photos by Kellyann Petry

Idle Warship at Culture Shock 4/28/12

The 20th annual Culture Shock festival went down at SUNY Puchase from April 27-28. Day 1 (4/27) kicked off with the Stooges-meets-Jesus Lizard punk of Pissed Jeans, followed by California rapper Casey Veggies, who played SOBs a few days earlier. Day 1 of main stage wrapped up with an entrancing live-band IDM set from Tycho followed by Islands, both of whom played unexpected, crowd-demanded encores. Afterwards, Big Freedia packed Purchase's student center (The Stood) for an ass-shakin' afterparty, complete with nonstop dancing both on and off stage, and one of the biggest/craziest shows The Stood has seen in years.

Day 2 began with Cleveland rockers Cloud Nothings, who played almost the entirety of their powerful January LP Attack on Memory. Up next were two completely opposite sides of the folk spectrum; the foot-stomping Felice Brothers and the melancholic, distortion-drenched EMA. Day 2 ended with a headlining set from Idle Warship, the project of Talib Kweli and Res in full rock band mode. Idle Warship drew the largest crowd of the entire fest, and delivered an unfaltering set of Idle Warship originals, Talib classics, and a few covers (including the Stooges' "Search and Destroy").

Big Freedia and Casey Veggies will both be at Bamboozle this weekend and you can also catch Freedia in NYC at Santos TONIGHT (5/17).

More pics from the fest (excluding Pissed Jeans and Casey Veggies) below...

Continue reading "SUNY Purchase Culture Shock 2012 pics (Idle Warship, EMA, Big Freedia, Tycho, Cloud Nothings, Islands, Felice Brothers)"

Cold Cave aren't the only big indie band playing a NYC museum tonight. As you can see from the above tweet, EMA has scneduled a last minute, free show at the Whitney Museum, happening at 7ish TONIGHT (4/27). EMA recently scheduled a lst minute trip to NY to play Culture Shock which begins today at SUNY Purchase. Check out the full schedule below...

Continue reading "EMA playing free show @ Whitney tonight (she's here to play Culture Shock which starts today)"

DOWNLOAD: Tycho - "Dive" (Memoryhouse Remix) (MP3)

Tycho at Lincoln Hall in Chicago in January (more by Zach Pollack)

Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) whose last two trips to NYC brought him to Music Hall of Williamsburg, will be touring again this spring/summer culminating in a larger NYC show at Webster Hall on July 14, one day after he plays Camp Bisco.. Tickets for the NYC show are on AmEx presale now and go on sale to the general public on Friday (4/20) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile, Tycho will be in the NYC-area later this month for SUNY Purchase Culture Shock, which is technically only open to students and their guests, and which recently announced that EMAreplaced Grimes who cancelled. The full lineup also includes Islands, Idle Warship,Big Feedia, The Felice Brothers, Cloud Nothings, Casey Veggies, Pissed Jeans, and Bio Ritmo.

Tycho's most recent single, "Dive," off the 2011 album of the same name, was recently remixed by Memoryhouse. Grab that remix above or stream it below. The Zombies-covering Memoryhouse will be in Brooklyn this Saturday (4/21) for a show at Public Assembly with Mattheah Baim and Ex Cops. Tickets are still avialable.

All Tycho dates and song stream below...

Continue reading "Tycho announces tour, headlining Webster Hall after Camp Bisco (dates); EMA replaces Grimes @ Culture Shock"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Arctic Monkeys / Jimmy Cliff / Madness

"Jimmy Cliff made his Coachella debut yesterday with a masterful main stage set that included such classics as "The Harder They Come" and "Many Rivers To Cross." But for Cliff, hearing the crowd sing along to one of the tunes from his newest LP, Sacred Fire, was the day's highlight.

"I left the stage, and they were still singing 'One More.' I love it," Cliff told Rolling Stone backstage. It's an impressive feat for the reggae icon, considering that the Coachella crowd consists mostly of twenty-somethings born more than a decade after his Seventies heyday. "One young girl came up to me tonight with about five albums she asked me to sign," observes Cliff. "She said, 'My parents were listening to this and they brought me up on this.' They grew up on the albums. That happens a lot. You see all ages, and I love that." [Rolling Stone]

Coachella Day Two is now underway and streaming (update: Kendrick Lamar and Danny Brown joined Childish Gambino on stage during his early Saturday set).

