by Andrew Frisicano

I snuck this picture of the t-shirt...

"Chris Knox (born September 2, 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist, and DVD reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the group Tall Dwarfs with guitarist Alec Bathgate, much loved for their honest, unpolished sound and intense live shows. His 4-track machine was used to record most of the early Flying Nun singles." [Wiki]

Jeff Mangum played a set of Neutral Milk Hotel songs for the first time in nine years at the benefit for his friend, musician Chris Knox, last night, Thursday, May 6th. From opener "Oh Comely" to encore "Engine," and "A Baby For Pree," "Two Headed Boy Pt. Two" and "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" in between, Mangum's voice was clear and strong as he sang from a chair into microphones set up a few feet away. Most of the audience looked somewhere between giddy excitement and shock. Some quietly sang along, others broke out into tears - one person choked on frantic, shallow breaths as "Oh Comely" climaxed, another stood with his hand over his gaping mouth, unable to move.

A few photos were furtively snapped in defiance of the posted signs, but most were content to just listen. Though "just listen" doesn't really describe the gasps, tears and unending applause. Mangum played with his eyes mostly closed, neck vein tensed, rocking and swooping to the contours of the songs. His eyelids fluttered open on the chorus of "A Baby for Pree" to reveal eyes rolled back into his head. Between songs Mangum gulped down water and was gracious, bordering on triumphant as he popped up at the end of "Aeroplane." He encouraged the crowd to contribute to the encore, "Engine." After the set, someone caught his attention with a book to sign, which he did. Most people up front looked anxious and ready for a post-show smoke.

It was fitting maybe that the bill for Mangum's last show, in 2001 in New Zealand, was with Chris Knox, who suffered a stroke in 2009. Though Jeff Mangum was a clear pinnacle, the rest of the benefit gig was an engaging, full evening which covered 12 bands and 2 comedians, and ran more than five and a half hours (though at least 1/3 of the venue cleared out after Mangum's 8:50pm set). The show ended at 1am, amazingly, exactly as scheduled.

Coasting (set time: 6:20pm) opened up with appropriately coastal guitar sounds and surefire drums, Sharon Van Etten played three songs with nuanced dynamics on electric guitar. The Magnetic Fields' Claudia Gonson played only one song as a trebly synth trio to cover "Beauty" which the band does on the Chris Knox tribute CD Stroke.

Robert Scott (of the Clean) and TVOTR's Kyp Malone (aka Rain Machine) both played solo guitar sets. Kyp, who told the crowd they should check out the new Devendra Banhart video (he checked it out in a cafe because he doesn't have internet), was joined by Emilyn Brodsky for what he said was a Bob Marley cover. Rachel Feinstein did raunchy comedy.

After that, there was New Zealand band Dimmer (who are in town for a while), The Mad Scene (Hamish Kilgour of the Clean's other band), David Kilgour of The Clean (backed by Yo La Tengo and one other band member) and comedy from John Mulaney (who killed it) (and who you may have seen doing a bit about girl scout cookies on a recent episode of SNL).

"Portastatic" was Mac backed by Yo La Tengo. They closed with Superchunk's "Slack Motherfucker" complete with windmill guitar moves and pogoing from some of the crowd (even though the concert was going into its fifth hour at this point). Yo La Tengo, with extra member David Kilgour on guitar, covered a Chris Knox song, said many kind words about Chris and closed with two songs from their 1993 album Painful, which Chris Knox contributed art work to.

The Clean, who Ira introduced as the greatest band in the world, and who'd already been up several times as their solo bands, closed the night right, both jangly and poppy. And despite the mass exodus after Jeff, a respectable amount of people were still there right until the last song. Catch the Clean again (if you have a ticket because it's sold out) at The Bell House tonight (5/7).

Editor's note: Ben Goldberg did an amazing job organizing the event, keeping scalpers away, and making sure that pretty much every person in that venue (except maybe the bartenders) paid their $75 donation to Chris Knox to get in the door (or $20 if you showed up after Jeff went off). Ben did less of an amazing job during his pre-Yo La Tengo stand up routine, but nobody's perfect!

Illegally shot (not by us!) audio and video from the event, and the new Devendra Banhart video, and Jeff Mangum's setlist again, below...

