Mick Barr (right) w/ Krallice at Saint Vitus last week (more by Fred Pessaro)

As mentioned, Secret Chiefs 3 are going on a North American tour this year which brings them to NYC for shows on May 17 at Mercury Lounge (tickets) and May 18 and 19 at Union Pool (tickets). After those shows, they'll do a residency at The Stone, playing two sets (8 and 10 PM) every night from May 28 to June 2.

Other residencies are happening at The Stone in June as well, including Sylvie Courvoisier from June 4-9 and Ned Rothenberg from June 18 to 23, both of which include shows with Ikue Mori (and Ned's also includes a show with Marc Ribot). After that, Zeena Parkins, who appears during Ned's residency, will hold her own residency from June 25-30. On the first night of that residency, Zeena plays a duo set at 8 PM with guitar great Mick Barr (of Krallice).

Mick Barr has other shows coming up too, including April 20 at 92YTribeca with Little Women (tickets); May 2 at Knockdown Center (52-19 Flushing Ave) for the previously discussed Red Bull Music Academy-presented Queens Drone Activity Progress festival with Pharmakon, Stephen O'Malley, Oren Ambarchi, Prurient, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, Pete Swanson, Noveller, Kid Millions/Jim Sauter, Vatican Shadow and others (tickets); and May 22 at Silent Barn as a trio with Johnny Deblase and Larry Kwartowitz. The rest of the bill includes Brown Wing Overdrive, DeTrop and Pet Bottle Ningen. Admission for that one is $8 at the door.

Updated Secret Chiefs 3 dates are listed, along with a Mick Barr song stream, below...

Continue reading "upcoming Mick Barr shows, a Secret Chiefs 3 residency at The Stone, and more"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: oOoOO - "NoWayBack" (Ft. Butterclock) (MP3)

Sam Mickens w/ Zac Pennington at Ecstatic Music Festival (more by David Andrako)

Late last year, Sam Mickens announced a split 7" with Voice on Tape due out "winter 2011/2012." That 7" still hasn't been released but you can stream Sam's contribution HERE. However, he did release a single last week, "One Final Round"/"To Victory or Death," which you can stream and purchase at his bandcamp. The songs have a traditional ballroom pop feel led by organic pianos and horns, until halfway through "To Victory or Death," when the band kicks it up into a double time punk beat.

Sam Mickens, who performed Saturday night as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival, has a few more upcoming NYC shows this month. He'll premiere his "Micropatronage" piece with a string quartet at Roulette on February 16 with Jim Staley and Zeena Parkins and Loren Mazzance Connors (whose new album, A Fire, was scheduled to come out this week but has since been delayed). Tickets are on sale now. Sam will then play the same venue on Feburary 18 when he hosts a live taping of ESP TV, which is also part of Roulette's Experimental Love Festival along with C. Spencer Yeh, Little Women, Grasshopper, MV Carbon, and Amanda Long. The event was curated by Scott Kiernan and Victoria Keddie. Tickets are on sale now.

Sam Mickens will also celebrate his 30th birthday at Shea Stadium on February 23 with performances by Sam Mickens Ecstatic Showband & Revue (who recorded the new 12") and Sam Mickens Fourth World (feat. members of Deerhoof, Extra Life, and Cuddle Magic). The bill also includes White Ring and Mirror Mirror.

White Ring last played in NYC last month at Glasslands (1/21) opening for oOoOO (who just announced an EP). How was that show?

Speaking of oOoOO's EP, Our Living is Killing Us (due April 10 via Tri Angle), Stereogum recently premiered the first track, "NoWayBack," which features vocals from collaborator Butterclock. Her airy vocals and oOoOO's beatwork bring to mind some of Grimes' downtempo material and its easily oOoOO's best track yet. Grab an MP3 of the song above and stream it below.

All dates and stream below...

Continue reading "upcoming Sam Mickens shows & a new oOoOO MP3"

by BBG

Krallice at The Studio at Webster Hall (more by Greg Cristman)

Though Krallice plays with Converge and Touche Amore tonight (8/24) at House of Vans, Mick Barr won't take a moment to bask in the post-show glow before heading out the door. Directly following House of Vans, Mick Barr will head to Zebulon to play a show as part of Barr/Shea/Dahl (Kevin Shea from Talibam and Tim Dahl of Child Abuse), supporting Little Women with Stern.

The show is one of two for the frenetic guitarist, as he'll also hit Zebulon on 8/29 with Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhthmia, Gorguts) and Andrew Hock (Castevet) just 5 days later (8/29).

Andrew Hock also plays as part of the Anthony Coleman/Andrew Hock Duo with Ches Smith and others at Cafe Orwell (Varet street) on Friday (8/26). For more info, head to the Facebook invite.

Krallice also play Union Pool on 9/17.

