by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Razika - Eg Vetsje (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Razika - Nytt Pa Nytt (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dominant Legs - Hoop of Love (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dominant Legs - Where We Trip the Light (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nurses - "Fever Dreams" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tycho - "Dive" (MP3)

Razika

I guess this is the pre-CMJ edition of This Week In Indie which is a slightly less busy week than normal, though not by much. (And CMJ this year isn't the most exciting line-up I've seen for that matter, but we'll get to that next week.) In fact there's some pretty cool musical things you should be considering, so let's get into it.

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, Norway's Razika are playing Friday (10/14) at Cameo, their first-ever U.S. show, and only one for now. You may not think you need a Norwegian all-girl ska band in your life, and maybe you don't, but Razika do it really well. I wasn't expecting to like it. And really, what they do is more ska-tinged pop than actual ska. Which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. There's definitely a Lilliput/Kleenex vibe (or even Electrelane for a more modern comparison) to what they do. And the songs are crazy catchy. You can get half-price tickets ($5) if you use this link.

It's a good show all around at Cameo, with Ski Lodge whose EP I like a lot. As I've said before, it's like early Smiths meets Beach Fossils. The other band on the bill is Lips which is New Zealander Stephanie Brown who now lives in Brooklyn. I like the songs on her Bandcamp page, which are kind of laptop soul, not entirely unlike Little Dragon or, you. There's a really cute video for her song "One Not Two" at the bottom of this post.

Dominant Legs

San Francisco's Dominant Legs  and tourmates Nurses are in town, playing Mercury Lounge on Friday (10/14) and Glasslands on Saturday (10/14). Dominant Legs released their debut LP, Invitation, last month on Lefse Records and it's an appealing take on effervescent '80s pop, completely with lightly funky guitars, glistening keyboards and big choruses. You can download a couple songs from Invitation at the top of this post.

As for Nurses, the Portland trio get called "psych-pop" a lot which I guess is code for "vaguely MGMT-ish" but it's the funkier side of that band and not really so much psych to my ears. There's a lot of echo on it, I guess that's psychedelic. That said, their new album Dracula is pretty catchy and danceable and is more directly comparable to fellow Portlandians Unknown Mortal Orchestra than anyone else. You can download a track at the top of this post.

Tycho

And lastly, Tycho is at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday (10/16). (Tickets are still available.) The Bay Area electronic artist released his new album, Drive, last week on Ghostly and I've been listening to it a lot. No doubt it owes a giant debt to Boards of Canada, more in the dreamlike synth sounds than in execution. Tracks like "Hours" (downloadable above) more blatantly danceable than BoC but it's still the kind of record you could sleep to as well. And though I no longer have a car, this would be good music behind the wheel, and not just because of the album title.

While listening to Drive, you might think that a live show might just be just a guy and a laptop, Scott Hansen has a full Tycho band that looks to be pretty good from the YouTube clips I've watched. Canada's Teen Daze are also on the bill, and blissed-out Swedes Korallreven are the DJs for the evening.

That's the major stuff for this week...though don't forget Lotion plays their first show in ten years on Monday (10/17) at Knitting Factory! More day-by-day picks are below.

Arkells

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12

Early show tonight at Mercury Lounge: Canadian fourpiece The Arkells whose 2008 debut was one of that year's undiscovered gems, full of hook-filled, strident heartland rock that would've done gangbusters in the '80s. (You may remember me writing about them from M for Montreal.) Their new album, Michigan Left, is out next week in Canada.

I'm ashamed to admit I haven't given The Rosebuds' new album, Loud Planes Fly Low, enough attention but I definitely like what I have heard. You can download "Woods" at the top of this post. One of the nicest bands around, The Rosebuds are always good live and if you've never seen them before, they play Bowery Ballroom tonight. Want to go for free? We have a couple of pairs of tickets you can win if you email bvcontests@hotmail.com (subject: Rosebuds) right now. Include your first and last name in the email and we'll get back to the winners with instructions.

Xeno & Oaklander @ Home Sweet Home.

continued below....

