Founded in June 2010 the Undead Jazzfest is new kind of festival, bringing together an incredible array of artists from the new jazz and improvised music community currently exploding in New York City. With no headliners, affordable tickets, unorthodox venues and no drink minimums, the Undead Jazzfest aims to shake the public perception of what jazz can be today, celebrating the incredible music being made in a setting that is inviting to both the veterans and curious new fans.

Encompassing eleven venues over its four days (6/23 - 6/26), the Undead Jazzfest will feature appearances from more than 50 bands including names like Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Mountains and many others. The full list of participating bands is below. Four day passes are on sale for $45 until 4/28. The price increases to $50 after.

Undead Jazzfest is also responsible for curating another show outside of said festival, this one going down at Central Park Summerstage on June 11th with Medeski Martin & Wood, Josh Roseman's King Froopy All Stars and Jim Black's AlasNoAxis. It's one of many free 2011 Summerstage shows that have been announced.

AND, Undead Jazz presents a show at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (4/25) with Orchestre National de Jazz with Daniel Yvinec and John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble with special guests Theo Bleckmann , Kate McGarry and Uri Caine. Undead Jazz also presents Todd Sickafoose's Tiny Resistors and Mary Halvorson Trio at the same venue on May 18th.

Full Undead Jazzfest 2011 lineup below.

Continue reading "Undead Jazzfest 2011 lineup announced, tix on sale now, and other related shows too"

by Andrew Frisicano

The annual NYC Winter Jazz Fest starts tonight (Friday, 1/7) and continues Saturday with shows that go late into both nights at a handful of Greenwich Village venues. Like last year's fest - a huge success that spawned a similar festival in the summer - one pass gets you into any of the venues. All are in close proximity, and show hopping is encouraged. You'll also be rewarded for staying put: Take, for example, Saturday's lineup at LPR, which features two guitar slingers, Charlie Hunter and Nels Cline (as Stained Radiance with painter Norton Wisdom), in consecutive sets. For the number of acts (46 on Saturday night alone) at the price ($25 for one day, $35 for both), the festival is pretty can't lose.

Jazz resource and show promoter Search and Restore has two showcases as part of the fest. They'll be celebrating the fact that their Kickstarter campaign met its $75,000 (!) goal. As a result they'll be launching an ambitious project to film four jazz shows a week over the next year (and post the results online as part of an expanded site). Congrats!

Also this weekend are a set of shows at Cornelia St. Cafe that are also part of the APAP conference (the ostensible reason for the Winter Jazz Fest, the show at City Winery tonight, the show at 92YTribeca tonight, GlobalFEST and others). Your Jazz Fest passes won't work there, but the lineups include Theo Bleckmann/Gary Versace/John Hollenbeck, Jon Irabagon & Mike Pride and Mario Pavone's Totem Quartet.

Saxist Tim Berne, who played Cornelia St. Thursday night with his band Los Totopos, will be at the Stone twice on Saturday. The second set is listed as "Tim Berne Duo," with keyboarist Matt Mitchell, but he mentioned that the whole band (Ches Smith on drums and Oscar Noriega on woodwinds) would be appearing. Mitchell will be at the venue on Sunday night too, to play with John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet (who blew away a packed Bitter End at Jazz Fest 2010).

Check out the full Winter Jazz schedule below...

Continue reading "Winter Jazz Fest this weekend, shows @ Cornelia St. Cafe & other APAP events"

DOWNLOAD: Cocorosie - Lemonade (MP3)

Shout Out Louds @ White Slab in March (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

"Some Americans think of Cinco De Mayo as a "Mexican Independence Day," which is actually Sept. 16, when the reality is that Cinco De Mayo is in remembrance of the Mexican army backing down the French military on May 5, 1862. Cinco De Mayo is Spanish for the 5th of May and is not a national holiday in the United States." [Epoch Times]

tonight in NYC
* The English Beat @ Maxwell's
* So Percussion @ Carnegie Hall (free)
* Lord Mantis, Sea of Bones @ Union Pool
* Washed Out, Small Black @ The Bell House
* Shout Out Louds, Freelance Whales @ Webster Hall
* Hot Hot Heat, The Willowz, Grooms @ Public Assembly
* Ensemble Simul Cantare, Mick Barr @ Issue Project Room
* Givers, Drink Up Buttercup, King Expressers @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Cheeseburger, Hard Nips, Wizardzz @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* Common & Queen Latifah (being actors) @ the Apple Store
* ArpLine, Hooray For Earth, Midnight Masses @ (le) Poisson Rouge
* Dead Stars, Hounds Of Hate, The Hidden Ratio, New Yoga @ Coco 66
* Michael Leonhart & The Avramina 7, Moneybrother @ Mercury Lounge
* Dan Friel, Adult Themes, Food Stamps, Imaginary Weapons @ Bruar Falls
* Bradford Reed, Sabrina Chap, Mike Pride, Get The People @ Death By Audio
* Walter Schreifels, Atlantic/Pacific, Jump Into The Gospel @ Studio at Webster Hall

