photos by Jessica Amaya

"happy to see Sleigh Bells packing Ridgewood Temple, sadly secret famous guest is ill, won't be appearing. mild bummer, awesome show" - Todd P

"Yeah, people were going bonkers. There were a lot of cameras and a lot of guest list action going on, but people came to rock. "A/B Machines", "Kids," "Crown On The Ground"? Total bangers." [Fluxblog]

Continue reading "Sleigh Bells, Cults & Sundelles (but no special guest) played Ridgewood Temple in NYC - pics & setlist"

Sleigh Bells & M.I.A. (I think) @ Coco66 on 5/7 (actually 5/8) (Seva Granik)

As if the hype wasn't through the roof enough, M.I.A. helped popularize the act her label co-signed (is that the right term?) a little bit more this evening by joining Sleigh Bells on stage at the end of their show at Coco66. The show's promoter Seva Granik writes, "MIA closes Sleigh Bells' set on "Ring Ring." Crowd go nut. Ima get another drank."

In unrelated news, David Byrne was seen checking out Local Natives cover a Talking Heads song at Bowery Ballroom earlier the same night, and Emily Haines joined Broken Social Scene for three songs at Webster Hall. More on those later.

For prettier pictures of Sleigh Bells, check out the set from their show at Webster Hall earlier in the week. Sleigh Bells play another NYC show on May 11th. M.I.A. and Sleigh Bells officially share a bill this summer on Governors Island.

by Benjamin Lozovsky

Yeasayer made a much deserved homecoming Tuesday night at Webster Hall in NYC. Chris Keating pronounced during the show, "There isn't any place in the world we'd rather play." Three months after cautiously debuting material off their latest album Odd Blood, they returned savvier and sassier; even with so many miles behind them, they performed leagues ahead of their February dates.

The band was brimming was confidence throughout the night, with tapered bravado and an improved, fluid grasp of the instrumentation. From the creeping, sinister Children to the redemptive bounce of closer Ambling Alp, Yeasayer championed the nuanced nature of their music as they steadily raised their intensity throughout their performance.

It was a distinct atmospheric shift after the grinding barrage of the opening acts. Sleigh Bells continued their rise and transformation from austere noisy beginnings to full on performance act; part MIA (whose label recently co-signed the act) part Crystal Castles, the duo never let up their potency, even as their newer numbers bled into one another with a hint of monochromatism.

The most intriguing surprise of the night was Seagull's opening performance. Positioned in the middle of the floor, with Webster Hall's gigantic disco ball lowered and looming just overhead, they smothered the venue with sound tantrums and momentary semblances of glitchy beats. Ranging somewhere between sound exploration and outright music, the inexplicably soothing abrasiveness of their performance was topped off by a ground slamming. ski-masked member sitting agitated in a chair.

Sleigh Bells play two more NYC shows this month before heading to Europe. Yeasayer's tour ends tonight in Philly, but after a short break they head to Europe too. All of those dates and more pictures from Webster Hall below...

Continue reading "Yeasayer, Sleigh Bells & Seagull @ Webster Hall, NYC - pics"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cults - Go Outside (MP3)

Sleigh Bells @ SXSW (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Sleigh Bells' show at Webster Hall tonight with Yeasayer, their brief tourmates, is sold out. But there are more chances to see the highly buzzed band soon. One of those, originally scheduled to take place at the now-closed Market Hotel, happens May 11th at Ridgewood Temple (1054 Bushwick Ave @ Gates St, Bushwick). Advance tickets available in-person through Record Grouch/Old Made Vintage (441 Metropolitan Ave at Meeker St) in Williamsburg (1pm-7pm daily). Past shows at the venue have included Vivian Girls/Crystal Stilts on Halloween and Dan Deacon/Ed Schrader in '08.

Sleigh Bells also play the intimate backroom at Coco 66 on May 7th with Mr. Dream (Matt Morello, Adam Moerder and Nick Sylvester) and DJ Rezound. MNDR was supposed to play the show too, but "A last-minute request from Massive Attack to open for their North American tour is taking her away to Canada." Advance tickets are sold out, and "A very limited number of tickets will be avail at the box office on Friday May 7th at 10:00 PM." UPDATE: "20 tickets will be available at the door at 9pm, not 10pm."

