Stereogum listed the "40 Best New Bands of 2010". They have a lot more detail, but you can also check out their list, alphabetically, below...

Continue reading "Stereogum lists the "40 Best New Bands of 2010" "

Marnie Stern will be one of the bowlers (but not one of the performers) at a Stereogum "Gumbowl" charity event tonight at Brooklyn Bowl. You can't watch her bowl yet, but you can go to the concert afterwards (that she is not playing)....

"While the doors have to be closed during the tournament in order to film it all for charitable posterity -- and be sure we'll present you with the footage -- we're celebrating afterward by throwing open the gates for a FREE CONCERT, headlined by Woods, and featuring an opening set from the 'Gum-beloved rising sextet Effi Briest, DJ magic from Ms. St. Vincent Annie Clark, and loitering by our celebrity bowlers, who may or may not still be wearing the sweet-ass bowling jerseys we're throwing on them. We want you there (if you're 21 or older (sorry, kids!))." - Stereogum

They had an RSVP for the concert part, but now they just say "THERE WILL BE SOME "TICKETS" AT THE DOOR! COME EARLY IF YOU WANT IN. DOORS OPEN AT 9PM". Brooklyn Bowl is a big place. The flyer is below.

Other charity bowlers include The Blow (who has a show coming up at Joe's Pub), Nick Islands Thorburn Diamonds (who has 3 NYC shows coming up), Alan Neon Indian Palomo (who has multiple NYC shows coming), and Tim Les Savy Fav Harrington (who has a scheduled Brooklyn show too). The full list of bowlers is also below.

If you want to catch Marnie Stern play live, her next show will be at Glasslands on Friday, June 18th along with White Hinterland, Anni Rossi, Translations and True Womanhood. It's not free, but you get a discount if you RSVP to that here.

Anni Rossi will also be playing Pianos the night before (6/17).

More info on the Gumbowl and flyers are below...

Continue reading "Marnie Stern bowls tonight (before the free Woods show), plays in June w/ Anni Rossi who has 2 upcoming shows"

photos by Tim Griffin, words by Klaus Kinski

Joe Mande @ Club DeVille

2007 ECNY Emerging Comic Award winning comedian Joe Mande is a major favorite of mine, and he's no stranger to the Brooklyn Vegan Live Event Planning Committee (not a real committee). Not only was he on the bill of the very first installment of our epic comedy / music show Rock n' RoFL, Joe (who also performed at the Stereogum party on Saturday) was also one of two comedians to perform to a chatty crowd at the BrooklynVegan / DailyMotion SxSW Day Party on Friday March 19th, 2010. Tig Notaro was the other comedian on our show, and another personal favorite (you may know her as officer Tig on the Sarah Silverman Program).

I didn't realize until very recently that Joe has been working on a book and that it is set to drop on Tuesday March 30, 2010. The book, entitled Look At This Fucking Hipster, began as a modest Tumblr blog but quickly ballooned into a heavily followed phenomenon.

Look at this Fucking Hipster (LATFH.com) was born in April 2009 as a way to help author Joe Mande help his dad answer the question, "Is that a hipster?" Months later, with millions of followers and dozens of parodies, it has become a cultural phenomenon, referenced in media, newspapers, blogs, and more.

Look at This Fucking Hipster is a collection of photos, snarky captions and short essays exploring--and, let's be honest, poking fun at--the wide world of hipster culture, from Williamsburg to Silver Lake and points between. Chapters cover types of hipsters, celebrity hipsters, hipsters through the ages, hipster love connections, and the next generation of hipsters (AKA hipster babies).

To celebrate the release of the book (which you can get at Amazon), the March 31, 2010 installment of Totally J/K with Joe and Noah at NYC's UCB Theater will be devoted to celebrating its release with guests including Reggie Watts, Kurt Braunohler & Kristen Schaal (who you can also catch this Friday, 3/26 at Karma Lounge), BEEAAAANNSSS, and MANY MORE. And don't forget that the UCB theater is a dark, dank, subterranean venue that always has $2 hipster champagne (PBR). So grab your mom's glasses, your tightest jeans, your daddy's Red Wings (that may have actually seen some hard labor in their past), and your terrible cassette tape / bird / star tattoos and join the fun!

