Remember Death By Audio's 12-hour benefit on July 25th for something called You Are Here: A Maze?

Sam Hillmer & Laura Paris, who dubbed their art collaboration Trouble, had the first You Are Here festival in 2007, at 44th street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. Paris drew out the floor-plan of the maze, while Hillmer, who plays tenor saxophone for the Zs, booked bands to play in the space and coordinated efforts to bring people inside to interact with the maze.

"It didn't seem like the kind of thing that could just sit in a gallery, it needs constant traffic," Hillmer explained. "That is the piece, people dealing with the situation [presented by the maze]."

This year's festival, scheduled for Spetember 10th through October 2nd, will take up the entire space of Death by Audio and feature a maze constructed out of salvaged doors from Built It Green, a nonprofit organization that sells surplus building materials. The space will also have woodchip-covered floors ("to reference mazes built out of bushes," Hillmer notes). The twists and turns of the venue will be littered by some 200 of Paris' sculptures, molded from some of her pieces and then cast repeatedly. [Greenpoint Gazette]

The preliminary lineup (aka almost a month's worth of shows at the venue while the maze is up) mixes interesting out of town names (Calvin Johnson, Ty Segal, The Coathangers) with local acts like Skeletons (as 'Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities'), Mick Barr (he is local right?), Extra life and Stars Like Fleas. Full lineup to be announced soon but more of it is below, along with video footage of the first Maze (starring Dave Longstreth, Thee Oh Sees and others), and other details and the flyer for the new Maze...

Continue reading "Death by Audio maze installation running Sept 10-Oct 2 (Skeletons, Mick Barr, Calvin Johnson, Extra Life, Ty Segall)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Invisible Forces (MP3)

The Fresh & Onlys @ Woodsist Fest (more by Tim Griffin)

When The Fresh & Onlys return to New York in October with Thee Oh Sees, their second album of 2009, Grey-Eyed Girls, will be, um, fresh on people's minds -- it's out September 15 on Woodsist. The first track from that album has been just released, "Invisible Forces," and you can download it above. It's dark and gothy in an early Bunnymen kind of way, and was, for me, the highlight of their Woodsist Captured Tracks Festival performance.

When I interviewed bassist Shayde Sartin back in March, he had this to say about the difference between the Woodist album and their debut which came out on Jon Dwyer's Castle Face Records back in the Spring:

The album differs quite a bit from the one on Castle Face in that it's a much moodier record with more of a focus on concise pop songs. It's 12 songs in 32 minutes. We had also become a bit more familiar with the way we work and had a system more in place for writing, recording and mixing. There's still a lot of the same muscularity but there's definitely more indulgence in our melodies.

The band are opening for Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks for a few California shows this week before joining The Oh Sees in September (Mercury Lounge and The Bell House), and will tour with Box Elders after that. All Fresh & Onlys tour dates, plus a video of them performing "Invisible Forces" at the Woodsist / Captured Tracks Fest, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Fresh & Onlys - new MP3 & 2009 Tour Dates (w/ Stephen Malkmus, Thee Oh Sees and Box Elders)"

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)

Ty Segall @ Cake Shop (more by Tim Griffin)

After my own greasy foray into a Popeye's a few blocks away, I was ready to see the wunderkind, who is freshly graduated from the University of San Francisco. Once upon a time, Segall was a one man band, but he's expanded his outfit to a three-piece. Clearly the night's headliner at Amnesia, he packed the joint. After sets by openers Snakeflower 2 and the Rantouls, he mostly played familiar songs from his 2008 self-titled release on CastleFace Records. However, he also delivered a few examples of his self-described "sludgier" work on the brand new Lemons (Goner Records).

Sludge or no sludge, Segall's solid work ethic is evident. He's constantly playing gigs at bars like the Knockout, the Hemlock, and the Eagle Tavern -- basically anywhere flannel is the prevailing fashion, alongside those straw fedora hats favored by the fixed-gear crowd. Despite his omnipresence on SF's dive bar scene, he's pretty modest about his dedication to his music. "There are a lot of ways that I am a slacker," he explains over the phone a month after the fateful Amnesia show as he and his band drive to New Orleans. "But if I'm not doing music, I feel like I'm wasting my time." [SF Bay Guardian]

Ty plays a Mercury Lounge show on September 20th with Golden Triangle and tourmates and fellow SF band The Mantels. Tickets for that go on sale Saturday, July 25th at noon. Ty Segall then goes to New Jersey for a September 21st show at Maxwell's. The Mantels opens that too, with Digital Leather. Tickets are on sale now.

