by Ryan Barkan

The Darkness played a Superbowl commercial

Another Super Bowl, another year where the Cowboys didn't win, and another year of music-filled commercials. The Patriots entered the field to "Crazy Train" by English metal god Ozzy Osbourne (who is currently having a feud of his own with an old bandmate). The Giants entered to "Written in the Stars" by English rapper Tinie Tempah.

Did you catch that map of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the Samsung commercial for their Galaxy (with stylus!)? You know, the one that had a sweet use of The Darkness jam "I Believe In A Thing Called Love"? Yeah, it was there and showed a close up of Berry and N. 1st in Google Maps. Did I mention they also have a stylus? The Darkness are currently in NYC, played Irving Plaza on Superbowl eve and do so again tonight (2/6). Watch the ad which stars the band's Justin Hawkins, below.

My personal favorite music-based commercial of Super Bowl XLVI goes to the Mr. Sandman-induced dream sequence in a new Kia commercial that featured two great music choices.

The spot starts with the Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman" for the first few seconds of the commercial. That song makes way for something completely different, like Motley Crüe. The band actually shows up and plays inside the race track-themed dream of the alpha male hero. He drives the track to impress Adrianna Lima while the Crüe shred on "Kickstart My Heart". Watch "A Dream Car For Real Life" below.

In the "did I just hear Megafaun in a commercial" category, Megafaun wins one for the little guys and gets a song used in a new Toyota ad. The band's song "Hope You Know" sounds super good as the soundtrack to a story-esque spot for the Camry model. Watch it below.

Also of significant note was another brand-infused OK GO music video. The band collaborated with Chevrolet to make a commercial/music video for the song "Needing/Getting", off the 2010 album Of The Blue Colour Of the Sky. The band is filmed strapped inside a Chevy Sonic, singing and utilizing both the car and a strategically placed course sprinkled with over 1100 instruments that more or less sound like the studio version of the song. The set up is meticulous, as is the band's ability to show up in a paid advertisement in an easily-digestible, yet very memorable way.

My single most favorite lyric placed in a Super Bowl commercial goes to the lines I know it must be killing time / unknowingly mine. Audi tries to end the whole Vampire craze with its 2012 game day commercial featuring Echo & The Bunnymen's "Killing Moon." Watch below.

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Continue reading "music & commercials of Super Bowl XLVI (Darkness, Motley Crue, Megafaun, Art Brut, OK Go, Echo & the Bunnymen, Madonna & more)"

Now finished touring with The Killers, Wolfmother are going on their own tour in October and November. They play Terminal 5 in NYC on November 8th. Tickets are on sale (@ noon). All dates below.

The Cult headlined a show at Terminal 5 on September 11th. They played their album "Love" in its entirety...

"Last night I saw the Cult play live at Terminal 5 with my friend Daniela. A spectacular show. Ian Astbury voice is as strong as ever. This was the Love tour, and they played all their best songs... She Sells Sanctuary, Rain, Hallow Man, Revolution... To be honest, when they first started playing, it sounded like them, but Ian looked so different. To be fare, I was up on the balcony, so I couldn't see any details of his face. But long gone was the long black hair and bandana!

The crowd was great! A true mix of their 80's followers; heavy metal throwbacks, bikers, goths, old punks. And then the rest of us.. mainly the above 40 crowd." [mommy drinks style]

After that show The Cult added a November 10th show at Wellmont Theatre in NJ where they'll perform the same album again. Tickets are on sale.

And last but not least (for this semi-themed post), Type O Negative tend to surface near Halloween every year or two. This year it will be October 16th at Starland Ballroom, October 22nd at Nokia Theatre in NYC, and October 24th at Northern Lights. Tickets for all three are on sale (@ noon). Detroit gets the Halloween show. All dates below...

