The Rosebuds are one of the many acts announced for this year's Hopscotch Music Festival which happens in Raleigh, NC from September 5 - 7. Their performance there will be a special one, as they'll be performing their version of Sade's Love Deluxe album in full. Three-day Hopscotch wristbands are on sale now. If you haven't heard their version of Sade's album, you can stream it below or download it for free.

Right after Hopscotch, The Rosebuds will head north for a short East Coast tour, where they'll also be doing Love Deluxe, including a stop in NYC at Mercury Lounge on September 12. Tickets to that show go on sale Friday (5/3) at noon. All tour dates are listed below.

In other Rosebuds news, the band have contributed a new song to the accompanying soundtrack DC Pierson's young adult novel Crap Kingdom. The soundtrack also includes new, original songs from Ted Leo, Jean Grae, Free Energy, Advance Base and more. You can download the whole thing for free here and stream it below.

Continue reading "The Rosebuds have a new song on 'Crap Kingdom' soundtrack, playing Sade's 'Love Deluxe' at Hopscotch fest and at a few other dates"

One of the most eclectic lineups in the US, Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, NC, will be back for 2013 on September 5 -7. Pulling from all genres, this year's line-up includes names like Big Boi (who plays NYC tonight), Spiritualized, Sleep, Wolf Eyes (who have a new video), The Breeders (performing Last Splash), John Cale, Kurt Vile & the Violators, Gorguts, Inter Arma (who play NYC on Saturday), Double Negative (who played NYC this past weekend), Swearin' (them too), Pissed Jeans, Dan Friel, Waxahatchee and many many others. Three-day wristbands are on sale now with individual day tickets going on sale in June. Full lineup is below.

Continue reading "Hopscotch announces 2013 lineup (Big Boi, Sleep, Spiritualized, Kurt Vile, Wolf Eyes, John Cale, more)"

The 2012 Hopscotch independent music festival is underway in venues all across Raleigh, NC. Shows happen at night, and during the day. One such example of the latter is a show BrooklynVegan is co-presenting TODAY (9/7) at Pour House (Noon - 5:45PM, 21+, FREE). And it looks like this:

4:50PM - 5:30PM - Flock of Dimes (Jenn from Wye Oak)
3:45PM - 4:35PM - Field Report (Chris Porterfield of DeYarmond Edison)
2:45PM - 3:25PM - Odonis Odonis
1:50PM - 2:30PM - Dope Body
1:00PM - 1:35PM - Made of Oak (Nick from Megafaun)
12:15PM - 12:45PM - White Life

On September 25, Merge will release "Curtain" b/w "Apparition,"the second in a series of 7-inch singles from Flock of Dimes, the solo project of Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner. Limited to 1,000 copies, each 7-inch includes a download coupon for both tracks.

Jenn launched Flock of Dimes in 2011 as a way to explore more experimental recording and songwriting outside of the burgeoning success of Wye Oak. A tour opening for Sharon Van Etten followed, and a debut 7-inch, "Prison Bride" b/w "I Can't Tell You Why (screwed mix)," was released by Baltimore-based Friends Records in April of 2011. There are more singles planned as part of this series, but a full-length is not yet on the horizon.

"These two songs function as a pair of opposites: 'Curtain' documents the thoughtless, obsessed joy of new love, whereas 'Apparition' attempts to catch sight of the ghosts it leaves behind in the wake of its absence," says Jenn.

Produced and realized with the help of Mickey Free, "Curtain" b/w "Apparition" features a beautiful cover photograph by Matthew Yake<./blockquote>If you're in NC, stop by today. Listen to "Curtain" by Flock of Dimes, along with a reminder of Wye Oak's upcoming tour dates (which will hit Maxwell's & MHOW), below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch is underway in NC (come to our day party today); Flock of Dimes releasing 7" on Merge"

Like their Hoboken neighbors The Feelies, The dB's tend to be homebodies, not touring much -- even with a new album out, their first in 25 years. (Their last show was a record release party last month at Le Poisson Rouge.) But they do play locally, which is great for those of us in the NYC area. The dB's next show is at Maxwell's on Saturday, September 1 and tickets for that show are on sale now.

The only other dB's show listed at the moment is September 6 at the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC (which is also a hometown show for singer Chris Starney). A few recent live performance videos, which you can watch below, find the band in fine form.

Also below is video from The AV Club's "Undercover" series of The Spinto Band covering dB's singer Chris Stamey's 1977 single "The Summer Sun" on a Chicago rooftop.

