FIDLAR @ Glasslands in April (more by PSquared Photography)

Batten down the hatches, two of the country's more rambunctious young bands -- FIDLAR and The Orwells -- will be on tour together this fall. Their trek includes a stop in NYC at Bowery Ballroom on October 24. Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale on Wednesday (5/15) at noon with the general on-sale happening Friday (5/17) at noon.

The Orwells were just in town last weekend, while FIDLAR's tour with Wavves hit back in April. All upcoming tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "FIDLAR and The Orwells touring together this fall (dates)"

LA Fest FYF Fest is celebrating 10 years this year, and will take over Los Angeles State Historic Park on August 24 & 25. Check out the massive lineup in the poster above, and in alphabetical order below...

Continue reading "FYF Fest 2013 Lineup (My Bloody Valentine included)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

messy Palma Violets craziness

Brit rockers Palma Violets brought their tour with Guards to NYC for their first of two shows here last night (5/9) at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The Orwells, who also open for that same lineup at Bowery Ballroom tonight (5/10), opened the show. Pictures of all three bands from the Brooklyn show are in this post.

Both Palma Violets and Guards are out supporting their respective debut albums, 180 and In Guards We Trust, and have been playing much of the material from those releases on this tour. The Orwells, meanwhile, have a new EP on the way, which includes the new Dave Sitek-produced title track, "Other Voices."

Tonight's Bowery Ballroom show is part of the Downtown Music Festival, and festival tickets that will get you into the show are still available. You can also catch Guards in NYC for free in June.

More pictures from MHOW below..

Continue reading "Palma Violets, Guards & The Orwells @ MHOW (pics)"

The Orwells at BV-SXSW 2013 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As mentioned several times, the Downtown Music Festival, which is hitting multiple cities this year, is coming through NYC tonight (5/10) and Saturday (5/11) for shows across various multiple LES venues, including Mercury Lounge, Bowery Ballroom, Angel Orensanz Center, Pianos, Cake Shop, Tammany Hall, Element, Capitale, Rockwood Music Hall and more. Tickets (2-day passes, 1-day passes, and individual show tickets) are still available. In fact, even Trash Talk at Cake Shop still has tickets available, probably because of the $25+fees ticket price.

Since we last spoke, some additions to the lineup have been made. Garage rockers The Orwells (who have other upcoming dates) were added to tonight's Palma Violets and Guards show at Bowery Ballroom, making for an all-around great bill for fans of catchy, upbeat rock. The Orwells just revealed the Dave Sitek-produced track, "Other Voices," off their upcoming EP of the same name (due out 6/25 via East End/Canvasback), which you can stream below.

SZA, who recently put out the trippy S EP, has been added to Sky Ferreira's show at Mercury Lounge tonight. Teengirl Fantasy and Mess Kid, who were already announced for the festival but not that specific show, were also added as openers.

Onetime Twin Shadow bassist Rush Midnight (who has other upcoming shows) was added to tonight's show at Pianos with Royal Teeth and Sparxx.

LODRO (who play a BrooklynVegan-curated show on Monday), Xray Eyeballs, and DJ Dog Dick were added to DIIV"s show at Mercury Lounge on Saturday.

Low Fat Getting High, who have a new EP on the way and other upcoming shows, open for Trash Talk and Cities Aviv at Cake Shop on Saturday.

Other shows tonight include Black Hippy (aka Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock) and Fat Tony at Capitale (130 Bowery), Earl Sweatshirt, Ryan Hemsworth, Antwon, and more at Element (225 E Houston), Beach Fossils and Cosmonauts at Cake Shop, and more.

Meanwhile, Ryan Hemsworth made a new mix in anticipation for the festival, which you can stream, along with the tracklist below. And if you were wondering, yes, it does have his remix of the Backstreet Boys' "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely."

A stream of that mix, the Orwells stream, and the updated Downtown Music Fest schedule below...

Continue reading "Downtown Music Fest is here; Orwells, SZA & more added; Schedule updated; Ryan Hemsworth made a mix"

The Numerators' seven inch art

The Numerators have a new 7" of reverb-y psychedelia due via Suicide Squeeze next week. The release features two tracks, the decidedly calm and spacey "Dead" and the psyche-spazz freakout "Finally Sees," both of which are streaming below (the latter for the first time).

