by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Sleepy Sun - "Open Eyes" (MP3)

Sleepy Sun at ATP 2009 (more by Ryan Muir)

Sleepy Sun packed the room with fans that drove up from San Diego to catch them play old and new tunes. Playing a healthy mix of numbers off their previous CD "Embrace", their new release "Fever", and currently unreleased numbers, Sleepy Sun took the room willingly hostage into unknown musical terrain that fed the soul and ears.

Slamming the jams with the supernova sound of "Marina" off of "Fever". This opening number cracked the paint of the walls with its forceful, magnifigant beats, electrifying Hendrix-guitar stylings, intense vocals, and eclectic arrangements. The band is at their best in this newer track because it showcases what they do well in previous numbers then tightens that up into a compact, yet skillfully accomplished piece of work.-[examiner review from July 23rd in LA]

They killed it at ATP 2009, and now Sleepy Sun will return to the fest again in 2010 along with an accompanying NYC show on 9/6 with Sweet Apple and Sian Alice Group at Knitting Factory. Tickets are on sale. The show is part of an intersecting tour routing for Sleepy Sun and Sweet Apple. The one off date will serve as their only pairing before each moves in their own separate directions. Full tour skeds are below.

Sleepy Sun have a new LP out now, Fever, via ATP Recordings. Dig on one track, "Open Eyes", from that LP above and check out the video for it and all tour dates below.

Continue reading "Sleepy Sun LP out (MP3), touring, playing NY w/ Sweet Apple"

DOWNLOAD: Sweet Apple - Do You Remember (MP3)

Thurston w/ Sonic Youth @ MHOW in November (more by Lori Baily)

Society's Ills: In 1994 Society's Ills (Moore, Cadena, Watt, Markey) made their world premier with the now coveted "Skins, Brains, and Guts" release - a slab that managed to cram (9) 7 seconds covers onto one 7". In 2010, the band is back and once again fronted by Thurston but he brings with him a new crue of slayers to launch the hardcore fury:

Thurston Moore: Vocals
J Mascis: Guitar
Don Fleming: Guitar [SY producer & Velvet Monkeys/Gumball frontman]
Andrew W.K.: Bass
Awesome Allison: Drums [from Awesome Color]

This set is their first, but don't worry if you miss it cause I'm sure we can put this together again in another 15 years! [Ecstatic Peace]

Society's Ills play in addition to Thurston Moore solo, Talk Normal, The Entrance Band, Violent Soho, the Slits' Viv Albertine, Awesome Color, Jemina Pearl and more at the Ecstatic Peace SXSW Showcase happening Friday, March 19th at Red 7 in Austin. Curious about Society's Ills? Their version of 7 Seconds' "I Hate Sports" is below.

J Mascis will also be playing at SXSW with Sweet Apple, who are playing Mercury Lounge on April 20th. One of their SXSW sets will be at the showcase for TeePee Records, who are putting out the Sweet Apple debut, Love & Desperation, a track from which is above. That show is Thursday, March 18th at Habana Calle 6, and also on the bill are Priestess, Iron Age, Nebula, Naam, Imaad Wasif and more. Full details and a poster are below. Tee Pee Records has also teamed up with BrooklynVegan and Chronic Youth for another day party taking place on Saturday, March 20th in Austin. This is the first we've mentioned it. Stay tuned for more info.

Lou Barlow will also be at SXSW (backed again by The Missingmen) - one of his shows will be the Merge Records showcase at Cedar Street Courtyard on March 18th also featuring Let's Wrestle, She & Him, and others. Full lineup below. For She & Him it's one of two official SXSW shows. They also play Saturday night (March 20th) at Auditorium Shores (with Justin Townes Earle & TBA). Cheap Trick play the same slot at Auditorium Shores one night earlier.

