"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"

The War On Drugs at Beacon Theater in 2011 (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

The War On Drugs kick off their spring tour next month, which hits NYC on April 6 at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Ape School and The Everymen. That show has since sold out, but the band just announced another NYC show happening two days later at Bowery Ballroom (4/8). Tickets for that show go on sale Thursday (2/9) at noon. No opener has been announced for the Bowery Ballroom show yet.

Most of the other dates on the tour are with Sharon Van Etten, who plays NYC when her tour hits Music Hall of Williamsburg on 2/24 and Bowery Ballroom on 2/25 with Shearwater and Bowery Ballroom on 2/26 with Carter Tanton and Glass Ghost. Tickets for the 2/26 Bowery show are still on sale, the others are sold out.

Updated dates including Sasquatch! and the video for TWOD's "Brothers" below...

Continue reading "The War on Drugs add another NYC show (updated dates)"

"Following last year's 10th anniversary, which crushed previous attendance records and set a new mark for the speed with which tickets sold out, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2012 lineup which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 25-28 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA."

Continue reading "Sasquatch! 2012 lineup announced (Bon Iver, Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Shins, Portlandia, Spiritualized & more) "

today in NYC
* Ablehearts @ The Stone
* Daniel Kitson @ UCB East
* Zeljko McMullen @ The Stone
* Melvin Van Peebles @ Zebulon
* Q-Tip (DJ set) @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Bustle In Your Hedgerow @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Mr. Dream, Make Out, Lantern @ 59 Canal Street
* Antony and the Johnsons @ Radio City Music Hall
* Rhyton, Woodsman, 1129, Electroputas @ Shea Stadium
* Holy Ghost! DJ set, Jacques Renault @ Public Assembly
* Fabric, Plastic Flowers, Weird Rivers @ Cameo Gallery
* Endless Boogie, Call of the Wild, Bogan Dust @ Union Pool
* Bucky Hayes & The Radio, Great Elk, Brian Bonz @ Littlefield
* Minerva Lions, Dead Sands, Paul & The Tall Trees @ Mercury Lounge
* Ever Forthright, Ultrageist, The BINARY code, FXZERO @ Saint Vitus
* Ben Backus, Hannibal Montana, Friend Roulette, Chair-O-Planes @ Union Hall
* Official MTV Pants Party Afterparty feat Winb Win @ Public Assembly
* MEN, Claire's Diary, Making Friendz (Permanent Wave presents) @ 285 Kent Ave
* Upstairs @ the Square w/ Suzzy Roche & Lucy Wainwright Roche @ Barnes & Noble
* Cloud Nothings, Bleeding Rainbow, Jump Into The Gospel @ Studio @ Webster Hall
* Dirty Grand, DD Krisana, Party Faithful, Mean Creek, The Wicked Tomorrow @ Pianos
* The So So Glos, Sundelles, The Pharmacy, Liquor Store, Patrick Stickles (DJ set) @ Glasslands
* Shark?, Life Size Maps, I'm Turning Into, The Great American Canyon Band @ Big Snow Buffalo Lodge
* Too Short, Greedy Entertainment, The White House Band, Power of P, Charlie Buko @ Knitting Factory
* Wouter Snoei, Matthew Ostrowski, R WE WHO R WE (Philip White & Ted Hearne) (Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York) @ Issue Project Room
* Indie-Classical Guitars: Music for 1, 2, 3, and 4 guitars w/ Dither, Twi The Humble Feather, Threefifty Duo, Andrew McKenna Lee @ Le Poisson Rouge

The War on the Drugs have a new video for "Brothers". Check it out below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

The War On Drugs played Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (1/10), their TV debut. They performed "Baby Missiles" off of their 2011 LP, Slave Ambient, which was one of our favorite records of 2011. ?uestlove, who DJs Brooklyn Bowl tonight (1/12) joined the band on drums, playing in unison with the band's actual drummer. Check out the video of their performance below.

The War On Drugs will head out on a tour soon, which brings them to NYC on April 6 at MHOW. Tickets are still available. The tour includes some dates with White Rabbits, who just announced their own tour, which hits NYC on April 12 at Webster Hall. Tickets for that show are on AmEx presale and go on sale to the general public Friday (1/13) at noon.

Their tour also includes many dates with Sharon Van Etten who also just played Fallon and has a MHOW show of her own coming up as well (but one at Mercury Lounge even sooner).

