photos by Eric M. Townsend

Like Conrad Keely, Marnie Stern played the NY Cares benefit at Knitting Factory on December 8th. Like Crystal Stilts, Marnie Stern is playing Knitting Factory again this Saturday. And like Crystal Stilts, but unlike the Dodos, Marnie Stern made Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2008 (26-50). A few more NY Cares pics below...

Continue reading "Marnie Stern in P4K's top 50 + KF past (pics) & KF future (tix) "

The Dodos, Department of Eagles, Torche, Harvey Milk, Abe Vigoda, The Duchess and the Duke, Jay Reatard, Sun Kil Moon, Why? and Women were among the twenty 2008 "honorable mentions" Pitchfork awarded today. In other words, these albums will not be part of the Top 50 of 2008 they are publishing soon.

What was your favorite album of 2008?

The Dodos opened for the Walkmen @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple last night (12/16)

Castanets

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Jim Gaffigan @ Town Hall
* Nicole Atkins @ the Wonderbar
* Tina Turner @ the Prudential Center
* The Parlor Mob & The Gay Blades @ Mercury Lounge
* Pitchfork 500 release party @ Gutter Bar
* Youssou N'dour's Great African Ball @ Nokia Theatre
* Steel Train, Dear and the Headlights & Forgive Durden @ Bowery Ballroom
* El Ten Eleven, Castanets, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson & Happy Anarchy @ The Bell House

John McVie of Fleetwood Mac was born today in 1945.

The Pitchfork 500, "Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present" is out now. They're celebrating tonight at Gutter Bar.

Youssou N'dour also plays at Nokia Theatre on Thanksgiving.

There isn't much going on, on Thanksgiving, but Dr. Lonnie Smith also plays two shows at Iridium Jazz Club - it's the beginning of a four day residency.

The NY Times says, "Radio's Revenue Falls Even as Audience Grows".

Beck's "Youthless" video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday (Thanksgiving-Eve)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Vitamin X - "Deal With It" w/ John Brannon of Negative Approach (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Vitamin X - "You Suck" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hooded Menace - "Grasp Of The Beastwoman" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mammoth Grinder - "God is Stuck in a Black Hole" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Saros - "Reversion" (MP3)

Cattle Decapitation live @ Gilman, photo by Taija Lynn

Cattle Decapitation have announced dates in support of their new record, The Harvest Floor due on 1/20/09. Supported by Psyopus, Book Of Black Earth, and Gigan, full tour dates are below, but no NYC just yet.

Adding insult on top of insult to injury, Maryland Death Fest have added powerviolence bad-asses Despise You (with Phil Vera of Crom), as well as grinders Pigsty. This is on top of Mayhem, Bolt Thrower, Enslaved and soooo many others... Unfortunately, Repulsion have cancelled their appearance.

Need a fix of fun, skull-splitting hardcore? Vitamin X have dropped their new record, Full Scale Assault on Tankcrimes and it is one awe-inspiring slab of lightning riffery and old-school hardcore punk produced by none other than Steve Albini at Electrical Audio Studios. Sporting ultra-suh-weeeet artwork by John Baizley of Baroness, the band has been kind enough to drop off a pair of MP3s from the record... check out "Deal With it" featuring John Brannon of Negative Approach and "You Suck" downloadable above and pick up the album here.

How many times has a headliner you dug dropped off a bill, and you were actually pleased with the results? In a bit of shuffling, Doomriders have dropped off their bill with Tombs at Union Pool on 12/20 (frown), BUT Bloodhorse (who are working on a new record), Keelhaul(!), and Acid Tiger (Ben from Cave-in, Converge) have been added! So Keelhaul in NYC, huh? Exciting, and it sounds like they have more than just the show on their agenda...

We are going to Brooklyn to record another cd with Andrew Schneider in December. Yee haw.-[Keelhaul myspace]

Doomers My Dying Bride have revealed details of their new album, For Lies I Sire due in 2009 via Peaceville! Spanning nine tracks and recorded with producer Mags, vocalist Aaron Stainhorpe recently discussed the new record with Beyond The Dark Horizon.

