by Bill Pearis

Field Mouse

It's late April, time for The L Magazine's annual "8 Bands You Need to Hear" list. Like always, there's a few you've probably heard, a few you've heard of, and a few who may be new to you entirely. Here's the list, with the artists' next next NYC area show (where applicable)

Field Mouse (May 3 at the Rock Shop)

Ski Lodge (May 24 at The Rock Shop)

Daytona (April 27 at Death by Audio)

Evi (5/3 at Brooklyn Bowl opening for James Chance)

Black Marble (May 3, opening for Light Asylum)

Starlight Girls (May 26 at Cameo Gallery)

Plates of Cake (No upcoming shows)

Ravens & Chimes (June 1 at WNYC Green Space)

If you'd like to hear these 8 bands "right now" there are Bandcamp streams for all of them at the bottom of this post. This year's Honorable Mentions list includes ">The Immaculates, Old Monk, Hunters and Trailblazer.

Also, The L Magazine's Northside Festival (June 14 - 21) announced its initial 2012 line-up last week. In addition to GZA, Ceremony and Neil Hamburger (whose Northside shows we mentioned already), bands confirmed for the music portion of the Fest (June 14 - 17) include Of Montreal, Tinariwen, ?uestlove, Dam-Funk, Kool Keith, Chain & the Gang, Magrudergrind and more. Badges are on-sale now.

Click through for streams from all "8 Bands You Need to Hear"

Continue reading "L Mag picked 8 more 'Bands You Need to Hear Right Now', announced some Northside bands"

photos by Andrew St. Clair, words by Andrew Sacher

Tim Harrington @ Death by Audio 3/31/2012

All ages Williamsburg venue Death by Audio celebrated its fifth anniversary last month with sets by Tim Harrington (of Les Savy Fav, playing solo), Free Paint (Deerhoof's Greg Saunier and Flying's Sara Magenheimer), Grooms, and Neckbeard Telecaster. Check out more pictures from the anniversary party below. Meanwhile, they have a number of solid upcoming shows this month and next, which are highlighted in this post.

This Wedneday (4/18), Brooklyn's Hunters will play the venue. We profiled them when they toured with The Kills and Jeff the Brotherhood, after releasing a James Iha-produced, Nick Zinner-mixed EP, which you can stream/purchase at bandcamp. The bill also includes Oakland bands Sister Fucker and Generation, and Brooklyn-via Oakland band Buddy Bag.

Parts & Labor (who are on hiatus) member Dan Friel plays the venue on April 25 and again on May 2. The 5/2 show is with ex-Parts & Labor member Sarah Lipstate aka Noveller, who can also be found at Glasslands on Thursday (4/19) with Lotus Plaza and Disappears (tickets). Dan Friel also plays The Stone on May 4 at 8 PM before Bunnybrains plays at 10 PM. All Dan Friel dates are listed below.

Mr. Dream, who recently returned home after touring with Cloud Nothings, play Death by Audio on May 9 with Yvette, Pile, and Grass is Green.

Guardian Alien, who played DBA this past Friday (4/13), and plays The Stone on Tuesday (4/17), will play Death by Audio on May 11 with DJ Dog Dick and 2 Ton Bug.

The next night, May 12, pg.99 offshoot Pygmy Lush, who opens for Young Widows at Saint Vitus on 4/23, plays with PC Worship, Horse Lords, and Spa Castles. You can catch PC Worship at DBA again on May 25 with Psychic Ills and Ex Cops.

Toronto garage punks Teenanger, who will be in the Northeast US to open for Ty Segall and White Fence in Philly (5/18), will stick around to play Death by Audio in Brooklyn one day later (5/19) with Family Curse.

More pics and dates below...

