He actually published this list in August, but in case you missed it...

Continue reading "Gorilla Vs Bear's favorite 'songs of the decade'"

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Ryan Muir

Steve Albini in Shellac

"We're taking a bath, but I don't care," Barry Hogan told [Sasha Frere-Jones]. We were standing in the makeshift production office for the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, at Kutsher's, a resort in the Catskills.

Kutsher's, where Muhammad Ali trained and a thousand schticks were born, was once the jewel of the Borscht Belt. The main venue at Kutsher's, the Stardust Ballroom, has a capacity of 2,800. But Hogan seemed largely unbothered that only 1,800 tickets to ATP had sold. It is 2009, after all.

"My name is Sufjan Stevens and I am going to play all of my Seven Swans album. That should be a good early afternoon hangover sort of thing"

Considering the bad coffee situation and the fun that I had the day before, Sufjan was spot on. Clad in tie-dye that the band had purchased at the general store at Kutsher's, the five piece were delicate, light and lilting. Sufjan's bright banjo strums and songs, like the sunny "Sister", resonated so well in the Stardust Ballroom. The Seven Swans album was an excellent choice for a wake-up set on the second day of the three day upstate NY festival (Saturday, September 12, 2009).

After Sufjan, I wandered over to catch a crew of young Aussies named Bridezilla. Though their name is a touch offputting, guitarist/vocalist Holiday Sidewinder has a sexy and breathy coo that recalled PJ Harvey and their her cocktail-dress-ed crew were a surprise and a delight.

Grouper were next, and as a fan of 2008's Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, I was eager to check out Liz Harris's ambient soundscapes. Playing to a projection of an ocean at night, the stage show wasn't much visually but the tides of noise was otherworldly.

Conversely, Black Dice in the same room was a psychedelic mindfuck. Blasts of tribal noise beats nodded heads and shook them in equal measure.

As a fan of Bradford Cox, it was great to see him pull a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning with Atlas Sound. Rolling solo with guitar, harmonica, and some backing tracks, Cox was engaging both in song and with between song banter. I would regrettably end up missing Deerhunter's set a few hours later. Drowned in Sound was there though:

Bradford Cox is a picture of serenity as he swaps his shirt for a more tasteful number and leads Deerhunter into their Saturday night set. He announces that this will be their last performance for some time, causing the band to roll out the hits in quick-fast fashion. They gallop through 'Cryptograms' and 'Nothing Ever Happened', the positively herculean double guitar sound feeling unstoppable and a sense of jubilation ricocheting between the walls as people succumb to these great big shining pop songs. The closing 'Calvary Scars' is a slab of beautiful kraut-pop, with Lockett Pundt's metallic Tim Gane-esque strum leading the way, face-painted kids jerking their bodies back and forth, and Cox looking genuinely sad that this will be the last time these songs will be wrung from his fingers and throat for a while.

Anti-Pop Consortium was my next venture, the first time I had ever seen the crew though I was a long time fan. On the Stardust Ballroom system, APC's distorted and creative beats sounded amazing but save for Beans energetic movement, I was less than impressed with their live show. Live hip hop is hard to pull off, and those who try should heed the great Rakim who said "to me MC means move the crowd". If you want to give them a chance, they're at Santos Party House on September 29th.

Sleepy Sun were line checking when I got back to the second stage, with vocalist Rachael Williams checking her levels in the monitor

"Check. Check. I. Hi. Me. You. All of you. Us. Getting nervous."

If they had nerves, the band channeled them into positive energy. Sleepy Sun's influences fit right in with their hometown, San Francisco, as the band dabble in a psychedelic California sound with some krautrock-y elements. I was most struck by their fantastic drummer Brian Tice as well as vocalist Williams, who ripped out a solo that had the crowd shouting and applauding. Wayne Coyne watched the band from stage left, clearly impressed.

After an elongated line check, El-P came on and with a four-piece band (Chin Chin) and hypeman (Mighty Quinn) to the sound of "Tasmanian Space Coaster". I have a soft spot for El-Producto's Blade Runner beats and post-apocalyptic rhyme styles, and it was great to see a Hip Hop artist who actually puts an emphasis on his live show. As a matter of fact, El-P put a little too much of himself out there, almost falling off the stage after pogo-ing around during "Smithereens". Careful dude... we need a follow-up to I'll Sleep When You're Dead.

