Walter Schreifels, Laura Marling, The Antlers

"I went to see Walter Schreifels at the Studio in NYC. I didn't bring my camera because I had never been to the place and wasn't sure of the policy. I wound up regretting it. A few nights ago [August 11th] Wally played here in Hoboken [at Maxwell's] and I decided to bring the appendage along with me. Walter best known for his sheer genius as a song writer, guitar player, producer and singer for countless bands including Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, Rival Schools, Walking Concert and countless others plays a stripped down version of various tracks from those projects. All while throwing in some tracks from his solo album which is due later in the year." [Photogeek]

The Walter Schreifels Band will play a special early set (like Sufjan did at ATP) to start the BrooklynVegan CMJ night at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday, October 20, 2009. From there we'll go into Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel (Denver) followed by Laura Marling (UK) followed by The Antlers (NYC) which will then transition beautifully into Fanfarlo (UK) who will close out the night. Set times TBA.

The mutli-talented Dave Hill, who plays guitar for Walter, will also stick around to host the night (and tell some jokes). Tickets are on sale will go on sale Friday at noon, and a bunch of CMJ badges will be let in.

This will actually be one of two official CMJ shows we're doing this year. The other one will be much heavier and put together by Black Bubblegum. Day party announcements are coming too.

The Antlers are currently on tour with the newly-signed Holly Miranda who is also playing CMJ.

Laura Marling is playing solo at this show, and at a few more US shows that week. Those dates include a 2nd NYC show at Joe's Pub on October 23rd which is now unfortunately sold out. All dates, and some videos, below...

Continue reading "2009 BrooklynVegan CMJ showcase @ MHOW (Walter Schreifels Band, The Antlers, Laura Marling, Fanfarlo, Wheel)"

DOWNLOAD: The Wheel - Whimper and Wail (MP3)

"The Wheel: Stark, eloquent Cash echoes." - NY Times

"Thirteen bands were scheduled to play the BrooklynVegan / Agency Group day party in Austin on Thursday, March 19, 2009. Twelve ended up playing - one of them twice. I think the story is that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who had a zillion other shows also scheduled during the SXSW week, got confused about what their set time was. For that reason (and traffic), they showed up too late to go on in their slot. Instead, The Wheel, who was our last-minute addition as opener on the inside stage, immediately went outside and played a second set on the larger outdoor stage in the late band's place. We got at least one "boo" when the "scheduling mixup" was announced, but what could we do? (sorry!) It was awesome of the Wheel to fill on a moment's notice. Hopefully the people outside enjoyed him after they got over the awkwardness. I didn't watch his second set, but he sounded amazing inside." [me]

By "he", I meant Nathaniel Rateliff whose official band name is now "Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel". The second Nathaniel left the stage (the first time) I ran up to him and asked if he would please play my CMJ show. He agreed, and now finally over six months later I'm happy to announce it that The Wheel will be appearing at the BV party at Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 20th (the show Fanfarlo are also playing).

On July 22nd of this year, The Wheel opened for Bon Iver (the opener of my CMJ show in 2007) in Nathaniel's hometown of Denver...

"Openers The Wheel were playing to a hometown crowd, but nonetheless got the loudest prolonged-cheer reception I have heard for any local band in a long time. Their intricate, melancholy songs are steeped in goodness and ready for a larger stage. The band is magnetically led by the wry, exceptional voice of frontman Nathaniel Rateliff (Born In The Flood) who in the oddest coincidence that you ever think could sound good, vocally evokes a young and impassioned Neil Diamond minus the glitter. The technicolor songs pack a punch, yet sounded timeless through a symphony of strings, aching harmonica and guitars, piano, intuitive drumming, and vocal harmonies that cut through the venue and held everyone's attention." [I Am Fuel You Are Friends]

If you don't make it to the October 20th Music Hall show, don't worry, it's CMJ. The Wheel (sometimes solo, and sometimes with a band) will be playing more than one show that week. One of those shows is October 23rd at Bowery Ballroom with Portugal. The Man, The Temper Trap, Drug Rug, and All The Day Holiday (tickets). Another one of those shows is a BrooklynVegan day party on Saturday, October 24th, at Pianos (many more details TBA on that one).

One MP3 is above. More songs at MySpace. Dates & videos below...

Continue reading "Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel (coming to BV-CMJ)"

Teenage Jesus & the Jerks @ KF in 2008 (more by Lori Baily)

WFMU will be putting on a three-day Brooklyn festival at the Music Hall of Williamsburg from October 1st-3rd. Its Thursday and Saturday night bills will be headlined by two classic acts, German krautrock-ers Faust and NYC No Wave punks Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, respectively, while Friday night will feature Philly's Pissed Jeans (who have a new record out) in the top spot.