Also on the bill for the Ridgewood Temple show are Brooklyn band Sundelles, "secret guests," and Cults. Cults are a new duo who NME says recently expanded to a four-piece for live shows. Their debut 7", noticed already by both Pitchfork and Perez, is available for free at their site.

Cults is real-life couple "Brian Oblivion" (not his real name presumably) and Madeline Follin, and their songs have a girl-group-influenced, retro pop sound. This gig will be one of their first shows ever (they played Mercury Lounge recently). This summer they're also playing an afternoon show with Titus Andronicus at Newtown Barge Park on Saturday, June 26th (Part of the Northside Festival). One of their tracks is above.

Also above, the first track off Sleigh Bells' debut. That record comes out on N.E.E.T., MIA's label, who Sleigh Bells are opening for on Governors Island along with Die Antwoord and others.

All Sleigh Bells tour dates and Yeasayer's setlist from their Chicago show are below...

Continue reading "upcoming Sleigh Bells shows & Cults - MP3s & dates "

"Damn, I love Die Antwoord. It's like we've taken all the Disney Princesses at Stereotypes R Us, pulled off their wigs, forced their little legs together, and rammed them down the throats of the American purveyors of pop culture dreck, the soulless marketers who make millions every year by selling ersatz imperial myths to the rest of the world.

Okay, perhaps Die Antwoord aren't achieving quite that level of utter cultural domination, but allow me our little victories. The sight of Americans taking Yo-Landi and Ninja seriously is so delicious, I can almost forgive some of the excesses of the music. There's a 20 minute interview with Die Antwoord on Boing Boing, around their debut at the Coachella music festival in California, and it's a marvellous exercise in satire." [CHRIS ROPER | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA]

Continue reading "Die Antwoord are playing NYC w/ M.I.A. (and others) "

Modest Mouse @ Terminal 5 in March 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

Modest Mouse will join Faith No More and Nas & Damian Marley (tickets) as one of the acts set to play at Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn this summer. Their Friday, July 23rd show will be ticketed/non-free (like the others mentioned). Tickets go on sale Friday at noon (which is when the just-added Faith no More show goes on sale too).

Modest Mouse's Brooklyn show is a week after they play the Pitchfork Festival which recently updated its lineup. New acts playing the Chicago fest include Big Boi, Major Lazer, Neon Indian, Beach House, Free Energy, Local Natives, Robyn & more. Check that out in full below. Single day tickets are still on sale.

UPDATE: Modest Mouse's Brooklyn show is one day after they play one in NJ.

Modest Mouse will be reissuing their third album, The Moon & Antarctica, on vinyl for its 10th anniversary, on Record Store Day - this Saturday, April 17th. "The album features restored original artwork and replicates the infinite lock groove found in the original vinyl pressings of 2000. The new vinyl reissue includes a download card for the album." All dates the the P4K Fest lineup, below...

Continue reading "Modest Mouse playing Williamsburg Waterfront, the Pitchfork Festival (updated full lineup) & other tour dates"

tonight in NYC
* Justin Bond @ Joe's Pub
* Sam Buck Rosen @ Bruar Falls
* JG Thirlwell's Manorexia @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Vanilla Riot, Pure Horsehair, Wilds @ Zebulon
* Neoangin, Ava Luna, Xenia Rubinos @ Glasslands
* White Hills, Gunslingers, La Otracina @ Cake Shop
* Bonobo, The Invisible @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* The Pharmacy, The Babies, Wetdog, Weekend @ Don Pedro
* Tearing the Veil of Maya w/ Eugene Mirman @ Union Hall
* Future Islands, Boogie Boarder, Guardian Alien @ Glasslands
* Golden Error, LAMPS, Pop. 1280, K Holes @ Monster Island Basement
* Pacha Massive, Anita Tijoux, Maluca, Rebel Diaz @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Infinite Body, Silk Flowers, Coconuts, Earn, Driphouse @ Death By Audio
* Brother Joscephus & The Love Revival Revolution Orchestra @ Highline Ballroom
* Smith Westerns, Male Bonding, So Cow, Gaming Commission @ Mercury Lounge
* Mutant Supremacy, Battlemaster, Bastard Sapling, Inter Arma @ The Charleston
* Hannibal Buress, Reggie Watts, Liam McEneaney, Baratunde Thurston, Derek Gaines, Chris Laker @ Knitting Factory

Justin Bond (Kiki) is currently in the midst of a residency at Joe's Pub. Tonight's special guest is Taylor Mac.

