photos by Tim Griffin

DOWNLOAD: Japandroids - "Younger Us" (MP3)

Japandroids @ the Mohawk

The Japandroids/Bass Drum of Death tour (which didn't list BDoD on the NYC show when the tour was first announced) hits Mercury Lounge in NYC tonight (9/14). It's sold out, but we have a pair of tickets you can win today. Details on how to do that, with all tour dates, and more pictures from the sold out show that happened inside at Mohawk in Austin on 9/8, below...

Continue reading "Japandroids & Bass Drum of Death on tour, play Merc tonight (win tix!), played Mohawk in Austin (pics)"

photos by Nathanael Turner

Descendents

Punk rock long ago transcended class, age, gender and ethnicity to become a signifier not necessarily of outward rebellion but of the symbolic, crazy-on-the-inside variety. That sense of internal defiance continues to permeate the entire underground and has become a secret handshake that united not only the artists who made traditional-ish punk rock over the course of 10 hours of the FYF -- the Descendents, No Age, Off! among them -- but from a wildly divergent cast of in-yer-face artists including beat makers Nosaj Thing and Dan Deacon, the deeply sensual, self-referential house music of New York's Chromatics and Glass Candy, and the catchy, arena-aspirant bands like Broken Social Scene.

"It's a punk rock festival. That means we're going to play ... in the wrong key," declared Guided by Voices singer Robert Pollard during his band's sturdy, hook-infused rock set featuring acrobatic kicks, monster choruses and a sexy girl delivering between-song lighted cigarettes to guitarist Mitch Mitchell.

But Pollard missed the point. As anyone who roamed downtown's Los Angeles State Historic Park on Saturday could see, punk no longer means inept, either on a musical or festival level. It means being inspired and maybe a little irrational, like festival founders Sean Carlson, Phil Hoelting and Keith Morris. It means realizing strengths and weaknesses. It means pushing at the edges like L.A.-based instrumental Nosaj Thing, who fused the deep, penetrating bass of dubstep with touches of skewed Aphex Twin breakbeat rhythms to create architecturally sophisticated sound structures as solid as they were abrasive. Or it means setting up gear in the crowd like electronic/serialist/rhythmatist Deacon to make sounds so driving and strobing that the level of crowd surfing reached Nirvana-like proportions. [LA Times]

Continue reading "more pics from FYF Fest 2011 (Descendents, Broken Social Scene, No Age, Girls, Japandroids & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Mister Heavenly - "Pineapple Girl" (MP3)

Descendents at FFFFest (more by Tim Griffin)

Much like last year, FYF Fest 2011 is poppin' off with some incredible bands, many of whom recently reunited. This year the LA fest will host a coveted Descendents appearance, a Death From Above 1979 show, Guided By Voices, another Kid Dynamite reunion, The Dead Milkmen, Explosions in the Sky, the return of The Weakerthans and many, many notable others. Full lineup is below. The show goes down at 1st and Main in downtown Los Angeles on September 3rd. Tickets are on sale.

Future Islands plays FYF Fest and plays Death By Audio in Brooklyn TONIGHT (6/28).

For Kid Dynamite, which features members of Lifetime, Paint it Black and None More Black, the reunion is their first since re-emerging for This is Hardcore last year with Ink & Dagger. The band called it quits in 2000 and reunited in 2005 at CBGB and some other times too. I hope they schedule another NYC show, but it's just LA for now.

This is Hardcore THIS YEAR features an appearance from Ressurection, which also featured Dan Yemin on guitar. Tickets for This is Hardcore 2011, taking place in Philly's Starlight Ballroom, is mostly sold-out, with tickets for the Sunday show still available.

The Descendents appearance at FYFest is one of several dates scheduled for the reunited band, NYC's Roseland, Chicago Riot Fest, and Philly's Riot Fest included. Tickets are still available for the 9/23 Roseland show.

Mister Heavenly will hit the road for a string of dates on the West Coast leading up to FYF Fest. Check out their full tour schedule below, and look for their new LP Out of Love on 8/16 via Sub Pop. Check out "Pineapple Girl" from that record above.

The Death From Above 1979 appearance is one of several slated for the band in the coming months, including a 7/22 appearance at Williamsburg Waterfront. Tickets are still available OR, you can try your hand by winning a pair at our Facebook. The full set of DFA1979 dates are below.

