Radiohead @ Roseland Ballroom in 2011 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Coachella which is taking place over the course of two weekends this year (April 13-15 and 20-22) revealed their 2012 lineup. Last week, Azealia Banks was the first artist confirmed, and earlier today they confirmed The Weeknd (maybe he found a band?), and before that, Jimmy Cliff, Breakbot, and Housse De Racket. The reunited Pulp then announced itself. The full lineup also includes headliners The Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, not to mention, as predicted, the reunited At the Drive In and the reunited Mazzy Star (!), and Madness and Refused (!) and Jeff Mangum and many, many more that you can see below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 lineup announced (two weekends worth)"

Josh T Pearson @ BV-SXSW 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Check out Rough Trade's list of the Top 100 Albums of 2011 (yay Josh T Pearson!), below...

Continue reading "Rough Trade's Top 100 albums of 2011 "

Other Lives at The Parish in Austin (more by Tim Griffin)

On tour now in Europe, Other Lives will play a bunch of West Coast shows with JBM in December for taking a break until the new year. They'll hit the road again in February for a string of dates that lead up to a run with Radiohead that will take them through Florida and back west. Other Lives headline a NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on February 17th with openers TBA. Tickets are on sale. The band is touring in support of their recent LP Tamer Animals which dropped earlier this year.

All tour dates and a full concert video, below....

Continue reading "Other Lives announce dates, some with Radiohead"

Mates of State at ACL 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

As recently mentioned, Other Lives will hit the road with Bon Iver in September after Bon Iver finishes up their tour with The Rosebuds. After they do so, Other Lives will hook up with Mates of State in October for the rest of Mates of State's headlining tour. That tour ends in NYC on October 12 at Webster Hall. Tickets go on sale Friday (7/8) at noon with an AmEx pre-sale starting Wednesday (7/6) at noon.

Mates of States' tour also includes an appearance at Escape to NY and dates with Suckers and Yawn. Neither of those bands play at the NYC show but Suckers have their own NYC show on August 18 at Cameo Gallery with Rewards and magician Matthew Holtzclaw. Tickets are on sale now.

Mates of State release the LP Mountaintops on September 13 via Barsuk. Check out the video for the single "Maracas," along with the tracklist and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Mates of State releasing 'Mountaintops', touring w/ Other Lives, Suckers, others (dates & new video)"

photos by Tim Griffin

The Rosebuds in Texas

Viscous blue light drowned the stage as the highly anticipated headliner, The Rosebuds, captured attention and hearts with "Go Ahead", an indie-rock summer anthem, plagued with melancholy, but overflowing in beauty.

From their 2007 album, Night of the Furies, The Rosebuds performed "Cemetery Lungs" with unwavering energy, beneath bright pink and fuchsia lights. Also from Night of the Furies, one of the crowd favorites was clearly the upbeat and danceable indie-folk track, "Leaves Do Fall".

Promoting their latest album, Loud Planes Fly Low..., The Rosebuds primarily performed tracks featured on that particular album, such as "Limitless Arms", "Come Visit Me", "Cover Ears", and "Second Bird of Paradise". Loud Planes Fly Low, is the first album produced by The Rosebuds since front-musicians Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard's divorce. Staying together for the sake of music, this particular album exuded more humanity and vulnerability than anything The Rosebuds produced before. -[Red River Noise]

The Rosebuds spent a Friday night (June 25) in Austin at The Parish, where they linked up with Oax and Other Lives for a show as part of their current ongoing Southwest/West Coast headlining tour. Pictures from the Texas show are in this post.

Its in Justin Vernon's home state of Wisconsin that The Rosebuds will link up with Bon Iver for a string of dates on their way back East, eventually landing at the final two sold-out dates of the tour in NYC, 8/9 at United Palace and 8/10 at Prospect Park Bandshell. Rosebuds tour-mate Other Lives will open shows for Bon Over in September. All dates are listed below.

Speaking of Bon Iver, as you may have heard:

Jill Scott earns her very first No. 1 album on The Billboard 200 with "The Light of the Sun," as the new set starts with 135,000 copies sold last week. The R&B singer's previous charting best was 2004's "Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds, Vol. 2," which peaked at No. 3. Her last studio album before a foray into acting was 2007's "The Real Thing: Words and Sounds, Vol. 3" which made it to No. 4.

Meanwhile, Bon Iver has a big week as the self-titled sophomore set enters at No. 2 with 104,000. These numbers easily best his former highs: his 2009 EP "Blood Bank" debuted and peaked at No. 16 with 23,000. Mastermind Justin Vernon's first album under the moniker, "For Emma Forever Ago," never made it higher on the chart than No. 64. [HitFix]

Loud Planes Fly Low is The Rosebuds new LP, out now via Merge. Look for it at the merch table of one of their tour dates, which are all listed with more pictures from The Parish, below...