More pictures from the first day of the fest (with even more HERE), below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Day 1 pics (part 1) -- Madness, Jimmy Cliff, Arctic Monkeys, EMA, Gary Clark, David Hasselhof & more)"

by Andrew Sacher

EMA @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (pic by degi14)

"Okay, who wants this song dedicated to them?" asked Erika M. Anderson (aka EMA) at her MHOW show this past Friday (3/16) before going into the dark, intimate "Marked." When she got to the song's refrain ("I wish that every time he touched me left a mark"), you couldn't help but wonder if any audience members were secretly taking back their cheers of "ME!" from about a minute earlier. But that mood shift is exactly the kind of vibe that was in place throughout EMA's entire show. She would constantly switch back and forth between playful stage banter and dance moves to the no-bullshit rawness and sincerity of her songs and lyrics.

But before EMA took control of the venue, the crowd was greeted by an opening act, her tourmates, Vancouver's Nu Sensae. I'd never heard the Vancouver trio before Friday night, but was pretty impressed by their punky noise rock, all of which was delivered in 2-3 minute blasts. Vocalist Andrea Lukic rotated between breathy Kim Gordon-esque vocals and a piercing scream, while Daniel Pitout beat the hell out of his drums and guitarist Brody McKnight built a shoegazey wall of sound.

Up next were Brooklyn's Talk Normal, who I last saw when they opened for Sonic Youth at Prospect Park in 2010. It goes without saying that MHOW is a better venue for them and that they've only gotten better/have played tons of shows in the last two years, but regardless, I was far more impressed by them on Friday than I had ever been before. Like Nu Sensae and EMA, they're well versed in noise rock, but with a much heavier emphasis on no wave. Their stage setup was lit only by two red light bulbs, which made for a great gloomy setting to their spacious sound. And though no wave is the band's obvious reference point, it's tough to simply leave it at that, as their vocal interplay and dynamic shifts stretched beyond the confines of the genre.

After Talk Normal had exited the stage and it was set up for EMA, all of the band members except Erika stood before MHOW's crowd, lit only by dim, hanging lanterns that the band had brought with them. Electric violinist Leif Shackelford then began the eerie violin drone of "Stand and Encounter," the last song released by Erika's former band, Gowns, directly before their break up. Eventually Erika walked on stage to huge applause from the crowd, and taking solely to the mic, began delivering the song's stream-of-consciousness lyrics. This was followed by the EMA b-side, "Angelo," an upbeat cut for which she sounded more than a little like Karen O.

Erika picked her guitar up after the first two songs for the first Past Life Martyred Saints (which she played all of) track of the night, "Anteroom." Past Life Martyred Saints had always struck me as somewhat of a folk album, if not a noisy, perhaps more anti-folk version of one, but in the live setting I lost all notions of that and saw the band harnessing the spirit of crunchy '90s alt rock. When they played "Butterfly Knife," which barely has drums on the album version, I actually saw audience members headbanging to the revved up version of the song. And even more so than they were when the band played their cover of Danzig's "Soul on Fire" during the encore.

The highlight of the night came during the 7+ minute "Grey Ship," for which the venue's disco ball was turned on, making the song's slow first half feel like the song a '90s high school prom movie band plays after most people have left. At the song's halfway point, the band got increasingly heavier and more locked in, bringing in sludgy guitar, electric violin riffs, elaborate drumming, and eventually the band's synced up drum/guitar punches that were met with tons of applause from the crowd. EMA came close to reaching that same level of intensity during the last song of their pre-encore set, "California." She moved around on stage with as much of a don't-give-a-fuck attitude as she's got in the lyrics, punching out one of those lanterns with her mic and ending the song in the same frozen pose she makes on her album cover.

During the encore, Erika brought out Daniel from Nu Sensae to play seemingly impromptu cover songs. She said, "This is for YOU, not the blogs, don't tell anyone about this!" so in respects to that, I'll stop here. But maybe the songs they covered are listed as part of the setlist below...

More pictures, video and setlist from the show below...

