by BBG

Horseback at The Studio at Webster Hall (more by Markus Shaffer)

Hot on the heels of their collaborative/split with Pyramids (out now via Hydra Head Records), Chapel Hill experimental crew Horseback are preparing to release a new 7" via Brutal Panda Records. The On the Eclipse 7" is currently up for preorder and due via the label in early April. Listen to the title track for the first time below, beside the cover art.

That 7-inch release is right around the corner, but we also have a new LP to get excited about...

Half Blood was self-recorded and produced by Jenks Miller at The Chateau in the band's hometown. Additional tracking was done at Arbor Ridge Studios and Track and Field Recording by Nick Petersen.

Half Blood... features stunning cover artwork from renowned Russian surrealist painter Denis Forkas Kostromitin. The material on Half Blood is an amalgamation of drone, doom, black-metal, psychedelia, post-rock, noise, and ambience recorded with a wide array of instruments including guitar, bass, drums, keys, piano, bells, contact mics, field recordings, drum programming, noise and various signal processors.

That new song stream and others too, below.

Continue reading "Horseback announces the new On the Eclipse 7"; stream the title track (premiere)"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Keep Me Waiting" (Hooray for Earth Remix) (MP3)

Cursive at BV-SXSW in 2009 (more by Leia Jospe)

Cursive will release their seventh full length album, I Am Gemini, on February 21 via Saddle Creek. The album was recorded with Matt Bayles, and according to a press release, tells the story of "Cassius and Pollock, twin brothers separated at birth. One good and one evil, their unexpected reunion in a house that is not a home ignites a classic struggle for the soul, played out with a cast of supporting characters that includes a chorus of angels and devils, and twin sisters conjoined at the head." The press release also notes that it's the first album frontman Tim Kasher wrote with the complete story in mind, with the lyrics having been written in order from song 1 through song 13. The album artwork and tracklist is below.

Rolling Stone premiered an exclusive download for album track, "The Sun and Moon," yesterday (1/2). You can download it at RS's site and stream it below. Like the material on 2009's Mama, I'm Swollen, the song hearkens back to the riff heavy work of Cursive's earlier stuff, before they began experimenting with dynamic string and horn arrangements.

Cursive is going on tour in support of the new album in the upcoming months. They've already announced a run in February and March with Ume, Mount Moriah, and Virgin Islands. Now they've revealed a second run with Cymbals Eat Guitars and Conduits that includes NYC shows on April 3 and 4 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Friday (1/6) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/4) at noon.

Speaking of Cymbals Eat Guitars, their song, "Keep Me Waiting," was just remixed by Hooray For Earth. Download that remix at the top of this post and stream it below.

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

Continue reading "Cursive releasing new album, touring w/ Cymbals Eat Guitars & others (dates & new song stream)"

Andy Nelson with Paint it Black at Fun Fun Fun Fest (more by BBG)

Mamiffer, Tombs, Locrian, Thou, Fuck The Facts, The Atlas Moth and many more contribute to the second part of our continuing series where we asked some of our favorite artists about their 2011 highlights. Part One HERE. Part Two below...

Continue reading "The Year in Heavy 2011 according to artists & friends (part 2)"

Craig Finn, Tad Kubler & friends @ Bowery Electric last night

Though Brian Fallon cancelled, there was still plenty of talent to go around at last night's 1st-of-three BrooklynVegan-sponsored Replacements tribute shows at Bowery Electric. The Hold Steady's Craig Finn & Tad Kubler performed a cover of "Within Your Reach" which you can watch below (courtesy of jukeboxgraduate) along with a video of the encore performance of "Bastards of Young" that had Craig Finn, Titus Andronicus's Patrick Stickles, Jesse Malin, Tommy Ramone and others all on stage together.

If you missed the show, you have two more chances to experience it tonight (11/17). The early show is sold out though, but tickets are still available for the late one. Tonight's guests will not include Craig, but you will get:

Alex Levy
Anthony D'Amato
Danny Sage (D Generation)
Dave Hause (The Loved Ones)
Don DiLego & Bree Sharp (Beautiful Small Machines)
Jesse Malin
John Eddie
John Gallagher (American Idiot)
Matt Pinfield (MTV's 120 Minutes)
Matt Sweeney
Nicole Atkins
Paul Bearer (Sheer Terror)
Ted Leo
Tommy Ramone
Walter Lure (Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers)
& MORE

Meanwhile Craig Finn has announced a solo tour in support of his upcoming album which he also posted a song from. No NYC dates for now, but you can see all the other dates, listen to his new song and watch the videos from the Replacements event, below...

