by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Kirin J Callinan at BV-CMJ 2012 (more by Nate "Igor" Smith)

Loop-happy gothic guitarist and solo artist Kirin J Callinan is readying his new LP, EMBRACISM, for release via Siberia / Terrible Records in partnership with XL Recordings. The album, produced by Kim Moyes of The Presets and mixed by Chris Taylor (CANT/Grizzly Bear), is due on July 2. Dig on the title track, which is streamable below.

Callinan will suit up, and by that I mean drag out his half-moon of crazy effects pedals, for a string of US dates this spring with Ariel Pink that will include a stop at Irving Plaza on June 6 (tickets), but before that you look for the Australian-born artist to play 285 Kent on May 15, with Pure X (tickets). All dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Kirin J Callinan readies new LP (stream a track), touring with Ariel Pink ++ other dates"

Sleep Over at Austin Psych Fest 2012 (more by Tim Griffin)

Sleep Over is going on a tour with Memory Tapes which hits NYC for a previously mentioned show on April 14 at Mercury Lounge. TIckets for that show are still available. All dates are listed below.

After that tour wraps up, Sleep Over will play another NYC show a few days later at 285 Kent (4/17) with Prince Rama, Teams, Splash, and a "Special Guest." Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Prince Rama play local shows in NYC a lot, and you can see them even sooner at The Whitney Museum for this weekend's Blues for Smoke festival. They play on Sunday (4/7) with Dapwell, Heems, and Le1f. Meanwhile tonight (4/5), Kool A.D. plays with Mykki Blanco (who was just added to Le1f's Red Bull Music Academy show).

In related news, Pure X, who Sleep Over released a split with back when they were called Pure Ecstasy, have expanded their previously announced tour, and it now includes a third NYC date. In addition to playing the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival at BAM on April 27, and their show at Mercury Lounge on May 14 (tickets), Pure X will also play 285 Kent (5/15) the day after the Mercury Lounge show. Tickets for the 285 Kent show are on sale now.

All Sleep Over and Pure X dates are listed, along with a stream of "Romantic Streams" from Sleep Over's 2011 LP, Forever, below...

Continue reading "Sleep Over playing shows w/ Memory Tapes and Prince Rama (separately); Pure X expand tour (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

Austin's Pure X will release their new album, Crawling Up the Stairs, on May 14. The first track released from it is "Things in My Head," which has a dusty, magic hour vibe to it. You can stream it below.

As mentioned, Pure X will be in NYC for the 2013 Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival which happens at BAM on April 27 which is the night TV on the Radio headline (tix). They will then be back in NYC a couple weeks later for a record release show at Mercury Lounge on May 14. Tickets to that show go on sale Friday (3/22) at noon.

UPDATE: Pure X are also playing 285 Kent on May 15 with Kirin J Callinan. Tickets are on sale for that too.

All tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Austin's Pure X releasing new album, touring, including Crossing Brooklyn Ferry and NYC record release show"

Solange at Bowery Ballroom in 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As noted, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival will return to BAM from April 25 - 27 and is again curated by The National's Bryce Dessner and Aaron Dessner. A partial list of 2013 performers has been announced and includes headliners The Roots, Solange and TV on the Radio, as well as Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Julia Holter and Here We Go Magic. Full list of announced performers is below.

Festival passes to all three days of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry are on sale now as are tickets to April 25 (The Roots), April 26 (Solange), and April 27 (TV on the Radio).

Continue reading "The Roots, Solange and TV on the Radio headlining 2013 Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (initial line-up announced, tix on sale)"

The Fresh & Onlys @ Psych Fest 2011 (more by Tim Griffin)

The Reverberation Appreciation Society and The Black Angels have released the initial lineup poster for the 5th annual Austin Psych Fest. This year's fest, running from April 27th - 29th (in Austin), will take place at Austin's two newest big venues, recently opened Emo's East and the soon-to-be open Beauty Ballroom which is next door.

Emo's East is now the only Emo's since their Red River location closed on 12/30, and the Beauty Ballroom is (hopefully) having their rescheduled Grand Opening on January 27th (with Theophilus London and Treasure Fingers) and continuing on January 28th.

