Buke and Gase @ Celebrate Brooklyn (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

In their own words:

Your phonetic struggles are over! We know it's been hard on everyone trying to figure out the pronunciation of Buke and Gass. Is it bass like the fish, or bass the unusually funky instrument? Well, now there's no more subtly trailing off as you tell your friend about this great new band you love so much. ("Oh, you should really check out that band Buke and Guh-aa.....yeah, that one.") The band has decided to officially change their name to (insert drum roll here) Buke and Gase. Aron and Arone wrote their own explanation:

A limerick announcement addressing the mis-pronunciation of our name:

If there was one thing to replace
It would be the last S in Gass,
There isn't much class
When rhymed with sassafras,
So we changed it to E just in case.

With Love,
Buke and Gase

So, there you have it. We're busily updating lots of important looking file folders with the new name, and hopefully the internet won't take too long resolving itself to the change. (Bang, you are so damn fast, Mr. Internet.)

But wait, we have yet more announcements about Buke and Gase (née Gass). News flash #1: The band was recently nominated in the Best Art Vinyl 2011 contest, for their Riposte record! You still have time to vote for Aron and Arone, who created the cover themselves, both of their hands & with their hands. Cast a vote right here.

Finally, hopefully you're already aware that Buke and Gase have been tooling around Europe on tour! You have until December 14 to see them live so we suggest you take a look at the updated list of Buke and Gase shows here.

That is, AFTER you cast a vote in for the Best Art Vinyl. We're trying to be thorough here.

by Andrew Sacher

Thurston Moore at MHOW in May (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

New York Guitar Festival have added some new shows to their initial lineup for this January, which included shows at the Merkin Concert Hall. They've since added a 30th anniversary celebration of Brian Eno's Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks at the World Financial Center Winter Garden on January 6. The show will be a a rendition of Eno's album by the Brooklyn ambient ensemble itsnotyouitsme and guitarist Larry Campbell with special guests Noveller and Jeff Parker (of Tortoise).

They've also added the Alternative Guitar Summit, which will take place at LES venue Rockwood Music Hall from January 13-15. January 13 will feature performances by Pillow Wand (aka Nels Cline and Thurston Moore, Ben Monder and Pete Rende playing the music of Jimmy Webb, Joel Harrison and Anupan Shobhakar, and Mark Stewart and Gyan Riley (1/13 tickets). January 14 includes Liberty Ellman and Vijay Iyer, Dave Tronzo and Jay Granelli, and Knox Chandler (1/14 tickets), and January 15 will bring a number of musicians together to honor Jim Hall, including Nels Cline, Chris Potter, Scott Colley, Trevor Dunn, and others (1/15 tickets). You can also purchase a 3 night pass to all of those shows.

On January 29, NY Guitar Fest will hold a day-long guitar marathon at the 92nd Street Y celebrating Italian guitar music with a number of different performers. Tickets are on sale now.

Speaking of guitarists and lists, Rolling Stone recently issued their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, as voted on by other guitarists. Thurston Moore, who plays NY Guitar Fest (and is touring in February), made the list. Nels Cline, who Thurston is performing with, made it too. Though aside from a few others (J Mascis, Jonny Greenwood, Jack White) the list is pretty much what you'd expect it to be.

Califone @ BV-SXSW 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

Tickets are now on sale for the previously mentioned "NY Guitar Festival" shows taking place at the Kaufman Center in January. All shows have the artists performing scores to silent Buster Keaton movies. Those include a January 19th performance by Califone whose only other shows right now are taking place in October around the Design Harvest Festival. All Califone dates below...

Continue reading "NY Guitar Fest tix on sale, Califone included"

Lee Ranaldo @ Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

New York Guitar Festival is returning this January and has some upcoming events scheduled at the Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center. The guitarists will be premiering original film scores for silent films by Buster Keaton. Dan Zanes plays on January 10, Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth) and Kaki King on January 12, Keller Williams and special guest TBA on January 17, and Califone and special guest TBA on January 19. Tickets go on sale September 6 from Kaufman Center's website, at the Box Office, or by calling 212 501 3330.

Califone also plays the Design Harvest Festival in Chicago on October 1st.

Dan Zanes has other upcoming shows in the next few months including John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders on September 23 at City Winery and October 2 at NYU's Skirball Center. Tickets are on sale for the City Winery show and the Skirball show. All dates below.

Keller Williams has other shows coming up too including a kids matinee show on November 19 at Brooklyn Bowl where he will perform songs from his family album Kids. Tickets and Family 4 Pack tickets are on sale now.

All Dan Zanes dates below...

