photos by Chris La Putt

Dark Dark Dark / A Hawk and a Hacksaw

"Eerily soothing piano melodies, smirking accordion lines plucked from a New Orleans carnival, cloudy gang vocal harmonies, and lonely horn bleats inhabit last year's Bright Bright Bright EP and full-length Wild Go (both from Supply & Demand Music). Thus far, the catalogue of Dark Dark Dark could be mistaken for lullabies inexplicably emanating from a deserted lakeside cabin haunted by Tori Amos and Gogol Bordello . . . except that, thankfully, Amos and those affiliated with the Bordello camp are alive and well, and therefore can't haunt anything. [The Phoenix]

The A Hawk and a Hacksaw (ft. Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes) / Dark Dark Dark / Pillars & Tongues tour came to NYC for two shows last week - 9/28 at the Bell House and 9/29 at Drom. Pictures from the latter are in this post.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw have since opened for Jeff Mangum as part of ATP at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park on Friday (9/30) and will again in the same venue tonight (10/3)...

Without a word, Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Magnum walked onto the stage of Asbury Park's gilded, enveloping Paramount Theatre Friday night and eased into "Oh Comely," staring straight ahead, singing "soft silly music is meaningful, magical." In the recorded version of that song, at the end, you can hear someone far off exclaim "holy shit!" as if startled - which is just about right.

Over an hour and 15 minutes, Mangum - performing as part of the three-day ATP I'll Be Your Mirror Festival - was focused and relaxed, sitting on a chair mid-stage. He was flanked by four guitars, bathed in autumn orange lighting and looking especially solitary in the theatre's expanse. Where Bon Iver has traded up in touring accompaniment, Mangum is more at home alone - except, of course, for the rapt, capacity crowd of around 1500. [Rolling Stone]

Jeff Mangum's entire Friday setlist, along with more pictures from the non-Mangum NYC show at Drom, below...

Continue reading "A Hawk & a Hacksaw played Drom w/ Dark Dark Dark (pics), opened for Jeff Mangum @ Paramount Theater (do again tonight)"

A Hawk and a Hacksaw

A Hawk and a Hacksaw (ft. Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes) are touring with Minneapolis chamber folk group Dark Dark Dark and Chicago avant-folk trio Pillars & Tongues surrounding their set at ATP NJ and their 10/3 Asbury Park show with Jeff Mangum. Directly before ATP, the tour will hit NYC twice on September 28 at The Bell House and September 29 at Drom. Tickets are on sale for the Bell House show and Drom show.

All tour dates and some videos and songs below...

Continue reading "A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Dark Dark Dark and Pillars & Tongues --- 2011 Tour Dates"

photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Bear in Heaven - Wholehearted Mess (MP3)

STEREOGUM: I've been to Barcade [where you bartend]. Used to live a block away from it. Good beer selection, but sometimes the guys playing the games can get a bit too aggro. Have you ever had to intervene with a drunken Dig Dug fan and a battered arcade game?

Bear in Heaven member Joe Stickney: Eh, every now and then someone will, in a 12% alcohol-beer fueled rage, start banging on Ms. Pacman or Outrun or something, but there's always a manager on board to take care of that. In general the crowd's pretty passive. I used to manage there for a few months and one of my first nights there someone threw up all over Tetris. I think that might have been some belated Iron Curtain protest though.

Bear in Heaven have three upcoming NYC shows, the first of which is tonight (11/20) at Zebulon in Brooklyn. It's free (or donations). They share a bill with Chicago's Pillars and Tongues. After that, Bear in Heaven don't have anything listed on their schedule actually, but tickets are on sale (@ noon) for a January 27th show at Mercury Lounge with Denmark's OH NO ONO.

They'll also play a short in-store set at Sound Fix Records on December 3rd (8pm, free).

The pictures in this post were taken back in September when Bear in Heaven opened for the Rapture at Matchless. More of those pictures below...

Continue reading "upcoming Bear in Heaven shows & a set of live pictures"