Parquet Courts on a bridge in Austin last month (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As mentioned, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, the festival curated by The National's Bryce and Aaron Dessner, will return to BAM from April 25 to 27. Since we last spoke, the lineup has been expanded to include Parquet Courts, Phosphorescent, Burgundy Stain Sessions w/ Doveman, Exitmusic, Graphic Score: Clara Claus w/ Bryce Dessner, People Get Ready, Derek Bermel, and Timo Andres. Those artists join the previously announced lineup of The Roots, Solange, TV on the Radio, David Longstreth, Julia Holter, Eleanor Friedberger, and more.

Check out the day-by-day lineup, which includes a film shorts program each day, a TBA visual art installation, and an afterparty/dance party on the Saturday, below. 3-Day passes and tickets for April 25, April 26, and April 27 are still available.

Bryce Dessner performing 'Planetarium' last month (more by Amanda Hatfield)

In related news, The National, who have been playing material live from their upcoming album, Trouble Will Find Me, have just officially revealed album single, "Demons." Check out the video for that track below.

The National's tour includes their huge Brooklyn show at Barclays Center on June 5 with Youth Lagoon. Tickets for that show are still available.

Video and Crossing Brooklyn Ferry lineup below...

Continue reading "updated Crossing Brooklyn Ferry 2013 lineup +++ The National's new single (listen/watch)"

Exitmusic @ Brooklyn Bowl, June 2012 (more by Jessica Amaya)

As you may know, School of Seven Bells' Benjamin Curtis is currently battling cancer. Alejandra of SVIIB posted an update to his condition on Facebook not too long ago:

He is responding really well to treatment, and rough as it has been, it's your messages and posts that have inspired us and keep us focused on the path ahead. Thank you so much to all of you who have been continuously sending love.

The band have set up SupportBenjaminCurtis.com for those who'd like to help Curtis' mounting medical bills. There's also a fundraiser concert happening at Glasslands on May 9 with live sets from CREEP, Exitmusic, and Rewards, plus Albert Hammond Jr, Blood Orange, and Certain Creatures on DJ duty between sets. Tickets are on sale now.

by Zach Pollack

Mister Lies @ Chicago's Lincoln Hall this past weekend (more by Zach Pollack)

Chicago producer Mister Lies (aka Nick Zanca), who opened for Jessie Ware at Chicago's Lincoln Hall this past weekend, is gearing up for the release of his debut album, Mowgli, which is due to hit stores on February 26 via Lefse Records. You've already heard "Dionysian" and "Align" from the LP, and now Zanca has let a third track loose. It's an earworm-y number called "Hounded" and features vocals from Exitmusic's Aleksa Palladino. All three singles are available to stream at the bottom of this post.

Mister Lies has also revealed some live dates in support of Mowgli. He'll use SXSW as a launch pad for a brief North American tour in March. That tour includes a performance at Glasslands on March 30 with support from Rimar and Heathered Pearls. Advance tickets for the Brooklyn show are on sale now.

All Mister Lies tour dates and streams of "Hounded," Align," and "Dionysian" are below...

Continue reading "Mister Lies releasing debut LP, going on tour (dates, stream)"

Japandroids at Pitchfork, July 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

NPR Music have announced their "50 favorite" albums of 2012, which includes names like Pallbearer, Andy Stott, Cat Power, Fiona Apple, Death Grips, and Swans. (No Grimes, though.) The list is also deep with hip hop, with shouts to Homeboy Sandman, Kendrick Lamar, Killer Mike and many others. Much like Q magazine did, NPR opted to list them alphabetically instead of one better than the next. Check out the full list below.

Japandroids also made the list, and the band played the first of two shows at Webster Hall last night (12/4). The band continues their stay at the venue tonight and tickets are still available.

