The So So Glos, whose album Blowout came out not too long ago, are playing a free show at Studio @ Webster Hall tonight (5/22) which will be streamed live on MTV Hive. You can get free tickets through Ticketweb but walk-ups will be let in until capacity is reached. Doors are at 7 PM. Flyer for the show is below.

The band's next NYC show is a previously discussed show happening this Sunday (5/26) at Knitting Factory as part of a show put on by Hunter College radio station WHCS. Since we last spoke, Crystal Stilts have been added to that bill, which also includes Dinowalrus, Heavens Gate and Trabajo. Tickets are $12 ($8 if you use promo code "hookmeupwhcs") and still available but if you'd like to go for free, we've got a pair to give away. Details on how to enter are below.

Continue reading "Crystal Stilts playing with So So Glos who also play free "MTV Artist to Watch" show tonight"

Roger Miret w/ Agnostic Front at Power of the Riff 2012 (more by Greg Cristman)

We were just talking about Brooklyn's The So So Glos, who released their pop punk-y new album, Blowout, performed on Letterman, and are currently on tour with Titus Andronicus. That tour doesn't hit NYC (Titus plays a free NYC show in August though), but we said it probably wouldn't be long before The So So Glos announce their own NYC show. Well, they've just announced one and it happens right after that tour on May 26 at Knitting Factory with Heaven's Gate, Dinowalrus, and Trabajo. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (5/10) at 10 AM.

The So So Glos are also set to play a Northside show in the back room of Public Assembly on June 14 (only the front room will be closed) with Shapes and Le Rug. Tickets for that show are on sale now and Northside badges will also be accepted. Updated dates are listed below.

The Knitting Factory recently announced some other cool punk shows happening there soon too. Oregon Americana punks Larry and His Flask, who we wrote about when they released their Hobo's Lament EP and toured with Frank Turner, are releasing a new full length, By The Lamplight, on June 25 via Cascadian Records in the US and Frank Turner's Xtra Mile Records internationally. They'll support that album with a tour that ends on July 28 at Knitting Factory. Tickets for that show are on sale now. All dates are listed below.

Their pal Frank Turner meanwhile, will be on his own tour that hits NYC for two sold out MHOW shows in July. He just released a new video from his new album, Tape Deck Heart, which you can watch below.

Back to Knitting Factory shows: Agnostic Front frontman Roger Miret will bring his street punk band Roger Miret and the Disasters to Knitting Factory on August 24 with another Agnostic Front-related project, Stigma. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

As mentioned, Avail frontman Tim Barry will hit Knitting Factory on July 20 with Cory Branan and Des Ark. Tickets for that show are still available.

Other upcoming punk shows at Knitting Factory include power pop punks Cheap Girls (whose tour includes other NYC-area shows too) on May 17 (tickets) and post-hardcore rippers Coliseum on May 21 with the Dischord-signed Red Hare (mems. Bluetip, Dag Nasty, Swiz, Garden Variety, and more) (tickets).

All So So Glos and Larry and His Flask dates are listed, along with some videos, below...

Continue reading "So So Glos, Roger Miret & the Disasters, Larry & His Flask and more upcoming punk shows at Knitting Factory"

by Bill Pearis

Les Yeux: French for "Blurry Brad Oberhofer"?

Tonight (4/9) at Pianos is the start of a four-week residency from some band called "Les Yeux." We've never heard of them, the quotes around their name are curious and, oh, word on the street is it's actually Oberhofer, whose new EP, Notalgia, is out April 23. (That's what Mickey the shoeshine guy tells us, at least.) Tickets for all four Tuesday-in-April shows are on sale now.

The openers at the four residency dates are as such: tonight (4/9) the show is with Dinowalrus and Redfoot; April 16 is with Friend Roulette and EL Topo; April 23 is with Carmen Villain and "special guests"; and April 30 is with LODRO and Cowboy Indian Bear.

Whether or not "Les Yeux" turns out to be Oberhofer, you can catch them for sure at Glasslands on May 2 with Celestial Shore and Life Size Maps (tickets), the start of a short tour. Meanwhile, the band have released a second track from Notalgia, the very catchy "You + Me (Still Together In The Future)" and you can stream it below.

Continue reading "Oberhofer streaming new track from 'Notalgia'; "Les Yeux" begin NYC residency at Pianos"

As mentioned, Scottish indie trio PAWS are over for their first American tour on their way down to SXSW. It starts with two shows in NYC: Tuesday (3/5) at Glasslands with Dinowalrus and OVLOV (tickets); and Wednesday (3/6) at Cake Shop with Shark? and EULA. All tour dates are listed below.

To commemorate the trip, the band recorded three new songs for a cassette that will only be available at merch tables on this tour. (They'll also be selling last year's great Cokefloat! LP.) However PAWS were nice enough to give us one copy of the tape to give away and details on how to win it are below. We're also premiering a stream of the entire tour cassette below.

Continue reading "PAWS are here, recorded new songs for U.S. tour cassette (stream it, win one!)"

Sinkane

As mentioned, the Dekalb Market is moving from its Flatbush Ave location to a new TBA spot in Brooklyn. In celebration of its existence in the current location, they're throwing a "Dekalb Market Good-Bye Party" on September 30 with live sets by Monogold, Sinkane, and Dinowalrus, plus a DJ set by Beacon. This Puma and Village Voice-sponsored show runs from 3-9 pm on Sunday (9/30) and is totally free to the public.

Sinkane, who just opened for Lee "Scratch" Perry at MHOW on Sunday (9/23), also plays the previously discussed show at Death by Audio on September 27 with Sun Araw, Weyes Blood, Future Shuttle, and Deep Magic.

An Okayafrica video splicing together an interview with Sinkane and clips of him playing Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn, and a list of all Sinkane dates are below.

Continue reading "Sinkane, Beacon & more playing Dekalb Market Good-Bye Party"

The full list of artists confirmed for the 2012 CMJ Music Marathon so far is below...

Continue reading "CMJ 2012 initial lineup announced"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Eternal Summers - You Kill (MP3)

via @EternalSummers

Eternal Summers will be here this weekened playing the curated-by-me Sound Bites Series on Sunday (8/12) afternoon at the Fulton Stall Market. I'll be DJing from 2PM and the band goes on at 3PM sharp. It's free. Were you wondering about their taste in vegetables?

Daniel: Carrots. I like to juice them.
Jonathan: Carrots too. I like to crunch em.
Nicole: Green Beans because they go with everything!

What's your least favorite and why?

Daniel: I like okra but sometimes okra can be kinda weird. I hope Okra doesn't read this!
Jonathan: Onion. Texture. Taste. Overrides everything. I don't dig.
Nicole: Radishes but they're not bad. Just not a staple.

Eternal Summers have added a show while they're in NYC, playing 285 Kent on Saturday night (8/11) with Dinowalrus, Life Sized Maps and Grand Resort. If you have yet to listen to the band's great new LP, Correct Behavior, you can grab "You Kill" at the top of this post and stream the entire album via Spotify below.

Continue reading "Eternal Summers playing 285 Kent before Fulton Stall Market"

by Bill Pearis

Former Mercury Rev frontman David Baker is bringing his musical project Variety Lights on the road for a few dates this month, including two in NYC: August 22 at Mercury Lounge with The Eastern Sea and Your 33 Black Angels (tickets) and August 24 at Public Assembly with Dinowalrus and August Wells.

Variety Lights have a new video for the druggy, dubby, claustrophobic, "Feeling All Alone," which was directed by Flaming Lips cohort Daniel Huffman of New Fumes. As you might imagine, it's pretty trippy. We're premiering the clip below.

