The 2013 ACL Festival happens in Austin, TX on two consecutive weekends: October 4 - 6 and October 11 - 13. Weekend passes are on sale now and the full line-up is below...

Continue reading "2013 ACL Music Fest lineup announced (Depeche Mode, The Cure, Atoms for Peace, The National, Vampire Weekend + more)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Goat / Deap Vally / Moving Sidewalks at Austin Psych Fest Day 3 - 4/28/13

Sunday was also about giving credence to the forbears of pysch-rock. Roky Erikson put on an energetic show to a loving and enthusiastic audience. The main attraction, and headliners for the fest, were the Moving Sidewalks featuring Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Any time one can catch Gibbons, it's worth paying attention, but unfortunately it seemed like some members of his old band hadn't played since the 1960s. Gibbons's familiar growl and deft guitar work did make up for most of it.

...

Sweden's Goat had the unfortunate slot coinciding with the second half of the Black Angels, but neither the crowd or the band seemed to notice. Dressed as gypsy druids, the band played a sort of jam-pysch rock with insane energy. The band wore masks, but the two female leads stole the show, euphorically jumping and singing throughout each song. [Austinist]

In case you haven't been keeping up with our Psych Fest coverage, pictures of day 1 are HERE and pictures of day 2 are HERE. More of day 3 below...

Continue reading "Austin Psych Fest: Day 3 in pics (Moving Sidewalks, Goat, Roky Erickson, Black Angels, Clinic, Deap Vally & more)"

Tamaryn is DJing at New York's Museum of Modern Art on Sunday evening (4/7) as part of a PopRally event called "Abstract Currents." Against projections of one-minute videos submitted by the public, Tamryn will provide a "hypnotic soundtrack to the collectively built abstract videoscape." It's in conjunction with MoMA's Abstraction, 1910-1925 and Abstract Generation: Now in Print exhibition and tickets are still available.

Later this month, Tamaryn will be in Texas' state capital for Austin Psych Fest (Apr. 26 - 28), which features a pretty amazing line-up that runs the gammut of "psychedelic," including Deerhunter, Spectrum, Black Mountain, OS Mutantes, The Moving Sidewalks, Clinic, Besnard Lakes, Elephant Stone, Roky Erickson, Sweden's GOAT and a bunch more. The fest just announced the day-by-day line-ups which are listed below.

Continue reading "Tamaryn DJing MoMA; Austin Psych Fest finalizes lineup"

The Black Angels at MHOW in 2011 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

As mentioned, The Black Angels are releasing their new album, Indigo Meadow, on April 2 and going on a tour in support of it with fellow psych-rockers Elephant Stone (whose frontman, Rishi Dhir, has played sitar in Black Angels) and Allah-Las. That tour comes to NYC for the previously discussed show on April 8 at Webster Hall. Tickets for that one are still on sale, but if you'd like to catch the band in a smaller NYC location, you can also see them two days later at The Bell House (4/10). Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Elephant Stone are also prepping a new album, which comes out next week (2/5), but you can stream it in full now.

An updated list of dates and the new Black Angels single, "Don't Play with Guns," below...

Continue reading "The Black Angels add 2nd NYC show to tour w/ Elephant Stone and Allah-Las (updated dates)"

Austin's fuzzed-out Black Angels are set to release their fourth album, Indigo Meadow, on April 2. That's the album art above and you can stream the album's zeitgeist-y single "Don't Play with Guns" below.

The Black Angels will be heading out on a two-month tour right after the album's release, including a stop in NYC on April 8 at Webster Hall. Elephant Stone and Allah-Las will open and tickets go on AmEx presale on Wednesday (1/23) at noon with the regular on-sale happening on Friday (1/25) at noon.

Openers Elephant Stone is fronted by Rishi Dir who has spent time in The Black Angels touring unit and you can probably expect him to play sitar on a few Angels songs while they're out together. Elephant Stone's new self-titled album is out February 5 on the Reverberation Appreciation Society, the label run by Austin Psych Fest (which is run by THe Black Angels). Elephant Stone will be at SXSW in Austin before the Black Angels tour and additional tour dates are listed below.

Speaking of Austin Psych Fest, The Black Angels are headlining this year's event which happens April 26 -28 at Carson Creek Ranch.

Continue reading "Black Angels announce new LP and 2013 tour (dates, stream)"

Elephant Stone, the project led by Montreal's Rishi Dhir, will release their previously discussed self-titled LP on February 5 via HIdden Pony, and they just made a kaleidoscopic video for their droning psych pop single, "Heavy Moon." You can check out that video for the first time at the bottom of this post.

