Devendra Banhart @ Town Hall on Nov. 22nd 2009 (via)

Devendra Banhart and his band The Grogs played last night (11/22) at Town Hall - their first stop on their tour's two date NYC run. Tonight (11/23) they'll be at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Little Joy open both - with the roles from Little Joy's headlining show at Webster Hall on October 2nd switched.

Barnhart is supporting his new record, What Will We Be, which came out October 27th on Warner Brothers. He appeared as one of the special guests at Yo Gabba Gabba's three-performance day at Beacon Theatre on November 21st.

In addition to running through Gabba song classics like "Don't Be Afraid," "Get the Sillies Out," and "Party In My Tummy (So Yummy)," the 11 a.m. show also featured a live performance by Devendra Banhart, who's sweet, acoustic "Little Yellow Spider" brought smiles to moms and dads' faces, even if it was a bit slow for the hyped-up kiddie mob, as well as a Dancey Dance from Brooklyn hip-hop artist Talib Kweli, who showed us how to do the Peanut Butter Squish. But the real treat was Biz Markie, who brought the show's beatboxing "Biz's Beat of the Day" seg to the Beacon, passing the mic to youngsters in the crowd so they could rock funky beats for the enthusiastic audience.[EW.com]

The Roots played guest again one day later at Bowery Ballroom with the Dirty Projectors.

Yo Gabba Gabba Beacon videos with Devendra's Town Hall encore from Nov. 22nd, a picture of the setlist for an earlier date on the tour, and two videos of "Little Yellow Spider" (including one of him playing it for kids in Seattle in 2004) below...

Continue reading "Yo Gabba Gabba played NYC - guests included Dinosaur Jr (video), Roots & Devendra Banhart (who played Town Hall) "

photos by Vincent Cornelli

Okay, so you probably could've guessed it without too much work: Little Joy's opening act [Friday] night, Swami Shave-us Jr, was in fact Devendra Banhart. (The connections? Little Joy's Rodrigo Amarante played on Banhart's Smokey album; Noah Georgeson produced the band's sweet, sunshiney debut; Binki Shapiro played with Banhart on Beck's Record Club project. Phew!) Still, Webster Hall was buzzing with excitement as Banhart took the stage. He played a beautiful, twinkling set of favorites and new songs (including "Little Yellow Spider" and new single "Baby") accompanied by Megapuss bandmate Greg Rogove (on mbira and drums and backups). Little Joy's members grinned from the moment they took the stage, an adoring, fresh-faced crowd singing along with vintage Coca-Cola ad gusto....The band's encore...saw Banhart and Rogove back onstage, along with most of Webster Hall (cue flummoxed security, etc.). Joy indeed. [Time Out]

Two tracks from Devendra's new album, What Will We Be, are currently streaming on his MySpace. The album is set to come out October 27th, 2009 on Warner Brother Records. Via Wikipedia: "The album was co-produced by Banhart and Paul Butler from A Band of Bees. Rejoining Banhart are old band mates Noah Georgeson, Greg Rogove, Luckey Remington, and Rodrigo Amarante, all of whom worked with him on his previous album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon."

Banhart spoke to Paste Magazine recently about a possible collaboration with GZA: "I played Coachella, and, lo and behold, I looked on the sidelines and there was GZA. I was stunned," Banhart says. "So we hung out and talked--we talked about atomic energy and how the sun is powered. We talked about dark matter. Then I sent him my catalog. And he said 'Hey man, will you write some stuff? Let's write together.'" At this point, says Banhart, "[GZA] has shared his new writing with me and I've sent a couple sketches. With his new work I can tailor the sketches I already had. We're at the beginning stages."

Little Joy has been quite busy since the release of their debut. No more scheduled upcoming shows at the moment though. Meanwhile, Fabrizio Moretti, who did play with Little Joy at Webster Hall, but is only a part time member now anyway, is probably finishing up another project.

More pictures and videos from Webster Hall, and the new Devendra album tracklist are below...

Continue reading "Devendra Banhart played Webster Hall w/ Little Joy (pics), playing Town Hall (tix), releasing major label album + GZA"

...just in case you didn't figure it out already (tix).

