photos by Jessica Amaya

Mercury Lounge, March 31, 2011

Cults' debut full length will be released this spring via It The Name Of / Columbia Records, but you can listen to the first official track off the LP, "You Know What I Mean", now (streaming below). The band played their second NYC show in a row last night, 3/31, at Mercury Lounge with Magic Kids who didn't make it to the show the night before at Knitting Factory.

More pictures and some videos from the Merc show, below...

Continue reading "Cults played Merc w/ Magic Kids & Superhumanoids (pics & video), LP out this spring (listen to a track)"

photos by Winnie Cheung and Chris La Putt

Cults @ Knitting Factory

Magic Kids couldn't make it to NY on time, but the show went on with Cults and Superhumanoids at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn last night (3/30). That said, Magic Kids have confirmed that they will make it to their sold out show at Mercury Lounge tonight (3/31) where the same lineup plays after an 8pm opening set by Whale Belly. Some pictures from Knitting Factory are in this post and they continue below...

Continue reading "Cults & Superhumanoids, but not Magic Kids played Knitting Factory (pics)"

Knitting Factory Brooklyn says, "PLEASE NOTE: MAGIC KIDS have cancelled their show tonight due to van problems. Refunds available BEFORE you enter the show, otherwise NO REFUNDS. CULTS and SUPERHUMANOIDS are still playing!"

Tonight's show is one of two NYC gigs on the tour, so hopefully Magic Kids get their van fixed before their scheduled show with Cults and Superhumanoids at Mercury Lounge on Thursday.

Check "What's going on Wednesday" for more shows happening tonight, and don't forget about the free PS I Love You show happening at Mercury Lounge after midnight.

All Magic Kids dates below..

Continue reading "Magic Kids cancel Brooklyn show, but Cults still playing"

photos by Graeme Flegenheimer

Magic Kids @ Schubas

Magic Kids have been added to the final leg of the previously discussed Cults tour which hits Knitting Factory on March 30th (tickets) and Mercury Lounge on March 31st (tickets) and includes Superhumanoids on both dates. The Cults tour ends at Coachella and also includes a stop at SXSW.

Magic Kids joined Generationals, Pet Lions, and In Tall Buildings at Schubas in Chicago on 1/12, as part of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival. Check out pictures from that show with all Cults/Magic Kids dates below...

Continue reading "Magic Kids played Schubas (pics), touring w/ Cults (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Magic Kids toured through town again, this time hitting Mercury Lounge and Silent Barn with Bosco Delray who they're now touring back to Memphis with, in support of Memphis. The Mercury Lounge show was also with Big Troubles and Brianne, and the pictures in this post are from that show. We also recently had pictures from Magic Kids' set at Fun Fun Fun Fest (set 1 and set 2).

The Mercury Lounge pictures continue, with a yourstru.ly video of the band playing "Candy" with an "orchestra, which features Christopher + Garrett from Girls, Max from Smith Westerns, some friends of someone's aunt who had a weekend flute club, a real string section and some more random friends," below...

Continue reading "Magic Kids played Mercury Lounge w/ Bosco Delray, Brianne & Big Troubles (pics) +++ yourstru.ly 'orchestra' video"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: 14 Iced Bears - Inside (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: 14 Iced Bears - Like a Dolphin (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: 14 Iced Bears - Hay Fever (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The 1900s - Babies (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tuung - Don't Look Down or Back (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Blank Dogs - Northern Islands (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dead Gaze - This Big World (MP3)

14 Iced Bears

I did a double take when I saw that UK indiepop cult heros 14 Iced Bears were playing The Rock Shop on Thursday (11/11). I didn't even know they had reformed. They're associated with the jangly C86 scene (though not actually on that famed cassette) and released singles on seminal indiepop labels Sarah and Slumberland. You can download three songs at the top of this post, all of which are on the Slumberland-released singles comp In The Beginning. A little more on the band from Slumberland:

