Rhett playing (in the convention center?) @ SXSW 2012 (via nattibeth)

In support of his upcoming self-produced solo album The Dreamer, frontman Rhett Miller announced a Spring tour with backing band The Serial Lady Killers that will hit Maxwell's on June 7 and Bowery Ballroom on June 8. Tickets for both are on sale now at the links. All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile, Rhett, fresh from a string of SXSW performances will play a sold out gig tomorrow night (3/23) at City Winery with Salim Nourallah. He also has some shows coming up with his 90s alt-rock cohorts in Old '97's.

The Dreamer is set to drop June 5 via Miller's own Maximum Sunshine Records. A free download for the album's first single "Out of Love" and a complete list of tour dates can be found below...

Continue reading "Rhett Miller announces new LP & tour (dates)"

photos by Greg Cristman, Pallbearer photos & words by BBG

Alcest @ Lovejoys

By the time that Hull hit the stage at around 2:20pm, the deal was sealed; intimate Austin bar/venue Lovejoys was officially one-in-one-out until we closed the doors. The Saturday BrooklynVegan day show during SXSW included the awesome lineup of Alcest (their only Austin show), Nachtmystium (with Will Lindsay and Sanford Parker in tow), The Atlas Moth, Pallbearer, Speedwolf, Hull, Bruce Lamont with Man's Gin (their only show), Mutilation Rites and Vestiges. All of the bands ruled and I can't thank them enough.

Vestiges opened the party at 12:15 to a relatively large crowd of people (considering the inevitable hangovers from the night prior), and proceeded to wake us all with their spacey hybrid of black metal, hardcore, doom, and crust. A truly amazing band that is definitely worth looking out for. Mutilation Rites followed with new bassist Ryan Jones (Wetnurse/Today is The Day) in tow, but seemed no worse for the changeover; the band's punk-y black-metal-thrash ripped as usual.

Bruce Lamont and Man's Gin collaborated next, using everything from guitar, sax, and bass ukelele in their renditions of Man's Gin songs. It was a special one-off collaboration during the festival, and one that I was grateful to be hosting in such a small space. Hats off to Erik, Josh & the Man's Gin crew, as well as Bruce Lamont.

After that relatively low-key set, of course Hull brought it up a few notches with their thundering post-metal stomp, the first of three shows for the band that day. The rattling doom power of Hull live cannot be denied, but neither can the Motorhead-y beer-swilling pummel of Speedwolf who followed directly after. Speedwolf is currently on a US tear, so look for them at a town near you (including NYC).

Pallbearer @ Lovejoys

Pallbearer, one of my favorite bands from SXSW this year, are undeniably great and just destroyed after Speedwolf. Their melodic doom riffs and soaring vocals owe a lot to the doom-fathers of yesteryear but still reimagine some of those approaches on their stunner of an LP Sorrow & Extinction. Pick it up if you can, and don't miss them when they come to NYC with Loss!

The Atlas Moth and Nachtmystium, out on tour together, played the following two sets with the latter featuring Sanford Parker on keys and Will Lindsay (Indian, Middian, etc) on bass. The Atlas Moth was also in a different configuration, with Andrew Ragin out with medical issues and replaced with his brother-in-law and former member of Stabbing Westward Marcus Eliopulos. Despite configuration changes, both bands were fantastic.

Alcest, who in no way resembles a metal band other than in pedigree, closed out the night. The French quartet's focus is on shoegaze-influenced beauty and were a perfect way to end the hectic and brutal day at Lovejoys. Alcest are on the road in the US, and will play NYC at Public Assembly next week with another BV-SXSW-show-alumnus, Deafheaven (I'll be DJing).

Yet another successful year at Lovejoys in Austin, and I'd like to send a big thank you to the staff, Jester King for the free suds, all of the bands, and most importantly all of the fans who came for the day. Thank you so much, and I can't wait until next year!

More pictures from the whole day, below...

Continue reading "pics from the Saturday BV show @ Lovejoys (Alcest, Nachtmystium, Atlas Moth, Pallbearer & more)"

Danny Brown @ Mohawk (SXSW) (via Matthew Hickey)

Donald Glover's broken foot

Danny Brown was supposed to play Starland Ballroom in NJ last night (3/21), but that show didn't happen because headliner Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) recently fractured his foot. Donald wrote:

"This past Saturday I fractured my foot on stage in Tampa during a performance and was rushed to the emergency room.

The doctors say that if I stay off of my foot for a couple weeks and wear this boot, there's a good chance they can avoid surgery and start performing again soon.

I'm really upset by the timing of this. CAMP tour will go on, but dates will be postponed."

All dates from 3/16-4/3 have been rescheduled and are listed with new dates below. The new NJ date is 4/30, though it's unclear if Danny Brown will still be opening.

