at the Seaport last night (HyperBeautiful)

Today (Wednesday, June 16th)'s free afternoon Sound Bites Lunchtime Seaport show with Ribbons has been cancelled. The reason is the weather, though, even if it was sunny out, it's probably for the best. The Seaport needs a rest after last night's hectic Drake/Hanson/Ninjasonik show where chairs were thrown, people scaled buildings, and nobody actually got to play more than a song. Some more videos from that chaotic scene below...

Continue reading "today's afternoon Seaport show cancelled ++ more videos from Drake & Hanson last night"

South Street Seaport (more by Chris La Putt)

Bill Pearis teamed up with the folks behind the South Street Seaport concerts to put together a "Lunchtime Series" of free shows at Pier 17 this summer...

"Go local! We're kicking off another season of the Fulton Stall Market with a series of lunchtime concerts every Wednesday in June. Grab a snack from one of the market's farmers and purveyors, then head over to the Seaport stage for a set from some of New York's freshest bands -- playing in more organic form than you may be used to hearing."

Now for at least 5 days, those who work around Wall St can spend their lunch hour checking out a band they might otherwise have to visit a venue in Williamsburg to see. It's every Wednesday in June, and this Sunday, May 30th. Bill will DJ from noon-1, and then the band plays from 1-2. This is similar to what happens at Metrotech in Brooklyn on Thursdays.

Bill will talk more about this week's show (North Highlands), and the rest of the schedule, in his weekly posts. For now, check out the full schedule below...

Continue reading "Sound Bites Lunchtime Series @ the Seaport (free shows from noon-two in May & June!)"

by Bill Pearis

The L Magazine's fifth annual "8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear" issue just hit the streets and the internet. It's got some familiar names (Twin Sister, North Highlands, Oberhofer) and some less-known ones (Nohow On, Asa Ransom). And like ever year, it's sure to spark some friendly debate, which I'll start: what, no Beach Fossils? Anyway, here's the L's Class of 2010, with each band's next NYC show just in case you wanna check 'em out (three of them are conveniently playing together at Cake Shop this Tuesday, April 6):

• Ava Luna (April 6, Cake Shop)
• MiniBoone (April 6, Cake Shop)
• Twin Sister (April 1, Glasslands)
• Asa Ransom (April 6, Cameo Gallery)
• Nohow On (April 17, Cameo Gallery)
• Ball of Flame Shoot Fire (April 6, Cake Shop)
• North Highlands (April 15, Union Hall)
• Oberhofer (April 6, Music Hall of Williamsburg (opening for Cymbals Eat Guitars)

Honorable mentions include Die Hard, Shark?, and Ribbons. You may remember discussing previous L Mag lists in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

P.S. The L Magazine-produced Northside Festival returns this year: June 24-27

Sam Hillmer (left) playing with Zs @ the Yard (more by Sarahana)

You Are Here (The Maze) is a performance festival in a sculptural maze taking place at Williamsburg's Death By Audio from September 10 - October 2, 2009. Emphasizing the sprawling and interconnected nature of New York's underground, a trip through the maze offers a peak inside NYC's diy art/music scene. A meditation on passage and desire, You Are Here engulfs the space and presents beckoning inhabitants, dead ends, and uplifting epitaphs. Medium and genre vary and overlapping and simultaneous performances are frequent, each performer establishing a different corner or dead end as his or hers.

The lineup and installation is being put together by TROUBLE (Sam Hillmer & Laura Paris). Acts in the three-week schedule include Calvin Johnson, Screaming Females, Mick Barr, Ty Segal, Grooms, Extra Life and others.

Skeletons kick off the first night of the festival on September 10th as the Skeletons Big Band, a 12-piece band (expanded from their usual four) that's also playing September 7-9th at Roulette. There they'll be performing "New Works for a Larger Ensemble" which includes "excerpts and new arrangements from their record in progress "PEOPLE," a long form piece based around conversations in Greyhound busses and stations, and beyond..."

The full schedule for the Maze (and the lineup for Skeletons Big Band) is below...

Continue reading "Death By Audio's The Maze - schedule (includes 1 of 4 upcoming Skeletons Big Band shows & much more) "

photos by Tim Griffin

Agit Reader: Have you found it difficult to be a band in New York? Given the deluge of music that's here, is it hard to make your mark?

Alex Naidus: We haven't thought of it that way. Other than having to pay for cabs to get to a show, it's fun to be a band in New York. If we started a band with the idea of "making it" then it would be hard, but we just like to play and have fun.

Peggy Wang: In New York, you're lucky because even if you play music that's not trendy or popular, there's still a niche. It's been nice to play a few shows and get momentum where people come see us play. We never had to play Fat Baby, like the last band I was in that had to play there. It's also nice because, while there's so many bands, there's quite a few bands with whom we fit and can play shows. There's always lots of options as far as bands to play with and venues.

Kip Berman: I know there's difficulties with practice space and the logistics of it, but in terms of the scene and culture being supportive of what we do, it's been great. I think of bands that play in other cities that are really good, but don't have other bands to play with and they feel really isolated. Here in New York there's other like-minded people that come to our shows and we go to their shows. It feels like a really good community.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Alex, Peggy and Kip) headlined Friday's free show at the South Street Seaport (a NYC venue, much, much larger than Fat Baby). More pictures from that show below...

Continue reading "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Zaza & Ribbons @ South Street Seaport, NYC - pics"

DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)

Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Bell House in March (more by Chris La Putt)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart headline a free show at South Street Seaport in NYC tonight (7/10). Zaza and Ribbons open. Zaza member Danny Taylor has done production work for Pains. Zaza member Jennifer Fraser used to be in The Warlocks. Ribbons, like Zaza, is a Brooklyn based duo - not to be confused with Ribbons aka 'jherek bischoff' who has played in XIU XIU, The Dead Science and Parenthetical Girls.

Last week the Seaport Music series kicked off with a July 3rd Here We Go Magic and Bachelorette show.

All Pains of Being Pure at Heart tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Pains of Being Pure at Heart - 2009 Tour Dates (FREE SHOW @ SOUTH STREET SEAPORT TONIGHT w/ Zaza & Ribbons) "

Photos by Lori Baily

White Denim

Hello. At long last, we're happy to release our first U.S. full-length record, "Exposion," in digital format through Austin's Transmission Entertainment.

The record's available above in MP3 (320 kbps) format for $8.99, so click away. And for all you sound junkies out there, the record's also available in loss FLAC format for $13.99 right here. Both downloads come with all album artwork.

Year-long subscriptions are also available ($29.99) here. All subscribers will automatically receive the album in 320 kbps format, a 12" copy of the album, a 7" copy of the "Let's Talk About It" EP , and a collection of unreleased digital live tracks. Over the year, we'll inundate you with all kinds of stuff, including plenty of unreleased materials and continuous entries from the WD tour diary.

Thanks. We love you.
White Denim

White Denim came through town right before CMJ. On Sunday night (10/19) they played a show a Mercury Lounge with Amazing Baby who have two more shows coming up at the same venue: November 28th (tix) and November 29th w/ MBAR (tix). More pictures from Sunday below...

Continue reading "White Denim (album out now) played Mercury Lounge w/ Amazing Baby who have 2 more shows there (pics, tix)"