photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Neko Case

Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices

James Blake

The 2011 Pitchfork Festival continues through Sunday at Union Park in Chicago. Some of it is streaming online. A set of pictures from Friday continues below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest 2011 ---- Day One in pics (part 1) "

My Morning Jacket @ Voodoo 2010 (more by Alysse Gafkjen)

To coincide with the release of My Morning Jacket's sixth album Circuital (out TODAY), the band is presenting a live stream of their "Unstaged" concert at The Palace Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky tonight (5/31). You can watch the Todd Haynes-directed stream on My Morning Jacket's VEVO page at 9 PM EST. Special guests Erykah Badu and Rachel Dratch will also be part of the show.

Best Buy is offering a coupon to purchase Circuital at any Best Buy location through Saturday June 4 for $7.99. Download the coupon here. Even better is that you can download the album now from Amazon for just $5.00. For something fancier, try the limited edition box set of the album comes which comes with a 30 minute documentary that you can preview in one of the videos below.

My Morning Jacket are headlining the last night (6/5) of Mountain Jam 2011 this weekend, two days after playing Wakarusa. Tickets are still on sale. They also play Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and ACL this summer as part of a larger tour, including an August run with Neko Case. Note: the band will donate one dollar from every ticket sold to local charity.

All tour dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "My Morning Jacket released 'Circuital', streaming Todd Haynes-directed show tonight, touring & stuff"

Kathryn Calder on stage with The New Pornographers (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Kathryn Calder, possibly best known for her contributions to a certain supergroup that contains her uncle, is currently on the road with Himalayan Bear on the West Coast. The dates are in support of Are You My Mother?, her own album which dropped in August of last year. So far a full slate of dates on the Eastside have yet to be determined, but NYC has a show to call their own: Mercury Lounge on June 14th. Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon on Wed (5/11) and regular sale on Friday. All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile Neko Case is going about to embark on a dueling tour that kicks off on 5/11 in Rhode Island and makes a stop at Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock, NY one day later. If you're confused about the date of the Woodstock show, it might be because it was supposed to happen in February but was postponed due to bad weather. All current dates are listed below, Pitchfork Fest included.

The New Pornographers have upcoming dates at both the previously discussed B.O.M.B. Fest in CT on May 29, and Festival for Humanity in Vernon, NJ on May 30th. The band's video for "Sweet Talk" in support of Oxfam's Gulf relief efforts has been nominated for an Emmy. If you havent seen it, check it out below along with all tour dates.

Continue reading "Kathryn Calder on tour (adds dates), Neko Case kicking off tour (adds dates too) "

Guided by Voices @ Irving Plaza, New Year's Eve (more by Chris Gersbeck)

"As previously announced, the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival will be taking place on Friday, July 15th through Sunday, July 17th at Chicago's Union Park! Tickets went on sale on March 4th, and, as predicted, three-day passes sold out in a record time of 24 hours! That said, eager prospective festival goers should fear not, as single-day passes are still available for the totally reasonable price of $45.

And now, without further ado, the newest additions to the 2011 Pitchfork Festival lineup! Friday will see the addition of Guided By Voices and Neko Case; Saturday's lineup will feature No Age, Gang Gang Dance, G-Side, and Chrissy Murderbot; Sunday's stellar lineup now includes The Fresh & Onlys, Radio Dept., HEALTH, Shabazz Palaces, Baths, How To Dress Well, Kurt Vile, and Twin Sister. Stay tuned for more bands still to be announced in the coming weeks!"

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest expands lineup (Guided by Voices & more)"

To quote Birds Need Feet...

"The National have recorded a song for the soundtrack of the upcoming Tom McCarthy-directed film Win Win which will see its proper US release on March 25. The song is called "Think You Can Wait" will play over the credits of the film, and it's a beautiful mellow track featuring backing vocals from Sharon Van Etten. The track was recorded at the recording studio of Aaron Dessner, guitarist of The National, and was produced by Peter Kadis who co-produced the band's 2007 album Boxer."

