photos by Jessica Amaya

DOWNLOAD: Pregnant - Self-titled LP (ZIP)

"King Tuff totally rocked it at the knitting factory tonight.
Glad I didn't miss it!" - BeyondBeyondisBeyond

King Tuff (aka Kyle Thomas who also happens to be in Witch and Feathers and Happy Birthday) headlined (an actual birthday party) at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn last night (1/20) with support from Frankie Rose & The Outs and Nude Beach. That's Tuff above, and more pictures of the show are below.

Frankie Rose & The Outs' next and only upcoming show is with MINKS and Dum Dum Girls at Bowery Ballroom on March 4th. Tickets are still available.

Nude Beach (the NY band) will join Nomos and The Men for a FREE show at Generation Records at 2PM on Sunday (1/23). Nude Beach is replacing Pregnant on the in-store bill, who recently dropped off of the show but is still scheduled to play Cake Shop on Mar 18 with Black Wine & Big Eyes. Bone up for Cake Shop by checking out their self-titled LP, out on vinyl now, but you can preview that LP on digital form above.

Generation Records is also a bit of a homecoming show for Nomos and The Men, as both bands recently came back from a two week tour of the West Coast which saw them share dates with Mammoth Grinder, Hatred Surge, Skin Like Iron, Walls, and many others. Both bands released LPs in 2010; Nomos dropped Notes From The Acheron in September (order it) while The Men are currently on their second pressing of Immaculada after initially releasing it in May (snag one).

Witch, in addition to Tuff, also features J Mascis, who just announced some solo acoustic dates, as did his Dinosaur Jr bandmate Lou Barlow with his project, Sebadoh.

More pictures and a video from Knitting Factory, below...

Continue reading "King Tuff played Knitting Factory w/ Frankie Rose & the Outs & Nude Beach (who replaced Pregnant on an upcoming instore) -- pics & video"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Disappears - Superstition (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Disappears - Gone Completely (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Concretes - Good Evening (MP3)
DONWLOAD: The Concretes - All Day (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Concretes - All Day (Juuso Pikanen remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Weird Wives - EP (mediafire Zip link)

Disappears

There is a whole of good stuff going on this weekend, so let's get to it. Everyone really needs to go out and see Chicago's Disappears, who play tonight (1/19) at Union Pool and tomorrow (1/20) at Cake Shop. The band's new album, Guider, just came out yesterday and is their second in less than a year. It's 31 minutes of awesome, piledriving, motorik psych-punk.  Check out "Superstition" above to get a taste, plus "Gone Completely" from their first album, Lux.

As great as their records are, Disappears really need to be experienced live. These guys lock into a groove and step on the gas and the audience hangs on for the ride. Their show last summer at Union Pool knocked me for a loop. And as previously mentioned, Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley is filling in on drums which is an added bonus.

Opening the Union Pool show tonight is Prolix, which is Tunde of TV on the Radio and drummer Ryan Sawyer. The Cake Shop show has Soft and The Sundelles. I can't recommend seeing one of these two shows -- or both -- more highly.

The Vaccines

The Vaccines, the most hyped new band in the UK, are here this week to try and get America excited too. They play tomorrow (1/20) at Bowery Ballroom and Saturday (1/22) at Glasslands (Sold Out).

As of right now, there's only about three Vaccines songs to be heard (videos for a couple of them at the bottom of this post) but the band has just announced details of their debut album, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?, which is out March 21 in the UK. (U.S. date TBA.) If you like early '60s rock n' roll and the Pixies, the Vaccines might just be for you. Personally... I'm curious enough to go see them this week and hope that the live experience will make me see what folks I know at The Fly and NME are so excited about.

The Concretes

What else? Sweden's The Concretes play Bowery Ballroom this Saturday (1/22). The band's new album, WYWH ("Wish You Were Here"), is their second since Victoria Bergsman's departure, though 2007's Hey Trouble didn't get released in the U.S. The album finds the band toying with dance grooves, albiet in a very understated way. It's a nice little record and you can download two tracks and a remix at the top of this post.

Opening are fellow Friendly Fire recording artists Acrylics whose debut album, Lives and Treasure, is out March 1. The album is pretty mellow, which showcases the band's songwriting talents. I miss the more electrified line-up Acrylics sported two years ago but there is no denying the songs. Also playing are Hooray For Earth who are taking a break from recording their debut album to tour with The Concretes.

