Thurston at Pitchfork Fest in July (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

As mentioned, Thurston Moore is playing an acoustic set for Lincoln Center's American Songbook 2012 Season on February 2. Tickets for the show are on sale now.

Thurston has since scheduled a tour around the Lincoln Center show which hits Hoboken, NJ the next night at Maxwell's on February 3. Tickets for the NJ show go on sale Friday (11/18) at noon. He also plays New Hope Winery on February 4. All shows will be Thurston with his Demolished Thoughts ensemble (Keith Wood, Mary Lattimore, John Moloney, Samara Lubelski). All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile, you can catch Thurston's Sonic Youth bandmates Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley at the previously announced Glasslands show on 12/16 (tickets), where they'll be playing material off Lee's upcoming solo album Between The Times & The Tides, which comes out March 20 via Matador.

You can see Steve Shelley even sooner when his other band Spectre Folk play the new Brooklyn venue Big Snow Buffalo Lodge on November 19 and an older Brooklyn venue two days later, Death by Audio on November 21.

Sonic Youth, despite recent troubles, just played a show in San Paulo, Brazil on November 14th. Many on the Internet are asking if it could be their last show ever. We hope not. Regardless, you can watch video of the whole thing, along with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Sonic Youth played Brazil (their last show ever? --- video), Thurston Moore announces tour (dates include Maxwell's)"

by BBG

The Psychic Paramount @ Cake Shop

I had my mind blown twice at Union Pool last night: first by the smoke-machine fueled power of The Psychic Paramount (modern instrumental acid rock? Incredible!) and then by Disappears whose new material written with Steve Shelley is groovier, a little slower than their pedal-to-the-metal first albums but equally awesome. (More Neu!, less Stooges.) -[Bill Pearis]

I'd have to agree with that sentiment even though my experience was with the show last night (7/27) at Cake Shop with Spectre Folk. Besides their ongoing dates together, Krautrock is the tie that binds the two; The Psychic Paramount's reverb-drenched prog adheres closer to psychedelia while Disappears uses Krautrock groove as a jumping off point for punk-infused songwriting. Both bands were impressive, albeit in very different ways.

If quality was measured in volume, The Psychic Paramount would win hands down. The band's big bang live show is sustained by near infinite looping run through similarly endless reverb; they literally have reverb for their reverb... mics that capture the band's sound and run it through a Fender twin reverb. Though loud is always good, you definitely don't have to be good to be loud. The Psychic Paramount is most definitely good.

If you can, catch Disappears on the road in the coming months with either The Psychic Paramount or OBITS. Tour dates and more pictures are Cake Shop, where they played with Spectre Folk, are below...

Continue reading "The Psychic Paramount & Disappears played Union Pool & Cake Shop w/ Spectre Folk (pics)"

Ty Segall @ Death by Audio in 2010 (more by Andrew St. Clair)

Noisy San Francisco rockers Sic Alps, who will release a 4 song 7" via Drag City on August 23 ("Napa Asylum" came out on the label in January), have some upcoming shows this summer. However, Sic Alps are a little different this time around. First of all, they've added Drag City labelmate Ty Segall to the band. To be more specific though, Sic Alps is now Ty (who was actually a member of the band in the past briefly too), founding member Mike Donovan (formerly of the Ropers) and Eric Bauer. Founding member Matt Hartman and Noel Von Harmonson (both of whom are still listed on Wikipedia as of this post) are no longer in the band.

The new Sic Alps lineup will play a few North American shows later this month and a string of European dates in August and September. They'll play a Brooklyn show on June 24 at Death By Audio with Spectre Folk and Weekends, right beore they hit Wilco's Solid Sound Festival in MA.

After getting back from the European tour, Ty Segall goes on his own tour with Mikal Cronin, which hits Bowery Ballroom on September 29. Tickets are still available. Meanwhile Ty heads to Toronto for NXNE next week.

