tonight in NYC
* Cyndi Lauper @ Town Hall
* Dylan Leblanc @ Joe's Pub
* Automelodi @ Home Sweet Home
* Laurie Anderson @ Other Music
* Burning Spear @ Rockefeller Park
* Pharoahe Monch @ Queensbridge Park
* Alejandro Escovedo @ Bowery Electric
* Easy Star All-Stars @ Stuy Town Oval
* Freedy Johnston @ Rockwood Music Hall
* DM Stith, Inlets, Silje Nes @ Joe's Pub
* Suuns, Parlovr (early) @ Mercury Lounge
* Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Highline Ballroom
* Diehard, The Waylons, World War @ Union Pool
* Twin Tigers, The French Kings, Deluka @ Pianos
* Crowded House, Lawrence Arabia @ Bowery Ballroom
* Jack Oblivian, John Paul Keith and 145s @ Southpaw
* Robbers on High Street, Hymns (late) @ Mercury Lounge
* Quilty, Schwervon!, Tight Little Ship @ Bruar Falls (free)
* Kira, Apollo Heights, At Sea, Jason Brody @ Public Assembly
* Total Slacker, Weekends, Ava Luna, Mala Strana @ Glasslands
* Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros @ The Beach at Governors Island
* Fiasco, Summer Blondes, Large Lady, Starscream, Snuffy @ Shea Stadium
* Skeletons, Peter Evans/Tim Dahl/Mike Pride, Sam Mickens & Darius Jones play the Dead Science @ Death By Audio
* Apostle of Solitude, Beauty Apes, Kings Destroy, Archon, Alkahest @ Ace of Clubs
* 'Comedy Central Park: The Daily Show and Friends' Hosted by Lewis Black w/ John Oliver, Rob Riggle, Wyatt Cenac, Adam Lowitt and Rory Albanese @ Central Park SummerStage

Inlets complete their tour with DM Stith and Silje Nes at Joe's Pub tonight. I have a free pair of tickets for the first person who emails their name (subject: Inlets) to bvcontests@hotmail.com. Check out Inlets' brand new video for "In Which I, Robert" below...

The 11th annual Gathering of the Juggalos happens August 12-15 in Cave In Rock, Illinois. The infomercial for it is below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

by Rachel Kowal

DM Stith/Inlets/Silje's tour van (currently broken) (via DM)

In the wake of celebrating its one-year anniversary last month, Littlefield is beginning to host some pretty decent artists. Take Sunday night's show at the Gowanus venue. Only a modest crowd made it out, but the evening was filled with beautiful and haunting melodies.

First up was Norwegian singer-songwriter Silje Nes. On her debut album, Ames Room, Silje's soft and airy vocals are often overshadowed by the layers of sound she creates, but at Littlefield, they rang out against the gentle notes of a violin and and her guitar. As with other Scandinavian groups like múm and Seabear, shy stage banter and whimsical sound effects factor prominently into the mix. Lyrics of gardens, birds, the sun, and the sky only increase the charm value.

Silje Nes' sound is beautifully understated. Her percussionist in particular is a master of subtlety. He had at his disposal: a tiny xylophone, sleigh bells, wooden blocks, and a miniature accordion of sorts. At one point, he seemed to rub something against his own arm hair to create the scratchy sound characteristic of old recordings.

In addition to playing a handful of songs from her 2007 album, Silje played some newer songs, including "Crystals," which will be on an album her upcoming album, Opticks, due out in September.

Following such a quiet set by Silje Nes, the contrast of Inlets' opening song, "Canteen" was initially a bit jarring. The volume level in the room spiked, and Inlets seemed to possess more self-assurance-- even when, early in the show, front man Sebastian Krueger stopped mid song, saying, "I'm already upset with how out of tune that note is." Like Silje Nes, however, Inlets benefits from lovely group harmonies. The addition of Ben Lanz on trombone also helped to punch up the set.

As DM Stith settled in to play and introduced himself, he suddenly interrupted himself, saying, "I can still hear Gorillaz. Am I the only one?" After the faintly playing house music had indeed stopped, Stith began to set up his first song with a series of claps and snaps that he looped together to create the percussion.