Continue reading "Craig Finn covered the Replacements (video), posted a new song (stream), touring solo in February (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

AbsolutePunk: First of all, I'd like to say that I'm in awe of your commitment to your music and I find it extremely inspiring that you guys are still doing this despite the relationship being very different right now. So the obvious question is, how has the current state of the relationship affected you on a professional level?

Ivan Howardof of The Rosebuds: Actually not much has changed within the band on a professional level, we still make the decisions the same way and work on songs together the same way we always have.

Was it difficult going into the studio with songs that you had written specifically about each other and your relationship? What was it like hearing these songs for the first time? Was there ever any moment where you considered just scrapping everything/writing about something different?

Ivan: At first it seemed insurmountable because we didn't want to do anything too personal and it was a sensitive time. It was scary because things didn't happen in the writing phase at a pace that was as fast as they happened for our last records. It was just hard to start the conversation we needed to have. But the melodies were wholesome feeling and it made us feel safe to be honest in our lyrics, you know, with each other.

Kelly Crisp: The songs started behaving like a poetic conversation. Because we were working with elevated language or we knew the songs had to follow the theme laid out by the feeling in the melody, we were able to say things we needed to say and things we needed to hear the other person say. In beautiful ways that acknowledged loss and what we no longer have, but mostly, getting it done meant we were honoring what we still do have. Our creative connection is something I'm proud of us for protecting.

Mount Moriah's Brooklyn appearance is part of the Gay Ol Opry, "a queer country music extravaganza". The show will also welcome appearances from Viva, Karen & the Sorrows, and Juan & the Pines, alongside an all Dolly Parton raffle, bakesale to benefit the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and more. Tickets are on sale.

More pictures from Bowery Ballroom last night and tour dates are below....

Continue reading "The Rosebuds played Bowery Ballroom w/ Mount Moriah (who play Southpaw Friday) -- pics"

by BBG

Horseback at The Studio at Webster Hall (more by Markus Shaffer)

Ok we lied about the trifecta. Here's the fourth post in a row related to Bon Iver & Gayngs (the others are HERE, HERE and HERE).

Fans of the dark arts might do a double take on Mount Moriah when they hit the road for a string of dates with fellow NC'ers The Rosebuds. That's because guitarist/evil genius Jenks Miller of Horseback is behind the six-string of this alt-country/americana band, playing tunes that definitely do not resemble his other personae. Nevertheless, the band which features the heartfelt vocals of Bellafea's Heather McEntire, cranks out tuneful and gorgeous melodies on their self-titled LP out now via Holiday For Quince. Look for guest appearances from members of Megafaun, Gayngs, St. Vincent, Bowerbirds, Dean & Britta, and many others on this Brian Paulson (Beck, Wilco) produced LP which is streaming below.

Mount Moriah's tour hits NYC twice, first on 10/12 at Bowery Ballroom as part of their string of dates with The Rosebuds and again at Southpaw on 10/14. Tickets for Bowery Ballroom are still available (no tickets or even a listing for Southpaw yet). All dates are listed below.

Oh and speaking of Megafaun, don't forget they have a new album out and dates coming up too.

Stream all of Mount Moriah's self-titled LP, alongside all tour dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Mount Moriah (Jenks Miller, Heather McEntire & guests) released an LP (stream), touring w/ the Rosebuds (dates)"

The second annual Hopscotch Festival will go down in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, across 12 different venues with over 135 bands, from September 8th through 10th. The lineup this year runs the gamut of independent music... from traditional indie staples (The Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) to southern-inflected rock (Drive-By Truckers) to noise (Prurient) to hip hop (Beans) to garage (Jeff The Brotherhood) to funk (Budos Band) to metal (Krallice), and everywhere in between (Swans, Rhys Chatham, etc etc). Tickets are currently on sale. Full lineup is below.

Hopscotch happens almost three months after Guided By Voices play a Brooklyn Northside Festival show in McCarren Park (tickets) which is one day after Beirut plays a Northside Festival show on the same McCarren Park stage with... Sharon Van Etten (though she may have been accidentally announced at one point, they officially kept her placement on the bill under wraps until after Saturday's Music Hall of Williamsburg show). Tickets for Beirut/SVE are still on sale, and another opener will be added too.

Guided by Voices (whose Brooklyn show also has more openers coming) are also playing Pitchfork in July with Animal Collective whose Prospect Park show is now on AmEx presale.

Swans' upcoming NYC show is now on AmEx presale too.

Hopscotch lineup below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Fest returns to Raleigh (2011 lineup announced), Sharon Van Etten officially added to Northside Fest"