Continue reading "Devendra Banhart is playing Webster Hall Friday..."

"Little Joy is a Brazilian/American rock band formed in 2007 by Los Hermanos singer/guitarist Rodrigo Amarante and The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti. Amarante and Moretti met in 2006, at a festival in Lisbon where both their bands were performing, and the idea came up to start a new musical project unrelated to their respective bands. In 2007, with Los Hermanos on hiatus "for an undetermined amount of time", Amarante travelled to Los Angeles to collaborate with Devendra Banhart on his Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon album. He and Moretti met during recording breaks and talked about "anything but music."" [Wikipedia]

There's a few of my songs in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut "Whip it". Drew was really nice, she flew me out to LA, we had a cup of coffee and she showed me some clips from the movie. Usually I say no to film synchs because you just get a short synopsis from someone's agent's agent, and I always feel awkward my song will end up in the wrong context. You know, I write my songs for specific people, I find it hard to find them applied to someone elses story. But Drew listened to my concerns and we discussed the scenes she had in mind.

At some point our conversation drifted away and I think we were talking about monkeys, and it just struck me right there and then how surreal my life has become. And how absurd it is when anyone expects any kind of real compensation in this business. Compensation for what ? I've been touring on and off like crazy, I've put so much work into recording and writing. And in the end what I make my money from is talking to Drew Barrymore about monkeys...

The soundtrack is compiled by Randall Poster, who put together the soundtracks for the Wes Andersson movies among others. His soundtracks are like amazing little jukeboxes of random goodies. I haven't seen the movie but it seems to be falling smoothly into the category of American movies about teenage love and alternative sports. From Breaking Away to Bring It On. -Jens Lekman

The film itself stars Ellen Page and is about roller derby. Its trailer, which includes a nice chunk of Weezer's "Pork and Beans," is posted below...

Continue reading "Drew Berrymore movie 'Whip It' stars Jens Lekman (songs) "

photos by Tim Griffin

"I went to Pettyfest 2009 at Bowery Ballroom [Thursday] night, which was sick. Lots of drunk and stoned people shouting along to the hits and some great performers-- Nicole Atkins, Adam Green, Steve Schiltz, Antony Ellis, members of The Strokes and The Killers.

One of my favorite performances-- and this took me by surprise -- was the dude from Augustana singing "You Got Lucky." They're not a band I generally have a strong opinion about one way or another, but his voice was sick and he had a commanding presence-- like a subdued Mick Jagger with the wrist at the hips with a dash of Joe Cocker in the vocal tone." [EYTAN]

Continue reading "PettyFest @ Bowery Ballroom - setlist & pics (Adam Green, Strokes & Killers members, Nicole Atkins, Kid Rock, more)"

In the same vein as last year's Dylan Fest at the Mercury Lounge (and with much of the same cast), the Bowery Ballroom is hosting "Petty Fest" on Thursday, September 3rd. The opening band is The London Souls. A house band, called "Cabin Down Below Band," will be joined for the main act by guests that include Hymns, The Pierces, Jesse Malin, Adam Green, Matt Romano & Rodrigo Amarante of Little Joy, and Fabrizio Moretti of Little Joy/The Strokes. Tickets are on sale. Full lineup and flyer (and videos) below...

Continue reading "Petty Fest this week at Bowery Ballroom"

Little Joy opening for Jarvis was really 'Fab' (more by Chris La Putt)

Little Joy will hit the road with their friend Regina Spektor this September. Those dates do not include Regina's upcoming show at Radio City Music Hall (Jupiter One opens that one), though Little Joy did recently open for her at the Beacon Theatre show in June.

Meanwhile, Little Joy have announced their own headlining, Regina-less tour dates that include a September 20th show at Maxwell's (tickets are on sale now), and a headlining a show at Webster Hall on October 2nd. Tickets are on fanclub presale now. AmEx presale starts Wednesday at noon, with general sale starting Friday at noon.

Little Joy's lineup for the Webster Hall show will include Strokes/Little Joy member Fabrizio Morretti, who will not be playing with the band on any of the other dates on the tour. He hasn't been touring with them of late (to record the fourth Strokes album, on the way).