What is clear, is that depsite no NJ show last night, and being attacked with a lemon at SXSW, Danny Brown did make it to NYC for his now-SOLD OUT show at Santos Party House tonight (3/22). He'll also be back in the area in June when he plays the Roots Picnic in Philly, and when he opens for Childish Gambino at Central Park Summerstage after Bonnaroo.

Check out Danny's new video for "Radio Song" and the new CG dates below...

Continue reading "Danny Brown survived a lemon attack, but Donald Glover broke his foot (Childish Gambino tour postponed, but DB in NYC tonight)"

photos by Greg Cristman, words by BBG

Trash Talk @ Scoot Inn, Austin, TX

The BrooklynVegan/Power of The Riff day show took over two stages at Scoot Inn on 3/16, and one day of the multi-day Converse/Thrasher Deathmatch at the venue. With a ticket price tag of free and a stacked lineup that included High On Fire, Trash Talk, Off!, Ceremony, Deafheaven, Black Cobra, Full of Hell, Dead In The Dirt, Code Orange Kids, Heartless, and Balaclava, its understandable that there was a line around the block for most of the amazing day.

We already posted one set of photos from the show at BV Austin, including shots of Heartless, Ceremony, Balaclava, Full of Hell, and Code Orange Kids. Here are some pictures & video of High on Fire, and Off!, and more of Balaclava, Trash Talk, and Ceremony. Photos of Dead In The Dirt, Deafheaven, Black Cobra, and others are on the way. More below...

Continue reading "pics & video from the BV/Power of The Riff Deathmatch party at Scoot Inn (part 2)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Wedding Present @ Hotel Vegan

As Bill wrote in his full SXSW Thursday recap, "We didn't get Seamonsters in full like they'd do at the Cake Shop showcase on Friday night, but The Wedding Present definitely pulled out some old favorites for their Hotel Vegan main stage performance, including 1986 single "You Should Always Keep in Touch with Your Friends" which opened their rocking set. Frontman David Gedge, who is 52 but looks at least 15 years younger, throws his all into his guitar. The Wedding Present played a lot of shows during SXSW, don't know how he does it."

The Wedding Present continue their tour started at SXSW, playing their Steve Albini-produced masterwork Seamonsters in-full across the U.S., including gigs tonight (3/21) at The Bell House and tomorrow at Le Poisson Rouge, both with Jet Age. Tickets seem to still be available for both. All tour dates HERE.

Their latest album, Valentina, dropped this past Tuesday (3/20).

A few more pictures from Hotel Vegan are below...

Continue reading "The Wedding Present are here, played Hotel Vegan (pics)"

Blood Orange @ Converse FADER Fort SXSW 2012 (photo by thereal_lc_)

Blood Orange (aka Dev Hynes), who was just in Austin for SXSW (picture above, video below), is back home in NYC and will play a local show at Justice's favorite club Lit Lounge TONIGHT (3/21) with Rewards and Shuga. Tonight's show is one of a few one-offs for Blood Orange before he heads out on tour with Florence & the Machine. That tour hits NYC on May 8 at Radio City (sold out).

Rewards, who open tonight's show, were also added as an opener to Tanlines' upcoming Bowery Ballroom show (4/12). Tickets for that show are still available. Tanlines were also just at SXSW for a limited amount of shows and released their album, Mixed Emotions, yesterday. Alon with that came a new video for song "All of Me", directed by Julian Barratt of The Mighty Boosh. Watch below.

Shuga, who are also on tonight's bill and were also at SXSW, are on Luv Luv Luv Records, who are presenting tonight's Lit Lounge show and who also manage Blood Orange and Florence, who as mentioned, are touring together. Shuga has another upcoming NYC show at Tammany Hall on Monday (3/26).

--
Kindness at SXSW 2012 (via)

In related news, Kindness (aka Adam Bainbridge), who, like Blood Orange, records for Chris Taylor's (of Grizzly Bear/CANT) Terrible Records, was also just in Austin for SXSW where he shared a bill with Blood Orange at a Windish party. Kindess also played a Gorilla vs Bear/Yours Truly party and the NME showcase, among others. Dummy Mag wrote about the GvsB/YT show:

Kindess slinked on stage like the consummate crooner: smooth, self-assured and safe in the knowledge his charm would woo the crowd. He was right, too. I was a little too tired to surrender to it entirely but there's no doubting the calibre of Kindess. Top of the pops.

Check out some videos of Kindness at SXSW below.

Speaking of Gorilla vs Bear and Florence & the Machine, GvsB just premiered a Clams Casino remix of Florence's "Never Let Me Go." Stream that below.

All dates, videos and streams below...