Continue reading "listen to a new National song from 'Win Win' w/ Sharon Van Etten backing vocals (see Sharon live on tour)"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

DOWNLOAD: The Dodos - Don't Stop (MP3)

"In 45 minutes the show with Showalter starts! It's gonna be amazing, I can tell by his purple sweater. Color of royalty. He's feelin' it!" - Neko Case

Neko Case helped Michael Showalter promote his new book at an event at Barnes & Noble in Union Square last night (2/24), or to be more specific, Upstairs at the Square. Katherine Lanpher hosted. Neko sang four songs (setlist below). Showalter read a couple passages including a beat poetry inspired poem and a chapter about what to put in a Hollywood script. He also discussed the orgin of The Baxter, and they both talked about their writing process. Pictures from the bookstore are in this post.

Uptairs at the Square returns to Barnes & Noble in Union Square twice in March. Wednesday, March 9 will feature Rebecca Skloot (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) and Cubic Zirconia (Follow Your Heart), and Thursday, March 24 has my favorite Keren Ann (101) with Barbara Browning (The Correspondence Artist).

Audience members included Eugene Mirman (who will again join Michael at the Bell House this weekend) and Todd Barry (who just announced an April tour with Neil Hamburger - dates below) (not to be confused with Neil's February and March tour).

Earlier in the day Neko "leaked" a new Dodos song via her Twitter. She wrote, "Fave song off new Dodos. Bummed I didn't didn't get to sing on it (I shouldn't be so greedy cuz I did sing on lots)." Download that above. The Dodos are heading out on tour in March and they'll be playing lots of SXSW shows in the process. Their updated dates, a BrooklynVegan day party included, are below.

Michael Showalter is also touring, though he won't be at SXSW. Neko Case is not touring, though she did just play a show at the Bell House and is giving away her car.

More B&N pictures, Dodos & Barry dates, and Neko's setlist, below...

Continue reading "Neko case played 'Upstairs at the Square' w/ Michael Showalter (pics), 'leaked' a new Dodos song (MP3) "

photos by Amanda M. Hatfield

"Managed to catch most of the Super Bowl and got to see the incredible Neko Case at the Bell House. Successful Sunday." - Joe Saturday

"Just spent 20 minutes discussing Vermont tax laws with Neko Case, Eugene Mirman and Marc Ribot." - RustySutton

Neko Case at the Bell House

After playing the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Long Island on Saturday, Neko Case and Lost In The Trees competed with the Super Bowl (or maybe you were able to do both) and played to a sold-out Bell House in Brooklyn last night (2/6) as part of a larger tour for the pair. Neko was joined by guitar great Marc Ribot during her encore *both Neko and Marc contributed to Jakob Dylans's last album). Pictures from that show are in this post. The full setlist is also below.

The New Porno chanteuse will now take a breather, but will return to NYC to play Barnes & Noble for FREE with Michael Showalter on 2/24. Starting tomorrow (2/8), you'll be able to buy raffle tickets that might win you Neko's classic 1967 Mercury Cougar (as seen on the cover of "Middle Cyclone")...

Neko Case & 826 National present The Cougar-Rama Muscle Car-'Splosion

We are almost ready to re-launch after a truckload of technical difficulties! We are going to begin selling raffle tickets on Tuesday, February 8. Don't worry -- the drawing has been moved up to March so there's still plenty of time to get involved. Please let us know if you have any questions and stay tuned for details!

The Cougar-Rama Muscle Car-'Splosion is upon us! Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/rock star extraordinaire Neko Case is generously giving away her classic 1967 Mercury Cougar to benefit 826 National. Ticket sales will begin shortly, and beginning on Monday, February 14, we will draw for prizes each day leading up to the car drawing on February 18. Stay tuned for a full schedule of drawings!

The car comes packed with Rand McNally guides, piles of road trip tunes, gift certificates to Chipotle, a year's supply of Tazo Tea, and other goodies.

And because any good Cougar-Rama Muscle Car-'Splosion demands extravagance, there are heaps of other fantastic prizes to be won, including:
* A drum head signed by The New Pornographers
* Neko Case's limited-edition 1966 Gretsch Silver Duke guitar
* A Gibson guitar signed by members of the Speaking Clock Revue including Elton John and Elvis Costello
* A Carr Amplifier
* Dinner for 10 from Chipotle
* A collection of vinyl from SubPop including LPS from Fleet Foxes, Thee Oh Sees, The Vaselines
* An Adidas prize pack
* ... and more!