Continue reading "Wolfmother, The Cult & Type O Negative - dates & tickets "

Kylesa @ Irving Plaza earlier in May (more by Chris La Putt)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Diane Cluck @ Sycamore
* Forro in the Dark @ SOBs
* Dub Is a Weapon @ Zebulon
* Mountain Jam in Hunter, NY
* I Was A King @ Permanent Records
* The Hood Internet @ The Bell House
* Tortoise, Bird Show @ The Bell House
* Ravens & Chimes, Mia Riddle @ Joe's Pub
* KRS One, Kool Herc @ Santos Party House
* New York Ukulele Festival @ Baruch College
* Carlos Giffoni/Okkyung Lee @ Issue Project Room
* David Amram @ Brooklyn Conservatory Concert Hall
* Pelle Carlberg, The Drums, Las Palabras @ Union Hall
* X, Steve Soto & The Twisted Hearts @ Bowery Ballroom
* They Might Be Giants, Mixel Pixel @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Secret Chiefs 3, Kayo Dot @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Moderat (Modeselektor + Apparat) @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Black Star, 88 Keys, Black Violin @ Nokia Theatre Times Square
* Kylesa, Stinking Lizaveta, Unearthly Trance, Darsombra @ Cake Shop
* Screaming Females, Shellshag, Pregnant, Mimi & Christian @ Maxwell's
* Rural Alberta Advantage, I Was A King, Elevator Fight @ Mercury Lounge
* Todd Barry, Eugene Mirman, Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) @ Highline Ballroom
* Roosevelt Live w/ Alex Battles and the Whiskey Rebellion @ Roosevelt Island
* J.A.C.K., Coin Under Tongue, Kill Kill Kill, Plowing Mud Forever @ The Cameo
* Willie Mae-Ra-Thon w/ Pterodactyl, Grass Widow, Taigaa!, Querent @ Bruar Falls
* Earth Crisis, Crown of Thornz, Indecision, Killing Time, Bold, many more @ Studio B
* Little Wings with Kath Bloom, Bow Ribbons, Little Gold, Stallion Juice @ Monster Island

1990s were supposed to play Southpaw tonight.

Tickets are on sale for some special Steely Dan shows at the Beacon Theater.

Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have announced that STEELY DAN will bring their 2009 U.S. Tour to the Beacon Theatre for four nights of special setlist engagements.
The first three performances will be "Classic Album (Plus)" Nights where three landmark albums will be performed in their entirety along with selected additional favorites each night.
July 28 - Aja
July 29 - Gaucho
July 31 - The Royal Scam
The fourth night is an Internet Request Night where the setlist will be determined by internet votes from ticket-holders for the show.
August 1 - "Takin' It to the Seats"

Tickets are also now on sale for a similar type of Cult show at Terminal 5.

Mos Def and Talib Kweli perform as Black Star tonight for two sets at the Nokia Theatre Times Square.

Amanda Palmer & Neil Gaiman, who have a show coming up together at Housing Works, are performing a very short set together tonight at the Highline Ballroom show.

No Fun Fest curator Carlos Giffoni unwinds from the three day fest with a set at the Issue Project Room, performing with cellist Okkyung Lee.

WAVVES freaked out.

There's an afternoon BBQ at Monster Island today, which segues into "the final Animal Train party ever at Glasslands."

MONSTER ISLAND
4PM TO 10PM
ALL DAY MUSICAL BBQ

Paul Metzger, Elaine Evans, Colin Langenus and Marc Orleans, Perfect Weiners and Butts, Amen Dunes, Kyle Swick, Chef Kyle Hepp

THEN AT GLASSLANDS
10PM TO 4AM
ANIMALTRAIN PRESENTS

DJ jon spencer, DJ Jonathon Toubin, GoGO dancing, Preacher and the Knife, Try Cry Try, Secret Project Robot A/V, Live With Animals Circus Set

New York composer/multi-instumentatlist/raconteur/institution David Amram plays tonight and Sunday at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Concert Hall. Part of tonight's program celebrates Amram's ties to Jack Kerouac (which include appearing in and scoring the '59 Beat film Pull My Daisy) with "Readings from On the Road: John Ventimigilia of "the Sopranos" reading the poetry of Jack Kerouac with Amram's music." Pull My Daisy, and Amram discussing the film, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

Tickets are still on sale for the July 16th Dead Weather show at Terminal 5. Tickets are on presale and AmEx presale for the July 17th Dead Weather show at the same venue.

The Hip Hop Legends Series continues at BB King's on June 17th. Tickets are on sale for a show that will feature performances by Naughty By Nature, Nice & Smooth, Black Moon, Smif-N-Wesson, MC Lyte, Raekwon, Show Biz & AG, Lord Finesse, Das Efx and DJ's Funkmaster Flex & Chuck Chillout. Almost everyone on this bill also has shows coming up that are either free in a NYC park, part of the Brooklyn hip hop festival, or at Southpaw.

