The MTK: Music To Know Festival planned for Saturday - Sunday, August 13 - 14, in East Hampton, New York, is cancelled. A statement is as follows:

"It is with heavy, heavy heart that we regret to inform you that the inaugural MTK: Music To Know Festival in East Hampton will not take place. Despite our unique vision and arranging a world-class line-up, ticket sales were not adequate to allow the event to continue. We wanted to let everyone know now before engaging more deeply.

Along with our ticket holders, vendors, sponsors, business associates, colleagues and friends in the community, we too are filled with deep disappointment. We pledge to endure during this difficult time with the same integrity and professionalism displayed throughout the creation of this event.

Ticket holders should check www.musictoknow.com next week for more information.

Strangely Escape to NY, the other new Hamptons music festival, is going on as planned as we speak. Patti Smith and Best Coast played it last night.

The MTK Fest's lineup included Vampire Weekend, Chromeo, Dawes, Bright Eyes, M Ward, Ra Ra Riot, Fitz and the Tantrums, Matt and Kim and more.

Truck America, another NY Festival, was cancelled last week (though no official announcement has been made about that yet).

As mentioned, Music to Know Fest makes its debut in East Hampton, NY over the weekend of August 13-14, and features artists such as Vampire Weekend, Bright Eyes, Matt & Kim, Ra Ra Riot, Dawes, and others. Set times have been announced for the festival, which you can check out below.

MTK, not to be confused with Escape to NY, have also teamed up with MTA Long Island Railroad (LIRR) to add an official westbound train for concertgoers:

The train, departing from the LIRR East Hampton station at 10:56 PM, is aptly timed to ensure concert goers will have sufficient time to enjoy the day's line-up and festivities and will be making all the local stops on Long Island into Brooklyn and Manhattan.

For more fun, you can download the official MTK 2011 App for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad at the iTunes app store. The fest also features fashion tents. According to a press release:

The fashion pop-up tents will be set up in a "retail village" and the merchants are anything but your average festival brands. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were first to purchase pop-ups from MTK: Music To Know - planning to debut their much-anticipated website StyleMint and their successful contemporary line Elizabeth & James to the crowd of almost 10,000 people gathered at the event in the Hamptons during the height of the season.

Hmmm... Tickets for the festival are still available. Set times and a list of the clothing brands that will be on display at the fest below...

Continue reading "East Hampton MTK Fest announces set times, a special LIRR train,... Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen..."

alternate headline: Vampire Weekend headlining Hamptons Music Fest, go figure

Vampire Weekend @ Coachella 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

MTK: Music To Know Festival announces its inaugural line up headlined by Vampire Weekend on Saturday, August 13th and Bright Eyes on Sunday, August 14th. Other confirmed bands include Matt & Kim, Cold War Kids, Chromeo, Tame Impala, Ra Ra Riot, Fitz & The Tantrums, Tom Tom Club, Dawes, M Ward, We Are Scientists, The Limousines, Naked and Famous, Francis and the Lights, Suddyn, Nicos Gun and Young Empires -- 18 of today's most critically-acclaimed and successful new, emerging and well-known bands. The music begins at noon each day, ending at 10PM.

According to Co-Founder Chris Jones "The Hamptons are a unique market to say the least -- full of decision makers, trend setters, and taste generators who have always been eager to embrace the best and the brightest in our culture -- whether that is in literature, film, fashion or music. We are excited to bring this collection of artists together in our community, and hope this is the first of many annual events."

Cheesy marketing and opinions of the ritzy location and potential crowd aside, I have to say that MTK did a pretty kick-ass job of curating a relevant indie rock lineup for an East Hampton crowd (filled with bands that do a good job of moving tickets, relatively speaking). Tickets are on sale now. Two-day passes start at $195 each+fees+parking if you need it. VIP tix will cost you much more.

Without knowing how willing people are to travel to the Hamptons, how many people are already in the Hamptons, and how many tickets they need to sell (possibly only "9,500 people over both days"), it's hard to guess how successful the fest will be (from a business/longevity point of view) (Bing is a sponsor so that probably helps), but it definitely beat expectations so far (relatively speaking). More details below...

Continue reading "Music To Know Fest announces lineup (Vampire Weekend, Bright Eyes, Matt & Kim, CWK, Chromeo, M Ward, more)"

photos by Benjamin Lozovsky

MNDR & Mark Ronson

As previously mentioned, Mark Ronson will kick off two days of NYC shows starting tonight, Monday at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The second night happens on Tuesday, 10/12, at the larger Webster Hall. Both shows, and the two California ones that were since added (dates below) are in support of Ronson's new album Record Collection which is out now.

