by Bill Pearis

Mark Burgess will be bringing ChameleonsVox back to America in November including four shows here in the NYC area: Wednesday, 11/23 for the Wierd party at Home Sweet Home, then Friday, 11/25 at Littlefield, and Saturday, 11/26 at The Delancey with the final show Sunday 11/27 at Maxwell's. All ChameleonsVox tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

For big Chameleons fans, the Wierd party is the one not to miss, as Burgess is performing the Chameleons' 1983 debut, Script of the Bridge, in full. (They'll also do the same earlier in the month at Oakland, CA's The New Parish on 11/16.) Last year that album got a nice double-CD reissue from Blue Apple Music who, next month, will be reissuing it on vinyl. Hopefully Mark will be bringing that on tour with him.

Anyone who saw Burgess on last year's tour knows ChameleonsVox do an amazing job of recreating the mercurial, powerful Chameleons sound, and Burgess still has the pipes and passion that make it more than just a night of remember when. This tour features original Chameleons/Sun & the Moon drummer John Lever as well. The Chameleons remain a big influence on music today: look no further than the Captured Tracks roster or the new Horrors album.

Opener for all shows except the Wierd party are Black Swan Lane. Tyburn Saints are also on the bill at Littlefield, and Revel Hotel are first openers at the Delancey show. All ChameleonsVox tour dates are below, along with video from last year's Burgess/ChameleonsVox performance at The Big Takeover's 30th Anniversary party at the Bell House.

Continue reading "ChameleonsVox schedule tour, playing 4-NYC area shows (one where they'll play 'Script of the Bridge' in full)"

by Bill Pearis

Mark Burgess @ the Bell House

The two-day Big Takeover 30th Anniversary concluded Saturday (7/31) with a performance from Mark Burgess. The former Chameleons front man played Bell House about a year ago, a thrown-together show with an ad-hoc band that hadn't actually practiced together. This time, however, Burgess came prepared and the five piece band ripped through an hour-long set of Chameleons classics. The band kind of floored the Bell House crowd with just how great they were.

Mark Burgess' voice still sounds amazing and he remains a commanding performer, a genuine rock star who knows how to work the stage. The band, which included Frank Deserto of Revel Hotel and Blacklist drummer Glenn Maryansky, had the songs down for the most part and guitarists Andru Aesthetik and Justin Lomery did an amazing job recreating Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding's distinctive guitar interplay. Full setlist below but we got "Swamp Thing," "Up the Down Escalator" (live video below), "Monkeyland," "Soul in Isolation," "In Shreds," "Nostalgia," and a roaring cover of Alternative TV's "Splitting in Two." I sometimes forget what a huge fan of the Chameleons I am but I was in full geek-out mode Saturday night.

If you missed it, Mark Burgess and band is playing again tonight, Wednesday (8/4) at the Wierd party at Home Sweet Home where smoke machines (maybe the one thing missing from the Bell House show) will be in full-effect ($10 at the door, 10pm doors, band at midnight). This line-up also play Baltimore and Philly, and will then hit the West Coast in September. All dates are below.

Continue reading "Mark Burgess played Big Takeover's Anniversary, playing more dates (Home Sweet Home tonight)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Avi Buffalo - What's In It For? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: CFCF - Big Love (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grass Widow - Shadow (MP3)

This weekend is The Big Takeover's 30th Anniversary celebration: two nights of shows at the Bell House put together by Jack Rabid who has been publishing the 'zine since 1980. Jack's one of the most passionate, informed music fans I've ever met and he's put together a pretty stellar line-up of artists, most of which will be familiar to regular BT readers.

Friday night (7/30) is headlined by San Francisco punk legends The Avengers, and Seattle's Visqueen, and the first performance in 16 years by Flower (Ed and James Balyut's pre-Versus band). Plus the L.A. punks Channel 3, the Libertines U.S. (from Cincinnati) playing their first-ever Big Apple show, and Jack Rabid's band Springhouse.

For Against

Saturday night (7/31) is even more action packed. Former Chameleons frontman Mark Burgess headlines, performing acoustic and with a full band; legendary Lincoln, NE post-punk shoegazers For Against, playing their first East Coast show in 15 years; and Springhouse performs again, this time doing their 1993 album Postcards from the Arctic in full. Also: Former Nerves/Beat singer Paul Collins, a rare U.S. appearance by ex-Mutton Birds frontman Don McGlashan, onetime Newtown Neurotics singer Steve Drewitt (first-ever U.S. show), and the Posies' Jon Auer. Also also: The Sharp Things, The Sleepover Disaster (first-ever East Coast shows) and The Curtain Society.

You can still buy two-day passes for $40 as well. (Individual tickets are $25.) If you've never read The Big Takeover, well you should really recitify that. Each phone book sized issue (twice yearly) is packed with in-depth interviews, reviews and essays, the bulk of which is still written by Jack. The magazine's slogan is "Music with Heart" and he means it, man. The 30th Anniversary issue (#66 if you're keeping track) is just out with Spoon on the cover. Like always, it's a great read.

Avi Buffalo

Avi Buffalo play the Seaport Music Festival on Friday, their only New York appearance this go-around. Their self-titled Sub Pop debut is an impressive collection of shimmery, folky guitar pop that has stayed in constant rotation on my stereo since March. Live, Avi Buffalo put a little more muscle into the tunes. Front man Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg is a Doug Martsch in the making. (You get a sense of it on the LP's seven-minute jam "Remember the Last Time.") Dude uses like 15 pedals and is a pretty serious shredder. I thought they were great at South by Southwest. Yes they are barely old enough to buy cigarettes (not that they should be smoking!) but that just means Avi Buffalo haven't even hit their stride -- which is exciting.