Ty will be one of the acts at Goner Fest 6, put on by Goner Records September 24th-26th in Memphis, TN. Other acts include a reformed version of Jay Reatard's first band The Reatards, Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh & Onlys, Magic Kids (who are in NYC this weekend), Box Elders, The Intelligence, Nobunny, Cheater Slicks and just about every other vital band you could vaguely lump in with the current "garage" scene (No Sic Alps, though). Tickets for day one, two and three of the fest are on sale now (though three-day 'Golden Passes' seem to be either sold out or hard to find).

More info on that festival, with all Ty Segall dates and a couple videos, below...

Continue reading "Ty Segall tour dates (3 NYC shows) + 2009 Goner Fest lineup "

photos by Chris La Putt

Thee Oh Sees

"Largely unfamiliar with the bands on the roster, my husband and I went to Coney Island on Saturday to see Built to Spill headlining on the main stage of the annual Siren Music Festival. Normally, I love free shows. I like the freedom to walk away from a disappointing or uninteresting performance-as we did from Monotonix-without feeling guilty. And ticketless shows tend to draw all types, which appeals to the voyeur in me. Neither of us had been to Coney Island before, so it was mildly amusing to see the confluence of century old kitsch and aggressive marketing tactics by softdrink companies. (We tried a sample of something called Vio, "the world's first vibrancy drink," and it tasted vaguely like flourescent lighting and perfume.)

Anticipating the rush toward the stage as Built to Spill began, we found a decent spot where we'd be able to hear the band, if not see their faces. It was as close as we could get without my cheeks grazing across sweaty pectorals while trying to squeeze through. This is the point at any show when the fan in me starts to grin and breathe faster, to feel like I'd rather be right here than anywhere else in the world. To our horror, not only were the people around us talking so loud that we could barely hear the music, they weren't even facing the stage. The crowd was mingling as though at a singles mixer, drink in hand, shouting over the din, completely oblivious to the band on stage.

Now, while I've been known to complain about NYC hipsters at opportune times (like when I'm on the downtown L train), I generally think people are too hard on them. They're pretty benign as far as contrived fashion/music subcultures go. But when they prevent me from hearing and seeing a live performance by one of my favorite bands, simply because they can't stop yakking and flirting for a single minute, I feel, well, displeased.

Next show is hopefully Trail of Dead at All Points East. I'm bringing pepper-spray and my slapping hand." [Home on the Fringe]

Chris's Built to Spill pics are HERE, Raveonettes pics HERE, and the rest below...

Continue reading "the 2009 Siren Music Festival in Coney Island - pics (part 1) "

Katy from Vivian Girls in '08: "We also really liked Dead Moon. They're in that new band, what is it? Pierced Arrows. I haven't seen them yet, but I saw Dead Moon like two years ago and it was awesome."

It also includes a NJ show at Maxwell's on Saturday, October 10th. For that gig, the venue also lists Thee Oh Sees as being on the bill. Tickets are also on sale.

The Maxwell's date is an addition to Thee Oh Sees' two other NYC-area dates on their fall tour. They'll also be at Siren Fest this Saturday, July 18th.

The garage rock experts at WFMU posted a bunch of Pierced Arrows (and classic Dead Moon) tracks around the band's formation last year. The station wrote...

Dead Moon called it quits a little over a year ago, after two decades spent churning out raw garage punk from the wooded plains of Clackamas, Oregon. Not that anybody expected Fred and Toody Cole to stay quiet for long. They've returned, louder than ever, under the name Pierced Arrows. Rounding out the new group is drummer Kelly Halliburton, whose father played in Albatross, one of Fred's pre-Dead Moon projects.

Continue reading "Pierced Arrows - 2009 tour dates (NYC, NJ w/ Thee Oh Sees)"

Thee Oh Sees @ 979 Broadway Backyard (more by Tim Griffin)

San Francisco pals Thee Oh Sees and The Fresh & Onlys, who both made an appearance at the Woodsist/CT Fest on July 4th, are touring this fall. Their tour dates include NYC shows at the Bell House on Friday, October 9th and a Mercury Lounge show the day before on Thursday, October 8th. Tickets to the Mercury Lounge show are now on AmEx presale. General sale starts Friday, July 10th at noon. No Bell House tix yet.

Thee Oh Sees' next NYC appearance will be on Saturday, July 18th when they play as part of the free Siren Festival in Coney Island. To be more exact, they'll be playing on The Stillwell Stage at 3:30 PM. Siren's set times were just announced. Check them out below.

In addition to the July 4th show, Thee Oh Sees also played a July 2nd gig at Glasslands....

John Dwyer...pulled some serious rock moves [July 2nd] during a short and sweaty Oh Sees set: chomped microphones, climbed stacks, cut his knee open, and smashed the fuck out of that lovely green flood light with the headstock of his guitar.

