Yeasayer @ MHOW (more by Ryan Muir)

If so, the date will either be August 4th or 5th, and it won't be free. The National's next NYC show is at Madison Square Garden. All Yeasayer tour dates below....

Continue reading "The National & Yeasayer playing Summerstage? + Tour Dates"

photos by Ryan Muir

NYC representin' in the desert....

Continue reading "the National, Sharon Jones & Battles - Coachella pics & video"

Sam Amidon playing in Nico Muhly's last show @ The Kitchen

The other advantage of a deliberate mispronunciation is that it can be subtly dismissive of a topic that you, the Mispronouncer, are somehow ashamed to admit to knowing too much about. One time I have caught myself doing this is with the artist M.I.A., whom everybody had been talking about in, like, 2003. So as not to appear deliberately branché (BRAHN-shay) about her music, I caught myself talking about her like, "Oh, I was just listening to...how do you say it, is it Miyya? Emm Eye Ay?" and of course, it's an asshole move, and it slows the pace of conversation. I heard myself do it, and vowed never to do it again. [Nico Muhly - on his blog]

Continue reading "Nico Muhly is releasing an album on Brassland"

Continue reading "A Skin, A Night - a film about THE NATIONAL & a new EP"

Tickets on sale at 10 AM for a bunch of R.E.M. shows, MSG & Jones Beach included.

INDIE-O FEST 08 * MEXICO CITY (BenedicteDesrus)

INDIE-O FEST en el Vive Cuervo Salon * Mexico City * 29 de marzo 2008 con: Broken Social Scene, The National, Apostle of Huste, Chikita Violenta, San Pascualito Rey, Estereox. (BenedicteDesrus)

Continue reading "Kevin Drew promotes emo & punk 'peace' in Mexico "

INDIE-O FEST 08 * MEXICO CITY (BenedicteDesrus)

Continue reading "R.E.M./The National/Modest Mouse tour ticket & presale info "

photos by Bao Nguyen

Eschewing their own tradition of booking hip hop acts for spring, Columbia Concerts has booked awesome Brooklyn-based indie rockers Grizzly Bear and awesome Brooklyn-based indie rockers The National for this year's Spring Concert.

An anonymous source also informs Bwog that this year's Spring Concert will also differ from last year's because it's going to be indoors and tickets are going to cost a completely reasonable and completely worth it $5 fee (students only). [the bwog]

Continue reading "the National played NYU, playing Columbia w/ Grizzy Bear"

REM recording Austin City Limits during SXSW (CRED)

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN CONFIRMED FOR NEW YORK CITY SHOW R.E.M.'s penultimate show on the upcoming North American tour in support of ACCELERATE has been confirmed for Madison Square Garden. The band will play at the Garden on June 19th in between shows in Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Continue reading "REM/Modest Mouse/National confirmed for MSG in NYC"

My Brightest Diamond (opening for the National) @ BAM (Kathryn Yu)

Two years after the world formally met her via her debut, Bring Me the Workhorse, Brooklyn, NY's My Brightest Diamond - spearheaded by Shara Worden - has been established...............And with A Thousand Shark's Teeth, Diamond's sophomore release is due out June 17th, 2008 on Asthmatic Kitty Records........

Continue reading "new My Brightest Diamond album, a NYC solo show, SXSW"

Nick Cave @ Terminal 5, NYC - March 6, 2008 (tina gao)

Nick Cave played an awesome 45-60 minute set to an appreciative crowd at Terminal 5 last night. Most people were clearly there to see Nick. The rest of the Plug Awards didn't have as much energy - really wasn't that exciting, but it wasn't that bad either.....at least I thought so.....

cave played nine songs, six from the new album. the bad seeds set was awesome. the rest of the show, like someone said earlier, was "awkward and pointless". [anonymous]

Strangely Animal Collective beat The National for "Best Indie Album", but The National did win "Best Song" - which they were there to accept. Arcade Fire won "Best Album" (a different category than "Indie Album"). Stereogum won best blog, Pitchfork won best website for the 2nd year in a row, and Blog Radio on Sirius (that I am a part of) won "Best Specialty Radio Show" (thanks!) for the 2nd year in a row. Justice won "Best New Artist" and I think Hot Chip won best DJ album. Other awards I can remember went to Bowery Ballroom for best venue, Other Music for best store, and Coachella for best festival. I'll list them all out below when they publish a list.

Continue reading "Nick Cave & The Plug Awards @ Terminal 5, pics & results"

Continue reading "Jenna Bush loves The National, Arcade Fire, Strokes (video)"

NYU Program Board presents The National with Phosphorescent & Maps and Atlases

Thurs, Feb 28, 2008 at Kimmel Center, 8pm
$8 for NYU students, $10 for public

On sale now to NYU ID holders at Ticket Central;
limit 2 advance per ID.