The Numerators kick off a string of US dates on Friday (4/26), starting at Paradise Lost in New Brunswick, NJ and ending with an appearance at Shea Stadium on May 11 with The Orwells, Cosmonauts and The Garden (tickets). The band will also play Secret Project Robot on May 17  which will be a record release party for the 7".

Yes, that is correct, The Orwells are on the road for a select set of dates outside of their previously discussed appareance at Lollapalooza. The shows are part of a mini-tour of the East Coast in early May, the dates of which are below along with all streams.

All Numerators and Orwells tour dates and that stream are below.

Continue reading "The Numerators ready new 7" and playing shows, including NYC with The Orwells (who are also touring)"

Lollapalooza 2012 (more by James Richards IV)

After it was already confirmed that Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, The Postal Service, The National, The Killers, and Mumford and Sons were playing Lollapalooza 2013, a pretty promising leak came which appeared to potentially reveal the rest of the lineup, and it turns out that leak was real.

In addition to the previously mentioned artists, Lollapalooza will include Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Kendrick Lamar, Grizzly Bear, The Cure, New Order, Baroness, Beach House, Cat Power, Death Grips, Jessie Ware, Father John Misty, DIIV, Wavves, Alt-J, Hot Chip, Disclosure, Baauer, Palma Violets, Angel Haze, Band of Horses, Crystal Castles and many others.

Lollapalooza goes down in Chicago from August 2 - 4 in Grant Park. Single day passes go on sale Wednesday (4/3) at 10 AM.

Full day-by-day lineup below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2013 lineup announced (Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Postal Service, Cure, New Order, Kendrick Lamar & more)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Andrew Sacher

Austra / APTBS / the crowd

We wrapped up our stay at The Main and The Jr (aka old Emo's) with our fourth and final BrooklynVegan SXSW day party on Saturday (3/16). Unfortunately, Foxygen had to drop off at the last minute because the singer lost his voice. They would have played the outdoor stage (Pianos Stage), where we still saw sets from the arty synthpop of Empress Of, the loudest set of all of our day parties from A Place to Bury Strangers, and a super fun set from catchy UK rockers Palma Violets. Then came the sexy R&B of Autre Ne Veut, followed by a set by Austra, who were previewing expansive material from their upcoming sophomore album, Olympia. Then finally, the outdoor stage was wrapped up with a set from psychedelic pop New Zealanders Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

Inside, the show kicked off with the catchy indie pop of TEEN, followed by rockin' UK band Peace, and then three consecutive synthpop groups, Feathers, MS MR, and Doldrums. Then the show took a louder turn with an adrenaline-pumping set from White Lung, bouncy young garage punks The Orwells, and finally King Tuff.

In addition to the music, we had an interactive photo and video booth set up by Oxygen tattoo show, "Best Ink". The second season (hosted by Pete Wentz who made a surprise appearance in their booth) premieres April 3rd. Onkyo was there, sampling their new headphones which hit stores next month. mophie maker of invaluable iPhone chargers, were giving away discount cards good at their pop-up shop which was set up right across the street on Red River. We were also serving complimentary Jameson, and Zico coconut water, and free vegan queso and chips from Food For Lovers. We also had BrooklynVegan t-shirts for the first 50 people in the door, thanks to American Apparel. Also thanks to our other sponsors, Korg, Vox, Blackstar, Creative Recreation, Signazon, Zazoo, and Redigi.

More pictures from Saturday's party below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan SXSW Saturday day party in pics (UMO, King Tuff, Austra, Orwells, APTBS, Palma Violets & more)"

by Bill Pearis, Fred Pessaro and Andrew Sacher

Savages @ CMJ 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

SXSW gets underway today (3/13) in earnest, with 83,207 bands* playing SXSW this year. Trying to figure out who to see can be an overwhelming feeling. (Actually, just standing on 6th St. on Friday night is an overwhelming feeling.) Hopefully this post will give you some inspiration if you're among the throngs of people. Or maybe just some new stuff to listen to if you're not there.

Of course you could just hang out at all our day parties (our first starts at noon today!) and evening showcases, as we're really proud of our line-ups. But there are bands who we are pumped to see who aren't playing too. So here are 40 bands we're genuinely pumped to see in Austin this week. We made a Spotify playlist of all the bands (at least the ones on the service) you can stream below.

