"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"

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 Tim Griffin

Spoon @ Fun Fun Fun Fest

Spoon had nothing to promote and no surplus of new songs to unveil. This was just an Austin band -- Austin's biggest indie band ever -- playing an Austin festival for their only major show of 2011 (at least so far). As a live unit, the four-piece that recorded Transmission (augmented here by an additional percussionist) is as precise as Spoon has ever been, cranking out savagely controlled, often slow-building versions of such songs as "Written in Reverse," "Delicate Places" and the instantaneously applauded "I Turn My Camera On." "We got horns!" frontman Britt Daniel proclaimed, bringing out a six-man section for "Cherry Bomb," "The Underdog" and "Jonathan Fisk." By the four-song encore, the crowd had both increased in enthusiasm and decreased in size -- no doubt some people had wandered to another stage to see the Damned, which Daniel himself had said he wished that he could do. [SPIN]

Our first set of pictures from Saturday, Damned included, are HERE. Our second set continues, more of Spoon included, below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 -- Day 2 pics (part 2) -- Spoon, Tune-Yards, Ra Ra Riot, Tinariwen, Purity Ring & more"

Yellow Dogs

Brooklyn/Iranian band post punk band Yellow Dogs are playing a show at The Morgan tonight (4/11). It's free and Cole from the Black Lips is DJing (the Morgan is located at 25 Bogart St). The Black Lips are in town for their big headlining show at Webster Hall on Tuesday (4/12), part of their tour with Vivian Girls. Tickets are still on sale for the NYC show, and I have a pair you can win. Details below.

If you miss Yellow Dogs in Brooklyn tonight, they also play Wednesday (4/13) at Pianos with Ohnomoon and others.

Contest details, the Black Lips' new video for "Modern Art", and updated tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Yellow Dogs are here ++ the Black Lips are on tour & play Webster Hall Tuesday (win tix) +++ updated dates, new video"

words & photos by Gabi Porter

If you're just joining us, start with PART ONE before continuing on....

Saturday morning we all woke up in the Bahamas, hit the buffet and the pool before the next show, fueling up for a day on the beach and a night at Senor Frogs. Situated on deck chairs with coconuts in hand, two pro-surfers were up-and-at-em bright and early. Alek Parker and Dylan Graves were there to judge Jonathan Toubin's late-night Soul Clap party, along with John Norris, Ben Blackwell from the Dirtbombs and others. Parker and Graves set the tone and brought the party - and their bathrobes - to the Lido Deck.

The Vivian Girls held court poolside and Kickball Katy (aka Katy Goodman aka La Sera who plays NYC shows with Tennis this week) won the hearts and lots of hugs from all the kids on board. In their set on Saturday at Senor Frogs they sounded more confident and melodious than I'd ever seen them before, finally growing into their echo chamber garage sound, or maybe it was the fruity "yard long" drinks their biggest fan (seriously, he had a different Vivian Girls t-shirt for every day of the cruise) bought for each of them before the show. Watch out for a cameo from them in the forthcoming Black Lips video.

New Orleans based Quintron and Miss Pussycat closed out the Bruise Cruise with their psychedelic organ fest. Miss Pussycat brought along her absolutely delightful puppet show for that morning's "Pancakes and Puppets" breakfast. I didn't see enough of The Strange Boys - if they'd played just one more set I suspect they might have been my faves, but at least that means I have something to look forward to the next time they play New York. They were on the bill at Senor Frogs and I loved their jangly guitars, open sound and the tight and twisted vocals from Ryan Sambol. And ditto for Miami youngsters The Jacuzzi Boys who were loved by many, including John Dwyer from Thee Oh Sees. After all the bands had finished playing at Senor Frogs on Saturday, Dwyer grabbed his beer and said he was off to tell The Jacuzzi Boys "they were the best thing [he'd] seen at this thing."

Ty Segall's one short set on Saturday before Thee Oh Sees wasn't enough - Ty Segall opened the festival on board the ship that day and played a restrained and somewhat shy set behind his curtain of hair. Someone commented that if they work on their stage presence one day they might grow up to be like Thee Oh Sees.

