words and photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Department of Eagles - Balmy Night (live @ the Bell House) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Pictures of Trees (MP3)

Inlets

Last Saturday, December 13th, I found myself at an intimate loft party in Williamsburg to see Sebastian Krueger's sad-pop song writing project, Inlets. The show was a pretty low key affair. People sitting on the center-of-the-room-staircase made the place seem full and active, but i'd be surprised if there were as many as 100 people there. The bartender was friendly and served complimentary beer and wine. Everybody seemed conversational and friendly and space didnt seem to be that much of an issue.

Fred Nicolaus of Department of Eagles played only a couple of songs (including one Dept of Eagles song), and Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors also played a short set. It seemed to take a long time for the third band Glass Ghost to get set up and then I didn't really enjoy their set as much as the people around me seemed to.

Inlets was a very nice professional step up in sound and presence. The arrangements at times were very full and accomplished, but also sounded appropriately sparse as well-- in some songs band members would drop out completely as the set went on.

Favorite moments were the toy piano melodies on one of the later songs, and when Beirut's Zach Condon watched from the upper balcony and joined on trumpet for the last song of the evening. Overall a pleasant and mellow show that was well-suited to the well-manicured loft space.

Zach Condon

Beirut has three Brooklyn shows coming up. Department of Eagles are touring in January. Dirty Projectors are playing New Years Eve at Knitting Factory. More pictures from the loft party below...

Continue reading "Inlets (w/ Zach Condon), Fred Nicolaus, Deradoorian & Glass Ghost @ Whisk and Ladle (a loft party), NYC - pics"

photos by Zach Stern

"Now that Mr. Deacon has listeners, he has decided to reclaim his artier side -- occasionally slowing or abandoning the beat -- by performing with Dan Deacon and Ensemble, the 15-member group that made its debut at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on Thursday night. Half of the set, he announced, would come from his iPod, the other from "actual living humans." It wasn't exactly what the crowd wanted." [NY Times]

Continue reading "Dan Deacon w/ ensemble, Dirty Projectors & So Percussion @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, NYC - pics"

On December 11th at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, Dan Deacon will unveil his new live set, which features a 15 piece live ensemble performing material from his forthcoming album, Bromst, which will be released on Carpark on March 24, 2009. Deacon plans to tour with an ensemble in 2009 in support of the new record. In addition to the songs with the ensemble, Deacon will still perform a few songs solo and there will be a few other surprises at this show as well. The evening will also feature sets from the always incredible Dirty Projectors and So Percussion.

Sometimes BV-writer Andrew Frisicano saw So Percussion at Glasslands during CMJ. He said, "Headliner, So Percussion, a group that doubles as the rhythm section for Signal (who performed Steve Reich's 'Music for 18 Musicians' Sept 13 and 14 at LPR) played a set of engaging, adventurous percussion pieces. The band changed instruments with each song, showcasing a number of intriguingly applied timbres. Its opening tune was comprised of mostly metallic sounds (paint cans, metal scraps); other pieces included a snare and live-radio composition and Reich piece 'Drumming,' performed with sticks on bongos."

I took the pictures in this post at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin in November. A couple more of those, a list of who is in Dan's ensemble, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "DAN DEACON - NYC show w/ 15 piece live ensemble (So Percussion, Ponytail), tour dates, new album, some pics"

"What a fitting day to announce the complete list of artists involved with our upcoming album DARK WAS THE NIGHT - the February 17th 4AD release that will benefit the Red Hot Organization. It's World AIDS Day, and in honor of that, we bring you the exciting news."

Continue reading "Dark Was the Night - full 4AD comp artist list, cover art, etc"

DP's Angel Deradoorian @ Knitting Factory (more by Ryan Muir)

Tickets are still on sale for the show Dirty Projectors and Dan Deacon are playing at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on December 11th. Last year Dirty Projectors played Knitting Factory on New Years Eve, and this year they might do it again, joining the bill that we already know includes Deer Tick, Deerhoof and Akron/Family, and maybe Crystal Stilts too?

Speaking of Crystal Stilts, they play their record release show at Less Artists More Condos tonight/Friday.

More New Years Eve shows are listed HERE, and a bunch of them just went on sale.

