by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Goner Fest returns for its aluminum anniversary (10th) and Goner Records' china anniversary (20th, thanks Wikipedia!) with some great names in it's initial lineup. The annual festival in Memphis, Tennessee will go down on Sept 26 -29 and play host to sets from names like Mudhoney, Destruction Unit, legendary Aussie punks Cosmic Psychos, related act The Onyas, plus CC Riders, Head, Cheap Time and Buck Biloxi & the Fucks, with many many more still to be announced. Ticketing info is also still TBA.

Speaking of Mudhoney and anniversaries, the band must be the go-to for weddings, bar mitzvahs, retirement parties and special celebrations at this point. Mudhoney is also on board to play the upcoming silver anniversary of Sub Pop in Seattle in addition to a few other tour dates, though rumors of an additional appearance at an NYC area bris outside of their previously discussed their two NYC shows is yet unconfirmed. Tickets are still available for that May 11 show at Music Hall of Williamsburg and May 12 show at Bowery Ballroom.

Goner Records' eighth annual Goner Fest is coming to Memphis, TN on September 22-25. According to a press release, the festival will include three evening shows at the Hi-Tone Cafe, two afternoon shows, and opening and closing shows at the Goner Records Shop. The first batch of artists has been released and includes Alarm Clocks, Icky Boyfriends, Ty Segall, Royal Headache, Black Sunday, Kitchen's Floor, Deaf Wish, Brides, and Straight Arrows. Golden Passes are on sale now.

Nobunny, whose album First Blood is out now on Goner Records is in NYC this weekend. He plays Knitting Factory tonight (7/1) with TV GHOST and Shellshag and a late show at Mercury Lounge on Saturday (7/2) also with TV GHOST. More Nobunny dates HERE.

For more Friday night shows, check out "What's Goin on Friday?"

"Hail! Hail! America's favorite loopily leporine rock 'n' roller, Nobunny, is back with a new album, First Blood, and it's his catchiest batch of tunes yet. The melodious masked man kicks it off with "Ain't It a Shame," a bittersweet tale of a rocky romance in which Nobunny's lover has no choice but to endure his frequent indiscretions. He's just that damned charming. "Blow Dumb" is a Velvet-y tribute to all the things that make life worth livin'-"smokin' Copenhagen," make-out sessions and "burger breaks." In fact, First Blood never overstays its welcome and lasts about as long as a particularly adventurous mid-party burger run." - Goner

Continue reading "new Nobunny LP coming on Goner, free show tonight"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - Girlfriend (MP3)

I believe the phrase "prolific San Francisco garage rocker" is redundant these days, but Ty Segall is certainly in the running -- along with Thee Oh Sees and The Fresh & Onlys -- to win the Most Releases award. (Sic Alps, you guys need to step it up.) That most of the nine things Segall released last year ranged from Pretty Good to Awesome is an even more impressive achievement. There is no shortage of this kind of low-fi stuff in general right now, but his songwriting chops and enthusiasm keep things fresh.

That continues with his new album, Melted, out May 25 on Goner. The title is a good descriptor for Segall's sound -- which feels like a humid day in July. You can download the first released track from Melted, "Girlfriend," at the top of this post. No tour plans in his immediate future apart from playing Chaos in Tejas on May 27 and a June 27 date at SF's Bottom of the Hill with Grass Widow, Sonny & the Sunsets and The Baths. But I can't imagine Ty will be resting for long. UPDATE: West coast dates announced (below).

The Fresh & Onlys on the other hand are back in NYC for two shows this weekend starting with Monster Island basement tonight (5/14). The "Melted" cover art and some Ty Segall videos and all dates below...

Continue reading "new Ty Segall MP3 from new Goner album "Melted""

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Eddy Current Supression Ring - "Anxiety" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pissed Jeans - "False Jesii Part 2" (MP3)

Pissed Jeans at WFMU (more by Chloe Rice)

Tickets are still on sale for Pissed Jeans at Knitting Factory in April and now the band have added two more NYC shows in June, both of which are opening slots for Australian punks Eddy Current Suppression Ring:

If you were looking for a day job that would reinforce the credibility of your garage punk band, you could hardly do better than to follow the example of Eddy Current Suppression Ring -- the four members of the group met when they were working at a vinyl pressing plant in Ormond, Victoria, Australia. Inspired by hard-edged, primitive rock in the manner of the Troggs, the Pagans. and X (the Aussie band, not the California punks of the same name), Eddy Current Suppression Ring got its start in late 2003 [and] ...after lots of local gigging and a handful of 7"s and EPs, the band issued their self-titled debut LP on Dropkick Records in 2006. ...The group formed their own label, Aarght Records, to release their second full-length album, 2008's Primary Colours. The album became an unexpected crossover success, rising to number six on the Australian charts and earning ECSR a nomination for Best Rock Album of 2008 at the Australian Music Industry Awards.

