The Ballet

Entries tagged with: The Ballet

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French Horn Rebellion

As previously reported, Detroit band Zoos of Berlin are in town this weekend -- playing Matchless tonight (12/18) and Cake Shop tomorrow (12/19). Mixing elements of baroque, Krautrock and '70s shag carpet, Zoos of Berlin don't really sound like anybody else -- which is a good thing, right? They're good live too, maybe even better than on their album (which is worth seeking out).

I'm told Zoos of Berlin are on early-ish (9:45) so my personal plan for tonight is to catch ZoB at Matchless then head over to Cameo Gallery for the Cantora Late Nite Holiday Special featuring Savoir Adore and French Horn Rebellion. Doors are at 11PM and if you RSVP, admission is only five bucks. I think I've probably written enough about Savoir Adore this year (and you can read their year-end Q&A) for you to know that I'm a big fan and think you should go see them. French Horn Rebellion is David Perlick-Molinari, who plays in the live line-up of Savoir Adore, and his brother Robert -- and their brand of funky electro draws inspiration from Michael Jackson and early '80s disco. They know their way around a catchy tune too -- "Up All Night" is pretty irresistible, and will end up on my Best Singles of 2009 list...whenever I get around to putting that together. That song's video is at the bottom of this post. I've never seen them live -- Paul and Diedre of Savoir Adore play in the French Horn Rebellion touring unit -- so looking forward to seeing them.

Fanfarlo @ MHOW during CMJ (more by Tim Griffin)

Also tonight: after a successful CMJ (including their great performance at the Brooklyn Vegan showcase), Fanfarlo are back in NYC, moving up to Webster Hall where they play with Freelance Whales. Not bad for a band who have yet to get written about at all on Pitchfork. (Though they are one of the choices in their Bands to Watch in 2010 section of theirreader's poll.) I'm still listening to their debut, Reservoir, which has held up over the last 10 months or so. It's a nice pairing with Freelance Whales who were lovely the only time I saw them --at the Brooklyn Vegan day party during CMJ where they played acoustic. Fanfarlo seem like a good band to see during the holidays -- they're very Christmasy. Tickets are still available. Fanfarlo recently stopped by the NPR offices to film an acoustic performance, including a cover of Low's "It Was Just Like Christmas," and you can watch that at the bottom of this post.

The Ballet

The long-running indiepop party Mondo! happens tonight (12/18) at Don Hill's and tonight features a performance by The Ballet who were kind of a big deal with blogs a few years back and played on a few choice bills, opening for Voxtrot, The Hidden Cameras and others. And then they just sort of faded away. Well, The Ballet are back with their second album melodic, upbeat synthpop, Bear Life, and I like it quite a bit. You can download album track "The House on Fire" at the top to this post. Stephin Merritt comparisons are inevitable but it's definitely more Future Bible Heroes than Magnetic Fields.

Phantogram

Moving on to Saturday (12/19), there's a worthwhile free show at Brooklyn Bowl with Phantogram and Class Actress. I might try to hit this one as I have yet to see Phantogram live and am a fan of their debut album, Eyelid Movies, which will get an official release on Barsuk Records in February 2010. You can download "When I'm Small" from the album at the top of this post. It's a pretty good taster for the album, which is kind of trip-hoppy but in a '00s sort of way (breakbeats but no John Barry or Morricone samples). Chilled, atmospheric, but still danceable.

Class Actress I wrote about last week, but have now actually seen them play (at Mercury Lounge). I don't think they've quite figured out the live show, but they're not bad. I like the EP which will be out on Terrible Records in the new year.

If you miss the bowling alley show, Phantogram also just added a February 12th show at Mercury Lounge. Tickets are on sale at noon.

Invisible Hand
The Invisible Hand

And finally, for the indie pop fans out there we've got a good show at Matchless on Saturday night, featuring Brooklyn bands Dream Diary and Phil & the Osophers, plus two bands from Charlottesville, Virginia -- The Invisible Hand and Drunk Tigers. The Invisible Hand remind me a bit of Of Montreal by way of Superchunk or the Clean. Definitely a '90s indie rock thing going on, pretty good. You can download two tracks at the top of this post. Drunk Tigers aren't bad either, a little more in the shouty Port O'Brien school of things.

