by Andrew Sacher

Father John Misty at BV-SXSW 2012 (more by Tim Griffin)

Folk singer Jonathan Wilson will play his last US show for a while tonight (5/18) before heading out on a European tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Tonight's show is at NYC club Mercury Lounge with Jenny O. Tickets are still available. All Jonathan Wilson dates are listed below.

Wilson's show is an early one (doors at 7PM), separate from the one that happens later that night at Mercury Lounge with Father John Misty (whose debut album, Fear Fun, Jonathan contributed to) plays a late show at the venue with Har Mar Superstar (sold out). Maybe Jonathan will stick around and join Father John Misty later. That show is part of Father John Misty and Har Mar Superstar's ongoing tour together which also includes a sold out show in Brooklyn on Saturday (5/19) at Knitting Factory.

Speaking of Father John Misty, he's not too happy about what Pitchfork (or as he likes to put it, Supercomputer) had to say about his new album. FJM took to his constantly active twitter to comment on it. Here's some choice tweets from the twitter sesh:

"It's cute when critics put on airs that they understand the language of music theory while wildly misconstruing basic compositional elements" - FJM

".@pitchforkmedia For future reference, saying an album doesn't have enough "syncopation" is like saying a book doesn't have enough letters." - FJM

".@pitchforkmedia Supercomputer, I believe your review was a bit too "written". Much in the way my album was clearly too "composed"." - FJM

".@pitchforkmedia Supercomputer, paragraph 4, sentence 2 is so chock full of musical non-sequiturs it's practically incoherent. -Ombudsman" - FJM

"@pitchforkmedia For all the casual dismissing of my back-catalogue, your supercomputer seems to think they're at least a few decimals better" - FJM

What did you think of Fear Fun? If you haven't heard it yet, check out the stream of the full album below, along with a list of all Jonathan Wilson dates...

Continue reading "Jonathan Wilson playing Merc tonight before Father John Misty (who does not approve of P4K's review of his album)"

The Newport Festivals Foundation continues to celebrate the festival's historic past by featuring emerging young artists alongside some of folk music's most venerable names. This year's festival features: My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Conor Oberst, Iron & Wine, Patty Griffin, Guthrie Family Reunion, Dawes, The Head & The Heart, Deer Tick, Punch Brothers, City & Colour, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Tallest Man on Earth, tUnE-yArDs, Tom Morello, Trampled by Turtles, Gary Clark, Jr., Alabama Shakes, Blind Pilot, Of Monsters and Men, original music from: Jay Farrar; Will Johnson; Anders Parker; & Yim Yames set to the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, Sharon Van Etten, First Aid Kit, Sara Watkins, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Brown Bird, Jonny Corndawg, Jonathan Wilson, Spirit Family Reunion, Deep Dark Woods, Carl Broemel, Ben Sollee, Robert Ellis, Frank Fairfield, The Apache Relay, Spider John Koerner & His Rag Tag Boys, Joel Rafael, Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons, Elizabeth Mitchell, honeyhoney, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, The Kossoy Sisters, The Berklee City Music Choir and very special guests to be announced.

The 2012 Newport Folk Festival lineup has been announced.

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Howler - I Told You Once (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fujiya & Miyagi - Ecstatic Dancer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dinowalrus - What Now (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pre War - Out There (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Royal Baths - Darling Divine (MP3)

Howler

Welcome to the Stop SOPA edition of TWII. Do you know how hard it would be to do this column without free knowledge via the internet? It would be riddled with factual errors. More so!

Minneapolis underage upstarts Howler are in town playing a whole bunch of shows. The onslaught began last night with an in-store at Other Music (their album came out yesterday), and continues with: an early show tonight (January 18) with Happy People andTiberius,  January 19 at Death By Audio with Grooms andClouder, January 20 at Cameo Gallery with St. Lucia, and January 21 at Pianos with Dear Lions, Cemeteries, and The Everymen.

As mentioned, Howler's debut album came out yesterday and is titled America Give Up which kind of feels like a "just try not to like us" dare. Their sound -- a little Strokes, a little Jesus and Mary Chain, a little West Coast garage -- is indeed easy to like, even if there isn't much "new" about it. But the band have no shortage of hooks and a good dose of hard-to-fake attitude. As previously mentioned, ou can stream the whole thing at NPR.

Most of the hype is coming from the UK press who are still enamored with the Vaccines (with whom Howler's toured). I like Howler better than them and am going to make an effort to catch one of their shows this week. You should too, surely you've got one night free this week?

Fujiya & Miyagi

Also in town this week are Fugiya & Miyagi, playing Glasslands on Thursday (1/19) and Mercury Lounge on Saturday (1/21, sold out). The band have a new single out, "Ecstatic Dancer," that you can download at the top of this post. It's the kind of slinky, glammy stomper you could imagine Goldfrapp doing but with David Best's whispery vocals. No album attached to it as far as I can tell so it seems the single supports the tour, not the other way around as usual.

