers. Save for a few exceptions, The Rhumb Line tracks stood out pretty significantly among the rest. The Orchard is a solid album start to finish, but many of the songs lack the urgency of their earlier material, which resonates so strongly in a live setting. When the band powered through classics like "Can You Tell," "Oh La," and "Ghost Under Rocks," the members were having so much fun on stage that you couldn't help but join them. They did hit some highs with the newer material though, notably on the Alexandra Lawn-fronted slow-burner "You And I Know" and when they closed their set with the frantic pop of "Boy." The band opened their two song encore with a cover of Steve Winwood's "Valerie," before diving into another standout, "Dying Is Fine," which saw singer Wes Miles run through the audience.

More pictures, videos, and Ra Ra's setlist from the show below...

Continue reading "Ra Ra Riot, Delicate Steve & Buke & Gass played Celebrate Brooklyn (pics, video & setlist)"

The Hold Steady at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 (more)

Last month, we announced that Truck America is returning to the Catskills in September (the 9th through the 11th) and will be headlined by The Hold Steady and Okkervil River. The only other confirmed bands at the time were Ra Ra Riot and Wye Oak. The lineup has since been updated to include Fruit Bats, Vetiver, The Felice Brothers, CItay, Gary Higgins, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Takka Takka, Hospitality, The Low Anthem and others. Check out the full list below. Early bird tickets are still on sale.

For The Low Anthem, it's one of many dates they just announced including one at Terminal 5 with Iron & Wine.

Speaking of The Hold Steady, frontman Craig Finn posted to his Tumblr that he's making a solo album:

"I'm in Austin TX for a few weeks. Making a record. Staying in a friend's guest house. Got here yesterday. So far so good. I'll be tracking the progress here."

He has also been tracking his progress on the Tumblr.

Check out the full Truck America lineup update below...

Continue reading "Truck America expands lineup, Craig Finn working on solo LP"

DOWNLOAD: Ra Ra Riot - "Too Dramatic" (Anamanaguchi Remix) (MP3)

Ra Ra Riot at MHOW last year (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Ra Ra Riot play Seattle's Capital Hill Block Party on Friday (7/22) to kick off a round of dates that include Fuji Rock in Japan before skipping to the East Coast for a string of dates that will include August 5th at Prospect Park Bandshell with Delicate Steve and Buke & Gass (FREE with suggested donation). The band will then prepare for additional dates across the US and in Canada that will stretch them into middle November with openers like Delicate Steve and Yellow Ostrich (who are also signed to Barsuk). Full tour schedule is below.

Ra Ra Riot recently had their track "Too Dramatic" given the 8-bit treatment by Anamanaguchi. Check out the remix (which makes its debut here) above and streamable below. Anamanaguchi play Music Hall of Williamsburg on 7/22 (Friday) with MATH The Band and Talk To Animals. Tickets are still available.

Yellow Ostrich has their own show coming up at Glasslands on August 19th.

All tour dates, the song stream and the video for the original is below.

Continue reading "Ra Ra Riot expand tour, got remixed by Anamanaguchi (MP3 premiere & updated tour dates)"

It's July 2nd and that means the first PS1 Warm Up of the 2011 season. Today's lineup:

DJ Pierre / Afro Acid / Chicago, IL
Beautiful Swimmers / Future Times / Washington, DC
Delicate Steve / Luaka Bop / New Jersey
Protect-U / Future Times / Washington, DC
Zoovox / Lectric Sands Records / Brooklyn, NY

MoMA PS1 is located at 22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, across the Queensboro Bridge from midtown Manhattan. The event runs from 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. More info and the entire summer lineup is HERE.

Two 50+ minute mixes by Beautiful Swimmers can be listened to below...

Continue reading "Warm Up begins, listen to a Beautiful Swimmers mix"

Khaira at Joe's Pub in 2010 (via myspace)

Malian singer Khaira Arby and her band are taking their live show on a North American tour this July. The last time she was in NYC was when she played The Bell House in March. NY Times spoke pretty highly of the show:

Regal in a blue-and-gold robe, with a golden tiara headdress, one of Africa's greatest singers performed on Saturday night at the Bell House in Brooklyn. The Malian singer Khaira Arby, from Timbuktu, has long been recognized at home, where Ali Farka Touré was a mentor; she was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mali in 2006. Her 2010 album, "Timbuktu Tarab" (Clermont Music), was one of the decade's best African albums, and onstage her music was even more electrifying.