Saros, the Bay Area blackened prog metal band contructed from members of the almighty Weakling and Amber Asylum, will drop their new album Acrid Plains on Profound Lore 2/17/09. Album art is below and check out the new MP3, "Reversion" available for download above.

Mammoth Grinder are scheduled to rage through the tri-state in the new year. The trio will be in town on Jan 3rd to double up.. playing shows at ABC No Rio (matinee) AND The Charleston (night) in support of their long-player Rage & Ruin and No Results 7" due together on Assassinated Records. Alternating between thundering doom and crusty hardcore, check out heavily doom-oriented "God is Stuck in a Black Hole " from Rage & Ruin, downloadable above.

Gracial death-doomers Hooded Menace are responsible for the massive Fulfill The Curse on Razorback Records. It's out NOW and it's absolutely frightening.. highly reccomended for fans of Coffins and death-doom in particular. Check out the track "Grasp Of The Beastwoman" from Fulfill The Curse and pray for your own safety that these Finns never make it to the US... it'll be a massacre.

More news on Intronaut, Pelican, The Sword, Krallice, Saint Vitus, Total Fucking Destruction and more as The Week In Metal continues...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (11/20/08) "

Noah & the Whale @ Union Pool (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

"Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, the debut LP by the London folk-pop quartet, bites its best sensitive-indie forebears and then pukes up all the most superficial chunks. You've got your boy-girl harmonies: Charlie Fink sounds like a UK Jens Lekman covering Pedro the Lion; Laura Marling is more Amelia Fletcher. You've got your quirky, mostly sprightly arrangements: acoustic guitar, ukulele, banjo, glockenspiel, handclaps, fingersnaps, strings, horns, eccentric percussion... the full Sufjan Stevens. You've also got your trite generalities, ridiculous philosophical musings, utterly banal narrator, and, most damningly, no recognizable sense. of. humor. at. all. This is twee pop you might order in a kit, ask Dad to put together, and then leave on a shelf for the dust to cover up (the sooner the better)." [Marc Hogan, Pitchforkmedia.com]

Continue reading "Noah & the Whale - Worst New Music, 2008 Tour Dates"

Dear Ian,

Thanks for your review of our record. It's clear that you are a good writer and it's clear that you took a lot of time giving us a thorough slagging on the site. We are fans of Pitchfork. And it's fun to slag off bands. It's like a sport -- kind of part of the deal when you decide to be in a rock band. (That review of Jet where the monkey pees in his own mouth was about the funniest piece of band-slagging we've ever seen.)

Continue reading "an open letter to Pitchfork from the Airborne Toxic Event"

DOWNLOAD: No Age - Eraser (MP3)

No Age on Lamar Pedestrian Bridge (more by Leia Jospe)

As mentioned, No Age release their awesome new record Nouns today (and Pitchfork gave it a very high score) (and it is streaming at Spinner). And as you know, No Age play a show at Bowery Ballroom (again) tonight (May 6) with High Places and Fiasco (and No Age played a show last night for FADER).

"Even on a day when Nine Inch Nails have suddenly dropped a late Easter present of a surprise free album, No Age have completely dominated internet music-chatter." [Status Ain't Hood]

Lots of other people have recorded and released No Age video too. You can watch No Age play in Other Music, watch them play ping pong with Vice, watch them play in Juan's Basement for Pitchfork TV, watch them play in that vegan food store, and watch them in their practice space. They also played in Amoeba Records and those videos are below (along with the MTV one).....

Continue reading "lo-fi/No Age/NYC/MTV/live videos/album streams/etc.."

Vampire Weekend music video shoot (Kesnerster)

As rumored, Vampire Weekend will be playing Central Park Summerstage in NYC on June 14th. That's two days after the play Bonnaroo. Other bands playing Summerstage this summer are listed HERE. More VW tour dates below.....

Continue reading "Vampire Weekend - 2008 Tour Dates (CP Summerstage)"

The Dodos @ Sound Fix Records, March 31, 2008 (more by leia)

As previously repoted, the 2008 Village Voice Coney Island Siren Festival is happening on July 19th - the same weekend as the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. The Dodos are playing BOTH. They're also playing Mercury Lounge in NYC tonight (April 6). All dates below....

