Solange at Bowery Ballroom in 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Solange (Knowles) released the impressive Dev Hynes-co-written/produced True EP late last year and supported it with two sold out NYC shows at Bowery Ballroom. Now she's announced that she'll support the album with a proper tour that includes a show at the much larger NYC venue Webster Hall on February 20. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (1/11) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/9) at noon.

Solange has plans to follow True with a full length album this year, but details are sparse. Check out the video for True single "Losing You" and a list of all dates below...

Continue reading "Solange announces tour (Webster Hall included) -- 2013 dates"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Solange at Bowery Ballroom - 12/18/12

Solange played her second of two sold out Bowery Ballroom shows last night (12/18) with Sinkane after playing her first with Kelela a week earlier. Like at the first show, Solange was joined on stage by True collaborator Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange). Pictures from that show are in this post.

More below...

Continue reading "Solange played Bowery Ballroom again, this time w/ Sinkane (pics)"

photos by David Andrako

With her mini-LP, True, out and its terrific single "Losing You" starting to catch on, it seems Solange's time has finally come. Bowery Ballroom was packed last night (12/11) for her sold-out show, and the crowd included David Byrne and Solange's sister, Beyonce. Like on their appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (watch below) her band included collaborator/producer Dev Hynes of Blood Orange (who seems to be having a lot of fun in this role) and Chairlift's Patrick Wimberly. It was a short set -- eight songs, mind you True is seven -- but the crowd was into it. Kelela, who contributed vocals to Teengirl Fantasy's Tracer LP and has performed live with TGF, opened the show.

Solange plays Bowery Ballroom again next week on December 18 with Sinkane opening that show, and it is sold out too. More pics and the setlist from Tuesday night, and the video of Solange's Fallon performance are below.

Continue reading "Solange and Kelela played Bowery Ballroom (pics, setlist)"

"Every time I mention I like her or Justin
on Twitter though I lose like 20 followers," - Grimes

DOWNLOAD: Doldrums - She is the Wave (MP4)

Grimes at MHOW, 10/25/2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

There is no doubt Grimes has had an amazing, perhaps overwhelming, year, selling out four 600-capacity nights in NYC recently to her album Visions ending up on many Best Albums of 2012 lists (like Rough Trade Shops, NME and Fred Armisen's). But what did Claire Boucher pick as her favorite albums of the year? We asked her and you can check out what she told us below.

She cheated a bit though, listing her tour-mates and Arbutus Records label-mate Doldrums' Lesser Evil as her #1, which doesn't actually come out till February 23, 2013, but if it's a list of what she heard in 2012 then we'll let it slide. You can download a track from that Doldrums album above or stream it below along with its music video.

Check out Grimes Top 10 (plus one more, actually) of 2012, which includes both Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift and possibly some inside jokes (we're just printing what she gave us), and that Doldrums song, below.

Continue reading "Grimes' Top 10 LPs of 2012 --- includes Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber & Doldrums' 2013 LP (stream a track)"

by Andrew Sacher

As mentioned, Solange Knowles has a lone US show scheduled before the year ends happening in NYC on December 11 at Bowery Ballroom. That show sold out, but if you weren't able to grab tickets, you're in luck because she added another show happening at the same venue on December 18. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (11/30) at noon.

Solange released the Dev Hynes-co-written/produced True via Chris Taylor's Terrible Records this week (11/27), the follow-up to 2008's Sol-Angel and the Hadly St. Dreams. Perhaps most famously known as Beyonce's sister who convinced Bey and her hubby Jay-Z to go to a Grizzly Bear show in 2009 and then signed to Grizzly Bear bassist Chris Taylor's label, Solange may always be pegged as the indie alternative to the pop star that is Beyonce. But on True, Solange proves that those comparisons aren't really fair. She might be on an indie label, but those things matter a lot less in 2012 anyway, and True is a pop record in every way, and a very genuine one. She might not have the maximalist empowered soul and R&B that her sister does, but Solange channels pop music the way it was defined when Madonna was dominating the charts in the mid-'80s. It's more stripped down than Beyonce and her radio-friendly peers, but it doesn't feel like an attempt at indie/pop crossover like Toro y Moi or Twin Shadow. Instead, it just sounds like Solange making the pop music that she loves and if True reaches the right audiences, it has the potential to please the mainstream and the indie crowds, the same way Beyonce did with last year's 4.

