by Andrew Frisicano

Juana Molina in Stuvesant Town, NYC

Juana Molina played at the Stuy Town Oval on June 23rd (the first of two outdoor summer NYC shows for her). The free concert brought out an family-friendly crowd (lots of kids running around), which Juana treated to her looped, organic-sounding popscapes.

That other outdoor show she has is also free, part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, and happens on Wednesday, July 28th. She won't play a regular set however - it's a special collaborative evening with string quartet ETHEL.

By persistently exploding the parameters of what a string quartet can be, ETHEL challenges listeners as it bewitches them. This world premiere features the feisty four-piece in collaboration with tunesmiths who've proven just as captivating, whether trafficking in folkish blues (Dayna Kurtz), clever power pop (Fountains of Wayne songwriter Adam Schlesinger with Candy Butchers' Mike Viola), off-kilter post-punk guitar explorations (Tom Verlaine with Patrick Derivaz) or swirling sonic carpentry (Juana Molina). In these new collaborations, ETHEL invigorates each song with arrangements both plush and plucky.
[Lincoln Center]

Last week, Stuy Town featured Marc Ribot with his band Los Cubanos Postizos and sitting in with La Cumbiamba eNeYe (some excellent videos below), and continues with Delorean Wednesday, July 7th.

More Juana Molina pictures are below...

Continue reading "Juana Molina (& Marc Ribot) played Stuy Town (pics, videos, Delorean Wednesday), playing Lincoln Center & other dates"

Music on the Oval w/ Kaki King in '09 (more by Tim Griffin)

Music on the Oval, another free series of NYC shows, happens this summer every Wednesday night from June 16-July 21 at Stuyvesant Town Oval. The shows are at 7pm with a 6pm warm-up DJ set, and are located between 16th and 18th Sts and Avenues A & B (entrance off First Ave and 16th St).

Acts this year include Delorean (the poppy Barcelona dance band with lots of shows this summer), reggae band Easy Star All-Stars (who play every year), soul and funk from Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens and Tony Allen (both at Metrotech Commons/BAM Rhythm & Blues Fest afternoon series too), Juana Molina (who's also appearing at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, and downtown guitar fixture Marc Ribot with his band Los Cubanos Postizos (Marc plays the Stone Thursday, May 6th, with May's co-curator Henry Kaiser - one of the sets includes John Zorn).

The full Stuy Town schedule is below...

Continue reading "free shows in Stuy Town - Music on the Oval's 2010 schedule (includes Delorean, Marc Ribot & more) "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: The Almighty Defenders - Bow Down and Die (MP3)

It's supergroup day on BrooklynVegan. Some of it is catch up news. We have a new MP3 and tour dates from the new Black Keys-related Drummer band, and then there's the signing of Dum Dum Girls whose first live show over the weekend brought together member of four other bands. Jack White's new supergroup The Dead Weather is streaming their new album today, and we finally did a post on the Monsters of Folk album (Bright Eyes+My Morning Jacket+M Ward). Supergroups are not to be confused with side projects which were sort of a theme today too - first with Wolf Parade-related Handsome Furs, and then the Mazzy Star/My Bloody Valentine-related Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (which I guess could be considered a supergroup too). Next up....

The Almighty Defenders (Black Lips + King Khan + BBQ)

The Almighty Defenders, a meeting of might between Atlanta garage goblins The Black Lips, Berlin-based soul punker King Khan, and Mr. BBQ himself, Mark Sultan. Conceived during the Lips' Berlin exile (after their VBS-documented ejection from India), the band's self-titled debut is a madcap, liquor-drenched revival, a blissfully fucked up realization of one of garage rock's most fitting collaborations. "Bow Down And Die," the "booming, chivalrous third song," is an off kilter, beer-swilling chant-along that borrows just as much from choral church music as it does from skuzzball rock n roll.

You can check out that song above. The band's self-titled debut is set to come out September 22nd on Vice. Clips of the group live are below.

No tour dates for the Almighty Defenders yet, but The Black Lips will be at the July 26th Williamsburg Waterfront Pool Party, playing with Health, Grupo Fantasma and Trail of Dead. The Black Lips are actually one of the only artists to play a 'Pool Party' two years in a row. Ironically(?), when they played last year, it was on the same bill as King Khan. Maybe they'll bring him along again, or maybe they should just make an Almighty Defenders show which would be cool.

The Black Lips are also playing a few other festivals this summer, including Pitchfork Fest and Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party. The band was recently featured on the soundtrack of the Gael Garcia Bernal & Diego Luna film Rudo Y Cursi, which came out in May. That disc includes contributions by Devendra Banhart, Juana Molina (who's playing tonight, July 8th, in Central Park) and even Bernal himself. Album art and tracklist for that below.

Bernal is hardly the only actor getting into music these days. Dead Man's Bones, the combo of actors Zach Shields and Ryan Gosling, is set to release a self-titled album, produced by Tim Anderson of I'm A Robot, October 6th on Anti-. Silverlake Conservatory Children's Choir, who you can see below, also pitched in vocals. Two videos of the band are below.

