Let's start by quoting what Bill wrote in May:

Like a lot of folks, Malajube made a big impression on me in 2006 with their record Trompe-L'Oeil and, even more, their string of fantastic CMJ performances that year. The tunes were catchy, they were great live, the language barrier didn't matter so much. I must admit 2009's Labarinthes didn't make much of an impression but I've really been enjoying the band's brand new album La Cavern. The album is out now in Canada and will be available in the U.S. sometime soon on MB3 Records.

The new album walks the line between guitar pop and space rock and I keep imagining them performing songs like the vaguely disco "Le Blizzard" on the Muppet Show. There's a general soft filter '70s vibe to the whole of La Cavern that feels very comforting.

We now know that La Caverne is out physically in the US on September 27th, AND Malajube are back in NYC for two shows. They play tonight (September 16) at Mercury Lounge with Brian Bonz, and Saturday (September 17) at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn with Les Sans Culottes and Jonny Chan & The New Dynasty 6.

The two shows are the start of a US invasion that is spread out between now and October 8th when they play Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, CT as part of a run of dates with fellow Canadians The Besnard Lakes. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Malajube are here, touring the U.S. (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Generationals - Trust (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gross Relations - No Lines (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gross Relations - Blame the Record (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shark? - Down Low (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shark? - Shark? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - Sparrow (MP3)

Generationals

I take you away from trying to figure out the identity of The Modern Weepers (my favorite comment guess: Hard-Fi) to talk about shows happening this weekend. As always, this being New York City, there's lots of great options.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. are in town this week with Generationals and the two bands play tonight (5/11) at Mercury Lounge (sold out!) and tomorrow (5/12)  at The Rock Shop (not sold out!). Dale Jr Jr also play Kidrockers on Sunday [5/14] at the Rock Shop with Pearl and the Beard.

I feel like there's been enough talk about Dale, whose dreamy brand of synth rock can be heard on their pretty good upcoming album It's a Corporate World which is out June 7. So I'm here to talk about Generationals who are surely one of the few indiepop bands in New Orleans. Unlike Big Freedia, they haven't appeared yet on an episode of Treme but their new album Actor-Caster is loaded with clever, tunefull pop. What they do isn't particularly cool at this second in time, but I think stuff like this is never really out of style. You can download the title track to last year's great Trust EP at the top of this post and there's a widget below that will get you two tracks from Actor-Caster for the price of your email.

Malajube

Also here this week for a couple shows are Montreal's Malajube , playing The Rock Shop tonight (5/11) and will be at Bowery Ballroom on Friday (3/13) with the epic and amazing Besnard Lakes (and Nova Scotia's Wintersleep).  If you were in Austin for SXSW this year, you may have seen Malajube at our SXSW day party this year we co-presented with M for Montreal who we are co-presenting a show with this Friday in Brighton (if anyone is headed to the Great Escape).

Like a lot of folks, Malajube made a big impression on me in 2006 with their record Trompe-L'Oeil and, even more, their string of fantastic CMJ performances that year. The tunes were catchy, they were great live, the language barrier didn't matter so much. I must admit 2009's Labarinthes didn't make much of an impression but I've really been enjoying the band's brand new album La Cavern. The album is out now in Canada and will be available in the U.S. sometime soon on MB3 Records. Maybe they'll have it at the merch tables this week.

The new album walks the line between guitar pop and space rock and I keep imagining them performing songs like the vaguely disco "Le Blizzard" on the Muppet Show. There's a general soft filter '70s vibe to the whole of La Cavern that feels very comforting. You can listen to the whole thing via a streaming widget doohickey at the bottom of this post.

And go see the Besnard Lakes, for whom I have declared my love for many, many times. And go early for Malajube.

Echo & the Bunnymen are at Irving Plaza on Friday (5/13) and Saturday (5/15) playing their first two albums -- 1979's Crocodiles and 1980's Heaven Up Here -- back to back, in their entirety. This may not be quite as exciting as seeing them at Radio City doing Ocean Rain with a full orchestra, but it's still pretty awesome.

