by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Pete & the Pirates - Jennifer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Let's Wrestle - Tanks (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tap Tap - Queen of Hearts (MP3)

Let's Wrestle

Two of UK label Stolen Recordings' best bands will be here next week for CMJ: Let's Wrestle and Pete & the Pirates. Both are playing The Bell House Wednesday night (10/21) as part of a pretty killer line-up that also includes New Zealand's great Surf City and Chicago's The Love Language. While the Bell House is far from the Lower East Side heart of the CMJ action, there's enough good bands on this bill that it would be hard to feel like you're missing out on anything better.

Maybe you saw Let's Wrestle back in March when they played NYC right before SXSW. Their debut album, In the Court of Wrestling Let's, came out earlier this year and is charmingly shambolic, full of catchy songs and self-deprecating humor. They were the last band I saw at SXSW which was a great way to close out the festival.

Pete and the Pirates

Pete & the Pirates, however, topped my list of SXSW 2009 favorites:

Easily the best band I saw at SxSW this year. Of course, as their album Little Death made my Best of 2008, I already had a predilection to like them but Pete and the Pirates so nailed their great songs live -- the harmonies, the guitar interplay, everything -- that I just had a big grin on my face the whole time. My only regret: not seeing them more than once.

And what I wrote about their album, Little Death:

I can't quite put my finger on who Pete and the Pirates remind me of -- the Bats? Billy Bragg? Somewhere in between? -- but I can't get their songs out of my head. Spot-on harmonies, jaunty melodies, nice arrangements, funny-sad-literate lyrics, and great song after great song.

Pete & the Pirates are putting the finishing touches on the follow-up to Little Death, but if you're a fan and are in the need of new songs, frontman Tom Sanders also has a solo project, Tap Tap, which just released its second album, On My Way, which is also very good. I'm not really sure what differentiates the two, but as long as there are enough songs to go around I don't care.

In addition to the Wednesday Bell House show, both Pete & the Pirates and Let's Wrestle will be playing unofficial shows during CMJ as well. Pete & the Pirates, along with Surf City, are playing the free BrooklynVegan/Bowery Presents party at Pianos on the afternoon of Saturday, October 24th (full details TBA). All dates for both, as they stand right now, plus some videos, are below.

Continue reading "label-mates Pete & The Pirates and Let's Wrestle coming for CMJ (MP3's, videos & 2009 tour dates) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Let's Wrestle - I Won't Lie to You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Screaming Tea Party - I'd Rather Be Stuck on the Stair Rail (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: My Sad Captains - Great Expectations (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Artefacts For Space Travel - Recoup (MP3)

Let's Wrestle


London's Stolen Recordings (not to be confused with Ultragrrrl's Stolen Transmission) is one of the cooler small UK indie labels, having released some great records last year including Pete and the Pirates' Little Death which made my Best of 2008 list. Like seemingly everyone in the music industry, the label is going to have a showcase at next month's South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX, featuring almost their entire roster: Pete & the Pirates, Let's Wrestle, My Sad Captains, Screaming Tea Party and Artefacts for Space Travel. It's Thursday night at Wave Rooftop if you're interested and are attending.

While none of Stolen Recordings records have gotten released in America, you can get almost all of them on Emusic if you subscribe to that. For those in NYC, we get our own mini Stolen Recordings showcase soon, featuring two of the label's groups - Let's Wrestle and Screaming Tea Party. They both will be playing a handful of shows here before they head to Austin.

Let's Wrestle are punky, shambolic, and pretty irresistible. Check out "I Won't Lie to You" at the top of this post, it's probably the band's most well-known song to date and is indicative of singer Wesley Patrick Gonzalez's lyrical style that is both funny and self-deprecating, a style somewhere between Los Campesinos and Art Brut. ("No matter how many records I buy, I can't fill this void.") Their EP from last year, In Loving Memory Of, collected some of their best songs though not "Song for an Abba Tribute Record" or "I Wish I was in Husker Du" two songs that are worth searching for. Maybe they'll show up on their debut, In the Court of Wrestling Let's, when it comes out later this year.

Let's Wrestle are playing four shows in NYC, including one at Maxwell's, one opening for Black Lips at Music Hall of Williamsburg (tickets), and, as previously mentioned, one opening for Pains of Being Pure at Heart at The Bell House (tickets). Pains and Let's Wrestle will also do a few East Coast dates in addition to the Brooklyn show. All dates are at the bottom of this post.

Screaming Tea Party

Tokyo via London trio Screaming Tea Party get compared to Sonic Youth and the Jesus and Mary Chain a lot, and there are plenty of buzzsaw riffs, shouty choruses and blasts of noise to be found on their debut EP, Golden Blue, though they made me think of early-'90s band Daisy Chainsaw, if you remember them at all. Judge for yourself: their single "I'd Rather be Stuck on the Stair Rail" can be downloaded at the top of this post. Screaming Tea Party have three NYC shows -- though none on the same bill as Let's Wrestle -- including stops at Cake Shop, Fontanas, and the Crashin' In pre-SXSW party with Depreciation Guild, Mirror Mirror and We Are Country Mice at Public Assembly.

Full details at the bottom of this post, along with some videos...

Continue reading "Let's Wrestle & Screaming Tea Party are coming - NY, SXSW"