Tickets are $45 each, and they get cheaper the more you buy: 2 tickets for $75, 3 for $100, etc. For more details and to buy tickets, head over to www.nekocase.com/auction. Neko also designed t-shirts for 826 that are being sold in conjunction with the Muscle Car-'Splosion in 826 chapter storefronts across the country and online at www.826national.org/store.

Meanwhile, Lost In The Trees have a trio of dates left on their docket, including their show at Mercury Lounge TONIGHT (2/7). All three are listed below. Tickets for Mercury Lounge are still available.

More pictures from the Bell House, including a shot of Neko Case's setlist, a video from the show, and a video about the car, below..

Continue reading "Neko Case giving away her Mercury Cougar, played the Bell House w/ Lost in the Trees (and Marc Ribot) (pics & setlist)"

photos by Greg Cristman

Neko Case and Lost In The Trees are playing the sold-out Bell House in Brooklyn tonight/Sunday (pics coming), but on Saturday night (2/5), the pair's tour brought them a different NY venue - the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center in Long Island. That show was not sold out, but not empty either.

Neko and her band sounded excellent as they played a 21 song, 75 minute set to a seated crowd. Neko seemed to be enjoying herself and joked continuously with back up vocalist Kelly Hogan between songs, much to the delight of the audience. The full list of songs they played is below.

Lost In The Trees were also very impressive and despite Ari Picker's weakened voice (cold/hoarseness) he still sounded wonderful, as did their gorgeous arrangements. Don't forget you can catch them Monday at Mercury Lounge.

More pictures from the LI show, with Neko's setlist, below...

Continue reading "Neko Case & Lost in the Trees played Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center (pics & setlist)"

Menomena

In addition to separate upcoming dates, The New Pornographers and The Walkmen have announced a week long tour together at the end of April. Unfortunately though, the only time they're stopping in New York is April 25 at Town Ballroom in Buffalo. All dates are listed below.

The New Pornographers have no upcoming dates in NYC, but contributors Neko Case and Destroyer do. Neko Case will be at The Bell House this Sunday (2/6) with Lost in the Trees and is playing a free show at Barnes & Noble in Union Square on 2/24 with Michael Showalter.

As previously mentioned, Neko Case sings on about half of No Color, the new album by The Dodos out March 15. The Dodos released the first track off the album, "Black Night," listen below. An immediate download of this song is available on The Dodo's website with the pre-order of their album. They also recently performed on Pitchfork's Tunnelvision, video below. The Dodos also announced tour dates, including an appearance at SXSW (but no NYC dates at the moment).

Destroyer, whose ninth full length Kaputt was just released on January 25, is going on tour with The War On Drugs. They're playing Webster Hall on April 3. Tickets are still on sale.

The New Pornographers also have announced a few April dates with Menomena (including Coachella). According to Menomena's website, they recently lost Brent Knopf, who left the band to "focus on Ramona Falls and other creative pursuits." Ironically, Paul Alcott of Ramona Falls' live band is replacing Knopf on Menomena's upcoming dates. In addition to touring with The New Pornographers, they also have dates with Maps & Atlases, and an appearance at SXSW.

Menomena will also be overseeing FILMguerrero's reissue of their debut I Am The Fun Blame Monster! which will be available this spring. As stated in a press release, the reissue includes "a CD/DVD package with extensive bonus materials." Their newest album, Mines, is out now via Barsuk.

All tour dates and videos and that Dodos song below...

Continue reading "a new Dodos song, Menomena minus a member, New Pornographers & Walkmen dates & stuff"

Neko Case at Lollapalooza with The Dodos (more by Josh Darr)

Neko Case is still on board to play a free show at Barnes & Noble in Union Square on 2/24 with Michael Showalter, but now she has another and longer show scheduled in NYC even sooner. She plays The Bell House on February 6th. Tickets go on sale at noon today (1/12).