The audience was quite respectful throughout the evening. The presence of seats and the relatively small size of Littlefield made for quite an intimate show. Besides the unintentional rumble of the snare drum during part of Stith's set, the only noise culprit turned out to be not the crowd, but the blasting A/C (though I suppose that's better than the oppressive heat that takes over many other Brooklyn venues in the summer).

Following a Sparklehorse cover, Stith invited the Osso string quartet to occupy the empty seats that were on the stage, and members from Inlets to share the stage with him. Given the fact that the quartet has also worked with fellow Asthmatic Kitty artist Sufjan Stevens, I guess their presence on Sunday shouldn't have been too unexpected, but it was still a welcome surprise. With the addition of all the extra musicians, DM Stith'a set took on a fuller sound for a couple of songs, though his haunting falsetto was still rightfully a major presence. Stith's vocals may be slightly off-kilter, but his voice is rich and eerily compelling.

Like Silje Nes, DM Stith also showcased a new song and revealed that he is working on an album that will be inspired by 50's pop and country music.

If you missed the NYC shows at 92Y Tribeca and Littlefield, you're in luck. The whole line-up will be back at Joe's Pub on July 21st following their tour. I'm already making plans to attend.

From now until that Joe's Pub show, you can catch the three artists on tour together. Their other stops include the NXNE Festival in Toronto, Spaceland in LA, the Black Cat in DC and many other places... but maybe not Portland.

Two new DM Stith videos, and DM's and Inlets' setlists from Littlefield, below...

Continue reading "DM Stith, Inlets & Silje Nes played Littlefield & 92yTribeca "

Inlets photos by Eric Schwortz, DM photos by Tim Griffin

DOWNLOAD: Inlets - In Which I, Robert (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Bright Orange Air (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Spotsylvania (MP3)

Inlets @ Permanent Records

Inlets played a set at Permanent Records in Greenpoint on Friday, May 21st. The week prior, the band played an in-store of sorts at the National's High Violet Annex. Their new record, Inter Arbiter, came out in April on twosyllable Records, and two tracks from that are re-posted above, along with "Spotsylvania," a non-album track cut during the same session.

Coming up, frontman Sebastian Krueger and the band, along with tourmates DM Stith and Silje Nes, will play tour kick-off shows on June 12th at 92YTribeca (tickets) and June 13th at Littlefield (tickets). After that, a North American tour follows, which is then capped by a July 21st show at Joe's Pub. Tickets are on sale.

DM Stith @ Spider House in Austin

DM Stith's new album, HEAVY GHOST APPENDICES, will be released this week on Asthmatic Kitty. Per a press release, it "revisits this secret world [that was explored on its predecessor Heavy Ghost] and adds to its cartography a series of hidden coves, unexplored forests, and new landscapes". The full tracklist for the 2-CD set is below. You'll notice it is full of covers and remixes.

I last saw DM in Austin in March at the BV/Anso day party at Spider House. It was the early afternoon, sunny, and outdoors. Admittedly that wasn't an ideal situation for DM, his string quartet and their quiet songs. That said, I was busy running back and forth at the time, so don't remember too much about it. Belated pictures from that performance are in this post though.

Silje Nes (hailing from "Bergen / Berlin Norway") will release a new single, 'Crystals', on June 7th via FatCat Records. The full length, 'Opticks', will be released on the 13th of September.

More pictures from both mentioned shows and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Inlets (played Perm Records) touring w/ DM Stith (new album) & Fat Cat's Silje Nes - 3 NYC shows, other dates, pics & more"

photos by Chris La Putt

Martha Wainwright @ the High Violet Annex

As advertised, INLETS, ZACHARY CALE, HELADO NEGRO, JULIANNA BARWICK, THE LUYAS (who came all the way from Montreal for the 20 minute performance), TALK NORMAL, ARLT (from France) and MARTHA WAINWRIGHT played short sets at the National's High Violet Annex space in NYC last night. The makeshift venue was created to promote the band's new album with the same name and will feature a different lineup of stuff curated by the band each night. Last night was the second evening. The first, as mentioned, had DJs that included members of Blonde Redhead. Tonight, night three, will have movies and live sets by Phosphorescent, The Antlers, Sharon Van Etten and possibly others. It's safe to say that The National will play it at least once before it ends Saturday night (right before the show they're playing at BAM). More pictures & some videos from last night below...

