by Dominick Mastrangelo

SXSW Day Three started over at the free Dickies Sounds Day Party. Free silk-screened posters with all the bands playing that day (including She & Him and Surfer Blood at the official showcase that night) were printed up and handed out on the spot. People played ping pong next to the house while around the corner Greg Laswell played a few new songs, several old ones, as well as his incredibly depressing take on Cyndi Lauper's "Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun". After a quick dash over to the convention center it was back to Dickies, where there was suddenly a long line, to catch the all-girl quartet, Warpaint, who were fantastic. Then Rogue Wave closed out the day portion. I still can't get excited about their new record, but live Zach Rogue and his newly configured lineup have it down and the crowd we're into it from the start. The highlight being "Lake Michigan" and a slow-building, two-minute intro.

For the evening I set up camp at the Mohawk for the Slumberland/Cake Shop Showcase. Sheffield's indiepop trio Standard Fare opened inside and their performance was great. A better batch of indie pop songs you'll be hard-pressed to find this year. Philadelphia drum-guitar duo Reading Rainbow were next and another indie pop band, the excellent Summer Cats (from Australia), followed. Frankie Rose and the Outs were up next with their hazy, lo-fi rock. I skipped out after that to nip over to the Galaxy Backyard to catch The Antlers (completely forgetting I would see them the following afternoon at another Party.) Their third show of the festival and they just nailed it. People around me who had not heard of them were won over after just one song (the increasingly uptempo "Sylvia".) By the end, one girl put her hands up in the shape of a heart right in front of Peter Silberman, eliciting a smile from the frontman mid-verse. From there it was a quick dash back up Red River to the Mohawk where both inside and outside were at capacity with Miike Snow about to go on outside (followed by Mayer Hawthorne, neither of who I caught) and Pains of Being Pure at Heart inside. "Welcome to the Cake Shop," said Kip Berman at the start of the New York indie pop band's set, pointing at the Cake Shop banner on the wall behind them.

Day One HERE. Day Two HERE. Day Three continued below....

Continue reading "SXSW 2010 day 3 in pics & review (Pains of Being Pure of Heart, Rogue Wave, Antlers, Cake Shop, Warpaint, more) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Golden Triangle - Jinx (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Golden Triangle - Neon Noose (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Sandwitches - Back to the Sea (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Title Tracks - Every Little Bit Hurts (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pretty & Nice - Tora Tora Tora (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pretty & Nice - Tora Tora Tora (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Hey You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Super (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Let's Go (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - TV Guide (MP3)

March is consistently one of the most insane months for shows, due to nearly every band being on tour thanks to SXSW. The flood doesn't really kick in till next week, so view this weekend as the relative calm before the storm. Also, before we get into my recommendations, I'd like to mention that New York Noise, the NYC-TV show that has been documenting the local indie scene for eight seasons, is in danger of cancellation. Given it's new Tuesdays at 5AM slot (and its showpage on the website now gone), it almost might as well be off the air -- a worse fate than 120 Minutes ever saw. There are so few outlets to watch music videos on actual television anymore, let alone ones from semi-obscure indie rock bands, and even less done in such consistently clever, funny, fresh ways. (Breakfast at Sulimays was not the first to interview old people about indie rock.)

Music is a huge part of New York City culture and surely the only show on the air about it deserves to continue. If you feel the same way I urge you to sign the Bring Back New York Noise petition. You can read more about it and what's going on with the show over at the Village Voice. And there are some highlights from the show at the bottom of this post.

The Sandwitches

Ok, back to the music. San Francisco's The Sandwitches are visiting this weekend for three shows before heading off on a tour that will lead them to Austin for SXSW where they'll play more than a few parties including the BrooklynVegan Thursday day party.

They play the Rockstar Bar tonight (3/5) and then Monster Island on Saturday (3/6) with Golden Triangle.  Singers Heidi and Grace both spent time in The Fresh & Onlys and drummer Roxy used to be in Brilliant Colors. Like Donnie & Marie, they're a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. In a San Francisco indie sort of way, which means a fair amount of reverb.

Kelley Stoltz says of the Sandwitches: "Imagine a 60's Girl-group is on tour and their van breaks down near a gothic castle high on the hill, Dario Argento invites them in to perform a concert for his tweaked actors in a big dark red room inside and, if the dream is right, it's the Sandwiches - they'd fit right in with those misfits and speak the same language. I'd like to be there to dance." I'm not sure I can top that description. I like their album, How to Make Ambient Sadcake, quite a bit and you can download opening track "Back to the Sea" at the top of this post.

After SXSW they'll play Todd P's MtyMx festival and then tour back to San Francisco with Thee Oh Sees and The Baths.

Golden Triangle

That Monster Island show on Saturday is the official record release party for Golden Triangle's debut, Double Jointer, which came out this week on Hardly Art. You can check out two songs from the album at the top of this post. I think you either like this sort of fuzzed out, reverb-soaked garage rock or you don't, but this record is a lot of fun -- a psychedelic art school party band that's part B-52's, part paisley underground, part Cavestomp.

Saturday should be a fun one, with an almost all-girl lineup. In addition to the Sandwitches, there's Girls at Dawn and Coasting, all of whom I like. Golden Triangle are also playing a lot of shows during SXSW including the same Thursday BV show as Sandwitches. All dates are at the bottom of this post.

