The Kills' Jamie Hince w/ bride Kate Moss

"I'm just absolutely concentrated on The Kills and I don't really care what people think or say about it, even our fans. I think you're in trouble if you start only doing what your fans expect of you. So when people write about our success in relation to Jack White or The White Stripes, it doesn't torture me too much. I think it's hard to expect journalists to pin down your sound, anyway. Especially since the heyday of rock journalism, it's just easiest to describe bands by comparing them to other bands."
[Jamie Hince]

Village roads were shut by police as Kate and The Kills rocker Jamie married at their local church on ­Friday. They are celebrating with a three-day mini festival for guests ­including Sir Paul ­McCartney, Bob Geldof, Naomi Campbell and pal Sadie Frost.

Veteran ­crooner Bryan Ferry performed during a reception that went on until 5am. It also featured trapeze artists, burlesque ­performers and more bands. [Mirror]

The Kills' Alison Mosshart w/ Seasick Steve

It happened during Seasick Steve's headlining set and you can watch the video below.

The Kills return to America in August to play Lollapalooza followed by three dates with A Place To Bury Strangers, two of which are at Terminal 5 with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The Kills return to the road in September to play some shows around their appearance at Bumbershoot. All tour dates and the Domino-signed band's new video for "Future Starts Slow", below...

Continue reading "Jamie Hince married Kate Moss, Alison Mosshart played w/ Jack White, John Paul Jones & Seasick Steve (videos)"

photos by KILLDISCO DESIGN

"dead weather @ don hills an awesome, sweaty mess" - Stuart Willson

The Dead Weather kicked off their set at the invite-only show at Don Hill's last night right around the same time they were appearing on Letterman, and one night after they headlined a public show in Prospect Park.

On Letterman they played "Blue Blood Blues" with most of the focus, vocals and camera work, on drummer (and vocalist) Jack White. TV viewers seeing the band for the first time may have thought Allison was just the band's tambourine player (and backup singer and keyboard and guitar player). At Don Hill's they played to a beyond packed and sweaty and smoking and wasted crowd. One friend who got in told me it was "scary and dangerous but pretty sweet".

The Don Hill's show was billed as "pre-renovation", but the club is not closing yet. There's a show there tonight, and another one on Friday that will feature a set by Standard Fare (who play Bruar Falls tonight). In fact, there's a bunch of stuff on the club's schedule for this whole month.

More pictures from the Don Hill's show & the Letterman video below...

Continue reading "the Dead Weather played Letterman (video) & a private show (pics) at Don Hill's (which isn't closing yet) "

"...Don Hill's was born in April 1993 to much flag waving, fanfare and hoopla. The Smithereens set the tone that night and it has since become a virtual rock and roll hall of fame. Don has booked the joint, hired staff, run day to day and night to night operations, he's answered the phones and I suspect that on some nights he swept out the joint. He will now be joined by superheroes Nur Khan and Paul Sevigny. They will come in with mad skills, new energy and cash to redux the place. They will merge with Don to create more of the same but even better. Nur is famous for his stadium act showcases in what essentially is an over-sized living room over at Rose Bar. He will now have a mid-size venue to accommodate his vision and connections. Nur and I talked about the Don Hill space being perfect for him over a year ago. I floated the idea past Don Hills honcho Nicki Camp last July and I am as pleased as punch that a deal has been finalized. Nur is partnered up with my own personal Jesus, Paul Sevigny at Kenmare and together they will bring their unparalleled talents to this venture. The inclusion of Don into the mix is brilliant. I caught up with Paul and asked him if I could finally write about this and he spewed info at me at a thousand words a minute. I got some of it.

The essentials are that they will renovate. Thousands of rock and roll shows have worn the place out. Rock and roll has a tendency to do that--take a look at a recent shot of Keith Richards. I told Paul that I heard from a second source about this love-in and therefore I should be allowed to tell my loyal readers the good news. Paul agreed and gushed info at me. He's wanted to talk about this for a while and is uber-excited. "We're adding 5 bathrooms and seating, we're going to fix it up." I tried to take notes but it was hopeless. He was particularly excited to reboot the traditional all-ages Sunday rock shows. He told me to expect 2 or 3 big rock and roll shows a month. I know enough not to ask him if this will be the new Beatrice. Paul would have said Beatrice was Beatrice and this is Don Hills and why do people ask that and then he would have mumbled, laughed to himself and made sly, snide side comments--a bit like loveable Popeye." [Steve Lewis]

photos by Jessica Amaya

"One more time, The Dead Weather stomped Brooklyn last night. Great show." -artgig