In a somewhat-related note, Morretti's fellow Stroke Julian Casablancas will be performing material from his forthcoming solo release Phrazes For The Young for the first time at a show at Tokyo's Duo Music Exchange on August 31st.

All Little Joy tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Little Joy announces tour dates including Webster Hall w/ Fabrizio Morretti ++ Julian Casablancas is playing Tokyo"

photos by Chris La Putt

NY MAG: How was working with Steve Albini on Further Complications?

Jarvis Cocker: It was kind like the polar opposite of most producers. He didn't want to get his fingerprints all over the record. And we're not that dissimilar in age; even though we were growing up in other continents, I guess it's that punk movement that brought us into music, so there were some points of reference in common. You know, being in the studio can be very, very dull, but this wasn't at all because when he wasn't playing poker online, we actually had some quite interesting conversations. And I suppose it's well-known -- he wears overalls to work because he treats it as a job rather than a creative enterprise, and that was quite a refreshing thing.

Continue reading "Jarvis Cocker & Little Joy @ MHOW in NYC - pics "

DOWNLOAD: Jarvis Cocker - Angela (MP3)

Julian

Pulp front-man Jarvis Cocker is currently playing dates in support of his newest solo record, Further Complications, which came out in May on Rough Trade. Check out a track from it above. His tour was to include a July 30th show at Terminal 5. Instead, that show will happen at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for the other venue will be honored, but new tickets are not available - the show went instantly to "sold out" status when it moved (that's one way to sell out a show in this recession - move it to a venue 4-5 times smaller).

Jarvis's Rough Trade label-mates Little Joy will be opening that show. Little Joy usually features Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, but he most likely won't be at the MHOW show (except maybe as a special guest) as he'll be busy recording the forthcoming, fourth Strokes album. At Little Joy's last Bowery Ballroom show, Fabrizio only joined the band for their final song, as did Regina Spektor who Little Joy opened for at Beacon Theater less than a week earlier.

At the same time, Strokes singer Julian Casablancas is preparing to release his solo album, Phrazes for the Young, due later this year on Cult Records/RCA. The record is produced by Jason Lader (who's worked with Elvis Costello, Rilo Kiley and others) with additional production by Monster of Folk Mike Mogis, and will be accompanied by solo tour dates, to be announced.

Check out a YouTube preview of that record and its synthy, New Age direction, with all Little Joy tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Jarvis Cocker show moved to MHOW, Little Joy (no Stroke) opening, (Stroke) Julian Casablancas releasing solo album"

Regina Spektor - Beacon Theatre, NYC - 06/17/2009 (absolutelyaudrey)

Half an hour into her joyful set at the Beacon Theater [June 17th] Regina Spektor has completely lost her place. She is giggling at first and then laughing and then almost gurgling with pleasure. "Rehearsing at the Beacon theater," she says, "there's so many of you". then she shrugs, "Fuck it," and turns back to arranging the song with her string section. "I'm so happy," she says and she is obviously in a great mood.

Except for two songs on guitar ("I wish I knew more") Spektor sits at her piano throughout the set. She opens with "Folding Chairs" off her new album and continues with another seven new songs till reaching an oldie, a splendid "On The Radio", and it doesn't matter. All the new stuff is maybe her best stuff ever, every song cuts deep with a bouyancy that is like maybe a ball bouncing on the ocean: the undertow pulls her down but she is still light and above it. [Rock NYC Live and Recorded]

Regina Spektor rounds out July with tour dates in Europe, and currently has a set of North American shows planned for September. Her full schedule is below.

She's also appearing at Barnes & Noble's "Upstairs at the Square" series on Tuesday, August 18th with host Katherine Lanpher and writer Kurt Andersen. The event at the store's Union Square location (33 E 17th St in NYC) will include an interview and a performance. Entrance is free, but admission is first come, first served. Considering the fact that her Beacon show sold out (see above), a sizeable crowd should be expected.