Continue reading "NY Guitar Fest announces 2012 shows (Califone, Kaki King, Lee Ranaldo, Dan Zanes & more)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Skeletons are two bands that have to be seen live, not only for their talents (which are considerable), but because their current live sets are basically unrepresented on record. The last albums for both were in 2008 (Ceramic Dog with Party Intellectuals and Skeletons with Money) and there have been plenty of changes since. First off, new personnel: Ceramic Dog frequently performs with violinist/melodica player/singer Eszter Balint, and Skeletons, shortly before their show at (Le) Poisson Rouge on February 2nd, went from a quartet to a trio. As three, their avant-pop jams and grooves were expansive with the help of some pedals and electronics. The band is led by a recognizable core aesthetic - but exactly what that is is hard to pin down. The band is both scientific and effortless in its interlocking pulses. Skeletons Big Band, their vehicle for long-form compositions (and another unrecorded project) layers jazz dissonance in a similar way, but with a dozen-member lineup.

Ceramic Dog similarly bends between extended jazz improvisation and a traditional song-based rock set. Songs seem to spontaneously come together, sometimes without introduction, as if variations on the previous tune. They pound out noise and blast beats, and then counter with a tender guitar figure and melodica. There are music stands in front of the musicians, but those seem to be of only occasional interest (then again, Eszter puts on her reading glasses to get a better look, and Marc's specs are attached by a croakie so they don't slide off his perpetually bent posture). Drummer Ches Smith reaches into his bag and tosses a piece of sheet music at bassist Shahzad Ismaily. It doesn't land that near him, and anyway he's already into the song by that point. Lyrics enter just in time for the song to end.

Like the shifting Skeletons' line-up, Marc Ribot can be found in different musical settings (eg. his Albert Ayler-influenced Spiritual Unity, solo, on a forthcoming country record with Bill Frisell & Buddy Miller, and as a sideman on records like the new Jakob Dylan album, details below). The only way to catch either band is live, and I recommend you do before they evolve again. More pictures, info and tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Skeletons played Guitar Fest @ LPR (pics), Neko Case on new Jakob Dylan album, more dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

William Parker Quartet

New York Guitar Festival, with shows between January 8th and February 4th, has already been mentioned here in a few different contexts. The "Silent Film/Live Guitars" portion is certainly a big highlight, with one-off performances by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Steve Kimock, David Bromberg and Marc Ribot, Alex de Grassi and James Blackshaw, and the fest closers Chicha Libre and Gyan Riley. Tickets are still available for all but the Vernon/Kimock show.

There's more on the schedule too. World Financial Center Winter Garden hosts a free opening show on Friday, January 8th with Hindustani slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya. There are also theme nights, with Barbes holding Django [Reinhardt] A Go Go (1/24) and 92nd Street Y hosting a Bach Guitar Marathon (1/31).

And LPR has two shows for the fest as well - a night headlined by James Blackshaw (with Max Ochs, Ben Hall, and Nick Jonah Davis too) on January 26th (tickets) and a previously mentioned show with the stellar pairing of Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Skeleton$ (possibly in Big Band form). A video of the Skeletons Big band from their December show at the Stone is below. Tickets for Marc Ribot/Skeletons show are on sale.

(Le) Poisson Rouge is also one of the main spots for the NYC Winter Jazz Festival this Friday and Saturday, when it hosts Jenny Scheinman & Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer Trio, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society and others. Other Village venues are well-stocked with talent too (and getting better - Saturday's Sullivan Hall lineup just added William Parker Quartet). Tickets to day one and two (or a two-day pass to both) are still on sale.

Iyer is also at the Stone this weekend, on Sunday (1/10), as is Tyshawn Sorey, who plays there Friday (1/8) (and plays the Winter Jazz Fest on Saturday).

While on the topic of Iyer, a few other excellent, top-of-their-game, consistently original pianists have shows in the same week (could be called the 'inadvertent piano fest'). McCoy Tyner Trio with special guest Gary Bartz are at Highline Ballroom on Friday, January 8th on a latin-tinged bill with Francisco Mela's Cuban Safari, Jon Batiste Band and Alfredo Rodriguez. Tickets are still on sale.

Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus has a show at LPR, where he'll open with a solo "cocktail" piano set, with The Respect Sextet on Tuesday, January 12th. Tickets are on sale.

Pianist Brad Mehldau, whose new Jon Brion-produced album is due February 23rd, plays two solo sets at Highline Ballroom on January 14th, as a benefit for JazzReach. Tickets are on sale.

The full schedule for the NY Guitar Fest and videos are below...

Continue reading "NY Guitar Fest, Winter Jazz Fest & a bunch of great piano shows kick off Friday - updated schedules, venues & dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Marc Ribot (but were afraid to ask)" is the first of the Stone's new Monday night seminar series and, as previously mentioned, it happens tonight (1/4). The first 13 of those events, which the venue describes as "a special series of workshops, lectures, seminars and Q&As on a variety of fascinating subjects by some of the world's most unique, cutting edge musical thinkers," are laid out below and cover a huge spectrum of musicians and topics.

