by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Lorelei - Hammer Meet Tongs (MP3)

As you may have read on this very site, '90s era DC dream poppers Lorelei will release a new album, Enterprising Sidewalks, next month on Slumberland Records, the same label that put out their 1995 debut. You can download the first single from the album, "Hammer Meet Tongs," at the top of this post. It doesn't tip it's shoegaze hat till the very end, and sounds like they never left the scene.

Lorelei play Glasslands tonight (7/19), with Brooklyn baroque noisemakers The New Lines and goth-leaning locals Mansions and Junipers, making for a solid bill of music for the etherial guitar pedal enthusiasts out there. (Hoping Lorelei pull out their cover of Pale Saints' "Sight of You," too.) Tickets for tonight's show are still available. Upcoming Lorelei tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Lorelei release first MP3 from new LP, play Glasslands tonight"

by Bill Pearis

Lorelei at Slumberland 20 (more by Tim Griffin)

'90s era DC shoegazers Lorelei came out of retirement a in 2006 years ago, having notably played the Slumberland 20th Anniversary at Bell House in 2009 and the Chickfactor anniversary in Arlington, VA this spring. But the band are doing more than just playing a few shows, and will release a new album, Enterprising Sidewalks, on Slumberland Records this fall. You can stream their 2003 EP, Informed by the Future, at the bottom of this post.

Lorelei has a few shows scheduled this summer including one in NYC at Glasslands on July 19 with openers The New Lines. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

A list of all dates and that EP stream below...

Continue reading "Lorelei ready new LP for Slumberland, playing shows (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

Artwork to Violens' True

Violens release their second album, True, this week and the band will also play a record release party this Wednesday (5/16) at Le Poisson Rouge with openers Kuroma and The New Lines. Violens have a few other shows lined up, including a couple on the West Coast, all of which are listed below.

Last year, Violens stayed busy with a monthly series digital singles project (compiled here) and a few of those have turned up, polished up a bit, on the new album -- their first for Slumberland. With a fine sense of dynamics, True recalls the glory days of 4AD, be it the loud-soft sonics of the Pixies, the textural guitar wash of The Cocteau Twins or the melodic skills of the Pale Saints. Jorge Elbrecht, Iddo Arad and the rest of the band have tweaked and condensed Violens' sound into a distinct palette all their own, with True sporting the band's best songs to date.

You can stream a few songs off True below and check out strobe-heavy video for "All Night Low" and the flyer for the LPR show...

Continue reading "Violens releasing 'True,' playing LPR and other dates"

DOWNLOAD: La Sera - "Please Be My Third Eye" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: La Sera - "Break My Heart" (MP3)

La Sera at the Bell House in 2011 (more by Jessica Amaya)

Vivian Girl Kickball Katy Goodman released her second album as La Sera, Sees the Light, earlier this year via Hardly Art. The album continues in the vein of the catchy indie pop of her 2011 self titled debut. You can grab two tracks from the new album, "Please By My Third Eye" and "Break My Heart" above or stream them below.

La Sera will kick off a tour this month in support of the album which culminates in a NYC show at Cameo Gallery on May 19 with Life Size Maps and The New Lines. Tickets are on sale now.

Vivian Girl Cassie Ramone's band The Babies plays Glasslands on June 6 with Nude Beach.

All La Sera dates and streams below...

Continue reading "La Sera going on May tour (dates & MP3s)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Bill Pearis

Blouse @ 285 Kent

Captured Tracks took over 285 Kent Tuesday night, featuring three bands from their roster, as well as one that they merely liked a whole lot. I'm not sure if it sold out, but it was a full house by the end of the evening and a pretty fun night all-around.

Last time Blouse were in town, the band were a five-piece with a lead guitarist who really had that early U2/Chameleons sound down, which took the band into more "rock" territory than what you hear on their synth-heavy debut. Last night, Blouse were a quartet with the keyboards back in the forefront. Charline Hilton is charismatic front person who is no slouch, on guitar and the whole band are pretty tight in general. Blouse are best when they break out of the dreamy midtempo sound that makes up so much of their album: the driving "Time Travel" is probably their best song, but it's the cinematic "They Always Fly Away," that really impresses. In 285's airplane hangar acoustics, the song goes widescreen.

