Elephant 6 Holiday tour 2008 (more by Lori Baily)

Though the full set of dates hasn't been announced yet, it looks like the Elephant 6 collective is going on another "Holiday Surprise Tour," though this time the holiday is whatever happens in March. The NYC shows are March 22nd at Knitting Factory and March 23rd at Le Poisson Rouge. The latter lists the following:

Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour
w/ Elephant 6 orchestra featuring Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, Peter Erchick, John Fernandes , Julian Koster, Scott Spillane, Andrew Rieger, Laura Carter, Derek Almstead , Heather McIntosh, Bryan Poole, Theo Hilton , Robbie Cucchiaro and others play the music of The Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, Circulatory System, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Gerbils, Nana Grizol, Major Organ and and Adding Machine, Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't , plus games, films & other surprises

This news comes hot on the heels of Saturday's private Jeff Mangum show, and Jeff did in fact join in the fun in 2008, but of course there are no guarantees and it will be great either way. Tickets are on sale for both shows (just click the links above). Stay tuned for all dates.

Meanwhile The Music Tapes aka Julian Koster is now on his own holiday tour.

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Nana Grizol - Galaxies (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Naza Grizol - For Things That Haven't Come (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Futureheads - Struck Dumb (MP3)

Sky Larkin @ Pianos during CMJ (more by Bryan Bruchman)

It's not the most action-packed of weekends in TWII land. Stars is sold out, as is Kings of Convenience and Delorean, no twee indiepop from Denmark, or San Francisco garage rockers. So I'm gonna start with mentioning that terrific Leeds, UK trio Sky Larkin (who played one of our CMJ day parties last year) have finished their second album, Kaleide, and it'll be out in August. Like their first album, Kaleide was recorded in Seattle with John Goodmason. But the results this time seem a little more muscular and confident.

Hear for yourself: the band are offering up a free, downloadable EP featuring the album's swell title track (pronounced "collide"). You do have to give up your email address to get it but they're nice folks and I'm sure they won't do anything nefarious with it. Either visit their website or use the download widget at the bottom of this post. Hopefully we'll get the band over here again soon.

Nana Grizol

OK, so what's going on this weekend? Athens, GA's multitudinous Nana Grizol are in town tonight (6/4), playing Silent Barn on their way back from the Primavera Sound festival and we should be glad to have them.  Their wide-eyed folk pop reminds me just a little of much-missed '90s band Small Factory, There's a similar approach to the songwriting, even if the arrangements add about 15 more people (depending on the night) to the mix. You can download two tracks from their latest album, Ruth, at the top of this post. They are super-charming live.

Adding to the fun (and sheer number of musicians onstage at any one time) at Silent Barn are Providence, RI's What Cheer? Brigade which is a 19 piece brass ensemble whose sound is "an aggressive mix of Bollywood, The Balkans, New Orleans, Samba and Hip-Hop, played with the intensity of metal." There's also locals The Eskalators, and Boston singer/songwriter Greg Mullen. Sounds like a pretty fun, probably sweaty, night.

The Futureheads @ Pianos in 2008 (more by Jason Bergman)

The Futureheads play Maxwell's tomorrow (6/5) and Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday (6/8). Like a lot of people, I was a huge fan of their first album, and felt the two following albums were a little too straightforward (and overproduced) for a band who got popular on quirky charm. Some of that off-kilter-ness is back on the band's new album, The Chaos, which I think is easily their best since that first one. They've kind of become a modern, Northern England version of The Knack. Which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Check out "Struck Dumb" at the top of this post.

The band played Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier this week, it was probably the eight or ninth time I've seen them live, and I have to say even when I'm not crazy about whatever record they're touring at the time, they are always worth seeing live. Singer/guitarist Barry Hyde is as manic as ever, guitarist/vocalist Ross Millard provides the punchlines, and the band are tight as hell, and nail those four-part harmonies. And "Decent Days and Nights" and their amazing cover of "Hounds of Love" still sound brilliant.

Athlete

While we're reminiscing about 2004... Athlete play the Bell House tomorrow (6/5). They are not remotely cool anymore, but I have great affection for their debut album, Vehicles & Animals, an exceedingly pleasant bunch of mid-tempo, head-bobbing Brit indie tunes, all of which seemed to have been based on Pavement's "Carrot Rope." It's still a good album to clean the house to.

