by BBG

Crosses is a new crew that features Shaun Lopez of FAR and Chino Moreno of Deftones, and the trio (Chuck Doom rounds it out) have released a new EP for download. Get it for the price of your email address. Though the pedigree of this might indicate something on the heavy side, Crosses definitely resembles Chino's Team Sleep or with moments of (gulp) witch house present. No word on what is next for the trio, but one thing is for sure, Ritualz, AKA †‡†, is not pleased. He tweeted "only thing i can think of right now is that if you have a blog post about that fat fuck stealing my shit to let people know please" and "woke up to attacks by deftones fans. basically they're mad because i came up with the crosses first and they hate everything not deftones?" No word on a response from Chino

Meanwhile, Dave Witte has gathered up an impressive crew of musicians for his latest project Argonauts. Witte will join The Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Dimitri Minkanakis, East of the Wall bassist Brett Bamburger, and fellow Burnt By The Sun member John Adubato. Though the band has yet to post a new song (they will in the near future according to a recent Facebook post), they are scheduled to play the Gwar-B-Q in Richmond, VA on September 17th. There they'll join Gwar (duh), Darkest Hour, Kepone, Mensrea, DBX, Groundscore, Battlemaster, White Cross, The Occultist and Bloody Crackdown as part of the day-long affair.

words by BBG, photos by Chloe Rice

Far's Jonah Matranga attempts to serenade the crowds on Houston St.

Jonah Matranga is back on the east coast in August with two solo shows scheduled in the NYC-area: a late show at Mercury Lounge on August 10th (tickets) and Maxwell's on August 8th (tickets). The shows will act as a primer for Jonah's new LP You're All Those Things and You're None, which will be "released in a new way" on August 11th. More on that soon. All dates below...

Meanwhile, Far's new album At Night We Live is out NOW via Vagrant Records. The band is currently hosting a contest for a fan-made video for the song "Deafening", choose your favorite.

Far made a triumphant return in late Oct 2009 at two NYC shows, one opening for Thursday at Bowery Ballroom and a second and more intimate show headlining Mercury Lounge with Campbell Apartment and Last Days of Empire on 10/25. Check out pics from Mercury and all current Jonah dates below...

Continue reading "VERY belated pics of Far @ Mercury Lounge w/ new Jonah Matranga tour dates & album news"

by BBG, RS photos by Brian Reilly

Rival Schools at F'd Up's showcase @ Red 7 on 3/20/10

"Heading back indoors, New York City's Rival Schools were already blasting out their blend of power pop by way of post-punk to an excited crowd. After releasing their one and only album and taking a near decade long hiatus, the band are back and ready to drop their new release through Photo Finish / Atlantic records this summer. The audience ate up the fun loving sound, as Walter Schreifels (Quicksand) and company were clearly having a great time. The band was the final act of the SXSW experience, and was thrilled to be there with the full house of fans that had stuck around. The band may have done a bit of drinking in anticipation for this last breath of rock, as Schreifels was playing with an unusual looseness, bordering on the line of sloppiness, but carefully never crossing over. Spirits were high as he shouted thanks between each songs, louder than the actual song preceding it. They played a selection of new songs with interesting explanations to their origins, as well as fan favorites "High Acetate," "Undercovers On," and "Good Things," to which Schreifels announced, "Hey everyone, we all have health care!"" [Exploding in Sound]

Meanwhile, Ian Love's old collaborator in Jonah Matranga recently dropped a new song with hs old band Far. Get it through the band directly for free. Far's new LP, At Night We Live hits the racks via Vagrant on May 18th.

Walter Schriefels's new LP An Open Letter to The Scene will see release via Academy Fight Song (in the US) and Dine Alone Records (in Canada) on May 4th.

Current tour dates and the cover of Far's new LP, At Night We Live, are below...

Continue reading "Rival Schools signed to Photo Finish (Atlantic), played SXSW (pics), playing Union Pool (tix) ++ a new Far song (and LP)"

DOWNLOAD: Memory Tapes - Bicycle (MP3)

The intial lineup for Noise Pop 2010, which takes over San Francisco February 23rd to March 1st, has been updated. Newly announced acts include Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Cornelius, Yuka Honda, Sean Lennon), The Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative performance, !!!, Harlem, Deerhoof, Memory Tapes, The Fresh and Onlys, Scout Niblett, Far (Reunion Show), The Mumlers, P.E.E (Reunion Show), Mirah, Laura Gibson, Nico Vega, Japanese Motors, Princeton, Free Energy, The Growlers, Nurses, Magic Wands, The Lonely Forest, The Hot Toddies, Tempo No Tempo, Judgement Day. The full current lineup is posted below.

Tickets and passes for most of those are on sale now. Tickets for Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Deerhoof) on February 23rd and the Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative shows go on sale on Sunday, January 10th.