Other upcoming NYC-area shows include June 14th w/ REM & Modest Mouse @ Jones Beach, June 19th w/ the same bands in NYC, and two shows Bryce Dessner is playing with Wilco's Glenn Kotche at the Kitchen in March. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "THE NATIONAL are playing NYU, Bryce is playing The Kitchen w/ Glenn Kotche, BAM, REM, other 2008 Tour Dates"

DOWNLOAD: Deer Tick - Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston Cover) (MP3)

As each day goes by, I keep falling more and more in love with Deer Tick. Check out the non-album cover of a Sean Kingston song above. Check out Deer Tick with Doveman (who I also love) TONIGHT (Feb 15, 2008) @ Southpaw in Brooklyn (A Zombieville party). You can run back and forth between Southpaw and Union Hall where the Forms are playing (a Gothamist party).

I've got two pairs of tickets to give away to the Southpaw show tonight. To win, e-mail BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Dove Tick). Include your first and last name in the email. Two winners will be contacted soon.

Doveman is also playing Saturday night (Feb 16th) at the Stone (or so says his website anyway).

Deer Tick is also playing Glasslands on February 28th, and my official SXSW showcase in Austin.

Doveman also listed some of his favorite things in 2007, and I accidentaly never posted it. The abridged version is below....

Continue reading "Doveman, tonight, Deer Tick, an MP3, a contest & stuff"

DOWNLOAD: All songs .zip (ZIP FILE)
DOWNLOAD: Razor Love (Neil Young) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Baby We'll Be Fine (The National) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: True Love Will Find You In The End (Daniel Johnston) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mobius Band in a Green Cotton Sweater (Casiotone FT Painfully A)
DOWNLOAD: I'll Keep It With Mine (Bob Dylan) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Digital Love (Daft Punk) (MP3)

Brooklyn/Massachusetts-based trio Mobius Band is not unfamiliar with the EP format. They produced four separate EP's before their first LP, "The Loving Sounds of Static," was released in 2005. Now, on the heels of the bands sophomore LP "Heaven" comes a new twist on an old theme - a free covers EP of love songs recorded in Massachusetts, and just in time for you and your sweetie (or perhaps your ex) to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Continue reading "Mobius Band - free Valentine's Day cover EP, Tour Dates"

Tickets go on sale Thursday for a Dirty Projectors show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 9th. Before that they play the incredible Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett)-curated Maximum Black Festival with Final Fantasy, Six Organs of Admittance, Deerhoof and Frog Eyes - a 3-date tour that goes from Vienna to London to Berlin. They also play the Bryce Dessner (The National)-curated musicNOW Festival in Cincinatti, Ohio on April 4th. That festival bill also features Bang on a Can, Bill Frisell, Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, and Glenn Kotche. All dates below....

Continue reading "DIRTY PROJECTORS playing Brooklyn, Maximum Black, MusicNOW, ATP & other 2008 Tour Dates"

Continue reading "R.E.M., The National & Modest Mouse - 2008 Tour Dates"

DOWNLOAD: The National - All The Wine (MP3)

Joanna Newsom's February 1st show with members the Broolyn Philharmonic Orchestra at BAM is sold out, so she added another one. Tickets for January 31st go on sale Wed @ 10am.

The National's February 22nd show at BAM is sold out, so they added another one. Tickets for February 23rd also go on sale Wed @ 10am.

DOWNLOAD: Feist - Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix) (MP3)

Death Cab For Cutie is coming out with a new album in May 2008. You can watch a trailer for it on their new website.

Also to look foward to in 2008: a collaboration between Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard and Leslie Feist...

during a recent off day in Louisville, she and her touring band got the itch to roll tape. "We thought, day off? Let's just do something fun," she recalls. "Bowling? A hike? Instead, we rented a studio."

There, "we took turns and played together," she says. Feist "fooled around on some new stuff" and sang a Grizzly Bear song. She also recorded the basic track for a collaboration with Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard, which will appear on the "Red Hot and Indie" compilation being produced by the National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner. [Billboard]

DOWNLOAD: Tegan & Sara - Back In Your Head (RAC mix) (MP3)

Tegan's 2007 list below....

Continue reading "a new TEGAN & SARA remix + Tegan’s 2007 Picks"

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

Paul Scheer is an American actor. He currently can be seen on MTV's newest comedy show, "Human Giant" which he created and stars in along with Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, and Jason Woliner. He is a regular on VH1’s Best Week Ever and his films include School for Scoundrels with Billy Bob Thornton, the upcoming Sean William Scott comedy Trainwreck, Watching the Detectives with Cillian Murphy, The Onion Movie, and the 2004 SXSW Audience Award Winner Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story. He recently appeared with Jeff Goldblum in the Frank Darabont-directed NBC drama Raines. -Wikipedia

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1.) National, "Boxer"
This album really snuck up on me. At first I was like, "Ah..whatever", then I was like, "Holy Shit, these guys are geniuses!"


2.) Kanye West "Graduation"
I probably listened to Kanye more thn the National but I just wanted to put him as my number 2 to piss him off, he's funny when he's angry.

