We just posted about Austra who's coming back to North America (including 9/19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg) after a tour of Europe. She's also one of many artists playing the 2012 Osheaga Festival in Montreal which happens August 3 - 5. Tickets are still available for the three-day event.

In addition to Austra, Osheaga plays host to The Black Keys, Snoop Dogg, Justice, Metric (who play Radio City Music Hall soon), Sigur Ros (who play Prospect Park and are streaming their new LP), Florence & The Machine (who plays Jones Beach this summer), The Weeknd, Passion Pit (who play Governor's Ball soon), The Jesus & Mary Chain, MGMT, Santigold (who just played Irving), Zola Jesus (who just played the Guggenheim) and many many more.

Full Osheaga lineup is below.

Continue reading "Justice, Metric, The Black Keys, Sigur Ros and more playing Montreal's Osheaga Festival in August "

"Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents and Starr Hill presents, in a partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, are proud to announce the lineup for the fifth annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. The world's only gourmet music festival will once again take place in San Francisco's historic Golden Gate Park August 10 - 12, 2012. Tickets will go on sale Thursday April 19 at 12 noon PDT via www.sfoutsidelands.com. A significant portion of every ticket sold will directly benefit San Francisco's Recreation and Park Department."

Pretty massive lineup for the San Francisco festival this year. Check it out below....

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2012 lineup (Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Jack White, Foo Fighters, Beck, Skrillex...)"

Lollapalooza (more by Grant MacAllister)

Chicago Sun Times reports:

Lollapalooza has revealed its official 2012 list of performers -- a typically wide-ranging smorgasbord of genres and styles topped by nearly a dozen mainstage headliners: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, freshly reunited bands Black Sabbath and At the Drive-In, the Black Keys, Jack White, Florence + The Machine, the Shins and Passion Pit, plus spotlighted electronic music including Swedish house titan Avicii, French dance duo Justice and DJ-producer Bassnectar.

The annual music festival is scheduled for Aug. 3-5 in Chicago's Grant Park.

Rumored lineups have circulated widely, as they usually do, and Lollapalooza itself stoked the speculation in recent weeks via a series of CTA and online advertisements that seemed to hint at who would be playing.

The ads featured lyrics from such acts as Sigur Ros, Santigold, Jack White, Kimbra, Twin Shadow, the Weeknd, Bloc Party and more -- all bands that wound up on the bill.

Check out the full list below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2012 lineup (Jack White, At The Drive-In, Sigur Ros, Black Keys, RHCP, Afghan Whigs, M83, Weeknd, SBTRKT, Black Sabbath & more)"

by Ryan Barkan

The Darkness played a Superbowl commercial

Another Super Bowl, another year where the Cowboys didn't win, and another year of music-filled commercials. The Patriots entered the field to "Crazy Train" by English metal god Ozzy Osbourne (who is currently having a feud of his own with an old bandmate). The Giants entered to "Written in the Stars" by English rapper Tinie Tempah.

Did you catch that map of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the Samsung commercial for their Galaxy (with stylus!)? You know, the one that had a sweet use of The Darkness jam "I Believe In A Thing Called Love"? Yeah, it was there and showed a close up of Berry and N. 1st in Google Maps. Did I mention they also have a stylus? The Darkness are currently in NYC, played Irving Plaza on Superbowl eve and do so again tonight (2/6). Watch the ad which stars the band's Justin Hawkins, below.

My personal favorite music-based commercial of Super Bowl XLVI goes to the Mr. Sandman-induced dream sequence in a new Kia commercial that featured two great music choices.

The spot starts with the Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman" for the first few seconds of the commercial. That song makes way for something completely different, like Motley Crüe. The band actually shows up and plays inside the race track-themed dream of the alpha male hero. He drives the track to impress Adrianna Lima while the Crüe shred on "Kickstart My Heart". Watch "A Dream Car For Real Life" below.

In the "did I just hear Megafaun in a commercial" category, Megafaun wins one for the little guys and gets a song used in a new Toyota ad. The band's song "Hope You Know" sounds super good as the soundtrack to a story-esque spot for the Camry model. Watch it below.

Also of significant note was another brand-infused OK GO music video. The band collaborated with Chevrolet to make a commercial/music video for the song "Needing/Getting", off the 2010 album Of The Blue Colour Of the Sky. The band is filmed strapped inside a Chevy Sonic, singing and utilizing both the car and a strategically placed course sprinkled with over 1100 instruments that more or less sound like the studio version of the song. The set up is meticulous, as is the band's ability to show up in a paid advertisement in an easily-digestible, yet very memorable way.