P.S. By BEEAAAANNSSS we assume they mean they got the actual Darren Mabee (a regular character on the latfh site) to make an appearance.

More pictures from our SXSW party, and a video of Joe interviewing Ben Gibbard at the Stereogum party (with Scott from Stereogum), below....

Continue reading "Joe Mande interviewed Ben Gibbard (video), played a BV day party w/ Tig Notaro (pics), releasing a book about 'hipsters'"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Sonic Youth - The Eternal (montage) (MP3)

Sonic Youth @ Battery Park (4th of July) (more by Jason Bergman)

Sonic Youth's new record, The Eternal, is still set for a June 9th release on Matador Records and the label is taking preorders for the album through its Buy Early Get Now program...

Along with your preorder of 'The Eternal' on LP or CD, you'll get an instant stream of the album when BEGN launches on April 28, and later (either picking it up at your fave local record store or through the auspices of the U.S. Postal Service) a bonus limited edition live LP [while supplies last] culled from Sonic Youth's July 4, 2008 show in Battery Park, which will contain an exclusive poster. Additional MP3's will be delivered via the BEGN site before or after the album's physical release date (June 9).

As reported previously, Sonic Youth is also releasing two exclusive split 7"s (one with Beck, one with Jay Reatard) for Record Store Day on April 18th.

Tuesday, April 7th (tonight), Thurston Moore curates and performs at the Sessions at Santa's at Santos Party House. You may remember the Stereogum-hosted series from its Tuesdays in March at the venue. The bill includes performances by Thurston Moore/OkkyungLee/Ikue Mori Trio, Fat Worm of Error and Noise Nomads. (Tickets are on sale.) Flyers for the next three Sessions are below.

Moore talked with Stereogum about the improv evening and future projects, including Sonic Youth's No Fun Fest performance scheduled for May 16th...

STEREOGUM: No Fun is coming up as well. Will [Sonic Youth] be playing material from the new album at that? Doing a noisier set?

TM: We're going to compose something distinct for No Fun -- it will be fucking insane...

That might shed a little light on Sonic Youth's No Fun Fest plans, but not on the program for the group's four-night run (April 16th-19th) at BAM. Those unique performances will celebrate the 90th birthday of dance choreographer Merce Cunningham. Also on the BAM bill are "former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and mixed-media sound composer Takehisa Kosugi."

SY's Lee Ranaldo just performed an original composition with the Bang on a Can All-Stars on Thursday, April 2nd. How was that?

Flyers (NSFW) for the April dates of the Sessions at Santa's series (minus the unannounced April 28th lineup), plus a 1991 Nardwuar interview that includes Kim Gordon complimenting Led Zeppelin (at the end), and all SY tour dates (with a bunch of European festival stops) below...

Continue reading "Thurston @ Santos (tonight), July 4th recording (w/ album pre-order), No Fun set info & other Sonic Youth news"

DOWNLOAD: Here We Go Magic feat. Luke Temple - Fangela (MP3)

Stereogum is co-presenting shows at Santos Party House now. Each week they'll "invite a guest curator to assemble a one-night-only lineup of performances and collaborations from sonic and visual art worlds". They kick things off tonight (3/3) with a night "curated by Lizzi Bougatsos (Gang Gang Dance, I.U.D.) and Sadie Laska (Growing, Actress, I.U.D.), featuring performances from Black Dice's Eric Copeland, DJ Matt Manderson (Neon Kobra Krew), Whitney Museum-celebrated video artist Alex Bag, and of course I.U.D. with Spencer Sweeney." "Tickets are $10 every week, with a recession-proof $5 reduction if you RSVP. It's a 21+ affair, so bring your ID. Buy all the tickets." The flyer that lists the lineups for every Tuesday night in March is below.

