by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Let's Wrestle - I Won't Lie to You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Screaming Tea Party - I'd Rather Be Stuck on the Stair Rail (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: My Sad Captains - Great Expectations (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Artefacts For Space Travel - Recoup (MP3)

Let's Wrestle


London's Stolen Recordings (not to be confused with Ultragrrrl's Stolen Transmission) is one of the cooler small UK indie labels, having released some great records last year including Pete and the Pirates' Little Death which made my Best of 2008 list. Like seemingly everyone in the music industry, the label is going to have a showcase at next month's South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX, featuring almost their entire roster: Pete & the Pirates, Let's Wrestle, My Sad Captains, Screaming Tea Party and Artefacts for Space Travel. It's Thursday night at Wave Rooftop if you're interested and are attending.

While none of Stolen Recordings records have gotten released in America, you can get almost all of them on Emusic if you subscribe to that. For those in NYC, we get our own mini Stolen Recordings showcase soon, featuring two of the label's groups - Let's Wrestle and Screaming Tea Party. They both will be playing a handful of shows here before they head to Austin.

Let's Wrestle are punky, shambolic, and pretty irresistible. Check out "I Won't Lie to You" at the top of this post, it's probably the band's most well-known song to date and is indicative of singer Wesley Patrick Gonzalez's lyrical style that is both funny and self-deprecating, a style somewhere between Los Campesinos and Art Brut. ("No matter how many records I buy, I can't fill this void.") Their EP from last year, In Loving Memory Of, collected some of their best songs though not "Song for an Abba Tribute Record" or "I Wish I was in Husker Du" two songs that are worth searching for. Maybe they'll show up on their debut, In the Court of Wrestling Let's, when it comes out later this year.

Let's Wrestle are playing four shows in NYC, including one at Maxwell's, one opening for Black Lips at Music Hall of Williamsburg (tickets), and, as previously mentioned, one opening for Pains of Being Pure at Heart at The Bell House (tickets). Pains and Let's Wrestle will also do a few East Coast dates in addition to the Brooklyn show. All dates are at the bottom of this post.

Screaming Tea Party

Tokyo via London trio Screaming Tea Party get compared to Sonic Youth and the Jesus and Mary Chain a lot, and there are plenty of buzzsaw riffs, shouty choruses and blasts of noise to be found on their debut EP, Golden Blue, though they made me think of early-'90s band Daisy Chainsaw, if you remember them at all. Judge for yourself: their single "I'd Rather be Stuck on the Stair Rail" can be downloaded at the top of this post. Screaming Tea Party have three NYC shows -- though none on the same bill as Let's Wrestle -- including stops at Cake Shop, Fontanas, and the Crashin' In pre-SXSW party with Depreciation Guild, Mirror Mirror and We Are Country Mice at Public Assembly.

Full details at the bottom of this post, along with some videos...

Continue reading "Let's Wrestle & Screaming Tea Party are coming - NY, SXSW"

"There has been an exodus of live music from Downtown Manhattan recently, and the Lower East Side has been one of the hardest hit 'hoods--losing rock clubs such as Tonic, Luna Lounge and the somewhat short-lived Rothko over the past few years. Is the Mercury Lounge the next to go? The building that houses the famed venue has just hit the market through brokerage Massey Knakal with a price tag of $6.5 million. The five-story walk-up at Houston and Essex Streets--sandwiched between a nightclub and the towering new luxury rental building The Ludlow--has eight apartments (six of them currently rent-stabilized) and a billboard in addition to its commercial tenant. Don't panic: the listing indicates the club isn't going anywhere, and according to broker Philip Huang, the Merc's lease runs until 2018. Phew!

Can a new landlord boot the club come 2018? Well, according to the sales flyer on the listing, the Mercury Lounge has an option to renew for five years at fair market value. The club currently pays $20,000/month in rent, with a 3.5% annual increase. Noisy rock-'n'-rollers aside, the new owner's first mission might be to increase the revenue taken in from that east-facing billboard on the building's facade. According to the paperwork, the current deal (expires 12/31/2010) only nets the landlord $850 per month." [CURBED]

The Giraffes play Mercury Lounge tonight (2/6).

Saturday is The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (the latest recipients of Best New Music), Cause Co-Motion, The Depreciation Guild, and ZAZA (sold out).

Sunday is Lucero (sold out).

