by Andrew Sacher

Big Deal

UK duo 2:54, who we suggested you check out when they made their US debut in NYC in late November, has a few US dates scheduled with fellow UK duo Big Deal surrounding SXSW. Those dates include March 11 at Glasslands and March 12 at Mercury Lounge, before they head to SXSW and finish up with a date together in LA. Tickets for the Mercury show go on sale today (1/13) at noon and tickets for the Glasslands show are not on sale yet but check ticketfly for updates.

Big Deal (aka Kacey Underwood and Alice Costelloe) will release their debut LP, Lights Out, on January 24 via Mute. They don't seem to be using more than an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and their voices. They've got enough indie rock tendencies that it's bigger sounding than folk, but with the complete absence of drums, it's not nearly as large as their songwriting could lead it to be, and it ends up working to their advantage. A few of the tracks from the album are available to stream below, including the single, "Chair," and an accompanying video, "Locked Up," "Homework," and perhaps the most memorable, "Talk," which revolves around the repeated chorus of "All I wanna do is talk/but seeing you fucks me up," a refrain with the brutal honesty of emo but without its stigmas. The artwork and tracklist for Lights Out is below.

2:54 @ Pianos in December (more by Erik Erikson)

2:54 also have some upcoming dates in the UK with another UK band, The Big Pink, whose new album, Future This, comes out next week and is streaming in full with track by track commentary from the band on SPIN.

NME also points out in their review of The Maccabees' new album, Given to the Wild, which came out 1/9 in the UK, that, "On their forthcoming tour, the band will be supported by 2:54." The two bands, who are now labelmates (2:54 signed to Fiction), also toured together in 2011. The Maccabees also have dates with another UK band we said you should check out, Trailer Trash Tracys, whose great debut LP, Ester, comes out February 7 via Domino.

In NME's review of The Maccabees' Given to the Wild, they called the album the "first classic album of 2012" and gave it a 9/10, the highest score they've given to any album by the band thus far (their first two got 8's). The album is pretty great. It was produced by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy, and he helps bring in a more ambient feel to their sound. It doesn't have the powerful choruses of Wall of Arms but it reaches similar heights by taking a step away from that and exploring layers of new and different sounds. Check out the videos for "Feel to Follow" and "Pelican" off the album below.

Speaking of bands that NME loves, Howler (who have 7 NYC shows coming up, 5 of which are this month) are featured on the cover of NME's 'New Music 2012 Special Issue' and their debut LP, America Give Up is streaming in full on NPR.

All dates, videos, and streams below...

Continue reading "Big Deal coming to US w/ 2:54, releasing LP; The Maccabees have a new one too; The Big Pink & Howler streaming theirs"

Rough Trade listed These New Puritans at #3. NME listed them as #1. The UK magazine's full list of favorite albums of the year, below...

Continue reading "NME's Top Albums of 2010"

DOWNLOAD: Make It Better (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Knocks - Make It Better" (Stylus Dust Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Knocks - Make It Better (Monsieur Adi Remix) (MP3)

The Knocks

"I DJed a show with DJ B-Roc of The Knocks a few months back. Dude was on point and I was blown away. Unsurprisingly, the highlight of the set came when B-Roc dropped his group's new single "Make It Better." The song is so dope, so summery, so perfect. And you can download it now at the Neon Gold blog. Be sure to pre-order the single so you can cop all of the remixes when they drop." [Panda Toes]

The Knocks then have a few other scattered dates scheduled before CMJ, and then at least three scheduled during CMJ including the just-announced late show happening at Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday, October 20th with DFA's Holy Ghost. Tickets for that show will go on sale Wednesday, 9/8, at noon (or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge).

If you can't wait that long to see Holy Ghost!, don't forget that they also happen to appear on the lineup of this weekend's final 'Warm Up' of 2010 at PS1:

September 4th
Holy Ghost! / DFA Records, New York (live)
House of House / Whatever We Want, New York (DJ set)
DJ Mehdi / Ed Banger Records (DJ set)
Plus Special Guests TBA

All dates for the Knocks & Holy Ghost!, below...