Formed in 1985 by Rob Sekula, 14 Iced Bears ably blended shambolic pop with a psychedelic punk edge that set them apart from their C86 contemporaries. Inspired by bands like the Stooges, Velvet Underground, 13th Floor Elevators and Echo & the Bunnymen, Sekula injected the then-nascent indie-pop sound with a twisted dose of noise and experimental menace. While still owing plenty to the Byrds/Ramones influences evident in the output of labels like Creation and Pink, it was this dark 60s flavor that always set the 'Bears apart. [Slumberland]

If you can find 14 Iced Bears 1988 debut album, it's an underheard classic of the era. I also really like their fuzzed-out cover of "Summer Nights" from Grease, which was my introduction to the band. If you like Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Dream Diary and Crystal Stilts, here's some OG indiepoppers making a rare, totally unexpected appearance on American shores. The band broke up in 1992 and these are their first shows since then. Highly Recommended. The band are over, ostensibly, for Popfest New England which happens this weekend, but are making a short Northeast tour out of the visit. All 14 Iced Bears tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

1900s

The other super-exciting this weekend is the return of Chicago's The 1900s who haven't played NYC in almost two years. They play an early show at Mercury Lounge on Thursday (11/11) and then The Rock Shop on Saturday (11/13). Their new album, Return of the Century, is pretty fantastic, somewhere between Velvet Underground and Fleetwood Mac, brimming with perfectly crafted pop. Says Chicagoist:

The 1900s have many musical precursors, but it seems unfair to name check any of them since the group has obviously labored so hard to create something of their own. And in that they've succeeded. Return of the Century is surrounded by a golden warmth, coursing through every harmony and bittersweet guitar chord. The band has mastered the art of creating a genuine atmosphere, as opposed to taking musical shortcuts to convey sentimentality, and it's impossibly not to lay back and luxuriate in the sound washing over you. Previously The 1900s excelled in mirroring sounds from the past, and the sonic dressings haven't changed, but now there's a genuine and unique beating heart giving their tunes life. It's like watching the difference between four-color print and HD TV, only through gauzy pastels.

You can listen for yourself -- the whole of Return of the Century is streaming via a widget at the bottom of this post. And if you haven't already, you can download an MP3 of single "Babies" at the top of this post. And I do urge you to go see them. The 1900s are just as skilled live, and a lot of fun too.

Tunng

If you don't mind paying again 'cause it's a separate show, you can stick around after The 1900s play at Mercury Lounge on Thursday (11/11) and catch folky UK act Tunng. They also play Bruar Falls on Saturday (11/13). The band have gone through some line-up changes since their last album, most notably the departure of singer Sam Genders (he of the Robert Wyatt-esque voice).

Losing their singer/songwriter could prove disastrous (see: The Concretes new LP review in P4K) but Tunng's fourth album, And Then We Saw Land, is pretty good, if a little more straight-up folk pop than their previous albums which mixed acoustics with glitchy electronics. Laptops still make appearances here and there, but the new LP is breezy pastoral stuff. You can download "Don't Look Down or Back" at the top of this post, and watch the video for single "Hustle" at the bottom. The Mercury Lounge show is the first of a short North American tour, and all dates are at the bottom of this post.

Blank Dogs

There's so much good music coming out on Captured Tracks lately much of it in single form. If you haven't heard Craft Spells' "Party Talk" or Soft Moon's "Breath the Fire," you should definitely seek them out. Don't forget about Blank Dogs, the musical alter ego of C/T major domo Mike Sniper. Blank Dogs new album, Land and Fixed, has come a long way from the murky, effects-overload of their early EPs into new sonic clarity. There's still a lot of delay and chorus effects but it no longer sounds like it was recorded in a bog. If you like the weirder side of early Mute Records (Fad Gadget seem a big influence), or the dark pop of Ohio cult legends My Dad is Dead, give BD's new album a listen. It's pretty good.