The Weakerthans have a few other dates slated for Europe and Canada in the coming months. Hopefully they add more US dates too. All dates for now are listed below.

A few bands on the FYFest lineup (namely, Cults, Off!, and No Age) will also appear in NYC at the House of Vans this summer, and for FREE. The FYF-presented House of Vans series of shows starts this Thursday (6/30). You just have to RSVP to get in (and maybe get there early).

All Weakerthans, DFA1979, and Mister Heavenly dates, some video, and the full FYF Fest lineup is below.

Continue reading "FYF Fest in LA, This is Hardcore in Philly, Future Islands in BK, Mister Heavenly on tour, a DFA1979 contest & more"

photos by Tim Griffin

Bass Drum of Death @ Austin Psych Fest

We've announced that Japandroids are playing Hopscotch Fest and Pygmalion Music Festival. It's since been revealed that these two festival appearances are part of a larger North American tour that Japandroids are going on with with Bass Drum of Death. The tour stops by New York at Mercury Lounge on September 14. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/10) at noon (though note that Mercury Lounge does not list Bass Drum on the bill).

The Mercury show is currently one of the very few on the tour that doesn't list Bass Drum of Death (or anyone for that matter) as an opener. However, BDOD play the Manhattan venue two other times this summer, and two Brooklyn shows too. They open the previously discussed Hanni El Khatib show at Mercury Lounge on 6/24 (tickets) and for Hanni again at Glasslands the next night (6/25) (tickets). The Brooklyn show also has Heavenly Blows and Web Dating on the bill.

BDOD then play Mercury again on July 22 with WU LYF (tickets) and Knitting Factory the next night (7/23) with WU LYF, Young Magic and Dapwell (Das Racist member DJ set) (tickets).

Bass Drum of Death's new LP, GB City, is out now via Fat Possum. Check out the band's recent video for "Get Found", along with more dates and a belated set of pictures of the band at Austin Psych Fest last month, below...

Continue reading "Japandroids touring w/ Bass Drum of Death who played Psych Fest (pics) & are playing w/ Wu Lyf (dates)"

by BBG

Joan of Arc in 2008 (more by Leia Jospe)

After dates on their current southwestern tour and a forthcoming UK tour come to an end, Joan of Arc will kick off another leg of dates in Pontiac, MI with Implodes heading toward the East Coast before looping back to a tour-ending show in St. Louis. NYC will get an appearance on that journey at Mercury Lounge on August 10th. Tickets are currently on AmEx presale and go on regular sale at noon on Friday (5/20)

Mike Kinsella of Joan of Arc/Cap'n Jazz will bring his side/solo/other project Owen to one upcoming date in Champaign, IL in September at the Pygmalion Music Festival. There Owen will share a stage with Cut Copy, Explosions in the Sky, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Asobi Seksu, Japandroids, and the reunited Braid. So far no other dates Braid dates have emerged, but we'll be on the look out.

Implodes released their new LP Black Earth via Kranky in April. Check out the shoegaze-y burner "Marker" streaming below alongside alll tour dates and some video.

Continue reading "Joan of Arc touring w/ Implodes (dates), Owen playing Pygmalion Music Festival w/ the reunited Braid (and others)"

The second annual Hopscotch Festival will go down in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, across 12 different venues with over 135 bands, from September 8th through 10th. The lineup this year runs the gamut of independent music... from traditional indie staples (The Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) to southern-inflected rock (Drive-By Truckers) to noise (Prurient) to hip hop (Beans) to garage (Jeff The Brotherhood) to funk (Budos Band) to metal (Krallice), and everywhere in between (Swans, Rhys Chatham, etc etc). Tickets are currently on sale. Full lineup is below.

Hopscotch happens almost three months after Guided By Voices play a Brooklyn Northside Festival show in McCarren Park (tickets) which is one day after Beirut plays a Northside Festival show on the same McCarren Park stage with... Sharon Van Etten (though she may have been accidentally announced at one point, they officially kept her placement on the bill under wraps until after Saturday's Music Hall of Williamsburg show). Tickets for Beirut/SVE are still on sale, and another opener will be added too.

