photos by Amanda Hatfield

Death at BrooklynVegan SXSW party - 3/15/13

Rediscovered Detroit protopunk legends Death are still around, and as they mentioned at our BrooklynVegan Thursday SXSW party, they've got a new album coming out this year. Though details on that album are still sparse, we'll most likely get a chance to hear some of the material when they play a one-off in NYC on July 1 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets for that show are not on sale yet but check LPR's site for updates.

UPDATE: Tickets are on sale now. Rough Francis and The Everymen open the show.

At our SXSW party, Death played our punk-oriented stage which also included sets from Cloud Nothings, METZ, The Spits, Milk Music, Single Mothers, and Rough Francis (whose lineup features sons of the members of Death). A belated set of pictures of Death and all the other bands on that stage is in this post.

More pictures, and a full stream of Death's 1974-recorded, 2009-released For The Whole World To See, below...

Continue reading "Death playing a one-off at Le Poisson Rouge +++ belated pics from their BV-SXSW show w/ Single Mothers, Milk Music, more"

photos by Sarah Frankie Linder

Beach Fossils/The Spits/Parenthetical Girls

The second of our four SXSW day parties at connected Austin venues The Main and The Jr. happened Thursday (3/15). In addition to Cloud Nothings' joyously raucous set, The Main was fairly wild all day. We got reunited Detroit protopunk legends Death, fellow Micheganites The Spits, Pacific Northwest fuzz-freaks Milk Music, highly-excitable Canadians METZ, plus Rough Francis and Single Mothers.

Meanwhile on The Jr. stage, things were a little more indie, with a double shot headlinging sets from two Captured Tracks bands, Widowspeak and Beach Fossils. Not to mention: Dutch artist Jacco Gardner made amazingly precise recreations of late-'60s baroque pysche pop; Scotland's PAWS did raw-throated, seriously catchy yell-alongs; Parenthetical Girls kept Austin strange during their mesmerizing set; Toronto's Moon King gave a dose of shoegaze; plus Japanese singer-songwriter Shugo Tokumaru and the folky sounds of J. Thoven. What a day!

For those reading this in NYC, don't forget Parenthetical Girls play Glasslands on March 25 (tickets) and Bowery Electric on March 26 (tickets); and Jacco Gardner plays Mercury Lounge on March 23 with his Trouble in Mind labelmates Mmoss (tickets)

In addition to the music, 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, free vegan queso and chips from Food For Lovers, and free vegan breakfast tacos from Pink Avocado. 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, Mirrored Media, ASCAP, and Redigi.

Our free Friday day party at The Main and The Jr. just got underway. The Main stage will be crowded for 20-something headliners The Polyphonic Spree, and that side will also have sets from Akron/Family, The Thermals, Shout Out Louds, Diamond Rings, TOY, and Half Moon Run.

The Jr. stage today is curated by out loud brethren at Invisible Oranges, with Today is the Day, Pallbearer, Royal Thunder, Inter Arma Batillus, and Babtists.

Then tonight is the official BrooklynVegan showcase at Maggie Mae's Rooftop with 3421, Brooke Candy, Giraffage, Man Without Country, Mykki Blanco, Pictureplane, The Underachievers, XXYYXX, and Zebra Katz. If you're in Austin, come on down!

More pics from Thursday's day party are below.

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan SXSW Thursday day party in pics (METZ, Beach Fossils, Widowspeak, Parenthetical Girls, Spits + 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"

John Baizley at Union Transfer (more by Maclyn Bean)

Baroness, Bitter End, Coliseum, Culo, Cut Hands, Soul Search and Waste Management are the latest batch of additions to the 2013 iteration of Chaos in Tejas, joining names as varied as Bolt Thrower, Manilla Road, Terveet Kadet, Framtid, Andy Stott, The Marked Men, The Damned, The Bats, Iceage and many more. The fest happens May 30 - June 2. Full lineup is below and tickets are still available.

