photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

"Not even kidding. lou reed watched @dasracist perform tonight & flipped the fuck out. at carnegie hall. how was your night?" - El-P

"The night wrapped up with Lenny Kaye leading the Patti Smith band through a brief tribute to the garage-rock compilation Nuggets, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and Lou Reed, who performed three songs. Reed conducted the string quartet and the drummer to improvise with him at moments, which felt awkward in the beginning; the ending, however--as the string quartet jammed in tandem with Smith's guitarists and Reed himself--was pretty impressive. At the very end Laurie Anderson and the whole evening's cast returned to the stage for a curtain call, during which the room sang "Happy Birthday" to Philip Glass." [Village Voice]

Continue reading "2012 Tibet House benefit pics (Philip Glass, Das Racist, James Blake, Antony, Lou Reed, Stephin Merritt, Rahzel & more)"

Devotchka @ Metro in Chicago in January (more by Ben Rodig)

The accidentally revealed it on the intitial tour announcement, so we always figured there would be two, but now the 2nd is annnounced too:

"The Magnetic Fields have added a second show at the Beacon Theater in New York City on April 4th, the day following their current, nearly sold out show. Devotchka (acoustic) will open the show. Presale tickets are currently available via Music Today. General tickets go on sale this Friday, Feb 10 via Ticketmaster.

Devotchka recently played a show at Metro in Chicago. More pictures like the one above, at BV Chicago.

Continue reading "The Magnetic Fields (finally) add 2nd Beacon Theater date; Devotchka opening both NYC shows (and other dates)"

Ceremony @ ABC No Rio in 2010 (more by Lionel Bergeron)

today in NYC
* Sea of Bees @ Sycamore
* David Garrett @ Beacon Theatre
* Jenny Owen Youngs @ The Rock Shop
* F. Stokes @ Brooklyn Academy of Music
* The Darkness, Foxy Shazam @ Irving Plaza
* The Rapture DJs, Alex English @ Yotel
* Bezoar, Gang Signs, Wizardry @ Union Pool
* Anoraak, Punches @ Brooklyn Bowl
* First Saturdays @ Brooklyn Museum
* Julie Christmas, Steve Brodsky @ Saint Vitus
* Marshall Crenshaw, Garland Jeffreys @ Maxwell's
* Nick Zammuto (of The Books), Achante @ 92YTribeca
* Diehard, Lord Classic, Cooling Towers @ The Gutter
* Suckers, Devin Therriault, Writer @ Knitting Factory
* David Cross, Bridey Elliot, Greg Johnson @ 222 Ave B
* Dive, Caged Animals, Fabric, Heavenly Beat @ Cake Shop
* John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders @ City Winery
* Skrillex, Skream & Benga, KOAN Sound, TOKiMONSTA @ Terminal 5
* Tom Carter, GDFX, Maria Chavez, Twistycat, Eola @ Shea Stadium
* Still Birth, Hoor-Paar-Kraat, Kama Rupa, Pharmakon @ The Stone
* Tycho, Oneohtrix Point Never, Beacon @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Jherek Bischoff, Mirah, Wordless Music Orchestra @ Merkin Concert Hall
* Apollo Heights, Dead Leaf Echo, Her Vanished Grace, Washerwoman @ Spike Hill
* Edie Sedgewick, The Immaculates, Bob Doto (of Sprcss) @ Death By Audio
* La Big Vic, Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Family Portrait @ Mercury Lounge
* Strange Shapes, Jeane, Olden Yolk (mem. Quilt), Jefferson High @ Big Snow
* Gavin Creel, Stephen Oremus (American Songbook) @ Lincoln Center's Allen Room
* Crazy & the Brain, Birth Control, They Live, Schwervon! @ The Studio @ Webster Hall
* Ceremony, Pissed Jeans, The Rival Mob, Hoax, Kim Phuc, Gods & Queens @ Le Poisson Rouge

Soul Train Flash Mob in Times Square at 4pm.