Guided by Voices (whose Brooklyn show also has more openers coming) are also playing Pitchfork in July with Animal Collective whose Prospect Park show is now on AmEx presale.

Swans' upcoming NYC show is now on AmEx presale too.

Hopscotch lineup below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Fest returns to Raleigh (2011 lineup announced), Sharon Van Etten officially added to Northside Fest"

by BBG

Villains at Europa (more here)

Joe Preston and his solo project Thrones returns to NYC tonight (10/13), as part of a larger tour with Christian Mistress. The duo will team up with Villains to tear down Acheron at 9pm (a joint BrooklynVegan & Todd P production). $10 gets you in.

In other news, though Joe Preston hasn't recently logged any time at the studio, he has a an LP on the way from when he served time as a member of Earth:

A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extraction contains the entire 1990 Smegma Studios sessions which are the debut recordings from Earth. Previously available scattered via the Extra Capsular Extraction EP and Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars CD, ...[this] collection contains every note from the infamous first Earth recording sessions. Earth was founded by Dylan Carlson circa 1989 and in this infancy stage contained several different members including: Slim Moon (Kill Rock Stars label), Joe Preston (Thrones, Melvins, Sunn 0))), High on Fire etc..) and even Dylan's close friend Kurt Kobain.

Tonight's show is one of many Todd P and BrooklynVegan presented shows in the next few days. Thursday will see Todd P present Silk Flowers and CNTRL TOP (mem These Are Powers) along with an art exhibition, prints and film at Elizabeth Foundation For The Arts (323 W 39th St #3 @ 9th Ave in Manhattan) starting at 6PM. Friday (10/15) Todd P will bring Lightning Bolt, Dan Deacon Ensemble, special guests Otouto and the last NYC appearance from Casiotone for The Painfully Alone to the Ridgewood Masonic Temple. Advance tickets may still be available at Desert Island Books (540 Metropolitan Ave).

Desert Island Books also has your $10 tickets (while they last) for the Todd P-presented A Place to Bury Strangers, Japanadroids, Justin Wong, and Grooms show happening at Death By Audio on 10/26. Ticketfly has your tickets for the Japandroids show at Maxwell's.

BrooklynVegan will present a pair of shows at Union Pool: Rosetta, Constants, and Cleanteeth (doors at 9) on Friday (10/15) and Saturday (10/16) means The Gates of Slumber, Hour of 13, and Disma (doors at 9).

Speaking of tickets, want to win tickets to Thrones, Lightning Bolt, Rosetta, or The Gates of Slumber? I have a pair of tickets available for giveaway for EACH. Details on how to win, as well as some videos are at the bottom of this post... (And this concludes the first ever post to incorporate both The Gates of Slumber AND Dan Deacon).

Continue reading "Thrones tonight, Earth, Japandoids tickets, a Dan Deacon contest, Silk Flowers & other upcoming shows & stuff"

Japandroids @ BV SXSW 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

Japandroids are about to be up to #3 in a 5 part series...

Heavenward Grand Prix is the 3rd installment of the 5-part Japandroids 7" series being released throughout 2010. The A-side features the title track and the B-side features a cover of PJ Harvey's "Shame." This one comes on clear vinyl + MP3 and is limited to 2000 copies.

And you can see Japandroids live on tour right now. That tour comes to Brooklyn for a show at Death By Audio on 10/26 with A Place to Bury Strangers (one of three upcoming NYC shows for the local band), and then visits Maxwell's in Hoboken the next night with Oberhofer (tickets).

All dates below...

Continue reading "Japandroids touring, releasing 7"s"

photos by Peter Applebaum

The Walkmen in Camden, July 2010

"Lisbon, the fifth album by critically acclaimed band The Walkmen, is due September 14 with iTunes pre-orders beginning August 10. The album's first single "Angela Surf City" is currently available via iTunes. This summer and fall the band will embark on a nationwide tour in support of the record including newly announced stops in Montreal (October 8) and Chicago (October 13).