ECSR is readying a new 7" for Mexican Summer, "Wet Cement" b/w "Hey Mum" + "Through The Trees", due this week. In addition, the band rill release Rush To Relax on Goner in March, dig on one of those tracks, "anxiety", above.

Dig on full ECSR and Pissed Jeans dates, as well as a few videos, below.

Continue reading "Eddy Current Suppression Ring (Goner/Mexican Summer) touring, playing 2 NYC shows w/ Pissed Jeans (dates) "

by Andrew Frisicano

Jack Oblivian (left)...

Jack Oblivian & The Tennesse Tearjerkers and John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives both just left Lucero's current North American tour that runs for another two weeks. Instead, the bands will detour up North (from their native Tennessee) for a seies of shows that include a performance at Brooklyn's Southpaw on Sunday, November 22nd. Tickets are on sale.

Jack's newest LP, Disco Outlaw, came out in May on Goner Records. Who is Jack?

Jack Yarber (aka Jack O and Jack Oblivian) is an underground hero--a well-respected, longtime member of garage rock's top royal family. The Memphis-based singer/songwriter/guitarist has been around since the early '80s, playing with Mississippi punks Johnny Vomit and the Dry Heaves, Memphis new wavers the End, garage rockers the Compulsive Gamblers, and, of course, the influential Oblivians. Yarber continually reinvents himself, mashing all his influences--a lil' bit country, a lil' bit Southern soul, and a whole lot gritty rock--into something all his own. [The Stranger]

Continue reading "Jack Oblivian & The Tennesse Tearjerkers - 2009 Tour Dates"

Jay Reatard @ the Wired Store (more by Tim Griffin)

As I was saying (and Bill will say even more about later), Jay Reatard and his Shattered Records crew (Nobunny, Hunx & His Punx, Box Elders & Useless Eaters) are on their way from Pop Montreal to NYC for a late show at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (10/1). Tickets are still on sale.

Yesterday, with some help, I rushed together some questions for an email interview with Jay (not the ideal format). Jay in turn rushed some answers back this afternoon, presumably from the road and after playing a late show last night. With that in mind, you can find that interview, which attempts to set the record straight on Jay's recent hate for Brooklyn, and what time Hamburghini practice starts, with all dates and tonight's set times, below....

Continue reading "an interview w/ Jay Reatard (whose Shattered Records tour hits Le Poisson Rouge in NYC tonight) "

It's been five years since Greg Cartwright's Reigning Sound dropped their last full-length studio album, Too Much Guitar. Not that Cartwright has been resting on his laurels. The Reigning Sound backed Shangri-La Mary Weiss on her critically acclaimed comeback album, Dangerous Game, which was produced and largely written by Cartwright. The band performed with Weiss on tour, including an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Cartwright also produced, penned songs for, and played in The Detroit Cobras for a spell. All the while, the Reigning Sound toured the US on and off and released a couple of live albums, yet never managed to get into the studio to record. All the while, Cartwright stockpiled loads of new tunes.

Finally, late last year, the band entered Ardent Studios in Memphis and laid down a bunch of songs. Some months later, they went into Echo Mountain Studios in North Carolina and recorded a bunch more. In the end, the band had more than enough for two albums, and carefully whittled it down to the cream of the musical crop.

Love and Curses (title comes from Memphis TV horror host Sivad) is a return to the sound and style of the Reigning Sound's incredible Time Bomb High School. The band once again features a full-time keyboardist, Dave Amels, and has jettisoned the lo-fi approach used on Too Much Guitar in favor of a bigger, warmer studio sound. As with Time Bomb High School, Love and Curses strikes a balance between soulful rockers and beautiful ballads. The results are a rock 'n' roll album as near to perfection as any one is likely to hear this year. [Midhaven Mailorder]

And the group is finally getting around to touring behind these new releases. They play Goner Fest in Memphis this weekend (9/24-9/26), then hit the road in November. They'll be at Maxwell's on November 19th and Southpaw on Nov. 20th. Tickets to both Maxwell's and Southpaw are on sale.

A teaser for the new record, with album art and tracklist, and all tour dates are below..