But before all this happened, me and about twenty other people got approached by some circling van cops and told to produce IDs. Never a good sign, right? We all got summonses for "blocking the bike lane" outside Glasslands! I don't know about anyone else, but in my case, unless that bike lane is on the sidewalk thirty feet away from the venue entrance, that's bullshit. Damned quotas... they smelled blood when they saw a congregation gathered on an otherwise empty stretch of Kent and cruised down looking to bust people. They got someone for open container early, but the rest was just crap.

Worst of all, the cops tried to make it sound like it was the people using the bike lane that complained about the crowd, but no one was in the street until the NYPD showed up and started taking peoples' IDs!" [Chief]

Continue reading "2009 Siren Fest set times ++ cops messed w/ people @ Thee Oh Sees Glasslands show ++ Mercury tickets on sale"

photos by Tim Griffin, words by Andrew Frisicano

The Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival's Day One (7/3) was moved inside the Market Hotel. Thankfully, the weather held out for its second, 4th of July lineup, which went off as planned in the grassy, rock-filled lot of 979 Broadway Backyard.

I arrived just as Real Estate was going on, and the New Jersey band nearly stole the show with dreamy rock that seemed to be made for a sunny afternoon. The Beets held down their set with a casualness befitting a park lodge show (kind of what the fest was on a slightly bigger scale). The guys gave new meaning to the word "ramshackle" as things seemed to be toppling over continually onstage.

German Measles played a set before I got there. Bill caught them and said they "aren't actually that bad... But they're also not very good. And that kind of seems to be the point. Shambolic is an understatement, like 'why rehearse when we can just play shows?"

The Great Excape did a set of Jersey-style pop-punk that included their own theme song, several politically-themed tunes (a nice touch) and a cover of "Summertime Blues." Ganglians brought one of the day's only keyboards, and burst with a flurry of reverb and overdrive.

Brilliant Colors started out with straight-ahead noise punk, with a bit of a melody void left by their super-reverbed vocals (maybe a theme of the night) and washed-out guitar. When the bass stepped up its riffs a few songs in, the band immediately sounded twice as catchy. The Fresh and Onlys took that bass-forward momentum and went with it. Their bassist pounded the notes in between and then some. As a result, the group had one of the most complete sounds of the night (with a tambourine and three-part harmonies rounding it out). They dedicated their last song to the member of Tyvek in the hospital (the reason for that band's cancellation). Hopefully their situation turns out better.

Dum Dum Girls had to be one of the night's cleanest sounding groups. The band relied heavily on singer Dee Dee's vocals, which harmonized with drummer Frankie Rose on their songs' many hooks.

The atmospheric rock of Woods definitely got jammier as it progressed. As Bill Pearis pointed out, the group's fourth member, who sat on the floor twiddling effects and singing into a microphone strapped to his face, was a bit strange considering the rest of the guys were dressed proper enough for church. Whatever you have to do to make it sound good I suppose.

Kurt Vile & the Violators roared into the night as the sun finally went down. Vile and Vivian Girls (who, as one commenter pointed out, "played with a great intensity") more than warmed up the crowd for Thee Oh Sees, who capped the night (for some) with an unstoppable set. Frontman John Dwyer was literally foaming at the mouth as a streak of white drool smeared across his face for part of the set. Thee Oh Sees' strange, repetition-laced anthems are amazing for shaking and rattling, as the crowd proved. The band even got talked into playing an encore before sending everyone into the night.

The rest of the pictures from Day Two, with a bunch of videos, below...

Continue reading "Woodsist/CT Fest Day Two in pics & video (Thee Oh Sees, Real Estate, Ganglians, Fresh & Onlys, Woods & more)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Fog Machine (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Love & Kindness (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ganglians - Hair (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bachelorette - Mindwarp (MP3)

It used to be Independence Day weekend was dead in NYC, the city emptying out, leaving only tourists and those unfortunate enough not to have some sort of beach hookup. There was nothing to do but barbeque with fellow left-behinds and see whatever Will Smith movie had just been released. (Actually, I like it when the city is empty.) And the only show would be whatever was at Battery Park on the 4th. Not this year.

The Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival is two days of just about every band on the two label's roster and also manages to be one of the best collections of reverb-lovin' lo-fi/pych/garage bands you're likely to see, including many names you may recognize if you read this column on a regular basis. You can buy a two-day pass for $25 or buy individual $15 tickets for Friday or Saturday.

As both Woodsist and Captured Tracks are Brooklyn labels, a lot of the bands are local and chances are if you're into this kind of music at all you've probably managed to already see some of these bands, probably more than once: Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls, Blank Dogs, The Beets, caUSE co-MOTION, Kurt Vile, and Woods.