Ms. Arby sings what world-music marketers have misleadingly tagged "desert blues" for the spiky riffs (now played on electric guitar) and pentatonic melodies that found their way from West Africa to Delta blues. But she and her band reach much further. To underline sentiments about Malian unity, she sings in multiple languages -- Songhai, Arabic, Tamashek -- while her band draws on rhythms from various regions of Mali, fusing them with funk, psychedelia and reggae as well as electric blues.

Check out a video from the March show below.

The July tour hits NYC twice; July 6 at Brooklyn Bowl with Highlife and July 7 at Le Poisson Rouge with The Mast. Tickets are on sale for the Brooklyn Bowl show, though note it is FREE BEFORE 7PM. Tickets are on sale for the Le Poisson Rouge show too.

Her tour includes dates with Delicate Steve who also has other shows coming up too. He/they plays a PS1 Warm Up event on Saturday (7/2) and a free Prospect Park show with Ra Ra Riot and Buke and Gass on August 5.

All tour dates and video below...

Continue reading "Khaira Arby and her band returning to North America, playing some shows w/ Delicate Steve (summer 2011 dates)"

crowd @ Warm Up 2010 (more by Zach Dilgard)

The full schedule for MoMa's 20l1 'Warm Up' season at PS1 has since been announced. The dance parties happen at the Long Island City location every Saturday from July 2 through September 3 from 2 PM to 9 PM. Admission is $15 and includes access to all exhibitions and 'Warm Up.' Check out the full lineup below.

As discussed, Four Tet and Matthewdavid play 'Warm Up' on July 9. STBRKT (who recently collaborated with Little Dragon) along with FaltyDL and others are also on that bill.

Other days feature Delicate Steve, Odd Future DJ Syd tha Kyd, Black Dice, Juan Maclean, Blood Orange, Solange, Grimes, Tanlines, Sun Araw and many other DJs, producers and and bands. Das Racist, Simian Mobile Disco, Ford & Lopatin, Gang Gang Dance and a few other groups are performing DJ sets.

More info and the full schedule below...

Continue reading "PS1's 2011 'Warm Up' lineup announced"

photos by Chris La Putt

Javelin @ Mercury Lounge

Javelin are finishing up a tour with Big Freedia which just stopped by Mercury Lounge on May 26. We already posted the Freedia pics. Here are the Javelin ones. They continue below.

Since that show Big Freedia played a Saturday night show at Brooklyn Bowl, a 3-song set later that night (at like 2:30am) at Drom, and B.O.M.B. Fest. Freedia and Javelin play together in Montreal tonight (5/31). Javelin play their next NYC show on June 18 at Glasslands with Delicate Steve, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Bright Moments (Kelly Pratt of Beirut and Arcade Fire), and Harry Belafonte Live at Carnegie Hall. The show is presented by label Luaka Bop and is part of the Northside Festival. Tickets are still available. Flyer and more tour dates below.

Javelin is currently in the process of completing a Canyon Candy short film. The film is their companion to the Canyon Candy 10". According to Javelin's Kickstarter campaign:

The lone survivor of a brutal massacre, a young girl is plunged into hallucinatory chase through a day and night in the American Southwest. Directed by Mike Anderson and produced by Oscar Boyson, Canyon Candy is unlike any previous Western. Part poem, part play, a modern silent film wholly created on a soundstage: this is the first western of its kind to be shot in the New York Metropolitan Area since The Great Train Robbery was filmed in Milltown, New Jersey in 1903. Completely handmade, Canyon Candy will employ old studio western methods such as rear-projection, dioramas, and scenic matte painting to create a stunningly unorthodox visual rendering of the American West. Javelin's original score fuses original compositions with dollar-bin mined samples.

Check out a video from the Kickstarter campaign with Javelin, some stills from the film, all dates, more pics from Mercury Lounge, below...

Continue reading "Javelin played Mercury Lounge (pics), playing Luaka Bop's Northside Mega-Thing w/ Delicate Steve & other dates"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Andrew Frisicano

The "Our Band Could Be Your Life" tribute Sunday night at Bowery Ballroom ran more than four hours with 14 bands playing the music of 13 bands (plus a special encore act that covered Nirvana). Set changes were kept short, and bands generally played about 10-15 minutes (between one and four songs). Unannounced guests included Tim Harrington and Lee Ranaldo singing the Minutemen, Craig Finn playing the role of Minneapolis cop, and Dan Deacon's multimedia barrage and three-piece band. More highlights, lots of pictures, and a bunch of videos (UPDATE: NPR has audio of the show) are below...