Castavet was scheduled to play the above-listed show at the Charletson too, but we just got word that they cancelled.

Video of Sleigh Bells performing at Carniville in Austin below....

Video of Major Lazer (who played last night at Terminal 5) from the same show, below...

Video of the Crayon Fields performing for KEXP below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday? (Easter)"

words & photos by Andrew Frisicano

Wednesday - The Middle East @ Club DeVille (more by Tim Griffin)

I started toward MtyMx about 4 hours after my last SXSW show, so I haven't had much time to reflect on what happened in Austin - but before they become too irrelevant, here are some quick pictures and words of my personal highlights at the fest.

The Middle East covered the stage with an arsenal of instruments and percussion, bringing out a flute, a banjo, keys, an accordion, and a rain stick covered in bottle caps. Their set kicked off with a wobbling country-western number. "The Darkest Part" was a solemn, two-member affair, with the others jumping in as it progressed. And the barn-burning jams that built up to their finale, "Blood," brought to mind the more unhinged tunes Mumford & Sons (it clicked a moment later that they're touring together this May). Overall: a tight, short set (with a few nervous slips) in front of Club DeVille's cave-wall backdrop, which hopefully will lead into an engaging debut and tour.

Thursday - Thee Oh Sees @ (Spider House &) Lamar Pedestrian Bridge

I caught Thee Oh Sees twice on Thursday - once on the gorgeously sunny garden stage of the Spider House; once on a footbridge over Austin's Lady Bird Lake at 2am - and they played other shows as well. On the bridge the band traded songs with Home Blitz, who looked not-exactly-pleased to be standing in the freezing wind at 3am. Amps, a PA and a few worklights ran through a generator, and the assembled equipment threatened to topple over from the surging crowd. The band stretched out into extended jams that made the bridge literally shake. After a more than generous set, the crowd still prodded Dwyer and Co. for more, which they gave.

Friday - Billy Bragg @ MWTX Festival

Billy Bragg's set, to the wristbandless masses of MWTX (formerly Mess with Texas) focused nearly as much on politics as it did on music. He buttered up the crowd with "Help Save the Youth of America" and "To Have and Have Not" before speaking about healthcare reform, defeating the BNP and the ubiquity of corporations at SXSW ("This set is brought to you by my sponsor: Woody Guthrie."). His inspiring asides were genuine and welcome, and they lead into the crowd-pleasing closer, "A New England." He played again later on Friday night with a ton of guests.

Friday - Man or Astroman? @ MWTX Festival

On a completely different note, Man or Astroman? (back after a bit of a hiatus) headlined MWTX's south stage in full space regalia, with video flashing in the background and a pre-recorded narrator between songs. Their short burst of mostly instrumental surf-rock was anything but boring, and they closed it out by flicking on a huge Tesla coil.

Saturday - Major Lazer @ Carniville

My expectations were pretty low for Major Lazer, who were playing to an iced-over crowd on the massive, corporated-out stage at the Mexican-American Cultural Center (aka the Mad Decent/Iheartcomix/Jelly-presented Carniville for the fest), but they proved me wrong. The antics of hypeman Skerrit Bwoy and dancer Mimi made the frozen crowd erupt (the free T-shirts and foam guns being thrown off the stage helped too) - they mounted and humped everything in sight including crowdmembers, the rigging for the lights, and a ladder, which they used to dive onto each other for more dryhumping. Diplo got through most of Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do, with a brief assist from Ninjasonik. Did I mention the huge pink, furry monster on stage? He got some too.