Speaking of Gang Gang Dance, don't forget they have a MoMA-related show coming up in NYC.

Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys played his first NYC solo (with band) show at Music Hall of Williamsburg last night. How was it? Find out tonight (3/3) when they do it again at Bowery Ballroom. Hacienda and Those Darlins are acting as openers and touring with Dan to Austin where Those Darlins will play a bunch of shows including the official BrooklynVegan SXSW showcase at Club DeVille on Wednesday March 18th (full lineup to get its own post any second now) and the My Old Kentucky Blog/Aquarium Drunkard party happening Peckerheads on Sixth the next afternoon.

Also playing SXSW (but not a BrooklynVegan party unfortunately): Luke Temple's new project Here We Go Magic., who, are also playing a show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC tonight (3/3).

Continue reading "Stereogum Santos shows, Those Darlins, Here We Go Magic"

photos by Lori Baily

Many predicted that Deerhunter would get Pitchfork's #1 album of 2008, but in fact they gave it to Fleet Foxes. Bradford Cox should still be happy with both Deerhunter at #5 and Atlas Sound at #26 though. Speaking of Bradford Cox, he blogged this...

Just got of the phone with Brian Weitz [Geologist of Animal Collective]. This was sent out via the bands email earlier this morning:

"it has come to my attention that 2 full length tracks off of our upcoming album, merriweather post pavilion have surfaced online. david, noah, and I please ask that someone assist us and leak all of the remaining tracks on the album.

the album is intended to be heard as a whole, and nothing bothers us more than individual tracks leaking and ruining the the overall album experience

-brian Geologist"

Total Bullshit. Someone actually had the nerve to hack into their e-mail account and send this out. The truth is that AC do not want their album to leak and are trying very hard to avoid the drama around said album that has risen to a fever pitch.

I am not trying to involve myself in AC's business, I am just voicing my own independent opinion.

Back in the 90's when I was first starting to make 4-track tapes I had a game where I would make a fake version of an album I was anticipating. If Pavement's Brighten the Corners were coming out soon, I had to wait till release day to hear it. I would record a set of songs that I would want the Pavement album to sound like. Some of those songs ended up becoming Atlas Sound and Deerhunter songs years later.

My advice to those who are so desperate for AC's album to leak is to pick up instruments and make your own version of what you would want it to sound like. Respect the BANDS wishes and wait till release day. Then you can compare your new songs with theirs. Who knows. Maybe your album will be the one people are wanting to leak next year. -Bradford

Previously there was whole Web Sheriff / Grizzly Bear thing. It was also announed that the album is coming out early on vinyl. It better be good!

The pictures in this post were taken at the Stereogum Gummy Awards at Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier this month. More of them below...

Continue reading "Deerhunter not P4K's #1, Gummy pics, Animal Collective leak"

photos by Lori Baily

Bell was the first of three bands to play at Stereogum's Gummies at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 8th. Bell plays a Brooklyn show again tonight...

12-18-2008 20:00 at SARAH'S BIRTHDAY @ the BELL HOUSE!!!! band set//dj set//cupcake set
7th street between 2nd and 3rd Aves., BROOKLYN, Brooklyn,
Cost: $8
W/ Holy Hail, Quinn Walker, Claymation Velociraptor, DJ Pumpkin Patch, DJ Dr. Ew, DJ BELLJAM WAFFLES

Bell House also lists The Ballet on this bill, and It won't be the first time Bell played the venue named after her (not really) (the part about it being named after her). More Gummy pics below...

Continue reading "Bell - Gummies pics, a show @ the Bell House w/ The Ballet"

photos by Lori Baily

Deerhunter, Bell and Violens are playing a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on Monday, December 8th. That's pretty soon, and tickets are on sale.

The occasion is the 2008 Stereogum Gummy Awards which has gone from being a simple online contest to a simple online contest with its own show. Voting for "Best Album", "Best Live Act", and other categories like "Best Music Blog" (hint) is going on now. The polls close December 2nd which is six days before this show.