Variety Lights debut album, Central Flow, is out now on Fire Records. The video and tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Variety Lights made a video (watch it), playing live (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

London rock band Zulu Winter were last here in April playing shows with Polica and Willis Earl Beal and are stopping in NYC on Tuesday (6/12) at Mercury Lounge on their way to Toronto's NXNE Festival. It's a late show (doors 9:30) and is with Dinowalrus. All upcoming Zulu Winter tour dates are listed below.

We're also giving away a pair to tickets to the show and details are below.

The band are set to release their debut album, Language, which comes out next week (6/19) on Arts & Crafts and is recommended for lovers of atmospheric, anthemic Brit-style alt-rock. The record veers into Coldplay territory on the ballads, but the upbeat numbers are pretty good. You can stream the whole album at their website and watch the video for below.

Meanwhile, openers Dinowalrus just got released a remix of their song "Rico" done by Jez of Factory Records legends A Certain Ratio which you can listen to over at Interview.

A list of all dates and video below...

Continue reading "Zulu Winter releasing 'Language,' playing NYC and NXNE"

by Bill Pearis

Allo Darlin'

Hope you all survived Record Store Day. I didn't find most of what I was looking for (most of which was UK only) but I did get that great Lee Hazlewood comp on Light in the Attic. Hope you found what you wanted the most. Lots of good stuff this week, so let's get into it.

The most TWII show of the week happens tonight (4/24) at Mercury Lounge: Allo Darlin' and The Wave Pictures. It's the start of the two bands' tour together that will wrap up on Sunday, May 20 for the last day of the NYC Popfest which is happening at Littlefield (w/ Ladybug Transistor, White Town and about six more that day). All Allo Darlin'/Wave Pictures tour dates at the bottom of this post.

Allo Darlin's second LP, Europe, came out last week to pretty much across-the-board acclaim. It's a little more melancholy than the band's debut, with a lot less ukulele this time out. Maybe that seems like a good thing, but I must say I miss the exuberance of Allo Darlin's debut. The more subdued nature of the songs and production make it sound like a Camera Obscura album much of the time, a comparison I would've never made before. But Elizabeth Morris' songwriting and voice are still in fine form, it's all just a little more "mature."

You can stream Allo Darlin's Europe at the bottom of this post. I'm sure one thing that hasn't changed is Allo Darlin's ability to charm in the live setting.

The Wave Pictures

The same goes for The Wave Pictures who I will always go see live even if I'm not so crazy about the album they're touring to support. Not that they change so much from record to record. Their new album, Long Black Cars, is pretty good (listen at Spotify) I think but much like the rest: Dave Tattersall spins fascinating, funny stories with a singsong delivery. Most of their albums sound like they were recorded live, but it always comes off a million times more compelling when you actually see them play. Tattersall is also one of the funniest between-song banterers of our age. Also funny: the Darren Hayman-directed video for their song "Spaghetti" which you can watch below.

Here We Go Magic

Here We Go Magic will release their third album, A Different Ship, in a couple weeks (May 8 specifically) and soon head out on a short UK tour before covering most of North America with Hospitality. (All dates are below.) Before that, HWGM play this Friday (4/26) at Knitting Factory with Glass Ghost.

The new album has an interesting birth. Stuck playing a pre-noon set at Glastonbury 2010, the groggy band were playing to a groggy crowd, none of whom seemed to be having any fun. Except for two guys dancing right up front, who turned out to be Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich. The band met Yorke and Godrich after their set and Godrich turned up at more European shows... and ended up producing Different Ships. This is the bands first album that didn't start with Luke Temple doing demos on his own, and with the band incorporated from the beginning (and working in Godrich's studio). While still boyant and dreamy, Different Ships feels a little bigger, a little more fully formed than the previous two. You can stream "Make Up Your Mind" at the bottom of this post as well stream new single "How Do I Know?" at Secretly Canadian's SoundCloud page.

The Feelies at Prospect Park in 2011 (more by Tamara Porras)

And finally, while Feelies shows have become less rare since the band actually made a new album, but any chance to see one of the most influential NYC-area bands of the last 30 years is one you shouldn't pass up. And you have that chance on Friday (4/27) at the Bell House. While bands from Luna (who had the Feelies' Stanley Demeski on drums at the beginnning) to The Strokes have taken from them, there's no substitute for that Bill Million/Glen Mercer guitar interplay that still sounds like magic.

You can listen to the Feelies' terrific album from last year, Here Before, as well as some of their classic ones, at Spotify. The Feelies also play Saturday (4/28) at Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY if you're up that way and a few more scheduled dates throughout the summer which are further down this post.

That's the big stuff this week. Day-by-day picks of things not covered above, are below.

Diehard

TUESDAY, APRIL 24

Diehard are at Union Hall tonight with Everest, Benjamin Cartel (of Kaiser Cartel) and Resistor. Diehard just released a video for their theme songwhich you can watch below. It's from last year's The Times We Didn't Have Fun which you can download for free from Bandcamp. Diehard also play Saturday (4/28) at the Rock Bar in the west, West Village.

Colorado's Gauntlet Hair are in town at GLasslands tonight with dream poppers Field Mouse and Baby Alpaca.

Catch new Captured Tracks artist Mac Demarco tonight at Bowery Ballroom opening for Nite Jewel.

Nick Lowe

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25

One of the coolest cats around, Nick Lowe is at at Town Hall with nearly 40 years worth of amazing songs in his arsenal. Last year's The Old Magic was another winner from the Basher and you can stream it at Spotify and watch the comedy star-studded video for "Sensitive Man" below.

Sacramento's astral trio Sister Crayon wrap up their Pianos residency tonight with support from Megafortress, New Moods and Tygerstrype. Stay late for a free show from Japanese rockers ZZZ's.

continued below...

Continue reading "Allo Darlin', The Wave Pictures, Here We Go Magic, The Feelies, Nick Lowe & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Howler - I Told You Once (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fujiya & Miyagi - Ecstatic Dancer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dinowalrus - What Now (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pre War - Out There (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Royal Baths - Darling Divine (MP3)

Howler

Welcome to the Stop SOPA edition of TWII. Do you know how hard it would be to do this column without free knowledge via the internet? It would be riddled with factual errors. More so!

Minneapolis underage upstarts Howler are in town playing a whole bunch of shows. The onslaught began last night with an in-store at Other Music (their album came out yesterday), and continues with: an early show tonight (January 18) with Happy People andTiberius,  January 19 at Death By Audio with Grooms andClouder, January 20 at Cameo Gallery with St. Lucia, and January 21 at Pianos with Dear Lions, Cemeteries, and The Everymen.

As mentioned, Howler's debut album came out yesterday and is titled America Give Up which kind of feels like a "just try not to like us" dare. Their sound -- a little Strokes, a little Jesus and Mary Chain, a little West Coast garage -- is indeed easy to like, even if there isn't much "new" about it. But the band have no shortage of hooks and a good dose of hard-to-fake attitude. As previously mentioned, ou can stream the whole thing at NPR.

Most of the hype is coming from the UK press who are still enamored with the Vaccines (with whom Howler's toured). I like Howler better than them and am going to make an effort to catch one of their shows this week. You should too, surely you've got one night free this week?

Fujiya & Miyagi

Also in town this week are Fugiya & Miyagi, playing Glasslands on Thursday (1/19) and Mercury Lounge on Saturday (1/21, sold out). The band have a new single out, "Ecstatic Dancer," that you can download at the top of this post. It's the kind of slinky, glammy stomper you could imagine Goldfrapp doing but with David Best's whispery vocals. No album attached to it as far as I can tell so it seems the single supports the tour, not the other way around as usual.