Continue reading "The Knocks playing NYU Mystery Concert, CMJ w/ Holy Ghost! who play PS1 Saturday & other dates "

by Andrew Frisicano

If looking for a way to see some of CMJ's top bands without a badge or tickets, three stores - Sound Fix, Other Music and Apple Store Soho - are all offering free in-store performances through the week.

Other Music in Manhattan hosts El Perro Del Mar tonight (10/20 @ 8pm). El Perro - real name Sarah Assbring - was to play a Joe's Pub show on November 9th. That's been canceled. She's opening for Peter, Bjorn & John this November - their Nov. 10th show was moved from Terminal 5 to Webster Hall and bumped a day earlier (now Nov. 9th).

If you're out today (10/20), El Perro Del Mar will be DJing (4-5pm) at Pianos this afternoon. Perhaps she'll spin something from her new record, Love Is Not Pop, which is out today (there's some nice dance remixes on at the end of it).

Also at Other Music, The Very Best play a daytime in-store (noon) on Thursday (10/22), which is probably less than 12 hours after they play (Le) Poisson Rouge's Green Owl CMJ showcase on Wednesday night with Theophilus London, Violens, Grandchildren, Ninjasonik and Nat Geo Music (the late show after LPR's New Amsterdam/Cantaloupe Recs showcase).

At Sound Fix (all shows 7pm), Antlers play a short acoustic set on Wednesday (they also play a BV showcase tonight, 10/20, at Music Hall of Williamsburg), and Cymbals Eat Guitars (at BV Pianos party Saturday afternoon) perform on Thursday. Tonight (10/20) at Sound Fix, you can catch Brooklyn's own Bell. More dates below.

At the Apple Store Soho, the extremely busy the xx play on Thursday and Portugal. The Man on Friday. More details below.

Speaking of the xx's busy schedule, let's just go through it: They're also at Mercury Lounge on Wednesday (10/21), Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday with School of Seven Bells (now sold out) and a late-night Tribeca Grand party on October 23rd with FIXED's DJ JDH + Dave P (RSVP).

If you're after the Antlers and the xx together in one convenient spot, they're both playing a late-night NME CMJ party on Thursday, October 22nd at The Delancey with We Are Enfant Terrible, Reni Lane, Yes Giantesses and Ultra Violent Lights. The xx are the "special guest" on that show.

All times for the CMJ in-stores, tour dates and details are below...

Continue reading "CMJ in-stores @ Apple Store, Sound Fix, Other Music & other shows w/ El Perro Del Mar, Very Best, Antlers, xx & more"

Friendly Fires @ the BV party @ Pianos on Oct 23, 2008 (more by Leia Jospe)

Soft Pack (Muslims) @ the BV party @ Pianos on Oct 23, 2008 (more by Leia Jospe)

White Lies, one of the most hotly tipped new British bands of 2009, confirmed that potential with a No. 1 debut for their first album, "To Lose My Life" (Fiction/Polydor) on the new U.K. album chart. Lady GaGa's "Just Dance" (Interscope/Universal) started a third week atop the singles survey.

White Lies was known as Fear Of Flying until about a year ago. The band has released three singles so far under its current name, of which the most successful, also titled "To Lose My Life," edges 35-34 this week. Its instant album chart success came as the Script's self-titled Phonogenic/Sony BMG debut slipped 1-3, while Kings Of Leon's "Only By the Night" (Hand Me Down/Sony BMG) held at No. 2. [Billboard]

Continue reading "White Lies, Friendly Fires & the Soft Pack - 2009 Tour Dates"

photos by Faith-Ann Young

DOWNLOAD: Little Boots - Meddle (Baron von Luxxury's Technicolor Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat (Fake Blood remix) (MP3)

"I had a photo shoot for a big fashion magazine thing yesterday [October 26, 2008], I've never really done anything like that before so it was kind of weird, within about 5 minutes I had 6 people descend on me involving things like this:

Yeah I know, I have no idea either, it was a bit like Stars In Their Eyes except I wasn't quite sure who I was supposed to be at the end. Anyway it was quite an experience. After that we legged it to soundcheck at The Annex for the NME Showcase but unfortunately we were already too late and it turned out half of our techy stuff wasn't working not to mention my throat is still in ruins but we got through it and there was a good crowd. I tried to teach them the phrase "put a donk on it" but I'm not sure if New York is quite ready for that!