Check out our list below...

*not the actually number of showcasing bands. But it feels accurate.

Continue reading "40 artists we're excited to see at SXSW"

This is Day 4 of four BrooklynVegan SXSW Day Parties this year...

As you know, BrooklynVegan is returning to Austin for SXSW this year and throwing four days of day parties at The Main & The Jr aka 603 Red River Street at the corner of 6th aka the old Emo's location. Those happen Wed (3/13), Thurs, Fri and Saturday (3/16). All shows are 100% FREE with RSVP

We've announced Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is on the way. HERE IS SATURDAY..

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan free SXSW 2013 Saturday day party lineup (UMO, Austra, King Tuff, Autre Ne Veut, Foxygen, APTBS, White Lung, Palma Violets, Doldrums & more)"

To quote SXSW:

SXSW is proud to announce an interview with Syrian artist and cult international legend Omar Souleyman on March 15th from 5-6pm in ACC room 16AB. Omar will speak with Daily Dot Editor Austin Powell about the issues surrounding the devastating conflict in his home country, the evolution of the Syrian music landscape, and what the future may hold for himself and artists like him.

Later that evening Omar will be joined by the amazing Black Lips, Deer Tick and more in a special performance at a Red Cross benefit aptly named Our Heart Aches For Syria. The show takes place at Long Center For The Performing Arts beginning at 9pm on Friday 3/15 after the Flaming Lips Auditorium Shores show. Donations are $10 with all money going to the International Red Cross's Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Please join us for a spectacular evening for a great cause. THIS SHOW IS OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

More details on the Omar events, full lineup and the flyer below...

Continue reading "Omar Souleyman heading to SXSW, playing BV-sponsored benefit w/ Black Lips, Deer Tick & more"

The Orwells @ BVCMJ 2012 (more by Chris La Putt)

Chicago-area punks (in all senses of the term) The Orwells start their tour tonight (2/27) in Boston. As mentioned, that tour includes an all-ages show on Friday (3/1) at Santos Party House, where they'll play with The So So Glos and Radkey. If you caught one of The Orwells' many wild CMJ 2012 performances (like at one of our day parties) you know their live show is not to be missed. And if you did miss it, here's your chance. Tickets are still available and we also have a pair you can win. Details are below.

This tour has the band careening towards SXSW, where they'll be playing a bunch of parties including a BrooklynVegan Party. All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "The Orwells heading out on tour to SXSW; win tickets to the NYC show"

Metallica at Orion 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Metallica held their inaugural Orion Music & More festival in Atlantic City in 2012, and as mentioned, they'll be moving to Detroit for the 2013 installment. It happens from June 8 - 9 in Belle Isle and the lineup was just announced, including headliners Metallica joined by Japandroids, FLAG, Tomahawk, Gogol Bordello, Death Grips, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Deftones, The Dirtbombs, Death, Foals, The Bronx, The Orwells, Red Hot Chili Peppers, FIDLAR, and more. Full lineup below. The announcement includes no word on Metallica playing full albums like they did last year.

Tickets for the festival go on sale to the general public on Friday (3/1) at 10 AM EST with a Met Club presale starting Tuesday (2/26) at 10 AM and an Orion E-list member presale on Wednesday (2/27) at 10 AM.

Continue reading "Metallica announce line-up & tix for Orion Music & More 2013 (Japandroids, FLAG, Tomahawk, Death Grips, RHCP & more)"

The Orwells at Pianos in 2012 (more by Tracy Allison)

Young Chicago-suburb punks The Orwells made a big impression at our CMJ party in October when they came over to NYC and delivered their relentless garage punk tunes, led by an Iggy Pop-inspired frontman who puts his all into it, even when they're playing to a hungover room at noon on a Saturday. So it should be even wilder when they return for a less tired show on March 1 at Santos Party House. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Support is TBA.

They have a few other US shows scheduled at the moment, all of which are listed below, along with a video...

Continue reading "The Orwells playing shows, including Santos (dates)"

Brooklyn Bowl during a Deer Tick show (more by Tracy Allison)

As you probably know, we've been posting a bunch of year-end lists from artists this year, and we've also posted a few from venue guys like Josh Moore and Johnny Beach from Bowery Presents, Jack "Skippy" McFadden of Emo's in Austin, and Andy Bodor from Cake Shop. Now we've got a top 10 albums list from Brooklyn Bowl talent buyer (aka booker) Adam Geringer-Dunn. You can see Adam's full list below.