Especially because the albums are post-punk classics. Crocodiles is all scratchy nervous energy and contains no mediocre songs whatsover. I could list them all if you wanted, each one amazing. The whole thing still sounds fantastic. Heaven Up Here is considerably darker, more paranoid but no less definitive. "Over the Wall" is one of their best-ever songs. These two records are also a great showcase for Will Seargent's guitar-playing that still sounds innovative today. I'm a little sceptical of Mac's ability to belt out these songs -- it's gonna be a workout on his pipes -- but the chance to hear deep cuts like "All That Jazz," "It Was a Pleasure," "Happy Death Men," and "With a Hip" is exciting.

Opening for both shows is Bunnymen megafan Kelley Stoltz, who has covered Crocodiles in its entirety, both on record and as an infrequent but incredible tribute act that also featured Spiral Stairs of Pavement and Shayde Sartin who's now in The Fresh & Onlys. (They played CMJ 2003 at Arlene's Grocery, it was awesome.) Anyway, Stoltz is now an established artist in his own right, putting out terrific records on Sub Pop when not playing drums in Sonny & the Sunsets.  So if you're going to this show, do go early.

Gross Relations

We now enter the local band portion of This Week in Indie. Let's start with L Magazine 8 Bands runners-up Gross Relations who are playing three times this week: tonight (5/11) at Don Pedro with Raccoon Fighter and The Horehounds, then tomorrow (5/12) at Bruar Falls with deVries and Hunktronic, and on Friday (5/13) at Cake Shop with The Bynars, Field Mouse and Infinity Hotel.

The band have been releasing a series of digital singles via their bandcamp page, all of which exemplify their brand of supercatchy, keyboard-friendly indie rock. You can download the A-sides of the last two at the top of this post. "Blame the Records" is especially good. As I said previously, those keyboard lead lines make for easy comparisons to the Rentals which I'm gonna guess is probably what they were going for. Which is fine -- the hooks are undeniable.

Radical Dads

Radical Dads, meanwhile, were actually picked by the L Mag as one of those 8 Bands You Need To Hear and I certainly agree. And hear them you can Thursday at Cake Shop. The band's debut album, Mega Rama, is out next month and it's pretty damn good. I hear a lot of '90s DC  here -- more Simple Machines and DeSoto than Teenbeat -- whether that was intentional or not. Which means, basically, strident, melodic indie rock. The record is also a contender for my favorite album art of the year, done by Michael Deforge, which you can see below. Also below is yet another widget, this one will allow you to stream or download Mega Rama track "New Age Dinosaur." Oh, and they are quite good live.

Also playing that Cake Shop show tomorrow are Shark? whose debut album True Waste comes out May 24. The band worked with former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone on the record and what I've heard sounds really good. You can download two tracks from the album up top, and Shark?'s Pixies-ish theme song is pretty fun.

And lastly, I'd like to write a little about Vacation who are opening for Oberhofer at Coco 66 on Saturday night (5/14). The band are pretty new. What started as a solo project for Paul Greenfield Daly, formed into a band during one of the blizzards this year. Vacation have only played out a couple of times (Brad Oberhofer was in the live incarnation briefly.) But I really, really like the songs available as free downloads on Vacation's Bandcamp site. While I wouldn't call it synthpop, Vacation are definitely danceable, kind of groovy and motorik.  The track "Jean" in particular sounds like a hit to me, definitely check that one out.

That Coco 66 show also has the lately ubiquitous Widowspeak, and with Oberhofer that makes for a pretty good Saturday night. If you can't make it this weekend, Vacation are playing Pianos on May 22 with Dinner at the Thompsons.

OK that's the big stuff this week. Here are a few more picks, day-by-day:

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11

It's a night of well-dressed pop at Glasslands with Princeton and the High Highs. I keep meaning to catch High Highs again, I was impressed when they played with Radio Department last year.

