by Andrew Sacher

Liars at Pop Montreal 2010 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Liars are set to release their new album, WIXIW (pronounced "wish you") on June 5 via Mute, and they're now streaming the entire album a week ahead of its release date. In his NPR review, Otis Hart wrote:

WIXIW, out June 5, may just be the best Radiohead album since Kid A. In all seriousness, when you listen to the new Liars album -- as you should many times over the next week -- imagine Thom Yorke's falsetto taking the place of Angus Andrews' less distinctive but no less effective voice amid the barrage of intricate electronics. At times, it's almost as if Andrews is rubbing it in Yorke's face, like in "Ill Valley Prodigies" or the title track. These are the sort of songs disappointed Radiohead fans wanted on The King of Limbs.

As mentioned, Liars will be playing some shows in support of the release including a NYC show at Webster Hall on June 20. It's since been announced that Oneohtrix Point Never (aka Daniel Lopatin) will open that show. Tickets are still available and we're also giving away three pairs. Contest details below.

The Webster Hall show is one of three currently scheduled NYC appearances for Oneohtrix Point Never on his live itinerary this summer. The others include previously discussed performances at Ecstatic Summer at World Financial Center (7/14) and Yo Eskerikk Asko NYC! at Public Assembly (8/25). A list of all Oneohtrix Point Never dates, along with the album stream and contest details below...

Continue reading "Liars streaming new album, playing Webster Hall with Oneohtrix Point Never (win tix!)"

Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

Santigold @ SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Muir)

Tickets are on sale at noon for Santigold's show at Bowery Ballroom which is part of a just-announced tour.

Tickets are on sale at noon for the Scissor Sisters show at Bowery Ballroom which comes with the announcement of a new album.

Tickets are on sale at noon for Mark Kozelek's show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The Red House Painter also has more detes scheduled and a new Sun Kil Moon album on the way.

Tickets are on sale at noon for the Music Hall of Williamsburg Death Grips show, one date in a just-announced big tour.

Tickets are on sale for the Gossip show at Terminal 5.

Tickets are on sale for the Cult show at Terminal 5

Tickets are on sale for the Liars show at Webster Hall

David Johansen of the NY Dolls (Buster Poindexter) plays Highline Ballroom TONIGHT (4/6). Tickets are still available.

(Bears especially) stick around late night for the DJ sounds of Bob Mould (who recently signed to Merge Records and played SXSW).

Mute Records announces:

Liars - Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross - have announced further details of their eagerly awaited new album.

Titled WIXIW (pronounced "wish you"), the 11-track album will be preceded by a single, "No.1 Against The Rush".

Head over to www.facebook.com/LiarsOfficial to listen to the new song.

The title, WIXIW, is explained by Angus Andrew, "'wish you' is a familiar and universal sentiment of longing and hope, but when misspelled becomes uniquely shrouded and difficult to interpret, which in many ways is representative of our music and the songs we wrote for this album".

Watch what happens [below] when human beings are confronted with WIXIW and see it manifest in unlikely places.

He continues, "The word being a palindrome offered us some comfort, and came from superstitious behavior that was the result of extreme uncertainty and doubt. The word and spelling struck us because it seemed to exude a special quality or power."

Recorded in LA, self-produced by the band with additional production from Daniel Miller and mixed by Tom Biller, the album is hard to shake, tough to pin down, and impossible to get out of one's head even after an initial listen. Simultaneously the most accessible and most challenging release from these iconoclasts, it is both a summation of Liars' work up to now, and a complete break from anything you'd ever heard the band do previously.

"If we aren't confusing people, it's not us," Andrew laughs. "If we aren't confusing ourselves with what we do, then we've failed."

The above-referenced video can be watched below...

Continue reading "Liars announce new WIXIW LP & shows in NYC & LA"

'I'll Be Your Mirror USA' is not the only 'I'll Be Your Mirror' that Portishead is curating for ATP. As previously mentioned, the English band is also helping pick the bands for the event happening in London in July (tickets still on sale by the way).