Continue reading "High Violet Annex night 2 in pics & video (Martha Wainwright, ARLT, Luyas, Talk Normal, Inlets, Julianna Barwick & more)"

The National's temporary venue next to Other Music in NYC opens on Tuesday, May 11th at 7pm. "Celebrating the release of 'High Violet' (May 11, 4AD), The National will take over the now-vacant space at 13 E 4th St next to Other Music in downtown NYC. Dubbed 'The High Violet Annex' the space will be the site of National curated events throughout the week." Ends up it will only be open for two three hours a day - a mix of live bands and DJs and contests and other stuff.

The National are rumored to be playing on at least one of the days, but it won't be the first day (5/11 - see below), the second day (5/12 - see below), and maybe it won't be the last day because if it is, the band is going to be in a rush (5/15 - the band plays BAM). The flyer, times and the partial lineup, below...

Continue reading "The National's High Violet Annex opens this week (here is part of the schedule) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Inlets - In Which I, Robert (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Bright Orange Air (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Pictures of Trees (MP3)

It's a mostly Canadian edition of This Week in Indie, so grab a bag of pickle flavor potato chips and let's dig in. Jason Collett, who is a sometimes member of Broken Social Scene, is here playing tonight (Friday, 4/23) at Mercury Lounge and Saturday (4/24) at Union Hall (tix). Of all the satellite performers of BSS, I think Collett is kind of the unsung hero, making terrific album after terrific album in his understated West Coast country-rock style while Stars and Metric get all the attention. Not undeservedly, necessarily, but Collett's a class act, ace tunesmith, and great performer who deserves a lot more recognition. That includes his new album, Rat a Tat.

As you may have read, Collett is touring with Zeus who used to be his backing band (and will be here) and are really good in their own right. Their new album, Say Us, has a sort of '60s Brit feel, with little moments that make me think of the Kinks, Zombies and late period Beatles. This tour, called the Bonfire Ball, will feature collaborations with Collett and Zeus and, at the Union Hall show, fellow Toronto act Bahamas. (Bahamas aren't playing Mercury Lounge for some reason.) Sounds like a tuneful, convivial evening.

Parlovr @ M For Montreal 2009 (more)

We've written at length about The Luyas being in town for their first-ever NYC shows. I'm kicking myself a little that I didn't go to their secret Loft show on Wednesday (a video is below), but there are plenty of opportunities to see them before they leave. They're playing the teeny tiny Sycamore tonight (4/23), and if you're already going to see The Morning Benders Saturday at Music Hall of Williamsburg, which is/was sold out (tickets back on sale at the moment), do show up early to catch them.

But your easiest opportunity is probably Sunday night (4/25) at Glasslands. As an added bonus, they're playing with their Montreal neighbors Parlovr who I think are pretty awesome and would be worth going to this show just to see them. Here's what I wrote when I saw them at M for Montreal last November:

The band's self-titled, self-released 2008 album does not do them justice, making them sound like a Wolf Parade Jr. Live, Parlovr are way more energetic, fun and melodic -- though it may have also had something to do with a fair amount of new material in their set. Singers Louis Jackson and Alex Cooper semi face each other from opposite sides of the stage rocking back and forth like manic Drinking Birds, flipping their '90s skate rat hair around, while mountain man drummer Jeremy MacCuish holds down the beat. They clearly enjoy playing, and it's a lot of fun to watch too.

Think About Life @ CMJ 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

You could do a Montreal triple play (I guess hat trick would be the more apropos sports metaphor) on Sunday if you go early to the WBAR-B-Q and catch Think About Life who are one of my favorite live bands. You have to try really hard to have a bad time at one of their shows. When they played our official SXSW day party this year, I wrote this:

My favorite set of the day came early. Think About Life are so much fun live, so much genuine positivity, it's hard to be in a bad mood with them on stage. An instant hangover cure. I think this was the first time a lot of the audience had ever seen them play, if the number of people who asked me who they were was any indication. At one point singerMartin Cesar left the stage as if their set was over, only to appear in the middle of the crowd dancing, hyping people up. They were the only band that made me forget how cold it was that day.