Stayed around to watch Passion Pit, by which time it was absolutely rammed. They were good, I like some of their songs a lot, one about 'tears like diamonds' which I think is a nice phrase."
[Little Boots]

Continue reading "Little Boots - more US shows & CMJ pics (from the Annex)"

Slow is the brand new single from Tricky, released on October 20th. It is the second single taken from his critically acclaimed first album for Domino, Knowle West Boy, released in July.

The only cover on Knowle West Boy, Kylie's Slow is given a drastic make-over, humorously and inappropriately transforming the coy pop hit into a seedy electro-punk track. Asked why he chose to cover this track, Tricky replied 'I covered Kylie's Slow because I love that song. And the video is one of the best fucking videos I've ever seen. It's sexy as fuck.'

In related Tricky-has-never-listened-to-them news, people are talking about Portishead's planned 4th album again.

Tricky plans on coming out with another album too. You can hear him talk about it in the video below. His only tour dates at the moment are in the UK for NME, and you'll find them down there too...

Continue reading "Tricky - 2009 Tour Dates (Irving Plaza, NME Shockwaves) "

"Waking up in Wolverhampton and travelling to London. Putting on a dress and hanging out with Björk. Soundchecks, interviews, meet 'n' greets, guest spots with support bands and great, celebratory gigs... It's all in a day's work for Evan Dando. As The Lemonheads' leader's year of success, stress and crack confessions comes to an end we spend a day with the languid love-God, still cool as the pressures increase." [From NME 25th December 1993]

Continue reading "Evan Dando (Lemonheads) - December 2008 Tour Dates "

The Bowery Ballroom show Glasvegas are playing during their Letterman to Ferguson tour in January sold out pretty quickly. The Webster Hall show they're playing on March 30 goes on Am Ex presale today at noon - regular sale on Friday. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Glasvegas - more 2008/09 Tour Dates (Webster Hall)"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Chairlift - Evident Utensil (MP3)

Chairlift played a free show at the 92YTribeca last Saturday, October 11, but if you missed that, there are still plenty of NYC chances to catch the Brooklyn three-piece in the next week.

First, this Saturday night (10/18), a Bowery gig with dance guru Juan MacLean and a Holy Ghost (DFA) DJ set (Tickets $15).

Then the band plays a packed CMJ-Tuesday (10/21) with three different showcases: After the Jump @ Pianos (5pm), NME @ the Annex (7pm) and the Deli Magazine @ the Hiro Ballroom (9pm).

The band (friends of MGMT) will then take off with Yeasayer (who previously toured with MGMT) for a bunch of October dates before taking off on their own to Europe. In December they rejoin Yeasayer in DC and then open the first of two shows Yeasayer are playing at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The date of the Brooklyn show is December 5th. Tickets are still on sale. Tickets are also on sale for the December 6th Yeasayer show. No openers are listed for that one yet

Grab and an MP3 above, and check out Chairlift's song "Bruises," off their new Kanine Records album Does You Inspire You, in an iPod commercial (btw if you haven't heard of these yet, what a fantastic, fantastic product).

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "iPod commercial stars CHAIRLIFT - 2008 Tour Dates (CMJ, Juan Maclean, After the Jump, NME, Deli & Yeasayer)"

To celebrate the release of The Chemistry Of Common Life, in stores this coming Tuesday, Fucked Up will be playing live for twelve hours straight at a storefront in New York City.

On Tuesday, October 14, from 2PM until 2 AM, the band will be playing a twelve-hour show at the Rogan store at the corner of Bowery and Bond. Admission is free. All ages are welcome to attend, though the free alcohol will be limited to those 21 and over. Additionally, a free limited-edition 7″ of "Royal Swan" will be given away to the first batch of attendees, with a second allotment given away at a later time in the show to be announced.

Special guests will be joining the band on stage to help them through this marathon, including the Vivian Girls, John Joseph, Matt Sweeney, Chain Gang, Mobb Deep, Ryan Sawyer from Tall Firs, Jeff Jensen, David Cross, John Cale, K-Taro, Chris Doherty, E.K., DJ Chris, DJ Anarki, Michael Gira, members of the Australian Scapa Flow, Jeanne Bovet, Gods & Queens, Akon, The Edge, Ben Blackwell, Russell Simins, the Boogie, and some megastars we can't announce yet.

