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)"

"stuff" includes the Bike Film Festival going on now....

Simone Pace of Blonde Redhead @ Studio B (Bike Fest) - May 28 (jenac)

Video below....

Continue reading "I Heart Brooklyn TV looks at DIY venues & stuff (video)"

Sharon Jones @ Coachella 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

There's another festival with "Jam" in the title happening this weekend.

Mountain Jam is a three day music festival in Upstate New York, held at the world-class ski resort, Hunter Mountain. Radio Woodstock and Warren Haynes will once again co-produce this event during the first weekend after Memorial Day, May 31st thru June 1st, 2008.

Tickets go on sale Tuesday for a March 6th Matt & Kim show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene. Matt & Kim are also returning to SXSW in Austin this year, and they're playing at least one show that looks like it will be amazing....

Saturday March 15th @ MOHAWK - Austin TX

:: TODD P / FREE AGENCY / SILENT BARN SHOWCASE

:: OUTSIDE STAGE
::
:: MATT AND KIM
:::: High Places
:::::: Abe Vigoda
:::::::: Ponytail
:::::::::: Pig Out
:::::::::::: Team Robespierre

:: INSIDE STAGE
::
:: DAN DEACON
:::: Ecstatic Sunshine
:::::: These are Powers
:::::::: Best Friends Forever
:::::::::: Woods
:::::::::::: Foreign Islands

:: mc VICE COOLER aka HAWNAY TROOF
:: djs & more buds tba

[ MOHAWK ]
912 Red River St @ E 9th St | Downtown - AUSTIN, TX
3 blocks North of Emo's | ALL AGES | 512.482.8404 | doors 6:30pm | $tba
--MYSPACE--> http://myspace.com/mohawkaustin
--MAP--> http://maps.google.com/maps?q=912+red+river,+78701

Continue reading "Matt & Kim playing Brooklyn & SXSW ++ pics from Oya"

Leia Jospe made it two for two and caught Foals at Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, and then again last night (Feb 13, 2008) at Silent Barn. More of her photos below...

Continue reading "Foals @ Silent Barn, Brooklyn, NYC - pics"

Silent Barn is still in trouble. Benefit show info @ Sleep When Dead.

Old Time Relijun @ Silent Barn, NYC - Oct 31, 2007 (CRED)

Hello friends, lovers, enemies of the Silent Barn,

SILENT BARN needs your help!

As some of you may know, Silent Barn is an all ages performance / art / work / living space in beautiful Ridgewood, Queens. We've had a good run so far, hosting shows and events for a wide variety of groups, having extreme fun the whole time, and we'd like to continue that onward and into the unforeseeable future. But here's the catch: we just found out that we lost our appeal of a suit with ConEd, and are receiving notices daily that we owe them back power bills for the power used by the previous residents of the space, to the tune of almost $7,000 with interest. OUCH. We are reaching out to our community for help and ideas, because if we don't come up with the money soon, ConEd will send some sort of federal official to shut off the power, effectively ending Silent Barn for good.

So, we are writing to you, dear friends, to ask for help. Have you played here before? Would you want to do it again as a benefit for the house? Have you been here before? Keep on coming! Do you have high powered rich friends who give out handouts to those in need? We want friends like that! And so on, and so forth.

Spaces like the Silent Barn are ultimately a community effort, and while this problem isn't exactly uncommon, it is still very real. We do our best to host and promote events of the highest caliber, and hopefully we as a community can keep it going. Please get in touch if you have ANY ideas that will help us work this whole mess out. We are down to do almost ANYTHING to keep the space healthy and alive, especially in these cold winter months.

Thank you forever.
xo Silent Barn

ps: if anyone has a cat that needs a home, we'd love to replace our dear departed Noodles, who has moved on to better times (in a cleaner apartment).

so I'm takin it a little easy for the next few months - you won't see a lot of shows from me while I take a substantial break & work on some other projects for awhile.

I'll still be around to tell you guys about great shows here & there though! [Todd P]

:: Ex Models
:::: the Deathset
:::::: Marnie Stern
:::::::: Teeth Mountain

[ DEATH BY AUDIO ]
49 S 2nd St btwn Wythe & Kent | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford, JM to Marcy, G to Metropolitan | 8pm | $8 | ALL AGES
-- MYSPACE --> http://myspace.com/deathbyaudioshows