by Bill Pearis and Andrew Sacher

Ex Cops DJing at Other Music, RSD 2012 (more)

We're about a week out from Record Store Day 2013. When it began in 2008, RSD was a celebration of brick-and-mortar stores in the face of digital downloads, offering up exclusive releases to get people out to stores. It's blown up considerably since then, with hundreds of RSD-only releases. (Many of which fall into the hands of folks who turn it around on Ebay that same day, but what can you do?) While it is a mob scene these days, there is no doubt it helps what record stores there are left -- though not enough, as Record Store Day will be the last day for Williamsburg's Sound Fix. Participating stores around the country are listed here.

There are always some pretty cool exclusives too, items that may have never seen the light of day without RSD. With that in mind we've gone through the list of North American RSD exclusives to highlight a few things to keep an eye out. This isn't comprehensive, just stuff we wanna get. What records are you trying to get this year?

We've written about the Sacred Bones comp, the Astralwerks comp, Old 97s, Frightened Rabbit, Austra, Sonny & the Sunsets, and Titus Andronicus Check out our new list below...

Continue reading "a guide to Record Store Day 2013"

photos by PSquared Photography

Kate Nash @ Bowery Ballroom, 3/27/2013

Girl Talk is her first album on the great UK indie label, Fortuna Pop, after two albums with Geffen/Fiction. Thus, she can do a more rocking sound without having to deal with record execs thinking about demographics. When she talked about her song inspired by Pussy Riot, "Free My Pussy", she stated that the song is more about being a general oppression from friends, family, ex-boyfriends and record excutives.

The new album has a few choice cuts that draw inspiration from Bikini Kill, The Slits and any number of the female-fronted punk bands. You got the B-movies, motorcycle gang riffs on Death Proof, All Talk, Cherry Pickin and Sister. All Talk and Death Proof were cracking live, with Kate belting out the rock vocals and slamming on her bass. As you can see on the setlist, she played a few fan favorites where everyone can sing along -- from the young girls to the creepy old guys (present company included). It's great that after three albums she's got a great body of work to choose from for her setlists. - [MusicSnobbery @ Philly show]

Kate will then play NYC again tomorrow (3/28) at Music Hall of Williamsburg (sold out). More pics from Bowery Ballroom, including ones of openers Supercute!, are below.

Continue reading "Kate Nash and Supercute! played Bowery Ballroom (pics); tonight's Studio @ Webster Hall show will be streamed live"

As you may know, Kate Nash is in NYC next week for shows at Bowery Ballroom (3/26) and Music Hall of Williamsburg (3/28), both of which are with Supercute!, and sold out. Good news: Kate and Supercute! have added a third show while here, and at a much more intimate venue: The Studio @ Webster Hall on March 27. Tickets to that show are still available.

Updated tour schedule below...

Continue reading "Kate Nash adds 3rd NYC show, playing The Studio @ Webster Hall between sold-out Bowery and MHOW (updated dates)"

Kate Nash Del Rey

It's been about a week since 'Because I Am A Girl" ambassador Kate Nash announced a tour that included a March 26th Bowery Ballroom show. That NYC show may not be sold out yet, but they just added another date happening two days later in Brooklyn. The March 28th show at Music Hall of Williamsburg goes on sale Thursday (1/24) at noon. Updated tour dates are listed below....

Continue reading "Kate Nash adds 2nd NYC show (updated tour dates)"

Alt pop singer Kate Nash returned towards the end of 2012 with the Death Proof EP and now she's set to follow that with her third full length album, Girl Talk, on March 4 via her own Have 10p label. You can listen to the first single, "3AM," at the bottom of this post. The album is available for pre-order at PledgeMusic. That's the cover art above.

Kate Nash will support the album with a tour that hasn't been announced in full yet, but a few dates have been revealed including a NYC show happening on March 26 at Bowery Ballroom, a much smaller venue than her Terminal 5 show in 2010. Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Friday (1/18) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/16) at noon.

A list of all currently known dates and that song stream below...

Continue reading "Kate Nash releasing 'Girl Talk,' touring (dates, song stream)"

It's that time of year already I guess. NME quizzed a whole bunch of artists about their favorite album of the year. Bat For Lashes chose Alt-J who recently won the Mercury Prize and who chose Polica as their favorite. That and more, if you can understand what they're saying, in the video, below....