The band are also on the Power, Corruption & Lies Covered CD that comes with the February issue of MOJO, where the entirety of cover stars New Order's second album is covered by the likes of Destroyer, S.C.U.M. and Errors. Fujiya & Miyagi contribute a fairly wrote version of Side Two opener "Your Silent Face." (Stream it below.) The band are a good time live and are equally adept at both Neu!-style motorik and funky Can rhythms as you may already know. My favorite song is still "Ankle Injuries" but I'm looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Thursday's Glasslands show is with Zambri, who really impressed me at Glasslands last month, Rarechild and The Golden Filter on DJ duties. For Saturday's show at Merc, openers are Aimes, Jangulaand Dinowalrus.

Dinowalrus

Dinowalrus' second album, Best Behavior, is due out March 6 on Old Flame records. If you haven't seen them in a while, the band dropped the dissonance in favor of a sound under the influenced of late '80s Manchester. While that means some danceable tracks, it also means atmospheric rockers like "What Now" which veers closer to The Chameleons or The Sound. You can download it at the top of this post.

Jonathan Wilson

If you're looking for something a little more mellow, man, perhaps you should check out onetime Eisley bassist Jonathan Wilson who is here for three shows this week. He's at Mercury Lounge tomorrow (1/19) for an early show and again  on Friday (1/20) for a late show with Quilt), and then hits the Rock Shop on Saturday (1/ 21).

Jonathan Wilson's Gentle Spirit made its way onto many Best of 2011 lists, coming in at #4 on MOJO's year end coverage. Pazz n' Jop notsomuch, only three votes, which landed it in a 21-way tie for #372. Mind you, Wilson's music -- which recalls the heyday of early '70s Laurel Canyon -- is prime fodder for a magazine like MOJO that has a Beatle on the cover at least once a year, but Gentle Spirit is a genuinely gorgeous album that exudes a West Coast vibe even in the coldest New York winter. Spotify users can listen to the album here.

This is the only picture on Pre War's Facebook

And finally, for many in New York the phrase "pre war" is code for "not many electric outlets and no sink in the bathroom" but maybe that will change with Pre War the rock band who have dusted themselves off from the recently defunct Conversion Party. Like that band, Pre War traffic in catchy, big-chorused indie rock. Check out "Out There" at the top of this post and you can listen to more at the band's Tumblr.

You can catch Pre War live Thursday (1/19) at Cake Shop where they play with Grand Rapids, Plates of Cake, and Hunny.

That's the big stuff for this week. Day-by-day picks not covered above are below. Fight the power!

--
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18

Sharon Van Etten is at Mercury Lounge which if you don't have tickets, is sold out. She's got lots more shows coming up, though. Her new album, Tramp, is really good.

continued below...

Continue reading "Howler, Fujiya & Miyagi, Dinowalrus, Pre War, Jonathan Wilson, Royal Baths & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Twin Sister - "Bad Street" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Your Youth - What Smarts (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Metronomy - "The Bay" (Clock Opera Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Class Actress - Keep You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sonny and the Sunsets - I Wanna Do It (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sonny and the Sandwitches - Throw My Ashes from This Pier When I Die (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Night Beats - Puppet on a String (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Craft Spells - After The Moment (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Craft Spells - Party Talk (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gardens & Villa - Star Fire Power (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gardens & Villa - Star Fire Power (MP3)

Oh man it's another crazy week. Let's get into it. Tonight's free SummerScreen in McCarren Park tonight is pretty hard to pass up. Not only are they showing the John Hughes classic Ferris Beuller's Day Off (which is 25 years old this year!) but they got Twin Sister to play before it. In addition to performing lots of songs from their forthcoming album on Domino Records, Twin Sister will also be debuting the music video for their single, "Bad Street." You can download the MP3 of that at the top of this post.

Speaking of MP3s, we've also got one up there from Your Youth who are also playing SummerScreen tonight (6:45PM) and couldn't be more different from Twin Sister. "What Smarts" is a new track from the local duo who are kind of proto-grunge punk. Catchy stuff.

It would be really cool if, say, Your Youth covered "Beat City" by The Flowerpot Men and Twin Sister maybe did Dream Academy's "The Edge of Forever". (Why has Ferris Bueller never gotten a posthumous soundtrack release?) Probably won't happen but one can hope. In addition to the movie and the bands, there's loads of giveaways and such.

Metronomy

The show I am absolutely most excited about this week, without a doubt, is Metronomy who play Hudson River Rocks on Pier 54 on Thursday. Metronomy's third album, The English Riviera, just got nominated for the Mercury Prize (sure to lose to James Blake) and got its stateside release yesterday. As I wrote previously:

The new record retains Metronomy's slightly askew, claustrophobic sound while broadening its scope. There's glammy funk ("We Broke Free," the Roxy-ish "She Wants"), a guitar pop ("Everything Goes My Way," a duet with Roxanne Clifford of Veronica Falls), waltz-time ballads  ("Trouble"), and more typical Metronomy-style twitchy disco ("The Bay," "Corrine."). It's also got one of the 2011's best singles, "The Look."

It's definitely one of my favorite albums of the year. (Their last album, Nights Out, was my favorite album of 2008.) The vinyl version comes with the CD which is a trend I would like to see all labels doing. Highly recommended. Watching a few live performance clips , I'm glad to see they're still wearing stick-it-and-click-it lights on their shirts that was a highlight of their old stage show -- even though they're a proper band now (they didn't used to have a drummer).

Also playing the Pier 54 show is American Royalty and Class Actress whose debut album Rapproacher is out October 11 on Carpark. You can snag "Keep You" at the top of this post. Do get there early for openers American Royalty who came out from L.A. just for this show. I caught them at SXSW this year and they kept me entertained on Saturday evening when I was basically burned out on seeing live music. You can check out their hodgepodge electro sound via their Bandcamp page. And if you want to see them again, American Royalty play Lit on Saturday (7/30).

If you want to keep the party going on Thursday after Metronomy, head over to Glasslands for all your sissy bounce italodisco soulclap free booze needs. New Orleans Vockah Redu is like Big Freedia but with more choreography and a subscription to Vogue. (Check out the video at the bottom of this post.) They also play the PS1 warm-up on Saturday. Also playing is Portland's Miracles Club, who played PS1 last weekend. Jonathan Tobin is DJing, it's My Open Bar's 5th anniversary, it's a party.

Sonny

What else is going on this week? Sonny & the Sunsets are backfor the first time since October, playing Mercury Lounge on Friday (7/29) and Glasslands on Saturday (7/30). Have you checked out Sonny's new album, Hit After Hit? As I wrote previously:

Unlike last year's laid back and folky Too Young to Burn, the new album is more of a party --inspired by '60s pop and garage. Opening track "She Plays Yo-Yo with My Mind" cribs liberally from The Standells' "Dirty Water."

At least a couple of the songs on Hit After Hit (including "I Wanna Do It") are reworked versions of songs written for Smith's 100 Records project which you might have caught at the late Cinders Gallery last summer. Embued with Smith's (and fellow Sunset Kelley Stoltz) encyclopedic knowledge of pop and his wry sense of humor, Hit After Hit's a great little record.

Tourmates for this go-round are fellow Bay Area residents The Sandwitches who were described by Sunsets drummer/producer Kelley Stoltz thusly: "Imagine a 60's Girl-group is on tour and their van breaks down near a gothic castle high on the hill, Dario Argento invites them in to perform a concert for his tweaked actors in a big dark red room inside and, if the dream is right, it's the Sandwiches - they'd fit right in with those misfits and speak the same language. I'd like to be there to dance."

Sonny Smith put out a record with The Sandwitches last year, so I'd expect to hear those tracks at these shows. Check out one of them, the twangy, mournful "Throw My Ashes from This Pier When I Die" at the top of this post. I caught Sonny last year when he toured with Kelley Stoltz and it was a great show. Sonny doesn't get enough attention i don't think, so do try and make it to one of these shows.

