Dosh

The improvisationally-oriented Undead Music Festival is back for another year, happening May 1 - 5 in NYC. The fest, which has expanded beyond its jazz beginnings, overlaps a bit with Red Bull Music Academy's NYC takeover that begins on Sunday (4/28). The first Undead event is the previously mentioned, now sold-out "Night of Improvised Round Robin Duets" happening at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on May 1 featuring Questlove, Andrew WK, James Chance, Julia Holter, Kim Gordon, Thundercat, Andrew Bird and more. More info on what this all entails:

The format? Simple. One musician starts a solo improvisation lasting five minutes. Another musician then joins him for five minutes of duo improvisation. After those five minutes, musician #1 leaves the stage and musician #3 joins musician #2 for another five minutes, and so on and so forth for two hours. The music? Expect the unexpected. A once-in-a-lifetime experience with 20+ artists from jazz, electronics and everything in between...

MAY 2:
8pm Theo Bleckmann solo
9pm Martin Dosh + Jeremy Ylvisaker (Alpha Consumer, Andrew Bird band), Alan Hampton (Andrew Bird band), Mike Bloch and Pete Hale (from Here We Go Magic)

MAY 3:
8pm Aaron Parks solo
9pm Martin Dosh + Aaron Parks, Chris Morrissey, Jeremy Ylvisaker
("Due to some unique circumstances, Dosh will be participating in this night via skype. It's going to be wild.")

MAY 4:
8pm Shane Endsley / Todd Sickafoose / Ben Perowsky
9pm Martin Dosh + Andrew Bird, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Todd Sickafoose

Then on May 5 there are three separate events:Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Hubble will be at Le Poisson Rouge (tickets); Vinnie Sperrazza/Jeff Davis Duo, Jesse Stacken Group, Brian Drye Duo and Big Eyed Rabbit at IBeam; St. Helena, Surface To Air and Option Copter III at 35 Claver Place.

There are more Undead related events happening on May 5 in other parts of the U.S. and there's more info here. For more info, visit the Undead Music Festival's website. Flyer is below.

Continue reading "Undead Music presents 3 nights of Martin Dosh w/ Andrew Bird, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog & more"

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

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

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

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

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

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

We already told you that the 2013 edition of Wilco's Solid Sound Music & Arts Festival will go down June 21 - 23 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. The line-up has now been revealed and includes sets from Yo La Tengo, Os Mutantes, Low, The Dream Syndicate, Reggie Watts, onetime Miracle Legion frontman Mark Mulcahy, Neko Case and more. And Wilco, of course. "Early Worm" tickets are sold out but you can still get "Early Bird" and regular three-day passes here.

Full line-up for 2013 Solid Sound fest is below...

Continue reading "Wilco's 2013 Solid Sound Festival line-up announced (Yo La Tengo, Os Mutantes, Low, Neko Case + more)"

John Zorn

On October 10, Le Poisson Rouge is hosting 'Save The Village: A Benefit Concert,' which will feature performances from avant-garde saxist John Zorn, Thurston Moore (who plays with his band Chelsea Light Moving at 285 Kent tonight [9/12]), guitarist Jesse Harris, TriBeCaStan, Flutterbox, and performance artist John Kelly. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

The benefit goes to support NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan:

NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan is a group of over 400 of NYU's own faculty members who are working together to fight NYU's outrageous multi-billion-dollar expansion in Greenwich Village. The Sexton Plan, we believe, is financially reckless (and will certainly result in rising tuition at a school where the students are the most heavily indebted in nation), disregards faculty input and governance, will further erode the rich cultural history of the Village, and will bring more than 10,000 more people in foot traffic per day to an already over-developed area with little green space, amongst other harmful effects. We want NYU's administration to focus on education, not real estate.

John Zorn's next performance at The Stone (the venue that he founded and performs at regularly) happens this Saturday (9/15) with Ikue Mori (of DNA and many other things) and Sylvie Courvoisier, who has collaborated with both John and Ikue in the past.

Another upcoming show at The Stone this month is Marc Ribot (who we just mentioned will be one of the guests at the upcoming Medeski Martin & Wood residency) and Roy Nathanson on September 19. In October, The Stone is being curated by Secret Chiefs 3 member Timba Harris, and shows include Kayo Dot plays Toby Driver's "In The L..L..Library Loft" on October 6, Secret Chiefs 3 plays "Masada" on October 11 and a lot of other Secret Chiefs 3 related shows, notably frontman Trey Spruance playing the following day (10/12), Harvester (aka Nate Wooley, C. Spencer Yeh, and Ryan Sawyer) on October 14, BloodMist (whose lineup includes Toby Driver) on October 16, John Zorn's annual Halloween Improv NIght (10/31), and many others.

