One of the most eclectic lineups in the US, Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, NC, will be back for 2013 on September 5 -7. Pulling from all genres, this year's line-up includes names like Big Boi (who plays NYC tonight), Spiritualized, Sleep, Wolf Eyes (who have a new video), The Breeders (performing Last Splash), John Cale, Kurt Vile & the Violators, Gorguts, Inter Arma (who play NYC on Saturday), Double Negative (who played NYC this past weekend), Swearin' (them too), Pissed Jeans, Dan Friel, Waxahatchee and many many others. Three-day wristbands are on sale now with individual day tickets going on sale in June. Full lineup is below.

Continue reading "Hopscotch announces 2013 lineup (Big Boi, Sleep, Spiritualized, Kurt Vile, Wolf Eyes, John Cale, more)"

The Oblivians @ Knitting Factory, 2010 (more by Andrew Friscano)

The Seaport Music Festival already announced that Unknown Mortal Orchestra would be playing on June 28 and they've recently announced a couple more dates on the schedule. Memphis garage legends The Oblivians will play with their Goner labelmates Ex-Cult on June 7. And then on June 21, jangly UK indie pop quartet Fear of Men will play. No opener has been announced for that show yet. All Seaport Music Festival shows are free and all-ages.

More shows are still to be announced. Also happening at Pier 17 at the Seaport is Village Voice's 4Knots Music Fest which happens June 29 with headliners Kurt Vile & the Violators, plus The Men, Parquet Courts, and Marnie Stern and more TBA.

As you may remember, South Street Seaport was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, taking out most of shops on the brick street area down there which also suffered heavy looting, and most of those storefronts are still empty. (The mall is open, though.) Seaport Music, the label, are putting out a compilation album titled Anchored & Amped and 100% of the sales going to Seaport area businesses impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The record includes exclusive tracks from Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, The Wedding Present, Wire, Savoir Adore and more It will be available on June 4 via local record stores and at Seaport Music Festival shows.

Ex-Cult will also be back in July with Austin's OBN IIIs, playing Mercury Lounge on 7/24. Tickets to that show are still available. Updated Ex-Cult dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Seaport Music Festival announces more shows (Oblivians / Ex-Cult, Fear of Men), releasing Sandy relief benefit LP"

Reigning Sound will kick off a string of mostly-Midwest dates with a show at Maxwell's on June 13th, before heading out for dates in Canada (including NXNE) and then looping back. Tickets are on sale for the NJ date.

Nude Beach, recently profiled here, will support the band in Philadelphia though support at Maxwell's has yet to be announced.

Reigning Sound recently released , a mini-LP available for free download via Scion. Stream one of those tracks below.

Still no update on that impending Oblivians record, but hopefully Greg Oblivian will spill the beans at some of the tour dates that are listed below.

Continue reading "Reigning Sound touring in June, playing Maxwell's & NXNE"

The Oblivians @ Scion Rock Fest 2010 (more by Taylor Keahy)

To quote their publicist, "The Oblivians are heading into the studio next to month to record their first studio album in 15 years! Will be released through In The Red Records!"

Speaking of In the Red, the Spits head out on tour soon.

Greg Cartwright aka Greg Oblivian has teamed up with Coco Hames of The Ettes to form the Parting Gifts. They, naturally, recently played Gonerfest...

"Their set started with a catchy track, "Keep on Walkin'," from their upcoming album. They sounded great, with Chuck Berry riffs and boogie-woogie piano and awesome, pounding drums provided by Poni of The Ettes. Their music isn't straightforward punk, but soulful, moody garage rock that seems to take inspiration from many decades of intense, heartfelt rock 'n' roll." [Nashville Scene]

That "upcoming album" is called "Strychnine Dandelion", and is actually out now via In the Red and is streaming in full online.

Maybe you caught the Ettes Tuesday night at Bowery Ballroom. They opened for the Greenhornes. Catch the Parting Gifts Thursday (12/2) @ Maxwell's (if you have a ticket since it's the 2nd of eight sold out Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows), Friday (12/3) @ Union Hall with The Morgues (tickets), and Saturday (12/4) @ Sonar in Baltimore (thx anon).

Seven more YLT openers to figure out. All Ettes and Parting Gifts dates below...

Continue reading "The Parting Gifts are Greg Cartwright & Coco Hames (touring, playing NYC, opening for Yo La Tengo) ++ album streaming"

photos by Taylor Keahey

The Gories

"I, for one, enthusiastically accept Scion as my new corporate overlord. If they can bring the Gories, the Oblivians, King Khan and a cast of garage punks from far and wide to town in one day, they can sell me a sewage soda and I'd say thank you.

That's because Scion sponsored Garage Fest, an event that brought almost 30 bands to Lawrence [on 10/2]. From 4 p.m. 'til nearly midnight I had a cornucopia of raw rock to choose from....

...my number one show on the list: Detroit's incendiary trio, the Gories. Mick Collins, who's arguably better known for his garage-meets-soul outfit the Dirtbombs, is somewhat of a musical hero to me, and I wasn't about to miss the reunion of one of his first -- and probably most raw -- bands. They didn't disappoint. A big crowd for the not-so-spacious Jackpot heaved toward the stage, almost in unison...

