by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Generationals - Trust (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gross Relations - No Lines (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gross Relations - Blame the Record (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shark? - Down Low (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shark? - Shark? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - Sparrow (MP3)

Generationals

I take you away from trying to figure out the identity of The Modern Weepers (my favorite comment guess: Hard-Fi) to talk about shows happening this weekend. As always, this being New York City, there's lots of great options.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. are in town this week with Generationals and the two bands play tonight (5/11) at Mercury Lounge (sold out!) and tomorrow (5/12)  at The Rock Shop (not sold out!). Dale Jr Jr also play Kidrockers on Sunday [5/14] at the Rock Shop with Pearl and the Beard.

I feel like there's been enough talk about Dale, whose dreamy brand of synth rock can be heard on their pretty good upcoming album It's a Corporate World which is out June 7. So I'm here to talk about Generationals who are surely one of the few indiepop bands in New Orleans. Unlike Big Freedia, they haven't appeared yet on an episode of Treme but their new album Actor-Caster is loaded with clever, tunefull pop. What they do isn't particularly cool at this second in time, but I think stuff like this is never really out of style. You can download the title track to last year's great Trust EP at the top of this post and there's a widget below that will get you two tracks from Actor-Caster for the price of your email.

Malajube

Also here this week for a couple shows are Montreal's Malajube , playing The Rock Shop tonight (5/11) and will be at Bowery Ballroom on Friday (3/13) with the epic and amazing Besnard Lakes (and Nova Scotia's Wintersleep).  If you were in Austin for SXSW this year, you may have seen Malajube at our SXSW day party this year we co-presented with M for Montreal who we are co-presenting a show with this Friday in Brighton (if anyone is headed to the Great Escape).

Like a lot of folks, Malajube made a big impression on me in 2006 with their record Trompe-L'Oeil and, even more, their string of fantastic CMJ performances that year. The tunes were catchy, they were great live, the language barrier didn't matter so much. I must admit 2009's Labarinthes didn't make much of an impression but I've really been enjoying the band's brand new album La Cavern. The album is out now in Canada and will be available in the U.S. sometime soon on MB3 Records. Maybe they'll have it at the merch tables this week.

The new album walks the line between guitar pop and space rock and I keep imagining them performing songs like the vaguely disco "Le Blizzard" on the Muppet Show. There's a general soft filter '70s vibe to the whole of La Cavern that feels very comforting. You can listen to the whole thing via a streaming widget doohickey at the bottom of this post.

And go see the Besnard Lakes, for whom I have declared my love for many, many times. And go early for Malajube.

Echo & the Bunnymen are at Irving Plaza on Friday (5/13) and Saturday (5/15) playing their first two albums -- 1979's Crocodiles and 1980's Heaven Up Here -- back to back, in their entirety. This may not be quite as exciting as seeing them at Radio City doing Ocean Rain with a full orchestra, but it's still pretty awesome.

Especially because the albums are post-punk classics. Crocodiles is all scratchy nervous energy and contains no mediocre songs whatsover. I could list them all if you wanted, each one amazing. The whole thing still sounds fantastic. Heaven Up Here is considerably darker, more paranoid but no less definitive. "Over the Wall" is one of their best-ever songs. These two records are also a great showcase for Will Seargent's guitar-playing that still sounds innovative today. I'm a little sceptical of Mac's ability to belt out these songs -- it's gonna be a workout on his pipes -- but the chance to hear deep cuts like "All That Jazz," "It Was a Pleasure," "Happy Death Men," and "With a Hip" is exciting.

Opening for both shows is Bunnymen megafan Kelley Stoltz, who has covered Crocodiles in its entirety, both on record and as an infrequent but incredible tribute act that also featured Spiral Stairs of Pavement and Shayde Sartin who's now in The Fresh & Onlys. (They played CMJ 2003 at Arlene's Grocery, it was awesome.) Anyway, Stoltz is now an established artist in his own right, putting out terrific records on Sub Pop when not playing drums in Sonny & the Sunsets.  So if you're going to this show, do go early.

Gross Relations

We now enter the local band portion of This Week in Indie. Let's start with L Magazine 8 Bands runners-up Gross Relations who are playing three times this week: tonight (5/11) at Don Pedro with Raccoon Fighter and The Horehounds, then tomorrow (5/12) at Bruar Falls with deVries and Hunktronic, and on Friday (5/13) at Cake Shop with The Bynars, Field Mouse and Infinity Hotel.

The band have been releasing a series of digital singles via their bandcamp page, all of which exemplify their brand of supercatchy, keyboard-friendly indie rock. You can download the A-sides of the last two at the top of this post. "Blame the Records" is especially good. As I said previously, those keyboard lead lines make for easy comparisons to the Rentals which I'm gonna guess is probably what they were going for. Which is fine -- the hooks are undeniable.