I hadn't seen Akron/Family since the then more acoustic-centric band played Tonic many years ago (with Hamid Drake?) and it was refreshing to see their energy were still in place. Against a backdrop of a tie-dyed American flag, the band played a rousing and ripping set. It's good to see that the loss of Ryan Vanderhoof to a Buddhist center hasn't slowed them a bit.

Autolux had the discordant riffs, feedback squalls, and a 90s alt punk sound to hit all of the right influences (Joy Division, Sonic Youth, etc), but unfortunately didn't really distinguish themselves from their influences. Autolux isn't offensive by any means, just not compelling or distinctive, and I find it a touch disappointing that guitarist Greg Edwards was a member of Failure (a band that I dug).

Dead Meadow and their fuzzy freakout psych blues were riffing on Stage Two towards the end of the Autolux set, but by half way in, the crowd had diminished considerably due to Shallac on the main. For shame, as the trio played a ripping set!

continued below...

Continue reading "ATP NY 2009 - Day 2 pics & review (Atlas Sound, Deerhunter, El-P, Boss Hog, Shellac, Animal Collective, Dead Meadow...) "

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Hopewell - "Stranger" (MP3)

Hopewell

If you haven't noticed, ATP NY is a little more than a week away, and though there will be a ton of one-off appearances at the festival, one could ATTEMPT to see all of the bands in their NYC appearances. I prefer to kill all of it in one fell swoop, and that's why the ATP set times are below. For those that prefer the former, this post is also for you, as we rounded up some of the NYC shows that surround this mammoth festival.

One show we haven't mentioned thus far is Hopewell, who in addition to their support slot for Dead Meadow on 9/9 on a Rocks Off Cruise, will also play an "ATP warm-up show" at The Cameo Art Gallery show on 9/10 with a full choir (!) and projections. To be more specific, they will actually be performing the Desperation Suite set that they put together for ATP NY.

Want to go to Dead Meadow/Hopewell on the boat? I have TWO PAIRS of tickets to give away. More details on how to enter at the bottom of this post.

Boredoms are scheduled to play Boadrum 9 at Terminal 5 on 9/9 (at 9:09:09?). Tickets are still available.

The Feelies have set aside 9/13 for Brooklyn (namely, Southpaw -tix here) to play TWO sets, that's as many days after they play Crazy Rhythms in it's entirety at ATP.

Circulatory System plays Le Poisson Rouge on 9/9 (tickets).

Deerhoof is scheduled to play Le Poisson Rouge on 9/15. Tickets are on sale.

Melvins are touring NYC with Down, Weedeater, and Evil Army, hitting Nokia on 9/11 (tix). The band headlines ATP Stage Two on 9/12 (Sat).

Super Furry Animals have a pair of NYC-area dates scheduled, including Maxwell's on 9/12 and Highline on 9/11. Tickets for both are here.

Grouper is scheduled to team up with Tim Hecker for a show as part of the Wordless Music Series on 9/11. Tickets are still available.

Dirty Three play Bowery Ballroom on 9/13 (tix), two days after they play Ocean Songs in full at ATP.

The Drones are scheduled to play all of their LP Wait Long By The River at ATP, and will also play The Bell House on 9/9. Tickets are still available. Bridezilla will support The Drones at The Bell House and are also playing The Annex on 9/10.

And last, but certainly not least, Autolux & Sleepy Sun are teaming up at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg on 9/14 (tix) and 9/15 (tix) respectively.

Check out the ATP NY Set Times below....

Continue reading "ATP NY 2009 is almost here - SET TIMES & related NYC SHOWS (including Hopewell w/ a choir & on a boat) "

All Tomorrow's Parties (ATP) is happy to announce its return to Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, New York for the 2nd annual ATP New York festival. The event will be held Sept 11-13, 2009. Last year's festival, co-curated by My Bloody Valentine, was a critical and cultural success with rave reviews from media and fans. This year's Fest will be co-curated by The Flaming Lips.

ATP has announced the final lineup additions to this year's festival. That includes the comedians who will be joining David Cross on Friday night, and official confirmation that it will in fact be Bob Mould who will be playing Husker Du songs (a whole LP to be exact) with No Age (who also just announced some NYC shows). Every act who plays Sunday will be playing some kind of special set...