You can catch a different kind of supergroup in NYC at the Bowery Ballroom on August 1st. Dangerous, an "All Metal Tribute To Michael Jackson," features members of Tragedy (the "Heavy Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees" who are playing the Beach at Governors Island this summer) and the 2 Skinnee Js. Tickets to that are on sale now.

And if that's not enough...

Members of Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age are working together on a new project...The as-yet-unnamed supergroup unites Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, and lead Foo Fighter (né Nirvana drummer) Dave Grohl. The trio are presently in Los Angeles, recording their debut album.[Guardian UK]

John Paul Jones also recently worked with Sonic Youth.

Check out Almighty Defenders videos, album art and tracklist, with Rudo Y Cursi album info and Dead Man's Bones videos, below...

Continue reading "Supergroup day continues: Zeppelin/Grohl/QOTSA, Almighty Defenders (Black Lips+King Khan), Dead Man's Bones, more"

DOWNLOAD: Juana Molina - Un día (MP3)

Juana Molina plays a free Central Park Summerstage show tonight (July 8th) with Curumin and El G. After that she doesn't have many dates scheduled. She plays some festivals in Japan and Europe, but she'll be back in NYC for a show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday, August 20th. Tickets to the show go on AmEx pre-sale at noon, and regular sale on Friday, July 10th at noon.

Curumin also plays SOB's on July 15th, and Southpaw on July 26th. All dates below.

The title track off Juana's last record, 2008's Un Día, is posted above.

A video for that song is below. Her label Domino's description of the video is pretty on the money: "Juana Molina...looking as if she's being reflected in a mirror from Middle Earth." That clip and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Juana Molina & Curumin - Summerstage tonight & other upcoming shows (MHOW, SOB's, Southpaw & more) "

Bela Fleck & Toumani Diabate, Savannah Music Fest '09 (Savannah Grandfather)

Celebrating its twentieth anniversary, City Parks Foundation is pleased to announce the 2009 season schedule of its flagship free performing arts festival, Central Park SummerStage. Internationally acclaimed for presenting world-renowned and emerging talent from around the globe and New York City's own backyard, the Central Park SummerStage season promises to be as electrifying as ever with a calendar chock-full of culturally diverse programs in multiple disciplines including music, dance, word, film, and comedy.

The 2009 Central Park SummerStage season is marked by innovative collaborations and will open on Friday, June 12 at 8:00 PM with a performance by the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Josh Ritter and his band for the evening, The New York Pops.

City Parks Foundation also welcomes The Metropolitan Opera for the first time ever to Central Park SummerStage as The Met launches its free Summer Recital Series of outdoor concerts in neighborhood parks on Monday, July 13 at 8:00 PM with a special performance of opera arias and popular songs headlined by the Tony Award-winning baritone Paulo Szot and featuring Lisette Oropesa (soprano), Alek Shrader (tenor), and Vlad Iftinca (piano).

Central Park Summerstage will host 31 free programs this summer. Musical highlights include M Ward, Josh Ritter, Juana Molina, Q-Tip, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Bettye Lavette, Béla Fleck and Toumani Diabaté. The whole schedule is below...

Continue reading "Central Park Summerstage - full 2009 concert schedule "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Juana Molina - "Un día" (MP3)

Juana Molina @ Prospect Park in July (more by Chris La Putt)

For the uninitiated, Juana Molina grew up in Argentina and was exiled to Paris with her family at the age of 12. Her father is THE coolest of cool old school Tango singers and her mother, an actress. Juana herself spent many years as a comedic TV star in South America, but made a complete break with acting at the height of her fame to return to music (a move that, which must be noted, was met with nothing short of hostility back home).

Juana Molina will play a Wordless Music series show tonight (2/27) at (Le) Poisson Rouge in NYC, with composer Lukas Ligeti (yes, son of György). Tickets are still on sale. Molina, who sings in Spanish, embelishes the trancelike elements of language in electronic/acoustic compositions that are equal parts hypnotic and melodic.

Last week, Molina stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic on Santa Monica's KCRW for a live set and extended conversation. Molina, who played Prospect Park with Feist last summer, released her fifth full-length, Un Dia, in October on Domino Records. You can download one track off that album above.

All tour dates and a video below...

Continue reading "Juana Molina - tonight in NYC, an MP3, KCRW, other dates "

photos by Chris La Putt

DOWNLOAD: Juana Molina - Micael (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Feist - Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jimmy Flemion (the Frogs) - Too Many People Love The Rain (MP3)

Juana Molina and Feist played a not-free sold-out show at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn last night (July 9, 2008). More pictures from that below...

Continue reading "Feist & Juana Molina @ Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY - pics"

"Un Dia, the fourth release on Domino Records from Argentinean artist Juana Molina is set to be released on Oct 7, 2008. While the record is a brave departure from her previous work (with pronounced rhythms and bold low end) it is every bit a Juana record, as personal and intimate as always."

Juana Molina is opening for Feist in Prospect Park and other places...

Continue reading "Juana Molina - new Domino album, 2008 Tour Dates (Feist)"