Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

DOWNLOAD: Peter Wolf Crier - Hard as Nails (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Peter Wolf Crier - Crutch & Cane (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: First Aid Kit - Sailor Song (live) (MP3)

Peter Wolf Crier

Female-fronted folk-punk Heartless Bastards and the two-man Peter Wolf Crier are going on tour this summer. That'll include a pair of NYC shows: one at Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 14th (tickets on sale Friday at noon) and one at Bowery Ballroom on July 15th (tickets on sale Thursday at noon).

Before then, Minneapolis' Peter Wolf Crier have their own shows across North America. Those include three NYC dates: Pianos on June 15th (tickets), Mercury Lounge on June 16th (tickets) and Union Hall on June 18th.

Their Mercury Lounge show intersects with UK band First Aid Kit & Samantha Crain's tour together (tickets), which also stops at the Bell House the night before June 15th (tickets). First Aid Kit, you may remember, were supposed to be here in October but never got never got their visas sorted in time for the trip. They're excited...

"To tour the States has always been our biggest dream - to finally get the chance to come over feels amazing, " they gush. "We are heavily inspired by American music, so to be able to see the places where many of our influences come from and have lived their lives is very exciting. We've also gotten a great online response from American fans and we're looking forward to playing for them". Further mining their excitement they add," Our dear friend Samantha Crain is supporting us. We're sure it is going to be a magical tour."

First Aid Kit's debut album, The Big Black & The Blue, is out May 25th (video below. MP3 above). Peter Wolf Crier's debut album Inter-Be will be released by JagJaguwar on the same day, but you can pre-order it now and you get an instant download. Two free tracks from the album above, a full stream at The Current, and a video with all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Heartless Bastards touring w/ Peter Wolf Crier, First Aid Kit w/ Samantha Crain - 2010 tour dates & MP3s"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down - Bag of Hammers (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down - Beat (MP3)

Thao @ Mercury Lounge 6/4/08 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Kill Rock Stars' Thao with The Get Down Stay Down will play SXSW before heading out on a monthlong US tour with Sister Suvi and Samantha Crain. The dates include the previously mentioned NYC stop at Bowery Ballroom on Thursday, May 14th. Tickets are still on sale.

Down at SXSW, Thao with The Get Down Stay Down's appearances include the previously mentioned Kill Rock Stars day party (3/18) with Marnie Stern and The Thermals; NPR day party (3/19) with Dirty Projectors and Blitzen Trapper; Hotel Cafe SXSW Showcase (3/19); and KUT SXSW Showcase (3/20). Thao w/ TGDSD will also play the Brooklyn Vegan SXSW day party at Radio Room on Thursday, March 19 (her third show that day) (full line-up to come).

The Thermals are also playing the Rachael Ray SXSW day party (plus 7 other SXSW shows), then touring w/ two NYC dates.

Sister Suvi, who will be touring with Thao post-SXSW, is traveling first with Takka Takka - both visit the Cake Shop on Sunday, March 15 before heading south to Austin.

As an aside, Merrill Garbus, one of the members of Sister Suvi, is Tune Yards, who played MHOW w/ Beiruit and Inlets on 2/4. Tune Yards also released its debut, BiRdBrAiNs, as a for-donations download.

In 2008, Thao with The Get Down Stay Down played a ton of NYC gigs, including a headlining Mercury Lounge show (2/4), two nights opening for Rilo Kiley at Terminal 5 (2/2 & 2/3), and a solo appearance at the Revenge of the Book Eaters benefit on October 7th. And 2008 also saw Thao's debut We Brave Bee Stings and All on Kill Rock Stars.

All Thao Nguyen with The Get Down Stay Down and Sister Suvi tour dates below...

Continue reading "Thao with The Get Down Stay Down - 2009 Tour Dates w/ Sister Suvi, SXSW & stuff"