Continue reading "Kindness played SXSW w/ Blood Orange who plays Lit tonight w/ Shuga & Rewards (who are opening for Tanlines)"

by Andrew Sacher

London's Breton were just in Austin for SXSW and before they head home they'll play a NYC show TONIGHT (3/21) at Mercury Lounge with Gold Fields. Tickets are available.

You may know Breton from the remixes they've done for Maps & Atlases and Local Natives, or the audio/visual work they've done for Tricky, but they've also been releasing EPs of their own material. Now they've got a debut full length, Other People's Problems, set to come out on April 3 in the US and March 26 in the UK via FatCat. The album pulls from two rather different, but distinctly UK styles of music. They've got a mix of James Blake-ian beats and the tense vocals of UK dance-punk groups like Klaxons and Foals. Check out the video for "Interference" off the album, which they wrote, filmed, and directed themselves, below. The album artwork and tracklist are below too.

All dates, including a May tour with We Were Promised Jetpacks (that has them in Philly on May 5th) and video below...

Continue reading "Breton are here, played SXSW, signed to FatCat"

photos by Amanda Hatfield & others

Pond @ Hotel Vegan on Saturday

Australian band Pond (not to be confused with Portland band Pond), who include two members of Tame Impala, just hit SXSW and are now on tour with Oberhofer. That tour arrives at Bowery Ballroom TONIGHT (3/21) for what will be Pond's first-ever NYC show (at a venue Tame Impala have headlined and sold out). Tickets are still on sale, so go out and give them a proper welcome (and then stick around for Oberhofer too). Afterwards head to Tribeca Grand for the afterparty. Flyer, details and more tour dates below.

I caught Pond once in Austin, at our own show at Hotel Vegan, and it was one of the most memorable of the week, in part from the performance, and in part from all the fun everyone/friends around me were having as the band rocked the intimate and packed Volstead space on Saturday afternoon.

Stereogum posted some SXSW awards, and Pond won for...

BEST BARE FEET: Nick "Paisley Adams" Allbrook, the perpetually shoe-bereft bassist for Tame Impala, who was recast this week as the perpetually shoe-bereft livewire frontman for Australian classic riff-rock vamp band/Tame Impala spinoff POND. What he lacks in shoes he makes up in HEART (and amphetamine-y spasms and contortions). -Amrit

Some pictures and videos from our Hotel Vegan show, and a video from another show, are in this post (a full stream of their set at Hype Hotel can be watched HERE, but the audio sucks). More pics and videos, with the other stuff, below...

Continue reading "Pond killed it at SXSW, touring with Oberhofer, in NYC now (Hotel Vegan pics & video, NYC afterparty info)"

Purity Ring @ SXSW 2012 (photo by SRGN)

Purity Ring, currently finishing a post-SXSW tour with Neon Indian in NC tonight, will open for Dirty Projectors at Celebrate Brooklyn on 7/10, as with Wye Oak. UPDATE: I'm told these openers are "not 100% confirmed". Tickets are still on sale. The Prospect Park show is still Dirty Projectors' only announced date.

If you're in DC, catch Purity Ring on Thursday at Red Palace with Ava Luna. Ava Luna's next currently scheduled Brooklyn show is at BAM for the National's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" fest on 5/4 (single day tickets recently went on sale).

Wye Oak's only other announced show at the moment is the National's ATP in the UK in December.

All tour dates for these bands are listed below...

Continue reading "Purity Ring & Wye Oak opening for Dirty Projectors"

photos by Greg Cristman, additional photos by BBG

Directly after the mayhem that was our Deathmatch event at Scoot Inn on 3/16 (first set of pictures HERE; more on the way) BrooklynVegan & Power of The Riff/Thrasher took over the Austin venue for an official SXSW showcase. The night portion was headlined by Black Breath (an exclusive SXSW appearance) and featured appearances from Ringworm, All Pigs Must Die, Narrows (who also played the bridge show), KEN Mode, Enabler and Young and In The Way. The overall brutal vibe of the day continued into the night with ripping performances from top to bottom, circle-pitting, and hardcore scream-a-longs.

Young and In The Way's "American Blackened Crust" opened the showcase a bit past 8PM, drawing from black metal in both tendency to blast as well as in symbolism, ferocity and costuming (see the inverted cross of bones). Young and In The Way may be a relatively young band, but they are wise beyond their years in creating dark atmosphere to accompany their taut and razor sharp odes to negativity.

Following YAITW was Enabler, a Milwaukee band that contains members of Harlots and Fall Out Boy (no shit). They draw from the melodic d-beat of bands like Tragedy in their take on crusty hardcore. The band are preparing a new LP All Hail the Void for release in May, so look out for that and make sure to catch them on the road soon.

