photos by Amanda Hatfield

Kurt Vile & the Violators @ Bowery Ballroom, 5/16/2013

The set was strong throughout, with certain jaw-dropping standouts. The pulsing "Shame Chamber," arguably the bounciest and most radio-friendly track on Pretty Daze, came to a gripping crescendo of piercing howls, frantic guitar soloing and tireless percussion. It was almost as though Vile was baiting the FM dial only to forcefully back away and maintain his musical independence. "Girl Called Alex," a heady, wafting song that grows increasingly more agitated and electrified as the measures race by, had the crowd applauding before it was even over.-[Williamette Week]

The above review comes from the Portland, OR appearance of Kurt Vile & The Violators, who headlined a sold out Bowery Ballroom last night (5/16), joined by openers Angel Olsen and Steve Gunn. Pictures from Bowery are in this post. In other Vile news, the singer recently sat in for a full acoustic performance at XPN. Stream it in full at their site.

Last night's Bowery shows was one of many on Kurt's tour, that will swing through NYC again next month to headline the 4Knots Fest. Tonight (5/16) Kurt will be on The Late Show with David Letterman. More pictures from Bowery Ballroom are below.

Continue reading "Kurt Vile & The Violators played Bowery Ballroom with Angel Olsen and Steve Gunn (pics); playing Letterman tonight"

Kurt Vile at Coachella 2013 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Kurt Vile made a video for "Never Run Away," the second single off of his excellent new album, Wakin On A Pretty Daze. Check it out below (via NPR).

Kurt's tour brings him to NYC for a sold out show on May 16 at Bowery Ballroom with Angel Olsen (who plays her own show a few days later) and Steve Gunn (whose new album, Time Off, comes out on June 18 -- stream a new track from it here).

He then returns for the free 4Knots Music Fest on June 29 with The Men (who play Union Pool on Saturday [5/4]), Marnie Stern, Parquet Courts, Reigning Sound, White Lung, The Babies (who just played Glasslands), Fat Tony and Heliotropes (who also play a record release show at Glasslands).

Updated dates are listed, along with the new video, below...

Continue reading "watch Kurt Vile's video for "Never Run Away" + updated dates"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Kurt Vile - "Wakin On A Pretty Day (MP3)

As mentioned, Kurt Vile is releasing his new album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, this year and since we last spoke, more details on the release have arisen. It's a 69-minute double album and will be out on April 9 via Matador. Like 2011's Smoke Ring for My Halo, it was produced by John Agnello (who also works with Kurt's forefathers, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr). You can download the 9+ minute sort-of-title track, "Wakin On A Pretty Day," at the top of this post or stream it below. It follows in the path of Kurt's cleaned-up sound that he explored on Smoke Ring for My Halo and the subsequent So Outta Reach EP, and if you liked those albums, this new track should be getting you excited for the new album. That's the cover art above and the tracklist is below. You can pre-order the album physically or digitally now.

As mentioned, Kurt will be playing a NYC show this month with Owen at NYU on February 23, and after taking about two months off, he'll head out on a full tour with his backing band, The Violators, which kicks off at Coachella and brings Kurt back to NYC on May 16 at Bowery Ballroom. That show, and many others on the tour, is with Angel Olsen (who we just caught in Chicago) and Steve Gunn. Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Friday (2/15) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Though you'll have to wait until April to get the album in your hands (or you know, on your hard drive), if you're in NYC you can hear it much sooner because BrooklynVegan is presenting a listening party this Tuesday (2/12) at Electric Lady Studios. If you'd like to go, enter via the contest details we've laid out below.

Contest details, song stream, and all dates, below...

Continue reading "Kurt Vile reveals album details, new MP3 & tour dates; win tix to a listening party at Electric Lady Studios!"

Oneida at Ecstatic Music Fest (more by David Andrako)

As previously mentioned, live concert recording site NYC Taper just turned five years old and is throwing a party at 285 Kent on Saturday (5/12) to celebrate, with performances by Oneida, Sightings and Prince Ruperts Drops. Joining Oneida onstage will be James McNew of Yo La Tengo/Dump fame and Greg Fox (Guardian Alien/GDFX). If you can't make it, we're going to guess someone will make an downloadable audio document of it. Meanwhile peruse NYC Taper's awesome catalog of nearly live recordings. There's nearly 1000 of them at present -- like the recent Lower Dens show at Glasslands, and the Crystal Stilts/Woods show that took place at 285 Kent last weekend. The flyer for the NYC Taper show is at the bottom of this post.

Greg Fox plays the Stone earlier the same night as part of the ongoing Buke & Gase-curated series of shows.

While we're talking about 285 Kent, tonight (5/11) the Brooklyn venue hosts an evening of electronic avant garde and noise, with former Yellow Swan man Pete Swanson, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Forma, and SSPS.