In addition to the festival, Chaos in Tejas will ALSO host at least a pair of shows during SXSW including an unofficial show at Beerland on Thursday night with Blundertown (3/14) featuring Wiccans, The Spits (who play the BV day party on Thurs), Off with their Heads, Waxahachee, Meat Market, Virals and Rough Francis (who also play a BV day party). Then look for Chaos in Tejas to split Red 7 along with Relapse on Saturday 3/16, bringing along another eclectic lineup that includes Iron Lung and Big Freedia. Wow. Flyers are below.

As mentioned, John Baizley of Baroness plays his ONLY solo show at North Door on 3/16, part of the Invisible Oranges/BrooklynVegan official SXSW showcase.

Chaos line-up and SXSW flyers below...

Continue reading "Chaos in Tejas lineup expands again, announces SXSW shows"

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 announced the Saturday lineup, and then the Friday lineup, and now HERE IS THURSDAY...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan free SXSW 2013 Thursday day party lineup (Cloud Nothings, Death, Parenthetical Girls, Widowspeak, METZ, Beach Fossils, Milk Music, Spits, Single Mothers & more)"

photos Chris La Putt

"Listen, I just watched OFF! and The Spits. I know nothing about with binders or whatnot, but Keith Morris lectured me about voting. #punk" - Scare Gardscare

The Spits @ Irving Plaza - - 10/16/2012

CMJ at Irving Plaza (where there are big shows every night this week) began Tuesday night with the touring combo of OFF!, The Spits and Double Negative. It was a night of angry-not-punk rock... From a recent Rolling Stone article:

"With part of the hardcore mentality there became this batch of rules," [OFF!'s Keith] Morris tells Rolling Stone. "If somebody says, 'Well, you're hardcore' or 'You're punk rock,' I'm not gonna argue with you - except I'm not any of that stuff. I'm 57 years old. I'm just angry, and I'm pissed off."

"What we're doing now is kind of like a party," Morris says. "And we invited some of the bands that we believe are the best to be playing with us, to make this special, to make our party on wheels something that we want a lot of different people to come to."

Check out more pictures from NYC, OFF!'s setlist included, below...

Continue reading "OFF!, The Spits & Double Negative played CMJ @ Irving Plaza (pics & setlist), play NJ tonight (Wednesday)"

The full list of artists confirmed for the 2012 CMJ Music Marathon so far is below...

Continue reading "CMJ 2012 initial lineup announced"

The Spits at Knitting Factory, March 2012 (more by Keith Marlowe)

In addition to playing Gonerfest and Hopscotch, The Spits will hit the road for a string of dates supporting OFF! in October that will wrap up at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin. Tour kickoff goes down in NYC with a show at Irving Plaza on October 16. Tickets go on presale on Wednesday (8/15) at 10AM with regular sale hitting on Friday (8/17) at 10AM.

If you missed it, we recently posted a new live video of OFF! at Amoeba over at BVAustin. They'll play that city and the southern part of the US as part of a tour with Negative Approach, Double Negative and Power Trip prior to this set of shows with The Spits.

All listed tour dates and the recent "Fed Up" video by The Spits, below...

Continue reading "OFF! and The Spits team up for tour in October, hitting Irving Plaza (dates)"

Nobunny at Bowery Ballroom, September 2011 (more by Ryan Barkan)

Bubblegum weirdo Nobunny is currently putting the finishing touches on his new album for Goner records which will be out this fall. In the meantime, he'll be going on tour with stops in NYC at Otto's Shrunken Head on September 20 and Living Bread Deli on September 21. All Tour dates are listed at the bottom of this post.

Nobunny's tour wraps up in Memphis for Gonerfest 9 which happens September 27 - 30. The annual blowout, put on by the great record store/label, features garage-leaning bands from all over the world including the Oblivians, Slug Guts, Bad Sports, White Mystery, Personal & the Pizzas, The Spits, and loads more. 4-day passes are on sale now and you can check out the full line-up and schedule below.

Continue reading "Nobunny readies new album, going on tour (dates) including 2 NYC shows before Gonerfest in Memphis (full lineup)"

After teasing folks with a few names here and there -- like Run DMC most recently -- Austin's annual Fun Fun Fun Fest (Nov 2 - 4) has revealed it's full line-up, including Public Image Ltd, De La Soul, Superchunk, Santigold, Refused, X peforming Los Angeles, and lots, lots more. 3-day passes go on sale at 10AM CST.