Continue reading "WATCH: Artists tell their favorite 2012 albums (Bat for Lashes pick Alt-J who pick Polica, etc)"

"I'm summoning all my party powers from above and below to channel them into your soul... Have the PARTIEST HALLOWEEN EVER!" - Andrew WK

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Let's just forget (not really) about this hurricane thing for one second, and try to remember that today is also Halloween! What are you going to be? What were you for Hallowmeme? Need instructions on dressing as a Canadian Indie Musician? Are you dressing up your baby? And are you going to one of the limited NYC events still happening? Or will you just save your costume and hopefully wear it to the belated Halloween Parade that might happen next week.

As you can see in the photo above, BV photographer Chris La Putt (not actually him) found his costume and is going to be Instagram for Halloween (actually, he's stranded without phone, internet or power in Jersey City).

Speaking of BV photoraphers, we just found out that we posted a picture of Jezebel writer Jenna Sauers in her Halloween costume in 2009 (and drunkenly ate falafel near her at 4am).

One CT resident got a Halloween-themed surprise when Sandy uncovered a human skeleton under a down tree. They think it was put there hundreds of years ago when the area was a burial ground.

Of course not everyone is having an unhappy holiday. And many are still dressing up, like Miley Cyrus who is doing Nicki Minaj.

Dum Dum Girls dressed up as nuns and brought out the Dum Dum Boys, last night.

LA band Deap Vally who are currently in Europe on tour with the Vaccines, show off their costumes....

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Holy scary Those Darlins:

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Paralympic ski racer and cancer survivor Josh Sundquist, who has one leg, dressed up as the Christmas Story leg lamp.

Here's some dudes as the Beastie Boys:

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Patton Oswalt is Doc Oc:

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Honey Boo Boo as Bella:

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Bored? Learn how to carve jack-o-lanterns of Jay-Z, Kanye West, Azealia Banks, Danny Brown, and Action Bronson.

The appropriately named but not actually that scary Vampire Weekend are going to be on Kimmel tonight (which is being taped at BAM).

Diplo made a Halloween mix for BBC Radio 1, which features tracks by Danny Brown, TNGHT, M.I.A., Kanye West, Jay-Z, Destiny's Child, Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Angel Haze, Misfits, and more. Stream/download it and check out the full tracklist HERE.

Lil B made a free Halloween mixtape which you can grab.

The Black Lips made a Halloween mixtape too. Stream below.

To quote the YouTube description, "Just in time for Halloween (and Hurricane Sandy, for that matter) "Tears" is a short film by David Altobelli and Jeff Desom, with a score pulled from HEALTH's original soundtrack to 'Max Payne 3' from Rockstar Games." Watch below.

Passion of the Weiss put together a haunted hip hop mix you can go download.

RL Grime released a free Halloween mix too. Listen below.

Heliotropes covered Roky Erickson for Halloween.

Marissa Nadler covered Daniel Johnston's "Devil Town". Listen below.

Kate Nash vamps it up in the just-released, fangtastic video for her song "Fri-end" which you can watch below

John "Mountain Goats" Darnielle and family are dressed "as the 1992 Capcom game Quiz and Dragons."

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Jean Grae is slightly mad at Sandy for messing up Halloween. Watch her scary new video for "Kill Screen" and the rest of the stuff mentioned, below.

Continue reading "ALSO: Happy (sort of) Halloween! (costume ideas, free mixtapes, Patton Oswalt, Black Lips, Deap Vally & more)"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Kate Nash @ Terminal 5 - November 19, 2010

Lady Gaga @ Terminal 5 - May 2, 2009

Visual similarities to Lady Gaga aside, Kate Nash headlined Terminal 5 in NYC on Friday night as part of a North American tour, with excellent UK band Peggy Sue, that ended at Wellmont Theater in NJ one night later. Trachtenburg Family sideproject Supercute! opened the NYC show too. You might remember they also opened for Kate at Bowery Ballroom. Except back then, the youngsters were a trio. They recently lost a member and are looking for a new one (hide your kids!). I quote...

"In yet another of their trademark twists on the cliches of the music business, teenage indie-bubblegum sensations SUPERCUTE! (opening for Kate Nash at Terminal 5 this week!) have just lost a founding member of the band, but they didn't lose the member for the usual reasons.

Fourteen-year-old JUNE LEI is not out of the band for her heroin addiction!

She's not out of the band because she's always late (due to her heroin addiction)!

She's not even out of the band over 'creative differences' (about heroin addiction)!

JUNE LEI has quit the band because she thinks her PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION (she's a freshman in high school) is more important than SUPERCUTE, or touring the world and making money and appearing in the NYTimes and many other periodicals.

(Maybe she wants to see how Cosmopolitan's boss Cathie Black "runs" the schools as NYC's new Schools Chancellor!)