Continue reading "Reigning Sound - new albums out & Tour Dates announced!"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Dream Diary - Bird in My Garden (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Big Troubles - Drastic and Difficult (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fanfarlo - Finish Line (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fanfarlo - I'm a Pilot (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fanfarlo - Luna (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jeremy Warmsley - If He Breaks Your Heart (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Slaraffenland - Meet and Greet (Mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Slaraffenland - Open Your Eyes (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Horrors - Sea Within a Sea (MP3)

Ty Segall's drummer @ Cake Shop (more by Tim Griffin)

I realize we're all concerned about This Week Next Year in Indie, what with this Pavement stuff, but there are actually good shows in the next few days too, so let's get down to it.

Ty Segall is back in town, playing three area shows before heading down to Memphis for next weekend's Gonerfest. If you haven't picked up his new album, Lemons (which is on Goner Records), you really should -- I think it's one of the year's better slabs of garage. And by all means see him live. He (and his band) were great when they played Cake Shop back in June. You can catch him Friday (9/18) night at Death by Audio (as part of this Maze installation which I have yet to see, and where they recently "chopped some of the walls in half [to help] with the viewing".), Sunday night (9/20) at Mercury Lounge with Golden Triangle, and Monday (9/21) at Maxwell's.

All dates on this current tour are with fellow San Franciscans The Mantles whose self-titled debut is just out on Siltbreeze. Every time I think I've heard all the SF bands doing psych-garage, here comes another and they all seem to put their own stamp on it. The Mantles are a little more on the tuneful, paisley side of things -- think Lyres, Mouse & the Traps or even The Turtles -- that the scream through a distorted mic kind of thing, so they make for a good "similar but different" match to Ty's grittier style.

Dream Diary

It's Rosh Hashanah this weekend and the folks at Silent Barn are throwing a party Saturday night in celebration of it: "The party is to celebrate 5770 and will have a Jewish theme but non-Jews are definitely welcome... and encouraged to attend. Gonna be a party and a blast!" Headlining are Dream Diary, who I caught last week at Bruar Falls and thought were really good. Dream Diaryplay what I'd call classic indiepop: jangly guitars, fey vocals, with a love of both sunny melodies and rainy day minor chords. Think The Pastels, Orange Peels, or Trembling Blue Stars. You can check out an MP3 of "Bird in My Garden" at the top of this post, and there's video from the Bruar Falls show below. Also playing: duo Big Troubles who are also Fluffy Lumbers' backing band (if that means anything to you), and The Kezners. Plus: apples and honey!

Fanfarlo

We are in the midst of The Bell House's First Anniversary, which early in the week saw shows from OK Go, Fountains of Wayne and Rhett Miller, and is now ankle deep in the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival. The last day of this weeklong celebration (Tuesday, 9/22), however, is the one I'm most excited about: Fanfarlo. It's one of two dates they're playing in NYC, they also are at Bowery Ballroom on Monday (9/21). I'm a longtime champion of these guys and it's great to see them playing two of my favorite venues in the city -- a big move up from the 40 or so people in attendance at Fat Baby during CMJ 2008. Their debut, Resevoir, has been available digitally for some time (they were even selling it for a dollar for a while there) is finally getting a proper release on Atlantic in October. It's one of my favorites of the year, but I think Fanfarlo are even better in concert where their sweeping anthemicism really comes alive. The Finest Kiss caught the first show of their U.S. tour in Seattle:

Fanfarlo get compared to Arcade Fire quite a lot, but where Arcade Fire are all about pomp and bombast, Fanfarlo soften the corners coming across as a warmer friendlier band. They can sound big, but they also know how to do quiet. They all seem to be able to play multiple instruments, and apparently get tired of playing the same thing all the time based on all the switching off they did, and that restlessness spread to audience during the encore, when the band brought out hollow plastic whistling tubes and handed them out to various audience members for the song Ghost. It was just about perfect (except for ducking a few times) with the whistling forming and eerie bed of sound over which the band played. Like the stage set up, it was just another example of the band making a big impact with tiny props. It was a Monday night, but Chop Suey was pretty full for a UK band touring the US with no album out yet. The majority of the people there must have been fans, because after the encore the audience demanded another song. The house music and lights were coming on but everyone persisted and the band obliged. I rarely see a genuine encore, but this indeed was one, and the band were a little taken aback. They weren't sure that they even knew another song that they could play, but they pulled out the A-side to their second single "You Are One Of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us." It may be the poppiest song they have, and just like the rush of the opening "I'm a Pilot" this put a smile on everyone's face. In a lot of ways a gig is like a salesman making a sale, it's all about the presentation, and Fanfarlo have got it down, visually and sonically.