Saturday - The Very Best (and then Freddie Gibbs) @ Scoot Inn

At Scoot Inn, the frigid evening grew on and most of the crowd there for the Pitchfork showcase stayed huddled around a campfire or in the bar's sauna-like interior - until The Very Best (who I missed opening for Major Lazer a few hours earlier). Esau, with a huge grin on his face, his co-mic-man (whose name I can't remember), a pair of dancers and DJ Johan Hugo all made good use of the short set. Their energy passed through the mic into crowd members for songs like "Julia" and "Warm Heart of Africa," which finished with plenty of the crowd on stage.

Freddie Gibbs, who I had never really gotten into before, was up next and seemed similarly unfazed by the cold as he rapped confidently about gangsta life. A handful of friends passed around a blunt and ceded the floor to Gibbs, who cooly made converts with his laid-back approach.

Saturday - Sleigh Bells @ Scoot Inn

Sleigh Bells brought the energy back up for the last set of the night (and for some, of SXSW). Despite being a relatively new commodity, both the band's halves, Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller, are assured, polished performers, and they made their appreciation for the crowd clear with their faultless set.

My many other highlights (bands I'll definitely be catching again in the future) included Califone (in NYC 3/30 & 3/31), La Strada, The Sandwitches, Kid Congo Powers, Private Life/Katie Stelmanis, Happy Birthday, Avi Buffalo, Man Man (who I've seen before, but seem to have a new thing going on) and Think About Life.

More pictures from all the sets above (and a ML video), are below...

Continue reading "SXSW 2010 highlights by AF (Thee Oh Sees on a bridge, Man or Astroman?, Major Lazer, Sleigh Bells, Billy Bragg, more) - pics"

photos by P. Nick Curran

"The worst group in history just finished on stage at the Fader Fort, Sleigh Bells." - Daniel Berkal

"Sleigh Bells just blew the doors off the Fader Fort" - Enthusiastic Amateur

"M.I.A.-anointed Sleigh Bells closed the showcase with their bombastic drum-and-bass combination, a live show that's growing leaner, tighter and stronger, like a prizefighter before a big payday. Alexis Krauss, Sleigh Bells' frontwoman, is just soaked in superstar potential. She screams, coos, pumps her fist, snaps her head back in the "sexy-lady-moshing" style Sophie described earlier this week. Though the band is just Krauss and guitarist Derek Miller, they sound massive on songs like "A/B Machines," "Crown on the Ground" and "Infinity Guitars." With cred in tow, Sleigh Bells' spring release should be one of the year's most anticipated records." [Time Out]

I previously posted that "M.I.A. is playing NYC & LA Hard Fests & Oya (lineup), co-releasing the new Sleigh Bells". An update to that is that Sleigh Bells are opening the NYC show which is taking place at South Island Field @ Governors Island on Saturday, 7/24, 5pm. Blaqstarr, 12th Planet, Destructo, Nguzunguzu, Borgore & more" are also on the "Hard" bill. "$40 Pre-Sale Tickets / $45 Limited Advance Tickets / $55 Advance & Day of Show Tickets + $5 Round Trip Ferry Fee for all tickets". On Sale Fri 3/26 at 12:00PM. More pictures from Fader, and a video, below....

Continue reading "Sleigh Bells played SXSW (pics), opening for M.I.A. at Governors Island (tickets & more lineup info announced)"

DOWNLOAD: Major Lazer - Hold the Lines (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Major Lazer - Call Mi (Dave Kelly's Hold the Line) (MP3)

DJ duo Major Lazer will be down in SXSW for a set at Cedar Street Courtyard on Saturday, March 20th. They'll also be doing the just-announced Iheartcomix/Jelly/Mad Decent three-day day party at Austin's Mexican American Cultural Center.

After that, their shows include Camp Bisco and dates with Sleigh Bells and a number of summer fests around the world. They play NYC's Terminal 5 on April 3rd for HARD NYC, along with Boys Noize, Buraka Som Sistema (MC/DJ Set), Proxy, Destructo and others. Tickets are still on sale.

