stuff @ the Silent Barn

Silent Barn just raised a bunch of money to recover from a theft and be an even better venue ($36,965 as of this post), but...

"The Silent Barn has been a live-in space for its entire history," read a posted statement. "'Living in the stew' has been part of our mission as a venue, but it's also necessary financially--with rent dollars subsidizing the venue's costs, we were able to run Silent Barn with little regard for how much money we pull in through shows. ... Given the amount of support we've received through Kickstarter, we need to be certain that when we reopen Silent Barn, we will be able to keep our doors open for years to come. There is simply no way for The Silent Barn to continue at 915 Wyckoff." [Village Voice]

by Andrew Sacher

Frequent Dan Deacon tourmates and friends Nuclear Power Pants are bringing their outlandish live show to NYC twice in the next week. They'll play Thursday (8/4) at Shea Stadium with The So So Glos, Pygmy Shrews, and RoomRunner. The show is a benefit for Silent Barn, who are currently raising money to rebuild the damaged venue. Nuclear Power Pants will also play Monday (8/8) at Death By Audio with Religious Girls, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, and Blastoids.

If you've seen Nuclear Power Pants, then you know pretty much know what they're all about. If you haven't, you can expect zany dinosaur/robot/alien costumes, off-kilter keytar lines, spastic drumming, and one or two male vocalists frantically shouting as three or four female vocalists pull off synchronized dance moves and piercing harmonies. To get a taste of Nuclear Power Pants' sound, check out their album Wicked Eats the Warrior which is streaming at their myspace. The NYC shows are their only two shows we know of at the moment.

Some videos and more info on the Shea Stadium show below...

Continue reading "Nuclear Power Pants playing shows (one of which is a Silent Barn benefit @ Shea Stadium)"

Silent Barn 2009 (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

They were almost at $4000 when we posted two days ago, and now Silent Barn's Kickstarter is already past $25,000!

Defeated Sanity @ Silent Barn (more by Samantha Marble)

"The Silent Barn is an immersion into the art of New York City as it lives. It's a double-floor music venue inside of a kitchen, an independent video games arcade, an art theater & performance space, a party surveillance system, a zine library, a museum of gigantic murals, and a home for Castle Oscar. Founded in 2004, The Silent Barn is now grandfather to a beautiful re-emergence of similar spaces across Brooklyn, and a quintessential model for all-ages DIY art and music culture in America. It resides proudly alongside Flux Factory and the Museum of the Moving Image as a rare contemporary art institution in Queens, New York. It has long been the headquarters of both Showpaper and Babycastles, young and booming art institutions in NYC. It has birthed the careers of The Dirty Projectors, Dan Deacon, Future Islands, Deerhunter, Teengirl Fantasy, Vivian Girls, Real Estate, The Black Lips, Pictureplane, and many, many others.

A recent and massive theft has put the Silent Barn in a position to temporarily close operations, and we are viewing this as an opportunity to begin our transition into a viably permanent, resilient, and safe part of New York City. After several years of a rotating cast of operators, including Skeletons, Todd P, John Chavez, and Andy Borsz, The Silent Barn has settled into permanent marriage to G. Lucas Crane (Woods, Nonhorse), Joe Ahearn (ART on AIR, Showpaper), Kunal (Loud Objects, Babycastles), and Nat Roe (WFMU). We are working to co-sign a new 5-year lease for Silent Barn, officially making this a long standing piece of New York City.

We are now raising up to $80,000 in order to ensure the viability of The Silent Barn as a permanent all-ages venue for independent and experimental music, games, and art...."

Check out a video of Dirty Projects playing the Queens venue below...