The Magnetic Fields released an illustrative music video for their song "Andrew in Drag," the first single off their upcoming album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, out March 6 on Merge. Check it out below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

Antony @ Radio City (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Antony played a show at Radio City Music Hall last night. And this was just announced:

Tibet House US is thrilled to announce that Antony and Stephin Merritt have joined the bill for the 22nd Annual Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall on Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 7:30pm. This year's esteemed line-up, curated by Philip Glass, the concert's artistic director, includes Lou Reed, James Blake, Dechen Shak-Dagsay, Laurie Anderson, and Rahzel, in addition to Antony and Stephin. Tickets are on sale now and available through the Carnegie Hall Box Office. Special packages that include concert tickets and a fundraising reception following the show with the event's Honorary Chairpersons Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard and the evening's performing artists are available through Tibet House US.

James Blake is also DJing Le Poisson Rouge while he's in town.

The Magnetic Fields are going on tour in March and April.

Tickets went on sale this morning for the 2nd Black Keys show at Madison Square Garden.

Tickets are on sale at 11am for the April 3rd Magnetic Fields shows at Beacon Theater.

Stephin Merritt has a new The Magnetic Fields LP on the way due via Merge Records on March 6th. Love at the Bottom of the Sea is the band's 10th LP, and they'll celebrate its release with a string of dates this spring that will include SXSW and two shows in NYC at the Beacon Theater on April 3rd and 4th. A fan presale has started, while Beacon Theater tickets go on AMEX presale Wednesday (12/14) at 11AM and regular sale Friday.

The new tour dates also list a NYC appearance at Barnes & Noble on March 8th. Stay tuned for more info on that. All dates are listed below.

The release marks a bit of a departure from Merritt's recent work...

After putting out three synthesizer-free albums, The Magnetic Fields are returning to the signature mix of synth and acoustic sounds they established in the 90s with Merge releases such as The Charm of the Highway Strip and Get Lost. Stephin Merritt has come back to synths with a fresh approach: "Most of the synthesizers on the record didn't exist when we were last using synthesizers," he notes. The songs -- none over three minutes long -- were recorded in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York with Merritt's usual cast of collaborators: Claudia Gonson, Sam Davol, John Woo, Shirley Simms, Johny Blood and Daniel Handler.

Continue reading "Magnetic Fields announce new album & tour (dates & presale)"

by Chris La Putt

DOWNLOAD: Laura Barrett - Bluebird (MP3)

Last night (3/10) marked the first of the Magnetic Fields' 3-night run at Town Hall (they also played a show at BAM earlier in the tour) in New York City with over two dozen songs spanning the band's 20-year discography. It also marked the release of the band's ninth album, Realism, ending Stephin Merrit's "no-synth" rule (reportedly, the upcoming album will be composed completely with synthesizers). The concert, like the new album, marked a direction towards a subdued (many critics calling it "folksy") sound to the Fields' repretoire; the antithesis of the band's 2008 album, Distortion, which was madeup entirely of guitar fuzz and feedback. Stephin serenely drolled on throughout the set, occasionally switching lead vocals with Claudia Gonson and Shirley Timms. During the set, Claudia announced that they'll be releasing 20 tickets for sale today, for tonight's show (I'm willing to bet there'll be some on Friday as well). Just get to the Town Hall box office before the show.

After this 3-day stint in NYC the band is off to Europe but you can can continue to see what's going on behind the scenes, and at the merch table, at their tour blog. Here's hoping that their NYC blog posts won't be all about Paul Rudd stopping by to see the show.

On April 20th, Merge Records will also be releasing the band's much celebrated 3-disc anthology, 69 Love Songs, on vinyl for the first time. Incidentally, the highlight of the show for me was finally hearing Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget live.

What else is there for Stephin Merritt aside from composing music and lyrics to an off-broadway play and then having Peter Gabriel cover one of your songs? Well a documentary on Stephin and the band will be making its world premiere at SXSW next week entitled Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields. Take a look at the trailer below.