Cosmetics probably were the most successful group of the night at least as far as marriage of sound to space. The Montreal duo's icy, desolate beat -- made by vintage synths and sequencers cranked really loud -- sounded great bouncing off the metal ceiling and concrete walls, and fit the overall bombed-out Berlin warehouse vibe of the place. (The duo, all popped collar leather jackets and model-pretty, looked the part too.) From the bathroom they sounded like a munitions factory...in a good way.

Not that successful were The New Lines, the one non-Captured Tracks band on the bill, who haven't quite figured it out live. Their album, one of my 2012 favorites, is chilly baroque pop densely layered with harpsichord and all manner of analogue synths. It would be hard to pull off even under the best of conditions, something 285 Kent doesn't exactly afford, but even harder when you're only three members strong and your very good drummer can't hear the backing tracks. While they don't necessarily need the sonic precision their studio recordings have, a live bassist laying down the record's grooves would help immeasurably towards filling things out sonically. They did, however, have really cool psychedelic projections.

I got to 285 just a hair late to catch opener Heavenly Beat, the solo project of Beach Fossils bassist John Pena whose second single "Faithless" is like a lost 7" from some early-00's Swedish indiepop band. I think both sides are terrific. From what I was told, Heavenly Beat live is currently just Pena onstage with a laptop/ipod backing and not doing a whole lot, so maybe I didn't miss much. He plays this Saturday (2/4) at Cake Shop with fellow C/T band DIVE, plus Caged Animals and Fabric which is a pretty good bill overall.

More pictures from all the bands, including a shot of Blouse's setlist, below.

Continue reading "Blouse, Cosmetics, The New Lines & Heavenly Beat repped Captured Tracks @ 285 Kent (pics)"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Mac DeMarco - "Baby's Wearin Blue Jeans (MP3)

Blouse

Brooklyn label Captured Tracks is presenting a show at 285 Kent on January 31 with Blouse, Cosmetics, The New Lines, Beige, and Mosaics. More details on this show are below.

Blouse, who we said to check out when they made their NYC debut this past September, released their excellent self-titled debut LP this past November on Captured Tracks (you can buy it on eMusic). The 285 Kent show is Blouse's last North American show before heading out on a European tour in February. All dates are listed below.

In other Captured Tracks news, they launched The Shoegaze Archives in late November, a new series where the label will reissue some of the more obscure releases of the '90s shoegaze era. So far, they've reissued releases by Should, deardarkhead, and Grabbel and The Final Cut. Reissues by Medicine and Half String are on the way. All of these releases are/will be available at the Captured Tracks webstore.

Mac DeMarco

In more Captured Tracks news, last week, they announced their most recent signing; Mac DeMarco, who previously recorded under the moniker Makeout Videotapes. He'll release his debut EP under his own name for the label, Rock and Roll Night Club, on March 20. Mac's guitar has a real '60s garage rock feel to it but he sings with a seductive baritone that recalls '80s new romanticism as much as it does a '50s rockabilly croon. Grab the track, "Baby's Wearin Blue Jeans," from the EP above, and stream two more tracks at bandcamp. You can also stream the track below.

All dates, 285 Kent show details and song stream below...

Continue reading "Captured Tracks signed Mac DeMarco, releasing 90s shoegaze, hosting show in Brooklyn with Blouse & more"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Limiñanas - Down Underground (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Gytters - Divebombers (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Wrong Words - Summer's Gone (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Figurines "New Colors" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The War On Drugs - "Baby Missiles" (MP3)

The Limiñanas

Band of the week is most certainly The Limiñanas (mainly because they haven't played here before) who are from France and play Death By Audio tonight (8/17) and Cake Shop tomorrow (8/18).  I'll quote myself (from my Favorite Francophone Albums of 2011 list) again:

Evoking swinging Parisian scene of the mid-'60s (Gainsbourg, Dutronc, Ye-Ye, et al), The Limiñanas dance their way through 12 hits of groovy garage: fuzz leads, killer basslines, combo organ, smoky vocals. Perfect for your next Love-In.

The band, signed to great Chicago label Trouble in Mind, are normally a trio but are joining forces on this trip with fellow Frenchies Gaz Gaz (who also play their own set) to make a seven-piece motorik garage superpower. Friends who saw them in Chicago last week were knocked out. (There's video from that show at the bottom of this post.) I implore you to make it out to one of these shows.