Weird Wives

Finally, Weird Wives are in town playing Bruar Falls Thursday (1/20) and Death by Audio Friday (1/21), both of which are with Philly band Weekends (not to be confused with SF band Weekend).

UPDATE: Weird Wives have cancelled their tour.

You may recognize these guys as most of them are in Surfer Blood. But don't go expecting super-catchy indie rock jams. Weird Wives are loud skronky shouty thrash. You can download an EPs' worth of songs at the top of this post.

That's the big stuff in TWII world. Here are few more worthy shows, day-by-day, of things not listed above.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19

Mississippi duo Bass Drum of Death put on a pretty rockin' set last night at Glasslands opening for Smith Westerns. Tonight they open for Captain Shafts at Pianos. They're also going to play a free in-store at Co-Op 87 tomorrow (1/20) at 6PM.

Cloud Nothings and Toro Y Moi at Mercury Lounge.

The Drums, Guards and The Hairs (Kevin of Knight School's new band) at Studio at Webster Hall, the $25 ticket benefits former Hot Rod Circuit drummer Dan Duggins who is recovering from a stroke.

It's a dance-centric lineup at Glasslands tonight, with Free Blood, Arpline, Expensive Looks and Ego Puppets.

continued below...

Continue reading "Disappears, Vaccines, Concretes, Weird Wives, MINKS & more in This Week in Indie"

Ducktails at Glasslands (more by Erez Avissar)

As you may have noticed at the bottom of the recent set of Ducktails tour dates we posted, there was a tour with Woods planned, but no actual dates. That is no longer true. Woods and Ducktails will hit Maine, Vermont, Philly, Baltimore and their hometown of Brooklyn together in February. The NYC show is 2/4 at Monster Island Basement, but you don't need to wait that long to see Ducktails. As previously discussed, they play with Gary War at Union Pool tonight (1/8) and at Glasslands on 1/18 with the Smith Westerns. All dates are below.

In semi-related news, Blank Dogs also have a hometown date at Monster Island Basement one week prior, on 1/28, with their Captured Tracks labelmates from San Francisco, The Soft Moon, who they'll also play Boston and Philly with that same week. All dates are below.

And speaking of Captured Tracks, as previously mentioned, MINKS have a few shows in the near future as well, including supporting Frankie Rose & The Outs at Bowery Ballroom with Dum Dum Girls on March 4th (tickets), and Jan 21st at Glasslands with Big Troubles.

Frankie Rose & The Outs also have another show a lot sooner. It happens on January 20th with King Tuff at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. Tickets are on sale.

All tour dates and some videos below.

Continue reading "more Ducktails, Woods, Blank Dogs, The Soft Moon & Frankie Rose & the Outs shows (dates)"

Kyle Thomas, Ruth Garbus & Chris Weisman

Happy Birthday is Kyle Thomas (aka King Tuff), Chris Weisman, and Ruth Garbus. They formed in November 2008 to play one show at the punk-space "Tinderbox"(RIP), in their hometown Brattleboro, Vermont. Kyle needed a band to play his new pop songs because he was too scared to play by himself. They enjoyed playing with each other so much that they decided to keep doing it. They have now played a total of 5 shows. Kyle sings and plays lead guitar. The songs are mostly his, but the band arranges and finishes them together. He is also a painter and drawer and loves top 40, shoes, texting, comic books, etc. Ruth Garbus plays drums and sings. She also makes her own music and art. Chris Weisman plays "inverted-tuning" guitar, bass, and sings. He makes 4-track songs, enjoys reading and writing, and is a guitar teacher.
-[Sub Pop in September]

Happy Birthday's Sub Pop signing was announced in September, but so far the label hasn't released any of the tracks from the album's worth of songs the band recorded for them (due to be released March 16th, 2010). The record's tracklist is below.

The band was signed only a few months after their first non-Brattleboro, VT show, which happened in Winooski, VT in July. A video from that gig is below. Since then, the group made what we think was their NYC debut at Silent Barn on October 21st (during CMJ) and opened two nights for Devendra Banhart in Burlington and Boston in November.

