Sam Amidon at LPR in October (more by Toby Tenebaum)

Sam Amidon will head out on an international tour in 2012, but before he does, he'll wrap up 2011 with "Sam Amidon's End Of Year Contemplation through Banjosong" in NYC at Rockwood Music Hall on December 28. Regarding the show, Sam says:

While I cannot even dare hope to match the fine calibration of Kirsten Dunst's recent acting performances (most notably Marie Antoinette, Wimbledon, and Melancholia), I do wish that as 2011 draws to a close we can sing a few murder ballads and old love songs together and maybe it will snow.

Sam also recently released a book, Notes On The Twitterographer: Collected Tweets 2009-2011, which will be available at his shows and at his website.

All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Sam Amidon playing end-of-year show, touring in 2012"

Ximena Sarinana at the Parish on 11/21 (more by Tim Griffin)

Dawes and Hacienda played the free Rolling Stone show today (12/6) in Openhouse Gallery's pop-up park (201 Mulberry Street ). Dawes went on at 1 PM. Check out a video of them warming up below.

RS will continue their fest during the day on Monday (12/12) with performances by Freelance Whales (1 pm), Ximena Sarinana (2:30 pm), Deer Tick (4 pm), and MNDR (5:30 pm). RSVP is free but not does not guarantee admission. Details below.

Monday's show falls in the middle of Ximena Sarinana's tour which hit The Parish in Austin last month, and hits Rockwood Music Hall the next night (12/13) for an early and a late show, both with Graffiti6. Tickets for the early show and the late show are available. All dates below.

Tickets are also still on sale for Deer Tick's New Year's Eve show at Brooklyn Bowl with Virgin Forest, who plays Glasslands on Wednesday (12/7) with Deer Tick's Ian O'Neil and Cat Martino. Tickets are still on sale for that show too.

All dates, video, and RSVP details below...

Continue reading "Ximena Sarinana on tour, playing free Rolling Stone show w/ Deer Tick, MNDR & Freelance Whales"

yMusic at Castle Clinton in July (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Six-piece ensemble yMusic released their debut LP this past September, Beautiful Mechanical, with compositions by Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond (whose new album yMusic played on), Annie Clark, Son Lux, and others. They'll celebrate the album with a record release show in NYC on Sunday (12/4) at Rockwood Music Hall. Tickets are on sale now.

They'll perform in NYC again with My Brightest Diamond when they open for The National at Beacon Theater (12/16). Tickets for that show are still on sale.

yMusic are also play the Ecstatic Music Festival with album collaborator Son Lux (Ryan Lott) and Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry on February 8 at Merkin Concert Hall. Tickets are still available. Stream the Son Lux-composed track "Beautiful Mechanical" off yMusic's album here.

Speaking of Richard Parry, he was spotted in the audience of the Little Scream show the other day at Pianos. He also happened to co-produce the new Little Scream record (which he also contributed to musically). Maybe he'll be there at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn tonight (12/2) too.

My Brightest Diamond also has an upcoming show at Merkin Concert Hall, but hers is part of New York Guitar Festival. She plays on January 17, performing an original score for Buster Keaton's silent film Balloonatic, aliong with Keller WilliamsRedhooker, who will both also be performing scores of Keaton films. Tickets are still available. Shara is also one of the performers for David Lang's Making Music piece, along with Bryce Dessner of The National, Owen Pallett, Nico Muhly and others, which is being presented at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on January 27. Tickets are on sale now.

All dates below...

Continue reading "yMusic playing Rockwood & other dates w/ My Brightest Diamond, Richard Reed Parry, Son Lux, The National & others"

DOWNLOAD: Dylan LeBlanc - If The Creek Don't Rise (MP3)

Dylan LeBlanc at Mercury Lounge (more by Eric Townsend)

21-year old Rough Trade-signed singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc is now on a tour of North America that stops at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC on Tuesday (10/11). Advanced tickets are available for the show happening on the venue's Stage 2 at 10:30pm. All tour dates are below.

Grab the MP3 "If the Creek Don't Rise" above, and listen for the backup vocals by Emmylou Harris. A couple of videos with the dates, below...