Set list and videos from the Beacon Theatre show, with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Regina Spektor played Beacon Theatre, playing Barnes & Noble (and other places - all tour dates)"

photos by Tim Griffin

I don't fully know what happened at last week's show, but this is how it looked....

Continue reading "pics from Dylan Fest @ Mercury Lounge (members of the Strokes, Hymns, Adam Green, Nicole Atkins...)"

The first presale for this show sold out instantly. Tickets go on "Venue and Live Nation Presale" today/Thursday at 10am. The password may be HEREGINA. If that doesn't work, try "live". Tickets then go on regular sale on Friday at noon.

Tickets are also on sale for the show Little Joy is playing at Bowery Ballroom.

A ticket pre-sale begins at 1:00pm for the June 17th Regina Spektor / Little Joy show at NYC's Beacon Theater. And to sweeten the deal:

THE TICKET FOR THIS SHOW INCLUDES A 2-SONG GIVEAWAY FROM WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS. With every ticket purchased, you will receive a download of two new Regina Spektor songs from her upcoming album "Far" including her new single "Laughing With" and "Blue Lips." To redeem "Laughing With" and "Blue Lips," you will receive a separate e-mail including the instructions to download by Monday 5/18/2009.

As previously reported, Little Joy, the band with Fabrizio Moretti of the Strokes, has a June US tour coming up. That includes a Tuesday, June 23rd show at the Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are still on sale.

In that post, we highlighted the connection between Little Joy/The Strokes and Regina Spektor (touring together, recording together, etc.)...as it turns out, Little Joy will be opening for Regina Spektor at Beacon Theatre on Wednesday, June 17th. No ticket info yet. And that's just one of many dates Spektor is expected to announce for the summer.

And bad news for those who like Little Joy at least a little because of who is on drums... Fabrizio Moretti is skipping most of this Little Joy tour to record the Strokes' fourth full-length album.

While concert-goers shouldn't be surprised if co-founding member Fabrizio pops in to make an occasional cameo appearanceon stage, he will for the most part be occupied with recording obligations to the Strokes, and therefore unable to tour with the band for the large majority of the dates.

Rodrigo (vocals and guitar) and Binki (vocals, keys) will fill out the band with Todd Dahlhoff and Matt Borg from The Dead Trees (on bass and guitar, respectively), Matt Romano from Albert Hammond Jr.'s band (drums) and Jack Dishel from Only Son (guitar, backing vocals).

All Little Joy tour dates below...

Continue reading "Regina Spektor playing Beacon Theater & other (possibly Stroke-less) Little Joy tour dates "

Little Joy @ Mercury Lounge (more by Zach Stern)

Little Joy is playing the Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, June 23rd. Tickets for the NYC show go on presale Wednesday, May 6th at noon. General sale starts Friday, May 8th at noon. The show looks like it's part of a larger, not-fully-announced tour (all known dates below).

Little Joy is Binki Shapiro, Rodrigo Amarante and Fabrizio Moretti -- the last of whom is the drummer for the Strokes. News with that band includes a March 27th message on the Strokes' website, which reads "The Strokes are now all back hard at work in their NYC space on writing and rehearsing new material for a 4th full-length album."

Regina Spektor, friend and collaborator of the Strokes, is set to release her own new album, Far, on Tuesday, June 23rd on Sire Records. The Stokes and Spektor have a long past together. One part is the fact that "Spektor's first nationwide tour was accompanying The Strokes as the opening act on their 2003-2004 Room on Fire tour" (Wikipedia). Other past connections include collaborating on Reptilia b-side "Post Modern Girls"/"Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men," Spektor playing piano on Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture's Nickel Eye side-project album, and Spektor playing shows with Albert Hammond Jr. That includes the rainy stop at McCarren Pool last summer.

"Spektor will tour the world beginning in June. Tour dates to be announced soon."

More info on Regina's new album with art, plus two Little Joy videos including an unplugged version of "Keep Me in Mind", below...

Continue reading "Little Joy tour dates (Bowery), a new Regina Spektor album"

Yes, it is something of a bummer.