"Dead weather KILLED. Didnt celebrate bklyn so much as set it aflame." -rathermarvelous

"I bet you read Brooklyn Vegan too," says Jack White, "any other vegans in the crowd out there? come on stage and we'll kill a cow together" -ndersonTEA

"i saw you at the dead weather concert in prospect park...i was going to say hello to you but you had some guy totally jocking you the whole night. any wasys youre beautiful" -M4W

"Not too many people would have the audacity to walk on stage, blow torch in hand, and proceed to light their front woman's cigarette. Then again, not everyone is Jack White. The Dead Weather was in full force from the moment they graced the stage. The all-black-everything entourage attacked the stage with pristine white guitars that were used as battle axes as they attacked the stage with their raw sound. Alison Mosshart prowled the stage taking complete command of each song as White's drumming thundered between wails on guitar and tight thumping bass. Song after song pummeled the crowd, showing that their strong suit really is in the live performance, as the set built to the electrifying "Will There Be Enough Water?" Once Mr. White strapped on his six string there was no turning back. He ripped through the track while sharing lead vocal duties and microphone battles with Mosshart. Despite being behind a kit instead of his usual lead, White still ran the show, top hat, feather, and all. His fills on the skins were pulsating all evening however, on both the occasions he took duty on guitar his true talent was unveiled. Few have been as productive as Jack White in this past decade and while I still believe that neither of his recent projects have matched the brilliance of the White Stripes, the Dead Weather truly earned much respect last night. "[omg nyc]

The Dead Weather are on Letterman tonight (and they play an invite-only show at Don Hill's). More pictures and the set list from the Brooklyn show (thanks for the shout out Jack), below...

Continue reading "the Dead Weather played Prospect Park (pics & setlist) "

photos by Bao Nguyen

"Agh. Free Black Keys concert tonight at the Classic Car Club but lines were CRAZY!" - quiet soliloquy

"Fans have overwhelmingly expressed, in 354+ comments on The Black Keys Facebook page, that the band has "sold out" following an announcement that a new song, "Chop And Change", will be a part of the soundtrack for the third installment of extremely popular vampire movie franchise "Twilight".

The Black Keys' have sold out? Yeah, sure. If anything, they've finally just sold in on their own terms.

In most cases, the term "sold out" would be fantastic news to artists in regards to shows, books, CDs, etc. It simply claims that the artist/event is doing so well that they have run out of space or items and that it is pretty much exclusive and rare - a privilege, really. It's heartbreaking to the people who did not get a chance to be a part of it, but it does hint at success, which can obviously be rendered in many different ways. For people who appreciate "underground" or lesser-known works or talents, however, "selling out" is the worst possible brand that you can get from a fan - it pretty much means that you are now not good enough to be appreciated anymore, and that you are now "mainstream" or "too trendy."" [The Black Keys Fan Lounge]

No more Kin shows in NYC, but Chicago has one by The Dead Weather coming up. The Dead Weather (who also opened a pop up shop in NYC when their last record came out), along with Metric (who play NYC tonight/Sunday), Muse (who are taking Metric on tour), Band of Horses (who also open for Pearl Jam at MSG this week), Vampire Weekend and others, also appear on the new Twilight soundtrack. The full tracklisting and more pictures from the Kin show below...

Continue reading "The Black Keys played the Classic Car Club in NYC (pics), appear on the new Twilight Soundtrack (track list)"

Yeasayer Kin show in San Francisco

Not to be confused with their DJ set at Museum of Natural History, Passion Pit will perform their previously-mentioned, free "Kin" show at a secret Tribeca location in NYC tonight (5/14). The location and other details will be revealed at some point on the event's Facebook page. Same goes for Saturday's Black Keys show, Saturday's Ting Tings show, and the newly-announced Dead Weather show happening in Chicago on next Sunday Saturday (5/22).

For the Black Keys, it's one of three NYC shows in a week. The other two happen at the very tiny Housing Works Bookstore and the very large Madison Square Garden.

