by Dominick Mastrangelo

I escaped the madness of CMJ on Friday hopping the Metro-North to catch Andrew Bird at the charming Tarrytown Music Hall. The bustle of a small town on a Friday night, a tiny street fair and a couple of musical acts accompanied the short walk from the station. It was unexpected but gave the main strip a festive fall atmosphere.

With Sock Monkey perched behind him, Bird played in his shoes this time, despite shouts from sold-out audience to remove them, admitting that years of playing in his colorful socks had taken a toll on his legs.

The setlist was sweeping; hitting seldom played songs, such as a condensed and cabaret-style take on "The Naming Of Things", staples like "Why" and "Plasticities" and a host of new songs (a new full length is due in March) including standout "Lusitania.") He also played "Bein' Green" from Muppets: The Green Album and, during the encore, a cover of The Handsome Family's "So Much Wine" as well as "Happy Day" from the Trials of Darryl Hunt soundtrack. Joining Bird mid-way through the set was collaborator and show opener, Dosh. At one point the two performed an improvisational piece, something they've be doing over the course of the short, nine-city, Northeast tour. Bird prefaced the number by telling the audience the nightly experiments had been going so well there would likely be a record.

Dosh's opening set of electronic, percussion- and keyboard-based instrumentals was excellent. The set contained the familiar (to Andrew Bird fans) music of "Simple X" to which Bird added lyrics for the track that appeared on Armchair Apocrypha.

More pictures from the night, including one of the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Andrew Bird & Dosh @ Tarrytown Music Hall (pics & setlist)"

ML review by Rachel Kowal

DOWNLOAD: Brad Laner - Crawl Back In (Baths Remix) (MP3)

Baths @ Mercury Lounge on August 3rd (more by David Andrako)

It's kind of odd to go to an indoor show that starts when the sun is still up, but the Mercury Lounge's back room makes you lose your sense of time. The opener of the early show back in August was the one-man electro-pop act Baths, which is the project of 21-year-old Will Wiesenfeld. "Hi. Whoa! Sorry to scare you!" Wiesenfeld said as his voice suddenly broke through the soft chatter. "Hi New York. It's very sweaty here. I'm not used to it, but it's cool... I'm going to start playing music."

Baths consists of a laptop, a mixer, and vocals. Wiesenfeld projects the kind of lovable (but somewhat awkward) intensity you might expect from the 'hero' of a Judd Apatow movie. Though his work required him to be at arms length from the mass of knobs, dials, and buttons, he didn't let that stop him from some serious upper body dancing, and his energy was contagious.

After playing a handful of songs, Wiesenfeld began to talk over the concluding notes of a song. "This is going..." He stopped, and switched off the reverb. "This is going to be my last song. Stay tuned. Fol Chen is next... Oh!" he exclaimed, momentarily switching off his music. "And I'm Baths. B-A-T-H-S," he said excitedly, almost as an after thought.

When Fol Chen singer/guitarist Samuel Bing walked on stage in his bright red shirt and pants combo, the crowd snickered a little. But when the remaining four members of Fol Chen joined him - each wearing the same outfit (save Sinosa Loa, the sole female member who wore black tights to match the shiny black buttons of her red shirt), the reaction changed to something akin to amusement. "Matching outfits? Yes!" said one audience member toward the front of the room. Maybe I was just influenced by the White Stripes-like aesthetics, but the instrumental interludes seemed reminiscent of a tasteful soundtrack to an old sci-fi movie - playful, but definitely eerie as well.

In the studio, a significant portion of Fol Chen's music consists of samples, but their music translates well to a live setting. Their sheer weirdness mixes irresistibly with their alluring vocals, irrepressible beats, and 80s-tinged keyboard riffs. The frenzied drumming propelled the music and threatened to transform Fol Chen into a hypnotic martian marching band of sorts. (The brief addition of a trumpet for one of their songs only reinforced the image.) Everyone but the drummer - who was working up a real sweat - contributed backing vocals, but even he approached the mic for one song near the end of the set. Fol Chen was also joined on stage by Kárin Tatoyan whose cover of "In Ruins" appears on the band's "In Ruins" EP (as does a remix by Baths).

During the song "The Idiot," back-up singer (and recent New York-transplant) Patrick-Ian sang, "Everyone here thinks it's a joke," which seemed to be an interesting tag line for the evening given the borderline cult-like and somewhat ridiculous matching outfits, but joke or no joke, their music is worth a listen.

---

We already posted pictures from that show (the above review got lost in my email) (until now). Baths, if you hadn't noticed or figured it out, are/is in fact playing NYC as part of his tour with Dosh and headliner El Ten Eleven. That takes place at Knitting Factory on Thursday, September 16th (tickets still on sale).

For an MP3, grab the free EP Baths appears on over at Heart Music Group's Bandcamp.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Baths - last here w/ Fol Chen (review), coming back w/ Dosh "

DOWNLOAD: Baths - Stupor (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shlohmo - Post Atmosphere (Baths Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: DJ STV SLV - Maximal Burns (R. Kelly vs Baths) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Baths - <3 (Daedelus remix) (MP3)

Baths

L.A. future-poppers Fol Chen have two NYC dates in August with electro/chill-out/pop act Will Wiesenfeld aka Baths (again, not to be confused with the Bay Area band now called Royal Baths)...