Really more of a studio thing, the Blank Dogs Live Experience has been a bit more of a mess, but Sniper has formed a new power trio version of the band and given the strength of the last few records it may be time to revisit. They play Friday night at Glasslands as part of a really good bill. Also on the bill: Mississippi's Dead Gaze (super-catchy bedroom recorded pop, check out an MP3 above); Swimsuit (new band from Fred Thomas of City Center/Saturday Looks Good to Me); and the jangly psych-pop of Minneapolis  Velvet Davenport (who also play Shea Stadium on Saturday [11/13]).

That's the main stuff this week. A few more picks, night-by-night, of things not covered above.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10

I'd kind of forgotten about Favourite Sons who haven't released an album since 2006's underrated Down Beside Your Beauty. But after a dormant period they're about to release it's follow-up, The Great Deal of Love, and play Union Pool tonight. (Watch a video of the title track at the bottom of this post.) Singer Ken Griffin, who sounds a little like Ian McCulloch, fronted the excellent but mostly forgotten '90s band Rollerskate Skinny (seek out 1996's Horsedrawn Wishes, it's a lost classic).

Tonight at Bruar Falls is what is likely Pursesnatchers' last show for what will likely be a while, as Doug Marvin and Annie Hart are expecting a bundle of joy any second. They're on at 8PM and it's FREE.

continued below...

Continue reading "14 Iced Bears, 1900s, Tunng, Blank Dogs, Obits, Magic Kids, Popfest New England & more in This Week in Indie "

Madeline Follin of Cults & Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast

It was like a buzz band explosion on Sunday when Bethany of Best Coast, who were playing the same stage later, came on stage during Cults' set to lead the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" to Cults member Madeline Follin who then wished Toro y Moi, who played the same stage earlier, a Happy Birthday as well. Cults were good too. I didn't see any of Best Coast's actual set, though Tim did.

The reason I missed all of Best Coast's set was due to the veggie hot dog eating contest happening on the Yellow Stage. I first met Mike Litt in 2008 when we partnered on a SXSW day party (which was also in partnership with Transmission who puts on Fun Fun Fun). At the time, I didn't know much about Mike except that he was vegan, a bit of an activist, a local Austin event promoter, and that he was responsible for throwing an annual veggie hot dog eating contest every July 4th in Austin. And it was those reasons that made me immediately want to start working with him and we've stayed in contact each SXSW since, and so there was no way I was missing this special edition of his veggie dog eating contest which was happening right at the festival (not to mention I've seen Best Coast multiple times already, I've seen the Bronx, and I wasn't really planning on catching P.O.S. who was also on at the same time).

yum

And I wasn't alone. A healthy size crowd showed up to view the grossness. Unfortunately there were too many contestants to fit at the table on the stage (forcing them to, at the very last minute with the timer ticking, add a 2nd table in the back for more contestants who couldn't be seen by most of the crowd), and there were a lot of introductions and comedy at the beginning that included getting volunteers from the crowd, plugging local comedy shows and musicians, some guys playing the National Anthem, and all the setup of plates and hot dogs and cups of water (not necessarily how you want to spend your valuable music festival minutes), but all in all (after a bit of anxiety waiting for the actual contest to begin), it was a good time, a rare break from the music for me, and for a worthwhile cause (I think). I (literally) love Mike Litt.

More pictures of the eating contest, metal jean jackets, Suicidal Tendencies, and other sights from Sunday (some which were not covered in the last TWO SUNDAY POSTS), below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 - Day 3 pics (part 3) - Cults w/ Bethany Best Coast, veggie hot dog eating contest, Hold Steady, more "

photos by Tim Griffin

Deakin

"This solo project from Animal Collective's Deakin (or Deacon, or Josh Dibb) was just as psychedelic, but in more of a dub vein, with spacey, ambient guitar over echoing reverberating distorted drum-pad beats. A pair of smoking-hot yoga-body hipster girls were dancing throughout--no idea how they found a beat to lock into, as loose as the rhythm was, but none of the guys nearby were complaining." [Dallas Observer]

From some of our posts, you might think metal and punk dominated at Fun Fun Fun Fest, and honestly it kind of was the metal and punk bands who packed the most punch making it harder to enjoy the lighter fare all in one day, but there are many who probably spent all weekend at Waterloo Park and never even ventured over to the Black Stage once, not even to check out the spectacle that is Gwar who were on that the same time as Dirty Projectors on Saturday.

