Iggy and the Stooges at Le Poisson Rouge (via @suziemay212)

As mentioned in yesterday's (4/28) What's Going On? post, Iggy and the Stooges came to NYC for a tiny show at Le Poisson Rouge, which was being taped by Soundcheck and NPR. It streamed live, but if you missed it or just want to relive the experience, NPR is now hosting a video of the entire performance. Check it out HERE.

While in town, Iggy and crew will appear on The Colbert Report tonight. Iggy and the Stooges' new album, Ready to Die, is also streaming on NPR, and the lead track, "Burn," is streaming below.

In related news, Iggy Pop (like Wayne Coyne) is no stranger to commercials, but he recently made one where the product is actually him. Check that out below too.

Continue reading "watch Iggy and the Stooges' entire Le Poisson Rouge concert; they'll be on 'The Colbert Report' tonight"

Vampire Weekend at an ACL taping in March (more by Tim Griffin)

today in NYC
* J Rome @ Joe's Pub
* ASSSSCAT 3000 @ UCB
* Olivier Manchon @ Barbes
* Stephane Wrembel @ Barbes
* Tower of Power @ BB King's
* Cheap Trick @ John Varvatos
* Jonathan Toubin @ Glasslands
* Kendra Morris @ The Ace Hotel
* Les Claypool @ Gramercy Theatre
* Lee Ranaldo Band, VBA @ Union Pool
* Vampire Weekend @ Roseland Ballroom
* The Rascals @ Richard Rodgers Theatre
* Rihanna, A$AP Rocky @ Prudential Center
* Steve Coleman and Five Elements @ The Stone
* JDH & Dave P (FIXED), Turbotax @ Secret Location
* Paul Oakley Stovall and Brad Simmons @ Joe's Pub
* How To Destroy Angels, DIIV @ The Wellmont Theatre
* Lovely Little Girls, Infantphant, BBIGPIGG @ Cake Shop
* BFA, Toddlers, Leverage Models, Nightdogs @ Mercury Lounge
* Pile, Fat History Month, Porches, Bennio Qwerty @ Death By Audio
* Ruwa, Hans Tammen, Matt O'Hare, Your Friends and Neighbors @ Cameo Gallery
* Dot Wiggin Band, Aye Aye Rabbit, Last Car, Supercute! @ The Bowery Electric
* Turn To Crime, Lone Wolf and Cub, Firecracker Firecracker, Polygamyst @ Secret Project Robot
* Sweat Lodge, Byron Westbrook, Che Chen of True Primes, Matteah Baim, Meg Rorison @ Silent Barn

The huge Red Bull Music Academy NYC residency kicks off tonight with a FIXED party at a TBA location. The residency runs through May 31 with tons of cool events. More details HERE and HERE.

If you don't have tickets to tonight's Vampire Weekend show, you can still watch the live broadcast, which is being directed by Steve Buscemi and starts at 9 PM. You can also see that broadcast on the big screens at Brooklyn Bowl.

As a commenter just pointed out, Iggy and the Stooges will be playing Le Poisson Rouge today at 5 PM for a Soundcheck/NPR-presented performance of their new album, Ready to Die, plus classic favorites. RSVP is full, but you can watch the show streaming live on NPR. NPR is also still hosting the stream of Ready to Die.

A$AP Rocky opens for Rihanna at Prudential Center tonight, but does not play Highline Ballroom afterwards. The Rihanna tour hits Brooklyn on May 4 and 5 at Barclays, and Rocky goes on another tour which hits the NYC-area for a few shows in August with Wiz Khalifa, Joey Bada$$, Smoke DZA, and others.

If you're going to Death by Audio tonight for the Pile, Fat History Month, and Porches show, it's worth getting there early for local openers Bennio Qwerty. You can stream their recently released EP below and download it (name your price) at bandcamp.

Bennio Qwerty also return to Death by Audio on May 4 to open the previously discussed Bass Drum of Death and The Beets show. And though we didn't make the connection at the time, Austin's A Giant Dog (mems. OBN IIIs) are on that show too.

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter.
Follow @bvChicago for just Chicago stuff.
Also follow @bvAustin for just Austin stuff.

Be our friend on Facebook too, and BV Austin's friend on Facebook and BV Chicago's friend on Facebook.

Follow BrooklynVegan on instagram.