"In spite of his affinity for oddball pastiche, Baths' (née Will Wiesenfeld, all of 21) aesthetic is decidedly poppy. If you have ever expressed wishes that artists as disparate as Flying Lotus and Boards of Canada were "more hooky," well, bless your heart, you might like Cerulean a lot. Wiesenfeld deftly mixes buoyant beats, ambient tracks, and vocal-heavy pop numbers into an album that flows together seamlessly and makes for quite a few pleasant surprises. The quietly hypnotic "Rafting Starlit Everglades" follows "Aminals," a wide-eyed and bombastic ode to childhood wonder; the Go! Team are somewhere kicking themselves for not getting their hands on these samples first, or just for not writing this song." [Cokemachineglow]

Before that, Baths, whose excellent debut, Cerulean, just came out on Anticon, have West Coast dates with Memoryhouse (who are touring with Twin Sister this August. one of those dates is with Nite Jewel). They then tour across the continent first with Jogger, then with El Ten Eleven and Dosh.

El Ten Eleven and Dosh's NYC dates are settled - September 16th at Knitting Factory (tickets), September 18th at Mercury Lounge (tickets) - with the obvious absence of Baths on those shows (for now?).

The pictures below are from a July 6th hometown Fol Chen gig at the Echo in Los Angeles.

Non-album Baths track "Stupor" is posted above, along with some remixes including one by Daedelus who by the way is playing Santos Party House on August 15th.

Baths videos, Fol Chen pics and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Baths (not Royal Baths) touring w/ Fol Chen & then Dosh (dates, MP3s, Daedelus & stuff) "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Dosh - Subtractions (MP3)

Dosh @ Webster Hall in October '08 (more by Tim Griffin)

Drummer, electronics aficionado and Andrew Bird collaborator Dosh has a new record coming out on Anticon. Tommy, his fifth, is due April 13th. You can get its lead track, above.

Dosh has promised a full US tour for its release - at the moment only a few of those dates are announced (and listed below). Two are in NYC: Union Hall on Thursday, April 22nd and Mercury Lounge on Friday, April 23rd. Pulsing female-front pop band White Hinterland opens both. Tickets are on sale for Union Hall. Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon. General sale starts Friday (2/19) at noon.

Dosh will also be at SXSW. Details on that, all tour dates and album info are below...

Continue reading "Dosh announces new album (MP3) & 2010 tour dates "

Tickets are on AmEx Internet presale (@ noon) for the Phoenix show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is playing Mercury Lounge on May 3rd. Tickets are on sale (@ noon).

Dosh is playing Mercury Lounge on June 7th with Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band. Tickets are on sale (@ noon).

Tickets are on AmEx presale for the Juan Maclean / Field show at Webster Hall.

Tickets are on sale for the Titus Andronicus show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. You can catch Ted Leo at 92YTribeca tonight (4/23).

Tickets are on AmEx presale for the Apostle of Hustle / Forro in the Dark show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on AmEx presale for the Harlem Shakes show at Bowery Ballroom. The Harlem Shakes also play a show at Starr Space tonight (4/23).

DOWNLOAD: Fol Chen - Cable TV (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Rafter - no fucking around (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: DM Stith - Pity Dance (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Parenthetical Girls - A Song For Ellie Greenwich (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Chief - Your Direction (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shout Out Out Out Out - Bad Choices (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hymns - Your Movement (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dosh - If You Want To, You Have To (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Themselves - Dark Sky Demo (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lissy Trullie - Self-Taught Learner (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - Fossil (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: A-Trak - Say Whoa (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Crocodile - August Is Over (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Valient Thorr - I Hope The Ghosts Of The Dead Haunt Yr Soul Forever

A selection of free music by artists playing official showcases on Wednesday March 18, 2009 at SXSW.

AB @ Carnegie Hall - Jan 28, 2009 (pic by Slopey Seconds)

Andrew Bird and Dosh played Carnegie Hall in NYC last night (1/28). Anonymous | January 29, 2009 1:07 PM said the show was "AMAZING".

Unlike two nights earlier at Music Hall of Williamsburg, the show was fancy, seated, we didn't get pictures, and Andrew did play a second encore.

Andrew's tour continues Friday night in Boston with Loney Dear. One day later they have a day off and Loney Dear heads to NYC without Andrew to play shows at Sound Fix and Union Hall.

The whole Carnegie Hall setlist below...

Continue reading "Andrew Bird played Carnegie Hall w/ Dosh (setlist)"

words & photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Andrew Bird played Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn last night (1/26). The sold out venue was full, but not packed. The audience was super respectful, even for opener Christina Courtin who I didn't love (I was hoping for Dosh who is opening at Carnegie Hall).

