Tickets to see Squarepusher at Le Poisson Rouge go on sale today at 10 AM.

Tickets for The Monkees show at NYCB Theatre at Westbury go on sale today at 10 AM. Tickets for their shows at Capitol Theatre and Count Basie Theatre go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for The Pet Shop Boys shows at Beacon Theatre go on sale today at 11 AM.

Tickets to see El-P and Killer Mike's new Run the Jewels project at Webster Hall with Despot and Kool A.D. go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Tricky at Webster Hall go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the Mad Decent Block Party in Williamsburg Park with Major Lazer, Flosstradamus, Rockie Fresh and more are on sale now.

Though Lower Dens were just added to the Liars show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, they have quickly dropped off of it. Tickets for the show are still available, and we're also giving away two pairs.

Small Black and Heavenly Beat are playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 30. Tickets for that show go on sale today at noon. You can stream Small Black's new song, "No Stranger," from their upcoming album, Limits of Desire (due out 5/14 via Jagjaguwar) below.

Tickets for The Rosebuds show at Mercury Lounge, which will in fact feature them performing Sade's Love Deluxe in full, go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Laura Marling at Roulette go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see John Grant at Mercury Lounge go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see The Polyphonic Spree at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see The Gaslamp Killer at Music Hall of Williamsburg go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Medicine at Music Hall of Williamsburg go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the Dirty Beaches shows at Mercury Lounge and Glasslands go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Pere Ubu at Bowery Ballroom go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see The Bronx aboard a Rocks Off Cruise go on sale today at 11:55 AM.

Tickets for the Shugo Tokumaru and Mirah show at Bowery Ballroom go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the PAPA show at Mercury Lounge go on sale today at noon.

Old Crow Medicine Show are playing The Capitol Theatre on June 7. Tickets for that show go on sale today at noon.

Wheatus are playing Gramercy Theatre on August 16. Tickets for that show go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the Cayucas show at Mercury Lounge go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Chief Keef at Best Buy Theatre with DJ Sinatra and Vinny Cha$e go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the Counting Crows and The Wallflowersshow at Hammerstein Ballroom go on sale today at 10 AM.

Tickets to see Vampire Weekend at Barclays Center go on sale Saturday at 10 AM.

Tickets to see Lil Wayne and T.I. at Jones Beach and PNC Bank Arts Center with 2 Chainz and Comcast Theatre with Tyga go on sale Saturday at 10 AM.

And lastly, the newest ticket info on those Bob Dylan shows: Tickets for Jones Beach with Wilco and Beck, Pier A Park with Wilco and My Morning Jacket, and The Ballpark at Harbor Yard with Wilco and My Morning Jacket go on sale to the general public Saturday (5/4) at 10 AM. A bobdylan.com presale (password: "TENACIOUS") is still running for all three shows, and a Live Nation/LN Mobile App presale starts today at 10 AM for the Jones Beach show. Tickets for the Susquehanna Bank Center show with Wilco and My Morning Jacket are already on sale.

Small Black song stream below...

Continue reading "tix on sale: El-P/Killer Mike, Tricky, Pet Shop Boys, John Grant, Mad Decent Block Party, Small Black, Dirty Beaches & more"

by Andrew Sacher

Imperial Topaz at The Stone - 2/3/13 (photo by Jen MacDonald)

Brooklyn ambient pop duo Imperial Topaz made their live debut in NYC at The Stone over the weekend (2/3). If you went, how was that? If you missed it, or want to see them again, you can catch them in Brooklyn at 285 Kent on March 8 with Small Black, ex-Beach Fossils project Heavenly Beat, and Beach Fossils DJs. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Imperial Topaz has had a steady release of singles and an EP, and since we last spoke, they dropped another track, "Nightface," another shimmering art pop cut that works just well as their previous ones. You can stream that song below or download it (name your price) at bandcamp.

Speaking of Beach Fossils, as mentioned, they play their record release show for Clash the Truth in NYC on February 23 at Bowery Ballroom (tickets).

Song stream below...

Continue reading "Imperial Topaz made their live debut, playing with Small Black and Heavenly Beat (stream a new track)"

Small Black at Brooklyn Museum in June (more by Jessica Amaya)

Today we've posted year-end lists by Andy from Cake Shop, Mark Eitzel, and James from Veronica Falls. Now we've got one from Josh Kolenik of Brooklyn chillwavers Small Black giving us a rundown of 12 singles he loved in 2012.

