The Young at Bar 96 for the BV official SXSW showcase (more by Tim Griffin)

The Young will kick-off a round of dates in late May with a few shows in their native Texas including Chaos in Tejas. They leave the Lone Star state on a North American tour later in June. The dates include the NYC-area in triplicate, kicking off with Mercury Lounge on 6/27 (with Purling Hiss), continuing to Maxwell's on 6/28 (with Purling Hiss) and ending at 285 Kent on 6/29. Tickets for Maxwells are on sale, while tickets for Mercury Lounge go on sale at noon on 5/2 and regular sale on Friday.

The shows are two of three in the area for Purling Hiss, who will also be on hand to support Blues Control at 285 Kent on 6/23 before heading out to snag dates with The Young. That June 23rd show will also feature appearances from Tonstartssbandht, Jordan Redaelli of Coconuts and DJ appearances from Brian Turner of WFMU and Paul Major of Endless Boogie. $10 gets you into this all-ages 8PM show. Purling Hiss is also heading out on the road with Wilco starting next week (but won't play with them in Prospect Park).

All Purling Hiss and The Young dates are below, along with a stream of The Young's recent 7", "Don't Hustle For Love" & "Why Feel Spooky?". Look for their forthcoming LP Dub Egg next week and preorder your copy at Matador.

Continue reading "The Young touring with Purling Hiss (who also have shows w/ Wilco & Blues Control) -- dates"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

"Fun times at @brooklynvegan show last night. Shout out to @titus_ndronicus 4 saving the day. Best thin lizzy cover since Ted Leo." - Caged Animals

"Shouts out to Caged Animals from Hawthorne, NJ #973" - Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus @ Bar 96

One night after our Daniel Johnston show at the Belmont, and after a full day of bands on three stages at "Hotel Vegan", we hosted our 2nd official showcase of SXSW 2012, on Wednesday night (March 14). The venue was Bar 96 on Austin's Rainey St., and the lineup loooked like this:

8pm: Caged Animals
9pm: 2:54
10pm: The Young
11pm: Screaming Females
12am: Andrew W.K. (full band)
1am: Titus Andronicus

NJ/Brooklyn's Caged Animals were great and had a decent crowd for being a relatively unknown band playing as doors opened to the six hour, mostly-badges-only show. Bill Pearis, who got to Austin right before this gig, wrote:

"You can sit for the first two songs, but then lets get up and dance" said Vincent Cacchione of Caged Animals who opened the set. He played affable host, running into the crowd and dancing (and hugging people). Nice mellow start to my week.

2:54, who had just come from being in NYC, followed, and clearly the recently signed to Fat Possum band has some serious buzz behind them because the room, which was actually an outdoor, astro-turfed backyard under a tent, filled up nicely for them. Many in the crowd could be heard talking in English accents. 2:54 call London home. Bill wrote:

After that it was 2:54 who have gotten exponentially better than when I saw them at Pianos last year, a much more confident band. I am a sucker for their dark, moody, shoegazy sound. Good set, though it was cut short a song by equipment problems.

2:54's 2011 Pianos show was, completely coinedentally, also with Caged Animals which I forgot until I looked up the link as I was writing this post.

Then Bill left to go catch some other bands, and Austin's Matador-signed The Young, who also played Hotel Vegan the next day, took the stage. Bill was definitely not alone in leaving after 2:54's set, though many were hanging around in the various nooks and crannies of this spacious venue that includes good food, and tables wrapped around an entire house-turned-into-a-bar, adjacent to the backyard stage area.

Screaming Females @ Bar 96

That said, by the end of Screaming Females, the stage area was at capacity. The NJ 3-piece band led by pint-sized powerhouse Marissa Paternoster on guitar and vocals had the place rocking out and going nuts. The talent those three posess is truly mind-blowing, especially with a few Lone Stars in your system. I am positive that every single person at Bar 96 Wednesday night, if they weren't already, left a Screaming Females fan.