The Night Beats

Seattle trio The Night Beats are currently on tour with The Black Lips opening for sold out shows at Bowery Ballroom on Friday (7/29) and Maxwell's on Saturday (7/30). But if you wanna catch them in a non-sold-out enviroment, free of the Black Lips, they play Sunday night (7/31) at Shea Stadium with Sweet Bulbs, Dinowalrus, Liquor Store, and Yvette.

The Night Beats' stomping debut is out now on Trouble in Mind. I caught the band at the label's party during SXSW:

I got there as Seattle trio Night Beats were just starting. Never heard them before, but really dug their psych-garage sounds, and they definitely looked the part. They ended their set with a cover of The Count Five's classic "Psychotic Reaction," giving their version a little swing which made it their own.

Check out "Puppet on a String" from their TiM debut at the top of this post. The Shea Stadium show is solid, I like all the bands on the bill.

Craft Spells

Speaking of Seattle, Craft Spells are back in town, playing Mercury Lounge on Saturday (7/30)  -- their first area show since playing here back in April. Live, they eschew the keyboards that are so abundant on their Captured Tracks album in favor of a guitar-oriented line-up which works just fine. (It's very Orange Juice.) They are young and enthusiastic and the songs are ridiculously catchy.

The band are on tour with Santa Barbara, CA's Gardens & Villa who are dreamy and synthy and danceable (kinda like Tony Castles). Their debut album just came out via Secretly Canadian and you can download two tracks from it at the top of this post. Also playing are local synthpop act Selebrities whose free downloadable EP evokes favorable comparisons to all sorts of '80s groups. You can download a free EP from Selebrities here.

Eternal Summers

And finally, don't forget about this Sunday's Beach Party at Beekman Beer Garden with Raveonettes and Eternal Summers. The Raveonettes new album, Raven in the Grave, is a slow burn compared to 2009's poppy In and Out of Control but no less enticing and I've always enjoyed them live. And Eternal Summers can do no wrong for me right now. This will be a very fun show, and likely the first where they might have to turn people away because of capacity so come early. Free!

Ok, that's the main stuff I'm highlighting this week but there are quite a few more recommended shows listed day-by-day below.

The Psychic Paramount @ Union Pool -- 7/26

Disappears @ Union Pool -- 7/26

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27

I had my mind blown twice at Union Pool last night: first by the smoke-machine fueled power of The Psychic Paramount (modern instrumental acid rock? Incredible!) and then by Disappears whose new material written with Steve Shelley is groovier, a little slower than their pedal-to-the-metal first albums but equally awesome. (More Neu!, less Stooges.) They play tonight at Cake Shop. Get up close and watch Disappear's bassist lay it down track after track.

There are so many shows tonight! But if you want to see three of the best bands in NYC right now, head to Mercury Lounge for North Highlands, ARMS and Hospitality. All three groups are holding onto new albums that I am dying to hear. Hospitality were incredible when they played my final Sound Bites show down at Fulton Stall Market two weeks ago.

Avi Buffalo test out new material for their second Sub Pop album at the Rock Shop tonight. With Nic Frietas.

Metronomy aren't the only Mercury Prize nominees in town this week. Anna Calvi plays tonight at Le Poisson Rouge.

Out at Bushwick's Brooklyn Fireproof, you can see The Gytters (who I wrote about last week) and Cake Shop house band Moonmen on the Moon, Man... along with Nighty Night and Beat People.

The Barr Brothers, who I really liked at M for Montreal last year, play Rockwood Music Hall tonight. They recently signed to Secret City, home of Patrick Watson & the Wooden Arms, Plants and Animals, Miracle Fortress, Basia Bulat and more.

continued below...

Continue reading "Metronomy, American Royalty, Twin Sister, Sonny & the Sunsets, Night Beats, Craft Spells, Avi Buffalo & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Titus Andronicus @ MHOW

The pictures in this post come from Titus Andronicus's date with Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, 4/30. The show, with The Suzan and Dinowalrus, was the conclusion of a tour that took up most of March & April including a pair of appearances with The Pogues at Terminal 5.

The band is returning to Terminal 5 on June 7 with Okkervil River and Future Islands as part of their summer tour that kicks off on June 1st. Tickets for the NYC show are still on sale. Updated tour dates are listed below.

Since 4/30, Titus played Replacements covers as part of the "Our Band Could Be Your Life" show at Bowery Ballroom, and their very next show is this weekend as part of B.O.M.B. Fest.

Titus Andronicus side project Hilly Eye however, play a Permenant Wave Benefit for Planned Parenthood at Death By Audio tonight (5/25) with The Shondes, Crazy Pills, and Cojoba. As mentioned before, Hilly Eye is the project of Titus guitarist Amy Klein who you can see was wearing a Crass t-shirt at Music Hall in the pictures which continue below...

Continue reading "Hilly Eye @ DBA tonight, belated pics from Titus Andronicus @ MHOW, updated tour dates"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Amor de Días - Bunhill Fields (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Damon & Naomi - "Walking Backwards" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Damon & Naomi - "Shadow Boxing" (M4A)
DOWNLOAD: BNLX - Burn the Boats (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BNLX - Garbage Strike (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Beige - Folds (MP3)

Amor de Dias

This weekend is dominated, for me at least, by NYC Popfest but as I've already written an exhaustive (exhausting) post about that, so go read it and we'll discuss other shows here. There's lots more to cover anyway.

One thing, and this is Popfest related really, is that Amor de Días are here this weekend, playing Knitting Factory on Sunday (5/22) opening for Damon & Naomi. We've got a pair of tickets to give away to this show. Just send an email with your name to BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM with the subject line "Amor de Dias" and we'll pick a winner at random.

As you may know, the duo (Amor de Días) are Alisdair Maclean of The Clientele and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of Pipas, a group who played the first ever NYC Popfest back in 2007. I actually thought it was going to be Amor de Días in the "TBA" slot at the Thursday night Cake Shop show that turned out to be Pains of Being Pure at Heart. For this show to be happening at the same -- but not part of -- the 'Fest seems a little criminal.

MacLean and Núñez-Fernández formed Amor de Días back in 2008 and wrote and recorded whenever they had time, with help from current tourmates Damon & Naomi, indiepop legend (and master arranger) Louis Phillipe and Ladybug Transistor's Gary Olson. Their debut, The Street of the Love of Days, came out this week on Merge and is a lovely little album as you might imagine from the talent involved. Their styles and voices are a perfect match for one another and the arrangements are just perfect. Among the treats is a particularly nice version of The Clientele's "Harvest Time." You can download "Bunhill Fields" at the top of this post.

Damon & Naomi's new album, False Beats and True Hearts, is a really nice record too. And if it's still pouring out Sunday night, all the better. It's an evening of rainy day music.

BNLX

A much louder duo, also in town this weekend, are Minneapolis' BNLX, who play Pianos on Friday (5/20) and The Rock Shop on Saturday (5/21). I've written about them a couple times this year already and I do really dig their mix of rockin' tunes and corporate humor. I'll quote myself again:

Volume isn't just for punishment, though in the wrong hands it most certainly is. But sometimes you just can't achieve that clarity of sound, that particular strain of feedback, that shriiiiiiinnnnng you get from flicking the strings above the headnut, that tone...without cranking the amp. Ed Ackerson, a 20-year veteran guitar slinger of such Minneapolis bands as 27 Various and Polara, knows what he's doing. BNLX didn't just blow eardrums, they kinda blew minds...

...for being just two of them and a laptop, they made quite a racket at the Rock Shop. Normally I'm one to complain about bands using canned backing instead of a real drummer, but vintage drum machine sounds -- right out of 1987, be it Jesus & Mary Chain or Age of Chance -- are kind of integral to what BNLX are doing. With a stroboscopic lightshow (what, no smoke machines?) you didn't really need anyone else.