Full FFF Fest lineup is below.

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest full lineup (De La Soul, Refused, Fucked Up, Public Image Ltd, Santigold, Sharon Van Etten, Rakim, X, Converge, Japandroids & more)"

The 2012 edition of Calgary, Alberta festival Sled Island is set to take place from June 20-23 at venues throughout the city. This year includes over 200 bands performing at 30 venues plus a large comedy schedule, film screenings, and art shows.

Sled Island 2012 will once again use outdoor venue Olympic Plaza as its main stage, featuring performances by Feist, The Hold Steady, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Dudes, Shabazz Palaces, Parlovr, and others.

Acts including Russian Circles, Hot Snakes, The Antlers, Boris, Thurston Moore, Willis Earl Beal, Trust, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Terry Malts, Neil Hamburger, How To Dress Well, The Evaporators (aka Nardwuar's band), DJ Jonathan Toubin, Hannibal Buress, Andrew W.K., Tim Heidecker, Archers of Loaf, and many more will be performing at various bars and venues. Check out the full lineup at the bottom of this post.

Festival passes, individual tickets for some clubs shows, and tickets for the Olympic Plaza events only are all on sale. The full festival schedule iwill be announced in June.

Full lineup and 2012 festival trailer below...

Continue reading "Feist, Stephen Malkmus, The Hold Steady and lots more playing Calgary's Sled Island Festival (full line-up)"

Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

photos by Keith Marlowe & Harriet Roberts

The Spits @ Knitting Factory

Photographers Harriet Roberts and Keith Marlowe spent their weekend with The Spits/TV Ghost, taking in not only the Cake Shop show on 3/1 (which we previously posted other pictures from) but also Knitting Factory (on 3/2) AND Sonar in Baltimore on 3/3 (with Livids and Murder). Pictures from all three shows, along with video from Knit courtesy of UN:ART:IG, below....

Continue reading "A weekend with The Spits & TV Ghost (more pics from Cake Shop, pics & video from Knitting Factory and Sonar too)"

photos by Sarah Coulter

The Spits @ Cake Shop

The Spits left a sweaty mess for Cake Shop last night (3/1), one of a pair of NYC dates for the band with their tour-mates TV Ghost. Last night also featured appearances from Night Birds and Livids, neither of which will be at Knitting Factory tonight (3/2); look for a DJ set from Tony Lo-Fi in their stead. Tickets are still available.

Pictures from Cake Shop are below.

Continue reading "The Spits played Cake Shop w/ TV Ghost, Night Birds & Livids (pics), play Knitting Factory TONIGHT"

In the Red label-mates Tyvek and The Spits both play shows in Brooklyn tonight (3/2), but not together. The Spits, as you know, are at Knitting Factory with fellow In the Redders TV Ghost. Tyvek make a rare appearance at Death By Audio with Habibi, and according to the Facebook invite, "they are playin with the original line up, which means, holy shit!!!!!!!"

In completely unrelated news, Aziz Ansari tickets go on sale this morning.

DOWNLOAD: The Spits - "My Life Sucks" (MP3)

The Spits at Chaos in Tejas (more by Harriet Roberts)

The Spits begin their two night reign of punk goodness TONIGHT at Cake Shop (3/1) with tourmates TV Ghost and NYC punk MVPs Night Birds. The party continues tomorrow night at Knitting Factory (3/2, tickets) when The Spits/TV Ghost hit the Brooklyn venue with DJ Tony Lo-Fi. The tour continues on and eventually terminates with a show at Emo's East on 3/16 during SXSW with The Gories and more "special guests TBA". RSVP to get into that In the Red showcase for free.

In related news, Night Birds spent last night on The Chris Gethard Show with Julie Klausner. Did you catch it? if you missed it, watch the video below. Also down there is the previous episode with special guests Grizz Chapman (from 30 Rock), Tina Fey, Ted Leo and more.

Chris Gethard will be in Austin for SXSW too. Pick up a copy of his new book.

All Spits tour dates and tons of other stuff, below...