Though she doesn't have a new record to flaunt at the show, Neko Case will have new material out soon. The Dodos, who recently parted ways with vibraphonist Keaton Snyder (making them a duo again), will release their new album entitled No Color via Frenchkiss Records on on March 15. Case reportedly sings on about half of it. You might remember that she joined the band on stage during their recent run of dates with The New Pornographers (pictures from the Terminal 5 date here). A video on the making of the LP, as well as the art and tracklisting are all below.

In related news, details on the previously discussed Michael Showalter show at Bell House have emerged:

"Pretty Good Friends" presents an evening of comedy, music and reading to celebrate the launch of Michael Showalter's new book, "Mr. Funnypants." The event is hosted by Michael Showalter and features Eugene Mirman, Reggie Watts, Kumail Nanjiani and special guests.

All tour dates and more details on that Dodos LP are below...

Continue reading "Neko Case adds Brooklyn show & appears on new Dodos album ++ Michael Showalter book release show details"

Michael Showalter at Bell House (more by David Andrako)

New York, Philly, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Denver and everywhere in between. Come visit me for an evening of storytelling; joke telling; and of course, graphic sexual imagery.

Catch me this February and March in a city near you as I promote my brand new book (that I wrote!), MR. FUNNY PANTS!

Barnes & Noble is currently Neko Case's lone scheduled NYC appearance, though she will play Woodstock on 2/1 and Westhampton Beach on 2/5 as part of a string of dates with Lost In The Trees. Meanwhile Lost In The Trees, who were recently here to open for Junip at Irving Plaza, will play their own show at Joe's Pub this Friday (1/7). Tickets are still available.

Tour dates for Michael Showalter, Neko Case, and Lost In The Trees, as well as some video is below.

Continue reading "Lost in the Trees playing Joe's Pub, touring w/ Neko Case (who is appearing in NYC w/ Michael Showalter)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

4AD and The Red Hot Organization are delighted to announce that $1,000,000 has been so far donated to charity from the proceeds of the DARK WAS THE NIGHT album. The album was released by 4AD in February 2009, and is a musical collaboration conceived and produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, and Red Hot founder John Carlin. It contains 32 exclusive tracks by an unbelievably talented roster of artists, including Arcade Fire, Blonde Redhead, Bon Iver, Cat Power, The Decemberists, Dirty Projectors + David Byrne, Feist, Grizzly Bear, My Morning Jacket, The New Pornographers, Spoon, and Sufjan Stevens - to name just a few.

In order to recognize the generous contributions of the artists involved with Dark Was The Night, Red Hot asked them to recommend charitable organizations whose work they admire. The list of organizations is below.

The Red Hot Organization was founded in 1989 to deal with the crisis surrounding the devastation of the AIDS epidemic on the creative community in downtown New York. Dark Was The Night, released in February 2009, was the 20th Red Hot album.

Beggars Group chairman Martin Mills states "Aaron and Bryce pulled together a wonderful collection of artists, songs and performances that perfectly encapsulates these times and really makes Dark Was The Night into an 'album' - a labor of love that has created this amazing and very tangible result!"

Dark Was The Night was a long time in the making, and the result of a lot of hard work and generosity from a long list of supporters. Aaron Dessner sums everyone's feelings up very well. "We want to thank all of the artists and everyone at 4AD again for helping us make Dark Was The Night happen. We also want to thank everyone who has bought this record -- your donations amount to a very significant contribution to Red Hot's mission fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS."

The full setlist and more pictures from T5, with the list of Dark Was The Night charities, below...

Continue reading "the New Pornographers played Terminal 5 again (pics & setlist), Dark Was The Night raised lots of money"

photos by Chris Gersbeck, words by Rachel Kowal

"Modest Mouse without a cloud in the sky!" -rojacaliente

"If this were Make A Wish and you were going to die in 20 min, just long enough to play Freebird, we wouldnt play it -Modest Mouse" -georgeferris

"Modest Mouse is testing my love for them by keeping the kid awake with their heavy bass and drumming two blocks away. /fistshaking" -woolyknickers

Lightning may have shut down Modest Mouse in July, but for last night's rescheduled show, the weather was nearly perfect (if not a bit chilly).