Both shows have their benefits. The Death by Audio also has The Gytters, a newish group fronted by Scott Rosenthal who plays keyboards in Class Actress and has spent time as one of The Beets ever-rotating list of drummers (he also produced their records). The duo make a slightly twangy brand of indie -- check out "Divebombers" at the top of this post. I was impressed when I saw them at Bruar Falls a few weeks ago. Also on the bill are great locals Diehard who are putting the finishing touches on their debut album.

Wrong Words

The Cake Shop show on Thursday, meanwhile, features yet another Trouble in Mind band, San Francisco's The Wrong Words, who have more of a crunchy, late-'70s powerpop vibe to them. (And maybe just a little Thin Lizzy in there too.) Their self-titled debut is a boppin' good time -- you can download a track from it at the top of this post. If you can't make this one, The Wrong Words also play Bruar Fall on Saturday (8/20). Locals The Judy Blooms open the show.

The Wave Pictures

The Wave Pictures are visiting from the UK, their first time here since playing Sunday night of the 2010 Northside Festival. Dates have changed a bit since wefirst announced them. The band are now playing three shows in NYC: tonight (8/17) at Mercury Lounge, tomorrow (8/18) at Public Assembly and then next Thursday (8/25) at The Rock Shop. We at BrooklynVegan are big Wave Pictures fans, which I think most people who see them become. Here's what I wrote when they played our Pre-SXSW show in 2010:

Next up were the Wave Pictures who I'm pretty sure charmed everyone in the room. Singer David Tattersal, in addition to being a hell of a songwriter and pretty fierce guitarist, is a very funny guy. His between-song stories were just as entertaining and the music. At one point he accidentally unplugged his guitar mid-solo, but he hilariously covered the gaff made for one of the more memorable moments of the evening.

The band have a new album out, Beer in the Breakers, and is another fine example of Tattersal's tongue-twisting prose and snaky solos. But I still don't think any record has quite captured the experience of seeing them live. So I do hope you do so. You won't be sorry.

Emmy the Great

Speaking of artists that pretty much the entire BV staff loves, Emmy the Great is also here, playing the Studio @ Webster Hall on Thursday  (8/18). She's an extremely charming songwriter and performer (and person in general) who can find humor in even the bleakest of situations without cheapening the emotions. Case in point her new album Virtue which deals with some major heartbreak. (She can also be just straight-up funny too.) And like The Wave Pictures, she's much better experienced in person than on record (though the new record is quite good).

I'm not sure if she's here solo or with her band or maybe just collaborator Euan Hinshelwood who has accompanied her before. He's got his own band, Younghusband, whose new single on Too Pure is teriffic (and nothing like Emmy's music).

Figurines

Now we move to Denmark. Figurines were supposed to be here in June but the dates got pushed back to this week. They play tonight (8/17) at Knitting Factory and then an early show tomorrow (8/18) at Mercury Lounge.

The band's fourth album, which came out in Denmark last year, just got a belated but welcome American release. For those who found 2007's The Deer Wore Blue a bit wilfully obscure, the new self-titled album marks a return to the hook-filled indie rock of their 2005's Skeleton. You can download "New Colors" at the top of this post.

I haven't seen Figurines play since CMJ 2006 when they opened for Girl Talk. I thought they were fantastic then, I mix of various '90s influences (Built to Spill, The 3D's, Unrest) but processed through that eccentric Denmark filter than makes everything just a little off kilter. The one thing I really remember about that show was how tight they were. Figurines can really play.

The New Lines

And finally I'd like to highlight a local band I like a lot, The New Lines who play this Thursday (8/18) at Bar4 in Park Slope. Steeped in late '60s/early '70s baroque psychedelia and soundtrack music, it's all groovy rhythms and basslines, icy harmonies, analogue keyboards and vibrato. The band just released a split 7" with Still Corners which is a perfect match. You can download a couple songs for free via a Bandcamp widget at the bottom of this post.

I just love this kind of stuff  -- I made a whole mix of it last week over at Sound Bites -- and The New Lines do it very, very well. No idea what they're like live, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

This is a really good week for music. Do go see some. In addition to the above highlights, there are even more shows I recommend which are listed below on a day-by-day basis.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17

While I'm seeing The Limiñanas, I think the rest of the BV staff will be going to Chelsea Wolfe, Cult of Youth, and Planning For Burial at St. Vitus Bar. I am the black sheep.

continued below...

Continue reading "Limiñanas, Wrong Words, Emmy the Great, Figurines, New Lines, War on Drugs, Gytters & more in This Week In Indie"