As mentioned, Elephant Stone will be going on a tour soon which brings them to NYC on December 5 at Mercury Lounge with Zula (tickets) and December 6 at Union Pool with Isadora (formerly The Yes Way) (tickets).

In addition to his own band, Dhir has lent his sitar skills to The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The High Dials and The Black Angels (with whom he has also played bass) to name few. Both Elephant Stone and The Black Angels are part of the initial Austin Psych Fest lineup, which also includes Deerhunter, Boris, Wairpaint, DIIV, and others.

An updated list of Elephant Stone dates and that video are below.

Continue reading "watch Elephant Stone's video for "Heavy Moon""

Sasquatch! 2012 (more by Chris Graham and Rae Graham)

Quincy, WA music festival Sasquatch! has announced that it will return for its 12th installment to The Gorge over Memorial Day Weekend (5/24 - 5/27) in 2013. A limited number of discounted four-day festival passes will go on sale Friday (11/23) at 9 AM PST at the Sasquatch! website. The lineup will be announced in February.

In other US festival news, as recently mentioned on BV Austin, Austin Psych Fest will go down in Carson Creek Ranch from April 26 to 28 with Deerhunter, The Black Angels, Boris, Spectrum, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Clinic, Warpaint, DIIV, and many more. More info HERE.

After teasing folks with a few names here and there -- like Run DMC most recently -- Austin's annual Fun Fun Fun Fest (Nov 2 - 4) has revealed it's full line-up, including Public Image Ltd, De La Soul, Superchunk, Santigold, Refused, X peforming Los Angeles, and lots, lots more. 3-day passes go on sale at 10AM CST.

Full FFF Fest lineup is below.

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest full lineup (De La Soul, Refused, Fucked Up, Public Image Ltd, Santigold, Sharon Van Etten, Rakim, X, Converge, Japandroids & more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin , words by Andrew Sacher

Metallica / A Place to Bury Strangers at Orion Music Fest 6/24/2012

Day 2 (6/24) of Orion Fest kicked off with sets by two different, but both very dark Brooklyn bands: Liturgy in the Frantic tent and A Place to Bury Strangers (whose new album, Worship, is out this week) on the Fuel stage. Unfortunately, I showed up a bit too late for Liturgy, but I was able to catch the tail end of APTBS' set, which saw Oliver Ackermann turning his monitors to face the audience and putting his vocal mic up to his guitar amp, creating even more noise than the trio already make. You can catch APTBS in their hometown on 7/27 at MHOW with Hunters.

Ghost

Then I headed over to the Orion stage for Sweden's Ghost, who were introduced by James Hetfield (who is openly a huge fan). James intro-ed the band saying, "It's never too early for scary," and despite the bright sun shining over their stage, he was right. The band, who always come decked out in white ghoul cloaks with singer Papa Emeritus in face paint, crown, and black cloak, were creepy as ever. Papa Emeritus lead the band with demonic priestlike conduction as he bellowed the vocals to a number of songs off their 2010 LP, Opus Eponymous. The only time he wasn't in the spotlight is when the band took an instrumental break and he stood in the back of the stage, hands pressed together and remaining completely still.

I left about halfway through Ghost for the second half of The Black Angels, who were playing the Frantic tent. They supplied a huge dose of droning psychedelia, and though singer Christian Bland's vocals are often delivered stoically, he's quite charismatic on stage. During their last song, which saw bassist (and Elephant Stone frontman) Rishi Dhir switch over to sitar, they went into an extended jam which eventually saw Rishi playing the sitar riff of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" (which the Black Angels recorded an exclusive performance of at Coachella) and was soon joined by the rest of the band who covered about half of the song. Slowly, the band exited the stage until only Rishi was left, sending waves of sitar over the head-nodding audience.

Best Coast

Around 4 PM, Best Coast began their set at the Orion stage. Diplo was probably wondering what the faces of Metallica fans would look like during Liturgy's set, though I was also pretty curious about what they'd look like for Best Coast, who played the same stage Metallica would later headline with many anxious fanatics already claiming their front row spots. I think I did actually see one guy sleeping (or maybe he was just really zoning out to the music?), but overall they actually got a pretty great reaction from the people who gathered to see them. The new album, The Only Place (which came out last month), is lacking compared to their debut (it's not bad, just too much of the same), but this was definitely the best I've ever seen Best Coast -- no doubt due to their decision to finally add a bassist. When mixed into a setlist, some of the new songs, like "Why I Cry," actually proved themselves to be standouts, and the songs from her debut sounded great as well. In response to a fan request, they played "When I'm With You" earlier than planned, and before going into it, frontwoman Bethany Cosentino promised a Fleetwood Mac cover too. That cover presumably would have been "Rhiannon," which the band are contributing to the upcoming Fleetwood Mac tribute LP, and premiered on NPR this morning... but they never got around to it.