Brooklyn Bowl is where Lucero (who gave us two year-end lists) are beginning their New Year's Eve run. The country punks will play a two-night stand at the Brooklyn venue on Friday (12/28) with Nude Beach and Saturday (12/29) with Hollis Brown. Tickets for night 1, night 2, or both nights are still available, and we're also giving away a 2-day pass. Details on how to enter to win are below. Lucero also play NYE at Wellmont Theatre with The Hold Steady, which is one of many New Year's Eve options in the NYC area.

Adam Geringer-Dunn's year-end list and contest details below...

Continue reading "Adam Geringer-Dunn's (from Brooklyn Bowl) top 10 albums of 2012 +++ a chance to win a 2-day pass to Lucero"

photos by Tracy Allison

Twerps / The Orwells

Before BV photographer Tracy Allison made her way to the Panache showcase at Public Assembly on Friday night (10/19) during CMJ, she stopped by Pianos for the Planetary Group day party where she caught Twerps, The Orwells, and San Cisco. Twerps were over from Australia for a number of shows before and during CMJ, and they're continuing to tour North America this month and next. That show was one of a few that we caught The Orwells bringing their high-spirited young punk 'n roll (including our Saturday day party). More pictures from the Planetary party are below.

Continue reading "Twerps, The Orwells & San Cisco played Pianos (pics)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, Chris La Putt & Nate "Igor" Smith, words by Andrew Sacher

The Orwells, free tattoos & Kitty Pryde @ Public Assembly - 10/20/2012

The second free 2012 BrooklynVegan not-CMJ party went down on Saturday (10/20) at Public Assembly after our Friday party, which happened at the same venue the day earlier. We already talked about how great Miguel was, and posted pics of Caveman, Ratking and Sinkane, but the day was packed with ten other of our great artists, all of who you can see pictures of in this post.

It was the Saturday morning of CMJ, so if you were there when doors opened at noon, you were probably stumbling in hungover from the night before (unless of course, you had copped yourself some of the Mercy hangover prevention drink at our Friday party). But young Chicago-suburb punks The Orwells did a fine job of waking everyone up, including those who were camped at the door to be first in line for the free tattoos we gave out for six hours straight. As the tatto guns started buzzing, the Orwells were blasting the early but nice-sized crowd with their raunchy garage punk led by frontman Mario Cuomo's unforgiving Iggy Pop-style stage presence. Meanwhile, New Zealand psych pop project Opossum were warming up the rest of the party attendees in the back room.

Energy levels stayed high in the front room as Hunters followed, and the back room were treated to dreamier sounds by LA's Tashaki Miyaki. Then came sets by the funky Sinkane, the great, orchestral Choir of Young Believers, a strong set by indie pop band Eternal Summers, and a more than charming one by Kitty Pryde. Kitty, who spent part of her set in the crowd, was the first of four rappers in the back room, with her set followed by Ratking, Cities Aviv, and Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire (who went on after watching Miguel from the front row on the other stage) (Miguel returned the favor). And the front room was wrapped up by Hundred Waters, one of this year's buzzed about bands at CMJ, whose set we reviewed from the night earlier, and then Miguel and Caveman.

Attendees at the show were fueled by complimentary drinks courtesy of Sailor Jerry Rum, complimentary beer courtesy of PBR, and snacked on the free Raw Revolution organic live food bars that were scattered around the venue. Hopefully nobody had a hangover thanks to cans of the Mercy that were given out aplenty.

More pictures from the Saturday party are below.

Continue reading "BV Saturday day party pics (Hundred Waters, Orwells, Hunters, Kitty Pryde, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, free tattoos, Caveman, Miguel & more)"

by Bill Pearis and Andrew Sacher

Rufus the cat getting good use out of CMJ badge (via @robotsvsghosts)

Oh hey, it's CMJ time again (Wednesday to be exact). Here's a little recap of what BrooklynVegan did on Tuesday (10/17) night with some you-are-there type Instagrams. (Follow along in real time with @Brooklynvegan on Instagram or @BVpics and @bvCMJ on Twitter.) Here we go...