Continue reading "Jeff Mangum, The Clean, Yo La Tengo, Portastatic & friends played for Chris Knox @ LPR - review, setlist, video & pic "

LPR will be hosting a benefit on May 6 for New Zealand artist Chris Knox who suffered a series of strokes last year. Many of the aritsts performing at this show have contributed to a fantastic tribute/benefit album for Knox that was recently released.

Tickets for the benefit will go on sale through Kickstarter on March 30 (more details coming soon).

Artists appearing will include Yo La Tengo, Kyp Malone (of TV on the Radio), Portastatic, Claudia Gonson of the Magnetic Fields, Sharon Van Etten, and The Clean. There will also be a short acoustic performance by Jeff Mangum (formerly of Neutral Milk Hotel).

DOWNLOAD: Portastatic - Foam Hands (Destroyer cover) (MP3)

The idea for a whole EP of Merge covers stemmed from both listening to the SCORE! Merge covers compilation and from doing bookstore events to promote the Our Noise book, wherein we'd play some acoustic covers of songs that came out on Merge. Time permitting, this really could have been a much longer record, but in the spirit of quitting while I was ahead and also turning this in before the end of the year, I stopped at seven songs. Obviously, the Merge catalog is full of hundreds-thousands, actually-of songs I love, so I picked ones I either knew well or thought I could re-create without defiling too harshly. It wasn't easy to narrow down, so I just tried not to think about it too much, and then time constraints set in... -Mac McCaughan

Mac does a mean Bejar! Check out the MP3 above. Get the full EP at Merge. Tracklist below...

Continue reading "Portastatic cover Merge bands for EP (MP3)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Mac and Britt embrace (Triangle Music)

The much anticipated XX Merge Festival took place last week in North Carolina with a five-day (July 22-July 26), Wednesday to Sunday run of shows. Last night (Sunday)'s show with She & Him, American Music Club and Wye Oak was the only fully announced lineup. The other four nights (and one day) were a grab bag of any number of Merge bands past and present. Did you go? What were the highlights?

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band, who recently played a pair of big NY shows, headlined the fest's first night (which also included Magnetic Fields). Superchunk, which features Merge founders Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan, topped the bill of the second night. The third night included the reformed/reunited lineups of Spent, Polvo and Pipe.

Mac McCaughan came out on stage before [Pipe] instead of the night's emcee and announced that there was a lone protester outside. He invited him up on stage and it was Jon Wurster decked out in Phillies gear as Philly Boy Roy. He was holding a sign that said "Boycot MERGE." He complained that Merge didn't have any Philly bands on their roster and Mac said that they have bands from Jersey, which is close to Philly. You never compare Jersey to Philly in front of Philly Boy Roy. It was hilarious.

All of this led to the introduction of New Jersey punks Pipe. As soon as they kicked into their first song, beer cans and plastic bottles started flying. Frontman Ron Liberti ate it up and even put himself in the line of fire, headbutting some of the cans while kicking some back into the crowd. Liberti bounded around the stage, essentially taunting the crowd. The crowd loved the band's antics as did I (but that may have been different if I hadn't managed to stay dry). [triangle music]

You can see the partial setlist from Spoon, who headlined that night, below.

In addition to the Cat's Cradle shows (the venue for 4/5 of the night shows), Saturday featured a day show that included Julian Koster solo as Music Tapes and Mac McCaughan with violin accompaniment as Portastatic. A few videos from that set, below.

M. Ward, who's playing the Central Park Summerstage this Saturday (August 1st), played at the fest's Saturday night showcase. Zooey Deschanel joined him for a cover of the Beatles' "Birthday." Not too big of a surprise considering She & Him headlined the Sunday night show.

Other XX Merge artists who recently stopped in NYC include The Clientele and Richard Buckner (they played Music Hall of Williamsburg last Sunday), Versus and Superchunk (they played South Street Seaport last Friday), and Spent (they played Coco 66). Spoon didn't play a NYC show, but they were spotted in the audience of Paul McCartney's third of three shows at Citi Field in Queens. Destroyer is on his way up. He plays Bowery Ballroom on Thursday. Mark Eitzel (as American Music Club) played Le Poisson Rouge and Maxwell's before XX Merge, and now he's on his way back for a show at The Bell House.

Lineups for each night of XX Merge, with videos, and a bunch of setlists, below...

Continue reading "Merge celebrated their 20th w/ 5 days of shows in North Carolina (lineups, reviews, pics, video setlists...)"

