photos by Chris La Putt

Thee Oh Sees

"Largely unfamiliar with the bands on the roster, my husband and I went to Coney Island on Saturday to see Built to Spill headlining on the main stage of the annual Siren Music Festival. Normally, I love free shows. I like the freedom to walk away from a disappointing or uninteresting performance-as we did from Monotonix-without feeling guilty. And ticketless shows tend to draw all types, which appeals to the voyeur in me. Neither of us had been to Coney Island before, so it was mildly amusing to see the confluence of century old kitsch and aggressive marketing tactics by softdrink companies. (We tried a sample of something called Vio, "the world's first vibrancy drink," and it tasted vaguely like flourescent lighting and perfume.)

Anticipating the rush toward the stage as Built to Spill began, we found a decent spot where we'd be able to hear the band, if not see their faces. It was as close as we could get without my cheeks grazing across sweaty pectorals while trying to squeeze through. This is the point at any show when the fan in me starts to grin and breathe faster, to feel like I'd rather be right here than anywhere else in the world. To our horror, not only were the people around us talking so loud that we could barely hear the music, they weren't even facing the stage. The crowd was mingling as though at a singles mixer, drink in hand, shouting over the din, completely oblivious to the band on stage.

Now, while I've been known to complain about NYC hipsters at opportune times (like when I'm on the downtown L train), I generally think people are too hard on them. They're pretty benign as far as contrived fashion/music subcultures go. But when they prevent me from hearing and seeing a live performance by one of my favorite bands, simply because they can't stop yakking and flirting for a single minute, I feel, well, displeased.

Next show is hopefully Trail of Dead at All Points East. I'm bringing pepper-spray and my slapping hand." [Home on the Fringe]

I think she means All Points West, which is actually just one of four shows that Trail of Dead has coming up in NYC.

Chris's Built to Spill pics are HERE, Raveonettes pics HERE, and the rest below...

Continue reading "the 2009 Siren Music Festival in Coney Island - pics (part 1) "

photos by Tim Griffin

Though not many people showed up, Friendly Foes played their first of two NYC shows, at the Bell House in Brooklyn, last night (12/9). The second show is tonight/Wednesday at The Studio at Webster Hall. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Friendly Foes & Frankpollis @ the Bell House, NYC - pics"

words by Black Bubblegum, show photos by Faith-Ann Young

Rival Schools closed down the main stage at the Brooklyn Vegan Day Party on Oct 25th, and if you stayed with us, and weren't feeling rather grim, chances are you were down in the Old Office enjoying (hopefully), the late addition to our party, Lightspeed Champion tear through a set that included two new songs and a bunch of covers by bands like Nirvana, Heart, and Pixies. Dev kept it light and fun, sometimes included members of the audience, and tried his best to hold it together after a late start due to the band/drummer (Jackson!) not bringing their own cymbals. Friend and partner in crime Emmy The Great (who also played the Brooklyn Vegan showcase at Music Hall Of Williamsburg earlier in the week) joined in on the festivities.

To make this post slightly more timely, the picture up there on the top is Lightspeed on Halloween (yesterday). Pictures from last week's show, below...

Continue reading "Lightspeed Champion @ Knitting Factory (BV CMJ), NYC -pics"

More catching up.... That early-afternoon show back on March 15th had the perfect back-to-back UK indie lineup....

March 15, 2008
12:00: Emmy The Great
12:50: Noah And The Whale w/ Laura Marling
1:40: Laura Marling w/ members of Noah and the Whale
2:20: Lightspeed Champion w/ Emmy the Great (and Jackson)

As pointed out in the Lightspeed Champion (Dev) interview, Emmy the Great contributed to Lightspeed's album, so it was cool to see her sing with him live. PLUS, it was a total surprise to see NYC's own Jackson Pollis walk up with Dev and then play drums on a couple of songs with them too (video and more pics below).

Lightspeed Champion returns to North America in June to play some shows. First there are two with Adam Green (who Laura Marling played with this past Saturday night), and then there's a tour with Flowers Forever - the Team Love-signed side project of Derek from Tilly & The Wall. Tickets are still on sale for a June 7th show at Bowery Ballroom, and for a show at Maxwell's two days before that (both of those shows are with Flowers Forever). All dates, the SXSW video and more pics, below.....

Continue reading "Lightspeed Champion - 2008 Tour Dates, Texas pics & video, Jackson + Emmy the Great"

Thanks to everyone who came out to the first of three BrooklynVegan day parties at Pianos yesterday (Wednesday November 1, 2006). It was an exhausting, but successful day full of great live music.

THE LITTLE ONES GETTING CREATIVE WITH THE FLYERS

DAVE HILL HIGH ON VITAMIN WATER

WYNN WALENT & DAVID DEPORIS PLAYED UPSTAIRS

(DJ) JACKSON POLLIS GOT DOWN WITH THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW!

CSS PACKED THE HOUSE

FERRABY LIONHEART WAS THE PERFECT ENDING TO A LONG DAY

...and somehow we ended right on time.

Sucka Pants was there - his CSS pics are here. Extrawack and Eric were there too. Yeti stopped by for lunch - luckily not dressed as his MySpace page. Micah Welner came by to sing one song with Thunderbirds are Now! and help Jackson DJ - he posted what they played.

More pics later. See you Friday.