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: WAVVES - So Bored (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - We Talk Like Machines (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Francis and the Lights - Lime (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)

NODZZZ

This week is especially filthy with good shows so let's not waste any time. The biggest deal, at least for me, is the WAVVES / NODZZZ who are playing in town three times this weekend. Both are from California, spell their names in all-caps with repeated consonants and make lo-fi punky pop. San Diego's WAVVES seem to be getting most of the attention, with two records out in less than a year - last year's Wavves on Woodsist and the forthcoming Wavvves (note the extra V) on Fat Possum (it was originally on De Stijl). On record, WAVVES is basically one dude, Nathan Williams, but live they are a duo, and from the clips I've seen on YouTube, they are slightly less imposing live than on their distortion-on-everything recordings.

I'm more excited about NODZZZ, who are a trio from San Francisco and just released a great vinyl-only 12" on What's Your Rupture. (You can also get it on Emusic.) It's bratty and nasally and sounds a lot like the Dead Milkmen, but NODZZZ aren't as overtly jokey. They play Friday (2/6) at Market Hotel, Saturday (2/7) at Less Artists More Condos, and a Sunday (2/8) afternoon show at the Underground Lounge. All shows are with Woods and Blank Dogs.

Musée Mécanique

Good show tonight (2/4) at Cake Shop. Portland's Musée Mécanique make baroque pop, heavy with mellotron, glockenspiel, and accordion. Their album from last year, Hold This Ghost, is quite lovely. It might be too precious for some, but I hear they are really good live (especially for you glockenspiel lovers) and would like to check them out. Also playing are locals Soft Black (not to be confused with The Soft Pack) who are starting to get some attention. I haven't seen them live but their new album, The Earth is Black (and Other Apocalyptic Lullabies for Children), has some good songs on it. And as this site mentioned previously, Dave Deporis opens.

Savoir Adore

One of my favorite new local bands, Savoir Adore, are playing Thursday at Bowery Ballroom, opening for Francis and the Lights. Fronted by Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer, Savoir Adore make the kind pristine guitar pop you used to hear a lot with '80s bands like The Go-Betweens and Let's Active but isn't so much in fashion these days. They aren't too far away from what Stars do, either, though less grandiose if you know what I mean. Ther EP Savoir Adore have out on Cantora Records is good, but is a concept record fairy tale thing that is good but not a very good introduction to the band. (Their proper debut will be out on Cantora this summer.) I've seen them a couple times and they are very, very good live. If you don't check them out at Bowery, keep their name in mind. Definitely one of my Bands to Watch in '09.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released their great debut album this week and are kicking off a month-long tour with The Deprecation Guild with a show this Saturday (2/7) at Mercury Lounge that also features their Slumberland label-mates cAUSE co-MOTION. It's sold out, but TPOPBAH play The Bell House on March 13 with awesome UK band Let's Wrestle (who are also playing a Todd P show but more on that later) and Knight School. Tickets are still on sale for that one.

The Mommyheads

Also Saturday (afternoon) at Union Hall is a (2pm) show that seems transported in a time machine from Brownies in 1997, with Babe the Blue Ox, Ida, and The Mommyheads. The night is actually the second-annual memorial tribute to Mommyheads drummer (and later for Beekeeper) Jan Kotik who lost a three-year battle with cancer in 2007. The Mommyheads, who I was unaware were back together, put out a new record last year, You're Not a Dream. As for Babe the Blue Ox, I never really got into them but they had a fervent following in the '90s. The original line-up got back together last year and are working on a new record so I'm told. And Ida have been making truly lovely folk-pop since the early-'90s, having grown from a duo to a four-piece over the years and are now on Polyvinyl, who released last year's underheard Lover's Prayers. Also on the bill: The Ditty Committee and Mighty High. It's a free afternoon show!

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And finally in this overstuffed post, Cake Shop is having their first ever Yo Doo, a monthy swap meet type mart that is best explained in this press release:

YO DOO is a brand spanking new art + comix + small press + record fair that happens on the first Saturday of every month at New York City's Cake Shop. From noon till seven you can see + hear + buy + trade with the cream of D.I.Y. crop on both floors of the store, followed by a special live musical performance. We are looking for small publishers, record labels, printmakers, zinemakers, comix manufacturers, artists and crafters who want to want to sell their wares and have a good time. At YO DOO, Cake Shop is your shop.

Among the vendors will be Cake Shop's in-house label Cape Shok and this week Yo Doo also features performances from Love Panther and Baltimore's Sick Weapons. A full rundown of vendors at the Yo Doo blog. It's free admission. Buy stuff, it's what the goverment wants you to do!

Tour dates, flyers and videos below...

Continue reading "NODZZZ, WAVVES, Musée Mécanique, Mommyheads, Savoir Adore, TPOPBAH, YO DOO swap & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

The Depreciation Guild

For fans of Shoegaze/Dreampop/etc, the Bell House is where you want to be tonight (1/8) for a free show with locals The Depreciation Guild, Dead Leaf Echo, and Luxa. I'm quite fond of The Depreciation Guild's most recent album, In Her Gentle Jaws, which you can download for free from the band's website. Mixing heavy and heavily-treated guitars with beats built on a Nintendo Famicom, they actually kind of remind me of me of Mew's dreamier moments. The Depreciation Guild are also going on tour with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart next month so the rest of the country will get a chance to check them out too.

