Obits @ Santos Party House - December 2008 (more by Jonny Leather)

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Cat Power show happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg. You can still get tickets to the Apollo shows too.

Tickets are still on sale for the John Vanderslice / Mountain Goats show happening at the Society for Ethical Culture.

Tickets are on sale for a February 22nd Matisyahu show at The Bell House in Brooklyn.

Obits are playing the Bell House on March 27th. Tickets are on sale.

The Whitest Kids You Know (comedy) are playing The Bell House on February 26th. Tickets are on sale.

Tickets are on sale for the Throbbing Gristle show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple.

Tickets are on sale for the Les Savy Fav show happening at Brooklyn Masonic Temple.

See some other things that went on sale Friday.

Video of Obits playing live in East River Park over the summer, below...

Continue reading "Cat Power, Obits, Matisyahu, Mtn Goats & other tix on sale"

Obits photos by Jonny Leather, Night Marchers photos by Faith-Ann Young

Obits/Night Marchers

Both bands, together, on the same bill. They packed the house last night at Santos (12/17). More pictures below...

Continue reading "Obits & the Night Marchers @ Santos Party House, NYC - pics"

by Bill Pearis

Quasi

This time of year is usually pretty slow, show-wise, but this seems to be an especially-packed week for shows. Here's some of the stuff I'm considering attending while I procrastinate on holiday gift shopping and doing all my year-end lists over on my own blog.

Crystal Stilts @ Less Artists More Condos (more by Gabi Porter)

Speaking of, while I haven't posted my Best Albums of '08 yet, I will tell you Crystal Stilts' Alight of Night did make the Top Ten. They're playing tonight (12/17) at Le Poisson Rouge and even though I've seen them more times this year than I'd like to admit (and will probably see them again later this week), I will probably be in attendance. They're opening for Bay Area neo-fokies Vetiver, whose new covers album, Thing of the Past, is rather lovely.

Vetiver

Hot Snakes

Also tonight (12/17), is that double-shot of ex-Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu/Pitchfork bands at Santos Party House: Obits, that's fronted by Rick Froberg; and headliners The Night Marchers, which features John Reis and two other members of Hot Snakes. I have to admit Obits is more of a draw for me, as the band also features Sohrab Habibion who used to front Edsel, one of my favorite bands from the '90s DC scene. Obits just released their debut 7", "One Cross Apiece," which I like a lot. Will there be a mini Hot Snakes reunion tonight? Probably not, but you can always hope for a Christmas miracle.

Plus Minus

Speaking of '90s indie rock survivors, Thursday (12/18) at Music Hall of Williamsburg is +/-, which is the band/solo project James Baluyut formed when Versus called it quits in the early part of this decade. Versus are playing shows again - and maybe recording new material (so I hear) - but +/- are still very much their own thing and going strong, having released their fourth album Xs on Your Eyes, back in October. Actually the whole line-up at MHoW that night is pretty great: Philly duo Pattern is Movement (who played a BV CMJ day party this year), Brooklyn indie royalty The Ladybug Transistor, and In Interview who I caught at NYC popfest back in June and who don't play nearly enough.

Also on Thursday (12/18): That A.C. Newman Get Guilty listening party at Stanton Public, which I originally thought was last week but wasn't. You can still RSVP for it at Insound. 8-10PM, free beer n' booze.

Sic Alps

And last but absolutely not least, the can't miss show of the week has to be Saturday's (12/20) three floor-event at Knitting Factory curated by indie rock's original keyboard-drum duo, Quasi. Mates of State, Matt and Kim, etc, bow down to Sam Combes and Janet Weiss. The line-up is kind of staggering: awesome San Francisco garage rock duo Sic Alps (who I've plugged before), the aforementioned Crystal Stilts (a late addition to the bill), Jeffrey Lewis, Soft Circle (ex-Black Dice), plus films by legendary animator Sally Cruikshank (one of which is where Quasi got their name) and Craig Baldwin. Oh yeah, Marnie Stern is also playing. Tickets are $20, and worth it.

Continue reading "Quasi, Vetiver, Crystal Stilts, Marnie Stern, +/-, Hot Snakes, Sic Alps & more in This Week in Indie"

Toronto quintet Constantines have announced a slew of North American dates later this fall including their first ever trip to Mexico in continued support of their fourth full-length, Kensington Heights, which hit stores this spring on Arts & Crafts. The band is currently in the midst of traveling to four Ontario universities as part of the Flick Off Express tour, promoting smarter energy consumption. The Constantines will then head to Mexico City to perform November 8 at ManiFest. Kensington Heights will be released in early November on Arts & Crafts Mexico. Canadian and U.S. dates run from November 27 in Waterloo, ON to December 19 in Hamilton, ON including shows in Boston, New York and Chicago.