Hounds of Hate continue their NYC run.

The always-busy Mike Pride describes tonight's Death By Audio show as "MP- drums + Jon Irabagon- tenor sax - We play 3rd, around 10pm. - Get the people features Kevin Shea on drums too!"

Video of The National, who have a show coming up very soon at BAM, playing their song "Little Faith" live in a castle is below.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti played Mercury Lounge last night.

Dan Deacon is playing a free NYC show this summer.

Look who's playing Lincoln Center's 2010 Out of Doors Festival.

Metric are playing a free NYC show this summer.

The Fall, whose record release party we hosted last night at Coco66, have a new video for their new song "Bury". Whatch that below too.

Public Image Ltd are now playing a tinier venue later this month.

Joanna Newsom played "'81," one of her new album's best, on Jools Holland. That's below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday? (Cinco De Mayo)"

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Annie Reichert

Sam Mickens @ Union Pool April 18th, 2010

Dear citizens of America & the Earth,

On this day, April 20th, 2010, I officially issue a challenge, on behalf of myself and my Ecstatic Showband, to Ms. Sharon Jones & her Dap-Kings, to a battle of the bands to determine who is truly the greatest working soul band in Brooklyn. Song for song and musician for musician, I believe this should prove a burning and exhaustive contest.

The issuance of this challenge bears no spirit of disrespect or denigration towards Ms. Jones and her work; in fact my feelings are full of admiration and esteem. It does however bear the assertion that cultural vanguards must be replaced, and that only through an environment of healthy and virile competition can the illest work be produced. We will meet Ms. Jones in the venue of her choosing and with any preconditions she wishes to impose. If Ms. Jones fails to respond to this challenge I will accept the title of Heavyweight Soul Champion of Brooklyn by default.

Thanks and best regards,
Sam Mickens

Falsetto-voiced singer Sam Mickens (of the Dead Science) released the above challenge two days after his 'Ecstatic Showband and Revue' played a Sunday, April 18th show at Union Pool in Brooklyn. More pictures from that show are posted below.

The band will be opening Thee Silver Mt. Zion's Sunday, May 16th show at Bowery Ballroom (one of two NYC shows on the Mt. Zion's tour, tickets still on sale).

The Estatic Showband's band's individual members (which can vary at any given show) regularly play around town themselves. Drummer Mike Pride is particularly prolific, with almost nightly gigs. Tonight (4/22) he has two: an early show with Jonathan Moritz Trio at Zebulon, and a late gig with bass/keyboardist Jamie Saft as noise-improv duo Kalashnikov at Southpaw with Shaker jazz group Shakers n Bakers and Ben Perowsky's Moodswing Orchestra.

At Union Pool, the group also featured guest vocalists that included Keesha Mishawn, Katie Eastburn (of Young People), Charlie Looker (of Extra Life who, along with the Luyas, open for Owen Pallett at Webster Hall) and Steven Reker. See some of them fronting the band in the pictures below.

As for Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, the band was just stuck in Germany because of a volcano, and their upcoming summer tour include two nights at the Apollo Theater on April 30th and May 1st. They were supposed to appear on Letterman this week, but that isn't happening because of the volcano (rescheduled for May 4th).

More Union Pool pictures and older videos are below...

Continue reading "Sam Mickens played Union Pool (pics), challenges Sharon Jones, opening for Thee Silver Mt. Zion & stuff"

by Andrew Frisicano

Sam Mickens (by Elizabeth Leitzell)

The Dead Science's Sam Mickens pulls together a rotating crew of some of NYC's most talented jazz regulars to form his Sam Mickens' Ecstatic Showband and Revue, a falsetto-fronted act that combines twisted bubblegum pop with the vocabulary of retro soul. They play the Cake Shop on Friday, January 29th (tonight) with genre-crossing, soul/funk/post-punk acts D. Rider and Whales & Cops. Videos of all three are below.