The Fresh & Onlys @ SXSW 2009

But there's also a bunch of great West Coast bands who have yet to hit NYC, which is what makes it most exciting for me. First and foremost are San Francisco's Fresh & Onlys who I caught at the Todd P/Woodsist party during SxSW and have become one of my favorite new bands. They play the Saturday (7/4) which is definitely the more essential line-up of the two days. The band features members of Skygreen Leopards and Black Fiction, and have also spent time recently backing up Rodriguez and Ty Segall (though not on the East Coast.)

The band's first album of 2009 came out in April on John Dwyer's Castle Face label, with a sound not that far off from what you might expect from cohorts of The Oh Sees (who headline the Saturday show), though The Fresh & Onlys are definitely more pop and less psychedelic freakout. Their second album of 2009, Grey-Eyed Girls, is out in August and they've also got 7"'s out or out soon on Chuffed, Dirty Knobby, Hozac and Captured Tracks. If you like 13th Floor Elevators, The Chocolate Watchband and other Nuggets era bands, I think you're going to dig them. I interviewed bassist Shayde Sartin a couple months ago on my blog if you'd like to know more.

If you can't make the daytime show, The Fresh & Onlys also play a post midnight show that same day at Market Hotel that also features Babies (members of Woods, Vivian Girls and Bossy) (does anyone know which members?) and Pink Reason, and maybe a solo performance from Crystal Stilts drummer Frankie Rose. And The Fresh & Onlys will be here again in October when they'll be on tour with fellow San Franciscans Thee Oh Sees.

Thee Oh Sees are also playing Siren in July, and playing maybe the best of the Woodsist fest's offshoot shows on Thursday night (7/2) at Glasslands. They're headlining the Glasslands show and Saturday night of the fest, and are definitely worth seeing twice, or even thrice. Also playing Glasslands: Golden Triangle who are working on their debut album for Sub Pop offshoot Hardly Art; The Beets who, the last two times I've seen them, have had Crystal Stilts' JB Townsend filling in on drums for an absent Jacob Warstler; and German Measels which features half of caUSE co-MOTION wearing fake moustaches.

Ganglians

A little earlier at Woodsist Fest on Saturday (3:45 if they keep to the posted schedule) are Sacramento's Ganglians, who just released an EP and an album on Woodsist. Not all that far off from The Fresh & Onlys, Ganglians have equal worship for solid songwriting and trippy arrangements/production. I think both records are worth picking up: the self-titled EP shows off more of their rocking side (which they favored when I saw them at SxSW), like the surfy, Kiwi-esque "Hair" of which there's an MP3 at the top of this post. The album, Monster Head Room, is more acoustic and owes a lot to Brian Wilson. If you can't make the July 4th show, they'll be playing the next night (7/5) at Monster Island basement with Psychedelic Horseshit.

In between Ganglians and Fresh & Onlys on Saturday (4:30PM) are San Francisco's Brilliant Colors, an all-girl trio who play short, scratchy pop with a definitely New Zealand vibe. They also play the late show that night at Market Hotel, and will be on WNYU on July 8.

Dum Dum Girls, who play after the Fresh & Onlys at 6PM, are from L.A. and owe much to the C-86 scene that has been an influence on Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Vivian Girls. Actually, Dum Dum Girls is just one girl, Dee Dee, who may or may not have a band with her when she plays. Dee Dee is also in The Mayfair Set, a collaboration with Blank Dogs (and Captured Tracks domo) Mike Sniper, who will make their live debut (I think) Friday (7/3) at 6:30.

I've got MP3s for most every band playing the Fest over at my blog.

Brilliant Colors

A couple non-Woodsist/Captrax Fest recommendation for the Fourth weekend. New Zealand's Bachelorette is back in town, playing the kickoff show of this year's Seaport Music Festival, opening for Here We Go Magic. I saw Bachelorette at Cake Shop a couple weeks back and was so smitten I bought everything at the merch table. There was a fair amount of laptopping going on, but Annabel Alpers' breathy, fragile voice was definitely live and the three-piece oozed unassuming charm. Bachelorette also play the sold-out Rooftop Films Fourth of July party Saturday night which happens on the roof of the Chelsea Art Museum.

And Thursday (7/2) starts The Feelies' three-night run at Maxwell's. Friday's show (7/3) is sold out but you can still get tickets for Thursday and for Saturday (7/4). Bring comfortable shoes -- they're doing two sets each night. The excitement of their reformation may have faded a bit since this time last year, but their great songs -- and still-awesome guitar interplay -- have not.

Full Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival schedule and other tour dates after the jump...

Continue reading "Ganglians, Fresh & Onlys, Brilliant Colors, Bachelorette, lots of Woodsist bands & more in This Week in Indie "

Thee Oh Sees @ Mercury Lounge (more by Tim Griffin)

San Francisco bands Thee Oh Sees and The Fresh & Onlys are playing the Woodsist/Captured Tracks Fest on July 4th, and many other upcoming shows...