I made one last trip to the Granada to catch Memphis' the Oblivians anyway. The trio, originally around in the early '90s, was the cherry on top of the day's punk sundae. I decided to go sans ear plugs and just let it rip. Matt and Disco had staked out a spot front and center, but I didn't have the energy to fight my way up there for long. As I hung toward the fringe of the front crowd, I saw one more thing I can now check off my list of rarities: a guy in a wheelchair crowd surfing." -[The Pitch]

Scion Garage Fest went down in Lawrence, KS over this past weekend. A spoiled New Yorker, who had chances (sometimes Scion-sponsored) to see The Obvlivians and the Gories and many of the other bands on the bill over the past year, might not quite bow down before the lineup, but it was pretty rockin' nonetheless.

A set of pictures from the show, including The Raveonettes, Gories, Oblivians, Times New Viking, Black Lips sideproject The Gaye Blades, Thee Oh Sees and others (though none of King Khan, Best Coast, Tyvek, The Clean, The Greenhornes and some others on the four-venue bill) continue below...

Continue reading "Scion Garage Fest happened (here are some pics) "

The Greenhornes 2007

After detours in The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather among other projects, The Greenhornes are back at it and will release their first LP of new material in eight years via Jack White's Third Man imprint. The record, entitled Four Stars, will be proceeded by select east coast dates that will include Mercury Lounge on 9/3 (free with RSVP) and Maxwell's on 9/4 with The Black Hollies (tickets) leading up to their appearance at ATP NY on 9/5 ("full" lineup).

A month later (on 10/2), The Greenhornes are confirmed for Scion Garage Fest 2010 in Lawrence, Kansas alongside a plethora of killer notables including The Oblivians (who recently played Knit), The Gories (who just played Bowery and toured with Oblivians), The Raveonettes (who are playing Bumbershoot), King Khan & The Shrines (who are playing Santos and Bell House), Best Coast (who just played the Seaport and like weed), Tyvek, Thee Oh Sees, Hunx & His Punx, and a ton of others.

Much like Scion Rock Fest, the show will take place across four venues and is FREE, but RSVP is required. Full lineup is below.

Some videos and the full Scion lineup & flyer is below...

Continue reading "The Greenhornes playing shows - ATP, a free one @ Mercury & Scion Garage Fest (full lineup - Oblivians, Gories, more) "

by Andrew Frisicano

"I was just on stage watching the oblivians destroy knitting factory. I think I can die happy now" - Tyler Trykowski

The Oblivians reunited for a packed Scion Garage show at Knitting Factory on Thursday night. And though the guys, who split in '98, get together every once in a while to play a show, it was reportedly the first Oblivians show in NYC in thirteen years, and was very welcome. The band traded instruments, and were joined for the encore by Reigning Sound/WFMU's Dave Amels on keys.

The Oblivians play Friday (tonight) in Kearny, again with Andre Ethier. Look for Jack Yarber to return for a Southpaw show later in July.

More pictures from Knitting Factory are below...

Continue reading "the reunited Oblivians played Knitting Factory (pics) "

The Oblivians...

The Oblivians, whose upcoming reunion and solo shows we outlined previously, have added another date for the NYC area. In addition to the free Scion Garage show at Knitting Factory on July 1st (RSVP is now closed), they'll be playing a July 2nd gig at The Irish in Kearny, NJ (a mile away from the Harrison PATH station). Andre Ethier opens the Scion show, and for New Jersey Andre & his old group The Deadly Snakes reform to open the show. Tickets are on sale.

Other recent shows at the Kearny Irish American Association include Ted Leo, Titus Andronicus and Screaming Females.

The previously mentioned Jack Yarber (Oblivian) show at Southpaw on July 21st (tickets) is actually part of a larger tour that Jack shares with fellow Memphis garage-punk act John Paul Keith. All of their tour dates are below...

Continue reading "another Oblivians show & updated Jack Yarber solo dates "

The Oblivians will be playing the next free Scion Garage show at Knitting Factory on Thursday, July 1st. The garage rock band has reunited sporadically since breaking up in 1998 - Vice writes that this show marks their "return to NYC for the first time in 13 years." Opening the show will be Andre Ethier, the Deadly Snakes member, not the LA Dodgers outfielder (Vice says other Deadly Snakes members are also in his band). RSVP for free entry.

The Oblivians, who also have an Ohio show coming up, reunited in 2009 to tour with the Gories, who also have NYC reunion shows coming up, set for July 29-31.

Reigning Sound, the band fronted by Oblivians' Greg Cartwright, have tour dates that include a June 19th show at Southpaw and a June 20th show at Maxwell's.

Jack Yarber aka Jack Oblivian (who played a solo Scion Garage show earlier this year) plays Southpaw on July 21st. Tickets are on sale for that.

The last free Scion Garage show was on May 27th with Cheap Time and Bad Sports. Flyer for the upcoming Knitting Factory show, and some videos, below...

Continue reading "The Oblivians are reuniting again (for a free NYC show!)"