by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Zaza - Distance Creator (MP3)

As I just mentioned, Zaza are playing Coco66 tonight (6/16) as part of the Northside Festival. And after what seemed like an awfully long time, the band has also finally birthed their debut album, Sacred Geometry, which came out last week. (Digital only for now.) It's sleek and slinky, dark and danceable... a great late night summertime album. If I had a car, I bet it would make for great nightdriving music as well. Check out "Distance Creator" at the top of this post and you can stream the whole shebang below.

The band are good live too, with a cool light show that should benefit greatly from Coco66's in-house smoke machines. If you have other plans tonight, Zaza play next at Littlefield on June 24 with Martin Bisi and Quiet Lights.

Continue reading "Zaza released 'Sacred Geometry' --- album stream & dates"

Real Estate @ Webster Hall in October (more by Amanda Hatfield)

today in NYC
* Andy Warhol @ MoMA
* Erik Sanko @ The Stone
* The Eeries @ Party Expo
* The Just Ornette Quartet @ The Stone
* Jimmy Gnecco, Zoe Gnecco @ Maxwell's
* Vaura, Castevet, Mirrorgate @ Union Pool
* Real Estate, Big Troubles @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Drew & The Medicinal Pen, Fab Fur @ Glasslands
* Darlene Love Christmas show @ B.B. King Blues Club
* Stephane Wrembel Presents The Django Experiment @ Barbes
* Tijuana Panthers, Field Mouse, Big Soda, Data Dog @ Bruar Falls
* Social Hero, Apollo Run, Blackbells, The Courtesy Tier @ Pianos
* Martin Bisi, Bill Laswell, Talibam, Coyote Eyes, SU @ Knitting Factory
* Madball, Bitter End, Lionheart, Incendiary @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Pure Horsehair, Wooley Sawyer Yeh Trio, Susan Alcorn, Eubanks Trio @ Zebulon

Tonight's Real Estate show is free and the first of three upcoming dates for the band.

Tonight's Martin Bisi show will be streaming online.

TONIGHT AT GLASSLANDS

Sunday, December 19 // 7pm // $7 // FREE VODKA 7-8pm
FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST! A Holiday Craft Fair & Music-Video Night
Egg Nog!!
Tables of Craftacular last-minute stocking stuffers from local artists

Live Entertainment by:
Mixel Pixel (DVD Screening)
Ava K. Lamb (video / performance)
Drew & the Medicinal Pen (Music-Film set)
**hiChristina!**
Dan Meth
Natalie Elizabeth Weiss (presents the music of Camp Wanatachi)
Fake Shapes (Live Installation)
MC Matty K
Sarah the human X-mas tree!

--

New High Highs video for "Open Season" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

JEFF the Brotherhood @ Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Chris La Putt)

today in NYC
* Matuto @ Barbes
* Gato Loco @ Barbes
* Busy P @ Hiro Ballroom
* Styx @ Beacon Theatre
* The Misfits @ Irving Plaza
* Deadmau5 @ Roseland Ballroom
* Mudd Club reunion @ the Delancey
* Drop The Lime @ Public Assembly
* Lucy Wainwright Roche @ City Winery
* Petty Fest 2010 @ Bowery Ballroom
* The Zeroes, The Waldos @ Bowery Electric
* Titus Andronicus & the So So Glos @ Matchless
* The Strange Boys, Natural Child @ Knitting Factory
* Diehard, Gross Relations, MiniBoone @ Shea Stadium
* Josh Abrahms, C. Spencer Yeh @ Issue Project Room
* Michael Franti & Spearhead, Bobby Long @ Terminal 5
* Fabulous Diamonds, Pigeons, Electroputas @ Union Pool
* Atlantic/Pacific, Brian Bonz, Frontier(s) @ The Bell House
* K-OS, Shadrach Kabango, Astronautalis @ Highline Ballroom
* Oh No Oh My, Boats, Estranged Estates, Street Chant @ Pianos
* Bebe Fang, Eklin, Future Shuttle, Family Portrait @ Glasslands
* Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields DJing @ Other Music
* Little Racer, Nite Flights, Fan-Tan, The Royal Chains @ Cameo Gallery
* Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, Poirier, Toddla T, Serocee @ Santos Party House
* Mother Hips, Sean Walsh & The National Reserve, High Irons @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Wild Nothing, Baths, Julianna Barwick @ Eisner & Lubin Auditorium (NYU Kimmel)
* JEFF The Brotherhood, Ninjasonik, Liquor Store, ELKS @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Shellshag, Hartwell Littlejohn & War Party, Dirty Excuse, Nuclear Santa Claus @ Bruar Falls

