MONO...

Last spring MONO flew from Japan to New York City to perform two truly magical, memorable nights with esteemed Wordless Music Orchestra backing them. The 30-piece MONO played a 90-minute set that ranks among the greatest live experiences we've ever witnessed. What most people don't know is we flew our producer friend Matt Bayles to record the concerts, and the whole glorious event was filmed by a team of poorly-paid superfriends. It all sounds and looks absolutely stunning, and we're so thrilled with how it all turned out. There will be a CD+DVD, as well as a limited-edition 3xLP+DVD with all the bells and whistles you could hope for.

To celebrate the release of their monumental live album and film, Holy Ground: NYC Live with the Wordless Music Orchestra (in stores April 27), the beloved Japanese quartet will bring their legendary live show to just about every corner of North America. This will be MONO's only North American performances in 2010. Supporting all dates are Scotland's The Twilight Sad.

Live video from MONO's NYC shows in May and all tour dates are below..

Continue reading "MONO touring w/ The Twilight Sad (dates), releasing live album & DVD of NYC shows w/ Wordless Orchestra "

words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Tuesday night's Twilight Sad show was just like Friday night, there was just more if it. There was more space for the sound to fill, more shaved heads, more singing along. All three bands had put the bar relatively high coming off their show at Southpaw, and all three cleared it and then some.

Prior to the tour The Twilight Sad's James Graham and Andy MacFarlane had shaved their heads. Somewhere between Brooklyn and the Bowery Jetpacks lead singer Adam Thompson and bassist Sean Smith shaved their heads, Twilight Sad bassist Craig Orzel was sporting a mohawk and even their roadie, Esteban, got into the act.

With more room to maneuver and no band going on after them, the three bands seemed more inspired with only Brakesbrakesbrakes toughing out a rough set with a broken string and busted high hat.

The Twilight Sad made only two changes from their setlist Friday night adding "The Room" off Forget The Night Ahead and swapping the new record's one breakneck track, "The Neighbour's Can't Breathe", for its other ("That Birthday Present").

The moment of the night arrived when Graham hopped down into the crowd for "Cold Days From The Birdhouse". Where the audience at Southpaw gave him plenty of space a few nights earlier, the crowd at the Bowery crowded in close, enveloping Graham. And the crowd singing along as he belted the lyrics, "And your red sky at night won't follow me" and "So you make it your own/but this is where your arm can't go" was chill bump-inducing. It lead to Graham remarking, after he returned to the stage, "I don't think we'll ever forget this."

Anonymous wrote:

The Twilight Sad was incredibly loud and pretty much the definition of epic. The floor was shaking! The way those guitars swirl and those crescendos... it was a mesmerizing showcase of powerful, and noisy as heck, music that very few bands can even pull off. Great mix of new and old songs in the set list. When they played Cold Days From The Birdhouse, with the singer in the middle of the crowd, it felt special. The only thing missing from them is more stage presence from someone other than the lead singer.

Continue reading "We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Twilight Sad & BrakesBrakesBrakes @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - pics, setlist "

words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

The Twilight Sad

If it was possible The Twilight Sad have gone even darker on their new record Forget The Night Ahead (Fat Cat). Yet what was evident on Friday night at Brooklyn's Southpaw is their live sound has not suffered as a result. Headlining an "early" set, along with label mates Brakesbrakesbrakes and We Were Promised Jetpacks, the Scottish quartet ratcheted the volume and dissonance blanketing lead singer James Graham's bleak lyrics about familial dysfunction and neglect.

Before all that, however, it was fellow Scots, We Were Promised Jetpacks, riding into Brooklyn on a wave of buzz. A full, but not sold out, venue led lead singer Adam Johnson to comment how there may have been only four people out to seem them on a visit to New York earlier this year. Supporting their summer release These Four Walls, it was a solid and heartfelt set - Johnson, belting out his lyrics, rising up on his toes for maximum effect. But it was always going to be the single "Quiet Little Voices" (played ad nauseum by the likes of KEXP) to garner the loudest applause.