Laura Barrett opened for the band. More pictures and setlist below:

Continue reading "The Magnetic Fields played 1st of 3 shows @ Town Hall (pics & setlist), documentary premiering at SXSW (trailer)"

DOWNLOAD: Peter Gabriel - Flume (Bon Iver cover) (MP3)

Peter Gabriel's new record Scratch My Back is an all-cover, orchestra-backed collection of songs from Bowie's "Heroes" to Arcade Fire's "My Body Is a Cage." There's also a Bon Iver cover, a soft-spoken take on "Flume," which you can get above (full track list below). The record is described as "the first part of a series of song exchanges in which Peter and other leading artists reinterpret each others songs." It comes out in UK/Europe on February 15th (through EMI), in Canada on February 16th (through Universal Music) and in the US on March 2nd through Gabriel's own Real World Records.

Gabriel's album-supporting tour is short and sweet. He plays three European cities in March, then there are three North American stops - one night in L.A. and Montreal, and two nights at New York's Radio City Music Hall on May 2nd and 3rd. Tickets go on AmEx presale Sunday, Febraury 7th. General sale starts Tuesday, February 16th at 10am. For all the dates, he'll have a 54-piece orchestra in tow.

In other rock legends playing Radio City news, tickets go on general sale Friday for a show Ringo Starr and his All Star Band are playing at the venue in July.

Full Peter Gabriel tracklist w/ album art, an audio interview with Peter about the album, and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "indie rock-covering Peter Gabriel announces shows - 2 nights @ Radio City Music Hall & other dates, Bon Iver MP3, more"

tonight in NYC
* Aziz Ansari @ Comix
* Questlove (DJ) @ Brooklyn Bowl
* We Sing Baby Dee! #3 @ Joe's Pub
* Ladysmith Black Mambazo @ B.B. King's
* Cold Cave, Nite Jewel @ Mercury Lounge
* Gonzales' Piano Talk Show w/ Sia @ Joe's Pub
* Josh Rouse, Christina Courtin @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Atlas Sound, Neon Indian, Sisters @ NYU Kimmel Center
* Alberta Cross, Hacienda, Your Nature @ Bowery Ballroom
* Delta Spirit, Gordon Gano & the Ryan Brothers, The Willowz @ Pianos
* Up Died Sound, Skeletons @ Zebulon (BAM's Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival)
* Prince Rama of Ayodhya, Peace Loving, Living Things, GDFX @ Shea Stadium
* Anti-Flag, Aiden, Cancer Bats, Star Fucking Hipsters @ Highline Ballroom
* Maria Chavez & Shelley Burgon, Mike Wexler, Corridors @ Issue Project Room
* Savoir Adore, French Horn Rebellion, Magic Magic, Pocket Knife @ Cake Shop
* Big Troubles, Twin Sister, Pigeons, Alice Cohen, Run DMT @ Studio at Webster Hall
* Navegante, Dynasty Electric, Dalanshar @ Southpaw (Sounds like Brooklyn Fest)
* The Vandelles, Dinowalrus, The Naked Hearts @ Littlefield (BAM's Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival)
* Kelli Rudick, Brent Arnold, Emily Hope Price @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn (BAM's Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival)
* M. Lamar, Glass Lamborghini, Tim Kuhl, Yage Gains, Tim Porbaix @ Goodbye Blue Monday (BAM's Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival)
* Unsound Festival w/ Vladislav Delay, Sebastian Meissner, Kwartludium @ David Rubenstein Atrium at the Lincoln Center
* Japanther, The Death Set, Cerebral Ballzy, Boogie Boarder, Leaders @ Station 171 (BAM's Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival)
* Benefit for Doctors Without Borders w/ DJs Ari Up, Lady Miss Kier, Kim Ann Foxman, Allison Wolfe, and more! @ (Le) Poisson Rouge

The Unsound Festival kicks off.

"Sounds Like Brooklyn" runs all weekend at various Brooklyn venues.

Aziz Ansari does 8 shows at Comix this week.

Those Darlins play Bowery Ballroom on Friday.

