Bells at Cake Shop, photo by Caspar Newbolt

BELLS (mems Jawbox/Oxford Collapse) will play Bruar Falls on July 30th as part of a "rock and roil CRAB BOIL" at the venue. The show, headlined by Mcdonalds (who you can read more about here), will also feature a solo appearance from Bells member/cellist Gordon Withers. Gordon, who you may know for his cello Jawbox covers, now also plays with with J. Robbins in Office of Future Plans and with Zac Barocas in BELLS. Moonmen On The Moon, Man are also on the Bruar Falls bill which features a meal as described in the name of the show.

Speaking of Jawbox, Dischord remastered and reissued two singles at the end of May. Speaking of Dischord, Title Tracks are on tour and in NYC this weekend.

Office of Future Plans has three shows coming up, but still none in NY. They're listed below.

BELLS released their debut There Are Crashes EP last year, and are currently writing new material. Stream that EP and the Gordon Withers Jawbox covers LP below.

Continue reading "Jawbox-related bands playing shows (BELLS, Gordon Withers, Office of Future Plans, Title Tracks)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Title Tracks - All Tricks (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pursesnatchers - Baseball on the Radio (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Paperhead - Back to Those Days (MP3)

The Paperhead

First up is The Paperhead who are in town for two shows: Tonight (7/2) at Death by Audio and Friday (7/22) at Bruar Falls. I caught The Paperhead at SXSW during the Trouble in Mind day party where the Nashville band stood out from than the rest of the bands on the bill (or the label). Instead of fuzzed-out garage rock, The Paperhead favor paisley-powered psych. Their Trouble in Mind debut is a nice cup of mushroom tea and the band (who also look the part) are pretty good live.

The Gytters

Tonight's show at DBA is with fellow Nashville residents and tourmates D Watusi, plus The Gytters, The Hairs and which is a pretty good bill all around. Get there early to check out openers The Gytters who I caught a couple weeks ago at Bruar Falls. The band is fronted by Scott Rosenthall who plays keyboards in Class Actress and has played with (and produced) The Beets. Sorta twangy new wave, you can download their song "Divebombers" from their bandcamp site. And The Hairs play this show too. Their 7" on Magic Marker is four songs of near-perfect snarky indiepop.

Friday's show at Bruar Falls is headlined by Conversion Party who manage to be anthemic without the pretense that often comes with it. D Watusi also play, plus Pennsylvania's Royal Shoals and Tank.

Pursesnatchers

You may remember Doug Marvin from mid-'00s band Dirty on Purpose where he played drums and also sang (and wrote) some of the neo-shoegazers' catchiest material. Since DoP went kaput, Doug has continued making music under the Pursesnatchers moniker. Originally a true solo project, Pursesnatchers have become a real band with Doug moving to guitar, for a lineup and that also includes his wife Annie Hart (one third of Au Revoir Simone, and they both play in Uninhabitable Mansions) who also takes lead vocals on a couple songs.

That band made Pursesnatchers' new album, A Pattern Language, which just came out this week. The sound is an extension of what Doug did in Dirty on Purpose: melodic, brittle songs that are bolstered by waves of guitar. It's a really nice record. You can download "Baseball on the Radio" at the top of this post.

The point of all this is that Pursenatchers are playing a record release party for the album Friday night (7/22) at Union Hall with The Thieves and Finding Fiction.

Title Tracks

John Davis' post-Georgie James group, Title Tracks, are also here this weekend, playing Cake Shop on Saturday (7/23) with Face Time, Steel Phantoms and Follower. There's been a little shifting in the Title Tracks camp who are now playing as a (power) trio. There's a new Title Tracks album too, In Blank, which is another platter of terrific power pop in the Nerves/Shoes/Nick Lowe tradition. You can download "All Tricks" at the top of this post. I haven't seen the new line-up but if it's anywhere near as good as previous incarnations, I heartily endorse seeing Title Tracks live.

