Radical Dads, who made one of my favorite albums of 2011, will release their second album, Rapid Reality, on May 21. Cover art, which you can see above, is by Brooklyn artist Dana Schutz. The album is a second helping of ultra-catchy, wide-eyed indie rock and you can stream its ripper of a lead track, "Mountain Town," below or download it from their Bandcamp.

Radical Dads have a few tour dates coming up, including a couple here in NYC: Cake Shop on March 30 with Takka Takka, Plates of Cake and Pre War; and April 10 at Death by Audio with Little Gold, Todd Killings and Heaven's Jail Band. All upcoming dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Radical Dads releasing new LP, playing shows (dates, streams)"

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When underrated Brooklyn indie rock outfit Conversion Party disbanded last year, some of the members soldiered on to form Pre War who have been gigging and working on their debut album for most of 2013. Not dissimilar to their old band, Pre War's slack but groovy style will draw comparisons to various New Zealand bands and probably Pavement too ("On the Decline" it's hard to deny). While not groundbreaking, they are good songwriters which certainly counts for a lot. You can stream a few tracks below.

Pre War play tonight (11/13) at Cake Shop with Doron Sadja as part of the band's Tuesdays in November Residency at the Ludlow St venue. On November 20, they'll play with Little Gold and New Colossus; and on November 27 they'll share the bill with Plates of Cake.

Song streams and a video are below

Continue reading "Pre War (ex-Conversion Party) recording debut LP, playing November residency at Cake Shop"

The Bushwick Walkabout Festival, now in its second year, is this weekend with two nights of shows at Brooklyn Fireproof (119 Ingraham Street). Make sure and score some of the free Sixpoint beer at the venue all night while you catch Friday night's line-up (7/13) of Beast Make Bomb, Town Hall, Team Spirit, Slam Donahue, Viva Mayday, Shapes, Fast Years, Cavallo, and Penrose.

Saturday's line-up (7/14) features Xylos, Raves and Chimes, Pre War, The Yes Way, Lean Hounds, The Loom, Hollis Brown, Courtesy Tier, The Lost Revival, The Aviation Orange, The Glorious Veins, and The Skins. Tickets are still available in two-day pass and single night incarnations.

It's Festival Weekend for Team Spirit, as they spend Saturday afternoon (7/14) at South Street Seaport for the  4Knots Fest (set times have been announced).

For a look at last year's edition of the Bushwick Walkabout, there's a video you can watch below.

Continue reading "Bushwick Walkabout Fest this weekend at Brooklyn Fireproof"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Howler - I Told You Once (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fujiya & Miyagi - Ecstatic Dancer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dinowalrus - What Now (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pre War - Out There (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Royal Baths - Darling Divine (MP3)

Howler

Welcome to the Stop SOPA edition of TWII. Do you know how hard it would be to do this column without free knowledge via the internet? It would be riddled with factual errors. More so!

Minneapolis underage upstarts Howler are in town playing a whole bunch of shows. The onslaught began last night with an in-store at Other Music (their album came out yesterday), and continues with: an early show tonight (January 18) with Happy People andTiberius,  January 19 at Death By Audio with Grooms andClouder, January 20 at Cameo Gallery with St. Lucia, and January 21 at Pianos with Dear Lions, Cemeteries, and The Everymen.

As mentioned, Howler's debut album came out yesterday and is titled America Give Up which kind of feels like a "just try not to like us" dare. Their sound -- a little Strokes, a little Jesus and Mary Chain, a little West Coast garage -- is indeed easy to like, even if there isn't much "new" about it. But the band have no shortage of hooks and a good dose of hard-to-fake attitude. As previously mentioned, ou can stream the whole thing at NPR.

Most of the hype is coming from the UK press who are still enamored with the Vaccines (with whom Howler's toured). I like Howler better than them and am going to make an effort to catch one of their shows this week. You should too, surely you've got one night free this week?

Fujiya & Miyagi

Also in town this week are Fugiya & Miyagi, playing Glasslands on Thursday (1/19) and Mercury Lounge on Saturday (1/21, sold out). The band have a new single out, "Ecstatic Dancer," that you can download at the top of this post. It's the kind of slinky, glammy stomper you could imagine Goldfrapp doing but with David Best's whispery vocals. No album attached to it as far as I can tell so it seems the single supports the tour, not the other way around as usual.

The band are also on the Power, Corruption & Lies Covered CD that comes with the February issue of MOJO, where the entirety of cover stars New Order's second album is covered by the likes of Destroyer, S.C.U.M. and Errors. Fujiya & Miyagi contribute a fairly wrote version of Side Two opener "Your Silent Face." (Stream it below.) The band are a good time live and are equally adept at both Neu!-style motorik and funky Can rhythms as you may already know. My favorite song is still "Ankle Injuries" but I'm looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Thursday's Glasslands show is with Zambri, who really impressed me at Glasslands last month, Rarechild and The Golden Filter on DJ duties. For Saturday's show at Merc, openers are Aimes, Jangulaand Dinowalrus.

Dinowalrus

Dinowalrus' second album, Best Behavior, is due out March 6 on Old Flame records. If you haven't seen them in a while, the band dropped the dissonance in favor of a sound under the influenced of late '80s Manchester. While that means some danceable tracks, it also means atmospheric rockers like "What Now" which veers closer to The Chameleons or The Sound. You can download it at the top of this post.

Jonathan Wilson

If you're looking for something a little more mellow, man, perhaps you should check out onetime Eisley bassist Jonathan Wilson who is here for three shows this week. He's at Mercury Lounge tomorrow (1/19) for an early show and again  on Friday (1/20) for a late show with Quilt), and then hits the Rock Shop on Saturday (1/ 21).

Jonathan Wilson's Gentle Spirit made its way onto many Best of 2011 lists, coming in at #4 on MOJO's year end coverage. Pazz n' Jop notsomuch, only three votes, which landed it in a 21-way tie for #372. Mind you, Wilson's music -- which recalls the heyday of early '70s Laurel Canyon -- is prime fodder for a magazine like MOJO that has a Beatle on the cover at least once a year, but Gentle Spirit is a genuinely gorgeous album that exudes a West Coast vibe even in the coldest New York winter. Spotify users can listen to the album here.

This is the only picture on Pre War's Facebook

And finally, for many in New York the phrase "pre war" is code for "not many electric outlets and no sink in the bathroom" but maybe that will change with Pre War the rock band who have dusted themselves off from the recently defunct Conversion Party. Like that band, Pre War traffic in catchy, big-chorused indie rock. Check out "Out There" at the top of this post and you can listen to more at the band's Tumblr.

You can catch Pre War live Thursday (1/19) at Cake Shop where they play with Grand Rapids, Plates of Cake, and Hunny.

That's the big stuff for this week. Day-by-day picks not covered above are below. Fight the power!

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18

Sharon Van Etten is at Mercury Lounge which if you don't have tickets, is sold out. She's got lots more shows coming up, though. Her new album, Tramp, is really good.

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Continue reading "Howler, Fujiya & Miyagi, Dinowalrus, Pre War, Jonathan Wilson, Royal Baths & more in This Week in Indie"