Sleigh Bells, who are also at SXSW, go on to tour with Yeasayer, who they play Webster Hall with on May 4th. They also have recently added a show at Market Hotel on May 11th. Sleigh Bells' Austin schedule (which includes the above-mentioned day party) is below.

Major Lazer's two halves - DJs Diplo and Switch - have sets of their own at SXSW. Diplo will be at the above-mentioned Mad Decent party, and will be putting on a gear demonstration at SXSW's Gear Alley Performance Stage at 2pm on Friday, March 19th (where he'll be showing off some Ableton, Korg and Audio-Technica gear). The stage is part of SXSW's new Gear Alley Expo in the Convention Center, which is open to all official showcasing bands and registrants. "Musicians can test out new gear there and it's next to our SXSW Showcasing Artist Lounge (where bands can get free chair massages, drinks, snacks, use a computer, or relax)."

Switch has a set at NYC's Webster Hall coming up on June 11th. Info TBA.

All tour dates and video of Major Lazer DJing at SXSW 2009's Fader Fort are below...

Continue reading "updated Major Lazer, Diplo, Switch & Sleigh Bells dates, Iheartcomix, Jelly, Mad Decent & SXSW Gear Expo in Austin"

The Pitchfork Music Festival celebrates its 5th anniversary this year at Union Park in Chicago. It runs from Friday July 16th - Sunday July 18th. Three-day passes are now sold out, but you can still get single-day passes on Ticketweb.

The Updated Lineup is below:

Continue reading "Pitchfork Festival updates lineup (Broken Social Scene, Jon Spencer, Panda Bear, Girls, El-P & more) "

The Very Best @ Santos Party House in November (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

The Very Best and Theophilus London play American Museum of Natural History's monthly One Step Beyond party on Friday, March 12th. Tickets are on sale.

The Very Best will be playing shows in North America leading up to SXSW, where the group has sets scheduled including the Pitchfork official showcase at The Scoot Inn on March 20th, and additional shows around Sasquatch in May (and the Roots Picnic in June). Those dates, the full Pitchfork party lineup, and videos are below...

Continue reading "The Very Best playing AMNH, SXSW & more (dates) "

the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival will be held at Chicago's Union Park on July 16 - 18. We are pleased to announce the first batch of bands slated to perform, as well as proclaim that tickets are on sale today at 12 PM CST! This year's festival welcomes the highly anticipated return of legendary band Pavement as they make one of their first appearances since reuniting! Pavement will perform on Sunday night. Friday features indie-rock, chart-topping mainstays Modest Mouse, while Saturday and Sunday sees performances by LCD Soundsystem, Raekwon, Here We Go Magic, St. Vincent, Lightning Bolt, Cass McCombs and Sleigh Bells. Stay tuned, as more bands will be announced in the coming weeks.

Continue reading "2010 Pitchfork Music Fest - dates, tickets, initial lineup "

Sleigh Bells @ Under 100 in November (more by Lori Baily)

Sleigh Bells have been pretty quiet since their debut run last fall, when they opened for And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead..., did CMJ, and played LPR, Studio at Webster Hall, and Under 100 (the last three of which got captured in picture sets).

The duo, with their debut LP on the way (I hear they signed to Mom & Pop), have announced spring plans - they'll be opening select shows for Major Lazer on their upcoming tour. The closest they come to NYC together is Philadelphia's Starlite Ballroom on April 2nd. The next night (4/3) Major Lazer headlines HARD at Terminal 5.

After those dates, Sleigh Bells will play Coachella and join the upcoming Yeasayer tour. That includes Yeasayer's May 4th show at Webster Hall. Tickets are still on sale.

Before that, Yeasayer plays Bowery and MHOW on February 8th and 9th (both sold out). Yeasayer's new record, Odd Blood, comes out February 9th on Secretly Canadian. They recently released the song "One" off that for free. It's available for download below with all dates...