We haven't heard from locals Gray Goods since last year's Northside Fest. They emerge from their cocoon, sonically reborn, tonight at Union Pool, with Zachary Cale and D. Charles Speer and the Helix.

continued below...

Continue reading "Generationals, Malajube, Echo & the Bunnymen, Kelley Stoltz, Gross Relations, Radical Dads, Shark?, Vacation, Karaoke Underground & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Amanda Hatfield and Timothy Griffin

Adventure (by Tim)

Braids (by Tim)

Braids and Adventure are on tour with Toro y Moi now. The three bands play sold out shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom on Sunday (4/10) and Monday (4/11).

As discussed and/or pictured HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, we threw a free, three stage party with M For Montreal at Swan Dive and Barbarella in Austin on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, to all the bands who played and to Ramesh for DJing. Sorry to Bass Drum of Death for not getting to play due to some confusion. Thanks to the cast of Workaholics for stopping by and for doing some hosting (catch their show on Comedy Central now!). Thanks also to Izzoz, Sensible Portions, Honest Tea, VegAustin, Raw Revolution, NadaMoo, Firefly Vodka, Line 6, Korg, Vox, Blackstar, Nudie Jeans, and ASCAP. Thanks to everyone else that helped and to anyone I forgot.

A whole bunch more pictures from the whole day are below...

Continue reading "BV/M For Montreal Austin Day Party in pics (Braids, Adventure, Owen Pallett, Little Scream & many more)"

If you've been following along, you know that this is finally the NINTH and FINAL BrooklynVegan SXSW 2011 show announcement! This one happens on Saturday, March 19th in Austin, at both Swan Dive and Barbarella (they connect). It runs from noon-6pm and is 100% free. We are doing it with our friends from M For Montreal and it looks like this:

STAGE 1 (SWAN DIVE)
12:00 PM New Moods
01:00 PM Oh Land
2:00 PM Austra
3:00 PM Little Scream
4:00 PM Owen Pallett
5:00 PM Braids

STAGE 2 (Barbarella main stage)
12:00 PM Baths
1:00 PM Misteur Valaire
2:00 PM !!!
3:00 PM Trail of Dead
4:00 PM Mount Kimbie
5:00 PM Daedelus
HOSTED BY: the cast of Workaholics
DJs: Ramesh (of Voxtrot) & 70's Bush

STAGE 3 (Barbarella small stage)
12:00 PM Bass Drum of Death
12:45 PM Adventure
1:30 PM Versus
2:30 PM Malajube
3:15 PM Suuns
4:00 PM Weekend
5:00 PM PS I Love You

I'm ready to fall over.

And this party will also have:

• FREE vegan Izzoz breakfast tacos while supplies last!
• lots of FREE snacks courtesy of Sensible Portions!
• a lot of FREE Honest Tea!
• FREE Raw Revolution bars to eat.
• FREE vegan ice cream from NadaMoo
• FREE Firefly Vodka cocktails all day (while supplies last.)
• more FREE DRINKS TBA.

AND THANKS TO:

• Our official microphone sponsor Line 6.
• and our backline sponsors Korg, Vox & Blackstar.
• our sponsor Nudie Jeans.
• and to ASCAP for sponsoring too.

Stay tuned to @bvSXSW on Twitter for SXSW news and announcements all week long, and because it's where we'll be giving away a Blackstar HT-5 Amp.

To celebrate the BrooklynVegan + M for Montreal party, Nudie Jeans is also giving away 5 pairs of jeans (one pair for each day leading up to the party). For your chance to win, friend Nudie Jeans on facebook and send an email titled BROOKLYN VEGAN to nudie@wantagencyinc.com. For those at the party, we'll also be raffling off more Nudie Jeans you can win while you're there.

We're also happy to announce that, for the second year in a row, we'll be partnering with our friends at VegAustin to host a vegan bake sale for charity at the party. All proceeds will be donated to Compassion Over Killing.

