DOWNLOAD: The Skull Defekts - "Fragrant Nimbus" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Thank You "1-2-3 Bad" (MP3)

Daniel Higgs

Glasslands will host a headlining set from Zanzo (aka Hisham Baroocha of Soft Circle with Rob Lowe of Lichens) and additional performances from Thank You and Daniel A.I.U. Higgs TONIGHT (1/25). Entry will cost you a paltry $7, and the show starts at 8:30.

The show will double as a record release party for Thank You, as their new LP Golden Worry is out today via Thrill Jockey. Download "1-2-3 Bad" above and check out a video for "Birth Reunion" below. In early Feb, Thank You will hit the road in support of the LP, tagging Death By Audio on February 12th as part of that jaunt. Double Dagger is also part of the show, and will play NYU with Fucked Up the day before. Full Thank You tour sked is below.

Tonight at Glasslands is one of two NYC shows scheduled for Lungfish member Daniel A.I.U. Higgs in the near future He'll also play Issue Project Room on 2/26 with Heresy of the Free Spirit ("Jozef Van Wissem and Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalists Che Chen (violin, bowed rewap, bass recorder, percussion and tape machine) and Robbie Lee"). Tickets are on sale.

In addition to both of the previously mentioned shows, Daniel Higgs has announced that he has joined on as a member of Skull Defekts. Higgs will appear on the band's forthcoming LP Peer Amid due via Thrill Jockey on 2/15. Check out the first track "Fragrant Nimbus" available for download above/streaming below. The band will follow up the release of the LP with US dates in late March and April with Zomes, including April 3rd at Littlefield in Brooklyn.

That Skull Defekts song stream, the Thank You video, and all tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Daniel Higgs playing solo shows & in the Skull Defekts, Thank You touring w/ a new LP, Soft Circle+Lichens = Zanzo"

Interpol @ the Creators Project (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

today in NYC
* Oran Etkin @ Barbes
* Brothers Past @ Bowery Ballroom
* Bill Carney's Jug Addicts @ Barbes
* Antietam, Dump, Rattle @ Union Hall
* The Harriet Tubman Trio @ The Stone
* UT, Talk Normal @ Issue Project Room
* The Black Crowes @ Best Buy Theater
* Howard Fishman @ Abrons Arts Center
* Blues Traveler, The Cringe @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Bob Mould, Marshall Crenshaw @ City Winery
* Crawl Babies, Corita, Spite House @ Bruar Falls
* Freelance Whales, Miniature Tigers @ Maxwell's
* Dawes, Vetiver, Peter Wolf Crier @ Webster Hall
* Lucinda Black Bear, Beau Jennings @ 92YTribeca
* Interpol, White Rabbits @ United Palace Theatre
* The Dandy Warhols, Blue Giant @ The Bell House
* Mr. Gnome, The Morgues, Papertwin @ Union Pool
* Matt Costa, Everest, JBM @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Unsolved Mysteries, Prayer Town, J.Tana @ Don Pedro
* Thank You, Silk Flowers, Regal Degal @ Death By Audio
* Erland & The Carnival, The Black Hollies @ The Rock Shop
* Shawn Mullins, Daniel Wayne, Callaghan @ Le Poisson Rouge
* The Grey Area, Bartholomew, BR and Timebomb @ Canal Room
* Title TK (Cory Arcangel, Howie Chen, Alan Licht) @ Other Music
* The Honey Brothers, April Smith and the Great Picture Show @ Maxwell's
* Baby Dayliner, Cookies, Five O'Clock Heroes, The Rhodes, Modern Rivals @ Mercury Lounge
* Rubblebucket, The Pimps of Joytime, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds @ Highline Ballroom
* Homeboy Sandman, Das Racist, Illustrate, Nyle vs The Naysayers, Chaz Van Queen @ Southpaw
* Fall Fest w/ Raekwon, Omar Souleyman, Fucked Up, Death, Ras G, The So So Glos @ SUNY Purchase
* Pet Ghost Project, Bridges and Powerlines, Coyote Eyes, A Silent C @ Cake Shop

Interpol play a sold out show at United Palace Theatre tonight. Their next NYC show will be at Radio City Music Hall.