Questlove DJs Brooklyn Bowl tonight (1/12).

TWOD video below...

Continue reading "The War on Drugs played Fallon w/ help from Questlove (video)"

I hate writing year-end lists, as might be obvious to many long-time BrooklynVegan readers. That said, I also like them. They help organize things, which is related to my problem though. I'm too unorganized and hectic to ever get around to making one! But this year a few of us (BrooklynVegan contributors) got together and decided to come up with a collective list of albums that we loved that we think most represented 2011 in BrooklynVegan land. Our indie rock-centric list purposely does not include metal (that's HERE) or hip hop (we should make a separate list). With that in mind, our top 26 albums of 2011, in alphabetical order, are listed (with some commentary and a list of honorable mentions too) below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan's Favorite Albums of 2011"

by Toby Tenenbaum

Opening night of the six that The National will be playing at the plush Beacon Theater did not disappoint. The first guest opener was The War on Drugs who were fresh from their sold out show at Bowery Ballroom the night before. WOD put on a sonically interesting (but visually dull) performance - a mix of weaving, trippy layered guitar and saxophone. National frontman Matt Berninger joked that the name of the band is somewhat misleading because they were doing a tons of blow backstage before the show. War on Drugs played for 40 minutes before abruptly leaving the stage without a word.

At 9:10 the house lights went down and "Wild Boys" by Duran Duran began thumping over the PA system as a live feed of the band enjoying last minute dressing room banter was projected onto the stage's backdrop. The band emerged and opened with the brooding "Runaway" followed by "Anyone's Ghost", both from High Violet, and then "Mistaken For Strangers" from Boxer. You can see the full setlist below.

The variation of the band's back-catalog was perfectly appropriate with songs like "Available" from Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers and "Mr. November" from Alligator, along with two 'new' songs: "Rylan" and "I Need My Girl". Perhaps it was the grandeur of the venue, the 31st NYC room they've played, but the on-stage chemistry was a bit off. The music however was exceptional,

After Matt had stage walked over the orchestra's seats, and accidentally had his leg trapped between the seats, there was still time for an accapella version of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" at the front of the stage as the entire audience were invited to crowd around (I wish they had done that at the beginning). The overall-amazing show ended at 11:00 PM on the dot.

Sharon Van Etten opens the 2nd show at the same venue tonight (12/13). More pictures and the setlist from night one, below...

Continue reading "The National played Beacon Theater w/ The War on Drugs (night 1 pics & setlist)"

photos by Sarahana

The War on Drugs @ Bowery Ballroom

"War On Drugs plays with the National tonight at the Beacon Theater, but WOD had no trouble selling out a show of its own at Bowery Ballroom last night. The four-some played tracks from Slave Ambient for a sold-out crowd as part of a brief East Coast tour that ends December 17 in Philadelphia. At the Bowery stop, the band toasted the birth of a friend's first-born, passing the new dad a bottle of Maker's Mark from the stage for a sip. Father appreciation continued as frontman Adam Granduciel played a song for his dad, who was in the crowd. He thanked him for the guitar he was playing, one his dad bought for him at age 13. There was tribute too to musical forefathers as the band slipped into a cover of the Grateful Dead's "Touch Of Grey." "We've been working on this one for a while, since the early '80s," quipped Granduciel, playing it off like a fresh track." [CMJ]

Brooklyn's own impossible-to-google TEEN opened the Bowery Ballroom show. You can get more familiar with the all-female band via a 15 minute video Sarahana shot with them below.

More pictures from the Bowery Ballroom show, also below...

Continue reading "The War on Drugs, TEEN & Arc in Round played Bowery Ballroom (pics) "

The War On Drugs at Cameo in August (more by Jessica Amaya)

The War On Drugs recently kicked off their December tour which includes the sold-out show at Bowery Ballroom on December 11 and the not-sold out show one day later opening for The National at Beacon Theater (12/12) (tickets). Though Still Corners were originally scheduled to open the Bowery show along with Arc in Round, it appears they've since dropped off and TEEN will be taking their place.