TJ & the Jerks last reunited in 2008 for a night at the Knitting Factory where Thurston Moore played bass. And like Faust, they're also playing Pop Montreal around the same time.

Tickets for all three WFMU days go on sale Thursday, September 3rd at noon. Pissed Jeans is only $12 advanced. The other two are $20 each.

The station writes, "These shows will not be broadcast over the air/net." Full lineup and poster below...

Continue reading "WFMU Fest @ MHOW - 3 days of shows w/ Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Pissed Jeans, Faust & more (Oct 1-3, 2009) "

"Formed 1969 in Hamburg, Germany and considered the inventors of "Kraut Rock", iconoclasts extraordinaire Faust are key figures in 20th Century music. In the early 70's, along with Can and Kraftwerk, they re-invented pop music as a specifically European art-form. In their own studio they were able to revolutionize the whole process of musical production; they improvised with industrial noise, generated bizarre hypnotic grooves, indulged in shockingly willful studio-based collages, and dabbled with every conceivable musical genre, sometimes simultaneously. Every now and then they found time for a burst of satirical pop or waves of delicate ambience. Amongst those Faust have strongly influenced we must count Brian Eno, Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Test Department, Neubauten, My Bloody Valentine, Julian Cope, Sonic Youth and a host of Industrial and Techno bands. The music has lost none of its immediacy or relevance--it sounds as if it was recorded last week, not last decade.

The touring members of this 2009 US Faust tour are original members Jean-Herve Peron and Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, along with James Johnston (Gallon Drunk, Lydia Lunch, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and visual/video artist, painter, and musician Geraldine Swayne.

Faust kicks off that 2009 US tour on September 25th at The Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina at a co-headlining show with Sunn O))). From there they tour through October 11th while hitting Pop Montreal (10/3) and Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn (10/1) along the way.

The Brooklyn show is one of three WFMU Festival days happening at the same venue. Also on the October 1st bill is Cold Cave (more on them later) and Aluk Todolo (more on them later too). Tickets go on sale Thursday, September 3rd at noon. All Faust dates and a video below...

Continue reading "Faust - 2009 tour dates (MHOW, Philly, Pop Montreal, more)"

Karen O @ Lollapalooza 2009 (more by Paul Birman)

"DGC/ INTERSCOPE TO RELEASE WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK: ORIGINAL SONGS BY KAREN O AND THE KIDS. ALBUM OUT SEPTEMBER 29! LEAD SINGLE "ALL IS LOVE" OUT DIGITALLY AUGUST 25! MOTION PICTURE IN THEATERS OCTOBER 16!

Inside Karen O is a Wild Thing - as singer for the Grammy-nominated Yeah Yeah Yeahs, her wild thing is in your face, vulnerable, obnoxious, tender, exciting... a self-proclaimed "spazoid." However, to Oscar-nominated Where the Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze, Karen O and her music possess a child-like innocence, a guileless charm that put her exactly on the right emotional wavelength to sonically capture the highly-anticipated film.

To compose music for the film, O enlisted friends and fellow musicians she believed had the musical intuition that would bolster her intent to marry sound to vision. Dubbed Karen O and the Kids, the kids include Tristan Bechet (Services), Tom Biller (co-producer with Karen O and member of Afternoons), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter), Brian Chase (YYY), Dean Fertita (The Dead Weather), Aaron Hemphill (Liars), Greg Kurstin (The Bird and the Bee), Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather), Oscar Michel (Gris Gris), Imaad Wasif (New Folk Implosion), Nick Zinner, (YYY) and an untrained children's choir." [Where the Wild Things Press Release]

As the press release says above, the song "All is Love" is out today. You can listen to it at MySpace.

In related news, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on September 29th. That's six days after their much larger Manhattan show at Radio City Music Hall which sold out, I am told, in less than a day (UPDATE: There are a few random single tickets still available for Radio City at the moment, so not completely sold out yet)... I'm sure the MHOW show will sell out in less than a minute when tickets go on sale Friday at noon (2-ticket limit, will call only, opener TBA).

Some related videos below...

Continue reading "Yeah Yeah Yeahs add MHOW show - Karen O & the Kids made the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack (single out now)"

review and photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

As people filed out of the Music Hall of Williamsburg Monday night (8/24), comments like "gave me chills" and "that was amazing" could be overheard. Yes, it's garden variety, post-concert stuff, but as the buzz drifted down N. 6th toward Bedford Ave. it was clear those claims were not just hyperbole. Yes, Mew, the Danish art rockers, do epic as well and as effortlessly (and chill-inducing) as anyone. Despite confiding to the sold out Music Hall that they get "extra special nervous" when playing to a New York crowd ,the trio produced a breathless display of pulsating beats, soaring vocals and bizarre, and at times creepy (but always perfectly synced), video projections

Their new record No More Stories... (Sony BMG) drops today (8/25) and yet you could tell who already had the record by those mouthing the words to the set and record openers "New Terrain" and "Introducing Palace Players". The former featured band members, Jonas Bjerre, Bo Madsen, and Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen in spotlights in the middle of the stage to start before Madsen and Jørgensen moved to their instruments on the sides. Their supporting musicians took the stage to finish off the song and launch right into the angular, staccato beats of "Players."

