Twin Sister at McCarren Park last month (more by Andrew St. Clair)

The live variety show Radio Happy Hour is returning to Le Poisson Rouge tonight, Friday (8/12) with a number of special guests, including Twin Sister, Mike Doughty, Matt Pond PA, Franz Nicolay, Max Silvestri, Gabe Liedman, Dave Hill, and others. The lineup is huge, possibly because this one is being billed as the "Final Episode". Tickets for the show are on sale.

Dave Hill is also hosting Speed Metal Dating, a night of heavy metal/hard rock and speed dating on August 19 at Black Rabbit Bar in Brooklyn. Check out a flier for the event below. You can also catch Dave on August 27th at the Rock Shop along with Ted Leo and Doug Gillard.

Twin Sister recently announced a tour that includes a show happening at Mercury Lounge on September 29. Tickets for that show are still on sale (and stay tuned for a possible announcement that they'll also be opening for Pains at Bowery Ballroom??).

Updated Twin Sister dates and the Speed Metal Dating flier below...

Continue reading "Radio Happy Hour tonight w/ "buttloads of guests" (including Twin Sister), Heavy Metal Speed Dating with Dave Hill"

Matt Pond PA and Rocky Votolato are currently on a tour which stops by NYC this Saturday (3/19) at Bowery Ballroom after hitting The Loft in Poughkeepsie, NY a day earlier. Matt Pond told Austinist that he's finishing up the recording of his new EP Spring Fool due out this spring.

The Wooden Birds, American Analog Set frontman Andrew Kenny's project which Matt Pond has contributed to, are releasing their second full length Two Matchsticks on June 7 via Barsuk.

"Kenny wrote every song on Two Matchsticks and played every instrument, recorded it in a converted bedroom at home, and mixed at Austin's Resonate Studio with producer Louie Lino (Nada Surf). The album also features special guests Ben Gibbard, members of Ola Podrida, and Wooden Birds touring members Matt Pond and Leslie Sisson, who, in addition to backing vocals, takes a solo turn in a song custom penned by Kenny."

Continue reading "Matt Pond PA & Rocky Votolato on tour, Wooden Birds at SXSW & releasing a new album"

DOWNLOAD: Matt Pond PA - Amazing Life (MP3)

Mister P. and his party have taken themselves captive to become the their own producers, manufacturers, and distributors. It was a deferential revolt against inertia, a clearing of the throat to answer the quiet. Or maybe it was an inevitable reaction to seeing Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

In adherence to their demands, these songs were recorded in a cabin in Bearsville, NY, as a simple sonic manifestation of their opinions concerning the arguable value of a waterlogged paperback.

A Free EP prospectively titled: The Dawn before the Dark Leaves or Water off a Black Dog's Back or Amazing Life or Butterfly Mornings and Wildflower Afternoons or May we never go go mental, may we always stay stay gentle or The Fear of not Being Afraid or The Warmth Within the Warren or Dreaming of Sleeping or Saying It to Keep It From Happening or This is not the Dark Leaves or Living for Liv Ullman or The Odds of a Sunrise or Whispering Pines or You'll be the Rhythm and I'll be the Beat and I'll be the Rhythm and You'll be the Beat or The Grass Harp or Goodbye Barcelona or Why is my copy of the Moviegoer Floating in a Puddle Beside the Car.

Or simply, The Freeep.

DOWNLOAD: My Brightest Diamond: Tainted Love (Soft Cell/Gloria Jones cover) (MP3)

My Brightest Diamond is playing a show with Clare & the Reasons at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on December 13th. Tickets are on sale. In other MBD news,

[the new album] Guilt By Association Vol 2 was conceptualized and produced by [former BV contributor] Wesley Verhoeve and lends towards danceable covers of some of the artists favorite pop songs. "We wanted to take what was done on Volume 1 and pour it into a cohesive framework. We're big fans of pop music, but also of indie music and in that sense there's nothing ironic about this project. Together with the artists we picked pop songs they loved that might sometimes be painted as guilty pleasures by some (but not us), and then attempted to shine a light on them in a way that exposes what is so awesome about these songs," says Wes.

The Forms's cover of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire' or My Brightest Diamond's take on 'Tainted Love', are transformed into a slamming modern indie dance party track that fits right into today's' Brooklyn scene. Others like Matt Pond PA's version of My Chemical Romance' "I'm Not Okay" provide us with a quick mellow moment of melancholy.

Continue reading "My Brightest Diamond - 2008 Tour Dates, a new covers comp w/ The Forms, Takka, Matt Pond, Frightened Rabbit, more (MP3, stream)"

In the shadow of the famous and brooding Kentile Floors sign in the burgeoning and classic neighborhood of Gowanus, The Bell House, a gorgeous new and unique music venue and lounge, will open its doors on September 18 at 6pm with free admission to the public. The Bell House is a magnificent two-room music and events venue located at 149 7th Street between 2nd & 3rd Avenues. It was crafted out of an old 1920's warehouse once used as a printing press, but more recently used as a fly-by-night shipping company.

Conceived and created by the friends behind Union Hall (Park Slope) and Floyd (Brooklyn Heights), The Bell House are thrilled to be pioneers of sorts adding a prominent performance space to Brownstone Brooklyn. The main space boasts 25 foot wooden arched ceilings, a 450 square foot stage, and unobstructed views from any part of the room. "Brownstone Brooklyn needed a major music venue and event space, and we found a beautiful old building near the Gowanus that was seemingly designed for live music," said co-owner, Jim Carden. "We'll be able to graduate the bands we've championed at Union Hall to a space like no other in New York City and be able to host acts that were simply too big for the stage there", adds co-owner and talent buyer Jack McFadden

Continue reading "more BELL HOUSE Brooklyn venue info, first show free "

Carbon/Silicon @ Highline Ballroom, NYC - Dec 5, 2007 (ainyc)

Facts

1. The duo was formed in England in 2002 by two punk rock legends -- Mick Jones of the Clash and Tony James of Generation X.
2. Jones is a strict vegan who does not consume any meat or dairy products.
3. Jones and James first met at a Heavy Metal Kids show in London, which led to their first musical project, London SS, back in 1975.

[Spinner has live Carbon/Silicon video]

Continue reading "Carbon/Silicon - 2008 Tour Dates w/ Matt Pond PA, SXSW "

DOWNLOAD: Matt Pond PA (w/ Neko Case) - Taught To Look Away (MP3)

I can't like everyone, and I previously decided that I wasn't really into Matt Pond PA. Then someone sent me the track you can download above. Naturally, "Neko Case" caught my attention, and I listened immediately. And now I guess I like Matt Pond PA. The track is short, but very sweet, and makes me want to check out the rest of the new record it appears on: Last Light - out September 25, 2007.

The album's bulk was put to tape in Bearsville, NY with a new cast of band members and an impressive list of collaborators, most notably, especially for Pond himself, is Neko Case.

"Her record blew my mind and so I wrote my songs listening to her record, and it came out of doing that," Pond said on the effect of Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and its ensuing musical influence. "There was intimidation, being like, um, 'Heyyyyyyy, you wanna make this thing? You don't have to! You don't have to!'" But Case agreed, and the result is album gem "Taught to Look Away." [SPIN]

Continue reading "Matt Pond PA & Neko Case duet (MP3) + 2007 Tour Dates"