Mick Barr is currently prepping his new solo LP Coiled Malescence via Safety Meeting Records. Preorder it now and stream one track, "Vohvar", with the cover art and tracklist below. Stream the whole thing at Decibel.

Continue reading "Mick Barr playing a show after Krallice tonight, releasing 'Coiled Malescence' (listen)"

Questlove @ the Roots Picnic 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

tonight in NYC
* Whiplash @ UCB
* Mike Birbiglia @ UCB
* John Waters @ NYPL
* Owl Drugs @ Cake Shop
* It is It comedy @ Pianos
* Jim Campilongo @ The Living Room
* Active Child, Blair @ Mercury Lounge
* La Roux, Atarah Valentine @ Terminal 5
* Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae @ Roseland Ballroom
* The Brand New Heavies @ Highline Ballroom
* Yeah Right, Huntronik, Thomas Beddoe @ Pianos
* Reverend Vince Anderson & His Love Choir @ Union Pool
* Air Waves, The Young Sinclairs, Easter Vomit @ Death By Audio
* Anamanaguchi, Home Video, Blast Off! @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* Camera Obscura, The Love Language @ Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom
* Softspot, Haunted Ghost, Fractal Farm, Unsolved Mysteries @ Glasslands
* Fela! Original Cast Recording Release Party w/ cast member, Questlove (DJ) @ Brooklyn Bowl

It's Internet Week.

John Waters is speaking at the library.

Camera Obscura played Sunday afternoon at the Brooklyn Flea. This evening they headline Grand Ballroom in Manhattan.

Little Women and their saxophones played 538 Johnson Apt 202 on June 4th. Video below...

As Jay-Z pointed out, there's a Fela! party tonight at Brooklyn Bowl. It's free, and Questlove is performing (djing) at it after he's done opening for Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu at Roseland. Flyer is re-posted below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

by BBG

Liturgy (more by Greg Cristman)

Liturgy has scheduled a tour send-off show on 1/15 at Death By Audio with White Mice, Little Women, and Weasel Walter's Cellular Chaos. The band will be back in NYC action on 2/18 at Don Pedro's with Aa, and then again on 3/6 at Glasslands with Naam.

Liturgy's support at Death By Audio, Weasel Walter's Cellular Chaos, will be reincarnated into another earthly form, that of Marc Edwards/Weasel Walter Group 16 days later. It is that form that will support An Albatross when they play Knitting Factory on 1/31 with Wharton Tiers Ensemble. Tickets are on sale.

So what is Cellular Chaos exactly, and what else has Weasel Walter been up to?

I have left California for New York. I quit XBXRX and joined Behold...The Arctopus. On the docket are my Septet record "Invasion" featuring Kaiser, Golia, John Lindberg, William Winant, Liz Allbee and Damon Smith; studio recordings by the Walter/Halvorson/Evans trio and the Marc Edwards/Weasel Walter Group as well as the new Burmese studio effort. I have reincarnated my west coast guitar freakout band Cellular Chaos on the East Coast with new players. A lot of writing for jazz quintet and tentet took place this year and I'll probably make an attempt to get that music played out here in New York with new musicians. This spring I'm planning on tours with the Forbes/Young/Walter trio as well as some European dates with Sheik Anorak and Mario Rechtern. There's an all-new Toy Killers release slowly in the works . . . I am also preparing to work on a very strange project spearheaded by the legendary Nondor Nevai, featuring myself on bass and Kenny Millions (aka Keshavan Maslak) on reeds - a truly volatile mixture of weirdos, should be extremely interesting. There's some talk about me contributing drums to some new Controlled Bleeding material as well. There are a lot of possibilities and I'm trying to figure out how to juggle them all and still remain solvent. Wish me luck.

Full Liturgy and Weasel Walter dates, as well as a few videos are below...

Continue reading "Liturgy going on tour, Weasel Walter opening for An Albatross, both playing lots of NYC shows (dates)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final/first week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

Tyshawn Sorey

Since the well-documented "fall" of The Shank, things have been pretty quiet at 98 Bayard St, Brooklyn, NY. For two weekends in September though, there was noise in the form of the fifth annual New Languages Festival. Eighteen acts comprised of some of the city's top jazz composers and improvisers played over six nights - from the lauded big band project led by Darcy James Argue (who recently blogged about the influence on him of another big band leader, Bob Brookmeyer) to saxist Tim Berne to Jessica 6, fronted by ex-Hercules & Love Affair singer Nomi Ruiz.

The pictures here are from the space's Thursday, Sept. 24th show with Little Women (featuring the dueling, deconstructed saxes of Travis Laplante and Darius Jones), the Mario Robbins/Pete Pavone/Tyshawn Sorey trio (drummer Sorey took apart his instrument too) and fest organizer Jackson Moore's Septet (with three drumsets going at once). Pictures and videos from both weekends are below...

Continue reading "pics & video from the jazz at New Languages Festival 2009"