The crowd found full voice though on older numbers "Special" and "The Zookeeper's Boy" from 2005's And The Glass Handed Kites (Song BMG). The youngest of the 16+ crowd lined the stage, pushing and straining to touch Bjerre like he was Jesus, or Morrissey.

The projected visuals were beautiful and twisted: cats playing violins, contrasty doll heads floating over the musicians, children providing the chorus of "Sometimes Life Isn't Easy" and on "Am I Wry? No", the simple squiggly script, 'Am I wry?'

For the encore, the sprawling "Comforting Sounds", Madsen came out, gushed his affection for the crowd who gushed right back, and as he began playing was joined by Bjerre and finally Jørgensen with the rest of the band building the song into its eight-minute fury. - Dominick

--

Amazing show, though a bit on the short side. Definitely the best Mew show I've seen so far. The choice of venue helped. Violens opened. Mew's next show is Wednesday night (8/26) at Terminal 5. It's their first date with Nine Inch Nails on the 'Wave Goodbye' tour (all dates here). More pictures below...

Continue reading "Mew & Violens @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, NYC - pics"

The Wrens @ Sasquatch Festival on 5/24 (more by Chris Graham)

In the fall of 2008, after a comprehensive proposal process with New York City, Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) and The People's Firehouse, Inc. (PFI), were awarded the rights to re-develop the former Engine Company 212 firehouse. Located at 134 Wythe Avenue, in the Northside section of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the firehouse will now become home to both NAG and The People's Firehouse. Both organizations have historically served with dedicated action and activism while continually shaping North Brooklyn to benefit the diverse and vibrant community.

The newly redesigned building will become the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center, and so much more...

Charles Bissell of the Wrens, They Might Be Giants and Nada Surf (acoustic) will all turn out for "Raise the Roof," a benefit for the NTHCCC (as it will forever be known) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Wednesday, October 28th. Tickets go on sale Friday, August 21st at noon.

This show is in addition to the shows They Might Be Giants have coming up at the Museum of Natural History and NYU.

At the end of July, the Wrens celebrated (or "noted with a website post") their 20th anniversary as a band. The full story on that, with a link to the commemorative t-shirt they made, is below...

Continue reading "Charles Bissell of the Wrens (who are 20), They Might Be Giants & Nada Surf (acoustic) playing a NTHCCC benefit"

photos by Sara Skolnick

"I saw Hercules and Love Affair this weekend who now have Mark Pistel in the band (founding member of Consolidated) which made me remember about Meat Beat Manifesto and seeing them play live. Fucking great show. They had these dancers with mini crutches, one of whom hit my friend Angy in the head while dancing feverishly on stage. Good times." - waxy yellow buildup

Hercules & Love Affair played two NYC shows over the weekend. Friday night it was at the Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan. Saturday was over the river in Brooklyn at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

As Andy Butler somewhat explained to The Voice, guest vocalists like Antony (who is on the album) and Nomi (who has been a prominent vocalist in the band's live shows) are not permanent members of the band which will continue to change over time. Nomi was not present at the shows where, at Music Hall at least, they played mostly songs from their 2008 self-titled album, and some new stuff too. Jason Kendig opened.

In related news, Andy Butler will be DJing at the upcoming Electric Zoo Festival on Randall's Island, and "Antony and the Johnsons [releasaed] the "Aeon"/"Crazy in Love" double A-side single in the US on August 4th on CD and 7" through Secretly Canadian and on August 3rd in Europe and UK on 7" through Rough Trade."

More pictures from the Brooklyn H&LA show below...

Continue reading "Hercules & Love Affair (w/ Mark Pistel, but not Nomi) played Gramercy Theatre & Music Hall of Williamsburg (pics) "

photos by Sara Skolnick

"Chaos at the Friendly Fires performance in Brooklyn, tonight!

When a drunk fan pops up on stage at your show, you dance with her a little, then expect her to kinda dance herself off stage. When you try to get her to leave and she won't...what then?

What you are about to see [below] is only the start. Later in the show, ever more brazen fans of Friendly Fires ascend to the stage, causing complete mayhem, mostly in a good way."
[something burning]

Friendly Fires completed a two-night run in NYC last night (8/13). The above-mentioned show took place at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The above-mentioned video is below along with more pictures from the show that took place one night earlier at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan....