(Evidently June NEEDS the extra schooling, because anyone who thinks an American diploma is worth more than a soiled donut in an alleyway is farrrrrr behind the curve!)

And while many college graduates have tried to explain to June that college is a waste of time and (a LOT of) money - it's like a full-time job YOU pay $50 an hour to work at! - and you learn a lot more in real life, she's stuck in the gutter of life's bowling emporium, trusting that rut and enjoying that "groove"!!

WE HERE AT EMPIRE GOODNESS cannot understand her position but to each, his or her own.

But we are very sad to see her, the George Harrison of the band, walk away from such great chemistry.

99% of musicians will never get paid to tour the world and goof off and make art with their friends, but June thinks she can just go right back to that in the future if she likes. She doesn't realize how lucky she was to be touring the world at age 14, without even trying!"

Continue reading "Kate Nash, Peggy Sue & Supercute! (who are looking for a member) played Terminal 5 (pics) "

Kate Nash @ Bowery Ballroom in April (more by Eric Townsend)

""People have said I'm too fat to be a pop star. But this whole size zero debate is such crap, I've ended up going the other way. I come from a big Irish family who force-fed me as a kid, so not eating was never an option. I did think that being in my position I'd be paranoid about my body, but I'm also aware that girls are looking to me to make them feel secure so I try to promote a healthy approach to food." [Kate Nash to the Guardian]

Kate will be touring in support of her latest Bernard Butler-produced album, My Best Friend Is You. All dates and a video below...

Continue reading "Kate Nash eating healthy, touring this fall (2010 dates) "

photos by Eric Townsend

Kate Nash, who I hardly recognize in these pictures, played a show at Bowery Ballroom last night (4/29). It was her first of two NYC shows on her current tour in support of a new album. The next one is Saturday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg (it's sold out). Having recently injured her leg or ankle, Kate was walking on crutches, couldn't stand much and had to rest her knee on a stool for balance.

"Playing with a punk band, The Receeders, in her off time has served Nash well, imbuing her latest material with a compelling, believable and, dare I say, informed anger and sass, as evidenced by hyper takes on "Take Me to a Higher Plane," and "I've Got a Secret," and the fearless, stream-of-consciousness mania that encompasses the best parts of "Don't You Want to Share the Guilt?" and "Mansion Song." These are no PMS tantrums; no, these are the panicked thoughts of a successful young girl finding her inner riot grrl and licking her red-stained lips in bemused satisfaction. While Q Magazine warned readers to "look away now," I wholeheartedly disagree - with lines like "Take a piece of raw vegetable and hold it to your breast and say you stood for nothing/You were just a hole that lacked passion. /Another undignified product of society/That girl should have been a mansion," it's time to start paying attention. Nash isn't talking about knitting or shoe-shopping or a game of croquet before supper. No flower-picking, strolling, picnicking parklife here, darling." [Sentimentalist Magazine]

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Kate Nash & Supercute! played Bowery Ballroom (pics) "

Kate Nash @ Bowery Ballroom in 2008 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Nash seems nervous, as you might if you were roadtesting an edgier new direction in front of a crowd close enough to smell your fear. But her breathlessness adds a certain resonance to songs about inadequacy and self-loathing. Some of her new material - particularly the sparkly "Do Wah Doo" - sound as if she's been inspired by Motown girl groups, others are more baffling. "I Love You More" finds her shrieking over walls of feedback. "I Know a Secret" is an unlikely but successful psychedelic odyssey about homophobia. "I Hate Seagulls" finds an unfortunate illustration when a young girl takes the "I hate being sick" line literally and vomits in front of the stage, which one hopes is not an allergic reaction to some of Nash's voyages away from her trademark narratives into proper, if slightly karaokeish, singing. [Guardian UK]

The video for the album's first single "Do Wah Doo", the album's tracklist & all currently known tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Kate Nash - new album, video & 2010 tour dates"

Him @ NYU, NYC - April 23, 2008 (Dese'Rae L. Stage)

Kate Nash @ Webster Hall, NYC - April 23, 2008 (schleppys)

She @ NYU, NYC - April 23, 2008 (Dese'Rae L. Stage)

tonight in NYC & NJ
* DANCE
* Thriller
* Bent Festival
* Warper vs Splice
* BLK JKS @ Joe's Pub
* Big Dipper @ Maxwell's
* Lou Reed in Asbury Park
* Foals at Bowery Ballroom
* Monotonix @ SUNY Purchase
* Nels Cline @ Jazz Standard
* Totally J/K w/ Nick Kroll @ Rififi
* Kate Nash @ Webster Hall again
* Grizzly Bear & Paul Simon @ BAM
* The Little Ones @ Mercury Lounge
* Japanther @ Drew Gardens in the Bronx
* Josh Ritter & Langhorne Slim in Asbury Park

What else?