Petty Fest features The Cabin Down Below Band with Special Guests: Adam Green, Norah Jones, Will Forte & Jason Sudeikis of Saturday Night Live, Nicole Atkins, Nikolai Fraiture of the Strokes, Catherine Pierce, Jesse Malin, Tyson Ritter of the All American Rejects, Reeve & Zane Carney, Jody Porter of Fountains Of Wayne, Sammy James of the Mooney Suzuki, Steve Schiltz of Hurricane Bells & Longwave, Antony Ellis of Five O'Clock Heroes, Mikki James, Hymns and more at Bowery Ballroom.

TONIGHT @ OTHER MUSIC

ALL OUR FRIENDS ARE IN NEW YORK: EXHIBITION OF STEPHIN MERRITT/THE MAGNETIC FIELDS-RELATED HISTORY, IMAGES AND EPHEMERA
An exhibition in conjunction with the theatrical release of the documentary film Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, featuring photographs by Gail O'Hara, Emma Straub for M+E and TMF's guitarist-banjoist John Woo, among others. All Magnetic Fields-related items will be on sale.

OPENING RECEPTION: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 5-7PM
SPECIAL GUEST DJ: STEPHIN MERRITT
OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street NYC

---

Celebrate Ninja Tune tonight at Santos Party House.

The Zeroes play Bowery Electric tonight with the Waldos. They play Maxwell's tomorrow with JEFF the Brotherhood who headline Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight.

GWAR is on Jimmy Fallon tonight. Gary Wilson and School of Seven Bells were on last night.

The Strange Boys/Natural Child show at Knitting Factory tonight is one of the free Scion ones.

Did you see the double rainbow yesterday? Martin Bisi and others did. Videos below...

In case you missed it, Devo cancelled their whole tour.

So did Cornershop, and Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles.

Bruce Springsteen talks about "The Promise" in a video below...

Weezer's new video for "Memories", below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

Already in 2010 Marissa Nadler has collaborated with black metal man Xasthur and put a song out on an Amnesty International benefit CD. She has a new full-length in the works, and now she has a pair of NYC shows coming up.

The first of those is on June 16th at Knitting Factory with Natureboy, Monogold, Villagers, Rey Villalobos and DJ Victoria Bergsman of Taken By Tress. Tickets are on sale.

One of the opening bands there is Villagers, the newly signed Domino band from Ireland who have two other shows in NYC scheduled, including one the next night at Union Hall.

Another of the openers is Natureboy, lush Brooklyn songwriter Sara Kermanshahi and her band. Her self-titled debut has found a home on the UK's Own Records (who is currently streaming the whole thing on Bandcamp) where it's due to ship on July 7th. The album was self-released in the US (where it came out in April).

The other Marissa Nadler show comes July 2nd at Union Pool with Humanwine and Martin Bisi. Tickets are on sale.

A Marissa video and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Marissa Nadler, Villagers & Natureboy playing a show/shows"

photos by Lori Baily

Martin Bisi and Larkin Grimm played Mercury Lounge on January 24th. Lori got some pictures. They're in this post. They both also shared a bill at the Knitting Facory about three week's prior (at the end of December).