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Sic Alps have a new lineup including Ty Segall (who is touring with & without them)"

In their own words:

Northside Festival is thrilled to announce special series of shows in beautiful St. Cecilia's church in Greenpoint.

St. Cecilia's is one of the most beautiful and vital churches in Brooklyn. We are excited to be working with this community institution and proud to say that St. Cecilia's will be an important part of Northside.

There will be four shows taking place at the most spectacular venue imaginable.

And the shows are:

Continue reading "St. Cecilia's Church in Greenpoint will host Northside Festival shows (Atlas Sound, Woods & Eleanor included)"

DOWNLOAD: Disappears - Superstition (MP3)

Disappears

Disappears combine psychedelia, punk, and reverb-soaked krautrock. The Chicago band, whose drummer is now Steve Shelley as you can see in the new band photo above (whether that is long term or not remains to be seen), will hop the pond in May for a set of European dates before heading back to the US to play a string of dates in late July and August. The Psychic Paramount and Obits will hop on the bill for different legs of the tour, and NYC will gets two shows, both with The Psychic Paramount: July 26th at Union Pool and July 27th at Cake Shop. All dates are listed below.

Disappears released their latest LP, Guider, via Kranky earlier this year. Check out "Superstition" from Guider above, if you don't have it already. The Psychic Paramount also released their latest LP II earlier this year.

Obits, whose dates with Disappears are on the west cost, played Union Pool last night (4/20) as part of a memorial for Brendan of Orphan. They also played Record Store Day 2011 at Generation Records.

Steve is also a member of Spectre Folk who play 285 Kent with Woods on April 28th.

All tour dates and some videos, below....

Continue reading "Disappears touring w/ The Psychic Paramount & then Obits (2011 dates)"

Spectre Folk

Spectre Folk, comprised of Pete Nolan (Magik Markers), Peter Meehan (NY Times food writer), and Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), have a new video for the atmospheric "Burning Bridge" from their late 2009 LP Compass, blanket, lantern, mojo. Check out the water-filled clip starring a nameless young boy, directed by Pax Stabile, for the very first time, below...

Continue reading "new Spectre Folk video, upcoming Text of Light shows "

photos by Rachel Carr

Kurt Vile @ the Henry Miller Library

"We hot footed it down to the Henry Miller Library for the Woodsist festival. It was hidden among the trees like a secret garden and as we laid on our rugs drinking strong vodka cranberry, the place seemed to glow. We watched the bands, perused the library, went exploring and hung out at the merch table and before long the sunlight faded and the fairy lights came out. Oh and then we saw Kirsten Dunst, just hanging out in the bookstore and Joe let his cool mask slip and got all star-struck and gaspy. The day was magical but tinged with melancholy. I couldn't shake this feeling and this feeling was the end." [In Another World]

The described and pictured Big Sur Woodsist Festival happened on Saturday, June 12th at the Henry Miller Library. It was one of two west coast Woodsist events. The second was last night, June 15th, at Echoplex. NYC gets its own on June 25th at Music Hall of Williamsbug as part of the Northside Festival. Tickets are still on sale. More pictures from the Big Sur fest, below...

Continue reading "Woodsist had two fests in California (pics from Big Sur)"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: The Entrance Band - "Grim Reaper Blues" (MP3)

Sunburned Hand Of The Man

The 1st Annual Memory Burn Psych Fest is a one night affair on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 @ Glasslands in Brooklyn, NY. Inspired by such psych-minded festivals over the past few years such as the Frisco Freakout in SF, Memory Burn gathers a stylistic smattering of local heady, heavy hitters in New York's psych scene for an evening of tripped-out fun...

The inaugural Memory Burn Psych Fest is a doozy, featuring performances from Revival Times, Weird Owl, Future Hunter, The Black Hollies, White Hills, Hopewell, Golden Triangle, Psychic Ills, and Sunburned Hand of the Man. The show kicks off at 7PM and $12 gets you in the door.