APF will feature around 60 bands over the three day, two room event. About 40 are included in the poster below, with another 20 or so to be announced in March. Announced bands include the Black Angels (who played Emo's East on New Year's Eve), the Black Lips, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dead Meadow, Olivia Tremor Control, Wooden Shijps, and many more. Weekend passes go on sale this Saturday (January 21st) at 12pm CST at austinpsychfest.com.

Check out photos from the 2011 edition of Psych Fest (held at Seaholm Power Plant) HERE.

Chaos in Tejas, a different kind of Austin music fest that happens in June, also announced bands on their lineup today.

SXSW, which is in March, continues to announce bands all the time and recently posted their initial schedule.

Psych Fest 2012 poster, lineup and Bandcamp mixtape, below...

Continue reading "Austin Psych Fest annnounces initial 2012 lineup, new venue; SXSW posted their initial schedule"

DFA1979 @ Coachella 2011 (more by David Andrako)

today in NYC
* Howard Fishman @ Barbes
* The Moonlighters @ Barbes
* Sasha Dobson @ Hill Country
* Margaret Leng Tan @ The Stone
* Richard Teitelbaum @ The Stone
* Hoots & Hellmouth @ Hill Country
* Buck 65, Beans @ Bowery Ballroom
* Futurebirds @ Rocks Off Concert Cruise
* Colin McGrath, Mary Bragg @ Sycamore
* Fountains of Wayne, Oranjuly @ Maxwell's
* Baye Kouyate and the Tougarake @ Zebulon
* Marcy Playground, Mikey Wax @ City Winery
* The Jay Vons, Minerva Lions @ The Rock Shop
* WU LYF, Bass Drum of Death @ Mercury Lounge
* Ethan Lipton, Miwa Gemini @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Your Skull My Closet, Ladder Devils at Trash Bar
* Parlovr, White Birds, Prussia, Antics @ Glasslands
* A Million Years, The Canon Logic @ Mercury Lounge
* Howlies, The Waivers, Raccoon Fighter @ Union Pool
* Good Luck, Bridge And Tunnel, Spraynard @ Europa
* Right On Dynamite, Nightdogs, Hiawatha @ The Gutter
* Hull, A Generation of Vipers, Marching Teeth @ Saint Vitus
* Stolen Girls, Dead Sexy Sheila, Small Wonder @ Party Xpo
* Seun Kuti, Egypt 80, Faaji Agba @ Prospect Park Bandshell
* Pursesnatchers, Finding Fiction, The Thieves @ Union Hall
* Sherlock's Daughter @ Automotive High School (Rooftop Films)
* Death From Above 1979, The Drums @ Williamsburg Waterfront
* Magik Markers, United Waters, Burning Star Core @ Shea Stadium
* The Glitch Mob, Phantogram, RJD2, Com Truise (DJ set) @ Terminal 5
* Rad Bromance, School of Rock All Stars, See Camden @ Gramercy Theatre
* Conversion Party, Royal Shoals, Paperhead, D. Watusi, Tank @ Bruar Falls
* Allison Weiss, Mal Blum, Mitten, Mrs. Danvers @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Autodrone, Dead Leaf Echo, The Dossier, Slowness, Maren Parusel @ Pianos
* Anamanaguchi, Math The Band, Talk To Animals @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Northern Bells, Bridges and Powerlines, Typefighter, Super Mirage @ Cake Shop
* Tragedy:All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees, Dirty Pearls, Wildstreet @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Lunice, Pictureplane (DJ), Teengirl Fantasy (DJ), Cool Places Soundsystem @ Bowery Hotel
* Hammer No More The Fingers, Jump Into The Gospel, Tiny Victories, Deleted Scenes @ Cameo Gallery
* Snarky Puppy's Family Dinner, Apollo Run, Delta Rae, Christopher Paul Stelling @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Planet of The Heapes, The Limit Club, The Deadnecks, The Silverhounds, Labretta Suede and The Motel 6, The Othermen, The Thunderfucks (The 5th Annual Psychobilly Luau) @ Public Assembly

Check out This Week in Indie for more about a lot of this weekend's shows.

Pure X have a video for "Easy." Check it out below.