Continue reading "The Spits are on tour, in NYC, playing SXSW with the Gories; Night Birds played the Chris Gethard show (video)"

by BBG

The Spits at Chaos in Tejas (more by Keith Marlowe)

The Spits know their way around a poppy-Ramones-y hook, so look for the band on the road as part of a string of dates with TV Ghost dubbed the "Blazing Blowout" tour. The dates, which kick off in late February, include a stop on March 1st at Cake Shop and March 2nd at Knitting Factory. Tickets to the Brooklyn show are on sale. All shows are listed below.

TV Ghost is preparing to release the new "Phantasm" b/w "Panic Area" 7" via Sweet Rot Records. The band released their latest LP Mass Dream last year; check out a video from the LP below.

The Spits released last year's BV favorite V via In The Red Records. Check out some live video from the band's New Year's Eve appearance at Cobra Lounge in Chicago below, alongside the tour dates.

Continue reading "The Spits going on tour with TV Ghost (2012 dates)"

photos by Keith Marlowe and Harriet Roberts, words by BBG

The Spits

While I was going hardcore at Emo's, metal and garage were well represented at Red 7 on Thursday. Split across the venue's two stages, the outdoor patio was reserved as a Garage stage with The Spits, The Arrivals, Shellshag, TV Ghost (who are on tour with The Spits), High Tension Wires, and OBN III's, while the indoor stage housed metal from Hooded Menace (who played Union Pool before Texas), Undergang, Acephalix, Bone Sickness, and Mammoth Grinder. Pictures of many of the bands from from both stages at Red 7 are below.

Origin of M

After the show, I met up with Keith and Harriet to trek over to The Broken Neck, a DIY venue hosting an afterparty with Tragedy (who played Europa before Texas) and Origin of M. We arrived just in time, as they were letting one in and one out due to capacity issues. We were able to slide in after a short wait. Origin of M played a crusty hardcore set with some rock style leads (ala Thin Lizzy) and sounded good, though the singer's drunken ranting in Japanese was a bit off-putting/odd. Slamming beer after beer, he loved to crowdsurf almost as much as loved to rip beer-cans apart in his mouth and chew on the aluminum. Yum. Tragedy, as usual, were unbelievable despite a PA system that was clearly DIY (and on the brink of toppling over).

Chaos in Tejas continues. Pictures of everything else I did earlier in the night HERE. Mictures from Red 7 and Broken Neck, below...

Continue reading "Chaos in Tejas 2011 in pics & review (part 2)"

DOWNLOAD: TV Ghost - Wired Trap (MP3)

Metropolis Vintage's is hosting a punk and garage extravaganza, entitled Metropolis Fest 2, which is happening over two days in Brooklyn. Starting with a free show at Don Pedro on 5/20, the fun continues with a pre-party at Metropolis Vintage in Manhattan on Saturday, 5/21. That's followed by a big blowout later that night at Brooklyn Fireproof. Keep reading for more details and other upcoming NOBUNNY shows...

The always insane garage rocker in a bunny mask (and/or naked, etc) NOBUNNY will headline the second night of Metropolis Fest 2 at Brooklyn Fireproof. Also on that bill are White Mystery (their 5th of 5 NYC shows), Timmy's Organism (Timmy Vulgar from Human Eye and Clone Defects), Peace Killers (Jesse from Foster Care, Ex Humans), Johnny ILL Band (Chris from Terrible Twos), and The Psyched (Anthony from Tunnel of Love).

The night before at Don Pedro will feature performances from The Waldos (Walter Lure of the Heartbreakers), Marvin Berry & the New Sound, The Amputees, Cheesequake, Tiger Cage, and Fuck School. More details, including DJs, a flyer and the preparty, are below.

For NOBUNNY, the show is one of many he has coming up this summer. In June and July he'll be touring a bunch. That trip brings him back to NYC for two more shows, both with TV Ghost. There's Knitting Factory on July 1st (tickets) and Mercury Lounge on July 2nd (tickets). All dates are listed below.

TV Ghost meanwhile will be out on the road with The Spits in support of Mass Dream which came out on In the Red in April. Sample that album with an MP3 (above) and video & stream (below with all dates).

