by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Damien Jurado - "Nothing Is The News" (MP3)

Damien Jurado will release Maraqopa, the followup to 2010's Saint Bartlett, on February 21 via Secretly Canadian. The album was produced by Richard Swift, who also produced Saint Bartlett and is now a member of The Shins. That's the album artwork above. The album opener and first single, "Nothing Is The News," is a jammy cut that opens with Damien and his acoustic guitar, but as soon as dual lead guitars come in about half a minute through, they don't let up for the entirety of the song. Grab an MP3 of that track above and stream it below. The video for this track, which premiered today on Alt Press, and the album tracklist is also below.

Damien has a number European tour dates scheduled for the next few months (except for one show in his hometown Seattle in February) and he'll follow that with a North American tour that includes dates with Peter Wolf Crier and others with JBM. The tour includes a Chicago show and a NYC show which will happen on May 19 at Mercury Lounge with JBM. Tickets for the NYC show are on AmEx presale and go on sale to the general public on Friday (1/13) at noon.

All currently known dates, video, stream, and album info below...

Continue reading "new Damien Jurado album, tour dates, MP3 & video"

Sondre Lerche at BV SXSW 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

Sondre Lerche will tour Europe this fall in support of the EU/UK release date of his recently released self titled album. Shortly after he'll return to the US for a run of dates with Peter Wolf Crier, culminating in a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 2. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (8/26) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (8/24) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Peter Wolf Crier also have a bunch of dates with Milagres and a few others with Birds & Batteries. Those dates include one at Mercury Lounge on September 30 with Milagres. Tickets are on sale now.

Peter Wolf Crier are set to release the album Garden of Arms on September 6 via Jagjaguwar. You can pre-order the album at the Jagjaguwar webstore and grab one track HERE and another HERE.

Milagres, whose new album Glowing Mouth is out 9/13 via Kill Rock Stars, meanwhile play Out In the Street Fest this Saturday in Brooklyn.

All dates and video below...

Continue reading "Sondre Lerche touring w/ Peter Wolf Crier who are touring w/ Milagres (dates)"

Dawes @ Lollapalooza 2010 (more by Josh Darr)

"So it was back to the Sony Bloggie stage to catch a pair of Americana/roots-rock acts, Dawes and Deer Tick, a pair of bands I knew nothing about and, hell, that's what Lolla's about, right? Discovering new acts you might not have otherwise ever had to the chance to see. I knew nothing about either band but found both enjoyable and great compliments to the mid-afternoon sun and shade mix of the stage. Dawes had an amiably country-fried sound that fits somewhere between two other bands at the fest: they're rootsier than Blitzen Trapper while easing up on the honky-tonk of the Drive By Truckers. And if I'm not being clear enough, I mean that in a good way. Deer Tick followed with their own brand of roots/soul, lead singer John J. McCauley crooning "I can't hang around with you like this my friend/ Our time has come to an end" on "Baltimore Blues No. 1" and his gravelly voice lent an edge to recent single "20 Miles." Both bands provided a great respite from the larger crowds without slowing the momentum of the day. There was no lag in energy and I barreled on." [Chicagoist @ Lollpalooza 2010]

Peter Wolf Crier, who has already played Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg, now has two shows coming up at Webster Hall. The catch? They are/were the opener at all of them. On September 29th PWC will open the show for Rogue Wave and Midlake. On November 5th, PWC will open the show for Dawes and Vetiver. That November Webster Hall show is part of a new set of headlining dates for Dawes. Tickets for the NYC show go on AmEx presale at noon, and general sale Friday at noon.

PWC, after touring with Midlake and Rogue Wave, opens most of the new Dawes dates before being replaced by The Moondoggies whose new album "Tidelands" will be released by Hardly Art/Sub Pop on October 12th...

The album's title was chosen by Moondoggies songwriter/frontman Kevin Murphy (vocals, guitar) as a nod to his old stomping grounds in Ketchikan, AK where he used to go to escape from civilization. Listening to the songs, the subtle, recurring themes of water throughout the album underscore that the songs are crafted to provide solace, sense and cause for celebration in a world fraught with turmoil.
"What the water represents can be taken many different ways," says Murphy. "Many of the lyrics came to me while trying to be constructive in how I dealt with feeling depressed, rather than just getting wrapped up in my own head."

All dates also have a third opener, and those duties are split by The Romany Rye (who recently played Bowery Ballroom and MHOW with Delta Spirit) and Vetiver. All dates below...

