Frightened Rabbit @ T5, Nov. 2010 (more by Lionel Bergeron)

SXSW has just announced another round of bands for the 2013 edition of the annual music festival that will happen March 12 - 17. This brings the total current number of acts to around 1300. Someome of the highlights include Vampire Weekend, Frightened Rabbit, The Thermals, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, Merchandise, Bleached, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Eagles of Death Metal, Parenthetical Girls, Indians, Night Beds, IO Echo, KEN Mode, Prince Paul, Pure Bathing Culture, Sepalcure, UK motorik post-punks TOY, Finnish instrumentalists K-X-P, Toronto's Moon King, UK indie rockers Splashh (not Brooklyn Splash with one "h") and loads more. Head to BV Austin for the whole Round 3 list.

Baroness at Terminal 5 in May (more by Joe McCabe)

Earlier this week, we posted an update from Baroness showing that things were looking upwards for the band. Unfortunately though, with two members having broken vertebrae and frontman John Baizely having a broken arm and leg, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Baroness have in fact cancelled some of their upcoming North American tour dates, including their NYC show at House of Vans and LA's FYF Fest. They will not be replaced on the House of Vans lineup, which happens on August 29 and now just includes Turbonegro, Doomriders, and Nightbirds. This is a bummer but it makes sense that the band takes the time they need to recover, and we wish them a speedy and successful recovery!

Meanwhile, FYF Fest, which Wild Flag also dropped off of, recently expanded its lineup. It now features The Faint (who just announced they'll be reissuing Danse Macabre and touring the album), Glass Candy, King Tuff, and newcomers The Orwells. Tickets for FYF Fest are still available. The updated lineup and flier are below.

Continue reading "Baroness dropped off House of Vans and FYF Fest, who added bands (updated lineup)"

FYF Fest. September 1st and 2nd, 2012
At the LA State Historic Park, Los Angeles, CA
Tickets are $77 and go on sale Friday June 22nd.

Quicksand recently reunited at Revelation Records' 25th Anniversary on the West Coast, and I would't be surprised if they do the same at Irving Plaza in October.

American Nightmare has two shows coming up at Webster Hall.

Full FYF lineup, in alphabetical order, below...

Continue reading "FYF Fest 2012 lineup: Quicksand, Refused, American Nightmare, Desaparecidos, M83, Hot Snakes & MUCH more"

"Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents and Starr Hill presents, in a partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, are proud to announce the lineup for the fifth annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. The world's only gourmet music festival will once again take place in San Francisco's historic Golden Gate Park August 10 - 12, 2012. Tickets will go on sale Thursday April 19 at 12 noon PDT via www.sfoutsidelands.com. A significant portion of every ticket sold will directly benefit San Francisco's Recreation and Park Department."

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2012 lineup (Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Jack White, Foo Fighters, Beck, Skrillex...)"

photos by Ryan Barkan, words by Andrew Frisicano

San Francisco's Girls headlined two sold-out nights at Bowery Ballroom on Thursday (9/22) and Friday (9/23). The band performed in a sea of floral arrangements, which seemed to make the connection between their poppy tunes and sunny '60s-era idealism. There was plenty of cheeriness ("Hunny Bunny," "My Love") from their new record, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. But the album has a darker side too: the metal thrashing of "Die," the whispered desperation of "Vomit," with its Dark Side of the Moon-style rapture at the end. The touring band, eight members strong with a trio of backup singers, vacillated between those two modes over the course of their 90-plus-minute Thursday night set.

Girls are excellent at mirroring the musical styles of the past, from surfy Beach Boys tunes to soulful McCartney-esque ballads. And frontman Christopher Owens seemed content to lets the polished sounds of the band take over, though the show's best moments featured him at his most bare. When Owens came back alone for the first song of the encore, "Jamie Marie," the crowd chuckled along at his rambling asides. The band came back to finish that song and play "Substance" and "Just a Song," completing the trio of sleepy send-offs.

In the role of the tortured frontman-down to the bleached blond hair and opiate addiction-Owens is a compelling presence that puts the band beyond being a mere nostalgia act. But the setlist Thursday night didn't really do him any favors. Front-loaded with hits like "Lust for Life" and "Laura," the second-half of the show dragged on, and reinforced the sameness of some of his songs.

Nobunny, whose First Blood is easily one of my top five album's this year, opened the show with a hilarious, grimy set. The opener, "Your Mouth," tipped the crowd off to his perverse humor, which continued with songs that included "(Do the) Fuck Yourself," "Blow Dumb," "I Am a Girlfriend," "Ain't It a Shame" and "You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll," a Nobunny-penned Hunx song that got the biggest reaction of the night.

The first band, Papa, made up of Girls' guitarist and drummer with a piano player and bassist, proved to be competent musicians, but the group just didn't have the songs to make the set enjoyable.

More pictures from Friday (the review is from Thursday) below...

Continue reading "Girls, Nobunny & Papa played 2 nights @ Bowery Ballroom (pics & review)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

After shows in Montreal, Chicago, and even under a bridge in Quebec, The Do are halfway across the country in Minneapolis. The Paris/Helsinki band played their first of two NYC shows at Mercury Lounge on 9/7 with PAPA, Aislyn (who play Pianos on Friday 9/17), and Paper Raincoat. The next night, the band would take on the much larger Bell House with Dinosaur Feathers as the first steps of an overall US tour that will come to a close next week in LA.

The Do are supporting their April release A Mouthful on Six Degrees Records. Pictures from the Mercury Lounge show are below...

Continue reading "The Do played Mercury Lounge (pics) "