Then on Sunday (5/13), Woodsist Records is throwing a record release party for MV&EE's Space Homestead, with a live performance by the band as well as Steve Gunn and Herbcraft. MV&EE have some tour dates coming up and those are below, along with a stream of a song from the new album....

Continue reading "Oneida, James McNew, MV&EE & more this weekend @ 285 Kent (where Crystal Stilts & Woods recently played)"

DOWNLOAD: Woods - "Christmas Time is Here" (VInce Guaraldi Cover) (MP3)

Woods at Woodsist Fest in July (more by Natasha Ryan)

Woods are heading out on a December tour that begins today (12/7) and culminates in a hometown show at Glasslands on December 19 with Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Steve Gunn, and Tide Eyed (DJ). Tickets are on sale now.

Woods are also welcoming the month of December with a cover of a song Dawes also just performed for the AV Club. It's Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here." You can grab that cover above, and stream it below along with all dates...

Continue reading "Woods on tour, covered 'Christmas Time is Here' (MP3, dates)"

Bardo Pond at Music Hall of Williamsburg 2009 (more by Lori Baily)

Bardo Pond will play Death By Audio TONIGHT (11/19), as part of a Northern Spy event with Eleven Twenty Nine and Steve Gunn. Doors open at 8PM for the $10 show, and more info is here. Though Northern Spy is hosting the DBA show, Northern Spy artist Hubble will be just down the street tonight at 285 Kent, celebrating a record release and supporting Psychic Ills.

Bardo Pond recently played the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham. Clash wrote...

One of the more frustrating things about Supersonic is just how much great music you end up missing. Pioneers like Silver Apples and Tony Conrad are both sacrificed throughout the weekend, the disappointingly washed out Wolves In The Throne Room and the inconceivably overrated Skull Defekts somehow flickering onto my radar in their place. Yet a band doesn't necessarily need to be innovative or even particularly refreshing to steal the show. Bardo Pond, performing early in the evening in space number 2 and having to negotiate theirs and everyone elses hangovers delight, a gorgeously crushing celebration of wistful acid tracer trails and shoegaze psyche. That these old hands stole the show is perhaps indicative of inconsistent yet strangely satisfying blend that comprised this years festival as a whole.

Listen to Thurston Moore talk about Bardo Pond HERE. See Thurston Moore on tour in early 2012.

DOWNLOAD: Woodsman - "In Circles" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Woodsman - "Tone Cloak" (MP3)

Woodsman @ SXSW 2011 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

"After spreading the gospel in the Rhinoceropolis DIY scene of their native Denver, Woodsman unleashed a steady torrent of brain-burning 7"s and cassettes last year with the help of Mexican Summer and Lefse. On their new full-length, Rare Forms, Woodsman take full advantage of one of Germany's finest exports: the mechanical, "motorik" 4/4, or what Neu! drummer Klaus Dinger once called the "Apache-Beat." Still, their music evokes something more bucolic than the steel and asphalt of the autobahn. Warm guitar tones, distant melodies, grainy feedback loops, and shamanistic drumming summon panoramic landscapes and mystical milieus-- images, I think, that would come to mind even if the band hadn't adopted a pastoral namesake." [Altered Zones]

Woodsman, who are set to release their upcoming EP, Mystic Places, on October 25 via Fire Talk, have a few shows coming up including two in NYC this week. They play Cake Shop on Thursday (8/25) with Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, Orca Team and Flower Orgy and Shea Stadium on Friday (8/26) with Steve Gunn, Sacred Harp, and GDFX. They also play a New Haven, CT show on August 31 at BAR. Grab two MP3s from the upcoming EP above, or stream the same songs with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Woodsman releasing new EP, touring (MP3s & dates)"

The second annual Hopscotch Festival will go down in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, across 12 different venues with over 135 bands, from September 8th through 10th. The lineup this year runs the gamut of independent music... from traditional indie staples (The Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) to southern-inflected rock (Drive-By Truckers) to noise (Prurient) to hip hop (Beans) to garage (Jeff The Brotherhood) to funk (Budos Band) to metal (Krallice), and everywhere in between (Swans, Rhys Chatham, etc etc). Tickets are currently on sale. Full lineup is below.

Hopscotch happens almost three months after Guided By Voices play a Brooklyn Northside Festival show in McCarren Park (tickets) which is one day after Beirut plays a Northside Festival show on the same McCarren Park stage with... Sharon Van Etten (though she may have been accidentally announced at one point, they officially kept her placement on the bill under wraps until after Saturday's Music Hall of Williamsburg show). Tickets for Beirut/SVE are still on sale, and another opener will be added too.

Guided by Voices (whose Brooklyn show also has more openers coming) are also playing Pitchfork in July with Animal Collective whose Prospect Park show is now on AmEx presale.

Swans' upcoming NYC show is now on AmEx presale too.

Hopscotch lineup below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Fest returns to Raleigh (2011 lineup announced), Sharon Van Etten officially added to Northside Fest"