If indie rock/pop/chillwave was all you were looking for, or even just dancing and hip hop, you had more than your share of best new music to keep you occupied from noon to 10pm on the Orange and Blue stages. Sunday alone featured Deerhunter, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, Deakin, Magic Kids, Best Coast (Wavves played the day before) and Cults, not to mention Yelle, Polvo, P.O.S. and A-Trak. Those are most of the artists pictured in this post which continues below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest - Day 3 pics (part 2) - Deakin, Best Coast, A-Trak, Yelle, Polvo, Deerhunter, Washed Out, Toro y Moi, more"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Magic Kids - Summer (MP3)

Magic Kids in Nashville in March (bekah_cope)

Now that Memphis' Magic Kids have wrapped up their tour with Ariel Pink (which includes a NYC stop at Irving Plaza and a Magic Kids-headlining show on a boat), they've announced their return to the city. Those shows, on their November tour with Bosco Delrey (the Mad Decent dude who just played a South Street Seaport block party), are on November 12th at Mercury Lounge and November 13th at Silent Barn. Tickets for Mercury Lounge are on AmEx presale at noon Wednesday, general sale Friday at noon.

Currently, Magic Kids have a run of record store in-store in the South and Midwest, with more shows out West to follow. They have a European tour in October, and the North American dates that include NYC in November.

The band's intensely poppy debut, named after their hometown Memphis, comes out August 24 via True Panther Sound. The single above is one of the album's most syrupy, with orchestra flairs and a retro exotica breakdown. All tour dates and videos (including one on their NYC boat cruise) are below...

Continue reading "Magic Kids playing shows w/ Candy Claws & Bosco Delrey - 2010 Tour Dates"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Magic Kids - Summer (MP3)

Memphis's Magic Kids are currently on tour with Ariel Pink and will be in NYC this week for a couple of shows. Memphis is also the name of their debut album which is out on August 24 via True Panther Sounds. It's an impressive homage to '60s baroque pop, with a giant debt to Brian Wilson and Phil Spector and the Zombies - treacly sunshine pop that stops just short of cavity-inducing. The orchestration is rather swoony. Live, Magic Kids reek with Up With People positive vibes, almost to the point that I wonder how genuine they are about all this, but then I think I'm just old and cynical and need to just relax and soak in the rays. It's a nice record.

I haven't seen them play since last summer when they only had one single out, so I'm looking forward to catching them now that I've heard the album. Reminder: Magic Kids open for Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti on Saturday (7/24) at Irving Plaza and we're giving away THREE pairs of tickets. Details below.

Additionally, if you'd rather see them on a boat, Magic Kids are playing a Rocks Off concert cruise on Monday, July26 which actually sounds like it might be fun. Tickets are $10, and we have five pairs to give away! Details below.

Flyer and all dates down there to...

Continue reading "Magic Kids on tour w/ Ariel Pink, playing on a boat (win tix) "

photos by Graeme Flegenheimer

DOWNLOAD: Magic Kids - Summer (MP3)

Ariel Pink @ the Echoplex

"Clearly, signing to 4AD and cutting "Before Today," his great and most sonically forthright record yet this year, has done wonders for him. Haunted Graffiti has finally grown from L.A. outsider-art's inside secret into a thrilling (and shockingly tight) international concern. But in a way, as good as the band has gotten, it seems just as important that the surrounding culture has finally caught up with them.

All the cool kids are swapping romantic, tape-decayed pop like Nite Jewel, Wild Nothing and Neon Indian, and Pitchfork has a whole new blog network devoted to covering such things. Rosenberg could never be accused of overt careerism, and probably takes developments like selling out the Echoplex on Friday with a huge streak of amusement. But it's telling that just as the mainstream hipsterati knighted him as the crown prince of lo-fi, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti took a hard turn for clarity and showmanship.