A spotify stream of True and a list of all Solange dates are below.

Continue reading "Solange adds 2nd Bowery Ballroom show; 'True' is out now"

Solange and Dev

As pointed out before, Solange Knowles has a new seven-song mini LP, True, which she made with Blood Orange's Dev Hynes, that comes out digitally November 27 on Terrible Records with a physical release to follow in early 2013. If you haven't heard its terrific single "Losing You" you can check out the video below.

NYC folk can catch Solange in concert when she plays Bowery Ballroom on December 11. Tickets to that show go on sale Friday (11/16) at noon.

Continue reading "Solange playing Bowery Ballroom in December"

Inc.

LA electronic duo Inc. (formerly Teen Inc.) should have their debut album for 4AD out sometime next year, but you can get an early taste of what they're up to much sooner when they play an NYC show on Saturday, November 17 at Steel Drums (35 Beadel Street, Brooklyn). Tickets are on sale now.

Making the evening much more interesting is a special performance from Sky Ferreira with Dev Hynes of Blood Orange (who we spotted watching Sky's set during one of our CMJ-week day parties), meaning they'll be performing together. As you may know, Dev co-produced Sky's "Everything is Embarrassing," and performed a rendition of it himself when he opened for Grimes at Music Hall of Williamsburg recently (video of that is below). We're told they're building "actual stage sets" for both Inc. and Sky/Dev's sets so "expect theatrics." Opening the show will be a set from Physical Therapy.

Sky will also be performing, sans-Dev, at two NYC shows later in the month.

Flyer for the Inc. show and the Dev Hynes video are below.

Continue reading "Inc. playing NYC soon with Sky Ferreira & Dev Hynes (together!) and Physical Therapy"

Yesterday we mentioned that there was a secret opener for tonight's long-sold-out Grimes show at Bowery Ballroom. Today (10/26) it has been revealed as Blood Orange (aka Dev Hynes) who has shared a bill with Grimes in NYC before. He's on at 9pm sharp.

We last saw Dev a week ago in the crowd watching Sky Ferreira at the BrooklynVegan day party at Public Assembly. One day earlier he revealed on Tumblr that her new EP has a reworked version of a song he wrote.

Dev also contributed, as writer and producer, to the new Solange release, announced today, called "True" - out digitally on 11/27 via Terrible Records (in stores in January). That's the cover art above. More info and a video below.

Tonight's show is Grimes' 2nd of four shows total this weekend. Pictures from last night coming in a minute are up. Watch a Blood Orange video and get the Solange info below...

Continue reading "Blood Orange revealed as Grimes opener; Solange EP announced (Dev co-wrote & co-produced it)"

by Andrew Sacher

What do you when you're the drummer of Real Estate but you leave the band just before they start getting way bigger? Form a disco band! At least that's what Etienne Pierre Duguay, who sat behind the band's kit until 2011 when he was replaced by Jackson Pollis, did. He's now in the Brooklyn band Splash who surfaced earlier this year and just wrapped up a tour with fellow Brooklyn backwards pop thinkers Friends. Their single, "Ever Before," which you can stream below, is filled with '80s pop radio cliches, but if you wait over two decades and make it lo-fi, even the cheesiest stuff becomes indie accepted, right?

If you missed the Splash/Friends tour, the two bands will team up again for a NYC show on August 3 at 285 Kent with Janka Nabay, Helado Negro, and Uumans. Maybe Friends will go topless again? Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Splash have other upcoming NYC shows too, including Summerscreen at McCarren Park on August 15 with Ducktails and The Babies, and Glasslands on August 24 with Puro Instinct, Outer Limitz, and a Dev Hynes DJ set. Tickets for the Glasslands show are still available.

A list of all dates and song stream below...