KEN Mode played only two shows in Austin this year, and thankfully our showcase was one of those. The band's noise-rock meets hardcore aesthetic has always been great, but now with a more stable bass player (Andrew LaCour) it seems that the band has hit its stride on the live stage. LaCour's animated stage antics work well for the band too, adding to the wide-eyed maniacal glances that guitarist/vocalist Jesse Matthewson throws to the audience over his microphone.

On paper, Narrows is a fantastic sounding band; members of Botch, Unbroken, and more collide to form a hardcore supergroup. Thankfully, the reality is as indelible as the concept.... in fact better. Since I saw them kill it at Cake Shop close to two years ago, Narrows have gelled into an entity all its own, a thought cemented with their latest and highly-reccomended release on Deathwish, Painted (out now). As a live band they are similarly amazing; is there anything as pleasing to a hardcore kid as screaming into a microphone along with Dave Verellen?

All Pigs Must Die is similar in concept to Narrows, a "supergroup" comprised of the jaw-dropping sticksman Ben Koller (Converge), the raspy throat of the energetic Kevin Baker (The Hope Conspiracy), guitarist Adam Wentworth (The Red Chord, Bloodhorse) and bassist Matt Woods (American Nightmare, Bloodhorse). While any band with Ben Koller is worth a look just for his jaw-dropping skills behind the kit, APMD rise above that with songwriting and a live show that is similarly impressive in its intensity. Scoot Inn was no exception; these guys rule.

Ringworm has been around almost as long as their fellow Clevo-core natives Integrity (21 vs 24 years!), and its clear that their live show has been honed over time to a fine point. The band's thrash-y hardcore crossover incited circle pits and mosh mayhem during their set, reminding us why the band are veterans of their scene. Amazing live band, and now with Aaron of Keelhaul back in their ranks, they've never sounded better.

Batting clean-up was Black Breath, the Seattle band that fused groovy Swedish death metal with hardcore vocals and aesthetic. They opened their set with personal favorite "Black Sin", and the band's live show is as potent as their LPs. If you've never seen Black Breath then please do so right away.... word is they may be on the road in the near future. One of my major highlights of the weekend.

I'd like to thank all of the bands that killed it at Scoot Inn on 3/16, the staff at Scoot Inn for being so helpful/accomodating, my partners for this show in Power of The Riff and Thrasher, and most importantly everyone who showed up to support the show and the bands and to have a good time.

More pictures from the Friday night show at Scoot Inn is below.

Continue reading "BV-BBG/POTR/Thrasher SXSW showcase in pics & review (Black Breath, Ringworm, All Pigs Must Die, KEN Mode, more)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Cold Specks @ Hotel Vegan @ Hotel Vegas (SXSW 2012)

Cold Specks (aka Al Spx), who just played Hotel Vegan last Thursday in Austin for SXSW, is set to release her debut album, I Predict A Graceful Expulsion, on May 22 via Mute. Unlike at our CMJ party where she went on at noon with a minimal setup, in Austin she was accompanied by a full backing band and played to a packed room. A few pictures are in this post.

You've already heard "Holland" and "Old Stepstone" from the forthcoming LP. A third cut from the album, "Winter Solstice," is making its premiere in this post and is another great example of Al's soulful balladry. Listen below.

Cold Specks' upcoming tour with Great Lake Swimmers hits NYC on May 30 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are still available. Updated dates are listed with the song stream, and some more pictures, below...

Continue reading "a new Cold Specks song, dates & pics from Hotel Vegan"

by BBG

Narrows on the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge in Austin

All was quiet on Austin's Lamar Pedestrian Bridge on the night of March 15th until around 2:15 AM. That's when Narrows and Regents kicked off a pair of short sets to around 300 people, as part of a bill brought to you by BrooklynVegan & Chaos in Tejas.

Sleepytime Trio (who I announced earlier that day via twitter) and Darkest Hour were also on the bill of the free show, but unfortunately didn't get to play due to cops breaking it up (which is actually a rarity), but it was definitely fun while it lasted.

Pictures of what did happen are in this post along with some video of Narrows playing the bridge.

Thanks to Sleepytime Trio and Darkest Hour for being a part of the show they didn't get to play, to Narrows and Regents for destroying, and to Chaos in Tejas for helping us make this happen. Hopefully we can do it again, but next time without the fuzz.

The reunited Sleepytime Trio's only other SXSW show was part of the Slip + Lovitt party earlier that day.

More pics and the video, below...

