DOWNLOAD: Big Dipper - Shes Fetching (MP3)

$493??? Well, it is for charity, so that's good. For a more affordable donation, the David Kilgour autographed poster is still available for less than $50. David Kilgour plays Cake Shop tonight, tomorrow and the next day. Keep checking Merge's auctions through Christmas - they'll also be selling posters autographed by Robert Pollard, M. Ward, Oakley Hall, Spoon, The Rosebuds, Superchunk, Portastatic, and Destroyer. Or just screw charity, and check out Merge's holiday sale.

Robert Pollard is having an art show at Studio Dante in Manhattan in December. Listen to Spoon on NPR. Big Dipper is releasing an anthology. Polvo are reuniting for ATP. Every single Merge tour date, below...

Continue reading "signed Arcade Fire poster @ $493, Robert Pollard art"

(not) Rodrigo y Gabriela @ Roseland Ballroom, NYC - Oct 19, 2007 (CRED)

Spoon (and friends) @ Roseland Ballroom, NYC - Oct 20, 2007 (CRED)

Back in August I asked, "why do Hammerstein and Roseland have so few shows a year?". In response, I received the following letter (from someone who would like to stay anonymous)....

Continue reading "Roseland, Hammerstein Ballroom, few shows, Moonies"

flyer below....

Continue reading "Blender sessions @ CMJ"

Spoon (after cancelling three shows) was on SNL Saturday night (the same place Bon Jovi will be playing this Saturday) - another reason why October 6th was a big night for music in NYC. Britt Daniel, Jim Eno, Rob Pope, Eric Harvey, Sigur Ros, LISA LOEB, Seth Rogen, Mark Rogen, Judd Apatow, Aziz Ansari, and others were later spotted hanging with Andy Samberg and crew at the SNL afterparty going on at Compass. SNL Videos below...

Continue reading "SPOON & other Saturday Night live VIDEOS"

Demetri Martin

826NYC put on another great benefit show last night (Aug 26, 2007) at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. As usual, it starred a cast of top-notch (or at least popular) indie-rock & comedy superheroes (pun intended). The show started at 7pm, but thanks to underestimating how long it takes to get from Brooklyn to 74th Street & Broadway in Manhattan on a Sunday, I was a little late. When I walked in, The New Pornographers' A.C. Newman was almost finished with his set, and I'm told I missed a funny intro that included a short song by Feist, Newman, and Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew. *

BV-reader-poll-favorite Demetri Martin was an able, and hilarious, host. He did stand-up between every performer, and the whole show ran surprisingly smoothly. On a whole, it beat my expectations. Not that last year was bad - it just seemed like a big jumble of performers and a recipe for disaster.

Eugene, Britt, Feist, Ed, Jim, Sarah

More below...

Continue reading "Revenge of the Book Eaters @ Beacon Theatre, NYC - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Spoon - Revenge (MP3)

If I don't start getting some pictures up from my recent trip to Norway, I'll be lucky if I finish this coverage by the time next year's Oya Festival rolls around. So here's are some photos I took of Spoon. They played at 3:10 pm on the third day of the festival - Friday August 10th the Sjøsiden stage....

And a funny story: I guess in Norway (in Europe?) it's complimentary to throw stuff at a band you like. It didn't happen a lot, but occasionaly I saw things get hurled towards the stage - a beer usually. Well, a girl (I think it was a girl) in the front row of Spoon managed to land something right on Britt Daniel's head. Not amused, he asked who threw something at him. Quickly realizing who it was, he said something like "She threw it? Out biggest fan threw something at us!". A few minutes later he decided to return the favor by spitting a mouthful of beer in her general direction. I couldn't see her face to see how splattered she got with the mix of warm beer and mucus, but I have a feeling she probably liked it - others around her were definitely smiling. It works both ways, right?

Anyway, some people might say Britt Daniel is a jerk. I don't have enough evidence to support that theory though. The show was good.