A video of John Zorn's Naked City playing a full concert in NYC from 1992 is below.

Continue reading "John Zorn, Thurston Moore & others playing "Save the Village" ++ upcoming shows at The Stone (Timba Harris curates in Oct)"

Medeski Martin & Wood have just announced a week-long December residency at The Blue Note from 12/11 - 12/16. The band are performing two sets each night (8 PM and 10:30 PM) and special guests include Nels Cline on 12/12, Marc Ribot on 12/13 and Bill Evans on 12/14, with other guests still to be announced. Reservations for tables are available now.

The trio will release their new album, Free Magic, on September 25 via their own Indirecto label. Before their Blue Note residency, MMW will be on tour in October which hits the Bergen PAC in Englewood, NJ on 10/7 (tickets), Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT on 10/10 (tickets), and The Paramount in Huntington, NY on 10/12 (tickets). All tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Medeski Martin & Wood releasing LP, touring, playing shows @ the Blue Note w/ Marc Ribot, Nels Cline, other guests"

After three teasers, we get: A STATEMENT FROM TOM WAITS:

"As most of you guessed, it's a tour...a tour de force!

"Matt Mahurin has created an apocalyptic war dream to accompany the song HELL BROKE LUCE. Kathleen and I envisioned it as an enlightened drill sergeant yelling the hard truths of war to a brand new batch of recruits. The video grew from the gnawing image of a soldier pulling his home, through a battlefield, at the end of a rope.

"I think you will agree, it's uplifting and fun."

"Hell Broke Luce," featuring Marc Ribot and Keith Richards on guitar, with Flea on bass and Casey Waits on drums, is from Waits' most recent release, BAD AS ME.

Continue reading "It's August 7: Tom Waits reveals the secret, pokes fun at those hoping it was a tour"

From the Inbox:

University of the Streets, the University of the Streets Musicians Committee and the musicians union Local 802 are formally announcing the end of a seven month boycott of University of the Streets, effective immediately.

The announcement follows successful resolution of negotiations between the non-profit jazz venue's management and members of the University of the Streets Musicians' Committee, an ad hoc organization representing musicians who had played at University of the Streets and were participating in the boycott, and Local 802, AFM, whose representatives were present in support of the musicians' committee.

The boycott was called last September, after reports of a musician being injured during an altercation with a UOTS employee circulated widely through social media. The boycott also stemmed from musicians' concerns over what they considered a "pay to play" policy, in which the venue sometimes required bands to pay out of pocket to cover a guarantee in ticket sales.

In January 2012, the UOTS Musicians Committee contacted Saadia Salahuddeen, director of University of the Streets, with a list of grievances. These were resolved in a meeting on April 12, 2012, attended by members of the UOTS Musicians Committee, representatives of Local 802, Ms. Salahuddeen, and several members of the UOTS board.
As part of the agreement, UOTS will end the 'pay-to-play' policy, and will bar the employee involved in the altercation from the venue.

A statement issued by the UOTS Musicians Committee reads:

'We're extremely pleased that UOTS has addressed the musicians' concerns, and that both they and we can now get back to presenting and performing creative music in this historic venue. We wish the venue and the musicians who play there every success.'

A statement byLocal 802 organizer Shane Gasteyer reads:

"These musicians have shown again that collective action really works. Local 802 is happy to be here supporting working musicians in every part of today's scene."

Ms. Salahuddeen invites any interested musicians to join an advisory committee of musicians so that UOTS can work more closely with the local jazz and improvisational music community "to ensure more productive and positive relationships with musicians."

Endorsed by: Marc Ribot, Brandon Ross, Ches Smith, Avram Fefer, Jim Pugliese, and Weasel Walter for the UOTS Musicians Committee, and Saadia Salahuddeen For University of the Streets.

Marc Ribot at LPR (more by Bejamin Lozovsky)

Avant guitar great Marc Ribot will assemble the Marc Ribot Trio (with Henry Grimes and Chad Taylor) for a six-day stint at NYC"s West Village jazz institution Village Vanguard from June 26th - July 1st. There he'll visit pieces from Coltrane's Sun Ship as well as delve into his signature improvisational style. Tickets for all shows, twelve in total (an early and late showing per day), are still available.

You might be thinking that it's weird for Marc to be playing the Village Vanguard, well so does he...Marc says to the Voice...

You know, it's funny. The possibility of playing there came up when I did the Allen Toussaint gig. To tell you the truth, I never really viewed it as a possibility, and even after I was invited, I thought, well, do I have a project that belongs there? Which was not slighting me or it. I respect what I do and I greatly respect both the history and the present of the Vanguard. In fact, when I first came to New York, I used to sit on the steps of the Vanguard, listening to, like, Jim Hall or whoever was playing there until I'd get kicked out. [It was a] cheapo way to kinda sit on the steps upstairs and catch some of the set. [laughs] Before somebody came and chased me away. So in that sense, you might say I have a long relationship with the place. I always figured that I was a jazz musician in the same sense that Cindy Sherman was a fashion model. So I wasn't sure if I was right for the Vanguard.