Continue reading "The Teeth broke up, MusicSnobbery needs a headliner, and so he made a video (for Kate Nash, Win, Ben & Moby)....."

The Raconteurs release their anticipated second album, Consolers Of The Lonely, tomorrow. If you didn't grab the album when it was accidentally posted early to iTunes, now is your chance...

Among the remaining new releases, I can recommend De Novo Dahl's Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound (streaming at AOL), Elf Power's In a Cave, Plants And Animals' Parc Avenue, A Silver Mt. Zion's 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons, and Under Byen's Siamesisk.

Morrissey releases his latest Greatest Hits album stateside tomorrow, complete with two previously unreleased songs.

On the reissue front, five Jesus & Mary Chain remasters (Automatic, Darklands, Honey's Dead, Psychocandy, Stoned & Dethroned) were at the top of my preorder list this week. Evan Dando fans can pick up a collector's edition of the remastered Lemonheads' It's a Shame About Ray, which comes with a bonus DVD.

What new releases are you picking up?

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"

No word on which day he will crash the party, but Prince will be added to the lineup for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, which runs April 25-27 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, sources tell me.* No confirmation from the artist's websites, which seem to be down (or under construction) at the moment. But this certainly adds some meat to the the festival's slightly protein-starved roster.

Correction: Coachella co-producers AEG Live have responded to this post. Brandon K. Phillips, CEO of AEG Live, writes in an email: "Paul Tollett, the head of our Goldenvoice division and our partner in the festival, just called to tell me that the LA Times put on their blog that Prince was playing Coachella. This is absolutely not true... Regardless of what the Times was told, there is no commitment from Prince to play Coachella." Stay tuned.... this is the Purple One we're talking about, so anything could happen.

Goldfrapp and Aphex Twin were recently announced as additions to the lineup, as well as Serj Tankian, Redd Kross, Kate Nash and Adele. [LA Times]

DOWNLOAD: Billy Bragg - O Freedom (NEW MP3)

Billy Bragg & Kate Nash @ FILTER Courtyard, SXSW 2008 (jinners)

"Our friendship is based around an affinity for the Shangri-las," said Bragg as he strapped on Nash's guitar, suggesting that this was more than just a deft move by her people to insulate her from knee-jerk criticism ("Well if Billy Bragg thinks she's a bit of alright then maybe..."), while also placing her within a grand British tradition of songwriters like Ray Davies, Paul Weller and Bragg himself. The two traded lines like old friends, before launching into a three-song set of the Shangri-las' "Give Him A Great Big Kiss," Bragg's classic "New England" and Nash's "Foundations," a tell-off song that's everything "Dickhead" isn't: clever, introspective and fun. [Time Out]

Billy Bragg played a few shows while he was in Texas for SXSW, and then last night (March 16th) he opened for The Pogues at Roseland Ballroom in NYC.

Billy also has a new album coming out April 22nd on ANTI called "Mr. Love and Justice". The MP3 on the top of this post is from that album. Download that now. Then check out the videos of he and Kate below.......

Continue reading "Billy Bragg, Kate Nash, videos, new album & MP3, the Pogues"

* Adele added a March 17th show.
* Kate Nash added an April 24th show.
* Adele, Kate Nash & Adele all went to the same 'Brit' school.

Watch Radio 1 interview Kate Nash after she won a Brit Award, below...

Continue reading "Adele and Kate Nash added second NYC shows"

Kate Nash is returning to tour the United States in April and May. That includes a show at Webster Hall in NYC on April 23rd. Tickets are on sale. All dates below...

Continue reading "Kate Nash - 2008 Tour Dates (Webster Hall)"

I don't remember that afro from Bowery Ballroom....

Continue reading "Kate Nash on the Late, Late show (video)"

Kate Nash @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - Jan 9, 2008 (Bao Nguyen)

UK singer-songwriter Kate Nash played to a packed, industry-heavy room at Bowery Ballroom in NYC last night (Wed Jan 9, 2008) It was my first time seeing her - I missed Joe's Pub, Luna Lounge, and the Virgin Megastore shows. And I loved every second it....until the encore.

Kate seemed comfortable on stage - even in front of the tough NYC crowd. Her keyboard playing, singing, lyrics, backing band, and stage presence were all good. Her guitar playing wasn't bad either. If I left before the encore, I would have left raving about how much I loved it start to finish. I would have agreed with you that there's already a Regina Spektor and Lily Allen, but I would have just said that I'm happy to have all three of them (actually, I'll still say that).