So far we don't know any of the bands that will open for Portishead in NJ in October, but it would be crazy if they didn't have at least a few of the same bands on both. This is who they have on the UK one so far: PJ HARVEY (also playing Coachella), DOOM, COMPANY FLOW, THE BOOKS (played ATP NY 2010), FACTORY FLOOR, BEAK> (played ATP NY 2010), DD/MM/YYYY, GRINDERMAN, SWANS, BEACH HOUSE, LIARS, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, ANIKA, and S.C.U.M. The full UK lineup so far, is listed by day below...

Continue reading "the bands playing Portishead's ATP in the UK"

words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

La pluie. It just wont stop. From sun up to sundown and well into the night here in Montreal the rain continued, making the second day of Pop Montreal (Thursday, September 30th) , and everyone attending, a soggy mess. Buses were crowded, Bixi (the public bike racks that blanket the city) were not an option. It was taxis or hoofing it.

The rain forced the "Pop BBQ" indoors and up Boulevard St. Laurent to the Barfly where Lost In The Trees were first up. The set times were moved up an hour and upon arriving there were maybe 20 people in the bar. Nestled back in the corner the seven-member ensemble performed, without microphones. It had the feeling of a Take Away show with people carrying on quiet conversations, watching the band or sitting at the bar nursing a beer. After playing a raucous sold-out show the night before it had to be just a bit disappointing for the band. But you wouldn't know it by how they sounded.

After hiding out in the Notman House where registration and the hospitality area are, it was back up the boulevard and a fun, hip-hop set by Montreal's Socalled. "Does anybody want to play bass with Socalled tonight?" asked bandleader Josh Dolgin to the rapidly filling up space. (One of the curious things about some of these shows in Montreal is the way a venue will be nearly empty 10 minutes before a set and by the time a band takes the stage nearly packed.) Two songs in a guy came walking up with a bass and joined right in.
While waiting for Greenland's Nive Nielsen to begin at boutique clothing store next to the Barfly, I popped in to see who was on and was surprised to catch Brooklyn's She Keeps Bees killing it to what appeared to be the same 20 people from a few hours earlier.

Then if was off to see the see Polaris Prize-winners Karkwa. I arrived early and caught most of Montreal's Leif Vollebekk. Sounding a bit like the Bowerbirds with a voice that sounded equal parts Ryan Adams and Andrew Bird, his set was the more impressive of the two bands. And their sounds couldn't have been more differennt. If you stripped away the blistering light show, Karkwa's songs come away a bit less impressive. But from a spectacle standpoint it was worthy and the Montreal crowd was very much in love with them.

A dash through the rain and into The National to close out the evening. I arrived early and caught the last bit of the Black Feelings. Women followed and might have been the highlight of the night. Liars capped the evening and were loud, loud and more loud.

Read about the first day of the festival. HERE. More pictures from the second day below...

Continue reading "Pop Montreal 2010 - Day 2 in pics & review (Liars, Women, Karkwa, She Keeps Bees, Socalled & more) "

photos by Kate Gardiner

"And Yawnfork continues." - Jim DeRogatis

Robyn dominated Friday @ the Pitchfork Festival

"Who knew the best performer of the day would be a blonde bombshell spinning Euro-disco? Robyn -- another Swede and a former child star who's fought hard to regain her own artistic control -- came out throwing punches in the air when she wasn't doing that elbows-high, shoulder-leaning dance all '80s female singers used to do. Fiesty, sexy, spunky, Robyn opened with the virtues of being a "Fembot," assured us that love hurts "With Every Heartbeat" and sang flawlessly through new single "Dancing on My Own" in front of a band dressed in all white, twiddling knobs and pounding synth-pad drums. The latter really exploded at the end of "Cobrastyle," with Robyn showing some kick-box dancing. Her Pink-ish pluck reached its zenith in "Don't F---ing Tell Me What to Do," during which she led some kind of aerobics class (sporting a totally Pat Benatar green beret, too). And she was the crowd favorite. Go figure." [Chicago Sun Times]

This post comes five hours into Day Two of the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival (which is streaming online). Tonight's remaining acts are Wolf Parade, Panda Bear, and LCD Soundsystem. More pictures and a few videos from most of what came prior, below....

