Lisa Hannigan at Rockwood Music Hall in June (more by Lionel Bergeron)

Lisa Hannigan, who is set to release her new LP Passenger on September 20 via ATO, will tour the US and Canada in support of its release. The tour hits NYC twice, with shows happening on October 18 at The Bell House and October 21 at Hiro Ballroom with Gavin Glass. Tickets go on sale at noon for the Bell House show and are on sale now for the Hiro Ballroom show. Last time she was here tickets for her 2 Rockwood shows and 1 Maxwell's show sold out before we even knew they were announced (so act quick). All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Lisa Hannigan going on Tour, playing 2 NYC Dates"

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Lionel Bergeron

Lisa Hannigan @ Rockwood Music Hall

Though penciled into the calendar at Le Poisson Rouge well in advance, Doveman's monthly salons (aka Burgundy Stain Sessions) are typically characterized by spontaneity and surprises. The cast of musicians is constantly shifting as new people are introduced and former collaborators quietly fall off the roster. Traditionally, little about the shows is scripted - at least until the latest session.

For perhaps the first time since the shows began in January, a set list lay on the floor of the stage on June 24th. Of course that doesn't mean it was strictly followed.

Thomas Bartlett (or Doveman) kicked off the show solo with a Randy Newman cover ("Real Emotional Girl"), but it wasn't long before special guest Lisa Hannigan joined in on vocals and guitar. Having collaborated with each other early last year, Hannigan and Bartlett complimented each other nicely. Hannigan may have entered into public consciousness through her part in Damien Rice's 2002 album, O, but she's clearly got enough talent and charm to do more than just the occasional backing vocals, as she demonstrated in her debut solo release in 2008.

As Hannigan's segment wound to a close, other guests started popping up to contribute everything from brand new songs to classic covers (like John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads"). Hannah Cohen (who is apparently working on an album with Bartlett), Dawn Landes, Mike Doughty (who was Bartlett's first tour-mate), Glen Hansard (named the "MVP" by Bartlett), Justin Bond, and backing band Ray Rizzo, Rob Moose, and Josh Kaufmann all made appearances before the evening was up.

As for next month's show, who knows who Bartlett will pull out of his hat. Tickets are on sale for July 29th, September 23rd and October 28th. No guests are announced on any of them yet.

The Doveman show was one of a few in NYC that week for Lisa Hannigan who also played two sold out shows at Rockwood Music Hall where she performed with a full band including John Smith who also opened with a short set of his own music. Lisa's set consisted of a number of new songs from "Passenger", as well as songs from her first album "Sea Sew". They finished with a cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". Pictures from the first Rockwood show are in this post and they continue below...

Continue reading "Lisa Hannigan played w/ Doveman, Rockwood Music Hall (pics)"

Kanye West & Big Sean @ Irving Plaza Tuesday (Joshua Laboy)

Maybe it was all the excitement of summer finally arriving, but for whatever reason, NYC shows have been pretty heavy on the special guests lately. Here's a few we know about.

Reggie Watts was the secret guest that joined Glenn Kotche and Buke & Gass during 'Wilco weekend' at NYU for the Jab Abumrad's Radiolab Concert on Saturday (6/18). Reggie was a secret because of the two Summerstage shows he's playing this week including the one in Red Hook Park TONIGHT (6/24).

Reptar was a secret guest at the Thee Oh Sees Brooklyn Bowl show on Saturday (Reptar played Governors Ball earlier that day). And as predicted, Thee Oh Sees themselves were the secret headliner at Death by Audio the previous night (6/17).

Reptar, who also opened for Art Brut at Music Hall last night, will open for Foster the People at Terminal 5 on September 27th. The only mystery here is how Foster the People are big enough to headline Terminal 5 already! Tickets are on sale.

Ted Leo showed up as a special guest at the Eleanor Friedberger show at Europa during Northside. Bradford Cox was in the Audience. Catch Ted again at the free South Street Seaport kickoff party for the 4Knots Festival that Eleanor plays at the South Street Seaport a week later. It was just announced that Eleanor will also open for Deerhunter at their Webster Hall shows in August. (Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox must have really liked her set) Tickets for both Deerhunter shows are still available.

As also recently mentioned both Clams Casino and Neon Indian (DJ) were added as last minute surprises guests to the Northside show at Cameo on Sunday (6/19). The show was one day after Neon Indian played Governors Ball. Monday night Cameo hosted semi-secret DJ sets by YACHT, The Miracles Club & Midnight Magic, all who played MHOW on Sunday.

Kanye West showed up at Big Sean's Irving Plaza show on Tuesday (6/21), the same night Big Sean appeared on the Bon Iver episode of Fallon. Despite two of Kanye's friends being on Fallon on the same night however, Kanye did not make an appearance on the show (not even backstage). Videos from Irving Plaza below.

Justin Vernon did not show up at the S. Carey/David Bazan show at Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday (6/22), as we hoped he would. S. Carey is a member of Bon Iver's band and played with Justin the two days previous on both Fallon and Colbert.

Speaking of Fallon, Bob Mould (who DJs his Blowoff party at Highline Ballroom tonight) showed up and surprised people by playing a Sugar song backed by the Roots on the show. Mould recently performed live with the Foo Fighters during their set at Sasquatch. Video of that special guest appearance is below.

Lenny Kravtiz's daughter Zoë Kravitz and her band Elevator Fight played Southpaw with J*Davey on Tuesday (6/21). Lenny showed up to watch his daughter, but he wasn't the only crowd member blowing up Twitter. Drake was also in the audience to catch the show. FADER grabbed him outside the Park Slope venue for a quick video interview which you can watch below.