You can download two tracks from EP#5 at the top of this post, and I have a good feeling they'll have EP#6 at the merch table for the NYC shows. Also playing The Rock Shop show is Black Onassis, which is not the ex-drummer of Urge Overkill but a new group from former member(s) of Kasabian and Daylight for the Birds. Don't know much about them.

More interesting is what's happening earlier that same evening at The Rock Shop: a tribute to Brian Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets featuring a cavalcade of indie rock talent. Here's the press release:

When Brian Eno's first solo record, Here Come the Warm Jets, came out in 1974 it turned heads. It continues to baffle great minds due to the sneaky way it overlays whimsical pop with the beginnings of Eno's whole philosophy of creativity and experimentation.

Indy music stalwart Rob Christinsen (Eggs, Grenadine, East Ghost West Ghost) and Rock Shop booker Jack McFadden team up to present this great curiosity of a recording LIVE with a melange of rockers and experimentalists.

"It sounds fantastic but one of the things that I tried to do with Warm Jets was to bring musicians together who would normally never play together and to play a music that they couldn't agree upon. The music would come from the chemistry. But of course, it was impossible to do. I couldn't expect any of the session people I worked with to go along with it. They literally fought." - Brian Eno, 1974.

In that spirit, fifteen singers and ten instrumentalists from all musical worlds team up to perform this masterpiece.

The evening will be emceed by walking/talking Brian Eno encyclopedia, WNYC's John Schaefer.

Musicians performing include Travis Morrison (Dismemberment Plan), Hamish Kilgour (The Clean), Richard Baluyut (Versus), Rob Christiansen (Eggs), Amy Klein (Titus Andronicus), and Ben Trokan (Robbers On High Street).

Of course the big tribute this weekend is Sunday's Our Concert Could Be Your Life which celebrates the 10th anniversary of Michael Azzerad's chronicle of the American indie rock scene in the '80s. The talent assembled paying tribute to the bands covered in the book is pretty amazing, and it's changed/expanded a bit since first announced:

• Nat Baldwin, David Longstreth and Brian McOmber play Black Flag
• Delicate Steve plays the Minutemen
• Citay plays Mission of Burma
• Ted Leo plays Minor Threat
• Grooms plays Husker Du
• Titus Andronicus plays the Replacements
• Tune-Yards plays Sonic Youth
• Callers plays Sonic Youth
• Dan Deacon plays the Butthole Surfers
• St. Vincent plays Big Black
• Wye Oak plays Dinosaur Jr
• Buke and Gass plays Fugazi
• White Hills plays Mudhoney
• Yellow Ostrich plays Beat Happening

Janeane Garofalo and Eugene Mirman host the evening -- which is sold out, but I wouldn't be surprised if tickets were released day of show. Keep an eye out. UPDATE: They are back on sale as I type this.

[note: both Tune-Yards and Buke and Gass play a sold out show at MHOW one day earlier. Dan Deacon also plays more shows this week. Delicate Steve has a headlining show coming up soon at Brooklyn Bowl.]

---

Cymbals Eat Guitars

And lastly, Cymbals Eat Guitars play their first show in a long time this Friday (5/20) at Glasslands. The band are finishing up their sophomore LP which is due out this fall ,so hopefully we'll get a preview of what's to come which they'll be playing in full at the show. The whole line-up is pretty good, with fellow '90s loving indie rockers Radical Dads (whose member Robbie just announced a new album for one of his other bands), Iranian transplants Yellow Dogs, and the psychedelic sounds of Mirror Mirror.

A few more picks, day by day, are below.

THURSDAY, MAY 19

It should be a fun night at Union Pool with neo baggy kids McDonalds, volatile and soul-bearing Wild Yaks, and The Surprisers.

continued below...

Continue reading "Amor de Días, not Popfest, BNLX, Cymbals Eat Guitars, album & book tribute shows, Cheeseburger, Beige & more in This Week in Indie "

by Bill Pearis

French duo Jamaica, who were last in NYC during CMJ where they played shows like dance party FIXED and Fader Fort, have just kicked off an American tour. They played their first of three NYC shows last night at Knitting Factory with Via Audio and Miniboone. Anybody go? They play again tonight (4/15) at Mercury Lounge with Reptar and will get funky for the stroller set at Kidrockers Saturday afternoon (4/16) with Dinowalrus.

Jamaica's debut album -- produced by Justice's Xavier de Rosnay and Daft Punk's sound engineer, Peter Franco -- was released last fall overseas but just got a U.S. release this week, and received a shrugging 5.2 review (even lower than the new Vivian Girls) by Pitchfork today:

...and on the single "I Think I Like U 2", it seems like the big-name help came in handy. It's a song that's a little cheesy and way too excited, but in the way that really sharp, fun pop music can be without feeling too patronizing or dopey. As familiar sounding as it is (even the lyrics-- "She was never pretty, she was only young"-- feel like stolen goods), it works, plain and simple. If we give Jamaica the benefit of the doubt, everything else on No Problem is then, in some way, cut from the cloth of "I Think I Like U 2", and it's a sensible, if not unambitious, plan of attack. But not a single one of the resulting songs captures the same kind of ebullience and fluidity, instead opting for choppier structures that, in most cases, seem bent on keeping people off the discotheque floor.

While the comparisons to other other popular French bands (all three of them) are apt and unavoidable, I think Jamaica are certainly fun in select doses. There's some songwriting smarts in there, they just need to find their own way. But no doubt kids will love them. All Jamaica tour dates, plus a couple videos, are below.

Continue reading "Jamaica is on tour, in NYC, playing Kidrockers, got a 5.2 today"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Craft Spells - After The Moment (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Craft Spells - Party Talk (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Surf City - Crazy Rulers of the World (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bare Wires - Ready to Go (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bare Wires - Seeking Love (MP3)

Craft Spells

First up is Craft Spells who make their NYC debut tonight (4/8) at Music Hall of Williamsburg, opening for fellow Captured Tracks band Beach Fossils, plus Crinkles and an "Unannounced Special Guest" that might drum up some excitement if anyone could figure out who that might actually be. Craft Spells also play Saturday (4/9) at Glasslands with Cloud Nothings and the Sundelles, which is also a pretty solid lineup.

On record at least, Craft Spells is basically Justin Paul Vallesteros who made his debut album Idle Labor in his home. Vallesteros is making a go of it, having recently moved from Stockton, California to Seattle where he's turned Craft Spells into a quartet. Idle Labor is very much a bedroom pop album (and a very good one), clearly created by one guy who loves a lot of '80s music (OMD, Pale Fountains come to mind, as does New Order though mainly through the album art).

You can download two tracks from Idle Labor at the top of this post. But the Craft Spells live experience eschews the keyboards for a straight-up guitar pop sound that I'm told is a little more akin to Orange Juice. Which sounds pretty good too. We shall see.

Sebadoh

As you're reading this column, you're probably well aware that the '90s are totally back. Which means bands from that era are totally back too. Bands like Sebadoh whose classic albums Sebadoh III, Bubble and Scrape and Bakesale helped define the sound of "indie rock." (I tried in vein to find a clip of Lou [wearing a Joy Division t-shirt] talking at length about breakups on MTV's Sex in the '90s. Somebody get on this please.] And they're totally back -- in NYC -- this weekend, playing Bowery Ballroom on April 9th and 10th. It looks like the Sunday show still has tickets at the moment.

To be fair, Lou Barlow, Jason Lowenstein and Eric Gaffney started playing together again in 2007 but it seems a lot more interesting now, what with Yuck slyly cribbing their moves and all. Oupa -- Yuck singer Daniel Bloomberg's side project -- are supposed to open for Sebadoh Saturday, though it's not listed on the Bowery website now. For sure you'll get Richard Buckner, who's opening both nights.

BOAT

Keeping with the '90s indie rock vibe, don't forget Seattle's BOAT are playing Mercury Lounge tomorrow (4/9). It's a relatively early show -- BOAT are on at 9PM -- so you can go do something else after. They are super fun live, even when massive equipment failure threatens to derail them. BOAT persevere with good humor.

