photos by Harriet Roberts

"The legendary Kid Congo Powers, co-founder of the Gun Club, guitarist for The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, will be releasing his new album with his group Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds this spring. Titled Gorilla Rose, the album follows in the footsteps of the band's 2009 Dracula Boots with more ram-charged boogaloo, sleazy psychedelia and Chicano garage rock. In The Red records is gearing up for the new album by releasing a series of oddball limited edition vinyl-only records by the band. The first of these releases dropped in the form of the "Five Greasy Pieces" subscription series. This is a very limited edition (250 of each) series of five different singles each containing two brand new tracks. Starting in January In The Red will be issuing one of these a month. The fifth and final single in the series will come with a handsome box in which all five will be housed. The only way to obtain these singles is to buy a subscription on the In The Red website. In March In The Red will be issuing a live LP by the band titled Live At The Prom which will be another vinyl-only limited edition release available exclusively online." [PR]

Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds recently played a show with Chain & the Gang (Ian Svenonius) and TV Baby (A.R.E. Weapons) at Secret Project Robot. More pictures from that show and a set of upcoming European tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Kid Congo releasing limited edition vinyl (and a new record soon), played Secret Project Robot w/ Chain & the Gang (pics) "

Greg Cartwright aka Greg Oblivian has teamed up with Coco Hames of The Ettes to form the Parting Gifts. They, naturally, recently played Gonerfest...

"Their set started with a catchy track, "Keep on Walkin'," from their upcoming album. They sounded great, with Chuck Berry riffs and boogie-woogie piano and awesome, pounding drums provided by Poni of The Ettes. Their music isn't straightforward punk, but soulful, moody garage rock that seems to take inspiration from many decades of intense, heartfelt rock 'n' roll." [Nashville Scene]

That "upcoming album" is called "Strychnine Dandelion", and is actually out now via In the Red and is streaming in full online.

Maybe you caught the Ettes Tuesday night at Bowery Ballroom. They opened for the Greenhornes. Catch the Parting Gifts Thursday (12/2) @ Maxwell's (if you have a ticket since it's the 2nd of eight sold out Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows), Friday (12/3) @ Union Hall with The Morgues (tickets), and Saturday (12/4) @ Sonar in Baltimore (thx anon).

Seven more YLT openers to figure out. All Ettes and Parting Gifts dates below...

Continue reading "The Parting Gifts are Greg Cartwright & Coco Hames (touring, playing NYC, opening for Yo La Tengo) ++ album streaming"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Intelligence - Like Like Like Like Like Like Like (MP3)

The Intelligence @ Market Hotel in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

One of Seattle's finest, The Intelligence, have a new record and are gearing up for a big fall tour, including an October 30 stop at Cake Shop and will also play the Todd P Halloween Show somewhere in Brooklyn, details TBA. The band were last here about a year ago supporting one of 2009's best albums, Fake Surfers.

Its follow-up, Males, is the band's sixth album (third for In the Red) but marks a couple of firsts for the band. It's the first Intelligence album that wasn't played entirely by main brain Lars Finberg and marks a bold leap into fidelity. Scraping off the scuzz hasn't removed any of the band's weird charm -- Males is quite possibly their best album yet. (And Fake Surfers was hard to top.) You can download "Like Like Like Like Like Like Like" at the top of this post.

Finberg discusses  these new developments in the Intelligence's sound in a very entertaining interview over at The Finest Kiss:

Each new Intelligence record seems to sound a little more 'produced'... and you seem to have become more collaborative if not with the rest of the band at least with the producer. With Males you've even let the rest of the band into the studio. Are you weakening in your old age, or just more open to collaboration?

I'm weakening, I'm lonely. It's more fun to make something with everybody else now, it's new. My ears are just tired of the 'LO-FI' sound for us, I'm also sick to death of being called that, it's stupid but nothing gets called mid-fi or hi-fi, such a tired and petty complaint I know. I thought the most interesting thing we could do would be to try to make a big clean record. But really it's just the most interesting path to go down for me, we can record on dirty blank cassette tapes forever, it's easy but the challenge of having real bright vocals up front was scary and fun. Also our bass sound is cool with Susanna I wanted the record to have a lot of low end. Beren is a great drummer and we wanted a record with US as a band playing, since the 3 of us have been together a long time now it's just more fun to have something we make as a group. Plus if it sucks it's THEIR FAULT TOO.

Hi-fi or lo-fi, you seem torn between them (ie. Surfers vs Pacman). What is your preference and has it changed over the years?

It's Hi-Fi for now, I want our records to sound good with the windows down! I want it to sound good on a P.A. in a club and DJ's to be able to play it next to Adam Ant and the Buzzcocks without people involuntarily grinding their molars.

If the new album isn't enough Lars Finberg for you, he's got a side project, Puberty, you might want to investigate.

