photos by Jessie Barber, Christopher Mumma

Matt Martinez of Landmine Marathon belts it out (by Jessie Barber)

While BBG and Kim Kelly were trolling about the blackened stage at Bernie's, getting southern-fried by the Louisiana frighteners Thou, and checking out the thundergods known as YOB, Chris and Jessie were on the case at the other Scion Rock Fest on 3/13 in Columbus, Ohio. Pictures from their travels which include some (more) shots of Landmine Marathon, as well as Shrinebuilder (right before they played NYU), Pelican, D.R.I., Black Tusk, Voivod (who then made their way to SXSW), Magrudergrind, Saviours, and so much more, below....

Continue reading "Scion Rock Fest pics (part 2) - Cannibal Corpse, Voivod, Black Tusk, Magrudergrind, Pelican, Shrinebuilder, Deadsea & more"

by BBG

Shrinebuilder at LPR (more here)

Atlanta no more! Scion Rock Fest 2010 will take place in Columbus, Ohio on March 13, 2010. The show will officially expand its reach from one to FOUR venues in Columbus: Circus, Newport Music Hall, Skully's, and Bernie's Distillery. 2010's lineup contains zero return bands from the 2009 festival but does contain sets from bands that released my favorite albums of last year (namely Magrudergrind, Yob, Absu) and played my favorite shows of last year (Lightning Swords of Death, Landmine Marathon, Trap Them, Black Tusk, Ludicra) in addition to sets from headliners Cannibal Corpse, Voivod, Shrinebuilder, Brutal Truth.

The rest of the lineup, the show flyer, and RSVP info is below...

Continue reading "Scion Rock Fest 2010 (March 13 in Ohio) - lineup announced"

The Big Ears Festival, happening March 26-28 in Knoxville, TN, recently expanded its lineup to include the National, Dirty Projectors, Bang On A Can All-Stars, Iva Bittova, Ben Frost, Tim Hecker, Tracy Silverman, and Buke & Gass. Those are in addition to the previously announced acts of Vampire Weekend, the Calder Quartet, 802 Tour (Nico Muhly/Doveman/Sam Amidon with Nadia Sirota), Joanna Newsom, St. Vincent, Andrew WK, The Ex, Gang Gang Dance, Clogs, The xx, Javelin, DJ/rupture (solo), DJ/rupture and Andy Moor, My Brightest Diamond, Gyan Riley and jj.

Big Ears is being co-curated by Bryce Dessner of the National, who's also bringing some great acts to his hometown of Cincinnati for MusicNOW Festival. For that, the city's Memorial Hall will host three shows: Joanna Newsom on March 30th, St. Vincent and yMusic on 31st, and Justin Vernon April 1st. Annie Clark a.k.a. St. Vincent has been commissioned to write a piece for the fest that yMusic will perform. More guests TBA. Tickets and three-night passes are on sale.

Joanna Newsom is coming to NYC in March. Tickets are now on AmEx presale. Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) is here sooner (this Thursday). St. Vincent has a show coming up at Lincoln Center.

"Tuesday was a miserably wet day with heavy rain, wind and even hail wreaking havoc throughout Indiana and rolling on into Ohio, leaving the fairgrounds' grandstand and track filled with mud and standing water.

Fair manager Duane Grimme and fair board president Dean Petry said the concert was canceled at about 4 p.m. after the production company contracted to set up the stage, sound and lighting refused to do so, citing the bad weather.

"The fair board wanted to have the concert. [Foreigner] wanted to play. The production company wouldn't set up the stage," Grimme said.

"It was out of our control," Petry said. "We feel awful about it."

Grimme said that the production company likely shied away from setting up the concert after an incident during a storm in Camrose, Canada, where a concert stage collapsed, killing one woman and injuring about 75 others.

Ironically, by 6 p.m. Tuesday the rain had stopped in Eaton and the setting sun was shining. A hand-written sign at the fair office noted that there would be no Foreigner show, no rescheduling of the concert and no refunds." [pal-item.com]

Continue reading "No refunds at Foreigner concert cancelled due to rain"

photos by Joseph Xu

"Damn homeboy in M83 has the weakest slap I have ever seen...inviting the crowd on stage is almost as stupid as stage diving to watered down synth-pop" - Jay Reatard

Anthony Gonzalez of M83 played a free NYC show at the WFC Winter Garden on July 14th. He then traveled to the Pitchfork Fest for a set on July 19th (which is where the photos here are from). On the way, Gonzalez had a bit of trouble at his show in Columbus, OH.