Continue reading "Dylan LeBlanc on tour, playing Rockwood (dates)"

X's John Doe is in NYC to to promote his new album "Keeper" which follows his release from earlier this year, a collaboration with Jill Sobule. John will make three live/tv appearances while he's here. Tonight (9/7), catch a free performance at 7pm at Soundfix Records in Brooklyn. Thursday (9/8) catch John at Rockwood Music Hall where he'll probably play a longer show. Thursday night watch him on Letterman!

If you miss him, John won't be gone long, but when he returns it will be the more punk rock version of himself. X just announced a show at Maxwell's that happens on their fall tour that also includes two NYC shows and a gig in Asbury Park.

British folk duo Smoke Fairies release their first full-length album in the US, Through Low Light and Trees, today, June 14. The album, released in the UK September 6, 2010 via V2/Cooperative Music, was produced by Head who is known for working with PJ Harvey and Black Francis. The new US version of the CD also comes with a disc of bonus tracks. Check out the video for "Strange Moon Rising" and more of their music below.

You may remember Smoke Fairies from their "Gastown/Riversong" 7" which came out all the way back in December 2009 on Jack White's Third Man label. He also produced the single and contributed drums and guitar along with Jack Lawrence. The duo more recently reminded the US of their existence when they released a double a-side single "Hotel Room/Strange Moon Rising" for Record Store Day through 453 Records

Smoke Fairies are heading out on a US tour in late July with Rasputina. The tour doesn't include any NYC dates but the duo do have two NYC dates scheduled as part of a short trip here this month. After visiting Toronto for NXNE and then Boston, they play Rockwood Music Hall on June 21. They play the Manhattan venue right before Lisa Hannigan plays a sold out show on the same stage (no advanced tickets for the Smoke Fairies set though). They also open for My Gold Mask the next night, June 22 at The Rock Shop. Tickets are on sale for the Brooklyn show

Rasputina play their own NYC-area show with The Wilderness of Manitoba at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, NJ on July 17. Tickets are still available.

Smoke Fairies contributed to MOJO Magazine's 'Harvest Revisited', a tribute to Neil Young's Harvest. Villagers, Phosphorescent, Sam Amidon and others appear on the compilation. Check out Smoke Fairies' take on "Alabama" below with more dates, videos, and other stuff.

Continue reading "Smoke Fairies released an LP in the USA, playing NXNE, NYC & shows w/ Rasputina (dates)"

Doveman, who often plays with both Justin Bond and Martha Wainwright, has four more upcoming salon shows scheduled at Le Poisson Rouge. Last month (after he was joined by Rufus Wainwright and Sean Lennon at the West Village venue) we mentioned that he plays the venue again on June 24. Since then, Lisa Hannigan has been added as an announced guest. Tickets are still on sale. Doveman also plays on July 29 (tickets), September 23 (tickets), and October 28 (tickets), though no guests have been announced for the new shows yet. You can also catch Doveman at a free show at Prospect Park with Junip and The Books on June 17.

Lisa Hannigan is currently on her own tour right now in her home country of Ireland. The LPR show with Doveman is one of a few she'll play in North America later this month around her appearance at Atlantic City's Dave Matthews Band Caravan Fest (not to be confused with the same scary fest that is hitting Governors Island later in the summer with a different lineup). Right before LPR, she plays NYC-area shows at Rockwood Music Hall on June 21 and 22 and Maxwell's on June 23. All three sold out quickly, so hopfully she comes back soon. She also hits Boston on the trip.

Lisa, who first came to fame via playing with Damien Rice, released her debut, Mercury Prize-nominated record Sea Sew in 2008. She's releasing the followup this fall on Dave's ATO Records (who this week released the new record by Dawes). Lisa's new LP is called Passenger, and was "recorded over a week at Brynderwyn Studios in North Wales by Grammy-winning producer Joe Henry (Solomon Burke, Allen Toussaint, Ramblin Jack Elliot) and engineer Ryan Freeland (Ray LaMontagne)."