Continue reading "drunk girl on stage @ MHOW during Friendly Fires (video) who also played LPR w/ Phenomenal Handclap Band (pics)"

Berlin techno makers Modeselektor will return to Brooklyn on November 7th to play Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon, and then on general sale on Saturday, 8/15.

NYC-based, sometimes-techno maker Moby will play a show at the same venue on September 23rd, two days after his show at Irving Plaza. Tickets go on sale Friday, 8/14, at noon.

Continue reading "Modeselektor & Moby add shows at MHOW"

FREE INDOOR SHOW IN BROOKLYN TONIGHT: Ben Sollee, Holly Miranda & Julianna Barwick play @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (7/31).

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Justina Villanueva

Harvey Milk salutes you!

Pop quiz! Name two things that are kind of awkward at a Torche / Harvey Milk show!

My answers are mosh pits and dry-humping, but unfortunately, I witnessed both when the pair played Music Hall of Williamsburg on 7/26 as part of an ongoing tour/victory lap in the wake of their critically acclaimed 2008 LPs. Since the release of those LPs, both bands have undergone lineup shifts (one officially, one not so officially- Joe Preston was absent from Harvey Milk again) and, at least for one band, their live firepower recently seemed diminished (see Torche at Scion).

Pollution was the first band on the bill, and it was beyond odd (but very welcome) to see the band's crust-laden metal pouring from the stage at MHOW. The venue is larger than they usually play, and they were playing to a much larger crowd then I've ever seen them play to at The Charleston or Union Pool.

Harvey Milk followed, and though they were sans Joe Preston and his voice, the otherwise soft-spoken Creston Spiers's cro-magnon howl needed no such vocal accompaniment. The band ran through moments from across their output including "I've Got A Love" and my favorite from Life... The Best Game In Town, "Motown". With Joe absent, along with the base layer of heavy rhythm riffage that he provides, it becomes apparent what Harvey Milk really is: a cross-eyed, demented, southern heavy-blues band.

"Is this fucking George Jones?" someone yelled jokingly at the stage.

From behind a trucker hat emblazoned with "fresh frozen vegetables", bassist and smiley southern boy Stephen Tanner laid down a rumbling low-end to match the goings-on outdoors (it was raining like a mutha). Meanwhile, clean cut drummer Kyle Spence kept time, adding Keith Moon-style fills.... when the song was over 80 BPM that is.

"How many people saw Torche last time they were here?", asked Creston Spiers of Harvey Milk.

Crickets.

That may be a testament to the (lack of) power of dredg (who Torche played with last time they were here) and the short opening set Torche played on that tour, or that may be a testament to the growth of Torche since their days on Robotic Empire. Both make sense to me. Either way, call it a small victory that the band played to a mostly-full bottom floor (mezz was closed) as opposed to the house shows of days passed.

Torche hit the stage around 1130. One of my main complaints from their performance at Scion Rock fest was the lack of middle tones along with that patented "thunder string" that make up the signature Torche sound. Those middle tones are still not present in the wake of Juan Montoya's departure, but the trio have figured out a way to make a fuller sound which approaches that high watermark... an impressive feat.

And the band is a trio of showmen. Steve Brooks crowd-surfed, rubbed his ass on the first row, and pogo-ed around blissfully while Jonathan Nunez thrashed about. Besides the fact that Rick Smith is an absolutely punishing drummer, which in and of itself is a spectacle, he did his part to be as showy as his bandmates. Smith would stand up and smash down on his kit, forcing his whole body downward as he swung his drumsticks. As they closed the set, Rick Smith raised his cymbal above his head triumphantly like a Tusken Raider (yes I am a Star Wars nerd).

The band played new-new material (as in "King Beef", post-Meanderthal) and relatively older ("Meanderthal", "Across The Shields", and "Healer", the latter of which started a mosh pit) including my favorite Torche jam, the uber-heavy "Tarpit Carnivore" off of the monolithic In Return EP.

Besides my admittedly petty gripes about the loss of Juan Montoya, as well as the lack of any encores, the show would have been otherwise beyond incred-amazing if it weren't for a pair of "fans" standing next to me during the show. The couple were literally making out and dryhumping during a good portion of Harvey Milk and into Torche. (Gag) This ain't no R. Kelly people.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Torche, Harvey Milk & Pollution @ Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn - pics "

"Wormed all the way up to the front, hoping to hear some of the new songs the Raves have been working on for their new album, which didn't happen... a few songs in Sune mentioned that since the new album was just recently completed they didn't have enough time to practice the new ones. Minor bummer, but whatevs, live Raves is always rad, no? This was to be the 10th time I've seen 'em, for fuck's sake! Well, not exactly. This turned out to be the worst set I've ever seen by them, hindered by Sune's guitar being practically inaudible as well as some real jackass hecklers behind me. Or maybe the Raves are just vampires and they wilt in the light (first time I've ever seen 'em outdoors). Never mind. Decent, but not up to their usual awesomeness." [Tuddd's Muddd]

The Raveonettes' next Brooklyn show will be indoors, and it will take place at Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 18th, AND Austin's The Black Angels will open which is very good news (maybe the two bands will be touring here from Austin City Limits where the Raves are playing on October 3rd). Tickets for the Music Hall show go on sale Friday at noon.