More pictures below.....

Continue reading "Spoon @ the 2007 Øya Festival in Oslo, Norway - pics"

Britt Daniel & Spoon @ Virgin Fest 2007 (MORE)

The above three mentioned chaps will be participating in some capacity (supergroups possibly) in the upcoming show now too.

words & photos by Bao Nguyen

Girl Talk

So this was a very last minute idea, meaning I left New York for Baltimore at 12 PM on Saturday when gates had already opened at 10 AM. Not knowing at the time whether I had a pass waiting for me at the festival, I made the 4 hour drive, hindered by the beach bound crowd on the NJ Turnpike, armed with a Polaroid, 4 hours of sleep, and a sense of regret for missing the previous night's CSS show. I arrived at Pimilico Field at exactly 4 PM and after nearly being run over by Richard Branson on a golf cart, I made it just in time to catch the start of Peter Bjorn and John's set. I think their music plays better in a small club than a large festival type atmosphere especially when the entire crowd seems to be waiting for only one particular song that everyone can whistle to. Following Peter Bjorn and John was an high energy set from LCD Soundsystem that included a very unusual mosh pit where three people were doing their best Thom Yorke seizure dance....

Continue reading "The 2007 Virgin Festival in Baltimore - review & pics"

Regina Spektor

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O

more pictures below....

Continue reading "Photos from Lollapalooza 2007 - Day 2"

Deerhoof, Maximo Park, Louis C.K., White Rabbits, Spoon & Art Brut....

Continue reading "VIDEOS: some recent 'late night' performances"

DOWNLOAD: Spoon - Stay Don't Go (live @ Greek Theatre) (MP3)

Spoon @ Rockefeller Park, NYC - July 11, 2007 (CRED)

After nearly two hours of rain, the skies semi-cleared, allowing for a short window for Spoon to fit in a 45 minute set last night at Rockefeller Park on the Hudson River. [Waved Rumor]

DOWNLOAD: St. Vincent - Now, Now (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Spoon - The Ghost Of You Lingers (MP3)

For a mid-summer week, the music CD release list is surprisingly bountiful. Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Interpol's Our Love To Admire lead the pack of new releases, and I can also highly recommend St. Vincent's debut album, Marry Me, former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell's Sirens Of The Ditch (which includes my current favorite protest song, "Dress Blues"), and Patton Oswalt's comedy album Werewolves and Lollipops).

Reissues released this week include two Monkees remasters (Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd), as well as a remastered edition of M. Ward's Duet for Guitars 2.

Have I left anything noteworthy off the list? What new music releases can you recommend this week?

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"

The free NYC Spoon show is Wednesday....

Continue reading "VIDEO: Spoon - 'The Underdog' + FREE SHOW reminder"

Lily Allen & Jagermeister

David Cross & ?uestlove

Continue reading "some pictures from Bonnaroo 2007"

this little lamb was found in the bronx yesterday...

The whole new Spoon album is now streaming for free.
Tour dates and what not HERE.

DOWNLOAD: Spoon - The Underdog (MP3)

Spoon's Britt Daniel @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - Apr 26, 2007 (CRED)

live MP3's from the Bowery show...

1. Beast and Dragon
2. Don't You Evah
3. Fitted Shirt
4. I Turn My Camera On
5. Me and The Bean
6. My Math
7. Paper Tiger
8. Rhythm and Soul
9. Stay Don't Go
10. Target
11. The Delicate Place

UPDATE: As someone pointed out in the comments, Spoon's Roseland show is during CMJ. Thanks.

All dates below....

Continue reading "SPOON add more shows (CMJ) -- presale, Tour Dates, MP3s"

DOWNLOAD: Ben Kweller - BK Baby (live) (MP3)

I'm as happy as you are that Bright Eyes' seven-night stand at Town Hall in NYC is over, but for the sake of completeness, here's a picture of one the special guests that showed up on the last night...

