Torquil at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Stars (more by Andrew St. Clair)

Torquil Campbell (of Stars) and Chris Dumont are Memphis, a Canadian band who celebrated the release of a new LP this week, Here Comes A City, via Arts & Crafts. In April Memphis will head out on tour with The Barr Brothers, playing two NYC shows alonmg the way: Rock Shop on 4/13 and Mercury Lounge on 4/14. Tickets are on sale for both (click the links). All tour dates and some songs, below...

Continue reading "Memphis released an LP, touring w/ the Barr Brothers"

Lucero @ Maxwell's - June 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

Lucero's sixth studio album and major label debut, 1372 Overton Park, is due October 6 on Universal/Republic Records. Produced by Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem) and featuring horn arrangements by legendary Memphis session player Jim Spake (Al Green, John Hiatt, Solomon Burke, Cat Power), the record marks a decided turn toward the Memphis soul sound that has long informed the band's records from afar.

Lucero will support that new record on an extended North American tour this fall. LUCERO RAMBLIN' ROADSHOW & MEMPHIS REVUE is "a traveling roadshow featuring Amy LaVere, Cedric Burnside with Lightnin' Malcolm, Jack Oblivian, John Paul Keith & the One Four Fives and The City Champs" (openers change throughout the tour). The NYC show is on October 17th at Webster Hall. Tickets go on AmEx presale Wednesday, August 5th at noon. General sale starts Friday, August 7th at noon.

The band played a three-show NYC run in June that included a set at the Big Apple BBQ in Madison Square Park where they had a very special guest. Videos from that and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Lucero - Universal album & Ramblin' Roadshow Tour Dates "

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)

Ty Segall @ Cake Shop (more by Tim Griffin)

After my own greasy foray into a Popeye's a few blocks away, I was ready to see the wunderkind, who is freshly graduated from the University of San Francisco. Once upon a time, Segall was a one man band, but he's expanded his outfit to a three-piece. Clearly the night's headliner at Amnesia, he packed the joint. After sets by openers Snakeflower 2 and the Rantouls, he mostly played familiar songs from his 2008 self-titled release on CastleFace Records. However, he also delivered a few examples of his self-described "sludgier" work on the brand new Lemons (Goner Records).

Sludge or no sludge, Segall's solid work ethic is evident. He's constantly playing gigs at bars like the Knockout, the Hemlock, and the Eagle Tavern -- basically anywhere flannel is the prevailing fashion, alongside those straw fedora hats favored by the fixed-gear crowd. Despite his omnipresence on SF's dive bar scene, he's pretty modest about his dedication to his music. "There are a lot of ways that I am a slacker," he explains over the phone a month after the fateful Amnesia show as he and his band drive to New Orleans. "But if I'm not doing music, I feel like I'm wasting my time." [SF Bay Guardian]

An MP3 from Lemons is at the top of this post. Ty returns to NYC for a trio of shows on his North American tour in September. On September 18th, he'll play Death By Audio's 'The Maze' (the art installation being supported by this Saturday's 12-hour benefit at the venue).

Ty plays a Mercury Lounge show on September 20th with Golden Triangle and tourmates and fellow SF band The Mantels. Tickets for that go on sale Saturday, July 25th at noon. Ty Segall then goes to New Jersey for a September 21st show at Maxwell's. The Mantels opens that too, with Digital Leather. Tickets are on sale now.

Ty will be one of the acts at Goner Fest 6, put on by Goner Records September 24th-26th in Memphis, TN. Other acts include a reformed version of Jay Reatard's first band The Reatards, Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh & Onlys, Magic Kids (who are in NYC this weekend), Box Elders, The Intelligence, Nobunny, Cheater Slicks and just about every other vital band you could vaguely lump in with the current "garage" scene (No Sic Alps, though). Tickets for day one, two and three of the fest are on sale now (though three-day 'Golden Passes' seem to be either sold out or hard to find).

More info on that festival, with all Ty Segall dates and a couple videos, below...