Continue reading "The Dodos are playing Siren/Pitchfork (and tonight)"

Tickets are on sale for the three-day (July 18, 19 & 20) Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this summer. Public Enemy will be performing "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" in its entirety on the first night. Animal Collective, !!!, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee Rascal, No Age, Atlas Sound, Fleet Foxes, Spiritualized, M. Ward, Boris, Extra Golden, El Guincho and The Ruby Suns are confirmed so far to play the other two days.

That same weekend in Brooklyn, NY: the 2008 Village Voice Siren Festival in Coney Island - Saturday July 19th to be exact, and it could be the last one ever (which is what everyone also thought about last year's)

Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance

In his grumpy but informative memoir, Wareham, the lead guitarist and vocalist for seminal independent rock bands Galaxie 500 and Luna, recounts the highs and lows of his life as a musician. While Wareham's narrative voice is not particularly warm, he is refreshingly frank (though quite defensive) about the personal conflicts that broke up Galaxie 500, as well as about his later, somewhat more conventional rock and roll antics, which included drug use and infidelity. For most readers, the heart of the book will come in the first hundred odd pages, which focus on the financially difficult but artistically fruitful run of Galaxie 500, featuring Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, in the late 1980s and early '90s. The stories of nights spent on the floors of college radio station managers and recording classic albums in three days are the stuff of do-it-yourself legend, and at its best, the book serves as a clear narrative of the travails of independent musicians in the days before mp3s and Pitchfork Media (which gets a snarky shout-out). Wareham gets a lot of mileage out of frustration with booking agents, band mates and radio stations, and over the course of the book, one gets a prevailing sense of how truly difficult it can be for some great musicians to break through the mass media wall. [Publisher's Weekly - Amazon.com]

Continue reading "Dean Warehem's (Luna) new book & related tour dates"

Phosphorescent @ EMo's Annex - SXSW 2006 (MORE)

4 stages @ Emo's:

1. Emo's Outside (also known as Emo's main room) - 1000 capacity, covered outdoor stage
2. Emo's Inside (also known as Emo's Jr.) - 300 capacity, indoor stage (Emo's outside and inside are connected by a courtyard.)
3. Emo's Annex - 600 capacity, covered outdoor stage
4. Emo's Lounge - 250 capacity, indoor stage

Pitchfork's day party is Friday at Emo's - main & jr. Flyer for that below.....

Continue reading "Emo's in Austin has 4 stages (during SXSW), Pitchfork party"

....today, we're proud to announce the April 7 beta launch of Pitchfork.tv, the first-ever music video channel dedicated to documenting independent music as it happens. As a visual extension of the music coverage Pitchfork has provided for more than a decade, and a means of updating and advancing the music television format, the online channel will bring you closer to the artists you love, through original mini-documentaries, secret rooftop and basement sessions, full concerts, exclusive interviews, and the most carefully curated selection of music videos online.... [Pitchfork]

Pitchfork's list is up. Panda Bear wins #1 - a choice I can't really argue with. Still working on my own list (I'm so slow).

Continue reading "Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2007"

Jens Lekman @ Triple Rock, Minneapolis - Nov 3, 2007 (CRED)

Jens Lekman to Pitchfork: Well, I really have to ask. First of all, thanks so much for the review. I was really very flattered about that. You know, I heard something about the "8.0 club" a long time ago. Oh You're So Silent got 8.6. Everyone kept telling me, "Oh, you're in the 8.0 club now," which was kind of intriguing to me because it literally means that all these festivals and all these distributors want to have your record. It sort of puts wheels in motion.

And then when I got this review, I was like, "9.0? I wonder what that means." The day after, my frequent flyer card was updated from ivory to silver. I just wanted to check if you had something to do with that. I was thinking, "Oh, the 9.0 club" [laughs].

"Yes, it’s true. Stylus will no longer be publishing after October 31. Stay tuned next week for some special programming." [Stylus]

Jamie Lidell (not playing BK) & Ed from Grizzly Bear

The September 24th "Wordless" Beirut show is right around the corner (not really wordless - just the name of the series), and word has just come in that - around a few more corners after that - Beirut's good friends Grizzly Bear will also be playing one of these Wordless shindigs...