I saw them at a half-full Mercury Lounge back in March 2004 (they played with, um, Razorlight if memory serves) and remember them being charmingly nerdy. I'm still a bit baffled how/why a year later they turned into Snow Patrol. They're pretty huge in the UK but America has never caught on, but I'm sure that the Bell House will be full of ex-pats and Anglophiles. I'm half tempted to go, if for nothing else than to hear "El Salvador" or "You Got the Style."

After Brooklyn they continue on a month-long North American tour in support of their new album Black Swan, which isn't half bad. All tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Po Po

And one last show of interest. Tonight (6/4) at Glasslands is a pretty good bill, headlined by low-fi Philly duo PO PO. Also playing: Light Asylum who I've written about a bit before and you may have seen open for LCD Soundsystem last month at Music Hall of Williamsburg; enigmatic local band Translations whose songs on MySpace sound pretty good; and underheard Brooklynites (and Soft Pack cohorts) The Sundelles.

And one last little note of shameless plugging. If you're looking for something new to listen to, over on Sound Bites I post a weekly downloadable Summer Fridays mix during the warm months. This is the third year I've done it and this week's has new tunes from Foals, Beach Fossils, Django Django, Young Friends, Radio Dept, plus some oldies (B-52's, Lulu, Air Miami + more) as well.

That's it for this week. Flyers, videos, that Sky Larkin download widget, and tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Sky Larkin, Nana Grizol, Futureheads, Athlete, PO PO, Summer Fridays mix tapes & more in This Week in Indie"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Naza Grizol - For Things That Haven't Come (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Julian Koster - Jingle Bells (MP3)

Nana Grizol @ Cake Shop

T.O. Snob: Most of the press material I've seen points out connections between the band and Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power, and other Elephant 6 groups. Based on that association do people approach Nana Grizol's music with certain expectations? If so, what do you believe they are?

Nana Grizol's Theo Hilton: I don't know... I guess we share some personnel with those groups in particular, and pretty much all of us were part of the latest incarnation of the Music Tapes; I love those folks and I feel like in a lot of ways we're going for the same things with our music. I guess what I'd say is that it's so nice to have a LOT of friends who are really fun to collaborate with on musical projects. I don't feel like we personally go out of our way to affiliate or disaffiliate ourselves with any organized collectives or anything, not that Elephant 6 is an organized collective. I just really want to play music with my friends! And share cool weird experiences with them!! I don't think people approach our band with any specific expectations, at least I don't know what they could be, but if anyone decided to check out our band because they like our friends band, and they like our band, then great!

Athens band Nana Grizol's tour was in town on November 8th for a show at Cake Shop. Even with ex-Neutral Milk Hotel members Laura Carter and Robbie Cucchiaro in the band and Jeff Mangum in the audience, it'd be a mistake to overemphasize the "Elephant 6"-ness of the show. The band is really Theo Hilton's gig, and as a songwriter he has his own direct, personal style. The band too has an urgency about it, with insistent melodies and rotating instruments (that pair up occasionally as double drums and double trumpets). The new album, Ruth, was present in the set list and at the merch table. The above song "For Things That Haven't Come," listed on the setlist as "Ginsburg" maybe for obvious reasons, is characteristic of their basement pop vibe (or maybe farm house pop as the case may be).

Nana Grizol's current tour continues through November 20th. More pictures from the NYC show and the set list are below.

Music Tapes ringleader Julian Koster (a member of Neutral Milk Hotel who wasn't at Cake Shop last week) will be coming around again this holiday season for an apartment/house tour. Currently the tour runs from December 7th to December 21st with the proposed NYC stops happening toward the end of the trip. But only if you invite them to play - and don't think they won't. Julian & Badger (his saw) unbelievably showed up at my place last year for a short set of songs before disappearing into the night. Even if they don't visit you, you can e-mail for the tour's location in your town. Details on how to do that are below. A track from his The Singing Saw at Christmastime is posted above, with the rough itinerary below...

