photos by David Andrako

Say Hi

Eric Elbogen, a.k.a. Say Hi, is more articulate than the title of his new album, "Um, Uh Oh," suggests. The 12 songs aren't wordy but do offer well-observed vignettes of modern life. What's pruned severely on the Seattle one-man band's seventh album is the music.

...Elbogen has a gruff voice, which he doesn't sweeten with vocal harmonies. Yet this album includes melodious elements that create an interesting tension with the singer's rasp. The pretty riff underlying "Take Ya' Dancin' " promises a sweeping chorus that never quite arrives, and "Trees Are a Swayin'" uses a stately piano motif to certify Elbogen's grand promise to "love you till the end of the world." Both songs are testaments to Say Hi's impressive powers of suggestion." -[Washington Post]

Continue reading "Say Hi, Yellow Ostrich & Blair @ Bowery Ballroom (pics)"

Jon Natchez w/ the Antlers @ BAM (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Yellow Ostrich sent me this well laid out email, so I thought I would share it as is:

First - Jon Natchez has joined the band to play bass and horns. Jon's played with Beirut, The Antlers, Okkervil River, and more.

Second - Our Pianos residency starts TONIGHT. The band will be playing The Mistress in its entirety tonight. This show will be the first time ever that The Mistress will be available for sale in the vinyl format (or any physical format, for that matter).

Third, The Mistress LP is officially coming out on 2/15 but Afternoon Records is giving away a test pressing of the album to one person who can guess the score of the super bowl. Contest details:

Finally, we have an upcoming tour with Say Hi which will stretch across the USA and Canada (with a stop at the Bowery Ballroom on 3/7)

Continue reading "Say Hi touring w/ Yellow Ostrich (who now have Jon Natchez in the band, kick off Pianos residency tonight) --- 2011 dates"

Say Hi headlines Bowery Ballroom on March 7th. Tickets go on sale at noon.

Noah & the Whale headlines Bowery Ballroom on March 22nd. Tickets go on sale at noon.

Tickets to both upcoming Jayhawks shows at Webster Hall are on AmEx presale now. General sale begins Friday at noon.

Tickets are on AmEx presale for the Royksopp show at Webster Hall. General sale begins Friday at noon.

The recently added (3rd) Decemberists show at Beacon Theater is now on AmEx presale.

The Decemberists play the Beacon on January 24th, 25th and 26th. BRYAN ADAMS plays there on the 27th and 28th. Have you ever really loved a woman? Tickets are on sale.

Speaking of sexy, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs and Donald Fagen are touring as "The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue." They play the Beacon on 12/6 and 12/7... one night after Hall & Oates who play one night after Hot Tuna finishes a two-night run.

Back to January, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy play the Beacon on January 29th and January 30th. Tickets are on sale.

Move over Banana Schpeel, tickets, still on presale, go on general sale Saturday at 11am for the many shows the Allman Brothers are playing at the Beacon in March.

Moving away from the Beacon, a show we know Bruce Springsteen would enjoy, Dropkick Murphys and Against Me! play Roseland Ballroom on March 10th - tickets are on sale.

Irish week continues at Terminal- 5 on March 15th, 16th and 17th with the Pogues. Tickets for all three shows are still on sale.

Radio City shows currently on sale or presale include Robyn, Interpol, Bright Eyes, Cold War Kids... and John Mellencamp.

Continue reading "Decemberists, Jayhawks, Noah & the Whale, Say Hi, Rokysopp, Dropkick Murphys, Michael Mcdonald & other tickets"

DOWNLOAD: Dean & Britta - Making Me Smile (MP3)

"Sing Me To Sleep" is a really fun compilation of lullabies and popular songs re-imagined as lullabies by some of today's best indie artists including: Dean & Britta, Tanya Donelly, The Leisure Society, The Rest, Telekinesis, Jenny Owen Youngs, The Real Tuesday Weld, Snowbird, Neil Halstead, and many more. All proceeds from this wonderful album are donated to The Valerie Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization that provides support for the comprehensive health care of children with cancer and blood disorders. It's a beautifully produced album for indie-hipsters young and old.

Coming up, Joe's Pub will be hosting a June 13th show for the album with contributors Tanya Donelly, backed by a jazz ensemble, Jenny Owen Youngs and Julie Peel. This all-ages, kid-friendly (with face painting, free souvenirs and door prizes) starts at noon. Tickets are on sale.

Songs from the record (including Stars cover of the Smith's "Asleep") are streaming, and the Dean & Britta track is available above. Tracklist for the CD and show flyer are below...

Continue reading "Sing Me to Sleep - indie lullabies out now + an MP3 & NY show"

words and photos by Jake Forney

The line-up was Dave Godowsky, Say Hi, followed by David Bazan.

The bassist of Say Hi played keys and guitar in Bazan's band. Say Hi's lead vocalist and guitarist played guitar with Bazan. Bazan played bass. When asked why he was playing bass this tour, he said he just felt like playing bass. They had a practice where he only played tambourine and sang, which he said was fun, but he ultimately decided to play bass on the tour.

The set was heavy with songs from the new album, Curse Your Branches. However, he played old favorites like "Magazine", "I Do", and a Headphones song "I Never Wanted You". He played an encore, which he said is something he normally doesn't do, but he "felt like playing some more fucking music." The encore consisted of him on guitar, alone except for Say Hi's bassist, who was onstage just to harmonize. He played "Priests and Paramedics", a cover of Dylan's "The Man In Me", and closed with "Harmless Sparks". The rest of the band returned to the stage at the end of this song to provide harmonies.

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David Bazan & Say Hi are still on tour. The NYC show was last Sunday (10/18). Opener Dave Godowsky has since played a set at the BrooklynVegan / Bowery Prsents show upstairs at Pianos on Saturday (10/24). More pictures from Bowery below...