Fruit Bats have a new video for "You're Too Weird". Check it out below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Friday?"

written with Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Puro Instinct - "Stilyagi" (Feat. Ariel Pink) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Purity Ring - "Ungirthed" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Purity Ring - "Lofticries" (MP3)

Pure X

Caves are so 2010, and animals names are prehistoric to the point that people are probably digging up their fossils. 'Pure' is totally in right now (even more so than 'Twin'), as Cave must have realized when they named their latest release "Pure Moods". The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (who have a new video and tour dates below) may have been on to something in 2007, though they have too many words in their name to really focus in on pure. Lately bands have been zeroing in on this phenomenon. Pure, if you're listening, maybe it's time to reunite again.

Pure X (formerly Pure Ecstasy) released their first full length Pleasure on Tuesday (7/5) and will be in NYC this week to play 285 Kent on Friday (7/8) and Ding Dong Lounge on Saturday (7/9). Bill talks more about both shows in This Week In Indie. Pleasure is streaming below along with both NYC show flyers.

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Puro Instinct @ Mercury Lounge (more by Amanda Hatfield)

A slightly less pure version of the word can be found in the Mexican Summer-signed Puro Instinct who, probably to get closer to pure, recently changed their name from Pearl Harbor. Their debut LP under Puro Instinct, Headbangers in Ecstasy, was released back in February. They played four NYC shows last week. Stereogum likes them, but not as much as they like Pure X. Gorilla vs. Bear thinks they're way better than Pure X though. Bill says, "They can really sing and play...better songs will come with time. They're young." Ariel Pink likes them too. They opened for him on tour and at Irving Plaza back when they were still called Pearl Harbor (and are touring now with Ariel's friend John Maus). Ariel also collaborated with the band on the single "Stilyagi." Grab that MP3 above and watch the video for the track below.

So, Pure X, formerly Pure Ecstasy, who released Pleasure, are not to be confused with Puro Instinct, formerly Pearl Harbor who released Headbangers in Ecstasy. But that's not all...

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Purity Ring (photo by Chris Tait

Corin Roddick from Gobble Gobble wised up earlier this year, and formed the duo Purity Ring with Megan James. They played their first show last month at Sled Island in Calgary, AB. They were the secret guest the last night of the fest at Hifi Club before Twin Shadow played. They're pictured above in an alleyway outside of the show taken right after they played. They've got a few other festival appearances scheduled including Bumbershoot, FYF Fest, MusicfestNW, and POP Montreal. All of their tour dates are listed below (and that includes a show with Twin Sister who the Pains of Being Pure at Heart also have dates scheduled with). Their only release so far is the single for "Ungirthed" b/w "Lofticries." Both tracks are pretty awesome dubsteppy electropop that the group have dubbed future pop. Grab both MP3s above, one of which also appears on Gorilla vs Bear's mid-year list.

Though older and a bit noisier, it's not unlikely that the similarly named Prurient (aka Dominick Fernow) could end up on the same bill as any of the aforementioned artists - especially considering Prurient just played Public Assembly on June 17 as part of a Stereogum Northside show, and Stereogum's Top 20 Albums of 2011 (so far) list includes not only Prurient, but also Puro Instinct, Pure X, and even an honorable mention for the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Prurient aka Dominick was smart to return with a new album this year to distance himself from his other band with the now outdated name, Cold Cave. Prurient's new LP Bermuda Drain drops July 19 via Hydra Head. Grab the track "A Meal Can Be Made" from that here.

Videos, dates and album stream below...

Continue reading "It's all about being 'Pure' (Purity Ring, Pure X, Puro Instinct, The Pains of Being & even Prurient)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Mickey - For You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fungi Girls - Doldrums (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pure X - Dry Ice (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grooms - Tiger Trees (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Wake - Oh Pamela (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Weekend - End Times (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: pow wow! - It's Not That Easy (MP3) 

Mickey

Ok it's really hot out but don't let that stop you from seeing some great stuff this weekend. We've got a couple bands on the Hozac label in town this weekend. First is Chicago glam punks Mickey whose debut Rock n' Roll Dreamer just hit the racks. It's a sleazy vision of excess that is part The Sweet, part Johnny Thunders, part Schlitz malt liquor and three bags of glitter dumped on top. It's hook-filled debauched fun. Check out "For You" at the top of this post for a taste. I have not seen Mickey live but all signs point to chaos.

Mickey play Death By Audio tonight (7/7) with Liquor Store, Ex-Humans, The Fucking Ocean and Sleepies (this show sounds like trouble), and then Friday (7/8) at Cake Shop with Habibi, Jigglers, Teardrops and Siberians.