Continue reading "The dB's playing Maxwell's before Hopscotch Music Fest"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Holograms - Chasing My Mind (MP3)

Stockholm, Sweden's Holograms will release their self-titled debut via Captured Tracks on July 10. The band will be in North America in late summer, stopping at Mercury Lounge on September 4 before heading to the Hopscotch Music Festival (Sept 6 - 8) in Raleigh, NC. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show go on AmEx presale today at noon with general on-sale Thursday (6/21) at noon.

With bleating synths, jagged guitar lines and the occasional skronky sax, Holograms is angry, attitude-heavy post punk that doesn't skimp on the hooks. (Fans of early Bunnymen and Iceage take note.) You can download "Chasing My Mind" at the top of this post and you can watch a couple videos at the bottom of this post.

While a full tour hasn't been announced, Holograms do have a few other North American dates in September scheduled, all of which are listed below.

Continue reading "Holograms releasing debut LP, touring in September (dates)"

JAMC at The Fillmore, SF 6/14/2012 (via @Starflyerboy)

As we knew The Jesus & Mary Chain were heading to the East Coast (Osheaga in Montreal in August and Hopscotch in North Carolina in September), and various dates around Hopscotch have leaked, but we've been wondering when and if an NYC show might appear. Turns out there are two: the JAMC will play Irving Plaza on September 13 and 14. Tickets for the 9/13 and 9/14 shows go on sale Friday, June 22 at 10AM with a presale starting June 21 at 10AM. All currently known JAMC dates are listed below (more to be announced).

The Reid brothers played California last week, with a Stop at the Fillmore in San Francisco on 6/14. Here a bit of SF Weekly's (mostly) positive review:

Last night at the Fillmore, The Jesus and Mary Chain botched the beginning of three different songs, accidentally knocked over multiple microphone stands, and dropped many drum sticks. The Reid brothers, Jim and William, who comprise the group's core, bickered; additional guitarist John Moore was told to "shut up"; and the microphones fed back intermittently. Yet it was incredible how well all of this negativity suited the band.

The JAMC's aesthetic is marked by a duality that permeates every facet of its existence. Each hook is balanced with noise. Its catchiest tunes are usually the most depressing lyrically. During the band's set last night, this duality manifested itself in more than just the songs. Adorned in black blazers underneath minimal lighting, and enshrouded in gratuitous clouds of smoke, the group maintained a stoic attitude throughout the evening that was only broken by fits of frustration...

... The most upbeat tunes were followed by the most mournful, and activity on the sold-out dance floor degenerated into a bog of underwhelmed fun-seekers. Seemingly in a reaction to the morose pace of "Sidewalking," one attendee clambered on stage and began crawling. For the duration of the song's final verse, chorus, and outro, the woman slowly crawled her way from one side of the stage to the other, uninhibited, and looked decidedly cool doing it. A frenzied stage diver would not have had nearly the same effect. Anticipating the inevitable plunge and capture, she donned shades and plodded along with the perverse determination of a cult ritual. Like the tragic heroine in a JAMC lyric, she made a spectacle before self-destruction. [SF Weekly]

Continue reading "The Jesus & Mary Chain add two NYC shows @ Irving Plaza, played San Francisco & other gigs in CA (setlist & dates)"

by Bill Pearis

The dB's will release Falling Off the Sky, their first new album in 25 years, on June 12. It's the first in 30 years featuring the band's original line-up, including Chris Stamey who left the group after 1982's Repercussion. The album was produced by the band with help from North Carolina cohorts Mitch Easter (who was an auxiliary member of the band at SXSW this year) and Scott Litt. You can stream two songs from the album at the bottom of this post. You can stream the dB's four '80s-era albums at Spotify (Stands for deciBels and Repercussion are powerpop classics).

You can see The dB's play this Sunday afternoon (5/6, 4:45PM), headlining the annual Hoboken Arts & Music Festival. The fest is free, and happens on Washington St. between Observer Highway to 7th St. and also features Freedy Johnston, The Front Bottoms and more..

The dB's will also be playing a record release show at Le Poisson Rouge on Friday, June 15 and tickets go on sale today at noon. The band have a few more shows scattered throughout the summer and all dB's dates are below...