Continue reading "Razika, Tycho, Dominant Legs, Nurses, Arkells, Laetitia Sadier & more in This Week in Indie"

today in NYC
* Brooklyn Book Fest
* Assscat 3000 @ UCB
* Eugene Mirman Comedy Fest
* Frances White @ The Stone
* Roger Daltry @ Prudential Center
* "Indie Music Fest" @ Littlefield
* Pauline Oliveros, Ione @ The Stone
* Tom Paxton, Natalia Zukerman @ City Winery
* Sam Jayne, Miguel Mendez @ The Manhattan Inn
* Patrick Wolf, Misty Roses @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Dave Matthews Band Caravan @ Randall's Island
* The Zombies & The Strawbs @ Tarrytown Music Hall
* Suicidal Tendencies, Sick of It All @ Starland Ballroom
* Kentucky Knife Fight, Tyburn Saints, Thy Burden @ Southpaw
* Peter, Bjorn & John, Spacecamp, Pursesnatchers @ Mercury Lounge
* Chimneys, Netherfriends, Ben Seretan, Chimneys @ Cake Shop
* Meek Is Murder, Dead In The Dirt, In The Shit, Scowl @ The Acheron
* John Blum, Brendan Murray, Richard Garet, Michael Vincent Waller @ Pianos
* The Jim Jones Revue, Kid Congo Powers and The Pink Monkey Birds @ Maxwell's
* Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins, Matthias Bossi, Norman Conquest @ Roulette
* Hermit Thrushes, No One and The Somebodies, Prayer Buddies, Suspenders @ Death By Audio

Hope everyone who came by had a good time at the Hold Steady/Caveman show last night. Urfaust at Union Pool too. Anywhere you went too!

Check out a new Nurses video for "Fever Dreams" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Nurses - "Fever Dreams" (MP3)

Nurses

Nurses are set to release Dracula, the followup to 2009's Apple's Acre, on September 20 via Dead Oceans. The new material sees the band continuing to build off the psych-pop of Apple's Acre, but while that album was recorded with little more than an internal Macbook mic, for Dracula they've entered a proper studio and are able to add more dimensions to their sound. Nurses have fleshed out their songs with layered polyrhythmic percussion and enlisted the production duties of Scott Colburn (Animal Collective, Arcade Fire) and Julian Martlew to help fill out the recordings. Have a glimpse at the new material by grabbing an MP3 of "Fever Dreams" above. Album art and tracklist below.

Nurses will tour in support of the new album with Dominant Legs in September and October. All dates are listed below.

The tour hits NYC on October 14 at Mercury Lounge and October 15 at Glasslands. Tickets for Mercury Lounge go on sale Friday (8/12) at noon with an AmEx pre-sale starting Wednesday (8/10) at noon. Tickets for Glasslands are on sale now.

Dominant Legs are releasing a new album too. Check out the video for lead single "Hoop of Love" off Invitation, which comes out September 27 via Lefse, below.

That video, all dates, album art and tracklists below...

Continue reading "Nurses & Dominant Legs releasing new LPs, touring (MP3 & dates)"

photos by Chris Graham

"At the sold-out Sasquatch, bands holding down the headliner spots haven't necessarily turned out to be the biggest draws. Sure, My Morning Jacket played to a mostly packed house on Saturday, and Massive Attack was overwhelmingly solid on Sunday despite a not-so-full amphitheater floor, but the band drawing the most populous, most stoked, most deserved gathering was unquestionably Vampire Weekend." [SPIN]

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2010 Day 1 in pics (My Morning Jacket, Hold Steady, Broken Social Scene, Vampire Weekend, Miike Snow & more) "

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

DOWNLOAD: Tallest Man on Earth - King of Spain (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nurses - Caterpillar Playground (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nurses - Technicolor (MP3)

This Tuesday I went to see the "Tallest Man On Earth" at the Highline Ballroom. With a name like the "Tallest Man On Earth" Kristian Matsson is rather scrawny, I have to say. Nevertheless, his was by far one of the best concerts I've ever been to. His new album, "The Wild Hunt" is excellent and he's even better live. Also, did I mention the fact that, despite his scrawniness, he really is quite beautiful? A lot of people say he has a big forehead, but they're just jealous because they can't sing like him.

Overall, a great concert. I would definitely recommend listening to his music and seeing him in concert if you ever get the chance. After the concert I made a bet with my friend, Jeff, that he would pay for my wedding if I managed to get Kristian to marry me. I'm working on it... [nothing&excess]

Tallest Man (aka Kristian Matsson) continues on tour alone up to the Sasquatch Festival at the end of May, then returns to Europe for shows there.

More pictures and videos from the NYC show are below...

Continue reading "Tallest Man on Earth, Nurses @ Highline Ballroom - pics,video"

DOWNLOAD: Tallest Man on Earth - King of Spain (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nurses - Caterpillar Playground (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nurses - Technicolor (MP3)

Nurses

The previously announced The Tallest Man On Earth tour is now underway, stopping in NYC on Tuesday 4/20 @ Highline Ballroom. Tickets are still on sale.