Continue reading "Narrows & Regents played Lamar Pedestrian bridge, but Darkest Hour/Sleepytime Trio didn't (pics/video)"

J Mascis & Sharon Van Etten @ the Mohawk (pic by jaredeberhardt)

Sharon Van Etten kept it minimal at SXSW this year. She played NPR's big, annual, and still-streaming show at Stubb's, and the showcase of her label at the Mohawk which is where, to quote jaredeberhardt, she "pulled J Mascis out of the audience to play an encore." J was in Austin to play a single show with Dinosuar Jr. Check out a video clip of Sharon & J jamming, below. Check out Sharon on Conan O'Brien tonight (3/20), and at one of the tour dates listed below...

Continue reading "J Mascis played with Sharon Van Etten @ SXSW; she plays Conan tonight, is on tour (dates)"

words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

The Twilight Sad @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

The Twilight Sad shrugged off a crazy week to deliver a blistering performance to open their US tour at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on 2/25. The band saw the first two shows of their tour in D.C. and Philadelphia cancelled due to visa issues that had the Scottish rockers venturing all the way to Paris to secure passage to the states. None of that seemed to matter once they took the stage though, as they mixed older songs (like the excellent "Cold Days From The Birdhouse" and "She Would Darken The Memory Of Youth") with songs from their new, synth-laden record, No One Can Ever Know (Fat Cat).

Of the new material, set opener "Kill It In The Morning" rocked the hardest. Other highlights included the Radiohead-inflected, "Sick", and the propulsive "Dead City". Icier and more polished on the record, the new songs at the Music Hall slotted in seamlessly with the wall of guitar immediacy of the band's earlier material, thanks in large part to the work of guitarist Andy MacFarlane, who made it sound as if there were three guitarists on stage not one. And all the while lead singer, James Graham, was in perpetual motion - moving about the stage and around the microphone stand, dropping to his knees as he belted out one line and up on his toes to wail another in his distinctive Scottish brogue.

New Fat Cat signing, Forest Fire, and the quite excellent Micah P. Hinson opened. Hinson received a lengthy and fully deserved applause following his set, with people in the crowd shouting for him to play one more. I wish he had.

The Twilight Sad have since hit SXSW where they played the BrooklynVegan day party at "Hotel Vegan" on Friday. More on that one later. More pictures from the Brooklyn show, setlist included, below...

Continue reading "before SXSW, The Twilight Sad played MHOW w/ Forest Fire & Micah P Hinson (pics & setlist)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Lee Fields & the Expressions @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

""I consider myself a true soul man," declares Lee Fields with a confident laugh.
It's hard to argue with the North Carolina native. He's been on the grind since cutting his first single in 1969, an aching cover of James Brown's "Bewildered" that helped earn him the nicknames Little J.B. and Soul Brother No. 2. He's been at it ever since, in a journeyman's career full of hills and valleys.
"Oh man, more downs than ups, but the ups have been so beautiful," he says." [Austin Chronicle]

After a trip to Austin which included a Carson Daly showcase at Red 7 (where Carson played drums with Thee Oh Sees and Cults also played), Lee Fields & the Expressions returned to NYC in time to headline a Saturday night show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The Jay Vons opened for the soulful friend of Sharon Jones. Here are some pictures from the NYC show. More of them, setlist included, below...

Continue reading "after SXSW, Lee Fields & The Expressions played MHOW w/ The Jay Vons (pics & setlist)"

Jack White @ SXSW 2012 (photo by manotaur)

"Exactly twelve hours later, my ears are still screaming, my head still pounding from Jack White's incinerating double-band set at the Third Man Records showcase at SXSW on Friday night. Running the track gamut through his various bands and projects after fantastic opening sets from White Rabbits, Reggie Watts, John Reilly and Karen Elson, White unleashed a nearly two-dozen song show at the Stage on Sixth - packed with new songs and old favorites - which concretely affirmed that the demise of The White Stripes is under no circumstance a signaled retreat from the days of Jack's blazing blues-rock lashings and furious guitar-solo spaz-outs." [antiquiet]

Check out most of the setlist from Jack White's SXSW show, White Stripes songs included, below.

Like on SNL, he played first with a female band, and then with an all male one. As antiquiet points out, Bill Murray was among those rocking out in the audience. Many people were also listening from the street as you can see in the video below.

And... Jack White has announced a tour that will bring him to Roseland Ballroom in NYC for two shows in May...

On Wednesday, March 21st a limited amount of tickets for all dates will be available for pre-sale to Vault members starting at 9 am local time and if stock permits, pre-sale tickets for European dates only will then be available to the general public starting at 1 pm local time here. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, March 23rd at 9 am local time in Europe and 10 am PT/12 pm CT/1 pm ET for the US dates.

All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Jack White played SXSW, announces tour (dates & setlist)"

Zola Jesus @ SXSW 2012 (photo by manotaur)

Cold Cave have confirmed that previously mentioned Guggenheim show, and Zola Jesus, Grouper and Julianna Barwick are playing the museum in April and May too. Details below...