DOWNLOAD: The Rosebuds live on KEXP, January 2009 (MP3)

The Rosebuds @ Mercury Lounge (CMJ 2008) (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The Rosebuds kick off a short tour tonight/Wednesday (1/14) in Baltimore. The NYC show is Friday, and as Bill pointed out, the Bowery Ballroom lineup recently got much more interesting with the addition of Max Tundra. The Love Language is also on that bill. Tickets are still on sale.

In sadder news, The Rosebuds' dog Jasmine recently passed away. In her honor they made a video for their new song "Nice Fox" using footage from a time they took Jasmine to the lake. The song appears on their new record Life Like which is out now on Merge.

""In the Backyard" is a chilling, but darkly funny song, one that never gives in fully to bleakness like Night of the Furies did. And, like many other songs on Life Like it hints at something better. Something far off, perhaps, but better nonetheless. And with help from Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, Portastatic's Matthew McCaughan, and many others, Life Like feels like the product of a community. Of people coming together to make something positive, without losing sight of their clear-eyed reality. The Rosebuds have long threatened to be the best, and smartest, pure pop band going, and with Life Like they take a big step towards becoming exactly that." [PopMatters]

Whether The Rosebuds will be playing the recently announced XX Merge Festival is still unknown (probably?), but all other tour dates, and the sad video for "Nice Fox", below...

Continue reading "The Rosebuds kick off tour, new video starring Jasmine"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

DOWNLOAD: The Rosebuds - Life Like (MP3)

The Rosebuds @ the Merge CMJ showcase @ Mercury Lounge

The Rosebuds are coming back to NYC to headline Bowery Ballroom on January 16th. Tickets go on sale December 1st at noon. Last time they were here was exactly a month ago to play a couple of shows during CMJ including one for their record label Merge at Mercury Lounge (10/25). Their new album Life Like is out now on Merge.

No openers have been announced for the Bowery show yet. Maybe they'll grab The Ladybug Transistor to play with them again, like they did at Bowery before, and like they did at the show they played at the Bell House during CMJ. ABC News was at that Bell House show. Video features are posted at their site called "The Mix". One video is of Wye Oak who also played that show, and who played with The Rosebuds again at the Merge showcase.

We already talked about the Merge show a little - The Music Tapes part anyway, and I gushed a bit about Wye Oak from one of their other CMJ shows at Pianos, but the rest of the Merge pictures were unpublished, until now... All of them and all Rosebuds and Oakley Hall tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Rosebuds tour dates (Bowery), Merge CMJ showcase pics"

Portastatic @ Sled Island 2008 (more by Rae Holtsabum)


It's the "CMJ Artist Lounge at Red Bull Space Presented By Paste, KCRW.com, and indie outlaw." Open to CMJ artist badges all day. Free to the public at night. Band schedule and flyer below...

Continue reading "free 2008 CMJ 'Artist Lounge' shows @ the Red Bull Space"

photos by Chris Graham

DOWNLOAD: Portastatic - Some Small History (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Julian Koster - Jingle Bells (MP3)

Superchunk @ Bumbershoot - Sept 1, 2008

Saturday 10/25/2008
Merge Records CMJ Showcase @ Mercury Lounge, NYC w/
* The Music Tapes
* Wye Oak
* Portastatic
* The Broken West
* The Rosebuds
* Oakley Hall

That's a great lineup for Mercury Lounge. No advanced tickets, approximately 150 tickets sold at the door, and another 100 go to CMJ badgeholders.

The Music Tapes (Julian Koster)'s new album is out on Merge this week. The Singing Saw At Christmastime (from whence the above Chrismas MP3 came) is out October 7th. He/they'll also be touring before CMJ as part of Elephant 6's Holiday Surprise Tour. One day Elephant 6, the next Merge - lots of sleeping around, kind of like...

...Conor Oberst whose new self-titled album is out now on Merge (and not on Saddle Creek or Team Love- two labels he founded). Conor's tour dates are HERE.

Wye Oak, another band that recently came out with an album on Merge (and is playing the showcase) are on tour as we speak. They're next Brooklyn show happens before September is over.

The Rosebuds will be playing at least one more show during CMJ, probably with the Ladybug Transistor who aren't on the Merge showcase, but could be. The Rosebuds' new album Life Like is out October 7th and some of the new songs are streaming at MySpace.