Continue reading "Nana Grizol played Cake Shop (pics), Julian Koster caroling again in December (invite him to your house)"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Naza Grizol - For Things That Haven't Come (MP3)

Nana Grizol @ Bell House in March (more by Tim Griffin)

Nana Grizol's second album, "Ruth" is a potent mix of revved up melodic folk punk, laced with intricate horn arrangements and sleazy, ripping guitars. It alternates between contemplative, beautiful folk arrangements and blasting rock and roll, often within the same song. "Cynicism" kicks things off with a haunting finger picked guitar melody, mixed with a lush horn arrangement. "Galaxies" then kicks things into high gear with it's infectious swagger. "Black Box" is an album highlight, with it's urgent, tense backing of a lyrical rumination on mortality. "From Here" opens with a jubilant, group vocal, then channels Neil Young's Crazy Horse for a blazing,energetic guitar workout. "Sands" ends the album with an ominous,horn backed swell that builds into an expertly crafted pop song, leaving off on a dark but hopeful note. [Orange Twin]

Athens, GA,'s Nana Grizol are a relatively new creation, only one album into their career. But songwriter Theo Hilton and his band of E6 regulars are hardly new to the game. The band's lineup can vary, but generally includes members of Elf Power, Music Tapes and Neutral Milk Hotel (many of which appeared on the E6 Holiday tour around this time last year).

Nana Grizol's second record, Ruth, is set to come out January 12th on Orange Twin (though it's available digitally now). The song "For Things That Haven't Come" from that is posted above.

The band is touring this November, and stops in NYC on November 8th for a show at Cake Shop. Chameleon indie-pop Golden Ghost open. Nana Grizol's live show, which visited NYC with Music Tapes last March, is a raucous, team-work filled affair, with multiple drums kits, a rotating cast of horns and frontman Theo Hilton giving his all. There's a little preview in a pair of videos from Athens's Orange Twin Music Fest in October. Those clips with album info and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "E6's Nana Grizol - new album, MP3 & 2009 tour dates "

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Tim Griffin

The Music Tapes visited NYC for two nights in March - Maxwell's in Hoboken (3/1, which I wrote about) and two days later at the Bell House (3/1), where Tim Griffin took pics (below) and wrote:

"The big event was when julian came out in to the audience and asked everyone to sit around him. I didn't catch all of what he was saying, as he was un-mic'd, but he handed out paper and pens to everyone (from a plastic camel attached to the end of a broomstick - of course) and asked them to write down a memory on a piece of paper, and that afterward we'd all go outside and burn it. Seemed nice enough. Until everyone was outside. 11 degrees feeling like -3 with the wind. Brrrr....as the fires 'raged' in the pot, Julian lined everyone up and they proceeded to run and jump over the burning paper in a pot. Admittedly it was all very engaging and charming, however ...we were outside for at least 15 minutes, which was more than enough to make my hands completely numb. I was grateful to go back inside, where Julian and Co. finished out the set and the evening."

In other Neutral Milk Hotel related news, A Hawk and A Hacksaw - Jeremy Barnes (ex-NMH like Julian from Music Tapes) and Heather Trost, will be touring as a four-piece, accompanied by Mark Weaver on tuba and Samuel Johnson on trumpet. They'll visit SXSW on Thursday, March 19, before opening for Andrew Bird, and then Wilco across North America, and then touring the UK in June.

AHAAH's fourth album, Délivrance, is set for release on The Leaf Label on May 18. Its first single, "Foni Tu Argile," comes out April 27th as a digital download and a "limited edition of 500 hand-numbered 10" singles, cut at 78rpm, with packaging that replicates the shellac records of old." (The song is streaming now at the band's Myspace. )

All Music Tapes pics (and setlist) and AHAAH tour dates below...

Continue reading "Music Tapes Bell House pics, a Hawk & a Hacksaw tour dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

The Music Tapes @ a CMJ show (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The Music Tapes played Maxwell's in Hoboken on Sunday (3/1), and for those who missed the criminally under attended show (maybe something to do with the weather), you're in luck - they'll be back in town on Tuesday (tonight, 3/3) playing the Bell House with the same lineup of opening acts: musical mad scientist Brian Dewan and upbeat Elephant 6-ers Nana Grizol. Tickets are still available, and we're giving away a pair of tickets. Details below.

