DOWNLOAD: Marissa Nadler - River of Dirt (MP3)

With a new touring band, a refurbished banjo and some personal clarity ("I just cut this person out of my life who I've been writing about for four records," [Marissa] Nadler said), she sounded extremely pleased talking amid rehearsals for the new tour [with the Handsome Family Band].

"I'm psyched about it because I've just spent too much time alone in hotel rooms for the past five years of my life," she said. "And people will be like, 'Well, God, write a happy f---ing song.' And I'm like, well, why would you be happy if you've been stuck your entire 20s in a hotel room by yourself?

"That's kind of like my sense of humor, I guess. Maybe I'll start writing pop songs once I fall in love and get happy and rich, I don't know," she added. "Kidding, kidding." [University of Maryland's Diamondback 4/22/09]

The singer/songwriter has a European tour planned for May. When she returns, she'll play the Mercury Lounge in NYC on Tuesday, June 9th with James Blackshaw. Tickets are on sale.

UK guitarist Blackshaw is signed to Michael Gira's Young God Records, which will release his seventh studio record sometime this year.

"James has received a lot of attention lately as a prodigy/virtuoso of the 12 string guitar. He used to be in punk bands in England, but then he started listening to people like John Fahey, Robbie Basho etc, and I assume soon locked himself in a room for 12 hours a day for several years and just played constantly. It takes intense discipline and a religious commitment to get to the place where he's at with his instrument. But his music isn't about his "skill" - it's not showy. It's deeply meditative - the secret language of a pre-thought, pre-dream place. He plays soulful and kaleidoscopic ever-shifting mantra cycles of, in my view, incredible beauty." [Altsounds]

An MP3 from Nadler's latest, Little Hells, out now on Kemado Records, is posted above (again).

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "James Blackshaw - 2009 Tour Dates (3 NYC shows including one w/ MARISSA NADLER)"

DOWNLOAD: Marissa Nadler - River of Dirt (MP3)

The Handsome Family

Taking place under bowed branches and deep within winding corn mazes, The Handsome Family released their latest album, Honey Moon, through Carrot Top Records on April 14, 2009. Celebrating the duo's twentieth year of marriage and eighth studio release, the record plays out as a series of love songs that sharply contrast the dark themes of their previous seven releases.

The two acts are touring together, and will play NYC's Highline Ballroom on Saturday, April 25th. Tickets are still on sale. We also have TEN pairs of tickets to give away.

Contest details, with all updated tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Handsome Family & Marissa Nadler - updated dates, free tix"

"Marissa Nadler played the last live concert in Sound Fix Lounge on Saturday -- or did she?

Owner James Bradley vowed to keep putting on shows, despite losing his liquor license last month.

"It is my fervent hope and desire to continue the tradition of live music in Williamsburg," said Bradley, who plans to have an event on Record Store Day on April 18, and to host weekly performances.

Sound Fix Lounge, on North 11th Street, just west of Bedford Avenue, had its license expire at the end of February following noise complaints under the former owner.

But Bradley hasn't given up on shows entirely, though he admitted that coaxing patrons to live music would be difficult without alcohol.

"The two seem to go hand-in-hand," he said.
[Brooklyn Paper]

Marissa Nadler also played in a church on Friday.

Video from Marissa's show at Sound Fix, below...

Continue reading "Sound Fix Records hopes to still have live performnances"

photos by Nathan Miller

"The Lutheran Church of the Messiah across from McGolrick Park in Greenpoint is a ghostly, candle lit basement performance state filled with cobwebs and perfect for the gothic folk of Marissa Nadler. Nadler, who is touring in support of her soon-to-be-released Little Hells, a record which finds the Boston based songwriter exploring the sonic textures of her sullen, pastoral folk, played solo on Friday night, ditching her live band for a more intimate performance with just her, her guitar, and the occasional banjo. Friday night's set was a welcome run through of Songs III stands outs like "Sylvia", "Dying Breed" and "Salutations in the Dark", as well as Little Hells highlights "Heart Paper Lover", "Ghosts & Lovers" and "Cobwebs." The especially intimate affair (most of the audience was seated Indian style on the floor) also featured an intensely poignant rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire". Nadler, who switched between a six string Taylor and a twelve string Martin, was in a jovial mood, laughing about how critics had been labeling "Mistress on a Sunny Day", the Little Hells closer, an "uplifting" tune, something that doesn't really exist in Nadler's canon. The warm, rainy night in Greenpoint ended with Marissa doing a version of "Dead Wives Club" on banjo, an appropriate end to a somber evening with the gothic folk princess." [Chocolate Bobka]