Continue reading "'Our Band Could Be Your Life' in pics, video & review (Dirty Projectors, St Vincent, Dan Deacon, Ted Leo, Wye Oak & more)"

The National show in Prospect Park (more by Amanda Hatfield)

We already knew that 'Celebrate Brooklyn' is hosting an impressive lineup of ticketed Prospect Park Bandshell shows this summer: The Decemberists, Animal Collective, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver & Cut Copy. And we knew that the 33rd annual series of free shows would start with an Andrew Bird show on June 10th, and that BRIC is also hosting three free 'dance parties' in Brooklyn Bridge Park this summer too.

Now the entire 2011 lineup of "24 free performances, including 20 music concerts, two dance performances, two film screenings with live music, and a family concert" is here! You can check it all out (The Feelies, Real Estate, The Books, Junip, Doveman, Justin Townes Earle, Punch Brothers, Raekwon, Oumou Sangaré, Times New Viking, Ra Ra Riot, Delicate Steve, Buke & Gass and Hal Willner included), below...

Continue reading "Celebrate Brooklyn - complete 2011 Prospect Park show lineup"

Theophilus London will headline the "Official Northside Festival Opening Party" at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday, June 16th. Tickets go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon, and then general sale Friday at noon. You can also try to get in with a Northside Festival badge.

The hip hop artist is one of 65+ new artists being officially added to the lineup of this year's Northside Festival (June 16-19 in various venues across Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY). Here's the full list:

Continue reading "Northside Fest adds 65+ bands to lineup, Theophilus @ MHOW, Mount Eerie, Iceage & more ++ open studios & DIY films"

DOWNLOAD: Dominique Young Unique - Hot Girl (Delicate Steve treatment) (MP3)

The above MP3 speaks for itself. Delicate Steve is on tour now with Maps & Atlases. Together they play Bowery Ballroom in NYC tonight (4/19) with Gypsyblood. Tickets will be available at the door if you're looking for last minute plans.

Tickets are now on sale for the show Dominique Young Unique is playing at Mercury Lounge on May 4th, and now that show has an opener (Prussia).

And speaking of Doms and Bowery Ballroom, Dom plays Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday (4/20) with Fergus and Geronimo, Friends, and Total Slacker. Tickets are still available and I have a pair you can win (details below). It's Dom's only upcoming show at the moment.

All Delicate Steve and Maps & Atlases tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Delicate Steve remixed Dominique Young Unique (MP3), on tour w/ Maps & Atlases, play Bowery tonight (Dom play there tomorrow)"

Marty Markowitz & Beirut & L Magazine staff @ Brooklyn Borough Hall

As you can see in the above photo, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was on hand at the press conference this morning, as was now-confirmed Northside Festival headliner Beirut. Tickets will be HERE. More confirmed artists below...

Continue reading "Northside Fest confirms Beirut, Deer Tick, Twin Sister, Allo Darlin' & more (initial lineup)"

Nat Baldwin, David Longstreth and Brian McOmber play Black Flag
Delicate Steve plays the Minutemen
Ted Leo plays Minor Threat
Titus Andronicus plays the Replacements
Tune-Yards plays Sonic Youth
Dan Deacon plays the Butthole Surfers
St. Vincent plays Big Black
Wye Oak plays Dinosaur Jr
Buke & Gass plays Fugazi

No, that's not a list of what happened in a weird dream last night. That is the LINEUP of a NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on May 22nd in celebration of the tenth anniversary of Michael Azerrad's "classic history of the '80s indie underground", Our Band Could Be Your Life (a book everyone reading this site should probably own!)

To quote show co-presenter Tiger Mountain Presents, "some of the best bands in contemporary indie music will play songs by each of the 13 bands in the book."

"For years, all kinds of people -- musicians, people who run labels, concert promoters, journalists, whatever -- have told me that they've been very inspired by Our Band Could Be Your Life and the bands it profiles, which is incredibly gratifying and totally unexpected," says Azerrad. "The tenth anniversary of the book was a great occasion for the current generation of bands to celebrate these pioneers."

More bands & guest hosts TBA. Tickets are $25 & go on sale Friday, 3/11 at noon.

Meanwhile the book will also be the topic of a panel discussion at SXSW that Merrill Garbus aka tUnE-yArDs (who is also playing the festival) will speak on.

Ted Leo is headed to Austin too, an appearance at the BrooklynVegan official SXSW showcase included.

Delicate Steve and Wye Oak are going to SXSW too. Wye Oak can be found at the BV/KF/Partisan day party at Swan Dive on Friday, 3/18. Wye Oak will also play Bowery Ballroom as part of a tour in April.

St. Vincent plays Big Black. I just felt like saying it again!