Deerhunter last played the same Brooklyn venue on November 7th. While they were in town (with Times New Viking), they also played a show at Bowery Ballroom one day later - November 8th (exactly one month earlier than the Gummy date). Lori took pictures at that show, but we never posted them (until now). More pictures and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Deerhunter playing Stereogum Gummy Awards (please vote) @ MHOW, TIX ON SALE ++ pics from Bowery"

Photos by Gabi Porter

The Stereogum Tuesday (10/21) late night party had a LATE start. Got there a little before doors were advertised (midnight), and they weren't letting anyone in - the bands were still soundchecking. When they finally let people into the new Studio (an hour after the promised start time), Gang Gang Dance were still soundchecking. The GGD soundcheck eventually blended seamlessly into their set, and I don't remember ever liking the band as much as I did last night. The new space at Webster is intimate, and I'm used to seeing GGD in much more grandiose settings. The set was really hypnotic, but at 2:30 I had to call it a night and go home, so I unfortunately didn't get the chance to see any of the other bands on the bill." - Gabi

Free shows at The Studio continue all CMJ week. The bands Gabi missed were Marnie Stern, Crystal Stilts, and Ponytail who played the BV show at MHOW earlier in the night. Gang Gang Dance and Marnie Stern are going on tour together. Marnie Stern is also playing the free BV show at Knitting Factory on Saturday. More GGD pictures below...

Continue reading "Gang Gang Dance @ the Studio @ Webster Hall, NYC - pics"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Sammies - Sleep in My Clothes (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ponytail - Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From An Angel) (MP3)

Ponytail

Even if you don't have a badge, CMJ (Oct 21-25 in NYC) can be overwhelming... especially these days with the proliferation of day parties, unofficial showcases and afterparties. Running around like a crazy person trying to catch everyone you want to see can be fun, but sometimes it's not such a bad idea just to pick one place and stay there. With that in mind, I've picked one day party and one evening showcase for each of the five days, as well as late night parties where applicable. The guide to Tuesday (10/21) is below...

Continue reading "your guide to CMJ, Tuesday October 21, 2008"

The new space at Webster Hall is hosting free shows all week long during CMJ 2008. More details below...

Continue reading "free CMJ shows @ The Studio, VICE & Stereogum included"

photos by Ryan Muir

STEREOGUM: I was forwarded a link to Manos: The Hands of Fate. Who wrote it? Were you somehow involved?

MARTY MARQUIS: It was Brian, our drummer, who did the adaptation of a terrible B-movie of the same name. I don't know who the original writer was -- if Brian wanders in while I'm answering these I'll tell you (Hal P. Warren). He does a lot of writing, little skits, comedy routines, etc. This was his first adaptation and he worked with a producer; the two of them were basically Last Rite Productions (along with a web guy, maybe?).[Blitzen Trapper to Stereogum]

Blitzen Trapper are on tour with Fleet Foxes. They play Bowery Ballroom in NYC Saturday night. Ryan didn't stick around to see them at the Sub Pop showcase at SXSW, but he did manage to catch them at one of the Stereogum/Paste day shows. More photos from that below.....

Continue reading "Blitzen Trapper -- NYC this weekend & Paste party pics"

photo of Bell by Alix Winsby

Bell (aka Olga Bell) is a musician from NYC. That might be how you know her, and/or maybe you downloaded that Radiohead cover she did, or maybe you saw her open for Au Revoir Simone, and/or maybe you read about her on Stereogum the other day. If you haven't heard Bell yet, go check out the songs streaming on her MySpace. If you're like me, Bjork will immediately come to mind. That's why I think Stereogum made a good choice when choosing Bell to cover "It's Oh So Quiet" for their ridiculously awesome-looking new "Post" tribute album called "Enjoyed"
(though I haven't heard it yet).....