Continue reading "Marissa Nadler, MV & EE and Mountainhood @ the Lutheran Church of the Messiah in Greenpoint - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Marissa Nadler - River of Dirt (MP3)

Marissa Nadler in Brest, France, May 17 2008 by Nicolas Ollier

SOUNDFIX SOUND FIX FAQ

Q: What's the price of admission at your in-stores? How can I get tickets?
A: Our in-stores are free to the public and seating is general admission.

Q: Where do the bands play?
A: In the Sound Fix Lounge, behind the record store.

Q: What time should I show up?
A: Please don't call and ask us this. We don't know. Every show is different. Sometimes people show up an hour early to get a good spot, sometimes the place is empty a half hour before showtime. If you really love the band and want a good spot, get here early. That's all we can say.

Q: Is Sound Fix one word or two?
A: Two words! Please do not spell it "Soundfix." It really drives me crazy.

...

Q: Can my band come play at your space?
A: Unlikely. But it can't hurt to ask.

...

Q: Where is Beacon's Closet?
A: A block and a half from the store, down N. 11th St. Please stop asking.

Q: What's the greatest album of all time?
A: Depending on my mood, Neil Young's Tonight's the Night or the Who's Sellout

Marissa Nadler will be the final performer at the Brooklyn venue. It's one day after her show at Greenpoint's Lutheran Church, and a few days before the one she's playing at Joe's Pub.

Some Sound Fix video memories, below...

Continue reading "Marissa Nadler is playing the final Sound Fix instore "

DOWNLOAD: Marissa Nadler - River of Dirt (MP3)

In addition to the previously announced February 27th show at the Lutheran Church in Greenpoint, Marissa Nadler will play her own intimate show at Joe's Pub on March 4th. Tickets are on sale.

Many describe Nadler's songs as having American Gothic leanings; her stories often take place in an imagined, idealistic time with a cast of characters of her own creation. Yet, in recent years, it has emerged that the characters are less make believe than listeners thought and are based on real people, and their real lives. Her links to American Gothic are reinforced by "Annabelle Lee," the last song on her debut album, Ballads of Living and Dying, which puts the poem of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe to a musical backing. Singing in a haunting mezzo-soprano, the foundation of her songs are her delicate acoustic guitar, often accompanied by a variety of instruments, ranging from organ to theremin to electric guitar. [Wiki]

Marissa Nadler's new album Little Hells is out March 3rd on Kemado. MP3 from the album above. A video for the same song, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Marissa Nadler - 2009 tour dates, new Kemado album & MP3"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: MV & EE and the Golden Road - Anyway (MP3)

The New England psych-raga rockers MV+EE and the Golden Road are playing tonight (1/20) at Cake Shop (set at 11pm, $7, 21+), and tomorrow (1/21) at Monster Island Basement with Spectre Folk, Kurt Vile, Pink Reason, and Christian DeRoek of Little Gold (8pm, $7, all ages). After a Jan/Feb tour down the East Coast, MV+EE will then get back to NYC for a February 27 gig at Lutheran Church of the Messiah in Greenpoint with Marissa Nadler and Mountainhood (a.k.a. Michael Curtis Hilde who's hosting the gig as part of his The Story series - this one is Chapter XII: Blisses).

Today, MV+EE and the Golden Road dropped a new duo-and-friends LP/CD, Drone Trailer, this time on San Francisco's Dicristina Stair Builders label. The band, fond of recording and releasing albums, worked with Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label on 2007's Gettin' Gone and last year's Astral Bleachers/Big Moment limited-edition live bootleg. The band's blog also reports that "[MV+EE] got some deep live archives being waxed for heroine celestial agriculture[EE's label] for the jan/feb tour as well as a sweet deluxe C.O.M. - all heads be united." I'm not really sure what that last part means...

