by Klaus Kinski

A few months ago I was wilting my life away at work listening to my M83 Pandora channel when a song the site randomly selected yanked me from my zombified, mouth-breathing state. It sounded like a bizarre mixture of Vangelis, Kitarro, Spandau Ballet, and Mogwai. Turns out, the artist was Ulrich Schnauss and the song was Goodbye. I didn't know what he was singing about, but it was definitely dark, sad and, well, beautiful. I was an immediate addict and before long I had almost every one of his songs in my collection.

So imagine my unbridled glee when I noticed that he scheduled a single US gig, and that it's happening at the Bell House on February 25, 2010 (Tickets are on sale). Mark Van Hoen and Luxa round out what will no doubt be an epic bill.

"While the name Mark Van Hoen may not immediately garner as much recognition as Schnauss, his reach and influence is arguably as authoritative. As an original member of Seefeel, the BBC noted, "In a brief listen one can hear the influence on Boards of Canada's damaged melodies and dense claustrophobia, more so than even the usual suspects like Aphex Twin." After tours with Massive Attack, Orbital, and opening for Slowdive, Van Hoen formed Scala with three members of Seefeel, releasing three albums. Van Hoen has also released four albums as Locust, including the electronic masterpieces Morning Light and Playing with Time...

...Van Hoen will be releasing a new album, Where Is the Truth, in late February, his first in over five years. The Bell House performance will also be Van Hoen's first in several years to feature backing musicians, including members of Edison Woods and Anthony and the Johnsons, accompanying his heavily visual and electronic performance.

Ulrich Schnauss also has a new album coming out, but not of new material. He is instead releasing an album's worth of remixes he did for other bands including Halo, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Mahogany, Mojave 3, and Howling Bells. That album is called Missing Deadlines and is out March 15th. Full tracklist below...

Continue reading "Ulrich Schnauss releasing remix album, playing Brooklyn"

by Bill Pearis

The Depreciation Guild

For fans of Shoegaze/Dreampop/etc, the Bell House is where you want to be tonight (1/8) for a free show with locals The Depreciation Guild, Dead Leaf Echo, and Luxa. I'm quite fond of The Depreciation Guild's most recent album, In Her Gentle Jaws, which you can download for free from the band's website. Mixing heavy and heavily-treated guitars with beats built on a Nintendo Famicom, they actually kind of remind me of me of Mew's dreamier moments. The Depreciation Guild are also going on tour with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart next month so the rest of the country will get a chance to check them out too.

As for the other two bands on the bill, I'm not familiar other than checking out their respective MySpace pages, but Dead Leaf Echo have dreampop cred: their forthcoming album was produced by John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, Pale Saints), and they've had remixes done by Ulrich Schnauss. Luxa are a little more on the bliss-out side of things. No idea what any of these bands are like live, but you can't argue with the price. Also free: Brooklyn Lager from 8-9.

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Keeping things Brooklyn local, My Teenage Stride play Union Hall Friday night (1/9). The band have entirely revamped their line-up in the last six months but when I saw them at Glasslands late last year they were good as ever. If you like Lloyd Cole, the Chills, The Wedding Present and other jangly '80s indie signifiers, you should definitely seek them out, if you haven't already. My Teenage Stride also play next Thursday (1/15) at Vanishing Point Studio in Bushwick.

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Box Elders

It's already been mentioned that Michigan band Tyvek are playing three shows this weekend, one of which is at Market Hotel with Crystal Stilts. Also on that bill are Omaha trio Box Elders, who are not named after the classic Pavement song, or the tree, but the bugs that infested the house where two-thirds of the band (Jeremiah and Clayton McIntyre) grew up. (They claim they still have a snare with about 100 dead box elder bugs in it...eww.) So far the band only have one single, the excelent "Hole in My Head" which sounds a lot like New Zealand's The Clean to these ears. (Bonus points: the b-side is a cover of Redd Kross' "S&M Party.") The Box Elders are currently on a fairly extensive US tour but The Market Hotel show is their only NYC-area show so do check them out.

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And finally, this weekend marks the premiere of FUTURITY -- a musical written by local retro-futurists The Lisps. As the Lisps' shows tend to be theatrical anyway, mixing elements of vaudville and Americana and other genres, it's no real suprise they had a musical in them. Here's the blurb:

FUTURITY tells the story of Julian Munro, a lowly foot soldier in the American Civil War with an overactive imagination and a dream to be a famous writer. Through the double narrative of Julian's wartime experience ripping up Confederate railroads in southwestern Virginia, and the grimly futuristic novel he writes along the way, the musical weaves an ominous and bizarre tale of destruction, creation, and utopianism. The protagonist of Julian's novel, The Inventor, devises an omnipotent steam-powered artificial intelligence that he sees as a panacea for all of humanity's woes. The story is largely narrated by Ada Lovelace, the famous mathematician and Julian's imaginary muse. The music in FUTURITY draws inspiration from every corner of traditional Americana and contemporary indie-rock to paint a quintessentially American scene of war, antiquity, technological hubris, and outmoded conceptions of futurity.

Sounds kinda epic. FUTURITY is being performed both Friday and Saturday night at The Zipper Factory and you can get tickets here.

ALSO THIS WEEKEND: 2 Camper Van Beethoven shows

Videos, tourdates and other stuff for some the above groups after the jump...

Continue reading "the Depreciation Guild, Box Elders, My Teenage Stride, a Lisps musical & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Ryan Muir

watching Ulrich Schnauss @ the Winter Garden, NYC - June 24, 2008

His music is hard to describe. A combination of machine music and classic shoegaze, his tunes often remind me of a waterfall of sonic wonder, layer upon layer that could easily sound like chaos, but somehow manages to transport the listener somewhere else. It's as if the rain starts slowly and then becomes a deluge. If you haven't heard him, check out his albums. Great works. [Mf]

Now that last night's free show at the World Financial Center happened it can be announced that Ulrich Schnauss will also be playing a show at Union Hall in Brooklyn tonight (June 25, 2008). Auburn Lull, Luxa and Screen Vinyl Image are also on the bill. More pictures from the Winter Garden, and all tour dates, below....

Continue reading "Ulrich Schnauss played the World Financial Center (pics) ++ Union Hall TONIGHT & other tour dates"