The band will also be appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on August 12, the same day they perform in New York City at Governors Island with Grizzly Bear. Additionally, they [were] on WNYC FM's Soundcheck on August 10 at 2:30pm EDT;

Lisbon was recorded over a two-year period in warehouses on Girard Ave. in Philadelphia and on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn." [PR]

The Walkmen's recent appearances included the WNYC thing and Camden's XPoNential Music Festival in July. The pictures in this post are from the latter. More of them, along with a stream of the WNYC appearance (which includes new songs), updated tour dates (many with Japandroids), and info on how to take the ferry to Governors Island tonight (8/12), below...

Continue reading "updated Walkmen tour dates, Governors Island ferry info, Fallon tonight, a WNYC stream & XPoNential Fest pics"

Memorial Day Weekend officially opened the summer, and for those in the Pacific Northwest it also brought Sasquatch Music Festival (pictures from all three days are coming soon). Now the lineup for its Labor Day cousin, Bumbershoot 2010, has been announced. That fest, happening at Seattle, WA's Seattle Center September 4th-6th, will include headliners Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, Hole, Rise Against, Neko Case, The Decemberists, J. Cole and "one more very special guest to be announced soon."

Tickets (including non-Mainstage 'economy' passes) are on sale now. The rest of the lineup (by day) for the seven-stage festival is posted below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2010 lineup (Bob Dylan... Hole... Mary J Blige)"

photos by Rachel Carr

All Leather

All Leather, the dude (Justin Pearson) from the Locust, was supposed to play Market Hotel tonight. As you know, Market Hotel was closed and shows have been relocated - most to other Brooklyn venues, and one to a boat. $10 tickets are still available for tonight's show (Friday, 5/7) on the Half Moon. I don't know too much about the Dim Mak-signed All Leather (hence the procrastination that led to this last minute post), but at a minimum I wouldn't mind seeing the opener The Death Set out on the high seas.

All Leather was the opener at a show with with NoBunny and Japandroids at the Echoplex in LA earlier on his tour. Pictures from that show, with an All Leather video and all dates (most with Yip Yip) below....

Continue reading "All Leather played LA w/ Japandroids & NoBunny (pics), playing a boat in NYC TONIGHT (and other dates)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Beaters - Fishage (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nodzzz - True to Life (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dom - Jesus (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Golden Girls - Newports (MP3)

The Soft Pack @ Cake shop in Feb (more by Gabi Porter)

The Soft Pack are here again, the first real shows in town they've played since releasing their debut album on Kemado: tonight (3/31) at Maxwell's, tomorrow (4/1) at Mercury Lounge, and Saturday (4/3) at Music Hall of Williamsburg. I've seen these guys a zillion times (and written about them nearly as much) but they remain one of my favorite current live acts. That said, I'm just a tad bit more excited about the bands who they've brought with them on tour: Nodzz, Beaters, and Male Bonding.

Geeky, funny, tuneful Nodzzz were relatively quiet in 2009 -- at least compared to some of their San Franciscan brethren -- touring early in the year and only releasing one single. Mind you, it was an excellent one, "True to Life," which made by Best of the 2009 list. They're bound to have a new record in the works,  so hopefully we'll get a bunch of fresh tunes.

Beaters

Beaters, from The Soft Pack's hometown of San Diego, are signed to Zoo Music, the label run by husband/wife duo Brandon of Crocodiles and head Dum Dum Girl, DeeDee. If you're familiar with their roster at all, you'll have a pretty good idea what to expect: dark, over-caffeinated, paranoid, heavy on the reverb. You can check out their single "Fishage" at the top of this post.

The Music Hall of Williamsburg show adds UK punks (and Sub Pop signees) Male Bonding who also play with The Smith Westerns and So Cow on Sunday (4/4) at Mercury Lounge.

Golden Girls

Two bands from Worcester, Mass are here this weekend -- Dom and Golden Girls. -- who play together tomorrow (4/1) at Pianos and then on Monday (4/5) at Cake Shop.

Of the two, I find Dom a little more interesting. There's some of that fifth-generation cassette tape chillwave sound going on, no doubt (which I'm getting a little waterlogged from frankly).  But they've got some good songs under that hiss (check out "Bochicha" on their MySpace) and appear to play real drums and guitars (as well as crappy old synths) so I have hopes that their live show will prove less gauzy.

Golden Girls are more straight-up indie rock, a duo on recordings but are a four-piece live. Raucous and on the sloppy side,  and with a single about cigarettes, you can draw a line from Golden Girls back to the Replacements pretty easily. They've only got two singles out so far, and I'm definitely curious to hear more.