Tune-Yards plays The Bell House on Friday.

Blockhead plays Mercury Lounge on Friday.

Tonight's early show at Joe's Pub, "We Sing Baby Dee! #3" will feature "Andrew WK, Corn Mo, Little Annie and Paul Wallfisch, Curtis Eller, Aimee Curl, Lance Horne, Mathew and Sarah, Philip Raia and Lila, a special guest appearance by 9 year old singer Frankky Lou Hightower from Kansas City and Baby Dee herself" Baby Dee plays the Stone Friday.

And though Andrew WK isn't scheduled to appear at the late show at Joe's tonight, he is bound to stick around to see his pal Gonzales kick of his residency. Sia is the special guest on that show. Andrew is the special guest next week.

Sia also has a show coming up at Terminal 5 which went on presale yesterday.

The trailer for the upcoming Stephin Merritt/Magnetic Fields documentary (no NYC screenings to speak of yet) is posted below. The band is in NYC on Feb 13th, then again for multiple dates in March.

Frightened Rabbit's new video for "Nothing Like You", below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the three upcoming Vampire Weekend shows in NYC (United Palace, Bowery Ballroom, and Webster Hall)

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the two Magnetic Fields shows happening at Town Hall. BAM tickets are also now on sale.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the two February Yeasayer album release shows at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Hot Chip / xx show happening at Terminal 5.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming Wild Beasts / Still Life Still show at Bowery Ballroom.

Alberta Cross is headlining Bowery Ballroom on February 4th. Tickets are on sale (@ noon).

Tickets are on sale at noon for the three Jonathan Richman shows taking place at Music Hall of Williamsburg in February.

People Under the Stairs are playing Bowery Ballroom on January 23rd. Tickets are on sale (@ noon).

Slayer, Tinariwen, and other tickets are on sale too.

Pictured above is ROCKABILLY BARBIE.

Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ 11am) for the two Magnetic Fields shows happening at Town Hall. BAM tickets are currently on sale to 'Friends of BAM'.

Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ 11am) for the Hot Chip / xx show happening at Terminal 5.

Raphael Saadiq is playing Terminal 5 on December 4th. Tickets are on sale.

Alberta Cross is headlining Bowery Ballroom on February 4th. Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon).

Violens and Acrylics share a bill at Mercury Lounge on December 9th. Tickets are on sale.

Slim pickins for New Years Eve shows in NYC this year. Mercury Lounge has The A-Bones opening for The Detroit Cobras. Tickets are on sale.

Other New Years Eve options include Roky Erikson, Patti Smith, and two shows at Southpaw (Dean & Britta / The Felice Brothers).

by Andrew Frisicano

Mac and Britt embrace (Triangle Music)

The much anticipated XX Merge Festival took place last week in North Carolina with a five-day (July 22-July 26), Wednesday to Sunday run of shows. Last night (Sunday)'s show with She & Him, American Music Club and Wye Oak was the only fully announced lineup. The other four nights (and one day) were a grab bag of any number of Merge bands past and present. Did you go? What were the highlights?

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band, who recently played a pair of big NY shows, headlined the fest's first night (which also included Magnetic Fields). Superchunk, which features Merge founders Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan, topped the bill of the second night. The third night included the reformed/reunited lineups of Spent, Polvo and Pipe.

Mac McCaughan came out on stage before [Pipe] instead of the night's emcee and announced that there was a lone protester outside. He invited him up on stage and it was Jon Wurster decked out in Phillies gear as Philly Boy Roy. He was holding a sign that said "Boycot MERGE." He complained that Merge didn't have any Philly bands on their roster and Mac said that they have bands from Jersey, which is close to Philly. You never compare Jersey to Philly in front of Philly Boy Roy. It was hilarious.

