by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: BLURRY BITTERS - A CAKE SHOP BEST OF 2012 MIXTAPE (MP3)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring @ Cake Shop, June 2010 (more by Diana Wong)

One of the biggest, most genuine music fans I know is Andy from Ludlow Street indie rock club Cake Shop. He's an indefatigable listener and always turns me onto new stuff. Here we've got his "best of 2012 and live from cakeshop and recorded" which is topped by Parquet Courts' fantastic debut album, Light Up Gold. You can check out the full list of "21 AMAZING EXPERIENCES" below.

Andy is also a great maker of mixes, and I stil put in one he made for the Cake Shop/Slumberland 2009 SXSW showcase from time to time. Over at the Cake Shop blog, he posted a 2012 mix loaded with great stuff that you can download above and see the tracklist below. Highly recommend. Cake Shop had a successful Pledge Music campaign this year, signed a new 10-year lease, survived the Great Sandy Blackout, and I can't wait to see more bands there in 2013 (like maybe Obits on January 19) and beyond.

Andy from Cake Shop's Best of 2012 list and mixtape tracklist are below...

Continue reading "Andy Bodor from Cake Shop's "21 AMAZING EXPERIENCES" of 2012, plus a year-end mixtape"

by Bill Pearis

people at Zebulon for an El Guincho show in 2010 (more by Erez Avissar)

Rumors have been floating around for a while, but now it's official: Williamsburg venue Zebulon, which has always been a great place for world music and jazz, as well as local and touring bands (including being the home of Grizzly Bear's first show in 2004) for about a decade (and almost never charged admission), will be closing its doors for good after their show this Sunday (12/9). The press release (via Zebulon's facebook) reads:

On Sunday, Dec 9 Zebulon will be closing its doors after ten exciting years of pioneering music and arts. Williamsburg has changed significantly since we opened, and unfortunately it is no longer possible today to continue the business in the manner in which it was conceived. Nevertheless, it's been a great run. We are proud to have given many celebrated artists a chance to play in an intimate setting or develop their sound in readiness for a larger audience. Zebulon has employed and supported struggling artists and their families, connected them to a wider musical community in New York and given them a stage on which to experiment. This is our final week so if you haven't been down in a while, please come and say hello/wave goodbye, and pay your respects to this gem of an institution. Thank you for your support and stay tuned for news of our next endeavors and adventures!

Major bummer for the neighborhood. The block Zebulon is on (Wythe between Metropolitan and N. 3rd) has changed drastically in the last two years: the bike club/repair shop, such a fixture for longer than I've lived in the neighborhood ('98),  is now a surf shop, and long-running diner Relish is now an very busy (and overpriced) Mexican place. Zebulon was the last holdout on the block from the early '00s Williamsburg expansion and will be sincerely missed.

The schedule of upcoming shows for Zebulon's final week (including Mike Wexler, Colin Stetson, Hubble and more) is below.

Continue reading "Zebulon closing its doors for good next week"

WE WILL OPEN AT 8AM!
10AM - DJ MUSH1 (WNYU TUNNEL ONE REGGAE SHOW)
12PM - NEW AFTERNOON SHOW DJS (WNYU)
3PM - X-RAY EYEBALLS DJ SET (OJ)
4PM - PRINCE RAMA DJ SET (TARAKA)
5PM - MIKE WEXLER (MEXICAN SUMMER)
6PM - WOODSMAN (MEXICAN SUMMER/LEFSE/FIRE TALK)

THIS SATURDAY APRIL 21ST IS RECORD STORE DAY WHICH MEANS TONS OF EXCLUSIVE, ULTRA LIMITED RELEASES THAT WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS! WE CANNOT GUARANTEE QUANTITIES, SO WE RECOMMEND GETTING HERE EARLY, EARLY, EARLY!! (OPENING AT 8AM) THIS YEAR WILL BE THE MOST FUN EVER!
NOT ONLY WILL WE HAVE OVER 150 DIFFERENT EXCLUSIVE RSD TITLES, BUT WE WILL ALSO HAVE A FULL DAY OF GUEST DJ SETS, IN-STORE PERFORMANCES AND SPECIAL SALES ON SELECT VINYL & CDS! PLUS BEER & PIZZA IN THE AFTERNOON!!! (WHILE SUPPLIES LAST...)
SEE OUR LIST!

