photos by Chris La Putt

Javelin @ Mercury Lounge

Javelin are finishing up a tour with Big Freedia which just stopped by Mercury Lounge on May 26. We already posted the Freedia pics. Here are the Javelin ones. They continue below.

Since that show Big Freedia played a Saturday night show at Brooklyn Bowl, a 3-song set later that night (at like 2:30am) at Drom, and B.O.M.B. Fest. Freedia and Javelin play together in Montreal tonight (5/31). Javelin play their next NYC show on June 18 at Glasslands with Delicate Steve, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Bright Moments (Kelly Pratt of Beirut and Arcade Fire), and Harry Belafonte Live at Carnegie Hall. The show is presented by label Luaka Bop and is part of the Northside Festival. Tickets are still available. Flyer and more tour dates below.

Javelin is currently in the process of completing a Canyon Candy short film. The film is their companion to the Canyon Candy 10". According to Javelin's Kickstarter campaign:

The lone survivor of a brutal massacre, a young girl is plunged into hallucinatory chase through a day and night in the American Southwest. Directed by Mike Anderson and produced by Oscar Boyson, Canyon Candy is unlike any previous Western. Part poem, part play, a modern silent film wholly created on a soundstage: this is the first western of its kind to be shot in the New York Metropolitan Area since The Great Train Robbery was filmed in Milltown, New Jersey in 1903. Completely handmade, Canyon Candy will employ old studio western methods such as rear-projection, dioramas, and scenic matte painting to create a stunningly unorthodox visual rendering of the American West. Javelin's original score fuses original compositions with dollar-bin mined samples.

Check out a video from the Kickstarter campaign with Javelin, some stills from the film, all dates, more pics from Mercury Lounge, below...

Continue reading "Javelin played Mercury Lounge (pics), playing Luaka Bop's Northside Mega-Thing w/ Delicate Steve & other dates"

most of the words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

They played for over 3.5 hours before the sun set on LCD Soundsystem in a cascade of white balloons dropping from the Madison Square Garden ceiling in NYC Saturday night. I wished they played even longer. Everyone I talked to agreed.

But James Murphy and co. gave everything at Madison Square Garden last night (4/2). And the sold-out arena crowd gave in return. For two months - through the initial on-line ticket debacle, the addition of four T5 shows to make up for it, constant hype, and lots of guessing at what guests might turn up (sadly there was no Daft Punk) - it all made this final act in the drama, The Long Goodbye, even more of an event.

People camped on line several hours early to get a coveted spot up front on the floor and most of the crowd adhered to the black and white dress code. Those who didn't stuck out.

From where I was in the middle of the front GA section nobody stopped dancing, or singing along or smiling the entire night. (Save for, like at all four Terminal 5 shows, the couple of awkward, yet brief and deserved intermissions.) Every turn to scan the Garden saw people full-on, in the groove dancing; not just some barely-registered shuffling back and forth. Honestly, everyone who was there should take a bow because they were fantastic. During the first break, video footage was shown of an interviewer talking to fans outside the venue, Aziz Ansari included.

And no, there was no Daft Punk, but there was Arcade Fire singing joyously along on "North American Scum" (the third set's highlight) and an appearance by Reggie Watts who also played with the band at three of the four Terminal 5 shows. The boys choir featuring members of Mr. Dream was there, as were the two female backup singers, and the horn section that included Kelly Pratt and Colin Stetson. Original LCD guitarist Phil Mossman was back and featured a few times in addition to LCD band members
Nancy Whang, Tyler Pope, Pat Mahoney, Matt Thornley, Gavin Russom, and David Scott Stone. Liquid Liquid opened the show like they did at the first two Terminal 5 shows. Shit Robot, who opened the second two T5 shows, again made an appearance during the show. Shit Robot and Juan Maclean, for one song, were alien vocalists in mysterious cardboard-looking spaceships that were set up in seats behind the stage (pictures and video below).

Pitchfork streamed the whole show for those who couldn't be there - you could see the cameras all over the place, including on the shoulders of cameramen walking through the GA crowd. Filmmaker Lance Bangs was seen dancing in the crowd and working backstage on the video of the show, and yes the clouds made it to the two screens that were hanging on the sides of the stage.