Andrew W.W. @ Bar 96

Andrew W.K., complete with full band and Cherie Lily, took to the stage with chants of "It's Time to Party."

"He opened with "It's Time To Party," because it was time to party. He closed things out with a song that was also about partying. In the middle he urged us to party, and Cherie Lily, acting as the Fergie of the ensemble, handed out fist bumps. Sh*t, how do you even review an Andrew W.K. set? "He came out and was Andrew W.K. He continued to be Andrew W.K. until he left."" [UpRoxx]

Mosh pits, fist pumps, and stage diving ensued for the 30+ minutes of Andrew's set. I could see Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles watching from the crowd, and I felt bad that he needed to follow that act, not to mention Screaming Females. It was only after the show that I noticed he was thinking the same thing, and I think he said something similar from stage, including a bit about feeling that way every night on tour with the Scremales (at this point I was completely wiped out from going for so long with almost no sleep and knowing I needed ot do it again the next morning).

Luckily for Titus, not only was there still a big crowd for their post-AWK, 1am set, they opened with a rousing cover of "The Boys are Back in Town" that got people going again. It was an awesome night.

Here are some pictures and a video of the mayhem during AWK. More below...

Continue reading "Andrew WK, Titus Andronicus, Screaming Females, 2:54, The Young & Caged Animals @ Bar 96 (BV SXSW pics & video)"

the flyer (with most of the bands playing on it)

BrooklynVegan is proud to team up with M for Montreal again for a FREE Day Party in Austin on Thursday, March 15th from noon-7pm at Hotel Vegan (one of BrooklynVegan's FOUR DAYS in the venue located at 1500 E. 6th St.).

I'll let this full three-stage lineup speak for itself...

Stage 1 (Hotel Vegas Outside)
12:00 Of Monsters & Men
12:45 Glen Hansard (of Swell Season & the Frames)
1:30 We Are Serenades (formerly Serenades, mem. Shout Out Louds)
2:15 Hospitality
3:00 Korallreven (mem. of the Radio Dept)
3:45 Fanfarlo
4:30 The Drums
5:15 The Wedding Present
6:15 This Will Destroy You

Stage 2 (Hotel Vegas Inside)
12:00 Half Moon Run
12:45 Thus:Owls
1:30 Cold Specks
2:15 Cymbals Eat Guitars
3:00 The Velvet Teen
3:45 Yellow Ostrich
4:30 The Jealous Sound
5:15 Parlovr

Stage 3 (Volstead) (BV Austin stage)
12:15 Love Inks
1:00 Feathers
1:45 Gashcat
2:30 Ringo Deathstarr
3:15 Silent Diane
4:00 The Young
5:00 Ume

That's all Austin bands on the BV Austin stage. It's going to a very great day

In addition to the completely free lineup of 24 bands playing on THREE stages, we will also have complimentary drinks courtesy of HobNob Wines, the official wine parter of our entire week of FREE PARTIES at Hotel Vegan (check out HobNob's Facebook page for free music downloads), and a hosted bar courtesy of Sailor Jerry

We will also have FREE VEGAN TREATS courtesy of NadaMoo! and FREE Honest Tea. AND Supercuts will have a team of stylists on-site the entire day providing FREE haircuts and styling!

Special thanks to all of our partners and sponsors for making this party possible - including Vox, Blackstar and Korg, our official backline partners, as well as ASCAP, HobNob Wines, NadaMoo!, Sailor Jerry and M for Montreal! And special thanks to GBH Design for making our awesome flyer!

--

This is the first full day at Hotel Vegan announced. 2/3 of the Wednesday lineup is HERE. Friday and Saturday coming shortly.

We also have THREE official showcases (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday), and a Saturday metal day party at Lovejoys,

DOWNLOAD: The Young - "Livin' Free" (MP3)

Screaming Females at Generation Records (more by Andrew St. Clair)

This March, Screaming Females, Titus Andronicus, and Diarrhea Planet are heading out on the 'Screaming on Planet Titus' tour which kicks off at The Stone Pony on March 4 in Asbury Park, NJ and ends with a Houston show on 3/12 before Screaming Females and Titus play SXSW. Tickets for the Asbury Park show are on sale now. All dates are listed below.