Check out the flyer and stuff below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan & M For Montreal Free Saturday Austin Day Party lineup (3 stages @ Barbarella & Swan Dive)"

words by Bill Pearis, photos by Alexandre Bédard

If you're just joining us, you might want to start with Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, and then Saturday day.

The final event in the three-day M for Montreal festival/conference was Saturday night's M for Metropolis (11/21), showcasing artists who are genuinely huge in their home city. It took place in the Metropolis Theater and unlike the other more showcase-like nights, this one was clearly aimed at local fans who did indeed pack the 2500 capacity venue. I avoid venues this size like the plague (I have yet to step foot into NYC's Terminal 5) and happily took my seat with the other "international delegates" in the balcony where there were great sight lines to the action, but from that distance you don't exactly get into the show. (Though I think I was more into it than the nearby row of Canadian journalists who all had their laptops set up at the show presumably to take notes - I saw more than a couple checking Facebook.) Add to that the more mainstream nature of some acts (minus a certain Polaris-winning, profanely-named headliner), the Metropolis show was a bit of an anticlimax for me.

Montreal feels like they've got their own French-Canadian equivalents to every popular English language band (or at least genre). For example, show opener Xavier Caféïne filled the "Francophone Foo Fighters/Green Day" slot and Misstress Barbara was the pop/dance act of the night -- though I can't imagine her American equivalent covering a Leonard Cohen song like she did.

Melissa Auf der Maur was up next. In America, she's mainly known as the bassist for Hole (and then Darcy's replacement in Smashing Pumpkins) but in her hometown of Montreal she is rock royalty and a successful solo artist. The crowd was going crazy for her as she worked the stage and pulled out all the classic Rock Moves. She played songs from her 2004 solo debut and a bunch of from its follow-up, due sometime next year.

Things got more interesting -- for me -- from there. I like Malajube who I've seen a lot - a bunch of times around when they toured for their first album, but probably not since 2007. Always in small venues. So I don't know whether it was the size of the stage and the light show, or whether the band has really stepped it up, but Malajube sounded positively epic at Metropolis. I'm not so familiar with their new album, but they are definitely working with a bigger sonic palate these days. And they can definitely pull off playing venues this size (at least with crowds like this). It was a nice jolt to my system, which was a bit bogged down from a heavy meal right before the show.

The coolest thing of the night had to have been Champion and his G-Strings. Nothing livens up a DJ set like having him conduct five guitarists during his set, kind of like a techno Glenn Branca. (OK, it's nothing like that.) Champion has been a Montreal superstar for a while and the crowd was going absolutely mental the whole set. Even with the whole guitars angle, it's still weird to see crowd surfing for a dance act. I'm not sure Champion will achieve this kind of success in America, but I could see him winning over a late night Coachella crowd.

Champion finished his set... and half the crowd split before headliners Fucked Up took the stage. They were definitely the odd band out on this bill, and not just because they were from Toronto. "We're gonna ruin the party!" declared Pink Eyes right before he jumped down onto the floor where he spent the rest of show prowling the crowd, wrapping himself in his mic cord, bonding with moshers and scaring the unprepared stragglers who hadn't left already. Not your normal show for Fucked Up, but awesome in its own way.

A few more pictures below...

Continue reading "M For Montreal 2009 - night 3 in pics & review (Fucked Up, Malajube, Melissa Auf der Maur, Champion and his G-Strings)"

words by Bill Pearis, photos by Chris La Putt

Parlovr

I said it a few time throughout CMJ week this year: Montreal just tries harder. I'm not saying the city's artists make better albums than everyone else, but as far as giving their all on stage, band-for-band, Montreal groups are much more likely to entertain you than one from another city. Maybe that's just the one's they're sending us, but there was plenty of evidence to support this theory during CMJ 2009, and no place more concentrated than at the M for Montreal showcase at Arlene's Grocery on Wednesday (10/21) where there were six of the city's bands on display.

The night started early with a sampling on Montreal's most famous drunk food, poutine, and a set by up-and comers Parlovr (pronounced "parlour," if you're wondering) who made an impressive, shouty racket. The manic trio feature two guitarists (one of whom also plays keyboards) who take turns on vocals and flipping their hair around, while their bearded drummer walloped away.