This time, the opener was the Americana singer/songwriter Marcellus Hall and his backing band. The pairing was a bit odd. Modest Mouse prompted people to shout along to every song and to rush the stage. Marcellus Hall's performance had people turning around to admire the setting sun over the Manhattan skyline and leaving polite pockets of space throughout the crowd.

After Marcellus Hall's relatively short set, the anticipation for the headliners steadily grew, but more than thirty minutes passed before they marched on stage. As if making up for their severely truncated show last July, Modest Mouse then played a lengthy set - nearly 2 hours long when you factor in the encore.

"Welcome back!" Isaac Brock said by way of introduction. They kicked off the show with "Gravity Rides Everything." Taking no time to get into the show, the crowd enthusiastically sang along from the opening verse. (fittingly, the song contains the line, "Everything will fall right into place.") Isaac Brock hardly talked between songs. He didn't need to. The audience was wholly engaged. Each song was met by cheers and triumphantly extended fists. After all, for many of the people present, this was take two.

From "Cowboy Dan" to "Autumn Beds," the band pulled songs from throughout their career and readily switched between the more raucous and reserved. The pump organ, banjo, glockenspiel, accordion, and trumpet made regular guest appearances that nicely punctuated the set and revealed the surprisingly decent sound quality. The stage lights - which were absent during opening set - certainly helped to set the mood for Modest Mouse.

The band closed their initial set with "The View," leaving the audience with the soothing sound of electronic crickets to underlie their cries for more. After an unusually long wait (10 minutes), they returned for another five(ish) songs before finally concluding just short of 10:00, saying, "Thank you all very much. Have a good night" and delivering a PSA discouraging "driving while drinking and drinking while driving." Luckily, Brock didn't say anything about smoking and riding the subway.

--

Isaac Brock and gang have one set of shows left on their calendar, on October 23rd and 24th at Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, CA as part of the annual Bridge School Benefit. The band will join a reformed Buffalo Springfield. Pearl Jam, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett's Speaking Clock Revue (with Elton John & Leon Russell, Elvis Costello, Ralph Stanley, Neko Case and Jeff Bridges, they play NYC on 10/20), and Grizzly Bear among others.

The Bridge School Benefit lineup by day, more Waterfront pics and the Modest Mouse setlist is below...

Continue reading "Modest Mouse played Williamsburg Waterfront again (pics, setlist), playing Bridge School Benefit in CA (lineup)"

T Bone Burnett will premiere The Speaking Clock Revue - a multi-artist concert extravaganza - on October 16 at the Wang Center in Boston and October 20 at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Both evenings of the Revue will feature performances by Elton John & Leon Russell, John Mellencamp, Elvis Costello, Gregg Allman, Ralph Stanley, Jeff Bridges, Punch Brothers, Karen Elson, and newcomers The Secret Sisters. In addition, Neko Case and Jim James from My Morning Jacket will join the lineup in Boston and New York respectively.

The concerts will be presented in a revue format with a house band consisting of the players featured on numerous Burnett-produced recordings. Tickets for The Speaking Clock Revue will go on sale Monday, September 27 at noon, through Ticketmaster.

All net proceeds from these shows will be donated to The Participant Foundation to support music and arts education programming in public schools."

The T Bone benefits were inspired by the new documentary, Waiting for "Superman". More info on that and the shows in general, with the documentary trailer and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "T Bone Burnett hosting multi-artist benefit concerts, Elton John & Leon Russell playing shows (dates)"

most photos by Josh Darr

Dodos w/ special guest Neko Case / The Antlers

"There were no special effects during Soundgarden's performance on the last night of Lollapalooza -- no lasers, no costume changes, no props or hydraulics. Even the video screens switched over to black and white. But the band didn't need any added visuals: Soundgarden delivered an explosive set of classic '90s songs in front of their biggest audience since their breakup 13 years ago. Chris Cornell underplayed the band's return, suggesting their decade-plus break was more like a few years. "It's good to be back!" said Cornell, who's grown his hair back out to its late-'80s length. "We just took a little break, but now we're back."" [Rolling Stone]

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2010 - Day 3 in pics, Soundgarden setlist, videos"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Dan Bejar on stage with The New Pornographers

One night after they headlined Terminal 5, The New Pornographers played a smaller show at The Bell House in Brooklyn with their tour-mates The Dutchess and the Duke (the Dodos sat the Brooklyn show out). More pictures and both setlists below...