Continue reading "Silent Barn raising money to rebuild & be even better"

Chat Logs @ Silent Barn (more by Amanda Dandaneau)

Hi everybody! Here is a list of the major sound gear that was stolen from the Silent Barn. There's plenty more that was stolen, including a bunch of bikes, personal stuff, cash, computers, etc etc. But if anybody thinks they may know where these are, please contact us at Silentbarn@gmail.com

2 powered QSC K8 speakers
2 powered behringer Eurolive B1800D-PRO subwoofers
1 Yamaha MG166CX 16-Channel Mixer
1 snake with 8 XLR inputs and 4 1/4"" inputs
2 Yamaha passive PA speakers (painted white)
Peavey Bass Cab
Two Peavy power amps
Soundcraft Spirit 4 mixer
Tape Decks
Ampeg bass amp BA 115 bass combo
Peavey bass combo amplifier
Silver Stanton USB turntable
behringer bcf2000 usb mixer

Thanks!!! Your support has literally kept us from folding and giving up. Everybody's warmth has been totally amazing and uplifting.

UPDATE: Now there's a kickstarter too

Silent Barn (more by Leia Jospe)

This weekend has been incredibly heartbreaking for all of us at The Silent Barn. On top of many issues that we're currently dealing with, over the weekend our house was completely ransacked. About $15k worth of audio equipment, house projects and personal belongings are gone. The violence to the space is almost as upsetting as the theft. Doors were ripped off of hinges, furniture ripped to shreds, and everything in the space strewn about in a sea of debris. We've lost 7 years worth of accumulated equipment, tools, and artwork donated and built by individuals from every end of the scene's spectrum, and we're still reeling with what this means for our own lives and the future of the space. If you would like to find out what you can do, email silentbarn@gmail.com. We need your help to continue.

Thank you for your concern over the last few days. It means as much to us as the space itself.

- Castle Oscar, Momma, Kunal, Lucas, Nat, Jordan, James, Joe

Ende Tymes Festival is a 3 day festival dedicated to DIY experimental music and video art. With workshops, discussions, screenings, and live music performances, Ende Tymes will expose local fans and artists to processes and production techniques, as well as the work of distant and older practitioners of the hands-on, street-level experimental media arts. Workshops will be conducted in DIY radio transmission, and Victorian Synths and Other Analog Wizardry. A discussion will occur between elder members of the noise and experimental music scene to talk about "street-level experimental music and the evolution of interface and community." Screenings and live performances with video will happen on 3 consecutive nights, featuring curated artists as well as selected pieces from a public call for submissions. Live performances of noise and experimental music will happen on 3 consecutive nights featuring nearly 40 acts from across the US.

Continue reading "Ende Tymes Festival of Noise and Experimental Liberation :: June 24-26 @ Silent Barn & Outpost :: Ridgewood NY"

photos by Samantha Marble, words by BBG

Defeated Sanity @ Silent Barn

Germans deathmetallers Defeated Sanity belched forth a set at Silent Barn on Friday, 5/20 with help from local greats Dysrhythmia and Andomorphous Rexalia. Pictures from the Queens show (though none of Andmorphous Rexalia) adorn this post.

Defeated Sanity plays the M Room in Philly tonight (5/25), their second-to-last stop before the band plays their 9:55 PM set at Maryland DeathFest on Saturday 5/28. All of their tour dates and all of the MDF set times are below.

Learn more about MDF via Invisible Oranges comprehensive (and awesome) show program up for sale. And stay tuned for my own reports from the ground.

All pictures, some video, and the MDF set times are below.

Continue reading "Defeated Sanity played Silent Barn w/ Dysrhythmia (pics & video), on way to Maryland Deathfest (set times posted)"

photos by Leia Jospe

Super Mash bros

Silent Barn will host a day of "music, comic books, video games and non institutional learning" SATURDAY (2/5) starting at 2PM. It's a multi-media event called OKEVERYTHING. The first part of the day is FREE and will kick off with discussion on video games and gaming design before shifting to comic book production. Right around 7PM is when the music will kick off, and when revellers will have to pay the $10 entrance fee to catch an 8-bit heavy lineup headlined by Anamanaguchi with The J. Arthur Keenes Band, Nullsleep, Starscream, and George & Jonathan.

Anamanaguchi recently supported Super Mash Brothers at Irving Plaza on January 22nd. Pictures from that show, and full details on the OKEVERYTHING show are below.

