The Bundles

Like Dan Deacon, a band called the Bundles are playing the Cake Shop anniversary celebrations this month. Their show is on Wednesday, May 12th.

The Bundles are fronted by the anti-folk dream-team of Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson, and include drummer Anders Griffen, Jack Lewis (Jeff's brother and band-mate) and K Recs' Karl Blau. Their debut self-titled record came out on K Records in April.

Also on the Cake Shop bill are the controversially-named Sidewalk Cafe staples Ching Chong Song and Only Son (ex-Moldy Peaches guitarist Jack Dishel), as well as a mysterious "Secret Guest". Who could that be? Well, two members of the Moldy Peaches are listed on the bill already, Kimya headlining would sort of be a bigger deal than her new band, Moldy Peach Adam Green is sort of big (he just did two nights at Bowery), so my guesses are:

1) Moldy Peaches (seems unlikely though right?)
2) Kimya Dawson (but why be secret when you're already on the bill?)
3) Adam Green (bigger, but does he need to be a secret?)
4) Beck (just kidding)
5) Regina Spektor

My last guess, Regina Spektor, also got her start at places like Sidewalk Cafe and has toured with Only Son more than once. I have no idea really. What do you think?... UPDATE:

hey guys, andy cakeshop here...just so theres no confusion, its not adam green.. i was throwing the idea around with his management, but it was really just an idea. the bills really strong on its own, and i should really take off the 'secret guest' thing, its been a weird week and sorry it got to this level. jeff and kimya need to play at 8 to make it to a prior commitment...anyway we're working on something cool for the 11pm, but as of yet, truthfully, its not booked! sorry for the mixup &
thanks everyone.
love, andy

"SECRET GUEST!" has now in fact been replaced with "TBA". It was fun while it lasted.

Before then, Jeff Lewis plays Happy Ending Music Series at Joe's Pub tonight (5/5). Tickets are available.

The Bundles tour the UK and Europe later in May. Those dates and videos are below...

Continue reading "anti-folk supergroup The Bundles (Kimya, Jeff Lewis, etc) have an album, playing Cake Shop w/ SECRET GUEST & other dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Mount Eerie - Wind's Dark Poem (MP3)

Mount Eerie/Phil Elverum is going on tour this fall. In addition to his dates with Why?, Elverum will be headlining a trip with friends and collaborators Tara Jane O'Neil and No Kids. One NYC stop on the tour will be a Halloween show at the Market Hotel with an eclectic bill of metal bands Liturgy and Krallice, the minimal folk of Tara Jane O'Neil, and No Kids's indie pop. (There's also a TBA NYC show for Mount Eerie on November 2nd.)

UPDATE: Krallice are not playing the Halloween show (which is curated by Brandon Stosuy of Show No Mercy), anymore. Another band will be announced instead. We also found out that No Kids will be Phil's backing band. That is all.

If that lineup sounds strange, it might make more sense after looking at the lineup of this year's What The Heck Fest, or hearing the new Mount Eerie record, Wind's Poem, which is out now on his own PW Elverum & Sun label. The double LP covers a range of sounds from the first blast of introductory noise (as heard in the inaugural track, above) to more melodic, image-driven storytelling to creepy marimba-eque textures (notably on "Between Two Mysteries"). No idea if live he'll be doing the songs with band, iPod or solo.

Elverum just wrapped up What the Heck Fest 8, which ran July 17-19 and brought a lot of great artists to his hometown of Anacortes, Washington...

What the Heck Fest is a festival out of Anacortes, Wa put on (more-or-less) by Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie and Geneviève Castrée of Woelv. It's kind of like summer camp with tons of indie bands. They've been at it for 8 years now. This year's fest was awesomely diverse (highlighted humorously saturday night with Olympia black metal superstars Wolves in the Throne Room following posi indie folkster Kimya Dawson) and I really couldn't have been more pleased to have the presence of so many things that didn't fit the k records/indie rock mold that people assume this festival is in the mix. [Letters With Mixtapes]

Other NYC Halloween shows this year include Lez Zeppelin, The Get Up Kids and the Misfits. All Mt Eerie tour dates, album art and tracklist, below...

Continue reading "Mount Eerie - 2009 tour dates (Market Hotel on Halloween w/ Liturgy, No Kids, Tara Jane O'Neil & ???) +++ MP3"

DOWNLOAD: Mannequin Men - Grapefruit (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mannequin Men - The Boys (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mannequin Men - Massage (new MP3)

Mannequin Men @ F Yeah Fest 2008 (more by Elizabeth Weinberg)

The Mannequin Men have been called a garage rock band, a "scuzz rock" band and a group of the "drunkest, snottiest, amp-blowing" guys in Chicago.

But lead singer and guitarist Kevin Richard doesn't use such technical terms to describe the Mannequin Men.

"I like to think we're just a rock 'n' roll band," Richard said [al.com]

Mannequin Men are on tour and playing two NYC shows this weekend. First, Friday, May 8th at Union Hall (tonight) the band has a show with The Choke and Joe Romeo & the Orange County Volunteers. Tickets are on sale.