Check out Lisa's 2009 Daytrotter session HERE. Check out a video of Lisa Hannigan covering Joni Mitchell's "Willy" along with more dates below...

Continue reading "Lisa Hannigan announced new LP, playing sold out shows, but tix still on sale for one with Doveman (who added dates too)"

James Blake @ SXSW 2011 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

today in NYC
* Reggie Watts Radio Play
* Peter Garland @ The Stone
* Big Terrific @ Cameo Gallery
* Paul Simon @ Beacon Theatre
* Mandingo Ambassadors @ Barbes
* The Growlers, Ba Babes @ Maxwell's
* Vaz, Dead Rider, Bbigpigg @ Cake Shop
* The Steven Lugerner Septet @ Barbes
* James Blake DJ set @ Tammany Hall
* Yo La Tengo, The Baxx Sisis @ The Bell House
* James Blake, Active Child @ Bowery Ballroom
* Phosphorescent, Family Band @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Brenn, The Stationary Set @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Chris Thile, Michael Daves @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Deftones, Dillinger Escape Plan @ Starland Ballroom
* Velnias, Ruin Lust, Lonesummer, Ithi @ The Acheron
* Sleigh Bells, CSS, Mr. Dream, Seagull @ Webster Hall
* Princeton, High Highs, NewVillager, Ivana XL @ Glasslands
* Drop the Lime, Cubic Zirconia @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Malajube, Deleted Scenes, Pretty & Nice, Bozmo @ The Rock Shop
* Destruction, Heathen, Warbeast, No Remission @ Highline Ballroom
* Manchester Orchestra, Cage The Elephant, O'Brother @ Terminal 5
* New York Funk Exchange Rocks Off Concert Cruise on The Halfmoon
* Kill to Kill, Gross Relations, Raccoon Fighter, The Horehound @ Don Pedro
* D. Charles Speer & The Helix, Zachary Cale Band, Gray Goods @ Union Pool
* Robot Princess, Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, Meshach Jackson @ Pianos
* Dinosaur Feathers, The Armchairs, Ball of Flame Shoot Fire, Horses Mouth @ DBA
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Generationals, People Get Ready, Phil & The Osophers @ Mercury Lounge
* MATA fest w/ Corey Dargel, Angleica Negron, Dither, Cantori NY, Chris Danforth and the Danforths, Florent Ghys @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Prince Rama, Pikachu-Makoto (members of mems Acid Mothers Temple, Afrirampo), Quiet Hooves, Bubbly Mommy Gun, Mugu Guymen @ Monster Island Basement

James Blake is here.

Paul McCartney's son James McCartney is not here (or just not feeling well) (Rockwood Music Hall show cancelled).

Someone billed as "McQueen & Hall & Oates" is playing Rockwood tonight though. I'm not sure who it is, but if this tweet was meant to be a hint, than don't get your hopes up I guess. That said, I have no idea.

Oh and tickets are back on sale for the Chris Thile shows happening at Rockwood tonight and tomorrow.

We're giving away tix for the Ben Sollee shows happening at Rockwood tomorrow and the next day, via Facebook.

check out This Week in Indie

We're giving away tix on Facebook to tonight's Drop the Lime gig.

We're also giving away tix to the upcoming School of Seven Bells, Sun Airway, White Lies show at Terminal 5 on Facebook.

Floor appeared on Fox TV's Red Eye. Video below...

Steve Earle performed a song from his new album live on SiriusXM. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

The Fiery Furnaces have scheduled a May tour that starts off with two shows at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC. The May 4th & 5th NY shows are being advertised as "duo shows", and tickets are on sale for both. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Fiery Furnaces schedule May tour, two nights @ Rockwood"

The great UK 'experimental folk' artist David Thomas Broughton has announced "Outbreeding", a new album of slightly older songs that will be released by London label Brainlove Records on May 23rd. Listen to "Ain't Got No Sole" via its video below.

Meanwhile, DTB makes a trip to the U.S. for shows in NYC, Austin and LA that kick off TONIGHT/Monday (3/14) at Sycamore in Brooklyn with Oh Ruin and Alex Highton. He then plays Rockwood Music Hall on Tuesday with the same lineup. Wednesday he partakes in Doveman's next Burgundy Stain Session at LPR before heading to Austin where he plays four shows before doing one more in LA. All dates and that video below...