Continue reading "Anamanaguchi opened for Super Mash Brothers @ Irving Plaza (pics), playing video game & comic book party Saturday"

photos by Leia Jospe

Anamanaguchi (who next play Death By Audio w/ Peelander-Z and Math The Band on July 3rd), Starscream and Fiasco shared a bill Friday night at Silent Barn. More pictures and a couple of videos from that show below...

Continue reading "Anamanaguchi, Starscream & Fiasco @ Silent Barn (pics,video)"

VNine 11 Thesaurus @ the Maze at DBA last September (more by Tim Griffin)

¿REAL BUSHWICK/BUSHWICK RÉAL? is a new performance series representing the multi-faceted communities that make up Bushwick's vibrant arts scene, and highlighting musicians, dancers, poets, and other performers from Bushwick and surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods. Each show features a mix of youth performers, community-based performers, and other artists with ties to the community and represents an opportunity for families to share intergenerational music and performance interests.

On February 26, REAL BUSHWICK teams up with The Silent Barn to present Zs, Lucky Dragons, Nine 11 Thesaurus, Non Horse, Mega Calderos, DJ Shadatek, and Cool Places Sound System.

Continue reading "¿REAL BUSHWICK/BUSHWICK RÉAL?"

Hey everyone,

TONIGHT'S SHOW IS CANCELED. THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT.

Check the Ava Luna myspace for future shows.
www.myspace.com/avalunaband

LAMC

photos by Chloe Rice, words by Bill Pearis

Tonight (10/9) at Silent Barn is also your last chance (for now) to see Lafayette, Indiana's TV Ghost, who played a NYC show last night, and one last week with Veedee and Pissed Jeans at the WFMU Fest at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Pictures from that latter are below.

They're on In The Red, so you know there's gonna be some element of garage rock in there, but they've got a Birthday Party paranoid thing going in there that is the perfect soundtrack to your next nervous breakdown. And Halloween's coming up. Consider them for your party mix. Tonight's Silent Barn show also has Wizzard Sleeve, FNU Ronnies, and Unholy 2.

All dates, a video and MHOW pictures below....

Continue reading "TV Ghost - WFMU Fest pics, Silent Barn tonight, other dates "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Hedgehog - Toy and 61 Festival (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hedgehog - Waiting for the Last Bus (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Queen Sea Big Shark - Hard Heart Love Spy (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Casino Demon - I Wish I Could Forget Your Tomorrow (MP3)

Queen Sea Big Shark

Beijing, China has a pretty healthy indie rock scene but we don't hear about it much here in the States, mainly, because they rarely tour here. But this week three Beijing groups are in town as part of the Sing for China tour, which supports an effort by the Chinese music community to help children orphaned by AIDS in China. The bands are Hedgehog, Queen Sea Big Shark, and Casino Demon -- all of which are on Beijing label Modern Sky. Hedgehog and QSBS play tonight (9/23) at Silent Barn (along with Pink Reason and Matt from Psychedelic Horseshit), and all three will play Columbia University on Friday (9/25) and Santos Party House on Saturday (9/26). I don't claim to know much about the bands, so let's just quote from the press release.

Hedgehog: Powered by pint-size female drummer/vocalist Atom, Hedgehog represent the best of China's rock scene. The band was a featured headliner at the Modern Sky Festival in 2008 and Strawberry Festival (Beijing) in May of 2009. Hedgehog's 2006 debut Noise Hit World was a critic favorite in China, and their 2008 release Blue Day Dreaming helped catapult them to the top of the Chinese indie-rock world.

Queen Sea Big Shark: Expect a barrage of rock n' roll-electro power punches from arguably the most ferocious rockers on the Beijing scene. QSBS rarely disappoints in delivering tight, raunchy instrumentation fronted by the frenetic, full-body assault of singer Fu Han, a woman seemingly possessed on stage. The band supported the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Modern Sky Festival (Beijing) in 2007 and recently headlined the Converse sponsored "Love Noise" tour in China.