Moments before M83's set came to a finish, during closer "Couleurs", Kibby invited the mainly docile crowd on stage to "bring down the house together." While 30 or so accepted the invitation (including myself), and one concert-goer even went so far as to knock over the glass shield in front of Maurin, all three members remained unfazed and continued through their dynamic jam. Unfortunately, not everyone held those exact sentiments.

Production staff at the Wexner Center started breaking it up. Fans were ushered off stage, then abruptly pushed off, to which it became a screaming jamboree. Although the fans followed orders, Gonzalez was not happy. He wasn't having it. Because 30 seconds later, he waved fans on stage again, all in the name of dance. This time, however, production staff became angry, violent, and irate. Immediately, they pushed oncoming fans off the stage and stood at the front blockading people from jumping back up. This didn't sit well with Gonzalez, who blew up, yelling "Fuck you" into the microphone at the production staff for messing up their set, all while the two accompanying musicians continued playing. You can only imagine the musical genius at hand.

While one member of their touring staff tried to quell the argument, it was too late. Gonzalez left his post and confronted the production manager for the venue head on, hitting him violently with the open palm of his left hand. The crowd, which continued dancing, appeared stunned as well. Strangers turned awestruck to their neighbors as if to say, "Did you see that?". What's more (and kind of, um, bad ass), the band actually finished its song, and Gonzalez jumped into the excited crowd, who threw him up jubilantly. Soon after, M83 exited and the fans dispersed, knowing they not only saw a great show, but saw their newfound hero (Gonzalez) kick ass in their name.[Consequence of Sound]

That apology, a video of the event and Gonzalez discussing it the next day at Pitchfork (as the Thermals play in the background), with more pictures from Pitchfork, below...

Continue reading "Anthony Gonzalez (M83) slapped security (video), apologized (letter) +++ he played the WFC in NYC & Pitchfork (pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Drummer - Feel Good Together (MP3)

Drummer, the new band featuring Patrick Carney, drummer for the critically acclaimed duo The Black Keys, is poised for the release of their debut album, Feel Good Together. The album is set for release September 29 on Carney's label, Audio Eagle. Carney, who plays bass for the group, joins up with four long time friends-all Ohio-based drummers-to bring the project to life. Drummer is rounded out by: Jamie Stillman of Teeth of the Hydra, formerly of Party of Helicopters (guitar), Jon Finley of Beaten Awake, also formerly of Party of Helicopters (vocals, guitar), Stephen Clements of Houseguest and Six Parts Seven (keys, vocals) and Greg Boyd of Ghostman and Sandman (drums). The band will embark on a fall tour in support of the new album.

Drummer is playing a one-off show in August in Ohio, and then heading out on tour with Royal Bangs in October. That trip kicks off at Southpaw in Brooklyn on October 8th (tickets on sale Friday), and then hits Mercury Lounge in Manhattan on the 10th (tix now on AmEx presale). An MP3 from their debut album above. Cover art and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Drummer - a band w/ the Black Keys drummer... on bass & other Ohio drummers - 2009 tour dates, MP3"

Tyvek just played three NYC shows, three nights in a row (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). And I just realized that Damon from Tyvek (who apparently didn't actually play with Tyvek at any of those shows) is now here with his other band Puffy Areolas, who played Cake Shop last night (1/12), are on WFMU today (1/13) ("For the uninitiated, Toldeo, Ohio's Puffy Areolas bring to mind the blasted, parental hope one would get from combining the DNA of The Germs, Hawkwind, Drunks With Guns, and Brainbombs. Tune in to Brian today to hear the Areolas sew some serious lysergic oats, and have a glimpse at what kinda world we'd live in if Dame Edna was in charge of putting DMT into the water supply."), and play again in Brooklyn tonight with Drunkdriver, Golden Error, Predator Vision, and a mysterious "Chinese Restaurants" ("Loy's band. "We'll bring the ugly. All Doors covers." - LOY HQ")...

====| TUESDAY 1/13 @ MONSTER ISLAND BASEMENT |====

:: Golden Error
:::: Puffy Areolas
:::::: Drunkdriver
:::::::: Predator Vision
:::::::::: Chinese Restaurants

:: dj Kevin Failure --------- from Pink Reason

| MONSTER ISLAND BASEMENT |
128 River St @ Metropolitan Ave | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, G-Metropolitan, JM-Marcy | 9:30pm | all ages | $7

THIS SHOW WILL START RIGHT AT 9:30, WE ARE GOING TO TEAR THRU THIS FAST

PLS STAY OFF THE STREET/SIDEWALK AT THIS SHOW, THE POLICE KIND OF HAVE IT IN FOR THE PLACE. PLS WALK OVER TO DUFF'S/BUNKER IF YOU NEED TO GET AWAY FOR A SECOND/SMOKE