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest 2010 - Day 1 & most of Day 2 (pictures & video) "

Devendra Banhart's What Will We Be came out in October 2009. He played a pair of NYC shows and jammed with Yo Gabba Gabba around that time. He's back in NYC for a show with his band the Grogs on Thursday, August 19th at Terminal 5. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon.

He has other dates scheduled for this summer too. Those include Europe in July, a few other US dates in August and shows in the South in October.

One place he won't be playing is...Arizona. Just kidding, it's Israel. A few weeks ago he canceled a show scheduled for mid-June in Tel Aviv (and not because of his recent skateboarding accident). His note about that, a stream of the remix he recently did for Liars, the newish video for "Babies", and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Devendra Banhart cancels Israel show, schedules one in NYC --- 2010 tour dates, his Liars remix, the Baby video, more "

photos by Marianne Ventrice

DOWNLOAD: Cults - Go Outside (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fucked Up - Walking on Sunshine (MP3) (info)

"Not letting a little rain deter us from the excellent High Places/Fucked Up/Liars show at Barge Park." - jdye

Cults (who just opened for Goldfrapp), Male Bonding (who are touring with Best Coast in September) and Titus Andronicus played the early show on the "MetroPCS Stage" at Newtown Barge Park as part of the 2nd annual Northside Festival in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon (6/26). High Places, Fucked Up and Liars played the show right afterward at the same venue. More pictures starting with Titus, below...

Continue reading "Liars, Fucked Up, High Places & Titus Andronicus @ Newtown Barge Park (Northside Fest) - pics "

Pop Montreal 2009 (more by Ryan Muir)

POP Montreal, sort of like the CMJ of Montreal, but less industry-like, returns for the 9th time from September 29th to October 3rd. Check out the sneak peak of their intial lineup below...

Continue reading "Pop Montreal 2010 dates & initial lineup - includes SWANS"

DOWNLOAD: Fucked Up - Here Lies Are (MP3)

Fucked Up @ MWTX in Austin (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Lineups for Brooklyn's Northside Festival are coming together-- and some of the bigger shows (that aren't at Music Hall) are going to be at Greenpoint's Newtown Barge Park. First, Titus Andronicus, Cults and a special guest play an afternoon (1pm) show on Saturday, June 26th. Later that night, Liars, Fucked Up and High Places play the space (6pm). Then the next night (6/27, 6pm), Les Savy Fav performs with Polvo and Grails. Tickets to all three are on sale now. The shows are all ages (badges, which you must be 21+ to purchase, get you in too, capacity permitting).

Northside writes that the shows will be the first at the 1,500-capacity park space. Newtown Barge Park is a triangle of land at the corner of Franklin and Commercial Streets, and is part of the proposed plan (PDF) to expand Williamsburg/Greenpoint's waterfront park space.

The BrooklynVegan Northside show takes place the same Saturday as Titus --> Fucked Up/Liars, but at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Doors for that are 8pm, and it goes later. Tickets are now on sale.

Titus may DO NOT have another Brooklyn show coming up, on Thursday, June 3rd at Glasslands with Boogie Boarder. It has been cancelled. It was supposed to be a benefit for Neighbors Allied for Good Growth, a group frontman Patrick Stickles has talked about before...

Pitchfork: Best Purchase of the Past Year

Patrick Stickles: We can't take too much pride in the things we that own, can we? If I can get on my soapbox for a minute.... Isn't it much more important not what things we bought, but where we bought them? I'd love for you to remind your Brooklyn-based readership that they should make a point of not supporting the new Duane Reade that's moving in across the street from the historic Kings Pharmacy on Bedford Avenue. If you'd pass that along I'd appreciate that a lot. You can read a lot more about it at the website of this community group called Neighbors Allied for Good Growth. We all need to remember to vote with our dollars and take a stand for locally owned independent businesses, because that's what makes American capitalism great.