Casino Demon: Veering from raw, noisy guitar bursts to tight, rapid-paced assaults, Casino Demon during 2006 moved from the outskirts of the Beijing live music scene to the forefront. At heart, they're a good-time rock n' roll band that really like to crank it up. Casino Demon recently celebrated the release of their new album, Teenage, in March of 2009.

Continue reading "Chinese indie rock bands in NYC this week (including the show w/ Matt Horseshit @ Silent Barn tonight)"

DOWNLOAD: Pissed Jeans - Dream Smotherer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pissed Jeans - False Jesii Part 2 (MP3)

Pissed Jeans @ Market Hotel 4/17/09 (photo by Richard Petrucci)

Pissed Jeans played Brooklyn's Market Hotel twice earlier this year - once with Fucked Up on Inauguration Night (January) and again (as you can see above) in April. There's a video of the April gig below.

The group's new record, King of Jeans, is out today (8/18) on Sub Pop who write...

If 2005's Shallow was Pissed Jeans coping with moving out of their parents' homes, and 2007's Hope for Men their initial reaction to the mechanical lifestyle of a wage-earner, King of Jeans is their formal and uneasy acceptance of adulthood, by way of one hell of a rock record. Working with renowned producer Alex Newport (who holds a Fudge Tunnel pedigree and has worked with such luminaries as At the Drive-In, The Locust and Sepultura), Pissed Jeans have pushed further into the raw, minimal core of heavy rock music with King of Jeans. Masters of the mundane, beasts of the banal, high priests of the humdrum: these four, white, male high school graduates hardly look further than their own appendages for artistic inspiration, content to execute their own brand of brash and heavy punk music in the Joe Carducci-approved standard rock formation of guitar, bass, drums and vocals. From simple minds and simple fabrics comes this King of Jeans. And there can be only one.

Pissed Jeans will be back in NYC on October 7th with Kurt Vile & The Violators and Coconuts. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show go on sale Friday, August 21st at noon.

That's one of many shows on Vile's packed fall schedule, which is in full below. He'll also be bringing the Violators along for an appearance on WFMU's Brian Turner Show (91.1 FM or online) today (August 18th) at 3pm.

Over the weekend Kurt played shows at both Cake Shop and Silent Barn with Blues Control. Videos from the Silent Barn show, along with all tour dates, album info and videos are below...

Continue reading "Kurt Vile played Silent Barn (video), playing WFMU (today) & Mercury w/ Pissed Jeans (new album out now - MP3, stream)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Lights On - John and Anne (MP3)

Trashcan Sinatras

Glasgow's Trashcan Sinatras have been with us for 20 years now, having perfected their brand of sparkling, literate guitar pop that initially garnered them comparisons to The Smiths. Like fellow Glaswegians The Blue Nile, the Trashcan Sinatras take their time between albums -- the brand new In the Music is only the band's fifth. (It should be noted that time between albums is not entirely their doing -- the band have had colossally bad luck with record labels.) The band made the album here in New York with Ivy guitarist Andy Chase behind the boards. Like their other four records, it's loaded with gorgeous songs, arpeggiated guitar lines and swoon-worthy harmonies. Weirdly, it's also got Carly Simon singing backing vocals on the song "Should I Pray?" How did that come about? Guitarist Paul Livingston explained to Bullz-Eye.com:

PL: Well, after we recorded the backing tracks in New York, the producer, Andy Chase, was going to set up a studio at his house in Martha's Vineyard. And he said, "Come on, Carly Simon lives here." And we were floored, and thought, "That would be great if we could meet her." And so he asked her to sing on a song, and we got her a lot of the songs we were working on. But the disappointing thing was, when we were in Martha's Vineyard, she was in New York. So we didn't meet her, which is kind of a bummer.

BE: Oh, that's no fun.

PL: Yeah, that's shit, isn't it? The idea was that she'd come to Martha's Vineyard and sing, and that'd be great. And then when people asked us in interviews, 'what was it like,' we thought we'd have a better answer than, "We didn't meet her." But we're going to invite her to some of these gigs, see if she'll come. But it was really nice of her to be so into the music.