Jeremy Warmsley

Helping fill out Fanfarlo's sound on this American tour (he's playing as a member of their band) is London musician Jeremy Warmsley who travels in the same circles as Noah & the Whale, Lightspeed Champion, Emmy the Great, Slow Club, the Wave Pictures and the rest of London's new folk scene, much of which was documented last year on his online show Welcome To Our TV Show. (You can watch an episode below.) His debut album from last year, How We Became, has yet to be released in America but it's well worth seeking out, a nice mix of acoustics, electronics and well-crafted songs. While here with Fanfarlo, he's doing his own solo show (which is also his NYC debut) on Wednesday (9/23) at Pianos. He's performing solo acoustic, but maybe some of the Fanfarlo folks will still be around to help him out? We'll see. He's good. You can download his single "If He Breaks Your Heart" at the top of this post.

Slaraffenland

If I wasn't going to the Fanfarlo show at Bell House I would probably be at Union Pool to see Denmark's Slaraffenland, their only NYC date of their current U.S. tour, most of which was spent opening for Akron/Family. Their new album, We're on Your Side, came out this week and while it's a little more straightforward than 2007's weird, wonderful Private Cinema, it's no less lovely. You can download two tracks from it at the top of this post. And I wholeheartedly recommend seeing them live. I wrote this about their show last year at Knitting Factory: "Live, Slaraffenland are pretty fascinating to watch, as all the members sing and play at least two instruments... often within the same song. The guitarist played the oboe; the percussionist played a variety of woodwinds; the bassist also played flute; and the keyboardist / sampler was often seen with a trombone. There is a lot of live sampling going on in their show -- many songs started with everyone playing horns which would become a backing loop -- so live percussion blended with canned bits. Very little of their music follows pop conventions, but there is melody and beauty if you stop waiting for the chorus and just let the music wash over you." You can also watch their Takeaway show further down this post.

If you're looking for things to do tonight, I can recommend three shows. At Glasslands (9/17), it's Savoir Adore, Drink Up Buttercup, The Art of Shooting, and Candles of Paradise. Savoir Adore, who I've plugged many times before here on this site, are a great live band and I really like their debut, In the Wooded Forrest which is out this week on CD and vinyl. (They're giving away three tracks from it at their website.) I've also written about Drink Up Buttercup more than once, and the band have just signed to Yep Roc who will release their debut album early next year. In the meantime, you can download the A-side of their new single "Even Think" from YepRoc's website after giving them your email address.

There's also The Horrors at Bowery Ballroom. They didn't win the Mercury Prize (no surprise) but as I've said before, their new album Primary Colours is pretty great. I'll quote myself: "Mind you, I'm prone to like things that owe to '80s post punk and goth, as well as '90s shoegaze, but they transcend the influences I think. Like My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, some of the sounds on the record make you wonder if your stereo is melting. In a good way." Opening are Crocodiles who do a good JAMC / Spacemen 3 impersonation that works, I think, because they've got the attitude and snarl to back it up. Or maybe it's the sunglasses. If you miss them, both bands will be back in October.

And at Union Hall tonight (9/17) are We Are Ivy League, Americans who do wispy Brit indiepop just about perfectly. They got most of their press from being part of another band who wrote the Snakes on a Plane theme song, but I think their album from last year stands on its own. They've been mostly quiet since releasing it. It might be worth going to the show just to find out what's going on with them these days.

That's it for this week (and a bit of next). Flyers, videos, and tour dates follow...

Continue reading "Fanfarlo, Jeremy Warmsley, Ty Segall, Dream Diary, Slaraffenland, Horrors & more in This Week in Indie"

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)

Ty Segall @ Cake Shop (more by Tim Griffin)

After my own greasy foray into a Popeye's a few blocks away, I was ready to see the wunderkind, who is freshly graduated from the University of San Francisco. Once upon a time, Segall was a one man band, but he's expanded his outfit to a three-piece. Clearly the night's headliner at Amnesia, he packed the joint. After sets by openers Snakeflower 2 and the Rantouls, he mostly played familiar songs from his 2008 self-titled release on CastleFace Records. However, he also delivered a few examples of his self-described "sludgier" work on the brand new Lemons (Goner Records).