Bright Eyes & Britt Daniel (Spoon) @ Town Hall, NYC - Friday Jun 1, 2007 (CRED)

The other guests that night were Maria Taylor and Ron Sexsmith, and as previously reported many times: Ben Kweller played some songs with Conor on night two.

And Ben Kweller has a few interesting shows of his own coming up. Like Sonic Youth is doing with Daydream Nation. Like Slint is doing with Spiderland. Like Gza is doing with Liquid Swords. Ben Kweller will be performing three of his albums from start to finish - three days in a row - in Brooklyn....

Ben Kweller @ Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY, 2007
Jul 30 - Sha Sha
Jul 31 - On My Way
Aug 01 - Ben Kweller

Tickets are on PRESALE and regular sale, for those shows, and the ones listed below....

Continue reading "BRITT DANIEL, BRIGHT EYES & BEN KWELLER's 2007 Tour Dates (Brooklyn residency)"

The following review of Day 2 (May 27, 2007) of the 2007 Sasquatch! Festival in George, Washington is brought to you by Jerry Yeti exclusively for BrooklynVegan.com. If you're just joining us, you may want to start with Day 1.

Things kicked off at the Gorge on Sunday with a few more blankets, a nice spot on the terraced grass, and a sweet DJ set by Mix Master Mike. This was followed up by the hip hop duo Blackalicious. Both of these acts got the early attendees jumping. Blackalicious brought out their "Alphabet Aerobics" with its increasingly sped up delivery, but it was "Rhythm Sticks" that got people truly moving. If the ground wasn't on bedrock, the floor would have given way under all that impact.

All warmed up, Bad Brains was the only set on Sunday we were sure not going to miss. While we waited near the epicenter of anticipated mayhem, one of their most enthusiastic fans attempted to get others around him equally as stoked. He singled out a small guy that -as he informed him- was going to be propelled into the air. And sure enough, when the band appeared, he launched the poor kid into the unsuspecting crowd behind him. No, the bedrock below him did not give way. As the mosh pit grew in size, so did the size of the guys thrashing around in it. One giant of a man wore a Professional Slam Wresting shirt and bulldozed his way around. H.R. is a startling front man, appearing quite tranquil despite the tumult below - like a prophet amidst a storm. Dashingly dressed, if you had a video on mute, you would be baffled by the calm on stage, and the reaction below.

Unfortunately that was the last full set on the main stage before Polyphonic Spree had to cease for the blustery wind. It got cold within minutes, and sundown was still four hours away. While the crew re-prepped the stage to handle the winds, and let the worst of them pass, people migrated over to Tokyo Police Club at the Wookie. The Toronto band sensed they were playing for a much larger crowd, and they delivered. Their invigoration and charm very likely won over a few new fans.....

Continue reading "Sasquatch! 2007 | Sunday review in words & pics"

From the new album you probably already downloaded....

Continue reading "VIDEO: Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers + MP3's"

DOWNLOAD: Spoon - Mountain To Sound (MP3)

Spoon went from having no upcoming NYC shows to having two awesome upcoming NYC shows:

Spoon in NYC, 2007
Apr 23 - Bowery Ballroom (TICKETS)
Jul 11 - Battery Park (FREE)

They are definitely on my good side right now. Last time I saw Spoon was not only a complete surprise, it was as opener (and honored to be doing it according to Britt Daniel) for Roky Erickson at the 'Ice Cream Social' at Threadgill's during SXSW in Austin this year (March 15, 2007):

Small shows, free shows, suprise shows, Roky Erikson....can Spoon get any cooler right now? Yes - their upcoming album ("Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" out July 10 on Merge) has one track produced by none other than Jon Brion.

More pics (including the coolest one of all) & tour dates below....

Continue reading "SPOON - Bowery Ballroom, Battery Park, SXSW (Ga Ga Ga...)"