Another notable psych-related event in the near future includes The Entrance Band, who will team up with The Growlers at Mercury Lounge for a show on June 12th. Tickets are on sale. The Entrance Band play Bonnaroo just two days prior.

Sunburned Hand of The Man recently contributed to a tribute LP for the fallen Jack Rose, who passed away late last year. The album, entitled Honest Strings: A Tribute To The Life And Work Of Jack Rose, is out now via Fina Music and also features contributions from Bardo Pond, MV & EE, No Neck Blues Band, Six Organs of Admittance, Spectre Folk, and many many other notables. All proceeds from the sale of the record go to the estate of Jack Rose. Pick up that record, and read more about it at the label's site.

The Memory Burn flyer and some video, including a few of Golden Triangle at Sound Fix Tuesday (5/4) is below...

Continue reading "Memory Burn Psych Fest, Entrance Band, a Jack Rose tribute "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Woods - I Was Gone (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Diamond in the Dark (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Moon Duo - Stumbling 22nd St. (MP3)

Woods

There's a lot going on in the wild world of Woodsist Records. Firstly is the Woodsist night at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on June 25 that's part of the Northside Festival (June 24 - 27). The show features Real Estate, Woods, The Fresh & Onlys, Moon Duo and Sic Alps. Tickets ($15) go on sale Friday (4/30) at noon. This and the Brooklyn Vegan show with Memory Tapes, Twin Sister, Zaza and DOM on June 26 are two of four Northside events at Music Hall of Williamsburg this year (Thao and Mirah is another).

Woodsist is also doing two mini-festivals on the West Coast next month: June 12 at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur and June 15 at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. The line-ups differ slightly, but both shows feature Real Estate, Woods, Kurt Vile, The Mantles and The Art Museums. Full line-ups for both shows are at the bottom of this post.

Woods, who also have a show coming up at Abrons Arts Center in May, will be releasing their third album, At Echo Lake, next week. Clocking in just under 30 minutes, it's full of catchy West Coast-ish folk pop. It might be their best yet. You can download "I Was Gone" at the top of this post. The band is touring the West Coast leading up to those two mini-fests. All dates are below.

The Fresh and Onlys

The Fresh & Onlys will be here a full month before the Northside Festival too, playing with Golden Triangle and The Babies at Monster Island (which now has real, permanent stage!) on May 14, and Cake Shop on May 15. The band continue to release records at a Pollardian rate, with a fantastic new EP, August in My Mind, our on Captured Tracks (download "Diamond in the Dark" above), a split 7" with Golden Triangle, and at least two other singles out this year already. There's a video for "Vanishing Cream" at the bottom of this post, which is a single on French label Plastic Spoons. They've also finished their third album which will be out on In the Red sometime this year.

Moon Duo, which features Wooden Shjips' Erik Johnson and Sanae Yamada, released an EP on Woodsist earlier this year -- check out "Stumbling 22nd St." at the top of this post. I caught them the final, cold night at SXSW where I was a little worn out and cranky at that point for their droney, extended Loop-meets-Suicide two chord jams but I could imagine digging it more under sunnier circumstances.

Real Estate also have many more dates coming up between now and the end of August. Sic Alps are touring and reporting that a Captured Tracks Fest is happening in NYC again this summer too.

Woodsist Fest lineups, videos and everyone else's tour dates below...

Continue reading "mini Woodsist Fests in NYC & CA, Woods shows, Fresh & Onlys tour dates, Moon Duo & more"

Sunday June 14th @ FORT TILDEN BEACH
:: FREE ALL AGES UNAMPLIFIED ACOUSTIC BBQ 2009
:: each year we throw an informal, quiet party in a beautiful public place, w/
:: many diverse musicians playing two or three songs w/ no amplification
:: this year, it's on Fort Tilden Beach in the Rockways! best beach in NYC! [Todd P]

Schedule (subject to change) below...

Continue reading "Todd P's UNAMPLIFIED ACOUSTIC BBQ 2009 (at Fort Tilden)"