A beautiful video of Dirty Projectors playing in a big purple van in Paris, below...

Continue reading "Dirty Projectors playing New Years Eve @ KF too/ again?"

Photos by Ryan Muir

"A highly contagious stomach flu is circulating through New York City.

The Health Department has issued a statement reporting that visits to the city's hospital emergency rooms have increased by 19 percent over the past two weeks, to about 400 a day, of people suffering from vomiting and diarrhea.

The stomach flu is caused by a norovirus infection that is prevalent in late fall and winter. Health officials say the good news is that norovirus infections are usually not serious and most people recover within a few days.

A medical epidemiologist at the Health Department, Dr. Sharon Balter, advises thorough hand-washing with soap and warm water, before eating food and after using the bathroom, to avoid being infected with the stomach flu."[Newsday]

One night after they opened for Nine Inch Nails in Atlantic City, HEALTH headlined a show at Knitting Factory in NYC. Videohippos and Health's new label-mate (Angel) Deradoorian (of Dirty Projectors fame) were also on the Friday night bill (11/7). More pictures below...

Continue reading "HEALTH, Angel Deradoorian & Videohippos @ Knitting Factory, NYC - pics"

Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors) @ Bowery Ballroom (more)

They hadn't announced the openers last time I posted about tonight's Health show at Knitting Factory (11/7). They are: Videohippos and Angel Deradoorian from Dirty Projectors. I have a pair of tickets to giveaway. To win them, email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Health). Include your first and last name. A winner will be picked and cotacted ASAP.

Angel, who goes by her last name Deradoorian for her solo stuff, recently announced...

Hey I just signed on board to work with the label LovePump United! It's run by two great dudes Mookie and Jake. I will be releasing an ep with them soon. Date is not announced yet, but there will be one some day. Some other cool bands up on LovePump: Genghis Tron, Health, and Indian Jewelry. Sweeet.

Health has been on the road with NIN, surely playing to many new people on stages bigger than they've ever stepped foot on before. It can't be easy, especially with critics like this one from Jacksonville, Florida...

"Health has a lot to learn and hopefully Nine Inch Nails, who were playing their instruments consistently, will show them the true way to success in alternative synthesized hard rock. Nine Inch Nails did not rely on the short samples recorded into floor based effect pedals like Health did, and played their instruments, as a rock band should. The refreshing performance by Nine Inch Nails should be the inspiration for a new rock generation that plays actual music, not just sound, and respects the old definitions of melody, harmony, rhythm and form."

Continue reading "Health tonight, Lovepump's Deradoorian, win tix, tour dates "

Dirty Projectors @ SSSeaport (more by Lucas Flores Piran)

There are a few things I didn't post last week because of CMJ. This is one of them. Tickets are (still) on sale for a December 11th Dan Deacon / Dirty Projectors / So Percussion show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple.

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Department of Eagles played their first full show at the Bell House in Brooklyn last night (Oct 6, 2008). Nat Baldwin (ex-Dirty Projectors) opened the show and played as a DoE band member along with core members Fred Nicolaus and Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear) and additional band members (as seen on Conan a few days earlier) Angel Deredoorian (current-Dirty Projectors) and drummer Christopher Bear (Grizzly Bear). Christopher Bear is not to be confused with Chris Taylor, the (blonde, other Chris) Grizzly Bear member who produced the Grizzly Bear albums (past and future), Dirty Projectors, and the new Department of Eagles album In Ear Park (that was released today and got Best New Music on P4K).

For a first show, it was a great show. The five songs they played as a full band were my favorites and the song Fred sang by himself was an unexpected highlight and crowd favorite, though not as much of a crowd favorite as "No One Does It Like You" which Dan then told the crowd was their only pop song aka we're all suckers for pop songs. DoE play a shorter show at Town Hall tonight (Oct 7). Paul Simon is also on the bill. More pictures and the setlist from last night below...