Everyone was curious how the Bruisers (aka the people there for the bands) would get along with the "normal' cruisers (who were also on the same ship) (Bruisers were given wristbands so the cruise staff knew they were allowed in the shows), and I'd like to think that we brought a little something-something to people's normal, regular vacation. Poolside at a photo shoot with Turbo Fruits (see above) one very nice lady asked me, completely unperturbed about the quadruple cannonball photo-op that splashed everyone, "Is that one of the bands on the Bruise Cruise?" I told her it was Turbo Fruits. "Oh, I've never heard of them," she said a little sadly, then she looked at the bright side, "But at least now I can tell people I saw them!"

You already saw one set of pictures. The rest of the pictures from the Bruise Cruise continue below...

Continue reading "the Bruise Cruise in pics & review (part 2)"

words & photos by Gabi Porter

You are all going to hate us. I fully expect the comments section to light up like the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center with all kinds of vitriolic bile and hummus inflected hatred, but you know what, we won't care because we had fun. Four hundred garage rock fans gathered from all over the world in Miami last Friday and boarded the Carnival Imagination cruise ship bound for the Bahamas, and had a giant party on the high seas full of fruity, candy-colored drinks, unlimited belly-busting buffets, hot tubs and music. Dazed hipsters and music fans wandered the Lido Deck in their jorts and tattoos, clutching their Hermann Hesse novels looking for a little shade poolside, while family vacationers stared and asked, "What's going on?" The [sold out] Bruise Cruise is what happened, and it was like summer camp for alcoholic indie rock fans, all who became friends by the end of the weekend.

Although they only played one blistering set at Senor Frogs on Saturday night in the Bahamas - if you don't count the pre-party in Miami on Thursday night, and we're choosing not to remember that horrible horrible place with the $8 beers - The Black Lips were like all the other bands' cooler older brothers. They stirred up their signature good-time chaos, drank more than everyone, partied harder, and managed to keep the peace all at the same time. Jared Swilley said he was looking forward to a weekend with no internet, no email, no computer, "I have our new album on my laptop, if I brought it with me I'd get drunk and start burning copies for everyone." Instead he tried to go down the waterslide in his underpants, where he was thwarted by a diminutive attendant who wouldn't let him on in his skivvies, despite pleas of, "This *is* my bathing suit! I'm European!" [In Beach Fossils fashion] he later threw his bass off the back of the ship during a clandestine music video shoot. Cole Alexander looked like he won big at the casino. And Ian St Pe jumped on a table with his guitar at the final dinner and was chased out of the formal dining room, only to return disguised in a baseball cap. Joe Bradley was scheduled to play piano at 2am on Sunday at the Mirage Piano Bar - "I'm really looking forward to that! I never get to play piano for people." - he showed up with pomaded hair and a tux and played a very dapper set, Maker's Mark in hand.

If The Black Lips were like older brothers, then Thee Oh Sees were the cooler older cousins who used to be troublemakers, but have settled down with nothing to prove because they've already proven themselves. John Dwyer and company may not have brought bathing suits, lounging poolside in jeans with beers in hand, but they were "mowing them down, cutting that spring grass!" as one "Bruiser" pointed out as they melted everyone's sun-addled minds on our final day at sea. Their first set early on Friday afternoon was just a warm-up. On Sunday early-evening, fueled by an open bar, they played the second to last set of the festival to a full gilded chrome ballroom. It might have been the best set we saw all weekend (admittedly I also heard someone say that about pretty much every set this weekend, but you know what, everything was pretty damn good). Drummer Mike Shoun said he was just trying to hit really really hard, and indeed he did, nearly coming off his drum stool more than once.

Surfer Blood and their buddies (and festival co-organizers) Turbo Fruits teamed up for a Sunday brunch set in the - wait for it - Shangri La Lounge. Clutching danishes and mimosas some said Turbo Fruits, with lead singer Jonas Stein losing his voice, was the best set of the weekend (see above). I spent the cruise with Surfer Blood's janglier live version of the vaguely tropical "Take it Easy" on replay in my head, arguably the cruise's theme song. JP from Surfer Blood chatted with me after their sparsely attended first set on board on Saturday afternoon, as everyone jumped ship and rented scooters to hit the island (this may be the last time Surfer Blood play to a room of 30 people).