More pictures and the setlist from the Siren Festival (the free Saturday show that the above review is referring to), and all Raveonettes tour dates (not many of them), below...

Continue reading "The Raveonettes played Siren (pics, setlist), playing MHOW "

Mew fans outside Scoot Inn - SXSW 2007 (more)

Trent Reznor has said he is a fan of Danish band Mew, and most recently they've been opening the NIN/Jane's Addiction tour in Europe. They'll play with NIN again this fall on a portion of that band's final shows. That includes the Wednesday, August 26th show at Terminal 5. Tickets go on presale through NIN.com starting July 17th at 5pm.

The T5-Mew show will be NIN's fourth and final NYC show. The other three will be opened by The Horrors.

Luckily, Mew headline their own NYC show two days before, on Monday, August 24th at the Music Hall of Williamsburg! No ticket info for that yet.

Mew's fifth album No More Stories Are Told Today I'm Sorry They Washed Away, No More Stories The world Is Grey I'm Tired Let's Wash Away is due out August 25th on Columbia (one day after the Brooklyn show). An EP with two songs off the record and three b-sides is out now via iTunes. The song "Special" from their last record is featured in a live video which you can watch, along with all tour dates, below....

Continue reading "Mew - new album, Brooklyn show before the NIN tour (dates)"

photos by Leia Jospe

The Maccabees

Interview Magazine: Anything special planned for the U.S. tour?

The Maccabees: We met a New Yorker the other day called The Reverend Billy. He's an anti-consumerist guy who walks around to the Disney stores and bludgeons Mickey Mouse teddy bears or goes into Starbucks with a choir and sing free-trade songs. I met him at an interview the other day in London and I gave him my email because I wanted him to come emcee the gig. I figured I might say it to you and he might read it and come out so I quit bugging him.

Reverend Billy marched in the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island on Saturday (6/20). Later that night, The Maccabees, along with Miike Snow, and Hatcham Social played their first of two NYC shows together. It took place in Williamsburg - at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Round two for the UK bands goes down tonight (6/22) at the much smaller Mercury Lounge. How was the show? And how were Hatcham Social at Don Hill's and Cake Shop? More pictures from MHOW below...

Continue reading "Maccabees, Miike Snow & Hatcham Social @ MHOW - pics "

DOWNLOAD: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Don't Haunt This Place (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Frank, AB (MP3)

TRAA...(ipickmynose)

Canadian trio and recent Saddle Creek signees The Rural Alberta Advantage have paid frequent visits to NYC since playing their first US show at Pianos in January. That first trip included a second show at Union Hall, then they returned in April and again at the end of May.

The group heads out on a summer North American tour on June 20th. That trip keeps them on the road pretty consistently through August (including multiple appearances at Calgary's Sled Island Fest) (each show is at a different venue). So far, the band's only NYC date is a free show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday, August 4th. They're currently the only band announced on that date, but MHOW reports that more bands will be added to the show's lineup.

All those gigs are in support of TRAA's debut, Hometowns, which came out as a self-released disc in 2008 and will get a Saddle Creek release on July 7th. Pre-orders come with an immediate download code.

Videos from TRAA's past two NYC runs, in April and May, below with all tour dates...

Continue reading "The Rural Alberta Advantage tour dates (free Brooklyn show) "

photos by Chris La Putt

Dave Deporis / Olof Arnalds

"Opener The Tallest Man on Earth was a pleasant surprise, too. Playing solo with just an acoustic guitar, he overpowered the audience with a GIGANTIC voice that at times reminded me of JEFF BUCKLEY, though the sound was more akin to if Buckley was fascinated with Americana as opposed to NINA SIMONE, GENESIS and THE SMITHS." [The Big Takeover - review from the Philly show]

