photos by Amanda Hatfield

Opening on keys, Meiburg's choice to begin with "Snow Leopard" about brought me out of my seat. As a guy who regularly pontificates, "Shearwater's Rook is in my Top 5 albums of all-time," it was a welcome initiation to a band I was long overdue to see live. Ten of the 18-song set was off Animal Joy. The highlight, for me, was the solo rendition of "Hail, Mary" which I previously thought of as a relatively easy going number, again, much to my dismay, and jubilation, featured a soul thrashing big-rock-finish that left nothing but the dissonant feedback of squawking hens and fluttering feathers. -[Ryan C Zerfas]

In other Dawn Landes news, she plays "Spring Forward!" at The Green Building in Brooklyn on June 6 with The Jack Grace Band and Diamond Doves. Tickets for the Gowanus Canal Conservancy benefit are on sale. Diamond Doves (aka Elvis Perkins' band minus Elvis) also open for Man Man at Brooklyn Bowl one day earlier, and play (and helped organize) the Levon Helm tribute at Brooklyn Bowl one day before that.

In other Shearwater news, the band have added some European dates, as well as a leg of shows with Husky on the West Coast. A listing of all tour dates and the rest of our LPR pictures and the setlist are below.

Continue reading "Shearwater played LPR (pics, setlist) with Dawn Landes (who's playing the Spring Forward! benefit)"

Man Man at House of Vans (more by BBG)

Though we already knew that Man Man was heading to the NYC area for a show at Maxwell's on June 4th (tickets still on sale), the previously announced tour left out one key date which is now announced: June 5th at Brooklyn Bowl with Diamond Doves, a show that is FREE with RSVP or only $5 without.

Speaking of Brooklyn Bowl, the club which recently hosted Jonathan Toubin's return party and has an upcoming Levon Helm tribute scheduled, will be paying tribute to MCA this evening with a screening, on all HD screens with full concert sound, of "AWESOME: I F*CKIN' SHOT THAT!". There will also be a special Beastie Boys tribute AV performance by Eclectic Method. It's free, and continues to be free if you stick around to see Questlove DJ ($8 if you show up after 10pm).

Brazilian Girls, whose Tuesday, 6/19 Brooklyn Bowl show is already listed as "limited admissions at door" have added a 2nd date at the club happening one day earlier. Tickets for the 6/18 Brooklyn Bowl show go on sale at noon.

Man Man is currently working on their new record, though no status on the progress thus far. Until then, be on the look out for some new tunes at the dates below.

Continue reading "Man Man & Brazilian Girls add dates at Brooklyn Bowl (where an MCA tribute is happening tonight)"

Levon Helm lost his long battle with cancer on April 19, and his life and legacy will be celebrated at a couple of upcoming events, starting with a show by The Band tribute band The The Band Band at BB King's tonight (5/8). A portion of ticket sales will go to The American Cancer Society in honor of Levon Helm.

Brooklyn Bowl is hosting "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down": A Celebration of the Life and Music of Levon Helm on June 4. Marco Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz, Scott Metzger and Joe Russo (of Zeppelin tribute band Bustle in Your Hedgerow and other projects) form the core of the tribute, with special guests including Craig Finn & Tad Kubler (The Hold Steady), members of Guster, members of The Felice Brothers, Nicole Atkins, Phosphorescent, Family Band, Diamond Doves, Kelli Scarr, Yellowbirds, and Tom Hamilton of American Babies. Tickets are $20 and on sale now, and proceeds will go to benefit Helm's "The Barn" studio.

Dave Dreiwitz meanwhile can be found tonight (5/8) at City Winery backing... Michael Moore, and Wednesday (5/9) backing Aaorn Freeman aka Gene Ween at 92YTribeca.

The flyer for the Brooklyn Bowl event is below, as is video of Bruce Springsteen's recent live performance of The Band's classic "The Weight."

Continue reading "upcoming Levon Helm tributes w/ Benevento, Russo, Dreiwitz, members of the Hold Steady & many more"

"The Felice Brothers new and fourth LP "Celebration, Florida", will be in stores May 10. Recorded in the gymnasium and theater of Beacon, NY's old high school, the band explores a multitude of sounds and instrumentation throughout the expansive album. It's inspired, imaginative, heady, menacing, passionate, and rollicking. Most importantly, it's as steadfastly authentic as ever, expanding upon the dark, woozy undercurrent of ramshackle barroom blues, vaudevillian atmospherics, and surreal storytelling of their previous albums."
- says the band

Meanwhile The Felice Brothers are on tour with Diamond Doves and play sold out shows at Maxwell's tonight/Sunday and Monday. That tour brings them all the way to California where they'll play the sold out Coachella. In May they'll hit the road with Shovels & Rope, though the opener has yet to be announced for the show the Felice Brothers will play at the Bell House in Brooklyn on May 18th.

UPDATE: As mentioned in a later post, they added a 2nd show at the Bell House which is on sale.

Like many others, The Felice Brothers were just down at SXSW. NPR has a stream of their official showcacse set. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Felice Brothers announce new album & more tour dates"

Diamond Doves @ Rock Shop (more by Jessica Amaya)

Last Thursday, Diamond Doves, whose members are the same as Elvis Perkins' backing band, began a residency at Brooklyn venue The Rock Shop which also includes appearances on March 17 and March 24. The March 17 show (tonight) includes openers The Woes and comedian Max Silvestri. The March 24 show is being opened by Last Good Tooth. The March 10th show was with Telekinesis and the Love Language who were touring through.

