DOWNLOAD: Those Darlins - Red Light Love (MP3)

Those Darlins' Nikki @ Mercury Lounge in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

Bad news:
This past weekend [May 15-16], Nikki Darlin of Those Darlins broke both bones in her left forearm after performing Friday [May 14th] at The Nelsonville Music Festival in Ohio.

What happened? Darlins wear cowboy boots. Cowboy boots and country fields can make even the baddest darlin come down hard... and Nikki is bad. She will have surgery later this week and recover throughout June.
[Those Darlins wrote on May 18th]

Nikki is all stitched up and the band plans to go on with its tour dates set for June and beyond (though they were forced to postpone their Australian tour scheduled for May). They held a benefit show on May 22nd which featured a special three-piece+guests version of the Darlins to raise money for her hospital bills (you can donate here).

Their tour dates lined up for the summer are in the South and Midwest - they'll make their way to NYC for a Bowery Ballroom show on Thursday, September 16th (a venue they played in February). Also on the bill are the Strange Boys and Gentleman Jesse. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, June 2nd at noon. All tour dates (including Austin City Limits in October) are below...

In related news, tickets are now on AmEx presale for the Deer Tick show coming up at Webster Hall.

You can watch a recent short documentary on the band, as well as live clips from them at SXSW (playing with Deer Tick), below...

Continue reading "Nikki Darlin healing, Those Darlins announce more dates "

photos by Tim Griffin

MG& V @ the All House

MG&V, the new project of John McCauley (frontman of Deer Tick), Taylor Goldsmith (frontman of Dawes), and Matt Vasquez (frontman of Delta Spirit), made their debut (not counting a private performance they taped for IFC one day earlier) with a late-night set to a capacity crowd at Austin's Ale House on Friday, March 19th. Taylor's brother and bandmate Griffin played drums. Delta Spirit's Kelly Winrich played keys. Deer Tick family member Jonny Corndawg helped perform a song he also recorded and wrote with the group. As Duke Street Blog points out, "The set was filled with heartfelt Americana tunes, all featuring a healthy splash of CSN-like harmonies." Deer Tick actually played a set an hour earlier at Lucero's SXSW showcase at Red Eyed Fly (where they were joined by Nikki Darlin for a song). John ran right from show to show (as did Tim and I) (luckily we all saw Lucero earlier that same day). More pictures and a bunch of videos from both shows are below.

Their regular bands all made their fair share of appearances at SXSW this year too. Deer Tick (who played BV shows in 2009 and 2008) even had their own unofficial showcase this year at Threadgill's (with Cordawg, Those Darlins, Liz Isenberg, Chris Paddock and others on the bill). One of Dawes's shows was at the official BrooklynVegan showcase. Various videos from the week below.

Coming up, Deer Tick have a huge list of tour dates, which include shows with Those Darlins and run with Dr. Dog that makes a May 15th stop at Terminal 5.

Dawes's shows include opening for Josh Ritter at Town Hall on May 19th and a June tour with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.

Jonny Corndawg will play shows in April and June that include April 7th at Pianos, April 8th at Knitting Factory with Tim Barry, and June 11th with David Allan Coe. All dates below.

Last but not least, Delta Spirit have announced a run of tour dates set for June and July. They'll bring along Ezra Furman & the Harpoons and The Romany Rye for those. The three bands play Bowery Ballroom on June 30th and Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 1st. Tickets just went on sale.

Delta Spirit's new record, History From Below, is set to come out June 8th on Rounder Records.

"All we wanted to do is put the record together one song at a time," says Delta Spirit's singer/guitarist Matthew Vasquez about History From Below. "It's been three years of straight touring off our last record so most of the songs were written in hotel rooms and tested in front of an audience. We spent spent six months of this last year making a record that sums up three years of growing up."

The album was produced by My Morning Jacket's keyboardist Bo Koster and Eli Thomson, and you can check out the album art and tracklist below.

Everything mentioned, pictures, videos & lots of tour dates, below...