Grizzly Bear + special guests and classical performers TBA
The Wordless Music Series
Nov. 3, 2007
New York Society for Ethical Culture
6:30 PM doors / 7:30 PM show
Tickets on sale Monday 9/17/07 via www.wordlessmusic.org

FRIEND TRACKLISTING:
Alligator (Choir Version- feat. Zach Condon of Beirut and Dirty Projectors)
He Hit Me (Crystals cover)
Little Brother (Electric)
Shift (Alternate Version)
Plans(Terrible vs. Nonhorse: Sounds Edit)
Granny Diner
Knife (as covered by CSS)
Plans (as covered by Band of Horses)
Knife (as covered by Atlas Sound)
Deep Blue Sea(Daniel Rossen Home Recording)

Going to Austin for ACL this weekend? Stop by the Hot Freaks (BrooklynVegan and other bloggers) afterparty to see Grizzly Bear for free. Make sure you add your self to the waiting list (RSVP) though, and get there early. All tour dates (and some more friends) below.....

Continue reading "GRIZZLY BEAR & friends, a "wordless" show, ACL this weekend & other 2007 Tour Dates"

The Onion does Pitchfork.

Would you still watch a video like this if there was an ad embedded in it? Would you still post a video like this if Google put an ad into it?

Now Google believes it finally has found the formula to cash in on YouTube’s potential as a magnet for online video advertising and keep its audience loyal at the same time.

The company said late Tuesday that after months of testing various video advertising models, it was ready to introduce a new type of video ad, which it said was unobtrusive and kept users in control of what they saw.

The ads, which appear 15 seconds after a user begins watching a video clip, take the form of an overlay on the bottom fifth of the screen, not unlike the tickers that display headlines during television news programs.

A user can ignore the overlay, which will disappear after about 10 seconds, or close it. But if the user clicks on it, the video they were watching will stop and a video ad will begin playing. Once the ad is over, or if a user clicks on a box to close it, the original video will resume playing from the point where it was stopped. [NY Times]

A fro blocking someone's view of Clipse @ Pitchfork Fest 2007 (CRED)

Zune is throwing a hip hop BBQ party in NYC, and though they don't reveal the location on their website, I heard it was at Empire Fulton Ferry Park in Brooklyn - home of the recent BOADRUM77 Boredoms show. Also on the August 4th bill: "Brand Nubian, Cham, Large Professor, MIMS, Joell Ortiz and many more special guests." Free tickets can be gotten here. In related news, Zune & Live Nation are doing stuff together. All Clipse tour dates below...

Continue reading "CLIPSE, ZUNE, Live Nation, free shows & other Tour Dates"

Pitchfork says,

Ben Bridwell is a nice dude, but like all of us, he's prone to a bad mood every now and then. Attendees at Band of Horses' July 6 show at Canes Bar & Grill in San Diego were privy to one of those moods, as Bridwell, after experiencing some frustration with the performance, proceeded to flip the bird to a woman named Rosemary who was filming the band's performance of "The Funeral".

According to various reports, he eventually apologized for the outburst (which reportedly included a rant against YouTube-ing show tapers), but by that time, Rosemary had left the club to later write a livid blog post voicing her disapproval of Bridwell's behavior."

It seems to keep happening. You see it getting progressively worse. It's almost like the skateboarding community, where everyone's a fucking photographer now. You look at shots, and it's hard to keep the photographers out of the shot, you know? It kind of seems like the same thing with indie rock; everyone's got a fucking camera in their hand and, I don't know, is there no sanctity left for live performance with going to a show and seeing it with your own eyes and remembering it? Do you have to tape every second, or even just your favorite song? I understand it, but it's becoming annoying.