Thanks all for coming to the BrooklynVegan Northside Festival showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday night (6/12). The lineup worked out perfectly. From 7-9, photographers and friends of photographers hung out around their pictures hanging on the wall. At 9pm, those who were there early enough and were interested in watching the music were wowed by the magical Dave Deporis (at least the people I talked to). His set was especially emotional due to the song dedications to his grandfather who passed away one day earlier. Then Olof Arnalds played to a much more filled in crowd who did not want to let her leave the stage, especially after the amazing Nina Simone cover she closed her set with. Earlier she covered Springsteen. Up next came the, to quote the above review, "gigantic voice" of the not-that-tall Tallest Man On Earth which was followed by the headlining full-band set by the one and only John Vanderslice. More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "John Vanderslice, Tallest Man On Earth, Olof Arnalds, Dave Deporis & the BV photo show @ MHOW in Brooklyn - pics "

DOWNLOAD: Dave Deporis - Slayer (MP3)

Northside is finally upon us! The festival kicks off today with an opening party at Studio B [tix], featuring performances by Brightblack Morning Light, Mariee Sioux and more.

Advance badges are still available for $45, but only until 5pm today, when the price will go up to $50 (still not too steep for access to over 100 shows, art exhibitions and events). Badges can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets or at Northside HQ: 60 N 6th St between Wythe and Kent (hours and details here).

Some of the things you can do with that badge are visit the Black Bubblegum metal show at Europa on Sunday, visit the 1st-ever BrooklynVegan photo show at Music Hall of Williamsburg (from Friday 7pm until the end of Sunday night's Bill Callahan show), and stop by the BrooklynVegan showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday night with performances by John Vanderslice, The Tallest Man on Earth, Olof Arnalds, AND..... the mysterious and super-talented Dave Deporis has been added to open the show (set time = 9pm).

Long-time readers know I've always been a fan of Dave's music, despite the fact that he STILL hasn't officially released anything that I know of, and definitely not since 2005 when he was the first artist to play the very first BrooklynVegan live show at Tonic in NYC. Check out an MP3 above.

Stay tuned for more Northside recommendations, coming soon. Dave Deporis videos below...

Continue reading "Northside Festival is here -- last chance for $45 badge -- Dave Deporis added to BV MHOW show "

photos by Tim Griffin

The fantastic lineup of Jenny Lewis, Deer Tick, and Farmer Dave hit the stage of Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn last night (6/9). If you missed it, Jenny will be back soon, Deer Tick will be back soon, and you can look at a bunch more pictures, including one of Jenny's setlist, below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis, Deer Tick, Farmer Dave @ MHOW - pics, setlist"

We're proud to present the first-ever BrooklynVegan photo show in conjunction with the first-ever Northside Festival.

The photo show will take place at Music Hall of Wiliamsburg in Brooklyn (the north side). Forty-nine photos that were taken for, and have appeared on, BrooklynVegan.com will be blown up and on display at the Williamsburg venue from Friday, June 12th through Sunday, June 14th. That time-frame encompasses four live shows:

You can check out the photos @ these MHOW shows
June 12 - BrooklynVegan showcase (Vanderslice/TMOE/Olof/TBA)
June 13 - O'Death + The Extraordinaires + Shellshag (afternoon)
June 13 - Asobi Seksu + Cymbals Eat Guitars + Elika (night)
June 14 - Bill Callahan + Sir Richard Bishop

All four shows can be entered with a Northside badge and/or a general admission ticket. Northside badge holders who didn't plan on coming to any of the Music Hall shows, but want to see the photos, should feel free to use their badge to stop by the venue just to see the pictures before moving on to their next Northside destination.

The cheapest and guaranteed option for seeing the pictures will be Saturday afternoon. For $10 at the door, you get three bands (O'Death, The Extraordinaires & Shellshag) and the pictures. This is also during the time when Bedford will be closed to cars - even more reason to visit the neighborhood over the weekend.

The very cheapest way to see the pictures is to win a ticket to one of the shows. We'll be running contests all this week.... starting now with THREE FREE Northside Badges for three lucky winners (who are 21+ - badge rules, not ours). Each badge is valued at $45. Details on winning one are at the very bottom of this post.

Appropriately, our Friday night music showcase (one of two we're doing for Northside - the other is the metal one) will coincide with the kick-off of the photo show:

Friday, June 12, 2009 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
BrooklynVegan Northside Festival showcase
7-8:00 - photo show reception. $3.00 drink specials.
09:00 -- TBA band
09:40 -- Olof Arnalds
10:15 -- The Tallest Man on Earth
11:20 -- John Vanderslice

$15.00 tickets are still on sale for this show, and of course you can get in with your Northside Badge (capacity permitting) (P.S. it will be one badge out, one badge in throughout the night).

Photographers represented in this show are Ryan Muir, Chris La Putt, Leia Jospe, Lori Baily, Tim Griffin, Bao Nguyen and Natasha Ryan. If your favorite BV photog is missing, it's only because we wanted to keep this first effort relatively small. Stay tuned for future events, more pictures, and more photographers.