"Kin" hosted their first promotional shows in this series the other day in San Francisco with performances by Asher Roth, N.E.R.D. and Yeasayer. Pictures from those continue below...

Continue reading "Passion Pit & Black Keys play Kin shows this weekend, Dead Weather in Chicago, Yeasayer & NERD played California (pics)"

The Dead Weather @ Coachella (more by Rachel Carr)

The Dead Weather have a new album, Sea of Cowards, coming out May 11th on Third Man Records/Warner Bros. As a preview of the record, the band will play it straight through at the Third Man building in Nashville on Monday, May 3rd, at 6pm (today), a set that'll be streaming on Myspace. The record is also streaming at NPR.

The band just played the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 2nd. Here's a review of their set:

White Stripes honcho Jack White led his latest alt-rock ensemble, the Dead Weather, in a compact but potent romp through moody and scarifying guitar-centric songs, mostly from the Horehound album. Alison Mosshart's vocals and flailing theatrics competed for attention with White's no-holds-barred guitar attacks and usually lost. Until the final song, that is: "Will There Be Enough Water?," delivered during a steady drizzle, found them both in peak form, playing with whisper-to-scream dynamics and flattening the audience. [USA Today]

Jack White's wife Karen Elson has her own outside summer show coming up. She plays with Band of Horses and Grizzly Bear at Waterfront on June 20th. Tickets are on sale for that.

Also on the horizon for Jack White: a possible White Stripes "reunion". What he's said about that, all tour dates, album art, tracklist and the video for the album's first single are below...

Continue reading "The Dead Weather playing Prospect Park this summer & on MySpace today ++ full new album streaming now "

photos by Rachel Carr

Devo

"An aggregate 225,000 people bought tickets to see a [Coachella] roster headlined by Jay-Z, Muse and Gorillaz during the April 16-18 event at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio.

The previous attendance record was set in 2007, when the headliners included a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Final figures are still being tallied, but AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips said the gross will exceed $20 million.

Phillips said the future looked bleak for AEG Live's nascent All Points West festival, which took place in 2008 and 2009 across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J.

"We're probably going to kill it," said Phillips. "As beautiful as (the site) is, it's very hard to get New Yorkers to cross that river. All Points West is an experiment that just didn't work." [Reuters]

Continue reading "more photos from Coachella, more confirmation that All Points West is not happening"

photos by Rachel Carr, words by Daiana Feuer

"Wow. The Sahara is past capacity at Coachella for Die Antwoord. No midget. Waiting for the trainwreck but people dig it." - The Scenestar

"Seeing a shirtless Danny DeVito run across the stage while Faith No More played pretty much made my #coachella weekend." - stovn

Die Antwoord, Faith No More

Flopping phalluses are in this year according to Major Lazer and Die Antwoord. Each presented the intersection of beats, party-hyping, gross humor, and dancing in your underwear. Day 2 of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival had an overall far-out theme. Some with sexually explicit lunacy, others with psychedelic music. South Africa's Die Antwoord introduced zef-rap to the festival, South Africa's version of white trash hip hop-a bold, fearless expression of crazy stick a finger up your bum entertainment.

Before arriving at these culminating moments, the day progressed through a series of psychedelic and/or raunchy expressions. John Waters kicked things off with thoughts on crawling through pig poo, taking poppers, the pleasures of sploshing, and strange things he wants to do before he dies. Gossip's Beth Ditto hoped he was watching her blazing disco soul performance but was afraid to look backstage and see him smiling and waving at her. Gossip put on a set that inspired revelations on reality in the most self-empowering ways.

John Waters & Beth Ditto @ Coachella (this pics via Jermey Scott)

The day's best covers include Faith No More doing "Reunited" (they also covered Michael Jackson's "Ben"), Portugal, The Man's jamming Bowie's "Moonlight Daydream," and Girls' flawless "All I Have To Do Is Dream" by the Everly Brothers. The last was a most appropriate choice for the band with an Ariel Pink sensibility towards '50s ballads. MGMT brought the futuristic 1960s with songs from its new album. Many pointed out that the band didn't play "Kids", but that seems to miss the point that MGMT put on a pretty sophisticated, experimental live performance of the band's signature Indian headdress on Phil Spector Fraggle Rock sound.

