photos by Bryan Bruchman

As previously mentioned, The Sea & Cake, Mac McCaughan, Jon Benjamin & Jon Glaser stopped by at Maxwell's last night for Yo La Tengo's first of eight Hanukkah shows at Maxwell's. Who will be there tonight? UPDATE: It was Spent

Here are some pictures from the first show. They continue below...

Continue reading "Hanukkah 2011 @ Maxwell's Night 1 in pics (Yo La Tengo, Sea & Cake, Jons & more)"

Yo La Tengo Hanukkah 2011 Night 1 (photo by Jack2point0)

Yo La Tengo played their first of eight Hanukkah shows at Maxwell's last night (12/20). We have a full set of pictures coming, but in the meantime, check out last night's setlist complete with openers/guests listed, via Frank & Earthy, below...

Continue reading "Yo La Tengo Hanukkah 2011 night 1 was The Sea & Cake, Mac McCaughan, Jon Benjamin & Jon Glaser (setlist)"

DOWNLOAD: The Sea & Cake - Up On the North Shore (MP3)

Sea and Cake at Summerstage in 2010 (more by Matthew Eisman)

The Sea and Cake released The Moonlight Butterfly, recorded at Soma studios in Chicago by drummer John McEntire, on May 10 via Thrill Jockey. The album, their ninth, is available for purchase and is streaming on the label's site. You can also download "Up On the North Shore" from the album above. And the band are already at work on another album for release later this year or early 2012.

They band will head out on tour later this year. That tour comes to NYC on November 8 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets aren't listed yet, but check Ticketmaster for updates.

'Moonlight Butterfly' artwork and tracklist, along with all tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Sea and Cake released an LP this year, working on another one, going on tour (MP3 & dates)"

photos by Matthew Eisman

Drew & Canning at Central Park's Rumsey Playfield

The Polaris Music Prize ceremony is happening tonight, Monday, 9/20, at 8pm EST. Canadians can watch the event on Much, and satellite radio subscribers can listen live on channel 86. Maybe short list nominee Broken Social Scene will tune in to see if they win. They have tonight off from their current North American tour (which resumes Tuesday at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA).

That tour landed at Rumsey Playfield aka Central Park Summerstage in NYC on Saturday night (September 18th). The Sea & Cake opened for and some of its members played with the Canadian Collective which featured the base crew of Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Andrew Whiteman, Lisa Lobsinger, along with horns and others (no Amy, Emily, or Feist)...

Kevin Drew announced at the outset that the band was going to just play for two hours, and he was true to his words. Aside from occasional pauses to introduce songs or various band members (and to send several of them crowd-surfing into the audience), the group went through one song after another. As expected, there was an emphasis on its latest album, Spring's "Forgiveness Rock Record," but BSS played many of its well-known tunes, including "7/4 (Shoreline)," "Fire Eyed Boy," "Superconnected," "Looks Just Like the Sun," and "Lover's Spit."-[Podcastparty]

Continue reading "Broken Social Scene played Summerstage w/ The Sea & Cake (pics, video, setlist) "

DOWNLOAD: Broken Social Scene - "All To All" (DJ Mom Jeans Remix)

The Sea & Cake

The Sea & Cake will support Broken Social Scene on their upcoming trek that will see them at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park on 9/18 (tickets). The tour pairing makes perfect sense considering Sam Prekop's (The Sea & Cake) contributions on the recent BSS record, and his new LP Old Punch Card due on 9/7 via Thrill Jockey. A recent press release also states that there is a "rumored to be a split 7" between the two bands in the works". Hmm, rumors in a press release? Look for more details on that 7" soon.

In other BSS news, the band is releasing a series of remixes for their song "All To All". So far contributions from Sebastian Grainger, DJ Mom Jeans, Jojoflores, and Skeet Skeet have emerged, with more due every week. Download one contribution above, and the rest at the remix site. The video for "All To All" (the original) is viewable below.

NYC is looking like Arts & Crafts showcasing ground for the next few days, as TONIGHT (9/1) the previously discussed The Wooden Birds / Dan Mangan tour will hit The Rock Shop (the shows was moved from Union Hall), tagging Mercury Lounge two days later (tickets).

Thursday (9/2) will see recent Mexican A&C signees Chikita Violenta play Mercury Lounge with A Great Big Pile of Leaves (tickets) as part of a larger tour that includes non-NYC dates with A&C-in-Canada labelmates Ra Ra Riot (who play NYCx4 in Sept) and Built To Spill (who play NYC Thursday).