Fungi Girls

The other Hozac band is Austin trio Fungi Girls who I've been wanting to see for some time. They play Friday night (7/8) at Death By Audio with Xray Eyeballs and The Beets, and on Saturday (7/9) at Ding Dong Lounge as part of a Group Tightener curated show with the label's bands Pure X (more on them below) and Expensive Looks, plus Cool Cough.

Still in their teens, Fungi Girls seem to have already digested a lifetime of psych-pop influences and make a racket that sounds fresh and well beyond their years. (Why aren't these guys on Slumberland?) 2009's Seafaring Pyramids was excellent and I can't wait to hear the new album, Some Easy Magic, which is out next month. You can download "Doldrums" at the top of this post which was the b-side to a Hozac 7" that came out last year.

Pure X, who play with Fungi Girls on Saturday, are also from Austin and maybe you knew them as Pure Ecstasy which they used to be called. (A San Francisco cover band laid claim to the name.) Now Pure X, the band just released their debut LP, Pleasure, this week and you can download "Dry Ice" from it at the top of this post. Altered Zones has a stream of the whole thing. Recorded live with no overdubs, Pleasure is lovely and languid, not unlike the first Cowboy Junkies album or Galaxie 500. It's a nice Sunday morning kind of album as I'm fond of saying.

The band are in town for two shows. In addition to the previously mentioned Saturday show with Fungi Girls, Pure X also play Friday (7/8) at sweaty 285 Kent for a Chocolate Bobka curated show with Tonstartsbandht, Forma, and Run DMT.

Grooms

If you go see Mickey tonight, Fungi Girls tomorrow and wanna make it three smoky nights in a row at Death By Audio, on Saturday (7/9) it's the record release party for Grooms' very good second album, Prom, which officially comes out next week on Kanine. The show is with Pterodactyl and The Immaculates.

The new album is a big leap from the band's debut, Rejoicer. The overt Sonic Youth-isms have melted and Grooms have come into their own with this one which feels confident and accomplished. It rocks pretty hard too, at times, but has pretty moments as well. Check out album opener "Tiger Trees" at the top of this post. Grooms were fantastic when I saw them at Northside but I imagine they'll be even more on their game at their Death By Audio home base.

The Wake @ NYC Popfest 2010 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

And finally a bunch of Seaport-related shows. Friday (7/8) is the third installment of the Seaport Music Festival with Scotland indiepop legends The Wake. As I wrote when they played Popfest last year:

"While they didn't get the attention their Factory Records labelmates New Order and Happy Mondays (or even A Certain Ratio) received, The Wake's catalog is well-regarded, especially 1985's Here Comes Everybody which is a bona fide  indie classic. Check out "O Pamela" at the top of this post. The band's hazy, reverb-laden sound has parallels to current bands like The Radio Dept or Wild Nothing, or any of the chillwave groups out there."

Opening is San Francisco loud music trio Weekend who should not be confused with The Weeknd or Weekends. Weekend are one of my favorite new bands of the last year -- their debut LP Sports made my Best of 2010 list and their live show is not to be missed. I wonder what random Seaport tourists with make of their powerful din on Friday.

(editor's note: I was definitely wondering what random tourists may have thought when they came upon John Lennon's son and his supermodel girlfriend playing a show on the same stage recently).

Saturday (7/9) at the Seaport is an official "warm up" to next weekend's 4 Knots Festival, with Ted Leo and Screaming Females. Ted has played the Seaport five times and often not under the best conditions. He played in torrential downpours and with generator power the night of the 2003 blackout. Saturday he'll be marking the 10th anniversary of his album The Tyranny of Distance by playing it in full. Weather is supposed to be lovely.

Then on Sunday (7/10) is the penultimate Sound Bites Series show with pow wow! who are currently finishing up their debut album. After garnering a lot of buzz (and playing what seemed like every week) back in 2009, they took most of last year off to regroup and rethink. With a slightly retooled sound -- they're definitely a little more '80s indie and a little less early '00s rock now -- they'll play the Fulton Stall Market at 3PM. I DJ before and after. Check out "It's Not That Easy" at the top of this post.