Three or four decades of stops and starts -- mostly stops -- in this legendarily faded and ill-starred stretch of the Jersey Shore and finally, finally, things seem to reach a critical mass. Revived music halls of all shapes and sizes. Cool bars, a Mexican taqueria, a surfer shop, glass blowers and a potter on the Boardwalk. The renovated Convention Hall and Paramount Theater with its "Greetings From Asbury Park" sign out front. And the famous Thursday evening "doggy yappy hour" for pets at the Wonder Bar...

...Lance Larson, a veteran musician who helps run the Wonder Bar, figures that Asbury Park has a heritage of music, art and eccentricity that will attract people, tough times or no.

"We have one thing that no one else does, and that's entertainment," he said, picking at a cheeseburger on Thursday afternoon. "It's not just because of Bruce [Springsteen]. It's always been that way. I've toured every place, and there's no place like playing here. It's like Parris Island, the boot camp of music. If you can play here, you can play anywhere." [NY Times]

"It feels really great, it's exciting," said manager Debbie DeLisa of Deal. "There's a lot going on down here right now, with (concert promoter) Live Nation coming in to do the shows at Convention Hall. They're going to do some shows here also."

DeLisa's upbeat, optimistic tone is a far cry from last year, when the Ocean Avenue club was set to close to make way for a redevelopment project by developers Asbury Partners, which had purchased the property.

"Asbury Partners were going to tear it down, and I'm not sure what they were going to do, build condos," DeLisa said.

The venue was spared when developers Madison Marquette came into town and took over some of Asbury Partners' holdings, including the Wonder Bar.

DeLisa said the club is now waiting for approval from the city to construct a large outdoor deck facing the nearby Stone Pony; other plans include building a Tiki bar and adding a volleyball court to the facilities. [Metromix]

Watch a short documentary on Asbury Park's Palace Amusements below...

Continue reading "Asbury Park's boardwalk & Wonder Bar (a Live Nation venue)"

Little Joy @ Mercury Lounge (more by Zach Stern)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Les Paul @ Iridium
* Steely Dan @ Wellmont Theater
* Devin the Dude @ Highline Ballroom
* Little Joy @ Virgin Megastore Union Square
* Iron and Wine & Blitzen Trapper @ Terminal 5
* Eagles of Death Metal & The Duke Spirit @ Bowery Ballroom
* Brightblack Morning Light & Fursaxa @ (le) poisson rouge
* Melissa Mosche & Jason Anderson @ Pete's Candy Store
* Tigercity, Glint, Apache Beat & Mixel Pixel @ Gramercy Theatre
* Lissy Trullie, Adam Green & The Rumble Strips @ Santos Party House
* Centro-Matic, The Baptist Generals & South San Gabriel @ Mercury Lounge

Santos is advertising that Lissy Trullie and Adam Green will duet tonight (in case that seems exciting). Mark Ronson is also DJing the afterparty at the same venue. Paper Magazine says Lissy is beautiful.

Tickets are still on sale for the show Kimya Dawson is playing at Bowery Ballroom.

Regina Spektor's Bowery Ballroom show goes on sale Wednesday.

Jef Buckley was born today in 1966.

Little Joy recorded a Dumbo Session. The video for "Unattainable" is below...

What else? What are you doing?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

photos by Zach Stern

Last night saw the NYC debut of Little Joy-the side project between Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes, Rodrigo Amarante of Los Hermanos, and Binki Shapiro at a sold out show at the Mercury Lounge.
...
Drawing band support from long-time Strokes compadre Matt Romano (drums) along with guitar power from Michael Ian Cummings and Matthew Borg from opener The Dead Trees, the band had an impressive, complete sound. Perhaps it's testament to the individual experience of each of the band members, but was hard to believe that this band is on it's first live tour-although there were some starts and stops, for the most part the performance was a well-oiled machine, where the music flowed freely and easily from their instruments and mouths. [The Modern Age]

Continue reading "Little Joy @ Mercury Lounge, NYC - pics & setlist"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Fredrik - Black Fur (MP3)

Little Joy

While tonight/Thursday's Little Joy show at Mercury Lounge is unsurprisingly sold-out but there are a few other chances to check out this Strokes offshoot. Fabrizo Morretti wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on Little Joy's genial, enjoyable debut, but leaves the singing up to his bandmates (Devendra Banhardt cohort) Rodrigo Amarante and the awesomely-named Binki Shapiro. While their is a through-line to the sound of the Strokes, Little Joy is way more laid-back with a '60s R&B sort of feel that makes it a great lazy Sunday album. (MTV2's Subterranean blog said it sounds like "smoking pot in Hawaii" which works too.)