Grails has a new EP coming out. Grab an MP3 from that.

Fucked Up recently posted a new song that'll appear on a 12" split with Serena-Maneesh. You can get it above. Also, Damian from Fucked Up has been Internet debating the new Arizona immigration laws with fellow Canadian band Stars via Twitter and Stereogum.

All tour dates for Titus and Fucked Up are below...

Continue reading "Fucked Up, Liars, Titus Andronicus, Les Savy Fav, Polvo & others playing Greenpoint's Barge Park (and other dates) "

"Like last year, everything will be taking place in Williamsburg and Greenpoint because walking long distances is a drag when there are bands to see and beer to drink, we mean seriously. Us here at The L Magazine will be booking a share of shows on our own, but, for a large chunk of the festival, we've once again handed over curatorial control to some of the most tasteful, talented and dedicated folks in New York's independent music scene -- record labels, bloggers, promoters and more -- allowing them to showcase the bands they think you need to hear. The Williamsburg Gallery Association is again on board to highlight special exhibitions and other events at over 25 art galleries in the neighborhood. And to celebrate Northside's second year, we've invited a few of the city's biggest aficionados of independent film to curate four nights of New York-made movies at Brooklyn's new, as-yet-unopened film house-music club-restaurant-bar, indieScreen."

Music, art and movies will be happening at "30+ venues" and "dozens of galleries" over the course of four days in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Like SXSW & CMJ, you can buy tickets to individual events, or you can get a badge which gets you in to everything that isn't already at badge-capacity. $50 badges are now on sale to those 21 and over. If you buy a badge, "Arrive to venues early - badgeholders are admitted on a first-come, first-served, one-out, one-in basis."

If you buy a badge you can take your chances at getting into one of the four Northside shows happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg (BrooklynVegan showcase included), Fiery Furnaces at Brooklyn Bowl, and WAVVES & Cloud Nothings at Knitting Factory. TONS more shows TBA, but the initial list of bands that will be playing has been announced (I'm especially excited to see The Wave Pictures, Fucked Up, Liars, Parenthetical Girls and Les Savy Fav on there in addition to what we've previously talked about) (and yes Titus Andronicus is on there). Check it out below...

Continue reading "2010 Northside Festival - tickets & intial lineup (includes Liars, Fucked Up, Les Savy Fav, Polvo & many more)"

photos by Erez Avissar

EXPRESS: What challenges do you face in bringing such intricate music to a rowdy, live situation?

ANDREW: In the past, I felt like the live and the recorded aspect are really different, and you have the opportunity to reinterpret or basically destroy songs that were so carefully put together on the record. Recently, I've felt a bit more protective of those particular sounds we made on the record. We've brought on two additional musicians to play with us so some of these things won't get lost. It's nearly impossible, but attempting it is a new challenge.

Fol Chen opens all dates on the tour (including last night at Bowery), and also plays an in-store at Sound Fix on Sunday. Check our our interview with Liars from SXSW. More pictures from Bowery Ballroom below...

Continue reading "Liars & Fol Chen @ Bowery Ballroom in NYC - pics "

Modest Mouse @ Terminal 5 in March 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

Modest Mouse will join Faith No More and Nas & Damian Marley (tickets) as one of the acts set to play at Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn this summer. Their Friday, July 23rd show will be ticketed/non-free (like the others mentioned). Tickets go on sale Friday at noon (which is when the just-added Faith no More show goes on sale too).

Modest Mouse's Brooklyn show is a week after they play the Pitchfork Festival which recently updated its lineup. New acts playing the Chicago fest include Big Boi, Major Lazer, Neon Indian, Beach House, Free Energy, Local Natives, Robyn & more. Check that out in full below. Single day tickets are still on sale.