Continue reading "Sleigh Bells touring w/ Major Lazer & Yeasayer (dates)"

Wow...Public Image Ltd, The Specials, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen, Grace Jones, Fever Ray, Devo, Hot Chip, Phoenix, Orbital, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sunny Day Real Estate, Yo La Tengo, Mew, Camera Obscura, Gil Scott-Heron, The xx, John Waters, Dillinger Escape Plan, Deer Tick, Gary Numan... Full Coachella 2010 lineup below....

Continue reading "2010 Coachella line up announced (Faith No More, Pavement, Muse, Gorillaz, Thom Yorke, Jay-Z, LCD Soundystem, ???)"

photos by Lori Baily

Mos Def / Sleigh Bells

first show at new tribeca venue "under 100," which is co-owned by greg finch of p4k tv, and is in damon dash's office basement. was a crazy night. dash's entourage rolled through in full effect, loved sleigh bells and javelin, two rappers (stally and curren$y) spit over javelin songs during an unexpected encore by popular demand. later in the evening, everyone went upstairs to watch javelin's set in dash's office and rumor was that both parties wanted to further jam. next thing you know, everyone's downstairs in the venue again and mos def et al are jamming with javelin and knyfe hyts! was a special night. - erez avissar

Continue reading "Mos Def played w/ Sleigh Bells, Javelin & Knyfe Hyts 81 @ Under 100 in NYC - pics"

words & photos by Erez Avissar

MNDR (aka Amanda Warner) opened the Brooklyn show at Monster Island on Wednesday night (11/18). Shouting, singing and rapping over techno-centric beats, she showed respect to tour-mate Juiceboxxx as well as a strong influence by him. She fared better than her mentor though, who played a super-brief, possibly truncated, set of less than 20 minutes. Opening with his most well-known tune/statement of intent, "Thunder Jam #5", Juiceboxxx positioned himself in sort of a "me against the crowd/world" way, alienating himself from the audience. It was unfortunate, because a basement show like this one could have been the ideal place to see him.

Even without their signature boomboxes, Javelin brought much-needed positive energy to the room with highlights like expanded versions of "Mossy Woodland" and "Vibrationz", as well as their skewed "Into The Groove" interpretation and some worldly tropical beats that turned the place into a dance party. The energy stayed with the crowd, who were more than happy to stick around after and dance to pop hits, ranging from Olivia Newton-John to Jay-Z, courtesy of Todd P's iPod.

Javelin live is not to be slept on. Catch them Friday (TONIGHT) with Sleigh Bells (who played Le Poisson Rouge last night) at a new DIY all ages venue in Manhattan called "Under 100." Get there early - Javelin goes on first (9pm). More details about that show and pictures below...

Continue reading "Javelin played Monster Island w/ Juiceboxxx (pics), plays new venue Under 100 TONIGHT w/ Sleigh Bells & Knyfe Hyts"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

"There are some basic similarities to Ed Banger acts like Justice or M.I.A.. But if anything Sleigh Bells reminds me first of bands like My Bloody Valentine and The Pixies--beauty taken to its absolute pummeling extreme--or Output Records acts like Mu, who typify for me what pop music might sound as putrid, like if we let it sit out and fester for a few years and decompose.

A band that approached that formula was Poison the Well, a South Florida post-hardcore band for whom Miller was a guitarist and songwriter. In the genre, songs often have fierce riff-driven verses with screamed vocals, with relief coming in the form of a soaring, schmaltzy chorus. Miller played in the band for four years, from 2000 to 2004, then quit when the band was at the height of its popularity. This was more or less when the Sleigh Bells project began: trying to do both parts of the hardcore equation at once.

"As a music fan, I felt like there was this small gap for what I wanted to do," he explains. "I was obsessed with [the Deerhoof album] The Runners Four. I thought they got really close...But then live, all the ferocious elements on the album were wimpy and childlike. The drummer didn't even have a crash cymbal!""
[Nick Sylvester @ Resident Advisor]

Continue reading "Sleigh Bells & Kap Bambino @ The Studio in NYC - pics "

Sleigh Bells @ Santos Party House (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

Village Voice: Tell me what the first taste of "blog fame" is like. Is it weird?