Martin Bisi's next show is tonight (2/1) at Small Beast, a weekly show hosted by Paul Wallfisch, Mondays at The Delancey. Upcoming acts on Small Beast's diverse schedule include kitchen-sink punk Bad Credit No Credit, cabaret singer Little Annie, and punk jazz group Gutbucket. The full schedule for that and more pictures are below...

Continue reading "Larkin Grimm & Martin Bisi pics, Small Beast schedule..."

photos by Lori Baily

DOWNLOAD: Martin Bisi - Mile High- Apple Of My Eye (w/ Bill Laswell on bass) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Martin Bisi - Drink Your Wine, (w/ Bob D'Amico drummer Fiery Furnaces)

Martin Bisi @ Knitting Factory

Martin Bisi played the first half-hour of his set as a suite, segueing from one part to another by frantically laying down one searing loop of guitar feedback on top of another. This time Bisi's band had lead guitar, bass, drums and a caped crusader wailing frantically on what sounded like a little Casio running through a million noisy effects, sharing the stage with a woman whose graceful miming quickly became the show's focal point. In a strange twist of fate, Bisi, like Visconti, is best known for producing great albums for famous bands (Sonic Youth, Herbie Hancock, the Dresden Dolls, ad infinitum), but ultimately it's his songwriting which is his strongest suit. This evening's numbers had a distinctly early 80s, East Village feel, sort of Nick Cave as covered by Blue Oyster Cult, ornate and haunting but also with a sense of humor that ran from cynicism to unaffected amusement. About halfway into his suite he ran through the mythology-based Sirens of the Apocalypse (title track of his excellent 2008 album), barrelling through the lyrics without a pause to take a breath. A more recent track, Drink Your Wine came off with an irresistible sarcasm, a word of warning to a lightweight; a dedication to his daughter, far from being mawkish, was a dark garage rocker evocative of the Libertines but tighter. They finally closed their set with a big riff-rock anthem that threatened to burst into flame after it had finally gone out, but it didn't. The audience wanted more but didn't get it. [Lucid Culture]

That review comes from the December 27th show at Knitting Factory where Martin shared the bill with Larkin Grimm who had Tony Visconti on bass. Extra Life and HUMANWINE also played the show

Larkin and Martin again share a bill this Sunday (1/24) at Mercury Lounge. Susu and Snowbaby are both also on the bill. Brian Viglione of the Dresden Dolls will be playing drums for Martin at the show. Bob D'Amico plays drums for Martin on one of the two free tracks above. More pictures from Knitting Factory below...

Continue reading "Martin Bisi & Larkin Grimm played Knitting Factory w/ Extra Life & HUMANWINE (pics), playing Merc w/ Brian Viglione"

DOWNLOAD: Fiery Furnaces - The End is Near (MP3)

The Fiery Furnaces @ Middle East Downstairs (6/12/09) (gikthechamp)

"Eleanor kept mentioning how most of the new songs were about ex-boyfriends, and at one point was almost apologizing for that fact, joking that they were now out of ideas. She shouldn't be so concerned. I love the more obscure and whimsical topics that have come up in past Furnaces releases, but I welcome this more straightforward, emotionally driven material. They've done it before, but it's never been as bittersweet as this, nor as neat and soulful. It was time to shift gears, and they made exactly the right decision -- their melodic sensibility is front and center, the preciousness is dialed down considerably." [Fluxblog]

Fluxblog's review refers to the June 11th show at Le Poisson Rouge where the Fiery Furnaces played a complete and re-arranged version of their new album I'm Going Away (out July 21 on Thrill Jockey). Setlist below. New studio-recorded track from that album, above.

Three days later, Matt's other band King's Crescent played a Martin Bisi-curated Northside Festival show at Spike Hill. Lucid Culture writes that they "flipped the script and played a joyous, virtuosic, completely in-the-pocket set of vintage Meters covers."