Continue reading "Friends & Janka Nabay playing 285 Kent w/ Splash (who have other upcoming shows too)"

Florence at Creators Project in 2011 (more by Ryan Barkan)

Florence and the Machine have an extensive international tour scheduled which includes the Summer Soul Festival in Brazil this week, a number of summer festivals, and many headlining shows in between. They'll make their way over to North American in April and May surrounding their performances at Coachella. The tour hits NYC on May 8 at Radio City Music Hall with support from Blood Orange. Tickets are on AmEx presale now and go on sale to the general public on Friday (1/27) at 9 AM. While Florence is in the area, she'll also play Mohegan Sun Arena in CT (5/11) and the Borgata in Atlantic City (5/12). All dates are listed below.

Florence's most recent single from 2011's Ceremonials, "No Light, No Light" was released last week b/w remixed by Dave Sitek and Breakage. You can purchase it on iTunes or grab the limited edition on vinyl via Flotique. The video for this track is below.

Speaking of Blood Orange, you can catch him in NYC much sooner when he plays his first headlining NYC show at Glasslands on February 25 with support from D-Video and Physical Therapy (DJ). Tickets are still available.

Speaking of bands playing Coachella and Radio City, Pulp also just announced a NYC show.

All dates and video below...

Continue reading "Florence & the Machine announces tour, playing Radio City w/ Blood Orange (dates)"

Dev Hynes w/ CANT @ Mercury Lounge in 2011 (more)

Blood Orange, aka the R&B-leaning solo project of Dev Hynes aka Lightspeed Champion (ex-Test Icicles), was in Australia for a couple shows earlier this month, possibly losing some of his equipment along the way. "I want to go home. I love NYC," the NYC-via-the-UK musician wrote on his Tumblr after reporting a theft last week (bummer!).

Though slightly more rare lately, there have been plenty of chances to catch Blood Orange around town since Dev started using that name in 2009. Apparently none of them have been headlining shows though because Dev will play his first headlining Blood Orange show in the city at Glasslands on February 25. Tickets are on sale now.

Dev released Coastal Grooves, his Chris Taylor co-produced debut LP for his Blood Orange moniker, last year. You can buy it on eMusic and watch the video for album single "Sutphin Boulevard" below. The "Dinner" 7" is still on sale now at Chris' Terrible Records, though they note: "FEW MORE LEFT. HOT." Listen to that single below too.

In other news, Dev and Pharrell Williams have been producing the new album for Solange Knowles (who recently became an aunt).

"Dev was a complete surprise, his role changed substantially throughout the process," Solange says of the singer-songwriter who's written for Florence and the Machine, the Chemical Brothers and more. "It's very rare that you work with someone with whom you have this creative chemistry, it's almost like a relationship. You have a sort of musical love affair." [Billboard]

The new album will be released sometime this year.

Blood Orange video/songs below...

Continue reading "Blood Orange headlining a show; Solange album coming soon"

CANT @ Mercury Lounge

Considering their set time was 1am last night (8/30), I guess technically CANT played their debut show at Mercury Lounge today (8/31). Backed by three band members including Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange who also opened the free Spotify-sponsored show, Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor ran through a set of R&B infused songs we'll get to hear studio versions of soon. His debut album Dreams Come True is out September 13 via Terrible Records. I can never remember song names but BQ points out he loved "Answer," "Bericht" and "The Edge." You can watch audience video footage of "She Found A Way Out" and "Bang" below.

Missed the show and can't wait until October to see CANT? Chris Taylor and Co just announced another NYC show happening TONIGHT (8/31) at Glasslands with Steel Phantoms (Album Release Party) and Quinn Walker (from Suckers).

More pictures from last night (Blood Orange coming later), and those videos, below...

Continue reading "CANT played their 1st show @ Mercury Lounge (pics & video), playing second show TONIGHT @ Glasslands"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Emmy the Great visited the US for a couple of shows earlier this month. Her band wasn't able to make it over for the shows but Emmy enlisted the help of Brooklyn band SpaceCamp to back her. After touching down in the US she played a show in Philly on August 17 and then came to NYC's Studio at Webster Hall the next night (8/18). She played a set mainly of material off her recently released LP Virtue, saving time for a few older cuts as well. She ended the show by bringing out Devonte Hynes (aka Blood Orange) to join her for a cover of Weezer's "Island in the Sun."