Ghost Wave @ Le Poisson Rouge

I was a little thrown off Tuesday as my original plan revolved around seeing French acts Bertrand Burgalat and Juveniles at the Union Square Ballroom. When both canceled last-minute, I had zero plan. After picking up my badge (a breeze) at Judson Memorial Church, I headed over to Le Poisson Rouge for some of the New Zealand showcase that's become an annual CMJ kickoff event at the Village venue. I caught the latter half of Ghost Wave (horrible name, but pretty good classic Flying Nun-style indie) and stuck around for about half of Die! Die! Die! whose blitzkrieg punk was certainly fun to watch.

I then hoofed it over to the L.E.S. where fellow BV writer Andrew Sacher already was... (-Bill)

Indians @ The Living Room (via @llllbfgllll)

The ease of making a record by yourself in your bedroom has inspired countless artists to do so, resulting in a ton of filler, but every now and then some real gems pop up. If you're looking to find a new one of those gems at this year's CMJ, Copenhagen's Indians (aka Soren Lokke Juul) is a good place to start. He played his first CMJ show at Living Room last night (10/16) for a WFUV showcase, and though he didn't have the highest attendance (early Tuesday is tough), those who were there were attentive the whole show. Rather than hiding his voice behind reverb or distortion like many of his peers, Soren's voice is his strong point. He belted out every song while providing piano, acoustic guitar, drum loops, and ambient backing tracks. Even on his own everything was well put together, so when Soren begins playing with a full band (like the one in his 4AD Session video), it feels pretty safe to say it's gonna be great. You can catch Indians again tonight (10/17) at the Hype Machine party at Brooklyn Bowl and Thursday at Fader Fort.

Quilt @ Arlene's Grocery (via @brooklynvegan Instagram)

Boston's Quilt made their way over to NYC last night for their only CMJ show this year, the Easy Apple/Vinyl District/Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records showcase at Arlene's Grocery. The band have been in NYC a bunch of times (they called it their home away from last night) but I've somehow managed to miss them every time until last night, and glad I finally caught them. They filled the venue with trippy Haight-Ashbury vibes, and still managed to sound fresh despite their obvious lineage to an era which is almost half a century old. I guess I had assumed they'd be playing acoustic guitars, but they went strictly electric and still captured the delicate folkiness of the record -- plus it allowed them to throw in some noise freakouts. The band were charming on stage too, cracking tongue-in-cheek jokes about how Flea is no longer in their band, and they gave a shoutout to Bob Weir, who turned 65 yesterday and said he was on stage with them on spirit (which also came off as a joke, but to some extent, they weren't wrong).

If you haven't heard Quilt's self titled LP which came out in 2011 on Mexican Summer, you can stream it at bandcamp. They'll be back in NYC to open for The Fresh & Onlys on November 8 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for that show are still available.  (-Andrew)

Back to Bill...

Foxygen @ Mercury Lounge (via @brooklynvegan Instagram)

After seeing Quilt at Arlene's Grocery with Andrew, I walked over to Mercury Lounge (a trip Michael Cera needed a car for in Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist) for the showcase put on by our West Coast blog friends Aquarium Drunkard. Waiting in line to get in I met, Foxygen singer Sam France's two aunts and grandmother who were very, very proud of him. Not sure if they had an influence on me, but I thought Foxygen was the best thing I saw last night, a confident melange of late '60s / early '70s psych pop and glam that was exemplified by the closing number that seemed to merge "Under My Thumb" and "Suspicious Minds" into a new baby. France was a funny frontman too who seems to really enjoy the frontman role. Catch them at our day party on Friday.

Tashaki Miyaki @ Mercury Lounge (via @brooklynvegan Instagram)

Los Angeles trio Tashaki Miyaki were up next. I enjoy their hazy sound (Mazzy Star-esque as noted before) but they were not completely on their game last night, though their laconic vibe is a tough follow to Foxygen's showmanship. I spent much of their set trying to figure out how leftie guitarist played his righthanded instrument upside down. (Some brains just work that way.) Still, current single "Best Friend" sounded pretty sweet, and they should be a nice soundtrack to the early afternoon of our Saturday day party at Public Assembly (where you can catch them again while getting a free tattoo).