Sludge or no sludge, Segall's solid work ethic is evident. He's constantly playing gigs at bars like the Knockout, the Hemlock, and the Eagle Tavern -- basically anywhere flannel is the prevailing fashion, alongside those straw fedora hats favored by the fixed-gear crowd. Despite his omnipresence on SF's dive bar scene, he's pretty modest about his dedication to his music. "There are a lot of ways that I am a slacker," he explains over the phone a month after the fateful Amnesia show as he and his band drive to New Orleans. "But if I'm not doing music, I feel like I'm wasting my time." [SF Bay Guardian]

Ty plays a Mercury Lounge show on September 20th with Golden Triangle and tourmates and fellow SF band The Mantels. Tickets for that go on sale Saturday, July 25th at noon. Ty Segall then goes to New Jersey for a September 21st show at Maxwell's. The Mantels opens that too, with Digital Leather. Tickets are on sale now.

Ty will be one of the acts at Goner Fest 6, put on by Goner Records September 24th-26th in Memphis, TN. Other acts include a reformed version of Jay Reatard's first band The Reatards, Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh & Onlys, Magic Kids (who are in NYC this weekend), Box Elders, The Intelligence, Nobunny, Cheater Slicks and just about every other vital band you could vaguely lump in with the current "garage" scene (No Sic Alps, though). Tickets for day one, two and three of the fest are on sale now (though three-day 'Golden Passes' seem to be either sold out or hard to find).

More info on that festival, with all Ty Segall dates and a couple videos, below...

Continue reading "Ty Segall tour dates (3 NYC shows) + 2009 Goner Fest lineup "

photos by Tim Griffin

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - The Drag (MP3)

Ty Segall is one of many great garage rock acts coming out of San Francisco these days. He recently swung into NYC for a set of dates at the end of June. The pictures here are from his June 27th gig at the Cake Shop w/ Charlie and the Moonhearts and Girls (who also played Mercury Lounge on that trip).

Ty's new, second record, Lemons was released this week on Goner Records. You can peep "It #1" off that, and one track from his debut, above.

Ty's future plans include playing the West Coast portion of Shonen Knife's North American tour in October and November. All tour dates, album art, track list, and pictures from Cake Shop are below...

Continue reading "Ty Segall - album out now, MP3, pics from Cake Shop w/ Girls & Charlie and the Moonhearts"

DOWNLOAD: Box Elders - Hole in My Head (MP3)

Box Elders @ Market Hotel in January (more by Tim Griffin)

Box Elders are heading out on a late summer tour that'll run through September. The trip includes NYC stops at the Cake Shop and Monster Island Basement on September 15th and 16th, respectively. The band just completed a tour with Cursive. That included one show at the Glass House in Pomona, CA...

"But unlike the thrashing, epic moodiness bandied about by Tim Kasher and gang, Box Elders had a tendency toward the lighter side of life. Offering a no frills mixture of bass, guitar and a drummer/keyboardist (I must admit, that was a pretty neat trick), Box Elders entertained the crowd with a puree of punk, pop and surf rock vibes (a bit odd for a band from Omaha, Nebraska but maybe that was the point). Bassist/vocalist Clayton McIntyre and his bro, guitarist/vocalist Jeremiah McIntryre attacked each tune with doubled, sing songy vocals that offered a bit of force behind Dave Goldberg's heavy handed drumming on songs like "One Foot in Front of the Other". All-in-all, their vaguely second wave brand of pop punk induced plenty of sweat amongst their biggest P-Town fans which seemed to bop up and down in the center of the crowd. The majority of us were pretty content with just standing there." [OC Weekly]

The A-side off the band's debut 7-inch is above. Some videos of the band that Bill took live at Bruar Falls in April, with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Box Elders - cult run vegan Korean BBQ & 2009 tour dates"

Thee Oh Sees @ Mercury Lounge (more by Tim Griffin)

San Francisco bands Thee Oh Sees and The Fresh & Onlys are playing the Woodsist/Captured Tracks Fest on July 4th, and many other upcoming shows...

On July 2nd (tomorrow), Thee Oh Sees will play a show at Glasslands with Golden Triangle, The Beets and German Measles. Then, they'll be playing a set at Siren Festival in Coney Island on July 18th.

The Fresh & Onlys are also playing a late show at Market Hotel after Woodsist Fest on July 4th. More details on that below.

Both bands are also playing Goner Fest in Memphis, Tennessee on September 25th. From there they'll tour together until they reach NYC where they'll play two more shows: October 8th at the Mercury Lounge and October 9th at the Bell House. (The same two venues The Oh Sees played in early April on their spring tour.) No ticket info for either of those yet.