KRS One DJ Kool Herc (and friends) are playing Santos Party House on May 30th. Tickets are on sale. KRS One has a free show coming up too.

The Cult will perform "Love" in its entirety at Terminal 5 in NYC on September 11th. Tickets are on AmEx presale.

Vieux Farka Toure, son of Ali Farka, is playing Highline Ballroom on June 20th. Tickets are on sale.

The Roots keep adding shows at Highline Ballroom. Tickets are on sale for dates as far out as November.

Dredg and RX Bandits are touring and playing Irving Plaza on July 30th (tickets) and Bowery Ballroom on July 31st (tickets)

The Kiss Off changed their name to Arpline, and they're also on the bill with Crocodiles at Mercury Lounge on June 20th. Tickets are now on sale. Crocodiles' video for 'Neon Jesus' below...

Continue reading "Dead Weather, Vieux Farka Toure, The Cult, Raekwon, KRS One, The Roots, Dredg & other tickets"

Lupe on stage w/ UNKLE @ Vegoose 2007 (CRED)

The Lupe Fiasco one-off, record-release show at Irving Plaza is this Tuesday December 18th. Then he's taking a Hawaiian vacation, and then he'll start a tour in January that will eventually bring him back to NYC on February 2nd for a show at Nokia Theatre. Tickets for that one aren't on sale yet, but they are for a lot of other dates.

Lupe (and Jill Scott) was also just nominated for a Grammy. Does he care that much?

Nah. I was thinking about this one, though, I was kind of pondering the importance of a Grammy nomination. It can really affect sales and things of that nature. We’ll see if I win one. It’s starting to be the little things that matter to me. Like, last night I got invited out to see The Cult, with Ian Astbury, and he shouted me out on stage. I’m a big fan of Ian Astbury. I think The Cult is a little bit before my time, but I’m a big fan of Ian Astbury’s due to a lot of the stuff he’s done with UNKLE. So, yeah, it’s more those little things and occurrences, which are the milestones. Like, “Frank Sinatra went over to Sammy Davis Jr.’s house and they had a barbeque.” It’s starting to be like, “Damn, guess who I was just with yesterday?” I got a chance to perform with UNKLE, which was phenomenal. It was with a live band, we were all in Vegas. Some people might be like, “Who the hell is UNKLE?” But for me it’s like, “Damn.” Those are the stories I’m gonna tell my kids. [Lupe to the Village Voice]

This is the part where I was going to post Lupe's entire new album for you to download for free, but then I read THIS, so you'll have to just stream it instead. All dates below....

Continue reading "Lupe Fiasco - 2007/8 Tour Dates, album stream & a warning"

The Noise Pop Festival returns in 2008 from February 26 to March 2. Over six nights, Noise Pop 16 will take over the best-loved venues in San Francisco, to host unforgettable performances by Magnetic Fields, The Mountain Goats, The Gutter Twins, Cursive and dozens of other important indie rock, electronic, punk and cutting edge musical artists, transforming the city into an almost week-long celebration of the finest that the underground and not-so-underground has to offer, nationally and locally.

Kelly Stoltz, Tilly & The Wall, Capgun Coup, Fleet Foxes, Fu Manchu, Saviours, Man/Miracle and Blitzen Trapper are also confirmed.

Not confirmed at all is this letter Bob Lefsetz sent out from someone he purposely left anonymous....

Zeppelin just confirmed for Bonnaroo. They can't officially announce until after the London gig so pass it on! Also Metallica is confirmed on the bill too!

In related news, Led Zeppelin denies that they're going on tour with the Cult (thx Hiro).

Like Bonnaroo, the new Vineland Music Festival in NJ will offer 3 days of music and camping (but much closer to home - my home anyway). I hope Led Zeppelin plays that too.

Magnetic Fields are also playing four NYC shows and have a new album coming out soon. The Mountain Goats just played NYU and also have a new album coming out soon. Robert Plant has a new album out, and it's selling really well.

Vietnam were supposed to tour with the Cult? I guess now they're not (according to a message they sent out). Just like Vetiver are not opening for Morrissey. Not a good day for bearded bands that start with the letter "V". All Cult tour dates below...

Continue reading "Vietnam is not on tour with the Cult"