Continue reading "EMA played Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Talk Normal & Nu Sensae (review, setlist & video)"

"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"

Radiohead @ Roseland Ballroom in 2011 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Coachella which is taking place over the course of two weekends this year (April 13-15 and 20-22) revealed their 2012 lineup. Last week, Azealia Banks was the first artist confirmed, and earlier today they confirmed The Weeknd (maybe he found a band?), and before that, Jimmy Cliff, Breakbot, and Housse De Racket. The reunited Pulp then announced itself. The full lineup also includes headliners The Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, not to mention, as predicted, the reunited At the Drive In and the reunited Mazzy Star (!), and Madness and Refused (!) and Jeff Mangum and many, many more that you can see below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 lineup announced (two weekends worth)"

I hate writing year-end lists, as might be obvious to many long-time BrooklynVegan readers. That said, I also like them. They help organize things, which is related to my problem though. I'm too unorganized and hectic to ever get around to making one! But this year a few of us (BrooklynVegan contributors) got together and decided to come up with a collective list of albums that we loved that we think most represented 2011 in BrooklynVegan land. Our indie rock-centric list purposely does not include metal (that's HERE) or hip hop (we should make a separate list). With that in mind, our top 26 albums of 2011, in alphabetical order, are listed (with some commentary and a list of honorable mentions too) below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan's Favorite Albums of 2011"

by Andrew Sacher

EMA at Webster Hall in October (more by Amanda Hatfield)

EMA (aka Erika M. Anderson) will be releasing a deluxe edition of her incredible debut, Past Life Martyred Saints, via iTunes on February 7. The album will contain videos for "California," "Milkman," "Marked," and her cover of NIrvana's "Endless, Nameless", which also appears on the album as a bonus track along with "To Leave With Love." You can watch all four of those videos at the bottom of this post.

EMA will go on a tour of the US and Canada in March, ending with a show in Brooklyn on March 16 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets go on sale Friday (12/16) at noon and go on AmEx presale Wednesday (12/14) at noon.

She released the "Marked" single this past November, which includes the b-side "Angelo." That track does not appear on the album but you can stream it below.

All dates, videos and stream below...

Continue reading "EMA releasing deluxe edition of album, announces tour dates"

Josh T Pearson @ BV-SXSW 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Check out Rough Trade's list of the Top 100 Albums of 2011 (yay Josh T Pearson!), below...

Continue reading "Rough Trade's Top 100 albums of 2011 "

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Cansei de Ser Sexy @ Webster Hall

CSS played a headlining show at Webster Hall on 10/22, joined by their tourmates MEN, and EMA (who played other shows while she was here), and Mykki Blanco. The tour concludes with a trio of dates in Texas this week (which means don't expect to see JD Samson in the crowd at Death By Audio tonight). Pictures from the CMJ show at Webster are in this post, and they continue below...

Continue reading "CSS, MEN & EMA @ Webster Hall (CMJ pics)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

EMA @ the Ace Hotel

If you weren't running around on weekdays seeing CMJ shows this year, maybe you were listening to the ones that were being broadcast live on KEXP at the Ace Hotel. Dominick went and saw at least three of them live. His pictures continue below...

Continue reading "Zola Jesus, Givers & EMA recorded KEXP CMJ sessions @ the Ace Hotel (pics)"

Zola Jesus at Pitchfork Fest (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Seattle's KEXP will present free daytime live radio broadcasts during CMJ from the lobby of NYC's Ace Hotel again this year.

On October 19, Zola Jesus, We Are Augustines, Portugal. The Man, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will perform during the day with "Matador, 4AD, and Rough Trade DJs" at night. On October 20, there will be performances by Widowspeak, Givers(who opens for Portugal. The Man at Webster Hall), Dum Dum Girls (who also plays Bowery Ballroom), and The Lonely Forest, and DJ sets by Acephale Records and RVNG INTL. On October 21, there will be performances by WATERS (who has other CMJ shows), EMA (who has two other CMJ shows), Atlas Sound, and one more TBA, and DJ sets by Group Tightener and Merge Records. You can just show up and watch, or else tune into KEXP to listen on those days.

Speaking of Zola Jesus, her great new LP, Conatus, came out today via Sacred Bones. Stream the entire thing at The Guardian. She has other CMJ shows at Knitting Factory and Le Poisson Rouge.

Full CMJ KEXP schedule below...

Continue reading "KEXP recording CMJ sets @ the Ace Hotel, new Zola Jesus out today (and still streaming)"

EMA at MFNW 2011 (more by Autumn Andel)

EMA will headline the High Road Touring CMJ showcase which is happening on October 20 at Bowery Ballroom. The showcase also includes Gross Magic, Marques Toliver (who opened for Liam Finn last night), Dry The River, Lydia, and Alabama Shakes. Tickets go on sale Wednesday (9/21) at noon.

In the spirit of the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind and EMA's cover of "Endless Nameless," she posted three Nirvana covers that her previous band, Gowns, played at a cover show in LA to her blog. You can check out their scratchy, rowdy takes on "Clean Up Before She Comes," "You Know You're Right," and "Aneurysm."