Fun Fun Fun Fest kicks off tonight in Austin with a headlining performance by Weird Al. The Antlers, who play the fest over the weekend, play an afterparty tonight.

Thank You, who are at Death By Audio tonight, have a new video. Check it below....

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Friday?"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Waterfall (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Erland & the Carnival - Trouble in Mind (Mp3)

The Fresh & Onlys

It's an early installment of TWII this week. Most of the awesome shows (to me) seem to be tonight through Thursday.

First up we've got The Fresh & Onlys who are currently on tour with Clinic. They both play tonight at Bowery Ballroom with Girls at Dawn opening. I like Clinic just fine -- their new album Bubblegum is good -- but we're seeing the Fresh & Onlys still riding a wave of creativity/prolificasy that has been going strong for almost two years. The band's new album, Play it Strange, is maybe their best yet, definitely their most sonically advanced. And live, they always seem to be on. They were great at the Northside Fest back in May. I know I write about them a lot, but they really are tops. Go see them!

There was supposed to be a second Clinic/F&Os show Wednesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg but that ended up getting canceled, so now The Fresh & Onlys will play Shea Stadium instead (11/3), sharing the bill with fellow San Franciscans The Royal Baths, plus X-Ray Eyeballs and Dutch Treat. The Fresh & Onlys and Royal Baths will also play Vassar on Thursday (11/4).

Royal Baths also play tonight (11/2) at Monster Island Basement with an otherwise all Baltimore bill: Ponytail's Dustin Wong, Holy Ghost Party and Avocado Happy Hour.

The Dears

I will be speeding off to Shea Stadium on Wednesday after seeing The Dears at Knitting Factory, the first their two-night stay previewing their new, yet-to-be-titled album which won't be out till next year. (Tickets are available for Wednesday and Thursday.) As an occasional Dears-obsessive (2004 - 2005 I wouldn't shut up about them) I'm pretty excited about these shows, especially now that guitarist and O-Face master Patrick Krief is back in the band, as well as former members Rob Benvie and Roberto Arquilla. Drummer George Donosso [now in the High Dials] is still missed - we'll see how new member Jeff Luciani does on the kit.

The Dears are masters of epic, anthemic songs and I'm psyched to get to hear a whole new album in this way for the first time. And if this sounds a little daunting, reviews of other shows in Montreal and Toronto where they've been doing the same thing have said they're encoring with a set of favorites. And when the band is on, they can make the hair on the back of your neck stand at attention. Here's hoping we get a little of that bristly excitement this time. You can check out live footage of new single "Omega Dog" at the bottom of this post.

The Duke Spirit

Also mid week: Bluesy London rock band The Duke Spirit are here playing a one-off show at the now-reopened Santos Party House on Wednesday (11/03) where five bucks gets you in the door. I was a big fan of The Duke Spirit's 2008 album, Neptune, which matched big pop hooks with the band's already proven muscle. The band have a new EP, Kusama, out in December -- you can download "Everybody's Under Your Spell" from their website if you give them your email address -- and a new album in February 2011.

The Duke Spirit are definitely worth seeing live. All eyes tend to be on powerhouse vocalist Leila Moss, who has an undeniable stage presence and can play mean harmonica too. And for five bucks it's kind of a no-brainer.

Erland and the Carnival

If you wish The Coral were still doing sea shantys, you might want to check out London's Erland and the Carnival who are in town playing two club shows this week with Ireland's Villagers: tonight (11/2) at Knitting Factory and Wednesday at Mercury Lounge. Then they'll play a headlining show on Friday at The Rock Shop and then open for Paul Weller on Saturday (at the Apollo) and Sunday (at the Nokia Theater).

