by Bill Pearis

As mentioned, San Francisco quartet The Mantles are releasing Long Enough to Leave via Slumberland on June 18. If you dig '60s garage pop, keep an eye out for this one. The band have just released a second track, "Hello," which you can stream alongside the previously-released "Brown Balloon" below.

We also knew that The Mantles were playing Cake Shop on July 13 which is with Piano Movers and Comet Gain/Crystal Stilts-related band Pale Lights. Turns out that is the final night of a short East Coast tour with Juan Wauters of The Beets. They've got a second NYC show as well at Shea Stadium on July 9 with the rest of the line-up still TBA. All tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "The Mantles release second track from new LP, announce East Coast tour (dates, streams)"

We just posted about Italy's His Clancyness coming over for SXSW and it turns out there's another Italian group that will be here too on their way to SXSW. Brothers in Law hail from coastal town of Pesaro, on the Adriatic Sea, and have recently released their debut album, Hard Times for Dreamers. If you like the janglier side of late-'80s Creation Records (House of Love, Felt) or current stuff on Slumberland (Girls Names, Veronica Falls), you should check their album out -- it's streaming in full below.

Brothers in Law play Sunday (3/10) at Death by Audio with The Beets' Juan Wauters, Horrible Present and Missing Document. It looks like they're on early so for those who want to also catch Girls Names at Cameo the same night, maybe its doable. Or if you want to keep it in Italy, His Clancyness is at Glasslands right around the corner from DBA. There may be a Brothers in Law show on Friday (3/9) as well, venue TBA, we'll see. All known tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Italian band Brothers in Law released debut LP, playing NYC, SXSW (dates, streams)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Jeffrey Lewis - Cult Boyfriend (MP3)

Jeffrey Lewis @ Space Ducks party (more by Greg Cristman)

Jeffrey Lewis starts a U.S. tour on Thursday (11/8) in San Francisco that will wind its way across the country, finishing up with a NYC show at Knitting Factory on November 21 with Juan Wauters of The Beets opening the show. Tickets are now on sale.

If you haven't checked out Jeff's album from last year, A Turn in the Dream-Songs, you should definitely give it a spin, it's another trip into the mind of one of NYC's more thoughtful, witty songwriters. You can download "Cult Boyfriend" at the top of this post. Below is the video for his 2007 song "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" which remains one of the best ruminations on "indie famous" ever put to record (and the video's great), plus a full list of tour dates.

Continue reading "Jeffrey Lewis going on U.S. tour, finishing up in NYC (dates)"