Happy Birthday are scheduled to visit NYC again on December 12th for a show at Death By Audio with Yellow Fever (their debut album release show) and Vivian Girls
.
Happy Birthday is a supergroup of sorts. In addition to their individual solo projects, Ruth and Kyle are both in Feathers, Kyle (aka King Tuff) is also in Witch, and Chris plays as a duo with Greg Davis.

Chris Weisman (who is not in Feathers or Witch) has a brother named Kurt Weisman who is also in Feathers (who are signed to Devendra Banhart's label Gnomonsong) and Witch (who feature J Mascis as a member).

Ruth Garbus has a sister named Merrill Garbus who recently broke up her band Sister Suvi and is now best known as Tune-Yards.

Ruth (Happy Birthday) just signed to Sub Pop. Merrill recently signed to 4AD. That's a family full of talent with a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. Catch both sisters performing solo on the same NYC bill for the first time at the Stone two days before Christmas.

Happy Birthday album tracklist and a live video of the group (possibly the only way to hear them via the Internet at the moment), below...

Continue reading "Happy Birthday signed to Sub Pop, include King Tuff & Ruth Garbus - sister of Merrill (who signed to 4AD) - live video"

by Black Bubblegum

Witch

Witch and Earthless will team up for a short tour in February 2009. That includes a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on the 25th. Tickets go on sale 12/23 at noon.

Witch dropped Paralyzed in March, and it was recently named as one of the best heavy albums of the year by Decibel.... check out that full list below. Look for a few of those to repeat on my own top metal list, coming very soon.

We knew that Witch counts J. Mascis as a member, but the band also contains (or, rather attempts to contain) Kyle Thomas, AKA King Tuff. King Tuff recently dropped his debut Was Dead on October 7th via Tee Pee which is also Witch's label.

J Mascis also recently released an album of his own, and on his own label... Baked Goods. Out now, J + Friends Sing + Chant for Amma is a "collection of devotional songs dedicated to the living Indian Saint, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma)" with all of the proceeds going towards "a vast range of humanitarian projects, including orphanages, charitable hospitals and free homes for the homeless". For more on Amma, head here.

Earthless (mem of Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, Black Heart Procession) recently dropped their live album Live at Roadburn, captured at the ridiculawesome festival that will include Saint Vitus, Amon Duul II, Neurosis, and many other greats in 2009.

All lists and dates below...

Continue reading "Witch & Earthless tour dates, a new J Mascis charity album, Decibel's top 2008 albums"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: The Weight - "A Day In The Sun" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: King Tuff - "Sun Medallion" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: TK Webb And The Visions - "Teen Is Still Shaking" (MP3)

The Weight

The Weight Are Men. I can't/won't literally vouch for that (no offense dudes), but I know that The Weight will drop an album of that name on August 5th via The Colonel Records, their first album and their first since playing our SXSW party in March. The classic rock/country-tinged "A Day In The Sun" (download above) is pretty representative of Are Men.

King Tuff is an offshoot of the mighty Witch (and Feathers for that matter), sharing member/frontman Kyle Thomas betwixt them. Whereas Witch is all Sabbath-ian brawn, the King Tuff song "Sun Medallion" takes its roots in lo-fi garage rock (from Was Dead, due in the "late summer/early fall").

TK Webb & The Visions is TK Webb (duh), with The Visions being comprised of past/present members of Love Is Laughter and a current member of The Comas & Blood On The Wall (Brian Hale & Nic Gonzales). The upcoming Ancestor (Kemado, Sept 2nd) retains alot of the blues of Phantom Parade, but heads in a heavier rock direction ("Teen Is Still Shaking" is above).

Tournament is one of those hardcore/punk bands that seems to be on every punk/heavy music bill in NYC. Their newest EP, the eclectic Swordswallower, is available for download (IN FULL) for the meager price of nada at their myspace. (TOTALLY worth it)

So.... what the hell do these bands have in common? They are all playing the inaugural Freedom Fest NYC this July 4th-6th!

To set it off right, here's how the press release ends:

Things to expect:
Total Fucking Mayhem.

I hope so. With hopes on high, lets check out the rest of it:

Continue reading "Freedom Fest NYC is July 4-6 - The Weight, King Tuff, TK Webb & The Visions & much more..."