Inlets in a loft (more by Chris La Putt)

One non-Canadian weekend pick before I leave you. Inlets' debut, Inter Arbiter, was released this week and tonight (4/23) is the official release party at Union Hall (with Sparrow House). You can listen to the whole thing over at Spinner. It's a lovely listen, baroque pop with amazing harmonies. I've personally never seen them live and am curious to see how much of this they can reproduce live. I'd imagine that at the record release party there might even be special guests. I am not privy to any inside info,  but Zach Condon [editor's note: whose arm was in a sling at the April 12th John Shade show at Mercury Lounge] and Angel Deradoorian do play on the record (and Sufjan Stevens was there to see them at our CMJ loft party).

And don't forget about Saturday night's (4/24) Bruar Falls One Year Anniversary Party with Micachu & the Shapes, Holiday Shores, Beach Fossils and... balloons! It's free and I have a feeling will be crazy packed (and probably quite debauched) so get there early.

That's it for this week. Some videos and flyers are below...

Continue reading "Jason Collett, Zeus, Parlovr, Think About Life, Inlets & more in This Week in Indie "

DOWNLOAD: Voxtrot - The Start of Something (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: International Waters - Olympia (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: International Waters - Cycle of the Chain (MP3)

Voxtrot @ the Mohawk in Austin - Nov 2009 (more)

Voxtrot are officially calling it quits, but before they go they'll play some final shows with all original members. That includes Ramesh Srivastava, Matt Simon, Mitch Calvert, Jason Chronis and even Jared Van Fleet (aka Sparrow House) who left the not-very-active band a little while back. I last saw them in November when they happened to play a show in their hometown of Austin during Fun Fun Fun Fest (see above).

There are seven goodbye shows total and the final one will take place right here in NYC at Bowery Ballroom on June 26th (tickets TBA will be on sale Friday). It will be a sad evening for sure. All dates and a long letter from Ramesh about this is below, but first let's discuss what all the individual members have been up to.

Mitch has a new band called International Waters, which has a new 10" record called It Felt Like that they'll be releasing soon. Meanwhile you can get two of those songs for free above. They'll be opening the West Coast Voxtrot shows.

Jared is still working on solo material as Sparrow House, and opens for Inlets at Union Hall on April 23rd.

Matt and Jason both play in Jason's band called JC & Co.. They're readying a full-length for July. Both Jason and Matt also play in The Black and Belaire.

Not part of the reunion, but once a member of Voxtrot, Jennifer Moore continues to do her thing in YellowFever.

Voxtrot, thanks for all the memories. Ramesh's letter and all dates below...

Continue reading "Voxtrot officially breaking up, announce final shows - 2010 tour dates & a goodbye note from Ramesh"

DOWNLOAD: Inlets - In Which I, Robert (MP3)

Permanent Records (181 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY) has a few in-store performances scheduled in its Greepoint store over the next few months, and that includes on Record Store Day (Saturday, April 17th, tomorrow), when there will be just one band playing all day. Mystery Of Two put out one of their "absolutely favorite releases of 2009" and "Now they're our in-house band for Record Store Day 2010!". There will be sets all day starting at 1pm.

Mystery Two, an Ohio band, can also be found at Cake Shop tonight (4/16).

Inlets and Holy Hail are two of the bands that are also set to play the store soon. New Inlets MP3 above. Full instore schedule, and all Mystery Two dates, below...