Continue reading "'Our Band Could Be Your Life' 10th anniversary show lineup (Big Black, Black Flag & Fugazi songs will be played)"

photos by Ryan Barkan

Nat Baldwin & Delicate Steve @ Public Assembly

"The New Jersey band Delicate Steve, led by the guitarist Steve Marion, slyly eludes generalizations.

Its debut album, "Wondervisions," is all instrumental, except for one track, "The Ballad of Speck and Pebble," that has a few words in a hazy chorale, and another, "Sugar Splash," with some modest vocal ahs. The tunes usually put some sort of guitar -- electric, acoustic, slide -- upfront, except when cheap keyboards take over. The music is handmade, except where it's blatantly artificial, and has a folksy twang, except where it's more like progressive rock or 1970s pop or surf-rock. And while Delicate Steve often sets out a (more or less) straightforward melody and cycles through it, building each time around, there's no telling when a track will take an abrupt, peculiar tangent." [Jon Pareles @ the NY Times]

Much like the album, the record release show at Public Assembly on 2/5 was mostly an instrumental performance, and like on the album, Dirty Projector Nat Baldwin helped out on some upright bass. At least two other members of DP (Dave and Amber) were in the back of the room cheering him on, along with Phosphorescent and other familiar indie rock faces spread throughout the packed back room of the North 6th Street venue on that Saturday night.

In fact, the show was pretty much packed right from the start of the first band, Strange Shapes, and stayed that way through Grandchildren and the excellent Dustin Wong who plays beautiful solo guitar with live looping. Delicate Steve was great but Dustin Wong may have been my favorite.

Delicate Steve kick off a tour with Akron/Family at a sold out Knitting Factory in Brooklyn tonight (2/17). More pictures from the Public Assembly show are below...

Continue reading "Delicate Steve played Public Assembly (pics), kicking off tour w/ Akron/Family at Knitting Factory (tonight)"

Glasslands photos by Shanda Boyett, Apohadion by Bryan Bruchman, words by BBG

Delicate Steve on Governors Island (more by Andrew St. Clair)

Congrats to Delicate Steve, whose new LP Wondervisions is out now via Luaka Bop. Check out the video below for the title track featuring Dirty Projector Nat Baldwin (who plays Knit on 2/10 - tickets). Its a breezy funky track smothered in vintage keys ala.... you guessed it, Stevie Wonder.

And though Akron Family will take them out on an extensive run of dates including 2/17 at Knitting Factory (tickets) and 3/5 at Bowery Ballroom (tickets), Delicate Steve will celebrate the new LP with a record release show at Public Assembly on Saturday (2/5). As discussed, he'll be joined by Dustin Wong (Ponytail, Ecstatic Sunshine), Grandchildren, & Strange Shapes. Tickets are still available. You can also catch DS at the Meat Locker in Montclair, NJ TONIGHT (2/4) and at BAR Nightclub in New Haven, CT on 2/9.

A few days after Public Assembly, Wong will cross paths with the Woods/Ducktails tour that hits Monster Island Basement TONIGHT (2/4) with Metal Mountains. The tour recently hit Portland, Maine, and you can check out pictures from the Apohadion Theater show below. Ducktails will be back on stage later this month when they team up with Glory Girls to open for Lower Dens at Music Hall of Williamsburg on 2/25 (tickets)

Dustin Wong recently supported Nightlands, aka Dave Hartley of The War on Drugs, at his debut show at Glasslands on 1/19 with Tony Castles (who play Death By Audio tonight). Check out some pictures from Glasslands below. Nightlands went on to perform another four dates before the tour came to an end in Pontiac, MI. That included a gig in Chicago:

"Playing just his fourth show, Hartley's Chicago set began with a few songs alone with his acoustic guitar and some drum machine samples. Apparently having already mastered looping effects, Hartley was maintaining a strong vocal presence without any accompaniment, but opening act Houses joined him for the final two thirds of his set anyway. They brought with them a mandolin, louder percussion, and a noisier electric guitar. Live drumming was essential to Suzerain, the highlight of Nightlands' debut full-length, Forget the Mantra. And the additional set of voices enabled even more dynamic harmonies, especially for their chorally exultant closer, 300 Clouds."

Annnnnnd one last reminder, Hartley's other project The War on Drugs is scheduled to support Destroyer on the tour that hits April 3rd at Webster Hall (tickets).

All tour dates and some video/song streams are below...

Continue reading "Delicate Steve playing gigs b4 Akron/Family tour, Woods /Ducktails tour underway, Nightlands & more (dates & pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Akron/Family new album snippets (MP3)

Seth of Akron/Family does his best Ron Burgundy (more by Leia Jospe)

Akron/Family will hit the road in the tail-end of February for the first of a two-legged tour with Delicate Steve. The first leg kicks off on 2/17 at Knitting Factory (tickets on sale 12/10 at 10AM) and conclude at Bowery Ballroom on 3/5 (tickets on sale 12/10 at noon). Full tour dates are below.