Silly Kissers

Silly Kissers had most NYers in the audience looking around uncomfortably -- we're not used to synthpop bands who wear mime make-up -- and maybe here's a MTL band trying a bit too hard in that department but their songs were kinda catchy and a group of girls in front of me were dancing nonstop and singing along.

Then came BEAST who took most of the crowd by surprise, and won most of them over by the end of their set. As I said before, singer Betti Bonafassi is a magnetic performer, and when she sings off-mike for the opening of "Ashtray," the power of her voice becomes instantly apparent. The rest of the band are no slouches either. Drummer and co-songwriter Jean-Phi Goncalves occasionally picks up a megaphone and starts rapping in French, guitarist Serge Pelletier lays down Morricone-like leads, and it's hard to miss Jonathan Dauphinais' instrument -- a bass/keyboard combo that looks to have been fused together MacGuyver-style. (BEAST also played a great early set three days later at our Saturday day party at Pianos.)

By the time Think About Life took the stage, Arlene's Grocery was packed and the crowd was ready for fun. As good as they were playing a very, very early opening set at the Brooklyn Vegan showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg the night before, the band clearly is fueled by the audience and the crowd was eating it up. It was easily one of the top five sets I saw at CMJ this year. It doesn't hurt that their new album, Family, is awesome -- loaded with stick-in-your-head jams, including "Sweet Sixteen" and "Young Hearts." Also, adding singer Caila Thompson-Hannant (of Shapes & Sizes) gives frontman Martin Cesar someone to play off of, which just makes them all the more fun.

Duchess Says

At this point I had to exit, but there was also We Are Wolves and Malajube, followed by the awesome mayhem that is Duchess Says, who also played our Thursday day party at Pianos. By the looks of these photos, and from reading people's Twitter feeds, Duchess Says' show at Arlene's was wild (when people wrote they "destroyed" Arlene's, it was more literal than most "killed it" CMJ tweets). The band clearly won over the Pianos crowd too (NY Times included) and anyone who has been within 20 feet of singer Annie-Claude in performance mode will never forget it.

Video of Parlovr, Think About Life and Duchess Says, plus lots more pictures from the M for Montreal showcase (and one set from Pianos), after the jump...

Continue reading "M for Montreal @ CMJ 2009 - pics (Think About Life, Duchess Says, Parlovr, Beast, Malajube, We are Wolves, Silly Kissers)"

photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Think About Life - Johanna (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Think About Life - Havin My Baby (MP3)

Some things' strengths rest in the laurels of relative secrecy, allowing them to develop without the burden of public scrutiny or following. The opposite of the former statement applies to Think About Life, who Saturday night - or should I say, Sunday morning [at Pop Montreal] - proved yet again that they have the sharpest, most energetic, intensely electrifying, incredibly infectious live show this side of Parc Avenue during their late night spectacle at Pop Montreal's Espace Reunion. Toss in the fact that it was Martin Cesar's birthday, some unexpected (albeit extremely low-budget) pyrotechnics, and a strange character with his hand up a plastic owl's behind into the grand scheme of things, and you've got yourself an indomitable, impenetrable, unadulterated party on hand. Ripping through a raucous set that included old standbys such as "Cyanide," "Paul Cries," and "What The Future Might Be," as well as new fan favourites "Sofa-bed," "Havin' My Baby," and "Sweet Sixteen," alongside some exceptional samples courtesy of the likes of Lil Wayne and Biz Markie, the band (who were flanked by all its former members) stirred the crowd into an impassioned frenzy. Knocking knees, rubbing elbows, the mass below danced, bounced, even crowdsurfed through the impelling set, all the while glazed in a thick layer of perspiration. I could numerically gauge my enjoyment of Think About Life's performance by counting all of the bruises on my ankles and then dividing them over ten, but that would just be gratuitous." [the neighbours]

Think About Life's awesome new album Family got a US release last week (10/13) on Alien8 Recordings (the label put the disc out in Canada way back in May). Two vidoes off the new record are below ("Sweet Sixteen" and "Wizzzard") while a pair of MP3s (the first two of the album in fact) are posted above. More pictures from the above-described Pop Montreal set (from earlier this month), also below.