The War On Drugs will tour North America again in 2012 around the time of SXSW, which they've recently been added to, which brings them to Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 6. Most of those dates are with Sharon Van Etten, who also opens for The National at one of their Beacon Theater shows (12/13) (tickets). She's not scheduled to play at their MHOW show (no one else is either). She has her own headlining NYC shows at MHOW on February 24 and Bowery Ballroom on February 25. Both of her shows are with Shearwater and tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of The War On Drugs, The National, and Sharon Van Etten, Aaron Dessner of the National interviewed Adam Granduciel of The War On Drugs, and during the interview, they talked a bit about Sharon Van Etten. Eventually it turns into them talking about each other's music and comparing recording techniques. You can read the whole thing at The A.V. Club.

Pitchfork.tv just posted a video of the band performing "Come to the City" in NYC earlier this year and an interview with the band. You can watch that video below with all tour dates...

Continue reading "The War on Drugs add Brooklyn show to 2012 Tour (dates)"

UK music magazine Uncut weighs on this year's best albums. Like Rough Trade, they give Josh T Pearson serious placement. They put Tinariwen, who appeared on The Colbert Report last night (!) with Tunde and Kyp from TV on the Radio, at #18. Check out their whole list and video from Colbert, below...

Continue reading "Uncut's Top 50 Albums of 2011, video of Tinariwen & Kyp & Tunde on the Colbert Report"

Josh T Pearson @ BV-SXSW 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Check out Rough Trade's list of the Top 100 Albums of 2011 (yay Josh T Pearson!), below...

Continue reading "Rough Trade's Top 100 albums of 2011 "

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Still Corners @ Mercury Lounge

Still Corners are coming back from the UK to play some shows with The War on Drugs and Arc in Round in December. That includes the December 11th Bowery Ballroom show. Tickets are still on sale.

Still Corners was last around in October during CMJ when they played a BrooklynVegan day party and the Sub Pop official showcase at Mercury Lounge. Here are some pictures from the latter. More of them with all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Still Corners touring with the War on Drugs --- 2011 tour dates & some more pics from CMJ"

DOWNLOAD: The Antlers - "VCR" (The xx cover) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Korallreven - "Sa Sa Samoa" (ft. Julianna Barwick) (MP3)

The Antlers at Moogfest (more by Diana Wong)

We recently mentioned that Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater are planning a tour together that hits NYC at Music Hall of Williamsburg on February 24 and Bowery Ballroom on February 25. Tickets for both NYC shows are available for AmEx presale now, and general sale starts Friday (11/11) at noon. All dates have also since been announced and are listed below.

After the tour, Sharon will go on a string of dates with The War on Drugs, who open for The National at Beacon Theatre the night before Sharon does. Sharon's new album, Tramp, comes out February 7 via Jagjaguwar.

Sharon's friends and fellow Brooklynites The Antlers are following their release of Burst Apart, which came out earlier this year, with the (together) EP, which features material from the Burst Apart sessions. It includes collaborations with Neon Indian, Bear In Heaven, Nicole Atkins, and a cover of The xx's "VCR," which you can download above. The EP's tracklist is below. The Antlers are currently on a European tour and will return to NYC for a Webster Hall show on December 10 with Suuns. Tickets for that show are still available.

Speaking of The xx, they've recently begun working on a new album and have started a blog, where they've posted the message:

We have started recording our second album! We have also started this blog where we will post our inspirations + pictures + favourite songs. We hope you enjoy it! Lots of Love, The xx

The Walkmen, whose drummer Matt Barrick guests on Sharon's new album, are also working on a new album with producer Phil Ek which will be released next year on Fat Possum/Bella Union.

Julianna Barwick, who is also a guest on Sharon's album, recently released the Matrimony Remixes EP, which features remixes of two of the tracks off of her most recent LP, The Magic Place, which came out earlier this year. The entire EP is available to stream and download for $5 on bandcamp and features remixes by Diplo & Lunice, Helado Negro, Alias Pail, and Prince Rama. Julianna also provided guest vocals to Korallreven's debut LP, which comes out November 15 via Acephale. Her vocals appear on the song "Sa Sa Samoa," which you can download above.

All dates and (together) tracklist below...

Continue reading "new Antlers EP, an xx cover, updated Sharon Van Etten dates, Julianna Barwick & more"

The War On Drugs at Cameo Gallery in August (more by Jessica Amaya)

As discussed, The War on Drugs are moving up in the world. Their last NYC show was at the small Cameo. Their next will happen at the larger Bowery Ballroom on 12/11, one day before they open for The National at Beacon Theatre. Tickets for the Bowery Ballroom show go on sale Friday (9/30) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (9/28) at noon.