Thurston Moore recently gave his Top 10 of 2008 - listing MV Carbon's The Dislodged Parahelion CD at No. 7. MV Carbon, a Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist, is a similarly dubbed, but totally different person than MV+EE's Matt Valentine. All tour dates and a video below...

Continue reading "MV & EE - 2009 tour dates & more album releases "

photos by Chris La Putt

Bon Iver and The Tallest Man on Earth played their first of three NYC shows together last night (10/10). The show was at Town Hall where Thursday's show will also be. Friday is at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The Tallest Man also played a show on Tuesday at Mercury Lounge with Marissa Nadler.

"Kristian Matsson, the Swedish songwriter who bills himself as the Tallest Man on Earth, flaunted every rasp, buzz and crack in his voice. They are the most immediate signs of a musician who draws on the structures of folky songwriting from the 1960s -- the basic chords, the picking and strumming, the chains of verses and refrains without choruses -- but who has no use for the cozy decorum that would define singer-songwriters later on. His model is the visionary Bob Dylan of songs like "When the Ship Comes In," along with Dylan's own models: the craggy bluesmen and back-country singers who never tried to smooth things over." [NY Times]

Continue reading "Bon Iver & the Tallest Man on Earth @ Town Hall, NYC ----- ------------------ (night 1) - pics & setlist"

Lemonade @ LPR (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Stella @ Nokia Theatre
* Diego Garcia @ Living Room
* Friendly Fires & Lemonade @ The Annex
* Friendly Fires @ Virgin Megastore Union Square
* Kid Cudi, Wale & DJ Marc Ronson @ Highline Ballroom
* Beach House & Tickley Feather @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Friendly Foes, Frankpollis & Your Skull My Closet @ The Bell House
* Ting Tings, Duke Spirit, Airborne Toxic Event & Mike Doughty @ Gramercy Theatre
* The Tallest Man On Earth & Marissa Nadler @ Mercury Lounge

Flower Travellin Band is not playing tonight.

Mike Doughty is also playing Maxwell's on New Years Eve.

The Tallest Man on Earth is also playing three other sold out shows this week.

Marissa Nadler blogged about her time at the Brainwaves Festival.

Jakob Dylan was born today in 1969.

Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros, and Tom Waits in... This Week in Music Licensing.

A video for Andrew Bird's "Lull" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

Swedish folk troubadour Kristian Matsson, known better under the moniker The Tallest Man on Earth, will be playing to North American audiences this December alongside genre companion Bon Iver. The tour couples with the November release of Shallow Grave (LP/7 ", 1000 pressed), out on Mexican Summer, the limited edition vinyl and digital only label that launched September of this year.

Shallow Grave will join the initial class of Mexican Summer releases (13 to be exact) which are offered to collectors by way of three subscription options; 4 Months = 5 albums, 8 Months = 9 albums, and 1 Year = 13 albums, all at varying price points. Other artists to receive a limited pressing this year include Black Moth Super Rainbow, Bobby BeauSoleil & The Orkustra, Marissa Nadler and Valet.

Pitchfork gave Shallow Grave an 8.3. Cokemachineglow's review is positive too. A bunch of songs are streaming at MySpace. All dates below...

Continue reading "The Tallest Man on Earth - 2008 Tour Dates (Marissa Nadler, Bon Iver), Mexican Summer releases"

by Black Bubblegum

I used to take took the infamous Chinatown bus from NYC to Boston all the time, but one ride was particularly memorable. I was sitting in the back of a full bus. There were no more seats, but then one more passenger wanted to get on, so the driver told this passenger to wait a minute and proceeded to put a lawn chair for them in the aisle...

Where am I going with this? Well, the Brainwaves Festival taking place at the Regent Theatre in Boston this weekend is a good reason to risk sitting in a lawn chair.

Two years ago, [Brainwashed's Jon] Whitney [that's not him in the picture] took on the role of concert promoter in a big way when he organized Brainwaves, an expansive, three-day festival of Brainwashed-related music and video. True to form, it was a monstrously ambitious undertaking.