Recently added were Crystal Castles, Super Furry Animals, Boris performing Feedbacker, Low Lows and "Oneida presents the Ocropolis" - where Oneida will transport the impetus, spirit and community of their multidisciplinary studio/performance space, The Ocropolis, to ATP for a full day of improvisation, collaboration, and recording, combined with the astounding Mighty Robot Visuals light crew. Other announced acts include Boredoms continuing their BOADRUM series, performing with 9 drummers on stage. Deerhoof will perform with special visuals by Martha Colburn. Caribou will perform as Caribou Vibration Ensemble, with a 4 piece horn section, 4 drummers and a choir and guests that include Kieran Hebden (Four Tet/Fridge/Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid), Koushik (Stones Throw Records), John Schmersal (Enon, Brainiac), Kathryn Bint (One Little Plane), Ahmed Gallab (Sinkane), Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra) and more.

Other brand new additions to Sunday are Menomena, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Birds Of Avalon, and Hopewell.

Circulatory System, was added in the last announcement, and have since revealed an entire tour. Dead Meadow play ATP on Saturday and will perform on a boat in NYC that same week. The Feelies have a Brooklyn show scheduled. Super Furry Animals play NYC and NJ in addition to ATP. The list of related shows goes on...

Unfortunately missing from the ATP NY schedule is Nick Cave - not that he was ever supposed to be there, but in addition to being very involved with ATP in general, he was recently confirmed to be only a short car ride away just one day after the festival ends. Full 2009 lineup below...

Continue reading "ATP NY final 2009 lineup -- Bob Mould (now official), Eugene Mirman, Menomena, Hopewell & more (but not Nick Cave) "

Doveman @ LPR in June (more by Fresh Bread)

Miller Theatre joins forces with the Wordless Music series to present a week of specially curated concerts highlighting the best of each organization's aesthetic and mission. For five nights, indie-rock and electronic-music performers share the stage with artists from the classical- and new-music world, for a week of unorthodox and unconventional musical meetings.

Of those five nights, four lineups at Columbia University's Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street) have been confirmed. Those will take place as follows...

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The 802 Tour:
Nico Muhly + Sam Amidon + Doveman

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Do Make Say Think
Charles Spearin's "The Happiness Project"

Friday, September 11, 2009
Tim Hecker
Grouper
Julianna Barwick

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Dan Bejar (Destroyer)
Loscil
JACK Quartet

Ticket information HERE.

Those concerts are an addition to Wordless's upcoming schedule, which currently includes the Alarm Will Sound show tonight (July 22nd) at LPR, the Liquid Liquid & Rhys Chatham "200 Electric Guitars" performance on August 8th at Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, and the Warp20 NYC series in early September.

The original "802 Tour" (the Doveman date above) took place in 2008. No word on whether they are actually going on tour again, or if this is just a one-off date with the same name.

Do Make Say Think and The Happiness Project also have a bunch of other tour dates scheduled, including two other NYC shows. Grouper is also playing ATP NY. Destroyer is going on a very short tour at the end of July that brings Dan Bejar to Bowery Ballroom on the 30th. All dates and a video from Doveman's June 18th show at LPR, below...

Continue reading "'Wordless Music' @ Miller Theatre w/ Doveman, Grouper & Destroyer ++ other tour dates"

by Black Bubblegum

Om live at ATP 2008 (more by Zach Dilgard)

It's been over a year, but they haven't been forgotten. Om, who will declare that God Is Good on Sept 8th, have announced a string of US tour dates including TWO in NYC... Europa on Oct 11th and Bowery on Oct 13th. Tickets for Europa are on sale. Bowery details are still TBA.

Om is bringing some pretty strong support with them as well, all of which were recently featured on Al Cisneros's compilation for Arthur Magazine, Transmissions from Sinai (available here). Look for Lichens on all dates, with Grouper on a pair of dates and Six Organs of Admittance (Ben Chasny) bringing up the rear of the tour which includes both NYC dates.

Although Grouper is NOT scheduled to play at any of the Om dates in NYC, look for Liz Harris at ATP NY on Sept 11th, as well as on few US dates in September. Om played ATP NY in 2008.

Meanwhile, Ben Chasny's previous collaborators, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, have scheduled a show with Oneida (who are also playing ATP NY in 2009) at Broadway backyard, one of a four tour dates scheduled for the pair.