Continue reading "NPR Music's Top 50 LPs of 2012"

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

Continue reading "CMJ 2012 initial lineup announced"

Moogfest 2011 (more by Diana Wong)

Moogfest, which is becoming one of the most intriguing US music festivals, is returning to Asheville, NC this year on October 26 and 27. Like in past years, the festival includes some legends like Thomas Dolby and GZA performing Liquid Swords (like he is in NYC and other cities), some of our favorite newcomers like Julia Holter, Trust, and Disclosure, electronic heavy hitters like Orbital, Four Tet, Squarepusher, Richie Hawtin, Mouse on Mars, and Prefuse 73 with Teebs, in addition to a diverse list of other artists like Killer Mike, El-P, The Magnetic Fields, Explosions in the Sky, Primus, Santigold, Divine Fits, Actress, Pantha Du Prince, Bear in Heaven, and more. Tickets for this year's fest go on sale Friday (8/10) at noon. The initial lineup is listed below.

Orbital, who released their new album, Wonky, this year, which featured a track with Zola Jesus, have a few other North American dates this year (still none in NYC though).

For Divine Fits, the new band featuring Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs), and Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks), who recently made their live debut in Austin, Moogfest is one of the few shows they've got scheduled this year, including the Chicago show they played last night (8/5) and an upcoming NYC show.

Moogfest 2012 lineup is listed below.

Continue reading "Moogfest 2012 lineup (GZA, Magnetic Fields, Explosions in the Sky, Primus, Santigold, Julia Holter, Disclosure, Orbital, Four Tet, Divine Fits, Killer Mike & more)"

Polica at Sasquatch 2012 (more by Chris Graham)

Polica, who are about to play Lollapalooza (see our post on that on Lollapalooza.com), have signed to Mom + Pop, which makes them labelmates with Andrew Bird, Neon Indian, Sleigh Bells, and more. The label will reissue Polica's great debut LP, Give You The Ghost (which initially came out this past February on Totally Gross National Product), on August 14. That reissue will come with a EP of remixes of album tracks by Gardens & Villa, Exitmusic, and others. The remix EP tracklist is below.

Gardens & Villa will also be supporting Polica on their upcoming tour which hits NYC on October 6 at Webster Hall. Tickets for that show are still available. Polica also play Osheaga this weekend before Lollapalooza.

Speaking of Exitmusic, they have an upcoming NYC area show at Maxwell's on September 8. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

A list of all Polica dates, remix EP tracklist, and a stream of their album below...

Continue reading "Polica sign to Mom + Pop, reissuing LP w/ remix EP; Gardens & Villa opening their tour (dates); Exitmusic playing Maxwell's"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Corporal - Obama (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Corporal - Glory (MP3)

We recently noted that two castmembers of Superbad play in two different bands, that we know of (Mister Heavenly, The Young Rapscallions).

The HBO series Boardwalk Empire has them beat with three castmembers* in bands and of (mostly) notably, in my opinion, higher quality. Michael Pitt fronts Pagoda and Aleksa Palladino (who play's Pitt's wife on the show) is in Exitmusic, who you might have just seen at Brooklyn Bowl during the Northside Festival and who have other shows coming up including one at Mercury Lounge.

The third is Michael Shannon who leads indie rock trio Corporal. The band formed in Louisville, KY in 2002 but now call Brooklyn home and released Glory last year. (Download an MP3 from the album above.) The band just released a new MP3, "Obama," that serves as a band endorsement of our current president's bid for a second term which you can download above. You can go see Corporal next week when the band play a NYC show at Fontana's on June 25 with Less the Band and the Parlour Suite.

UPDATE: So it turns out openers Less the Band contains the non-Shannon 2/3rds of Corporal as well as Paul Sparks who plays the annoying punchable Mickey Doyle on Boardwalk Empire. That makes four! Is that some sort of record? (Thanks commenters, btw).

Shannon, who has a lock on intense, creepy loner dude roles these days, is a funny guy too (he had a memorable cameo during Season 1 of Delocated) and a pretty good songwriter, especially if you dig '90s style indie rock. He recently submitted his iPod to the AV Club's "Random Rules" feature and the interview is chock-a-block with quotes. Here's a few:

Isaac Brock...I hear he's kind of hard to go on tour with. But rock's not for squares, I guess.

-Will Oldham really keeps to himself. He's not a joiner.

-[Mark E. Smith]... talk about a role model. That guy just drinks beer and eats hamburgers and smokes and barely tries. And he still is cooler than pretty much anyone ever. I think he's even cooler than Lou Reed was.