And: "While in New York, Mark Ronson, along with Q-tip and MNDR, will perform the hit track 'Bang Bang Bang' on The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday, October 11th." MNDR is also confirmed as being a member of Ronson's band (The Business Intl) at all shows. Whether Q-Tip will show up at MHOW or Webster Hall is still a mystery.

Tickets to the Music Hall show are gone, but tickets are still available to the one at Webster Hall. Both shows will be opened by Francis & The Lights. Tickets are also still available for a third NYC appearance, also taking place Tuesday but in the afternoon, at WNYC's Greene Space. It will probably be a short show, but as a bonus, Nellie McKay is playing it too.

For a longer Nellie McKay show, catch her when she returns to Highline Ballroom on December 11th. Tickets are on sale now.

Mark Ronson and MNDR appeared at the Creators Project event that took place at Milk Studios in June. An unposted set of pictures from that event (where Ronson was only DJing), along with all dates, continue below...

Continue reading "Mark Ronson playing Letterman w/ Q-Tip, LA & Greene Space w/ Nellie McKay (who added a show too) -- dates & new pics "

Nada Surf at The Bell House (photos by Kurt Christensen)

Nada Surf will headline the Paradigm CMJ Showcase at Mercury Lounge in NYC on October 22nd. This is a really small venue for the band, and limited tickets are on sale now. Badge-holders will get a chance to get in too. Other bands on the bill are Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Francis & the Lights, Reptar, JBM, Blair, and Ume.

You might remember Austin band Ume from CMJ last year. They played the BV day party at Fontana's. At the time BBG wrote...

"Ume started the day with their poppy and suprisingly heavy take on 90s post-punk that is both powerful and charming. Outside of her devilish coo, Lauren is an enigmatic guitarist; all flailing hair, swinging arms, and wild movements. If this band didn't have such catchy songs, you'd probably be content just watching."

At the moment the Mercury Lounge show is Ume's only CMJ show, but they have a day off on their nearly month-long fall tour. All dates are listed below.

JBM recently completed a tour with AA Bondy. AA Bondy plays a NYC show TONIGHT (10/6) with Diamond Doves and Dawn Landes who both played with JBM when he played Mercury Lounge in July. JBM, who played a BV CMJ party in 2009, currently has no other upcoming shows listed outside of the Paradigm Showcase.

All the other bands on the Mercury Lounge bill not only have upcoming shows, but other CMJ shows listed too. All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Nada Surf CMJ show on sale, Ume touring, JBM & more dates "

photos by Ryan Muir

At what can only be described as one of the worst live shows I've ever seen, Das Racist took the stage of Public Assembly Sunday night (8/30) (around 11:30pm) (four hours after the Grizzly Bear show had ended right down the street) and proceeded to play 3 or 4 or was it 5 songs with an extended Wesleyan-related lineup (Ryan says they called the whole band "Spanish Broads").

The jokey trio, Das Racist, already permanently feature a member of Boy Crisis on drums. They also have a college in common with many bands that now call Brooklyn home. Santigold, MGMT, Amazing Baby, Bear Hands, Francis & the Lights, Extra Life, Mobius Band, Boy Crisis and Chairlift are all from, or have members who went to Wesleyan University in CT. Apache Beat might not be directly related to Wesleyan (I can't say for sure), but like Suckers, I'll just throw them into that MGMT-friends, Wesleyan-related group.

Despot somehow fits into all this too. We know he is tight with Islands who Das Racist recently opened for. And he's friends with Amazing Baby too. MGMT are also one of his top friends. And by the way he was getting all close with Das Racist on stage at Public Assembly, I guess they are good friends too.

Imagine 20 kids being introduced to instruments for the first time. They're brought into a classroom, at a 'touch museum' or in pre-school, and they're all handed various noise-making devices. One gets a triangle, another a tambourine. Some get to beat drums, while others rub a stick back and forth on a grooved piece of wood. They all start making noise at the same time. Now just replace the triangles and grooved wood things with drum machines and microphones. Throw in very loud, amplified volume, and you've sort of got Sunday night's show.

Despot did not rap at all. The Taco Bell song, or a version of it, was one of the 'songs' played. The person in the ET mask is a dude from Chairlift. Cerebral Ballzy opened the free show, but I missed them because I was next door at Music Hall of Williamsburg trying to figure out who Edward Sharpe was (more on that later). More pictures from the Public Assembly show below...