The Raveonettes played as a duo and sans drum machine, adorably sharing a mic sometimes. The rest of the band remains trapped under lava in Iceland, figuratively speaking. Camera Obscura also shouted out bands stuck in the UK, dedicating "Let's Get Out Of This Country" to those who could not make it.

It seems almost every DJ this weekend has sampled Major Lazer's "Pon De Floor" except Flying Lotus, who took the stage all on his own (no Thom Yorke cameo included). After warming up the crowd with some first grade experimental hip hop, FlyLo brought out the big guns, sounds combined in layers and pitches that act like quaaludes on the light speed continuum. The Dirty Projectors girls evoked cool electronic birds and the Dezurik Sisters with their harmonizing powers. Beach House cooed the audience romantically as 50% of the band, Alex Scally, rubbed his slide up and down the frets.

Did that sound sexy? It's time to talk about sexy. The xx provided the mellow arousal Blonde Redhead and Portishead have given Coachella the last two years. People like The xx because they want sex that fits this soundtrack. They also want sex as excitingly goofy gross as Die Antwoord and to fall in love with a gal like Sia, all at the same time. Sia's beautiful voice closed the night in the Gobi tent, and though her accent rendered her side comments completely incomprehensible, everyone laughed and agreed with anything she said. On the other hand, as great and sexy as the Dead Weather sounded, I don't know if I want to bed someone who demands I treat her like my mother. Old Crow Medicine Show suggested letting a woman rule your mind leads to troubles during "Minglewood Blues." Instead, let her win your heart with country-fried dinner.

Faith No More's twelve-song set included a cameo by a semi-streaker who happened to be Coachella regular Danny Devito. You can see that happen in one of the videos below. Faith No More's whole setlist is down there too.

Porcupine Tree, Tokyo Police Club, Hot Chip, The Almighty Defenders, Les Claypool, Devo, and Muse were also on the bill Saturday. Our review, pictures and videos from Friday are HERE. Saturday continues below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2010 - Day Two in pics, video & review (Die Antwoord shots & Faith No More's setlist included)"

After a hectic day of updating the constantly updating Bonnaroo lineup page, the entire thing has been announced. Gwar, Norah Jones, and the rest of the lineup below...

Continue reading "the complete 2010 Bonnaroo lineup (Stevie Wonder, The Melvins, Kings of Leon, Isis, Local Natives & many more) "

Wow...Public Image Ltd, The Specials, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen, Grace Jones, Fever Ray, Devo, Hot Chip, Phoenix, Orbital, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sunny Day Real Estate, Yo La Tengo, Mew, Camera Obscura, Gil Scott-Heron, The xx, John Waters, Dillinger Escape Plan, Deer Tick, Gary Numan... Full Coachella 2010 lineup below....

Continue reading "2010 Coachella line up announced (Faith No More, Pavement, Muse, Gorillaz, Thom Yorke, Jay-Z, LCD Soundystem, ???)"

photos by Chris Graham

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

For what was the worst day weather-wise for San Francisco's Outide Lands Festival, its last day (Sunday, August 30th) may have been the best musically. Cold fog and wind took the place of cloudless, sunny skies, but those who attended witnessed sets by Modest Mouse, the Dead Weather, the Avett Brothers, Band of Horses, Calexico, Matt & Kim , and soul legends Robert Randolph and Betty Layvette, and MIA, who complained via Twitter about the fest's substitution of Tenacious D for the Beastie Boys, then covered two Beasties songs, "Intergalactic" and "Sabatage, in her set.

Scrambling to find replacement headliners for the Beastie Boys was a common theme for festivals in summer '09, after the group was forced to cancel all dates when Adam Yauch was dianosed with cancer (he's since had sugery, and reports say that part of his health regiment is a vegan/organic diet). Beastie Boys' slot was filled by Jay-Z at All Points West and Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Lollapalooza

More pictures from Day Three below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 - Day 3 pics (Tenacious D, MIA, Ween, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Dead Weather, more)"

The December issue of Q Magazine is an 'Artists Of The Century' special edition, covering all of the acts that the fine staff of the good ship Q feel are the most important of the century so far. As befitting a special edition of the UK best selling music monthly requires a special cover was commissioned world renowned photographer John Wright has spent over a year shooting 34 artists to fit on triple fold out cover.