-My girlfriend loves the Mountain Goats. I don't know. I like the guy; it's not like I don't like him. He has a very interesting voice, that's for sure. But I like his lyrics. I don't know if I'd want to go to a Mountain Goats concert, though. I think I would probably drink too much beer and get tired.

-There's a lot of the new bands that I don't really get. I don't know what it is; maybe I'm getting older or something, but there are bands that people are just falling all over themselves about... I don't know. If someone was like, "If you could spend the rest of your life on an island with one band, which band would it be?" For me, it would be Deerhoof.

The third season of Boardwalk Empire will air this fall on HBO (you can win a visit to the set at Anthology Film Archives). Shannon may have less time for music soon -- he'll play General Zod in the Christopher Nolan-produced/writen (yay!), Zak Snyder directed (boo!) Superman flick Man of Steel which hits cineplexes next summer.

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Stagnant Pools - "Dead Sailor" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Stagnant Pools - "Consistency" (MP3)

Bloomington, IN duo Stagnant Pools (aka brothers Bryan and Doug Enas) are set to release Temporary Room, their first album for Polyvinyl on August 7. Here's what I wrote about the album on bvChicago:

[It's] super muddy and soaked in reverb and distortion, but somewhere in this band's late '80s/early '90s record collection of noisy post-punk and shoegaze, must lie a scratched up, overplayed copy of Is This It that can't help but leave its mark on these songs.

You can stream the entire album below and also grab MP3s of two of its tracks above.

The band have a run of dates coming up this month and next including two in NYC. They'll open for Exitmusic at Mercury Lounge on June 28 and for Akron/Family at Brooklyn Bowl on June 29. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show are still available and the Brooklyn Bowl show is free with RSVP.

All list of all dates and that album stream below...

Continue reading "Stagnant Pools releasing LP (stream it), going on tour (dates)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

Asobi Seksu at Brooklyn Bowl - 6/16/12

Asobi Seksu, Ape School, Exitmusic, and Field Mouse played Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday (6/16) as part of Northside Festival. Check out more pictures from that show below.

Continue reading "Asobi Seksu, Ape School, Exitmusic & Field Mouse played Brooklyn Bowl (pics)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

School of Seven Bells just released the video for "White Wind" which was filmed by the For No One folks who like to put bands in empty rooms have them play live to just the cameras. Watch the video at the bottom of this post.

In front of a lot more people, SVIIB played Le Poisson Rouge on May 5 with openers Exitmusic. Pictures of Exitmusic's set are HERE. Pictures of SVIIB are in this post.

The band will head to Beijing for this weekend's China Music Valley International Music Festival on May 19 and will be in Mexico City next weekend (May 25), but will be back in the U.S. will be back in the U.S. for two shows with The Temper Trap, including a NYC show on June 5 at Terminal 5 (sold out). All upcoming tour dates are listed with more pictures from their LPR show below....

Continue reading "School of Seven Bells released new video, played LPR (pics), opening for Temper Trap"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Exitmusic @ Le Poisson Rouge

Secretly Canadian will release Exitmusic's new album Passage on May 22. Listen to the whole thing below.

Exitmusic, who just played Le Poisson Rouge as part of their tour with School of Seven Bells (which also hit Austin), are playing NYC again as part of the Northside Festival at Brooklyn Bowl on June 16 with Exitmusic, Ape School, and Field Mouse (tickets), and then again at Mercury Lounge on June 28 (tickets)

All dates (including NXNE), the album stream, and more pictures from the LPR show, below...

Continue reading "Exitmusic streaming new album, announced more shows, played LPR (pics & dates)"

Frankie Rose @ Township (more by Sarah Frankie Linder)

In addition to the Jens Lekman/Of Montreal show at Williamsburg Park, the Northside Festival (June 14 - 17) just announced a slew of confirmed artists who'll be playing this year, including Future of the Left, the U.S. debut of Iceage-spinoff Vår (formerly War), Frankie Rose (playing the BrooklynVegan showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg with more TBA), Grass Widow, Cleveland's Gap Dream, Wymond Miles of the Fresh & Onlys,  Chain & the Gang, Kool Keith and more.

Other 2012 Northside Festival artists we've already posted about include Olivia Tremor Control, GZA, Neil Hamburger, Eternal Summers, Ceremony and Screaming Females and Royal Headache. Badges are on sale now and the full list of confirmed 2012 Northside artists is below.