Diamond Doves then head out on a tour with The Felice Brothers starting March 25 at The Oneonta Theatre, which also includes March 26 at Club Helsinki, and March 27 and March 28 at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Click the links for tickets.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Diamond Doves in residency @ the Rock Shop, touring w/ The Felice Brothers (dates) "

photos by Jessica Amaya

DOWNLOAD: Ravens & Chimes - Division St (MP3)

Diamond Doves

It should be no surprise that Elvis Perkins joined Diamond Doves on stage at their CMJ show at The Rock Shop on Tuesday night. As Dearland, they are his backing band. Catch them together again when Elvis Perkins and Dearland opens for My Morning Jacket at Terminal 5 tonight (10/21).

Diamond Doves played 2nd on that Brooklyn bill, after Ravens & Chimes (new song above), and before Thieving Irons (ex-Pela), and headliners the Barr Brothers (members of the Slip). More pictures, dates and a couple of videos from the show, below...

Continue reading "Elvis Perkins joined Diamond Doves @ Rock Shop -Ravens & Chimes, Thieving Irons, Barr Brothers played too (pics, video) "

AA Bondy at FYFest (more by Chris Juarez)

AA Bondy kicks of a string of dates today, 10/5, in Woodstock, NY before heading to Bowery Ballroom Wednesday (10/6) for a show that now includes openers Dawn Landes and Diamond Doves. Tickets are still available. On Thursday, AA Bondy becomes opener for The Walkmen for a few days, and then plays a few more shows of his own as well.

The Bowery show is one of two upcoming dates for Diamond Doves. The band will also hit Rock Shop on 10/19 as part of a CMJ showcase headlined by The Barr Brothers (of The Slip) with Theiving Irons and Ravens & Chimes. That's two days before the band re-emerges as the backing band for Elvis Perkins to play a sold out show at Terminal 5 with My Morning Jacket (10/21). In addition, Nick Kinsey, Brigham Brough, Mike Irwin and Wyndham Boylan Garnett of Diamond Doves will support My Morning Jacket as their backing horn section for 10/21, 22, and 23.

Dawn Landes recently returned from a European tour with Josh Ritter, and the pair recorded a Heady West cover, "500 Miles", to kick off the dates. Download that for the price of an email address.

Tour dates and some recent live video, below...

Continue reading "AA Bondy is on the road, playing w/ Dawn Lades & Diamond Doves (who play CMJ & other stuff too) "

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

JBM & Diamond Doves

"Jesse Marchant (JBM) took to the stage for a set that would also last about an hour. In contrast to [Sondre] Lerche's set, which was unified in its sound and delivery, Marchant delivered a set that ran the gamut between quiet and loud, stoic and rocking, solo and with band. The stark contrast between songs served Marchant, as it called attention not only to his versatility, but his ability to completely embrace each of the genres completely.

The material (as might be expected) was sourced largely (entirely?) from his debut record Not Even In July, for which [Tuesday] night was the record release party. However, much like the record, the tracks varied in their arrangement and instrumentation. For part of the set, Marchant was joined on stage by openers Diamond Doves as his backing band, and for others he took a solo seat to his songs. Moreover, even his solo act varied, sometimes finding him behind a makeshift drumkit, sometimes with a harmonica and guitar, and sometimes behind the keyboard." [Hippies are Dead]

Continue reading "JBM, Sondre Lerche (and Dawn Landes) & Diamond Doves @ Mercury Lounge (pics) "

The Felice Brothers...

The Felice Brothers play a Rocks Off Concert Cruise on Tuesday, August 10th with Diamond Doves (Elvis Perkins's backing band). Tickets are on sale now.

The Felice Bros. are back in NYC this fall too, as part of a tour with with Adam Haworth Stephens (of Two Gallants). They play at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday, October 31st (spooky!). Tickets go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon. General sale starts Friday at noon.

The boys are also at the Newport Folk Festival on August 1st, and more shows, including the UK in September, are listed below...

Continue reading "Felice Brothers touring w/ Adam Haworth Stephens of Two Gallants (dates), playing a boat w/ Diamond Doves"

The new Skippy-booked, Bowery-associated, Park Slope music venue is selling tickets for (two) shows on Ticketfly.

UPDATE: They just added a bunch more shows to Ticketfly. The current July schedule is listed below...

Continue reading "the Rock Shop is announcing shows, selling advanced tickets "

"Saw Diamond Doves last night, Elvis Perkins' band minus him, they were really amazing. The Band to his Dylan. Somebody put out that record." - Carl Newman

As Bill reminded us this morning, Sondre Lerche plays Coco66 tonight (6/25). The show is both an 826NYC benefit and a Northside Festival gig. And as Bill wrote, "Sondre usually plays MHoW or Bowery Ballroom these days, so to see him in such a small venue will be a treat." Following that logic, seeing Sondre play Mercury Lounge on July 27th will be a treat. He's opening for his friend JBM who will be celebrating a record release at that show. Tickets are still on sale.

Also playing that Mercury Lounge show, first on that bill of three bands, is Diamond Doves who are "Dearland" when they back Elvis Perkins. Members include Little Wolf, Brigham Brough and Nick Kinsey. Diamond Doves played their first show on April 4th in Providence, RI with Deer Tick and Those Darlins and have since opened for themselves (Elvis Perkins) and Phosphorescent.

In related news, Elvis Perkins & Dearland and AA Bondy (who is touring with JBM later this year) will share a Northside Festival bill this Sunday in Newtown Barge Park.

Tickets go on sale at noon for AA Bondy's upcoming show at Bowery Ballroom.