Bill has much more on both bands, the Woodsist Fest, and this week's other shows. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Thee Oh Sees + The Fresh & Onlys - 2009 Tour Dates "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - The Drag (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Charlie & the Moonhearts - Cagemouth (MP3)

Ty Segall

There is no shortage of great garage rock coming out of San Francisco these days and two of the city's newer acts -- Ty Segall and Charlie & the Moonhearts -- are about to head out on a U.S. tour including stops at Cake Shop on June 27 and Death by Audio on June 28. Both Ty and Charlie were members of the Epsilons and now doing their own thing, albeit right after one another.

When I saw Sic Alps and Thee Oh Sees at Death by Audio last September, Ty was the surprise of the evening. With his blonde hair and striped t-shirt, he looked like he just came from a Beach Boys press photo circa 1965, but he banged out a garage racket to rival either of the other bands on the bill... and he did it by himself, playing drums, guitar and singing all at the same time. If his songs weren't as good as they were, it would've just been an impressive gimmick.

Ty's solo debut came out last year on Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer's Castle Face label (check out "The Drag" from it at the top of this post) and this year he's really amping up his output. His second album, Lemons, is out July 14 on Goner Records (check out "It #1" for a taste) but Ty says he'll have copies to sell for the tour. Additionally, he's also got a double LP, Horn the Unicorn, that compiles a couple cassette and 7" releases; a split LP with Black Time titled Swag, as well as two new singles, one on Goner and the other on True Panther Sounds. All those should also be available at the merch table.

Ty's also no longer a one-man band, expanding to a trio for this tour. And he's also joined Sic Alps full time as their drummer. This guy's no slacker.

Charlie & the Moonhearts, meanwhile, have a new 7" on Tic Tac Totally (who put out the So Cow album), and the label describes them thusly:

First time I heard their Goodbye Boozy 7" I was fucking floored. They immediately recalled 80's sounds of then-youthful Orange County punk experimenting, and then colored it in with the fuzzed-up guitars and scuzzy but melody-driven stylistic tendencies of 60's garage rock writing. All of this finding its way into songs that most importantly (and above all else) do not sound contrived, rehearsed, too thought out, or anything that's less than a straight kick to your head.

The Moonhearts come from a tight-knit group of local bands, sharing members and sleeping with each other on a regular basis, especially Mikal, who is a total whore to varied underground luminaries like Ty Segall, Okie Dokie, Party Fowl and more. All kidding aside, its a pure and homegrown sound that these guys have developed. Just based on pumping out dirty little anthems and putting em right through the ringer of the sleaze machine at maximum dB. For any fans of the KBD, no bullshit punk/rock type sounds out there, we have a new record for ya. It's just fun, loud, good shit. What can I say? I mean fuck. Enjoy.

Continue reading "Ty Segall & Charlie & the Moonhearts - 2009 tour dates, MP3s"

DOWNLOAD: Box Elders - Hole in My Head (MP3)

Box Elders @ Market Hotel (more by Tim Griffin)

"Though they only have one single to their name, the Box Elders have garnered quite a bit of support, most notably from Jay Reatard who has his sights set on recording them as part of his new imprint on Matador. Led by brothers Clayton and Jeremiah McIntyre, the Box Elders play disarmingly simple, catchy pop music, and it's probably because of their very un-raucous recorded sound that audiences have been sucked in by their strength as a live band. With their repertoire of under-two minute, chant-worthy tunes, the Box Elders are a band you can expect to become slowly and hopelessly hooked on." [The Daily Texan]

Other Box Elders releases include one 45 you can order from Grotto Records, a full LP coming out on Goner in July, and a 7" for the HOZAC singles club coming out later in the summer.

Jay's last release of his own music was a demo track that he posted to his blog for free. He just finished playing some dates in Europe, and has a show scheduled at Lenny's in Atlanta on April 11th, and one at Goner Records in Memphis on April 18th for Record Store Day.

Box Elders recently played a string of Austin, TX/SXSW shows that included the Todd P / NY Noise party and at least four more. The Nebraska band will hit the road again in April - a tour that brings them to new Brooklyn venue Bruar Falls on April 24th, and to its older sister venue in Manhattan, Cake Shop, one day later.

Box Elders were last in NYC in January when they played Market Hotel. All future tour dates and a live video from the band's pre-SXSW Denton, TX, tour stop, below...

Continue reading "JAY REATARD's label releasing music by bands like BOX ELDERS who are touring & releasing other stuff too"