The second-annual Spy Music Festival happens June 29th through July 15th, featuring "46 sets of music at 7 venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn." That's a big expansion from last year when it took place on two nights at Shea Stadium and Zebulon. This year's fest, run by the folks at Northern Spy Records, will happen at Union Pool, the Issue Project Room, The Stone, Vaudeville Park, 285 Kent, Death by Audio and Roulette. Amongst the artists performing are Rhys Chatham, Matthew Shipp, Dustin Wong, Arthur Doyle, Eugene Chadbourne, PG Six, Guardian Alien and Magik Markers.

The full Spy Music Festival schedule -- bands, venues, prices -- is below. There's no all-inclusive festival pass, but tickets to all the shows are available here. And the fest organizers have also made a sampler featuring the artists performing this year and you can stream that below as well.

Continue reading "Magik Markers, Dustin Wong, Eugene Chadbourne, Matthew Shipp and more playing NYC's Spy Music Festival"

Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

Liturgy at Webster Hall in February (more by Amanda Hatfield)

If you've noticed a handful of interesting shows at The Stone happening next week, like the acoustic Vaura show (4/20) or the Amen Dunes and Guardian Alien show (4/17), they're part of Chippy Fest, which goes down at John Zorn's non-profit venue from April 17-22, and was curated by John Zorn's exclusive designer Heung-Heung Chin (aka Chippy)

On April 21, the night after Vaura plays, Toby Driver (who is a member of Vaura and also fronts Kayo Dot/maudlin of the Well) will present the world premiere of his new trio, Ichneumonidae, which includes violinist Timba Harris (of Secret Cheifs 3) and Michelle Morinaga. That same night, Toby also plays as a member of Stern with Chuck Stern, Keith Abrams, and Tim Byrnes.

As mentioned, Kayo Dot, Vaura, and Dysrhythmia share a bill at DBA on 4/28.

Other 'Chippy Fest' shows include Mick Barr (of Krallice), Hunter Hunt-Hendrix (of Liturgy), and Nymph on Wednesday (4/18) and Miho Hatori (with Ahmed Gallab of Yeasayer), Timo Ellis, and Unstoppable Death Machines on Thursday (4/19). The Stone's full calendar is here.

Speaking of Mick Barr, his music and William Brittelle's music will be performed by ACME: American Contemporary Music Ensemble on May 11 at 12 at The Kitchen. ACME players for this concert are Caleb Burhans (violin, banjo, and voice), Clarice Jensen (cello), Eric Lamb (flute), Megan Levin (harp), Caroline Shaw (violin), Nadia Sirota (viola) and Chris Thompson (percussion). Tickets are on sale now.

Speaking of Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, he kicks off a residency at Issue Project Room on Saturday (4/14) with Liturgy bandmate Bernhard Gann. The show is free but "sold out". Other dates in the "3-month residency" have not been announced yet but presumably will be soon.

Meanwhile, Hunter's ex-bandmate Greg Fox's Guardian Alien project (who also plays The Stone next week) plays Death by Audio TONIGHT (4/13) with Black Pus (of Lightning Bolt), Mounds, Buck Gooter, and Alien Whale. Guardian Alein will return to DBA on 5/11 with DJ Dog Dick and 2 Ton Bug.

by BBG

Racebannon video still

"These Midwestern weirdos have a real knack for crafting some of the most out-there noise-core imaginable. Whether it's teaming up with the "God of Noise" Merzbow, for the Merzbannon project, or crafting a rock opera centered on somebody who makes a pact with the devil to become a transsexual rock star, these guys certainly know how to push the limits of extreme music and get under your skin.... [Verbicide]"

The dates are in celebration of the band's Six Sik Sisters, out now and featuring "Thee Desparate" which makes its debut in video form below. Video and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Racebannon announce tour dates & new video (debut)"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

"Shit is about to get pretty real @sheastadiumbk #trippplenippple" - Titus Andronicus

Trippple Nippples played the last of the few NYC shows they scheduled over the past two weeks while visiting from Tokyo, at Shea Stadium in Brooklyn on Wednesday night. They were sporting a very similar look to what they wore on New Year's Eve at 285 Kent. As mentioned, there was also a secret guest who ended up being Anamanaguchi. Bad Credit/No Credit, Hard Nips and Guardian Alien played the show too. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Trippple Nippples, Hard Nips, Guardian Alien & secret guest Anamanaguchi played Shea Stadium (pics)"

Extra Life at Webster Hall in 2010 (more by Sarahana)

Extra Life have a few shows coming including one at Death By Audio on September 25 with Little Women and Vaz and another at Glasslands on October 9 with Pygmy Shrews, Mick Barr (of Krallice), GDFX (aka Greg Fox who just left Liturgy), and DJ Caroline Teagle. Tickets for the Glasslands show are on sale now.