Continue reading "Das Racist w/ members of Boy Crisis, Chairlift & Apache Beat & Despot @ Public Assembly in Brooklyn - pics "

The Village Voice is excited to announce the addition of A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS, THEE OH SEES, TINY MASTERS OF TODAY, JUSTINE D. and DeadHeat DJs to the line-up for the 9th Annual Village Voice SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL™ at Coney Island on Saturday, July 18, 2009 from 12:00 noon - 9:00 p.m.

These artists join scheduled performers BUILT TO SPILL, SPANK ROCK, THE RAVEONETTES, FRIGHTENED RABBIT, GRAND DUCHY, MONOTONIX, FUTURE OF THE LEFT, JAPANDROIDS, MICACHU & THE SHAPES and BEAR HANDS at the free, all day, all ages music festival on two outdoor stages in historic Coney Island.

The 2nd Annual Official SIREN AFTER PARTY returns to Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, July 18 at 9:00pm. FRANCIS AND THE LIGHTS and GORDON VOIDWELL are scheduled to perform with more to be announced.

Tickets for the after party are now on AmEx pre-sale, and go on regular sale Friday. The festival itself is free. You just take the train to Coney Island and follow the crowd.

Thee Oh Sees are also playing the Woodsist Fest on July 4th.

APTBS play Santos Party House with the Secret Machines this Friday night (6/19).

The following Siren bands also have shows scheduled at Maxwell's: Future of the Left, Built to Spill, Grand Duchy, and Frightened Rabbit.

Francis & the Lights @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple (more by Natasha Ryan)

Hopefully you had fun getting down on Friday. I am in a weird rut and did not go out! A lot of things I am really excited about are happening tonight/Saturday (4/11), but I won't be here. Have a good dance for me and let me know what I missed in the comments. Here's what's going on Saturday night along with some events happening next week:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2)"

words and photos by Natasha Ryan

crowd surfing on Friday the 13th

Although the press release urged showgoers to wear their best PJs (editor's note: I definitely missed that), there didn't appear to be any striped pants sets or long johns in the crowd at the the Les Savy Fav pajama party themed show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on Friday (the 13th) night. The cavernous temple looked far removed from the suggested festivity - that is until Tim Harrington appeared amid the audience, donning a cotton nightie with Goldilocks wig snugly tucked under a pink shower cap. He cried "Girl's night!" as he made his way through the crowd, slapping green facial masks on those in desperate need of an exfoliation. The stage was covered with down pillows for fights, and Tim gossiped with the audience, played some Bloody Mary (do you say it 3 times or 100 times?), and did a little party levitation when he later crowd surfed in a Jason Voorhees mask as he chanted "light as a feather, stiff as a board." The party went late, ending around 1:00 am, or just a little before Tim crawled around on the feather-littered floor tangled in his endless microphone cord during "Je T'Aime."

Frenchkiss's newest signing Sean Bones, and the one and only Francis (and the Lights) opened the show. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Les Savy Fav, Francis and The Lights & Sean Bones @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple - pics"

Lucero @ Terminal 5 Friday night (more by Mike Lerner)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Lucero @ Mercury Lounge
* Elysian Fields @ Joe's Pub
* The Black Keys & Doug Gillard Wellmont Theater
* Blank Dogs, Woods, WAVVES & Nodzzz @ Underground Lounge

Underground Lounge is located 955 West End Ave @ 107th St in Morningside Heights. The WAVVES show starts at 2PM.

Kanye West has been blogging about a lot of 'indie' music (and comedy) lately. There was the recent Aziz Ansari post, and the exclusive new Peter Bjorn and John track he posted. Kanye's other recent likes include TV on the Radio's David Bowie cover, Bon Iver covering Feist, Friendly Fires, Francis and the Lights, Passion Pit, Animal Collective AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, LAND OF TALK.

Kanye will be performing at the Grammys today. So will Radiohead. Nominees include MIA, Adele, No Age, Hot Chip, Daft Punk, My Morning Jacket and Death Cab For Cutie.

Antony was just on NPR.

Little Boots played Studio B last night. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday (besides the Grammys)?"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: WAVVES - So Bored (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - We Talk Like Machines (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Francis and the Lights - Lime (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)

NODZZZ

This week is especially filthy with good shows so let's not waste any time. The biggest deal, at least for me, is the WAVVES / NODZZZ who are playing in town three times this weekend. Both are from California, spell their names in all-caps with repeated consonants and make lo-fi punky pop. San Diego's WAVVES seem to be getting most of the attention, with two records out in less than a year - last year's Wavves on Woodsist and the forthcoming Wavvves (note the extra V) on Fat Possum (it was originally on De Stijl). On record, WAVVES is basically one dude, Nathan Williams, but live they are a duo, and from the clips I've seen on YouTube, they are slightly less imposing live than on their distortion-on-everything recordings.