The issue is packed to the gills with pieces written by Russell Brand on Noel Gallagher, Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis on Coldplay and Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme on The Arctic Monkeys. In addition it also includes exclusive interviews and photos from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Dizzee Rascal, U2, Dave Grohl, Lily Allen, Rihanna, Sir Paul McCartney, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Brandon Flowers from The Killers, Elbow's Guy Garvey, Pink, Muse's Matt Bellamy, Murdoc from Gorillaz, The Kings Of Leon, Mark Ronson, Mika, Nick Cave, Robert Plant, Florence Welch, Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol and Tom Chaplin of Keane.

Continue reading "Q Magazine's Top Albums of 2009 "

photos by Chris La Putt

Indie darlings Matt & Kim kicked off the show -- which celebrates the year's best music as determined by MTVu's college-centric audience -- with an energetic performance of their breakout single "Lessons Learned." Later, the duo returned to accept their Best Video Woodie award.

"We've had one heck of a year," said Matt Johnson, before counterpart Kim Schifino leapt into the crowd.

Additional performers included veteran alt-rockers Death Cab for Cutie, who rocked the audience with its "New Moon" soundtrack single "Meet Me on the Equinox," as well as Passion Pit, the Dead Weather and Clipse, who were joined onstage by fellow rappers Cam'ron and Rick Ross.

Presenter highlights came from Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz and pop prankserts 3OH!3. Wentz rolled onto the stage holding a red Solo cup, while 3OH!3 gave a nod to Lady Gaga by dressing in her various VMA outfits. Asher Roth, will.i.am, and surprise guest Cyndi Lauper also presented awards. [Billboard]

The Dead Weather also played a show one day before the Woodies in Brooklyn. The Woodies air December 4th at 10pm. More pictures from the event (11/18 at Roseland Ballroom in NYC), below...

Continue reading "2009 mtvU Woodie Awards @ Roseland - pics (Passion Pit, Dead Weather, Matt & Kim, Clipse, Death Cab, more) "

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Passion Pit and the Clipse -- featuring Cam'ron and Rick Ross -- have just been confirmed to perform at the sixth-annual Woodies, joining already-announced acts Death Cab for Cutie, the Dead Weather and Matt & Kim. Breakout Woodie nominees Passion Pit will be performing their breakout single "The Reeling," while the Clipse will take on a pair of tracks, teaming with Cam on "Popular Demand (Popeye's)" and Ross for "I'm Good." Genre-blurring DJ/producer Diplo, who lately has been spending time as one half of Major Lazer, has also been announced as the house DJ for the night.

But all the onstage action won't just be of the performance variety. On Monday (November 16), the Woodies also announced a slate of big-name presenters, including Pete Wentz, Zooey Deschanel, 3OH!3, Mary-Louise Parker, David Cross, Janelle Monáe, and Woodie of the Year nominee Asher Roth.

The 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards will take place this Wednesday [tonight] at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. The show will then premiere Friday, December 4, at 10 p.m. ET on mtvU, MTV, MTV2 and Palladia.

Continue reading "The Dead Weather played Music Hall of Williamsburg (pics), playing Woodies tonight w/ Passion Pit, Diplo & Clipse "

The Dead Weather @ Home Sweet Home in July (more by Ryan Muir)

The Dead Weather will be performing at Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight (11/17) with an opening set by Ecstatic Peace-signed Australians Violent Soho. To go with that, some other Jack White news...

Jack White will be working with "Queen of Rockabilly" Wanda Jackson. The pairing sounds similar to what White did with Loretta Lynn for her 2004, Grammy-winning record Van Lear Rose, but Jackson says, "They had a super album, but he didn't have her do anything different, you know. She just did her little Loretta Lynn songs. But he told me he's gonna stretch me some, so we'll see." A 2009 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame nominee, Wanda recently performed at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans.

One album White will not be helping with is the new record from Slash. On the nature of that, Slash said, "I wanted to get Jack White to sing on something, but he didn't want to sing. He said 'I'll play drums, I'll play guitar, but I don't wanna sing.'" Slash did manage to get "Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Grohl, Flea and three of former Guns N' Roses bandmates, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler and Duff McKagan" though.

Another project White has had a hand in putting out is composer John Boswell's remix of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series called "A Glorious Dawn." The song puts a beat under Sagan's auto-tuned narration and features a guest spot from Stephen Hawking. The track, on YouTube since September (below), is out now through White's Third Man Records.