That Asbury Park show is the closest that the tour comes to NYC, but Screaming Females will play two more area shows in April as part of a longer, headlining tour. Those shows include Maxwell's on April 5 in Hoboken, NJ and The Bell House on April 6 in Brooklyn with Aye Nako, and Swearin'. Tickets for the Maxwell's show and the Bell House show are on sale now. Screaming Females also have a new video for "It All Means Nothing," the single off their great upcoming album, Ugly (due out April 3 via Don Giovanni). Check that video out below.

You can also catch Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles in NYC TONIGHT (2/29) at Shea Stadium with Alex Drewchin and Clapperclaw. The show is billed as "An Evening with Patrick Stickles: Songs, Stories & Spiels - An Affirmation of Manic Depression in all its Transcendent Glory."

Titus also have a new single out, and currently the only place to hear it is on Tom Scharpling's WFMU show at the 2:37:00 mark.

Both Screaming Females and Titus Andronicus will be playing the official BrooklynVegan SXSW showcase which happens on March 14 at Bar 96 in Austin. Our official showcase also includes Caged Animals, 2:54, The Young, and one more artist TBA (due to a cancellation).

Both 2:54 and The Young have (relatively) new MP3s. Stream those both below, and grab The Young's above.

Speaking of Diarrhea Planet, they've also got an upcoming NYC show in March at the Aputumpu Music Festival at Le Poisson Rouge on March 25 with Japanther, Cerebral Ballzy, Ghost Mice, Osekre and the Lucky Bastards, Liquor Store, and Eula. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

All dates, video, streams, and the flier for tonight's show below...

Continue reading "Titus Andronicus reveal new song, touring from NJ to SXSW w/ Screaming Females (who added NYC dates too); Patrick Stickles is at Shea TONIGHT (and stuff)"

DOWNLOAD: Kurt Vile - "The Creatures" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Young - "Bird in the Bush" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Young - "Sweet" (MP3)

photos by Tamara Porras, words by Klaus Kinski

Kurt Vile @ Webster Hall

Last Friday was a pretty important day on three fronts. First and foremost, it was Veteran's Day. I won't bother going into one of my usual tangents and pontificate on the importance of honoring America's servicemen and servicewomen past, present, and future and how they have the scariest fucking job on the planet. Nope. Not gonna do it. Instead, I will jump to the second "important" aspect of last Friday. I put important in quotes because the element I speak of is actually not very important at all. In fact, it's quite trivial and lame and I pity the infantile adult mind who actually expended any energy in reveling in the fact that last Friday was 11/11/11. "OMG ALL THE NUMBERS OF THE DATE ARE THE SAME TODAY EVEN THOUGH THE FIRST TWO NUMBERS OF THE YEAR ARE ACTUALLY 2 AND 0 droollllllll." Yawn.

More importantly, Friday November 11th was important on a third front; it was the day that I finally got to see the great Kurt Vile and the Violators at Webster Hall. I know what you're saying; "But Klaus, you idiot! Kurt's played NYC like A THOUSAND TIMES! Kill yourself already!" And you're right, he has. And I am. And I won't... You see, Kurt is one of those dudes I have literally been unable to see for one reason or another any time he's played NYC. And I don't mean "literally" in the completely non-literal sense people use that word nowadays; i.e. "That joke was so funny I literally shit my pants" or "Yo momma's so fat when she fell into the Grand Canyon she literally got stuck". I mean I have literally been unable to see him. Ever.