UPDATE: Modest Mouse's Brooklyn show is one day after they play one in NJ.

Modest Mouse will be reissuing their third album, The Moon & Antarctica, on vinyl for its 10th anniversary, on Record Store Day - this Saturday, April 17th. "The album features restored original artwork and replicates the infinite lock groove found in the original vinyl pressings of 2000. The new vinyl reissue includes a download card for the album." All dates the the P4K Fest lineup, below...

Continue reading "Modest Mouse playing Williamsburg Waterfront, the Pitchfork Festival (updated full lineup) & other tour dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

After spending four days in Austin for SXSW, my personal MtyMx experience started with an all-day trip from Austin to Monterrey on Sunday. I arrived to see Andrew W.K.'s set that night, the after-party at the Garage, and Monday from first to last band (minus the comedy set with Dan Deacon, though there are pictures of him too). I'm now writing this from Tennessee where the Big Ears Fest is about to begin. Stay tuned for reports about that, and check out my pictures from the festival in Mexico, with captions, below...

Continue reading "pics from MtyMx (Todd P & Yo Garage's Mexico Festival) "

by Andrew Frisicano

Neon Indian @ MtyMX

The experiment that was the first MtyMx Festival is over. The last day of Todd P's Mexican festival (3/22) featured 14 acts, half of which were from Mexico. Liars, HEALTH, and Neon Indian all made it for their headlining sets (the acts that were flown in had very few problems for the most part). The rest of the last day's lineup included Ratas del Vaticano (Mexico), Indian Jewelry, Lemonade, BamBam (Mexico), Jóvenes y Sexys (Venezuela), Mockinpott (Mexico), Best Fwends, High Places, Alexico (Mexico), Mentira Mentira (Mexico) and Sr. Amable & Mr. Racoon (Mexico). The Monday after-fest show that was held at Yo Garage for all three nights featured sets by Coasting, noisepunks XYX, and Mentira Mentira (again).

Bands that didn't make it for their Monday sets for one reason or another included No Age, Thee Oh Sees (they tried to get past the border at least twice), Liturgy, The Sandwitches, Javelin, Salem, DD/MM/YYY, Fergus and Geronimo, Big Troubles, Pictureplane, Gauntlet Hair, Tearist, Josephine and the Mousepeople, and Baths. Remember that was just day three. It was a similar situation each day, but I never planned on being there for the first day (SXSW), and I got there much later than expected on the second. As I write/dictate this, I'm currently waiting for a noon (note: it's two hours earlier here than it is in NY) Greyhound bus out of Monterrey that's going back to Austin (an approximately 8 hour trip that took about 11 hours of driving and 8 hours of waiting on the way in). There were two 1am Todd P buses that left last night directly after Liars, but our stuff (and a bed) was in our hotel room.

[note: Andrew is now on the bus]

How to get home seemed to be the main focus on everyone's mind early on the last day. Once that was all figured out, things turned more optimistic and Todd P even made announcements referencing next year.

Dan Deacon was a constant presence at the festival. He actually replaced Thee Oh Sees on the last day as "Dan Deacon & friends", a short comedy set. Another group that performed for multiple days was Das Racist who treated late Sunday night arrivals to an energetic set at the after-party.

Though I only spent 36 hours total in Monterrey and saw fewer bands than I caught Thursday afternoon in Austin, I made lots of new friends, saw some great sets, and it was an experience that won't soon be forgotten. Safety was a big question, but though the festival had issues (including theft on the festival grounds, and at least one mugging), people actually getting hurt wasn't one of them.

For more, read yesterday's recap and follow the @bvSXSW Twitter. Videos from the event are below...

Continue reading "MtyMx finishes - 14 bands played Monday, many more didn't show (Andrew reports from his bus ride home)"

interview by Katie E. Fuller, photos by Bryan Bruchman

Liars dropped their new Sisterworld album on March 9th, and then played a couple of shows (one Insound day party at Club DeVille, one official showcase at Antone's) at SXSW this year (a larger tour starts in April).