Memory Tapes, chillwave Jerseyan Dayve Hawk, is one of the acts scheduled for the fest. He's going to be in the UK for a short run of shows this January, and he's confirmed that US dates and a European tour are forthcoming. The song "Bicycle" off his debut, Seek Magic, is above. The album is being re-issued on Feb 8th, "with an exclusive 48 minute 4 track CD2 through Urban Outfitters and digitally exclusively via iTunes".

UPDATE: Memory Tapes is opening for Atlas Sound at The Bell House on February 3rd. Tickets are still on sale.

More info on Noise Pop 2010 below...

Continue reading "Noise Pop expands 2010 lineup - updates include !!!, Far, Yoko Ono & Memory Tapes who is touring soon "

by BBG

The Hope Conspiracy (photo by Meghan McInnis)

We are proud to present, in conjunction with 1000 Knives and Chronic Youth, The Hope Conspiracy, Blacklisted, United Nations, and Mother of Mercy at Cake Shop on Jan 15th! The date is one of a select few for HopeCon, and the only east coast date scheduled so far. No advanced tickets. Stay tuned for giveaways to what may be the first must-see hardcore show of the new year.

The Hope Conspiracy released the True Nihilist 7" earlier this year on Deathwish. Their last LP was 2006's Death Knows Your Name.

Blacklisted played Santos Party House on 10/24 along with Bane, Maximum Penalty, Cold World, and a host of others as part of the Deathwish - Chronic Youth Day Party at Santos Party House. Blacklisted shares members with the incredible Mother of Mercy who recently played Cake Shop with Iron Age. We profiled Mother of Mercy here.

United Nations is a supergroup of sorts, featuring Thursday's Geoff Rickly playing what is described as "emo powerviolence". The Hopecon show isn't the only one that United Nations has lined up, as the band is also scheduled to play Starland Ballroom with Glassjaw, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Rickly's main squeeze, Thursday. Tickets go on sale at noon on 10/30. The show is part of a larger tour. All dates below

Thursday played Bowery Ballroom on Sunday with Midnight Masses and Far, who also headlined Mercury Lounge on Monday. At Bowery, Thursday performed Full Collapse in its entirety.

They never really seemed to miss a beat, save the quick breaks in among songs, and I think that could probably be attributed to the fact that a lot of these songs have been set staples for years, anyway. They were just stringing them all together here (Rickly's wide-radius mic swinging for the "rain rain down" part in "Paris in Flames" came right on time).

Despite no barrier, Bowery was awesomely lax about crossing the stage threshold; some crowd-surfed, others stage-dove. In the pit, you could witness everything from goofy push-mosh and hardcore two-stepping to that silly watered-down version thereof I remember being amused by at "post-hardcore" shows like these around 2001-2003. Both cases made for a pretty good indicator of the crowd's diverse makeup.

But all loved it, and when the band came back out on stage for a bonus six-song encore it was even better. The audience was notably less responsive for the trio of tracks off Common Existence songs, but the band probably expected this; almost a dozen gigantic black balloon-type spheres were launched onto the crowd as Thursday kicked into the mournful, new wave-y, morose textures of "Circuits of Fever." But when it ended, everyone ceased slapping the buoyant balls into the air and bugged out when the band kicked into their best complex anthem in "Jet Black New Year." And speaking of anthems, "War All the Time" could not have demonstrated that stripped-down quality of Thursday's songwriting better as a closer. [Punk News]

The Cake Shop flyer, a few Hope Con videos, a recent Dillinger Escape Plan Studio vlog chronicling the making of their new LP Option Paralysis, and tour dates are also below.

Continue reading "Hope Conspiracy playing NY w/ United Nations who's playing NJ w/ Dillinger & Thursday (dates) who played NYC w/ Far"

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Ted Leo show happening at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for Far the show happening at Mercury Lounge.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Islands / Jemina Pearl show happening at Bowery Ballroom.

The reunited Far will be playing a handful of shows this October. The first is October 10th at the Knitting Factory in LA with Thursday (the band). The one we previously mentioned is also with Thursday. It happens October 25th at Bowery Ballroom in NYC. That show is now sold out. The good news is that Far added a NYC show one day later at the much smaller Mercury Lounge (10/26). Tickets for that show go on sale Thursday (the day) at noon. All dates below...

Continue reading "Far add 2nd NYC show (Bowery sold out) -- 2009 Tour Dates"

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Kings of Convenience show taking place at Bowery Ballroom.

(Unlike last week) Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon) for the Thursday (performing "Full Collapse") / Far (reunion) show happening at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the White Denim show happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon) for the Thao show happening at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon) for the Little Joy show happening at Webster Hall.

by Black Bubblegum

Far

...When can we expect some more dates, and possibly an NYC date?