My single most favorite lyric placed in a Super Bowl commercial goes to the lines I know it must be killing time / unknowingly mine. Audi tries to end the whole Vampire craze with its 2012 game day commercial featuring Echo & The Bunnymen's "Killing Moon." Watch below.

continued below...

Continue reading "music & commercials of Super Bowl XLVI (Darkness, Motley Crue, Megafaun, Art Brut, OK Go, Echo & the Bunnymen, Madonna & more)"

"Following last year's 10th anniversary, which crushed previous attendance records and set a new mark for the speed with which tickets sold out, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2012 lineup which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 25-28 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA."

The Sasquatch! Music Festival takes place, as usual, at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington over Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28). And this year's lineup is:

Continue reading "Sasquatch! 2012 lineup announced (Bon Iver, Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Shins, Portlandia, Spiritualized & more) "

Today (9/8/11) is Fashion's Night Out which means tons of free events in stores and late night shopping throughout NYC. We've already mentioned events happening with Real Estate, Memoryhouse, Neon Indian, Andrew WK, Beth Ditto, White Rabbits, Best Coast, and members of MGMT/Chairlift/Violens. There are more.

Drake and Foster the People each make appearances that are sure to draw ridiculous crowds. Tanlines, School of Seven Bells, Sun Airway, Estelle, The Roots, Beach Fossils, Justin Townes Earle and many others also appear at stores tonight (James Murphy DOES NOT). You can browse the FNO website to find stuff, or you can instead check out the handy list we compiled by doing that for you, below....

Continue reading "It's Fashion's Night Out - here's a list of free music stuff happening"

photos by Jonny Leather

'@Joslynm congrats on your pop culture trivia expertise!' - Pat Kiernan

Pat Kiernan

Jimmy Fallon

"Without being too cheesy, I have to say there was a really beautiful spirit at last night's concert. The venue was sold out and aside from the silent auction, Bell House raised $35,000.00 for Save the Children and Partners in Health. I missed the first hour or so because I had to stop by my place, but got there in time to see Jimmy Fallon do a Neil Young impression. Then Freelance Whales played. You all should check them out. They're getting crazy attention right now and they are based out of Queens. Now that's special! Anyway, it was good times all around. Cat Power and Pavement records and CDs were given away for trivia knowledge, Ted Leo who also has shows in town, was adorable and even though Cold War Kids pulled out of the show, the Walkmen did an amazing job closing the show." [Petunia Eats]

The long show ran from 7pm-2am with, as pointed out, the Walkmen closing out the night. Actress Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) and her band The Leisure Class were a surprise guest that Ryan Muir said were "blowing me away. Now they are covering St Vincent. 'Marry Me'". (St. Vincent herself played covers at the Haiti benefit that happened at Music Hall on Saturday). NY1's Pat Kiernan (possibly who I wanted to see the most on the bill) hosted trivia. Eugene Mirman introduced him as the guy you see every morning on TV if you don't have Fios.

All artists, including Here We Go Magic, played short sets. If you want to see more of them (HWGM), they play as a headliner at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday.

More pictures and some videos (by Tim Duffy of Pop Tarts Suck Toasted) from the Bell House (in alphabetical order), below...

Continue reading "Jimmy Fallon, Pat Kiernan, Ted Leo, Walkmen, the Wrens & others played a Haiti benefit @ the Bell House - pics & video "

The Blow @ SXSW 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

As the Bell House's Haiti benefit on Wednesday, January 27th approaches, the show's lineup keeps getting more and more interesting. Since the initial announcement a few changes have been made (The Walkmen replacing Cold War Kids for one) and more acts have been announced. The schedule below reflects the expected set times, with the disclaimers that "performers will be playing abbreviated, acoustic and/or stripped down sets" and "line up subject to change."

AC Newman (who's putting out a new New Pornographers record), Rhett Miller and Nicole Atkins are playing as a Seekers cover band (a supergroup similar to what St. Vincent & Bon Iver did at MHOW on Saturday). Zach Galifianakis was also at the BV Haiti event,

UPDATE: Despite a press release that went out, The Bell House says that Paul Rudd & Zach Galifianakis are not on this benefit (they never said they were, but the press release did). Also the venue says that the set times that were posted (including here last night) are wrong.

