words by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Give - "Boots of Faith" (MP3)

Airfix Kits

San Francisco bands Airfix Kits and Young Offenders are swinging through NYC to play a pair of shows this weekend, hitting Union Pool tonight (11/4, not at Bruar Falls anymore, due to its recent closing) for a show with Freshkills & Only The Messengers and another show at Acheron on Saturday (11/5) with Rival Mob, Give and Hoax. The shows are the band's only East Coast appearances. Between both dates you'll be able to see bands that are both of the hardcore persuation (Acheron) and something that leans more punk/post-punk (Union Pool). More show details are below.

Both Hoax and Give are preparing releases with Painkiller Records, though details on both are still to be announced. In the meantime, check out some live video and song streams below, including a recent video for Freshkills' "The Wolves That Raised You" and some unreleased tracks...

Continue reading "Airfix Kits & Young Offenders in NYC, playing shows with Freshkills & Rival Mob this weekend"

by BBG

Bloody Panda at Knitting Factory in May (more by Greg Cristman)

A reminder: Bloody Panda and French doom band Monarch! will kill Cake Shop dead tonight (11/12) with an assist from the fantabulous Tinsel Teeth. They'll do it again Saturday at Union Pool, but with Evoken instead of Tinsel Teeth. Both shows are brought to you by BrooklynVegan and Haunting The Chapel. Look for the great Rob Shaffer (of Dark Castle fame) behind the kit for Monarch!

If you can't make it to see Evoken, the band is playing Sunday (11/14) at Bowery Electric with Batillus, Man's Gin, and Moth Eater and Maegashira. Tickets are on sale. Evoken will also team up with Goreaphobia, Mutant Supremacy, Hessian, and Pilgrim to play Brooklyn Fire Proof on Dec 4th.

If you aren't into glacially placed riffs and thundering drums, this weekend has other choices in store for you.

Tonight (11/12), Neon Blud will team up with The Men, Pollution, and The Marsh Hens at Death By Audio. Saturday, Neon Blud will be at Brooklyn Brew House with White Suns, Pygmy Shrews, and Remnants. Full Neon Blud tour sked is below.

Acheron will host The Brought Low, Pigs, and Freshkills on 11/13 (Saturday) as part of a celebration for Coextinction Records, a new label brought to you by some of the twisted minds behind Unsane. Coextinction Records already as a few interesting records up their sleeve, including a new EP from Unsane, and releases from Goes Cube, Shrinebuilder (!), Pigs, Julie Christmas, and Freshkills. Stream some of those new tracks now.

Did you miss Sweden's Mob 47 at Europa on Wednesday night? Catch them at an incredible show at 538 Johnson on Saturday night (11/13) with Punch, Loma Prieta, Vaccine, Death First, and Passive Aggressor. As previously mentioned, Punch, Loma Prieta, Vaccine, and Death First will all play ABC No Rio that afternoon.

More of my picks for the shows of the week, as well as some video is below...

Continue reading "Evillive (upcoming heavy shows & tours) (Neon Blud & more)"

Catch Australia's Mick Turner & Jim White (2/3 of The Dirty Three) as the Tren Brothers this Saturday afternoon (today, 5/8) at Sound Fix Records. The free Brooklyn in-store kicks off at 2pm.

Catch Mick Turner & Jim White as the reunited Venom P Stinger on Wednesday May 12th at Shea Stadium in Brooklyn...

:: VENOM P STINGER -- legendary Melbourne punk band, Mick Turner & Jim White of the Dirty Three
:::: Fresh Kills
:: dj Brian Turner from WFMU
| SHEA STADIUM |
20 Meadow St btwn Waterbury St & Bogart St | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Grand, G-Metropolitan | 8pm | all ages | $8
| MYSPACE |- http://myspace.com/sheastadiumbk
| VENOM P STINGER |
"VENOM P STINGER were born out of the mid eighties post Birthday Party Melbourne music scene, the original members had come from bands Sick Things, Fungus Brains, People with chairs up their noses, Moodists, Beach Nuts, Orchestra skin and bone to name a few. They played from 1985 until the early nineties. Members included Jim White (drums), Mick Turner (guitar) both later of Dirty Three, and Dugald McKenzie (vocals, sadly departed) and Alan Secher-Jensen (bass). the music a kind of intense slight jazz inflicted punk, brought back to life here with Tim Evans (Bird Blobs) on vocal and Shahzad Ismaily on bass." - All Tomorrow's Parties

Catch Vemon P Stinger on Saturday, May 15th at the Pavement-curated ATP Festival (happening in England - the reason they got back together). Check out some videos below...