But then, this past fall, I did this tour with Henry and Chad... My music has had a close relation with jazz for a very long time. For example, the music of Albert Ayler, which was considered jazz by some critics at the time and was not considered jazz by other critics at the time. One of the things that interested me in Ayler was translating it to the guitar. And so at times, we sounded more like some kind of punk band than what was recognized by most people as jazz. So I wasn't sure whether it would be a good fit. But I did a tour this last fall, with Henry and Chad, and I started thinking, "You know, maybe we do have something to say within the tradition." And so that's why we're here. It's a funny thing to think, you know, after practicing for forty-five years. [laughs] Some people are just late bloomers.

Ribot will also soon embark on a tour with/as Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos and Allen Toussaint's Bright Mississippi, though none in NYC with those crews. Check out Ribot's full tour schedule below along with a few videos.

Continue reading "Marc Ribot kicking off 6-night run at the Village Vanguard; soon heading to Europe to tour (dates)"

Nels Cline's Stained Radiance at Winter Jazz Fest 2011 (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Winter Jazz Fest is returning to NYC in 2012 and will take place in multiple Greenwich Village venues from January 6-7 including Le Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall, Kenny's Castaways, Zinc Bar, and The Bitter End. Artists performing this year include Bill Laswell, DJ Spinna, John Medeski, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Nels Cline Singers, Vijay Iyer Trio, Tyshawn Sorey, Mary Halvorson, Bernie Worrell, Marco Benevento, Jenny Scheinman, and many more. Two day passes and single day tickets are on sale now. There is also a kickoff show happening at Le Poisson Rouge on January 5 with Medeski / Skerik / Deitch, Red Baraat, and Marc Ribot's Young Philadelphians. You can also purchase a pass that includes a ticket for this show plus the two day festival pass (it's a little confusing, but if you click through on each LPR ticket link, you'll see the various options for each one).

The full schedule is below...

Continue reading "Winter Jazz Fest 2012 (January 5-7 in NYC)"

Anand Wilder with Yeasayer at Jones Beach in July (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

The record label David Byrne started in 1988, Luaka Bop, has been curating the club John Zorn started, The Stone, since December 15. If you've been paying close attention to What's Going On posts, you may have noticed more familiar names on the lineups lately (like Lucky Dragons and Kelly Pratt who have both played so far).

The curation continues through the end of the month. Tonight (12/20), Anand Wilder of Yeasayer is playing with Steve Marion of Delicate Steve, and Austin Fisher of Suckers, performing songs they've written specifically for tonight's performance. Steve leads his own group at the venue on 12/27 with members of Banned Books. Also tonight, George Langford and Tom Van Buskirk of Javelin and friends are playing. Those friends include Ahmed Gallab of Yeasayer, Powpow of Man Man, and Miho Hatori of Cibo Mato. According to George, it's going to be an "electronic drum circle rave cave."

On Thursday (12/22), Sleepy Doug Shaw/Highlife is playing. On Friday (12/23), The Present, lead by Rusty Samtos Rusty is playing the venue. Rusty is a singer/songwriter and has produced Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Born Ruffians, Owen Pallet, and others. On 12/28, Hubble (aka Ben Greenberg of Pygmy Shrews and Zs), and on 12/29 it will be Marc Ribot and David Hidalgo.

The Stone will also host their annual end of the year improv party on December 30 and 31 with tons of musicians and special guests including Thurston Moore, John Zorn, Jeremiah Cymerman, Sam Kulik, Ned Rothenburg, Eyal Maoz, David Fulmer, and others. Starting at 11 PM on 12/31, Spiritual Unity (which features Marc Ribot) will perform a ritual/jam that leads through a midnight rendition of Albert Ayler's "Bells."

Check out the full December schedule and more details on these shows at The Stone's website.

Javelin also have a show coming up on 2/24 at Glasslands with Pat Jordache.

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Swans @ Paramount Theater

You saw pictures from Friday and Portishead from Saturday (and Portishead Sunday). Here are the rest from that 2nd day in Asbury Park. They continue below...

Continue reading "I'll Be Your Mirror 2011 -- pics from ATP Saturday (Swans, Ultramagnetic MCs, Battles, Beak, Horrors & more)"

Marc Ribot @ LPR in June (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

Guitar genius Marc Ribot has a lot of upcoming shows, all of which are listed below. They include Iridium in NYC tonight (9/15), the re-opening Roulette on Friday (9/16), The Living Theater in NYC on Sunday, Le Poisson Rouge with Akiko Yano on 10/11, and the upcoming ATP in Asbury Park, NJ on 10/1.