Based on Small Black's own sound, it's got an unsurprising amount of indie pop, R&B, electronics, and Young Chop-produced hip hop. But he also sneaks in the inclusion of some vintage-sounding psych folk courtesy of Jessica Pratt. Check out his full list of songs, along with streams and/or videos for each track, below...

Continue reading "Josh from Small Black's top songs of 2012"

Saint Lou Lou

Swedish/Australian twin duo Saint Lou Lou were set to go on a US tour with Urban Cone which would hit NYC on January 24 at Mercury Lounge and January 25 at Glasslands. The tour is still happening, but unfortunately Saint Lou Lou have had to drop of of all the dates. They write, "Dear Americanos: We have been forced to postpone our US tour in January due to visa issues. We are sad but will present new dates soon! xo."

On a lighter note, the band have been replaced on both NYC shows with some pretty solid local bands. The Mercury Lounge show (1/24) is now with Ski Lodge (tickets) and the Glassland show (1/25) is now with Heavenly Beat (ex-Beach Fossils), plus WIM is also on that bill (tickets).

For Heavenly Beat, the Glasslands show is one of two shows they'll be playing in NYC this January, including another show at Mercury Lounge on January 19 with Domino-signed Night Moves. TIckets for that show are on sale now. The show is part of a tour that Night Moves will be on, and all dates on that tour are listed below.

Continue reading "Saint Lou Lou drop off US shows; replaced by Ski Lodge & Heavenly Beat (who also play w/ Night Moves)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: METZ - Wet Blanket (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: METZ - Headache (MP3)

METZ at Metro, August 2012 (more by Grant MacAllister)

Toronto's sonic sandblasters METZ are in NYC for CMJ and will play four times while here, including the free BV day party on Friday (10/19) at Public Assembly. METZ play the front room at 3 PM, shortly after Deap Vally and Murals. We swear we'll post the whole line-up soon!

METZ's ripper of a debut album came out last week on Sub Pop and is highly recommended. You can download "Wet Blanket" and "Headache" above and you stream the whole album and watch the just-released video for "Wet Blanket" below.

METZ's additional CMJ shows include the official Oh My Rockness CMJ showcase on Tuesday (10/19) at Cameo that also features Chrome Canyon (who just played 285 Kent), Roomrunner, Moon King, Mood Rings, and Heavenly Beat. OMR, which is celebrating its eighth birthday, is throwing a CMJ Kickoff party tonight (10/15) at Pianos. METZ then plays Thursday (10/18) at Knitting Factory for the Sub Pop showcase; and the Pitchfork showcase at Villain on Friday night (10/19).

If you can't make the CMJ week shows, METZ will be back in November for two more NYC shows. All dates are listed below, along with the new video, album stream and show flyers.

Continue reading "METZ released debut album, new video & are in NYC for CMJ including BV day party on Friday (updated dates, streams)"

As mentioned in What's Going on Monday, California rawk duo Deap Vally canceled tonight's Maxwell's show (10/15). But there will be no shortage of chances to see them this week, as their CMJ schedule boasts five shows, including the BrooklynVegan day party on Friday (10/19) at Public Assembly. They'll be on early (1:30 PM) and we'll be letting you in on the full schedule real soon.

They'll also play the Fader Fort at Converse Rubber Tracks Studio on 10/17, Bowery Ballroom on 10/18 with MNDR, MS MR, IO Echo, Sky Ferreira, and Gabriel Bruce, Rockwood Music Hall on Friday night (10/19) after our day party with Matthew and The Atlas, Foreign Fields, Matrimony, and KOOL A.D; and finally Cake Shop on Saturday afteroon (10/20) for the Village Voice party with Delicate Steve, Dent May, Heavenly Beat. Vockah Redu and Daytona.

Deap Vally will open for Muse in November on their European tour. CMJ dates and flyers are below.

Continue reading "Deap Vally not playing Maxwell's, are playing BV party Friday"

Delicate Steve at 4Knots Festival 2012 (more by Chris La Putt)

Popgun Booking is turning four years old and they're celebrating with an anniversary party at their homebase of Glasslands on Saturday (9/29) featuring performances by 8-bit partiers Anamanaguchi and instrumental wonderkind Delicate Steve and DJ sets by True Womanhood and Friendly Ghost. (They also list Mitt Romney as DJing which is probably a joke, but his schedule is open that day.) The show is FREE but you do need to RSVP.