Of Montreal @ Pitchfork Fest 2007 (CRED)

Of Montreal lived up to their hype and it was probably the most interesting and entertained I’d been all weekend. They started things off with a Darth Vadar-costumed man crossing the stage, and one guitar player with giant pink-feathered wings and 3-D glasses. Huh. Throughout the set various other characters joined the set, including a person dressed completely in black spandex and a gold face. Of Montreal was fun and danceable and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, as did the crowd. I saw one guy jumping about two feet in the air over and over just bopping along to the music. Wonderful. [More Cowbell]

Continue reading "OF MONTREAL played Pitchfork & some 2007 Tour Dates"

DOWNLOAD: Menomena - Wet and Rusting (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Menomena - Let's All Unite! (MP3)

Menomena @ South Street Seaport, NYC- July 13, 2007 (CRED)

One obvious limitation we faced when booking the Citysol show was that we couldn't have any bands that were already locked in to play the Pitchfork Festival happening the same weekiend in Chicago. It meant we couldn't get local favorites like Professor Murder and Oxford Collapse on the bill, and though Gza really wanted to perform Liquid Swords while overlooking the East River, he just couldn't get out of his prior obligation (I kid). One band sort of did play both though - that's because the South Street Seaport portion of Citysol was Friday night and Menomena weren't playing the Pitchfork Fest until Sunday.

Menomena @ Pitchfork Festival 2007, Chicago - July 15, 2007 (CRED)

Though I was running around a lot, what I heard of Menomena at the Seaport sounded great. I obviously wasn't at Pitchfork, but Metromix says Menomena's set there was "significantly weakened by poor sound". Also on Pitchfork - The Daily Heave says that "Professor Murder really did try, but sadly was stuck on the third stage of doom", and Rachel reports that she likes Oxford Collapse "more than mastadons but they stuck the oxford collapse in the weird little fenced off corner stage area and I was NOT going back there.".......

Oxford Collapse are playing McCarren Pool this Sunday (7/22) with Annuals and Band of Horses.

DOWNLOAD: Dan Deacon - When I Was Taller (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Girl Talk - Bounce That (MP3)

Dan Deacon likes to play in the crowd - not on the stage, but at ground level where he can really get the party started. It makes sense, and works really well at small, sweaty venues, but as those who were at Dan's recent McCarren Pool show in Brooklyn know - Dan doesn't care how big the venue is - his show is his show, and that's not always a good thing for those in the back. Well, at the sold out Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this past weekend (July 13-15, 2007).....

watching Dan Deacon @ Pitchfork Festival 2007

Stage B where Dan Deacon was performing. He was actually set up down on the pavement with the audience (and photographers were on the stage). At least a couple of people decided to climb the trees to get a peek of what was going on. Eventually you could see bodies floating over the audience up near the stage...no not levitating, body surfing! [beardenb]

In its third year at the West Side's Union Park, the Pitchfork Music Festival, a weekendlong celebration of the cutting edge in indie rock, hip-hop and electronic dance music, firmly established itself as a model for how a great urban music fest should be run.

Over the weekend, a total of 47,000 fans, many from across the country, enjoyed more than four dozen challenging and rewarding performances in a sublime setting with generally excellent sound and an inspiring communal vibe. (Although the park could accommodate more, promoters sold out to preset capacities of 17,000 per day Saturday and Sunday and 13,000 Friday night to ensure a comfortable experience.)

Among the attendees: 250 journalists who came from as far as New York, Los Angeles and London to catch a first glimpse of artists pegged as "next big things" by the influential Chicago-based Webzine, PitchforkMedia.com. In fact, the greatest testament to the site's power in breaking new acts was the cause of the fest's biggest glitches: Dan Deacon, an electronic performer from Baltimore, and Girl Talk, a k a DJ Gregg Gillis, drew massive crowds that swamped the smaller third stage, exceeding capacity and forcing the Chicago Fire Department to cut those performances short.... [Chicago Sun Times]

Continue reading "fire marshall shuts down DAN DEACON & GIRL TALK @ the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival"

DOWNLOAD: The Swayback - I'm Waiting for the Man (VU cover) (MP3)

According to the first two people in line, this is the second wave of fans looking to score a wristband to get into the Paul McCartney in-store. Amoeba staff already sent a group away after giving out the allotted number of wristbands. This photo was taken around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Wristbands for the in-store, which is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, were supposed to be handed out starting at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The people here are either waiting for another batch of wristbands or plan to sleep on the ground just in case Amoeba decides to let more people inside for the performance. [unsure shot]