A few more picks, by night, to take you through the weekend, along with tour dates and videos and stuff, below...

Continue reading "Beaters, Nodzzz, Best Coast, Ash, Abe Vigoda, Dom, Dum Dum Girls, Golden Girls, Soft Pack & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Bryan Bruchman

DOWNLOAD: Harlem - Gay Human Bones (MP3)

Japandroids

I do too many BV parties to make it to the Fader Fort anymore. This is the second SXSW in a row I completely missed it (didn't even get to see Bone Thugs). Luckily I have these pictures and videos (and stories about a band being booed off stage)...

Continue reading "Japandroids, Harlem, Salem (before they were booed) & others @ the Fader Fort (SXSW 2010) - pics & video "

photos by Tim Griffin

"Just saw Fucked Up tear it up at Emo's, with a cameo from two of the Wu Tang Killa Bees. That's gonna be hard to top" - mehan jayasuriya

"FUCKED UP: Frontman Pink Eye says Emo's was first place he ever went shirtless. "Fat guys everywhere felt a little bit skinnier."" - Rolling Stone

""GZA? He just couldn't make it," Killah Priest told BrooklynTheBorough.com later. "He told us to come and help him out. He'll be here though - somewhere - he'll be here.""

"The first show I caught at South by Southwest was The Morning Benders at Emo's for the Brooklyn Vegan day party. I talked with Christopher Chu, the lead singer and while he was warming up near the stage, I snapped a few pictures. If you have not purchased Big Echo, their latest album it is worth the dinero." [Harmon Drive]

The last few bands got slightly longer sets due to the gap in the schedule that GZA created. The capacity crowd enjoyed free Magic Hat beer, Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka, Vitamin Water, Mr. Natural breakfast tacos, Nadamoo coconut milk ice cream, Daily Juice catering, Raw Revolution bars and Hail Merry granola. It was an amazing first day at the festival that was quickly followed by our official showcase right down the street at Club DeVille. More pictures from this stage (metal coming later), and a video clip of the Killah Priest part, below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan Emo's day party pics (SXSW 2010 - Fucked Up, Titus Andronicus, Japandroids, Morning Benders, more) "

As previously mentioned, we've lost our minds and are doing seven shows in Austin during SXSW this year. The first of those parties kicks off at Emo's at noon on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 (doors @ 11:30am) on two 100% FREE stages:

Outside/Main Stage
12:00 YellowFever
12:45 The Rural Alberta Advantage
01:30 The Morning Benders
02:15 Japandroids
03:00 Titus Andronicus
03:45 The Black Angels
04:30 GZA
05:15 Fucked Up

DJs: Finger on the Pulse

Inside/Metal Stage (Emo's Jr)
12:00 - Kill The Client
12:35 - The Atlas Moth
01:20 - Javelina
02:05 - Dark Castle
02:50 - Salome
03:35 - Landmine Marathon
04:20 - Withered
05:05 - Torche

FREE DRINKS COURTESY OF: Magic Hat & Firefly Vodka & Vitamin Water (while supplies last)
FREE VEGAN BREAKFAST TACOS COURTESY OF: Mr. Natural
(starting @ noon. while supplies last)
MORE FREE FOOD COURTESY OF: Daily Juice (catering from 2-5)
MORE FREE FOOD COURTESY OF: Raw Revolution Bars
MORE FREE FOOD COURTESY OF: Hail Merry

Thanks Zach Jaeger for the sweet flyer.

The Morning Benders, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Austin's own YellowFever, AND GZA are all being announced for the first time in this post. Those following along already knew about Fucked Up, The Black Angels, Titus Andronicus, and Japandroids.

It should be a wild first day in Austin and needless to say, we're very excited for this one. And did we mention this was all free? No RSVP. No Badges. Just stop by. Get there early if you want a free vegan breakfast taco. Stay around if you want even more catering by Daily Juice. Drink for free from our 10 kegs of Magic Hat beer and the many bottles of Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka that we'll be pouring. Then after the show, if you're still hungry (and standing), get dinner quickly and head over to the official BrooklynVegan SXSW showcase at Club DeVille right down the block (Dawes go on at 8, Serena Maneesh finish things off at 1am). Then get some rest because you've got 19 more bands to catch on Thursday afternoon at Spider House.