Next band on my schedule was Titus Andronicus, who were playing the Frantic tent. Before they began, I heard a crowd member ask someone, "So are these guys metal, or is it regular music?" A few minutes later, they fired up their set of regular music, riling up everyone in the tent. The crowd was pretty small -- everyone else was waiting for Metallica or watching Avenged Sevenfold -- but the people who were there were loving it, singing along, pumping their fists, and starting push pits. When the band began fan favorite, "No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future," the crowd's singing was overpowering frontman Patrick Stickles and if anyone wasn't taking part, they joined in on the ending's repeated "you will always be a loser!"

Metallica

When Metallica took the stage a bit before 8:30, they started their set exactly the same as the night before. Everything including AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" playing through the PA directly before the band walked out, the "Ecstasy of Gold" strings with accompanying video clip, followed by "Hit the Lights" and "Master of Puppets," was there, just like it had been the night before. I realize that Metallica have a routine for their shows, but at a festival where much of the crowd had shown up for both nights, it would have been an appropriate time to throw a few curveballs into the set. The only pre-Black Album songs included in Sunday's setlist that wasn't in Saturday's were ...And Justice for All's "Blackened" and "The Shortest Straw," which were great but it would've been nice to hear more/different tracks from Master of Puppets or Kill 'Em All.

That said, I had already been going into Black Album night with less anticipation than I had for the performance of their 1984 colossus Ride the Lightning the night before, and they did deliver well. The bigger Black Album tracks like "Enter Sandman," "Sad But True," and "Nothing Else Matters" were still tons of fun and the crowd goes nuts for them. One of the biggest highlights was "Through the Never," which of all the Black Album tracks is most similar to their thrash roots. Regardless of your thoughts on the album's material though, they performed it flawlessly and was a welcome dip into Black Album's deeper cuts that are less likely to see the light of day at other Metallica shows.

Pictures and review of Day 1 are HERE. More pics from Day 2 below...

Continue reading "Orion Music Fest day 2 in pics and review (Metallica, Titus Andronicus, Best Coast, APTBS, Ghost, Sepultura & more)"

As mentioned, Orion Music & More happens this weekend in Atlantic CIty's Bader Field from June 23-24 and is being headlined by Metallica both nights, who play Ride the Lightning in full on Saturday (6/23) and The Black Album in full on Sunday (6/24). Other bands playing include Arctic Monkeys, Modest Mouse, Hot Snakes, Fucked Up, The Gaslight Anthem, Titus Andronicus, Best Coast, Liturgy, A Place to Bury Strangers, and more, plus a heavy stage with Suicidal Tendencies, Sepultura, Torche, Red Fang, Kyng, Landmine Marathon, Black Tusk, Thy Will Be Done and others. The heavy stage (aka "Damage, Inc.") isn't the only place you can catch heavy bands though. The festival also includes Baroness on the Orion stage, The Sword on the Fuel stage, Liturgy on the Frantic stage, and Ghost on the Orion stage. You can check out the full schedule of both days and all four stages HERE.

Orion Music & More is the first NYC-area appearance for Hot Snakes since the reunited band played The Bell House and Maxwell's in December. They'll play another area show (also in NJ) at ATP I'll Be Your Mirror in September.

As mentioned, it's the first time in a while that Modest Mouse will be in the NYC area. They play Orion on Saturday (6/23) before heading to Randall's Island for Governors Ball, which also happens this weekend.

There's a ton of stuff going on at Orion other than live music too. You can pick up rock 'n' roll memorabilia at Ktulu's Rock 'N' Roll Emporium, check out film screenings hand-picked by Lars Ulrich at Hit The Lights Films, skate the Motorbreath Mini Ramp, have a glimpse into Kirk Hammett's creepy personal collection of horror film memorabilia at Kirk's Crypt, surf, nerd out at the ESP Guitar Experience, check out the Metallica Museum, show your support for a variety of charities, or check out the car show.

If you're heading out to Atlantic City for the fest this weekend, head here for directions. If you're driving, there's no on-site parking at the field, but there are a number of parking areas nearby and free shuttles that run from the lots to Bader Field. If you're taking the train, you can get there via the Amtrak or the NJ Transit Rail and there will be a free shuttle from the Atlantic City terminal to the festival. Once you're there, this map should help you get around. We're also told that it's about a 20-30 minute walk from the boardwalk.

Tickets for the festival are still available.