Delicate Steve, who spent most of the summer touring his new album, will be here for CMJ too. He's playing a just-announced My Social List showcase at the Martin Room in Webster Hall on October 16 with Teen Daze, Dent May, Heavenly Beat, Mac Demarco, Bleeding Rainbow, The Young Evils and Grand Resort. Tickets are on sale now.

Anamanaguchi, meanwhile, will be touring in October and November with Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin being the trek's midpoint. All tour dates, as well as a flyer for the Popgun Anniversary party, are below.

Continue reading "Delicate Steve playing CMJ after free show at Glasslands with Anamanaguchi who are touring this fall (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

Oberhofer

As mentioned before, Oberhofer are playing Brooklyn Bowl on Wednesday (8/29) and since we posted about that Bleeding Rainbow and Heavenly Beat have been added to the show, which makes for a pretty solid line-up. Tickets are still available but if you'd like to go to the show for free, we're giving away a pair of tickets. Details on how to enter are below.

Bleeding Rainbow's new album, Yeah Right, was supposed to come out October 9 but has now been pushed back to January 29. In the months leading up to it, the band will release a series of 7" singles, the first of which, "Pink Ruff," will be out in October, with "Drift Away" released in November and "Waking Dream" in December. You can stream "Pink Ruff" below and watch the video as well. Bleeding Rainbow head out on tour with Eternal Summers right after the Brooklyn Bowl show and will be back in NYC around CMJ. Updated dates are listed below.

The Brooklyn Bowl show will be the second show for Heavenly Beat in live band form. I caught the group's live debut at Public Assembly a few weeks back, and thought they were pretty good for a first show.

Video, streams and Bleeding Rainbow tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Bleeding Rainbow and Heavenly Beat added to Oberhofer show at Brooklyn Bowl (win tickets!)"

by Bill Pearis

I mentioned a while back that John Peña was looking to turn his Swedish-style indiepop Heavenly Beat solo project into a real live band and it looks like he's done so as the trio version of the group (as seen above) are making their debut Wednesday night (8/8) at Public Assembly with Plastic Flowers, Young Boys, and You. (That's You, the band, not you you. Unless you are in You. Then it is you.) It's $8 to get in before 9 PM and $10 after. You can also buy your tickets online.

The only other upcoming Heavenly Beat show at the moment is at Glasslands on October 11 with fellow Captured Tracks band (and real Swedes) Thieves Like Us and tickets to that show are on sale now. Jon did just make a video for the song "Tradition" and you can watch that below, along with a stream of the entire Heavenly Beat album.

Continue reading "Heavenly Beat are now an actual band, making live debut in NYC this week; watch their new video for "Tradition""

by Bill Pearis

photo by Terri Nguyen

Beach Fossils as a band have been mostly quiet this year so far, apart from a few live shows, but it's individual members have been very busy. Zachary Cole Smith has his increasingly popular DIIV (who may be playing right now somewhere in Brooklyn) and bassist and instrument-tosser John Peña, has his new, at this point solo project Heavenly Beat whose debut album, Talent, is out July 24 on Captured Tracks.

Where there's a clear sonic line between Beach Fossils and DIIV, Heavenly Beat goes a completely different path, making the the kind of breezy, jazzy indiepop -- complete with breathy vocals, sampled steel drums and pizzicato strings -- that one associates with Sweden's Labrador Records or, further back, Cherry Red and él in the '80s. It's the perfect soundtrack to your next white-linen-dressed picnic. ("Messiah" is especially good.) Check it out for yourself -- the whole record is streaming below.

John is stil trying to get the Heavenly Beat live experience worked out (maybe you wanna be in the band?) so no shows lined up at present, but hopefully before the year's out.

Continue reading "stream Heavenly Beat's debut album, 'Talent'"

DOWNLOAD: Heavenly Beat - "Messiah" (MP3)

Xeno and Oaklander at BV-CMJ 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Brooklyn synth goths Xeno and Oaklander have an upcoming local show this week at Public Assembly on Friday (5/11) with Frank (Just Frank), and DJ sets by Bauhaus/Love & Rockets bassist David J, CREEP and Todd Pendu. (There's also an open Asahi beer bar at 9:30.) Tickets are still available.

Next month, the band will head to Austin for Chaos in Tejas, and upon returning home, they'll play another NYC show at The Studio at Webster Hall on June 11 with fellow goths Plastic Flowers and Religious to Damn and fellow electronic artist Autre Ne Veut. Tickets are on sale now. The flier for this show is below.