Freelance Whales (who have quite a few shows, NYC and otherwise, coming up) are playing, as is Ted Leo (who himself has longer shows planned).

One notable addition is The Blow, aka Kaela Maricich, who played Art Basel in Miami this December, but hasn't played NYC in quite a while (possibly since CMJ 2007).

Tickets for the benefit show are still on sale.

The Blow's last album was 2006's Paper Television, when Jona Bechtolt from YACHT was still in the group. For YACHT's upcoming tour, Bechtolt and member Claire Evans will bolster their live show (previously them and a laptop) by a band consisting of Rob Kieswetter of Bobby Birdman (who is also opening), Jeff Brodsky of Jeffrey Jerusalem, and D. Reuben Snyder of Rob Walmart. The backing band's name is 'The Straight Gaze'. A tour preview clip is posted below.

More Bell House info with full lineup & poster below...

Continue reading "Bell House Haiti benefit expands (to include The Blow & more) - WEDNESDAY NIGHT"

Olof Arnalds @ Prospect Park in June (more by Chris La Putt)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* The Rapture @ Matchless
* Blood Orange @ Bruar Falls
* We Are Ivy League @ Union Hall
* Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival
* Son Volt, Sera Cahoone @ Irving Plaza
* Aretha Franklin @ Radio City Music Hall
* The Horrors, Crocodiles @ Bowery Ballroom
* The Sounds, Foxy Shazam @ Roseland Ballroom
* Ramona Falls, Music Video, We Are Country Mice @ Pianos
* Olof Arnalds, Nadia Sirota, Emilyn Brodsky @ Union Pool
* Face to Face, Pegboy, Polar Bear Club @ Gramercy Theatre
* Richard Lloyd & The Sufi-Monkey Trio @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Datarock, Esser, JDH & Dave P, Karin Park @ Highline Ballroom
* Fun., Miniature Tigers, New Numbers, DJ F-Word @ Mercury Lounge
* The Weakerthans, Rock Plaza Central, Tomte @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Drink Up Buttercup, The Art of Shooting, Candle Of Paradise @ Glasslands
* Country Music Fest w/ The Defibulators, Sammo, Alana Amram @ Southpaw
* Grooms, Videohippos, Starring, PC Worship, Anamanaguchi, Dome Theater @DBA
* Nudie Jeans Fashion Party w/ Lykke Li (DJ), Bjorn of Peter Bjorn & John (DJ) & Lemonade (DJ) @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* New Languages Fest w/ Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, House of Mirrors, The Respect Sextet @ McCarren Hall

There's a free VICE / Nudie Jeans Fashion Party with DJ sets from Lemonade, Lykke Li and Bjorn of Peter Bjorn & John at Le Poisson Rouge.. RSVP. 11PM doors, 21+ Free Colt 45 and Well Liquor Open Bar from 11PM-12:30AM. Flyer below. There's a VICE / something else party with a set by the Rapture in Brooklyn.

Fun. is Nate Ruess (The Format), ex-Anathallo multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost and Steel Train's Jack Antonoff.

Son Volt dropped a new album this summer, and now they come to NYC's Irving Plaza for a show with Sera Cahoone.

The Horrors play with Crocodiles at Bowery Ballroom tonight. Both bands return in October.

The Weakerthans play two nights in NYC now. Tonight is at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Rock Plaza Central and Tomte. A live Weakerthans video from 2006 below...

Menomena guy Brent Knopf fronts Ramona Falls, which comes to town this weekend, starting with Pianos tonight. Menomena played ATP NY on Sunday.

Olof Arnalds winds up her recently NYC trip with a show at Union Pool that also includes Nadia Sirota and Emilyn Brodsky.

Face to Face, Pegboy (ex-Naked Rayguy) and Polar Bear Club are currently on a tour that stops at Gramercy Theatre tonight.

Television's Richard Lloyd plays with The Sufi-Monkey Trio at (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight.

Scarlett Johansson is playing a benefit at Carnegie Hall with lots of interesting people. Scarlett and Pete Yorn played "Relator" on French TV. That's below.

Tim Heidecker stars in Clues' new video for "You Have My Eyes Now," which is posted below.

Little Boots was in town last night. Coverage of that coming soon. In the meantime, her interview with Nardwuar below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"