Parlovr

And finally, Montreal trio Parlovr are in town for two shows: Friday night (7/22) at Glasslands and then Monday (7/25) at Mercury Lounge opening for Cloud Control. Parlovr make good use of their visa and play here fairly often but I really do think they're great live and are absolutely worth checking out. As I wrote before:

Singers Louis Jackson and Alex Cooper semi face each other from opposite sides of the stage rocking back and forth like manic Drinking Birds, flipping their '90s skate rat hair around, while mountain man drummer Jeremy MacCuish holds down the beat. They clearly enjoy playing, and it's a lot of fun to watch too.

Their new EP, Heaven/Hell/Big/Love, goes a long way to getting that live energy to a recording. You can download the title track, a live favorite of mine, at the top of this post.

That's it for this week. There are a few more day-by-day picks below.

THURSDAY, JULY 21

Dent May has been on tour with Real Estate but plays a smaller show with Real Estate's Alex Bleeker and (underwater) peep Julian Lynch, at Glasslands. Prince Rama will be your DJs for the evening. Dent ditches the ukulele for his great new single "Fun" which is almost a dance track with its groovy bassline, keyboards and electronic handclaps. It's available digitally now, and the 7" is out physically in September. You can stream it below.

Cass McCombs, Lower Dens should make for a lovely evening of mellow music at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

The Monkees play for free at Coney Island at the Cyclones Stadium. While a lot of people just remember them for "Daydream Believer" they made a lot of great music, actually, and hopefully they'll play some deep cuts like "Randy Scouse Git" and "Forget That Girl." Hopefully they won't play that Davy Jones song from the Brady Bunch. Actually that songs pretty good.

continued below...

Continue reading "The Paperhead, Pursesnatchers, Title Tracks, Parlovr, Dent May, The Monkees & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Phantom Band - Walls (MP3)

The just-announced list of CMJ performing artist is a little light on foreign acts, at least ones I haven't seen before, but one inclusion just made my day: Glasgow's The Phantom Band. While there are surely more shows to be announced, they are playing Knitting Factory on Friday, October 22 with Title Tracks and COOLRUNNINGS.  After CMJ, The Phantom Band will go on tour with Frightened Rabbit, including the October 30 show at Terminal 5 that Plants & Animals are also playing (tickets still on sale).

Last year's debut made my Best LPs of 2009 list, so allow me to quote myself:

Semi-mysterious Glaswegian sextet The Phantom Band sound like a combination of the best moody Scottish groups of the last 10 years: the angst of Arab Strap and Malcolm Middleton's solo work, the sweep of the Delagos, the atmospherics of Mogwai. So it makes sense they're signed to Chemikal Underground, home of all the aforementioned.

Their debut, Checkmate Savage is epic and awesome, nine tracks, nearly an hour long, and not a wasted minute. It's easy to type out a litany of influences (Krautrock, Lee Perry dub, Joy Division, Fairport Convention) but, really, they don't sound like anyone else. At times it's singer-songwritery but then they'll lock into a motorik groove that can only really come from playing together live.

The same week as CMJ, The Phantom band will release their second album, The Wants. You can download "Walls" from it at the top of this post. A little more tightly-reigned than their debut, The Wants is no less compelling. The band also seem to have lost the masks they wore last year, as well as a member if their press photos are anything to go on.

All upcoming Phantom Band shows, plus a video from their first album, are after the jump.

Continue reading "The Phantom Band are coming - 2010 tour dates & new MP3 "

by Bill Pearis

For a lot of folks, this was the sound of the '80s: bright, jangly guitar pop with hooks out the wazoo. Tommy Keene never quite got the attention that Matthew Sweet, The Plimsouls, The dB's or even Let's Active, but he has consistently made some terrific records over the last 25 years including last year's In the Late Bright.

Keene also just released the career-spanning You Hear Me: Retrospective 1983 - 2009 which does a great job showcasing his talent and consistency. (You can listen to the whole thing on the label's website.) It's a sound that doesn't really go out of style. And when not making his own records, Keene is also an in-demand freelance axeman, touring over the years with Paul Westerburg, Velvet Crush and, recently Robert Pollard. (Pollard and Keene made an album together in 2006 as The Keene Brothers.)