UPDATE: Full tour announced.

All (three) dates and a video below...

Continue reading "The War on Drugs add Bowery Ballroom show (updated dates)"

The National at Academy of Music in Philadelphia (more by David Andrako)

Early this morning we wrote:

...the National headed to LA for another great triple bill last night (9/11) at Hollywood Bowl. They played that show with Neko Case and Sharon Van Etten. Their next scheduled gig is November 6th in Singapore. Hopefully more NYC shows get announced soon, but for now they have nothing coming up in North America at all.

Tickets for all of the Beacon Theater shows go on sale on presale on 9/14 at 11AM, with regular sale hitting 48 hours later.

All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "The National announce North American shows, four nights @ Beacon Theater (dates)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

The War on Drugs @ Cameo Gallery

The War on Drugs played two NYC shows this past weekend that took place at Cameo Gallery on Friday (8/19) and Mercury Lounge on Saturday (8/20). The Cameo show was with the impressive lineup of both Caveman and Porcelain Raft, and the Mercury show was with Porcelain Raft and Arc in Round. We've got pictures and videos from the Brooklyn show (Cameo) in this post.

The War on Drugs released the Slave Ambient LP on Secretly Canadian last week (8/16). You can order the album in a number of different formats at the Secretly Canadian webstore. The video for album track "Baby Missiles" is below and a free download of the track is HERE. The band will tour this fall with Purling Hiss and Carter Tanton. No NYC date has been announced for that tour (yet?). It took a few years for The War on Drugs to work out their kinks, but the band has really come into their own now. If Bill is right, we won't be seeing War on Drugs in venues as small as Cameo for much longer. All dates are listed below.

Caveman is continuing to to tour with The War On Drugs for the next few weeks. After that Caveman will play their own Mercury Lounge show (9/15) with JPF.

More pictures and videos from the Cameo show and all dates below...

Continue reading "The War on Drugs, Caveman & Porcelain Raft played Cameo (pics, video & more dates)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Limiñanas - Down Underground (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Gytters - Divebombers (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Wrong Words - Summer's Gone (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Figurines "New Colors" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The War On Drugs - "Baby Missiles" (MP3)

The Limiñanas

Band of the week is most certainly The Limiñanas (mainly because they haven't played here before) who are from France and play Death By Audio tonight (8/17) and Cake Shop tomorrow (8/18).  I'll quote myself (from my Favorite Francophone Albums of 2011 list) again:

Evoking swinging Parisian scene of the mid-'60s (Gainsbourg, Dutronc, Ye-Ye, et al), The Limiñanas dance their way through 12 hits of groovy garage: fuzz leads, killer basslines, combo organ, smoky vocals. Perfect for your next Love-In.

Both shows have their benefits. The Death by Audio also has The Gytters, a newish group fronted by Scott Rosenthal who plays keyboards in Class Actress and has spent time as one of The Beets ever-rotating list of drummers (he also produced their records). The duo make a slightly twangy brand of indie -- check out "Divebombers" at the top of this post. I was impressed when I saw them at Bruar Falls a few weeks ago. Also on the bill are great locals Diehard who are putting the finishing touches on their debut album.

Wrong Words

The Cake Shop show on Thursday, meanwhile, features yet another Trouble in Mind band, San Francisco's The Wrong Words, who have more of a crunchy, late-'70s powerpop vibe to them. (And maybe just a little Thin Lizzy in there too.) Their self-titled debut is a boppin' good time -- you can download a track from it at the top of this post. If you can't make this one, The Wrong Words also play Bruar Fall on Saturday (8/20). Locals The Judy Blooms open the show.

The Wave Pictures

The Wave Pictures are visiting from the UK, their first time here since playing Sunday night of the 2010 Northside Festival. Dates have changed a bit since wefirst announced them. The band are now playing three shows in NYC: tonight (8/17) at Mercury Lounge, tomorrow (8/18) at Public Assembly and then next Thursday (8/25) at The Rock Shop. We at BrooklynVegan are big Wave Pictures fans, which I think most people who see them become. Here's what I wrote when they played our Pre-SXSW show in 2010:

Next up were the Wave Pictures who I'm pretty sure charmed everyone in the room. Singer David Tattersal, in addition to being a hell of a songwriter and pretty fierce guitarist, is a very funny guy. His between-song stories were just as entertaining and the music. At one point he accidentally unplugged his guitar mid-solo, but he hilariously covered the gaff made for one of the more memorable moments of the evening.