Continue reading "more Northside Festival artists announced (Frankie Rose, Grass Widow, Felice Brothers, Buke & Gass, Vår, Gap Dream & more)"

Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

Off! @ NXNE 2011 (more by Natasha Ryan)

The most memorable thing that happened the year I visited Toronto for NXNE was Iggy Pop & The Stooges playing their big, outdoor, free, no-ticket-or-badge-required show downtown at Yonge-Dundas Square. Last year the Descendents did it. This year they've landed the Flaming Lips which should be an amazing spectacle. And:

NXNE Music has confirmed that Bad Religion, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah and Matthew Good will headline free shows at Yonge-Dundas Square (YDS) throughout the seven-day festival. The NXNE Music line-up also includes performances at YDS and in the clubs by Of Montreal, No Use For A Name, Purity Ring, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Death Grips, The Men, Bleached, Good Riddance, METZ, Ceremony, Plants & Animals, The Death Set, The Sadies & Andre Williams, Oberhofer, Reigning Sound, Action Bronson, 2:54, Yamantaka/ /Sonic Titan, The Hundred in The Hands, Rival Schools, Killer Mike, Young Magic, Hayes Carll, Friends, Hollerado, Bran Van 3000, The Black Belles, Doldrums, Odonis Odonis, Mac DeMarco, Bass Drum of Death, Porcelain Raft, Exitmusic, Violens, Grass Widow, Eight and a Half, DZ Deathrays, Jonathan Toubin, Art vs. Science, B L A C K I E, The Nils and Ivan Julian (ex-Richard Hell & The Voidoids).

Jonathan Toubin!!

This year's fest takes place at multiple venues across Toronto from June 11-17, 2012. Tickets are on sale.

Last year BrooklynVegan co-hosted a boat party with M For Montreal and Bruise Cruise.

most photos by Amanda Hatfield, some shots by Zach Timm

Polica @ Hotel Vegan

In addition to hosting almost 100 bands on three stages for four days straight, BrooklynVegan's Hotel Vegan, located at Austin venues Hotel Vegas & Volstead Lounge, was a place where you could sip some complimentary HobNob Wines from noon-7pm each day. On Friday (3/16/2012), the third day of Hotel Vegan, we teamed with HobNob and The Original Moonshine for a big party that included the following, amazing FREE lineup:

Stage 1 (Hotel Vegas Outside)
12:00 Cold Showers
1:00 Polica
2:00 Youth Lagoon
3:00 Eight and a Half (members of Broken Social Scene & the Stills)
3:45 Django Django
4:30 Tennis
5:15 Light Asylum
6:00 The Black Angels

Stage 2 (Hotel Vegas Inside)
12:00 Lucius
12:45 The Big Sleep
1:30 The Twilight Sad
2:15 Eleanor Friedberger (of the Fiery Furnaces)
3:00 Widowspeak
3:45 TRUST
4:30 The Evaporators (Nardwuar's band)
5:15 DIVE

Stage 3 (Volstead)
12:15 Jennifer Castle
1:00 Daughter
1:45 Exitmusic
2:30 Doldrums
3:15 Zeus
4:00 Au Palais
5:00 Craft Spells

It was a very good day. Bill wrote about some of the bands who played on Friday including Nardwuar's band The Evaporators who definitely put on one of the day & week's most memorable performance for those who caught it. As Bill wrote, "At one point, one group of people were holding him up while another group were holding his organ (hello!) while he played it... and then he soon climbed on top of it. There were costume changes, group singalongs, question and answer sessions and a lot of really fun garage punk. One of my Top 5 sets of SXSW 2012."

The Evaporators getting started @ Hotel Vegan

If you got your picture taken in our Smilebooth, make sure to look for yourself in the photos posted to our Facebook.

Special thanks to our official backline providers Vox, Blackstar and Korg, and thank you to NadaMoo for supplying free vegan treats, and to Honest Tea for the tea.

The Black Angels closed the day off right with a set of their 60s-influenced, psych rock n roll to an oferflowing house on the outdoor stage that saw a full crowd throughout the day thanks to names like Polica, Youth Lagoon and Tennis.