The Dead Weather also just put out a record of their own, an unannounced EP called Live from Third Man West, which features five songs and four videos from their performance at a promotional pop-up store in Los Angeles in August (similar to what they did in New York in July). You can get it through iTunes.

The Dead Weather play Wednesday too (November 18th) at the mtvU Woodie Awards at Roseland Ballroom, and travel to New Zealand, Australia and Japan in March, 2010.

Tour dates and "A Glorious Dawn" are below...

Continue reading "Dead Weather in town w/ new EP ++ Jack White works w/ Wanda Jackson, but not Slash -- releases Carl Sagan"

DOWNLOAD: Violent Soho - Son of Sam (MP3)

Violent Soho

Ecstatic Peace-signed Australian band Violent Soho, who you may have just caught with Built To Spill, are opening for The Dead Weather at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday, November 17th. Tickets (whatever is left after the fanclub presale) are on sale at noon.

Violent Soho also open for Band of Skulls at the same venue two days earlier. Actually they have four upcoming NYC shows total. They are listed below...

Continue reading "Violent Soho opening for Dead Weather @ MHOW (tix on sale)"

The Dead Weather @ Home Sweet Home in July (more by Ryan Muir)

The Dead Weather will be performing at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday, November 17th. The show, happening one day before the group plays the mtvU Woodie Awards at Roseland Ballrom, is currently the only gig on their schedule. Tickets for the show will go on presale for subscribers of The Vault, the online club run by Third Man Records, starting Tuesday, November 10th at noon. General sale starts Friday, November 13th at noon. There will be a two ticket limit, will call only.

At the mtvU Woodie Awards, at Roseland Ballroom on November 18th, the band will perform their Woodie-nominated video song, "Treat Me Like Your Mother." That's posted below. Also on the bill are Death Cab For Cutie (doing their Twilight song "Meet Me on the Equinox") and Matt and Kim. The event will be broadcast on December 4th.

The Dead Weather video and this year's Woodie Nominees are posted below...

Continue reading "The Dead Weather playing MHOW before they play the mtvU Woodies (with Death Cab & Matt & Kim)"

Sufjan Stevens @ Bowery Ballroom last night (more by Tammy Lo)

tonight in NYC
DANCE
Whiplash @ UCB Theatre
Lucinda Williams @ Irving Plaza
Rev. Vince Anderson @ Union Pool
Sufjan Stevens, Cryptacize @ Bowery Ballroom
The Choke, Wild Yaks, Images @ Bowery Electric
Taxi Taxi, Mr. Gnome, Noxious Foxes @ Union Hall
Francis of Francis & The Lights @ Rockwood Music Hall
A Place at the Table w/ Rufus Wainwright @ Chelsea Art Museum
Human Eye, Terrible Twos, Stupid Party, Nude Beach @ Bruar Falls
Home Video, ArpLine, The Naked Hearts, Darlings @ Studio at Webster Hall (free)
Precious Metal w/ Meek Is Murder, Castevet, Flourishing, Alkahest @ Lit Lounge
Small Beast w/ Matt Kanelos, Pete Galub, M.G. Lederman, Sally Novell, Paul, Wallfisch, Thomas Simon @ The Delancey

Human Eye is here from Detroit. Bruar Falls tonight. Don Pedro's tomorrow.

"From the ashes of punk stalwarts The Clone Defects-- who broke up in October '04-- rises a new and incredible band fronted by Defects' Tim Vulgar. Human Eye has rotated more heads than an exorcism televised during half-time at the Super Bowl. Vulgar calls what Human Eye does alien punk, though it is primitive enough to recall the basic punk attack of The Dead Boys or any Killed By Death band you care to name colliding with Throbbing Gristle or Chrome. You know, earthy but art-damaged. The quartet recorded the twelve tunes for their debut with Ryan Sabatis of the Piranhas in his basement studio over the course of several months (though it could have been done quicker had the drummer not been jailed for burgling audio-visual equipment from a school). Only in Detroit does one find musicians of this caliber. Figures it was the drummer." [In the Red]

Lucinda Williams does the last of her NYC career retrospective shows at Irving Plaza.