Emmy the Great

Speaking of artists that pretty much the entire BV staff loves, Emmy the Great is also here, playing the Studio @ Webster Hall on Thursday  (8/18). She's an extremely charming songwriter and performer (and person in general) who can find humor in even the bleakest of situations without cheapening the emotions. Case in point her new album Virtue which deals with some major heartbreak. (She can also be just straight-up funny too.) And like The Wave Pictures, she's much better experienced in person than on record (though the new record is quite good).

I'm not sure if she's here solo or with her band or maybe just collaborator Euan Hinshelwood who has accompanied her before. He's got his own band, Younghusband, whose new single on Too Pure is teriffic (and nothing like Emmy's music).

Figurines

Now we move to Denmark. Figurines were supposed to be here in June but the dates got pushed back to this week. They play tonight (8/17) at Knitting Factory and then an early show tomorrow (8/18) at Mercury Lounge.

The band's fourth album, which came out in Denmark last year, just got a belated but welcome American release. For those who found 2007's The Deer Wore Blue a bit wilfully obscure, the new self-titled album marks a return to the hook-filled indie rock of their 2005's Skeleton. You can download "New Colors" at the top of this post.

I haven't seen Figurines play since CMJ 2006 when they opened for Girl Talk. I thought they were fantastic then, I mix of various '90s influences (Built to Spill, The 3D's, Unrest) but processed through that eccentric Denmark filter than makes everything just a little off kilter. The one thing I really remember about that show was how tight they were. Figurines can really play.

The New Lines

And finally I'd like to highlight a local band I like a lot, The New Lines who play this Thursday (8/18) at Bar4 in Park Slope. Steeped in late '60s/early '70s baroque psychedelia and soundtrack music, it's all groovy rhythms and basslines, icy harmonies, analogue keyboards and vibrato. The band just released a split 7" with Still Corners which is a perfect match. You can download a couple songs for free via a Bandcamp widget at the bottom of this post.

I just love this kind of stuff  -- I made a whole mix of it last week over at Sound Bites -- and The New Lines do it very, very well. No idea what they're like live, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

This is a really good week for music. Do go see some. In addition to the above highlights, there are even more shows I recommend which are listed below on a day-by-day basis.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17

While I'm seeing The Limiñanas, I think the rest of the BV staff will be going to Chelsea Wolfe, Cult of Youth, and Planning For Burial at St. Vitus Bar. I am the black sheep.

continued below...

Continue reading "Limiñanas, Wrong Words, Emmy the Great, Figurines, New Lines, War on Drugs, Gytters & more in This Week In Indie"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Brooklyn Denim Co. and Nudie Jeans are presenting a free show on Wednesday (7/27) at Brooklyn Denim Co. in Williamsburg on 85 North 3rd St with Oberhofer and Porcelain Raft. The show runs from 7 - 10 PM, open bar included (presumably making the show 21+). To RSVP email rsvp@deathandtaxesmag.com. Flier below.

In August, Porcelain Raft is opening a bunch of dates for The War On Drugs, including Cameo on 8/19 and Mercury Lounge on 8/20. All dates are listed below.

Oberhofer recently played the 4Knots Fest at South Street Seaport. A second set of pictures from that show is in this post. More of them with the dates and flier, below..

Continue reading "more Oberhofer 4Knots pics, a free show w/ Porcelain Raft who's playing shows w/ The War On Drugs too (dates)"