As mentioned above, Saturday's White Mystery show is their 5th in NYC this week. Their first is tonight (5/17) at Glasslands. Their NYC-tour flyer is re-posted, with everything else, below...

Continue reading "Metropolis Fest this weekend, Nobunny dates, TV Ghost MP3, White Mystery & more"

by BBG

Tragedy fan at Chaos in Tejas 2008 (photo by joecurry666)

After an initial lineup was announced earlier this year, Chaos in Tejas is back for more with another set of bands confirmed for the June 2nd - 5th Austin festival. Get to booking your ticket if you're interested in seeing Kriegshog (from Japan, their last show ever), a Youth of Today reunion (Ray Cappo, Porcell, Ken Olden + a drummer who isn't Sammy), Low Threat Profile, Omar Souleyman, Hooded Menace, Lower Dens, Double Negative, FYP, Oneohtrix Point Never, Veins (their only show ever), Universal Order of Armageddon, and many many others. Oh, and by the way, the previously discussed Autopsy appearance will be their only US show of the year. Full list of bands playing the multi-venue party is below.

In related news, Low Threat Profile (members of Lack Of Interest/Infest/No Comment) released their debut LP via Deep Six Records before the new year. Pick it up at your favorite distro/webstore, like Tankcrimes or Phantom City.

Universal Order of Armageddon play NYC TWICE soon; on 1/21 at Cake Shop with Trophy Wife (and more TBA) and 1/22 at Death By Audio with The Body, Orphan, and (according to Youth Attack) Salvation. Take note, the lineups have changed since we first posted, and differ from what Kill Rock Stars has posted (click the link for Baltimore and Philly date info too).

Current Chaos in Tejas lineup (more announcements are due soon), below...

Continue reading "Chaos in Tejas 2011 lineup expands (Kriegshog & Youth of Today included), Universal Order of Armageddon coming soon"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Miracles of Modern Science - I Found Space (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jacuzzi Boys - Bricks or Coconuts (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Aerosols - China (AAC)

The Phenomenal Handclap Band

We'll start this week with a contest. The Phenomenal Handclap Band play Music Hall of Williamsburg this Saturday (6/12) and if you'd like to win a pair of tickets, just send an email to BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM with "Phenomenal" as the subject line (include your first and last name) and we'll pick a winner at random and notify them on Friday. The show is 18+. If you've never seen PHB before, it's '70s psychedelic disco overload, like if Michael Viner had formed a cult where the drink was Mai Tai's, not poison Kool Aid. The record is fun, but seeing them live is where it's at. And, like I said, where it's at is MHoW.

Miracles of Modern Science

If The Incredible String Band wasn't already taken as a band name, that might have been a good one for the next group I'm going to talk about, but since it was they opted for Miracles of Modern Science. Eschewing guitars, the go for cello, double bass, violin and mandolin (plus drums). Actually, I'm pretty sure the whole "science" aspect of their name comes into play too, what with song titles like "I Found Space" (downloadable above), "Bossa Supernova" and "Luminol." So their music is nerdy in two completely separate ways. But it's also clever and catchy and not really pretentious despite all that goddamn science and orchestral stuff they're throwing in our face.

Miracles of Modern Science have a residency at Cake Shop starting this Thursday, with The Albertans (ex-Bravo Silva),  The Royal Chains, and Quiet Loudly rounding out the bill. MoMS play the two following Thursdays as well.

Jacuzzi Boys

Friday night has two competing shows -- both in Williamsburg --  for your garage rock dollar, and if you're into this scene at all you're going to find it difficult to choose between them. Or at least pause for a second.

At Death by Audio, there's Quintron and Miss Pussycat, JEFF the Brotherhood and Golden Triangle. Actually, garage isn't the right term for Quintron's sleazy keyboard R&B which is augmented by some homemade equipment like the Drum Buddy, The Disco Light Machine and the Spit Machine. Quintron shows are a party. As are JEFF shows as you should know by now. As are Golden Triangle shows. Both of whom will be in their element at DBA and it will no doubt be packed to the gills and sweaty as hell. If you want to see JEFF and Quintron (who are on tour together) in more temperature-controlled environs, they also play Santos on Sunday (6/13). More dates HERE and below.