Continue reading "David Bazan, Say Hi & Dave Godowsky @ Bowery Ballroom in NYC - pics "

DOWNLOAD: David Bazan - Bless This Mess (MP3)

David Bazan of Pedro the Lion will set out on a five-week North American tour this October in support of his first full-length solo record, Curse Your Branches, out September 1st on Barsuk Records. "Bless This Mess," an upbeat, organ-heavy track loaded with Bazan's trademark images and religious tangles, is above. His tour comes to NYC on October 18th for a show at the Bowery Ballroom. Opening for Bazan on that date and others will be Seattle's Say Hi. Tickets go on sale Friday, August 7th at noon.

This tour will be his first with a band since Pedro the Lion's last gig in 2005.

Joining Bazan on tour will be: Eric Elbogen: guitar (Say Hi), Andy Fitts: keyboards + guitar (Aqueduct), Casey Foubert: drums (Richard Swift, Sufjan Stevens), Blake Wescott: guitar (long-time Bazan collaborator).

For the past couple weeks (and through the end of April), Dave Bazan has been going across the states playing intimate house shows. Most of them, if not all, are pretty much sold out as they are limited to only 35-40 folks.

Recently he played a super casual intimate house show (actually it was more like an office show) in Troutdale, OR. If you've ever been to any of Dave's shows (even when he was in Pedro the Lion), you know he opens up a question and answer period at various points in his set.

A majority of the questions focused on his personal life and his songs from Control, including the meaning of "Priests and Paramedics", how he had to explain to his wife about the song "Options", and that one song his wife forbade him to perform for a few years.

On the light side, he talked about the bain of Pitchfork, good movies and music of late, the process of his songwriting, how he liked the sound of the trains that passed by during his set, his first band 'Coolidge' with Damien Jurado and his new album Curse Your Branches. [Three Imaginary Girls]

Continue reading "David Bazan - solo LP (MP3) & tour dates w/ Say Hi (Bowery)"

Willamette Week's Musicfest NW announces this year's festival line-up which will be held at various venues around the Portland, OR metropolitan area on September 16, 17, 18 & 19. On the heels of the most successful MFNW to date, MFNW 2009 launches with nothing but the hope of a bigger and better festival. MFNW's ultimate aim is to provide Portland with a unique and special musical experience that features all types of acts including nationally renowned artists while still honoring and supporting the special musical scene of the Northwest.

The lineup so far, including the newly-reunited Sunny Day Real Estate, is below...

Continue reading "Musicfest NW in Portland, OR (Sept 16-19) - lineup"

Telekinesis at Home Slice Pizza in Austin - March 20, 2009 (lindseykron)

Seattle's Telekinesis have an album coming out on Merge Records in April. This weekend they're in NYC on a tour with Say Hi that hit The Bell House in Brooklyn last night (3/28) and visits Mercury Lounge in Manhattan tonight (3/29). Last week they were in Austin for SXSW...

"The showcased songs came from Telekinesis's upcoming self-titled debut, which was produced by Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, and the similarities between the two artists were apparent. Songs like "Coast of Carolina," with its jutted blasts of guitar, could almost pass for a Walla solo song or early Death Cab tune if its more famous counterparts were given an adrenaline boost." [Austin 360]

And speaking of Merge and tonight (3/29), The Broken West are opening for AC Newman at the Bell House.

The Merge / Barsuk showcase that Telekinesis played at SXSW was held at the Parish on Saturday, March 21st. The Wooden Birds, Ra Ra Riot, Say Hi, Lou Barlow and The Rosebuds were also on that bill.

The Rosebuds have some shows scheduled in April, two of which are in NYC. The first is at the Bell House on April 16th with Megafaun. The show is open to the general public and tickets are on sale. The second is three days later - Earth Day - at 92YTribeca, and is only open to kids and their parents (Ages 3-13 recommended. Adults must be accompanied by a kid and vice versa). More info and tickets HERE. All dates below...

Continue reading "Telekinesis are here, The Rosebuds will be soon (tour dates)"

"...So much else is new and wonderful for us! We have a new record label, Kill Rock Stars. Not only has Kill Rock Stars released some of Portland's (and the Northwest's) best punk and indie records to date (Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, The Gossip), but the label has recently relocated to Portland, and is quickly filling it's roster with even more great Portland bands (Shaky Hands, Panther, Horse Feathers). The Thermals are thrilled to now be a part of this family as well. We were thrilled to be part of the Sub Pop family for six years, but we felt it was time to move on. We turned down a second contract from Sub Pop, lest you think we were dropped! You don't drop us, we drop you. Not you, personally. We love you! Seriously, you're the best.

We have a new drummer as well. Westin Glass, formerly of Seattle's Say Hi, joins us (Kathy Foster and Hutch Harris) to complete the third (or so) live line-up of The Thermals. In addition to (again!) touring the UK with The Cribs this February, and playing multiple shows at SXSW in March, we will be touring the U.S. for two months, following the release of Now We Can See on April 7th. We'll be doing festivals in Europe and the U.S. all summer long, followed by a full European tour in the fall... - The Thermals

Speaking ot the Bell House, tickets are also still on sale for the Great Lake Swimmers show happening there on January 9th, plus The Mugs are playing there on January 17th and The Forms are playing there on January 18th.

All Thermals dates below...

Continue reading "The Thermals - 2009 Tour Dates (Brooklyn, Europe, SXSW)"

photos by Chris Graham

Michael Showalter & the gorge, Sasquatch 2008

Michael Showalter was at Sasquatch last year too. More pictures from Monday (day three of Sasquatch) below....

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2008 - day 3 in pictures (Monday May 26)"