Continue reading "Mick Turner & Jim White (as The Tren Brothers & then Venom P Stinger) playing shows TODAY & later (dates) "

by BBG

Blank Dogs at South Street Seaport (more by Chris LaPutt)

Pendu presents: NY EYE & EAR FEST III
...a massive Annual Music and Arts Fete showcasing some of the most exciting bands, artists, and filmmakers currently living and working here in NYC. In addition, NYE&E assembles a Record Fair featuring NYC-based Record Labels and Vendors selling LPs, CDs, 7?'s, cassettes, lathes, comics, zines, stickers, and art prints. NYE&E exists to facilitate the introduction of new artists placing them side-by-side with the more well-known like an eclectic living mixtape of sound and vision. This is a festival for discovery - discover new bands + discover new art + buy new records + meet new people...

The title of the fest is inspired from the 1964 NY Eye & Ear Control soundtrack by Albert Ayler as well as the all-too-familiar signs seen daily in the subway tunnels by riders of the L-train of the infamous NY Eye & Ear Infirmary.

2009's NY Eye & Ear Fest happened in July of last year and featured performances from Magik Markers, Liturgy, Drunkdriver, Child Abuse, and tons of others. This year, the fest will spread over two days (May 22-23) at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and will feature appearances from Blank Dogs (one of two NYC shows in May, the second being May 12th at 131 Chrystie St.), Liturgy, Twin Stumps, Effi Briest, and others on the first day, with Xeno & Oaklander, Figure Study, Naam, Freshkills, Effing, and others rounding out day two. Full lineup by day is below. Get your tickets for day one or day two or both. Stream songs from every band on the bill at the Eye & Ear site.

Show flyer, full lineup and some vids are below.

Continue reading "NY EYE & EAR FEST III is coming to Brooklyn (lineup, tickets)"

What was once an inconceivable notion - that Mission of Burma, one of Boston's most influential if short-lived punk bands, would someday return to the stage for a celebrated second act - has, amazingly, become a regular, if not exactly routine, occurrence.

Since reuniting in 2002 (with Bob Weston replacing sound effects/tape loop guru Martin Swope), Burma has been back longer than its original '79-'83 slash-and-burn across the sky lasted. The band has released three albums during this span - two more than the old Burma managed before flaming out after guitarist Roger Miller developed tinnitus due to the outfit's fearsomely loud shows. [Boston.com]

Mission of Burma released a new album in October which wasn't long before I last saw the band play live. They played Fun Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin on November 8th. Never-before posted pics from that great show are in this post.

My next chance to see Mission of Burma is at Bowery Ballroom tonight/Friday (with Freshkills), and then again at the same venue on Saturday (with The Dig). Both NYC shows are still on sale.

The two NYC shows were preceeded by two in Boston, one of which is reviewed at the Boston Globe link above. Their next scheduled shows are scattered through February, April and May. Those dates along with the video for their new song "1, 2, 3, Partyy", a video interview they gave to Dirty Laundry, and more pictures from FFF Fest, below...

Continue reading "Mission of Burma are here - 2010 tour dates & FFF Fest pics"

DOWNLOAD: Future of the Left - Arming Eritrea (MP3)

Future of the Left in Halloween costumes

Freshkills and Dinowalrus open for Future of the Left at Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight (10/30). Tickets are still available to the show, and I have one pair to giveaway. Details on how to win them with all FotL tour dates, and a video they recorded for Fuel, below...

Continue reading "Future of the Left - updated tour dates (Brooklyn tonight)"

As the Jewish faithful begin the Rosh Hashanah holy days or Jewish New Year Friday at sunset, they will be saying special prayers and lighting special candles.

Beginning Saturday or Sunday, depending on the congregation, the sounding of the shofar - a trumpet made from a ram's horn - will begin. The ritual is symbolic of what the High Holy Days are about: a call for introspection, forgiveness and changing one's course in life, said Rabbi Charles A. Klein of the Merrick Jewish Centre.

It "asks us to wake up, to take a serious look at our lives," he said, "and not just to sleep away our lives." [Newsday]

Usher in the Jewish year 5770 this weekend with Trail of Dead and the Secret Machines. The two bands are on tour together and will play post-sundown shows tonight (9/18) at Webster Hall with Midnight Masses, and Saturday (9/19) at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Freshkills and Sleigh Bells. Neither is sold out at the moment.

Saturday night there is an afterparty at Beauty Bar in Brooklyn.

Actual Roch Hashanah event listed in This Week In Indie.

by Andrew Frisicano

NY EYE & EAR FEST II - JULY 9 - 12, 2009!
4 DAYS - 3 VENUES - 2 BOROUGHS
Knitting Factory & 92Y Tribeca in Manhattan & Death By Audio in Brooklyn
Pendu presents: NY Eye & Ear Fest II ... a massive 4-day New Music and Arts Fete showcasing some of the most exciting bands, artists, and filmmakers currently living and working here in NYC. In addition, NYE&E assembles a Record Fair featuring NYC-based Record Labels and Vendors selling LPs, CDs, 7''s, cassettes, lathes, comics, zines, stickers, and art prints.