For a band whose mythology is rooted in the idea of Rosenberg as this genius hermit cranking out tapes and hiding from the sun in his L.A. flophouse, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti has turned into a crack live act.
[LA Times]

Ariel Pink and Magic Kids kicked off their previously-announced tour at Echoplex in LA on July 9th. They've since played San Francisco, and are in Portland tonight. The NYC show, which still has tickets for sale, happens July 24th at Irving Plaza. More pictures from that LA show, and updated dates (including a string of dates Ariel is playing with the Flaming Lips), below...

Continue reading "Ariel Pink launched their tour w/ Magic Kids @ the Echoplex (pics & updated dates) "

DOWNLOAD: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round & Round (MP3)

The NYC Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti show set for May 4th at Mercury Lounge is sold out. Have no fear - there's a full North American tour coming this summer. Pearl Harbor and True Panther Sound's Magic Kids open the tour (the Merc Lounge show is opened by R. Stevie Moore). The tour comes to NYC's Irving Plaza on July 24th. Tickets TBA.

Ariel Pink's first record on 4AD, Before Today, comes out June 8th. The song "Round & Round" is reposted above, and will be out as a limited edition 7" (with "Mistaken Wedding" on the b side) and digital download single on April 26th. His band consists of Tim Koh (bass/vocals), Kenny Gilmore (guitar/vocals) and Aaron Sperske (drums/vocals). Before their North American tour, they'll play Europe in June. All tour dates and Before Today's tracklist are below...

Continue reading "Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti announce 2010 tour dates "

Girls @ Bowery Ballroom in Nov (more by Vincent Cornelli)

San Francisco's Girls are currently on the road with their friends the Smith Westerns and Magic Kids, the many-membered pop group from Memphis who played NYC last July and whose debut LP, it was just announced, comes out later this year on True Panther Sounds (which is now part of Matador and also the label that put out the Girls record).

Girls will go on tour across North America this April with Sub Pop signees Dum Dum Girls. The trip finishes at Coachella, but before that, the bands will play a Saturday, April 3rd show at Webster Hall. Tickets on sale soon.

Before then, Dum Dum Girls have a February 21st show at Mercury Lounge with Frankie & The Outs, Sub Pop signees Happy Birthday and Coasting. Tickets are still on sale.

The Smith Westerns will also be in NYC in April - two shows were just announced. They'll play Market Hotel on April 3rd (the same night Girls are at Webster), and then Mercury Lounge with Sub Pop signees Male Bonding on April 4th (tickets on sale Friday at noon).

Dum Dums will be in the UK at the end of February and SXSW in March, where you can see Magic Kids as well. All tour dates and a video of Magic Kids at Goner Fest '09 and around town are below...

Continue reading "Girls touring w/ Dum Dum Girls & the Smith Westerns & True Panther signees Magic Kids - 2010 dates"

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)

Ty Segall @ Cake Shop (more by Tim Griffin)

After my own greasy foray into a Popeye's a few blocks away, I was ready to see the wunderkind, who is freshly graduated from the University of San Francisco. Once upon a time, Segall was a one man band, but he's expanded his outfit to a three-piece. Clearly the night's headliner at Amnesia, he packed the joint. After sets by openers Snakeflower 2 and the Rantouls, he mostly played familiar songs from his 2008 self-titled release on CastleFace Records. However, he also delivered a few examples of his self-described "sludgier" work on the brand new Lemons (Goner Records).

Sludge or no sludge, Segall's solid work ethic is evident. He's constantly playing gigs at bars like the Knockout, the Hemlock, and the Eagle Tavern -- basically anywhere flannel is the prevailing fashion, alongside those straw fedora hats favored by the fixed-gear crowd. Despite his omnipresence on SF's dive bar scene, he's pretty modest about his dedication to his music. "There are a lot of ways that I am a slacker," he explains over the phone a month after the fateful Amnesia show as he and his band drive to New Orleans. "But if I'm not doing music, I feel like I'm wasting my time." [SF Bay Guardian]

An MP3 from Lemons is at the top of this post. Ty returns to NYC for a trio of shows on his North American tour in September. On September 18th, he'll play Death By Audio's 'The Maze' (the art installation being supported by this Saturday's 12-hour benefit at the venue).