The other garagey option Friday (6/11) is at Knitting Factory with what is a pretty killer bill: Seattle protopunks The Spits, and the depraved lunacy that is Nobunny, plus Florida's Jacuzzi Boys and Liquor Store. I've written about The Spits and Nobunny before so I'm gonna focus on Jacuzzi Boys here if I may.

While definitely within the garage milieu, there's definitely more going on here with this Miami trio. Jacuzzi Boys sound is less blown-out sounding than most of their brethren, with a  strong post-VU New York vibe with them -- Television and The Feelies are pretty obvious influences here I think -- and their album from last year, No Seasons, is pretty damn great. A new single on Mexican Summer is worth checking out too, and you can download it's A-side at the top of this post.

If you can't make it Friday, Jacuzzi Boys also play Cake Shop on Sunday (6/13) with K-Holes (mems of Black Lips) and Xray Eyeballs (half of Golden Triangle).

The Aerosols

Visiting us from San Francisco are The Aerosols, playing four shows this weekend, hitting three boroughs. When you hear about Bay Area bands these days, you tend to think of reverb, scratchy guitars and in-the-red levels of distortion. The Aerosols are more a little more jingle jangle, blissed-out sunshine pop that might go better with a nice cup of tea instead of a PBR. You can check out their song "China" at the top of this post to hear what I mean but if you dig mid-90s Elephant Six you're gonna like The Aerosols. The band they really remind me of -- and I'm going obscure here -- is the late '90s UK band Salako who put out records on Jeepster (Belle & Sebastian's original label) who always sounded to me like a field of daisies.

The Aerosols play Thursday night (6/10) at Silent Barn with My Teenage Stride, Dream Diary (who were one of the Popfest highlights this year) and The Surpriserswhich I think is the don't-miss show of their NYC visit.

They'll also play the Rock Star bar on Friday (6/11) with Fly Ashtray, Nude Broom (members of Flaming Fire), Bucolic Night Light Fungus' Fungus The(e); Staten Island's Doorway (62 Van Duzer St.) on Saturday (6/12) with Artanker Convoy; and then finally the downstairs room at Santos on Monday (6/14) with Persephone's Bees, Lily and the Parlour Tricks, and Alana Amram & the Rough Gems.

A few more shows, night by night:

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9

School of Seven Bells debut material from their quite good second album, Disconnect from Desire, tonight and tomorrow at Mercury Lounge. Both shows are sold out but lurking outside hoping someone's got an extra ticket does pay off sometimes.

Breakthru Radio are throwing a fifth anniversary party at Glasslands with Glass Ghost, Werewolves, Phil & the Osophers and My Teenage Stride. It's a free show with free beer.

continued below...

Continue reading "Miracles of Modern Science, Quintron, Jacuzzi Boys, The Aerosols, TPHB, Starring & more in This Week in Indie "

photo: Andy Junk

"Why did The Spits beat out Reigning Sound for my favorite album of '09, even though [Reigning Sound's] Love and Curses makes me want to move back to the South and drive around in my grandfather's powder blue Cadillac with the curb feelers and a chain link through the hood so crackheads don't steal the battery? Because I hadn't heard The Spits before this past summer, and I love that thrill of discovery. Also, The Spits are a juggernaut live, while Greg Cartwright spends two hours tuning his guitar in between each two-minute song, killing his band's live momentum." [CT Terry @ Razorcake]

Frontman Greg Cartwright (ex-The Compulsive Gamblers & The Oblivians) and co. have a few scattered dates around the south in April before coming north for the gigs that include a June 19th show at Southpaw with the Anabolics (tickets on sale) and June 20th show at Maxwell's (tickets here). All dates with videos of the band's powerful live show (above tuning comments aside) from some recent-ish gigs, below...

Continue reading "Reigning Sound - 2010 Tour Dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

Nobunny: animal lover (sksk4)

Easter's come and gone, and deranged garage act Nobunny didn't forget to mark the occassion with a special show (his '9th ANNUAL EASTER EGG BASH!') in Oakland on Saturday. It's already past, but the flyer below.