Continue reading "Ty Segall tour dates (3 NYC shows) + 2009 Goner Fest lineup "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Lucero - What Else Would You Have Me Be (MP3)

Lucero's Ben Nichols on "$5 Cover"

Lucero is being featured on a new MTV show called "$5 Cover." The semi-fictional "musical drama" is set in the Memphis music scene and co-stars Lucero singer Ben Nichols, who plays himself. Craig Brewer, director of Hustle & Flow, is heading the project. Lucero has two songs on the show's soundtrack (both previously released) available as downloads through Rhapsody. "The show plays Fridays at Midnight ET starting May 1st". Soundtrack tracklist and videos from the show below.

Lucero is from Memphis, but you wouldn't really know it from how many NYC shows they play. The band visited NYC for a three-night run in January, playing two nights at Terminal 5 and one at the Mercury Lounge. Then, they visited for a pre-St. Patty's Day show with the Pogues in March. And a month later Lucero played a sold-out show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg with Titus Andronicus. Ben Nichols played a solo show here in October.

Well, they're about to be on tour again. The band will come to New Jersey club Maxwell's on Friday, June 12th. Tickets are on sale.

Nichols just released his first solo disc, The Last Pale Light in the West, in January. The band is expected to put out a follow up to 2006's Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers sometime this year on its new label, Universal Music Group.

A trailer and press release for "$5 Cover," an interview with Ben Nichols on his role, and a clip of Lucero performing "San Francisco," plus all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Lucero - more 2009 tour dates & a show about Memphis "

DOWNLOAD: Land of Talk - Speak To Me Bones (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Memphis - I'll Do Whatever You Want (MP3)

Memphis @ Joe's Pub - May 30, 2007 (CRED)

While Bright Eyes and The National were doing their thing, Torquil from Stars' other band Memphis played Joe's Pub in NYC last night (May 30, 2007). Uberdrivel reports...

We managed to snag front-row seats, a first in what was my fourth trip to Joe's. After an ear-popping soundcheck and a brief introduction from someone from Upper North Side, seven member strong Memphis - the duo of Torquil Campbell and Chris DuMont, along with five supporting musicians - took the stage. Things began airily with "I Dreamed We Fell Apart," which highlighted Torq's smooth delivery and soaring vocalization. Things picked up with the great single "I'll Do Whatever You Want," or as Torq called it, "a big old pop song." The full band erupted, as the drummer, who was later revealed to be Bucky Wheaton, formerly of Land of Talk, switched from brushes to sticks. The only complaint I have is that the dense instrumentation buried Torq's vocals, but the energy compensated. [Uberdrivel]

Let's focus on the Land of Talk part there for a second - I don't even think the other two members of Land of Talk knew that Bucky - who recently quit Land of Talk because he didn't want to "be a rock drummer for the rest of his life", and "didn't like the touring" - would tour down from Montreal to rock out with Memphis in NYC. Oh well - maybe the pay was good, and I guess it wasn't actually much of a "tour".

ANNOUNCEMENT: Land of Talk (with their new drummer Eric) will be back in NYC this July - not just to open for Grizzly Bear and The Decemberists on July 16th, but also to play the free Citysol show I'm helping throw two days earlier at 23rd St & The East River (July 14). If you've been following along, then you know that Land of Talk's Montreal friends and European touring partners, The Besnard Lakes, are also on that bill. More exciting announcements to come - SAVE THE DATE.

BrooklynVegan and Solar One present Citysol 2007 (all free)
July 12 - opening night w/ one band TBA
July 13 - Citysol @ South Street Seaport w/ Menomena & band TBA
July 14 - Citysol @ 23rd & East River w/ The Besnard Lakes, Land of Talk & MORE TBA + a green marketplace
July 15 - Panels, games & workshops (environment stuff)

AND IF YOU MISSED MEMPHIS
They have one more show in NYC TONIGHT (May 31) @ Union Hall in Brooklyn.

Land of Talk are currently on tour with the also-awesome Rosebuds. Exact dates below...

Continue reading "Memphis, Land of Talk, Land of Talk's drummer & Citysol"