TAL will be in NYC for CMJ, but as usual their scheduled visit was short and random, and very easy to miss. To attempt to remedy that situation, I asked them to join the bill of the BrooklynVegan CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday night. They accepted! They go on at 7pm sharp, before the Walter Schreifels set which is before the Wheel which is before Laura Marling which is before The Antlers which is before Fanfarlo (who SPIN says you should hear). Tickets are still on sale. Get there early!

Music Hall of Williamsburg is also where Think About Life played last time they came to town (with Ponytail and Real Estate).

Think About Life's only other, and previously scheduled, 2009 CMJ show is Wednesday, October 21st at Arlene's Grocery. That's the awesome M for Montreal showcase (flyer below) with fellow Canucks Duchess Says, Malajube, We are Wolves and Beast. More about this lineup later, along with a more-official announcement about Duchess Says being added to the free BrooklynVegan party happening at Pianos on Thursday (10/22) (not to be confused with the Dutchess and the Duke who are playing a BV CMJ show too).

And that's actually the second Canadian showcase at Arlene's in two days. The next night (10/22) the LES venue hosts "Canadian Blast!" with Priestess, Jets Overhead, Classified, Grand Analog and Spiral Beach.

After CMJ, Think About Life has a November Canadian tour with You Say Party We Say Die, but not until after TAL member Graham Van Pelt's band Miracle Fortress goes on a short tour with Liam Finn That trip includes a Bell House show on November 4th. Tickets are still on sale.

Think About Life played more than one show at Pop Montreal. In addition to the above-described showcase, they did a private taping for Canadian TV (to be broadcast Nov 4). Like he was for Tune Yards' La Blogoteque Take Away Show session, Ryan Muir was in attendance. Those pictures also below.

All of those pictures from Pop Montreal, more new album details, some videos, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Think About Life released album (MP3), played Pop Montreal (pics), playing CMJ (dates), added to BV CMJ show @ MHOW"

Fucked Up @ the Rogan Store in 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Magdyn Osh, Cat Martino @ Sycamore
* Judas Priest, Whitesnake @ Jones Beach Theater
* Tragedy, Morne, Blacklisted, Brainkiller @ Studio B
* Citysol w/ Rachel Trachtenberg's Homemade World @ Solar One
* Citizen Fish, The Ray Gradys, The A-Heads @ Knitting Factory
* Rachel Trachtenberg's Homemade World @ Beach at Governors Island
* Atheist, The Faceless, Psyopus, The Agonist, Gnostic @ BB King's
* Das Racist, Spanish Prisoners, Soft Black, Werewolves @ The Cameo
* The Drums, Your Nature, A Million Years @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Love as Laughter, Violent Bullshit, Nasties @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (free)
* Mission of Burma, Fucked Up, Ponytail, Jemina Pearl @ Williamsburg Waterfront
* Double Wonderful, R. Stevie Moore, Pikelet, Dizzy Spells Martian @ Bruar Falls
* NY Ear & Eye Fest w/ Talibam!, Island's Eyelids, Drunkdriver, Total Abuse, Murdertronics @ Death By Audio

Mission of Burma, Fucked Up, Ponytail and Jemina Pearl play the very first show at the Williamsburg Waterfront. Magnolia Electric Co., Dirty Projectors and White Denim perform next week.

Tragedy, Morne, Blacklisted and Brainkiller play what might be the last show at Studio B. Tragedy are not to be confused with Tragedy who have a show coming up at Governors Islanad.

Rachel Trachtenberg will make visits to both Citysol at Solar One and the Beach at Governors Island today.

Atheist play BB King's with The Faceless, Psyopus, The Agonist and Gnostic.