Continue reading "The dB's releasing first album 25 years, playing Le Poisson Rouge, Hoboken Music Festival and other dates"

photos by Alex Broadwell

Future Islands

Like Guided by Voices, manay bands (duh) played the 2nd annual Hopscotch Music Festival in North Carolina celebrated in early September. Here are some pictures of a few of the bands that I forgot to post earlier. They continue below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Fest 2011 (belated pics)"

photos by Alex Broadwell

9:00 P.M., 9/9/2011 --Earlier this summer, it was announced that Guided By Voices's headlining stint at Hopscotch would mark the band's "final-ever" live performance. Strangely, the mood here at City Plaza is generally indifferent. I suspect that this might be because: a) people aren't convinced that this is really the end, being as this isn't GBV's first trip to the retirement home; b) people are beginning to accept that frontman Robert Pollard has reached Danny Glover-like levels of being "too old for this shit"; or c) going into the festival, the band didn't really play up the fact that this was going to be their final show. Whatever the case, the lo-fi legends don't appear to be bothered by the surprising lack of fanfare they're receiving. Assuming this really is the end, GBV might not have gone out with a bang, but they didn't exactly exit with a wimpier either." [Slant Magazine]

Continue reading "Guided by Voices played their final show (maybe, who knows) @ Hopscotch Fest (pics)"

photos & videos by Jessica Amaya

The Love Language @ The Rock Shop

The Love Language played The Rock Shop on Saturday (8/20) with Nightdogs and IYEZ. Pictures and videos from that show are in this post.

The show was one of a few for the Merge-signed headliner before they play Hopscotch Fest in Raleigh, NC this September. Hopscotch recently updated their lineup to include The Men, Hospitality, Fan Modine, and Dreamers of the Ghetto. The Light Pines, who were scheduled to play the fest, have broken up and had to drop off, and Apex Manor, who were also scheduled to play, cancelled all of their 2011 appearances, including Hopscotch. Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio, playing the fest on September 8th with The Necks, J Mascis and Steve Gunn at Fletcher Opera Hall, has revealed its band lineup. You can check out the full schedule at Hopscotch's site and purchase Tickets there too.

More pictures and video from Brooklyn below...

Continue reading "The Love Language played the Rock Shop (pics), playing Hopscotch Fest (updated lineup)"

The second annual Hopscotch Festival will go down in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, across 12 different venues with over 135 bands, from September 8th through 10th. The lineup this year runs the gamut of independent music... from traditional indie staples (The Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) to southern-inflected rock (Drive-By Truckers) to noise (Prurient) to hip hop (Beans) to garage (Jeff The Brotherhood) to funk (Budos Band) to metal (Krallice), and everywhere in between (Swans, Rhys Chatham, etc etc). Tickets are currently on sale. Full lineup is below.

Hopscotch happens almost three months after Guided By Voices play a Brooklyn Northside Festival show in McCarren Park (tickets) which is one day after Beirut plays a Northside Festival show on the same McCarren Park stage with... Sharon Van Etten (though she may have been accidentally announced at one point, they officially kept her placement on the bill under wraps until after Saturday's Music Hall of Williamsburg show). Tickets for Beirut/SVE are still on sale, and another opener will be added too.

Guided by Voices (whose Brooklyn show also has more openers coming) are also playing Pitchfork in July with Animal Collective whose Prospect Park show is now on AmEx presale.

Swans' upcoming NYC show is now on AmEx presale too.

Hopscotch lineup below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Fest returns to Raleigh (2011 lineup announced), Sharon Van Etten officially added to Northside Fest"

Hopscotch Music Fest will be happening at ten venues in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, September 9th-11th. The three-day fest's two headlining shows are Panda Bear & Broken Social Scene with The Rosebuds on September 10th, and Public Enemy with No Age & The Love Language on September 11th. Other acts at the fest include Tortoise, Akron/Family, Best Coast, Burning Star Core, Atlas Sound, Fucked Up, Harvey Milk, Lucero and 9th Wonder. The lengthy full list is below. Tickets are on sale now.

Panda Bear's only other tour date currently is at Pitchfork Music Fest on July 17th in Chicago.

Another person at the fest with only a handful of shows beforehand is songwriter Richard Buckner. As of now he has four gigs before Hopscotch in September, and one comes Saturday, April 17th at Union Hall in Brooklyn with Willy Vlautin of Richmond Fontaine. Tickets are on sale.

Richard Buckner hasn't had much in the way of news since three of his older records got reissued by this label Merge last year. He did stop by for a Daytrotter session that was posted March.

The list of bands at Hopscotch and Richard Buckner tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Music Fest in North Carolina has Panda Bear, Public Enemy, BSS & Richard Buckner (who plays other dates first)"