As for the other two bands on the bill, I'm not familiar other than checking out their respective MySpace pages, but Dead Leaf Echo have dreampop cred: their forthcoming album was produced by John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, Pale Saints), and they've had remixes done by Ulrich Schnauss. Luxa are a little more on the bliss-out side of things. No idea what any of these bands are like live, but you can't argue with the price. Also free: Brooklyn Lager from 8-9.

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Keeping things Brooklyn local, My Teenage Stride play Union Hall Friday night (1/9). The band have entirely revamped their line-up in the last six months but when I saw them at Glasslands late last year they were good as ever. If you like Lloyd Cole, the Chills, The Wedding Present and other jangly '80s indie signifiers, you should definitely seek them out, if you haven't already. My Teenage Stride also play next Thursday (1/15) at Vanishing Point Studio in Bushwick.

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Box Elders

It's already been mentioned that Michigan band Tyvek are playing three shows this weekend, one of which is at Market Hotel with Crystal Stilts. Also on that bill are Omaha trio Box Elders, who are not named after the classic Pavement song, or the tree, but the bugs that infested the house where two-thirds of the band (Jeremiah and Clayton McIntyre) grew up. (They claim they still have a snare with about 100 dead box elder bugs in it...eww.) So far the band only have one single, the excelent "Hole in My Head" which sounds a lot like New Zealand's The Clean to these ears. (Bonus points: the b-side is a cover of Redd Kross' "S&M Party.") The Box Elders are currently on a fairly extensive US tour but The Market Hotel show is their only NYC-area show so do check them out.

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And finally, this weekend marks the premiere of FUTURITY -- a musical written by local retro-futurists The Lisps. As the Lisps' shows tend to be theatrical anyway, mixing elements of vaudville and Americana and other genres, it's no real suprise they had a musical in them. Here's the blurb:

FUTURITY tells the story of Julian Munro, a lowly foot soldier in the American Civil War with an overactive imagination and a dream to be a famous writer. Through the double narrative of Julian's wartime experience ripping up Confederate railroads in southwestern Virginia, and the grimly futuristic novel he writes along the way, the musical weaves an ominous and bizarre tale of destruction, creation, and utopianism. The protagonist of Julian's novel, The Inventor, devises an omnipotent steam-powered artificial intelligence that he sees as a panacea for all of humanity's woes. The story is largely narrated by Ada Lovelace, the famous mathematician and Julian's imaginary muse. The music in FUTURITY draws inspiration from every corner of traditional Americana and contemporary indie-rock to paint a quintessentially American scene of war, antiquity, technological hubris, and outmoded conceptions of futurity.

Sounds kinda epic. FUTURITY is being performed both Friday and Saturday night at The Zipper Factory and you can get tickets here.

ALSO THIS WEEKEND: 2 Camper Van Beethoven shows

Videos, tourdates and other stuff for some the above groups after the jump...

Continue reading "the Depreciation Guild, Box Elders, My Teenage Stride, a Lisps musical & more in This Week in Indie"

DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything With You (MP3)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have two upcoming NYC shows scheduled. The first is February 7th at Mercury Lounge which is also the first date of a tour the NYC band is going on with The Depreciation Guild. Cause CO-Motion! is also on the Manhattan bill and tickets are on sale. The second is March 13th at the Bell House which is the first date of a tour the band is playing on their way to SXSW.

Their self-titled album (pictured above) will be released in February 2009. Grab two tracks from it above. Check out a video, some pics from the show they played at MHOW with Bishop Allen in November, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - 2009 Tour Dates, a new album & some MP3s & live pics"

Wye Oak

In the short time Bill has been here, many bands have been featured in his Week In Indie column on BrooklynVegan. At least 19 of those bands are playing shows for, and during, CMJ in NYC this week. Each of those bands is listed below with links back to what Bill said about them...

Continue reading "'Week in Indie" bands playing CMJ this week "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - The Brigde (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - Ernie and the Sand (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - Foot and Foot
DOWNLOAD: Women - Black Rice (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elk City - Los Cruzados (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elk City - Cherries in the Snow (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Amazing Baby - Infinite Fucking Cross EP (Zip file)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything with You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)

Kristen Ketsjer & friends

With all the quality shows between now and tuesday you'd think CMJ had already started and it's making it very hard to keep to my vow to take it easy before next week's onslaught. Here are a few that are making it especially difficult.