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Om, Lichens & Six Organs of Admittance - 2009 Tour Dates"

Sufjan Stevens w/ Clogs @ BAM in February (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

We are extremely excited to announce the addition of Sufjan Stevens to the ATP-curated Saturday lineup. Stevens, who will be releasing Run Rabbit Run (a re-arrangement of his 2001 album Enjoy Your Rabbit) in October, has not played a US show in over two years, and this is sure to be a special performance. [ATP NY]

Sufjan is one of the most recent additions to ATP NY, running September 11th-13th in Monticello, NY. It'll be his first show in a while, though over the past year Sufjan has made appearances joining St. Vincent at BAM, The Welcome Wagon at St. Paul's Lutheran and the Clogs with My Brightest Diamond (which you can see above) again at BAM .

Sufjan will be joined on the Saturday bill by new additions Shellac, Circulatory System and Grouper (who we previously announced).

On the Sunday, the Flaming Lips-curated bill has added Crystal Castles, who has been touring North America and Europe. They're also on the schedule for All Points West on August 1st.

Other Sunday additions are Super Furry Animals (who are also playing Maxwell's and Highline Ballroom), Boris, Low Lows and Oneida, the latter of which will perform a special set, described below...

"Oneida presents the Ocropolis" - where Oneida will transport the impetus, spirit and community of their multidisciplinary studio/performance space, The Ocropolis, to ATP for a full day of improvisation, collaboration, and recording, combined with the astounding Mighty Robot Visuals light crew.

Limited tickets for the fest are still on sale. Ongoing coverage of ATP NY and related NYC-area shows HERE. Full lineup so far below...

Continue reading "ATP NY adds Sufjan Stevens, Boris, Shellac, Crystal Castles & more - full updated lineup"

DOWNLOAD: Super Furry Animals - Inaugural Trams (MP3)

Super Furry Animals @ Maxwells 1/23/08 (more by Leia Jospe)

Super Furry Animals have been added to the lineup of the Flaming Lips-curated ATP NY weekend happening September 11th-13th. Portland's Grouper has also been added to the fest (thx Brad).

ATP NY runs from Sept 11-13. SFA must be playing on the 13th, which is the Flaming Lips day, because the band is playing a show at the Highline Ballroom on September 11th and one at Maxwell's on the 12th. Tickets for both go on sale Friday, July 10th at noon.

The group's last record, Dark Days/Light Years, came out in April on Rough Trade. Check out a song from that, above.

Grouper's ATP date "isn't confirmed yet", but I wouldn't be surprised if it was September 12th which is the date their recent-tourmates Animal Collective are playing.

The Drones are another band (of several) who've recently added NYC gigs around their ATP NY date.

All tour dates for SFA and Grouper below...

Continue reading "Super Furry Animals playing Maxwell's, Highline Ballroom & ATP NY (so is Grouper) - all 2009 tour dates"

Willamette Week's Musicfest NW announces this year's festival line-up which will be held at various venues around the Portland, OR metropolitan area on September 16, 17, 18 & 19. On the heels of the most successful MFNW to date, MFNW 2009 launches with nothing but the hope of a bigger and better festival. MFNW's ultimate aim is to provide Portland with a unique and special musical experience that features all types of acts including nationally renowned artists while still honoring and supporting the special musical scene of the Northwest.

Four-day passes to the fest are on sale now.

The lineup so far, including the newly-reunited Sunny Day Real Estate, is below...

Continue reading "Musicfest NW in Portland, OR (Sept 16-19) - lineup"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Sir Richard Bishop - Kaddak el Mayass (MP3)

Om in Brooklyn 9/23/08

On September 8th, Drag City will proclaim that God is Good. The duo of Al Cisneros (who recently played his final show in Sleep) and Emil Amos (also of Grails/Holy Sons) will release their new four track LP of that name, their first LP together and the first Om LP since 2007's Pilgrimage. More details on the Steve Albini-produced album to come.

In addition to the new Om album, Al Cisneros has also helmed a new compilation for Arthur Magazine. Entitled Transmissions from Sinai and featuring art from the legendary Arik Roper, the disc contains contributions from some of the usual Cisneros suspects (Current 93, Scott Kelly, Holy Sons, Grails, Wino) as well as previously unreleased tracks from J. Mascis, Six Organs of Admittance, Lichens, and Sir Richard Bishop. The full tracklisting is below. For more information and to order that disc, head to Arthur.

A few contributors to Transmissions From Sinai will be in NYC in the VERY near future! Lichens has a show at Cake Shop on June 15th with New Zealand's Bachelorette and Pikelet.

     Sir Richard Bishop

Arthur CD contributor, Sun City Girl, and Om's Drag City label-mate, Sir Richard Bishop double teams NYC in the coming days, with a show on June 13th at The Studio @ Webster Hall with Zaimph, and then two nights later with Bill Callahan (and a BV photo show) at MHOW. Sir Richard Bishop's new album THE FREAK OF ARABY was released by Drag City in May. All of his tour dates are below.