Surf City

One of the things you could do after BOAT is just stay at Mercury Lounge for the late show, featuring post-rockers Bardo Pond and New Zealand's Surf City. While they've never really broken up, Bardo Pond are best known for their late-'90s canon on Matador, full of lengthy spaced-out jams full of crashing waves of guitar noise and throbbing bass. The band's hazy groove sounds intact on last year's self-titled new album.

Surf City, meanwhile, are indebted to the classic Flying Nun sound, meaning a whole lot of the Clean, a good dose of The Jean Paul Sartre Experience, and maybe a little Bats for good measure. Their new-ish album is called Kudos and is loaded with catchy, noisy guitar pop, like "Crazy Rulers of the World," downloadable above. Coincidentally, Crazy Rulers of the World is also the title of my forthcoming coffee table book about novelty measuring sticks. Go figure.

Surf City also play Glasslands on Tuesday (4/12) with Darlings, Lingering Doubt, and Little Racer.

That's it for this week's This Week in Indie. A few more daily picks follow.

FRIDAY, APRIL 8

Boston power pop band Pretty & Nice play Spike Hill. These guys are solid.

The name is kind of horrible and I'm personally not crazy about the music but I'm told Gobble Gobble's live show is unforgettable which might be reason enough to go check them out at Glasslands tonight. With Headless Horsemen.

SATURDAY, APRIL 9

Dinowalrus, She Keeps Bees, Total Slacker, Gunfight, Quiet Loudly, Pet Ghost Project, Mussels, Data Dog, El Jezel, Nature Boy, Shark? and more play the Brain-Cave Festival at Shea Stadium. Starts at 2PM, $10.

SUNDAY, APRIL 10

Garagey power pop band Bare Wires are at Cake Shop on Sunday with Fergus and Geronimo. Bare Wires are great, go out and see 'em!

OK, that's it! Tour dates, video, and flyers are below.

Continue reading "Craft Spells, Sebadoh, Surf City, BOAT, Bardo Pond, Bare Wires & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Datarock - Catcher in the Rye (MP3)

Norway's kitschy electro combo Datarock are back in the U.S. for a tour that starts with a March 7 stop at Santos and then winds its way down to SXSW. The band are also set to release "Catcher in the Rye" on March 21 which has been dubbed "The Most Extravagant Single in History." How extravagant is that exactly? Says the press release:

The single will come as a designer toy with a USB stick that features 110 tracks, 1500 photos taken at their shows in 33 countries, 20 music videos, and Never Say Die, a brand new hour-long concert film. The single will also be released as a digital 5 track EP. The USB features the EP, the new album Music For Synchronization, both of their previous albums with bonus tracks, the new Lost and Found b-sides and rarities compilation, 15 new instrumentals, and the 40 track remix album Mixed Up. The toy was created by Brian Flynn at Hybrid Design and San Francisco based pioneer company SUPER7.

Is that really considered a single? Will it be The Most Expensive USB Drive in History? No word on what this thing will set you back yet. You can, however, download "Catcher in the Rye" (which sounds a little like Matthew Wilder's  '80s hit "Break My Stride") at the top of this post and check out the video below.

The Santos show sounds pretty good, with Dinowalrus and The Suzan opening. All Datarock North American tour dates, some of which are with Dirty Ghosts, are below as well...

Continue reading "Datarock releasing USB thing, touring (dates, MP3, new video)"

Bear Hands @ Stratosphere Sound, CMJ 2010 (more by Diana Wong)

Head to Brooklyn Bowl today, Oscar Sunday (2/27), first for the free COLLECT-I-BOWL Record Show, and then for the next edition of "Local x Local" with a free show by Bear Hands.

Bear Hands also have a not-free show coming up at Knitting Factory on March 14th with Johnossi and Dinowalrus. They leave right afterwards for Austin where they'll play what the Cantora Records Showcase at the Victorian Room at the Driskill on 3/17 with Reptar, Computer Magic, Secret Music, Superhumanoids and Slam Donahue. They're probably playing other parties too, but they don't currently list them at their site.

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: MAKE OUT - I Don't Want Anybody That Wants Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Reading Rainbow - Wasting Time (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - Loveliest Creature (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dinowalrus - Phone Home from the Edge (MP3)

Make Out

We are in full holiday swing so things are finally, thankfully slowing down. Nobody's really touring till the new year, making things easier for shopping, holiday parties, marathoning TV shows, whatever. So it'll be a short This Week in Indie, but not without things to see. This is New York after all.

The lead story this week was going to be ex-Beta Band frontman Steve Mason playing his first-ever solo shows in NYC, but his North American tour has been postponed "due to an almost complete lack of interest. We try again next year after SXSW!" There's interest, Steve, it's tough during the holidays. Do come back. If you haven't heard his new album, Boys Outside, it's definitely worth a listen.

So what else? Thursday night (12/16) is the live debut of MAKE OUT, which is the new band from Jesper Mortensen, who was the Junior in Danish duo Junior Senior. (Remember them?) He lives here now and new band -- fronted by Leah Hennessy -- is big dumb '70s-ish glitter-trash rock, and you can download Make Out's debut single, "I Don't Want Anybody That Wants Me," at the top of this post. Might be fun live? It's at Mercury Lounge.

Saturday (12/18) is the Rock Lottery event at Knitting Factory. I love these sort of instant art type things (anybody ever go see  Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind?) and the cast of musicians who'll make up these ad-hoc bands is promising. Members of Golden Triangle, Liturgy, Oberhofer, Bear in Heaven, ARMS, Les Savvy Fav and many more will be grouped together at random, so the results will hopefully be interesting. And fun. Proceeds go to charity, so give a little. Tickets are on sale now.

Reading Rainbow

And lastly, I really love Reading Rainbow's new album, Prism Eyes, which is out on the HoZac label and will be on my Best LPs of 2010 list when I ever get around to finishing writing it. You can download "Wasting Time," one of my favorites off the album, at the top of this post. They are great live too, which you can find out for yourself Saturday (12/18) night at Death By Audio as part of an insanely good bill that includes current tourmates Coasting, plus The Babies, Big Troubles and new Captured Tracks signing, Widowspeak. All upcoming Reading Rainbow tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Like I said, it's a short one this week. More daily picks of things not covered above:

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15

The Depreciation Guild have decided to call it quits, which is sad, but have a couple more shows left in them. The first is tonight at Glasslands.  Check out the lovely animated video to their final single, "Blue Lily," at the bottom of this post.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16

SPIN and Free Williamsburg  are throwing some sort of Holiday party tonight at Death By Audio with a performance by The Hundred in the Hands, who made my Best EPs of 2010 list. It's free (and free beer), you just need to RSVP.

Travis are still a going rock outfit, but here's your chance to see frontman Fran Healy play solo at Bowery Ballroom in support of his new album, Wreckorder.

And if you are looking to laugh, Coco66 hosts Supershow!. Tonight has ex-SNL Jenny Slate, who also voiced that charming Marcel the Shell short. (I hear they might debut a new Marcel the Shell short tonight. Maybe.) Also performing: Food Party composer Matt Fitzpatrick will play original holiday songs, and more. It's free.

continued below...

Continue reading "MAKE OUT, not Steve Mason, Reading Rainbow, Savoir Adore, Depreciation Guild & more in This Week in Indie"

Pete's Candy Store photos by Amanda Hatfield, Crash Mansion photos by Jessica Amaya, Pianos & Mercury Lounge photos by Chris La Putt, words by Rachel Kowal

Oh Land @ Rebel NYC (more by David Andrako)

You've been following the CMJ adventures of multiple BV contributors for two weeks now, including the day by day reviews from Rachel Kowal. Before too much more time passes, here is the conclusion of Rachel's week (with the end of day four and all of day five), and assorted pictures from four other shows all rolled into one big post. Check it all out, below....