The Fat Cat showcase continued with Brighton's Brakesbrakesbrakes (replacing Frightened Rabbits on this leg of the tour) and their set of sturdy rock numbers included cute 15-second songs like "Spring Chicken" and "Porcupine or Pineapple" played a second time after guitarist, Tom White admitted he "fucked up the chorus." White was the most entertaining of the quartet, thrashing about and raking his guitar violently along the mic stand.

But both bands still have a bit of a ways to go to match the sonic spectacle that is The Twilight Sad. With a sound that begs for an arena, the intimate nature of Southpaw allowed the Twilight Sad to swap their song's penchant for the epic for more intensity.

The searing guitar feedback from Night Ahead track and set opener "Reflection of the Television" gave way to the rumbling drums and bass as the curtains pulled back to find Graham and guitarist Andy MacFarlane sporting newly shaved heads. Graham stepped forth and doubled over singing "There's people downstairs, I'm more than a fighter, you know."

Keeping track of the songs off the setlist was a test in Caledonian translation as "Television" was listed as "Doonstairs" and "Loud/Quiet" was "Talking With Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed" from 2007's debut "Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters." Graham picked up a drumstick, dropped to his knees and hammered along with drummer Mark Devine during the loud part.

That debut landed them critical praise on both sides of the Atlantic and Graham mentioned that he thinks they had played more shows in New York than in Glasgow and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing. They did split the set almost evenly with songs from both records instead of opting for the practice of loading the set with new songs at the cost of older, familiar ones.

The fevered pitch of the set reached dizzying heights with showstopper "The Neighbours Can't Breathe" a train-without-breaks-number from the new record and Graham's primal screen of "You keep pulling on the heart strings."

Graham walked into the crowd for "Cold Days From The Birdhouse", singing back to his band and then stood painfully still on stage as "And She Would Darken The Memory of Youth" and set closer "I Am Taking The Train Home"'s swirling outros played around him. The latter building into a five-minute wall of noise as he left the stage. It wasn't quite "You Made Me Realise", but the nod was clearly in that direction and perfectly executed to punish anyone without ear plugs. Fair warning if you plan to see them Tuesday (TONIGHT, 10/6) at the Bowery Ballroom (tickets).

More pictures below...

Continue reading "The Twilight Sad, Brakesbrakesbrakes & We Were Promised Jetpacks played Southpaw (pics, review) -- Bowery tonight "

I've known about tonight's (10/2) Southpaw show for a while, but I only just realized that it wasn't part of our original set of announced tour dates that did list Tuesday's Bowery Ballroom show with the same lineup of The Twilight Sad and Brakesbrakesbrakes (Bowery tix). Updated dates and a video below...

Continue reading "We Were Promised Jetpacks are here (with The Twilight Sad) (Southpaw tonight, Bowery Tuesday)"

The final lineup for Monolith Festival, which takes place at the Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, on September 12th-13th, is below. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Girl Talk headline Saturday night at the festival, and the Mars Volta and MSTRKRFT top the bill on Sunday. Deer Tick, Passion Pit, Doom, The Walkmen, The Thermals, and HEALTH are also some of the bands on the two-day bill.

Tickets and two-day passes are still on sale. We also has a pair of weekend tickets to give away. Details on that, with the full lineup, below...

Continue reading "Monolith Festival - final 2009 lineup ++ WIN a two-day pass"

DOWNLOAD: The Twilight Sad - Reflection Of The Television (MP3)

The Twilight Sad is going on a lengthy fall tour with labelmates (Fat Cat) and countrymen (Scotland) We Were Promised Jetpacks. The first leg of that tour, which also features Frightened Rabbit, kicks off September 13 at Monolith Festival. Frightened Rabbit (who just played the Siren Festival) is replaced by Brakesbrakesbrakes for the second leg, which includes a stop at the Bowery Ballroom on October 6th. Tickets are still on sale.

The Twilight Sad's new record, Forget the Night Ahead, will be out September 22nd on Fat Cat. A track from that is above, with a new video for the album's first single, "I Became A Prostitute," below.

All Twilight Sad tour dates are below...