The next night, Saturday, May 9th, the guys play at the Cake Shop with Doug Gillard (of Guided By Voices), Karl Blau, Painted Cakes, and Steve Shiffman and the Land of No. That show is part of the "Cake Shop Anniversary 4 Years / 4 (+1 to grow on) Wesome Saturdays."

Blau has other NYC dates on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week as well. Doug Gillard, who recently played an in-store at Generation Records, is scheduled to play at the Charleston Friday, May 8th (tonight) on June 6th.

Mannequin Men's new disc, Lose Your Illusion, Too, is set to come out on June 9th on Flameshovel Records. One MP3 above is from that album. The other two are from the band's last, 2007's Fresh Rot.

All Mannequin Men and Doug Gillard tour dates, with NSFW album art from the forthcoming MM album below...

Continue reading "Mannequin Men - 2009 Tour Dates (2 NYC shows this weekend, 1 with Doug Gillard) "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Grey Gersten - Hard Times (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grey Gersten - Of The Year Was (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grey Gersten - Fumbles In The Dark (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grey Gersten - Your Voice, A Seed in the Wind (MP3)

Grey Gersten, The Stone's May curator

Seach and Restore: How did you approach and deal with the task of curating an entire month of shows at the Stone, two shows a night?

Grey Gersten: I started last year by making a huge list of different artists, musicians and film-makers that I thought would create unique performances specifically for the series. It's impossible to plan anything like this because there are so many uncontrollable factors constantly shifting. At times it felt like a gigantic three dimensional Rubik's Cube! I would reach to adjust it and the blocks would morph into crazy micro Rubik layers. John Kilduff's "Lets Paint" videos were a source of constant motivation. His ability to multi-task and remain flexible is very inspiring.

Guitarist Grey Gersten's May lineup at The Stone kicked it off on the 1st with Loren Conners and Shahzad Ismaily. That's the only appearance for either at the venue this month, though Ismaily will be playing bass with Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog as part of the guitarist's 55th birthday celebration which starts next week on May 9th. The May 16th Ceramic Dog show at (Le) Poisson Rouge, with Ribot's Young Philadelphians also on the bill, will close the weeklong celebration. Note, the core Ceramic Dog trio includes percussionist Ches Smith -- more on him below. Tickets for that show are still on sale.

A number of those Ribot birthday shows will be at the Stone. That includes a Wednesday, May 13th "Tribute" with Gersten and others playing Ribot's work.

Ribot "warms up" for that week of shows with an appearance at Zebulon in Brooklyn on Wednesday, May 6th (tonight). He'll joins extra heavy jazz group Whoopie Pie.

At the Stone Wednesday, May 6th (tonight) JG Thirlwell, composer of the soundtrack to Cartoon Network's The Venture Bros. among other credits, performs with his Manorexia ensemble. It's scheduled to be the group's only NYC performance this year. Thirlwell's Venture Bros. work was recently collected and released on a disc that is out now through Adult Swim.

Part of the Stone's lineup this weekend includes a Saturday, May 9th show with Lucky Dragons and special guests Gersten and Ches Smith. Smith, who plays as part of Ceramic Dog (see above) and Secret Chiefs 3 (who recently visited NYC), collaborated with Gersten and Kato Hideki on a limited-edition LP. MP3s of that record are posted above.

Gersten put together a mixtape to highlight artists at the Stone this month. Artists on the mix include Ribot, Nels Cline, Karl Blau, Lucky Dragons and more. SearchandRestore.com is currently hosting a stream of that mix. Tracklist below.

Speaking of Blau and Cline, they round out the Stone's weekend lineup with respective early and late sets on Sunday, May 10th. Karl Blau is also playing Zebulon on Monday, May 11th, and Bruar Falls on May 12th. Nels Cline plays with Mike Watt at the Central Park Summerstage on Saturday, August 1st. M. Ward headlines that show. Watt has been recording in Brooklyn all week and has two nights of NYC-area gigs starting Thursday, May 7th.

JG Thirlwell and Manorexia videos, with gig poster and album track list and art, plus Gersten mix tracklist, below...

Continue reading "May @ the Stone continues w/ curator Grey Gersten (MP3s), Manorexia & birthday boy Marc Ribot (plays Zebulon today)"

Calvin Johnson mural @ Dept of Safety, Anacortes, Washington (K Records)

Feb 14, 2008 - New York, New York
New York University, Shorin Hall - w/ Karl Blau 8PM All Ages

Feb 17, 2008 - New York, New York
Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery - 4PM

Feb 18, 2008 - Brooklyn, New York
Lutheran Church of the Messiah, 129 Russell St (at Nassau, Greenpoint, Brooklyn G-Nassau or L-Graham) -w/ Karl Blau & Fred Thomas (Saturday Looks Good to Me) 8:00PM $7.00 All Ages

All tour dates below....

Continue reading "Calvin Johnson - 2008 Tour Dates, 3 NYC shows, Karl Blau"