Continue reading "MG&V debuted @ SXSW (pics & video), Delta Spirit releasing new album & touring (dates), Jonny Corndawg shows & more"

Nada Surf @ Bowery Ballroom in 2008 (more by Kurt Christensen)

tonight in NYC
* Nada Surf @ Bowery Ballroom
* Apollo Sunshine @ Southpaw
* Rx Bandits @ Gramercy Theatre
* Dave Hill Explosion @ UCB
* Glass Ghost, Caveman @ Glasslands
* Alice Smith @ Highline Ballroom
* Marissa Nadler & Meg Baird @ Littlefield
* Seabear, Via Tania @ Mercury Lounge (Early Show)
* Howl, Javelina, Sea Of Bones, Flourishing @ Cake Shop
* Headlights, Surf City, The Campbell Apartment @ Maxwell's
* Liquor Store, The Netherlands, Ex-Cop, Fuck Fuck @ Coco 66
* Jello Biafra (and The Guantanamo School of Medicine) @ Europa
* Weasel Walter, Vinny Golia, Adam Lane @ Issue Project Room
* Little Dragon, VV Brown, Oh No Ono @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* The Nymphets, German Measles, Missionaries, Foster Care @ Death By Audio
* John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders w/ special guests @ (le) Poisson Rouge
* Paul Dempsey, Pets With Pets, The Chevelles, Sherlock's Daughter, Children Collide, Oh Mercy, Love of Diagrams, Crayon Fields, City Riots, Beaches, BLISS N ESO, Goons Of Doom @ The Bell House (Aussie BBQ)

Nada Surf kicks off a three-night run of full-album shows tonight.

VV Brown plays on a stacked bill with Little Dragon and Oh No Ono (who played Mercury Lounge last night) tonight at MHOW. She'll also be back on April 28th to headline a Bowery Ballroom show of her own which is now on sale.

Tonight's Allman Brothers Band show was cancelled.

Tonight's Jello Biafra show was moved to Europa from Brooklyn Masonic Temple.

BV presents Howl, Javelina, Sea Of Bones & Flourishing @ Cake Shop tonight. Flyer below....

Superchunk played a semi-surprise set at the Merge SXSW showcase last week. Videos from their performance below...

Japandroids played the BV day party @ Emo's last week. A video from their performance below...

Julian Casablancas sang "Hard to Explain" at Irving Plaza last night. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

photos by Chris La Putt

After Deer Tick played, Senator Chuck Schumer took the Prospect Park Bandshell stage at Celebrate Brooklyn on Friday night to express his love for both Sonia Sotomayor, and the headliner of the evening, Grace Potter (and the Nocturnals).

"The woman is a phenomenon of nature, a tiny thing possessing a huge soul voice. She belts each tune effortlessly, never seeming like she needs to breathe or slow down. Whether channeling a spiritual-with-sin sound on "Big White Gate" or a sassy you-know-you-want-it swagger on "I've Got the Medicine," her gospel-blues confidence proved irresistible. Each song seemed bolder than the last, each verse brasher. Even when she played the B3 organ she seemed a fountain of channeled energy, rising to her feet to pound the keys all the harder whenever she wasn't singing." [Dylan, Etc]

Chuck watched the whole show from the second row. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Senator Chuck Schumer, Deer Tick & Jones Street Station in Prospect Park - pics "

photos by Ryan Muir

"John Mcauley of Deer Tick just proposed to Nikki Darlin of Those Darlins on stage in Prospect Park. She said yes!" - BrooklynVegan @ 8:41 PM Aug 7th

Deer Tick played after Jones Street Station and before Grace Potter & the Nocturnals at the free Celebrate Brooklyn show in Prospect Park on Friday night (8/7).

After an attention-grabbing, intro-drum-solo by drummer Dennis Michael Ryan (complete with white Blueblockers on), the band came on stage and continued to play what can only be called a historic show, for Deer Tick anyway. Not only were we treated to a guest spot by Deer Tick regular Liz Isenberg, but out of nowhere, six songs into the set, Arkansas' Christopher Denny appeared on stage to also help sing a song. We haven't heard from Chris in a while - he's in town to record a new album, and his stand-out voice caused even the zillion people talking in the back to look up for at least a second.

Another Deer Tick highlight was the set-closing cover of "La Bamba", but that's not what made the show historic. That was the toe ring (that came along with a proposal) (that confirmed that John McCauley and Those Darlins' Nikki Darlin are officially off the market). Overall not only a great show, but lots of variety to help introduce the band to a Park Slope crowd full of distracted people who probably never heard of them before. More pictures below...

Continue reading "John McCauley & Nikki Darlin engaged + Christopher Denny & Liz Isenberg (Deer Tick's show in Prospect Park) - pics "