In related news," Kirk's Crypt" isn't the only place Mr. Hammett will be indulging in his love of all things creepy. He'll be publishing a book titled Too Much Horror Business - The Kirk Hammett Collection this October via Abrams Image with photographs of his personal collection of horror memorabilia. The book also includes Kirk's own handwritten captions for many of the photographs. He'll be putting out limited edition toys, like the ones he's been collecting his whole life, along with the book this October. You can pre-order the book at Kirk's online toy store. He'll be discussing the book at Kirk's Crypt at 4 PM each day.

Maybe his old friend Glenn Danzig will add it to his book collection...

Continue reading "Metallica's Orion Fest is in Atlantic City this weekend; Kirk Hammett releasing horror memorabilia book"

We just posted about Austra who's coming back to North America (including 9/19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg) after a tour of Europe. She's also one of many artists playing the 2012 Osheaga Festival in Montreal which happens August 3 - 5. Tickets are still available for the three-day event.

In addition to Austra, Osheaga plays host to The Black Keys, Snoop Dogg, Justice, Metric (who play Radio City Music Hall soon), Sigur Ros (who play Prospect Park and are streaming their new LP), Florence & The Machine (who plays Jones Beach this summer), The Weeknd, Passion Pit (who play Governor's Ball soon), The Jesus & Mary Chain, MGMT, Santigold (who just played Irving), Zola Jesus (who just played the Guggenheim) and many many more.

Full Osheaga lineup is below.

Continue reading "Justice, Metric, The Black Keys, Sigur Ros and more playing Montreal's Osheaga Festival in August "

Lollapalooza (more by Grant MacAllister)

Chicago Sun Times reports:

Lollapalooza has revealed its official 2012 list of performers -- a typically wide-ranging smorgasbord of genres and styles topped by nearly a dozen mainstage headliners: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, freshly reunited bands Black Sabbath and At the Drive-In, the Black Keys, Jack White, Florence + The Machine, the Shins and Passion Pit, plus spotlighted electronic music including Swedish house titan Avicii, French dance duo Justice and DJ-producer Bassnectar.

The annual music festival is scheduled for Aug. 3-5 in Chicago's Grant Park.

Rumored lineups have circulated widely, as they usually do, and Lollapalooza itself stoked the speculation in recent weeks via a series of CTA and online advertisements that seemed to hint at who would be playing.

The ads featured lyrics from such acts as Sigur Ros, Santigold, Jack White, Kimbra, Twin Shadow, the Weeknd, Bloc Party and more -- all bands that wound up on the bill.

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2012 lineup (Jack White, At The Drive-In, Sigur Ros, Black Keys, RHCP, Afghan Whigs, M83, Weeknd, SBTRKT, Black Sabbath & more)"

most photos by Amanda Hatfield, some shots by Zach Timm

Polica @ Hotel Vegan

In addition to hosting almost 100 bands on three stages for four days straight, BrooklynVegan's Hotel Vegan, located at Austin venues Hotel Vegas & Volstead Lounge, was a place where you could sip some complimentary HobNob Wines from noon-7pm each day. On Friday (3/16/2012), the third day of Hotel Vegan, we teamed with HobNob and The Original Moonshine for a big party that included the following, amazing FREE lineup:

Stage 1 (Hotel Vegas Outside)
12:00 Cold Showers
1:00 Polica
2:00 Youth Lagoon
3:00 Eight and a Half (members of Broken Social Scene & the Stills)
3:45 Django Django
4:30 Tennis
5:15 Light Asylum
6:00 The Black Angels

Stage 2 (Hotel Vegas Inside)
12:00 Lucius
12:45 The Big Sleep
1:30 The Twilight Sad
2:15 Eleanor Friedberger (of the Fiery Furnaces)
3:00 Widowspeak
3:45 TRUST
4:30 The Evaporators (Nardwuar's band)
5:15 DIVE

Stage 3 (Volstead)
12:15 Jennifer Castle
1:00 Daughter
1:45 Exitmusic
2:30 Doldrums
3:15 Zeus
4:00 Au Palais
5:00 Craft Spells

The Evaporators getting started @ Hotel Vegan

If you got your picture taken in our Smilebooth, make sure to look for yourself in the photos posted to our Facebook.

Special thanks to our official backline providers Vox, Blackstar and Korg, and thank you to NadaMoo for supplying free vegan treats, and to Honest Tea for the tea.

The Black Angels closed the day off right with a set of their 60s-influenced, psych rock n roll to an oferflowing house on the outdoor stage that saw a full crowd throughout the day thanks to names like Polica, Youth Lagoon and Tennis.

So many bands, so little time, so experience it with the pictures that continue below (and stay tuned for more on BV Austin)...