Meanwhile, you can catch Delicate Steve at Glasslands on December 9th with Luke Temple of Here We Go Magic (solo), Emil & Friends, Bear In Heaven (DJs), but not Liturgy.

The A/F dates coincide with the release of S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, the band's new LP on Dead Oceans due 2/8. Get ready America, Akron/Family intend to "transcend the internet":

"Finally, after over a month of unanswered emails and text messages, blown deadlines, and pleas to finish and turn in their new album, last week, a large brown cardboard box showed up at the Dead Oceans doorstep.... Opening it revealed a sincere but poorly made diorama of futurist swirling spaces filled with toy astronauts and dinosaurs, four blown out song fragments on a TDK CDR in a ziplock bag, three pictures, a track list written in crayon, and a typewritten note from Akron/Family. A post-it on the bag declared the band refused to send the full album to anyone but the vinyl pressing plant, for fear of leaking and possible lost revenues.

From the note and a short video that arrived days later, we've pieced together that the album was written in a cabin built into the side of Mount Meakan, an active volcano in Akan National Park, on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. It was recorded in an abandoned train station in Detroit with the blackest white dude we all know, Chris Koltay (Liars, Women, Deerhunter, Holy Fuck, No Age). Chris, on tour after finishing the record, commented: "this album will transcend the internet." [Dead Oceans]

While you try and figure that out, dig on snippets "retrieved from the TDK CDR" from the forthcoming LP, in Internet MP3 format, above.

In related new, guitarist Seth Olinsky has developed an iPhone/iPad app for his company, New Signal Process, that integrates the Apple device with professional recording equipment. The Breakout is on sale now for all you gear hounds.

New album art, tracklisting, a video teaser and all dates are below.

Continue reading "Akron/Family releasing album on Dead Oceans, touring w/ Delicate Steve (weird MP3 & tour dates)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

Here We Go Magic

Close to a year ago, Here We Go Magic presented themselves as a newly formed quintet, a group constructed around the layered songwriting and folk sensibilities of musician Luke Temple. While the band had a strong head start with Temple's solo album, the eponymous Here We Go Magic, when they arrived at Music Hall of Williamsburg in January to play a headlining gig, the audience's expectations derived solely from the album's representation of a collective sound. Now, after extensively touring behind Here We Go Magic's second album, Pigeons (though it is technically their first as a fully realized band), their listeners are familiar with the cast rather than just the director. And, on Wednesday night at The Bowery Ballroom, Temple and Co. returned to New York City with an expanded collection of songs and a reformed sense of self. [Playtonic Dialogues]

Here We Go Magic played Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday, 10/13, with The Love Language and Delicate Steve, their lone East Coast headlining date before heading across the country to meet up with Dr. Dog (who play T5 on 2/18 - tickets on sale NOW). HWGM will also team up with Broken Social Scene for a trio of Canadian dates in December. Full tour dates are below.

The Love Language have no NYC dates in the near future, though they also played Maxwell's last night and you can catch them at Toad's Place in CT tonight (10/15). The Raleigh band will skip around the East Coast in the coming weeks, including a couple of dates with Jenny & Johnny who play NYC on 10/19 as part of CMJ with the now-updated lineup of La Sera, Happy Birthday, Times New Viking, and Wild Nothing (but not the Love Language). Tickets are still on sale or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge. .

More pictures from Bowery Ballroom, with a video of The Love Language, setlists and dates, below...

Continue reading "the Love Language played Bowery w/ Here We Go Magic (pics & setlist), Jenny & Johnny add NYC openers "

DOWNLOAD - Dr. Dog - "Nobody Know Who You Are" (MP3)

Dr Dog at Governor's Island (more by Tracy Allison)

We never meant to make you angry but we've received dozens of emails over the past few weeks asking us why we were ignoring the east coast. For a variety of reasons we had to keep our mouths shut, but we will no longer be silenced! This Saturday October 16th, our winter tour goes on sale and we're gonna get to a bunch of places we've been meaning to get for awhile. - Dr. Dog

Hold your horses, people! Though maybe it wasn't New Yorkers complaining because Dr. Dog played NYC twice in the past two months (although one was open to NYU students only). The band will hit the road for a string of East Coast dates in the new year, including Terminal 5 on 2/18 with The Head and the Heart who will open all shows on that leg of the tour. Tickets for the NYC show are currently on AMEX presale, and go on regular sale at noon on Friday (10/15). All dates below.