The band are also on the Power, Corruption & Lies Covered CD that comes with the February issue of MOJO, where the entirety of cover stars New Order's second album is covered by the likes of Destroyer, S.C.U.M. and Errors. Fujiya & Miyagi contribute a fairly wrote version of Side Two opener "Your Silent Face." (Stream it below.) The band are a good time live and are equally adept at both Neu!-style motorik and funky Can rhythms as you may already know. My favorite song is still "Ankle Injuries" but I'm looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Thursday's Glasslands show is with Zambri, who really impressed me at Glasslands last month, Rarechild and The Golden Filter on DJ duties. For Saturday's show at Merc, openers are Aimes, Jangulaand Dinowalrus.

Dinowalrus

Dinowalrus' second album, Best Behavior, is due out March 6 on Old Flame records. If you haven't seen them in a while, the band dropped the dissonance in favor of a sound under the influenced of late '80s Manchester. While that means some danceable tracks, it also means atmospheric rockers like "What Now" which veers closer to The Chameleons or The Sound. You can download it at the top of this post.

Jonathan Wilson

If you're looking for something a little more mellow, man, perhaps you should check out onetime Eisley bassist Jonathan Wilson who is here for three shows this week. He's at Mercury Lounge tomorrow (1/19) for an early show and again  on Friday (1/20) for a late show with Quilt), and then hits the Rock Shop on Saturday (1/ 21).

Jonathan Wilson's Gentle Spirit made its way onto many Best of 2011 lists, coming in at #4 on MOJO's year end coverage. Pazz n' Jop notsomuch, only three votes, which landed it in a 21-way tie for #372. Mind you, Wilson's music -- which recalls the heyday of early '70s Laurel Canyon -- is prime fodder for a magazine like MOJO that has a Beatle on the cover at least once a year, but Gentle Spirit is a genuinely gorgeous album that exudes a West Coast vibe even in the coldest New York winter. Spotify users can listen to the album here.

This is the only picture on Pre War's Facebook

And finally, for many in New York the phrase "pre war" is code for "not many electric outlets and no sink in the bathroom" but maybe that will change with Pre War the rock band who have dusted themselves off from the recently defunct Conversion Party. Like that band, Pre War traffic in catchy, big-chorused indie rock. Check out "Out There" at the top of this post and you can listen to more at the band's Tumblr.

You can catch Pre War live Thursday (1/19) at Cake Shop where they play with Grand Rapids, Plates of Cake, and Hunny.

That's the big stuff for this week. Day-by-day picks not covered above are below. Fight the power!

--
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18

Sharon Van Etten is at Mercury Lounge which if you don't have tickets, is sold out. She's got lots more shows coming up, though. Her new album, Tramp, is really good.

continued below...

Continue reading "Howler, Fujiya & Miyagi, Dinowalrus, Pre War, Jonathan Wilson, Royal Baths & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

To say that the second album by North Carolina native Jonathan Wilson feels a bit like getting a free reflexology treatment and a small dose of diazepam combined is, accordingly, no criticism. This immersive double-length album is so languid that it might have its own gravitational field, pulling you earthwards to examine the sky in some detail, growing your hair out with every slowly unfurling guitar line. Even if you care nothing for the culture of Laurel Canyon, the Los Angeles crucible of stoned country-rock back in the 70s and Wilson's recent stomping ground, his unhurried, backward-glancing Gentle Spirit might speak to you, in a whisper laden with effects...

...Wilson's prescription for our ills is simple: flutes, pianos, organs, guitars (acoustic and electric, and lots of them) and guests (even more of them). This album grew - very slowly - out of regular Wednesday night jam sessions that Wilson hosted at his old Laurel Canyon base...Jonathan Wilson is a producer, guitar-maker and veteran of Robbie Robertson's, Jackson Browne's and Elvis Costello's bands. Wilson's fellow Canyon noodlers included Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes (who doesn't appear on the album), plus a Jayhawk, bits of the Steve Miller Band and Andy Cabic of Vetiver, another bunch of psychedelically leaning longhairs, all of whom do. [The Observer]

Jonathan Wilson's Gentle Spirit made its way onto many Best of 2011 lists, coming in at #4 on MOJO's year end coverage (check out the full list below). Mind you, Wilson's music -- which recalls the heyday of early '70s Laurel Canyon -- is prime fodder for a magazine that has a Beatle on the cover at least once a year, but Gentle Spirit is a genuinely gorgeous album that exudes a West Coast vibe even in the coldest New York winter. Spotify users can listen to the album here.

Jonathan Wilson hits the East Coast next week, which will include three stops in NYC: he plays two nights at  Mercury Lounge (an early show on January 19 and a late show on January 20 with Quilt) and then hits the Rock Shop on January 21. He also plays Philadelphia's World Cafe Live on January 18. Click through for those dates in list form (as well as European dates), plus a few music videos and MOJO's full 2011 list...

Continue reading "Jonathan Wilson released MOJO's #4 album of 2011, playing three NYC shows (and one in Philly)"

Boston psych-folkies Quilt have a few shows coming up in early 2012, including two in NYC. They'll open for Jonathan Wilson at Mercury Lounge on January 20 and will open for Jeremy Jay at Glasslands on February 8. Tickets for the Mercury show and the Glasslands show are on sale now.

Quilt released their debut LP on Mexican Summer last month. You can stream the whole thing at their bandcamp and purchase it at the Mexican Summer webstore.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Quilt schedule some shows, one with Jeremy Jay"