Miles Hunt

You could make it a night of late-'80s/early-'90s UK pop Saturday (8/15) if you bolted from Bowery Ballroom right after the Trashcans and hit Cake Shop where former (and sometimes current) Wonder Stuff frontman Miles Hunt will be performing. For those who don't remember, the band were originally part of the short-lived UK "grebo" scene (bands that looked like hippies but sounded punk-ish) that also included Pop Will Eat Itself (Hunt was their original drummer) and Neds Atomic Dustbin, but the band soon developed a celtic pop sound that got them into the British charts many times. In those days of the most unfortunate fashion in modern history, The Wonder Stuff were staples on U.S. college and commercial alternative radio too, with cheeky songs like "A Wish Away," "Don't Let Me Down Gently," and "Welcome to the Cheap Seats." Miles is touring with Wonder Stuff violinist Erika Nockalls which is nice since fiddle played heavily into their sound.

Lights On

Also this week: San Diego's Lights On make their first trip to NYC, playing four shows starting Thursday night (8/13) at Club NME at the Annex. I don't know a whole lot about them, but their self-released debut EP is a nice collection of '80s-influence pop -- most reviews I've read bring up New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen, both of which are pretty easy to detect in their sound. But it's definitely more influence than imitation, and I like them enough to check out one of the four shows (all dates at the bottom of this post). If you could go to any of the four, I'd recommend the Saturday (8/15) show at Union Hall in which they're part of a solid lineup that also includes Philly's can-banging Drink Up Buttercup, Kiwi-influenced Brooklynites Beach Fossils, and Florida buzz band Blind Man's Colour.

Blind Man's Colour

Blind Man's Colour make the sort of cut-n-paste psychedelia that gets you quick comparisons to Animal Collective, and they've been praised by Kanye West ("SOME DOPE SHIT FOR MY APARTMENT"), as well as by people you might more expect (Ed Droste, Stereogum, Pitchfork). Their debut album, Season Dreaming, which I like about half of, is out next week on Kanine Records (Grizzly Bear, Chairlift, Princeton) but I'd have to imagine they'll be selling it at the merch table. These guys had their first-ever live show a couple weeks ago, so you might want to go in with lowered expectations. BMC are playing a number of shows this weekend, and all area dates are listed at the bottom of this post.

Other shows happening this weekend: Tonight (8/13) at Hudson River Park at Pier 54 we've got a free River Rocks show with Yeasayer and Amazing Baby. I haven't seen Yeasayer since All Hour Cymbals was still fresh (circa CMJ 2007?), so I'm curious to hear some of their new material and check out the now five-strong lineup. As for Amazing Baby, it's well documented on this site I'm a fan but realize many are not. Chacun à son goût.

Friday is the final show of this year's Seaport Music series, ending strong with School of Seven Bells and The xx. The forecast looks good, and shows have been sounding great at the Seaport all summer so this is how I'd recommend you kick off the weekend, though I realize many will be at Prospect Park for Animal Collective. But Seaport is free.

Too much going on Friday. If you want to dance, Littlefield has Canada's slightly nerdy duo Woodhands and the Latin-loving Project Jenny/Project Jan.

And if shambly DIY pop is more your thing, The Beets (who will soon be hitting the road with Vivian Girls), German Measles, Pop.1280 and the new-but-quite-promising Fluffy Lumbers play Silent Barn. It's a birthday bash for my pal Rachel (full disclosure!) but everyone's welcome. Flyer below.

I think that about does it. Tour dates, videos and flyers are after the jump...