Radical Dads

Radical Dads, meanwhile, were actually picked by the L Mag as one of those 8 Bands You Need To Hear and I certainly agree. And hear them you can Thursday at Cake Shop. The band's debut album, Mega Rama, is out next month and it's pretty damn good. I hear a lot of '90s DC  here -- more Simple Machines and DeSoto than Teenbeat -- whether that was intentional or not. Which means, basically, strident, melodic indie rock. The record is also a contender for my favorite album art of the year, done by Michael Deforge, which you can see below. Also below is yet another widget, this one will allow you to stream or download Mega Rama track "New Age Dinosaur." Oh, and they are quite good live.

Also playing that Cake Shop show tomorrow are Shark? whose debut album True Waste comes out May 24. The band worked with former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone on the record and what I've heard sounds really good. You can download two tracks from the album up top, and Shark?'s Pixies-ish theme song is pretty fun.

And lastly, I'd like to write a little about Vacation who are opening for Oberhofer at Coco 66 on Saturday night (5/14). The band are pretty new. What started as a solo project for Paul Greenfield Daly, formed into a band during one of the blizzards this year. Vacation have only played out a couple of times (Brad Oberhofer was in the live incarnation briefly.) But I really, really like the songs available as free downloads on Vacation's Bandcamp site. While I wouldn't call it synthpop, Vacation are definitely danceable, kind of groovy and motorik.  The track "Jean" in particular sounds like a hit to me, definitely check that one out.

That Coco 66 show also has the lately ubiquitous Widowspeak, and with Oberhofer that makes for a pretty good Saturday night. If you can't make it this weekend, Vacation are playing Pianos on May 22 with Dinner at the Thompsons.

OK that's the big stuff this week. Here are a few more picks, day-by-day:

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11

It's a night of well-dressed pop at Glasslands with Princeton and the High Highs. I keep meaning to catch High Highs again, I was impressed when they played with Radio Department last year.

We haven't heard from locals Gray Goods since last year's Northside Fest. They emerge from their cocoon, sonically reborn, tonight at Union Pool, with Zachary Cale and D. Charles Speer and the Helix.

continued below...

Continue reading "Generationals, Malajube, Echo & the Bunnymen, Kelley Stoltz, Gross Relations, Radical Dads, Shark?, Vacation, Karaoke Underground & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

Long Beach, California trio Tijuana Panthers are about to embark on their first East Coast tour which hits Bruar Falls on Sunday (12/19) and Cake Shop on Tuesday (12/21).

These guys are pals with The Soft Pack and evoke a similar -- if less aggressive,  more party-oriented -- style of '60s surf rock. You can listen to the entirety of Tijuana Panthers' self-released debut, Max Baker, via a widget at the bottom of this post. Good stuff. They also just released a new 7" on 1928 Recordings, the home of the Soft Pack when they were called The Muslims. Labelmates Gray Goods (who are also very good) share the bill at the Bruar Falls show.

All Tijuana Panthers East Coast tour dates, plus a video for "Creature" and the streaming player are below.

Continue reading "Tijuana Panthers kicking off a tour (dates & album stream)"

words by Bill Pearis, photos by Don Gochenour, video by Big Ass Lens

Savoir Adore

It was fun to close out the second-annual Northside Festival at Coco 66 with North Highlands, The Luyas, Savoir Adore and Gray Goods. Things got off to a bit of a late start but no one seemed to mind, and most people who showed up stayed the whole night. There was dancing, and smoke machines and lazers and everyone wanted to know what the hell instrument that was Jessie from The Luyas was playing. (Answer: a moodswinger.) Thanks to everyone who came out.

More pictures (of 3 of the bands), plus some really nice videos below...

Continue reading "The Luyas, Savoir Adore, North Highlands & Gray Goods played the 'This Week in Indie' show @ Coco66 - pics & video "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: North Highlands - Collar Bones (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - three tracks from In the Wooded Forrest (link takes you to download page)
DOWNLOAD: The Luyas - Tiny Head (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gray Goods - Color Divide (MP3)

North Highlands @ South Street Seaport (more by Chris La Putt)

Brooklyn Vegan hasn't met a festival to which we haven't wanted to add one more party. So in addition to the official Brooklyn Vegan show at Music Hall of Williamsburg and two heavy showcases being presented by BV-BBG -- all of which are Saturday night -- there's now a fourth BV-related Northside Festival show, Sunday night (6/27) at Coco 66. This one's being presented by me, as a Brooklyn Vegan's This Week in Indie/Sound Bites and features North Highlands, The Luyas, Savoir Adore and Gray Goods. Tickets are $10 or you can get in with your Northside Festival badge.

If you read/skim TWII on a regular basis you've heard of most of the bands. North Highlands have only been together for about a year but they've really come into their own recently, making gentle, engaging orch-pop that is really rather magical when they play live.  They were just great when they played the Sound Bites Lunchtime Series earlier this month at the Seaport, and I couldn't be happier to have them play this too.