Head below to also hear and download a mixtape that ATP just made featuring arists that are appearing at the NJ festival at the end of the month, Marc Ribot (whose tour dates are down there too) included....

Continue reading "Marc Ribot playing shows, ATP made a mixtape "

The long wait is finally over! Roulette re-opens - bigger and better than ever - in Downtown Brooklyn. With a newly renovated Art Deco concert hall, seating for up to 400 people (600 standing!), expanded multi-channel sound system, massive projection screen for film and multi-media events, state-of-the-art lighting system, modular stage, and a specially designed floor to accommodate dance - the new Roulette promises to be one of the most exciting places in New York City to experience adventurous music and art. Join us as we kick off our inaugural season with a huge four day Grand Opening Celebration!

The re-opening will be celebrated with four events from September 15 to September 18. On 9/15, Kaija Saariaho, Margaret Leng Tan, Henry Threadgill & Zooid, and Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier will play the venue (tickets). The 9/16 show will feature ETHEL, Marc Ribot: Film Noir Project, and Shelley Hirsch w/ Fred Frith (tickets). On 9/17, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, and John Zorn will play (tickets) and on 9/18 Cosa Brava (featuring Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins, Matthias Bossi, and the Norman Conquest) will play (tickets).

All Tomorrow's Parties returns to the USA this September in the new location of Asbury Park, N.J. bringing an I'll Be Your Mirror event to the iconic waterfront. For the inaugural U.S. I'll Be Your Mirror, Portishead will curate and headline their firrst East Coast shows since 1998 on the Saturday & Sunday.

As well as Day Tickets, ATP have to date been selling two types of weekend pass - "Three Day Jeff Mangum" passes that include Jeff Mangum's Friday show and guarantee access to one of the Portishead shows (as well as everything else at the festival) and "Three Day Portishead" passes that do not give access to Jeff's Friday show but give guaranteed access to both Portishead shows as well as the rest of the festival. Today we announce a third type of weekend pass...

Portishead have invited Jeff to play an extra show on the Sunday night of the festival. Therefore this week we release new "Three Day Jeff Mangum Sunday Passes" - these give access to all three days of the festival to passholders who will see Jeff Mangum on the Sunday night and are guaranteed to see one of the two Portishead shows. The original Three Day passes for the event are now called "Three Day Jeff Mangum Friday Passes."

That means Jeff is playing Asbury Park three times, twice during the actual festival (see above), and, as you know, once on Monday (10/3) at Paramount Theatre (the day after ATP and not actually part of the fest itself). The Monday show has been sold out for a while now, but ATP are releasing a few more tickets for it. "To buy email feedback@atpfestival.com with JEFF MONDAY TICKETS in subject line, and tell us how many tickets you want. We will respond as soon as possible. Payments must be made by Paypal." A Hawk and a Hacksaw (ft. Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes) open the show.

ATP NJ has a few other lineup additions including Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (they first reunited to play the Animal Collective ATP that recently happened in the UK), avant guitar hero Marc Ribot, avant sax hero Colin Stetson, avant comedian Reggie Watts, and others. Also: "Today we are also very pleased to announce that in conjunction with The Jonathan Levine Gallery, renowned artist SHEPARD FAIREY (who has created the art for this event and will also DJ) will be presenting an exhibition of his art over the weekend entitled Revolutions: The Album Cover Art of Shepard Fairey. More details of the exhibition will be confirmed soon."

The updated lineup is below, along with updated Jeff Mangum tour dates (he added a few other shows recently too)...

Continue reading "ATP NJ adds another Jeff Mangum show, a new kind of pass & some more bands to the lineup"

by Andrew Frisicano

As announced a few months ago, the four-night Undead Jazz Fest kicks off tonight (6/23) with music at Le Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall and Kenny's Castaways. The format is similar to that of the Winter Jazz fest (and the inaugural Undead fest last year): one ticket that covers entry to a handful of neighboring venues. This year, each night offers something a little different.

Thursday night the venues are in Greenwich Village and music include Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Dave King Trucking Company, Gerald Clayton and Alan Licht & Brian Chase. Friday night features a "round robin of improvised duets" at the Bell House. Scheduled participants for that are: "David Torn, Elliot Sharp, Jim Black, Erik Friedlander, Dean Bowman, Chris Lightcap, Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs!), David King (Bad Plus!), Darius Jones, Chris Speed, Jamie Saft, Chris Dingman, Eivind Opsvik, Charlie Burnham, Marco Cappelli and Kirk Knuffke."