Norwegian riffers Kvelertak made a video for the song "Kvelertak" off their pulverizing new album, Meir. Check it out below and catch the band in NYC on their tour with Cancer Bats and Black Tusk this May.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

Lee Ranaldo on stage w/ Dinosaur Jr. in 2012 (more by Gretchen Robinette)

The Lee Ranaldo Band, which features Lee along with his Sonic Youth bandmate Steve Shelley, Alan Licht, and Tim Luntzel, are about to head to Spain and Portgual for a short tour this month, and upon returning to NYC they'll play a hometown show at Union Pool on April 28. Admission for that show is $12 at the door and openers TBA. They've got some other dates coming up this year too, all of which are listed below.

Meanwhile, Lee and Steve's past Sonic Youth cohort Thurston Moore is on tour with his band, Chelsea Light Moving, and that tour hits NYC TONIGHT (4/5) at Bowery Ballroom with Prana-Bindu and Marco Fusinato. Tickets for tonight's show are still available.

Thurston also contributed to Joyful Noise's new "Cause & Effect" series, which pairs an influential solo musician with an artist they've influenced on a split 7" single. Thurston's 7" has a track by Talk Normal on the b-side. The series also includes Dinosaur Jr/Sebadoh's Lou Barlow paired with Dumb Numbers and The Jesus Lizard's David Yow paired with Child Bite. You can stream the Thurston Moore/Talk Normal 7" at Pitchfork and listen to the other two below.

Thurston Moore and ex-wife/Sonic Youth bandmate Kim Gordon (separately) are also set to play the Yoko Ono-curated Meltdown Festival in London which goes down from June 14-23 at the Southbank Centre. Other artists performing include Yoko Ono herself with the Plastic Ono Band, Patti Smith, Iggy and the Stooges, Siouxsie Sioux (her first show in five years), Reggie Watts, Deerhoof, Savages, Marianne Faithfull, Immortal Technique, Ryuichi Sakamoto with Alva Noto, Sean Lennon with Cibo Matto, Boy George and more TBA. More info at the festival's website.

Meanwhile, you can catch Kim Gordon in NYC at the recently expanded "Night of Improvised Round Robin Duets," which takes place during the Red Bull Music Academy NYC residency at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on May 1. Kim will be joined by Andrew Bird, Robert Glasper, Questlove, Andrew WK, James Chance, Julia Holter, Thundercat, and many more. Tickets for that show are still available.

All Lee Ranaldo dates are listed, along with the Joyful Noise 7" streams, below...

Continue reading "Lee Ranaldo Band touring; Thurston Moore w/ Lou Barlow & others on Joyful Noise 7" series, playing Yoko Ono's Meltdown"

Photos by Greg Cristman; words by Andrew Sacher

Iggy & The Stooges @ Mohawk, 3/13/2013

In addition to the thousands (millions?) of newer, buzzy, hyped bands at SXSW, there's always a few treats from some legends too. This year, one of those legends was Iggy and the Stooges, who are working on a new album this year. They played a House of Vans show at Mohawk last night (3/13), taking the stage after a killer set by Japandroids. Following some introductory music over the PA that sounded like it could score 300 or something, the members of The Stooges (Scott Asheton, Toby Dammit, James Williamson, and Mike Watt) took to their positions and then finally a shirtless Iggy Pop ran to the front of the stage as the audience howled in excitement.

I wasn't born yet when The Stooges made their first run as a band, but from the videos I've seen and the stories I've heard, Iggy was always a maniac on stage and he's still got it. He never stopped running around, yelling his vocals, and giving "fuck"-filled speeches between songs. They played a bunch of their old tunes ("Raw Power," "Gimme Danger," "I Wanna Be Your Dog") and also used the time to sample parts of their new record. Obviously the classics are what got everyone going, but those new tracks (like "Burn," which you can stream below) are pretty vitalized for a band this late in their career.

More pictures of the mayhem that was Iggy and the Stooges at Mohawk below...

Continue reading "Iggy & the Stooges played Mohawk @ SXSW (pics, review)"

Iggy & The Stooges, who had three classic albums during their first run as a band (1967-1971) and returned with Iggy, Rob Asheton, and Scott Asheton in tow for 2007's The Weirdness, are now ready to release another new album, Ready to Die (I guess they didn't feel Illmatic was fitting?), on April 30 via Fat Possum. Ron unfortunately passed away in 2009, but Scott is still with Iggy and they've regrouped with James Williamson, who ripped with the band on Raw Power. The lineup is rounded out by Mike Watt (Minutement, fIREHOSE, etc). On the decision to record another album, Iggy notes:

My motivation in making any record with the group at this point is no longer personal. It's just a pig-headed fucking thing I have that a real fucking group when they're an older group they also make fucking records. They don't just go and twiddle around on stage to make a bunch of fucking money...