EMA also has a bunch of other dates on her international tour, which she kicked off earlier this month, including the previously announed CMJ show with CSS and MEN on October 22 at Webster Hall. Tickets for that show are still on sale.

The High Road Touring CMJ showcase will be Gross Magic's fourth (currently known) NYC show in October, after they make their US debut at Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 13 and 14 with Yuck and Porcelain Raft (tickets) and Cameo Gallery on October 15 with Mon Khmer and Lost Boy? (tickets).

Updated dates below...

Continue reading "EMA & Gross Magic add a CMJ show & stuff (updated dates)"

photos by Autumn Andel

EMA @ Holoscene

"It's been a busy and exciting year for California by way of South Dakota singer/songwriter Erika Anderson, aka EMA. After leaving her longtime band Gowns, EMA began her solo career in earnest, releasing Past Life Martyred Saints. A rather long tour followed, and now Anderson is back on the road again, enchanting stages across the country. Her Thursday night set at the Holocene left little to be desired for fans, as the intimate setting, beautiful acoustics, and respectful crowd made for a satisfying end to the night. Anderson's powerful vocals filled the entire space that night, especially on tracks like "Marked," as she sang "I wish every time he touched me left a mark." Part suicidal grunge, park minimal pop, EMA not only has the talent, but the emotion of a truly special singer/songwriter, and the Holocene's warm lighting and somber patrons made for an engaging performance late Thursday night." [OneThirtyBPM]

Continue reading "more MFNW Day 2 pics (Joy Formidable, Twin Sister, EMA)"

Wild Flag at Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

The first round of CMJ 2011 artists have been announced. The initial list includes Neon Indian (Webster Hall with Purity Ring), CSS (Webster Hall with EMA and MEN), Zola Jesus (KF and LPR), Wild Flag (Bowery Ballroom with Eleanor Friedberger and Hospitality), Metronomy (MHOW), Portugal. The Man (T5 with Givers and Alberta Cross), Viva Brother, Wombats, The Good Natured), Kvelertak, Handsome Furs, Memoryhouse, Pharoahe Monch, and more.

The Viva Brother show is on October 19 at Bowery Ballroom with 1,2,3 and Kitten. Tickets are on sale now (or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge). All dates below.

The Wombats show is on October 19 at Webster Hall with The Postelles and The Good Natured. Tickets are on sale now (or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge). All dates below.

Other bands scheduled to play that aren't part of CMJ's initial announce include Still Corners, Shonen Knife at Public Assembly, PS I Love You, and Revolver. Full list below...

Continue reading "CMJ 2011 initial lineup (Handsome Furs, Viva Brother, Wombats, Memoryhouse, Kvelertak, Pharoahe Monch, more)"

EMA at Mercury Lounge last week (more by Amanda Hatfield)

EMA just made a ton of noise on her tour that ended last week in Canada after NYC shows at Mercury and Glasslands. After a short break, she'll head back on the road for an international tour in September and October. Those new dates include opening slots on the recently announced Wild Beasts tour and the CSS tour with MEN. She'll open the CSS/MEN NYC date on October 22 at Webster Hall. Tickets are still on sale. (Note: that now means three bands on the bill with three letter all-caps names).

All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "EMA announces tour, opening for MEN & CSS (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

"EMA torching "Butterfly Knife" at Mercury Lounge a moment ago.
#YearsBestRecords" - Will Hermes

"Next level EMA fans will one day request bootlegs/transcriptions of her intersong monologues. Tonight's topics: Tool, Cancers at Glasslands" - Amrit

EMA @ Mercury Lounge

The set hit on every song from EMA's debut Past Life Martyred Saints (except for "Coda," which she replaced with another, equally beautiful a cappella), and it hit hard. The brutal "Marked," which she prefaced by begging the audience to "not take... the wrong way," showcased Anderson's ability to be both menacing and pleading; set ender and crowd favorite "California" also shone, with the audience knowing every word and Anderson running around the stage, thrusting herself into the mic stand. [VIllage Voice]

Helado Negro opened the Mercury show and Talk Normal and Ablehearts opened the Glasslands show. Pictures and setlist from the Mercury show, where her a capella number later in the set was a major highlight, and a video from Glasslands below...