Continue reading "David Thomas Broughton announces new album, in NYC now before heading to SXSW (2011 dates & new video)"

Nicole Atkins @ SXSW 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

The Tea Party-hating NPR will be streaming Nicole Atkins' recent show at World Cafe Live online as of 3pm EST today (3/11). It's a consolation prize for those who were hoping to see her play tonight at Maxwell's, but don't have a ticket (the NJ show with Cotton Jones is sold out).

On March 16th Nicole plays her first of at last five SXSW shows in Texas (a festival she also visited last year). After that she has various shows scheduled including Bonnaroo, Concerts in the Studio in Freehold, The Union County Performing Arts in Rahway, and two gigs at Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan. The first is one of those private WFUV-Members Only shows on 3/22 that will be aired on the radio station, and the next is actually a Sweet Divines show that says "w/ special guest singers TAMI LYNN and NICOLE ATKINS." That one has tickets on sale and goes down over the course of two sets on 3/30. All dates below...

Continue reading "Nicole Atkins streaming at NPR, playing Maxwell's before SXSW (tonight) & other dates (like Rockwood Music Hall) "

Martha Wainwright at Le Poisson Rouge (more by Chris La Putt)

[Monday] night was the first of Martha Wainwright's four Monday night shows at The Rockwood Music Hall. Although Martha said she was thinking of the scene in Crazy Heart where only four people show up, the smaller room at The Rockwood was at capacity. Martha played solo guitar but was joined by Thomas Bartlett on piano for a few songs. The program was a combination of songs written the past week, some older material and one cover, a Kate McGarrigle (Martha's mother) song. -[Now I've Heard Everything]

I'm not sure if Thomas will be there to play with her again tonight, and I'm not sure if Martha will be one of Thomas's guests at one of his two upcoming shows at LPR, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was. Thomas's guests this past week were Sam Amidon, Glen Hansard, Beth Orton, and as hinted, St. Vincent.

If you need a double dose of Wainwright this week, you can also check for Martha on Wednesday, 1/19, at the Living Room when she joins Addie Brownlee as a special guest in celebration of Dolly Parton. Tickets are still available.

If you need somewhere to go after Martha tonight, the Living Room is also a good option with Jim Campilongo Electric Trio (with Stephan Crump & Tony Mason) on at 10pm. Maybe Martha will head there too since Jim happens to also often play in her band. Jim is also in the midst of his own (very long-running) Monday night residency on the Lower East Side.

Martha Wainwright's full tour schedule and some videos below.

Continue reading "Martha Wainwright in residency @ Rockwood, playing a Dolly Parton show @ Living Room & other dates"

photos by David Andrako

Mumford & Sons have lots of fans (@ Terminal 5)

"It reminded me very much of what it was like being in a band starting out. They are on a great roll at the moment as you hear on the track. That's what it was like with The Kinks when we started out doing single after single. You get this weird light around you that makes you work in a certain way." - [Ray Davies on Mumford & Sons]

After the show, all three bands headed to an invite-only afterparty at Rockwood Music Hall where they all ended up playing again (but all together as one band) to the lucky, considering how big Mumford is now, few who were in attendance. Video from the intimate aftershow is below.

In related news, there's a Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling and Dharohar Project collaborative four-song EP on the way, though not as quickly in all formats as previously planned:

"So there's been a bit of juggling on the physical release front - there's good news and not as good news (we're a cup half full kinda web dweller). The good news is - the physical version of the EP will in fact be in the form of a vinyl. The not such good news is that the vinyl will be coming in the new year as opposed to 7th December (when the digital version will be available from). We will keep you updated on the release date and retail info as soon as we hear word..."

"20-year old English folk star Laura Marling contributes to our Blue Series of releases.