today in NYC
* Whiplash @ UCB
* John Mulaney @ UCB
* Spanglish Fly @ Barbes
* Padraig Rynne @ Barbes
* Mary Mary @ Wingate Field
* Aaron Neville @ City Winery
* I Am The Avalanche @ Saint Vitus
* The Black Angels @ Mercury Lounge
* Zomby, Nguzunguzu @ Angel Orensanz
* Darkstar, Phaseone @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen @ Littlefield
* K Holes, Alps, Hunters, Zulus @ Death By Audio
* Mother Mother, The Kickdrums @ Knitting Factory
* Karl Berger's Stone Workshop Orchestra @ The Stone
* William Elliott Whitmore, Joe Morson @ Bowery Electric
* The So So Glos, American Darlings @ Rocks Off Concert Cruise
* Cibo Matto, The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger @ Bowery Ballroom
* Levon Helm, Emmylou Harris, Hayes Carll @ Central Park Summerstage
* Metalux, Fat Worm of Error, Cellular Chaos @ Monster Island Basement
* Leaf Pile, Nicholas Megalis, Midland Uprising, Rock Janssen, Yeon Jee, Snuggle Bitch, Brian Yost, Jeff Gill @ The Delancey

Tonight you can watch a free movie on the beach in Coney Island.

Cibo Matto's reunion tour brings them to a sold out Bowery Ballroom tonight. That's them in the picture above.

We're giving away tickets to see Darkstar tonight on Facebook.

We're giving away tickets to a private Zomby show tonight.

We're giving away tickets see Levon Helm and Emmylou Harris tonight at Summerstage, on Facebook.

The War on Drugs' new video for "Baby Missiles" below....

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

DOWNLOAD: The War On Drugs - "Baby Missiles" (MP3)

The War On Drugs at Webster Hall in April (more by Amanda Hatfield)

The War On Drugs are releasing Slave Ambient on August 17 via Secretly Canadian. In support of the new album, the band is going on a North American tour with Caveman. The tour hits NYC on August 19 at Cameo Gallery (tickets) and August 20 at Mercury Lounge (tickets), though note that the Mercury show is the only date on the tour where Caveman is not currently listed as an opener (nobody else is either).

Caveman are also supposedly playing the Northside Festival, and play a Rocks Off Cruise on June 25 with Hollis Brown. Tickets are on sale for the boat show.

All tour dates, War on Drugs album artwork and tracklist below...

Continue reading "The War on Drugs announce new LP, tour w/ Caveman (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Bill Pearis

Destroyer's new album, Kaputt, is Dan Bejar's grandest musical statement to date, resplendent with horns and bubbling sequencers, bringing to mind Roxy Music, The Blue Nile and even Steely Dan. In order to replicate Kaputt's lush sound, Bejar put together the "Destroyer Orchestra," an eight member band more than up to the task, as heard last night (4/3) at Webster Hall.

Much credit for this should be given to saxophonist/flautist Joseph Shabason and, in particular, trumpet player J.P. Carter who is like the Kevin Shields of trumpet players. Carter ran his instrument through a couple delay/loop pedals, making it sound epic and weird and amazing. It mixed with the sax and lead guitar to form this sonic swarm that hovered around the songs all night. It was rather magical, so much so that Bejar spent much of the time not singing crouched down, swigging his drink and quietly digging this world of sound he helped orchestrate.

The rest of the band brought the laid back groove, so prevalent on Kaputt of which we got all but two songs (No "Savage Night at the Opera" or "Poor in Love.") "Suicide Demo for Kara Walker" and Kaputt's title track were especially good. The expanded line-up also elevated older songs in the set like "Painter in Your Pocket" that was transformed into a lost Al Stewart single from 1978. (Dan Bejar has always kinda been the indie Al Stewart.) The only thing missing was Sibel Thrasher, whose vocals are such a big part of Kaputt. Keyboardist Larrisa Loyva sang her parts ably, but lacked Thrasher's gravitas and soul.

The night's showstopper came with the encore -- the nearly 15 minute "Bay of Pigs" which was released as a single in 2009 and closes the album. Bejar needed a lyrics sheet, but much of the crowd didn't. A group of girls next to me shouted out the lyrics with the kind of enthusiasm you half expect the taciturn Bejar to display. I'm pretty sure it was that group of girls who launched a pair of undies onto the stage. Bejar smiled, and gave them to the saxophonist who proceeded to throw them back into the crowd. He's just not that kind of frontman.

The War on Drugs opened, but I missed them entirely. We have pictures of them though, More pictures from the whole night, Destroyer's setlist and video of "Painter in Your Pocket", below....