BV photographer Amanda Hatfield (her cat Rufus is at the top of this post), who had been at Ben Gibbard's intimate HiFi show earlier in the evening, tried to get in to Mercury Lounge but found it sold out, or badged-out or both. Some venues adopt a one-in-one out policy during CMJ, others give you a stamp that allows you to get back in anytime and others have the old "no reentry" policy, though you don't see that so much in the 10 years since the smoking band came into effect. Whatever way, it pays to show up early to something you really want to see.

Orwells at Mercury Lounge (via @brooklynvegan Instagram)

At midnight it was the NYC debut of Chicago's The Orwells whose album is out on Autumn Tone records (which is run by Justin of Aquarium Drunkard). All still in High School (or should be) and looked it too, they cranked out a hyper set of angst-fueled garage pop driven by wild-eyed frontman Mario Cuomo (not that one) who stalked the stage and generally went apeshit. In a well-worn Batman tee, he definitely brings the danger to The Orwells that otherwise look like someone's nice younger brothers. They were all clearly stoked to be playing New York City. They're playing many times this week, including an opening slot on our Saturday day party at Public Assembly.

Then I went to bed. It was only Tuesday, plenty of late nights to come. (-BIll)

What are you seeing tonight?

--

Savoir Adore played two CMJ shows last night, and one as part of the pre-CMJ Conflict of Interest party on Monday night at Rebel NYC. We missed all three, but check out a video from the Monday one, and a video of Spacehog playing "In the Meantime" at Rockwood Music Hall (true story), below...

Continue reading "CMJ 2012 kicked off Tuesday (Indians, Quilt, Foxygen, The Orwells, Savoir Adore, New Zealand bands + more)"

DOWNLOAD: Blessed Feathers - "Winter Sister" (MP3)

Wisconsin folk duo Blessed Feathers released their debut EP, Ocean of Weeds, earlier this month, and you can stream the entire thing below. The EP was produced by Kevin McMahon (Titus Andronicus, Real Estate) and also features Thor Harris of Swans. You can also grab a free MP3 of one of its tracks, "Winter Sister," at the top of this post, and check out the video for another, "Holyoke/Springfield," below.

The band just landed in NYC for CMJ, and you'll have a number of chances to see them, including the free BrooklynVegan day party on Friday (10/19), where they'll play an opening set in the back room at noon.

In addition to that, they'll play the SESAC showcase at Cake Shop tonight (10/17); the Popular/MCT day party at Bowery Electric on Thursday (10/18) with GHXST, Savoir Adore, Ambassadors, Santah, and Royal Canoe; the Fred Perry Artist Lounge at Stratosphere Sound Recording Studios on Thursday with The Luyas, Poor Moon, Foxygen, Ape School, So So Glos, Slug Guts, and Bleeding Rainbow; the Planetary Group day party at Pianos on Friday (10/19) with The Orwells, The Intelligence, San Cisco, Turbo Fruits, Rah Rah, Twerps, The Trouble with Templeton, Tim Chaisson, Skipping Girl Vinegar, Elephant Stone, and Ditka; and the Bowery Presents day party at Pianos on Saturday (10/20).

A list of all Blessed Feathers dates, a flyer for their CMJ shows, EP stream, and video are below...

Continue reading "Blessed Feathers are here for CMJ (including BV Friday day party) -- dates, EP stream, video, MP3"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Orwells - Mallrats (La La La) (MP3)

Elmhurst, IL garage rock brats The Orwells are in NYC this week for CMJ, playing five shows, including the BrooklynVegan day party on Saturday (10/20) at Public Assembly that we haven't announced the full line-up for yet, though Eternal Summers are playing it. But soon we will reveal all.

The band released their debut album, Remember When, earlier this summer on Aquarium Drunkard's Autumn Tone records and you can download the ridiculously-catchy "Mallrats (La La La)" at the top of this post and watch its video below. Given their label, it may not surprise you to learn that The Orwells play tonight (10/16, midnight) at Mercury Lounge as part of the Aquarium Drunkard showcase that also features Dent May, Tashaki Miyaki, Foxygen, Calvin Love, Rafiq Bhatia, and Murals. That's a pretty good show.

You can also catch them on Wednesday (10/17, 8:30 PM) at Santos for the Noisey/Vice showcase; Friday (10/19, 1:20 PM) at Pianos for the Planetary Group day party; and then Saturday (10/20, 6:30 PM) at Pianos for the Bowery Presents day party.