Continue reading "Dawes touring w/ Peter Wolf Crier, Vetiver, Moondogies & the Romany Rye (2010 dates) "

photos by Chris Graham

Midlake @ Sasquatch Festival

Midlake, pictured here at this year's Sasquatch Festival (it happened in May), will be touring this September with Rogue Wave and Peter Wolf Crier. The tour hits NYC on September 29th for a previously-mentioned show at Webster Hall. The ticket information for that must have gone up prematurely, as it was taken down and is now TBA.

When that was posted, Rogue Wave's gig in Montauk on July 31st was also mentioned.

Peter Wolf Crier is currently on tour with Heartless Bastards and Builders and The Butchers. They just played MHOW and Bowery Ballroom.

All tour dates and Rogue Wave's video again for "Solitary Gun," plus Midlake at Sasquatch pictures, are below...

Continue reading "Midlake touring w/ Rogue Wave & Peter Wolf Crier (dates), played Sasquatch (belated pics) "

photos by Andrew St. Clair

"Heartless Bastards at Bowery. Big Herms says: "righteous!"" - Jonathan Cohen

Heartless Bastards

"I've seen the Heartless Bastards multiple times. Twice in Austin and twice in the New York City area. They are a fine band and always put on a quality performance. I suspect that they might have done the same l[Thursday] evening, but it was hard to tell because I couldn't hear the band over all the meaningless drunken conversations happening while the band was playing. I might be old fashioned, but I am of the opinion that one goes to a rock show to watch and LISTEN to the band. I don't understand the point of paying for the ticket (and Ticketmaster's obnoxiously high service fees) to stand around and have a drunk conversation that you could have with your friend at a bar before and/or after the show. Sure, of course you are going to talk a little bit when you are watching a band because you want to share opinions on the show and/or band or simply say "I LOVE THIS SONG". A show doesn't demand complete silence like a trip to the movie theater does, but chit chatting through an entire show disrupts the people around you and their enjoyment of the show.

The worst part about [that evening at Bowery Ballroom] was the drunk hipster in his trucker hat intentionally bumping into people with (I presume) the hopes of getting into an altercation. After he tried to provoke me three times, I had to go to the downstairs bar and call it quits on the evening. Missed the last eight songs of the set."
[I Had an Awesome Time]

That "review", and the pictures in this post, come from the July 15th Heartless Bastards show at Bowery Ballroom with Peter Wolf Crier and Builders and The Butchers. The NYC gig came one night after the same lineup played a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Both shows were part of a tour that continues until the end of the month.

More pictures and the setlist from the Bowery show, below...

Continue reading "Heartless Bastards, Peter Wolf Crier & the Builders and the Butchers played Bowery Ballroom (pics & setlist) "

DOWNLOAD: Peter Wolf Crier - Hard as Nails (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Peter Wolf Crier - Crutch & Cane (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: First Aid Kit - Sailor Song (live) (MP3)

Peter Wolf Crier

Female-fronted folk-punk Heartless Bastards and the two-man Peter Wolf Crier are going on tour this summer. That'll include a pair of NYC shows: one at Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 14th (tickets on sale Friday at noon) and one at Bowery Ballroom on July 15th (tickets on sale Thursday at noon).

Before then, Minneapolis' Peter Wolf Crier have their own shows across North America. Those include three NYC dates: Pianos on June 15th (tickets), Mercury Lounge on June 16th (tickets) and Union Hall on June 18th.

Their Mercury Lounge show intersects with UK band First Aid Kit & Samantha Crain's tour together (tickets), which also stops at the Bell House the night before June 15th (tickets). First Aid Kit, you may remember, were supposed to be here in October but never got never got their visas sorted in time for the trip. They're excited...

"To tour the States has always been our biggest dream - to finally get the chance to come over feels amazing, " they gush. "We are heavily inspired by American music, so to be able to see the places where many of our influences come from and have lived their lives is very exciting. We've also gotten a great online response from American fans and we're looking forward to playing for them". Further mining their excitement they add," Our dear friend Samantha Crain is supporting us. We're sure it is going to be a magical tour."

First Aid Kit's debut album, The Big Black & The Blue, is out May 25th (video below. MP3 above). Peter Wolf Crier's debut album Inter-Be will be released by JagJaguwar on the same day, but you can pre-order it now and you get an instant download. Two free tracks from the album above, a full stream at The Current, and a video with all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Heartless Bastards touring w/ Peter Wolf Crier, First Aid Kit w/ Samantha Crain - 2010 tour dates & MP3s"