Ty plays a Mercury Lounge show on September 20th with Golden Triangle and tourmates and fellow SF band The Mantels. Tickets for that go on sale Saturday, July 25th at noon. Ty Segall then goes to New Jersey for a September 21st show at Maxwell's. The Mantels opens that too, with Digital Leather. Tickets are on sale now.

Ty will be one of the acts at Goner Fest 6, put on by Goner Records September 24th-26th in Memphis, TN. Other acts include a reformed version of Jay Reatard's first band The Reatards, Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh & Onlys, Magic Kids (who are in NYC this weekend), Box Elders, The Intelligence, Nobunny, Cheater Slicks and just about every other vital band you could vaguely lump in with the current "garage" scene (No Sic Alps, though). Tickets for day one, two and three of the fest are on sale now (though three-day 'Golden Passes' seem to be either sold out or hard to find).

More info on that festival, with all Ty Segall dates and a couple videos, below...

Continue reading "Ty Segall tour dates (3 NYC shows) + 2009 Goner Fest lineup "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Culver City (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Joe Brown (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fergus & Geronimo - Harder Than It's Ever Been (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Magic Kids - Hey Boy (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Coconut Coolouts - Party Jail (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Seaport Music Festival Sampler (Zip)

YellowFever @ Death By Audio - July 22, 2009 (by Bryan Bruchman)

There are a lot of out-of-town bands I'm looking forward to seeing this weekend, and luckily they're all playing more than once, and many are sharing the same bill.

First is Austin duo Yellow Fever who I have caught a few times in the last year and they are really something special I think. I wrote this the first time I saw them: "Their sound couldn't be more spare -- usually just drums, the simplest guitar (often just single notes, not chords), and Jennifer Moore's understated, kinda haunting voice. It's that space in between the instrumentation that makes them so special. It's a little bit like Young Marble Giants if Beth Orton was the singer instead of Alison Statton." My only complaint would be they are slow on releasing records, but I look forward to hearing new stuff from them while they're here. They played last night at Death by Audio, where Vivian Girls said this via Twitter: "Yellow Fever were amazing tonight! Don't miss their other NYC shows this week." So, yeah, don't miss 'em -- you've got four more chances, including tonight at Cake Shop. All dates HERE.

Fergus & Geronimo

While we're in the Lone Star state, let's talk about another duo, Fergus & Geronimo, who are from Denton, TX and are playing two NYC shows this weekend. Andrew Savage and Jason Kelly are also in such Denton bands as Wax Museums and Teenage Cool Kids respectively, bonded over a love of '60s pop, Motown and psych-rock (a Texas specialty). Those influences come through loud and clear in their music, most of which is, at this point, only available on their MySpace, which was enough to get interest from Tic Tac Totally, Transparent, and Woodsist all of whom will be putting out their records. The Woodsist 7", "Harder Than It's Ever Been," is out now and you can download the A-side at the top of this post. It's a 1:47 pop gem, one of the best of its kind since Box Elders' "Hole in My Head." This is super-catchy stuff, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them this weekend.

Fergus & Geronimo, who are a five-piece when they play live, are at 92 Y Tribeca on Friday (7/24) with Crystal Stilts, Portland's Little Claw and Memphis' Magic Kids who I'll get back to in a second. They also play Saturday (7/25) at Market Hotel, also with Magic Kids, as well as YellowFever and the ever-present (and very good) Beets (who have a tour coming up with the Vivian Girls). Tickets are still on sale for Friday's show.