In addition, Dr Dog want to "make amends" by offering a new song for free download. Grab "Nobody Know Who You Are" above. The track is part of a four song tour double 7" that will also surface on iTunes in the following weeks. One of the other three songs available on that 7", "Take Me Into Town", is also available to stream below.

Now that East-coasters have cooled their jets a bit, remember that Dr. Dog will show love to the rest of the country over the next few months as part of a US tour with Here We Go Magic. But before Here We Go Magic head out with Dr Dog, the band will play Bowery Ballroom TONIGHT (10/13) with The Love Language (Merge Records) and Delicate Steve (who just signed to Luaka Bop). Tickets are still available.

Delicate Steve also has some CMJ shows and will head out on tour with Fang Island in November. All dates below.

In other Dr. Dog related news, Juston Stens & the Get Real Gang featuring ex-Dr. Dog drummer Juston Stens plays TONIGHT at Pianos, one of three shows in the NYC area as the band will be back at Pianos two weeks later (on 10/27) and will play Littlefield as part of the Park The Van showcase on 10/22. There the band will be joined by headliner David Vandervelde, in addition to Generationals, Brass Bed, Giant Cloud, From A Fountain, and Young Nick Krill (of The Spinto Band). Tickets are on sale, or use your CMJ badge.

All tour dates and that Dr. Dog stream, and the new videos for "Shadow People", below.

Continue reading "Dr. Dog giving away a song & announce more dates (Terminal 5) ++ Here We Go Magic & Juston Stens play shows tonight"

Nat Baldwin @ Bowery Ballroom in January (more by Bao Nguyen)

Nat Baldwin has been busy playing bass with Dirty Projectors, but he's also been working on his own material. To hear some of those double-bass-and-voice songs, check out Nat's set at Issue Project Room on May 22nd, which is streaming and downloadable at Freemusicarchive.org (there are also a bunch of cool instrumental interludes in that set).

He plays Issue Project Room on November 11th, along with Jen Shyu, Sabrina Lastman and Chris Mann, as part of the venue's three-night Vital Vox Festival. Tickets are on sale.

Before then, Nat Baldwin plays Zebulon twice, on October 13th with Diane Cluck and Spencer Kingman, and on October 27th with Buke & Gass and Delicate Steve.

Video of Nat covering Arthur Russell's "A Little Lost" at Silent Barn in August is below...

Continue reading "upcoming & past Nat Baldwin shows (dates & recordings) "

DOWNLOAD: First Aid Kit - Sailor Song (live) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: First Aid Kit - Hard Believer (MP3)

Swedish female folk duo First Aid Kit never made it to CMJ 2009, MusicSnobbery CMJ show included. So they're going to try it again. MusicSnobbery presents First Aid Kit and The Loom at Joe's Pub on Saturday, October 23rd. It's a late show (11:30pm), and tickets are on sale.

Whether that show is actually part of CMJ or not is unclear (I don't think it is), but the other two shows the band plays in NYC that week definitely are. You can also catch First Aid Kit as part of the Saddle Creek/Wichita CMJ showcase at the Delancey on October 21, and as part of the Windish Agency showcase at Rockwood Music Hall one day later:

10.22 | FRIDAY @ ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL
CMJ Music Marathon
8-12am The Windish Agency Presents:
8:00pm Apache Beat
9:00pm Sun Airway
10:00pm Crayon Fields
11:00pm First Aid Kit
12:00am Lower Dens
1:00am The Prigs

And speaking of Windish showcases, the announced lineup of the one they're throwing at Santos Party House on the 23rd recently got much bigger. In addition to School of Seven Bells, there will also be sets by Asobi Seksu, Cults, Big Freedia, French Horn Rebellion, Bikini, Royal Bangs, Superhumanoids, Dominique Young Unique, Chain Gang of 1974, The Good Natured and Delicate Steve. Tickets are on sale.

Those NYC dates come at the end of a North American tour for the duo. That tour kicks off on September 30th in Seattle, includes Austin City Limits, and a bunch of shows with Ferraby Lionheart opening. All dates are listed below.

If you're familiar with First Aid Kit's music, you probably know that the girls stuck gold with their cover of Fleet Foxes' "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" (video below). It was so good they even included the track on their 2008/2009 release, "Druken Trees" which was released on Karin Dreijer Andersson of Fever Ray/The Knife's Rabid label in 2008, and then re-released by Wichita in 2009.

That 2009 release, though 8 tracks long, fell into the EP or mini-LP category. The girls' debut LP, The Big Black & Blue, was released earlier this year on Wichita. The third single from that album is "Ghost Town" and is being released this Tuesday by Wichita as a 7" with a new great cover as the b-side. That cover is "When I Grow Up" by Fever Ray.