Sam Mickens picks up a guitar to play with drummer Mike Pride as a duo at Zebulon on January 31st. Extra Life (who have a new CD coming out) and Kush are also on the bill.

Mickens & Pride add saxist Darius Jones to form Black Lantern Trio, again at Zebulon, on February 21st. A video of that group is below.

The Showband & Revue have another show on Mike Pride's exhaustive schedule, listed below - it's a TBA date in Bushwick on March 12th. Videos and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Mike Pride & Sam Mickens' Ecstatic Showband & Revue dates"

Frank Black @ Siren Fest in July (more by Tim Griffin)

tonight in NYC
* Robin Williams @ Town Hall
* Melt Banana @ Bowery Ballroom
* Rev. Vince Anderson @ Union Pool
* Royksopp, Nite Jewel @ Webster Hall
* Pixies, Black Gold @ Hammerstein Ballroom
* Les Paul Guitar Tribute w/ Mike Stern @ Iridium
* Sumbrellas, Jason Anderson, Sora Ann @ Cake Shop
* Daytime, Dinosaur Feathers, pow wow!, Eula @ The Cameo
* Devendra Banhart, Little Joy @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Atlantic/Pacific, Dave Walsh, Blacklist @ Studio at Webster Hall
* Mick Barr/Kevin Shea/Tim Dahl, GDFX, Congs for Brums @ Death By Audio
* Precious Metal w/ Aidan Baker, Inswarm, AoK Suicide Forest, Alkahest @ Lit Lounge
* Small Beast w/ McGinty & White, Rachelle Garniez, Carol Lipnik, Bonfire Madigan @ The Delancey

Melt Banana plays tonight with "Melt Banana Lite" - another version of the band with no guitars but samplers and synth (and drums and vocals).

Pixies play four shows in three nights at Hammerstein Ballroom.

A video of Mike Pride's From Bacteria To Boys quartet playing at Death By Audio on November 20st is below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: The Dead Science - Throne Of Blood (The Jump Off) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Dead Science - Make Mine Marvel (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Dead Science - Days Of Future Past [mixtape track] (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Dead Science - Garden Wall [mixtape track] (MP3)

The Dead Science

Seattle's The Dead Science (not to be confused with The Dead Weather) are planning a North American tour this June. That includes two NYC shows: Monday, June 15th the band plays the Studio at Webster Hall with Bobby Conn & Monica Bou Bou and Zs (Tickets). The next night, Tuesday, June 16th, the band performs at Death By Audio with Skeletons, From Bacteria to Boys and Charlie Looker.

The Dead Science's last record, Villainaire, came out on Constellation Records in 2008. The supporting tour for that release brought the Dead Science to NYC's Knitting Factory on a bill with Brooklyn band Extra Life. This time around, the band will play with Extra Life's songwriter/frontman, Charlie Looker, on its second NYC show, and Zs, a band that included Looker for six years, on its first.

Extra Life are currently on a month-long tour of Europe. The DBA show is scheduled to be Looker/Extra Life's first show back in the US.

Also opening at DBA is From Bacteria to Boys, jazz project of drummer Mike Pride. On April 8th, the group played a live set, now streaming, at WFMU's studios.

Pride plays in a number of local groups (that counts collaborating with Charlie Looker on a project called Period). Recently, Pride gigged as part of Whoopie Pie at Pie member Jamie Saft's Wednesday residency at Zebulon. On Wednesday, May 6th, Whoopie Pie's special guest was Marc Ribot (who's in the midst of a weeklong b-day retrospective). Tonight, Wednesday, May 13th, at Zebulon, the group will be joined by Dead Science frontman Sam Mickens as "special guest vocalist."

Mickens returns to Zebulon just two days later, on Friday, May 15th, to record and film a live album with the "Sam Mickens Ecstatic Showband and Revue." That band includes Mike Pride on drums and in the past has featured Charlie Looker and other members of Extra Life.

The final band on that June 16th DBA bill, Skeletons, has other upcoming NYC dates too. Those include May 19th at the Cake Shop with Nick Krgovich, To Bad Catholics and Katie Eastburn and June 24th with Zs at the Studio at Webster Hall.

All Dead Science and Skeletons tour dates below...

Continue reading "Sam Mickens playing Zebulon (twice), the Dead Science touring (Studio & DBA) - 2009 dates & MP3's"