Joywave opened the NYC show. More pictures and a video are below...

Continue reading "Emmy the Great (and Joywave, Spacecamp & Dev Hynes) @ The Studio (pics & video)"

Solange & Ed...

Her recent credits include playing with Dirty Projectors at Fashion Week and singing with Of Montreal at Highline and Terminal 5. Now Solange is DJing at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday, June 18th. I'm not totally sure if she's a good DJ or not, but tickets are on sale.

That's her in the picture above with her friend Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear who maybe she'll be checking out Sunday at Williamsburg Waterfront (again).

Grizzly Bear also have a NYC show coming up later in the summer at Governors Island with the Walkmen (tickets are still on sale). The Walkmen have just announced a new album! Pitchfork reports:

"Yesterday, we reported that Interpol's new album comes out September 14. As it turns out, September 14 will be a big day for bruised, world-weary New York indie rock, since that's also the date that Fat Possum will release Lisbon, the new album from the Walkmen.

The band recorded the follow-up to 2008's You & Me over two years, working in warehouses in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. They also wrote a few songs on trips to the Portuguese city that gave the album its title. St. Vincent/Mountain Goats/Thermals knob-twiddler John Congleton produced the 11-song album, and Passion Pit/Les Savy Fav veteran Chris Zane engineered it."

As Pitchfork said right there, Interpol's new album is coming soon too, and their old label Matador will be releasing it in the US! In the UK it will be Interpol's "own newly formed label, Soft Limit" that puts it out on September 13th (one day before the US). More details below. Interpol, now with a new 5-person lineup, are playing a free NYC show on June 26th.

Back to Solange for s second... She blogs that that she is in the process of finishing her new, indie (as in not on her former label, Interscope) album with indie rocker Dev from Lightspeed Champion (something that was originally reported a while back). That update is below...

Continue reading "Interpol (on Matador!), the Walkmen & Solange Knowles (who is DJing Brooklyn Bowl) are releasing new albums "

North 4th is the new bar/venue that took over the space at 160 North 4th between Bedford and Driggs. Somewhat low key at the moment (no website), the place has started having shows including this one that happens there tonight (4/9):

Translations
Rewards (aaron pfenning (ex-chairlift), angus t (bachelor of arts), dev (lightspeed champion, test icicles)
Landlady
Erika Spring (of Au Revoir Simone)

An updated picture of the venue below...

Continue reading "North 4th is a new venue sort of (members of Au Revoir Simone, Chairlift, Lightspeed Champion & others tonight) "

Lightspeed Champion @ MHOW in July (more by Bao Nguyen)

Lightspeed Champion's second LP, Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You, is coming out in the US on February 16th (Feb. 1 for UK) on Domino Records. Behind the controls for the album is producer Ben Allen, whose past work includes Gnarls Barkley and his label-mates Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Before the record is out, you can catch Dev Hynes & band at Bowery Ballroom in NYC on Thursday, January 21st. Tickets for the show are on sale now.

He put out a video for the album's first single "Marlene," which will be released on a 10" paired with covers of Serge Gainsbourg's "69 Année Érotique (feat. Valentine Fillol-Cordier)" and '50s singing trio the Fleetwoods' "(He's) The Great Imposter." The video and single info are below.

Despite having recorded Life Is Sweet! in early 2009, Hynes has a had a busy year, both home recording (which he's been sharing online) and performing unique shows, like covering Cat Stevens's soundtrack to Harold & Maude live with the film.

A full detailing of what he's been up to (including working with Solange Knowles (who isn't?), Basement Jaxx and Van Dyke Parks), the new video and new album info are below...

