Father John Misty (aka J. Tillman) who recently left Fleet Foxes, just announced a tour in support of his debut LP, Fear Fun, which is due out on May 1 via Sub Pop. He also just revealed the cover art, which is pictured above. The tour is being supported by Har Mar Superstar and it hits NYC on May 18 at Mercury Lounge and May 19 at Knitting Factory. Tickets for the Mercury show go on sale Friday (2/17) at noon with an AmEx presale starting today (2/15) at noon and tickets for the Knitting Factory show go on sale Friday (2/17) at 10 AM. All dates are listed below.

Like Bill Callahan, Father John Misty is one of the contributors to MOJO Mag's 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' tribute album. He offers his taste on the album's great closing track, "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong." A 31 second clip of that recording is below.

Speaking of Har Mar Superstar, he'll be in NYC even sooner when he plays Glasslands on March 7 with Rewards and Rubbing Alcohol. Tickets for that show are still available. Meanwhile Har Mar is busy recording an album in Austin where he's also in the middle of a live residency at Mohawk with fellow Minneapolis residents Marijuana Deathsquads. Their next Austin show is tonight (2/15). Pictures from the last two are HERE and HERE.

Har Mar Superstar @ Mohawk - 2/8/12 (more by Tim Griffin)

All dates and FJM song clip below...

Continue reading "Father John Misty & Har Mar Superstar going on tour (dates)"

Ava Luna at BV Holiday Party last month/year (more by Jessica Amaya)

Wintersleep are going on a short North American tour this month which ends in 2 NYC dates happening on January 24 at Mercury Lounge with Pretty & Nice and January 25 at Glasslands with ARMS and Writer. Tickets for the Mercury show and the Glasslands show are on sale now. All Wintersleep dates are listed below.

Speaking of ARMS, their frontman, Todd Goldstein, is opening for John Roderick (of the Long Winters) at his Mercury Lounge show (1/28), which is three days after ARMS play Glasslands and one day after John Roderick opens for Aimee Mann at her sold out MHOW show. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show are still available.

In other Glasslands/Mercury Lounge news, Har Mar Superstar has a few shows announced including Glasslands on March 7 with Rewards. Tickets are on sale now.

Rewards were also just announced as the opener for the second School of Seven Bells show at Mercury Lounge (3/1). Their record release show (happening at the same venue on 2/28) sold out and Tickets for the new show go on sale Friday (1/6) at noon.

Both Rewards and School of Seven Bells also DJ in Brooklyn next Friday (1/13) at Cameo Gallery with CREEP, who is also DJing. Doors are at midnight for this late show, which takes place after Radical Dads play the same venue a few hours earlier. Radical Dads recently played a great set at our Brooklyn Bazaar Holiday Party.

The day before that Cameo Gallery show, NewVillager and Avan Lava play Mercury Lounge (1/12). Tickets are available.

Avan Lava is not to be confused with Ava Luna, who just played a BV Holiday Party with Widowspeak and Twin Sister, the latter of which they're heading out on tour with later this month. That tour doesn't include any NYC dates but Ava Luna just announced their own NYC show happening shortly after the tour ends at Mercury Lounge on February 24 with Celestial Shore, Darlings, and Cindy Lou Gooden. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (1/13) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/11) at noon.

You can catch Darlings in NYC even sooner when they headline Glasslands on Thursday (1/12) with The Suzan, Fabric, and DAYTONA (mems. of Harlem and Wild Yaks). Tickets for that show are available.

Friends play Cameo on January 24th.

Faris (of the Horrors) and Honor (of Cerebral Ballzy) both DJ cameo this Friday night (tomorrow, 1/6).

More Wintersleep & Har Mar dates below...

Continue reading "Wintersleep, ARMS, Ava Luna, Avan Lava, Radical Dads, Har Mar Superstar, NewVillager, Friends & other upcoming shows"

Ryan Olson of Gayngs' other group Marijuana Deathsquads are working on their debut album Crazy Master. You can stream the album's title track, making its debut here, below.