The opening band will be the Portland, Oregon trio, and Kristian's Dead Oceans label-mate Nurses who are on tour with The Tallest Man On Earth until May 15th. Both bands then meet up again at the now sold out Sasquatch Festival (May 29th - May 31st). On February 23rd...

"NURSES played a one-of-a-kind show, performing via webcam on ChatRoulette, the latest cyber-craze. For the uninitiated, ChatRoulette randomly pairs up participants for a one-on-one video chat, meaning that to find Nurses on the site, you had to venture through some uncharted (and very NSFW) waters. Using 15 computers to stream the show via ChatRoulette, the band played a wild set for some unsuspecting internet surfers. The band has since edited a version of new and unreleased song "So Sweet" into a music video, documenting the fun that went down on the internet that night."

All dates, the Nurses video and a video of Tallest Man performing an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, below...

Continue reading "Nurses on tour with The Tallest Man on Earth - 2010 dates, MP3s & Chatroulette video "

We'll get a more complete press release in the morning (and confirm what is listed below is 100% correct), but in the meantime below is a picture of the 2010 Sasquatch poster (that someone Tweeted) and the lineup as read by Bradford Cox at tonight's Atlas Sound show in Seattle (and being listed all over the Internet)....

Continue reading "Sasquatch announces 2010 lineup (includes Massive Attack & My Morning Jacket) (and many more) "

DOWNLOAD: Memory Tapes - Bicycle (MP3)

The intial lineup for Noise Pop 2010, which takes over San Francisco February 23rd to March 1st, has been updated. Newly announced acts include Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Cornelius, Yuka Honda, Sean Lennon), The Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative performance, !!!, Harlem, Deerhoof, Memory Tapes, The Fresh and Onlys, Scout Niblett, Far (Reunion Show), The Mumlers, P.E.E (Reunion Show), Mirah, Laura Gibson, Nico Vega, Japanese Motors, Princeton, Free Energy, The Growlers, Nurses, Magic Wands, The Lonely Forest, The Hot Toddies, Tempo No Tempo, Judgement Day. The full current lineup is posted below.

Tickets and passes for most of those are on sale now. Tickets for Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Deerhoof) on February 23rd and the Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative shows go on sale on Sunday, January 10th.

Memory Tapes, chillwave Jerseyan Dayve Hawk, is one of the acts scheduled for the fest. He's going to be in the UK for a short run of shows this January, and he's confirmed that US dates and a European tour are forthcoming. The song "Bicycle" off his debut, Seek Magic, is above. The album is being re-issued on Feb 8th, "with an exclusive 48 minute 4 track CD2 through Urban Outfitters and digitally exclusively via iTunes".

UPDATE: Memory Tapes is opening for Atlas Sound at The Bell House on February 3rd. Tickets are still on sale.

More info on Noise Pop 2010 below...

Continue reading "Noise Pop expands 2010 lineup - updates include !!!, Far, Yoko Ono & Memory Tapes who is touring soon "

DOWNLOAD: Nurses - Catarpillar Playground (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nurses - Technicolor (MP3)

Le Loup...


Le Loup's sophomore record, Family, comes out September 22nd on Hardly Art. The album art and tracklist for that disc can be found below. The band can be found on the road this fall. That trip includes a NYC show on October 11th at Mercury Lounge. Tickets are on AmEx presale now. General sale starts Friday, July 31st at noon.

Joining Le Loup on most of their dates will be Portland band Nurses. Before that run, Nurses join The Brunettes/Throw Me The Statue tour, which cuts across North America at the end of August through September. That tour has a September 2nd NYC show which is also at Mercury Lounge. Tickets are still on sale for that.

Nurses have their own new disc on the way -- that album, Apple's Acre, comes out August 4th on Dead Oceans (and is available for pre-order now). Get a double taste of the disc above. Album art, trackslist and a video of their song "In Rhythm," with all tour dates, are below...

Continue reading "Le Loup & Nurses releasing records, touring - MP3s & 2009 dates together & w/ The Brunettes & Throw Me The Statue"

Willamette Week's Musicfest NW announces this year's festival line-up which will be held at various venues around the Portland, OR metropolitan area on September 16, 17, 18 & 19. On the heels of the most successful MFNW to date, MFNW 2009 launches with nothing but the hope of a bigger and better festival. MFNW's ultimate aim is to provide Portland with a unique and special musical experience that features all types of acts including nationally renowned artists while still honoring and supporting the special musical scene of the Northwest.

The lineup so far, including the newly-reunited Sunny Day Real Estate, is below...

Continue reading "Musicfest NW in Portland, OR (Sept 16-19) - lineup"