Continue reading "Zola Jesus, Cold Cave & others playing Guggenheim Music Series"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

"Fun times at @brooklynvegan show last night. Shout out to @titus_ndronicus 4 saving the day. Best thin lizzy cover since Ted Leo." - Caged Animals

"Shouts out to Caged Animals from Hawthorne, NJ #973" - Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus @ Bar 96

One night after our Daniel Johnston show at the Belmont, and after a full day of bands on three stages at "Hotel Vegan", we hosted our 2nd official showcase of SXSW 2012, on Wednesday night (March 14). The venue was Bar 96 on Austin's Rainey St., and the lineup loooked like this:

8pm: Caged Animals
9pm: 2:54
10pm: The Young
11pm: Screaming Females
12am: Andrew W.K. (full band)
1am: Titus Andronicus

NJ/Brooklyn's Caged Animals were great and had a decent crowd for being a relatively unknown band playing as doors opened to the six hour, mostly-badges-only show. Bill Pearis, who got to Austin right before this gig, wrote:

"You can sit for the first two songs, but then lets get up and dance" said Vincent Cacchione of Caged Animals who opened the set. He played affable host, running into the crowd and dancing (and hugging people). Nice mellow start to my week.

2:54, who had just come from being in NYC, followed, and clearly the recently signed to Fat Possum band has some serious buzz behind them because the room, which was actually an outdoor, astro-turfed backyard under a tent, filled up nicely for them. Many in the crowd could be heard talking in English accents. 2:54 call London home. Bill wrote:

After that it was 2:54 who have gotten exponentially better than when I saw them at Pianos last year, a much more confident band. I am a sucker for their dark, moody, shoegazy sound. Good set, though it was cut short a song by equipment problems.

2:54's 2011 Pianos show was, completely coinedentally, also with Caged Animals which I forgot until I looked up the link as I was writing this post.

Then Bill left to go catch some other bands, and Austin's Matador-signed The Young, who also played Hotel Vegan the next day, took the stage. Bill was definitely not alone in leaving after 2:54's set, though many were hanging around in the various nooks and crannies of this spacious venue that includes good food, and tables wrapped around an entire house-turned-into-a-bar, adjacent to the backyard stage area.

Screaming Females @ Bar 96

That said, by the end of Screaming Females, the stage area was at capacity. The NJ 3-piece band led by pint-sized powerhouse Marissa Paternoster on guitar and vocals had the place rocking out and going nuts. The talent those three posess is truly mind-blowing, especially with a few Lone Stars in your system. I am positive that every single person at Bar 96 Wednesday night, if they weren't already, left a Screaming Females fan.

Andrew W.W. @ Bar 96

Andrew W.K., complete with full band and Cherie Lily, took to the stage with chants of "It's Time to Party."

"He opened with "It's Time To Party," because it was time to party. He closed things out with a song that was also about partying. In the middle he urged us to party, and Cherie Lily, acting as the Fergie of the ensemble, handed out fist bumps. Sh*t, how do you even review an Andrew W.K. set? "He came out and was Andrew W.K. He continued to be Andrew W.K. until he left."" [UpRoxx]

Mosh pits, fist pumps, and stage diving ensued for the 30+ minutes of Andrew's set. I could see Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles watching from the crowd, and I felt bad that he needed to follow that act, not to mention Screaming Females. It was only after the show that I noticed he was thinking the same thing, and I think he said something similar from stage, including a bit about feeling that way every night on tour with the Scremales (at this point I was completely wiped out from going for so long with almost no sleep and knowing I needed ot do it again the next morning).

Luckily for Titus, not only was there still a big crowd for their post-AWK, 1am set, they opened with a rousing cover of "The Boys are Back in Town" that got people going again. It was an awesome night.

Here are some pictures and a video of the mayhem during AWK. More below...

Continue reading "Andrew WK, Titus Andronicus, Screaming Females, 2:54, The Young & Caged Animals @ Bar 96 (BV SXSW pics & video)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Daniel Johnston @ The Belmont on 3/13

"A packed house of fans and well-wishers turned out to the Belmont Lounge Tuesday night for an official South by Southwest showcase to celebrate the release of Daniel Johnston's new graphic novel, "Space Ducks: An Infinite Comic Book of Musical Greatness." The event, which was hosted by Brooklyn Vegan, included performances by Built to Spill, Will Sheff of Okkervil River, R. Stevie Moore, Kimya Dawson and Johnston himself. Alex Maas of Black Angels, Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit and Irish folk singer Foy Vance all each performed Johnston covers before the renowned songwriter took the stage.