I asked what the band thought when they were asked to participate in the Bruise Cruise, "We thought it was a cool idea, and we thought it was either going to be really cool or a complete and total disaster. But if you think about it that's kind of like how ATP started in the UK. I mean they took over a holiday park or something. It was a little bit cheesy, a little bit family oriented and they turned it into, you know, like a total party. And they've been doing it forever." When we asked how they felt about their sparsely attended set on Saturday he said, "If I had to pick between seeing a young band we kind of like, or going out to explore the Bahamas, I'd be pretty torn. We're playing again tomorrow anyway."

More about "tomorrow" (and the rest of the cruise) coming soon. Pictures from the pre-party and the first day, continue below...

Continue reading "the Bruise Cruise in pics & review (part 1)"

DOWNLOAD: Surfer Blood - Take it Easy (Red Wax Session) (MP3)

Surfer Blood recording the above track (more by Diana Wong)

"On October 21st, 2010, Insound & Maker's Mark hosted an artist lounge & recording session at Stratosphere Sound in New York City, the likes of which has never been done before. Grammy winning engineer Geoff Sanoff (Nada Surf, Secret Machines, A Camp) took on the insane task of recording eight of indie music's most talked about new bands in eight hours, and the results are nothing but stellar." [Insound]

And speaking of Surfer Blood, they've been added to Bruise Cruise...

Bruise Cruise is a rock 'n' roll music festival aboard the Carnival Imagination, sailing from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas and back February 25-28, 2011. Tickets are on sale now for this exclusive and all-inclusive Caribbean getaway.

Bruise Cruise is pleased to announce West Palm Beach's SURFER BLOOD on the festival line-up. Their "floating vibes" are a welcome addition to the Bruise Cruise party barge as it sails from Miami to the Bahamas over the course of 3 days filled with sun, rock'n'roll and relaxation. SURFER BLOOD recently completed a US tour with The Drums and are preparing for an upcoming European tour with Interpol.

Just a reminder that Bruise Cruise is also excited to announce the launch of Bruise Cruise Records. BCR will be releasing a series of limited edition vinyl. Each performing artist will be featured on one side of a 7" vinyl release over the next few months. The first record will be distributed in the first week of November featuring un-released songs from Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees. The 7"s will feature artwork by Rob Corradetti [www.radrox.com].

Every Bruiser will receive at least one complimentary record. As the sailing date nears, Bruise Cruise will be gifting the entire box set through a variety of contests that will be announced on our site.
In the midst of attendees' three days at sea, Bruisers will have the pleasure of soaking up the sun experiencing 24 hours in the Bahamas. Bruise Cruise will be announcing a series of events that will occur in Nassau, including the big island party concert at Señor Frog's, which will feature select Bruise Cruise artists and conclude with New York Night Train's Soul Clap and Dance-Off.

Continue reading "Insound releasing free Red Wax Sessions (MP3) w/ Surfer Blood who are playing Bruise Cruise (lineup)"

Black Lips are playing the Shank in Brooklyn (98 Bayard St) on Saturday, November 6th with Cerebral Ballzy and Fergus & Geronimo. Doors @ 10PM. Black Lips Set Time @ 2AM. Ticket Price - $5. All dates below...

Continue reading "Black Lips playing NYC Saturday & other dates "

photos by Tim Griffin

Night fell down on Austin Town and it figured it'd be a busy night. And with The xx and Temper Trap setting the table for LCD Soundsystem, Gogol Bordello, Monsters of Folk, Deadmau5, Matt & Kim, MIA and Muse, Saturday did indeed set it self up to be remembered as ACL 2010's strongest.

Except for the part where MIA screwed things up during her set...

...M.I.A.'s set saw plenty of anticipation on the west end of the fairgrounds, but little payoff: The first song saw didn't even see Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam on stage, and, though she came out for the second, that first song worked as a fitting metaphor for her entire mumbled performance.

Here's the thing about performing in festivals, especially on a main stage: Very few people actually see the performers; they rely on the accompanying video screens to share the visual side of the performance. But rather than the performer (or any of her five packing dancers or DJ) , M.I.A.'s screen showed illustrations. M.I.A., meanwhile, spent minimal time in her set's early going on stage, instead opting to interact o the grass in front of her closest fans. An admirable offering, perhaps, but it left the rest of her crowd in the dark, straining their necks to see her dancers or maybe just the neon "Maya" sign that served as her backdrop.