On August 9th, the Fiery Furnaces will join Simian Mobile Disco (who are playing DJ) on the bill of the free JellyNYC Pool Party at the Williamsburg Waterfront. Finger on the Pulse are also DJing at this one. All FF dates below...

Continue reading "Fiery Furnaces played LPR, King's Crescent played Spike Hill, FF playing Pool Party w/ Simian Mobile Disco ++ new MP3"

Fiery Furnaces @ Barack Rock (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The Fiery Furnaces play (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight (June 11th) with Newspeak. That ensemble will debut a piece by the Furnaces' Matthew Friedberger titled "U.S. Cold Storage Pleads Its Case To The NLRB" (slightly different than originally reported). Tickets are still on sale.

At the show, The Fiery Furnaces will play "among other things, a version, complete and re-arranged, of their not-yet released album, I'm Going Away," performed 'in the round.' I'm Going Away will be showcasd at the band's other tour dates, below, as well. That record comes out July 21st on Thrill Jockey.

On Sunday, June 14th, Matthew Friedberger and Fiery Furnaces drummer Bob D'Amico will perform with King's Crescent at a Northside Festival show at Spike Hill. The lineup for that gig, curated by Martin Bisi, also includes SUSU, Kerry Kennedy, Alina Simone and Bisi himself.

On King's Crescent, Amico wrote in March...

i have another sorta-new band with my good friends jeff steinhauser on guitar, jeff martini on bass/vox, matt friedberger on organ and me on drums. the band is called Kings Crescent. right now we're playing mostly the music of our funk heroes from New Orleans- The Meters. we will expand our repotoire a bit and incorporate some of our other soul/funk heroes as well....and some Minutemen jams played in the vein of those heroes.

A live video of the Furnaces playing "Single Again" off their 2005 EP, with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Matt Friedberger plays in King's Crescent (Northside show) ++ Fiery Furnaces show details (tonight & other dates) "

Photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Last night (October 7) 6 musicians and 6 comedians came together to raise money for Democrtaic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The not-so-packed, but sold out event went on over the course of 5 and a half hours, ending with a set by Andrew Bird who thought this was the greatest afterparty he could imagine. The $40 event was highlighted by an appearance by not-so-secret-guests Franz Ferdindand (who play the same venue again tonight)

"Thanks for letting a bunch of Limeys like us play your rally," said Scot and Greenpoint resident Alex Kapranos. "We only hope you'll invite us back for your victory party." It was a fun night in support of who many of us hope will be the next President of the United States. [Sound Bites]

Other highlights were Eugene Mirman's RNC video coverage, a Les Savy Fav (another not-so-secret guust) patriotic song sing-a-long, and a set by the Fiery Furnaces.

Fiery Furnaces may have played all new songs, I didn't recognize an of them at least. Once again, they've reinvented themselves since last seeing them at MHOW last December. They're now organ-heavy, early '70s funk. I still marvel at Elanor's ability to memorize Fiery Furnaces insanely-verbose lyrics. [Sound Bites]

Each band played 3-5 songs and each comedian joked for about 15 minutes. Downstairs was Obama headquarters where live video of the debate was viewable.

More pictures below...

Continue reading "Barack Rock (Franz Ferdinand, Les Savy Fav, Fiery Furnaces, Andrew Bird, etc) @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, NYC - pics"

Andrew Bird / Eugene Mirman / The Fiery Furnaces / Kumail Nanjiani / Alina Simone / Heather Lawless / Guster / Lizz Winstead / Martin Bisi / John Roberts / Adira Amram / Special Secret Musical Guests -- (Not appearing in order)
ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN!

Tue 10/7, on sale 9/27 12:00 pm, 18+
Doors 6:30 pm / Show 7:30 pm
$40 advance / $40 day of show
@ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

This show happens while Andrew Bird is in town to play two shows at Hiro Ballroom.