Saturday the music will be in the Gowanus/Park Slope area (at Littlefield and unconventional spots Homage Skateboard Training Facility and Cross Fit) where you'll be able to see Elliott Sharp (playing Thelonious Monk), David S. Ware, the Darius Jones Trio and more, all on the same Degraw Street block.

Sunday, the music (a super-varied lineup that includes The Claudia Quintet, Peter Brotzmann's FULL BLAST, Bobby Previte Quartet, Erik Friedlander and UB313 with Sun Ra Arkestra's Marshall Allen) is in Williamsburg, split between four stages at three venues: Public Assembly, Cubana Social and the Cameo.

Tickets for all days are still available, including four-day and two-day tix.

There are copies of the Undead Jazz Fest Review floating around town that come with an excellent sampler CD, which you can stream below.

We should note that last week, the New York Times published news about an online petition asking for an increase in musician pay for the Undead and Winter Jazz Fests. Initially, it was unclear whether that situation would affect this year's festival (some of the signees are scheduled to perform), but the organizers of the petition have since clarified some points, mainly that they support this year's fest and that they didn't mean for the press to find out about what they thought was a private email, but that they're hoping to negotiate for a pay raise at future fests. Some more info on that is below, if you're interested...

Now that that's out of the way... the fest recently put together a trailer containing one second of music from each artist on the bill. That and the full schedule are below...

Continue reading "Undead Jazz Fest begins (full schedule, an event trailer & a small controversy included)"

words & photos by Benjamin Lozovsky

It could have been a showdown - a forceful match of skills, an exhilarating yet grueling slugfest. Instead, it was purely symbiotic and nurturing, a solemn and unwavering alliance between two endlessly energetic musical minds. Marc Ribot and Nels Cline, perhaps the two greatest living guitarists dispensing a seamlessly cerebral yet hefty blend of virtuosic avant-jazz and rock fusion, performed in tandem Wednesday night at Le Poisson Rouge.

Despite being giants and contemporaries in their field, the overwhelming icons of free form, genre-bending adventurism, the two had seemingly never met on stage before. It was the kind of hallowed moment most modern downtown jazz obsessives would relive and replay endlessly, a watershed of creative confluence with 'I was there' written all over it. Only announced a few weeks before the event, it was billed as a special performance for the 3rd anniversary of the West Village club. Since its opening, Le Poisson Rouge has proved to be a vivid playground for envelope-pushing downtown musicians. Ribot and Cline have settled into the venue comfortably with numerous shows there since it opened, as have many of their fellow protagonists.

There wasn't any sort of program or description provided beforehand, just the two names listed on the bill. With their wide-ranging approach to music, the two share infinite similarities. Their methods couldn't be more different. Cline with his smooth tone, effortless musicianship and neatly set up workstation complete with rug, Ribot with an abrasive sound, hectically imperative playing and a rat's nest of wires and pedals piled on the ground in front of him. Yet the two were the perfect foils to challenge and enhance the other's abilities.

It unfolded as a completely improvised performance, an hour and a half long set of seven spontaneously generated explorations. Calling them songs wouldn't do them justice - it was more akin to setting two ants behind glass and watching them instantly augment their little world into a thriving civilization.

Beyond picking which guitar to complement each other in between numbers, there was nothing more than subtle visual cues and finely focused ears on each others playing to coordinate Cline and Ribot's efforts. The two guitarists had no framework or structures, and perhaps most importantly no preconceptions coming in, according to Cline. "We did some country type stuff for the sound-check, so we started with that...but everything was unrehearsed," Cline said.

They started their performance with several all acoustic numbers that covered boundless ground, ranging from devilishly sarcastic and percussive conversation-like structures, to atmospheric, bluesy romps that started with Polynesian flavor, quickly turned vast, pastoral and disjointed, and ended with a storm of classical finger picking.

There was enough flourishes of extended techniques like surreal harmonics and the use of odd sound-mutating tools, but it was limited, each guitarist instead intently focused on tone and togetherness. On one number, a disparate and lonely melodic meditation that mashed up images of a desolate western frontier and a rainy Japanese tea ceremony, Cline evoked the chilling vibrations of a Koto, the Japanese plucked string instrument, while Ribot formed drony and dark undercurrents, each moving downward perpetually yet coming together precisely unpredictably for jarringly harmonious moments.

When they turned towards an electric sound, it was always enigmatic while never bludgeoning. Even in forceful, grunge-like sections that could pass as a Soundgarden outtake or a turbine-accelerated Radiohead stomper, Cline and Ribot focused on a spellbinding interplay rather than guitar god might. It was a highly advanced dialogue, seesawing back and forth as each musician switched roles yet kept mathematically aligned. It was a gold standard for precision and musical communication; they ended with a more straightforward free-jazz ballad that mutated into psychotic, atonal guitar solos from both players that inexplicably overlapped with little wavering.