There's a bit of that hurdy-gurdy folky seaside sound to the group -- they're recording their new record on a ship, apparently -- and their debut album is pretty good if you like Pentangle, Delta blues, Love and The Doors all mixed together in a bucket. Erland Cooper is a talented songwriter, and I'm told a captivating live performer, and managed to recruit guitarist Simon Tong (formerly of The Verve, Blur and The Good, The Bad and The Queen) into his band. Will they be the next Mumford and Sons? I think they're a little too odd for that (probably a good thing), and there's no shortage of opportunities to see them. You can download an MP3 at the top of this post and there are a couple videos below.

A few more shows of note, day-by-day, not mentioned above:

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2 & WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3

Vocoder-loving Canadians Shout Out Out Out Out bring their many keyboards to Le Poisson Rouge Tuesday and Glasslands Wednesday (moved from Coco 66). Every time I write about this band -- who are pretty fun live -- I have to count the number of "outs" in their name. I can never remember. (Note to self: four "outs".)

continued below...

Continue reading "the Fresh & Onlys, Royal Baths, Dears, Duke Spirit, Erland and the Carnival, Dandy Warhols & more in This Week in Indie"

"Dan Deacon & Dustin Wong absolutely murdered it tonight at Cake Shop "Silence like the wind overCakes me, 5 yr anniversary!"" -corygreenwell

Dan Deacon @ Cake Shop on May 27th (via Youtube, below)

Dan Deacon played one of the last shows of Cake Shop's five-year-anniversary month on Thursday, May 27th. Also at the gig were Height, Eternal Summers, Big Troubles and Dustin Wong. A YouTube slideshow of pictures from the show is posted below.

Dan Deacon and his friends at Wham City have posted details on this year's Whartscape Festival in Baltimore on July 22-25. Confirmed acts include Wye Oak, Deakin, Javelin, Lightning Bolt, No Ave, Talk Normal, Zach Hill, Arab on Radar, Xiu Xiu, Yip Yip, Dan Deacon Ensemble and Ponytail (Beach House was intially listed but has since been removed). More bands are TBA. Tickets go on sale at WhamCity.com and Baltimore's True Vine Records on June 15th.

For Arab on Radar, this is yet another date to add to the list of reunion gigs they have scheduled in July, August and September.

Wye Oak are also playing Siren in July.

Deakin (ex-Animal Collective) will hopefully schedule a NYC show one day soon.

Dan Deacon will be back in NYC for a show on June 15th at Red Hook Park (part of a series of shows in the park that kicks off TONIGHT - June 1st).

The full Whartscape lineup and pictures from the Cake Shop show are below...

Continue reading "Dan Deacon played Cake Shop, Whatscape 2010 lineup announced (Lightning Bolt, Deakin, Ponytail, tons more)"

by BBG

"In the course of talking about the reissue I brought up the idea of playing some shows because I was like well look, if we were ever going to do this, if we were ever going to play again, you know, now would be the time to do it." - J Robbins

Jawbox was one of a few who defined the sound of the 90's underground. After releasing records on respected uber-indie Dischord, the band dropped their masterpiece For Your Own Special Sweetheart as their major label debut for Atlantic. Razor sharp post-hardcore riffage collided with tense emotional songwriting to create one of the greatest, yet most unsung LPs of the era. The band followed up Sweetheart with a self-titled LP before calling it quits in 1997.

Recently Jawbox celebrated reissued Sweetheart and celebrated with a performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We cornered vocalist/guitarist J Robbins before that performance to talk about the band, their future, his production work, and the Baltimore/DC music scene...

Continue reading "an interview with J. Robbins of Jawbox"

"For 4 years now Wham City has been organizing the WHARTSCAPE. What started as a summer warehouse party turned into a much bigger, multi-day outdoor festival with thousands of bands, performers, and folks traveling to Baltimore from all across the US and Europe.
Since, we organize this festival out of pocket and in our spare time, it is important for us to keep it comfortable and enjoyable for us to do. One thing we talked about at the end of last year's festival was shrinking it down slightly and having it feel more community based and familiar.

This year isn't focused around headliners, but mainly performers and friends that make up the community we tour, work and live in.
We are also greatly reducing the number of MEGA-PASSES (the 3 day pass ticket that grants you entry to every show and every day).
ONLY 300 Mega-Passes will be sold; this is the only guarantee that you can see all the shows.