Ribot will be performing as part of the NY Guitar Festival on January 14th (doing a live improvised score to Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid") and playing with his stellar group Ceramic Dog on February 2nd at (Le) Poisson Rouge (with Skeletons, who played NYE and New Year's Day shows at Zebulon, opening). Tickets for the LPR show, which is also part of the NY Guitar Fest (more on that later), are on sale.

Another interesting, very different Q&A event is also coming up. On February 23rd, Santos Party House will host "Ask Andrew W.K. Anything: An intimate evening of unpredictable performance." Presumably the event is being held to further address the internet rumor that Andrew W.K. is an actor who plays the part of Andrew WK. Tickets are on sale. In other news, he's re-releasing his formerly-import-only-record Close Calls With Brick Walls with a new "lost" disc Mother of Mankind on February 23rd, and he's on this year's Warped Tour.

More info on the Andrew W.K. event and the Stone's seminar series are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot & Andrew W.K. answer your questions and other upcoming events (The Stone, Santos, LPR & more)"

Volcano Choir

Wisconsin's Volcano Choir is Bon Iver's Justin Vernon with Collections of Colonies of Bees members Jon Mueller, Chris Rosenau, Jim Schoenecker, Daniel Spack, and Thomas Wincek. Their album, Unmap, recorded in the fall of 2008, comes out September 22nd on Jagjaguwar (9/21 in the UK). The label described their sound as "ranging from David Sylvian and Steve Reich to Mahalia Jackson and Tom Waits." About the Volcano Choir record, Vernon said to Pitchfork, "I sing on it, but there aren't a lot of lyrics-- it's definitely more on the experimental side of things."

Bon Iver @ Sasquatch Fest 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

No word on whether Volcano Choir will play any live shows, but Bon Iver is currently on tour. That group has summer dates all over the place (Europe, the West Coast, Europe again, the West Coast again), up to Austin City Limits in October.

Bon Iver will be premiering a new piece in NYC on Thursday, January 21st, 2010, at Merkin Concert Hall. The show, part of the New York Guitar Festival's "Silent Films/Live Guitars" series, will feature a Vernon-commissioned score to Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush. He'll be joined by Volcano Choir collaborator Chris Rosenau. Performing separately at the show will be Steve Kimock, of Zero and Crazy Engine, who is scoring Buster Keaton's Cops. Tickets will be available as 4-show series subscriptions and individually.

More Volcano Choir band pictures, album art, track list and Bon Iver tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Bon Iver plays in Volcano Choir (new album), playing Merkin Concert Hall (NY Guitar Festival), other shows (tour dates)"

DOWNLOAD: Kaki King - Two O'Clock (MP3)

Kaki King @ The Apple Store, NYC - Jan 20, 2008 (Jason Bergman)

* Happy Martin Luther King day
* NY Guitar Festival
* Human Giant @ UCB w/ Kristen Schaal
* Kimya Dawson is playing Sound Fix again
* The Citizens Band ia playing Highline Ballroom

The video for the title track from Nick Cave's upcoming album "DIG!!!, LAZARUS, DIG!!!", is below. What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

* Winter Jazzfest @ KF
* No pants on the subway
* Mirah is playing Joe's Pub
* Carolina Chocolate Drops are playing Joe's Pub
* Wu-Tang Clan are playing Hammerstein Ballroom
* Children of the Unicorn is playing Mercury Lounge
* Wynn Walent, Jaymay & Dave Deporis are playing Pete's
* Petra Haden and Laurie Anderson are playing the Stone
* A superstar cast doing Dylan classics - NY Guitar Festival (free)

What else?

Stevie Jackson of Belle & Sebastian is in town to play two shows with the 1900s. Tonight (Jan 10) they're at Union Hall (with Laura Gibson), and tomorrow they're both at Mercury Lounge (with Richard Buckner).

Then on January 12th, Stevie takes part in the free Guitar Festival show at Royal Albert Hall.

All new interpretations of Dylan classics performed by Laura Cantrell, Kelly Joe Phelps, Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian), Marshall Crenshaw, Oakley Hall, Lenny Kaye & Katrina Kiedis (Sufjan Stevens Band), Jason Isbell (Drive By Truckers), Jim Lauderdale, Toshi Reagon, Freeman & Vernon Reid, Harry Manx & Kevin Breit, The Last Town Chorus/Megan Hickey, Jesse Harris, Richard Julian & Jim Campilongo, Chocolate Genius Inc. and others.