Continue reading "Fucked Up are playing a free 12-hour NYC show w/ guests "

Eric Avery included....

Continue reading "Jane's Addiction reuniting for "NME Awards" in LA "

DOWNLOAD: Billy Bragg - O Freedom (NEW MP3)

Billy Bragg & Kate Nash @ FILTER Courtyard, SXSW 2008 (jinners)

"Our friendship is based around an affinity for the Shangri-las," said Bragg as he strapped on Nash's guitar, suggesting that this was more than just a deft move by her people to insulate her from knee-jerk criticism ("Well if Billy Bragg thinks she's a bit of alright then maybe..."), while also placing her within a grand British tradition of songwriters like Ray Davies, Paul Weller and Bragg himself. The two traded lines like old friends, before launching into a three-song set of the Shangri-las' "Give Him A Great Big Kiss," Bragg's classic "New England" and Nash's "Foundations," a tell-off song that's everything "Dickhead" isn't: clever, introspective and fun. [Time Out]

Billy Bragg played a few shows while he was in Texas for SXSW, and then last night (March 16th) he opened for The Pogues at Roseland Ballroom in NYC.

Billy also has a new album coming out April 22nd on ANTI called "Mr. Love and Justice". The MP3 on the top of this post is from that album. Download that now. Then check out the videos of he and Kate below.......

Continue reading "Billy Bragg, Kate Nash, videos, new album & MP3, the Pogues"

I'm running a little behind again today...

Bigmouth has struck again and, heaven knows, he’s miserable now.

Morrissey is suing the NME and its editor for defamation after the music magazine quoted him on its cover this week as saying: “The Gates of England are flooded. The country’s been thrown away.”

The magazine lambasts the former Smiths frontman for taking a “naive and inflammatory” stance on immigration by employing language that “dangerously echoes” the British National Party’s current manifesto.

Morrissey’s reported comments come 15 years after the NME accused him of experimenting with racist imagery in some of his solo songs and by draping himself in a Union Jack at a gig in Finsbury Park, North London. The singer, 48, says that his words have been taken out of context and now, after one of the most intense relationships in British music, Morrissey and the NME could be heading for the High Court. [TimesOnline]

Well, it was actually on the inside...

Continue reading "Eddie Argos nude on the cover of NME"

How would Lily Allen describe this cover?

Continue reading "Beth Ditto nude on the cover of NME"

DOWNLOAD: Tokyo Police Club - Be Good (live on Daytrotter) (MP3)

Montreal's BrooklynVegan Mike sat down with Toronto's Tokyo Police Club at a show they were playing in Montreal in early April. They talked about such topics as how the band got their start, Pop Montreal, Daytrotter, Pitchfork, Cold War Kids, NME, and they may have even started a feud with UK buzz band the Horrors. Full transcript below.....

(BrooklynVegan Mike in BOLD...)

I read the bio of the band on the website, and I had a couple questions about it. If you read enough one sheets, you get a romanticized view of how a band comes together. On yours, it mentions how when you first formed, no one was really into your stuff at all, and then this Pop Montreal invitation came about. Is that accurate?

Graham: Yeah. I wrote the bio. I was trying to copy one-sheets as much as I could. I was trying to be pro. That's entirely true.
Josh: It wasn't that no one was into it, just that we weren't playing at all.
Graham: Right. And then playing Pop Montreal was the only thing that made us be a band. In all seriousness, if it wasn't for that Pop Montreal festival, we wouldn't have done anything. Ever. I cannot overstate the importance of Pop Montreal.
Josh: Before Pop Montreal we played a few low key shows in Toronto, for other bands, you know? Pop Montreal was the first time we played to a crowd, at all, that was there to see us.

So how did you get the invite? Did you know someone?

Dave: We just sent our application and twenty bucks in the mail.
Graham: We had always talked about applying for things like CMW and North By Northeast and other stuff around Toronto but we never got around to it. We are lazy guys. For whatever reason, the Pop Montreal thing actually got done. I don't know why. We actually had to do work for it. I guess it was just the hand of fate.
Josh: It was the best twenty bucks we ever spent.

Continue reading "an Interview with Tokyo Police Club"