The Broken West, in addition to October 25th, are also playing Mercury Lounge on September 21st. That earlier show has them opening for Bobby Bare Jr. Tickets are on sale. Their new album Now or Heaven is out this week. All tour dates below.

The Broken West will also bid a fond farewell to drummer, Rob McCorkindale. A new baby and other family commitments have made Rob's departure necessary, but everyone will miss him! Sean McDonald will take over the skins and join Dan, Brian, Ross and Jeff on the road this fall.

Oakley Hall is playing Webster Hall on September 24th with Calexico.

Though not playing the CMJ show, Lambchop shares that MErge affiliation. Kurt Wagner (Mr Lambchop) plays Joe's Pub on October 8th. OH (Ohio) is out October 10th.

You can now subsribe to SCORE! Merge Records: The First 20 Years.

And last but not least you'll notice that one of Mac (Mr. Merge himself)'s bands is on this Mercury Lounge CMJ bill too. Portastatic has a 2-CD compilation of singles (covers included) coming out this week. The entire "Some Small History" tracklist is below.... right under the rest of the pictures (and a rough setlist) from Superchunk's set at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle on Labor Day.....

Continue reading "Merge's CMJ Showcase, Broken West tour dates, new Portastatic, Superchunk Bumbershoot pics & more"

photos by Rae Holtsabum

I scurried over to the sold-out The Grand Theatre to catch most of RZA's set. The Wu-Tang Clan producer/MC performed as his Bobby Digital alter-ego and controlled the crowd with "Long Time Coming" and "Booby Trap" from the just-released Digi Snacks LP. The set was dominated by material from that album, and RZA turned the gig into a kick-ass block party.

Near the end, he broke out older classics "Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit," "Reunited" and "Shame On A Nigga" near the end. They all made the crowd of mostly college kids go absolutely ape-shit, and it was a perfect way to close out my coverage of the fest. [Chart Attack]

RZA's tour as Bobby Digital is almost over. He hits Webster Hall in NYC this Saturday July 5th. Tickets are still on sale.

Other artists Rae caught on day three (June 27, 2008) of the Sled Island Festival in Calgary included Broken Social Scene, Tegan and Sara, and Yo La Tengo. The rest of the pics from that day below....

Continue reading "Sled Island 2008 day three - RZA, Yo La, Tegan & other pics"

The dB's @ Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ - Dec 6, 2007 (CRED)

more below...

Continue reading "Jim James, Superchunk Mac, John Oliver & Eugene Mirman as Hanukkah w/ Yo La Tengo continues"

DOWNLOAD: Big Dipper - Shes Fetching (MP3)

$493??? Well, it is for charity, so that's good. For a more affordable donation, the David Kilgour autographed poster is still available for less than $50. David Kilgour plays Cake Shop tonight, tomorrow and the next day. Keep checking Merge's auctions through Christmas - they'll also be selling posters autographed by Robert Pollard, M. Ward, Oakley Hall, Spoon, The Rosebuds, Superchunk, Portastatic, and Destroyer. Or just screw charity, and check out Merge's holiday sale.

Robert Pollard is having an art show at Studio Dante in Manhattan in December. Listen to Spoon on NPR. Big Dipper is releasing an anthology. Polvo are reuniting for ATP. Every single Merge tour date, below...

Continue reading "signed Arcade Fire poster @ $493, Robert Pollard art"

DOWNLOAD: Superchunk - Kicked In (acoustic) (MP3)

Superchunk & Magnetic Fields @ Princeton University - 1996 (CRED)

As previously reported, Superchunk are playing a cancer benefit with the Mountain Goats in Chicago in June. And as previously reported, Dan Deacon and many other popular indie rockers are playing free shows in McCarren Pool in Brooklyn this summer. What has not yet been reported though - not until this sentence anyway - is that Superchunk will also be playing a free show on a TBA date this summer at McCarren pool. Stay tuned for more details.

Want to hear Superchunk sing "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child? Well, then you'll have to buy the new "Guilt By Association" comp. when it comes out (Aug 28, 2007). You CAN hear Devendra Banhart sing Oasis, Petra Haden sing Journey, and Will Oldham sing Mariah Carey though - right now streaming on the sinful compilation's own MySpace page. Be its friend*.

* full disclosure: BV contributor Undisputed Wes works for the company who put out this awesome comp

But what about Portastatic??
* Schedule Two posted some live videos recorded in February
* They're playing North Carolina and Spain
* They miss San Fadyl