For her recording Laura Marling chose two incredible songs and does them heavenly justice: Jackson C Frank's "Blues Run The Game" and Neil Young's "The Needle And The Damage Done". The exclusive 7" includes her version of "Blues Run The Game" as the A side, backed with "The Needle And The Dam"

Mumford and Sons recorded a track with Ray Davies for his new Kinks cover album (or whatever you want to call it). (hence the quote at the beginning of this post)

More pictures of all three bands from the 2nd show at Terminal 5, with some videos from that show and from the one at Rockwood Music Hall, and Mumford's T5 setlist, below...

Continue reading "Mumford & Sons played 2 shows @ T5 w/ Cadillac Sky & King Charles, and 1 smaller one later (pics, video, setlist & some related Laura Marling news too) "

Eli "Paperboy" Reed at Governor's Island (more by Tracy Allison)

For the curious, J & R Musicfest & Tech Expo won't be just demos of the latest wi-fi enabled equipment. Over four days, the annual "fest" will dedicate two days to free shows across from its downtown location (at City Hall Park) featuring performances by J Cole, Alexis Jordan, Marsha Ambrosius, and Eli "Paperboy" Reed between August 27th and August 28th. Full lineup is below.

For those in need of urgent sweet soul crooning, you can get your fix TONIGHT (8/25), as Eli "Paperboy" Reed will also sit in as a special guest at Rockwood Music Hall with The Sweet Divines. Mr. Reed won't be the only guest sitting in with the band, as Dap Kings guitarist Binky Griptite, soul songstress Maxine Brown, and Inyang Bassey (backing vocalist for Moby) will all get the assist (in addition to an opening set from Bassey and Griptite).

Tonight isn't his only appearance with The Sweet Divines either, as both will ALSO appear at the 2010 edition of the Brooklyn Soul Festival held at the Bell House on 10/8 and 10/9 (though on different days). The two day festival will feature appearances from Barbara Lynn, Vernon Garrett, Don Gardner, and Reed on day one (10/8), as well as Betty Harris, Harvey Scales, Renaldo Domino, and The Sweet Divines on day two (10/9). Tickets are on sale for day 1, day 2, and a two day pass.

The Rockwood show flyer, J&R Fest lineup and times, and all Eli dates, below....

Continue reading "soul @ Rockwood tonight, J&R Musicfest this weekend, Brooklyn Soul Festival in October (all w/ Eli Reed)"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

The UK's Fyfe Dangerfield played a 90-or-so minute show at Rockwood Music Hall's Stage 2 on Monday night. Kyle says...

He played a couple of Guillemots songs, notably Sao Paolo, Trains to Brazil and Made Up Love Song #3. People were really into it. Fyfe is also hilarious. "When I played here last time I was jetlagged, so I didn't have any stories. Today, I ate a piece of pizza with squash on it." He said the Guillemots will probably come over in the next year, which really excited people.

Continue reading "Fyfe Dangerfield played Rockwood Music Hall (pics) "

Guillemots frontman Fyfe Dangerfield may be treading a little too much in Keane territory for comfort, especially in the video below, but regardless: he scheduled a last minute show at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC TONIGHT (8/23).

He was supposed to play shows here in January but cancelled for visa issues. I don't think he ever rescheduled (actually he did play Joe's Pub), so this might be his first second time here as a solo artist, and it's currently his only scheduled US gig.

Continue reading "last minute Fyfe Dangerfield show & new video "

photos by Kurt Christensen

Chrissie Hynde's new band [played] Rockwood Music Hall [Monday] night. To say that JP, Chrissie and the Fairground Boys are the best project she's taken on in over twenty years is not the compliment it could be, but she proved that she's still got a way with a catchy hook and a spine-tingling vocal style that just keeps getting more and more exquisite. Hynde has never sung better: what a voice, what subtlety and nuance. She said more in just the minute inflection of a blue note, or those little melismas that she lets fall away, wounded but graceful, than most singers can relate over the course of a whole album. Yet what was most inspiring about the show - which went on for over an hour - was that much of the material was up to the level of that voice. Alongside Hynde, her boyfriend JP Jones (formerly of tuneful, anthemic British rockers Grace) and lead guitarist Patrick Murdoch switched back and forth between acoustic and electric guitar: when all three were playing, they frequently evoked the swampy Americana of Moby Grape, the 1960s Bay Area band they credit as a primary inspiration. [Lucid Culture]

Continue reading "Chrissie Hynde played Rockwood Music Hall (pics) "

JP, Chrissie, & the Fairground Boys (featuring Chrissie Hynde & JP Jones) have some more upcoming shows scheduled including August 9th at Rockwood Music Hall's "Stage 2" (tickets), and August 10th at the Apple Store in SoHo (free). All dates below...