On July 2nd (tomorrow), Thee Oh Sees will play a show at Glasslands with Golden Triangle, The Beets and German Measles. Then, they'll be playing a set at Siren Festival in Coney Island on July 18th.

The Fresh & Onlys are also playing a late show at Market Hotel after Woodsist Fest on July 4th. More details on that below.

Both bands are also playing Goner Fest in Memphis, Tennessee on September 25th. From there they'll tour together until they reach NYC where they'll play two more shows: October 8th at the Mercury Lounge and October 9th at the Bell House. (The same two venues The Oh Sees played in early April on their spring tour.) No ticket info for either of those yet.

Bill has much more on both bands, the Woodsist Fest, and this week's other shows. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Thee Oh Sees + The Fresh & Onlys - 2009 Tour Dates "

DOWNLOAD: Woods - To Clean (MP3)

"...it has been damn near impossible to keep up with [Blank Dog] Mike Sniper's Captured Tracks label, who have hit the ground running with eight releases since the start of the year and many more slated for the near future. Captured Tracks is, to put it plainly, an outlet for Mr. Sniper to release records by bands he loves. In his mind it is "not a boutique label, " and by that he means that the releases are not meant to become instant eBay collectables, and will remain in print as long as there are people buying them. Some will have limited edition versions with alternate artwork or bonuses, but even these editions are easily and widely available. Affordable, available and well made, Captured Tracks is the populist record label. " [Agit Reader]

Continue reading "Woodsist/CT Festival - final 2-day lineup, set times, tickets "

The Village Voice is excited to announce the addition of A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS, THEE OH SEES, TINY MASTERS OF TODAY, JUSTINE D. and DeadHeat DJs to the line-up for the 9th Annual Village Voice SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL™ at Coney Island on Saturday, July 18, 2009 from 12:00 noon - 9:00 p.m.

These artists join scheduled performers BUILT TO SPILL, SPANK ROCK, THE RAVEONETTES, FRIGHTENED RABBIT, GRAND DUCHY, MONOTONIX, FUTURE OF THE LEFT, JAPANDROIDS, MICACHU & THE SHAPES and BEAR HANDS at the free, all day, all ages music festival on two outdoor stages in historic Coney Island.

The 2nd Annual Official SIREN AFTER PARTY returns to Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, July 18 at 9:00pm. FRANCIS AND THE LIGHTS and GORDON VOIDWELL are scheduled to perform with more to be announced.

Thee Oh Sees are also playing the Woodsist Fest on July 4th.

APTBS play Santos Party House with the Secret Machines this Friday night (6/19).

The following Siren bands also have shows scheduled at Maxwell's: Future of the Left, Built to Spill, Grand Duchy, and Frightened Rabbit.

The lineup is coming together for Pop Montreal 2009 (September 30th to October 4th). Confirmed acts include Butthole Surfers, Fever Ray, Dinosaur Jr., Lou Barlow + The Missingmen, Loudon Wainwright III, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Thee Oh Sees, tUnE-YaRdS, to name a few.

Those interesting choices (like Lou Barlow with some configuration of Mike Watt's band?) are just part of the fest's usually-strong lineup. Full lineup so far, below...

Continue reading "Pop Montreal 2009 - initial lineup (Fever Ray, Os Mutantes, Butthole Surfers, Lou Barlow + the Missingmen...)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - It #1 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ty Segall - The Drag (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Charlie & the Moonhearts - Cagemouth (MP3)

Ty Segall

There is no shortage of great garage rock coming out of San Francisco these days and two of the city's newer acts -- Ty Segall and Charlie & the Moonhearts -- are about to head out on a U.S. tour including stops at Cake Shop on June 27 and Death by Audio on June 28. Both Ty and Charlie were members of the Epsilons and now doing their own thing, albeit right after one another.

When I saw Sic Alps and Thee Oh Sees at Death by Audio last September, Ty was the surprise of the evening. With his blonde hair and striped t-shirt, he looked like he just came from a Beach Boys press photo circa 1965, but he banged out a garage racket to rival either of the other bands on the bill... and he did it by himself, playing drums, guitar and singing all at the same time. If his songs weren't as good as they were, it would've just been an impressive gimmick.

Ty's solo debut came out last year on Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer's Castle Face label (check out "The Drag" from it at the top of this post) and this year he's really amping up his output. His second album, Lemons, is out July 14 on Goner Records (check out "It #1" for a taste) but Ty says he'll have copies to sell for the tour. Additionally, he's also got a double LP, Horn the Unicorn, that compiles a couple cassette and 7" releases; a split LP with Black Time titled Swag, as well as two new singles, one on Goner and the other on True Panther Sounds. All those should also be available at the merch table.