Continue reading "Death By Audio celebrated 5 years w/ Tim Harrington & friends (pics), have more good shows coming up (as usual)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Kills @ Terminal 5 - 2/11/2012

"The Kills' show [Saturday] night at Manhattan's Terminal 5 was billed as a 10th anniversary concert, but the band hardly acknowledged the occasion over a 90-minute set focused mainly on material from their two most recent albums. There were a few surprises particular to this show: They were joined by four additional percussionists in matching black leather and red bandanas whose drumming was more ornamental than audible, and they revived the seldom-performed No Wow gem "At the Back of the Shell." But for the most part, this was business-as-usual for a band more invested in their present than their past." [Rolling Stone]

The Kills, no strangers to Terminal 5, completed their tour with JEFF the Brotherhood and Hunters at the big NYC venue on Saturday night. They also hit Letterman and The Standard while in town. The openers also played their own shows at Maxwell's and Death By Audio.

Here are the pictures from Terminal 5. More of them with the Kills' setlist, below...

Continue reading "The Kills celebrated 10 years @ Terminal 5 with JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters (pics, setlist)"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Death By Audio - Wednesday night - 2/8/2012

The Kills, JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters play their sold out NYC show at Terminal 5 on Saturday, 2/11, a date that coincidentally (probably not) falls right during Fashion Week. If we had put two and two together earlier, we probably would have theorized that the band that contains Kate Moss's husband would be playing more than one show while in town. Who caught the invite-only show at The Standard last night?

Who caught JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters (Uncle Bad Touch got stopped at the Canadian border) at Maxwell's instead? We didn't, but we do have a second set of pictures from the show they played one night earlier at Death By Audio in Brooklyn. They continue below...

Continue reading "The Kills played the Standard; Jeff the Brotherhood played Maxwell's (here's more pics from Death by Audio)"

photos by Devan Council

JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters, both on tour with The Kills (pics from their Austin show HERE), played a sweaty, sold-out show at Death By Audio in Brooklyn last night (2/8) The Numerators. Here are some pictures (Uncle Bad Touch were originally on the bill, but replaced by Hunters).

If you found yourself out of luck in getting tickets last night-- or for their sold-out Saturday night Terminal 5 show with The Kills-- you can also catch JEFF and Hunters again at Maxwell's tonight (2/9), with support from Devin. Tickets are still available for the Hoboken, NJ show.

More pics from DbA below...

Continue reading "JEFF the Brotherhood, Hunters & the Numerators played Death By Audio (pics), play Maxwell's tonight"

The Kills @ MusicFestNW 2011 (more by Autumn Andel)

The Kills, who are about to celebrate their 10th anniversary, will head out on a headlining tour in early 2012 with JEFF the Brotherhood and Hunters. Beginning in Chicago on January 20th, the Kills will end it back at their favorite NYC venue Terminal 5 on February 11th. Tickets for all North American dates go on band presale today. Tickets for the NYC show go on AmEx presale Wednesday and general sale Friday.

Meanwhile the Kills will spend November traveling around Europe with Weekend. All tour dates and a brand new video for "Baby Says", below...

Continue reading "The Kills going on tour w/ JEFF the Brotherhood & Hunters (dates, presale & new video)"

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Amanda Hatfield

Casiokids @ Public Assembly

Well, another CMJ week has come and gone. How did you fare?

Though Northside summoned a number of my favorite artists to town, the CMJ line-up was rather thin by comparison, so I made it my goal to catch as many new acts as possible this year. With help from BV's tightly scheduled day parties, I managed to squeeze in 46 bands. While it's all still fresh in my mind (ie, before I spend the next week hibernating), here's a recap of my week, complete with my favorite finds...

I kicked things off with trance-inducing, one-man knob twittler Sun Glitters. Figuring out how to bring life to headphone-friendly, sample-heavy music in a live audience setting can be a challenge, but the few I saw this week (Million Young, Chad Valley and Luxembourg's Sun Glitters included) were decent.

If last year was the age of the one-man laptop act, 2011 was rife with lo-fi, synth/guitar-heavy (mostly) male groups cloaked in reverb. Each band had its strengths: Sunglasses (great energy on stage), Gauntlet Hair, Guards (perfectly summed up the sound of the moment), 1,2,3, Balkans (nice balance of in-your-face guitars and sunnily-swaggering vox), Tiny Victories. But after a while, I confess they all started to blend together--especially since a good chunk of these bands came early in the week for me.