Continue reading "Inlets playing Permanent Records, but not on Record Store Day when Mystery of Two will be the house band"

The Wave Pictures @ Knitting Factory pre-SXSW (more by Chris La Putt)

today in NYC
* Justin Bond @ Joe's Pub
* Pere Ubu @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Murderfist @ Mercury Lounge
* Nathan Bell, M. Yakara 3 @ Zebulon
* Miike Snow, Delorean @ Bowery Ballroom
* Vivian Girls, German Measles @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Violent Bullshit, Bad Dream, Elks @ Union Pool
* Rosetta, Junius & City of Ships @ Public Assembly
* The Big Pink, A Place To Bury Strangers @ Maxwell's
* Antietam, Brett Eugene Ralph, The Undeciders @ Bruar Falls
* Love is All, Beach Fossils, The Beets @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* The Wave Pictures, The Wowz, Polite Sleeper @ Mercury Lounge

A member of the Wowz played with The Wave Pictures at our Knitting Factory show before SXSW. Tonight the two bands share a bill at Mercury Lounge.

Speaking of Mercury Lounge, there's also an early show at the venue featuring the comedy group Murderfist.

About tonight's Bruar Falls show, headliner Antietam says, "Brett is a punk rock ex-footballer poet teacher with a powerful presence and a huge heart. T and T last shared a stage with him in Louisville, 1982. Go here to learn more about Brett and here for the Undeciders. This will be special!"

Starkweather isn't playing Public Assembly anymore tonight.

Today is Day Three of the Big Ears Fest in Knoxville. Read about Day One.

The Vivian Girls show at Brooklyn Bowl tonight is free.

Vivian Girls are also on the bill of the recently-expanded lineup of ATP NY 2010.

The Big Pink & A Place to Bury Strangers tour is at Maxwell's tonight and hits Webster Hall in two days.

Video from a Skeletons show that happened two nights ago, below...

A video of HEALTH performing at MtyMX, below...

A video of Inlets performing the other night in Philly, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Bright Orange Air (MP3)

Inlets @ Music Hall of Williamsburg last February (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Inlets, the musical project of Sebastian Krueger, will finally release its long-awaited debut album, Inter Arbiter, on April 20th through twosyllable. Krueger is best known for playing with Shara Worden/My Brightest Diamond, Osso String Quartet, DM Stith and others. Inlets was established with its 2006 EP, Vestibule, and the debut album isn't short on guests either, with contributions from Zach Condon, Angel Deradoorian, and Osso's Marla Hansen. The track above, "Bright Orange Air," is a devilish piece of minor key pop.

Inlets will play a Friday, March 12th show at 92YTribeca with Bell and Glass Ghost (whose tour dates are below). Tickets are on sale.

Inlets are also playing an invite-only early show at Pianos this Friday (2/12). You can't buy tickets, but we have two pairs of tickets to give away - information on those is below.

Contest details, more album info, and all tour dates (including Inlets at SXSW) are below...

Continue reading "Inlets - debut record (MP3) & tour dates - 92YTribeca, SXSW & an invite-only show at Pianos (win tix) "

photos by Chris La Putt

The Love Language / Local Natives

One of the best times I've had a show in a long time was at the BV loft during CMJ on Friday night, October 23rd. I hope to do it again. The mix of great bands on the bill, the crowd and the location all made for a super memorable night. Both Local Natives (from California) and The Love Language (from North Carolina) said it was their favorite show to play during their hectic week in NYC. Thanks to everyone who played and stopped by.

The night kicked off with a set of catchy post-punk jams by Blacklist. The all-dressed--in-black band warmed up the arriving crowd nicely as people got used to their apartment surroundings which... well, the pictures speak for themselves. The loft filled up to a full, but still comfortable level by the time The Loom came on. As people came and went all night, partially due to informative tweets about the capacity level, it stayed just full enough until The Love Language ended their set (slightly by force) at 2am (we ran late... didn't want to upset the neighbors). It was the first time I had seen The Loom live, and at the time I tweeted that they were "killin it with horns" (though none of the pictures below actually show them playing horns). I'm excited for the new album they said they were working on.

Next up was the Dutchess and the Duke who had just arrived in town and were leaving right after their set to play the Vice party in the same neighborhood on the same night. Now with a new lineup, Canada's Immaculate Machine came on next and continued to entertain at a slightly higher volume than Inlets who came on after them. By that time people were getting their drink on and Inlets play soft music so it was a challenge to pay attention over all the talking coming from the other side of the room, but they still sounded great.