Tickets will be sold to the individual shows, but it is strongly suggested that you buy a Mega-Pass, as it saves you money and assures you take in the entire poo-poo.
Whartscape will take place July 10-11-12 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Studio Center Parking Lot, and Load of Fun.
We will begin selling tickets at 12 Noon, Monday, June 29th.

Continue reading "Whartscape - 2009 Wham City festival dates & lineup "

by Bill Pearis

Chris La Putt's pictures on the wall of MHOW (by Maryanne Ventrice)

I'm gonna keep this Sunday (6/14) post short and sweet, or try to. First a couple announcements. The So Cow at Shea Stadium is now officially part of the Northside Fest, happily taking badges (hopefully). They're on at 10:30P. The rest of the evening is The Specific Heats at 7:30, the Gutsies (not the Gusties as I had called them before, sorry guys) at 8:30, and Knight School at 9:30. That should be a fun show.

And Crystal Stilts have been added to the Ponytail-curated bill at Studio B (moved from its original location at the Shank) which seems the place to be Sunday night. The lineup is: Cool Dads at 9:30, Thank You at 10:15, Ponytail at 11:15, at Crystal Stilts at 12:15. You could also spend your whole Sunday at Studio B, the day party features the fun Phil & the Osophers (3PM), Oregon folkie Laura Gibson (4PM) and The Dodos (5PM) who'll hopefully be playing a lot of songs from their new album which is due out later this year.

A couple other recommendations: Bruar Falls plays host to an afternoon of bands curated by 1928 Recordings. No Soft Pack (who are now signed to Kemado), unfortunately, but the awesome Browns (3PM), plus Air Waves (4PM) and the Sundelles (5PM).

And while it should come as no surprise that metal isn't really my thing, Black Bubblegum assures me the line-up he's put together at Europa would crush me like a bug. In a good way?

There is of course lots more going on at Northside on Sunday. Am I missing anything crucial?

Dodos video below...

Continue reading "Bill's Northside Festival Picks - Day Four (Crystal Stilts, So Cow, Ponytail, The Dodos... BV metal show & more) "

Friday January 30th @ DANBRO STUDIOS WAREHOUSE (tentative)

:: BKLYN vs. B-MORE BATTLE MARATHON!
:: 2 stages, bands from Brooklyn on one, Baltimore on the other
:: --| $3 |--

:: DAN DEACON
:::: Thank You
:::::: Future Islands
:::::::: dj Dog Dick

:: secret guests tba
:::: secret guests tba
:::::: These Are Powers
:::::::: USAISAMONSTER

| DANBRO STUDIOS WAREHOUSE |
268 Meserole Ave @ Bushwick Pl | East Williamsburg, Bklyn
L-Montrose, JM-Lorimer, G-Broadway | 8pm | all ages | --| $3 |--

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound perform "Baltimore Is the New Brooklyn" in the video below...

Continue reading "Broooklyn vs. Baltimore marathon @ Danbro - Dan Deacon, These are Powers, secret guests & more for $3"

DOWNLOAD: Matmos - Rainbow Flag (MP3)

In Baltimore. soon...

Continue reading "Whartscape 2008 lineup, Matmos included "

DOWNLOAD: Ponytail - Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel) (MP3)

The MP3 up there is off Baltimore band Ponytail's new album coming out on June 17th on the We Are Free label - the home of Yeasayer and Indian Jewelery. It's Ponytail's second album and the title of it is "Ice Cream Spiritual".

Ponytail have five NYC shows coming up. The first is this Saturday night in the Knitting Factory Tap Bar (May 31) with WZT Hearts and Thank You who recently signed to Thrill Jockey. The second is at Manhattan DIY space Less Artists More Condos. The third is part of the After the Jump Festival. The fourth and fifth are with Chicago's Kinsella-family band Joan of Arc at the Knitting Factory and The Yard respectively. All dates below...

Continue reading "Ponytail - MP3 & 2008 Tour Dates (many w/ Joan of Arc)"