Continue reading "Lightspeed Champion releasing 2nd album + a NYC show, collaborations w/ Solange, Florence, Van Dyke Parks & more"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Max Tundra - "Which Song" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Max Tundra - Playboy (Hot Chip) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Max Tundra - promo mix 2008 (MP3)

Max Tundra

Enigmatic Brit artist Max Tundra has been releasing music for 10 years but only just released his third album, Parallax Error Beheads You, back in October -- his first in six years. One of the reasons for being such a slowpoke probably has something to do with the way he makes them:

The main technology behind this and all of my albums has been the Commodore Amiga 500 - bestselling home computer at the time - running a $1 public domain software tracker program. The sounds don't emerge from the Amiga itself however; the machine is used to control various synths, samplers and the like. I look at columns of numbers all day on the screen of a black and white television; these digits relate to pitches, durations and tones. A lot of the noises on my record are real; the cello, bass guitar, drums, piano, trumpet and others are all rehearsed and played by me, but sometimes I will use realistic fake versions of these noises. Each song is recorded in a different way; drumkits are recorded on mono cassette recorders twice, then stuck together on the left and right of a mix; string arrangements are planned and then layered up; each note of an electric guitar is sampled so that it can be sequenced in ways too complicated for my fat fingers to play at full speed. And then I have a cup of tea and sing my heart out.

Seems like a painstaking and annoying way to make a record to me, but there's no denying the results: his albums don't sound like anybody else's. (Well, maybe just a little like Scritti Politti.) Max is making his NYC live debut this week, opening for The Rosebuds at Bowery Ballroom on Friday (1/16, tickets) and a headlining FIXED show at Le Poisson Rouge on Saturday (1/17, tickets). I'm curious to see how he'll pull it off his music in a live setting as well as how much equipment he'll have. What concert reviews of his I've read have been favorable (like this one from December).

Darren Hanlon

A few more options for you this week. Australian singer-songwriter Darren Hanlon has two NYC shows this week: tonight (1/13) at Googies (above The Living Room), and tomorrow (1/14) at the Bell House where he'll be trading off songs with Graham Smith of Kleenex Girl Wonder in the venue's front lounge. It's a free show. Hanlon's shows are as well known for his witty between-song stories and banter as he is his lovely folk-pop, so if you are fans of Billy Bragg, Robyn Hitchcock or fellow Aussies The Lucksmiths (with whom Hanlon spent a brief stint in the late '90s). He's a charmer.

As I mentioned a while back, Ida Maria is in town this week playing Mercury Lounge on Thursday (1/15) and Union Hall on Friday (1/16) and I am super-psyched for this. Both shows are sold out, but Union Hall usually has a few tickets available night of show if you get there right as doors open (which is 8PM, but Ida's not on till 10).

Also this week: The Muslims make their first New York appearances since switching their name to The Soft Pack. Their EP, which made my Best of 2008 list and has already sold out two vinyl pressings, is getting re-pressed in February under the new moniker with an additional three songs. Maybe they'll have those with them at the merch table for these shows? They play Mercury Lounge on Friday (1/16) and Union Pool on Saturday (1/17). Both shows also feature their 1928 Recordings label-mates the Browns.

Speaking of name changes, SpaceKamp, who I've written about before, now spell their name as SpaceCamp. Same great sound, now with more C. In addition to working with Adam Green, Spacecamp are helping Dev Hynes with the new Lightspeed Champion record as well. (Video of Dev and Spacecamp in the studio below.) They play Zebulon on Friday (1/16) and maybe you can quiz them on the new spelling if you go.

Videos and such after the jump...

Continue reading "Max Tundra, Darren Hanlon, SpaceCamp, Soft Pack, Ida Maria & more in this Week in Indie"

Test Icicles are returning.

ANNOUNCED DATES
Wed 03/01/06 Brooklyn, NY Northsix (tickets)
Thur 03/02/06 NY, NY Mercury Lounge
Fri 03/03/06 Philadelphia, PA North Star (tickets)
Sat 03/04/06 Baltimore, MD Sonar
Fri 03/10/06 Silver Lake, CA Spaceland (tickets)
Sat 03/11/06 San Diego, CA The Casbah

Listen @ Myspace.

Previously
Test Icicles vs. Arctic Monkeys
Gothamist reviews Test Icicles