Her vocals weren't helping matters, either. They were already mixed too low, and Maya, for the most part, mumbled her way through the proceedings. Audiences thinned out--only to be pulled back in once the video screens finally--mercifully--showed the performer stalking the stage, and performing her biggest hit, "Paper Planes." [Dallas Observer]

Continue reading "ACL 2010 Day 2 in pics (Monsters of Folk, M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Broken Bells, deadmau5, Muse & more)"

The Black Lips

I realize the real feud is long over, but I still couldn't help but notice that two of Monday night's show options are WAVVES @ Bowery Ballroom (tickets still available) and The Black Lips on a Rocks Off Cruise (tickets still available). Afterparty at Daddy's?

WAVVES also has a show coming up at Madison Square Garden.

The Smith Westerns are opening for WAVVES at Bowery and both upcoming Florence and the Machine shows at Terminal 5.

All dates below...

Continue reading "WAVVES vs Black Lips (round whatever) (NYC Monday) (and other tour dates) "

DOWNLOAD: Black Lips - Before You Judge Me (MP3)

Black Lips @ Brooklyn Bowl in March (more by Gabi Porter)

The Black Lips are the latest band to put out a song on Adult Swim/Kia's single series. You can grab the track "Before You Judge Me" above. New songs by Washed Out (feat. Caroline Polachek of Chairlift) and Madvillain are up on the site from past weeks, with contributions from High on Fire, Freddie Gibbs and Cults still to come.

Black Lips play a Rocks Off Boat Cruise on August 2nd. Nashville's Natural Child and BK's K-Holes open. Tickets are still on sale.

Dead Meadow, the Giraffes and Deer Tick all recently set sail.

Cults tour with Maps and Atlases & July.

The Black Lips played the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona on May 30th. The crowd stormed the stage. Video below...

Continue reading "new Black Lips MP3, stage invasion video from Primavera"

Black Lips @ Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Bao Nguyen)

The now even-more-controversial Black Lips will be playing some shows with Box Elders this March. So far, three NYC-area shows have been announced: Maxwell's on March 21st, Brooklyn Bowl on March 23rd and Bowery Ballroom on March 24th. Maxwell's tickets go on sale Wednesday, January 13th at noon. Tickets for Brooklyn Bowl go on sale Friday, January 15th at noon. Tickets for Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon; general sale starts Friday at noon.

UPDATE: Full March & April tour w/ Box Elders is now announced. All dates below.

Before those shows, Black Lips will play a late-January West Coast run and February tour dates in Australia. All dates and a video of Black Lips at their New Year's Eve show in Atlanta playing "O Katrina" (with Brent Hinds from Mastodon) are below...

Continue reading "Black Lips touring, playing 3 NYC-area shows w/ Box Elders (dates), played w/ Mastodon's Brent Hinds on NYE (video)"

Jared Swilley @ the Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Bao Nguyen)

After reading what happened Friday night at Daddy's from the point of view of one in attendance, and then hearing what Nathan Williams aka WAVVES had to say about it, Buddyhead called up Jared from Black Lips to hear how he remembers it....

"First of all, I just wanna say that Wavves was NOT involved in that fight. That faggot didn't even touch me.

I've never "come after" that kid, it wasn't four a.m., that wasn't my girlfriend, no one was spitting, and I didn't attack him. I don't give a shit about that kid and his music.

What happened was, after we finished our set I went to Daddy's with some friends and saw that faggot from Wavves talking to a photographer friend of mine. The only thing I did was walk up to him and say "You're that faggot from Wavves and I don't like you". He smiled a bit but didn't say anything.

After that, I went outside and saw their tour manager hanging around with some guys. They started getting all chuckles with me and so I told them I wasn't gonna have it. After that, Wavves tour manager hit me square in the face with a bottle. Blood started pouring out and six dudes fucking started kicking me until I blacked out.

All I remember is getting hit with the bottle and my friends dragging me to another bar. They wrapped my head up until I looked like a Confederate soldier.

So yeah, I lost the fight.

I also missed three flights. I've been in the airport all day having stewardesses cleaning my head because it kept cracking open. You can't go on board if you're bleeding.