Continue reading "Department of Eagles & Nat Baldwin @ Bell House, NYC - pics"

photos by Lucas Flores Piran

The Friday evening (August 15, 2008) rain caused the cancellation of an outdoor NYC performance involving 200 guitarists, but like Regina Spektor's gig in Brooklyn, the free show at South Street Seaport went on... it just went on for a slightly shorter period of time than originally planned. Opener White Williams played four songs. Dirty Projectors played for around 50 minutes. It was a not-that-short headlining set that included one new song - the same new song they played at Music Hall of Williamsburg in April, and a song that will likely appear on the new album they're working on in Portland for Domino Records. More Dirty Projectors pics below...

Continue reading "Dirty Projectors & lightning @ South Street Seaport - pics"

Dirty Projectors @ Pitchfork Fest (more by Joseph Juechao Xu)

AUGUST 11th: Domino Radio hosts David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors!

Monday, August 11th from 10am-12noon, Domino Radio hosts David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors. David and company are in town from Portland, OR, where he and his band have been busy at work on their next album (for Domino! no less) to play the South Street Seaport - Friday August 15th with White Williams.. Tune in live, or stream / podcast later..

photos by Joseph Juechao Xu

Boris

dancing in the mud

and much more....

Continue reading "a set of pictures from the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival "

The four-day Citsol festival kicks off in NYC Thursday night with a free show at Solar One. It looks like this:

6:00 - Ryan Glass aka Slim Dixon
6:45 - Apollo Heights
7:30 - All Out Collective (AOK)
8:30 - Care Bears on Fire

Now Dirty Projectors' only free NYC show this summer is the one they're playing at South Street Seaport. Read the Citysol site for a listing of all of this weekend's festivities.

photos by Kate Pedatella

details on Simian Mobile Disco's broken gear at the end of the post....

DEVO

The Sonics rolled back the years during their highly anticipated comeback set at Primvera Sound, as old met new at the eclectic festival. The punk pioneers played a hit heavy set on day two of the festival (Friday), wowing the Barcelona audience with classics including 'Strychnine' and 'The Witch'.

Playing a rare festival show as part of their comeback tour, the Seattle band headed up a line up packed with returning legends.

Earlier on, the Bob Mould Band raced through favourites from the singer's former bands, Sugar and Husker Du, including 'Hoover Dam' and 'Hardly Getting Over It'.

Post punk trailblazers Devo received one of the best receptions of the festival so far, with a set as tight as their trademark yellow jumpsuits - which were disgarded towards the end of the show.

Spanish favourites Sebadoh made their return to the Barcelona festival to perform their debut album 'The Freed Man'.

And Portishead played their second set of the festival, following on from Thursday's showstopper, this time in the indoors Auditori. [Virtual Festivals][

Continue reading "more pictures & stuff from Primavera Sound 2008"

Fatboy Slim's new project is called "THE BRIGHTON PORT AUTHORITY". David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal sing on a song and you can hear it ("Toe Jam") at MySpace.

David is also working with The Dirty Projectors

I recorded a couple of songs Sunday and Monday with the band Dirty Projectors for an upcoming Red Hot project. Red Hot puts out compilation albums to benefit AIDS research and I've been on a few of them since they started in 1990. So, who's on this one? Feist, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear, Sharon Jones, The Decembrists, The National -- jeez, what a lineup!

Anyways, I like what Dave Longstreth and Dirty Projectors are doing, although part of what attracts me to them is something I can't exactly place, can't figure out. Their music has familiar elements, yet often sounds like pop music by someone who has read about the form, but never heard it, and then handed the essential building blocks to make some songs. That's not actually true though, as Dave made plenty of jokes about music while we were working --he has a deep knowledge of tunes and their respective artists. But the band's music remains completely strange and oddly familiar at the same time. I'd been told more than once that we should all work together, and it seems the suggestion was fated to be realized.

For one song, Dave L sent me a demo by email that he had recorded in a Vienna hotel room on tour. I did my best to figure out the chords and the tempo, and record my own version, for which I then wrote the words. We didn't end up using my recorded version; but the words, and my somewhat straightened out version of the melody, came in handy. [David Byrne]

More good news for David Byrne below....

Continue reading "David Byrne recorded w/ The Dirty Projectors & Fatboy Slim, is getting an award, AND his building is opening!"

DOWNLOAD: Dirty Projectors - Hyperballad (Bjork) (MP3) (info)

Citysol 2007 (more)

Last year I helped put together the music portion of Solar One's NYC Citysol festival. This year the honor went to Alec Hanley Bemis of Cantaloupe and Brassland Records. I think he did a really good job.....