Merge's showcase mentions that one slot will be filled by "Special Guest". We don't know who that is, but we'd have to guess Superchunk is a strong possibility since Mac & Laura have a speaking engagement (in a bookstore) on March 17th, and another one (official SXSW) at the convention center on March 19th (with Michael Azerrad), and the band is on the bill of the Village Voice day party happening at La Zona Rosa the afternoon of March 19th (with the xx, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Surfer Blood). It's definitely not Spoon who play the NPR show at Stubb's on March 17th with Deerhunter (their tour-mates) and The Walkmen.

Society's Ills Bassist Andrew W.K. will also be performing separately (and speaking) at SXSW (and at MtyMx in Mexico).

Kim and Thurston are playing with the Plastic Ono Band in their two-night Brooklyn Academy of Music run. They were at the dress rehearsal (aka the first night) last night (2/16). BV photographer Greg Cristman was in the audience and told us, "One definite highlight was Thurston and Kim played with Yoko as a trio and did a killer version of Mulberry from Unfinished Music No. 2 while the film Fly was projected on a huge screen behind them!" - a (poor quality) video clip of one of the other songs is below.

Full lineups for the showcases and videos are below...

Continue reading "Thurston Moore (& Kim) rehearsed w/ Yoko @ BAM, recreating Society's Ills (w/ Mascis, WK), appearing @ SXSW (like She & Him, Merge Records, Tee Pee...) "

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Nebula - "The Perfect Rapture" (MP3)

Nebula at BV-BBG Day Party during CMJ (more by Paul Birman)

After passing through customs on their return from a European trek, Nebula will take a few weeks away from the road before heading back out in middle March for a string of dates that'll take the band through SXSW, on to Pianos in NYC on 3/27, and out to the West Coast by the middle of April. The Pianos date is just one of a few that the band have lined up with their Tee Pee compadres Quest for Fire after SXSW. Then in Chicago on April 1st they team up with The Willowz and Clutch side project Lionize for the remainder of the west-heading tour. All dates below.

The Willowz meanwhile are in the midst of a tour with Delta Spirit that brings them to Pianos in NYC TONIGHT (2/4) (and to Union Hall Friday, 2/5) (and then to the same two venues a week after that).

Nebula's tour dates include the Tee Pee showcase at SXSW on Thursday, March 18th at Habana Calle 6. The two stage affair will feature appearances from Priestess, Iron Age, Nebula, Naam, Quest For Fire, Kreisor, The Atomic Bitchwax, Sweet Apple (featuring J Mascis), Imaad Wasif, Spindrift, Hopewell, Jason Simon (of Dead Meadow), and The Main Street Gospel.

Sweet Apple will play their first NYC show on April 20th.

Nebula and tourmates Quest for Fire are on the verge of going half on a 7". The release, due March 23rd, will feature artwork by Andre Ethier (The Deadly Snakes) and be limited to 1000 copies. Download Nebula's contribution to that split, "The Perfect Rapture", above.

All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Nebula touring w/ Quest for Fire, Willowz & Lionize - 2010 tour dates (include Tee Pee showcase @ SXSW) ++ new MP3"

DOWNLOAD: Sweet Apple - Do You Remember (MP3)

Sweet Apple is a new group that features J. Mascis (drums/guitar/vocals), Cobra Verde's Tim Parnin (guitar) and John Petkovic (vocals/guitar), and Witch's Dave Sweetapple (bass/vocals).

Their debut album, a 12-song disc called Love & Desperation - mixed by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, The Hold Steady) and Don Depew (Guided By Voices, Cobra Verde) - comes out April 20th on Tee Pee Records. That's the same day the band plays NYC's Mercury Lounge. Tickets go on sale Friday, January 29th at noon. It's currently their only confirmed show, though a spring tour and SXSW plans are expected.

"Do You Remember," the hard rocking first song from the band, is posted above. The full story behind their formation is below...

Continue reading "Sweet Apple (new band featuring J Mascis & others) releasing Tee Pee Records album (MP3), announce NYC show"