A list of all Orwells' CMJ appearances is below.

Continue reading "The Orwells are here, playing Saturday BV day party and other CMJ week shows"

Action Bronson at MHOW in August (more by Ryan Muir)

Paul Banks at FYF Fest 2012 (more by Debi Del Grande)

Complex is throwing a big, free, multi-genre, non-CMJ party during CMJ at Brooklyn's House of Vans on October 18. The show's got two stages -- a rap and a rock stage -- with the rap stage being headlined by Action Bronson and the rock stage by Interpol frontman Paul Banks. The rest of the lineup includes The Alchemist, Ratking, Ka, Spaceghostpurrp, Savages, Savoir Adore, and a surprise special guest. RSVP is required for the free show and you must be 21+. The flier is below.

Meanwhile, you can catch Action Bronson in NYC even sooner when he plays a free show at Public Assembly on October 10, and he'll also be back for a show at Highline Ballroom on October 30 with Cypress Hill.

Paul Banks, whose tour brings him to NYC for a headlining show on November 13 at Webster Hall, will also play one of the just mentioned KEXP shows in Union Square during CMJ.

We also just mentioned that Hot Charity signees Ratking have CMJ shows scheduled including free shows at Glasslands and Mercury Lounge on October 19 and a not-free show at Glasslands on October 20.

Savages have a number of CMJ shows scheduled too. They're playing Mercury Lounge on October 19 with Choir of Young Believers, Daughter, San Cisco, Emma Louise, and J. Thoven. Advance tickets for that show are sold out but you can still try to get in with your CMJ badge. They also play the Stereogum showcase with Dum Dum Girls, Guards, Port. St Willow, IO ECHO, and Icona Pop (DJ) (tickets), and it was just announced that they'll play the free Bowery Presents day party on October 20 at Pianos with The Orwells, Foxygen, Born Ruffians, Little Green Cars, Ava Luna, J. Thoven, San Cisco, Sky Ferreira, Opossom, Murals, Zulu Pearls, and Blessed Feathers.

The flier for the Complex show and an updated list of Action Bronson and Paul Banks dates are below.

Continue reading "Action Bronson, Paul Banks, Spaceghostpurrp, Savages, Alchemist & more playing House of Vans party during CMJ"

photos by Debi Del Grande

Refused / Warpaint / Sleigh Bells, FYF Fest 9/1/2012

...Next came the great Warpaint / Hot Snakes / Chromatics dilemma of 2012. We love Hot Snakes, but with not-to-be missed hardcore Refused closing the evening, we needed something cerebral.

We picked Warpaint, and it made all the difference. The Angeleno quartet packed the main stage area to an earnestly mind-blowing set. No joke. Stella Mozgawa's metronomically perfect drumming is infused with the right amount of personality and swagger. To say nothing of the occasionally ethereal vocals and sonically interdimensional floating guitar licks. On top of the brain high, the all-lady act Warpaint drives a bit of a body-moving groove. If it weren't for the, er, gopher pockmarked ground, we might have just laid down and vibed out or whatever. Enough people did anyways... -[LA Weekly]

Continue reading "FYF Fest 2012: day 1 in pics (Refused, Warpaint, Purity Ring, Sleigh Bells, The Vaselines, The Soft Pack and more)"

Baroness at Terminal 5 in May (more by Joe McCabe)

Earlier this week, we posted an update from Baroness showing that things were looking upwards for the band. Unfortunately though, with two members having broken vertebrae and frontman John Baizely having a broken arm and leg, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Baroness have in fact cancelled some of their upcoming North American tour dates, including their NYC show at House of Vans and LA's FYF Fest. They will not be replaced on the House of Vans lineup, which happens on August 29 and now just includes Turbonegro, Doomriders, and Nightbirds. This is a bummer but it makes sense that the band takes the time they need to recover, and we wish them a speedy and successful recovery!

Meanwhile, FYF Fest, which Wild Flag also dropped off of, recently expanded its lineup. It now features The Faint (who just announced they'll be reissuing Danse Macabre and touring the album), Glass Candy, King Tuff, and newcomers The Orwells. Tickets for FYF Fest are still available. The updated lineup and flier are below.

Continue reading "Baroness dropped off House of Vans and FYF Fest, who added bands (updated lineup)"