JUNE 26 - opening night w/ Care Bears on Fire, A-OK Collective

JUNE 28 - all day music festival w/ Dirty Projectors, Ecstatic Sunshine, No Surrender, Shilpa Ray (Beat the Devil), Burkina Electric, So Percussion, Selan and Blitz the Ambassador. (and maybe more TBA)

Les Savy Fav played last year. Les Savy Fav are playing their next show at Highline Ballroom in NYC on May 21st.

More Citysol 2008 info below....

Continue reading "Citysol 2008 (June 26-29) - free show lineup announcement (Dirty Projectors, Ecstatic Sunshine, So Percussion....)"

Animal Collective @ the South Street Seaport, June 2007 (more)

"On-the-Side" with Jack Lukeman, featuring "Jack Lukeman Sings Newman."

Thursday, May 8
6:30 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show

Friday, May 9
6:30 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. & 9 p.m. shows

"On-the-Side" shows are held at the new arts venue @Seaport, located in the South Street Seaport historic district at 219 Water Street (at Beekman Street). Admission is free.

Continue reading "Dirty Projectors & other free summer SS Seaport shows "

Dirty Projectors in DC (Lexie Moreland / BrightestYoungThings)

Throughout the set, Longstreth's seemingly improvised intros reminded me of Captain Beefheart's deliberate but dissonant explorations of delta-blues guitar rhythms. But with a progressive-punk sensibility. When combined with sparse but potent drum fills and splashes, and the girls' interwoven harmonies, the songs had an almost gospel-like tinge to them. It was as if they should have been playing at an AA meeting in a Cathedral. Nonetheless they held the Cat's audience spiritually captive for their hour-plus long set. Following some real barn-burners and foot-stompers, I couldn't help but jot to myself: "This guy wails!" And he did. And so did my Monday night (April 7). [BrightestYoungThings]

Continue reading "Dirty Projectors - played DC & Brooklyn, more tour dates"

photo of Bell by Alix Winsby

Bell (aka Olga Bell) is a musician from NYC. That might be how you know her, and/or maybe you downloaded that Radiohead cover she did, or maybe you saw her open for Au Revoir Simone, and/or maybe you read about her on Stereogum the other day. If you haven't heard Bell yet, go check out the songs streaming on her MySpace. If you're like me, Bjork will immediately come to mind. That's why I think Stereogum made a good choice when choosing Bell to cover "It's Oh So Quiet" for their ridiculously awesome-looking new "Post" tribute album called "Enjoyed"
(though I haven't heard it yet).....

Tracklist
1. Liars - "Army Of Me"
2. Dirty Projectors - "Hyperballad"
3. High Places - "Modern Things"
4. Bell - "It's Oh So Quiet"
5. Pattern Is Movement - "Enjoy"
6. Evangelicals - "You've Been Flirting Again"
7. Xiu Xiu - "Isobel"
8. Final Fantasy & Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear) - "Possibly Maybe"
9. White Hinterland - "I Miss You"
10. El Guincho - "Cover Me"
11. Atlas Sound - "Headphones"

Takka Takka are playing the show too. It's not the first time they've shared a bill with Bell either, and that's NOT a coincidence. Bell contributed to the new Takka Takka album which is being finished as we speak - an album that takes Takka Takka in a completely new direction with a new sound and a significantly different lineup than who was in the band when their last release came out.

So, it's looking something like this....

BrooklynVegan & Klaus Kinski present
The unofficial & unauthorized "Enjoyed" release party
(aka Rock 'n' ROFL II)
@ Pianos in NYC
on March 31, 2008

7-8 pm: DJ David Bruno AND all the free Newcastle you can drink

8-9 pm: comedy by Will Franken, Larry Murphy, Kumail Nanjiani, Sean O' Connor and Reggie Watts

9-10 pm: music by Bell
10-11 pm: music by Takka Takka
11-12 pm: music by TBA (** can't announce yet, but it's good **)

---

Related story: I put together a whole bunch of shows during CMJ. One was on Saturday October 20th at Pianos, during the day, upstairs & downstairs. The Maccabees were the last band to play downstairs. Doveman, Erik Friedlander and Craig Wedren were playing upstairs at the same time. Jefferson, who was there in a semi-official capacity to take pictures, wanted to shoot the Maccabees, but ended up missing them because of the upstairs lineup.