Listen to that cover, the Fleet Foxes cover, the official video for the single, and all dates, below....

Continue reading "First Aid Kit covered Fever Ray (listen!), touring, playing CMJ (MP3, stream, video & dates) "

Bill Frisell

today in NYC
* in-stores @ Fat Beats
* Justin Bieber @ MSG
* Jennifer Choi @ The Stone
* Kevin Norton @ The Stone
* Elew @ Hihgline Ballroom
* Bill Frisell @ Village Vanguard
* Blondie, Gorevette @ Nokia Theatre
* Iris, Cruel Black Dove @ Mercury Lounge
* Delicate Steve, Sanctuaries, Sultan @ Union Pool
* Cult of Youth, Cosmetics, King Dude @ Glasslands
* Enthroned, Destroyer 666, Mutilation Rites @ Europa
* Vanessa Bley, Chappo, Run On Sentence @ Mercury Lounge
* Light Pollution, Xylos, The War On Drugs @ The Rock Shop
* Peru Peru, My Favorite Things, Les Bicyclettes Blanche @ Zebulon
* Bird of Youth, Collection Agency, Caravan of Thieves @ The Living Room
* Brownbird Rudy Relic, Orb Mellon, Low Society, Stumblebum Brass Band @ Bowery Electric

Bill Frisell, Paul Motian and Joe Lovano are at Village Vanguard from tonight through September 5th. Bill next plays The Stone on September 7th.

Delicate Steve kicks off a four-show residency at Union Pool tonight.

Califone have a new video for "Giving Away The Bride". Check it out below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Andrew St. Clair

Though the forecast had been calling for thunderstorms all week, the weather turned out to be perfect for the opening night of the 'Gone to Governors' live music series. With shows from the likes of The Morning Benders, Passion Pit, Caribou, Phantogram, M.I.A., Sleigh Bells, Grizzly Bear, and Neon Indian all scheduled for the coming months on Governors Island (some free, some not), it's a pretty sweet line-up. The only trick is getting there.

The actual ferry ride over is brief - just four minutes, but my wait to get on the ferry took far longer... though I was lucky to get on a ferry at all. At around 7:30 on Saturday night, the ferries stopped running to the public since the show space was already at capacity for the 8:00 show time. As I approached the ferry pick-up point, hundreds of confused, would-be concert-goers were barked at by cops and show officials who screamed through megaphones, "Clear the area! Go home! There are no more boats!" It was all fairly chaotic and pretty distressing. (I mean were they really only expecting a few hundred people to be interested in seeing Yeasayer?) Luckily, however, the actual show was not marred by poor planning and haphazard execution.

Since getting to the island took much longer than expected, the only thing I heard from Delicate Steve, the first opener, was a song or two that I caught while waiting to get let into the space along the waterfront.

When the second opener, Keepaway, walked on stage, one member immediately commented on the setting. "This is the perfect time to play a show." The sun was just dipping below the horizon, and a refreshing breeze rolled in from the water. Keepaway's music lies somewhere in the vein of surfer stoner rock. Following their first song, Keepaway's keyboard player astutely likened the surroundings to Pleasure Island (a la Pinocchio). It was a pretty fitting observation. We had all been taken to an island by boat and provided with free music, fun, and food and beverages (if you paid for them). It all had quite a magical feel. But luckily, Governors Island did not seem to conceal a sinister secret. Though brief, Keepaway's set was surprisingly enjoyable. With their electro beats, strange guttural vocals, delightful harmonies, and lyrics about Sonic the Hedgehog, topiaries, and getting high, their music definitely livened up the crowd.

By the time Yeasayer launched into their set, the sky had fallen dark, and the Manhattan skyline twinkled across the water. On stage, multi-colored, blinking screens were strategically placed in the background and under keyboards, synthesizers, and mixing boards. Yeasayer began their set with "Wait for the Summer" from their 2007 release All Hour Cymbals, which, given the idyllic setting, seemed rather perfect.

Both on stage and in the pit, everyone seemed to be having a good time. With the help of their buoyant album Odd Blood, Yeasayer kept things light and danceable. Not even getting hit in the face with a beach ball did much to dampen lead singer Chris Keating's mood. He paced around the stage with great energy and at one point, he confessed in a rather jubilant (but surprised tone), "I'm having fun out here. I don't always have as much fun as I'm having right now." The crowd responded to the energy on stage by enthusiastically clapping, cheering, and singing along to songs like "2080," "Madder Red," and "Ambling Amp."

