Kaia Wilson & Jennifer O'Connor

Move over Palomar, it's singer-songwriter Jennifer O'Connor's turn to start bringing special guests like Charles Bissell to special residency shows at new Brooklyn venue the Rock Shop. Jennifer writes...

"I am going to be hosting and performing in a monthly songwriter's series called Tower of Song that will take place on the second Tuesday of every month in 2011.

Each month I will invite three other songwriter's to join me and we will get together at the Rock Shop and each play a handful of songs and talk about our songwriting processes a little bit and collaborate and maybe play a cover or two. I think it's going to make for a really interesting night of music, especially for those interested in the "song" as an art form and maybe learning about how different folks write. I, for one, am totally excited to see what comes from it."

The first "Tower of Song" show takes place this Tuesday, January 11th, with Chris Brokaw (Come, The New Year), Amy Bezunartea (Clint Michigan), and Tim Foljahn (Two Dollar Guitar, Cat Power) (tickets are on sale). February 8th's show will feature Charles Bissell (The Wrens), Kendall Meade (Mascott), and Richard Baluyut (Versus) (tickets are on sale).

Jennifer, as she explained above, will also be playing at each show. She is also working a new record which she hopes to "have out some time later this year." Flyers, and a video of Jennifer covering "Waterfalls" with Clint Assay, Andrew Singer and Amy Bezbelow at Joe's Pub on December 15th, below...

Continue reading "Jennifer O'Connor starting a monthly series @ the Rock Shop"

Bill Goffrier, self-portrait

Bill Goffrier is playing The Rock Shop tonight, August 26th, with Doug Gillard and The Norfolk Downs. Bill Goffrier is the singer of Big Dipper, who split up in 1992, two years after the release of their fourth full length album Slam. He also played guitar in The Embarrassment prior to forming Big Dipper. Big Dipper reformed in 2008 and signed to Merge Records who compiled a 3-disc anthology of their work titled Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology and released it the same year. Since that release, Big Dipper recorded a new song titled Princess Warrior and posted it on their myspace in April 2009.

This past April (2010), Goffrier played a solo show in Lawrence, KS performing a mix of old Big Dipper and The Embarrassment songs, plus some new material. He told Lawrence Journal-World, "I've been writing a lot of songs for Big Dipper because we're working on a new CD. But we have three pretty prolific songwriters, so there's a lot of material to pick and choose from. Sometimes I'll say about a song I've got, 'This would be good for Big Dipper, but this one, clearly not.'" He also claims to have an existing offer to release a solo album. Videos from the Lawrence, KS show are below.

Tonight's show at The Rock Shop also features Doug Gillard and The Norfolk Downs. Doug Gillard, as we've pointed out numerous times, was a guitarist in Guided By Voices but is not part of the currently reunited "classic lineup." He also played in Death of Samantha, Gem, Cobra Verde, and various other bands. The Norfolk Downs are an acoustic duo featuring Dave Derby of Dambuilders, Brilliantine, and Gramercy Arms, and Kendall Meade of Mascott, Juicy, and Gramercy Arms.

Bill doesn't have any other shows scheduled that we know of. Those videos below..

Continue reading "Bill Goffrier played Kansas (videos), playing Brooklyn w/ Gillard & Derby (tonight) --- Big Dipper working on new album"

Field Music didn't make it, but there was a special reunion set by Pulsars, followed by the super duper Wye Oak who played before special guest Rumours last night at The Bell House in Brooklyn (12/3).

As advertised (at the last minute anyway), Rumours was a Fleetwood Mac cover band. Cover song experts Loser's Lounge made up the band and a rotating cast of singers came to the stage to play individual tunes. Those vocalists included Dave Hill dueting with Erika from Au Revoir Simone, Will Sheff dueting with Beth Wawerna, Matthew Caws, Britta, Sharon Van Etten, Wye Oak, and many more. The show was in honor of Bell House booker Skippy. Well, it was his birthday party, and he even came out to help perform "I Don't Wanna Know" with Mia Riddle. The full setlist (which did not include AC Newman or Eugene Mirman - both must be out of town) with a couple of videos below...

Continue reading "Rumours (indie all-star Fleetwood Mac band) played the Bell House w/ Wye Oak & Pulsars - video & setlist"

Liberty Fest Parade '09 (vphotorob)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Fireworks.
* Peelander-Z @ Union Docs
* The Feelies @ Maxwell's
* I'm in You, Sonoi, Swamp Sex Robots @ Bruar Falls
* Rooftop Films w/ Bachelorette @ Chelsea Art Museum
* Mixtape, Pet Ghost Project, El Jezel, Quiet Loudly @ Cake Shop
* Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band, Jenny Lewis @ Battery Park
* Japanther, NinjaSonik, Ghost Mall, Muhammid Ali @ Lit Fuse Cyclery
* Fresh & Onlys, Brilliant Colors, Pink Reason, Babies @ Market Hotel
* Afro-Punk Festival w/ Whole Wheat Bread, Pure Hell, Game Rebellion, American Fangs, The Objex, Funk Face, oOohh Baby Gimme, Jesse Nobody @ BAM
* Woodsist/Captured Tracks Fest w/ Thee Oh Sees, Vivian Girls, Kurt Vile, Woods, The Fresh & Onlys, Brilliant Colors, Ganglians, The Great Excape, The Beets, more @ 979 Broadway Backyard
* Miracles of Modern Science, Dinowalrus, Ex-Humans, Alana Amram and the Rough Gems, more @ Union Pool

We already did a round-up of most of today's events. There's also dancing and lots more in This Week In Indie.