Continue reading " Destroyer played Webster Hall w/ War on Drugs (pics, setlist)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Nightlands - Suzerain (A Letter to the Judge) (MP3)

A solid local bill at Glasslands Thursday tonight (1/20), with Secretly Canadian artist Nightlands headlining. Nightlands is a new project from Dave Hartley of The War On Drugs, and this will be the project's first live show ever. The rest of the lineup is great too: dreamy poppers Tony Castles, former Ponytail man Dustin Wong and art punks Regal Degal.

Secretly Canadian released the Nightlands album, entitled, Forget the Mantra, in November. Check out the gorgeous choral arrangements on "Suzerian" at the top of this post, and check out the video premiere of "All the Way", which is the A-side of a soon-to-be-released 7-inch that will be available at shows, below...

Continue reading "Nightlands making their live debut @ Glasslands (grab an MP3 & check out their brand new video)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

Though I only caught Sharon Van Etten due to dinner plans that went longer than expected (everyone was raving about opener The War on Drugs though), I can say that Saturday night's show at Bowery Ballroom was an amazing and extremely emotional one. I knew it would be a special show. Headlining, not to mention selling out, the approx-600-capacity Bowery Ballroom is a milestone in an artist's career. It means even more when it happens to a beloved, local and talented artist who has worked her way up and truly deserves it. I didn't want to miss it.

The moment was not lost on Sharon either. In the most sincerest of ways, Sharon fought back crying (the crowd didn't always have as much luck) and often addressed her family, who not only seemed to be taking up one side of the entire balcony (with her parents in front), but were also peppered throughout the front of the crowd (most notably her cousin who made her voice heard more than one). Sharon often spoke to and thanked the entire crowd, and she played songs - new songs, very old rare and solo songs, and the 'hits' off her 2010 Badabing release 'Epic.'

If you've seen her lately, you know about the full band she now plays with (she mentioned that it was the band's first time playing Bowery Ballroom) (she has opened for other people there). The band, complete with a new keyboard player and the similarly-hair-styled Cat Martino on backing vocals, really round out her sound in a grand way. Megafaun's Brad Cook also played on some songs, and the Antlers' Peter Silberman sang one with her as the rest of the Antlers watched from the audience (she sang with the Antlers when she opened for them on the same stage, and she mentioned that Megafaun was the first band to ever back her on her transition from solo artist to full band).

But don't take my word for it... listen to/relive the whold show courtesy of NYC Taper's recording that you can download now.

The show closed with the most perfect cover of R.E.M.'s "Strange Currencies". Video of that, with more pictures from the whole show, and her (and opener Sebastian Blank's) setlist, and an updated set of Sharon's tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Sharon Van Etten headlined Bowery Ballroom (pics, video, live recording, setlist), touring through April (dates)"

Somebody gon' get pregnant

As previously discussed, Destroyer has a new album called Kaputt, and is going on tour with The War on Drugs who we now know are definitely opening the April 3rd show at Webster Hall, and all dates on the now fully-announced tour. Tickets for the NYC show are currently on AMEX presale and go on regular sale at noon on Friday (1/7). All dates are below.

And in case you missed it, Bejar's New Pornographers bandmate Neko Case has a few shows coming up too, including a free one at the Union Square Barnes & Noble with Michael Showalter on 2/24.

And along with the Destroyer tour announcement came a new video for the the title track of the new Destroyer LP. You can watch that, and check out all the tour dates, below...

Continue reading "updated Destroyer tour dates & a new video"

by BBG

New Pornographer... thats kinda metal right? Destroyer vs Destroyer 666

With New Pornographer Dan Bejar's ninth Destroyer LP Kaputt due at the end of this month, he has announced a show at Webster Hall on April 3rd as part of what looks like a North American tour with The War on Drugs. Tickets go on AMEX presale Wednesday (1/5) at noon and go on regular sale at noon on Friday (1/7). The War on Drugs have not been confirmed for Webster Hall, but we'll let you know if that changes.

Meanwhile catch The War on Drugs when they open for Sharon Van Etten at Bowery Ballroom this Saturday night.

Destroyer is NOT confirmed for Maryland Death Fest, nor is he going on tour with Destruction. That's Destroyer 666, and as previously discussed, Destruction and Destroyer 666 will play B B King's on May 11th. Tickets also go on sale Wednesday (1/5) at noon.

All known Destroyer and Destroyer 666 dates, as well as some video illustrating their similarities/differences, are below.

Continue reading "Destroyer vs Destroyer 666 (tour dates, War on Drugs & stuff) "