For more music, check out their recent session at Daytrotter, where it was written...

With Marijuana Deathsquads, Olson and frequent collaborators such as Doomtree's Mike Mictlan, Rhymesayers' P.O.S. and Har Mar Superstar make you feel as if you've just been bit by a psychedelic rattlesnake and you're quickly losing your mind as the white venom courses through your veins. You can just shut your eyes and feel the dizziness take over, move you around the floor, twist you over the cushions or into the thin sheets of a bed. You feel as if you could be arrested for just being where you are right now, as if you've done something immoral that you don't even remember, as if the fog's either just wearing off or it's just setting in. We're on the borderline of cognition and full-blown fuzziness. They recreate the sensations of free-fall and in coming upon a bed full of tarantulas when you'd have been scared out of your skin just seeing one of them. It's a longer route to getting intimate with someone else (compared with the sax and vocoder-harmony-rocking style of GAYNGS), but Marijuana Deathsquads still leave the possibilities out there for you to do what you will with them. The frightening segments are interspersed with celebratory dancehall beats and you can almost see Olson hopping around behind his laptop, his mouth blowing up with ecstasy, stoned out of his mind, with the biggest smile you've ever seen ladling the bottom half of his face. You join in the look and go where the Deathsquads take you.

Marijuana Deathsquads will be playing multiple shows with sometimes Gayngs member/Deathsquads collaborator and fellow Minneapolis resident Har Mar Superstar at Bowery Electric in NYC during October. The residency will take place each Monday for four weeks. It kicks off on Monday, October 3 with guests Crazy and the Brains and DJ Ted Leo. The 10/10 show includes The Dirty Fences and Only Son. The 10/17 show includes Mike Mictlan of Doomtree and Spyder Babie Rawdog. The 10/24 show has Polica (Channy of Gayngs), Fur Pillows and The Young Things. Tickets for each night of the residency are on sale now. All tour dates are listed below.

Speaking of Ted Leo and Bowery Electric, catch Ted as part of a BrooklynVegan-presented Replacements tribute show at the NYC venue in November.

Speaking of tribute shows and Har Mar Superstar, Har Mar is also taking part in Petty Fest at Bowery Ballroom and MHOW in October.

All tour dates and the MD song below...

Continue reading "Marijuana Deathsquads (Ryan Olson of Gayngs) setting up residency in NYC w/ Har Mar Superstar, releasing an album (dates & song premiere)"

Petty Fest is returning to NYC this October, though unlike previous years, this year there will be "Two Nights To Get Drunk And Celebrate The Songs Of Tom Petty." The fest is taking place October 5 at Music Hall of Williamsburg and October 6 at Bowery Ballroom. The fest is (almost) the same lineup of musicians that usually get together for things like this, like Norah Jones, Nicole Atkins, Jesse Malin, Sammy James Jr. (The Mooney Suzuki), Jody Porter (Fountains of Wayne), Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady, Josh Lattanzi of The Lemonheads, and others. Interesting additions inclue Har Mar Superstar and Jonny Corndawg. I hope they do a duet. And of course there will be "surprise guests". Tickets for both nights go on sale Thursday (9/1) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (8/31) at noon. $2 from each ticket will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Jonny Corndawg meanwhile will also be in NYC TONIGHT (8/30) for his record release show at Union Pool.

Full Petty Fest lineup, flier, and a recent video of Neko Case and My Morning Jacket covering "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" together, below...