Rufus Wainwright performs at A Place at the Table at Chelsea Art Museum. It's a benefit for the Ali Forney Center, which is a shelter for a homeless LGBT youth. Rufus appeared with Scarlett Johansson and Gavin Friday at last night's Carnegie Hall benefit for (RED).

UCB Theatre hosts Whiplash, which tonight features comedians Larry Wilmore, Moshe Kasher, Andy Kindler and host Leo Allen.

A new video from Los Campesinos! for their song "There Are Listed Buildings" is posted below. They last visited NYC in August.

New Dead Weather video for "I Cut Like A Buffalo" is below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

Grizzly Bear (when they played MHOW - more by Tim Griffin)

Lightning Bolt (from the last time they played Bway Backyard - more by Leia Jospe)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* The Cool Kids @ S.O.B.'s
* Allen Toussaint @ Joe's Pub
* Mother Mother, Arms, Ultrachorus @ Union Hall
* Das Racist, Cerebral Ballzy @ Public Assembly
* Earth Wind & Fire, Chicacgo @ Jones Beach Theater
* Grizzly Bear, Beach House, Vega @ Williamsburg Waterfront
* Charlie Parker Jazz Festival @ Tompkins Square Park
* Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Preacher & the Knife @ MHOW
* Drunken Sufis, Pretty & Nice, Deleted Scenes, Milly Beau @ Cake Shop
* Black August Hip-Hop Project Annual Benefit Concert @ BB King's
* Lightning Bolt, Teeth Mountain, Talk Normal, Hot Box @ 979 Broadway Backyard
* Suckers, Blood Warrior, Julianna Barwick, Acrylics, The Octagon, more @ Littlefield

Grizzly Bear, Beach House and Vega play the last Jelly NYC Pool Party of the summer at East River State Park. It feels like the first one was just yesterday.

Lightning Bolt (whose new disc, Earthly Delights, comes out next month) play 979 Broadway Backyard just like they did about this time last year. Joining them will be Teeth Mountain, Talk Normal and Hot Box.

Charlie Parker Jazz Festival takes place in Tompkins Square Park with the legendary Cedar Walton (w/ Quartet) among the scheduled acts.

After the Jump Fest brings a bill of Suckers (who just played Brooklyn Bowl), Julianna Barwick, Acrylics, The Octagon and more to Littlefield for the fest's last day.

The Cool Kids take over S.O.B.'s.

There's a free show with Das Racist and Cerebral Ballzy at Public Assembly.

The Dead Weather just performed some songs on Kimmel. Videos below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

"CANT BELIEVE THEY REPLACED BEASTIES WITH TENACIOUS D ??????????????????????AND IF I PULL OUT THEY SUE! SO REALLY? TENACIOUS D AFTER ME? P.S I ORIGINALLY BOOKED ON SHOWS COZ BEASTIES WERE HEADLINERS , BUT NOW THEY AINT DOING IT AND I JUS WANNA SAY , WE HAVE TO GO HARD!!!" - M.I.A.

When Tenacious D was asked - eventually - to step in as the closing act for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival next Sunday after the Beastie Boys were forced to drop out at the last minute, the guys didn't hesitate. In their mind, the substitution seemed like a natural fit.

"I think there are more similarities than differences, really, when you put us together," announced Jack Black, who formed the folk-metal duo with his friend Kyle Gass long before he became a big-time Hollywood star. The band may not have been up to much since starring in the feature film "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" three years ago, but when we spoke to them last week they promised, "The D will be in fine form."

SF GATE: Who got the call when the Beastie Boys had to drop out?

Jack Black: I assume they just called our manager. We actually have the same manager as the Beastie Boys.

Neither M.I.A. nor Tenacious D will be viewable on the stream, but Built to Spill and The Dead Weather will be. Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands Fest in SF this weekend, streaming on YouTube -- Tenacious D playing, M.I.A. not happy"

Karen O @ Lollapalooza 2009 (more by Paul Birman)

"DGC/ INTERSCOPE TO RELEASE WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK: ORIGINAL SONGS BY KAREN O AND THE KIDS. ALBUM OUT SEPTEMBER 29! LEAD SINGLE "ALL IS LOVE" OUT DIGITALLY AUGUST 25! MOTION PICTURE IN THEATERS OCTOBER 16!

