The second annual Hopscotch Festival will go down in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, across 12 different venues with over 135 bands, from September 8th through 10th. The lineup this year runs the gamut of independent music... from traditional indie staples (The Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) to southern-inflected rock (Drive-By Truckers) to noise (Prurient) to hip hop (Beans) to garage (Jeff The Brotherhood) to funk (Budos Band) to metal (Krallice), and everywhere in between (Swans, Rhys Chatham, etc etc). Tickets are currently on sale. Full lineup is below.

Hopscotch happens almost three months after Guided By Voices play a Brooklyn Northside Festival show in McCarren Park (tickets) which is one day after Beirut plays a Northside Festival show on the same McCarren Park stage with... Sharon Van Etten (though she may have been accidentally announced at one point, they officially kept her placement on the bill under wraps until after Saturday's Music Hall of Williamsburg show). Tickets for Beirut/SVE are still on sale, and another opener will be added too.

Guided by Voices (whose Brooklyn show also has more openers coming) are also playing Pitchfork in July with Animal Collective whose Prospect Park show is now on AmEx presale.

Swans' upcoming NYC show is now on AmEx presale too.

Hopscotch lineup below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Fest returns to Raleigh (2011 lineup announced), Sharon Van Etten officially added to Northside Fest"

photos by Ryan Barkan

Nat Baldwin & Delicate Steve @ Public Assembly

"The New Jersey band Delicate Steve, led by the guitarist Steve Marion, slyly eludes generalizations.

Its debut album, "Wondervisions," is all instrumental, except for one track, "The Ballad of Speck and Pebble," that has a few words in a hazy chorale, and another, "Sugar Splash," with some modest vocal ahs. The tunes usually put some sort of guitar -- electric, acoustic, slide -- upfront, except when cheap keyboards take over. The music is handmade, except where it's blatantly artificial, and has a folksy twang, except where it's more like progressive rock or 1970s pop or surf-rock. And while Delicate Steve often sets out a (more or less) straightforward melody and cycles through it, building each time around, there's no telling when a track will take an abrupt, peculiar tangent." [Jon Pareles @ the NY Times]

Much like the album, the record release show at Public Assembly on 2/5 was mostly an instrumental performance, and like on the album, Dirty Projector Nat Baldwin helped out on some upright bass. At least two other members of DP (Dave and Amber) were in the back of the room cheering him on, along with Phosphorescent and other familiar indie rock faces spread throughout the packed back room of the North 6th Street venue on that Saturday night.

In fact, the show was pretty much packed right from the start of the first band, Strange Shapes, and stayed that way through Grandchildren and the excellent Dustin Wong who plays beautiful solo guitar with live looping. Delicate Steve was great but Dustin Wong may have been my favorite.

Delicate Steve kick off a tour with Akron/Family at a sold out Knitting Factory in Brooklyn tonight (2/17). More pictures from the Public Assembly show are below...

Continue reading "Delicate Steve played Public Assembly (pics), kicking off tour w/ Akron/Family at Knitting Factory (tonight)"

O'Death at Bell House (more by Jason House)

O'Death's vague attempt at tour dates have gotten a little bit clearer. As previously mentioned, "4/15 in Brooklyn" show will take place at Knitting Factory (tickets), and it is with Philly's Grandchildren who also play a bunch of other shows on the tour, and who you can catch even sooner with Delicate Steve, Dustin Wong, and Strange Shapes at Public Assembly on 2/5.

O'Death's tour kicks off in March right before SXSW where they'll play a Panache showcase at Red 7 on 3/17 with Thee Oh Sees, Janka Nabay, Pterodactyl, Tôg (Norway), Surf City, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Grass Widow, Bare Wires, and Heavy Cream. Updated tour dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "updated O'Death & Grandchildren tour dates"

As I say every year, the Atlantic Antic is one of NYC's greatest street fairs and filled with music. This year's goes down this Sunday, 9/26, and has added an 'indie rock' stage...

Although the Antic is beloved for its cornucopia of global chow, from banh mi to custom-cured pastrami (the official slogan of the event is "Eat it at the Antic, Walk it off on Atlantic"), this year's iteration also includes a bounty of independent music and art, two of Brooklyn's most visible cultural exports.

The Roebling Inn (97 Atlantic Avenue, between Hicks and Henry Streets, Brooklyn Heights), a dark, vintage-inspired bar that opened in December, is hosting, in partnership with the music media company Future Sounds, the Antic's first stage exclusively featuring indie-rock.

"It was a no-brainer when we got the space," the inn's manager, Jason Furlani, said. "We knew we would do something for the Antic."