Continue reading "The Twilight Sad - updated 2009 tour dates + new video"

Mutek banner in Montreal - May 27, 2009 (bneely)

Mutek, the electronic music festival celebrating its tenth year, is currently underway in Montreal. The five-day fest runs to Sunday, May 31st, and it's streaming online. Moderat, the Modeselektor & Apparat supergroup, performed at Mutek on Thursday, May 28th; the group plays NYC's Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, May 30th (the show was originally planned for Webster Hall). Tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of parties up North this summer... three other biggies are Ottawa Bluesfest (July 8th-19th), Vancouver Folk Music Festival (July 17-19th) and Calgary Folk Music Festival (July 23rd-26th). Each of those suitably transcend the "blues" and "folk" labels, hosting bands like The Dead Weather and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (in Ottawa), The Weakerthans and Rock Plaza Central (in Vancouver), and The Decemberists, Apostle of Hustle, Kid Koala and Akron/Family (in Calgary). Full lineup for the Calgary Fest (Ottawa in particular is much too massive to post) and ticket info below.

And don't forget about the previously reported Breeders-headlined Sled Island Fest in Calgary on June 24th-27th, Montreal's Osheaga, NXNE, and Toronto's Olympic Island Fest on July 11th, which will host Broken Social Scene and its Arts & Crafts cohorts.

Across the pond, UK's Glastonbury Festival, which runs from June 24th to 28th, has been sold out since February even though the full lineup wasn't announced until this week. Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Blur will be joined by The Specials, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Spinal Tap, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Madness, Tom Jones, Animal Collective and many others.

And finally in the States, Monolith Festival, which runs from September 12th to 13th at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Colorado, has announced its intial lineup, Girl Talk, Passion Pit, and The Walkmen included. The whole thing is posted below.

The weekend before Monolith, Bumbershoot will take place in Seattle (September 5th-7th). That fest's lineup has been updated too. New additions include Vivian Girls, Akron/Family, and Elvis Perkins. All new additions, with previously announced acts, are below. Tickets are still on sale.

In Michigan, the Rothbury Festival over July 4th weekend will feature the only summer fest performance by The Dead, as well as sets by Bob Dylan, String Cheese Incident, Broken Social Scene and more. A few more jam-friendly acts were also just added to the bill. Full lineup below. Tickets are on sale.

Info on all the above fests, with ticket info, below...

Continue reading "Mutek underway, Monolith & Glastonbury lineups, Rothbury, Bumbershoot, Calgary Folk & other festival updates"

photos by Tim Griffin

"that group up front was obnoxious. the girl tried to dance with me during 2 Rights, when I politely declined she took it upon herself to aggressively plough into me every chance she could. I loved the equally annoyed reaction the surrounding folks gave her and her male friend when they started air guitaring and swaying into everyone around them. A cute girl with curly hair gave the guy a seeeerious toss. Then their douchebag friend joined in and maxed out the annoyance...... If you want to get wasted at concerts, go for it, but recognize that not everyone is and that a three person mosh pit might ruin a bit the show for those around you. I really hope that they were so hungover that they lost their jobs the next day or were mugged on their way home.

and so what if frat guys like mogwai. I always thought it was hard to peg people for being mogwai fans....You can fit any sort of stereotype and get down to mogwai, just don't be pricks about it. I really hated those three, such buzz kills....anyway, that show was amazing, tonight was too.... can't wait for tomorrow.

Props for Mogwai giving us three shows" [Carter]

Continue reading "Mogwai & the Twilight Sad @ MHOW (night 2) - pics, setlists"

photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud (MP3)

"Mogwai were seriously great. Only disappointments were a truncated "2 Wrongs" and a bizarrely chatty batch of non-fans in the back of the room. "LIke Herod" was a HUGE highlight but there wasn't a wasted moment, really. The room suited their dynamics brilliantly. Can't wait for the next two nights, though I imagine fans will be shushing more aggressively, so plan to do your chitchat in the bar." [Anonymous]

Continue reading "Mogwai & the Twilight Sad @ MHOW (night 1) - pics & setlist"

by Black Bubblegum

Mogwai @ ATP (more by Zach Dilgard)

Mogwai kick off their three-night stay at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn tonight (4/27-4/29). If you see video cameras, it's because the sold out shows are being documented for an upcoming film by independent flimmaker Vincent Moon of La Blogotheque Take Away Show fame.

