by Andrew Sacher

Brooklyn's Jonas Reinhardt (the experimental project of Jesse Reiner) is set to release their new album, Mask of the Maker, on April 9 via Not Not Fun, and they just revealed the first single, "Elimination Street," a swirling clubby cut with some solid guest vocals from Meryl Press. You can stream it and check out the album tracklist below. That's the cover art above.

Jonas Reinhardt play a previously discussed hometown show TONIGHT (2/28) at Cameo Gallery with Pharaohs, SHAMS, and Suzanne Kraft on DJ duties. Tickets for tonight's show are still available.

Song stream and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Jonas Reinhardt releasing new LP (song stream), playing live"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Hervé - "Gold" (feat. Maria Minerva) (MP3)

Maria Minerva

Lo-fi pop artist Maria Minerva teamed up with LA dance four-piece Pharaohs for the track, "Miraculous Feet," off Pharaohs' debut full length, Replicant Moods, which is due out on April 20 via 100% Silk. Maria takes lead vocals which gives the track an overall feel more similar to her music than Pharaohs', but Pharaohs' Chic-style bassline and post-punk drums make the song beefier and dancier than most of Maria's work. You can stream that track below.

As mentioned, Maria Minerva and Pharaohs are teaming up for a NYC show this Saturday (3/2) at 285 Kent with Octo Octa and Magic Touch (8 PM doors, $10 admission), but Pharaohs will be landing in NYC even sooner to play Cameo on Thursday (2/28) with Jonas Reinhardt, SHAMS, and a DJ set from Suzanne Kraft. Advance tickets for the Cameo show are on sale now. Both Maria Minerva and Pharaohs will also be in Austin this March for SXSW.

Maria Minerva also has a new release of her own on the way; the Bless EP, which will be out on April 2 via Not Not Fun. The EP's first single, "Black Magick," continues in the vein of her Will Happiness Find Me? album, and you can watch the video for that track below. Maria will play a release show for that EP in NYC on April 18 at Cameo Gallery with Butterclock (more on her in a minute). Tickets for that show are on sale now.

In addition to her own EP and collaborating with Pharaohs, Maria also contributed vocals to "Gold," the new single off UK producer Hervé (aka Joshua Harvey)'s new album, The Art of Disappearing, which comes out on March 4 via Cheap Thrills. Maria's airy vocals and Hervé's downtempo rhythms work great together and you can hear the collaboration by downloading the track above or watching its video, below. That album also features a killer collaboration with Austra (who are playing BrooklynVegan SXSW shows) on the track "Save Me," which you can stream below as well. Other collaborators on the album are Niki & the Dove and Seasfire.

Butterclock

As mentioned above, support at Maria Minerva's EP release from comes from oOoOO collaborator Butterclock (aka Laura Clock), who released her debut EP, First Prom, earlier this month. A limited CD pressing of the EP is available at the Fantasy Music webstore. Butterclock also has some European shows coming up, which are listed below, and more US dates will be announced soon. The video for "Don't" off her EP is below.

oOoOO also has some dates of his own coming up, including one in NYC which happens on May 23 at Glasslands. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

All dates are listed, along with all mentioned song streams and videos, below...

Continue reading "Maria Minerva readies new EP, adds NYC show w/ Butterclock +++ related news on Pharaohs, oOoOO & Hervé"

"For 4 years now Wham City has been organizing the WHARTSCAPE. What started as a summer warehouse party turned into a much bigger, multi-day outdoor festival with thousands of bands, performers, and folks traveling to Baltimore from all across the US and Europe.
Since, we organize this festival out of pocket and in our spare time, it is important for us to keep it comfortable and enjoyable for us to do. One thing we talked about at the end of last year's festival was shrinking it down slightly and having it feel more community based and familiar.

This year isn't focused around headliners, but mainly performers and friends that make up the community we tour, work and live in.
We are also greatly reducing the number of MEGA-PASSES (the 3 day pass ticket that grants you entry to every show and every day).
ONLY 300 Mega-Passes will be sold; this is the only guarantee that you can see all the shows.

Tickets will be sold to the individual shows, but it is strongly suggested that you buy a Mega-Pass, as it saves you money and assures you take in the entire poo-poo.
Whartscape will take place July 10-11-12 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Studio Center Parking Lot, and Load of Fun.
We will begin selling tickets at 12 Noon, Monday, June 29th.

Continue reading "Whartscape - 2009 Wham City festival dates & lineup "

photos by Bao Nguyen

DOWNLOAD: Adventure - Battle Cat (MP3)

Ponytail

Bao spent all day Saturday (July 19) running from Siren stage to Siren stage taking pictures and watching bands. In a heat wave. He didn't really feel like going to Whartscape in Baltimore the very next day (July 20), but he did (just a little late).

At a minimum he was hoping to report back on the very first performance of Who Is The Tunafish Man? (aka the Dan Deacon, Girl Talk & Spank Rock supergroup). Unfortunately, lack of permits and cops stopped that from happening, AND Black Dice didn't get to play because of rain. White Williams, Adeventure, Dan Deacon, Trey Told Em, Grand Buffet, Double Dagger and many others played before Bao got there, which was in time to catch Ponytail and then Parts & Labor (the only band on Sunday's 14-hour Whartscape bill that were also at Siren the day before). On top of that, Bao forgot to charge his camera battery, it was hot again (especially at the late part inside that got busted), and the whole festival was eventually running almost 2 hours behind (not that it ultimately mattered). More on the timing, who played, and a few pics (he didn't take that many to save battery life for the headliners) below...

Continue reading "Cops & rain messed w/ Whartscape, Who Is The Tunafish Man? (Deacon + Girl Talk + Spankrock) didn't play, poor Bao"