But then came the first song of the two-song encore. It was a slow song, and she sang it solo - just her, her keyboard, and her microphone. It wasn't just that the song was kind of boring - it was that, at one point, she suddenly transformed into Regina Spektor in a fake-quirky-I-studied-live-Regina-Spektor-tapes kind of way. It turned me slightly against her at that moment. By the time her band came back on stage for the very final song (a high-energy one), I was turned off. I may have liked it more if they played it ealier in the show when the other high energy songs were making it hard to stand still. That said, I forgive her for what was a mostly-great show, and hopefully she (only 20 years old) eventually develops more of her own quirks.

I'll be surprised if Kate doesn't get more famous in the USA than Lily and Regina combined. Then again, I guess I won't be surprised if she doesn't. She definitely has the show to back up the songs though, and I hope to catch her at least one more time next time she visits.

More photos by Bao, and the setlist and stuff, below...

Continue reading "Kate Nash @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - pics, review"

Bao stopped by the Virgin Megatstore to check out (and photograph) Kate Nash. He said she only played for 15 minutes though - not quite worth the trip to Union Square, but at least there was no cover charge.

The 20-year-old British singer was recently featured in the NY Daily News, the Village Voice and the NY Times. More of Bao's pictures below....

Continue reading "Kate Nash in the Voice, the Times, & the Virgin store (pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Kate Nash - Foundations (Metronomy Mix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kate Nash - Caroline's A Victim (Tapedeck Revised Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kate Nash - Foundations (Clean Version) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kano - Me & My Microphone (Ft. Kate Nash) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lethal Bizzle - Look What You Done (Ft. Kate Nash) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kate Nash - The Nicest Thing (live) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kate Nash - Fluorescent Adolescent (Arctic Monkeys) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kate Nash - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (Black Kids) (MP3)

Just catching up on my collection of non-album Kate Nash tracks in preperation for her return to North America next week. The January 9th Bowery Ballroom show is sold out, so luckily now there's a 2nd NYC-chance to see her: one day earlier at the Union Square Virgin Megastore. It's the same day her album "Made of Bricks" is being released here.

Kate Nash announces North American mini-tour for January in support of the release of her debut. ‘Made of Bricks’, which was produced by Paul Epworth, debuted at #1 on the UK album charts and has since gone platinum, is due stateside on January 8th via Geffen Records. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 7th with the exception of the LA show, which goes on sale next week/

Continue reading "Kate Nash - 2008 Tour Dates (Bowery Ballroom)"

Kate Nash played one show at Luna Lounge, and two at Joe's Pub - all free due to VISA complications that said she was not allowed to make money in our country.

Kate Nash @ Joe's Pub, NYC - Sept 26, 2007 (CRED)

"I overwhelmingly recommend her music and her live performance." [Shelves of Vinyl @ Luna]

"Regardless of the lack of originality, she clearly held the attention of the packed house and put on a splendid performance." [ProductShop @ Luna]

"She had a crack band (drummer, violinist, bassist/guitarist), making things all the better, but Nash would've held the crowd by her lonesome." [Sound Bites @ Luna]

"Nash came out stunningly cute, for a 19-year old girl, with a black and gold dress that I thought looked lovely on her (Rachael will disagree with that assessment, but I think she has an issue with the color yellow or any of its incarnations.)" [Pop Tarts Suck Toasted @ Joes Pub]

"I come back down and she sees me and waves because I guess she recognized me from being upfront and what not. I introduced myself and told her that I made cookies for her being that she's not being paid for these shows, but she should receive something. She was just ecstatic and extremely thankful. I handed her the bag, she took a piece out (they were chocolate tuiles with nuts and basic chocolate chip cookies) and her face just lit up." [Music Snobbery @ Joe's Pub]

Kate Nash @ Summer Sunday, Leicester (CRED)

Ends up Kate Nash's show at Luna Lounge tonight (Sept 24) is free (and not on September 26th as originally reported). psnyc reports this official message:

The Kate Nash show at Luna Lounge is happening on Monday, September 24th. However, as a result of a problem with Kate Nash's U.S. visa application, Kate has agreed to play for free! Here are the details. If you have already paid for your tickets, you must request a refund from TicketWeb. Next, when you come to the show, you must bring ID because we will have your name on our list of people who will be allowed entry into the show. You will receive your refund from TicketWeb in about 10 days. If you have not already purchased tickets, and you would like to attend the show, we will allow an additional 100 people free admission on a first come, first served basis.