Tracklist
1. Liars - "Army Of Me"
2. Dirty Projectors - "Hyperballad"
3. High Places - "Modern Things"
4. Bell - "It's Oh So Quiet"
5. Pattern Is Movement - "Enjoy"
6. Evangelicals - "You've Been Flirting Again"
7. Xiu Xiu - "Isobel"
8. Final Fantasy & Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear) - "Possibly Maybe"
9. White Hinterland - "I Miss You"
10. El Guincho - "Cover Me"
11. Atlas Sound - "Headphones"

Nuts... PLUS, the whole album will be a free download starting March 31st (like the REM & Radiohead ones before it). March 31st is also the day that Klaus Kinski and I are throwing our next edition of Rock 'n' ROFL at Pianos which, coincidentally, also happens to include Bell (aka BELL IS PLAYING ROCK N ROFL).

Takka Takka are playing the show too. It's not the first time they've shared a bill with Bell either, and that's NOT a coincidence. Bell contributed to the new Takka Takka album which is being finished as we speak - an album that takes Takka Takka in a completely new direction with a new sound and a significantly different lineup than who was in the band when their last release came out.

So, it's looking something like this....

BrooklynVegan & Klaus Kinski present
The unofficial & unauthorized "Enjoyed" release party
(aka Rock 'n' ROFL II)
@ Pianos in NYC
on March 31, 2008

7-8 pm: DJ David Bruno AND all the free Newcastle you can drink

8-9 pm: comedy by Will Franken, Larry Murphy, Kumail Nanjiani, Sean O' Connor and Reggie Watts

9-10 pm: music by Bell
10-11 pm: music by Takka Takka
11-12 pm: music by TBA (** can't announce yet, but it's good **)

also: $3.00 Svedka lemon drops all night AND a 2nd hour of free Newcastle (time TBD) (that's 2 hours of open bar). All that for just $10. Tickets are on sale.

---

Related story: I put together a whole bunch of shows during CMJ. One was on Saturday October 20th at Pianos, during the day, upstairs & downstairs. The Maccabees were the last band to play downstairs. Doveman, Erik Friedlander and Craig Wedren were playing upstairs at the same time. Jefferson, who was there in a semi-official capacity to take pictures, wanted to shoot the Maccabees, but ended up missing them because of the upstairs lineup.

By the time he came back down, the Maccabees were already long gone and the next, unrelated show had started. He really didn't know the difference and started taking pictures of (who he thought was) the Maccabees. Eventually he figured it out and realized he'd just discovered Bell.

When Jefferson and I finally reunited, I think I said something like (now on like no sleep and 4 days into CMJ), "Where the hell have you been? Did you even see the Maccabees? We have to go see Santogold. Let's get out of here." He said something like, "Dude...chill. I was shooting this girl Bell. She was great." I think then by the next day I totally forgot about it, and it wasn't until I recently showed him the already-booked March 31st lineup that he pointed out that he had some never-before-seen Bell pictures (aka the ones you see in this post.....below) (the end)....

Continue reading "BELL is playing Rock 'n' ROFL w/ Takka Takka & TBA +++ Stereogum, a Bjork tribute & some pics from CMJ"

* Spoon - rain or shine
* Femi Kuti & The Positive Force playing Summerstage
* Deerhunter will scare Bowery Ballroom
* The Daily News lists 100 summer must-dos in NYC
* 7-11 Kwik-E-Marts giving away free Slurpees
* Stereogum giving away free Radiohead covers

What else?

DOWNLOAD: The Swayback - I'm Waiting for the Man (VU cover) (MP3)

According to the first two people in line, this is the second wave of fans looking to score a wristband to get into the Paul McCartney in-store. Amoeba staff already sent a group away after giving out the allotted number of wristbands. This photo was taken around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Wristbands for the in-store, which is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, were supposed to be handed out starting at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The people here are either waiting for another batch of wristbands or plan to sleep on the ground just in case Amoeba decides to let more people inside for the performance. [unsure shot]

In related news...
* Stereogum interviews Paul McCartney
* Pitchfork interviews Paul McCartney
* PopMatters interviews Paul McCartney
* Weird Al interviews Paul McCartney
* Idolator says Paul will talk to anyone
* Actually.....It's true!