Continue reading "Rachel's CMJ 2010 recap conclusion w/ lots of pics (Lia Ices, Sarah Jaffe, Ume, Robbers on High Street, Buke & Gass, more) "

by Bill Pearis

Yo La Tengo @ Pitchfork Fest 2009 (more by Joseph Xu)

What, it's Tuesday already? CMJ is here and I'm not really ready. Can we postpone for a week? No? All right. Here we go. Let's not go too crazy tonight (10/19), there's still four more days of this to come.

DAYTIME

Pretty much all the free daytime action happens on Ludlow St. today. Biggest among them is The Music Slut's party at Pianos, which features the dark synths of Brahms, the cheery synths of Hooray for Earth, plus Oberhofer (who play our day party on Friday), Young the Giant, Pearl and the Beard, and more. Party starts at noon, with the first band (Vancouver's Yukon Blonde) on at 1PM.

Moving down the street, Paper Garden Records has a showcase at The Living Room, with Denmark's Alcoholic Faith Mission, two bands from Toronto (Freedom or Death, Kidstreet), Emmanuel and the Fear, Motel Motel, Young Mammals and Saadi. First band is on at 1PM.

And then at Cake Shop, it's the Flower Booking/CapeShok party with Million Young, Sunglasses and Azalia Banks. This one starts a little later -- first band is on at 4PM.

And somewhere between day and night is the free New Zealand showcase at Le Poisson Rouge which starts at 5:45PM. I especially recommend you check out Lawrence Arabia, whose material ranges from delicate folk to ELO style orch-pop. Also playing:  electropop artist Zowie, Kids of 88, Street Chant, Ruby Frost and Electric Wire Hustle. Did I mention it's free? You do need to RSVP if you don't have a badge.

NIGHTTIME

Big ticket shows for tonight: Yo La Tengo play for free at the official CMJ kickoff show at Brooklyn Bowl with Screaming Females (who play our showcase Thursday night) and DOM (who play our Friday day party); Former Afgan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli is at Bowery Ballroom with Craig Wedren; and Jenny and Johnny, Wild Nothing, Times New Viking, Happy Birthday and La Sera (Kickball Katy of  Vivian Girls) at Irving Plaza;

If you wanna dance, you might want to head to Highline Ballroom for a night bands that sound like they could be on a Kitsune Maison compilation: the electro-soul sounds of Dan Black, Italo-disco lovers The Golden Filter, helium voiced Neon Hitch, Denver's The Chain Gang of 1974, and more.

UPDATE: "Chain Gang has dropped off tonight's show due to food poisoning. All other shows are set to occur as scheduled." (10/20 @ Maxwell's, 10/22 @ Cameo, 10/23 @ Santos)

For hip hop, it's Duck Down Music vs. Blacksmith at LPR.

And tonight at Cake Shop is your only chance this week to catch The Billy Nayer Show (11PM), the live band behind such cool sci-fi western musicals as The American Astronaut and last year's Stingray Sam. (Frontman Cory McAbee also directs and stars in them.) They're a one-of-a-kind, and playing as part of the Panache Booking showcase that also features Audacity, Dinowalrus, Onra, Janka Nabay, O'Death and Gary Wilson.

There's tons more shows, obviously. But that's what looks interesting to me. What are you going to see? Flyers and day party set times are below.

Continue reading "CMJ 2010 - Bill's Tuesday picks & stuff (Yo La Tengo, The Billy Nayer Show, Greg Dulli, day parties & more) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Heavy Cream - Watusi (MP3)

Heavy Cream @ Death by Audio in July (more by Leia Jospe)

Nashville's Heavy Cream release their debut album, Danny, on JEFF the Brotherhood's Infinity Cat label August 24 and you can download the catchy, rockin' "Watusi" from it at the top of this post.

Around the same time, the band will be heading back to NYC for another round of shows. The first will be opening for the Detroit Cobras on the Rock's Off Concert Cruise on August 20. They'll then play Union Pool on Sept 1 (with Boogie Boarder), Cake Shop on Sept 2 (with Unnatural Helpers), The Meat Locker in Montclair on Sept 4, The Rock Shop on Sept 6 (with Dinowalrus and Pterodactyl), and Death by Audio again on Sept 7.

Heavy Cream were here just a few weeks ago -- maybe you saw them at Death by Audio? The band are playing some shows to and from NYC, and all those dates are listed below, along with the cover art for Danny...

Continue reading "Heavy Cream releasing 'Danny' (MP3), schedule 6 more NYC-area shows & other tour dates "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Eternal Summers - Able To (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Beach Fossils - Youth (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: North Highlands - Collarbone (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Regal Degal - I Saw the Smoke (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Common Loon - Dinosaur Vs. Early Man (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Natural Child - Dogbite (MP3)

Eternal Summers

Happy Tax Day! This week's column is jam-packed with cheap options for great shows if Uncle Sam left your bank accounts depleted. Let's get to it.

Duo Eternal Summers have been getting blog attention for about a year, and I'll admit I didn't listen at first due to their name, fearing they'd worsen my Beach Music Fatigue (BMF). But then I saw they were from Roanoke, Virgina and my interest was piqued. I grew up 90 minutes West of Roanoke which had the closest good record store to me (The Record Exchange, which closed in 2006).

Back then they didn't have a music scene outside of country and cover bands. (Though I did see Huey Lewis & the News at the Civic Center way back when.) Not sure how thriving it is now, but Eternal Summers have, in my book, put Roanoke on the map. (Their label, Chimney Sweep, shows that Southwest Virgina's doing well musically.) I'm glad I listened. Apart from their name, they don't really have a lot in common with the beach scene (be it Real Estate, Washed Out, Best Coast, etc). The guitars are a little more slashy, the vocals less bathed in reverb. Check out their song "Able To" at the top of this post, which is from their self-titled EP. If anything, to these ears they're more akin to the C-86 inspired pop of San Francisco's Brilliant Colors.  There's a definite Anglo slant to their sound.

Eternal Summers have three shows in three days. Friday (4/16) is at Bruar Falls where they're part of a killer bill that includes Beach Fossils, Total Slacker, Air Waves, and Beachniks. They will also play Saturday (4/17) at Glasslands with The Beets, The Maine Coons, German Measles and Family Trees. And then on Sunday, Eternal Summers play Coco 66 with Marshmallows, Honey Dos, Beachniks, and The Maine Coons. Do check out one of these shows.

Natural Child

Natural Child play an awesome bill at Death By Audio Saturday including , Sisters, Boogie Boarder and Regal Degal.

The trio are Nashville neighbors, pals and labelmates of JEFF the Brotherhood, and play shambly, garagey party rock. I don't mean just that they're fun (and they are), but also that all of their songs are about some aspect of partying. Whether they bring the party to their live shows or not, I have yet to experience. But I'm ready to find out.

Natural Child also play Friday night (4/16) at Lulu's in Greenpoint with Liquor Store and Foster Care, and have dates in New Brunswick, NJ and Philly --  all 201o tour dates are below.

Beach Fossils

That Beach Fossils show Friday night is the only one they've got lined up for a month so you might want to head that way. (Plus the rest of the bands that night, all of which I endorse.) If you haven't  seen them lately, or ever, Beach Fossils have really come into their own I think, not bad for a band that's barely been playing for year. They've worked out a distinctive sound -- almost no strumming, instead spinning interweaving lines of guitar and bass -- and are confident singers now too.

And they're a great live band too. None of the four members stay still longer than they have to, twirling around like tops, with mom-jean-wearing drummer Cole Smith doing as much dancing as banging on his instrument. They were fantastic opening for Love is All at Knitting Factory a few weeks back, video from which is below.