Meanwhile, Finberg's old band, the under-appreciated early-'00s A Frames, have come out of retirement -- albeit without him. (He left the drum stool in 2006.)  Earlier this year saw the release of 333, an odds-n-sods triple platter of 7" sides and demos and with it came some new shows.

A Frames are making it to the East Coast in October, playing Cake Shop on 10/8 and Death by Audio on 10/9. They also play Philly on 10/7 at the Danger Danger Gallery. Video from a recent show in Seattle is at the bottom of this post

All Intelligence and A Frames tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Intelligence releasing new LP & touring (A Frames too) - a Todd P Halloween show & other tour dates"

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Erez Avissar

DOWNLOAD: Christmas Island - Bed Island (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Beach Fossils - Time (MP3)

Beach Fossils @ Shea Stadium

Tickets are still on sale for the Crystal Stilts MHOW show on Saturday, February 20th. Opening up for that show are The Beets, Christmas Island, Beach Fossils and The German Measles (who have a gig with Bishop Allen coming up, more on that soon).

Leading up to that show, Christmas Island (whose debut came out this October on In the Red), The Beets and Beach Fossils are all on tour together this February. The MHOW show is the last of three separate NYC dates for the tour. The other two come February 9th at the Cake Shop and February 13th at Death by Audio.

The Beets have already had a pretty busy December as far as NYC shows go. And the month isn't over for Beach Fossils, who'll ring in the New Year with Frankie and the Outs, Surfer Blood and We Are Country Mice at the Cameo. Beach Fossils (aka Dustin Payseur) has a full-length on the way from Woodsist/Captured Tracks in March, and the song above is from a forthcoming Woodsist 7".

Looking ahead to SXSW, Christmas Island also lists an In the Red showcase at Austin's Beerland on March 19th. The song "Bed Island," a tuneful love song, is above.

All tour dates along with the rest of the pictures from the show at Shea Stadium last Wednesday (12/9), below...

Continue reading "Beach Fossils played Shea Stadium (pics), touring w/ Christmas Island & The Beets (dates) ++ MP3s"

It's been five years since Greg Cartwright's Reigning Sound dropped their last full-length studio album, Too Much Guitar. Not that Cartwright has been resting on his laurels. The Reigning Sound backed Shangri-La Mary Weiss on her critically acclaimed comeback album, Dangerous Game, which was produced and largely written by Cartwright. The band performed with Weiss on tour, including an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Cartwright also produced, penned songs for, and played in The Detroit Cobras for a spell. All the while, the Reigning Sound toured the US on and off and released a couple of live albums, yet never managed to get into the studio to record. All the while, Cartwright stockpiled loads of new tunes.

Finally, late last year, the band entered Ardent Studios in Memphis and laid down a bunch of songs. Some months later, they went into Echo Mountain Studios in North Carolina and recorded a bunch more. In the end, the band had more than enough for two albums, and carefully whittled it down to the cream of the musical crop.

Love and Curses (title comes from Memphis TV horror host Sivad) is a return to the sound and style of the Reigning Sound's incredible Time Bomb High School. The band once again features a full-time keyboardist, Dave Amels, and has jettisoned the lo-fi approach used on Too Much Guitar in favor of a bigger, warmer studio sound. As with Time Bomb High School, Love and Curses strikes a balance between soulful rockers and beautiful ballads. The results are a rock 'n' roll album as near to perfection as any one is likely to hear this year. [Midhaven Mailorder]

Love and Curses came out on In the Red Records in August. I also recommend you pick up their new disc "LIVE AT GONER RECORDS" which is also out now. As Goner Records put it includes a "Blastophonic run through some great covers, some great originals from Greg Cartwright!". Greg Cartwright also just put out a live solo record, Live At The Circle A, on September 15th on Dusty Medical Records.

And the group is finally getting around to touring behind these new releases. They play Goner Fest in Memphis this weekend (9/24-9/26), then hit the road in November. They'll be at Maxwell's on November 19th and Southpaw on Nov. 20th. Tickets to both Maxwell's and Southpaw are on sale.

A teaser for the new record, with album art and tracklist, and all tour dates are below..

Continue reading "Reigning Sound - new albums out & Tour Dates announced!"

King Khan & the Shrines @ Sasquatch 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

The Almighty Defenders CD, out September 22nd on Vice, brings together the Black Lips, King Khan and Mark Sultan. The latter two make up King Khan & the BBQ Show, which is the band that'll be playing Brooklyn's Bell House this Halloween (its an early show - 7:30pm doors / over by 10:30pm) (there's a TBA late show at the same venue). Prizes for best costume. As you can see above, King Khan already has some ideas in mind. Tickets are on sale now.

Can't make it Halloween? King Khan and BBQ are also playing Bowery Ballroom one night earlier (10/30). Ticket info TBA. Full tour dates are still forthcoming, but there are a few more below (including November 1st in Philly). They'll be touring in support of the new King Khan & the BBQ Show album, Invisible Girl, out November 3rd on In the Red.