Photo printing was made possible by AdoramaPix.

A sneak peak at some of the photos appearing in the show, the flyer, and contest details, below...

Continue reading "announcing the 1st-ever BrooklynVegan photo show ------ part of the Northside Festival - WIN 1 of 3 BADGES"

photos by Tim Griffin

DOWNLOAD: Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen (No Age Remix) (MP3)

If you've never experienced the joys of Holy Fuck you'd probably assume that they are a hardcore thrash band, over-pierced anarchist punks or pimpled college kids trying to wind up their middle-class parents.

But behind the tongue-in-cheek name, the Canadian experimental act deliver a sublime psychedelic slab of analogue electronica that owes almost as much to Stockhausen as sweat-drenched indie/dance nights. [Independent]

Holy Fuck played two NYC shows with A Place To Bury Strangers over this Memorial Day Weekend. Tim Griffin was able to make it to their midnight set in Brooklyn on Saturday (5/23). More pictures from that show below...

Continue reading "Holy Fuck @ Music Hall of Williamsburg in NYC - pics "

DOWNLOAD: A Place to Bury Stranger/Holy Fuck: "Lovely Allen" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: APTBS/Holy Fuck: "To Fix the Gash in Your Head" (MP3)

APTBS @ MHOW - May 22, 2009 (photo by Tim Griffin)

"I've settled into a routine here at Death By Audio. I wake up at 8:30, do some Kundalini Yoga that I learned from Drew, make a huge breakfast, pack my PB&J sandwich for lunch, and bike the 8 miles to work. Then I arrive home around 8 pm and am too tired to make it past midnight, usually.

I guess I'd like to have some more time off. I really don't do anything for myself anymore. I don't play drums or saxophone or guitar, I put off all my circuit-bending projects, since both the altoid amp and the theremin are having problems that I don't feel like fixing. I have been writing sporadically, and I occasionally still do sound effects for Columbia students. I think I may leave this job after the busy season. Thinking about a cross-country trip, couch surfing with some friends. I can make it to Wisconsin from here, at least. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get the rest of the way.

Anyway, one of my roommates' bands played the other night with Holy Fuck at the Williamsburg Hall of Music [5/22]. They're called A Place to Bury Strangers, and before I lived here I had not listened to them." [Kleeb Verses the World]

Kleeb goes on to say that, "As far as the actual music, it's not really my thing. But I will say that A Place to Bury Strangers was one of the best live bands I've seen recently". Holy Fuck and APTBS also played Bowery Ballroom one night later (5/23). All HF dates HERE. Grab two APTBS/HF mashups, courtesy of Pitchfork, above.

Now that both of those NYC shows have happened, it has been officially announced that the secret guest at this Wednesday's Shilpa Ray show at Pianos (5/27) is in fact A Place to Bury Strangers. Death By Audio artists Coin Under Tongue and Sisters are also on the bill. Tickets are still on sale.

photos by Lori Baily, words by Andrew Frisicano

Sonic Youth ended the second night of 2009's No Fun Fest with a seated set of distorted guitar noise and drums. Instead of Lee Ranaldo (who was busy at Cannes?), guitarist Bill Nace performed with the band. (No Mark Ibold either.) The noise shifted from heavy chords, made by drum stick on guitar, to strangely tender sustained feedback and sample-and-hold-esque, skittish riffs. Like a standard SY set, Steve Shelley's tom-heavy drums weighted the action and marked changes in movements. His pummels echoed the intro to "Wipe Out" as the three others on stage took to twisting SY's sonic palette into a No Fun appropriate adventure. After one 20-minute-or-so sustained set, the musicians left the stage. A brief encore continued in the same vein. Kim Gordon intoned into the microphone ("I don't want to leave you behind," I think), causing not a few crowd-members to peak up with hopes of some classic or The Eternal material. No such luck. After four more minutes of music, the band left for good.

Radio23.org, who streamed the SY set and other parts of the fest live, tweeted, "I think we can excuse the Youth as no one else has delved into short-form improv so far... We liked the 3min30sec encore :)" Other bands on the night's bill included Blank Dogs, Mattin, C Spencer Yeh, and Pedestrian Deposit. Hearts Arena wrote...

Pedestrian Deposit: Most thrilling set of the fest so far. Even the dillweeds in the audience were quieted by the end of this. Pedestrian Deposit explores and exploits the frayed edges of sound and texture, wherever they find them on the spectrum. Moving with aplomb from penetrating high ends to heaving silences pulled back from the edge of explosive noise and percussion and then off to the final gorgeous tones of the cello. Soft landing. Everybody in that room knew that something special had just happened. Me, ecstatic.

TripWire said....