What did stand out for me in this category was San Diego's garage-psych outfit Tropical Popsicle. Instead of falling flat, the deadpan vocal delivery of Tim Hines pulled me in and kept my attention, making me forget about my plans to leave midset. Another pleasant surprise for me was Dive, the side project of Beach Fossils guitarist Zachary Cole Smith.

But after a rather slow start to the week when schedule issues and cancellations made me abandon my original plans, things definitely picked up midweek. I spent Wednesday evening shuffling around in the rain to some seven venues. From the synth-driven pop music of Norway's Casiokids (whom I managed to sneak in on my lunch hour) to the decent public radio-friendly folk-pop of The Lighthouse and The Whaler and Lissy Trullie's alluringly husky vocals, the day was full of pleasant surprises--not the least of which was John Maus, easily one of the highlights of my week.

As I walked through the door at 285 Kent, I immediately felt as if I had gone back in time. Thick music pumped from the DIY graffiti-covered space, through clouds of cigarette smoke. On stage, Maus shook with intensity as he addressed the mass of dancing, sweaty revelers. Beneath the shambling chaos of the quick synth riffs and simple drum lines is an unhinged but triumphant quality that is intoxicating. I had heard whispered stories of Maus shows before, but I never really understood the fervor until I saw it for myself.

Thursday was also packed with a number of good finds. I somehow found myself in the 7th floor of a swanky hotel for an "acoustic" (as in not electric; not unplugged) Dum Dum Girls set (though only 2/4 band members were present). Other highlights included the seriously talented and take-your-breath-away-beautiful dreamy folk-pop of Gem Club (who just released their debut album on Hardly Art), and Brooklyn's own, Headless Horseman who make fun, glitchy, hook-laden music with inventive beats (Their song "Wavlngth" was seriously one of my favorites all week.)

Friday, my band-count escalated rapidly, thanks to the BV day showcase at Public Assembly, which essentially had two bands playing each hour. I knocked out a few of the hyped bands in this fashion, including Chelsea Wolfe and Gauntlet Hair. (I also stepped over to Cameo briefly to catch a few adrenaline-packed songs from the Brooklyn duo Hunters.) With her beautifully haunting (but not annoying operatic) vocals Chelsea Wolfe was certainly one of the more memorable acts of the week. Would she be getting as much buzz if she didn't dress like "a medival [sic] reinactment [sic] person from Medival [sic] Times" (to quote an anonymous BV commenter)? Hard to say, but I have to give the woman credit--I couldn't take my eyes off her, and she was one of the few artists I caught twice. But my surprise favorite of the day show was Young Magic. Hip-hop and dark electro-pop may be unlikely bedfellows, but they sure make for quite an interesting pair. These guys are a force.

Other highlights of the day included the eye-catching electro-pop duo Purity Ring (love the name) and one of my favorite SXSW finds from earlier this year, Sea of Bees. At Webster Hall, Purity Ring's bass was so powerful at times that I almost forgot to breathe. Though the band relies on a lot of samples to craft their sound, they are far more interesting to watch due to their onstage chemistry and mysterious gold-piped instrument. Though nothing alike, my other favorite artist of the evening was Sea of Bees. Singer/songwriter Julie Baeziger's genuinely sweet demeanor and earnest acoustic performance are always a pleasant change of pace from the more aloof, laptop-driven artists that seem to sprout with the speed and frequency of mushrooms.

The week concluded not with a bang (I was turned away at the door of Brooklyn Bowl for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, whom I had hoped to end on), but with more of a slow fade-out. Forced to change my schedule at the last minute, I caught a few acts nearby, including Delicate Steve (how those five people were working from the same set list was a mystery at times given the haphazard nature of their sound, but it was fun to watch them put it all together), Races (pleasant and charming), Bleached, and about four minutes of the Kopecky Family Band (fun!) before hopping on the L and calling it a week.