...As far as touring goes, sure, we wanna be everywhere, but one thing that we're pretty united on is that if this starts to be a drag, we don't want to do it. - [Jonah Matranga of Far in an interview from earlier this year

The NYC Far reunion show billing is not too surprising. Jonah and Thursday have a long history including the 2002 Onelinedrawing tour that included an October show at Irving Plaza. Jonah also contributed backup vocals to Thursday's 2003 album War All the Time. In 2008, Jonah performed Far's "Mother Mary" with Thursday at Hellfest. Video of that below.

Far has a record in the works for Vagrant. Full Thursday dates are below...

Continue reading "Thursday add a 2nd NYC show, but this one is WITH FAR "

by Black Bubblegum

Jonah Matranga & Ian Love at Gershwin Hotel (more by Tim Griffin)

Jonah Matranga of Far/onelinedrawing/New End Original fame has scheduled a solo show at Mercury Lounge on May 21st. Tickets are on sale.

Jonah might be playing that and a few more shows (listed below) solo, but - even more than before - Far is back...

Vagrant Records is proud to announce that Far has signed to the label. The recently reunited quartet is currently wrapping up their fifth full-length release in The Airport studio in Southern California with producer and guitarist Shaun Lopez at the helm and an early spring release date is expected.

"We had no idea all this would happen," says vocalist Jonah Matranga. "We were just planning on getting to know each other again and playing a few shows... all of a sudden, the songs are coming, and it feels really good."

In the tail end of last year (while he was here for that Gershwin Hotel show), we caught up with Jonah Matranga and asked him about Far, his solo venture(s), and what it means to be back in lock-step with the guys again. Check out that interview below.

Meanwhile, some of Jonah's bandmates in New End Original are getting their old band back together as well. Split Lip, which became Chamberlain in 1995, will reunite with all original members to play a handful of shows in their native midwest, and eventually, the east coast. Tour dates are below.

The dates coincide with the re-issue of Chamberlain's emo-influential Fate's Got A Driver LP on color vinyl with bonus tracks.

Chamberlain's Fate's Got a Driver delivers more emotion in its 30 minutes than most bands do over the course of a career. The record is thought provoking and musically adventurous, a rare feat for a band whose members were barely past twenty when it was recorded. With nods to the Everyman side of Sunny Day Real Estate and the insistent melodicism of Fugazi, Fate's Got a Driver consistently impresses. It's all the product of lead guitarist Adam Rubenstein's thick, Fugazi-style progressions and David Moore's highly poetic lyrics... An amazing achievement by such a relatively young band. -[allmusic]

Continue reading "an interview w/ Jonah Matranga of Far (who are back with more tour dates & a new album on Vagrant Records)"

Photos by Tim Griffin, Words by Black Bubblegum

Jonah Matranga (Onelinedrawing) played his second show in two days in BOTH event spaces at the eclectic Gershwin Hotel on Tuesday, November 11th. Joined by his old friend and past congtributor Ian Love (Rival Schools/Cardia), a drum machine, and an acoustic guitar, Jonah ran through solo material, covers, and songs from his-old-but-currently-reunited band Far. He also paused for a moment to reflect on the recent events with Deftones bassist Chi Cheng. Along the way Ian Love added some amazing effects-heavy guitar, reminiscient of recent Stars Of The Lid... adding tremendous depth and emotional (I did NOT say emo) power to his set. Partial setlist, beaucoup photos, and video of Jonah performing the Deftones' "Be Quiet And Drive", below...

Continue reading "Jonah Matranga @ the Gershwin Hotel - pics, video & setlist"

Far @ the Troubadour - Oct 16, 2008 (kata rokkar)

Far reunited for two California shows in mid-October. Proof is in the picture above, and in the setlist below. Five more reunion shows are scheduled for the end of November in Europe.

And though there doesn't seem to any plans for an east coast show (yet?), that doesn't mean Far frontman Jonah Matranga will be a stranger to NYC. Monday (today), November 10th, Jonah will play a solo show at Europa in Brooklyn (tix), and Tuesday he's playing a $10 show at the Gershwin Hotel in Manhattan (7 E. 27th St, 8PM). There are no advanced tickets for the latter, but you can reserve one for eleven cents. All dates below...

Continue reading "Far reunited & played 2 shows, Jonah Matranga is on tour"

"As much as I wanna play along, I can't contain myself...FAR IS BACK! Under the unique moniker, Hot Little Pony, Far has lined up two LA shows and a handful of UK shows to boot. Today the highly influential rock group released a video contest and a steamy new single that covers mid-90s R&B sensation, Ginuwine. Not only that but a they snagged a nice little indie snob article on Filter Magazine's website." [Kata Rokkar]

Continue reading "FAR (Hot Little Pony) is back! - tour dates & a new "single""