Continue reading "Petty Fest returns in 2011, 2 nights, 2 venues"

photos by Amanda Hatfield and Timothy Griffin

"After last week's tsunami attacks & Thursday's brawl at Brooklyn Vegan, I'll label my SXSW a success based on stopped on the street kudos." - Brody Stevens

Dominiuque Young Unique & Brody Stevens (pre-brawl)

"...we somehow got in the cross hairs of a drunk guy (thank you open bar) assaulting the Brooklyn Vegan party hypeman, who in turn, beat the shit out of the guy we were affectionately referring to as "Aaron Neville" at the time. In any case, he was a good comedian, despite getting ejected from his own gig - check him out on twitter @AllThingsBrody" [robotanists]

As advertised, comedian Brody Stevens hilariously hosted the heck out of our Thursday day party at Swan Dive and Barbarella, and he would have hosted even longer if he hadn't been ejected from the venue for taking justice into his own hands after an audience member grabbed his mic out of his band and threw it. The Strokes, DFA1979, OMD & Ben Weasel all had highly advertised drama happen at SXSW shows, but Brody Stevens was responsible for my own craziest SXSW 2011 story.

A few more pictures from his pre-brawl sets, Dominique Young Unique (who performed) and Har Mar Superstar (who was just there hanging out) included, below...

Continue reading "Brody Stevens (kicked some ass) @ the Thursday BrooklynVegan day party (pics)"

photos by Timothy Griffin

Gayngs / Local Natives

"To create the GAYNGS' Regrind EP all of the stems from the bands debut album, Relayted, were arbitrarily named and compiled into a list. Ensuring anonymity, the list was presented in alphabetical order (shown below) to a collection of producers and musicians. They were then instructed to choose only 10, without knowing what songs they came from or what instruments they contained. One could choose anything from four sax solos and six bass lines, to eight keyboards and two background vocals. The combinations that could be chosen were indefinite...the only certainty was that the parts would all be set to the tempo of 69 beats per minute.

From there, the re-grinders were free to chop, pitch-shift, and otherwise pulverize the stems into a new, cohesive song. The only rule was that they must use all 10 stems they were given, and that the tempo must remain at GAYNGS' standard 69 bpm.

P.O.S, Cecil Otter, Lazerbeak, Paper Tiger, MK Larada, and Plain Ole Bill (all from Minneapolis Hip-Hop Collective Doomtree) were the first to step up to the plate.

All turntablin' was done by Plain ole Bill. The Cook Bros (Megafaun) also lent their talents on keys."

You can listen to and download Regrind, which is out now, at the end of this post.

Gayngs seem to be taking it day by day - the supergroup of sorts has publicly toyed with the idea of the band only touring once, but the demand seems to be there, and so they continue to hit the road (though Justin Vernon is not always guaranteed to be a touring member). On Friday night they shared a sold out bill at Stubb's in Austin with Local Natives, and this coming week they'll play at least two more Austin shows during SXSW, and in April they do Coachella. Har Mar Superstar, like he has in the past, was filling in for Vernon at the smooth rock & autotune-filled Austin show where they covered Godley & Creme's 'Cry', and George Michael's 'One More Try'.

Local Natives, who also play a SXSW show (but only during Interactive), played songs from Gorilla Manor and apologized for not having much more than that. They promised a new album before their next tour through Austin. You can see their whole setlist, and more tour dates, and more pictures from the Stubb's show, and the Gayngs EP, below....

Continue reading "Gayngs released a remix EP, played Stubb's w/ Local Natives (pics), playing other shows (dates)"

Har Mar Superstar & Gayngs @ The Box in NYC (photo by Lisa-Thi Beskar)

In the midst of a lawsuit releated to the loss of their tour bus in Texas,, Minneapolis soft rock supergroup Gayngs flew back to NYC in late October (the same month they played Music Hall of Williamsburg, Bowery Ballroom and Jimmy Fallon) for a post-tour, one-off, private show at The Box. Why did they do that? Because actor Josh Lucas, who met and saw them on that same episode of Fallon (he was one of the guests too), paid them to come and play his private pre-Halloween party at the Lower East Side club which he partially owns.

The cast of Gayngs that night included frontman Ryan Olson (of Marijuana Deathsquads), Ivan Rosebud on lead vocals, Channy Moon Casselle of Roma Di Luna on lead female vocals, three members of Megafaun (Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Joe Westerlund), Zak Coulter and Adam Hurlburt of Solid Gold, and.... fellow Minnesotan Har Mar Superstar who was basically filling in for Bon Iver aka Justin Vernon (who couldn't make the show probably because he was too busy chillin' with Kanye).