Continue reading "Chrissie Hynde's band playing 2 NYC shows & other dates"

DOWNLOAD: Olof Arnalds - Innundir Skinni (MP3)

Olof Arnalds @ SXSW 2010 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Talented Icelandic songwriter Olof Arnalds has an amazing new record, Innundir skinni (translation: Under the Skin), coming out September 14th on One Little Indian. The album's title track, an acoustic-guitar-and-voice ballad produced (as the whole album is) by Kjartan Sveinsson of Sigur Ros, is posted above. That song will also appear on a forthcoming 7" single featuring Arthur Russell's "Close My Eyes" on the b-side. An intimate performance of that cover is below.

Olof in NYC for a show at Rockwood Music Hall tonight (July 19th) where she'll be accompanied by Skuli Sverrisson (Laurie Anderson's musical director) on electric bass. Tickets are still on sale. After that she travels to the West Coast for shows with Jonathan Richman.

Bjork make a guest appearance on an Innundir skinni song. She'll also pop up on the new Antony and the Johnsons album, Swanlights, due in October. There she sings on a duet called "Flétta" (the Icelandic word for both braid and lichen). Bjork recently put out a collaboration with Dirty Projectors, and will be holding a press conference today (7/19) to protest a new deal that would give Magma Energy of Canada a 65 year lease (renewable for 65 more) on Iceland's geothermal power. She said to the Financial Times about the it:

"Most people feel this is something the nation should keep....Especially after the bank crash, after witnessing all the criminal gambling with precious things... This deal smells like the leftovers from the corruption that brought us the bank crash."

Continue reading "new Olof Arnalds MP3 (and show tonight), Bjork to appear on Antony's new album (and at a press conference today)"

by Kurt Christensen

Mark Olson @ Rockwood Music Hall

"With the stars-of-fame outside First Avenue currently being repainted, it looked as if the Jayhawks were campaigning to make theirs the first local name to go back up on the walls.

The pioneering alt-country band had not played their hometown rock haven in more than five years. It had been 15 years since they performed there with original co-leader Mark Olson, who quit the band in 1995. One could practically smell the nostalgia in the air at Sunday's show -- the second in a three-night stand -- and it was much sweeter than paint fumes.

Instead of playing all their standard tunes, though, the quintet offered up a two-hour concert filled with hidden gems and way-old nuggets. It was a sharply different set list than they played at the Basilica Block Party last summer, which was the first local reunion by the Jayhawks' mid-'90s lineup, featuring Olson, singer/guitarist Gary Louris, bassist Marc Perlman, drummer Tim O'Reagan and keyboardist Karen Grotberg." [Star Tribune]

Less than a week earlier, Jayhawks member Mark Olson played the intimate Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East side of NYC (a city Jayhawk Gary Louris played less than a month before that). Mark was accompanied by Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Ingunn Ringvold who performs under the name Sailorine. Mark played several songs from his upcoming album Many Colored Kite (available July 27), as well as songs from the Jayhawks, and The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers. Mark also played the first track from the recently re-issued Bunkhouse LP, the Jayhawks first album which originally was only available on vinyl in a pressing of 2,000 copies. At the end of the set, he was joined by Jolie Holland for the opening track of the new album, Little Bird of Freedom.

More pictures of Mark at Rockwood, below...

Continue reading "the Jayhawks played 3 shows @ First Avenue in Minneapolis, Mark Olson performed @ Rockwood Music Hall (pics) "

Mark Olson is a founding member of The Jayhawks, the most acclaimed band to emerge out of the alt-country scene. He left the Jayhawks in 1996, after the release of the band's biggest-selling album, Tomorrow The Green Grass, but continued to record music with his new band, The Creekdippers, at his new home in the California desert.