And for those in NYC, don't forget that we're also hosting a free Morning Benders show, TONIGHT (3/8).

We also just announced the full lineup of our Saturday day party at Red 7 which is happening at the same time as our Saturday day party at Galaxy Room.

GZA's "Liquid Swords" video below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan presents a day party @ Emo's (Fucked Up, GZA, Black Angels, Torche, TRAA, Withered & much more) "

Best Coast @ a benefit in L.A. on February 7th (more by Rachel Carr)

Bethany Cosentino is a Los Angeles native with a brief stay in Brooklyn, and Best Coast's influences reflects that Beach Boys vibe with East Coast 60s girl group such as the Ronnettes and Shangri-Las. Best Coast is brought to life with the help of her long-time friend/guitarist/producer Bobb Bruno and guest drummer for these dates Ali Koehler (Vivian Girls).

While in NYC Best Coast are also playing other shows as well. They're at Montclair, NJ's Meat Locker on April 5th, Knitting Factory Brooklyn on April 6th and Mercury Lounge on April 7th. That Knitting Factory show is with Fucked Up side-project The Bitters and Vivian Girls/Woods side-project The Babies. Tickets are on sale now.

Before that, Best Coast will be at SXSW - one of their shows will be a showcase put on by their label PPM (who put out Best Coast's now sold-out 7-inch, which is being re-pressed). That show happens Saturday, March 19th at Barbarella with Gun Outfit, Total Abuse, KIT, Abe Vigoda and No Age.

Best Coast toured the West Coast with Vivian Girls earlier in February. Their full-length debut is expected sometime this year. Videos of the group and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Best Coast tour dates include multiple NYC-area shows, Babies, Bitters, SXSW & more (dates)"

Harlem @ Union Pool over the weekend (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Local Natives will headline Bowery Ballroom on May 6th. Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon.

Best Coast & Midnight Masses were added as openers to the April 1st Japandroids show at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are still on sale.

Midnight Masses continue a February residency at Union Pool tonight (2/17).

Japandroids are also playing Sasquatch.

Crystal Stilts have been added to the March 27th Love is All bill at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Tickets are on sale.

Catch Crystal Stilts much sooner at Music Hall of Williamsburg with The Beets / Christmas Island / Beach Fossils / The German Measles on February 20th. Tickets are still on sale.

Beach Fossils and The Beets will open for Love is All at Knitting Factory on March 28th. Tickets are on sale.

Phosphorescent will play Maxwell's for the first time on April 2nd. Tickets are on sale.

MusicSnobbery celebrates his 5th birthday with a show featuring the Vivian Girls at Maxwell's on April 23rd. Tickets are on sale.

Titus Andronicus and Harlem play the NJ club the very next night (4/24). Tickets are on sale.

Tickets are also still on sale for Titus's headlining show at Bowery Ballroom on March 6th.

We'll get a more complete press release in the morning (and confirm what is listed below is 100% correct), but in the meantime below is a picture of the 2010 Sasquatch poster (that someone Tweeted) and the lineup as read by Bradford Cox at tonight's Atlas Sound show in Seattle (and being listed all over the Internet)....

Continue reading "Sasquatch announces 2010 lineup (includes Massive Attack & My Morning Jacket) (and many more) "

After a hectic day of updating the constantly updating Bonnaroo lineup page, the entire thing has been announced. Gwar, Norah Jones, and the rest of the lineup below...

Continue reading "the complete 2010 Bonnaroo lineup (Stevie Wonder, The Melvins, Kings of Leon, Isis, Local Natives & many more) "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Love Is All - Kungen (MP3)

Hello All,

I hope your new year has started well. Gothenburg has been unusually cold lately.
Well here's a piece of very exciting news that makes everything around us seem a little brighter and warmer:

On March 23 our third album, Two Thousand and Ten Injuries, will be released by Polyvinyl. We are very excited and proud and can't wait for you all to hear it in its entirety. But for now we give you "Kungen," a true story about the time I spotted the king of Sweden in the street here in Gothenburg. Head over to our Myspace [and above] to hear it!