Ty's also no longer a one-man band, expanding to a trio for this tour. And he's also joined Sic Alps full time as their drummer. This guy's no slacker.

Charlie & the Moonhearts, meanwhile, have a new 7" on Tic Tac Totally (who put out the So Cow album), and the label describes them thusly:

First time I heard their Goodbye Boozy 7" I was fucking floored. They immediately recalled 80's sounds of then-youthful Orange County punk experimenting, and then colored it in with the fuzzed-up guitars and scuzzy but melody-driven stylistic tendencies of 60's garage rock writing. All of this finding its way into songs that most importantly (and above all else) do not sound contrived, rehearsed, too thought out, or anything that's less than a straight kick to your head.

The Moonhearts come from a tight-knit group of local bands, sharing members and sleeping with each other on a regular basis, especially Mikal, who is a total whore to varied underground luminaries like Ty Segall, Okie Dokie, Party Fowl and more. All kidding aside, its a pure and homegrown sound that these guys have developed. Just based on pumping out dirty little anthems and putting em right through the ringer of the sleaze machine at maximum dB. For any fans of the KBD, no bullshit punk/rock type sounds out there, we have a new record for ya. It's just fun, loud, good shit. What can I say? I mean fuck. Enjoy.

Continue reading "Ty Segall & Charlie & the Moonhearts - 2009 tour dates, MP3s"

Broadway Backyard (more by Tim Griffin)

Woodsist and Captured Tracks have joined forces with Todd P to present a two-day festival of bands at Broadway Backyard in Brooklyn this July 3rd and 4th. More info and full lineup (so far) below....

Continue reading "Woodsist & Captured Tracks throwing a festival in Brooklyn"

DOWNLOAD: Box Elders - Hole in My Head (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jay Reatard - Always Wanting More (MP3)

As previously reported Jay Reatard's Shattered Records imprint is coming back into active duty. Among the imprint's planned releases are " six 7"s from artists hand-picked by Jay including "Jeffrey Novak (from Cheap Time), Nobunny, Hunx, Useless Eaters, Box Elders, Earthmen & Strangers, and legendary New Zealand lo-fi songwriter Chris Knox."

Nobunny happens to be in NYC for two shows starting TONIGHT (4/13)

Shattered Records also announced it will release "all 20 of Jay Reatard's albums" digitally, plus a new singles series and subscription club. The new site is offering new Reatard single "You're Gonna Lose" free to those who sign up for its mailing list. Full info below.

Jay Reatard is going on tour in June and July. That includes two NYC shows. The first, on Wednesday, July 1st, will take place in Stuyvesent Town! That one, billed as a "Stuytown Oval Concert", will presumably be free, outdoors, and have a mosh pit full of babies. The second will happen at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg, one day later, on Thursday, July 2nd . Tickets for that go on sale Wednesday, April 12th at noon. TV Smith opens both NY dates.

Box Elders have two NYC dates scheduled - April 24th and 25th.

Jay will also play a show on Record Store Day (at Goner Records). On that day, April 18th, you will also be able to pick up his Record Store Day 7" split with Sonic Youth (being released by Matador).

Full Shattered Records press release, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Jay Reatard - 2009 Tour Dates (STUY TOWN & MHOW), full Shattered Records announcement (includes Nobunny) "

photos by Tim Griffin, words by Andrew Frisicano

Thee Oh Sees played two NYC shows over the weekend (both on the stage). Tim was at the band's Saturday, April 4th Bell House show with Excepter, Catatonic Youth Sightings, and Pink Skull. That gig was a launch party for FreeMusicArchive.org.

Then, Thee Oh Sees played a Sunday night (4/5) Mercury Lounge show with Skeletons, Child Abuse, and Zs. I caught that performance, which showcased John Dwyer & Co.'s reverbed out garage rock sound in a set of short, to-the-point songs. The psychedelic-punk vibe worked for the band who seemed to thrive on an element of danger - Dwyer frequently jammed the mic into his mouth squeaking lead-lines in a kind of manic breathing/barking gesture. The band plays without a bass guitar (they were the third band of the night to do so) which gave their sound a weightless, centered quality that could've been found just as easily on the tiny speakers of a portable turntable or an FM radio. Songs started with only a quick count off by singer/guitarist Dwyer, who traded barely-intelligible melodic fragments with co-singer Brigid Dawson over the steady, held-back drums of Mike Shoun. Other guitarist Petey Dammit layed a simple, hypnotic foundation for the reverberating sounds on stage. The band compressed that into a concise set, played one encore, and headed home to San Francisco.

Thee Oh Sees' newest record, Help, just came out on In the Red Records. The band has a set of West Coast dates planned.