In 2007 Mark released his first true solo album, The Salvation Blues. A deeply personal album, it also featured the long-awaited reunion with his former Jayhawks bandmate and writing partner, Gary Louris [who recently played LPR], on three songs.

In 2008 Mark and Gary got together and recorded an album Ready For The Flood, and toured the world extensively after its release for the better part of 2009.

Now it's 2010 and Mark's second solo album Many Colored Kite is scheduled for release on July 27, 2010 on Rykodisc.

The new record is produced and engineered by Beau Raymond (Devendra Banhart, Little Joy, Mark Olson and Gary Louris) and features Neal Casal (of The Cardinals) and drummer Danny Frankel (Laurie Anderson, Bebel Gilberto, Fiona Apple, Madeleine Peyroux) with a guest spot by Vashti Bunyan.

All tour dates for Mark Olson, who has shows in the US and Europe scheduled, are below...

Continue reading "Mark Olson (of the Jayhawks) touring & releasing an album"

photos by Chris La Putt

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals played a secret show at Rockwood Music Hall's new Stage 2 last night (4/22). The gig came between the appearance they made in Times Square for Earth Day that morning, and the one they're playing for Earth Day at Grand Central today.

"Stage 2" has been open less than a month. Larger than Stage 1, the 150+ capacity room had tables set up but there was plenty of room for anyone that showed up. It got packed by the end of their performance though. Playing from 8:30 until almost 10, their set was a mix of old and brand new songs. Grace was talkative and thanked the venue for setting up the show so last minute. Nocturnals bassist Catherine Popper has played Rockwood (Stage 1) many times by herself (and with others). Pictures and videos from the show continue below.

Also below, a set of never-before-published pics from a show Grace Potter headlined at the much larger Webster Hall in 2008. It's the same venue she'll headline on June 12th of this year. Tickets go on sale at noon. Pictures below...

Continue reading "Grace Potter & the Nocturnals played a secret show (pics)"

Rockwood Music Hall's rumored new space opened earlier this month with a show by Zach Williams. It's right next door and they call it "Stage 2". Now I've Heard Everything reports that, "Stage 2 will have a capacity of 150 to 200, depending on the configuration, is adjacent to the current Rockwood Music Hall (which will get the retronym Stage 1) but must be entered separately...

"But one note: the name Stage 2, while true and accurate has absolutely no pizazz. Some friends and I decided a while back that this new larger place should be called The Rockwood Colosseum. And to some of us, that is what it will be."

Full Rockwood Music Hall schedule (stage 1 and 2) at their website.

A video of Poundcake performing live, below...

Continue reading "Rockwood Music Hall "Stage 2" now open (Grace Potter playing there before Poundcake tonight?)"

Joey Ryan writes, "Amber Rubarth, Greg Holden and I are at Rockwood Thursday nights from 8-10pm. Jan 7, 14, and 21. Then February 4th we're all doing a show at Rockwood's brand new, 300-person room!!" (thx Max)

photos by Vincent Cornelli

FlavorPill: So you don't have any plans to move Stateside?

Olof Arnalds: Not now. Maybe in a few years it would be great. I have a son who's one and a half years old, and there's so much life quality in Iceland when it comes to having children because it's so safe. It's such a good environment for kids to have the freedom to play. I have a big family, and I wouldn't want to raise my kids anywhere else than Iceland.

FP: Can you talk a little bit about the music scene in Iceland?

OA: It's a very tight scene. Everyone's friends and help each other out. It's really vibrant because you can make things happen really quickly. It doesn't take a long time to make it happen. It's a gutsy environment. People just do things.

FP: How did you meet Kjartan Sveinsson from Sigur Ros, who produced your first album?

OA: His wife, Maria. We're friends from youth. She's from the quartet Amiina that played with Sigur Ros for many years. It's just a small scene of musicians. It's friendship. Sigur Ros and Mum, who I used to play with, are good friends.

Continue reading "Olof Arnalds played the Whitney, Rockwood Music Hall (pics)"