Continue reading "Trashcan Sinatras, Miles Hunt, Lights On, Blind Man's Colour, Yeasayer, School of Seven Bells & more in This Week In Indie"

"This Parisian trio has been making scene noise, and for plenty good reason: their songs go a long way to carve out a real living end, so what you get is a neatly reductive sound universe, all patent recall and sass and open Gallic charm. Byron Coley calls them "devolved in a lopsided way," which is sort of spot-on. Cheveu excel at keeping things simple in the heat of an energetic rave-up. You sort of imagine these guys never breaking an honest sweat. Their songs roll out like a weird iteration of nature--all the rock tropes we thought we'd forgot, or lost interest in--made extant and coy, and attacked from within." [Cokemachineglow]

Continue reading "Cheveu are here from France - playing Silent Barn & PS1"

In their disheveled attic studio, the members of Gay Beast don't talk mathematics. Early on, they don't talk much at all. Today, singer and keyboardist Dan Luedtke is busy screen-printing the inserts for the vinyl version of the band's latest spazz-rock collection, Second Wave. The process, it seems, is nearly as painstaking as creating an actual Gay Beast tune, minus the eyeballs-on-fire jitters their adrenal scores provoke...

City Pages: How did you become involved with your label, Skin Graft?

Luedtke: Our friends in AIDS Wolf are on the label. We were looking for a label, putting together demo packages, trying to do it differently this time, trying to be more proactive. They were going to sign two bands for '09. The label owner lives in Vienna, so there was a bit of a courting period, talking to each other on the phone.

Explain the new record's title, Second Wave.

Luedtke: Second Wave relates to second-wave feminism, and the songs include portraits of different feminists. Before this record, we did a split 7-inch about Donna Harroway. There's a song about Andrea Dworkin. For me there's an interest because I feel it intersects with queer politics a lot. We can look at what feminists worked on as a way to talk about personal politics and strategies for changing things. There is a lot of interest with the second-wave feminist era because there was a lot of idea creation happening. Modern, radical ideas, some of which were far-fetched and impractical. People wanted something so badly they'd make up new means for accomplishing it.

Gay Beast's Second Wave LP came out a few weeks ago, at the end of May on Skin Graft Records. Check them out for yourself. There's a video of Gay Beast at NYC's Cake Shop in 2006, with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Gay Beast - making noise in NY this week -- 2009 tour dates "

by Dominic Masi, Jr.

DOWNLOAD: Stupid Party - 1234 (MP3)

"I'm in a more serious relationship with the two of them than I have been with any girlfriend I've ever had in my life. We were all in shittier bands before this." - Cory of Stupid Party

Stupid Party are not just another three piece from Brooklyn. They've actually been around for a few years, playing their raw punk, metal and punch you in the face, pop songs, in lands both home and away. Literally. "We kept/keep playing shows at our house which without a doubt has hosted the best punk shows in New York," said Cory, the band's vocalist and guitarist (who I had a chance to talk to via email).

Stupid Party released a 7" on Starcleaner Records last year, which is now in it's 2nd pressing, and in March they put out their first LP on Freedom School Records. Check out one MP3 above with more streaming at their MySpace.

Tonight (5/11) they open for Times New Viking (who played Market Hotel last night) and Vivian Girls at Bowery Ballroom (making this a sick triple bill!) According to Cory, "We'll probably be blacked out." Let's hope not. Get there early to make sure you don't miss them.

They also play Brooklyn D.I.Y. festival Hillstock on June 6th. All tour dates and fliers below...

Continue reading "Stupid Party - MP3 & upcoming shows (w/ Vivian Girls & Times New Viking tonight, Silent Barn & Hillstock)"

words & photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

(It was this photograper's first Todd P show in NYC, I guess I'm quite late getting on the bandwagon, but oh well.)

I checked the address a couple times before opening the door of the unmarked building across from an auto salvage, somewhere in the back of my head asking 'what would Liz Lemmon do in this situation'.

An hour after doors was apparently still a couple hours early to get there. The three bands on the bill from Philly (all except Gary War) were delayed by the crummy spring rain storms that befell the region. Todd P paced around, making eclectic selections on his iPod and announcing to the small crowd distributed on the couches that there was a rain delay. It was cold and damp, wind blew in through the open and broken windows and a resident orange tabby climbed in and out making its way over to a Fender amp to use its grill as a scratching pad. Spirits picked up for Todd and his crew when the pizza guy arrived.