The post-punk pillars played a sun-drenched day show at Club DeVille, but the new album, in Liars fashion, is anything but light. Angus, Julian, and Aaron sat down over breakfast to talk about their first-ever SXSW appearance, the LA factor behind the new album, and their intrepid creepiness. That interview, pictures from the interview, pictures and video from the day show, and all dates are below.

---

Katie: The scene in LA seems to have had a big influence on the ideas behind the new album Sisterworld. How did that come about?

Angus: Well, the "scene," [didn't influence it], but the city yes. In terms of the music scene... it's not a part of what we were inspired by. It's more the idea of opening your eyes to the alternative reality of LA, as opposed to the one projected around the world... the things about it that aren't normally talked about. In that way, the city's a really interesting place. We connected to the idea of feeling alienated and dislocated while living amongst millions of people. It's a strange scenario.

continued below...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Liars at SXSW (with pics & video from their day show @ Club DeVille) "

your future tent??

The lineup for MtyMx All Ages Festival of Art and Music happening March 20th-22nd in Monterrey, Mexico, has been updated with set times and additional acts (Liars, Health, MNDR, Twin Sister, more). The full schedule is below.

Registration is also open for hotel and tent accommodations, and bus spots to and from Austin. Info on those is below. Tickets for all three days are on sale online; or one-day tickets will be $15 at the door.

The Liars date is over two weeks before the band kicks of a tour that brings them to NYC twice in April.

More MtyMx info is in our previous post. Updated lineup and travel info is below...

Continue reading "MtyMx Fest set times, more bands + how to get a hotel/tent"

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for both upcoming Liars shows in NYC.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Of Montreal show at Highline Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for recently-added Dinosaur Jr. show at Brooklyn Bowl.

ALSO: Slayer postpones tour dates, Araya getting back surgery

AND: The NY Guitar Festival kicks off tonight

DOWNLOAD: Liars - Scissor (MP3)

Liars announce details of an expanded edition of their eagerly awaited fifth studio album, Sisterworld, out on March 9th 2010.

This version comes with a second CD of remixes and reinterpretations of all 11 tracks on Sisterworld from artists including Thom Yorke, Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter / Atlas Sound), Melvins, Alan Vega (Suicide), Chris & Cosey (Throbbing Gristle) and Blonde Redhead. Full tracklisting to follow in the coming weeks.

Says Angus Andrew, "On this project we wanted to help develop and expand the role of the remix, particularly to engage artists less acknowledged for their work in the field. They were asked to 're-interpret' the song by any means necessary and the result is definitely the most exciting collaborative effort we've been involved in."

Liars also announce a string of North American tour dates in support of Sisterworld. The tour sees fellow LA band Fol Chen supporting Liars on all dates. The first single from Sisterworld, Scissor will be released as a digital single February 16th, 2010.

Continue reading "Liars - 2010 Tour Dates & new album w/ expanded 2nd CD featuring Thom Yorke, Tunde, Bradford, Melvins & more "

DOWNLOAD: Shannon Stephens - In Summer in the Heat (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fol Chen - The Longer U Wait EP (ZIP)

Tickets for the NYC shows on Sufjan Steven's upcoming tour with Cryptacize go on sale this Saturday (August 15th) at 10am...

10-04: New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (tix)
10-05: New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (tix)
10-06: Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg (tix)
10-07: Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg (tix)

Speaking sof Sufjan Stevens, Shannon Stephens, an Asthmatic Kitty labelmate of his, has a new album, The Breadwinner, coming out September 8th. It'll be her first in nearly 10 years. Sufjan played drums on her album that came out in 2000. He also interviewed her that same year...

Sufjan Stevens: This is a business question. Do you acknowledge any sort of christian market, or is that bunk? Would you be willing to participate in the christian market?