All Bell House photos and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Thee Oh Sees played Mercury Lounge & the Bell House (pics)"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Skeletons - The Things(MP3)

Skeletons have two NYC shows this weekend. The first, Saturday April 4th (tonight), is a free show at Zebluon with Ellee. The second is the next night, Sunday, April 5th, at the Mercury Lounge with Thee Oh Sees, Zs, and Child Abuse. Tickets for the Mercury Louge show are on sale.

Thee Oh Sees play on Saturday (tonight) as well. The band is performing at the FreeMusicArchive.org launch party at the Bell House with Excepter, Catatonic Youth, and Pink Skull. Tickets for that show are still on sale.

Way back on Friday, January 2nd, Skeletons, John Dwyer & Sam Hillmer (of Thee Oh Sees and Zs, respective), and John Fell Ryan (from Excepter) - all represented above - played Death By Audio with Extra Life. That show was just one of the many gigs this year for Skeletons, who just ended a nearly-monthlong tour of Europe.

Check out a live video of Skeletons' acoustic set at that Death By Audio show, plus a non-acoustic performance of "Ripper aka the pillows" and an alternate video for band's song "Stepper a.k.a. Work" (both off their latest, 2008's Money), below...

Continue reading "Skeletons - 2 NYC shows (1 w/ Thee Oh Sees) & some videos"

by Bill Pearis

Thee Oh Sees

The post-SXSW music flood has yet to show relief and this week might actually be more jam-packed with goodness than last. Where to start?

Kings of San Francisco's fertile garage rock scene, Thee Oh Sees are back in town for two shows this weekend in what I'd have to call unlikely venues for the band. Thee Oh Sees are not exactly fond of playing on stages, as I've only ever seen them set up on the floor, so I'm not sure how they're going to handle it at The Bell House (4/4) and Mercury Lounge (4/5). Regardless, if they're anywhere near as good as they were at the Todd P/Woodsist party during SXSW it'll be a great time. John Dwyer is an intense frontman, flinging his guitars around and likes to get very intimate with his microphone for maximum in-the-red levels. Speaking of, In the Red is releasing Thee Oh Sees' great new album, Help, and while it's not in shops yet, it should be available at the merch table this weekend. Go see them.

Tyvek

Michigan's Tyvek are playing three shows this week, starting tonight (3/31) at Cake Shop. There is certainly no shortage of this kind of low fidelity, high attitude punk being made right now, but these guys do it better than most I think. The band, who keep changing the spelling of their name (Their Myspace currently has it as "Tyvjk"), are due to drop their debut full-length on Siltbreeze any minute now, so maybe they'll will be selling it at these gigs.

Tonight's show at Cake Shop is for the venue's "World's Birthday Party" parties held on the last day of each month. Tonight is curated by Peggy of Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Chuk Reutter of Gold Dust who will be playing their last-ever show tonight. Also on the bill: San Francisco's gothy New Thrill Parade (they sound more than a little like The Birthday Party), and two ca-USE co-MOTION offshoots (Extreme Violence and The German Measles). If your birthday is in March, it's free entry plus two drink ticket and a "gift" and cake. All others pay $7. Tomorrow (4/1) Tyvek play Death by Audio with local folkies Woods (whose new album, Songs of Shame is pretty darn good) and then on Thursday (4/2) opening for Asobi Seksu at Bowery Ballroom.

Crocodiles

Also on that Asobi Seksu bill are San Diego scuzz-rockers Crocodiles who put out a JAMC-loving single "Neon Jesus" last year and will release their debut album on April 28th via Fat Possum. Two songs from that album (as well as "Neon Jesus") are available over at RCRD LBL and show they also seem to like Spacemen 3 a lot too. I missed them at SXSW so I can't say whether they're good as a live band or not (editor's note: I liked what little I saw of them), but I'm guessing it's gonna be two guys, a drum machine and a truckload of feedback and reverb (editor's note: YES!). Which is okay by me. In addition to the BB show, Crocodiles also play Pianos on Saturday night (4/4) with the aforementioned New Thrill Parade and L.A.'s pummeling duo Tweak Bird (who BB most recently caught at SXSW).

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A few more shows to mention (and all tour dates below):

Continue reading "Crocodiles, Still Flyin, Thee Oh Sees, Tyvek, Late of the Pier & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

I saw upwards of 50 bands during the four days of SXSW. These were the most memorable. I think.

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1. Pete and the Pirates (Emo's Annex, 3.20.2009)

Easily the best band I saw at SxSW this year. Of course, as their album Little Death made my Best of 2008, I already had a predilection to like them but Pete and the Pirates so nailed their great songs live -- the harmonies, the guitar interplay, everything -- that I just had a big grin on my face the whole time. My only regret: not seeing them more than once.

Continue reading "Bill's Top 10 SXSW 2009 highlights (with pics, videos)"

The previously announced April 4th Thee Oh Sees show at the Bell House in Brooklyn is doubling as the FreeMusicArchive.org launch party...