The fest is a part II to the December event of the same name. The Fest's four days of music kick off at the Knitting Factory on July 9th. The bands there include Grooms, Liturgy and Love Like Deloreans (to name a few) with headliners Nymph and Neg-Fi. The fest returns to the Knit on Friday, July 10th, for a show with Magik Markers, Child Abuse and more. In addition to the venue's two floors of music, its already-creepy basement will be turned into a "Video Art Installation and a 7-hour Continuous Drone Room."

The Fest then switches to the 92YTribeca on Saturday for a concert and a free record fair. Also at 92Y will be a program called "Women of NYCinema," with films and music from Sarah Lipstate (aka Noveller), Liz Wendelbo, Rachel Blackwell and Dirty Churches. The vendors range from big names like Matador Records to the recently featured Journal of Popular Noise to notable jazz label ESP-Disk.

The fest's final, fourth day moves to Brooklyn for a closing party at Death by Audio. That lineup includes Murdertronics, Team Robespierre, Talibam!, Total Abuse and Drunkdriver.

Tickets for Thursday, Friday, and a variety of Saturday packages are available.

Separate from the festival, on Thursday, July 9th the 92YTribeca will screen filmmaker Brendan Toller's I Need That Record, a documentary about the problems facing record stores around the country. It will be the NYC premiere of the movie that was getting some attention already all the back on Record Store Day 2008. The movie includes interviews with Thurston Moore, Ian Mackaye, Mike Watt, Chris Frantz and more. Toller will be on hand for the showing. Tickets are on sale.

More details on the film (with video trailer) and the Ear and Eye Festival, below...

Continue reading "NY Ear & Eye Fest II - shows & record fair this weekend @ KF, DBA & 92Y Tribeca (also screening 'I Need That Record')"

photos by Natasha Ryan

Yeah Yeahs Yeahs scheduled a secret show on short notice on Easter (4/12). People didn't know about it. People weren't sure if they'd be able to get in. And people were out of town or with relatives that night. That's probably why the line wasn't too nuts. It didn't even get crowded until halfway through opener Freshkills' set. Yeah Yeah Yeahs went on at 11...

"The show was easier to get into than anyone thought. As I noted several times above, there were tickets at the door. Called the santos line that morning, not the prerecorded message, but the direct line and they confirmed it. I got there around 5:30 and waited in line in the cold. If I got there at 7:00, it would have been fine. It was pretty secret for a secret show." [Ashok]

The 13-song setlist included "Zero" and "Maps" (the two songs they played on Saturday Night Live the night before), and "Human Fly" - a Cramps cover (probably in tribute to Lux Interior - RIP). Look for video of the show to surface later. Full setlist below.

Yeah Yeahs Yeahs' next proper show (that we know about) will happen at Coachella on April 19th (the Santos show was probably a warm-up for that). Before that, the band's media blitz continues will appearances on both The Late Show with David Letterman (April 14) and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (April 15). More pictures from Santos below...

Continue reading "Yeah Yeah Yeahs played Santos Party House (pics & setlist), playing Letterman & Fallon b4 Coachella"

Besides being a tongue twister, NY Eye and Ear is also...

a 2 day record fair and all-ages music festival celebrating NYC homegrown DIY recording labels and bands. This is NYC's only record fair devoted exclusively to NY record labels. The title is inspired from the 1964 Michael Snow film w/ soundtrack by Albert Ayler and from the all-too-familiar signs seen daily in the subway tunnels by riders of the L-train of the famous NY Eye & Ear Infirmary. The Fest will be held at Vanishing Point, a huge 4700 sq. foot industrial loft in Bushwick, Brooklyn (240 Meserole street, Brooklyn, NY 11206).

Friday, December 12 from 2pm -4am
Saturday, December 13 from 2pm -4am

Something like 36 bands are playing at this thing, plus "Dance-party from 1:30 - 4am" each night. Ticket info and all the record sellers, labels and bands are listed below...

Continue reading "NY Eye & Ear music festival and record fair (Dec 12-13)"

Photos by Tim Griffin

A set of photos from the Generation Records in-store on Tuesday....

Continue reading "Trail of Dead & Freshkills @ Generation Records, NYC - pics"

The new space at Webster Hall is hosting free shows all week long during CMJ 2008. More details below...

Continue reading "free CMJ shows @ The Studio, VICE & Stereogum included"