By the time he came back down, the Maccabees were already long gone and the next, unrelated show had started. He really didn't know the difference and started taking pictures of (who he thought was) the Maccabees. Eventually he figured it out and realized he'd just discovered Bell.

When Jefferson and I finally reunited, I think I said something like (now on like no sleep and 4 days into CMJ), "Where the hell have you been? Did you even see the Maccabees? We have to go see Santogold. Let's get out of here." He said something like, "Dude...chill. I was shooting this girl Bell. She was great." I think then by the next day I totally forgot about it, and it wasn't until I recently showed him the already-booked March 31st lineup that he pointed out that he had some never-before-seen Bell pictures (aka the ones you see in this post.....below) (the end)....

Continue reading "BELL is playing Rock 'n' ROFL w/ Takka Takka & TBA +++ Stereogum, a Bjork tribute & some pics from CMJ"

High Places @ Market Hotel, Brooklyn, NY (mercurialn)

For rock bands this is a great time to be weird and independent in Brooklyn. After years in which the sound of New York was defined by various shades of retro monochrome -- the new wave minimalism of the Strokes, the disco-punk of the Rapture and LCD Soundsystem, the moody Anglophilia of Interpol -- a new generation is making music that is indefinably eclectic and complex, and finding acclaim around the world. [NY Times]

DOWNLOAD: Deer Tick - Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston Cover) (MP3)

As each day goes by, I keep falling more and more in love with Deer Tick. Check out the non-album cover of a Sean Kingston song above. Check out Deer Tick with Doveman (who I also love) TONIGHT (Feb 15, 2008) @ Southpaw in Brooklyn (A Zombieville party). You can run back and forth between Southpaw and Union Hall where the Forms are playing (a Gothamist party).

I've got two pairs of tickets to give away to the Southpaw show tonight. To win, e-mail BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Dove Tick). Include your first and last name in the email. Two winners will be contacted soon.

Doveman is also playing Saturday night (Feb 16th) at the Stone (or so says his website anyway).

Deer Tick is also playing Glasslands on February 28th, and my official SXSW showcase in Austin.

Doveman also listed some of his favorite things in 2007, and I accidentaly never posted it. The abridged version is below....

Continue reading "Doveman, tonight, Deer Tick, an MP3, a contest & stuff"

DOWNLOAD: No Kids - The Beaches Are All Closed (MP3)

No Kids' (not to be confused with No Age) album Come Into My House is out February 19th on Tomlab. Get one MP3 above, and one in another post. Tour Dates below...

Continue reading "No Kids - playing SXSW, shows w/ Dirty Projectors, MP3"

Feb 1 - Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
Feb 2 - Silent Barn, Ridgewood, New York w/ Deer Tick
Feb 8 - CakeShop, NYC w/ White Hinterland

Tickets go on sale Thursday for a Dirty Projectors show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 9th. Before that they play the incredible Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett)-curated Maximum Black Festival with Final Fantasy, Six Organs of Admittance, Deerhoof and Frog Eyes - a 3-date tour that goes from Vienna to London to Berlin. They also play the Bryce Dessner (The National)-curated musicNOW Festival in Cincinatti, Ohio on April 4th. That festival bill also features Bang on a Can, Bill Frisell, Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, and Glenn Kotche. All dates below....

Continue reading "DIRTY PROJECTORS playing Brooklyn, Maximum Black, MusicNOW, ATP & other 2008 Tour Dates"

You might recoginze the style of that pretty picture up there as the art of Matt Furie. It's the cover of a new limited edition FADER/Southern Comfort Dirty Projectors/White Williams 7". I have three of them to give away.

I also have three pairs of tickets to the FADER Issue 51 party happening at Studio B in Brooklyn tonight (Jan 16, 2008). Not surprisingly, Santogold is playing it. So is Izza Kizza, and DJ Switch. Details on how to win, below...

Continue reading "Santogold playing FADER party tonight, win tickets or a Dirty Projectors/White Williams 7""