All of this led to the introduction of New Jersey punks Pipe. As soon as they kicked into their first song, beer cans and plastic bottles started flying. Frontman Ron Liberti ate it up and even put himself in the line of fire, headbutting some of the cans while kicking some back into the crowd. Liberti bounded around the stage, essentially taunting the crowd. The crowd loved the band's antics as did I (but that may have been different if I hadn't managed to stay dry). [triangle music]

In addition to the Cat's Cradle shows (the venue for 4/5 of the night shows), Saturday featured a day show that included Julian Koster solo as Music Tapes and Mac McCaughan with violin accompaniment as Portastatic. A few videos from that set, below.

M. Ward, who's playing the Central Park Summerstage this Saturday (August 1st), played at the fest's Saturday night showcase. Zooey Deschanel joined him for a cover of the Beatles' "Birthday." Not too big of a surprise considering She & Him headlined the Sunday night show.

Other XX Merge artists who recently stopped in NYC include The Clientele and Richard Buckner (they played Music Hall of Williamsburg last Sunday), Versus and Superchunk (they played South Street Seaport last Friday), and Spent (they played Coco 66). Spoon didn't play a NYC show, but they were spotted in the audience of Paul McCartney's third of three shows at Citi Field in Queens. Destroyer is on his way up. He plays Bowery Ballroom on Thursday. Mark Eitzel (as American Music Club) played Le Poisson Rouge and Maxwell's before XX Merge, and now he's on his way back for a show at The Bell House.

Lineups for each night of XX Merge, with videos, and a bunch of setlists, below...

Continue reading "Merge celebrated their 20th w/ 5 days of shows in North Carolina (lineups, reviews, pics, video setlists...)"

by Ryan Barkan

Smashing Pumpkins @ United Palace Theatre, NYC(more by Chris La Putt)

Lately it seems all Billy Corgan wants to do is either get involved in political battles or license his music for entertainment purposes. Case in point, the Billy Corgan avatar is playable in Guitar Hero World Tour, released last October. That was followed by a three-song Smashing Pumpkins GH track pack becoming available for download as DLC in December. Then, on the biggest advertising stage of the year (i.e. the Super Bowl) a new single "FOL" was dropped in a spot for Hyundai. The Super Bowl one-upper came recently when Billy decided to let loose...for the first time...arguably the band's biggest song ("Today") on a Visa commercial. Visa was not done there however, as Billy and the Pumpkins just weren't enough music for the brand to express itself via 30 second spots.

The credit card company dusted off '70s rock band The Moody Blues' classic jam "Tuesday Afternoon" for a spot dubbed "the Aquarium". To finish off, the coolest of the recent Visa spots has creative direction around the Brooklyn-based performance artist known as "Crutch", Bill Shannon. The commercial sees Bill dance through city streets with his patented crutch dance technique to the Don Thomas song "Come On Train". Watch the Smashing Pumpkins one below.

Other Notable Licensing News:

The Magnetic Fields song "Underwear" appropriately provides soundtrack to an artsy, dream sequence-esque commercial for Puma. Watch it below.

Both Vampire Weekend (about 8 seconds of "Campus") and Beck's "E-Pro" were enlisted for this commercial trailer for the new Paul Rudd film "I Love You Man".

continued below...

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing"

The Noise Pop Festival returns in 2008 from February 26 to March 2. Over six nights, Noise Pop 16 will take over the best-loved venues in San Francisco, to host unforgettable performances by Magnetic Fields, The Mountain Goats, The Gutter Twins, Cursive and dozens of other important indie rock, electronic, punk and cutting edge musical artists, transforming the city into an almost week-long celebration of the finest that the underground and not-so-underground has to offer, nationally and locally.

Not confirmed at all is this letter Bob Lefsetz sent out from someone he purposely left anonymous....

Zeppelin just confirmed for Bonnaroo. They can't officially announce until after the London gig so pass it on! Also Metallica is confirmed on the bill too!

Like Bonnaroo, the new Vineland Music Festival in NJ will offer 3 days of music and camping (but much closer to home - my home anyway). I hope Led Zeppelin plays that too.

Magnetic Fields are also playing four NYC shows and have a new album coming out soon. The Mountain Goats just played NYU and also have a new album coming out soon. Robert Plant has a new album out, and it's selling really well.