As for the local acts, I'm on record as being a fan of Dream Diary whose jangly style should appeal to fans of The Pastels and other '80s-era Creation Records bands. And Phil and the Osophers have been at it for nearly five years and whose new album, Parallelo, is worth checking out -- you can download an MP3 at the top of this post.

That's gonna do it for this week. No column next week, so happy holidays folks. Videos, flyers and tour dates are below...

Continue reading "The Ballet, Zoos of Berlin, Fanfarlo, Savoir Adore, Phil & the Osophers, Phantogram & more in This Week in Indie"

posted at 9:23 AM on December 18, 2009 in music | tour dates | video | Comments (17)

Fort Tilden

Sunday June 14th @ FORT TILDEN BEACH
:: FREE ALL AGES UNAMPLIFIED ACOUSTIC BBQ 2009
:: each year we throw an informal, quiet party in a beautiful public place, w/
:: many diverse musicians playing two or three songs w/ no amplification
:: this year, it's on Fort Tilden Beach in the Rockways! best beach in NYC! [Todd P]

Schedule (subject to change) below...

Continue reading "Todd P's UNAMPLIFIED ACOUSTIC BBQ 2009 (at Fort Tilden)"

posted at 3:07 PM on June 1, 2009 in music | tour dates | Comments (89)

photos & words by Dominick Mastrangelo

My Teenage Stride

NYC Popfest, the four-day love affair with all things indiepop started on Thursday (5/14) with a lineup featuring all New York City bands. A full Cake Shop watched Knight School kick things off, followed by Soft City's first-ever show. Girl group, Dream Bitches, The Metric Mile (now a five-piece), My Teenage Stride featuring one of drummer Brett Whitmoyer's last shows with the band, and The Ballet rounded out Day One.

"Best band of the night was My Teenage Stride who seem to shed members after each Popfest performance. Last year, they lost a bassist and guitarist. Tonight was MTS' final show with longtime drummer Brett Whitmoyer, and frontman Jed Smith seem genuinely broken up about it. "New York is a shitty place for bands,' he admitted to the crowd before clarifying, "Well, a shitty place for bands to try and make it." It's especially shitty, as My Teenage Stride are at a creative peak if you ask me, with their current string of monthly Emusic singles being some of the best stuff they've done to date. They played their May single, which has yet to actually drop and the name of which I missed, and it rivals "Creep Academy" for awesomeness. (I shot video of it, which is below.) They'll have to rebound quickly, though, as their next gig is Monday night at The Bell House." [Bill Pearis]

The full lineup of Monday's show (5/18) is My Teenage Stride, The Beets, and Tom Hamilton. It's just $5.00 to get in, and there's free beer from 7:30-8:30pm.

More pictures from Night One of Popfest at Cake Shop, below...

Continue reading "NYC Popfest - night 1 pics (My Teenage Stride, Knight School, The Ballet, Soft City & more...) "

posted at 12:13 AM on May 18, 2009 in music | pictures | Comments (17)

by Bill Pearis

The Radio Dept

Enigmatic Swedish band The Radio Dept. are to play their first U.S. show since 2003 (which was in San Francisco), as part of the third-annual NYC Popfest which happens this year from May 14 - 17. Whether or not the band will have finished their delayed follow-up to 2005's Pet Grief remains to be seen, but there are lots of folks who've been waiting years for Radio Dept to play here and, so far, the Popfest date is the only one they're doing.

While the Radio Dept will no-doubt be the biggest draw, NYC Popfest has put together a pretty great lineup including a few other notable acts, more Swedes: all-girl trio Liechtenstein, who've put out a bunch of great 7-inches and will have a new EP out on Slumberland in May. We'll also get two bands from Finland: Cats on Fire, who made their U.S. debut at last year's fest; and the lovely synth-acoustic pop of Burning Hearts whose debut album, Aboa Sleeping, was released last month.