LCD started with "Dance Yrself Clean" and "Drunk Girls" followed. The first set was breathtaking and included "Daft Punk is Playing in My House." After an intermission, the band tackled most of 45:33. Watts came out for "Part 2" and Murphy spent most of the middle set off in the background letting the band tackle the instrumentals.

The first encore featured a cathartic and riveting "Someone Great" as well as "Losing My Edge" and "Home." For me that block was the highlight. During "Losing My Edge," the video screens featured images of some of the influential bands mentioned. When I looked up I saw The Sonics.

Their Harry Nilsson cover of "Jump Into The Fire" was part of the final 3-song encore. Murphy, his voice sounding a bit hoarse, paused between songs to thank everyone who came out and everyone who helped put the show together. "Three songs left," "two songs left," and then after saying "this is our last song", and a bit more banter including an admission to his family who was in the audience that he was wearing his dad's watch (as you can hear in the video below), he led the band into their final (ever) number, "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down." It started slow with Murphy even laughing and pausing 'for dramatic effect' but by the end of the raucous outro the crowd was in a frenzy, only for the band to launch back in and cue the balloon drop. As the crowd was preoccupied with balloons of various size descending upon them, the entire band slipped off stage, almost completely unnoticed, and into history.

VIDEO OF THE ENTIRE SHOW (from the stream), and lots more pictures and the full setlist, below...

Continue reading "LCD Soundsystem played their final show @ MSG w/ Liquid Liquid (and Arcade Fire) -- pics, setlist, video of entire show"

DOWNLOAD: Team B - On My Mind (MP3)

Team B @ Union Pool in November (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Team B, the band fronted by Kelly Pratt -- a horn player who's spent a good portion of the past two years touring with Arcade Fire and Beirut -- will be headlining a week-long tour in June. Accompanying them will be New Numbers (featuring Josh Abbott and Mike Fadem of Jealous Girlfriends, the latter who also drums for Team B).

Their tour includes a show at NYC's (Le) Poisson Rouge on June 27th. Tickets are on sale now.

The band's self-titled debut record, which features members of LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire & Beirut, hit iTunes in May and is out now on CD through Tonacity Recordings.

The band played its first show in November 2008.All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Team B (Kelly Pratt of Beirut) - 2009 Tour Dates, album out"

photos by Natasha Ryan

Beirut thrives on the indie-rock circuit playing music that has little to do with typical rock sounds or rhythms. On Friday its nearly all-acoustic lineup included accordion, trumpet, trombone, bass fiddle and drums; Mr. Condon switched between rotary valve flugelhorn and ukulele. Beirut rarely uses a standard rock beat; more often it has the sputtering snare drum and occasional bass-drum thuds of waltzes, tangos, polkas and Balkan dances.

On Friday night Beirut was backed for part of its set by the three dozen musicians of the Vassar Orkestar -- on strings, reeds and horns, with arrangements by Beirut's trumpeter Kelly Pratt -- who added elegant pizzicato parts and put more oomph in the oompah. Mr. Condon beckoned the audience out of the opera-house seats, to throng the stage as if the Brooklyn Academy of Music were just a bigger club. [NY Times]

Beirut played four shows in Brooklyn in two weeks. It started with a secret show at Coco66 in Greenpoint on January 27th. Then on February 4th came Music Hall of Williamsburg, and finally on Friday (2/6) and Saturday (2/7) came the two shows with the Vassar Orkestar at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Kaki King opened those last two. Beirut also appeared on Letterman Friday night. Video from that, and more pictures from the last BAM show, below...

Continue reading "Beirut played Letterman (video) & BAM w/ Kaki King (pics)"

Joan as Policewoman will play shows at 8 and 10 pm at the Stone in NYC on New Years Eve. The 'Annual End The Year Improv Night' with John Zorn happens at the same venue three nights earlier. Other names on the Stone's schedule for December (curated by Jennifer Charles) include Gary Lucas, Erik Friedlander, Doveman, Alan Licht, Hal Willner's Parade (Yuka Honda & Sean Lennon), Elysian Fields, JG Thirwell, and Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog (tonight, Sunday December 7th).

January's schedule, curated by Craig Taborn, doesn't have many names
I recognize, but February, curated by Shannon Fields of Stars Like Fleas, has Twi the Humble Feather, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Chris Schlarb, Diane Cluck, Jon Natchez, Kelly Pratt, Lexie Mountain Boys, Megafun, John Zorn, Ecstatic Sunshine, Sam Amidon, and Tristan Perich,

For other NYC shows on New Years Eve, browse HERE.