In related news, Martial Canterel (aka Sean McBride aka 1/2 of Xeno and Oaklander) is opening for Iceage at LPR on 7/22 with Dirty Beaches and RØSENKØPF. Tickets are still available

RØSENKØPF also plays Glasslands with King Dude soon, in celebration of a new record. That record has a song called "Light The Way" which has a video which you can watch below.

In addition to DJing the Friday Public Assembly show, David J is also DJing tonight (5/10) at Elmurst club Arena Queens. Besides his gigs in Bauhaus and Love & Rockets (and Porno for Pyros and The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy), David J has a long solo career as well, having released his eighth album, Not Long for This World, last year on Starry Records. You can stream some of it here.

In more related news, Plastic Flowers have a NYC show coming up at Glasslands on July 10 with Captured Tracks bands Cosmetics and Beach Fossils side project Heavenly Beat (who has a new song out, download above), and Psychobuildings. Tickets are on sale now.

Speaking of both Cosmetics and Dirty Beaches, Exclaim points out that Montreal's Grand Trine have broken up and member Shubhayan Roy has joined Dirty Beaches while Tobias Rochman has joined Cosmetics.

All dates, stream, and flier below...

Continue reading "more Xeno & Oaklander dates; Autre Ne Veut; David J the DJ; new Heavenly Beat MP3 & a RØSENKØPF video too"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Hospitality - Friends of Friends (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Big Sleep - Valentine (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Big Sleep - Ace (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Moonmen on the Moon, Man - Hey Look, a Sweat Baloon Artist (MP3)

Hospitality (photo by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Happy Groundhog Day folks. As you may have heard, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow so we're getting six more weeks of winter. If that means the kind of winter we've had so far, I'm okay with that. I'm much more likely to head out and go see shows when not faced with the dreaded wintry mix. And there's lots of good shows this weekend, so let's get out there.

First up, the Hospitality record release party at Glasslands this Friday (2/3) (tickets still available). Their album came out this week on Merge, and I think makes a great case for not rushing things. Hospitality started playing about three years ago and released a CDR EP in the spring of 2009 that got them some notice. Most bands would've had an album out by the end of the year, but Hospitality took their time, honed their craft and became a really great live band. And the album is terrific, not a bad song in the bunch; winsome but there's some muscle in there too. You can stream the whole shebang at Merge's website or with Spotify.

The record release party also Glass Ghost and Dustin Wong on the bill. The band are also heading out on a quick tour of both coasts and will be in Austin for SXSW. All scheduled tour dates are below.

The Darkness

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum are The Darkness who are back for their first US tour in six years, playing Irving Plaza on Saturday (2/4, sold out) and Monday (2/6, still available). As stated before, I'm a huge fan of the Darkness' first album, 2003's near-perfect Permission to Land, which I picked as one of the best of the '00s. As a pop album. Justin Hawkins knows his way around a giant hook. After the overblown excesses of One Way Ticket to Hell (And Back) and Justin Hawkins' ill-advised Sunset Strip spandex group Hot Leg, the band seem to be back on track with new single "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us" which is a little more in the "Growing on Me" vein.

The Darkness' show at Bowery Ballroom back in 2003 was one of the most fun shows I've been to in the last ten years, and from YouTube footage of recent shows it looks like they've still got it. They are a kick-ass live band -- it takes skill to play "I Believe in a Thing Called Love's" solo whilst riding on your roadie's shoulders through the audience. (I hope they're still doing that.) Tickets are still available for Monday's show.

The Big Sleep

Hospitality aren't the only ones with a record release party this week. The Big Sleep released The Nature Experiments this week, their first album in four years and their record release show is tonight (2/2) at Knitting Factory. It might be their most melodic record to date, with more songs that have caught my ear on first listen than I remember them doing before. You can download two of the album's best tracks at the top of this post and the listen to the entire album at Spotify. The Big Sleep are touring as well, and all dates are at the bottom of this post.

Moonmen on the Moon, Man

Still more record release party fun: Tomorrow night (2/3) at Cake Shop is a dual record release party for Moonmen on the Moon, Man and Glass Anchors who both have record coming out on the venue's subsidary Cape Shok label which finally seems to be in gear after a lot of promise but inactivity. MMotMM, which might feature members who work or even own Cake Shop, rock in an late-'80s/early-90s college radio kind of way. Their endearingly sloppy pop -- with a little punk and twang -- woulda been right at home on, say, Frontier Records, nestled in amongst Flop and Thin White Rope and Redd Kross. You can download a track from the EP at the top of this post.