GDFX has other shows coming up including one tonight (9/7) at 285 Kent Ave with The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!, Knife City, and Extreme Animals. Greg also plays a record release show for his Guardian Alien project on September 23 at Shea Stadium. Guardian Alien also plays Bruar Falls on October 5 with Alan Watts and Zebulon on October 9, the same night as the GDFX show at Glasslands.

Your last chance to catch Greg playing as a member of Liturgy is on their tour with Boris and Asobi Seksu which hits NYC on October 27 at Irving Plaza. Tickets are still available.

Krallice also has shows coming up including 9/12 at the Bell House Wolves in the Throne Room and Thou. Krallice were supposed to open for the same bill on September 14 at Death By Audio, but they've switched shows. Krallice also play on September 17 at Union Pool with Urfaust, Black Anvil, and Ruin Lust

All dates below...

Continue reading "Extra Life, GDFX, Guardian Alien, Mick Barr & other shows"

by BBG

Greg Fox (center) on stage with White Hills (more by BBG)

Spazzy drummer Greg Fox of Liturgy will leave the Brooklyn "white metal" crew after their October tour with Boris. The departure is amicable. Liturgy tours a lot and Greg wants to shift his focus to other things, like his solo project GDFX (who recently released One Thing, stream it), Guardian Alien (who play a release show on 9/24 at Shea Stadium), and more (stay tuned). Fox told us:

Liturgy was fun and educational, but it's time for me to move forward. As a drummer in New York City, I have the opportunity to learn a lot from many very talented folks, and I'd like to be more open to those opportunities. If it makes sense for bands to last a long time then they do, otherwise you have to move on to the next thing, new experiences, new chapters. I wish Liturgy all the best. I'm excited about the future, about trying new things and making other plants grow, about growing personally, and about eating more pho.

Catch Fox's final NYC show with Liturgy when they play with Boris/Asobi Seksu at Irving Plaza on 10/27. Tickets are still available.

All tour dates and some video is below.

Continue reading "Greg Fox leaves Liturgy (he tells us why)"

by BBG

Greg Fox behind the kit with White Hills (more by BBG)

As discussed, Greg Fox of Liturgy is GDFX, and as just mentioned, his new LP One Thing is out NOW via Impose on blue vinyl. While the LP is definitely heavy on Fox's weapon of choice (drums) at times, it isn't in many of the ways you would expect. The new LP touches on stuttering samples, glitch, uber compressed snares, 8-bit and even some drone over the course of its 40 minutes, all of which you can exclusively stream below.

If you missed GDFX at Shea Stadium last night (8/25), well, he plays two more shows tonight (8/26). One of them is back at Shea Stadium with Woodsman (their second of two NYC shows this week). The other is with Amen Dunes at Saint Vitus.

If you miss the St Vitus show, Amen Dunes will also play a show at the soon-to-be-closed Live With Animals in Brooklyn on 9/24 with with K-Holes, CAVE, and PC Worship.

Before then PC Worship will do some touring with Greg's band Liturgy in September. That's before Liturgy play a string of dates with Boris that brings Liturgy to Irving Plaza on October 27.

Greg also plays in/as Guardian Alien. A record release show for that project happens at at Shea Stadium on 9/23.

Greg has filled in on drums for White Hills, and that band (sans Greg) will play a free show as part of the Rock Yard series.

Album stream & all tour dates for GDFX, Liturgy and PC Worship are below.

Continue reading "GDFX (aka Greg Fox of Liturgy) -- 'One Thing' full album stream & upcoming dates (TWO shows tonight)"

DOWNLOAD: Future Islands - Tin Man (MP3)

Future Islands at a BBQ show in 2009 (more by Sarahana)

You can almost count on one hand the shows happening this July 4th. She & Him, The Old 97s and Rosanne Cash all play free shows, while the Feelies hold fort a Maxwell's in Jersey. Add to those Shea Stadium's all-day BBQ show, that'll also be celebrating the one-year anniversary of its 20 Meadow Street location. The bands & genres range from black metal (via Liturgy) to 'minimalist funk' (courtesy of CSC Funk Band ) to sludge rock of La Otracina to synthy post-punk Future Islands (grab one of their songs above).

A flyer, more details and videos are below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn's Shea Stadium hosting all-day July 4th BBQ (lineup)"