words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Given that most of their gear was already on the stage, one would have thought the interim between opener James Dean Wells (of the Gay Blades) and headliner The Heavy on Saturday (1/16) would have been rather brief. The whirring of noise that begins "If I Were Going" from the Afghan Whigs classic "Gentlemen" came on the 92Y Tribeca loudspeakers and, despite a solid set, Wells had done little to capture the attention of those who arrived early. As track one bled into the title track and then "Be Sweet" the prospect of maybe one or two more tracks from "Gentlemen" was a welcome. Given the Whigs' soul, R&B and Stax records leanings, it seemed a more appropriate opener. Forty minutes - or eight and a half tracks - later, The Heavy finally sauntered onto the stage to the Spaghetti Western opening of "Short Change Hero". Frontman, Kelvin Swaby bounced from one end of the stage to the other, pointed at the ladies, and early on had the crowd shouting "What you say?" during the call and answer chorus of "Big Bad Wolf." The set was split evenly among older songs and new material from last year's The House That Dirt Built. "Colleen", "Girl" and "That Kind of Man" all off 2007's Great Vengeance and Furious Fire were among the highlights of a pulsating, hour-long set. Despite moving almost non-stop, Swaby and the rest of the band somehow had attitude and swagger to spare, cashing most of it in on set closer "How You Like Me Know" ,the single from the new record.

The Heavy, who also opened for The Hot Rats at Bowery and Music Hall last week, perform tonight (1/18) on Late Night with David Letterman backed by the Dap Kings Horns (Neal Sugarman, Dave Guy and Ian Hendrickson-Smith) before heading back to Europe to play a string of shows through the end of February.

More pictures and the headliner's setlist below...

Continue reading "The Heavy & James Dean Wells @ 92YTribeca - pics & setlist"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Desktop - Desktop EP (ZIP - 192 KB/S)

Electric Six on a Rocks Off Boat in NYC - Aug 20, 2009 (.A.A.)

When we left Electric Six last week, they were preparing a new album, KILL, due October 20th on Metropolis Records, and just about to play a boat....

"There's something a little unnerving about being anywhere for hours if you have absolutely no option to leave. So boarding a rock 'n' roll party boat for a three-hour concert cruise might not be for everyone; if you wind up hating the music, getting into a fight with your friends, or feeling violently ill, there's literally no way out until the boat docks.

That element of captivity feels more like a release, though, if you set sail at sunset on the Hudson and the bands are Electric Six, who are out east touring from Michigan, and Les Sans Culottes, the very best faux French retro-rock band in all of Brooklyn. Especially if the boat is named "The Temptress" and has multiple bars and a dance floor (and even if its aroma calls to mind the perspiration of generations past).

Electric Six's "Dick Valentine," the nicest front man who ever moved raving-drunk audience members to perform at-sea body-surfing, said that some people traveled hundreds of miles, some thousands of miles, to be at the show. Screams from the crowd indicated that perhaps it wasn't a joke." [Elle Magazine]

Electric Six's post-river cruise plans include a full fall tour, which will feature opening sets by The Gay Blades and Millions of Brazilians. All three will play on Friday, October 16th at NYC's Hiro Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Thursday August 27th at noon. They'll also be in town for a show at Brooklyn's Southpaw on October 18th. Tickets for that are on sale now.

Electric Six bassist Keith Thompson and Zach Curd from The Pop Project recently launched a side-project under the name Desktop. The group's free three-song EP, linked above, shows off a knack for quirky, bedroom-casio-meets-'80s-prom-night electronic disco.

More info on Desktop and all E6 tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Electric Six tour dates ++ a free Desktop EP (E6 side-project)"

by Andrew Frisicano

The Gaye Blades

Retro rock band Georgiana Starlington (which features ex-Black Lips guitarist Jack Hines) kicks off a monthly residency at Bruar Falls in Brooklyn tonight (7/29). Opening up the show will be Atlanta's The Gaye Blades, a group fronted by current Black Lips member Jared Swilley (who is probably still in town since Black Lips played Sunday's Pool Party show). We think it's probably the group's (Gay Blades) NYC debut.

UPDATE: We realized right after posting that Benjamin Jay Womack (Bobby Ubangi) was also a member of the Gaye Blades (and Black Lips) at one time. Ben "passed away on July 1, 2009, following a nine month battle with cancer. B. Jay was 35 at the time of his death." Bradford Cox called him "A great friend and an amazing human being." RIP.

The Gaye Blades appear on the Wild About Jenkem comp put out by Killer Diller Records in 2008. The songs on the record, contributed by bands that include Coconut Coolouts (who played NYC over the weekend), Back C.C.s and Livefastdie (who played their their last show in NYC over the weekend) (see below), are all about jenkem, which, according to Wikipedia, is "a hallucinogenic recreational drug composed of noxious gas formed from fermented human feces. In the early and mid-1990s, several reports stated that Jenkem was being used by Zambian street children." Sounds great! Charles Gaskins, who heads the Killer Diller label, will also be DJing at Bruar Falls tonight (7/29); Bosco Delray rounds out the bill.

LiveFastDie (final show) w/ crazy girl @ Rock Star Bar in Brooklyn - 7/25/09 (VICE)

VICE: Why's Livefastdie breaking up?

LFD: It's just time to call it a day. Four years is a lot longer than I thought it would go. Weird punk's taken over. Hippy shit. No room left.

Continue reading "The Gaye Blades (not Gay Blades) (mem. of Black Lips) tonight, Georgiana Starlington residency, LiveFastDie...Dead"