I only caught two songs by Danish trio Kirsten Ketsjer at this year's SXSW, purely by accident, but I was taken by their VU-meets-Television style guitar rock that can be both delicately beautiful and monsterously loud. But mostly beautiful. Drummer Anja Jacobsen sings while guitarists Andreas Führer and Anders Lauge Meldgaard spin webs around each other. Not sure why they haven't gotten more attention than they have -- last year's FFFFOO K TSSCCH! is a pretty magical album -- that may change after next week. They're playing at least once a day during CMJ and there are two shows this week (Thursday [10/16] at Lit, and Friday [10/17] at Dead Herring) if you want to catch them early. Do check them out.

Elk City

Elk City are playing a special show this Saturday (10/18) at Union Hall. The band, who've added former Luna guitarist Sean Eden to their lineup, agreed to be the entertainment at a friend's wedding which meant they had to learn a whole slew of cover songs and the Union Hall show is a dress rehearsal of sorts for the big day. Expect more along the lines of Bowie, Nina Simone, and Carol King than "The Chicken Dance," "The Electric Slide" or the dreaded "Butterfly Kisses." The show will be interspersed with Elk City material too, including some of the songs in contention for their new album. Opening are Boy Genius who put on a nice show Tuesday opening for Bearsuit.

White Denim

If you're willing to go out on a Sunday (10/19) you can see a lot of CMJ buzz bands before the fest actually starts. And actually, at Mercury Lounge are Austin's White Denim (tickets), who are skipping CMJ entirely in favor of a European tour. Their U.S. debut, Exposion, is out November 11 and is a slightly different version of their acclaimed UK release, Workout Holiday, which was released earlier this year. It defies easy description: there's some noodling guitars a la the Minutemen; bluesy passages like some other White bands; shouty indie rock and blissful psychedelia. I dig it. White Denim also play Union Hall the next night (10/20) (tickets).

Playing with them at Mercury Lounge are Amazing Baby who I've written about more than once both here and over at my own blog. They've been playing pretty regularly over the summer and are a pretty tight machine these days, so they should be ready for CMJ and their upcoming tour with MGMT and Violens. If you haven't heard them yet, you can download their Infinite Fucking Cross EP for free.

Women

Meanwhile, around the corner at Cake Shop, Friction NYC have put together a pretty unmissable lineup as well: The noise-drenched pure pop of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart who are fresh off a tour of Sweden; reverb-loving Canadians, Women;, who are certainly one of CMJ's most buzzed-about bands; Jackson Heights' only garage rock band*, The Beets (*fact completely uncomfirmed by me); and the organ styling of another Canadian, Katie Stelmanis.

Current # of CMJ-related shows Women have coming up: 9
Current # of CMJ-related shows The Muslims have coming up: 9

Both Women and The Muslims are playing BrooklynVegan parties during CMJ. The Muslims are on the Thursday October 23rd one. Women are on the unannounced Saturday October 25th one. If you count the pre-CMJ Cake Shop show, that raises Women's total NYC show count to 10. Don't be surprised if more NYC shows pop up on both of their schedules.

All tour dates and videos for all bands in this post, below...

Continue reading "Kirsten Ketsjer, Women, Elk City, White Denim, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart & more in This Week In Indie"

by Bill Pearis

week one. week two. week three....

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (TPOBPAH)

Was last summer this crammed with stuff to do? It seems like there have been very few nights of easy living, what with all these worthy shows. And Summer may have official started last weekend, but it's this one that feels like it, with the return of the Sunday McCarren Pool parties, and Celebrate Brooklyn shows in Prospect Park and the Seaport. Too many shows to all throw, willy-nilly, into one post so here are a few things I'm excited about.

If you didn't get enough jangly guitars and winsome melodies at the NYC Popfest two weeks ago (or you missed it and wished you hadn't), tonight at Cake Shop finds monthly UK party Twee as F**k coming to NYC for the first time. Headlining the show are The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who were really great at Popfest, and should be right at home tonight (June 26) at what the band told L Magazine was their favorite New York venue.

Also on the Twee as F**k bill are two bands from Cleveland, Bears and Afternoon Naps. I'm particularly looking forward to Bears, who I would put somewhere between The Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Boy Least Likely To. Their 2006 debut is really good and they've got a song on the two volume, download-only Summer's Here compilation that Norwegian blog Eardrums offered up earlier this week.

They are also promising free cupcakes. Fun starts at 9PM. Bears are also playing Death by Audio on Friday with Pwrfl Power and Tickley Feather. All Bears dates below.

continued....

Continue reading "Warlocks & Blacklist & Bears Oh!My! - also Twee as F**k, TPOBPAH, APTBS & more in this week in indie"