Not that I don't want you to stay at Coco 66 all night, but if you can't make their 11PM set, North Highlands play earlier Sunday night at Cameo; and they also play Saturday afternoon at Spike Hill as part of The L Magazine's "8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear Right Now" showcase which is free -- no badge necessary.

This is The Luyas only Northside show, though the band are down from Montreal for three shows, including Rooftop Films tonight (6/24) and tomorrow night (6/25) at 929 Broadway (same building as Party Expo, but 2nd floor) with Adult Themes. I am super-psyched to have them on the bill.

Savoir Adore are one of my favorite local bands of the last two years and their album, In the Wooded Forrest, made my Best of 2010 list. The record just got released in the UK and the band is heading over there in July for their first-ever tour there. They are also a great live band.

Savoir Adore also play the night before (Saturday, 6/26) at Brooklyn Bowl as part of the Cantora Records showcase that also includes BRAHMS, Gordon Voidwell and The Tony Castles.

Gray Goods is the new band from Ryan Brown, formerly of Soft Pack cohorts Browns. (In fact, Gray Goods' drummer is the little brother of Soft Pack guitarist Matt McLoughlin.) You can check out the Feelies-esque "Color Divide" at the top of this post which is from the new Singles EP on 1928 Recordings. Gray Goods will also play later Sunday night at Bruar Falls.

I think that's a damn good show. Come by if you can. Set times are below....

Continue reading "the 'Week in Indie' Northside show is Sunday + other Luyas, North Highlands, Savoir Adore & Gray Goods shows"

by Bill Pearis

Almost 25 months to the day of their live debut, Obits return to Cake Shop on two consecutive nights: February 12 and 13. Says guitarist Sohrab Habbibion:

We've been wanting to play the Cake Shop again, but haven't since our first show there. This is our quasi two-year anniversary of that show, so we thought it'd be fun to do two shows and play a bunch of the new songs we've been tinkering with. We're working on a new record and have whittled down at least 40 songs ideas to about 20 more fully formed tracks. And of those 20-ish, we have a half dozen or more that should be ready to play.

Also, these shows are the first NY area ones we've played that are ours since our record release show in March. Everything else has been either an event like New Year's Eve or opening for Pinback or Polvo or random CMJ stuff. So we figured it was about time to headline a proper show and just have a good time with it, getting our friends to open and test out some new stuff before we head back to Europe.

Those friends opening the Feb. 12 show are Gray Goods and Rope. The Feb 13 show has Buenos Dias and Wrong Dots. Both shows are $10, no advance tickets. After the Cake Shop shows, Obits head to Europe and then return to play some U.S. dates opening for Ted Leo. All dates are at the bottom of this post.

In other Obits-related news, two members of the band have upcoming art shows. Drummer Scott Gursky (who designed the Cake Shop poster above) is part of "Vision Quest - A Group Show of Neo-Shamanic Art" which is running now through February 21 at the Observatory in Brooklyn. Meanwhile, singer Rick Froberg has a solo show at Fuse Gallery that has its opening reception the same night as the second Cake Shop show.

Sohrab also tells us, "Greg, our bass player, and I are recording a King Crimson-ish prog jam with Alexis from GvsB that I wrote for a project to celebrate the paperback release of our friend Jeff Rotter's really awesome and hilarious novel The Unknown Knowns. There's going to be a totally absurd video involving a complex underwater world and lyrics like, 'The parchment culled from lamprey gills / And with a waterproof kind of quill / The rhymes are writ in a font of yore / Unavailable at any store.'"

There's more. "The Forgery Series show I played [opening for That Petrol Emotion] was satisfying enough that I'm going to record a single. Phil Palazzolo, who's an old school NJ hardcore guy that's also worked with Okkervil River and on A.C. Newman's last record, is hopefully gonna produce it. It should be fun and, with a bit of luck, find a balance between pop melody and Kraut drone."

All Obits 2010 tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Obits working on new songs, playing two shows at Cake Shop ++ other dates, solo & art projects "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Obits - Two-Headed Coin (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Obits - Pine On (MP3)

So we asked a load of NYC-area bands to tell us how their 2009 went, via a handy questionnaire. As we get them back we're gonna post them.

Obits on the Jimmy Fallon show - November 2009

This one is from Brooklyn's Obits, a band that features a bunch of indie rock veterans, including frontman Rick Froberg (Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu), guitarist Sohrab Habibion (Edsel) and drummer Scott Gursky (Shortstack). Legend has it, a bootleg of their first gig (Cakeshop, Jan 2008) got them signed to Sub Pop, who earlier this year put out Obits debut, I Blame You -- one of my favorite straight-up rock records of 2009. Obits' next gig is New Years Eve Rock n' Soul Party at The Bell House that also features Eli "Paperboy" Reed (tickets are still on sale).

Sohrab (who you may have caught solo on Saturday when he opened for That Petrol Emotion at the Bell House) was kind enough to answer the questionnaire below... very candidly I might add...

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview w/ Sohrab Habibion of Obits"