Shannon Stephens: Honestly, I feel that the christian music market was created out of a need for safety by separation. People wanted to know that the music they were listening to would not contaminate their souls or the souls of their children. The truth is that we are not contaminated by our culture, but by our own hearts. I do think it's important to feed the fire as little as possible, but shutting out the world and creating a safe subculture is not what Christ commanded us to do. Rather than making absolute judgments about christian bands or labels, I try to take them on an individual basis. Sometimes people ask me if I play "christian music"--I don't even know what to say. I'm a Christian, and I play music, but is it all praise and worship? No. I feel more comfortable outside of the box, where things are more dangerous and oftentimes more real.

Cryptacize recently recorded a live session that was just posted as a free download and video on Luxury Wafers. Grab that here

Another band on Asthmatic Kitty, Fol Chen, recently put out a free remixes EP, The Longer U Wait, with contributions from "Liars, Simone White, Epstein AKA Roberto Lange, Rafter and more!" That's linked above, with art, tracklist and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Sufjan Stevens tickets, Shannon Stephens, a free Fol Chen EP"

a shot from Sled Island 2008 (more by Rae Holtsabum)

The Sled Island Music and Arts Festival -- taking place at various venues in Calgary, Alberta from June 24 to June 27 -- is pleased to announce the initial line-up and the inclusion of Olympic Plaza as the main venue on Friday, June 26. This year will include over 200 bands performing at 23 venues plus art shows, film screenings, and a comedy component at the Sled Island Music and Arts Festival.

Sled Island 2009 will feature performances by the influential indie rock darlings The Breeders (featuring Kim Deal of the Pixies) making their first Calgary performance, NYC post-punk revivalists Liars bringing the noise, the legendary Canadian metal band Anvil the recent subjects of the critically acclaimed documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil and the garage rock assault of Tel Aviv's Monotonix known for their incredible live show. New Orleans-based musician and mad genius inventor of the 'drum buddy' Quintron & Ms. Pussycat will bring the party along with blood-soaked party rocker Andrew W.K. and Toronto-based electro tour-de-force Holy Fuck on the more 'offensive' front. Phil Elverum's (of The Microphones) latest moniker Mount Eerie will deliver a symbiotic balance of fuzz and folk matched by Owen Pallett's Final Fantasy surrealist violin stage performance. Calgary-based experimental icons Azeda Booth aim to mystify crowds along with their all-male psychedelic pop counterparts Women making their second festival appearance...The complete festival line-up and schedule will be revealed on June 1. [pr]

As previously reported, Colin Newman, vocalist and guitarist for Wire, will be guest curating this year's festival. Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Sled Island - 2009 fest lineup (Breeders, Liars, Anvil & more) "

photos by Darren Kim

It's impossible to see everything at Coachella. Here's more of what one photographer saw...

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - Day 2 in Pictures "

DOWNLOAD: Fol Chen - Cable TV (Liars Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Of Great & Mortal Men - Obama: Someone to Wake w/ Will Johnson
DOWNLOAD: James Monroe: The Last Cocked Hat" feat. Marla Hansen (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: DNTEL - Loneliness is Having No One To Miss (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Broken Spindles -Beatdown Breakup (Cassettes Won't Listen Remix)
DOWNLOAD: The Strange Boys - Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dent May & his Magnificent Ukulele - Meet Me In The Garden (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Odd Nosdam - Fly Mode (MP3)

Headliners Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure are among the 130-plus acts set for the tenth COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL (APRIL 17, 18 AND 19) at the beautiful Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, the same grounds where the COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL debuted in 1999. Other artists confirmed for America's most critically acclaimed music festival include Morrissey, Amy Winehouse, Franz Ferdinand, My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Thievery Corporation, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the complete line-up is listed below).

This marks the first ever U.S. festival appearance for McCartney who is currently supporting his latest release ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS.

"I have heard that Coachella is one of the greatest festivals in the world. I'm really excited to get out there and rock!" McCartney says.

Throbbing Gristle and the rest of the full (real) line-up (as of 1/30) is below:

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - OFFICIAL lineup announced (My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Cure, Antony, Amy Winehouse...) - tix on sale"