Apparently the show wasn't sold out but the place seemed totally packed. And I am pretty sure Webster Hall broke the world record for having the most fog and hair in one place at one time that night. Holy smoke ring for my halo, Batman. Upon entering, I was handed a free commemorative Kurt Vile 11/11/11 45 RPM record which I will never play because I don't have a record player, but which I thought was a super cool thing to give out. I entered the live room about 5 minutes before Kurt went on so I missed the openers. How were they? Kurt and the Violators were absolutely incredible. They played about 16 songs, including one encore, and the crowd was just eating it up.

In the early part of the show, highlights included "Jesus Fever," "Runner Ups," and "Ghost Town." Kurt kicked it up a notch around the halfway mark with a pounding rendition of "Freak Train," which kicked off a fantastic second-half. After solo performances of "Pepping Tomboy" and "My Best Friends," The Violators closed out the main set with two more Halo songs "Puppet to the Man" and "Society is My Friend." After a brief encore break, Vile came out with drummer Mike Zanghi for a beautiful performance of "Baby's Arms." The full band then closed out a great 90-minute set with two songs from the So Outta Reach EP, "Laughing Stock" and a cover of Springsteen's "Downbound Train." -[The Swollen Fox @ the Philly show]

Kurt has a very monotone voice that doesn't divert very far from its point A, but when you add it to such massive, and plodding melodies the experience is intense. The room was super dark and, as I mentioned, very foggy, with very little in terms of stage design and lighting. It made for a very dark and profound experience. I have a very limited musical scope these days, but Kurt and his Violators really hit me in a way that very few bands do. It has all these elements of grunge, 70s rock, jamminess, hairiness, moodiness, and darkness and they're all blended together and served as one unbelievable and unique musical experience. Fuck yes I will try to see him literally every time he hits NYC.

--

The NYC show fell the day befre Philly and three days before the release of Kurt's new So Outta Reach EP.

Support at Webster Hall came from from Widowspeak and The Young who also played Maxwell's with the Sonics the next day. Pictures from Webster Hall adorn this post.

If you missed Widowspeak (like Klaus did!), make sure to catch them at the BrooklynVegan Holiday Party on 12/17 at Bowery Ballroom with Twin Sister and Ava Luna. Tickets are on sale, and for a paltry $8! (stay tuned for more details).

More pictures from Webster Hall and Kurt Vile's setlist, below...

Continue reading "Kurt Vile played Webster Hall w/ Widowspeak & The Young (pics & setlist)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

The Sonics @ Maxwell's

"When I heard that The Sonics, already in the New York City area this weekend to play Norton Records' 25th anniversary festival at Bell House, added an afternoon show at Maxwell's, I decided to buy a ticket. After all, I'd missed their previous East Coast appearance at the Cavestomp festival in Brooklyn several years earlier and since they're not playing here in Philadelphia, this seemed like a no-brainer.

Thankfully, this performance more than justified the $30 ticket price. The Sonics were in excellent form with keyboardist/lead vocalist Gerry Roslie (unfortunately obscured by the monitor on the right-hand side of the stage, so it was difficult to see him from where I was standing) trading off vocals with bassist Freddie Dennis (who sounded like a rawer John Fogerty!) and guitarist Larry Papyra firing off riffs with saxophonist Rob Lind in fine form as well. Roslie, in particular, was a revelation, since at almost 70 he still has the golden throat, a white, suburban Little Richard-like howl!

As for the setlist, the hour-long show featured basically all the classics from their '60s albums Here are the Sonics (the crown jewel in their catalog and one of the best '60s garage-rock albums ever), the terrific follow-up Boom and even a few from the much-maligned but still pretty good_Introducing the Sonics_. In other words, we got "Dirty Robber," "Boss Hoss," "Have Love Will Travel," "Cinderella," "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," "Louie Louie," "Keep A-Knockin'" and of course their best-known songs "Psycho," "Strychnine" and penultimate, pre-"encore" (the band never left the stage) classic "The Witch", their still-incredible first single from 1965..." [Matthew Berlyant @ The Big Takeover]

The Sonics headlined the final night of the Norton Records part at the Bell House (that started on Thursday) late last night (11/13). Here are the pictures from their Saturday afternoon show at Maxwell's, with the now-signed-to-Matador The Young. They continue below...