Glass Anchors is the musical project of songwriter Annie Sicherman who I admit to not knowing much about but her Cape Shok EP is lovely, dusty folk pop. Says the press release:

Honing her songs in various bands over various years, soaring songstress Annie Sicherman brings us GLASS ANCHORS. The songs on her fledgling EP are plaintive, reflective, honest, and good. GLASS ANCHORS sounds best tearing up road (preferably dirt), the one to oblivion - right after you ended the longest relationship you ever had, the one you thought would last, the one with the proposal. That road can be in your head, but certainly GLASS ANCHORS has the ability to take you there every time... with Glass Anchors, we have the real Annie 3000%, no matter what road you're on.

That's the big stuff this week. A few more picks, day-by-day, are below of things not already covered here.

Classixx

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2

LA's Classixx play the Popshop party at Santos with Workout and The French Horn Rebellion. You may know Classix from their remixes, like the excelent one they did for Phoenix's "Lisztomania." The group's new single is out this summer on a new label that's a joint venture from the Kitsune Maison folks and, I'm not kidding, the Cobrasnake.

Spacecamp, Mon Khmer, Romans and Skaters are at Bowery Electric. Spacecamp's new EP is pretty good, especially if you like a little Police in your pop rocks.

The Death Set, who I haven't seen play since maybe SXSW 2008, are at the Delancey. Always fun live.

continued below...

Continue reading "Hospitality, The Darkness, The Big Sleep, Moonmen on the Moon Man, Glass Anchors & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Bill Pearis

Blouse @ 285 Kent

Captured Tracks took over 285 Kent Tuesday night, featuring three bands from their roster, as well as one that they merely liked a whole lot. I'm not sure if it sold out, but it was a full house by the end of the evening and a pretty fun night all-around.

Last time Blouse were in town, the band were a five-piece with a lead guitarist who really had that early U2/Chameleons sound down, which took the band into more "rock" territory than what you hear on their synth-heavy debut. Last night, Blouse were a quartet with the keyboards back in the forefront. Charline Hilton is charismatic front person who is no slouch, on guitar and the whole band are pretty tight in general. Blouse are best when they break out of the dreamy midtempo sound that makes up so much of their album: the driving "Time Travel" is probably their best song, but it's the cinematic "They Always Fly Away," that really impresses. In 285's airplane hangar acoustics, the song goes widescreen.

Cosmetics probably were the most successful group of the night at least as far as marriage of sound to space. The Montreal duo's icy, desolate beat -- made by vintage synths and sequencers cranked really loud -- sounded great bouncing off the metal ceiling and concrete walls, and fit the overall bombed-out Berlin warehouse vibe of the place. (The duo, all popped collar leather jackets and model-pretty, looked the part too.) From the bathroom they sounded like a munitions factory...in a good way.

Not that successful were The New Lines, the one non-Captured Tracks band on the bill, who haven't quite figured it out live. Their album, one of my 2012 favorites, is chilly baroque pop densely layered with harpsichord and all manner of analogue synths. It would be hard to pull off even under the best of conditions, something 285 Kent doesn't exactly afford, but even harder when you're only three members strong and your very good drummer can't hear the backing tracks. While they don't necessarily need the sonic precision their studio recordings have, a live bassist laying down the record's grooves would help immeasurably towards filling things out sonically. They did, however, have really cool psychedelic projections.

I got to 285 just a hair late to catch opener Heavenly Beat, the solo project of Beach Fossils bassist John Pena whose second single "Faithless" is like a lost 7" from some early-00's Swedish indiepop band. I think both sides are terrific. From what I was told, Heavenly Beat live is currently just Pena onstage with a laptop/ipod backing and not doing a whole lot, so maybe I didn't miss much. He plays this Saturday (2/4) at Cake Shop with fellow C/T band DIVE, plus Caged Animals and Fabric which is a pretty good bill overall.

More pictures from all the bands, including a shot of Blouse's setlist, below.

Continue reading "Blouse, Cosmetics, The New Lines & Heavenly Beat repped Captured Tracks @ 285 Kent (pics)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

As predicted, Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend and Das Racist's Heems were both surprise guests at Small Black's mixtape release celebration at Glassands on 11/18 with Heavenly Beat. Download your copy of Small Black's Moon Killer FREE mixtape at their site. Check out Das Racist on Conan O'Brien tonight (11/28).

More pictures from the Glasslands record release show are below...

Continue reading "Small Black played Glasslands w/ Rostam, Heems & Heavenly Beat (pics)"