The band's self-titled debut is set for release May 25 on Captured Tracks and you can download the jangly "Youth" from the album at the top of this post. I've heard the whole thing and it will definitely make for great summer listening. After Friday, Beach Fossils' next local show is May 13 at Brooklyn Bowl with Midnight Masses.

Sisters

A little more on the Death by Audio show on Saturday (4/17). Sisters have finished their album for Death by Audio Records which should be out sooner than later. You can hear two of the album's tracks ("The Curse" and "Glue") on their MySpace, both of which I like a lot. Sisters also play tonight (4/15) at Brooklyn Bowl with Darlings. That's a pretty good show too.

The other band on the DBA bill is Regal Degal, who I caught last Friday at newish venue North Fourth.  The trio is fronted by Josh da Costa who you may know as Dinowalrus' drummer. Regal Degal are less psych and more post-punky, drawing influence from post punk's darker side. (I hear a lot of Chairs Missing/154 era Wire in them.) The band doesn't have a MySpace, but they do have an infrequently updated blog. You can check out their song "I Saw the Smoke" at the top of this post, which they describe as sounding like "we're playing from within a beautiful porcelain toilet bowl. This is the result of spending a lot of time on an initial mix, then too much time listening back to it and not enjoying it enough, and then spending very little time on this more enjoyable and questionable mix."

Common Loon

This column is never-ending I know. Champagne, IL duo Common Loon have flown into town for two shows: tonight (4/15) at Union Hall and then Friday night (4/16) at Pianos. Both shows are with Tulsa, OK's Unwed Sailor. Common Loon's debut album, The Long Dream of Birds, came out last week on Hidden Agenda (home of The 1900s and Moonbabies) and it's recommended if you you like hazy 90s-ish indie like Oliva Tremor Control, Grandaddy and The Flaming Lips. You can check out their song "Dinosaur Vs. Early Man" at the top of this post.

Also playing tonight's Union Hall show is North Highlands who I've written about a few times already and were recently named one of the "8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear Now" by The L Magazine. You can hear them, in fact, right now by downloading their lovely track "Collarbone" at the top of this post. They are very good live and I think 2010 will be a big year for them.

In addition to tonight's show you've got two more chances to see them in the next week. They play Sunday (4/18) at Glasslands with Uninhabitable Mansions, Polite Sleeper, and North Carolina's Charming Youngsters. And then they play next Saturday (4/24) at Solar One with Cold Cave, fellow L Mag pick Oberhoffer and a "surprise headliner."

North Highlands

Speaking of L Magazine "8 NYC Bands" issue, Twin Sister play this Saturday at Los Hermanos Tortilleria in Bushwick. The show is being put on by blog Chocolate Bobka and also features Austin, TX's Pure Ecstasy and local band Weed Hounds. Go early (doors at 7pm) for free tacos (while supplies last which probably won't be very long). They've got good tacos (which are cheap even when not free). $7, BYOB. Twin Sister also open for the Morning Benders at Mercury Lounge on April 28 if you're going to that (sold out).

And finally, don't forget, Saturday (4/17) is Record Store Day and local shops participating include Other Music, Etherea, Academy Records Annex, Rebel Rebel, Sound Fix, and loads more. There's tons of cool exclusive releases coming out, and the RSD website has a handy, fairly comprehensive list of what is being released (PDF). Other Music has live performances by The Drums and Pains of Being Pure at Heart, plus indie celeb DJs. There's similar things going on at other stores too - like Generation Records, and we'll be posting more today and tomorrow.

Okay, that's enough for four days. Click through for tour dates, videos and lots and lots of flyers...

Continue reading "Eternal Summers, Natural Child, Beach Fossils, Regal Degal, North Highlands, Twin Sister & more in This Week in Indie"

DOWNLOAD: Fang Island - Life Coach (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fang Island - Daisy (MP3)

402 Productions: When you guys initially assembled to form this dancegasmic-high-fiving band, what were the initial ideas; aside from the uplifting intensity that seems to lay the foundation for most of your corpus?

Fang Island: The band started off as an art project at school. It was a way of cutting classes, smoking weed, and still getting college credit. Then we realized that our musical collaboration was more important/enjoyable to us than learning lithography.

Fang Island will be at Knitting Factory on Monday, April 5th for a headlining show with 8-bit band Anamanaguchi and Idolands (w/ members Of Daughters). Tickets are on sale.

Fang Island then goes on tour with Red Sparowes this April and May - but their NYC-area shows are separate. Red Sparowes play with Doomriders at Mercury Lounge on April 13th and 14th, while Fang Island plays Maxwell's on April 13th with Dinowalrus. Maxwell's tickets are on sale.

The band was recently dubbed "Fastest Rising at SXSW" via compiled internet stats. Two songs off their euphoric self-titled debut, praised by Pitchfork two days before SXSW, are posted above. Videos for those same songs and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "upcoming Fang Island shows, MP3s, videos"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Saxon Shore - "This Place" (MP3)

Saxon Shore (photo by Geordy Peterson)

American post-rockers Saxon Shore hit back. It Doesn't Matter, the quintet's follow-up to 2005's The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore is a welcome return to form for the band and their original leader Matthew Doty.

Having gone through a long period of upheaval - be it line-up changes and relocations - the band spent four solid years as a unit before plucking up the courage to hit the Tarbox Road Studios Cabin out in Cassadega, New York.

Apt then, that the unearthing of It Doesn't Matter follows a line of melodic delicacy that recent post-rock efforts appear to have departed. Album opener "Nothing Changes" rocks gently into the onslaught of feedback drenched guitars while 'Bar Clearing Good Times' maintains an unexpected steadiness that other same-vein bands like Explosions In The Sky often make the habit of breaking from. -[Altsounds]

Saxon Shore released their gorgeous Dave Fridmann-produced LP It Doesn't Really Matter last year. The song "This Place" from that album is available for download above. You can catch the band live (their only upcoming scheduled show) at the Knit on 2/5 as part of the Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival put on by BAM ("60+ shows. 15 venues. 2 weekends. Celebrating Brooklyn's best music and bands with shows throughout the borough.") American Dollar and The Abbasi Brothers open the NYC show. Tickets are on sale.

Les Savy Fav @ BAM - 1/29/10 (photo by Steven P. Marsh)

'Sounds like Brooklyn' kicked off last night (1/29) at BAM (the only venue hosting shows during this first weekend of the fest) with Les Savy Fav and Vivian Girls...

"To my surprise, [Les Savy Fav] played very tight rhythms that zagged all over the place but were not sloppy. I was reminded of times I had seen Modest Mouse, Built To Spill or The Flaming Lips, with the music being loose and jangly, yet deliberate and well-crafted at the same time. The band itself held my interest quite well, as they played the straight men to the antics of Harrington, who, instead of being a distraction, complemented the instruments rather well, reminding me at times of Jello Biafra with his voice and dialogue with the audience. Yes, he was a crazy looking fat dude running all over the stage and into the crowd, but his angry-goofy-gibberish song rants, energy, enthusiasm and sheer earnestness overcame my pre-judgment. At the start of LSF's set, Harrington dropped into the crowd beckoning people to stand, and it ended up being the right thing to do. Despite the opera house setting with assigned seating, it quickly became apparent that it would take a lot more than that to contain the force that is Les Savy Fav." [Qbertplaya]

The fest continues tonight (1/30) at the same venue with a show by Rain Machine and Anti-Pop Consortium. Tickets are still available. The Antlers and Ra Ra Riot play the opera house venue on February 5th.

The full Sounds Like Brooklyn schedule, along with a Les Savy Fav video from last night, below...

Continue reading "Les Savy Fav played BAM, Saxon Shore playing the Knit, 'Sounds Like Brooklyn' underway - full schedule & more "