"Brainwashed was 10 years old. For 10 years it hadn't really made any sense, so why not do a festival that didn't make sense? You know, we needed a party! And though it was two years in the making, all the work was worth it, since we eventually came up with a great group of musicians." [The Phoenix]

A few of the festival participants have hit or will be hitting NYC this week as well... Silver Apples will be in NYC with Grails (but not Flower Travellin' Band, who postponed), To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie and Boduf Songs play Pianos and the Annex, Meat Beat Manifesto played Bowery Ballroom Wednesday, and Stars Of The Lid   will play a pair of shows at Le Poisson Rouge while they're on this coast.

Psychic TV (sans Christophersen) recently played Europa. The full Brainwaves lineup is below...

Continue reading "2008 Brainwaves Festival (this Fri-Sun in Boston) w/ Peter Christopherson, Matmos, Major Stars, SOTL, more"

In the spirit of the season, I put some tracks up on my myspace of the soon to be rereleased Ballads of Living and Dying (on limited edition vinyl on Mexican summer) which remains to this day my spookiest record to date.

On this blog, I put up two new home recordings. Still I have to eagerly wait to put the tracks from Little Hells out there. The first is called "So long theresa," a song written by a friend of mine, Dave Godowsky. I saw him play it at Toad, this bar in Cambridge, MA, and was blown away by it. In addition to his solo work, he is also Izzy in the riotous Guns and Roses cover band Mr. Brownstone. I love his songs and this recording is still a work in progress. I'm just happy he let me cover it.

The second song I wrote 10 years ago and the recording is still a work in progress as well. It was the first song I liked that I wrote. "August Rose Gently" [Marissa Nadler]

Dave Godowsky performs at Toad again this Sunday, November 2nd. Mr. Brownstone has a show coming up with Satanicide at Irving Plaza on November 28th. Marissa Nadler's last NYC show was during CMJ. Her next two non-NYC shows are listed below...

Continue reading "Marissa Nadler posts new & cover songs for Halloween"

Photos by Zach Dilgard

"I have an upcoming full-length "Little Hells" which is a significant record for me in many ways." [Marissa Nadler]

Continue reading "the Kemado CMJ show @ Music Hall of Williamsburg - pics"

Continue reading "Marissa Nadler - 2008 Tour Dates (tonight, CMJ, Brainwaves)"

Dungen @ (le) poisson rouge (more by Ryan Muir)


So, Dungen's entire last NYC show at (le) poisson rouge was taped for FADER TV. Dungen's next NYC show is the Kemado Records CMJ show case at Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 24th. Marissa Nadler & TK Webb are also on the bill and tickets go on sale at noon

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Earth - The Driver (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Earth - Ouroboros Is Broken (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - LLL (MP3)

Dylan Carlson, of Earth (ricky-oh)

Like a lone gunslinger riding off into the sunset, Dylan Carlson & Earth will bring the cowboy-soundtracky The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull across the badlands of the midwest and east coast. One of those stops, the Knitting Factory on May 6th (on sale now), will feature the dark chanteuse Jesse Sykes with her hand The Sweet Hereafter (mem of Whiskeytown).

How did these two seemingly dissimilar artists end up on the same bill? Southern Lord casts light where there is darkness:

Some of the alumni that gathered for this album [Jesse Sykes's Like, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul] such as Bill Herzog, Steve Moore, Eyvind Kang, and Randall Dunn have strong ties to sunn 0))), Earth and Southern Lord, so although it may seem a strange release amongst our catalog, it really makes perfect sense!

Southern Lord recently sold out of the 180-gram 2LP of Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hearafter's latest Like Love, Lust And The Open Halls of The Soul, but a second pressing is on it's way. All dates below...

Continue reading "Earth, Jesse Sykes, Marissa Nadler - 2008 Tour Dates, MP3s"

For those looking for something mellow to do in NYC tonight (Nov 16, 2007), here is your third reminder that Marissa Nadler is playing at the Whitney Museum. "Free with Museum admission, which is pay-what-you-wish on Fridays, 6-9 pm." Download a new song at GVB. See Marissa's new video at the end of this post.

Also playing the Whitney (but won't be mellow): Dan Deacon, on February 8, 2008. Note: This will be a regular Dan Deacon show - NOT his "ultimate reality" show. What is "Ultimate Reality"? Details, and more tour dates below.....

Continue reading "Dan Deacon, Marissa Nadler, Whitney Museum & Tour Dates"

DOWNLOAD: Marissa Nadler - As I Lay In Death (MP3)

"Marissa Nadler plays Whitney Live Friday November 16th 2007 at 7:00 PM in the Lower Gallery". More details and tour dates below....