I don't know exactly what time it was, but we were officially running late by the time the two most energetic and buzzed-about bands of the evening came on. Luckily the space's owners let us extend the hours which was enough time to let the out of town bands play medium-sized set that got the room's full attention. Local Natives had everyone cheering, clapping, and dancing. The Love Language ended the night by getting the lights turned off and the entire room dancing. Sorry it took so long to post the pics. They are continued, along with some other reviews and stuff, below...

Continue reading "BV Loft during CMJ 2009 -pics (Love Language, D&D, Local Natives, The Loom, Inlets, Blacklist, Immaculate Machine)"

Local Natives

Because there can never be enough shows, I helped put together another one happening during CMJ. In addition to Tuesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Thursday night at Southpaw, and Friday night at Fontana's (not to mention three day parties), BrooklynVegan is proud to present a Friday night (10/23) Williamsburg loft party at a secret location. This is the lineup:

09:00 Blacklist (NYC)
09:35 The Loom (NYC)
10:10 The Dutchess & The Duke (Seattle)
10:45 Immaculate Machine (Canada)
11:20 Inlets (NYC)
11:55 Local Natives (LA)
12:30 The Love Language (North Carolina)

The loft show literally holds less than 100 people aka space is limited. It costs $8 at the door, there will be beer and wine for purchase inside, and if you want to go, you should send an email to loft.rsvp@gmail.com with your name. Those who email will get an immediate confirmation that they made it on to the list, followed by directions to the Williamsburg (Bedford L area) location on the day before the show. RSVPing gets you on the list and gets you the directions, but entrance will still be first come, first served based on capacity on the actual night of the show. To guarantee admission, show up early. We'll tweet the capacity status throughout the night as well.

The Dutchess & The Duke are playing two shows that same night. From the loft, they'll head to the Vice party at Public Assembly. One night later you can catch them at the official Sub Pop & Hardly Art CMJ showcase at Mercury Lounge.

Local Natives are one of two bands playing two BrooklynVegan parties this week (the other is The Wheel). They also appear at the free Saturday day party at Pianos (full details TBA). The Saturday party is one of two BV day parties at Pianos this year. The other is on Thursday afternoon (details also TBA) which is the same day Local Natives play the Aquarium Drunkard party at Fontana's which is the location of the BV day party on Friday (say that all 5 times fast).

The Love Language just signed to Merge Records.

The loft party is NOT an official CMJ show. It is the only show Blacklist is playing during CMJ week.

Some videos below...

Continue reading "Williamsburg Loft party presented by BrooklynVegan (Friday night during CMJ w/ Local Natives, Blacklist, Inlets, more)"

DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Pictures of Trees (MP3)

Ladybug Transistor opening for Of Montreal at MHOW in April (more by Tim Griffin)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Surfer Blood @ Bruar Falls
* Sway, Lady Bright @ Bruar Falls
* Inlets & Glass Ghost @ Sycamore
* John Roberts & David Cross @ Comix
* The Silent League, Bear in Heaven @ Union Pool
* Geronimo, Pollution, Hex Machine @ Death By Audio
* Spindrift, The Electric Tickle Machine, Werewolves @ Cake Shop
* Effi Briest, Mahogany, Free Blood, The Tony Castles @ Glasslands
* Doug Gillard (ex-GBV), Get Help, Eastern Anchors, Dave Hill @ Maxwell's
* Cymbals Eat Guitars, These Are Powers, The Drums, Real Estate @ Brooklyn Bowl
* These United States, Motel Motel, Company of Thieves, Nick Howard @ Mercury Lounge
* Ladybug Transistor, Meeting Important People, Kevin Barker, Grand Salvo @ Union Hall

Geronimo, who in the midst of a short tour, join up with Pollution and Hex Machine at Death By Audio tonight.