While part of the joy of the Antic is its spectacular diversity (on 13 other stages, visitors can take in Brazilian samba, Latin jazz, children's folk songs, Middle Eastern belly dancing, electric blues, string bands, South Louisiana Cajun music and more), Mr. Furlani and his partners wanted to pay specific tribute to Brooklyn's indie empire. Larry Little, the chief executive of Future Sounds, booked four emerging Brooklyn bands (Dinosaur Feathers, Shark?, Arms and German Measles) and one, Grandchildren, from Philadelphia. All share a penchant for fuzzy, nostalgic guitar. [NY Times]

Maybe this will help close the gap left after Magnetic Field closed. Speaking of which, The Roebling Inn may host the "first stage exclusively featuring indie-rock", but indie-rock is no stranger to the street fair.

The 36th Annual Atlantic Antic

Sunday, September 26, 2010 from 10am to 6pm, rain or shine
Atlantic Avenue from Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue
10 Blocks of Food, Festivities, and Fun Through the Heart of Brownstone Brooklyn...

The flyer for the indie rock portion below...

Continue reading "The Atlantic Antic is Sunday, now with more indie rock "

"Like last year, everything will be taking place in Williamsburg and Greenpoint because walking long distances is a drag when there are bands to see and beer to drink, we mean seriously. Us here at The L Magazine will be booking a share of shows on our own, but, for a large chunk of the festival, we've once again handed over curatorial control to some of the most tasteful, talented and dedicated folks in New York's independent music scene -- record labels, bloggers, promoters and more -- allowing them to showcase the bands they think you need to hear. The Williamsburg Gallery Association is again on board to highlight special exhibitions and other events at over 25 art galleries in the neighborhood. And to celebrate Northside's second year, we've invited a few of the city's biggest aficionados of independent film to curate four nights of New York-made movies at Brooklyn's new, as-yet-unopened film house-music club-restaurant-bar, indieScreen."

That message from L Magazine refers to the second annual Northside Festival, taking place in Brooklyn from June 24th through the 27th.

Music, art and movies will be happening at "30+ venues" and "dozens of galleries" over the course of four days in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Like SXSW & CMJ, you can buy tickets to individual events, or you can get a badge which gets you in to everything that isn't already at badge-capacity. $50 badges are now on sale to those 21 and over. If you buy a badge, "Arrive to venues early - badgeholders are admitted on a first-come, first-served, one-out, one-in basis."

If you buy a badge you can take your chances at getting into one of the four Northside shows happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg (BrooklynVegan showcase included), Fiery Furnaces at Brooklyn Bowl, and WAVVES & Cloud Nothings at Knitting Factory. TONS more shows TBA, but the initial list of bands that will be playing has been announced (I'm especially excited to see The Wave Pictures, Fucked Up, Liars, Parenthetical Girls and Les Savy Fav on there in addition to what we've previously talked about) (and yes Titus Andronicus is on there). Check it out below...

Continue reading "2010 Northside Festival - tickets & intial lineup (includes Liars, Fucked Up, Les Savy Fav, Polvo & many more)"

DOWNLOAD: Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit - The Very Best Mixtape (ZIP)
DOWNLOAD: The Very Best - Warm Heart Of Africa (w/ Ezra Koenig) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (Metronomy remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (Architecture in Helsinki rmx) (MP3)

The Very Best @ Supreme Trading in July (more by Ryan Muir)

The Very Best ("European production duo Radioclit and Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya") are holding a remix contest for their song "Julia." It's the seventh track on their debut full-length, Warm Heart of Africa, which is out now digitally and out on CD October 6th on Green Owl Records. The raw files are hosted HERE and you can send your submission to tvbrmxcomp@gmail.com. Brooklyn's Javelin remixed the song, and you can check out their version on Green Owl's site.

The Very Best will play Green Owl's CMJ showcase on October 21st at (Le) Poisson Rouge. They share a bill with Theophilus London, Violens, Grandchildren, Ninjasonik and Nat Geo Music. Tickets are on sale, or you can try and get in with your CMJ badge.

Violens are also playing a CMJ showcase at Bowery Ballroom on October 24th.

Ninjasonik just posted a small tribute to Beau Velasco of TheDeathSet who recently passed away. "NY ceremonies for Beau will be this Fri & Sat". Stay tuned for more details.

Following their CMJ show, The Very Best has a short string of dates around North America. Album art, tracklist and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "The Very Best touring (dates), playing Green Owl CMJ show @ LPR w/ Violens, Ninjasonik & more ++ a remix contest"