Nearly all who performed had some accolades to offer Johnston, the legendarily troubled outsider artist-turned-indie rock darling whose notoriety was cemented by Kurt Cobain when the Nirvana frontman famously wore a T-shirt of the cover to Johnston's album, Hi, How Are You?. [Hollywood Reporter]

We kicked off SXSW in style Tuesday night, our first of three official BrooklynVegan showcases at the Austin festival this year, with six hours of music including "special guest" Caveman who we couldn't announce due to another show they had to play that night. Dinosaur Feathers began things right at 8pm.

It was all in celebration of "Space Ducks" which is out now as a Boom Comics graphic novel, and as a FREE iPad app you can download now, new Daniel Johnston music and tributes included (the soundtrack will get a physical release in a few weeks). Props to the team at Wieden + Kennedy for helping Daniel create something so cool with his art, and to Search Party, Primary Wave, Strike Team, Eternal Yip Eye Music, all the artists who played, and everyone else that helped us make the Tuesday night show and comic happen.

Almost everyone on the bill covered a Daniel Johnston song, and many came back to join Daniel on "True Love Will Find You in the End." Jeffrey Lewis, with help from Kimya (collectively they are the Bundles), debuted new song "Space Ducks" which Jeffrey wrote for the app at our request. New DJ-inspired songs are unlocked after you work your way through the Space Ducks galaxy. There are also songs in the app, co-curated by Search Party, by Deer Tick, Eleanor Friedberger, Lavender Diamond, and others.

Built to Spill closed down the outdoor show beautifully; it was just too bad that Austin has a 2am curfew...

Co-headliners Built to Spill couldn't begin their set until 1:15, and frontman Doug Martsch vowed to "play until they make us stop," which was going to be 2:00 regardless. It's a common rock show cliché, but true to their word, they kept going until the Belmont's people had to get on the sound system to tell them to stop, prompting a chorus of boos. But the elder indie statesmen were still able to cap it off by driving through an extended version of "Conventional Wisdom," effectively ensuring everyone would still be going home happy." [IDSNews]

Here's a set of pictures from the special evening (and we have a second set coming soon on BV Austin. UPDATE: here they are). More below...

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston released 'Space Ducks', celebrated with Built to Spill & friends @ SXSW (pics)"

A$AP Rocky @ Irving Plaza in February (more by Ryan Muir)

A$AP Mob ended their set at the annual Vice Kills Texas party late Saturday night by coming off the stage to confront a crowd-member who'd been throwing PBR tall boys at the group. Earlier in the show, with BV's Andrew Frisicano in attendance, they called out the audience for tossing objectsat them, at one point spitting on the crowd in the direction of the suspected thrower.

At times, A$AP Rocky seemed to be trying to diffuse the situation...until the group rushed off the stage to end the show (when they did, Rocky was in the midst of saying, "if one more person..."). Most of the crowd scattered away from the fray. The cops cleared the venue after that and at least one audience member left with a bag of ice on his head and blood all over his face and t-shirt.

Trash Talk played the show earlier in the night. Fidlar never got to play their 3am set.

The group has something of a history of ending shows with violence. They did something similar at last year's CMJ.

UPDATE: Video below...

Continue reading "late night SXSW Vice party ends with A$AP Mob attacking audience members"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Lushlife - "Big Sur" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lushlife - "She's a Buddhist, I'm a Cubist" (ft. Cities Aviv) (MP3)

Lushlife is set to release his new album, Plateau Vision, on April 17 via Western Vinyl. The album features guest spots from Heems, Cities Aviv, Andrew Cedermark, and Sun Glitters, who all appeared on his recent mixtape, in addition to appearances by Styles P (who recently announced a tour with Curren$y), Shad, Botany, Ryat, and more.

If the guest spots don't give it away, Lushlife fits right in with the indie-leaning hip hop (or "cloud rap") scene going on right now. You can sample his stuff by streaming three tracks, "Still I Hear the Word Progress" (ft. Styles P), "She's a Buddhist, I'm a Cubist" (ft. Cities Aviv) and "Big Sur" (prod. Botany), below, or downloading the latter two above. Also grab "The Romance of the Telescope" which features Andrew Cedermark and reworks OMD, HERE. The album artwork and tracklist are below.

Lushlife will celebrate the album with a record release party in NYC which happens on April 18 at Glasslands with Shine 2009 and My Dry Wet Mess. Tickets are on sale now.

Meanwhile, if you're down in Austin for SXSW, Lushlife will be playing at our 'Hotel Vegan' hip hop stage TODAY, Saturday (3/17) with Main Attrakionz, Action Bronson, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Spaceghostpurrp, Fat Tony, Rittz, and Cadence Weapon.

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

Continue reading "Lushlife releasing guest-filled album, playing Glasslands in April & Hotel Vegan today"

Okkervil River (more by Joshua Mellin)

now with Okkervil River....