Today, the Whitney is only $4. It's a great chance to catch the Dan Graham retrospective, which kicked off on June 26th with an acoustic Feelies set. Tonight is the last of three Feelies Maxwell's shows.

Mascott's video for "4th of July" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday? (4th of July)"

DOWNLOAD: Yo La Tengo - Periodically Double Or Triple (MP3)

We have an old saying at Matador HQ, "the only thing predictable about Yo La Tengo albums is their high level of excellence and crazy amount of musical ground covered". Trouble is, even if you believe we really have an old saying that unwieldly, it doesn't really do justice in this instance. The new Yo La Tengo CD/2XLP/digital album 'Popular Songs" (OLE 856-1,2) could be the bravest musical statement to date in a career full of 'em. Recorded in Hoboken and Nashville in early 2009 with longtime associate Roger Mountenot, 'Popular Songs' finds the trio of Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan and James McNew at the height of their creative powers, fashioning an epic work that's cooly confident as it is wildly adventurous.

Yo La Tengo have one NYC show coming up. Ira Kaplan's sometimes-band The A-Bones have three. James McNew's band Dump has two - one with Oneida, and one August 22nd at Union Hall with Choo Choo La Rouge, Clint Michigan, and Jennifer O'Connor. That Brooklyn show is a Kiam Records release party. Kiam Records is Jennifer's label and she's released a bunch of 7" splits...

"Our split 7" single is finished and on sale now, alone or as part of a five record subscription series from KIAM Records, featuring collaborations between Jennifer O'Connor and guest artists. We join Jennifer on the A side for "Little Airplane Heart," and we each contribute a song to the flip: "Mostly Air" from our forthcoming album, and "Watching You Go" from Jennifer.

The artists collaborating with Jennifer on the rest of the series are Dump, Jesse Sykes, Mascott, and the Hotel Lights." [Choo Choo La Rouge]

Clint Michigan will be one of her future releases.

New Yo La Tengo song above. Some clips of YLT playing at last week's Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, below...

Continue reading "Yo La Tengo releasing new album 'Popular Songs' (MP3), Dump (James McNew) playing NYC w/ Choo Choo La Rouge "

Indie rock nostalgia continues this summer at South Street Seaport. The band Versus have been added to the free show schedule that already includes Polvo and Superchunk (who Versus are opening for on July 17th). Superchunk and Versus are also playing the XX Merge Festival in July. And...

"Versus still continued to tour occasionally but began a recording hiatus in 2001 after it broke up for a short period and Richard Baluyut relocated to San Francisco. The members afterwards moved on to other bands - James Baluyut and Patrick Ramos formed +/-, Fontaine Toups formed The Fontaine Toups and Richard Baluyut converted his solo acoustic project Whysall Lane into a full band. [Wikipedia]

...Plus/Minus are playing Mercury Lounge on June 18th. Versus are opening for them! Mascott and Gramercy Arms, who Mascott also plays with, are both also on the bill. Tickets are on sale.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Versus playing Seaport & Mercury Lounge with Plus/Minus"

Doug Gillard playing with Yo La Tengo (more by Natasha Ryan)

Doug Gillard kicks off his previously-announced, month-long residency at Pianos in NYC tonight (1/7). Here's who else is on the bills:

Jan 7 - Regal Standard (Jason Narducy & Larry Schroeder acoustic) & Graham Smith (Kleenex Girl Wonder)
Jan 14 - Gramercy Arms & Abigail Warchild
Jan 21 - Unsacred Hearts & Arrows (Russ Fink)
Jan 28 - Mascott (Kendall Meade) & The Octagon

This is not the first time recently that Gramercy Arms & Mascott shared a post.

Graham Smith's band Gates of Heaven are playing Cake Shop on January 9th, Glasslands on January 27th, and Monkeytown on April 28th with Bowerbirds.

Doug Gillard's only other upcoming show is February 8th when he and band open for The Black Keys at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ.

More pictures of Doug playing a recent Hanukkah show with YLT, HERE.

