photos by Jessica Amaya

Laura Gibson @ Mercury Lounge

It's been exactly one week since Laura Gibson teamed with Alexa Wilding to play Mercury Lounge (on 1/30) and two weeks since Gibson's WFMU appearance (stream it). Here are some pictures from the Mercury show.

Alexa Wilding is preparing material for her forthcoming LP Coral Dust, due later this year (label and release date TBD).

Gibson has since jetted to the West Coast to polish off another string of dates in celebration of her new LP La Grande which is out now via Barsuk. Those dates include an Austin show at Mohawk and are reprinted, along with more pictures from the Mercury Lounge show, below...

Continue reading "Laura Gibson & Alex Wilding played Mercury Lounge (pics)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

Laura Gibson @ the Rock Shop

Though we missed Laura Gibson's tour-kickoff at Other Music last week, I realized we had this unposted set of pictures from her May show at the Rock Shop. More of them, with a video from the show are below.

Listen to Laura's recent WFMU taping (which despite what was listed in her tour dates, apparently happened last week) and see her Mercury Lounge with with Alexa Wilding tonight (1/30). More dates HERE. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Laura Gibson live pics, video, WFMU stream; NY show tonight"

DOWNLOAD: Laura Gibson - La Grande (MP3)

Laura Gibson's latest, La Grande, is out this week via Barsuk. The album, her third, also saw her in the producer's chair. As a press release reads:

"One reason the sound of La Grande is so purposeful is that, for the first time, Gibson remained in the producer's chair throughout its making, bouncing between home- recorded vocal sessions - piling as many as 15 Laura Gibsons on certain tracks - and proper takes at Type Foundry Studios alongside engineer and good friend Adam Selzer (M Ward, Norfolk and Western) and some great players including Calexico's Joey Burns, members of The Dodos (Meric Long and Logan Kroeber) and The Decemberists (Nate Query, Jenny Conlee), clarinetist Jilly Coykendall, and the drumming duo Rachel Blumberg and Matt Berger (affectionately known together as "Blumberger"). Don't get the wrong idea, though. While La Grande 's stage is shared with some very special guests, Gibson is at the center of every last note; contributing bits of bass, guitar, piano, pump organ, vibraphone, synthesizer, marimba, even a marching drum.

And, Laura will be heading out on a tour to celebrate. That tour begins with a free show at Other Music in NYC TONIGHT (1/23 at 8pm) and continues in Boston on Wednesday (1/25), but not before she makes a radio appearance on WFUV on Tuesday (1/24). After Boston it's Philly and Virginia, but then back to NYC for a show at Mercury Lounge and a radio appearance on WFMU. All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Laura Gibson releases 'La Grande', heading out on tour (dates include Other Music tonight)"

DOWNLOAD: Memory Tapes - Bicycle (MP3)

The intial lineup for Noise Pop 2010, which takes over San Francisco February 23rd to March 1st, has been updated. Newly announced acts include Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Cornelius, Yuka Honda, Sean Lennon), The Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative performance, !!!, Harlem, Deerhoof, Memory Tapes, The Fresh and Onlys, Scout Niblett, Far (Reunion Show), The Mumlers, P.E.E (Reunion Show), Mirah, Laura Gibson, Nico Vega, Japanese Motors, Princeton, Free Energy, The Growlers, Nurses, Magic Wands, The Lonely Forest, The Hot Toddies, Tempo No Tempo, Judgement Day. The full current lineup is posted below.

Tickets and passes for most of those are on sale now. Tickets for Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Deerhoof) on February 23rd and the Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative shows go on sale on Sunday, January 10th.

Memory Tapes, chillwave Jerseyan Dayve Hawk, is one of the acts scheduled for the fest. He's going to be in the UK for a short run of shows this January, and he's confirmed that US dates and a European tour are forthcoming. The song "Bicycle" off his debut, Seek Magic, is above. The album is being re-issued on Feb 8th, "with an exclusive 48 minute 4 track CD2 through Urban Outfitters and digitally exclusively via iTunes".

UPDATE: Memory Tapes is opening for Atlas Sound at The Bell House on February 3rd. Tickets are still on sale.

More info on Noise Pop 2010 below...

Continue reading "Noise Pop expands 2010 lineup - updates include !!!, Far, Yoko Ono & Memory Tapes who is touring soon "

The War Child presents Heroes compilation is out tomorrow. The 16-track covers compilation benefits War Child International, a network of independent organizations that work to provide humanitarian aid to children affected by war. Help yourself to some good music, and help children affected by war in the process.

The tracklist is impressive:

After last week's deluge of quality music releases, this week's list is a bit thin. From what I have already heard, I can recommend Anavan's Cover Story, Black Lips' 200 Million Thousand, Clem Snide's Hungry Bird, and especially Laura Gibson's Beasts of Seasons (pictured).

A bevy of Ben Harper vinyl discs head up the week's reissues.

What new releases can you recommend? Have I left anything off the list?

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

DOWNLOAD: Damien Jurado - Gillian was a Horse (MP3)

Damien Jurado

"Laura Gibson's new album, Beasts of Seasons, is nothing short of a masterpiece, both for its flawless and often haunting execution and for its inspired statements on the human experience. Broken into two parts, "Communion Songs" and "Funeral Songs," the album opens with a foreboding burst of feedback and static. If it's the sonic equivalent of darkness and what may be lurking there, then Gibson's fragile voice and plaintively strummed guitar soon emerge as a flicker of light. It's a mesmerizing contrast, as the curtain rises for Gibson's beautifully gloomy and arresting meditations on life and death."
[NPR is streaming the whole album]

Damien Jurado is going on tour with Laura Gibson. Tickets are on sale for an April 17th show at the Bell House in Brooklyn. All dates below...

Continue reading "Damien Jurado & Laura Gibson - 2009 Tour Dates"

The Decemberists (Colin Meloy), Moore Theater - Jan 31, 2008 (CRED)

The Decemberists' Colin Meloy plays Music Hall of Williamsburg two nights in a row in April - part of the tour he's doing in support of his new live solo album. Music Hall tickets go on sale Saturday at noon. All dates below....

Continue reading "Colin Meloy & Laura Gibson - 2008 Tour Dates"