We're excited to announce that Austin's own Okkervil River has been added to the Saturday lineup of Hotel Vegan @ Hotel Vegas (1500 East 6th St, Austin, TX)! Consider them a BV Austin-presented special set to help close us down in style. Will Sheff, who also played our Tuesday night Daniel Johnston tribute, and crew, will be the last band on our main stage and play as the final band of the day and week @bvSXSW. So now Saturday looks like this:

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Stage 1 (Hotel Vegas Outside)
12:00 Field Report
12:45 Ivan & Alyosha
1:30 Father John Misty (J Tilman, ex-Fleet Foxes)
2:15 J. Roddy Walston
3:00 Lucero
4:00 Heartless Bastards
5:00 Diamond Rugs (John McCauley of Deer Tick w/ members of Los Lobos, Black Lips & more)
6:00 Okkervil River (JUST ADDED)

Stage 2 (Hotel Vegas Inside) (hip hop stage)
12:15 - Lushlife
01:00 - Main Attrakionz
01:45 - Cadence Weapon
02:30 - Rittz
03:15 - Fat Tony
04:00 - Spaceghostpurrp
04:45 - Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire
05:30 - Action Bronson

Stage 3 (Volstead)
12:00 - Patrolled By Radar
1:00 - Emily Wells
2:00 - Phantom Family Halo
2:45 - Lumerians
3:30 - Hundred Visions
4:15 - Pond (mem. of Tame Impala)
5:00 - GUARDS

All this 100% free, and meanwhile... it's still Friday, so if you're in Austin get over to Hotel Vegan (where we're also serving free drinks courtesy of Hobnob Wines & Original Moonshine. Austin's own The Black Angels are our last band of today. See you there!

Friday and Saturday flyers below....

Continue reading "#HotelVegan continues. Okkervil River added to Saturday!"

by Andrew Frisicano

Fiona Apple @ Central Presbyterian Church (via)

So far, Fiona Apple is definitely in the running for most blogged about act at SXSW. She played two shows--at Austin's Stubb's on Wednesday night and Central Presbyterian Church on Thursday night.

Of the Stubb's show, the New York Times writes that "the baleful, anxious, doleful, enraged Fiona Apple was back in full force."

The Austin shows are the first in a short tour for Fiona, which includes stops in Chicago, D.C., Atlantic City and Boston. New York audiences will get to see her March 23rd and 26th at a pair of BV-presented shows, as well as at Governors Ball in June.

Video from Austin and a set list are below...

Continue reading "Fiona Apple played SXSW (video, setlist)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Bruce Springsteen @ Moody Theater/ACL Live/SXSW 2012 (via)

On Thursday night (3/15), Bruce Springsteen played Austin's Moody Theater with a packed lineup of guests. He brought out the show's opener Alejandro Escovedo, as well as Jimmy Cliff, Eric Burdon of the Animals, Tom Morello, and Régine Chassagne and Win and Will Butler from the Arcade Fire, the Low Anthem and Joe Ely. Check out a video of the set-closing cover of "This Land Is Your Land."

That show was in addition to the SXSW keynote speech, which he gave earlier in the day and which you can see below and stream at NPR.

Like the Apollo Theatre gig on March 9th, the show's capacity was quite a bit less than Bruce's usual stadium-sized tour dates, which start Sunday, March 18th.

You can see Alejandro Escovedo several more time at SXSW, including today (3/16) at the Jackalope.

Videos and set list from SXSW below...

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen played w/ Arcade Fire & others, gave the keynote speech @ SXSW (video, setlist)"

The Jesus & Mary Chain @ SXSW (jnipmex)

The Jesus & Mary Chain played a SXSW show last night, Thursday (3/15), at the Belmont (same venue we threw our Daniel Johnston/Built to Spill shindig in on Tuesday). It was one of their four scheduled U.S. shows this month, though the first two were postponed/cancelled due to some visa issues. During their Austin set, to quote @liveflowers, "some guy just jumped on stage & stripped naked next to jim reid before getting thrown off stage." Stay tuned for pics as they surface. Check out a picture of the setlist from the 3/13 show, HERE.

Icy and great LA band Cold Showers fittingly opened the showcase, AND will play their very next show at noon TODAY (3/16) at Hotel Vegan in Austin (at Hotel Vegas, 1500 E. 6th St, Austin, TX). They are the band that was previously marked as "TBA" and join a lineup that includes Polica, The Twilight Sad, Tennis, Youth Lagoon, TRUST, Light Asylum, Eleanor Friedberger, The Black Angels, and many more. If you're in Austin, stop by! Check out a video of Cold Showers performing in "Room 205" below...

Continue reading "naked guy ran on stage during Jesus & Mary Chain @ SXSW; Cold Showers added to Hotel Vegan"