Yellow Tears was the unexpected surprise of the night, winning over everyone in the room with their meticulosuly warped sample manipulations and sounds. Out of all the bands, here's one that took the twenty minute time slot and really found inspiration, breaking into sweat and taking off their shirts, and getting genuinely into it. The stage was illuminated by a single bright red light bulb. The best part of the set was the member who kept striking a large scrap of metal and sending it through various effects processors, throwing it onto the ground and making a spectacle yet wrenching some pretty freaking insane and wicked sounds from it. Their energy was welcome and the crowd response was thunderously approving from the sold-out crowd. A dude on the L train was raving about them on the way back, displaying the record he bought of theirs; I have a feeling he's not the only one.

Bardo Pond played a set right before Sonic Youth, and a few others played the second night too. Who was your favorite? Review and pictures from Night One, HERE. More pictures and videos from Night Two, below...

Continue reading "No Fun Fest @ MHOW - night 2 (Sonic Youth) - pics & video"

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Lori Baily

Bastard Noise

"LOUDER!" "TURN IT UP!"

After leaving Melvins at Webster Hall on Friday (May 15, 2009), where the thundering basstones of Trevor Dunn were vibrating my chest, it was a little odd that the sounds emanating from British power electronic terrorists Grey Wolves over at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, were comparatively silent. As their No Fun Fest set went on, the volume would increase from "mildly harsh" to "razor sharp", but one thing stayed constant: the squalls of caustic harsh noise squelching out of the PA.

Sound fun? It was. Behind that backdrop, Grey Wolves spewed caustic lyrics about hate, terrorism, and a desire to "fuck the pain way", and not like Peaches sang playfully in 2000. In between the confrontational lyrics, the vocalist sneered and grabbed his crotch, but not in the Jackson Family manner, the kind that would make your mother call the po-po. Intense, immense, a tad shocking, and completely enjoyable.

After Grey Wolves, my journey into the Melvins past would continue with their ex-bassist Joe Preston and his solo project Thrones. With a looping pedal, drum machine, and some sort of vocal harmonizer (anyone know?), Joe churned out compelling and doomy rhythms, leads, and everything in between, making for a fascinating one man show. I had originally thought that the Wolves In the Throne Room/A Storm Of Light show coming up with Krallice at The Studio @ Webster (5/26, tickets here) was the definite winner of the NYC shows on that tour, but after seeing Thrones on Friday, its a toss up... unless I make it to Coco66 on 5/21 to catch him with Blues Control, then I may go see him again with WITTR at Europa on 5/22 (tickets here)

The last act for the evening was Bastard Noise, the noise project of fallen powerviolence legends Man Is The Bastard. I caught a few songs from the noise-terrorists, enough to see Eric Wood thrashing around like a madman and require another listen from their awesome new album Rogue Astronaut.

How were all the acts who came before them? For poor Raglani, it was his last with his gear. Pictures and video from the whole night below...

Continue reading "No Fun Fest @ MHOW - night 1 in pics, video & review "

photos by Zach Dilgard, words by Black Bubblegum

Mastodon, Kylesa, and Intronaut were back for round two on May 10th at Music Hall of Williamsburg, one night after Irving Plaza. As advertised, the showpiece for the evening was the band's new album Crack The Skye, in it's entirety and in order with an accompanying video show. Until that point, I fell into the sub-section of Mastodon fans that believe the new album is a bit overwrought and uninteresting, figuring the tunes would be given new life on stage. That was not the case, and even though portions of the Crack The Skye live set were impressive, my opinion of the record hasn't changed.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the new material, their live show is better than ever. Mastodon may have seemed alot less comfortable on stage with the new material, but it was well-executed, and the signature Mastodon-ian big volume and theatrics were still present. In addition, the Crack The Skye set emphasized some surprisingly impressive vocals by drummer Brann Dailor and vocal harmonizing by Troy Sanders (bass) & Brent Hinds (guitar)... a big compliment considering the show I was just at on friday. The new material was followed by a set of highlights from the remainder of their discography ("Iron Tusk", "March Of The Fire Ants", "Capillarian Crest", others). The full set list is below.

Intronaut (who I missed... sadface) and Kylesa opened the show, with Kylesa drawing from their awesome album Static Tensions and closing with "Hollow Severer" from 2006's Time Will Fuse It's Worth. If you haven't caught Kylesa and their crusty-doom-ridden-dueling-drum attack, you have two additional chances in the coming months.... Cake Shop with Stinking Lizaveta, Unearthly Trance and Darsombra on May 30th and Maxwell's on May 27th with Wetnurse and The Nolan Gate (tickets here).

More Mastodon & Kylesa pics below...

Continue reading "Mastodon & Kylesa @ MHOW in Brooklyn - pics & setlist"