NY Ear & Eye Fest II ends with a party/show at Death By Audio featuring Talibam!, Island's Eyelids, Drunkdriver, Total Abuse, Murdertronics and more.

The Drums play one of many upcoming shows tonight at The Studio at Webster Hall with Your Nature and A Million Years.

There's a festival at the new High Line Park today from noon to 5pm on Gansevoort St between Ninth Ave and Washington St.

This free festival will feature internationally acclaimed artists, inflatable sculptures, cowboys, story-tellers and performances by The Hungry Marching Band, Zon Del Barrio, and Michael Aranella and his Dreamland Orchestra bands (some on a roof-top stage).

A new video from Malajube, who are visiting NYC on July 21st, 22nd and 24th, below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

Steve Jordan, Founder and Executive Director of the Polaris Music Prize, today revealed the Short List of 10 Canadian albums eligible for the fourth annual $20,000 award.

The 10 nominees are, in alphabetical order:

Continue reading "2009 Polaris Prize nominees "

I previously mentioned the big Mandela concert going down at MSG on July 18th. Well, that show was moved to Radio City Music Hall. Tickets are still on sale. The lineup includes Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Whoopi Goldberg, Gloria Gaynor, Will.I.Am, Dave Stewart, Angelique Kidjo, Jesse McCartney, Josh Groban, Wyclef Jean, Queen Latifah, and Baaba Maal.

Another upcoming show at Radio City involves the music of Lord of the Rings.

Andrew Bird plays there tonight (6/18).

Tickets are currently on AmEx presale for the Boredoms show at Terminal 5.

Tickets are currently on AmEx presale for the Gossip show at Terminal 5.

Tickets are currently on AmEx presale for the Dirty Three show happening at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Malajube show at Mercury Lounge. There are also shows scheduled at Littlefield and Maxwell's.

Tickets are currently on AmEx presale for the Warlocks show at Bowery Ballroom.

The Smithereens are playing The Bell House in Brooklyn on June 26th (TICKETS), and The Stone Pony in Asbury Park on June 27th (TICKETS).

Ted Leo has been added as the opener for the State Radio show happening at The Stone Pony's Summerstage on July 10th. Tickets are on sale. Make that his third upcoming NJ show, plus he's playing one this summer in NYC too. Chris Leo is reading on Friday night.

Anvil are touring with, and opening for AC/DC at Giants Stadium on July 31st. In June Anvil played in a movie theater. Video of Anvil playing "School Love" in 1984, below...

The Pietasters and Catch 22 are opening for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones at The Stone Pony Summerstage on August 16th. Tickets are on sale.

No tickets necessary to see Thee Oh Sees at the Siren Festival.

Tickets are still on sale for the Black Crowes show Levon Helm is opening at Central Park Summerstage on September 2nd.,

The 7th annual Brian Setzer Orchestra "Christmas Rocks!" Extravaganza takes place at Hammerstein Ballroom on November 30th. Tickets are on sale. Video of the Stray Cats, Live at Fridays, below...

Doveman plays with members of The National at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (6/18). La Blogoteque video of Doveman below...

Continue reading "Stevie Wonder, Smithereens, Boredoms, Ted Leo, Anvil, Mighty Bosstones, Levon Helm, Gossip & other tix"

Malajube @ Oya Fest 2007 (more photos)

English Canada isn't exactly a model of tolerance when it comes to franco-pop, but here the intricate pop of [2006's] Trompe L'Oeil was taken to heart by a nation's worth of critics and indie-rock fans, scoring Malajube a nomination on the first-ever shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize later that year. Suddenly, Malajube found itself appointed ambassador for the "other" half of the Montreal underground, the half that conducts its rock `n' roll business in French and, as a result, rarely gets much mention in Anglo coverage of the city's recent, globally documented musical blossoming.

Frontman Julien Mineau concedes it was "really flattering" when U.S. organs like Pitchfork and Spin started singing Malajube's praises, and says he's still somewhat boggled that the band's latest album, Labyrinthes - out [February 2009] on Montreal indie label Dare to Care - is about to receive an official American release.