Anyway, those additional shows. Little Joy also play Maxwell's on Friday (11/14) (which actually also appears to be sold out), the newly revitalized Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ on Saturday (11/15) and the Virgin Megastore Union Square on Monday (11/17) (free). They're also on a pretty extensive tour of the U.S. and all those dates (plus a video) are at the bottom of this post.

Fredrik

If you can't wait till December for the Swedish folk-pop of Loney, Dear and Melpo Mene, might I suggest checking out Fredrik who hail from Malmö, but have been over here playing some shows. Their debut, Na Na Ni, is spooky and somewhat downbeat -- perfect for this attumnal weather we're having. They're playing an in-store at Greenpoint's Permanent Records on Friday (11/14) and Pianos on Saturday (11/15). There's a few more additional U.S. dates (and a video) at the bottom of this post.

New Radiant Storm King

I would also like point out that indie rock stalwarts New Radiant Storm King are playing Union Pool on Sunday (10/16) with Tropic of Nelson. Though I tend to think of them as part of the early '90s scene that also produced Small Factory, Barnabys, and Versus, the band has never stopped releasing records, with 2006's The Steady Hand being perhaps the best of their career. I think Boston blog Bradley's Almanac summed-up their longevity pretty nicely:

That thoughtfully energetic collection of dual-guitar rock songs kept the best aspects of what made this born-in-89 quartet so good throughout the 90s, while at the same time showing enough growth to not sound like a retread. Unlike some of their peers, age hadn't split them apart and put acoustic guitars in their hands, or pushed them towards milking their rich catalog for nostalgia's sake -- their hook-filled creativity was still fully on display, along with a measured dose of songwriting maturity.

All videos and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Little Joy, Fredrik, New Radiant Storm King & more in this Week in Indie "

Little Joy

Rough Trade Records is pleased to announce the forthcoming release from Little Joy. The band's self-titled debut will be released on November 4, 2008.

Little Joy is Binki Shapiro, Rodrigo Amarante and Fabrizio Moretti, three friends who dropped their routine at their respective hometowns to make a record in Los Angeles, California.

Through a chance encounter at a Portuguese festival in Lisbon, where both Amarante (Singer/Guitarist of Los Hermanos) and Moretti (drummer of The Strokes) had performed, the two chatted well through the night and into the morning by the side of the river, humoring the idea of working together on music that had no affiliation to their particular bands.

A year later, Amarante traveled to the United States to record with Devendra Banhart on his Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon album. On the off hours of an arduous recording process, Amarante would meet with Moretti to discuss anything but music.

Binki Shapiro, musician and native of Los Angeles, was introduced to the pair through mutual acquaintances and became a fast friend, encouraging the two to focus on the music they had spoken of long before. Through the process of late night "show-and-tell" the three developed and arranged songs Moretti had begun and soon after started writing original music for the group as a band.

A couple of months later they all moved into a house in Echo Park to demo songs and soon after, with the help of producer Noah Georgeson, who had recorded Banhart's album, they finished their self-titled debut, Little Joy, named after the cocktail lounge just down the street from their home.

Previous to the album's release the band will play select dates with Banhart's band Megapuss. A headlining tour is in the works for November and December. [PR]

One of those non-Megapuss, Little Joy headlining dates is at Mercury Lounge in NYC on November 13th. Tickets are on sale Wed at noon.

The Megapuss album, Surfing, "is being released by Vapor Records in physical formats October 7 and [was] digitally September 16." Listen to Megapuss at MySpace. Listen to Little Joy at MySpace. All known tour dates below...

Continue reading "Little Joy (w/ a member of the Strokes) - new album & 2008 Tour Dates (some w/ Megapuss aka Devendra Banhart)"