Continue reading "The Rosebuds played the Parish w/ Other Lives (who are also touring w/ Billboard #2 Bon iver) -- pics & dates"

photos by Josh Darr

Flaming Lips / Modest Mouse

"Rockers The Flaming Lips have long had a reputation for extravagant live shows: Fake blood, torrential confetti downpours, animal costumes and comically oversized fists are all standard fare. The band's Sunday night set at this year's Sasquatch Music Festival was no exception, with frontman Wayne Coyne taking to the crowd in his over-sized bubble. Still, the band managed to make its big, flashy show feel like a more intimate affair.

While playing the landmark 1999 album The Soft Bulletin nearly in full, Coyne chatted genially with the audience, taking frequent breaks during "The Spiderbite Song" to relate the anecdotes behind the song's lyrics. Another set highlight, "Waitin' for a Superman" -- stripped down to a delicate piano and voice arrangement -- was introduced as a tribute to departed icon Elliott Smith. Although the band was forced to exclude a couple of songs due to time constraints, it delivered a personal version of what many consider its finest album." [listen @ NPR]

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2011 - Day 3 in pics & streams (Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, Beach House & more)"

Bon Iver @ MHOW in 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Bon Iver has announced only two live dates since announcing his/their new album. Tickets for the Brooklyn one go on sale at noon.

If you're wondering what other dates Bon Iver might play this year, I can tell you a bunch they will not. Sean Carey, one of the nine members of Bon Iver's touring lineup, will be on the road with his own S. Carey project through much of May and some of June, first touring with Other Lives and then with David Bazan which brings him to Bowery Ballroom on June 22nd. All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Bon Iver tix going on sale, S. Carey going on tour (dates)"

Big names and regulars aside, there are a few bands I want to highlight on the just-announced Sasquatch lineup: Wolf Parade ("indefinite hiatus" rumors be damned), The Flaming Lips (performing "The Soft Bulletin"), Death From Above 1979 (now three reunion shows total), Guided By Voices (they're not done yet), and... Archers of Loaf (!). The full lineup of the fest that goes down in Gorge, Washington in May (Memorial Day Weekend), is below...

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2011 lineup announced (Archers of Loaf, Guided By Voices, Wolf Parade, DFA 1979 & "The Soft Bulletin" included)"

photos by Chris Graham

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

For what was the worst day weather-wise for San Francisco's Outide Lands Festival, its last day (Sunday, August 30th) may have been the best musically. Cold fog and wind took the place of cloudless, sunny skies, but those who attended witnessed sets by Modest Mouse, the Dead Weather, the Avett Brothers, Band of Horses, Calexico, Matt & Kim , and soul legends Robert Randolph and Betty Layvette, and MIA, who complained via Twitter about the fest's substitution of Tenacious D for the Beastie Boys, then covered two Beasties songs, "Intergalactic" and "Sabatage, in her set.

Scrambling to find replacement headliners for the Beastie Boys was a common theme for festivals in summer '09, after the group was forced to cancel all dates when Adam Yauch was dianosed with cancer (he's since had sugery, and reports say that part of his health regiment is a vegan/organic diet). Beastie Boys' slot was filled by Jay-Z at All Points West and Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Lollapalooza

More pictures from Day Three below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 - Day 3 pics (Tenacious D, MIA, Ween, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Dead Weather, more)"

DOWNLOAD: Elvis Perkins - Slow Doomsday (MP3)

Tickets are on sale for the shows Elvis Perkins is playing at Bowery Ballroom (with Bowerbirds) and Music Hall of Williamsburg in December, and updated dates were just announced along with news of a new EP...

"We call this thing The Doomsday EP for obvious reasons, and its middle name to which it also answers is The EP of the Id. Being drawn to the many faces of the American strain it seems we have more or less subconsciously produced a collection speaking to/and or from several of them at once. It's a document of impulses sleeping egos and their superiors let pass to tape. I myself didn't know what these songs sounded like in the hands of EPID until they were processed and played back. You have a song that arrived like the rest of us by boat, a selection from the Sacred Harp, a rock 'n roll heralding the eternal advent of rock 'n roll, an ode to the soul of the undead and, finally (and firstly), two takes on a single song called Doomsday, one which comes from our March release and the other which leans in the direction of its original conception as something of a gospel number. And here they all are, risen from their cribs and graves, under one moonlight while their folks and undertakers look the other way." - Elvis Perkins

The new tour dates include a September 2nd solo show at Housing Works Bookestore Cafe in NYC. Members of Ra Ra Riot will be DJing. The show is part of a series of events "to celebrate and promote Yellow Bird Project's new Indie Rock Coloring Book". "All proceeds will benefit Yellow Bird Project and its network of charities, and Housing Works, the nation's largest community-based AIDS services organization." Tickets are on sale.