North America is well represented as you might expect. Detroit gives us Computer Perfection (who are not synth pop despite the name), and offshoot band Hidden Ghost Ship, whose very good debut album you can download for free. (The link is at the top of this post.) There's also Grand Rapids' The Icicles whose song "La Ti Da" you might know from a Target commercial; Boston's awesome Pants Yell! who were one of my favorites from last year's event; Ohio's The 1959 Hat Company and Afternoon Naps; California brings us L.A.'s The Tartans (12-strings and glockenspeil pop) and San Francisco's Eux Autres (janglepop); Vermont's Smittens (who remind me of '90s indie pop band Small Factory); Athens, GA's great power popppers Casper & the Cookies; Chicago's Very Truly Yours (classic twee pop) and Canada's Rose Melberg.

The bulk of the bands are from NYC, and include: My Teenage Stride whose new Emusic single "Creep Academy" is one of my favorite songs they've ever done; Knight School (who I've written about before); Boy Genius (ditto) and The Secret History (double ditto); plus the newly-quintet-ed The Metric Mile, Soft City, Dream Bitches, The Ballet, Strega, and Don Lennon.

Most of the Popfest shows will happen at Cake Shop, with a Friday night show at Don Hill's in conjunction with Mondo! and the Radio Dept. show at The Bell House. Unlike the two previous years, there's no BBQ/day show at Union Pool. Pricing and that sort of thing hasn't been ironed out yet, but the individual night's lineups are below:

Continue reading "NYC Popfest - 2009 lineup, The Radio Dept. included "

posted at 5:08 PM on March 24, 2009 in music | tour dates | Comments (14)

The Grates @ Club De Ville (Hot Freaks party) - March 21, 2009 (Jose Ole)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Les Paul @ Iridium
* Micachu @ Cake Shop
* The Roots @ Highline Ballroom
* Jay Jay Pistolet and Peggy Sue @ Pianos
* Sky Larkin & The Grates @ Mercury Lounge
* Scott Matthew, The Ballet, Clint Michigan @ The Bell House

What else?

posted at 5:54 PM on March 23, 2009 in music | To Do | Comments (17)

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Claymation Velociraptor

Kyle was one of the few who caught the show at the Bell House in Brooklyn last night (12/18). Bands on the bill were The Ballet, Bell, Claymation Velociraptor, Quinn Walker and Holy Hail. He says,

Claymation Velociraptor was my biggest surprise of the night. They came out in bear suits - apparently their normal thing - and played a freaking great set. A bit Chromeo-esque, but with a very dry sense of humor mixed in. The audience had a huge smile on their collective face throughout this set.

He was also impressed with Quinn Walker, Bell's dancing skills, and Bell. He said she was...

...fantastic. A short set (40 minutes or so), but she played all of the songs off her EP which I love and at least one brand new song. Oh, we also sang happy birthday to Sarah. Apparently every performer there knew Sarah somehow. I don't know who she is.

More pictures below...

Continue reading "Bell & Claymation Velociraptor @ the Bell House, NYC - pics"

posted at 1:10 PM on December 19, 2008 in music | pictures | Comments (15)

photos by Lori Baily

Bell

Bell was the first of three bands to play at Stereogum's Gummies at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 8th. Bell plays a Brooklyn show again tonight...

12-18-2008 20:00 at SARAH'S BIRTHDAY @ the BELL HOUSE!!!! band set//dj set//cupcake set
7th street between 2nd and 3rd Aves., BROOKLYN, Brooklyn,
Cost: $8
W/ Holy Hail, Quinn Walker, Claymation Velociraptor, DJ Pumpkin Patch, DJ Dr. Ew, DJ BELLJAM WAFFLES

Bell House also lists The Ballet on this bill, and It won't be the first time Bell played the venue named after her (not really) (the part about it being named after her). More Gummy pics below...

Continue reading "Bell - Gummies pics, a show @ the Bell House w/ The Ballet"

posted at 11:34 AM on December 18, 2008 in music | pictures | To Do | Comments (5)