Continue reading "The Sonics played Maxwell's w/ The Young (pics, setlist)"

by BBG, Bill Pearis & friends

DOWNLOAD: The Young - Bird in the Bush (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Young - Sweet (MP3)

Austin reverb-drenched, garage punk four-piece The Young are in town this weekend and have managed to get themselves opening slots on some notable bills: Tonight (11/11) they open for Kurt Vile and Widowspeak at Webster Hall (tickets still on sale); then tomorrow afternoon (11/12, 3PM) they play with Pacific Northwest punk legends The Sonics at Maxwells (sold out); and then again Saturday night they're at Union Pool with Endless Boogie AND Call of The Wild (ex-Awesome Color). They also play Philadelphia on Sunday (10/13). All dates are at the bottom of this post.

The band has a single and an album on Mexican Summer under their belt and have recently signed with Matador Records. You can check out a couple MP3s above from their Mexican Summer output which have more than a whiff of sneery, late '70s power pop/new wave/punk to them. Their Matador debut is due out early 2012.

All tour dates, the tour flyer, a live video and another song too, below...

Continue reading "The Young are here, signed to Matador, playing four shows (with Kurt Vile, The Sonics, Endless Boogie)"

photos by Tim Griffin & BBG, words by BBG

Autopsy

An uber-late Thursday night with Tragedy and Origin of M ruined me for Friday day shows (and daylight, for that matter), but I was not going to miss one of my favorite two-pieces, Iron Lung at Emo's outdoors on the 2nd day of Chaos in Tejas 2011 (June 3rd). The band was third on the bill that hot and sticky night. They played after Hatred Surge and Cider, and were followed by an amazing lineup of fast/brutal featuring Innumerable Forms, Extortion, Citizens Arrest, and the piece de resistance, a headlining set from none other than Autopsy. The show was a stark contrast to what was happeing on the inside state: Lower Dens, Milk Music, The Young, and Unholy Two. Allo Darlin' were supposed to play too, but they cancelled (their NYC shows seem to still be happenning though).

My "day" started with a mix of witty banter and powerviolence brutality from Iron Lung, the first of what would be several pits of the evening. The duo are bulldozer-strength despite their numbers, and incited stage dives & pits despite the early hour. After a set from the dependably great Innumerable Forms (though we need some new mat'l gentlemen!), which featured Justin of Mind Eraser backed by Mammoth Grinder, Extortion took the stage to play a fastball of a set to a highly responsive (and stagedive-y) crowd. The band's clean tone fast-core was great, and the band delivered a more powerful set than at Maryland Deathfest... possibly due to the lack of barrier?

Citizens Arrest followed Extortion. It was the NYC hardcore greats' last set in the foreseeable future, and the fans at Chaos in Tejas were definitely more receptive than the MDF bunch (also, barrier?). The show resembled the band's showing at Knitting Factory in December with plenty of stage dives, dancing, and general mayhem. Many of the dancing few were from band's themselves, so it was awesome to see members of great bands going apeshit just like the rest of us. Awesome set.

Citizens Arrest

Autopsy headlined the evening, sitting comfortably in the middle ground between wide-eyed maniac and perfectly executed death metal veterans. The band played material from their latest Macabre Eternal, as well as earlier material during their hour+ set. From the moment that the band's intro music came on, the crowd was pressed up against each other in the front rows, with the audience swaying from side to side and front to back in the humidity. It was hot, but not hot enough for me to take my eyes off of Autopsy. Awesome set.

During Autopsy I poked my head into the Emo's indoor room where a sparsely populated crowd were enjoying Lower Dens (catch them on tour with Cass McCombs). I enjoyed the air-conditioning.

Chaos in Tejas Day One pictures are HERE and HERE. Our first set from Day Two (all from Emo's) continue below...

Continue reading "Chaos in Tejas 2011 in pics & review (part 3)"