Continue reading "EMA played Glasslands & Mercury Lounge (pics, setlist)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Andrew Sacher

Noisy folk singer EMA (Erika M. Anderson) will play two shows in NYC tonight 7/20. She'll play an early show at Mercury Lounge with Helado Negro and a late show at Glasslands with Talk Normal and Ablehearts. Tickets for the early show and the late show are still available.

EMA contributed a killer take on Nirvana's "Endless, Nameless" to Newermind. The track sounds more like EMA than Nirvana and is possibly the best cover on the album.

EMA also played the Empty Bottle in Chicago the day before she played Pitchfork Music Festival. Check out pictures from Pitchfork here and a set of pics from the Empty Bottle show, along with updated tour dates below...

Continue reading "EMA is here, covered Nirvana, played the Empty Bottle (pics)"

Meat Puppets

Meat Puppets recently finished up a tour in support of their most recent LP Lollipop which came out this past April. After a couple dates with Soundgarden at the end of the month, the Meat Puppets will take a short break before playing a few more dates this fall. Their last string of dates never came through NYC, but this one will on November 4 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets are on sale now. All tour dates are listed below.

Meat Puppet Curt Kirkwood recently spoke to JSOnline about their tour and Nirvana, who they played with at Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance, and whose seminal album Nevermind celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The Meat Puppets recorded a cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for Spin's new Nevermind tribute album, Newermind. The album also features contributions by EMA (who has shows coming up soon), The Vaselines, JEFF the Brotherhood, Amanda Palmer, Titus Andronicus, Surfer Blood and others. The album will be available for free download on Spin's website starting July 26. Tracklist below.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Nevermind, Universal is also releasing a deluxe edition of the album on September 19. The reissue includes a 4 CD/1 DVD boxset with rarities, B-sides, unreleased recordings, BBC radio appearances, and an unreleased concert on DVD.

Universal will also reissue 1991: The Year Punk Broke on DVD on September 6. The film documents a Sonic Youth tour with Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Ramones, Babes in Toyland, and Gumball. The reissue includes a bonus film titled (This Is Known As) The Blues Scale, which features live footage of Sonic Youth and Nirvana.

Meat Puppets dates and video of them with Nirvana at MTV Unplugged in 1993, below...

Continue reading "Meat Puppets announce dates, appear on SPIN Nirvana tribute, 'Nevermind' is turning 20"

EMA at P4K Fest (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Darkstar played their first US show at Pitchfork Festival this past weekend. As mentioned, they'll be sticking around for a bit and will play in NYC tonight (7/18) at Le Poisson Rouge. Phaseone opens the show and tickets are still available. We're also giving away two tickets at our facebook.

TIme Out Chicago caught Darkstar's set at P4K:

On "Gold," the trio's cover of Human League, a distant house thump permeates, rolling alongside hi-hats and anchored by slow piano. This is the energy the crowd needs. People start wading in closer, whistling and fully embracing the music.

Clicks continue to buzz in rapid succession, and the distorted and crunchy synth found in so much of Hyperdub's output sits prominently in the mix. The lead singer looks like Brendan Fraser in Airheads, but this shouldn't make you take Darkstar any less seriously. Their February signing to Warp is big news for these Brits, a trio we'll hear more of in the future.

P4k2011's first sounds were very yin and yang. As Gatekeeper's light, blissful tunes fluttered over the trees, EMA (Erika M. Anderson) squinted into the hazy afternoon sun and began grinding out some dark, menacing music. [Chicago Sun Times]

EMA has two shows on Wednesday (7/20). She'll play an early show at Mercury Lounge with Helado Negro (tickets) and a late show at Glasslands with Talk Normal and Abblehearts (tickets). All tour dates are listed below.

Alamaba rap duo G-Side also played Pitchfork and will play NYC on Saturday (7/23) at Tammany Hall.

Gang Gang Dance conclude their tour with a Rocks Off Concert Cruise Thursday (7/21). Nguzunguzu and Total Freedom aren't on the bill like they were for the much of the tour (Pitchfork after party included) but Nguzunguzu have their own shows this week. Here's some words about GGD's Pitchfork set:

A small man waving a stick of burning sage preceded Gang Gang Dance to the Green stage--a shaman of sorts, he stayed on stage for the entire hour, waving his sage stick or a towel and nodding along to the hyperbolic pastiche of dancehall, new age, tropicalia, electronica and Middle Eastern. It's world music gumbo, but highly danceable and about as "now" as you can get.