Joan Wasser (as Policewoman) and at least one band member also contribute to Gramercy Arms.

Marc Ribot is also playing December 9th at Blue Note and December 11th at Knitting Factory.

Team B @ Union Pool (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Everything (ok, maybe not everything) you need to know about Team B in the video below...

Continue reading "a 6 minute Team B/Beirut/Kelly Pratt documentary (video)"

words and photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Last night (11/10) I caught the first-ever performance of Team B at Union Pool in Brooklyn. I normally wouldn't try to hit a concert two hours after flying back from Austin, but the night was too tempting. Team B is Kelly Pratt (Beirut/Arcade Fire) 's brainchild, and the record features appearances from many great musicians including other members of Arcade Fire and Beirut.

I'm glad I made the effort. The group of multi-instumentalists played about half of the new album, along with a few other songs. "On My Mind," "Empty Hallways," and "Papa's Waltz" were personal favorites. Overall, I was overwhelmed with the amount of musical talent on the stage.

If you were there, you probably also remember the constant yelling of a drunken friend of the band in the front row. After they played "Hang Me", she yelled "Yay! Suicide!!!".... This spoiled some of the intimacy of the small venue, but, to accentuate the positive, I guess it also helped ease some of the tension of the band's first-ever-show and made for less awkward transitions between songs.

Kelly and band-member Jon Natchez are getting ready to hit the road with Herman Dune for a month or so (including 2 NYC shows this week), so don't expect to see any upcoming Team B shows soon, BUT Kelly told me he's trying really hard to make sure this band happens. Based on what I saw last night, I really hope it does. More pictures and the setlist below...

Continue reading "Team B (Kelly Pratt) @ Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY - pics"

Herman Dune & the Pratts @ Central Park Summerstage (everlovingpix)

Herman Dune, with Kelly Pratt and Jon Natchez as members of his band, will be touring Europe throughout November and December, but first they'll play two NYC shows which happen to be this Wednesday (11/12 @ The Bell House with Motel Motel) and Thursday (11/13 @ Highline Ballroom with Jolie Holland). All dates below...

Continue reading "Herman Dune - 2008 Tour Dates (2 NYC shows this week)"

DOWNLOAD: Team B - On My Mind (MP3)

Team B is the new musical endeavor of Kelly Pratt. While written and recorded primarily on tour with Arcade Fire and Beirut in 2007 and 2008, help was also found with his amazing friends Pat Mahoney on drums (LCD Soundsystem), Jon Natchez and Perrin Cloutier from Beirut, and Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) on a track or two.

We don't have a label yet, but the cd is available now through this website, and will be available in a couple of weeks through other online outlets. If you want a copy just click on the link below and ye shall receive. Price is only $10 plus $2.50 for shipping (in the U.S). If you live outside the US please include $6.50 for shipping.
[Team B]

Check out the three songs streaming at MySpace. Download one of them above. Check out Team B live, TONIGHT (November 10th) at Union Pool in Brooklyn (11 pm). It's their first show ever, and they're promising it will be their last this year. The full band looks something like this:

Kelly Pratt (Beirut, Arcade Fire)
Tracy Pratt (Beirut)
Ryan Smith (Twin Thousands, Stars Like Fleas)
Jon Natchez (Beirut, Stars Like Fleas)
Jason Poranski (Beirut, FreeTime)
Mike Fadem (The Jealous Girlfriends)

Special guests have also been promised.

Jon Natchez's credits also inlude Shugo Tokumaru's live band, Bishop Allen, The Citizens Band, Escort and.... Skavoovie! Jon and Kelly also sometimes play together at venues like the Stone.

Mike Fadem's band The Jealous Girlfriends are going on tour with Nada Surf and have a NYC show coming up (Dec 10) at The Studio at Webster Hall where they also played during CMJ.

Stars Like Fleas have a track on Habitat, "a two disc set including 29 artists, covering the various manifestations of 'electronic music,' and produced as a benefit for Habitat for Humanity." You can get that at Asthmatic Kitty.

A video of Kelly, Tracy and Jon playing with Herman Dune at Union Hall below...

Continue reading "Team B (Kelly Pratt + Jon Natchez & other Beirut members) - an MP3, a Brooklyn show Monday"