"It's strange. We're lucky to be listened to even though we're in an English-music world," [Mineau] says from his home in Ste-Ursule, a rural community on the north shore of the St. Lawrence. "But it's cool like that. I'm really happy that we get this kind of attention..." [Toronto Star]

Labyrinthes came out in the US on Dare to Care in March. In support of that, Malajube has been playing regular dates in their native Canada -- they'll be visiting the US for shows in July. Those include a gig at Maxwell's on Wednesday, July 22nd and a show at new Brooklyn venue Littlefield on Friday, July 24th. Tickets for the Maxwell's show are on sale.

UPDATE: A July 21st Mercury Lounge show was added too. Tickets on sale Thursday.

The band put out a video for the song "Porté disparu," off the new record. That's posted below with a making-of and a live rendition of the tune, and all tour dates...

Continue reading "Malajube - new album out now ++ 2009 tour dates (2xNYC)"

a shot from Sled Island 2008 (more by Rae Holtsabum)

The Sled Island Music and Arts Festival -- taking place at various venues in Calgary, Alberta from June 24 to June 27 -- is pleased to announce the initial line-up and the inclusion of Olympic Plaza as the main venue on Friday, June 26. This year will include over 200 bands performing at 23 venues plus art shows, film screenings, and a comedy component at the Sled Island Music and Arts Festival.

Sled Island 2009 will feature performances by the influential indie rock darlings The Breeders (featuring Kim Deal of the Pixies) making their first Calgary performance, NYC post-punk revivalists Liars bringing the noise, the legendary Canadian metal band Anvil the recent subjects of the critically acclaimed documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil and the garage rock assault of Tel Aviv's Monotonix known for their incredible live show. New Orleans-based musician and mad genius inventor of the 'drum buddy' Quintron & Ms. Pussycat will bring the party along with blood-soaked party rocker Andrew W.K. and Toronto-based electro tour-de-force Holy Fuck on the more 'offensive' front. Phil Elverum's (of The Microphones) latest moniker Mount Eerie will deliver a symbiotic balance of fuzz and folk matched by Owen Pallett's Final Fantasy surrealist violin stage performance. Calgary-based experimental icons Azeda Booth aim to mystify crowds along with their all-male psychedelic pop counterparts Women making their second festival appearance...The complete festival line-up and schedule will be revealed on June 1. [pr]

Festival passes are on sale now.

As previously reported, Colin Newman, vocalist and guitarist for Wire, will be guest curating this year's festival. Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Sled Island - 2009 fest lineup (Breeders, Liars, Anvil & more) "

Malajube actually played at the same time (on a different stage) as Gogol Bordello at the 2007 Oya Festival in Norway, so since I watched all of Gogol, I only ended up catching Malajube's last two songs. I won't judge them based on two songs, but if I didn't already like them a lot, I probably wouldn't have become a fan at that second. Then again, it's probably even completely unfair to say that since seconds earlier I had just witnessed one of the best live bands at the whole four-day festival.

Tickets are on sale for a November 15th Malajube show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC. All known tour dates, and more Oya pics, below....

Continue reading "Malajube - 2007 Tour Dates & Oya pics"

Sunday night before Mudderfugger I was able to catch the Les Breastfeeders show at Magnetic Field in Brooklyn (May 27, 2007). Like Malajube, Les Breastfeeders are from Montreal and only sing in French. And like Malajube, they mostly only SPEAK in French too. That always makes for some funny - unintentionally or not - between song banter. This time was no exception.

As MOKB points out, "It's guitar heavy garage rock full of shout-heavy choruses. It's high energy, catchy (even if sung in French) and loads of fun." That is true of their live show too.

Actually, partly thanks to the guy with no shirt and the tambourine, the live show is even more fun....

Continue reading "Les Breastfeeders @ Magnetic Field, Brooklyn, NY - pics"