Spindrift are in back on stage tonight at Cake Shop, playing a second show in NYC after supporting Hopewell last night at Union Pool. The band professes to be influenced by Carnival Music, Vampire Soundtracks, Norwegian Classical Folk Music, Swamp Blues (Lonesome Sundown), Outer Space, Henzig and ICE-T O.G. among other things, but I hear the gunslinger moments of Ennio Morricone on acid tabs. Electric Tickle Machine and Werewolves support. - Black Bubblegum

Comedian John Roberts kicks off his residency at Comix tonight alongside special guest David Cross. - Klaus Kinski

West Palm Beach, Florida's post punk beachcombers Surfer Blood play the last of their four NYC shows tonight at, appropriately enough, The Surf Bar Bruar Falls (it moved) in Williamsburg. I spaced and forgot to put them in TWII this week -- worth checking out. - Bill Pearis

Ex-Guided by Voices guitarist Doug Gillard plays an electric set at Maxwell's with Get Help and Eastern Anchors, plus comedy from Doug's sometimes-bandmate Dave Hill.

These United States just opened for Deer Tick and Dawes at the Bowery Ballroom. Tonight they headline a show at the Mercury Lounge with Motel Motel, Company of Thieves and Nick Howard.

Union Hall hosts E6 band Ladybug Transistor with Meeting Important People, Kevin Barker and Grand Salvo.

Insound's 10 year anniversary show comes to the Brooklyn Bowl, with a great lineup that includes Cymbals Eat Guitars, These Are Powers, The Drums and Real Estate. Real Estate, who go on first, at like 7:30 tonight, also played earlier this week at Vivian Girls' tour kick off at DBA. Two videos from their set are below...

New Peaches video for "Take You On" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

Suzanne Muldowney (Underdog) @ the Mermaid Parade (more by Barry Yanowitz)

Tickets are on sale for that Dan Deacon, No Age & Deerhunter show happpening at the Flying W Resort in Jersey (near Philly) on August 1st. They only cost $12. Then again, the Brooklyn show with the same lineup will be free.

Tickets are on sale for the Deerhoof show happening at Le Poisson Rouge.

Dungen is playing The Bell House with Woods on August 14th. Tickets are on sale.

Mickey Factz is playing SOB's on July 14th. Tickets are on sale.

Motörhead, Nashville Pussy, and Reverend Horton Heat play Roseland Ballroom on September 9th. Tickets are on sale.

Cafe Tacuba has a show coming up at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 28th. Tickets are on sale.

The Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players played the OJ All Day Festival at the Brooklyn Lyceum over the weekend. They play a show at Le Poisson Rouge on July 2nd. Tickets are on sale.

Nicole Atkins and the Sea are playing the Bell House with Bird of Youth on August 6th. Tickets are on sale.

Last year, Bird of Youth opened for AC Newman at the Bell House. Nicole Atkins was playing as a member of his band at that show. This past weekend AC played the Clearwater Festival, and he has a free show coming up on Thursday.

Bird of Youth are also opening for Mark Eitzel at Le Poisson Rouge on July 18th. Tickets are on sale.

Tickets are on sale for the Grace Jones show at Hammerstein Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale for the June 25th St. Vincent show at the Bell House. St Vincent just toured with Pattern is Movement who are playing that same night at the Bell House's sister club Union Hall with Bell and Inlets. Tickets are on sale for that too.

Jimmy Gestapo of Murphy's Law celebrating his birthday aboard a Rocks Off Concert Cruise is a tradition that is happening again this year on August 12th. Tickets are on sale.

Q-Tip, Marky Ramone, The Misshapes, Junior Vasquez, and Paul Sevigny are all DJing the same event tonight (6/22).

Breakfast at Sulimay's reviewed Yo La Tengo and Raphael Saadiq. Video below...

Continue reading "Dan Deacon, Deerhunter, Deerhoof, Dungen, Motorhead, Murphy's Law, Nicole Atkins, Bird of Youth & other tix"

DOWNLOAD: Deradoorian - High Road (MP3)

Angel Deradoorian @ Knitting Factory (more by Ryan Muir)

Deradoorian (Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors) is set to release her debut solo EP, The Mind Raft, on May 5th via Lovepump United Records.

To celebrate, Angel will be playing a CD release show at the Cake Shop on Tuesday, May 5th. We have a pair of tickets to giveaway. Details on how to win below.

