photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Public Enemy

STEREOGUM: What appealed to you about getting involved with All Tomorrow's Parties?

GEOFF BARROW: I just like that, for the most part, you wouldn't want to be there if you aren't actually into the music. It's not like Coachella where there are loads of girls walking around in bikinis and stuff like that. It's basically people enjoying what is often some really indulgent music. For us, it's like a Charlie in the Chocolate Factory moment. You win the golden ticket and you get to see how the candy is made. You get to choose the bands that play with you, which is just ... amazing. It's like, wow, yes, please.

STEREOGUM: Who in particular are you most excited about seeing?

GEOFF BARROW: We've been really lucky over the years. We've done three of these ATP festivals and it's always such a good experience. I'm always, always, always very into watching Public Enemy. Also, Ultramagnetic MCs because they are just mental and so important to hip hop. I'll also be watching Swans ... with earplugs. I want to watch everything. I want to watch as much as I possibly can.

Before Chuck D joined fest co-curators Portishead on stage during their Sunday I'll Be Your Mirror set in Asbury Park, Public Enemy played their own set, as did reunited hip hop group Company Flow (who will play again this month as part of the Creators Project). Ultramagnetic MCs played on Saturday, as did Swans.

Jeff Mangum played his second of three Asbury Park sets on Sunday (10/2), though like his Friday show, we don't have pictures of his set (he doesn't like pictures). We do have pictures of a lot of other sets from Sunday though, and they continue, along with shots of the general Asbury Park scenery (the conclusion of our ATP NJ 2011 coverage), below...

Continue reading "I'll Be Your Mirror 2011 -- pics from ATP Sunday (Public Enemy, Company Flow, Thee Silver Mt. Zion, Deerhoof, Earth & more)"

Thee Silver Mt. Zion @ MHOW in 2010 (more by Brian Reilly)

Canada's Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra will play Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on October 6th, four days after they hit Asbury Park for ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror event. Tickets for the LPR show are on sale. Thee Silver Mount Zion also hits MA & CT while they're on the road. All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra adds NYC show to short tour around ATP NJ (dates)"

photos by Brian Reilly

DOWNLOAD: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - I Built Myself A Metal Bird (Live Video Version) (MP3)

"What the crowd of us gathered on the floor and pews of the First Unitarian Church that night received was a two hour set of the bands most recent material, as well as a few of the crowds favorites. After cursory introductions, soft-spoken lead singer Efrim Menuck picked his guitar and proceeded to smash through "I Built Myself A Metal Bird. I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds," backed by Jessica Moss and Sophie Trudeau on violins. Upright bassist Thierry Amar and drummer David Payant also blew away the audience on the bass staff, sending a deep rumble through the floorboards of The Church."
[Radio Doctor]

That's a review of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra's show in Philly the night after they played the Bowery Ballroom (5/16) and two nights after the band played Music Hall of Williamsburg (5/15), which is where the pictures here are from.

NYC songwriter Hannah Marcus opened the Music Hall show, and the Bowery show was opened by soul contenders Sam Mickens' Esctatic Showband & Revue.

The tour is in support of Thee Silver Mt. Zion's latest Kollaps Tradixionales, which came out earlier this year on Constellation Records. A live version of a track off it is above. More pictures and a rough setlist from MHOW are below...

Continue reading "Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra played Philly & shows @ Bowery Ballroom & MHOW (pics & setlist)"

DOWNLOAD: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - I Built Myself A Metal Bird (Live Video Version) (MP3)

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra @ ATP NY (more by Zach Dilgard)

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (SMZ) returns with its sixth full-length recording and first since the band's line-up change in summer 2008. Having shed three members and recruited a new drummer, the group officially dropped the "Tra-La-La Band' from its name, played a debut performance as a newly minted quintet at All Tomorrow's Parties in upstate NY, and embarked on an extensive European tour through the Fall of 2008. As Kollaps Tradixionales ably demonstrates, the band has lost none of its raw and frazzled anthemic power and continues to forge bold new ground in its search for a unique hybrid of punk, blues, psych, folk and modern orchestral idioms. [Constellation Records]

Kollaps Tradixionales will be out February 16th on Constellation Records!. The song "Kollaps Tradicional (Bury 3 Dynamos)" is streaming on their site, and a live version of "I Built Myself A Metal Bird" is above.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra will be touring Europe this March and April. After that, they have a few shows in the US, about which the band writes writes: "U!S!A! U!S!A! U!S!A!------> (short one for now, but more in the fall.) this is us in may= boston, nyc, philadelphia, baltimore, d.c., asheville, chapel hill, atlanta, nashville, louisville, chicago, detroit." The NYC dates mentioned there will happen Saturday, May 15th at Music Hall of Williamsburg and May 16th at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 19th at noon. The other US dates are still TBA below.

All dates with the new album art and tracklist, below...

Continue reading "Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - new LP, tour dates"

photos by Zach Dilgard

Continue reading "Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band @ Kutscher's, ATP NY - pics "