Expecting unhinged DIY bacchanalia, the vibe turned out to be subdued and mellow. The opening band, Birds of Maya, was the last to arrive. There were reports they had gotten lost in the no-man's-land of outer Bushwick/Ridgewood. They set up quickly and played a short set, hard rock riffs with impressive 'dee-da-lee dee-da-lee waaaaah' guitar solos. Next was U.S. Girls consisting of Megan Remy and a red suitcase containing a cassette recorder and a couple pedals. Her voice and reminded me of Cindy Lauper even through the distortion and chant-like structures of her songs. Gary War was third with a three-piece outfit playing fast-paced punk stuff with some kind of underwater/Aquaman sounding effect on the vocals.

Now to Kurt Vile - I liked this guy. Underneath the codification of his music as psych, lo-fi, bedroom music, etc. is a very good singer/ guitarist/songwriter. Kurt played acoustic guitar, run through a bit of effect and echo, and sang. He started and ended solo, and had two additional guitar players with him, one of whom also played a mean harmonica on one song. Led by the guitar and the lyric, the music was much more direct than anything I had heard of on his recordings. Some of the songs did have a cyclical, drone structure but there was movement within it, and the lyrics and delivery pulled me in like Lou Reed singing a Leonard Cohen recording with the Band in the basement of Big Pink. The guitar work owed a lot to John Fahey (and I mean that as a compliment) with the finger picking, echo effect and alternate tunings. I hate to throw such big names around, but there is something special to Vile's songs and music and I hope the music world will see it all come together soon.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Birds of Maya, U.S. Girls, Gary War & Kurt Vile @ Silent Barn in Ridgewood, Queens - pics"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Mi Ami - "New Guitar" (MP3)

"On a series of engaging 12" singles and a fascinating debut LP ("Watersports," released last month), Mi Ami stretches out and languishes in punk-dub, sideways-jazz and African accents. On stage, however, Long (bass) and Martin-McCormick (guitar, vocals) stuck to more direct strategy: attack. That mostly meant McCormick riding Long's gut-punch Rickenbacker bass riffs and Palermo's kinetic drum patterns like a banshee, spraying the songs with convulsive echo-guitar riffs."
[Washington Post on Mi Ami's 3/10 show]

The recently pared down Touch and Go released the band's Watersports LP (art below) on February 17th. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "Mi Ami - MP3, Quarterstick LP, 2009 tour dates (NYC tonight)"

photos by Leia Jospe

The Mae Shi return to NYC this week to play two shows - one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. Details, all dates, and more pics Leia took at the show they played at the BrooklynVegan party at Knitting Factory in October, below...

Continue reading "The Mae Shi - 2008 Tour Dates, 2 NYC shows, more KF pics"

photos by Lori Baily

Marnie Stern

Saturday night (September 27th), Marnie Stern (solo), Neptune and recent Dead Oceans signees These Are Powers played a show at Silent Barn. TAP and Neptune also played one together one day later at Knitting Factory. Marnie Stern has a new album coming out on Kill Rock Stars and has another NYC show coming up in October before going out on tour with Gang Gang Dance. More info and MP3s and stuff, HERE. More pictures from Silent Barn below...

Continue reading "Marnie Stern & Neptune & These Are Powers @ Silent Barn"

Neil Diamond on the subway - Aug 13, 2008 (via)

"Nancy and I saw Neil in concert the night before this picture. I talked to him about the show as I was getting off the train" [Robert]

"--NOTE--> After midnight we lock the Barn's front door & stop letting in new folks. You can totally leave, but just no ins and outs after midnight. Doin' this to keep the sidewalks clear & the cops at bay." [Todd P]

What else?

photos by Chris La Putt

Vivian Girls (eBay)

COMING SOON: In The Red is also proud to announce that we are now the new home to Brooklyn's incredible VIVIAN GIRLS. We will be issuing a brand new single next month and re-issuing their debut album this September...

Vivian Girls not only added more dates to their tour with Cyrstal Stilts, they added one at Silent Barn this Friday (August 1) with Crystal Stilts, caUSE co-MOTION, and the beetz. Last night (July 29) they opened for Tilly and the Wall at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Pictures from that show, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Vivian Girls - MHOW pics, 2008 Tour Dates (silent barn)"