Continue reading "#HotelVegan Day 3 pics (BV, HobNob Wines & Moonshine presents) - Black Angels, Tennis, Youth Lagoon & MANY more"

photos by Tim Griffin

Daniel Johnston @ The Belmont on 3/13

"A packed house of fans and well-wishers turned out to the Belmont Lounge Tuesday night for an official South by Southwest showcase to celebrate the release of Daniel Johnston's new graphic novel, "Space Ducks: An Infinite Comic Book of Musical Greatness." The event, which was hosted by Brooklyn Vegan, included performances by Built to Spill, Will Sheff of Okkervil River, R. Stevie Moore, Kimya Dawson and Johnston himself. Alex Maas of Black Angels, Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit and Irish folk singer Foy Vance all each performed Johnston covers before the renowned songwriter took the stage.

Nearly all who performed had some accolades to offer Johnston, the legendarily troubled outsider artist-turned-indie rock darling whose notoriety was cemented by Kurt Cobain when the Nirvana frontman famously wore a T-shirt of the cover to Johnston's album, Hi, How Are You?. [Hollywood Reporter]

It was all in celebration of "Space Ducks" which is out now as a Boom Comics graphic novel, and as a FREE iPad app you can download now, new Daniel Johnston music and tributes included (the soundtrack will get a physical release in a few weeks). Props to the team at Wieden + Kennedy for helping Daniel create something so cool with his art, and to Search Party, Primary Wave, Strike Team, Eternal Yip Eye Music, all the artists who played, and everyone else that helped us make the Tuesday night show and comic happen.

Almost everyone on the bill covered a Daniel Johnston song, and many came back to join Daniel on "True Love Will Find You in the End." Jeffrey Lewis, with help from Kimya (collectively they are the Bundles), debuted new song "Space Ducks" which Jeffrey wrote for the app at our request. New DJ-inspired songs are unlocked after you work your way through the Space Ducks galaxy. There are also songs in the app, co-curated by Search Party, by Deer Tick, Eleanor Friedberger, Lavender Diamond, and others.

Built to Spill closed down the outdoor show beautifully; it was just too bad that Austin has a 2am curfew...

Co-headliners Built to Spill couldn't begin their set until 1:15, and frontman Doug Martsch vowed to "play until they make us stop," which was going to be 2:00 regardless. It's a common rock show cliché, but true to their word, they kept going until the Belmont's people had to get on the sound system to tell them to stop, prompting a chorus of boos. But the elder indie statesmen were still able to cap it off by driving through an extended version of "Conventional Wisdom," effectively ensuring everyone would still be going home happy." [IDSNews]

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston released 'Space Ducks', celebrated with Built to Spill & friends @ SXSW (pics)"

As you know, BrooklynVegan is taking over ALL THREE STAGES at connecting Austin venues Hotel Vegas & Volstead for FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT this week, and it's all 100% FREE (no RSVP or badges either). There's a big outdoor stage, and smaller stages inside Hotel Vegas & Volstead. Collectively we're calling the four day long party "Hotel Vegan" (located at 1500 E. 6th St, Austin, TX).

Friday's party is presented with HobNob Wines, our official wine partner of all four days of Hotel Vegan, and The Original Moonshine, our official spirit partner on Friday and Saturday.

We announced Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday in full.
Here is Friday at Hotel Vegan (March 16, 2012):

Stage 1 (Hotel Vegas Outside)
12:00 Cold Showers
1:00 Polica
2:00 Youth Lagoon
3:00 Eight and a Half (members of Broken Social Scene & the Stills)
3:45 Django Django
4:30 Tennis
5:15 Light Asylum
6:00 The Black Angels

Stage 2 (Hotel Vegas Inside)
12:00 Lucius
12:45 The Big Sleep
1:30 The Twilight Sad
2:15 Eleanor Friedberger (of the Fiery Furnaces)
3:00 Widowspeak
3:45 TRUST
4:30 The Evaporators (Nardwuar's band)
5:15 DIVE

Stage 3 (Volstead)
12:15 Jennifer Castle
1:00 Daughter
1:45 Exitmusic
2:30 Doldrums
3:15 Zeus
4:00 Au Palais
5:00 Craft Spells

We will also have free vegan treats courtesy of NadaMoo! and free Honest Tea. Arlo's great Vegan Food truck, located right next door, will be at all four days of Hotel Vegan selling food.

Special thanks to all of our partners and sponsors for making this party possible - including Vox, Blackstar and Korg, our official backline partners.

--
The Black Angels (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

HobNob Wines offers free music content at its HobNob Inner Circle on Facebook. Join HobNob's Inner Circle to access exclusive downloads, editorial and info on upcoming events. Previously featured artists include Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Saint Bernadette, The Antlers, Company of Thieves, Xylos, as well as The Black Angels and Polica who are both playing this party.