Continue reading "Marissa Nadler playing the Whitney & other places"

DOWNLOAD: Angels of Light - Black River Song (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Marissa Nadler - Diamond Heart (MP3)

Marissa Nadler is going on tour, and she has a few NYC shows coming up. One of them is with Michael Gira at the Highline Ballroom on September 14th (Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu was also originally on this bill - not sure what happened to him). In August, Michael will release a new Angels of Light album called We Are Him. I think he'll be playing some of those new songs at the show, but I assume by the billing that he won't actually have a backing band. In the past he has used Akron/Family as his band. They also contributed to the new record, and you can download one of those new songs they played on above.

Marissa doesn't have anything new out, but this is her first official tour since joining the Kemado Records family. Kemado is reissuing/releasing her latest CD in the U.S., and the celebration for that will take place on August 6th @ Sound Fix Records in Brooklyn where she'll play a free show (one of four free in-stores she has scheduled). Her other upcoming NYC show is September 13th @ Union Pool, and her last NYC show was just this past weekend for the Diamond Day Festival. Did anyone catch that? All tour dates below....

Continue reading "MARISSA NADLER - 2007 Tour Dates ++ MICHAEL GIRA & new Angels of Light"

DOWNLOAD: Marissa Nadler feat. Black Hole Infinity - No Surprises (MP3)
(more Radiohead covers)

On the 40th anniversary of the summer of love, Heeb Magazine presents Diamond Days, a four-day celebration of ’60s-inspired psych and prog rock happening July 19-22 in Brooklyn. The indie extravaganza of freak folk and acid punk will showcase nearly 50 bands and benefit the City Reliquary, a Brooklyn-based museum and civic organization dedicated to neighborhood beautification and restoration.

Tickets cost $25 for four-day passes and $10 for single-day passes, and are available online through PayPal and at Sound Fix (110 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn), Other Music (15 E. 4th St., Manhattan) and Rockit Scientist (33 St. Marks Pl., Manhattan).

Continue reading "Diamond Days Festival - July 19-22 in NYC"

Though technically signed to Paperbag Records in Canada, Tokyo Police Club are practically an unsigned band who are young, and doing awesome things like playing Letterman and headlining Bowery Ballroom (tickets on sale) (Maxwell's too), so enquiring minds what to know just WHO they will finally sign with. Will it be a major? Will it not be a major? Word on the street says it will be....Saddle Creek - home of Bright Eyes, The Faint, Cursive, and Maria Taylor (not a major). Maybe, maybe not.

Other people who recently signed on the dotted line
* Marissa Nadler signs to Kemado records (duh)
* Caribou (not Manitoba) signs to Merge

Merge Records is thrilled to announce that we will be releasing Andorra the new album from Caribou on August 21st, 2007. The album will be released in Europe on August 20th (City Slang).

Merge Records is proud to announce that we will be releasing Our Ill Wills, the new album from Swedish pop wunderkinds Shout Out Louds, in September of 2007. The new album, which is a follow up to their extraordinary debut, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, will be in stores on September 11th 2007. Our Ill Wills contains 12 tracks recorded in Sweden during the late fall of 2006. The album was produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn & John.

Toronto-based Arts & Crafts Productions are pleased to announce the signing of Cardiff, Wales septet Los Campesinos! to their North American roster of artists and will release Los Campesinos! enhanced debut EP Sticking Fingers Into Sockets on July 3rd.

Aussie sextet Architecture in Helsinki has signed to the Polyvinyl Record Co. for North America. AIH will release its new single "Heart It Races" on the label on CD, 12" and digital formats on June 5 and its eagerly awaited third full-length album Places Like This on Aug. 7. To make things more interesting, there will be several different remixes and cover versions of "Heart it Races" released as B-sides. The band will be touring the US in June.

Mute Records announces brand new signing Maps, a.k.a. James Chapman. Debut album We Can Create is set for release on Mute North America June 19th, 2007.

----

Stay tuned soon for an upcoming Tokyo Police Club interview by BrooklynVegan Mike where we don't ask them about Saddle Creek, but do ask them other stuff.