DOWNLOAD: Jennifer O'Connor - Here with Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jennifer O'Connor - Valley Road '86 (MP3)

I'm doing pretty good with my guesses so far. Still no Titus Andronicus, but Britt Daniel and Janet Weiss were there on night one, and Jon Benjamin (comedy) and Jennifer O'Connor (music) opened last night, Christmas Eve, December 24th, the fourth night of Hanukkah (there goes the theory that they don't repeat an opener) (btw, good job Anonymous | December 22, 2008 5:58 PM at predicting night three's special guest Yoni Wolf). Pictures of the show are coming soon. There were no other special guests.

That was Christmas Eve and today is Christmas, so what better time to mention the great new Christmas album called Peace on Earth : Vol. II. The charity holiday album features tracks by Jennifer O'Connor, Anathallo, Pattern is Movement, Marla Hansen, Oxford Collapse, Jason Collett, American Analog Set, and many others. Check it out. Jennifer's song is "Deck the Halls". You can hear it at her MySpace.

Jennifer's next NYC show is at Southpaw on February 14th with Mascott. Tickets are on sale. All dates below...

Continue reading "Jennifer O'Connor - opened YLT night 4, sings on Peace On Earth Christmas album, touring in 2009 (dates)"

photos by Kurt Christensen

The Delta Spirit / Nada Surf tour hit Bowery Ballroom in NYC on Saturday night (12/6). Nada Surf's friends Gramercy Arms also joined the bill as first-of-third opener for that night of the tour only. Gramercy Arms was in turn joined on stage by Mascott, was sang her/their part on the new Christmas song she/they contributed to, and Renée Lobue of Elk City, who sang for three songs.

"ray ketchem from elk city was also there, and was nearly thrown out on the cold street by a rogue security dude for attempting to film us with his flip camera. being the smart man that he is, ray got off clean" [mascott]

Nada Surf's Matthew Caws made his presence known throughout the whole night, joining both Delta Spirit and Gramercy Arms on stage. For Gramercy Arms, Matthew sang his part of "Nothing I Can Do", the song he contributes to on their new album. No Sarah Silverman though. More about Gramercy Arms, MP3s included, HERE.

Martin Wenk of Calexico was also in the house and played with Delta Spirit and Nada Surf. Of Nada's set, Talia says...

The show was not as long as the last one I attended in Williamsburg, but bassist Daniel Lorca gave his usual mind boggling performance of chain smoking while playing flawless bass and singing backup vocals! Lead singer, Matthew Caws sweated clear through his shirt by the second song, and proved to us all that the band was indeed glad to be back home in NY to end their tour.

I didn't keep track of the setlist, nor was I able to find one online but I do recall the following songs being played (in no particular order):

Always Love, Blonde on Blonde, Do it Again, Your Legs Grow, See These Bones, Whose Authority, Beautiful Beat, I like What You Say, Ice on the Wing, Inside of Love, Fruit Fly, Neither Heaven Nor Space, Blankest Year

Delta and Nada also played Webster hall on Sunday. More Bowery Ballroom pictures below..

Continue reading "Nada Surf, Delta Spirit & Gramercy Arms @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Gramercy Arms & Mascott - This Christmastime (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gramercy Arms - Looking at the Sun (w/ Sarah Silverman) (MP3)

Gramercy Arms is an ever (r)evolving collective band project of New York-based artists.

On [their new self-titled] record, Gramercy Arms comprises members of Guided By Voices, Luna, Joan as Police Woman, Dead Air and The Dambuilders, along with comic Sarah Silverman, [The] album is a summery blast of gorgeous power pop, heartfelt tales of love and loss and the city they call their home...

You can ownload the track Sarah Silverman contributed to, "Looking at the Sun", above along with a new Christmas song Gramercy Arms recorded with Mascott (which you may have heard on on the TV show Grey's Anatomy).

Gramercy Arms open for Nada Surf and Delta Spirit at tonight/Friday's sold out show at Bowery Ballroom. They also have a couple of shows scheduled in February with Marykate O'Neil, who is opening for Nada Surf this Monday at Maxwell's (also sold out). All dates below...

Continue reading "Gramercy Arms = NY Supergroup (Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Joan Wasser, SARAH SILVERMAN?...) - shows & MP3s"

today in NYC
* FREE STUFF
* DANCE STUFF
* Takka Takka @ Union Hall
* Keith Murray @ Knitting Factory
* Murphy's Law @ Knitting Factory
* The Homosexuals @ Death By Audio
* Nat Baldwin & Angel Deradoorian @ Issue Project Room (Angel cancelled)
* Prefuse 73, Antipop Consortium & Catchdubs @ Hiro Ballroom

Mascott is opening for Takka Takka tonight. Mascott is Kendall Jane Meade from Juicy. She plays a song called "Fourth of July". Watch (the timely) video of it below.

Angel Deradoorian is in Dirty Projectors (but she isn't playing tonight).

Sonic Youth & The Feelies: tomorrow

Ronnie Spector plays McCarren Pool on Sunday: SET TIMES.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"