So many bands, so little time, so experience it with the pictures that continue below (and stay tuned for more on BV Austin)...

Continue reading "#HotelVegan Day 3 pics (BV, HobNob Wines & Moonshine presents) - Black Angels, Tennis, Youth Lagoon & MANY more"

As you know, BrooklynVegan is taking over ALL THREE STAGES at connecting Austin venues Hotel Vegas & Volstead for FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT this week, and it's all 100% FREE (no RSVP or badges either). There's a big outdoor stage, and smaller stages inside Hotel Vegas & Volstead. Collectively we're calling the four day long party "Hotel Vegan" (located at 1500 E. 6th St, Austin, TX).

Friday's party is presented with HobNob Wines, our official wine partner of all four days of Hotel Vegan, and The Original Moonshine, our official spirit partner on Friday and Saturday.

We announced Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday in full.
Here is Friday at Hotel Vegan (March 16, 2012):

Stage 1 (Hotel Vegas Outside)
12:00 Cold Showers
1:00 Polica
2:00 Youth Lagoon
3:00 Eight and a Half (members of Broken Social Scene & the Stills)
3:45 Django Django
4:30 Tennis
5:15 Light Asylum
6:00 The Black Angels

Stage 2 (Hotel Vegas Inside)
12:00 Lucius
12:45 The Big Sleep
1:30 The Twilight Sad
2:15 Eleanor Friedberger (of the Fiery Furnaces)
3:00 Widowspeak
3:45 TRUST
4:30 The Evaporators (Nardwuar's band)
5:15 DIVE

Stage 3 (Volstead)
12:15 Jennifer Castle
1:00 Daughter
1:45 Exitmusic
2:30 Doldrums
3:15 Zeus
4:00 Au Palais
5:00 Craft Spells

In addition to the completely FREE lineup of 23 bands, we will also have complimentary drinks courtesy of HobNob Wines and The Original Moonshine.

We will also have free vegan treats courtesy of NadaMoo! and free Honest Tea. Arlo's great Vegan Food truck, located right next door, will be at all four days of Hotel Vegan selling food.

Special thanks to all of our partners and sponsors for making this party possible - including Vox, Blackstar and Korg, our official backline partners.

--
The Black Angels (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

HobNob Wines offers free music content at its HobNob Inner Circle on Facebook. Join HobNob's Inner Circle to access exclusive downloads, editorial and info on upcoming events. Previously featured artists include Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Saint Bernadette, The Antlers, Company of Thieves, Xylos, as well as The Black Angels and Polica who are both playing this party.

-----

Friday is just one of four full days at Hotel Vegan. Wednesday lineup HERE. Thursday lineup HERE. Saturday lineup HERE.

We also have THREE official BrooklynVegan showcases - Tuesday (which Alex Maas of the Black Angels is playing a song at), Wednesday, and Friday - and a Saturday metal day party at Lovejoys, AND a bridge show.

photos & video by Jessica Amaya

School of Seven Bells @ Merc - 2/28/2012

Behind lavender eyeliner, cropped raven-black bangs and a cache of silver necklaces, bracelets and earrings dangling off her petite person, Alejandra Deheza invoked an indie pop Cleopatra while she lilted through the breathless chorus of Alpinisms opener "Iamundernodisguise." Undisguised by studio multi-tracking, Deheza doesn't boast the ethereal presence she does on tape, but proved she is a talented vocalist nonetheless. After an instrumental introduction, Deheza's pipes were put on blast for the entire 90-minute set, which leaned heavy on new Ghostory tracks, interspersed with occasional older favorites. [CMJ]

School of Seven Bells played a record release show at Mercury Lounge on Tuesday (2/28) for their new album, Ghostory, which came out the same day. Pictures from the show and a video of them playing the album's lead single, "The Night," are in this post. Exitmusic opened the show.

The band have another show TONIGHT (3/1) at the same venue with Rewards. That show is sold out too, but they'll also head out on a tour with Exitmusic later this year which brings them back to NYC on May 5 at LPR. Tickets for that show are still available.

More pics, video and setlist below...

Continue reading "School of Seven Bells played Mercury Lounge w/ future tour partners Exitmusic (pics, video, setlist)"