Flying Lotus & Just Blaze @ Music Hall (via the Comedian)

Flying Lotus headlined two Brainfeeder showcases (his label) this week. The first was at Bowery Ballroom on Monday (6/20) and the second at MHOW on Wednesday (6/22). Apparently trippy instrumentals aren't the only thing FlyLo digs when it comes to hip hop producers, because Just Blaze (Jay-Z, T.I.) showed up to play with him at the MHOW show. Flying Lotus also surprised NYC by playing a free late show at Le Poisson Rouge too.

Following in FlyLo's footsteps, Ivan & Alyosha gave NYC a gift in the form of a last-minute free late show at Mercury Lounge.

Crowded House frontman Neil Finn played with Eddie Vedder at Beacon Theatre on his tour with Glen Hansard.

And while opener Glen Hansard (Swell Season, the Frames) helped Vedder recreate "Sleepless Nights," the tender duet the pair shared on "Ukulele Songs," and the crowd found their voices and their feet for several of he night's tunes -- "Porch," "Unthought Known" -- the biggest roar erupted when Vedder invited Crowded House/Split Enz frontman Neil Finn to the stage for an impromptu collaboration Vedder jokingly called an "unrehearsed collision." With longtime friend Finn on organ, the twosome blended delicate harmonies on Hunters And Collectors' "Throw Your Arms Around Me." Finn took up a guitar and sat down next to Vedder to trade verses on Finn's Split Enz hit "I Got You," which found Finn playfully calling out chords to Vedder during the bridge. "It turns out we play that song differently," Vedder quipped, "But since he wrote it, he's right."

Decked out in a trio of long white lab coats, Finn (organ) and Hansard (guitar) returned with Vedder for the second encore, the rousing "Big Hard Sun" from "Into The Wild." [Billboard]

Neil Finn plays his own show at Bowery Ballroom on 6/26. You can win two tickets on our Facebook.

As you know, Stephen Colbert was the special guest with The Black Belles on his own show last night (6/23). He performed with the band and also recorded a single with them which is now on sale via Third Man Records. Jack White actually also appeared on the show this time for his third and final appearance during StePhest Colbchella '011 and then appeared with Colbert again today (6/24) at The Lot at the High Line. Jack and the Black Belles were also spotted last night (6/23) bowling at Brooklyn Bowl. According to Questlove (who was DJing the venue), he "has bowling game."

Tonight (6/24) is the another Doveman show at LPR. Lisa Hannigan (who played 3 sold out NYC-area shows this week) and Mike Doughty are billed as openers, but according to Doveman, some secret special guests will be showing up as well (as usual).

Last but not least, as hinted, and confirmed earlier today, Fucked Up are the special guest at 285 Kent Saturday (6/26) with JEFF the Brotherhood and Iceage. Tickets are on sale at Record Grouch. Iceage also played a secret show at 538 Johnson while they were in town for Northside.

Any special appearances we left out?

Videos below...

Continue reading "This Week in Special Guests (Kanye West, Reggie Watts, Reptar, Neil Finn, Drake, Just Blaze, Doveman & more)"

Doveman, who often plays with both Justin Bond and Martha Wainwright, has four more upcoming salon shows scheduled at Le Poisson Rouge. Last month (after he was joined by Rufus Wainwright and Sean Lennon at the West Village venue) we mentioned that he plays the venue again on June 24. Since then, Lisa Hannigan has been added as an announced guest. Tickets are still on sale. Doveman also plays on July 29 (tickets), September 23 (tickets), and October 28 (tickets), though no guests have been announced for the new shows yet. You can also catch Doveman at a free show at Prospect Park with Junip and The Books on June 17.

Lisa Hannigan is currently on her own tour right now in her home country of Ireland. The LPR show with Doveman is one of a few she'll play in North America later this month around her appearance at Atlantic City's Dave Matthews Band Caravan Fest (not to be confused with the same scary fest that is hitting Governors Island later in the summer with a different lineup). Right before LPR, she plays NYC-area shows at Rockwood Music Hall on June 21 and 22 and Maxwell's on June 23. All three sold out quickly, so hopfully she comes back soon. She also hits Boston on the trip.

Lisa, who first came to fame via playing with Damien Rice, released her debut, Mercury Prize-nominated record Sea Sew in 2008. She's releasing the followup this fall on Dave's ATO Records (who this week released the new record by Dawes). Lisa's new LP is called Passenger, and was "recorded over a week at Brynderwyn Studios in North Wales by Grammy-winning producer Joe Henry (Solomon Burke, Allen Toussaint, Ramblin Jack Elliot) and engineer Ryan Freeland (Ray LaMontagne)."

Check out Lisa's 2009 Daytrotter session HERE. Check out a video of Lisa Hannigan covering Joni Mitchell's "Willy" along with more dates below...

Continue reading "Lisa Hannigan announced new LP, playing sold out shows, but tix still on sale for one with Doveman (who added dates too)"

Mercury Prize 2009 shortlist

Florence and the Machine - Lungs
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
La Roux - La Roux
Glasvegas - Glasvegas
Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy
Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
The Horrors - Primary Colours
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew
The Invisible - The Invisible
Led Bib - Sensible Shoes
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men

The prize, which is voted on by UK critics and members of the music industry, comes with a £20,000 award. To be eligible an album must have been released between July 2008 and July 2009 by an act from the UK or Ireland. The winner will be announced on September 8th.

Of those listed above, Bat For Lashes, Friedly Fires, La Roux, and The Horrors have NYC-area shows coming up (do any of the others?).

Last year's prize, amid a strong field of contenders, was won by Elbow for their album The Seldom Seen Kid. That band's performance and award acceptance from the 2008 ceremony, below...

Continue reading "Mercury Prize 2009 shortlist announced "