Gayngs have no more upcoming shows, possibly ever, but Har Mar can be found headlining venues twice in December. First you can catch him at First Avenue in hos hometown on December 15th, and then he heads back east for the New Years Eve show at Littlefield in Brooklyn (622 Degraw st.). Openers still TBA, but $25 tickets go on sale today, 11/19, at noon.

You guys ready to party?....

Continue reading "Har Mar Superstar filled in for Bon Iver @ a private Gayngs show @ The Box, playing New Years Eve @ Littlefield "

photos by Rachel Carr

The sold-out event, concisely named "No Cancer!" hoped to raise money for Irene Garcia, the mother of a prominent L.A. scenester who was recently diagnosed with what an event volunteer would only call "an extremely rare form of cancer." All proceeds from the daylong festival -- including ticket revenues and merchandise sales -- went directly to the cause.

Organized by local indie promoting giant Sean Carlson and his team at FYF Fest [I HATE ROCK N ROLL RECORDS and VIDEOTHING.COM], "No Cancer!" brought together an eclectic group of well-known and under-the-radar bands from Los Angeles and across the country, with acts hailing from New York and Texas performing over the course of the afternoon. [Daily Trojan]

As advertised, No Age, Vivian Girls, Abe Vigoda, Cowabunga Babes, Best Coast, Nodzzz, Darker My Love and others played "No Cancer: A benefit for our Friend's Mom" in L.A. on Sunday, February 7th. Sean Carlson and FYF [update: who were NOT the organizers of this - see fixed quote above] are also the ones behind The Soft Pack's 10 shows in 10 days one weak earlier. More pictures from the benefit, with the full lineup and Vivian Girls' setlist, below...

Continue reading "No Age, Vivian Girls, Abe Vigoda, Best Coast & others played a benefit for Irene Garcia in LA - pics"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Salvador Santana - "Keyboard City" f GZA (Dan Deacon Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mando Diao - "Dance With Somebody" (The Hood Internet Remix f GZA & Cadence Weapon) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Lips - "Drop I Hold" featuring GZA (MP3)

GZA & Black Lips at SXSW 2009 (photo by Bill Pearis)

Still no word on a Gucci Mane/Beirut collabo album, but Wu-Tanger GZA has been hard at work rocking remixes and dropping collabos a-plenty. After appearing on a remix of Mando Diao's "Dance With Somebody" w/ Cadence Weapon by The Hood Internet (get that above), GZA has also popped up on another Hood Internet remix, this time of Salvador Santana's "Keyboard City". That remix inspired a second (a re-remix?) this time with Mr Green Skull himself, Dan Deacon.

Originally, GZA was featured over a remix of the song "Keyboard City" done by The Hood Internet. Now, Dan Deacon took that remix and dissected it into this an awesome blend of Vocoder / electro madness.
This collaboration was inspired by the idea of GZA and Dan Deacon working together and Salvador Santana a platform was set for more original material between the two in the future. GZA first caught wind of Dan Deacon earlier this fall and after a connection via their publicist, Dan ended up taking GZA and Salvador's remix and putting his own twist on it.

It's not the first time that the Genius has collabo'd with indie artists (he teamed up with Black Lips at SXSW, dropped mathematics on a Peter Bjorn & John's forthcoming Living Thing remix LP, and played with King Khan at FFF and elsewhere), and it won't be the last. So far we already know that Fucked Up and Devendra Banhart have contributed some original material for GZA, but now comes word that Health have remixed a track, Har Mar Superstar is on board and Kevin Barnes (Of Montreal) has also hooked up some science for GZA which will appear on his new album out in late spring of 2010. Look for it.

GZA also recently popped up on Fucked Up's charity single which is on iTunes now.

GZA appeared on the stupid dope Raekwon album Only Built For Cuban Linx Pt II, and now that the onslaught of praise has died down somewhat, that Staten Island representative is on a short tour to remind the haters why he rules faces. Count on support from Queensbridge representatives Capone n Noreaga (who aim to "blow holes in your Versace") as well as Queen Yonasda. The trio hits Irving Plaza on 12/16, tickets are still on sale.