-----

Friday is just one of four full days at Hotel Vegan. Wednesday lineup HERE. Thursday lineup HERE. Saturday lineup HERE.

We also have THREE official BrooklynVegan showcases - Tuesday (which Alex Maas of the Black Angels is playing a song at), Wednesday, and Friday - and a Saturday metal day party at Lovejoys, AND a bridge show.

click HERE for a bigger version of the above flyer.

Hinted at and posted in some form on SXSW's website recently, but now offically announced... BrooklynVegan had the honor of helping put together what will be a very special show happening this Tuesday, March 13, 2012 in Austin as part of SXSW at the Belmont in honor of muiti-talented artist Daniel Johnston's very first comic book "Space Ducks", or more specifically to help celebrate the release of the FREE iPad app version that is coming first, new Daniel Johnston songs and tributes to him included. Read more about the forthcoming app and partially-Kickstarter funded graphic novel, which you can PRE-ORDER NOW, at the end of this post.

The party, big flyer HERE, is open to all SXSW badgeholders. Get there early for drink specials courtesy of Original Moonshine, Tecate and Republic Tequilia, and to experience the entire night of special sets. There will be Daniel Johnston covers and tributes throughout, with co-headlining performances by Daniel Johnston and Built to Spill. It will go like this:

Tuesday, March 13, 2012 @ the Belmont, Austin, TX
8:00 Dinosaur Feathers
8:40 special guest (a band we're not allowed to announce)
9:25 R. Stevie Moore
9:55 Jeffrey Lewis
10:25 Kimya Dawson
11:10 Will Sheff of Okkervil River
11:35 Foy Vance
11:40 Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit
11:45 Alex Maas of the Black Angels
11:55 Daniel Johnston & Motopony
01:05 Built to Spill

This show is happening one night before the BrooklynVegan official SXSW showcase at Bar 96 which is two nights before the BrooklynVegan/Power of the Riff official SXSW showcase at Scoot Inn.

Learn more about Space Ducks, and others who had a hand in this all, below...

Continue reading "BV Presents Daniel Johnston's 'Space Ducks' SXSW Launch Party w/ Daniel, Built to Spill & many more performing"

The rumored two-day NJ Metallica festival is true, and it's happening on June 23 & 24, 2012 in Atlantic City, NJ. 22+ artists (music and comedy) will play with Metallica headlining both nights with special setlists. Metallica will play the Black Album in its entirety on one of the nights "for the first time ever on US soil", and... Ride The Lighting on the other night! The venue is Bader Field (an abandoned airport).

Other bands are:

Arctic Monkeys • Avenged Sevenfold
Modest Mouse • The Gaslight Anthem
Cage The Elephant • Fucked Up • Best Coast
Hot Snakes • Titus Andronicus
Gary Clark Jr. • Lucero • Roky Erickson
The Black Angels • The Sword
A Place to Bury Strangers • Liturgy
+ more TBA

"More than just music, the festival will also feature a lifestyle element showcasing the band's individual interests - and allowing fans to interact directly with each of the band members. More details soon!"

The festival is in partnership with C3 who also does Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.

The Fresh & Onlys @ Psych Fest 2011 (more by Tim Griffin)

The Reverberation Appreciation Society and The Black Angels have released the initial lineup poster for the 5th annual Austin Psych Fest. This year's fest, running from April 27th - 29th (in Austin), will take place at Austin's two newest big venues, recently opened Emo's East and the soon-to-be open Beauty Ballroom which is next door.

Emo's East is now the only Emo's since their Red River location closed on 12/30, and the Beauty Ballroom is (hopefully) having their rescheduled Grand Opening on January 27th (with Theophilus London and Treasure Fingers) and continuing on January 28th.

APF will feature around 60 bands over the three day, two room event. About 40 are included in the poster below, with another 20 or so to be announced in March. Announced bands include the Black Angels (who played Emo's East on New Year's Eve), the Black Lips, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dead Meadow, Olivia Tremor Control, Wooden Shijps, and many more. Weekend passes go on sale this Saturday (January 21st) at 12pm CST at austinpsychfest.com.

Check out photos from the 2011 edition of Psych Fest (held at Seaholm Power Plant) HERE.

Chaos in Tejas, a different kind of Austin music fest that happens in June, also announced bands on their lineup today.

SXSW, which is in March, continues to announce bands all the time and recently posted their initial schedule.

Psych Fest 2012 poster, lineup and Bandcamp mixtape, below...