Then, without so much as an encore, the show ended promptly at 11, leaving the crowd to scramble over sand and discarded plastic cups in search of the only way off the island - the ferry. If the trip over contained a fair amount of scrambling, the departure was even more chaotic as hipsters were herded like animals and sporadically released in clumps to charge toward the ferry. Waiting for nearly an hour, surrounded by a sweaty mass of people may have sucked, but riding back on the upper deck of the ferry at midnight with the Manhattan skyline in view was a pretty fantastic way to end the evening.

A bit more about the show and the ferrys and a full set of pictures HERE. Another set of pictures (featuring all three bands) and Yeasayer's setlist, below...

Continue reading "Yeasayer, Keepaway & Delicate Steve @ Governors Island - review, setlist & more pics"

photos by Ryan Muir

Yeasayer, Keepaway and Delicate Steve kicked off the "Gone to Governors" series of free shows on the Beach @ Governors Island Saturday night (6/5). The capacity of The Beach is 3500 and that number was hit by 7pm, a full hour before the first band went on. Any one who showed up for the ferry after that, or who was on line already when that number was hit, was unfortunately turned away (though I heard that maybe at some point some people may have been able to get on when others left early)... that system is going to hopefully be improved in the future with the help of Twitter and more experience. Ultimately though, capacity is capacity and it's a free show (ticketed shows are more straightforward - anyone with a ticket gets on the boat).

People that did make it on the island experienced a unique outdoor NYC concert venue with sand, amazing views of the Manhattan skyline, lit-up colorful palm trees, and lots of people dancing. Ease of getting food, and of getting home, were common complaints that the promoters hope to improve as the summer goes on. That said, it's inevitable that there will be some waiting when the only way to leave a "sold out", 3500-capacity concert is on a ferry. A full review and more pictures from the free show are coming soon. In the meantime, check out this photo set by Ryan from the event...

Continue reading "pictures from the Yeasayer show @ Governors Island"

DOWNLOAD: The Morning Benders - Cold War (Wallpaper. Winter Remix) (MP3)

Caribou @ Bowery Ballroom (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

What is now being considered the full lineup for the ten-show, Converse-sponsored "Gone to Governors" series at Governors Island is almost complete (openers still TBA). There are ten shows total - seven of which are on Saturdays. One is on a Friday. Two are on Sundays (one of which is July 4th). All except Local Natives on August 7th are free.

The lineup's latest additions include co-headliners Caribou & Phantogram with The Chain Gang of 1974 (July 16th), and Josh Ritter with openers Justin Townes Earle and Dawn Landes (August 8th).

Here's the whole thing:

1. June 05 - Yeasayer, Keepaway, Delicate Steve
2. June 19 - The Morning Benders, Freelance Whales & TBA
3. July 03 - Portugal. The Man & TBA
4. July 04 (Sunday) - She & Him
5. July 10 - Lucero & TBA
6. July 16 (Friday) - Caribou, Phantogram, The Chain Gang of 1974
7. July 17 - Dr. Dog & TBA
8. Aug. 07 - Local Natives & TBA ($10 ticket)
9. Aug. 08 (Sunday) - Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band, Justin Townes Earle, Dawn Landes & the Hounds
10. Aug. 14 - Neon Indian & TBA
11. Aug 15 - Dr. Dog

The doors are at 6pm, show at 8pm for all shows (except for the afternoon She & Him show, which has doors at noon, show at 4pm). I originally thought there would be shows every Saturday, but I'm told this is it (for now anyway).
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/06/dr_dog_governor.html
Ferry service to Governors Island for the "Gone to Governors" shows is free. As previously reported the series is being co-produced by Bowery Presents, Highline Ballroom and Mad Dog Presents with Converse and event partner Water Taxi Beach. BrooklynVegan is the media sponsor.

The shows will be held at the Beach at Governors Island, one of three venues on the Island. The others are Colonel Row (where Passion Pit will be playing, for instance) and South Island Field (which'll host M.I.A./HARD NYC). Michael Franti & Spearhead w/ Trombone Shorty kicks off the season of pay-shows at the Island with a Thursday, June 3rd performance there.

The Morning Benders will headline the second show in the series on June 19th, and they just released new song "Go Grab A Stranger," a Big Echo b-side currently available as a limited tour 7", streaming below. A remix of their song "Cold War" by Oakland act Wallpaper is available above.

"Go Grab A Stranger" and more info on the Gov. Island shows are below...

Continue reading "Gone to Governors - full 10 mostly-free show lineup (Caribou, Phantogram, Josh Ritter, She & Him & Local Natives included)"