She'll also be sharing a bill with Chairlift, Takka Takka, and The Secret Life of Sofia at the Bell House on Sunday, May 10th. Tickets for that are on sale.

In addition to her playing with Dirty Projectors while at SXSW, Angel also performed her solo material at the fest. And she discussed the new record with Austinist...

Austinist: Was the recording of Mind Raft all done at home? Do you have orchestral ambitions for your first full-length?

Angel: Mind Raft was recorded in a studio space in Bushwick. Many of the drum recordings were done in other studio spaces. It was kind of sporadically put together, but it all fit in somehow. You mean using orchestral instruments? I don't know if I've gotten that far quite yet in my mind. I'm still working on the concept at this point and understanding how to write songs.

Continue reading "(Angel) Deradoorian releasing a CD & playing shows (win tix)"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Last night's show (2/4) at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn was a solid bill from start to finish begining with headliner Beirut playing after Inlets who played after Tune Yards...

For musician Merrill Garbus -- whose one-woman band Tune-yards features ukulele, voice, and found sounds filtered through a hand-held digital voice recorder and then sent to her laptop for mixing -- self-releasing her debut Bird-Brains was all about empowerment. "Bird-Brains was very intentionally done all through 'free' media, i.e. the digital-voice recorder, my laptop, free Audacity software -- and all by me. I was very much in a feminist frame of mind when I chose to use those as my limitations," she says. "As a woman musician, I'm in the world of men a lot. I catch myself, even, assuming that women musicians don't record, produce, or even write their own stuff." [Venus Zine]

Beirut's current band incarnation isn't as large as we've seen in the past. Friday and Saturday night at BAM it will be bigger than ever. More pictures from last night below...

Continue reading "Beirut, Inlets & Tune Yards @ MHOW, Brooklyn, NY - pics"

Inlets & Zach Condon in a loft (more by Ryan Muir)

Hello all,

Happiest of newest years.

A note that Inlets will be opening for our friends Beirut on February 4 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY. If any of you already had plans to attend notwithstanding Inlets's participation, please know that you can expect our attendance as well.

...Inlets continues to assemble an album, grain by grain, like the bottom of the slowest hourglass... or something. But you'll be able to hear bits soon, and the hibernation will cease.

Inlets

The Vassar Orkestra is playing with Beirut at BAM and Vassar.

words and photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Department of Eagles - Balmy Night (live @ the Bell House) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Pictures of Trees (MP3)

Inlets

Last Saturday, December 13th, I found myself at an intimate loft party in Williamsburg to see Sebastian Krueger's sad-pop song writing project, Inlets. The show was a pretty low key affair. People sitting on the center-of-the-room-staircase made the place seem full and active, but i'd be surprised if there were as many as 100 people there. The bartender was friendly and served complimentary beer and wine. Everybody seemed conversational and friendly and space didnt seem to be that much of an issue.

Fred Nicolaus of Department of Eagles played only a couple of songs (including one Dept of Eagles song), and Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors also played a short set. It seemed to take a long time for the third band Glass Ghost to get set up and then I didn't really enjoy their set as much as the people around me seemed to.

Inlets was a very nice professional step up in sound and presence. The arrangements at times were very full and accomplished, but also sounded appropriately sparse as well-- in some songs band members would drop out completely as the set went on.

Favorite moments were the toy piano melodies on one of the later songs, and when Beirut's Zach Condon watched from the upper balcony and joined on trumpet for the last song of the evening. Overall a pleasant and mellow show that was well-suited to the well-manicured loft space.

Zach Condon

Beirut has three Brooklyn shows coming up. Department of Eagles are touring in January. Dirty Projectors are playing New Years Eve at Knitting Factory. More pictures from the loft party below...

Continue reading "Inlets (w/ Zach Condon), Fred Nicolaus, Deradoorian & Glass Ghost @ Whisk and Ladle (a loft party), NYC - pics"

Feb 1 - Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
Feb 2 - Silent Barn, Ridgewood, New York w/ Deer Tick
Feb 8 - CakeShop, NYC w/ White Hinterland