Opening is Canadian multi-hyphenate wunderkind (and Sub Pop labelmate) Chad Van Gaalen who hasn't made a new record of his own in two years but has probably stayed busy being an illustrator, animator, and producer of Women. Unlike last Friday, weather looks to be idyllic Friday (sunny, high of 84) -- should be a lovely early evening on the pier.

CFCF

Despite the preponderance of reverbed garage, twee indiepop and '90s era slackerdom in this column, I do listen to a fair amount of dance music though I'm not really a club-goer. One of my favorite albums of 2009 was Continent, the full-length debut from CFCF, aka Vancouver beat-maker Michael Silver. It's an ambitious disc of instrumental, yet highly melodic dance music without even a trace of chillwave. (Though there's definitely some Balearic in there.) It's ridiculously catchy, and you may find yourself singing overtop tracks, making up your own lyrics (Well I do anyway.) Annie, Roisin, Robyn, etc... may I present your new collaborator?

You can download CFCF's great cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Big Love" at the top of this post -- the only vocal track on Continent. Silver, who is also an in-demand remixer (on the new HEALTH album for instance), is in town this weekend for a bunch of DJ gigs. You can hear him spin Friday night (7/30) at Cameo Gallery with Jacques Renault and Lovefingers, and then the PS1 Warm Up on Saturday (8/31), where Animal Collective also DJ, plus live performances from Prince Rama and Blondes.

Grass Widow

If you're going to Prospect Park for Sonic Youth on Saturday, do get there early and catch Grass Widow as it's their only NYC show for now. The San Francisco trio's new album, Past Time, is out August 24 on Kill Rock Stars. It could use a few more choruses but gets by on the band's very distinctive sound. You can download "Shadows" from the new album at the top of this post and watch its lovely animated video at the bottom of this post. Grass Widow are teriffic live -- it will be interesting to see them on such a big stage. If you can't make it, they'll be back in September for two shows (Sept. 27 -28, venues still TBD). All tour dates at the bottom of this post.

---

And some daily picks of things not otherwise covered above:

THURSDAY, JULY 29

The Music Slut has been blogging away for five years and they're celebrating on a boat! Specifically, the Rocks Off Concert Cruise ship and they've put Javelin, Keepaway and I Love Monsters aboard it. Boat leaves at 7pm, don't be late. Happy birthday, guys.

Coco 66 has a night of bliss-out drone, noise, old synthesizers, psychedelic freakouts, and tribal chanting all in celebration of the release of Amen Dunes' new album, Murder Dull Mind, which is out on Sacred Bones. Also playing Gary War, recent Paw Tracks signees Prince Rama (who are at PS 1 Saturday), and Coconuts. Open vodka bar at 9PM till it runs out.

Over at Silent Barn, you can catch locals Sisters whose debut album, Ghost Fits, is out in September on Narnack Records. Also playing: Knight School, Nude Beach, Giant Peach.

Meanwhile at Union Pool, there's CYHSY offshoot Radical Dads, Rope and The New Colossus.

continued below....

Continue reading "The Big Takeover, Avi Buffalo, CFCF, Amen Dunes, Grass Widow, Ducktails & more in This Week in Indie "

by Bill Pearis

One of NYC most esteemed musical institutions, fanzine-gone-legit The Big Takeover turns 30 this year, and is having a two-day birthday party in Brooklyn at the Bell House on July 30-31. Founder and editor Jack Rabid has put together quite a line-up for this 30th Anniversary Festival, including rare NYC performances from Visqueen, For Against (!), a reformed Flower, Chameleons singer Mark Burgess, onetime Mutton Birds frontman Don McGlashan, Libertines U.S. and Jack's own band Springhouse.

Tickets are $25 for individual days (Friday 7/30 and Saturday 7/31)  or you can buy a 2-day pass for $40. Here's the full rundown:

Continue reading "Big Takeover celebrating 30 years @ The Bell House (lineup)"

by Bill Pearis

Former Chameleons frontman Mark Burgess is playing The Bell House in Brooklyn on Monday, August 10 (tickets on sale now) and the Blockly in Philadelphia the next night (tickets on sale too).

The Chameleons (or The Chameleons UK as they were known in the U.S) were among the cultiest of '80s cult bands, musical contemporaries of U2 and Big Country who never achieved their level of success due somewhat to a string of label woes that would fell almost any band. Their influence, however, has far outstripped their sales, and you can hear echos of their sound in such bands as Interpol, Editors, Blacklist and The Horrors. Their 1983 debut album, Script of the Bridge is post-punk classic, equal parts angsty roar and ethereal guitar interplay. Their other two '80s albums are pretty great too, especially 1986's Strange Times which contains what might be their best-ever song, "Swamp Thing." The band broke up shortly after that.

The original line-up (Burgess, drummer John Lever and guitarists Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies) reformed in 2001 after a decade apart, releasing a new album, Why Call it Anything?, in 2002 and toured America, including mindblowing shows at Knitting Factory and Southpaw that were a dream come true for many fans, me included. The band split again in 2003, and Burgess for a while revived his post-Chameleons band, The Sun & the Moon, but has since adopted the moniker ChameleonsVox when he plays live.

As for these American shows, it's interesting how they came about. Originally Burgess was coming to the U.S. only for a personal visit:

Continue reading "Mark Burgess (The Chameleons) played Boston, playing Brooklyn & Philly (dates, tix, video & stuff) "