Continue reading "Constantines - 2008 Tour Dates"

DOWNLOAD: The Night Marchers - "In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ)" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Night Marchers - Live @ The Interface (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Night Marchers - Live @ The Interface (M4V Video)

The Night Marchers @ Mess With Texas 2008 (more)

The Night Marchers (featuring John Reis of Hot Snakes) are playing a show with Obits (featuring Rick Froberg of Hot Snakes) at Santos Party House in NYC on Dec 17th. Here's hoping for a Hot Snakes or Drive Like Jehu-filled encore. Tickets are on sale. aloha!

The Night Marchers, currently on tour in Europe, recently dropped See You in Magic on Vagrant. You can download the track "In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ)" from that record above. Check out their also-recent AOL Spinner podcast (download also available above) and video from a performance they did on FuelTV (below).

And though they're not playing their CMJ showcase, Obits did recently sign to Sub Pop for their debut album. They also have another show coming up at Music Hall of Williamsburg for which tickets are still on sale. All dates for everyone below...

Continue reading "Night Marchers playing WITH Obits, MP3s & other tour dates"

Tickets are on sale for an October 19th show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn with the following lineup: Yura Yura Teikoku, Obits (ex Hot Snakes / Drive Like Jehu), Invisible Conga People. From Sub Pop:

While it's likely that we have already tipped our hand with their appearance at our 20th anniversary festival (and also with bits of press coverage like this Seattle Weekly piece), we are exceedingly thrilled to announce that we are now working with the band Obits!

Let's meet the men of Obits!

Rick Froberg---guitar, vocals
Sohrab Habibion---guitar, vocals
Greg Simpson---bass
Scott Gursky---drums

Rick was in Pitchfork , Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes. Sohrab was in Edsel. Scott was (and is, for about another week, apparently) in Shortstack. And, according to that Seattle Weekly article linked above Greg Simpson is easily the best musician in the band--no small feat in the company he's keeping here.

They are an amazing band, an excellent group of people and we are very excited to be working with them.

The plan is to release the first Obits full-length record album sometime in the first few months of 2009.

Obits @ Union Hall, NYC - March 2008 (Ameliaaah)

Last time we spoke, Obits only had two upcoming shows (one of which they already played at Union Pool). Now:

Continue reading "Obits - more 2008 Tour Dates (Maxwell's too)"

Obits - 2008 Tour Dates
May 30 - UNION POOL w/Orphan & Pontiak Brooklyn, New York
Jun 28 - EAST RIVER MUSIC PROJECT (free)

At the Band Shell along the East River
Between Grand & Jackson Sts. (Manhattan)

SA, Jun 07, 2pm: Lucky Dragons, John Wiese, Soiled Mattress, the Springs (ERMP show)

SA, Jun 28, 2pm: Titus Andronicus, Obits, Emperor X, Blood City (ERMP show)

TH, July 17, 7pm: TBA (CityParks show)
TH, July 24, 7pm: KRS-ONE (CityParks show)
TH, July 31, 7pm: Willie Colón (CityParks show)

SA, Aug 16, 2pm: TBA (ERMP show)
SA, Sep 13, 2pm: TBA (ERMP show)

Obits also have a show coming up at Union Pool.

Titus Andronicus have a bunch of other upcoming shows.

The Night Marchers

Brooklyn band Obits is playing Brooklyn venue Union Hall tonight (March 8). Advanced tickets are sold out, but Union Hall's website says "tickets MAY be available at showtime". Why did that show sell out so fast? Because...

It's post post-Hot Snakes mania these days! Fresh on the heels of John Reis' (guitar genius of Hot Snakes) new band, The Night Marchers, comes Rick Froberg (singer/guitar genius of Hot Snakes) back into the fray. Obits is Froberg's "new" band, but they're not really new considering they've been practicing in secret since Hot Snakes' 2005 demise.

Obits just played their first ever show at The Cake Shop in NYC in January of 2008. They were the openers and packed out the venue like no other opener could... [Ohmyrockness]

Continue reading "ex-HOT SNAKES: Obits & The Night Marchers - Tour Dates"