Magic Kids

Now onto Magic Kids. They're from Memphis and I first heard of them from a MySpace bulletin from Girls who played a show with them and enthusiastically raved about them. There's not a lot of bio info out there, but there seem to be a lot of them, and they clearly love '60s pop: Beach Boys, The Association, Tommy James & the Shondells, etc. The band have a record coming out sometime on Goner (home to Ty Segall and Box Elders and others) and you can download their single "Hey Boy" at the top of this post. They play Cake Shop tonight (7/23), that 92 Y Tribeca show tomorrow (7/24) and Market Hotel on Saturday night (7/25).

Personal and the Pizzas

Also this weekend we've got a couple West Coast bands, both of whom love a good slice, neither of whom seem to mind a little extra cheese, and they play together at Silent Barn on Friday and Cake Shop on Saturday.

Looking like greasers and sounding like New York 1975, Personal & the Pizzas originally hailed from New Jersey but now seem to call San Francisco their home. I'm not sure that there's a whole lot you need to say about these guys, you see their name you hear one song and you kind of know whether you're gonna like it or not. Maybe not for a whole album, but tracks like "I Don't Wanna Be No Personal Pizza" or "Brass Knuckles" would add flavor to any mix, and you just know they'll be fun live. Pizza Slayer interviewed them:

PS: Do you have pizza at all your shows? How does it enhance the experience?

P&P: Everybody loves the pie!! We probably order it like half and half..we're usually pretty broke so it's kinda hard to shell out like 70 or 80 bucks just for the love of it, but we'll do it. We don't care. Everyone loves Pizza and Pop. One time we was all dressed up in haWaiian shirts and coconut tits and all, and then we ordered some a them hawaaiian pizzas and then that delivery chic delivered the pies to us while we was playin with them shirts on and and she didn't know what the hell was goin on.

Meanwhile, Coconut Coolouts are from Seattle and feature not one but two stand-up drummers which would be enough to get me to the show. That and their songs are a lot of fun, sort of bouncy party garage rock and I'm pretty sure they have more songs about Pizza than P&Ps do. For a little more on them, I defer to my blog source for Seattle, The Finest Kiss:

The Coconut Coolouts remind me of the Nuggets box set, where there are so many great bands with seminal songs on those cd's that I had never heard, it's hard to believe that the bands weren't bigger than their regional popularity. The Coconut Coolouts will likely be on on a Nuggets comp sometime in the year 2040 and people will be wondering why they had never heard of these guys with classics like Spinaround, Coconut Weekend, Party Jail and Stickup. Apparently they sometimes dress in banana costumes for gigs, no bananas were on stage but they were throwing out lifesavers saying they were acid.

Personal & the Pizza and Coconut Coolouts have a split tour "Pizza Army" 7" that you'll wanna pick up at the merch table. Both NYC shows and a bunch of their other tour dates are with Tyvek.

Coconut Coolouts

A few more shows of interest this weekend. Black Moth Super Rainbow make their second Seaport Music series appearance on Friday (their first was in 2007 opening for Fugiya & Miyagi), this time headlining. Their latest album, Eating Us, was produced by Dave Fridman (Flaming Lips, MGMT among other things) and is pretty good. Opening will be low fi electro goths Blank Dogs whose new album, Under and Under, on In the Red Records I like a lot. They are also a band that benefits from good sound, something the Seaport has brought to every show this year. (Here We Go Magic in particular sounded stellar.) Also playing is one-man experimental band Dan Friel. Between the three acts there's gonna be a lot of temperamental old synthesizers, patch bays and homemade equipment on the Seaport stage -- let's hope it doesn't rain. I should also mention that Seaport Music has a "digital mixtape" you can download via Insound that features 15 of the acts playing this year, including all three of this week's acts (plus Superchunk, Casiokids and more). Download link is at the top of this post.

And don't forget Sissy Wish has added another show while in NY -- she plays Union Hall on Saturday night. She's better than her name.

Tour dates and video after the jump...

Continue reading "Fergus & Geronimo, Coconut Coolouts, Magic Kids, Personal & the Pizzas, YellowFever & more in This Week in Indie"