Ruff Ryder, D-Block member and OB4CL2 contributor Jadakiss has also scheduled a show at Highline Ballroom on 12/22 with Melanie Fiona & special guests. Tickets are on sale. J-A-to-the-mwah dropped The Last Kiss earlier this year.

Make sure not to forget the previously discussed, Method Man / Ghostface appearance as part of the Hip Hop Legends series at BB Kings on Dec 23. The jawdopping lineup contains a veritable who's who of 80s-90s greats including Doug E Fresh, EPMD, Main Source/Large Professor, Onyx, Showbiz & AG, Masta Ace, Ed OG, "+ more TBA". Tickets are still available.

Dig on some videos below, including one of GZA with King Khan, as well as Raekwon tour dates...

Continue reading "Raekwon on tour (dates), GZA likes to collaborate (Dan Deacon, Har Mar, Peter, Bjorn, John, King Khan & more)"

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) "

Tickets are on sale for the Julian Plenti show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale for the Julian Plenti show at Brooklyn Bowl.

Tickets are on sale for the Julian Plenti show at the Guggenheim.

Joe Pernice is performing "Music and Stories from It Feels So Good When I Stop" at Mercury Lounge on November 6th. Tickets are on sale.

Tickets are on sale for the Har Mar Superstar shows at Mercury Lounge and Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Athlete is playing Bowery Ballroom on November 3rd. Tickets are on sale.

Florence & The Machine are playing Bowery Ballroom on October 27th. Tickets are on sale.

Three Pavement shows are on sale and/or sold out.

Do Make Say Think, Art Brut, Girls, and Land of Talk tickets went on sale today.

Wolfmother, The Cult & Type O Negative tickets are on sale.

New Yorker Festival tickets went on sale at noon.

Breakfast at Sulimays reviews DJ Tiesto (featuring Tegan & Choir) and Volcano Choir (Bon Iver) in the video below...

Continue reading "Julian Plenti, Har Mar Superstar, Joe Pernice, other tickets "

The always-entertaining Har Mar Superstar is teasing the video for 'Tall Boy,' the lead single from his upcoming album 'Dark Touches,' with a series of film clips that will be unleashed one per week. "They're little tidbits. I'm going to roll out a whole other series before the album," Har Mar tells Spinner. "I'm all about making short videos and having people get excited and pass them around."

The 'Tall Boy' teasers will feature such celluloid luminaries as Eva Mendes, Eric (from Adult Swim's 'Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'), and Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat [the latter two are posted below].

Har Mar originally wrote the racy 'Tall Boy,' which is about a girls' night out -- not necessarily only drinking 16-ounce cans of beer -- for Britney Spears, hoping it would be chosen for her 2007 record, 'Blackout.' Though 'Tall Boy' didn't make the final cut, Har Mar is far from disappointed that the pop princess's peeps passed on it. "That probably was a great choice for them. They should have passed on it," he emphasizes. "It's a song glamorizing drinking tall cans of beer and f---ing tall dudes. She was out of her mind then. C'mon, it would have been a coup for me, but, at the same time, I feel like for everybody's well being it was such better choice for them not to do it."

His first record in five years, Dark Touches, comes out October 13th on Dilettante Records. That's the cover above, and three of those 'teaser videos' are posted below with a free MP3 widget.

Har Mar is going on tour across North America this fall. His dates includes two NYC shows: one on October 26th at Music Hall of Williamsburg and one October 27th at Mercury Lounge. Tickets for both go on sale Friday, September 18th at noon.

On top of the new record, Har Mar also contributes a song (a collaboration with Adam Green) to the soundtrack for the new Drew Barrymore movie. And he's also in it.

All tour dates, video teasers, and album tracklist and info (including a list of album guests) are below...

Continue reading "Har Mar Superstar - new album, videos, 2009 Tour Dates "