Chikita Violenta is prepping to release their forthcoming LP for A&C, TRE3S, due in early 2011. The album was recorded in Canada with former Broken Social Scene producer Dave Newfeld. An MP3 is being given away at their site.

Last but not least, Chilly Gonzales (who will be in NYC soon with Peaches) is busy helping Feist with her new album. Feist and Gonzales both appear on Jamie Lidell's new album. Chilly's new album, Ivory Tower, is out September 14th.

All tour dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Arts & Crafts superpost: Chikita Violenta (from Mexico), Dan Mangan & Wooden Birds (also here), Sea & the Cake w/ BSS who have remixes (touring), Sam Prekop, Feist & more"

by Ryan Barkan

Smashing Pumpkins @ United Palace Theatre, NYC(more by Chris La Putt)

Lately it seems all Billy Corgan wants to do is either get involved in political battles or license his music for entertainment purposes. Case in point, the Billy Corgan avatar is playable in Guitar Hero World Tour, released last October. That was followed by a three-song Smashing Pumpkins GH track pack becoming available for download as DLC in December. Then, on the biggest advertising stage of the year (i.e. the Super Bowl) a new single "FOL" was dropped in a spot for Hyundai. The Super Bowl one-upper came recently when Billy decided to let loose...for the first time...arguably the band's biggest song ("Today") on a Visa commercial. Visa was not done there however, as Billy and the Pumpkins just weren't enough music for the brand to express itself via 30 second spots.

The credit card company dusted off '70s rock band The Moody Blues' classic jam "Tuesday Afternoon" for a spot dubbed "the Aquarium". To finish off, the coolest of the recent Visa spots has creative direction around the Brooklyn-based performance artist known as "Crutch", Bill Shannon. The commercial sees Bill dance through city streets with his patented crutch dance technique to the Don Thomas song "Come On Train". Watch the Smashing Pumpkins one below.

Other Notable Licensing News:

The Magnetic Fields song "Underwear" appropriately provides soundtrack to an artsy, dream sequence-esque commercial for Puma. Watch it below.

Both Vampire Weekend (about 8 seconds of "Campus") and Beck's "E-Pro" were enlisted for this commercial trailer for the new Paul Rudd film "I Love You Man".

continued below...

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing"

Photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Our Thursday (10/23) day party at Pianos got a late start - the upstairs anyway. That ended up being a good thing for Twi the Humble Feather whose set time switched from 12:15 pm to the usually more-desirable 2:00.

Unlike the Mercury Lounge show where they had a full choir, Twi (rhymes with eye) played this one as a trio, each of them with a guitar. To quote L Magazine,

The exclusively acoustic three-piece come across as a live-action tape-loop of sorts, their chanting falsettos bleeding through cycles of finger strumming dwindles and swells. It's part Gregorian chant, part Christmas carol and part Panda Bear's Person Pitch unplugged.

Your next chance to see Twi is November 11th at Music Hall of Williamsburg when they open for The Sea and Cake. Death Vessel, another artist that utilizes a high voice (though unlke Twi I think his isn't falsetto), is also on the bill. More The Sea and Cake dates HERE. More Twi pictures and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Twi the Humble Feather - 2008 tour dates & BV party pics "

The Sea & Cake are going out on tour again before the year is over. Tickets go on sale Thurday for two NYC shows. All dates below...

Continue reading "The Sea & Cake - 2008 Tour Dates (Bowery/MHOW)"

The Sea & The Cake @ Paradise Rock Club in Boston - June 5, 2007 (CRED)

Two big indie rock tours hit NYC tonight - Califone is at the Gramercy Theatre, and The Sea & Cake is at Webster Hall. Which do you choose? Tonight is also The Veils and Dinosaur Jr.

DOWNLOAD: The Sea & Cake - Afternoon Speaker (MP3)

Look at the great fee shows coming up in stores....

free NYC in-stores performances
Jun 5 - The Pipettes & Monster Bobby @ Other Music (7pm)
Jun 5 - Ladybug Transistor memorial show @ Sound Fix (8pm)
Jun 6 - Loney, Dear & Sea and the Cake @ Sound Fix (7pm)
Jun 20 - LSD March @ Other Music (8pm)

Loney, Dear, Sea & Cake are also playing Webster Hall on June 7th (and touring). The Pipettes are also playing Highline Ballroom on June 5th - still not sold out (unlike last time), and SMOOSH - who also played Sasquatch - is opening for them.

The Pipettes are actually also going on an in-store tour, and a regular tour with Smoosh and Monster Bobby. All Sea & Cake & Loney Dear & Pipettes & Monster Bobby dates & details below....

Continue reading "Pipettes, Sea & The Cake, In-stores, Tour Dates"