Bottom line is that faggot from Wavves didn't even hit me. Never touched me. And he should've, cuz he had a free shot.

He's coming to Atlanta October 3rd and we're gonna get ugly on him. We're gonna destroy their van, we're gonna destroy their faces, we're gonna get crazy on em'. Nasty style.

Who's Your Daddy? (Daddy's in Williamsburg) (by bitchcakes via Free Williamsburg)

"Talking shit about me on the Internet is one thing, I can handle that all day but when some dude is just looking for a fight at 4 in the morning talking shit to my face and his girlfriend is spitting in the face of all my friends it's a whole different story. I have no problem wih black lips or anybody else that i havent met but jared has been at me every chance he had. I just want to play music and have fun. It was unfortunate that it escalated to that point but he got what was coming to him."- Nathan Williams (WAVVES)

A video of Zach Hill playing with WAVVES from a show a few nights ago, below...

Continue reading "an official statement from WAVVES re: the Black Lips fight"

photos by Andrew Frisicano

"...big thanks to S.I.T. & Die, The Black Lips, John Oliver, Gary Panter and Joshua White. YLT tour phase 2 begins Friday in Montreal!" - Yo La Tengo

DOWNLOAD: Yo La Tengo - Here to Fall (MP3)

"YLT augmented their show with a light show by Joshua White and Gary Panter projected on a large screen at the rear of the stage. It very much reminded me of the time they played The Sounds Of Science at the Prospect Park Bandshell, but this time without the angry octopus. From the Mezzanine, I had a good vantage point from which to spy the setup. The band played on the stage where you'd expect them to be while the light show crew of about ten people worked behind the screen.

Pretty nifty! It resulted in a great psychedelic backdrop which pulsated and evolved with the trippy music, kinda like seeing the old Pink Floyd laser light show at the Hayden Planetarium, except live and more organic. [During] "Here To Fall"...they brought on a small troupe of accompanying strings" [QbertPlaya]

Andrew stopped by the show last night (9/25) and took some pics, but he got there too late to see opener Black Lips (who after the show went to Brooklyn and caused some WAVVES-related trouble). He did see host John Oliver, and Susquehanna Industrial Tool and Die Co, who were playing in the lobby, though. How was the show? More of his pictures below...

Continue reading "Yo La Tengo played Roseland Ballroom w/ Black Lips, a fancy light show & a band in the lobby (pics) "

DOWNLOAD: Yo La Tengo - Here to Fall (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yo La Tengo - Periodically Double Or Triple (MP3)

Black Lips @ Williamsburg Waterfront in July (more by Bao Nguyen)

NY Times. As an experiment I put your name into Pandora, the Internet radio service, to see if any of these other bands came up as references, and they didn't. But Lambchop and My Bloody Valentine are two bands I'm not surprised are on your list.

MS. HUBLEY of YLT: Lambchop is a band that has meant so much to us, musically and personally as well. We've become very good friends with them. I'm not sure how much we overlap, although I think we do some.

MR. KAPLAN of YLT: I think we overlap a lot with them actually. I hear their music in things we've done; I hear our music in things they've done. I first heard them [15 years ago] at the Merge Records five-year anniversary. I was just completely blown away. It may not have been until the Black Lips that I saw another band onstage that I'd never heard and thought, "Wow, that's amazing."

Check out the rest of that NY Times article for more on what Yo La Tengo are listening to (including their Matador labelmate Kurt Vile). Yo La Tengo's Popular Songs will be out September 8th on Matador. "Here to Fall" and "Periodically Double Or Triple" from the record are re-posted above.

Not mentioned in the New York Times article, are Times New Viking, who are also YLT's labelmate, have opened for then on Hanukkah, and who star in YLT's new new video for the song "Nothing To Hide" (re-posted below).

The Roseland show is part of an extensive fall tour in support of Popular Songs. Those dates, along with a series of videos all from the new album (they've been releasing one each week), are posted in full below...

