words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

A few songs into Land Of Talk's set at Mercury Lounge on Saturday night the sold out audience began asking for more vocals. "I think all of your bodies are absorbing my vocals," said frontwoman, Elizabeth Powell.

Things are different than when last Powell played New York. It's been a rough year since her voice gave out and forced the band off tour from support of last year's excellent Some Are Lakes (which included dates with Broken Social Scene). Powell, who was singing with BSS in addition to her own band, had surgery to correct damage to her vocal chords, she took voice lessons, wrote several songs which make up their new Fun and Laughter EP as well as the forthcoming album which the band began recording last month. She wears an in-ear monitor in concert now and everything is clearly in place to protect her distinctive voice that used to go head-to-head with her razor-sharp guitar playing. Now her voice has acquiesced, it's a bit softer though she did let it go a few times, especially during "All My Friends" and the line "Hustling leaves me white hot / blue in the face / eyes blood shot." But despite her subdued vocals the packed crowd was still riveted; her guitar playing, the drumming of Andrew Barr and multi-insturmental duties of Joe Yarmush all outstanding through a set that didn't end until half past 1am.

The show was one of a few dates with Surprise Me Mr. Davis (Marco Benevento & members of The Slip). More pictures from the NYC show below...

Continue reading "Land of Talk played Mercury Lounge in NYC w/ Surprise Me Mr Davis & North Highlands - pics & setlist"

DOWNLOAD: Land of Talk - May You Never (MP3)

Land of Talk @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple in October (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Land of Talk's Fun and Laughter EP, the follow-up release to their 2008 full-length, Some Are Lakes, is set to come out October 20th on Saddle Creek. It'll be a busy week for the label - they have a handful of other records coming out around the same time.

An MP3 from the new EP is re-posted above.

Following the release, the band (led by frontwoman Elizabeth Powell) will do a brief West Coast tour. After that,the band will go on a short East Coast tour with Surprise Me Mr. Davis which is a band consisting of Nathan Moore and members of The Slip. One of those Slip members is Andrew Barr who also plays/played with Land of Talk. We don't know all the dates, but at least one of them is November 21st show at Mercury Lounge in NYC. Tickets go on AmEx presale Wednesday, September 16th at noon. General sale starts September 28th at noon.

All currently known tour dates and the video for "The Man Who Breaks Things (Dark Shuffle)," which is on the new EP, are below...

Continue reading "Land of Talk playing NYC, shows w/ Surprise Me Mr. Davis"

The Zombies, The Yardbirds, and The Spencer Davis Group are going on a "Rock Royalty" tour. They NYC show is at Hammerstein Ballroom on July 10th. Tickets are on sale.

The Slip are playing Bowery Ballroom on June 26th. Tickets are on AmEx presale today (@ noon).

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Orb shows at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on sale for both NYC Vaselines shows (Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg)

Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon) for the Eagles of Death Metal show at Webster Hall.

Tickets are on AmEx presale (@ noon) for the Lemonheads show at Bowery Ballroom.

Yo La Tengo is opening for Wilco at Keyspan Park. Tickets are still on sale.

There are Ticketmaster pre-sales starting on Thursday and Friday for the Sonic Youth show at United Palace.

Sonic Youth is also playing Austin City Limits and the Capitol City Block Party.

Some videos of The Zombies below...

Continue reading "the Zombies, the Vaselines, the Orb, the Slip & other tickets "

DOWNLOAD: Diana Krall - What Are You Doing New Years Eve (MP3)

Rude Bear @ a Muggabears show (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

• Grandmaster Mele Mel, Mickey Factz, Ninjasonik, Trouble & Bass, and more @ Studio B
• The World Famous Pontani Sisters @ The Bell House
• RUDE year's eve HEARTSREVOLUTION (Live+DJ set) plus Nick Catchdubs / Bubblyfish / RUDE (DJ set) / hosted by RUDE BEAR @ Glasslands Gallery
• Surprise Me Mr Davis (members of The Slip) and The Benevento/Russo Duo (late show) @ BB King's
• Famous Friends & Palms Out Sounds Present NYE 2008! featuring Kill The Noise / AC Slater / The American Dream Team / Udachi / Bradley D & VDRK / Hosted by Chaz & Jason Pants of Palms Out Sounds @ Europa
• EVERYTHING ELSE

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Land of Talk, now with a great new drummer (again) (Andrew Barr of the Slip), played a one-off show at the Mercury Lounge in NYC last night (Sept 11, 2008). Tighter than ever, the three-piece from Montreal treated us to a well-tuned mix of old (relatively speaking) hits, and songs off from their new album Some Are Lakes, out October 7th on Saddle Creek. Look for Land of Talk on tour with Broken Social Scene this fall. More pictures from Mercury Lounge below...

Continue reading "Land of Talk @ Mercury Lounge (Sept 08), NYC - pics "