So how does this year's CMJ stack up? Most people I spoke with seemed unimpressed. No doubt, the growth of SXSW--especially over the past few years--seems to have sucked some of the life out of CMJ. (It's hard to compete with free tacos, 76-degree days, and the compact nature of downtown Austin.) But like a hipster chick desperately scouring the racks at Beacon's Closet, I like the challenge of the frenzied search. There's good stuff in there hiding among the dross. You just have to look a bit harder.

---

Pictures in this post are from day parties at Pianos (We Listen for You) and Public Assembly (Under the Radar) on Wednesday. More of them below...

Continue reading "Rachel's CMJ recap +++ pics from 2 Wednesday day parties"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Heavy Cream @ Death By Audio

Heavy Cream played the show at Death By Audio last night (6/22), with a female-heavy lineup that included Elks, Teen Witch, and Hunters. Their tour next brings them to NJ tonight and eventually on the road with the mostly-girl group The Ettes.

More pictures from the Brooklyn show below...

Continue reading "Heavy Cream, Elks, Teen Witch & Hunters played DBA (pics)"

photos by Ryan Muir

The Jim Jones Revue @ Mercury Lounge

The Jim Jones Revue started a four-show NYC run on Thursday, July 22nd, with a gig at Mercury Lounge. The pictures here are from that Hunters-opened show. They finish the NY stint when they play Terminal 5 tonight (7/26) with Smashing Pumpkins.

One of the other shows took place Friday night at Maxwell's. Music Snobbery was there...

"Their super-charged music recalls all the great-pioneers of rock, mostly Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. Jim Jones and his crew only know one way to play guitar, hard. VERY hard ... like they're not satisfied unless their fingers are bleeding and people's brain fluid isn't seeping out of their ears. After one song I was like, "Great gosh of mighty!""

The UK band, fronted by the namesake ex-Thee Hypnotics singer, just brought their 2008 self-titled debut stateside. Their newer LP, Burning Your House Down, is due for a September 6th release in the UK and the rest of Europe (US release in the new year). The video for the first single off that, "High Horse," out August 23rd on 7" and MP3 in the UK, is posted, with more Mercury Lounge pictures, below...

Continue reading "The Jim Jones Revue played Maxwell's, Mercury Lounge w/ Hunters (pics), released a video, open for Smashing Pumpkins"

by BBG

Blank Dogs at South Street Seaport (more by Chris LaPutt)

Pendu presents: NY EYE & EAR FEST III
...a massive Annual Music and Arts Fete showcasing some of the most exciting bands, artists, and filmmakers currently living and working here in NYC. In addition, NYE&E assembles a Record Fair featuring NYC-based Record Labels and Vendors selling LPs, CDs, 7?'s, cassettes, lathes, comics, zines, stickers, and art prints. NYE&E exists to facilitate the introduction of new artists placing them side-by-side with the more well-known like an eclectic living mixtape of sound and vision. This is a festival for discovery - discover new bands + discover new art + buy new records + meet new people...

The title of the fest is inspired from the 1964 NY Eye & Ear Control soundtrack by Albert Ayler as well as the all-too-familiar signs seen daily in the subway tunnels by riders of the L-train of the infamous NY Eye & Ear Infirmary.

2009's NY Eye & Ear Fest happened in July of last year and featured performances from Magik Markers, Liturgy, Drunkdriver, Child Abuse, and tons of others. This year, the fest will spread over two days (May 22-23) at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and will feature appearances from Blank Dogs (one of two NYC shows in May, the second being May 12th at 131 Chrystie St.), Liturgy, Twin Stumps, Effi Briest, and others on the first day, with Xeno & Oaklander, Figure Study, Naam, Freshkills, Effing, and others rounding out day two. Full lineup by day is below. Get your tickets for day one or day two or both. Stream songs from every band on the bill at the Eye & Ear site.

Show flyer, full lineup and some vids are below.

Continue reading "NY EYE & EAR FEST III is coming to Brooklyn (lineup, tickets)"