Continue reading "The New Pornographers & The Dutchess & The Duke @ the Bell House in Brooklyn - pics & setlists"

photos by Greg Cristman, words by Rachel Kowal

The New Pornographers may be considered to be hopelessly passé by some, but for better or worse, they got a fair amount of play during my college radio days, so they are one of those bands that that I look back at fondly - even if their last two or three albums left me feeling somewhat ambivalent.

Founded in 1997, they're veterans of the Canadian indie rock movement. They've seen the industry evolve and shift to accommodate one fad or another, and through it all, they held their ground and continued to churn out expansive power pop medleys year after year. With Carl Newman (A.C. Newman), Neko Case and Dan Bejar (Destroyer) in the mix, The New Pornographers also served as something of a prototype for the modern supergroup.

For Saturday night's show at Terminal 5 (one night after the CD throwing incident in Boston), The New Pornographers focused heavily on their newest album, Together, playing all but three songs from it. But in addition to showcasing the new material, they dipped deeper into their discography and pulled out songs like: "Sing Me Spanish Techno," "Mass Romantic," and "The Electric Version." Their set list for the evening was expansive, but the band talked little between songs and sometimes powered into the next with no more than a brief break for applause. One of the show's major highlights came during the final song of their encore, "Testament to Youth in Verse," when Newman engaged the audience with a slowly building sing-along.

The sound throughout the evening definitely seemed to be too loud - especially with the Dodos. The levels were fine for build-ups and breakdowns, but everything in between suffered. Whenever a song picked up the tempo and increased in volume, the sound started to blend together to create one inchoate mass of energy. Individual guitar riffs became muddled and vocals, indecipherable.

Luckily for Terminal 5, the additional New Pornographers show at the Bell House on Sunday night wasn't announced until after Saturday night's show had already sold out. Given the vastly improved sound quality at the Bell House and its more intimate size and layout, couldn't help but wonder what Sunday night's show (where they promised to do at least ten different songs) was going to be like in comparison (pictures from that one coming soon).

I got to the venue too late to see The Dutchess and the Duke, who like the Dodos, are still on tour with The New Pornographers. More pictures (of all three bands) from the T5 show, and the headliner's setlist, below...

Continue reading "The New Pornographers, Dodos & the Dutchess and the Duke played Terminal 5 - pics & setlist"

Pictures from this weekend's NYC New Pornographers shows are coming soon, but in the meantime here's a video from Friday's Boston show...

Continue reading "Neko Case threatens to fuck up audience member (video) "

Memorial Day Weekend officially opened the summer, and for those in the Pacific Northwest it also brought Sasquatch Music Festival (pictures from all three days are coming soon). Now the lineup for its Labor Day cousin, Bumbershoot 2010, has been announced. That fest, happening at Seattle, WA's Seattle Center September 4th-6th, will include headliners Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, Hole, Rise Against, Neko Case, The Decemberists, J. Cole and "one more very special guest to be announced soon."

Tickets (including non-Mainstage 'economy' passes) are on sale now. The rest of the lineup (by day) for the seven-stage festival is posted below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2010 lineup (Bob Dylan... Hole... Mary J Blige)"

DOWNLOAD: Bettye Lavette - Salt of the Earth (MP3)

"Wolf was born in the Bronx, New York. He planned a career as an artist, but he got a job in the late 1960s as a disc jockey on then-cutting edge Boston FM radio station WBCN and began exploring his interest in blues and rhythm and blues music, giving himself the nickname "the Wolfa Goofa", sometimes expanded to "the Wolfa Goofa with the Green Teeth" (as mentioned in the intro to "Must of Got Lost" on the Blow Your Face Out album). Later as solo artist he called himself Woofa Goofa Mama Toofa. He formed a group called the Hallucinations who performed with The Velvet Underground, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, John Lee Hooker, and Sun Ra. He then saw the J. Geils Blues Band in concert and quickly joined. He was the vocalist and frontman, and often acted as a sort of manager. Wolf was known for his charismatic stage antics of fast-talking quips and "pole-vaulting" with the miorophone stand. He and keyboard player Seth Justman were responsible for most of the songwriting. Creative differences followed their Freeze-Frame album, causing the J. Geils Band and Peter Wolf to part ways in 1983." [Wikipedia]

If you miss it, Peter has another NYC gig happening this Friday, May 28th at the Bell House with Kenny White. Tickets are still on sale. Both shows are part of a tour he's been on for most of May and which ends May 30th in Virginia.