Then after the Sound Bites show, you should head over to the Beekman Beer Garden for the first of the summer's Beach Party shows. This week it's the wildness that is Cheeseburger, plus Hard Nips. I hope Beekman (formerly Water Taxi Beach formerly Spiegeltent) is ready for flying beer. This should be fun. With the truncated Seaport Music Festival schedule this year (and no Pool Parties) I'm glad more is going on down at the Seaport, one of my favorite places during the summer.

If you want to hear more from the bands playing the Sound Bites Series, the Beach Parties, as well as Hudson River Rocks, the Seaport folks partnered with Insound for some free downloadable mixes. Bands include Austra, Metronomy, Xray Eyeballs, The Beets, pow wow!, DOM, Raveonettes, Radical Dads and more. I curated the Brooklyn Local mix with bands who have played both years of the Sound Bites Series, plus some other Brooklyn bands I think people should check out. 

OK that's it for this week. A few more Thursday picks are below.

THURSDAY, JULY 7

Steel Phantoms, ARMS, and Shark? are at Brooklyn Bowl. It's free if you go before 7PM. After that it's five bucks.

Colorado band School Knights play Shea Stadium with The Hairs whose singer used to have a band called Knight School. Weird, right? Also playing: Grand Rapids and Radical Dads whose new video for "New Age Dinosuars" is at the bottom of this post.

contininued below...

Continue reading "Mickey, Fungi Girls, Pure X, Grooms, The Wake, Weekend, pow wow! & more in This Week in Indie"

DOWNLOAD: Pure X - "Dry Ice" (MP3)

Pure X photos by Grant MacAllister

Pure X opening for This Will Destroy You in Chicago in May

Austin's Pure X (formerly Pure Ecstasy) are releasing their first full length, Pleasure on July 5 via Acéphale in North America. A limited edition LP is available for pre-order on Acéphale's website. The first LP pressing is limited to 1000 copies on heavyweight vinyl, and the first 200 on ultraclear vinyl with red splatter. Grab the MP3 for "Dry Ice" above and check out the track "Twisted Mirror", along with the full tracklist and cover art, below.

The band recently finished up a tour with This Will Destroy You that hit Bowery Ballroom on June 2nd. A few pictures from their set on 5/28 at Bottom Lounge in Chicago are in this post

They've got a few upcoming dates in July, including two NYC shows: July 8 at 285 Kent and July 9 at Ding Dong Lounge. The 285 Kent show, presented by Chocolate Bobka, also has Tonstartbandht, FORMA, and RUN DMT on the blll. Ding Dong Lounge doesn't acytually list Pure X on the July 9th show which has Fungi Girls, Cough Cool, and Expensive Looks on the bill, but we'll assume for now at least that they are also playing it.

Fungi Girls opening for Hunx in Austin (more by Tim Griffin)

"Texas' Fungi Girls are back making news with a teaser of two songs from their second LP, Some Easy Magic, scheduled to be released July 11 from Hozac Records. Take a listen to two of the songs off the LP and feel free to download one of 'em. It's not a stretch to say that we'll be getting some more of that hazey, nostalgic, garage/surf that they do oh so well." [Chromewaves]

For fellow Austinites Fungi Girls, the Ding Dong Lounge show is one day of a much larger tour that also includes July 8th at Death By Audio with The Beets, Xray Eyeballs, and Fergus & Geronimo. All dates are listed below.

All dates, pics, soundcloud streams, album art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Pure X releasing 'Pleasure', playing shows, one with Fungi Girls (who are touring too) -- MP3s, live pics, dates"

by BBG

This Will Destroy You at Knitting Factory (photo by Nicholas Daughtry)

In addition to an upcoming appearance at Austin Psych Fest along with Spectrum, Black Angels, Roky Erickson and many others, This Will Destroy You have a set of U.S dates up their sleeve, to lay down their heavy post rock power at dates from coast to coast. Kicking off at Homegrown Fest with Neon Indian & School of Seven Bells, the band will hit the West Coast with Pure X & Sleep Over before heading East to pick up dates with Nighty Night that will include Bowery Ballroom on June 2nd. Tickets for the NYC show go on sale at noon.

This Will Destroy You are also the proud parents of a new baby, the Tunnel Blanket LP, which is currently up for preorder in CD & 2LP form via their label Suicide Squeeze. Check out the track "Black Dunes" below for a taste, alongside a video of the band at IFC House at SXSW and all tour dates....

Continue reading "This Will Destroy You releasing 'Tunnel Blanket', touring"