Nobunny heads out on tour this May and June with the Spits. They'll be at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on Friday, June 11th. Tickets are on sale.

The Spits' put out their fourth self-titled LP (known as "School's Out") last year on Recess Records. The band's sound is a unique blend of garage and New Wave punk, to quote ourselves, "they straddle the line between straight-up garage punk and Devo-esque lo-fi keyboard proto-punk."

The Spits w/ Jimi

The Spits were at this year's SXSW in Austin (a city they'll return to with Nobunny for Chaos in Tejas at the end of May). They played a set outside of Beerland on Friday, March 19th - the same place Fucked Up played a day earlier to cap a bill of Shattered Records artists paying tribute to the label's founder Jay Reatard. "We played at Beerland for a tribute to Jay Reatard who released one of my records, took us on tour, and also gave me a serious shrimp job. I miss him calling me at 5 AM. I miss him period", said Hunx of Hunx & His Punx who played the show. A video of Fucked Up and the Spits playing the same spot on different days and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "The Spits & Nobunny - 2010 tour dates & stuff "

by BBG

Rorschach at The Charleston (more by Ryan Muir)

Last year's jaw-dropping lineup at Chaos In Tejas was sick, and 2010 is proving to be no different. For four days across four different Austin venues, May 27th to the 30th at Emo's, Mohawk, Red 7 and Beerland, the festival will offer some of the most impressive names in the independent/underground scene including the indestructible Rorschach, the first ever US appearance from Australian punk greats X, a one-time reunion of Japanese crust-core band Bastard, the quirky cutesy indie pop-punk of Grass Widow, Gehenna (who just played A389), Subhumans, Bastard Noise (who have a new record), Bone Awl, BV faves Jeff The Brotherhood, The Spits, Psychedelic Horseshit, Ty Segall, The Ponys, Iron Lung (who recently played Cake Shop), Poison Idea, Inquisition, and many many many others.

In addition to the obvious mayhem that will ensue over the four days, Chaos in Tejas will also showcase art from some of the scene's most interesting names including Tim Kerr (of Big Boys), Winston Smith (responsible for tons of collage work, including the Dead Kennedys best album art), and Bryan Ray Turcotte (best known for his book Fucked Up and Photocopied).

The full (and intimidating) list is below...

Continue reading "Chaos in Tejas 2010 (May 27-30) - intial lineup (Rorschach, Bastard reunion, Spits, Bone Awl, Ty Segall, much more)"

'this week in indie' PART TWO actually...

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Super Furry Animals - Inaugural Trams (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Intelligence - Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Desolation Wilderness - Boardwalk Theme (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Woven Bones - Yr Sorcery (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Box Elders - Hole in My Head (MP3)
STREAM: Kings of Convenience - Boat Behind (asx STREAM)

Earlier this week we had two nights with Sondre Lerche and tonight (9/10) is more Norwegian jazz pop when Kings of Convenience play a sold-out Bowery Ballroom, their only U.S. show, that I'm guessing they're playing while in NYC doing press for their new album, Declaration of Dependence, which is out next month. Quiet remains the new loud for Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye if the reports are true that the single "Mrs. Cold" is the really the most upbeat track on the record. If so, it's going to be a super mellow one, though really you could say that about all their records. I think we tend to remember singles like "I'd Rather Dance With You" and forget that the rest of Riot on an Empty Street was pretty spare too. I've only heard a few tracks from the new one, so I'm looking forward to more tonight. Hopefully we'll get a lot of everything, as they don't play America very often. As there's no opener, we can hope for an epic "evening with Kings of Convenience." The band's on at 9:30.

As I'm sure you've heard if you read this site with any regularity, this weekend is All Tomorrow's Parties and if you're not going there's a little runnoff with bands playing New York shows around it. Case in point: Super Furry Animals will do their only U.S. shows in support of new album Dark Days/Light Years. Specifically, tomorrow's (9/11) show at Highline Ballroom (Tickets still available) is the "only U.S. club show for 2009" and Saturday (9/12) at Maxwell's (tickets) is the "only U.S. restaurant concert this year!"