After the show, Cline admitted that he had his trepidations about the gig. "I felt really nervous about this show beforehand, but today I felt calm," Cline said. It must have been the career long lead-up to what was a glorious first date, many years in the making.

--

Nels Cline has more shows coming up. Catch Marc during the Undead Jazz Fest which is also coming soon. More pictures from the LPR show below...

Continue reading "guitar gods Nels Cline & Marc Ribot teamed up @ Le Poisson Rouge (pics & review)"

Tinariwen will release a new album called Tassili on August 30 via Anti- Records (pictured above). The album was recorded entirely acoustic with contributions from Tunde Adebimpe & Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Nels Cline of Wilco (who plays a show with Marc Ribot at LPR on June 15th).

Tinariwen will head out on a short North American tour in July which will hit the Winnipeg Folk Festival and the previously mentioned Highline Ballroom on July 20. Tickets are still on sale for that NYC show.

Tinariwen also play the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival on July 21 at the Trumansburg Fairgrounds in Trumansburg, NY (which runs from July 21-24). There they share a bill with Donna the Buffalo, Court Yard Hounds, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Balkan Beat Box, Sammy Kershaw, Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited, John Brown's Body, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, and many others.

For Seun Kuti, the Trumansburg date is one day after he plays a free show at the Prospect Park Bandshell. Seun recently sent out an updated list of tour dates too, and a new video you can watch below.

Tinariwen collaborators TV on the Radio also recently expanded their upcoming tour dates, many of which are with Broken Social Scene who they play with at the Williamsburg Waterfront They also have a new video, as does BSS

The videos with all Seun & Tinariwen & TVOTR dates, below...

Continue reading "new Tinariwen LP & dates, Trumansburg Grassrooots Fest, Seun Kuti, Nels Cline, Marc Ribot & TV on the Radio too"

Founded in June 2010 the Undead Jazzfest is new kind of festival, bringing together an incredible array of artists from the new jazz and improvised music community currently exploding in New York City. With no headliners, affordable tickets, unorthodox venues and no drink minimums, the Undead Jazzfest aims to shake the public perception of what jazz can be today, celebrating the incredible music being made in a setting that is inviting to both the veterans and curious new fans.

Undead Jazzfest is also responsible for curating another show outside of said festival, this one going down at Central Park Summerstage on June 11th with Medeski Martin & Wood, Josh Roseman's King Froopy All Stars and Jim Black's AlasNoAxis. It's one of many free 2011 Summerstage shows that have been announced.

AND, Undead Jazz presents a show at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (4/25) with Orchestre National de Jazz with Daniel Yvinec and John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble with special guests Theo Bleckmann , Kate McGarry and Uri Caine. Undead Jazz also presents Todd Sickafoose's Tiny Resistors and Mary Halvorson Trio at the same venue on May 18th.

Full Undead Jazzfest 2011 lineup below.

Continue reading "Undead Jazzfest 2011 lineup announced, tix on sale now, and other related shows too"

photos by Amanda M. Hatfield

"Managed to catch most of the Super Bowl and got to see the incredible Neko Case at the Bell House. Successful Sunday." - Joe Saturday

"Just spent 20 minutes discussing Vermont tax laws with Neko Case, Eugene Mirman and Marc Ribot." - RustySutton

Neko Case at the Bell House

After playing the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Long Island on Saturday, Neko Case and Lost In The Trees competed with the Super Bowl (or maybe you were able to do both) and played to a sold-out Bell House in Brooklyn last night (2/6) as part of a larger tour for the pair. Neko was joined by guitar great Marc Ribot during her encore *both Neko and Marc contributed to Jakob Dylans's last album). Pictures from that show are in this post. The full setlist is also below.

The New Porno chanteuse will now take a breather, but will return to NYC to play Barnes & Noble for FREE with Michael Showalter on 2/24. Starting tomorrow (2/8), you'll be able to buy raffle tickets that might win you Neko's classic 1967 Mercury Cougar (as seen on the cover of "Middle Cyclone")...

Neko Case & 826 National present The Cougar-Rama Muscle Car-'Splosion

We are almost ready to re-launch after a truckload of technical difficulties! We are going to begin selling raffle tickets on Tuesday, February 8. Don't worry -- the drawing has been moved up to March so there's still plenty of time to get involved. Please let us know if you have any questions and stay tuned for details!

The Cougar-Rama Muscle Car-'Splosion is upon us! Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/rock star extraordinaire Neko Case is generously giving away her classic 1967 Mercury Cougar to benefit 826 National. Ticket sales will begin shortly, and beginning on Monday, February 14, we will draw for prizes each day leading up to the car drawing on February 18. Stay tuned for a full schedule of drawings!