Miller: It's everything I ever hoped it would be. My wildest dreams have come true. Actually it feels a lot like waiting tables, which is just fine really.
Krauss: It's nothing like waiting tables.
Miller: My mom started Googling us and listens to us on YouTube. The YouTube rips actually sound better than the 320 versions.

Continue reading "2 more chances to see Sleigh Bells (dates)"

words & photos by Benjamin Lozovsky

It's hard to be The Very Best without showing up. That's a lesson Esau Mwamwaya learned the hard way, but one he was eager to make up for as his burgeoning new project with English production duo Radioclit made their return to New York City Wednesday night at Santos Party House. They last properly played NYC in July and two recent no-shows at scheduled performances in the New York area increased the anticipatory grumblings among their fans. First there was a much-awaited appearance at this year's CMJ Music Marathon that never materialized, then there was a Halloween night slot at a benefit concert that found the band performing without their singer.

With a typical display of warmth that has categorized his new group's quick rise to prominence however, the Malawian born, London-based vocalist was roundly apologetic for his previous absences. "I know people were disappointed," said Mwamwaya after the show. "I personally feel so bad for not coming for CMJ, but what could I have done? I had no choice."

continued below...

Continue reading "The Very Best & Sleigh Bells played Santos in NYC - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Sleigh Bells - Crown on the Ground (MP3)

Sleigh Bells (by Rob Loud)

After the Very Best canceled their CMJ appearances in late-October because of travel issues, the band had apparently sorted things out in time for their Halloween show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple. The band wrote: "were super sorry and gutted we had to cancel all the shows so far on the USA tour. we where applying for another visa which took longer than we where told and esau's passport was held. we finally got the passport back and will do the last leg on the tour startin on staurday in new york! sooo sorry and we hope to be back soon and make up for this fuckup."

Despite that, the group performed without singer Esau Mwamwaya at the Brooklyn Halloween show. The only members in attendence were DJ Johan Hugo (aka 1/2 of production team Radioclit) and two of the group's dancers. (Flavorpill, who put on the show, describe the act in their post-show coverage as "The Very Best Sound System.") Other performers on hand for the charity event were Bajah & the Dry Eye Crew, Sub Swara, DJ Kyle Hall, DJ Stretch Armstrong, $mall ¢hange, and VDRK & Bradley D.

Esau did play Boston the following night and will (we hope) be in attendence at their Santos Party House show on Wednesday, November 4th. Tickets are on sale. Sleigh Bells ("electroclash/dancepunk [from] ex-Poison the Well Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss") open.

This will be Sleigh Bells' first post-CMJ show. They left the festival with lots of extra hype. Sheena Beaston wrote, "There's so many great things I coud tell you about their [October 21st] performance [at Santos Party House], which consisted f 5 songs, a guitar on 3, a tmabourine, and an iPod as a backing track. In short, it was one of the best live shows I've seen all year." Stereogum named them a "Band to Watch" one day after that same show. Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal said they were "one of this week's legit breakouts-- just might be the best thing I see all week." Pitchfork then gave their song "Crown on the Ground" "Best New Music" a few days later. Download it above.

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Very Best sort of played on Halloween, playing Santos w/ Sleigh Bells (and other dates) "

As the Jewish faithful begin the Rosh Hashanah holy days or Jewish New Year Friday at sunset, they will be saying special prayers and lighting special candles.

Beginning Saturday or Sunday, depending on the congregation, the sounding of the shofar - a trumpet made from a ram's horn - will begin. The ritual is symbolic of what the High Holy Days are about: a call for introspection, forgiveness and changing one's course in life, said Rabbi Charles A. Klein of the Merrick Jewish Centre.

It "asks us to wake up, to take a serious look at our lives," he said, "and not just to sleep away our lives." [Newsday]

Usher in the Jewish year 5770 this weekend with Trail of Dead and the Secret Machines. The two bands are on tour together and will play post-sundown shows tonight (9/18) at Webster Hall with Midnight Masses, and Saturday (9/19) at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Freshkills and Sleigh Bells. Neither is sold out at the moment.

Saturday night there is an afterparty at Beauty Bar in Brooklyn.

Actual Roch Hashanah event listed in This Week In Indie.