Inside Karen O is a Wild Thing - as singer for the Grammy-nominated Yeah Yeah Yeahs, her wild thing is in your face, vulnerable, obnoxious, tender, exciting... a self-proclaimed "spazoid." However, to Oscar-nominated Where the Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze, Karen O and her music possess a child-like innocence, a guileless charm that put her exactly on the right emotional wavelength to sonically capture the highly-anticipated film.

To compose music for the film, O enlisted friends and fellow musicians she believed had the musical intuition that would bolster her intent to marry sound to vision. Dubbed Karen O and the Kids, the kids include Tristan Bechet (Services), Tom Biller (co-producer with Karen O and member of Afternoons), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter), Brian Chase (YYY), Dean Fertita (The Dead Weather), Aaron Hemphill (Liars), Greg Kurstin (The Bird and the Bee), Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather), Oscar Michel (Gris Gris), Imaad Wasif (New Folk Implosion), Nick Zinner, (YYY) and an untrained children's choir." [Where the Wild Things Press Release]

In related news, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on September 29th. That's six days after their much larger Manhattan show at Radio City Music Hall which sold out, I am told, in less than a day (UPDATE: There are a few random single tickets still available for Radio City at the moment, so not completely sold out yet)... I'm sure the MHOW show will sell out in less than a minute when tickets go on sale Friday at noon (2-ticket limit, will call only, opener TBA).

Some related videos below...

Continue reading "Yeah Yeah Yeahs add MHOW show - Karen O & the Kids made the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack (single out now)"

photos by Ryan Muir

People (including one very small child) waited in line over 12 hours outside "Third Man Records" aka the Envoy Gallery at 131 Chrystie Street on the LES in NYC for a chance to get in to see Jack White's new band The Dead Weather play a free show at noon today (7/16). Ends up, the band didn't play in the pop-up store, but right downstairs in the bar called Home Sweet Home (which not long ago hosted that Sonic Youth 'Eternal' party).

Inside the yellow store people can buy Dead Weather merchandise (including their album Horehound that was released this week) from the one and only Matt Pinfield and his WRXP co-host Leslie Fram. Downstairs, the band which features The Kills' Alison Mosshart on vocals played for about 30 minutes with one encore to the 175-or-so people that jammed into the hot and sweaty basement. Jack played drums and sang on one song, and in usual Jack White style, everyone associated with the band, even the roadies, were well dressed. Ryan said the band sounded great, and he couldn't think of a better place to catch the band than a dive bar like Home Sweet Home...

...which isn't saying much for the much, much larger venue the band is playing tonight (7/16) and tomorrow (7/17). The Screaming Females open both NYC shows at Terminal 5. More pictures from the Third Man Records in-store, below...

Continue reading "The Dead Weather @ Home Sweet Home under the Third Man Records pop-up store (w/ Matt Pinfield on the register) - pics "

People outside Envoy Gallery in 2007 (via)

"101.9 RXP Presents two Sold-Out Dead Weather Shows (Jack White's new band) this Thursday and Friday at Terminal 5! BUT-Matt Pinfield & Leslie Fram announced a Free show with the band this Thursday at Noon! Jack White opens a Pop-Up store of his Third Man Records based in Nashville!

Located at 131 Chrystie Street from 10am-6pm this Thursday and Friday only. You can buy the Dead Weather CD and Vinyl there! The band will do a FREE SHOW there this Thursday at Noon!

First Come, First Serve - so get there Early! Matt Pinfield will work behind the "

Jack White returns this week with Horehound from yet another band on his resume, The Dead Weather (where he is joined by The Kills' Alison Mosshart). Promotions for this album have been running high with a Third Man Records store even opening in NYC for two days, and a 'takeover' of online radio station WOXY by the band. You can listen to their one hour set from Monday HERE.

From the discs I have already heard, I can also recommend Baby Teeth's Hustle Beach, The Most Serene Republic's Expanding Universe, and New Roman Times: On The Sleeve.

Remastered albums from Neil Young (After the Gold Rush, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Harvest (remastered), Neil Young) and the Rolling Stones (A Bigger Bang (remastered), Bridges to Babylon, Dirty Work, Steel Wheels, Voodoo Lounge) highlight the week's reissues, along with a remastered edition of the Beastie Boys' Ill Communication (complete with bonus disc).

What new music can you recommend this week? What's on your shopping list? Have I left any interesting releases off the list?

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"