I'm a huge SFA fan, think they're one of the most consistently great bands of the last 15 years. I've seen them upwards of 20 times and they're always entertaining. Their live shows got a little over-the-top around 2005's Love Kraft with electric jumpsuits, synched video projections and prerecorded backing tracks, but they've scaled back the last couple years and there's a more spontaneous vibe these days. And the new album is really good, a nice mix of punchy rockers, sunshine pop, epic space rock, Welsh boogie, and weird disco. In other words, a Super Furry Animals album.

Woven Bones

Did I mention this weekend is super-packed? Austin's Woven Bones are on a fairly extensive U.S. tour, making two stops in NYC this weekend with Seattle's The Spits. They play the brand-new Knitting Factory on Friday (9/11) and Cake Shop on Saturday (9/12). Woven Bones spew out dirty, fuzzed-up blues-punk surf rock. Their new EP, which they will hopefully have for sale this weekend, is on San Diego's Zoo Music who put out the first Crocodiles single and a Dum Dum Girls EP, so that right there should give you an idea what to expect. You can download the a-side from their "Yr Sorcery" single at the top of this post. The Spits, meanwhile, straddle the line between straight-up garage punk and Devo-esque lo-fi keyboard proto-punk. Both are pretty catchy, but I think the latter is more interesting as you just don't hear that sort of thing so much these days. And something tells me their show might lean toward the theatrical. If you can't make either of these shows, Woven Bones play Monster Island Basement next Wednesday (9/16) with Box Elders, and then Cake Shop again next Friday (9/18) with Girls at Dawn and Reading Rainbow.

The Spits

We'll continue with the garagey sounds because Seattle's mighty Intelligence hit New York this weekend too, playing Market Hotel on Friday (9/11) and Cake Shop on Sunday (9/13). The Intelligence's new album, Fake Surfers, has yet to get old for me, I listen to it at least once a week. I think it's one of the year's best. While the building blocks are the same (surf, garage, reverb, distortion), Lars Finberg exists in his own weird universe of lyrics and sound and his songs just come out different than your Oh Sees or Sic Alps or Ty Segalls. (All of whom I love too, btw.) I know this weekend is choc-full of must-see shows, but make some time for the Intelligence.

The Market Hotel show also features Brooklyn's own (and awesome) Golden Triangle, plus Wild Yaks, Arrington de Dionyso (of Old Time Religun) and Smarts.

Desolation Wilderness

The Intelligence Cake Shop Show on Sunday is with fellow Seattle band Desolation Wilderness who are worth seeing as well. If you like the breezy beach music that is coming out of NJ's Underwater Peoples (or anything Dean Wareham's ever done), then you'll probably dig Desolation Wilderness if you if you're not already familiar with them. Their new album, New Universe, is their second for K Records and is just lovely stuff -- languid, dreamy melodies, with guitar flourishes that ebb in and out, perfect for this late summer weather. You can download "Boardwalk Theme" from the new album at the top of this post. They also play Silent Barn on Saturday (9/12) with Real Estate and "The Maze" at Death by Audio on Monday (9/14).

As mentioned fleetingly in the bit about Woven Bones, Omaha, Nebraska trio Box Elders are here next week before hitting their record label's garage rock extravaganza, Gonerfest in Memphis from Sept. 24 - 26. They play Cake Shop on Tuesday (9/15) and Monster Island Basement the next night. These are their first NYC shows since April, and their first since the release of their debut LP, Alice and Friends. With that Leslie speaker keyboard sound and their major chord melodies, Alice and Friends is like '60s bubblegum and R&B as reproduced by a bunch of kids in a basement. Which I guess it kind of is. They are really entertaining live, with drummer Dave Golberg simultaneously manning his kit as well as the keyboards, and brothers Jeramiha and loin-cloth clad Clayton McIntyre rocking and bouncing in the foreground. It's a fun show.

So that'll do it for this weekend. For more picks (Marmoset, Wild Beast) see yesterday's TWII Pt 1. Videos and tour dates for most bands mentioned can be found below...

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