by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Grimes - Devon (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Doldrums - Parrot Talk (MP3)

Grimes

Montreal's Grimes are swinging through town in the next week on their way down to SXSW, playing Silent Barn on Monday (3/7). Did anyone go see Grimes when they were here last October? The pseudonymn of artist Claire Boucher, Grimes latest, Halafaxa, is still a "pay what you want" download from their label's website. Ethereal, occasionally dub-infected and danceable, Halafaxa should appeal to fans of Delorean and Sally Shapiro (or even old 4AD bands like This Mortal Coil or Dif Juz). Definitely worth a click. You can download "Devon" from it at the top of the this post to give you a taste.

If you're heading to Austin this year, Grimes is playing a bunch of times during the week, including Tuesday, March 15's M for Mikey Montreal showcase that also features Esben & the Witch, Delicate Steve, Diamond Rings and Dominique Young Unique... as well as a second official showcase on Saturday (3/19) where she plays with Montreal neighbors Braids who are playing the BrooklynVegan/M For Montreal party at Swan Dive/Barbarella that same day (more details TBA soon!). All tour dates are below.

Doldrums

Also playing the Silent Barn show and touring with Grimes down to Austin is Toronto artist Doldrums, aka Eric Asher who some of you may remember from the band Spiral Beach (they opened for Sloan at Bowery Ballroom back in 2007). Doldrums shows are a mix of live performance, samples and distorted video projections and his new single "Euphoria" is out now on Toronto label We Are Busy Bodies and you can watch the video for it below. You can also check out Doldrums track "Parrot Talk" at the top of this post.

Doldrums play SXSW as well, including the official We Are Busy Bodies showcase on Thursday, March 17 with Japanther, Zoobombs and Neon Windbreaker. All Grimes/Doldrums tourdates are below.

Continue reading "Grimes & Doldrums --- 2011 tour dates, SXSW shows, MP3s"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Springfactory - On the Back of Your Bike (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Springfactory - Get Out of Bed (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Tartans - The Cats of Camerford (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cats on Fire - Horoscope (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cats on Fire - Letter from a Voyage to Sweden (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Liechtenstein - Roses in the Park (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Vaselines - Son of a Gurn (MP3)

Firstly, an update on NYC Popfest which starts tonight (5/14) and runs through Sunday (5/17). Advance tickets are sold out for the Saturday (5/16) show with The Radio Dept., Pants Yell! and The Secret History at The Bell House, as has the all-day Sunday show at Cake Shop, though the latter should have tickets at the door. The good news is The Radio Dept. have been added to the Friday night (5/15) show at the Don Hill's which already includes Sweden's Liechtenstein, the spiffy pop of Finland's Cats on Fire, L.A. band The Tartans and local boy Don Lennon. If you ask me, this is the unmissable show of the weekend. Tickets are still available through the Popfest website. Also, if you can't make the show Friday, both Leichtenstien and Cats on Fire play Bruar Falls on Tuesday, May 19.

In other Popfest news, another Swedish band, Stockholm's Springfactory, have been added to the free day show on Saturday at Cake Shop. There's a couple MP3s of theirs to check out at the top of this post. The fest kicks off tonight with an all-locals show at Cake Shop featuring Knight School, Soft City, Dream Bitches, The Metric Mile, My Teenage Stride and the Ballet. Full Popfest lineup is at the bottom of this post and there are loads more MP3s from just about all the bands HERE.

Acrylics

There's lots of other non-Popfest stuff going on this weekend, much of it making me wish I could be in two places at once. Cameo Gallery tonight (5/14) plays host to two Dirty on Purpose offshoots: Joe and the Flying Spoons which is guitarist Joe Jurewicz country-tinged outfit that features a chorus of girl backup singers; and Pursesnatchers which is drummer Doug Marvin's solo project that is the closest in sound of any of the DoP splinter groups to the original. Also on the bill: awesome duo Sisters who I've written about recently and were runners up in this year's L Magazine thing; and Acrylics who make lovely synthy pop not dissimilar to The Rosebuds. The three songs on Acrylics' MySpace are all quite good, definitely worth checking out whether you plan on hitting this show or not.