Lead Lizzie Bougatsos jumped off the stage to greet fans while the band continued banging out its dizzy-making tribal beats. It wasn't long before Bougatos was crowd surfing as fans reverentially passed her around the human sea. "I think when you carried me I became Jesus Christ," she said, returning to the mic. "I'm showered in your love, I'm dripping it. Drippy drippy all the way down!...If you can't act crazy on stage, there's no reason to live." Gang Gang Dance's new album Eye Contact is one of my favorites of the year so far, and live it sounds very different--much less haunted and weird, but damn good all the same. [Riverfront Times]

WU LYUF didn't play the fest, though Pitchfork probably wish they did. They share a bill with DJ Dapwell of Das Racist, who did play Pitchfork, on Saturday (7/23) at Knitting Factory. WU LYF also play the night before (7/22) at Mercury Lounge. Bass Drum of Death are on both bills.

Pitchfork Fest day one pics are HERE. Pics from the following two days are coming soon.

EMA dates and a video of Zola Jesus & EMA doing an unrehearsed cover of 'Crimson & Clover' at a pre-Pitchfork Fest show in Madison, Wisconsin, below...

Continue reading "Darkstar, Gatekeeper, EMA, Gang Gang Dance & others played Pitchfork, in NYC this week"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Neko Case

Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices

James Blake

The 2011 Pitchfork Festival continues through Sunday at Union Park in Chicago. Some of it is streaming online. A set of pictures from Friday continues below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest 2011 ---- Day One in pics (part 1) "

Here is the initial lineup for Willamette Week's MusicfestNW, scheduled for Sept. 7-11, 2011 in Portland, Oregon, and it's pretty great. The multi-venue fest includes big outdoor performances by Band of Horses (Sunday, Sept. 11), Explosions in the Sky (Saturday, Sept. 10), and Iron & Wine (Friday, Sept. 9), in addition to shows with everyone from Archers of Loaf to Big Freedia to Butthole Surfers to Neurosis. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 3rd. Check out the full list below...

Continue reading "MusicfestNW 2011 -- dates & initial lineup"

photos by Tim Griffin

EMA in Brighton - May 14, 2011

"The much-anticipated arrival of EMA also turns out to be something of a revelation. Playing in the courtyard of Skint Records to an audience of mostly industry bodies. Coming on like a devilishly possessed hybrid of Karen O and Courtney Love, the venomous diatribe 'California' and equally dogmatic 'Butterfly Knife' offer a menacing antidote to the weekend's niceties. More importantly though, with debut long album 'Past Life Martyred Saints' almost certain to figure in most end of year best of lists, her live show justifiably confirms what most observers were hoping; a star is born." [ContactMusic]

As previously mentioned, EMA will hit the road with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. in June. All those shows are on the west coast. EMA will show the east some love before the summer is over though. After the Pitchfork Festival on July 15th, EMA will tour through Philly and play TWO shows in NYC on July 20th. The early NYC show is at Mercury Lounge (on sale Friday at noon), and the late show is at Glasslands (on sale now).

More dates TBA, but all currently-known dates, and more Great Escape pictures, are below...

Continue reading "EMA played the Great Escape (pics), announces July shows (including 2 in 1 day in NYC)"

DOWNLOAD: EMA - Milkman (MP3)

EMA

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. kicked off a tour in Allston, MA last night (5/10), and are now in NYC for that previously-mentioned May 11th show at Mercury Lounge (sold out), and for a show on May 12th at The Rock Shop (tickets available). Both shows are with Generationals, as are most of Dale's May dates (but not at the one they're playing for kids on Sunday).

In June, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. hook up with EMA for a run of West Coast dates. Who is EMA? Well, to quote the 8.5 Best New Music she just got on Pitchfork,

"Erika M. Anderson has talked about finding "true bliss and terror" in the live performances of her former band, Gowns. The pressure-cooker atmosphere she and her partner in that group (and in life) Ezra Buchla immersed themselves in had to crack at some point, and it did, fatally and finally, at the beginning of 2010. Anderson's way of propping open an escape hatch from the bruised purging of Gowns was to retreat into herself, by gathering her collective musical ideas and putting them out under her own initials. But it's immediately apparent on hearing Past Life Martyred Saints, her debut full-length as EMA, that she's still all tangled up in "bliss and terror.""

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s full-length album It's A Corporate World is due June 7 via Quite Scientific Records. All of their, Generational's and EMA's tour dates, below...

Continue reading "EMA released 'Past Life Martyred Saints,' touring w/ Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr (who are on tour, in NY now w/ Generationals)"