All dates and the new EP tracklist, below...

Continue reading "Elvis Perkins - new MP3, EP, tix, tour dates (Housing Works)"

photos by Bao Nguyen

'Natasha killed it tonight. Seeing her so happy made me so happy. Great show.' - Anonymous

"best use of props: bat for lashes at webster hall. do you like wolves? natasha khan does. from the backdrop to the tapestry hanging over her piano, the set was wolf-tastic and so was bat for lashes. ms. khan jumped into a "glass" and followed up with "sleep alone". the crowd was in for some haunting, lush tones from the very first raise of natasha's faux hair sleeves.

natasha didn't talk to much during the set though she responded to an erratic "you're amazing" with an equally erratic "thank you".

encore included: "good love", "moon and moon", "trophy" and karate kid favorite "daniel". [sharocks]

Continue reading "Bat for Lashes & Other Lives @ Webster Hall - pics, setlist"

photos by Chris Graham

Erykah Badu

Day 1, Day 2, and the rest of the pictures from this year's festival...

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2009 - Day 3 in pics (NSFW)"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: The Wooden Birds - False Alarm (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Wooden Birds - Sugar (Live @ WOXY) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Wooden Birds - The Other One (Live @ WOXY) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Wooden Birds - Believe In Love (Live @ WOXY) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Wooden Birds - Complete Live @ WOXY session (MP3)

The Wooden Birds @ Mercury Lounge in April (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

Like Lymbyc Systym, Andrew Kenny of The Wooden Birds and American Analog Set played on Her Space Holiday's XOXO album.

The Wooden Birds recently toured Europe and the US. That included three NYC shows in April, including one with Lymbyc System on April 10th at the Mercury Lounge, and a stop at WOXY to record a live session. The Wooden Birds' debut, Magnolia, is out now on Barsuk Records (An MP3 from that, above, with the WOXY session).

The Wooden Birds now have a new May/June US tour scheduled (with more dates to come). This tour includes a June 24th show at the Bell House in Brooklyn with Other Lives. Tickets are on sale.

Stillwater, Oklahoma band Other Lives, formerly Kunek, just released its debut as well. The self-titled release came out on tbd Records in April.

"When a band's instrumentation includes things like harmonium, vibraphone, electric harpsichord, mellotron, violin, cello, and lap steel, it's easy to feel intimidated; the combination of modern and analog instruments could make for a weird and cluttered orchestra, or a pretentious one at the very least. But Other Lives wield their cumbersome pile of apparatus gracefully, choosing instrumentations carefully, and using them to create a larger variety of feelings--on "End of the Year", the change from charming guitar-peppered opening movement to the darkened string-based middle section makes the song a story in and of itself." [Crawdaddy]

Continue reading "Wooden Birds & Other Lives (formerly Kunek) - tour dates"

"Though promoters around the country report strong early ticket sales for festivals and summer tours, the recession is causing jitters. This year Coachella, which has the most glamorous reputation of all American festivals, began selling tickets on layaway, and 18 percent of its customers took that option, Mr. Tollett said.

The proliferation of big festivals, like Bonnaroo near Nashville and Lollapalooza in Chicago, has not been without casualties. This year Langerado in Miami shut down, citing the economy. The Pemberton Festival in British Columbia is on hiatus after only one year, although its promoter, Live Nation, said the problem was permit delays." [NY Times]

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2009 - the official & complete lineup"

photos by Tim Griffin

Delta Spirit played to a sold out crowd at Bowery Ballroom in NYC on Saturday night (2/21). Throughout the set they were joined on stage by friends and guests, members of opening bands Other Lives and Dawes included.

One day earlier, Daytrotter released a new live session...

"The San Diego-based group doesn't necessarily need the monetary support as it's been selling out venues left and right, touring with the splendid support acts of Dawes and Other Lives, but Delta Spirit could literally be considered America and it makes the kind of music that the country should want to support more and be prouder of than an automobile manufacturing company based in the Motor City. It's got the heart and soul of a Motown and a passionate passion for everything that it puts to tape, for everyone it reduces to blubbering, awestruck chills when it's seen live and in person. It, they (these five guys) deserve everything and more, simply for the way that they make a person rethink what they knew or understood about electricity." [Daytrotter]

Continue reading "Delta Spirit played Bowery Ballroom (pics), recorded for Daytrotter (MP3s) (AA Bondy cover included)"