I'm more excited about NODZZZ, who are a trio from San Francisco and just released a great vinyl-only 12" on What's Your Rupture. (You can also get it on Emusic.) It's bratty and nasally and sounds a lot like the Dead Milkmen, but NODZZZ aren't as overtly jokey. They play Friday (2/6) at Market Hotel, Saturday (2/7) at Less Artists More Condos, and a Sunday (2/8) afternoon show at the Underground Lounge. All shows are with Woods and Blank Dogs.

Musée Mécanique

Good show tonight (2/4) at Cake Shop. Portland's Musée Mécanique make baroque pop, heavy with mellotron, glockenspiel, and accordion. Their album from last year, Hold This Ghost, is quite lovely. It might be too precious for some, but I hear they are really good live (especially for you glockenspiel lovers) and would like to check them out. Also playing are locals Soft Black (not to be confused with The Soft Pack) who are starting to get some attention. I haven't seen them live but their new album, The Earth is Black (and Other Apocalyptic Lullabies for Children), has some good songs on it. And as this site mentioned previously, Dave Deporis opens.

Savoir Adore

One of my favorite new local bands, Savoir Adore, are playing Thursday at Bowery Ballroom, opening for Francis and the Lights. Fronted by Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer, Savoir Adore make the kind pristine guitar pop you used to hear a lot with '80s bands like The Go-Betweens and Let's Active but isn't so much in fashion these days. They aren't too far away from what Stars do, either, though less grandiose if you know what I mean. Ther EP Savoir Adore have out on Cantora Records is good, but is a concept record fairy tale thing that is good but not a very good introduction to the band. (Their proper debut will be out on Cantora this summer.) I've seen them a couple times and they are very, very good live. If you don't check them out at Bowery, keep their name in mind. Definitely one of my Bands to Watch in '09.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released their great debut album this week and are kicking off a month-long tour with The Deprecation Guild with a show this Saturday (2/7) at Mercury Lounge that also features their Slumberland label-mates cAUSE co-MOTION. It's sold out, but TPOPBAH play The Bell House on March 13 with awesome UK band Let's Wrestle (who are also playing a Todd P show but more on that later) and Knight School. Tickets are still on sale for that one.

The Mommyheads

Also Saturday (afternoon) at Union Hall is a (2pm) show that seems transported in a time machine from Brownies in 1997, with Babe the Blue Ox, Ida, and The Mommyheads. The night is actually the second-annual memorial tribute to Mommyheads drummer (and later for Beekeeper) Jan Kotik who lost a three-year battle with cancer in 2007. The Mommyheads, who I was unaware were back together, put out a new record last year, You're Not a Dream. As for Babe the Blue Ox, I never really got into them but they had a fervent following in the '90s. The original line-up got back together last year and are working on a new record so I'm told. And Ida have been making truly lovely folk-pop since the early-'90s, having grown from a duo to a four-piece over the years and are now on Polyvinyl, who released last year's underheard Lover's Prayers. Also on the bill: The Ditty Committee and Mighty High. It's a free afternoon show!

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And finally in this overstuffed post, Cake Shop is having their first ever Yo Doo, a monthy swap meet type mart that is best explained in this press release:

YO DOO is a brand spanking new art + comix + small press + record fair that happens on the first Saturday of every month at New York City's Cake Shop. From noon till seven you can see + hear + buy + trade with the cream of D.I.Y. crop on both floors of the store, followed by a special live musical performance. We are looking for small publishers, record labels, printmakers, zinemakers, comix manufacturers, artists and crafters who want to want to sell their wares and have a good time. At YO DOO, Cake Shop is your shop.

Among the vendors will be Cake Shop's in-house label Cape Shok and this week Yo Doo also features performances from Love Panther and Baltimore's Sick Weapons. A full rundown of vendors at the Yo Doo blog. It's free admission. Buy stuff, it's what the goverment wants you to do!

Tour dates, flyers and videos below...

Continue reading "NODZZZ, WAVVES, Musée Mécanique, Mommyheads, Savoir Adore, TPOPBAH, YO DOO swap & more in This Week in Indie"