That's excerpted from a video interview with Iggy that you can watch below, along with a promo trailer for the album...

Continue reading "Iggy & the Stooges announce new album for Fat Possum"

Via Buzzfeed & Laughing Squid, comes this handwritten list Kurt Cobain made, as published in Journals in 2002. Read the whole thing typed, below...

Continue reading "Kurt Cobain's 50 favorite albums"

Iggy & the Stooges at ATP in 2010 (more by Keith Marlowe)

Like last year's teaming up of Neko Case and Nick Cave, HBO series 'True Blood' brought together two musicians to record a song for an episode, this time with Iggy Pop and Best Coast (who play Terminal 5 this month) singer Bethany Cosentino. While Neko and Nick put their spin on The Zombies' "She's Not There," Iggy and Bethany recorded a new song, co-written by 'True Blood' music supervisor Gary Calamar, called "Let's Boot and Rally." The song was written for the episode, "Boot and Rally," which airs this Sunday (7/8). The two sound pretty great together, and you can hear it for yourself by streaming the song at KCRW or purchasing it on iTunes. Here's what Gary had to say about the collaboration:

Now, I have always been a weekend songwriter. I can bang out a handful of chords and I must say I've written a few stone classics over the years....in my mind anyway. Back at my office I break out my trusty rhyming dictionary and I start thumbing through it....mmm, one thing leads to another and I started getting, how you say, inspired. At this point I called my very talented friend and brilliant songwriter, James Combs and asked him to collaborate. We got down to business and came up with a song "Let's Boot and Rally". As many songwriters say, "the song just wrote itself", "I was just a vessel". That's what happened, kinda.

Meanwhile, to backtrack a little....Iggy Pop, or should I say Iggy's people, had reached out to me saying he was a True Blood fan and if any opportunities come up, to please keep Iggy in mind. What ? Music to my ears. We sent Iggy the demo of "LB&R". He loved it and said sign me up.

So, as I was listening to my favorite song this summer, "The Only Place" by Best Coast, and I thought maybe Bethany might like to join in the fun of "Let's Boot and Rally". Nah, she's too busy with her fabulous new album her great fashion line and being the cover girl for all the hip mags. What the heck (I don't talk dirty) I said. Why not give her a call. "Hullo Bethany" ....She dug the song the most and jumped at the chance to sing with Mr. Pop.

The rest, as they say, might be history....

Meanwhile, Iggy Pop has been up to a handful of other stuff as well. As mentioned, he teamed up with Joe Jackson for Joe's upcoming Duke Ellington tribute album, which came out at the end of last month. You can stream that whole album below.

Iggy also released his own album earlier this year, Après, which is mostly made up of covers of French songs, in addition to covers of The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Fred Neil, Yoko Ono and Cole Porter. You can listen to that album and hear Iggy talk about it in a YouTube playlist below.

In more recent news, he was interviewed by the NY Times last week, during which he dissed The Clash and talked about his penis. Here's an excerpt:

Many date the birth of punk rock to a show the Stooges played in London in 1972, which was seen by founding members of the Clash and the Sex Pistols. What did you think when the punks started releasing music a few years later?

I reacted to it better than I had to the hippie thing. As it developed, I couldn't stand the sincere punks. I never believed them. Still don't.

The sincere punks?

Like the Clash were going to make the world politically correct for everybody's benefit -- but only if you kept buying Clash records. I never really went for the righteousness. I went more for the profligate, sneering groups. I also realized that it was good that I wasn't doing that sort of music anymore. In penile, postpubescent rock, the generation is five years; it's not 25 years. It would have been worse if I was still knocking out stuff that sounded like my first record but not as good.

It's interesting that you call it "penile rock," because your penis seems central to your image. You're known for having had a lot of sex.

I wish I could have had more.

Really?
Well, theoretically. The problem is that it leaves you so little room to do other things.

Has your relationship with your penis changed?

I would characterize it sort of like a powerful interest group within a political party at this point. It used to be the entire political party.

In other news, the upcoming CBGB film (which stars Alan Rickman as Hilly Kristal), has revealed some other figures who will be portrayed in the film, including Iggy Pop. Keeping up their trend of interesting actor choices for the film, Iggy's character will be played by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. You can kind of see it.

Streams and a list of all Iggy & the Stooges dates are below.

Continue reading "Iggy Pop collabed w/ Best Coast, dissed The Clash, talked about his penis; Foo Fighters drummer playing him in CBGB film"