Cake Shop is celebrating its four-year anniversary this month with a series of special-event Saturdays. This Saturday's (5/16) seems especially special: an ADD-friendly marathon of 16 bands playing four songs each (natch), with different drink specials in between each band. And it's only $4 to get in. The party kicks off with Knight School at 8PM and finishes with Moonmen on the Moon, Man (supposedly from San Diego but who look suspiciously like Cake Shop owners and staff) around 1AM if they stay on schedule. In between, My Teenage Stride, The Beets, Boy Genius, Air Waves and more will get their 15 minutes. Check out the flyer below for the full list of bands and set times. This sounds like a blast.

Spiral Beach

I should also mention that Toronto's Spiral Beach are in town this weekend playing three shows: Tonight (5/14) at Death by Audio, and two shows on Friday (5/15): an early one at Fontana's, and then a house show at 265 Mikibbin St in Bushwick. Spiral Beach opened for Sloan at Bowery Ballroom a couple years ago and I wrote at the time: "I don't even know how to describe them. They're a bit like the Coral or the Zutons, by way of Oingo Boingo (minus the horns). Psychotic circus music?" They were a lot of fun. The band's 2007 album, Ball, just getting released in the U.S.

The Vaselines

And last but not least... The Vaselines! They play Sunday (5/17) at Bowery Ballroom (with Woods) and tickets are still available; Monday's (5/18) show at at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Adam Green is sold out. The band played Seattle on Tuesday and The Finest Kiss had this to say:

Seeing the Vaselines last night was like sex on the second date. The first date was last summer at Sub Pop 20 festival. Their set at Marymoor Park last July was just about perfect with Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee's sexually tinged funny stage banter and even better harmonies, they were easily the highlight of that perfect summer afternoon. After a first date that goes so well, you always kind of prepare yourself for a letdown on date number two. You start to see the imperfections, maybe a few wrinkles or a bald spot. The Vaselines may have their imperfections, but I'm still blinded by lust to really notice any of them. Francis joked saying that you may think you're at the wrong gig if you're looking for the people on the poster, referring to the much younger looking Vaselines that adorned the advertising for the show. They also tried to explain their long absence with wild stories of Eugene becoming a Hare Krishna, explaining his lack of hair, and Frances's time in prison for allegedly getting facials with underage boys...

The better sounding Vaselines is probably due to the band being better musicians than they were 20 years ago. Even though they sounded less ragged, they still have the attitude and humor that made them so special in the first place. There is no way that anyone at this gig went home disappointed from this gig, besides sounding great, they played every single one of their songs and even graced us with two brand new ones.

The band's classic compilation, The Way of the Vaselines, just got reissued on Sub Pop as a two-CD/3-platter-vinyl deluxe edition, now retitled Enter the Vaselines and it's just essential. And go see them if you can.

Flyers, videos, tour dates and the full popfest schedule after the jump...

Continue reading "NYC Pop Fest, Acrylics, Vaselines, Springfactory, Cake Shop, Spiral Beach & more in This Week in Indie"

by Andrew Frisicano

Gentleman Reg @ Mercury Lounge (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Toronto based Gentleman Reg has announced a two month spring tour in support of his first internationally released full-length, Jet Black, which arrived in stores in February on Arts & Crafts. The tour will kick off April 22 in Ottawa in support of Spiral Beach, include a string of Ontario headlining dates, a cross-Canada run in support of The Stills before a three-week run in support of A Camp starting May 26 in New York. [press release]

Tickets are still on sale for that A Camp-headlining show at Bowery Ballroom on May 26th. All other dates are below.

Keep track of what A Camp are doing on tour by following their video diary. The other day they met Bill Clinton (that video below).

A Psapp remix of Gentleman Reg's Jet Black track "We're In A Thunderstorm" is up on RCRDLBL.com. That song is part of a remix contest Reg and Arts & Crafts are currently running. The raw files for "We're In A Thunderstorm" are up on his site, and the winning remix will appear on the Arts & Crafts 2009 Summer Sampler. (Submitted remixes are streaming now.)

All tour dates and videos for songs "To Some It Comes Easy" and "Coastline" (the second recorded live in a van "along the waterfront at Royal Military College"), both from Jet Black, below...

Continue reading "Gentleman Reg - tour dates (A Camp), videos, remix contest "