The car comes packed with Rand McNally guides, piles of road trip tunes, gift certificates to Chipotle, a year's supply of Tazo Tea, and other goodies.

And because any good Cougar-Rama Muscle Car-'Splosion demands extravagance, there are heaps of other fantastic prizes to be won, including:
* A drum head signed by The New Pornographers
* Neko Case's limited-edition 1966 Gretsch Silver Duke guitar
* A Gibson guitar signed by members of the Speaking Clock Revue including Elton John and Elvis Costello
* A Carr Amplifier
* Dinner for 10 from Chipotle
* A collection of vinyl from SubPop including LPS from Fleet Foxes, Thee Oh Sees, The Vaselines
* An Adidas prize pack
* ... and more!

Tickets are $45 each, and they get cheaper the more you buy: 2 tickets for $75, 3 for $100, etc. For more details and to buy tickets, head over to www.nekocase.com/auction. Neko also designed t-shirts for 826 that are being sold in conjunction with the Muscle Car-'Splosion in 826 chapter storefronts across the country and online at www.826national.org/store.

Meanwhile, Lost In The Trees have a trio of dates left on their docket, including their show at Mercury Lounge TONIGHT (2/7). All three are listed below. Tickets for Mercury Lounge are still available.

More pictures from the Bell House, including a shot of Neko Case's setlist, a video from the show, and a video about the car, below..

Continue reading "Neko Case giving away her Mercury Cougar, played the Bell House w/ Lost in the Trees (and Marc Ribot) (pics & setlist)"

"Fresh off the success of his latest release, Silent Movies (Pi Recordings), Marc Ribot celebrates with a month long residency, January 2011 at (le) Poisson Rouge (NYC). Each night will start off with an intimate solo set with music from the album which has landed on several Best of 2010 lists including the LA Times, Village Voice and critical praise across the board. Ribot will then be joined on stage each night with a different band, showcasing a disparate range of projects from noise, punk, funk, soul and free jazz."

Continue reading "a Marc Ribot residency @ LPR & New Years Eve @ The Stone"

Observer: You've been with Lou Reed for what seems like forever. Any tips for staying together?

Laurie Anderson: Take a break from each other. We've been together for 19 years, married for two years. I think everything is about to blow away, and everyone is about to blow away, and it makes me care for them more.

In related news, the dates that Lou/Laurie are curating The Stone overlap with a MoMA exhibit featuring Lou Reed's former manager in The Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol. The exhibition, entitled Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures, will show silent pictures that are professed to be his "most daring and experimental" film work. The show kicks off on December 19th and lasts until March 21, 2011.

And while we're on the subject of film, "And Everything Is Going Fine" is currently playing at the IFC Center. It's a tribute to Spaulding Gray directed by Steven Soderbergh. Laurie soundtracked the Spalding Gray films Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box, and made a promotional appearance related to the movie this past weekend. .

The Stone schedule is below...

Continue reading "Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson curating The Stone in February, MoMA exhibiting Andy Warhol pictures"

Screaming Females @ the 2010 Siren Festival (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

today in NYC
* Rene Lopez @ Southpaw
* Tim Keiper @ The Stone
* Herman Snertgart @ The Stone
* Sean Hayes @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Billy Idol @ Hammerstein Ballroom
* Aziz Ansari @ The Wellmont Theatre
* Translations, Heliotropes @ The Woods
* CocoRosie @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra @ Cameo Gallery
* The Bad Plus, Sam Newsome @ Bowery Ballroom
* Jackson Browne, David Lindley @ Beacon Theatre
* Happy Ending Music Series @ Joe's Pub
* Toadies, Gringo Star @ Gramercy Theatre
* Ben Frost, Ezekiel Honig, Borne (DJ set) @ Littlefield
* Marc Ribot ("Silent Movies" CD Release) @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Matt Mottel @ Zebulon
* Tommy Keene, Title Tracks, Valley Lodge @ The Rock Shop
* Mystery Jets, Dominant Legs, The Rassle @ Mercury Lounge
* Kria Brekkan, We Are All Romans (DJ set) @ The Manhattan Inn
* Vampire Weekend, Beach House, Dum Dum Girls @ Radio City Music Hall
* Frankie Rose & The Outs, Light Asylum, MINKS, Mirror Mirror @ Glasslands
* Nachtmystium, Zoroaster, The Atlas Moth, Dark Castle @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Janka Nabay, Highlife, Ali Kamiya Dit Ba, Lichens (DJ International Tapes) @ Shea Stadium
* Screaming Females, Shellshag, Big Eyes (Screaming Females Record Release) @ Knitting Factory

Vampire Weekend kick off their three-night run at Radio City Music Hall tonight.