3.) Radiohead, "In Rainbows"
Undisputed Awesomness!

4.) The Arcade Fire, "Neon Bible"
It's downright unamerican not to mention this Canadian band as one of your favorite albums of the year. I love their beards.

5.) Black Lips, "Good Bad Not Evil"
Great album. I saw them live this year, I was disappointed when they didn't literally burn Bowery Ballroom to the ground. I thought they were showmen.

continued below.....

Continue reading "Best of 2007 by Paul Scheer"

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

Max Silvestri is a young and stupidly talented Brooklyn-based comedian whom I adore. He hosts a show at Rififi the second Sunday of every month called I Like Attention. Each installment features a different co-host and a truly stupendous line-up of comedians (for example). You may also know Max as the co-star of Gabe & Max's Internet Thing, and as one of the hosts of Best Night Ever over at VH1's BestWeekEver.tv. Here's Max's list of the best music to come out of 2007. - klaus

- - -

I was sort of lazy about listening to new albums this year, but here is a bunch of stuff I got all obsessed with. Know that if it seems weird that I left something off this list, it's not because I just didn't get a chance to listen to the record but because I think the band and all its fans are stupid and gay. (jk lol)

Dan Deacon, Spiderman of the Rings - Maybe the most fun live show I've ever been to? I was up against his table at Judson Church and danced my stupid head off. There were photos online from the show and I look like someone had just dumped a huge bucket ofsweat and dumb facial expressions all over me. I DANCE WEIRD but that is how good Dan Deacon is. Total spaz.

LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver - They stole the show at Randall's Island. I kinda look like James Murphy from far away so it was like dancing to myself. Also, my roommate was in the video for "Someone Great" and looked very pretty so give it up for her and that. But mostly the album is amazing.

Gogol Bordello, Super Taranta! - It's very rarely that I hear an album that *actually* makes me wish I'd gone into the rock star business, but this is one of them. It helps that I really like vodka and marinated herring.

Arcade Fire, Neon Bible - As a comedian, I am constantly wrapped in a blanket of irony and trying to avoid sincerity at all costs. Not really, but it is surprising to me how much My Body Is A Cage gives me chills every time I hear it. Their show at United Palace (the one where everybody got on the stage, Stooges-style) was really, really tremendous.

DOWNLOAD: Arcade Fire - My Body is a Cage (live @ Judson Church) (MP3) (via/more)

Dr. Dog, We All Belong - Speaking of sincerity, these guys just enjoy making music so much and with so little irony that it is impossible not to be infected by it when you see them live. They are like if The Band had liked playing soccer and grilling instead of doing drugs and being difficult.

Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer - Their songs have that weird thing where it seems like you've heard them before, but you haven't. And I have no problem with them endorsing Outback Steakhouse. I love Outback Steakhouse. I guess what I'm saying is I will take money from any restaurant. Thanks in advance.

Justice, Stupid Symbol - This is the kind of album that makes me wish like there was a lot more music exactly like it, but there isn't. And they almost managed to make Terminal 5 not the most irritating place ever.

The National, Boxer - This record is mostly perfect.

continued below.....

Continue reading "Best of 2007 by Max Silvestri"

Joanna Newsom & orchestra, Atlanta, GA - Nov 17, 2007 (CRED)

The first half of the concert featured the lush string arrangements written by celebrated pop composer Van Dyke Parks for Newsom's second album, "Ys." The second half offered older and newer songs in the rootsy, world-music-influenced settings Newsom has devised with her touring quartet. Making a puckish joke about propriety in the classical world and in pop, she wore a full-length black gown for the first part and a candy-pink minidress for the second. In both configurations, Newsom took advantage of Disney Hall's acoustics to give equal weight to every element of her multifaceted compositions. [LA Times - LA show]

Speaking of BAM, tickets are now on sale for their Spring season of shows. That includes performancs by the Mavis Staples & The National. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Joanna Newsom & orchestra playing BAM in Brooklyn! ++ National tickets on sale"

Olof Arnalds

1. The National - Boxer
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
4. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
5. Feist - The Reminder
6. M.I.A. - Kala
7. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
8. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
9. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
10. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
11. Radiohead - In Rainbows
12. Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
13. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Ólöf Arnalds, Múm's collaborator for the past three years, recently released her debut solo album, Við og við, on 12 Tónar. The release was produced by Sigur Ros' Kjartan Sveinsson and is avalaible here. [getecho]

Continue reading "Paste's Top 100 Albums of 2007 (includes Olof Arnalds)"

The new NPR Music website is pretty cool. KEXP, The Current, WNYC and more. Streaming concerts. Studio Sessions. Even blogs - one of which is by Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney...

Song stuck in my head: Theme from "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Maybe because it's the only aspect of the current season that isn't brutal. And it's the only part of the show I can repeat out loud without offending anyone.
Most recent album I learned to love only by listening to it as background music: The National's Boxer [Carrie]