We really hope you like it. [Love Is All]

The poppy Swedes have tour dates with Japandroids this March & April, but the groups are playing NYC separately. Japandroids perform at Bowery Ballroom on April 1st (tickets are still on sale). Love Is All come to NYC earlier, with a Saturday, March 27th show at Maxwell's and a Sunday, March 28th show at Knitting Factory. Tickets to the Maxwell's show are on sale. (Knitting Factory still on the way).

Both of those bands are on Polyvinyl, as is another band that's touring even sooner: in less than a week, Of Montreal kick off a series of shows that include a January 26th performance at Highline Ballroom. Of Montreal's James Husband opens.

Album info and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Love Is All - new Polyvinyl album (MP3) & updated tour dates w/ 2 NYC-area shows"

Beach Fossils @ Shea Stadium (more by Erez Avissar)


today in NYC
* Dave Hill: BIG IN JAPAN @ UCB
* Ben Perowsky Quartet @ Barbes
* Islands video party @ Legion Bar
* Lichens, Lucky Dragons, Zomes @ Zebulon
* Lucy Wainwright Roche, Girlyman @ Littlefield
* Des Roar, The Dead Sparrows, Still Life Still @ Mercury Lounge
* Diet Cokeheads, White Suns, Twin Stumps, The Men @ Death By Audio
* Robert Stillman's Station-Wagon Interior Perspective @ The Stone
* Jason Lescalleet, Sean Meehan, Pauline Monin @ Issue Project Room
* Babies, Total Slacker, Beach Fossils, True Womanhood, The Sundelles @ Glasslands
* Bleak End At Bernie's, Kate Ferencz, Bigger Princess, Mad Mouth, Wisdom Tooth @ Silent Barn

Band names of the day: Diet Cokeheads and Bleak End At Bernie's.

Still Life Still play their first Mercury Lounge residency show.

Dave Hill performs his "Big In Japan" show at UCB tonight. His friend Lucy Wainwright Roche performs at Littlefield.

Pianos is still closed for renovation.

Lucky Dragons made one of Dan Deacon's favorite albums of '09. They play Zebulon tonight with Lichens and Zomes. Dragons vids below.

Japandroids are touring and playing Bowery Ballroom in April. They were on Jimmy Fallon Monday - their live TV rendition of "Wet Hair" is below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

DOWNLOAD: Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire (MP3)

Japandroids @ the 2009 Pitchfork Festival (more by Joseph Xu)

Japandroids will be busy touring the world in January, February, March and April. They'll visit Russia and Europe and much of the United States including Austin for SXSW and NYC for a show at Bowery Ballroom on April 1st. Tickets for the NYC show go on AmEx presale on Wednesday and then general sale on Friday.

Sweden's Love is All will be touring with the band before and after the Bowery show, but unlike in Philly, Boston, Montreal and other places, the two groups won't be sharing a bill here. Stay tuned for Love is All to announce their own show at a different venue on the same night?

You can catch Japandroids on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight (1/4). They'll be playing "Wet Hair" live for the first time for the show. All dates below...

Continue reading "Japandroids - 2010 Tour Dates, shows w/ Love Is All, SXSW, Fallon tonight & more "

photos by Joseph Xu

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

More pictures from the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival, below...

Continue reading "pictures from the 2009 Pitchfork Festival "

Trend You Wish Would Go Away

1. 90s revivalism (No Age, Japandroids, Cymbals Eat Guitars)
2. Afropop indie (Dirty Projectors, Fool's Gold, Abe Vigoda)
3. Animal Collective acolytes (Blind Man's Colour, Our Brother the Native, USF)
4. Balearic (jj, John Talabot, Windsurf/Hatchback)
5. Chillwave/glo-fi (Washed Out, Neon Indian, Nite Jewel)
6. Dubstep and its offshoots (wonky, funky, bassline)
7. Post-Lily Allen UK pop (La Roux, Little Boots, Florence and the Machine)
8. Prim, buttoned-up indie (Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, St. Vincent)
9. Shitgaze/lo-fi aesthetics (Times New Viking, Wavves, Vivian Girls)

SXSWeek 2010: March 12-21
Interactive: March 12-16
Film: March 12-20
Music: March 17-21

Continue reading "SXSW 2010 - dates & initial band lineup "