Bird (with the help of a band that included Dosh) played almost all songs off his new album Noble Beast (currently still streaming at NPR), and maybe three or four older ones. The album hadn't even been out a week, and it seemed people had trouble getting into the show until about halfway through when Bird played "Fake Pallindromes" followed by "Nonanimal" (my favorite track off the new record). At one point he asked if he was playing too many new ones, and for the rest of the concert people kept shouting requests. I don't think he played anything off "Armchair Apocrypha" and he didn't even play "Why?".

The show was early. He went on at 9:15 and played until around 10:45 which included one encore. The crowd was cheering really, really loud for a second encore, but he didn't come back. I heard he's been a bit sick the past few days, so that may have been the reason.

Andrew recently played a show in DC on Inauguration-eve and has many more shows coming up including one Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall.

More MHOW pictures below...

Continue reading "Andrew Bird @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, NYC - pics"

Andrew Bird @ Hiro Ballroom (more by Fresh Bread)

Andrew Bird and his friend, collaborator, band-mate and tour-mate, Dosh, are returning to NYC to play Carnegie Hall on January 28th.

Tickets will be sold through CarnegieHall.org or charge by phone 8 AM - 8 PM - 212.247.7800 No fee tickets are available at the venue box office - Mon-Sat 11AM - 6PM & Sun 12PM - 6PM
on sale 11/20 11:00 am
All Ages, Doors 7:30PM / Show 8PM
$32, $37

Continue reading "Andrew Bird - 2008/09 Tour Dates (Carnegie Hall) (w/ Dosh)"

Photos by Tim Griffin

"Last night the German band The Notwist played a beautiful show at Webster Hall. Their changes in music genres (they used to play quite energetic cross-over guitar music back in the 90s, which I distinctly remember listening to back then at my dreadlocked friends' basement apartment in Hamburg's Königsbergerstrasse - while now they are more closely associated with moodier electronic compositions), their unique mixing of instrumentation and style and their sense of innovation was captured perfectly in a moment when programmer Martin Gretschmann was "playing" his sequencers with wii remotes while singer/guitarist Markus Archer was spinning an actual vinyl record with his guitar hanging around his neck. All the while the rest of the full band, including a drummer with a standard drumset, played on." [Good Hard Working People]

Continue reading "Dosh, the Notwist w/ wii controllers @ Webster Hall - pics"

Dosh @ Mercury Lounge in May (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

"One of the things that drives me crazy about the internet, and digitized music in general, is the proliferation of MP3s. I think they sound horrible. I would rather hear AM radio in mono than listen to MP3s. I would hate to bear that in mind when mixing a record, like, "How is this going to sound as an MP3?" But I suppose maybe I'll have to from here on out. And figuring out how to get paid is tough. Certainly, kids burning CDs and illegally downloading my music has been good for me, as far as me reaching more people, and it's not like I'm making that much more than nothing from iTunes. But there does seem to be an underlying feeling these days of, "Where is this whole thing going?" It seems like the only real way to make any money is to tour and sell LPs and CDs at shows, but I'm fine with it. Performing this music in front of other humans is the greatest job I could have ever imagined." [Dosh to Wired]

Continue reading "Dosh is on tour with the Notwist, they play NYC tonight "

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Dosh

Gothamist: I assume you're going to be with Andrew Bird at All Points West?

Dosh: Absolutely. Yes. That's going to be awesome.

Gothamist: Where are you guys at with his new album?

Dosh: Let's see. I want to say maybe 80% there. I think there are nine or ten tunes done. Jeremy just went to Chicago to do some bass on a bunch of the stuff. I'm not sure what the total count of tunes is that are going to be on there. Jeremy and Andrew went to Nashville and recorded I think seven songs there with guitars, violins and vocals. They sent me the files and I recorded a bunch of strange percussion stuff in my basement and then went to Chicago with Jeremy and did some live stuff there. And when Andrew was in Minneapolis for the World of Dosh show we recorded some looping in my basement.

Continue reading "Dosh and Anathallo @ Mercury Lounge, NYC - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Dosh - full set @ Hi-Dive (2/9/07) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dosh - Henderson Four (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dosh - If You Want To, You Have To (new MP3)

Wolves and Wishes, Martin Dosh's fourth official LP, arrives after its architect spent nearly a year on the road--touring solo and as a member of Andrew Bird's band--and yet, he sounds reborn. If 2006's The Lost Take reimagined the drums, Rhodes and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink virtuoso as a full band, his latest restocks the lineup with a fresh cast of collaborators, then stretches out as Dosh masterminds the material (composing, improvising, arranging) with all the explorative wonderment of a debut ablum. Never has our man sounded so free. And to think, there's not a single drum machine in the mix. Wolves And Wishes will is available on CD today, May 13. The vinyl version of the record will be in store June 10. [PR]

Dosh is on tour with Anathallo. They'll play Mercury Lounge this Friday and Union Hall in Brooklyn the next day. There are advanced tickets for both shows. All tour dates and a video below....

Continue reading "Dosh - new album, MP3s, 2008 Tour Dates w/ Anathallo"