Peter Wolf (not to be confused with Peter Wolf Crier) is touring because he has a new album, Midnight Souvenirs, which came out in April on Verve/UMe and has guest spots by Merle Haggard, Shelby Lynne and Neko Case.

"Kicking off with the hook-heavy "Tragedy", Wolf and Lynne trade vocals that plant one foot in the soul firmament and the other in country, crafting a catchy tune that cleverly melds the two styles. Case elicits chills when her beautiful, expressive voice transforms "The Green Fields of Summer" from a slow, fiddle-driven ballad featuring Wolf to what sounds like a long-lost folk classic featuring a lush string arrangement." [PopMatters]

Continue reading "Peter Wolf released an album (w/ guests Neko Case & others), playing w/ Bettye Lavette & in Brooklyn Friday"

Videos from the past two nights of TV, below...

Continue reading "Jakob Dylan, Neko Case & Broken Social Scene played Letterman (videos)"

DOWNLOAD: The New Pornographers - Your Hands Together (MP3)

The New Pornographers are gearing up for their album-supporting shows this summer in Europe and North America.

The new disc, Together, comes out May 4th, and their first show after its release (which comes more than a month before their other North American shows) will happen on May 6th at Woodstock, NY's 250-seat Bearsville Theater (about 2 hour drive north of NYC). Tickets are on sale now.

That show and the others on their tour will feature the band's full eight-member lineup: A.C. Newman, Blaine Thurier (keys), John Collins (bass, etc.), Todd Fancey (guitar), Kurt Dahle (drums), Kathryn Calder (vox, keys), Neko Case (vox) and Dan Bejar (vox, guitar, et).

Their full tour comes to NYC directly on June 19th for a show at Terminal 5 with tourmates The Dodos and The Dutchess and the Duke. Tickets are still on sale.

Neko Case is currently touring as part of Jakob Dylan's band, and they play two nights in NYC starting tonight (4/21). You can catch them on Letterman tonight too.

Together's first single is posted again above. The second, "The Crash Years," is available on iTunes. There's also a series of listening parties in various cities (NYC TBA) for the record coming up. More info on those, all tour dates and a new video with actor Adam Goldberg interviewing members of the band (and album guests Zach Condon, Will Sheff and Daptone's Neal Sugarman) are below...

Continue reading "New Pornographers confirm full band for tour, kick things off w/ a small show upstate, Neko here now, new video & more "

As previously posted, Neko Case and Kelly Hogan both contributed heavily to Jakob Dylan's new album, and for what it's worth, are touring as part of his band. The tour will include shows at SXSW and one in NYC at Town Hall on April 21st. Tickets are on sale (@ noon). All dates TBA.

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"

Coming on May 4: the new album from The New Pornographers, entitled Together. Their fifth full-length was produced by the band and Phil Palazzolo, and recorded in Vancouver, Brooklyn, Woodstock, and Catskill, NY. The album is comprised of 9 A.C. Newman songs and 3 Dan Bejar numbers, and features the full eight-person lineup of Carl, Dan, John Collins, Neko Case, Kurt Dahle, Kathryn Calder, Todd Fancey and Blaine Thurier. Additional musicians include Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Zach Condon (Beirut), Will Sheff (Okkervil River), and the Dap-Kings Horns, among other talents.

Lead pornographer A.C. Newman appears at The Bell House's Haiti benefit on Wednesday, January 27th. Also at the even will be The Walkmen (they replaced Cold War Kids who had to drop off), Ted Leo, The Wrens, Sondre Lerche, Eugene Mirman, Rhett Miller and Nicole Atkins. Tickets are still on sale.