Continue reading "Austin Psych Fest annnounces initial 2012 lineup, new venue; SXSW posted their initial schedule"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

"We got our name from the Velvet Underground song "The Black Angels Death Song." As far as touring with bands with "black" in their names- The Black Keys and Black Rebel Motercycle Club being the two off the top of my head, it was really amazing to be able to tour with those bands. We'd always been big fans of them and when the opportunity presented itself to tour with these bands for the first time, I was like "wow, awesome." Obviously with Black Mountain as well. It wasn't until our first tour was booked that I'm like "man, we keep playing with these Black bands."" - Alex Maas

More pictures from the Sunday show below...

Continue reading "The Black Angels played three Halloween shows at MHOW ---- (night 2 pics w/ Spindrift & Dead Meadow)"

by BBG

photo by Jasmine Pasquill

Psychic Ills have emerged from their Brooklyn den of hallucinogens to confirm Hazed Dream, the band's latest LP and first for Sacred Bones, available NOW. The LP marks their first venture with Sacred Bones and it's their first long-player since 2009's Mirror Eye. Stream Hazed Dream in its entirety below, and check out the video for "Mind Daze" which rears its head for the first time here.

Psychic Ills will join Exitmusic in supporting The Black Angels at their third of three nights at Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 31st (and yes, Psychic Ills will be in costume!). Tickets are still available for that and the other two Angels shows at MHoW which feature Spindrift & Golden Animals, and Dead Meadow & Spindrift on 10/29 & 10/30 respectively.

In addition, Psychic Ills will head next door one day later for the Dragonslayer: The Movie release party with Endless Boogie. No advance tickets are on sale for this 11/1 show at Public Assembly.

Check out the new Psychic Ills video, and Hazed Dream album stream below.

Continue reading "Psychic Ills released 'Hazed Dream', playing shows, have a new video (premiere)"

by BBG

Wooden Shjips at ATP NY 2010 (more by BBG)


Warning! The following Wooden Shjips video is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for those who don't enjoy the spacey, psychedelics of Black Dice who is responsible for the visuals in this far-out mescaline-induced trip. "Lazy Bones" is a slice of retro-grade 70s hard rock, the focus of the band's recent LP West whose repress is currently up for preorder via Thrill Jockey. Head to the Thrill Jockey site for more snippets from West and head below for the fractals and noise of the "Lazy Bones" video, which makes its debut here.

As previously mentioned, Wooden Shjips hits Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 10th as part of a string of dates with Birds of Avalon. Tickets for MHoW are still available.

Wooden Shjips will spend their New Year's Eve in Austin (at the new Emo's East) with The Black Angels who play THREE NYC shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg in late October (Hallloween included). Tickets for all three dates (10/29, 10/30, 10/31) are still available.

WS video & dates below...

Continue reading "watch a new Wooden Shjips video by Black Dice (premiere)"

Dead Meadow is confirmed for the bulk of the previously discussed tour with The Black Angels and Spindrift, but the band will also play an NYC-area show of their own while the Black Angels are holding it down in Brooklyn. In addition to their support appearance on 10/30 at Music Hall of Williamsburg (one of three Black Angels shows at the Brooklyn venue), Dead Meadow will play Maxwell's on 10/29. In other words:

Oct 27 - Black Angels w/ Dead Meadow & Spindrift in Philly
Oct 29 - Black Angels w/ Spindrift & TBA? @ MHOW
Oct 29 - Dead Meadow @ Maxwell's
Oct 30 - Black Angels w/ Dead Meadow & Spindrift @ MHOW
Oct 31 - Black Angels w/ Psychic Ills & Exit Music @ MHOW

All Dead Meadow dates, updated Black Angels dates and some video from Roadburn is below.

Continue reading "Dead Meadow playing Maxwell's during Black Angels tour (updated dates)"

The Black Angels @ 4Knots (more by Amanda Hatfield)

The Black Angels have been no stranger to NYC lately. Their most recent trip included a headlining slot at the 4Knots Festival at the South Street Seaport, a NJ show at Maxwell's and a late-night free Spotify show at Mercury Lounge (same series Surfer Blood plays tonight). The trend continues in October when the Austin band returns for three more shows as part of a just-announced North American fall tour with Dead Meadow and Spindrift.

The NYC shows happen on October 29, 30, and 31 at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, and they'll mix up the openers for the Halloween run. Psychic Ills and Brooklyn's Exitmusic will both play the 10/31 show, and a special guest (TBD) will be at the 10/29 show, along with a set from Spindrift who also plays on 10/30 with Dead Meadow. Tickets for all three shows go on sale Friday (8/5) at noon with an AmEx pre-sale starting Wednesday (8/3) at noon.

All dates and a video below...