Kim's is located at 124 1st Ave in New York, NY.

by Andrew Sacher

Mike Wexler

Brooklyn's Mike Wexler released his sophomore LP, Dispossession, earlier this month via Mexican Summer. The album follows his debut LP, Sun Wheel, which arrived five years earlier and in that time he's been honing his brand of psychedelic folk and making it sound even starker than it does on his debut. Dispossession recalls the loner folk of late '60s/early '70s artists like Gary Higgins and Mark Fry, and also the plodding songwriting of more contemporary artists like Will Oldham and Phil Elvrum. Like those artists, Mike Wexler takes his time with every track on the album, more than half of which is made up of 6-9 minute songs. This gives him plenty of space to work in subtle embellishments like backgrounded hand drumming patterns, scattered guitar effects, and airy horn lines. Stream two tracks from the album below or listen to the entire album on Spotify. The artwork and tracklist are also below.

Mike Wexler is playing a record release party for the album TONIGHT (3/30) at Zebulon with Amen Dunes and Hiro Kone. If you miss tonight's show, Mike will play another local show at Glasslands on May 9 with Future Shuttle. Tickets for the Glasslands show are on sale now.

You can also catch another local Amen Dunes show at The Stone on April 17, the same day that Guardian Alien (Greg Fox) plays.

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

Continue reading "Mike Wexler released 'Dispossession', playing shows (one with Amen Dunes tonight)"

by Andrew Frisicano

NY EYE & EAR FEST II - JULY 9 - 12, 2009!
4 DAYS - 3 VENUES - 2 BOROUGHS
Knitting Factory & 92Y Tribeca in Manhattan & Death By Audio in Brooklyn
Pendu presents: NY Eye & Ear Fest II ... a massive 4-day New Music and Arts Fete showcasing some of the most exciting bands, artists, and filmmakers currently living and working here in NYC. In addition, NYE&E assembles a Record Fair featuring NYC-based Record Labels and Vendors selling LPs, CDs, 7''s, cassettes, lathes, comics, zines, stickers, and art prints.

The fest is a part II to the December event of the same name. The Fest's four days of music kick off at the Knitting Factory on July 9th. The bands there include Grooms, Liturgy and Love Like Deloreans (to name a few) with headliners Nymph and Neg-Fi. The fest returns to the Knit on Friday, July 10th, for a show with Magik Markers, Child Abuse and more. In addition to the venue's two floors of music, its already-creepy basement will be turned into a "Video Art Installation and a 7-hour Continuous Drone Room."

The Fest then switches to the 92YTribeca on Saturday for a concert and a free record fair. Also at 92Y will be a program called "Women of NYCinema," with films and music from Sarah Lipstate (aka Noveller), Liz Wendelbo, Rachel Blackwell and Dirty Churches. The vendors range from big names like Matador Records to the recently featured Journal of Popular Noise to notable jazz label ESP-Disk.

The fest's final, fourth day moves to Brooklyn for a closing party at Death by Audio. That lineup includes Murdertronics, Team Robespierre, Talibam!, Total Abuse and Drunkdriver.

Tickets for Thursday, Friday, and a variety of Saturday packages are available.

Separate from the festival, on Thursday, July 9th the 92YTribeca will screen filmmaker Brendan Toller's I Need That Record, a documentary about the problems facing record stores around the country. It will be the NYC premiere of the movie that was getting some attention already all the back on Record Store Day 2008. The movie includes interviews with Thurston Moore, Ian Mackaye, Mike Watt, Chris Frantz and more. Toller will be on hand for the showing. Tickets are on sale.

More details on the film (with video trailer) and the Ear and Eye Festival, below...

Continue reading "NY Ear & Eye Fest II - shows & record fair this weekend @ KF, DBA & 92Y Tribeca (also screening 'I Need That Record')"