Continue reading "Yo La Tengo likes bands (NYTimes) like Kurt Vile & the Black Lips ++ MP3's & 4 new videos (1 w/ Times New Viking)"

DOWNLOAD: Living Things - Oxygen (MP3)

Dee Dee?? (Living Things @ Highline / more by Leia Jospe)

St. Louis garage rockers Living Things are about to appear as one of their hero bands, the Ramones in the now-filming The Runaways, the biopic about the groundbreaking 70's all-girl hard rock group led by Joan Jett. Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame plays Jett, with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie and Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Shannon as the band's "Svengali" Kim Fowley...Living Things have already recorded a cover of "We're A Happy Family."

In addition to having a useful resemblance in attitude to the punk progenitors, the band has a direct line into the production - singer Lillian Berlin is the husband of the film's writer and director Floria Sigismondi.

In other movie news, the The Sun UK reports that "drug-guzzling shock-rocker" Marilyn Manson will be filming a musical, "Goth-inspired" version of Cinderella with Harry Potter's Emma Watson. 500 Days of Summer, starring She of She & Him, has an indie rock soundtrack that includes Feist, The Black Lips, and She & Him. Funny People, in addition to featuring characters wearing indie rock t-shirts, also has an indie-friendly soundtrack. Oh, and Patton Oswalt is a Big Fan.

A pic from the set of The Runaways movie, with Living Things tour dates, and some trailers, below...

Continue reading "a film about The Runaways starring Living Things as The Ramones + Marilyn Manson in Cinderella & other movie news"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: The Almighty Defenders - Bow Down and Die (MP3)

It's supergroup day on BrooklynVegan. Some of it is catch up news. We have a new MP3 and tour dates from the new Black Keys-related Drummer band, and then there's the signing of Dum Dum Girls whose first live show over the weekend brought together member of four other bands. Jack White's new supergroup The Dead Weather is streaming their new album today, and we finally did a post on the Monsters of Folk album (Bright Eyes+My Morning Jacket+M Ward). Supergroups are not to be confused with side projects which were sort of a theme today too - first with Wolf Parade-related Handsome Furs, and then the Mazzy Star/My Bloody Valentine-related Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (which I guess could be considered a supergroup too). Next up....

The Almighty Defenders (Black Lips + King Khan + BBQ)

The Almighty Defenders, a meeting of might between Atlanta garage goblins The Black Lips, Berlin-based soul punker King Khan, and Mr. BBQ himself, Mark Sultan. Conceived during the Lips' Berlin exile (after their VBS-documented ejection from India), the band's self-titled debut is a madcap, liquor-drenched revival, a blissfully fucked up realization of one of garage rock's most fitting collaborations. "Bow Down And Die," the "booming, chivalrous third song," is an off kilter, beer-swilling chant-along that borrows just as much from choral church music as it does from skuzzball rock n roll.

No tour dates for the Almighty Defenders yet, but The Black Lips will be at the July 26th Williamsburg Waterfront Pool Party, playing with Health, Grupo Fantasma and Trail of Dead. The Black Lips are actually one of the only artists to play a 'Pool Party' two years in a row. Ironically(?), when they played last year, it was on the same bill as King Khan. Maybe they'll bring him along again, or maybe they should just make an Almighty Defenders show which would be cool.

The Black Lips are also playing a few other festivals this summer, including Pitchfork Fest and Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party. The band was recently featured on the soundtrack of the Gael Garcia Bernal & Diego Luna film Rudo Y Cursi, which came out in May. That disc includes contributions by Devendra Banhart, Juana Molina (who's playing tonight, July 8th, in Central Park) and even Bernal himself. Album art and tracklist for that below.

Bernal is hardly the only actor getting into music these days. Dead Man's Bones, the combo of actors Zach Shields and Ryan Gosling, is set to release a self-titled album, produced by Tim Anderson of I'm A Robot, October 6th on Anti-. Silverlake Conservatory Children's Choir, who you can see below, also pitched in vocals. Two videos of the band are below.

You can catch a different kind of supergroup in NYC at the Bowery Ballroom on August 1st. Dangerous, an "All Metal Tribute To Michael Jackson," features members of Tragedy (the "Heavy Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees" who are playing the Beach at Governors Island this summer) and the 2 Skinnee Js. Tickets to that are on sale now.

And if that's not enough...