If you miss the shows, you can also catch the band when they are back in the NYC-area over the summer to play All Points West. Their upcoming tour plans also include a lot more North American shows and a ton of European festival dates including T In The Park, Field Day, and the Oxegen Festival with the reunited Blur, Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, The Killers, and many many others.

Supporting the band on a large chunk of that North American trek are fellow Scots The Twilight Sad. TWS recently completed mixing of their upcoming LP (due "sometime this summer"), as evidenced by the following tweet: "lassssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst day of mixing today, then wrestlemania." Who knew that the sensitive Scots enjoyed watching a man's head smash into a turnbuckle? In California, Mogwai also play three shows with Dead Meadow.

Stu from Mogwai has a twitter account of his own, and he plans to post setlists and "loads of pointless drivel" from the road. In addition, those interested in the culinary adventures of Mogwai can follow John Cummings's tweets here.

Dominic of Mogwai's other pastime, Crippled Black Phoenix, recently played Mercury Lounge on 4/12 while on tour with Brooklyn's Ghastly City Sleep. GCS has only one additional date on their calendar, May 10th in Philadelphia with the mighty Gods & Queens.

All Mogwai tour dates and a recent La Blogoteque live video of Mogwai from Reims is below...

Continue reading "Mogwai are here w/ the Twilight Sad + other 2009 tour dates"

Tickets are on sale (@ 10 AM) for the May 26th Unwigged & Unplugged (acoustic, costumeless Spinal Tap) show at the Beacon Theater. A second show is not on sale at all yet.

Tickets are on Friends and Family presale (@ 10 AM) for the May 16th Leonard Cohen show at Radio City Music Hall. I think the password is JARKKO. There is also a 2nd presale at the same link that starts 24 hour later. The password for one of them might also be thisisnottherealone, but then again that last one spells out "This is not the real one", so it might mean what it says. If you know it, feel free to post in the comments. A second show is not on sale at all yet.

Tickets are still on sale for the show The Decemberists are playing at Radio City. Tickets go on sale (@ 10 AM) for the show The Decemberists are playing with Andrew Bird at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD.

I keep forgetting to put into writing that The Twilight Sad are touring with, and opening all three Brooklyn shows for, Mogwai. Tickets are on sale.

I've never heard a bad review of a Lez Zeppelin show. That's probably related to the reason the Led Zeppelin cover band is headlining a venue as big as Webster Hall on on May 14th. Tickets are on sale.

Don't let this happen to your favorite touring band. Shop at Insound.

The "Give More" part of our new digital sales project is called "Show Support." It's really simple. Every time you buy an MP3 album from Insound (not EPs or singles), Insound will donate $.25 of our take to a touring band. We choose 6 lucky bands that we like, but you get to select the actual artist to earmark your quarter to. Furthermore, should you wish to "tip" additional funds to these great artists, you can add your own tip during checkout. 100% of these funds will go to the band you choose. If you do not choose a specific band, we will distribute the funds equally to all of the bands. We will add new bands 2-4 times each year. All funds are to be used by bands to support the next national tour. In short, their tours will be made possible by you - Insound customers!

Currently, the awesome bands that will benefit from our donations are:

The Big Sleep on the streets
Russian Circles
The Twilight Sad about the price of gas
Headlights are keeping me up at night
Epsilons
Videohippos

Please note: You do not have to buy an album by one of the Show Support bands above to donate money. The $.25 per MP3 album and your tips will be donated whether you buy their albums or you buy an album by any other artist. Additionally, tips will only be earmarked to one of the 6 bands above. For example, if you buy a Pinback MP3, that does not mean that Pinback will get an extra $.25 from that order. Their label and distributor will receive the same amount they always do, but another lucky Show Support band will get some extra help. Any questions email us: CassieHelp@insound.com.

Other good causes (ways to help the homeless) (no offense touring bands) can be found here.

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