by Andrew Sacher

Literate indie rockers mewithoutYou, who over the years have moved between post-hardcore, art rock, and folk, are back with their fifth full length album, Ten Stories, which was produced by Danielson frontman Daniel Smith, who also worked on their last LP, and mixed by Brad Wood, who's also worked with the band in the past. The album is due out next week (5/15) and continues in the vein of the more melodic material on their last album, but brings back the distorted guitars and even a bit of the shouting from the Catch for Us The Foxes/Brother Sister days. Two album tracks, "February, 1878" and "East Enders Wives," are available to stream below. The artwork and tracklist are also below.

mewithoutYou are touring in support of the album throughout the spring and summer. In June, the band will come through NJ for shows at Maxwell's on June 15 and The Stone Pony on June 16 with Buried Beds and Imaginary Cites. Then they'll make their way back to the NYC-area in August for shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg on August 16 and Bowery Ballroom on August 17 with Buried Beds and Kevin Devine. Tickets for the Maxwell's show and the Stone Pony show are on sale now. Tickets for the MHOW/Bowery shows go on sale Friday (5/11) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (5/9) at noon.

Speaking of MHOW/Bowery, Braid & Owen just announced a tour that also hits those two NYC venues (with tickets going on sale at the same time).

All mewithoutYou dates, streams, artwork and tracklist below...

Continue reading "mewithoutYou releasing 'Ten Stories', announce tour dates"

Thank You

"look thrice, Imma Let you finish, but..."

Yup. Yesterday thrice, today Thursday. Crazy coincidence for two bands that have led such parallel and intersecting lives. We would've spaced our announcement out and given the dust a chance to settle but we are about to play a bunch of shows and we didn't want anyone to miss the chance to see us one more time, so here it goes...

If you're reading this long version of our statement, you've probably had some interaction with Thursday. We've been a band for thirteen years. We've played an uncountable number of shows, ranging from living rooms to stadiums. We've talked to every Zine, blog, Daily, Weekly, Monthly periodical... We've talked to every College, Commercial and Public Radio Station and sometimes we just hung out on the street talking to strangers. Maybe we met you. Maybe we worked together somewhere. Maybe you saw us or heard us with friends. Whatever the case may be, we owe you thanks. You've allowed us to be a band for thirteen years, to travel the world, to make records, to meet all of the people we've grown to love. And to open for our idols, work with our heroes, employ our friends (the best crew around) and see our dreams made real.

This year, Thursday has had so much to celebrate: our new record, No Devolución, came out ten years, to the week, after the record that was to become our touchstone: Full Collapse. To have one record still being celebrated a decade after it's release and another to be met with such critical acclaim was really more than we ever could've imagined. We just wanted to play basement shows in New Brunswick. It's funny... That sounds like a well-worn line now but it's absolutely the truth.

Well, if you've been touched by our music or our dedication or our embarrassingly out-of-fashion sincerity, then this is for you, friend: thank you for letting us make No Devolución. We hope you've heard it. We say "beg, borrow or steal... music is an idea... ideas are free" but we encourage you to support our fantastically sweet and hardworking label, Epitaph, by buying it if you can afford to.

Despite the fantastic year that the band has enjoyed, creatively, things haven't been as easy for us on a personal level. Without diving into detail, it's fair to say that this year has been an endless series of personal difficulties. We haven't had any falling out and are all still close. I'm sure that we will continue to create, in some capacity, together. We've talked about turning Thursday into something else: a non-profit, a band that only records sporadically, a collection of other projects... Underneath it all, the personal circumstances involved make it impossible to continue Thursday in the spirit that has made it special. So, we stop. For now, at least.

We hope to see many of you at these last shows. They'll be a lot of fun. We promise.

Lots of love,
Geoff & Tom & Tucker & Steve & Andrew & Tim & Lukas
(Thursday)

Thrice have no additional dates to report, but Thursday play their next show Wednesday at Irving Plaza (11/23) with Maylene & The Sons of Disaster before before continuing on tour with MewithoutYou and Screaming Females. Tickets for Irving Plaza are still available. All remaining tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Thursday (and Thrice) announce indefinite hiatus (which starts after their tour which hits NYC Wednesday night)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground - He Momma (MP3)

Jon Wiley

It's another busy weekend of shows, so much so I'm breaking this week's TWiI into two parts. First and foremost on tonight's (7/9) agenda is the We Are the Wiley benefit at the Shank featuring Lightspeed Champion, Adam Green and Chairlift. Besides being a great lineup in and of its own, the money goes to a good cause. As you may have read in an earlier post, Jon Wiley -- who fronts Spacecamp when he isn't playing in Adam Green and Lightspeed Champion or being an all-around good guy -- had a scare earlier this year that left him diagnosed with MS, and a mountain of medical bills. Like most musicians out there, Jon's has no insurance so please come tonight and help out. The event is co-sponsored by Wanduta, a new national organization designed to support and protect independent musicians, and all proceeds go towards Jon's medical bills.

And you'll get to see Lightspeed Champion play his killer new stuff (he was great at Mercury Lounge a couple weeks back), headliners Chairlift who have gotten better as a live band every time I've seen them, and the always unpredictable Adam Green. And I wouldn't be surprised if Spacecamp didn't play a couple songs too, seeing as they're the backing band for both Adam and Lightspeed. Admission is $15 and is 21+.

Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground

Philadelphia's Mewithoutyou and Atlanta's The Dear Hunter (not Deerhunter) and on tour together and are playing tonight (7/9) at Music Hall of Williamsburg and tomorrow (7/10) at Bowery Ballroom. But I'm not hear to talk about them. Opening for both shows are Seattle's Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground who are one of the city's best bands though maybe you've never heard of them as they don't play outside of their hometown too often. A musical collective that expands and contracts anywhere from 10 to 15 depending on the show, Kay Kay are led by Kirk Huffman and Kyle O'Quin who have other many bands on thier own. (Huffman in particular stays very busy.) Their self-titled debut is clearly in love with the lush, baroque pop of the late '60s and early '70s: think The Zombies (or Colin Blunstone's first solo album), The Left Banke, and Harry Nilsson. If you wanted more recent comparisons, Jellyfish, Jason Falkner or The Format. It holds up to those comparisons pretty well too, as you can hear on their highly-recommend self-titled debut, which was released on vinyl and digitally last year and came out on CD in May of this year. It's too bad they aren't doing a headling date of their own somewhere, but who knows when they'll make it back this way?

Those Darlins @ Bowery Ballroom (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

And a couple other recommended shows tonight: I've been really enjoying Those Darlins' just-released debut album which is sort of like garage rock Tammy Wynette -- and they are a lot of fun live. The whole bill is solid: Jon Spencer's rockabilly explosion Heavy Trash, and the amazing Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers. And if you can't make it tonight, they play Southpaw tomorrow (7/10) with Country Mice and the So So Glow.

Finally, if you haven't seen The Drums yet, they play Public Assembly tonight, but you've got lots of chances to see them.

Tour dates, videos and flyers after the jump....

Continue reading "Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground, We are Wiley & more in This Week in Indie (part 1) "