Another Halloween NYC gig happening in Brooklyn is the Mount Eerie metal show at the Market Hotel. His tourmates, No Kids and Tara Jane O'Neil, will also be his backing band for a set that promises "2 drummers, some gongs and a wall of amps." Liturgy is one of the bands on the bill. Another will be Malkuth. That tour formerly had a TBA for another NYC show. That will happen (with No Kids & TJO playing sets too) on Sunday, November 1st at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Tickets for that Manhattan show (which does not include Liturgy or Malkuth) are on sale (Market Hotel doesn't have advanced tickets).

The LPR show is put on by Wordless Music, who has a bunch of big shows coming up (not the least Rhys Chatham's A Crimson Grail on Saturday). There's also Warp20NYC, the Wordless series at Columbia's Miller Theatre, Deefhoof and Why?.

The Market Hotel show is curated by Brandon Stosuy - music writer and organizer of Show No Mercy (that Black Bubblegum co-curated this past Sunday). Tonight (August 5th) Brandon will be be presenting from his "in-progress oral history of American black metal [briefly excerpted at Believer] joined by Matt Luem for "Joe's Pub's Happy Ending Reading & Music Series. Also at the event will be "Rachel Cohen reading from her book A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists. And Lawrence Weschler reading from his work on the visual artists David Hockney and Robert Irwin. And Colin Stetson delivering an opening invocation on saxophone. And Buke & Gass playing a short set of clear voiced yet fuzzed out pop experiments on homemade instruments." Tickets are still on sale.

Videos, new KK&BBQ album tracklist and tour dates from King Khan & the BBQ Show, below...

Continue reading "King Khan & BBQ Show's new album, tour dates, NYC shows, Halloween in Brooklyn, Malkuth, Mt Eerie, Joe's Pub & stuff "

Davila 666 @ Southpaw Friday night - July 24, 2009

Mannequin Men are on tour with Puerto Rico's Davila 666 (who have released music on In The Red and HoZac). Friday night the two garage rock bands played Southpaw in Brooklyn. I went for Mannequin Men whose new album I've been listening to a lot, but the powerful, funny, entertaining and energetic Davila 666 (who don't seem to know much English, or at least they choose not to speak it much from stage) are the ones who left the biggest impression. Their next official NYC tour stop is Wednesday at the Studio @ Webster Hall, but they are also playing a was-secret show at Don Pedro's in Brooklyn tonight (7/20).

All tour dates and video from a festival show last year in Puerto Rico where they wore some interesting costumes, below...

Continue reading "Davila 666 & Mannequin Men - secret Brooklyn show tonight "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Intelligence - Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine (MP3)

If I wasn't so enthralled with the show, I would have gone out and dragged everyone of those pedestrians into the bar, because the Intelligence were putting on a clinic. They were tight, and tightly wound, piercing and fractured in all the right ways. Before blasting into Universal Babysitter, Lars Finberg, responding to someone's earlier comment that they sounded like The Ventures quipped, "now this one sounds like the Ventures." Along with a lot of other things, the Intelligence have a twangy surf sound that is reminiscent of that Tacoma band. Finberg also has this uncanny ability to write songs that are so out there, but seem to constrain themselves to the unwritten rules of the pop song. It's probably not a formula for becoming huge, but he at least has the undying fandom of like-minded warped-pop nerds like myself.
[The Finest Kiss]

Portland Seattle's The Intelligence will soon hit the road on a massive North American tour that will take them pretty much everywhere, including two dates in the NYC area: September 11 at Market Hotel and September 13 at Cake Shop. If you haven't heard their new album, Fake Surfers, you're missing out on one of the year's best albums. While lumped in with the surf/garage/trash scene -- they are on In The Red, home of Thee Oh Sees, Hospitals, Vivian Girls, etc -- the Intelligence have been doing it longer (10 years) and weirder than almost anybody else. Main brain Lars Findberg, who was also in the A Frames, has a warped sensibility that makes Intelligence records more than just catchy little surf jams with blown-out levels. (Not that there's anything wrong with that but one look at the new album title lets you know their aware of their genre.) Fake Surfers might not offer the immediate punch of the new Oh Sees and Ty Segall records (both of which are very good) but it will stay with you longer. Check out the MP3 of Fake Surfer's "Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine" at the top of this post. It would be too easy to say that The Intelligence are more cerebral than other bands doing similar things, but it would also not be wrong. They also rock.

The Intelligence actually have two new albums, the second being Crepuscule With Pacman on French label Born Bad which is a decidely stranger, more lo-fi affair than the comparitively-friendly Fake Surfers. And there's a new In the Red 7" coming soon featuring a different version of Fake Surfers' "The Unessential Cosmic Perspective" and three leftovers from the album's sessions.

Tour dates and a video (from thier 2008 album, Deuteronomy) after the jump...

Continue reading "The Intelligence - new album, MP3 & 2009 tour dates "