The Free Music Archive will combine the curatorial approach that stations like WFMU have played for the last few decades, and the community generated approach of many current online music sites. It'll be a valuable resource for those in search of legal audio; each track will have a clear set of rights associated with it, as determined by the artist, letting podcasters, bloggers, remix artists and music fans know what uses the artist will and will not allow. The project began here at WFMU, but we are just one of several curators who've been gathering audio for the Free Music Archive, freeing archival audio into the public domain, adding to the Creative Commons and building an open forum for participation that we're very excited to share with you. Stay tuned to our pre-launch blog for more previews and announcements as we get closer to launch.

Speaking of the Bell House, tickets are on sale for the May 7th Vetiver / Papercuts show. Tickets are also still on sale for the May 3rd Vetiver show at Bowery Ballroom.

Motel Motel have a show coming up at the Bell House too. They've been added as opener to the Phosphorescent / Mike Bones show happening there on February 28th. It's the show where Phos will be performing his entire "To Willie" album from start to finish, like he will... at the BrooklynVegan official SXSW showcase at Club DeVille in Austin on Wednesday night, March 18th (and he's doing it in LA and San Francisco too). Brooklyn tickets are still on sale. All Phos tour dates HERE.

Video of Thee Oh Sees playing at Cake Shop, below...

Continue reading "WFMU, Thee Oh Sees, Vetiver, Motel Motel, Phosphorescent"

The Ohsees (aka The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees and formerly OCS, Orange County Sound, Orinoka Crash Suite) began as a way for John Dwyer (of Coachwhips, Pink and Brown, Landed, Yikes, Burmese, The Hospitals, etc.) to release his instrumental, experimental home recordings. However, over the course of 7 albums it has evolved into a full band. [Wiki]

Speaking of the Bell House, The Submarines, Morning Benders and Dawn Landes are playing there tonight (2/11). All Thee Oh Sees dates below...

Continue reading "Thee Oh Sees - 2009 Tour Dates (NYC, SXSW)"

DOWNLOAD: Skeletons - The Things (MP3)

"With a sound that truly verges on unclassifiable, Brooklyn-based freak-niks Skeletons are an anomaly even at the venerable Tomlab label, which stables an entire herd of experimental artists. For a group to stand out as uniquely off center amid labelmates such as Xiu Xiu and Deerhoof is rather remarkable.

Fronted by singer/multi-instrumentalist Matt Mehlan, the fifth full-length album ["Money"] under the Skeleton's banner (third for the full group) features dispirate, seemingly incohesive musical undertones that are tenuously held together by Mehlan's R&B/pop croons. Fretboard noodling, sputtering drums and a menacing bass undercurrent comprise a confounding blend on "The THINGS," which segues unknowingly into "RIPPER a.ka. The Pillows," the latter sounding like Perry Farrell fronting John Zorn's avant-jazz band Naked City. [Lost at Sea]

Continue reading "Skeletons - MP3 & 2009 Tour Dates (DBA, Roulette, Zebulon)"

photos by Natasha Ryan

Walkman/Dodo

Walt Martin of The Walkmen's Top 10 of 2008
1. Thee Oh Sees, The Master Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In (astleface/Tomlab)
2. Thee Oh Sees, The Hounds of Foggy Notion (Castleface/Tomlab)
3. Thee Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees/The Intelligence Split EP (Mt. St. Mtn.)
4. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
5. The Howling Hex, Earthjunk (Drag City)
6. Bonnie "Prince" Billie, Lie Down in The Light (Drag City)
7. Beach House, Devotion (Carpark)
8. The Breeders, Mountain Battles (4AD)
9. Dirty Dancing Soundtrack (20th Anniversary Edition) (RCA)
10. Animal House Soundtrack (30th Anniversary Edition) (MCA)
(that list via Filter)

Continue reading "the Walkmen & the Dodos @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Sic Alps - Bathman (MP3)

- Apologies to anyone who thought we were supposed to play that show at McClaren Park Pool tonight [August 3rd, 2008]. We honestly have NO IDEA how that came to be. (Someone pointed out to us at some point during the tour that it was listed on Deerhunter's MySpace). Uh, what can we say? We are the ONLY people who book our shows (well, in the US anyway) and NO ONE asked US if we wanted to play. Go figure. Again, apologies to anyone disappointed by our no show. We had intended to make this announcement sooner, but just got back from tour and things have been a little hectic. Oh, and on that subject - thanks a million to every band and every person who came out, saw the shows, bought something, or not..... we had an amazing time. Look forward to more in less than two months!!! [Sic Alps]

Continue reading "Sic Alps - 2008 Tour Dates (Sunday night in Brooklyn)"