Tonight at Joe's Pub: Happy Ending Music and Reading Series featuring Darin Strauss, Matthew Sharpe, Kristin Hersh and musical guest Anni Rossi.

Marc Ribot plays a release show for his new solo guitar record, Silent Movies, officially out September 28th on Pi Records (though you'll be able to grab it at the show). The sounds on the record are subtler than his Ceramic Dog trio; without the band he take cues from the pratfalls and heartbreaks of films like Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. Tickets are still on sale. - Andrew Frisicano

What else?

by Andrew Frisicano

"Saw Marc Ribot, MeShell Nedegocello and Chocolate Genius play together last night @ Rose Live Music. It was amazing and in Williamsburg!" -just_some_pix

Silent Movies...

Inventive avant guitarist Marc Ribot will be releasing a new record, Silent Movies, September 28th on Pi Recordings. As its title suggest, the album expands on Ribot's work scoring film (this year he performed several times with Charlie Chaplin's The Kid)

The album reflects Ribot's fascination with movies and contains pieces intended to function as music for films: some are adaptations of music he has actually written for films, others for classic silent movies that he scored for his personal amusement, still others for films of his own imagination. His goal is to explore, as he says "the strange area between language and spatiality that exists partly in between music and visual image, and partly as a common property of both." Whatever the inspiration, Silent Movies is replete with beautiful melodies and quietly wistful playing of a sort seldom heard from Ribot and delivers a program filled with gentle, haunting songs that evoke the feel of a different time. As he says in the CD's liner notes, the recording project "did indeed have the feeling of having walked backwards into the beautiful frame of a silent movie."

Also coming up is a release show for Silent Movies on September 15th at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Tickets are on sale.

All of Marc Ribot's upcoming tour dates (and the lineups for each) plus a video of Ribot with the Lounge Lizards and John Lurie (whose current "disappearance" got a full write-up in a recenty New Yorker) are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot releasing 'Silent Movies', playing more shows "

by Andrew Frisicano

Juana Molina in Stuvesant Town, NYC

Juana Molina played at the Stuy Town Oval on June 23rd (the first of two outdoor summer NYC shows for her). The free concert brought out an family-friendly crowd (lots of kids running around), which Juana treated to her looped, organic-sounding popscapes.

That other outdoor show she has is also free, part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, and happens on Wednesday, July 28th. She won't play a regular set however - it's a special collaborative evening with string quartet ETHEL.

By persistently exploding the parameters of what a string quartet can be, ETHEL challenges listeners as it bewitches them. This world premiere features the feisty four-piece in collaboration with tunesmiths who've proven just as captivating, whether trafficking in folkish blues (Dayna Kurtz), clever power pop (Fountains of Wayne songwriter Adam Schlesinger with Candy Butchers' Mike Viola), off-kilter post-punk guitar explorations (Tom Verlaine with Patrick Derivaz) or swirling sonic carpentry (Juana Molina). In these new collaborations, ETHEL invigorates each song with arrangements both plush and plucky.
[Lincoln Center]

More Juana Molina pictures are below...

Continue reading "Juana Molina (& Marc Ribot) played Stuy Town (pics, videos, Delorean Wednesday), playing Lincoln Center & other dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

Marc Ribot & Caged Funk plays at Rose Live Music tonight (June 17th). For that Marc joins keyboardist Bernie Worrell (ex-Parliament Funkadelic, Talking Heads), guitarist Marco Cappelli, bass player Brad Jones, drummer JT Lewis, and DJ Logic on turntables for a set of "John Cage looped, hi-jacked, detourned, and scratch mixed." Some background...

In rehearsing for a performance of John Cage's 'Sonata for Two Voices' (1933) at Issue Project Room last winter, guitarist Marco Cappelli and Marc Ribot made a strange discovery. The two guitarists overcame the gap between the rhythmic complexity of the piece and Mr. Ribot's somewhat limited sight reading skills by 'looping' measures: constantly repeating each difficult passage until it became easier. It was in this way they became aware of a strange fact about John Cage's music that would have probably surprised (and possibly dismayed) the composer himself: John Cage was one funky dude. The resulting project, "Caged Funk", is a further exploration of this little known aspect the late composer's work. Tonight's performance is an open rehearsal. This work was commissioned by and will be premiered July 8,2010 at the Ludwigsburg Festival 2010 in Germany.

Marc Ribot goes on to play at The Stone on June 29th with bassist Greg Cohen, and for free at the Stuy Town Oval on June 30th with Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos and La Cumbiamba eNeYe. After that, dates in Canada and Europe.

Videos and all dates are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot @ Rose Live Music w/ Bernie Worrell & other dates "