Om's previously mentioned live document, Live Conference, will be released (vinyl only!) via Important Records in the coming weeks.

Current 93 recently dropped Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain, as well as Monohallucinatory Mountain, the mono version of said record. Pick that up at David Michael Tibet's site. Spanning eight tracks over it's 53+ minutes, the LP features contributions from James Blackshaw, William Breeze (ex-Coil), Ossian Breeze (Coil), Rickie Lee Jones, Matt Sweeney, Andrew WK, Sasha Grey, and many many others.

Holy Sons (aka Emil Amos of Om / Grails) recently dropped Drifter's Symphony

Grouper recently toured with Animal Collective, and has a few additional tour dates in the Northwest laid out through the summer.

All tour dates and stuff below...

Continue reading "Al Cisneros made a CD for Arthur, Drag City releasing Om, released Sir Richard Bishop in May - 2009 tour dates"

photos by Natasha Ryan

"There actually is some brand new material being played on this tour, a three minute gem that goes by the working title "Bleed," written last week, which continues Panda's odyssey of Caribbean gold digging, just back and forth vocal interplay over a bed of washy noise and instrumentation so sparse it's hardly there at all. It's quick -- some I heard from even mistook it for a between-song interlude -- but it again finds them stroking just the right melodic nerve amidst the weirdness. The other new song played was the Grateful Dead-sampling Merriweather outtake "What Would I Want Sky." [Tripwire]

Animal Collective and Grouper played Terminal 5 in NYC last night (5/13). Two nights earlier they played the 9:30 Club in DC, and you can listen to that whole show courtesy of NPR. Both setlists, more pictures, and videos, including one of the new song being performed on May 10th in Baltimore, below...

Continue reading "Animal Collective & Grouper played Terminal 5 (pics, setlist, video) & the 9:30 Club in DC (NPR stream w/ new song) "

As previously noted, Grouper returns to NYC this weekend. Catch the show tonight (2/13) at the New Museum with High Places. Or opt for "An Evening of Sensual Machine Music" at Le Poisson Rouge on Saturday.

Wordless Music and Ghostly International co-curate a special Valentine's Day dinner concert, with music from four corners of the ambient/experimental music world. Including live sets from The Sight Below and Lusine (Ghostly/SMM), Grouper (Type Records), and pianist Michael Brofman, who will perform solo piano works by the early-20th-century inventor of ambient music, Erik Satie. Seating is extremely limited and will include a three-course pre-fixe menu by Le Poisson Rouge's celebrated house chef Idelfonso "Pons" Cordero.

All Grouper and High Places dates below...

Continue reading "Grouper is here for the weekend, a Ghostly Valentine's Day, and other High Places tour dates"

Liz Harris - a.k.a. Grouper - creates pop songs where the structure is merely hinted at, making it difficult to decide whether her amorphous drones resemble songs or visa versa. On earlier releases, she was awash in reverb, disguising much of her tunes' shapes, hiding melody in trance. [Grouper's 2008 release] Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill continues the minimal whisperings of past LPs, but also features strummed acoustic guitar. Lots of it." [Dusted]

Grouper also recently released a split 7" with City Center. Not surprisingly, City Center is who Grouper played with at Silent Barn in Brooklyn on Sunday. In town from Portland, Grouper plays one more NYC show tonight/Monday at Knitting Factory - it's the WNYU party that Pylon is headlining.

Grouper will also be back in town to play the New Museum on February 13th. Stay tuned for more details. WNYU flyer and a video below...

Continue reading "Grouper - an album & video, KF tonight, New Museum later"

Monday, Dec 15, 2008 // DOORS 7:00 PM // ADV $20// DOS $25

WNYU 35th Anniversary Celebration (a full club event!) with special guests Pylon, Psychic Paramount, Grouper, Ehnahre, Sword Heaven, Zola Jesus, many more!

This is currently Pylon's only scheduled show. Tickets are on sale. Watch a video of Deerhunter covering a Pylon song HERE. The reunited group came around a couple of times last year too.

This event is one more big one in the month-long celebration that is Knitting Factory's final month open in Tribeca. They close for good after New Years Eve. Bands rumored to be playing that night include Dirty Projectors, Deer Tick, Deerhoof and Akron/Family.