Continue reading "The Black Angels announce fall tour, 3 nights @ MHOW (Halloween & Mischief Night included)"

photos by Chris La Putt & Amanda Hatfield

"Patrick from Titus Andronicus just jumped into the crowd!
They are so good live." - Nikki S

"Eleanor Friedberger's solo stuff = awesome!
She's owning the 4Knots stage right now." - Anna Hyclak

"Oberhofer are clearly having a blast at #4knots ...
Fun day so far, especially when cloudy." - Bill

"Davilla 666 delivering good Stooges-punk buzz.
Crowd surfing spotted #4knots" - Jason Gross

"I don't know who Davila 666 are,
but they're burning it down at #4Knots." - Brendan HIlliard

The inaugural 4Knots Music Festival took place at South Street Seaport for most of the afternoon and early evening on Saturday (7/16).

Bands played on the usual Seaport outdoor stage while DJs were around the corner inside on Front Street (Dan Deacon and Yeasayer included). The festival was headlined by The Black Angels and Titus Andronicus and also included sets by Davilla 666 (pics HERE), Oberhofer, Eleanor Friedberger (of The Fiery Furnaces), and Mr. Dream (but not Obits). 4Knots acted as the replacement for Siren Fest, which sadly is no longer happening in Coney Island. 4Knots' lineup wasn't quite as impressive as past Siren lineups which were spread over two much bigger stages, but the festival still left a pretty solid impact on the downtown Manhattan crowd.

Eleanor Friedberger (by Chris)

4Knots was Eleanor's first show since releasing her solo debut Last Summer on Merge last week. According to New Beats:

"Aside from carrying a sound that kind of reminds one of the Velvet Underground's Loaded, some of the songs also possess a groove feel, particularly the mid-tempo "Glitter Gold Year." In addition to performing a majority of Last Summer's songs, Friedberger also threw in a few Fiery Furnaces tunes, including "Lost At Sea" and the punkish, power pop "Tropical Iceland.""

The crowd was the biggest that Brooklyn's own Oberhofer has ever played to, according to Brad Oberhofer, and they seemed to make a bit of buzz while they were there.

"Oberhofer, yes. I'd forgotten how soft-loud-soft prog meets math they are, but so precise and vicious, and in the best way. Singer Brad Oberhofer, (once a lowly intern at Matador), is the amazing piece of gut-instinctual-movement-punk behind said band. While tuning, he mentions, "I'm not used to this, I'm used to luxury cars," and during the set, "This song is dedicated to my grandmother, and all your grandmothers and grandfathers too."

He says the right things to a crowd, and he and the whole band plays right along, and thus, it's a captivating show. Just listen to "Away From You" or "I Can Go", or any other track and you'll be transfixed." [Sentimentalist]

Titus Andronicus (by Amanda)

Titus Andronicus went on before The Black Angels, though according to the Village Voice, the upbeat punk crowd were possibly anticipating Titus even more.

"This was a Titus crowd, but how could it not be? The pier we stood on stands less than an hour's drive from the town of Mahwah, where frontman Patrick Sickles sings of spending his senior year on "No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future." And if that wasn't enough, Sickles recalled a few Siren Fest memories between songs. I'm sure a few super-loyal fans were even using the show as an opportunity to even out the sunburn that coated the left side of their bodies as they screamed along to the free show the band played at the Williamsburg Waterfront on the other side of the East River a few weeks ago."

Continue reading "4Knots Fest in pics (Titus Andronicus, Eleanor Friedberger, Oberhofer, Mr. Dream, Davila 666 & more)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Black Angels @ 4Knots

"The Black Angels, from Austin, play psychedelic rock as if the 1960s never ended, and they are absolute masters of it. It's the psychedelia of echo, stomp and incantation, of songs that sit on one chord and one beat to the point of hypnosis, with tendrils of bluesy, heavily reverbed lead guitar and wavery electric organ, and with lyrics like, "Rollin' fast down I-35/supersonic overdrive." The Doors and the Velvet Underground are the Black Angels' main models, merged for a haunted bicoastal drone, with glimpses of the Byrds, early Pink Floyd and 13th Floor Elevators from Texas. It's an old, familiar sound that hasn't lost its effect." [NY Times]

The Black Angels play a free Spotify-presented show at Mercury Lounge late tonight (7/18). As previously mentioned, that show is first come, first served, but we're offering the chance to get guaranteed entry. To enter, email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Black Angels). Be 21+ and include your first and last name. Winner will be picked at random soon. You can also up your chances of winning by entering for one of the pairs we're giving away to the same show on Facebook.

More 4Knots pics below...

Continue reading "pics of The Black Angels @ 4Knots, a chance for guaranteed entry to the free show at Mercury Lounge tonight"