Members of Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age are working together on a new project...The as-yet-unnamed supergroup unites Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, and lead Foo Fighter (né Nirvana drummer) Dave Grohl. The trio are presently in Los Angeles, recording their debut album.[Guardian UK]

Check out Almighty Defenders videos, album art and tracklist, with Rudo Y Cursi album info and Dead Man's Bones videos, below...

Continue reading "Supergroup day continues: Zeppelin/Grohl/QOTSA, Almighty Defenders (Black Lips+King Khan), Dead Man's Bones, more"

by Andrew Frisicano

M83 @ Webster Hall (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

M83 has been added to Pitchfork Festival, which is taking place from July 17th - Sunday, July 19th in Chicago. Other bands added to the bill include Black Lips, Fucked Up, Wavves, the Dutchess and the Duke, and Matt and Kim. The whole, updated lineup is below. Tickets for the fest are still on sale.

Five days before he performs in Chicago, M83's Anthony Gonzalez will perform a free show at NYC's World Finanial Center Winter Garden (July 14th). For that NYC gig:

Anthony Gonzalez, M83's chief stargazer, performs a special one-off ambient performance. New York-based artist Janet Biggs begins the night with a screening of her short film, Vanishing Point.

More Pitchfork Fest info below...

Continue reading "P4k Fest updates lineup, M83 (solo) playing a free NYC show"

Passion Pit & The Wrens @ the BV party @ Radio Room - yesterday (3/19/2009)

Three down, one to go - by that I mean BrooklynVegan parties at SXSW this year. The pictures above come from yesterday's epic day party at Radio Room. Today, Friday March 20th, stop by Habana Calle for a six-hour, free taste of Norway and Sweden, and/or consider checking out the Dickies Battle of the Bands that Black Bubblegum is judging. If a Battle of the Bands is not your thing I understand, but now consider that they've announced that GZA, in addition to co-judging, will be also performing at the show WITH the Black Lips.

"Everyone was there: the Coathangers, the Baby Shakes, the Carbonas, Knife and the Fourth Ward Daggers, the Black Lips, some folks from Chopper, Deerhunter, One Hand Loves the Other, Snowden, Beat Beat Beat, West End Motel, Gringo Star, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, the Gaye Blades, the Selmanaires. Representatives from Rob’s House Records, Douche Master and Die Slaughterhouse were also on hand, along with the Nashville-based We Fun documentary filmmakers Christopher Dortch, Matt Robison and producer Bill Cody." [Who sprayed the fire extinguisher?]

the eighth in a series where we asked comedians to tell us what was good this year....

Sam Seder, David Cross and Jon Benjamin (CRED)

Jon Benjamin is another one of my favorite funny people in NYC. A fellow mass-hole by birth, Jon has carved his niche in the comedy world through his extensive voicework, absurd videos, unforgettable live collaborations, and unique approach to stand-up. Jon is part of Tinkle, a stand up show co-hosted by David Cross and Todd Barry as well as Midnight Pajama Jam with Jon Glaser. His voicework includes Dr. Katz, Home Movies, The Venture Brothers, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Family Guy, Lucy Daughter of the Devil, Freak Show, Assy McGee, Wet Hot American Summer, and more. He's also guested and cameoed on a zillion TV shows and movies. Jon took a moment to tell us what he was into in 2007. - Klaus

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My top ten music-related things of 2007 by Jon Benjamin

Let’s Stay Friends, Les Savy Fav

Theme to Pocket Tanks, the downloadable game - this would have made my 2006 list, if I had made one

Mountain’s "Mississippi Queen" – this was the first song my son played on Guitar Hero 3 so it will always hold a special place in our hearts.

"Smell Yo Dick" by Riskay - isn’t there an easier way to expose your man for cheating? dicks frequently emit a bad smell which can be mistaken for pussy

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Continue reading "Best of 2007 by Jon Benjamin"

Despite the July 21st date being set in stone for some time, it seemed a lot of people had their doubts that the annual, free Village Voice Siren Music Festival in Coney Island would even happen this year. Perhaps with the destruction of Astroland and what not, 2007 will indeed be the last year. Enjoy it while you can. The Village Voice just announced the following intiial list of bands:

New York Dolls
We Are Scientists
Matt And Kim
The Black Lips
Dr. Dog
Lavender Diamond
The Detroit Cobras
Elvis Perkins
The Twilight Sad
The Noisettes