For the show at Maxwell's, I trekked through the blowing snow to arrive in Hoboken, a place that seems to have frozen in time the most picturesque parts of every U.S. small town. Inside the show space, hidden past the club's front restaurant-bar area, 40-50 brave concertgoer gathered around the stage, where second-act Nana Grizol rocked with warming exuberance. (I missed opener Brian Dewan - more on him later, though.)

Nana Grizol's eight-strong lineup crammed the stage, which was crowded with 7-Foot Tall Metronome and Static the Singing TV standing at attention for the upcoming Music Tapes set. But first, the Athens, GA, band shared songs and swapped instruments, which included guitar, bass, and two drum sets. One member switched from clarinet to trumpet to melodica with ease. The horn section expanded into three trumpet harmonies, then contracted to a single euphonium. The bulk of the songs were fronted by Theo Hilton, who sang with a kind of Promise Ring innocence in his voice. The roaring, clanking sound convinced me to shell out for a copy of their 2008 Orange Twin recording, Love It Love It.

Between bands, opener Brian Dewan set up a projector and screened a short film so good it made me wish I trudged out sooner to catch his solo set. The hand-drawn animated slides that populated the film told a short history of civic pride, coyly poking fun at the structures of society by connecting scenes of Aztec ritual sacrifice, paying taxes, and odious parking meters into a modern parable that paid homage to archaic public service videos. Each frame change was announced with a studious "plonk."

Shortly after, The Music Tapes took the stage, borrowing most of Nana Grizol's members (or maybe vice-versa). Julian Koster, as always, fronted the band with a banjo and saw. Elephant 6-regular Nesey Gallons also played banjo - in all, a lot of the Elephant 6 holiday tour seemed to be on board. On "Aliens," Dewan even joined the band, playing one of his homemade Melody Gins, a knob-covered oscillator contraption.

Koster played many of the same songs he did at the band's Mercury Lounge CMJ show: "Freeing Song for Reindeer," "Majesty," "Song for Oceans Falling," "Orchestra's Orchestration" and "What the Television Tells Us" (the latter two with props). A number of the songs started with just Koster and ended in double-drums, double-distorted banjo noise. On "Song for the Death of Parents," Koster played percussion by bouncing a kickball on a soup kettle with a microphone hidden underneath in a perfect melding of theme and medium.

Julian came into the crowd to play a singing-saw version of "The First Noel" and a song on his tiny electric organ, before returning to the stage and closing the show with "Manifest Destiny." (He also promised to play a crowd game with bells on Tuesday at the Bell House.)

Live, The Music Tapes continue to be one of the most consistently entertaining bands around. The scratchy, distorted sound of its recordings (can a singing saw's sound actually be recorded?), while interesting, drastically understates the buoyant joy and enigmatic energy of Koster and Co. in person.

Besides at tonight's Bell House show, New Yorkers can catch Brian Dewan when he performs a free set with his homemade-instrument project, Dewanatron (with cousin Leon), at the opening of Pierogi Gallery (177 N 9th St, Brooklyn) on Saturday, March 7, 9pm.

Video and contest details below...

Continue reading "The Music Tapes, Brian Dewan & Nana Grizol played Maxwell's (review) -- Bell House TONIGHT (win tix)"

Photos by Lori Baily

Yes, Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum appeared, but as someone pointed out, that was just five minutes of of a 2.5 hour Elephant 6 collective show that also included two other members of Neutral Milk Hotel, one of whom (Julian) also performed at The Music Tapes. There were also NMH's Scott Spillane and members of Olivia Tremor Control (and OTC songs) plus "Circulatory System, Gerbils, Elf Power, Nana Grizol, Nesey Gallons" and more...

have to agree that the show was overall pretty amazing...a little unfortunate that mangum didn't do any of his own songs, but it was a great surprise for him to even be there...he did seem quite pissed off in general though and especially when he was trying ot tussle with the big guy on stage...but what do i know....the one guy peaking/tweaking out on stage talking to himself was kinda weird..yea that afraid song was really good as well as the first song mangum came out for with the tuba...also really thought the drummer with the curly hair did some nice ones too... [anonymous]

More pictures from Saturday night's show below...

Continue reading "Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise (people who aren't Jeff Mangum) @ Knitting Factory, NYC - pics"