Title Tracks

Playing together two nights this weekend are Washington D.C.'s Title Tracks and Boston's Pretty & Nice. They play Saturday (3/6) at Union Hall and then Sunday (3/8) at Cake Shop.

As mentioned before, Title Tracks is the new band from John Davis, previously of much-loved Q and Not U, and the great but unfortunately shortlived Georgie James. That said, Title Tracks' just-released debut, It Was Easy, is pretty great, full of guitar-centric power pop in a late '70s style that might bring to mind Rockpile, Marshall Crenshaw or the dB's... or more recently Sloan and the New Pornographers. Two songs are at the top of this post. Davis is a fantastic songwriter (and performer) and while we may miss his previous bands, be glad he's still cranking out great tunes.

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice's music tips just the other side of 1980, with slightly nervier pop (XTC and Chris Stamey's songs with the dB's being obvious influences) but just as catchy and their 2008 album, Get Young, didn't get enough attention I don't think. Hopefully they've got a new album out sometime soon and we'll hear songs from it at one of the shows. They're fun live.

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And last but in no way least are Australian band Summer Cats who make their NYC debut tonight (3/5) as part of the Mondo! party at Don Hills. They also play Sunday at Bruar Falls. Super-pumped to see these guys live tonight. I wrote loads about them earlier in the week so go read that, won't you? The Bruar Falls show also features local power-poppers Onward Chariots who sound pretty good on their Myspace. I'll be at an Oscar party (I'm bringing Hummus: Based on the Novel Precious by Sapphire) but those who don't care about the Academy Awards should show your support to these Cats. Like most of the bands in this post, they'll be in Austin for SXSW too. And elsewhere. Go see 'em.

That's it for this week. Videos and tour dates are below....

Continue reading "NY Noise, The Sandwitches, Golden Triangle, Title Tracks, Pretty & Nice, Summer Cats & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Hey You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Super (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Let's Go (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - TV Guide (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Tambourine - For Ex-Lovers Only (MP3)

Summer Cats

As previously reported, Australia is invading America (and NYC) this month -- musically speaking -- and another battalion has been added to their ranks: Melbourne's Summer Cats. The band are making the most of their trip with a quick East Coast / Midwest tour -- including Mondo! at Don Hill's on Friday (3/5) and then Bruar Falls in Brooklyn on Sunday (3/7) -- then down to Austin for SXSW, then to California for the West Coast editions of Slumberland's 20th Anniversary concerts.

Summer Cats are an almost quintessentially Slumberland-sounding band: sunny male/female vocals, jangly guitars that sometimes get very very noisy, and vintage organ. The band kind of is vintage Slumberland too -- singer Scott Stevens spent a good portion of the '90s fronting shoegazers The Earthmen, whose "Cool Chick #59" was one of the label's early singles. After a string of 7"s on labels like Popboomerang and Cloudberry, Summer Cats became labelmates of Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Crystal Stilts and released their debut album, Songs for Tuesdays, last year.

There's a brand new single out from the band, "Your Timetable," that definitely dips into the band's distortion-loving side. You can download it's poppier flipside, "TV Guide," at the top of this post. There are three other Summer Cats tunes to download too, do check them out -- good stuff.

As for the West Coast Slumberland 20 shows are happening March 27 in San Francisco (sold out) at the Rickshaw Stop, and then the next night (3/28) at the Echo in Los Angeles. As much as I enjoyed the SL20 show at Bell House back in November, I'm more than a little jealous of the California line-ups, especially the San Francisco one. Both shows are headlined by UK indiepop stalwarts Boyracer who are currently claiming these will be their last-ever shows, plus Henry's Dress (original lineup!!!), Go Sailor (Rose Melberg of Tiger Trap/Softies and Amy Linton of Henry's Dress/Aisler's Set, their first show in 14 years!), and more recent Slumberland acts Brown Recluse, Devon Williams, Neverever (ex Royal We and Bricolage), and third-ever (and fourth-ever) live performances of Sic Alps side project, The How. The Rickshaw Stop show also has local Slumberland act Brilliant Colors. And Summer Cats, of course. Holy crap!

Summer Cats also play the Cake Shop/Slumberland showcase at SXSW (3/19 at the Mohawk)  that also features The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Frankie & the Outs, Grass Widow, Reading Rainbow and Standard Fare (who we just posted about).

Black Tambourine

While on the subject of Slumberland Records, and to make this post as tangential (and Brooklyn Vegan-esque) as possible, as part of the label's 20th anniversary they're putting out a new compilation of one of their earliest bands: the short-lived but highly influential Black Tambourine. The group was made up of Pam Berry (also of Glo-Worm and co-founder of zine chickfactor), Velocity Girl's Archie Moore, Brian Nelson and Mike Schulman who runs Slumberland to this day. This replaces the label's previous Black Tambourine comp, offering up six previously unheard tracks. Two of those tracks are demos and the other four are brand new -- two originals, plus covers of Buddy Holly and Suicide. Out March 30, Black Tambourine will be available on CD and a gatefold double LP. Despite the new recordings, the band aren't getting back together or touring... so don't get too excited (editor's note: though I heard there is a chance of a UK show). There is a new video for their song "For Ex-Lovers Only," which you can watch below (and download an MP3 above).

After the jump there are Summer Cats videos and tour dates, and that Black Tambourine music video, album art and tracklist...

Continue reading "Summer Cats playing NYC, SXSW & LA Slumberland show w/ Henry's Dress & Go Sailor (dates) ++ Black Tambourine comp"