Tommy Keene just started a tour where he's playing his classic 1986 album Songs from the Film in its entirety, along with other nuggets from his catalog. The tour hits The Rock Shop on Wednesday (9/15).  That record has what is arguably Keene's most well-known tune, "Places That Are Gone," and the whole album is really a classic. And also out of print, sady.

The whole night is a power pop extravaganza, actually, with two openers both of which have fairly long pedigrees. First is  Title Tracks, the new band from Jon Davis who was in Georgie James and Q and Not U. Title Tracks debut album came out in February and is full of super-melodic powerpop that would appeal to anyone who owns a Sloan album.

Also playing are Valley Lodge, which some of you may know is fronted by funnyman Dave Hill and onetime Walt Mink singer John Kimbrough. Valley Lodge's second album came out last year, and if you like crunchy, glammy, Thin Lizzy-style rockers, be sure to get there early.

All Tommy Keene tour dates, plus videos from Keene, Title Tracks and Valley Lodge are below....

Continue reading "Tommy Keene playing 'Songs from the Film' on tour (dates) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Golden Triangle - Jinx (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Golden Triangle - Neon Noose (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Sandwitches - Back to the Sea (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Title Tracks - Every Little Bit Hurts (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pretty & Nice - Tora Tora Tora (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pretty & Nice - Tora Tora Tora (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Hey You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Super (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - Let's Go (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Summer Cats - TV Guide (MP3)

March is consistently one of the most insane months for shows, due to nearly every band being on tour thanks to SXSW. The flood doesn't really kick in till next week, so view this weekend as the relative calm before the storm. Also, before we get into my recommendations, I'd like to mention that New York Noise, the NYC-TV show that has been documenting the local indie scene for eight seasons, is in danger of cancellation. Given it's new Tuesdays at 5AM slot (and its showpage on the website now gone), it almost might as well be off the air -- a worse fate than 120 Minutes ever saw. There are so few outlets to watch music videos on actual television anymore, let alone ones from semi-obscure indie rock bands, and even less done in such consistently clever, funny, fresh ways. (Breakfast at Sulimays was not the first to interview old people about indie rock.)

Music is a huge part of New York City culture and surely the only show on the air about it deserves to continue. If you feel the same way I urge you to sign the Bring Back New York Noise petition. You can read more about it and what's going on with the show over at the Village Voice. And there are some highlights from the show at the bottom of this post.

The Sandwitches

Ok, back to the music. San Francisco's The Sandwitches are visiting this weekend for three shows before heading off on a tour that will lead them to Austin for SXSW where they'll play more than a few parties including the BrooklynVegan Thursday day party.

They play the Rockstar Bar tonight (3/5) and then Monster Island on Saturday (3/6) with Golden Triangle.  Singers Heidi and Grace both spent time in The Fresh & Onlys and drummer Roxy used to be in Brilliant Colors. Like Donnie & Marie, they're a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. In a San Francisco indie sort of way, which means a fair amount of reverb.

Kelley Stoltz says of the Sandwitches: "Imagine a 60's Girl-group is on tour and their van breaks down near a gothic castle high on the hill, Dario Argento invites them in to perform a concert for his tweaked actors in a big dark red room inside and, if the dream is right, it's the Sandwiches - they'd fit right in with those misfits and speak the same language. I'd like to be there to dance." I'm not sure I can top that description. I like their album, How to Make Ambient Sadcake, quite a bit and you can download opening track "Back to the Sea" at the top of this post.

After SXSW they'll play Todd P's MtyMx festival and then tour back to San Francisco with Thee Oh Sees and The Baths.

Golden Triangle

That Monster Island show on Saturday is the official record release party for Golden Triangle's debut, Double Jointer, which came out this week on Hardly Art. You can check out two songs from the album at the top of this post. I think you either like this sort of fuzzed out, reverb-soaked garage rock or you don't, but this record is a lot of fun -- a psychedelic art school party band that's part B-52's, part paisley underground, part Cavestomp.

Saturday should be a fun one, with an almost all-girl lineup. In addition to the Sandwitches, there's Girls at Dawn and Coasting, all of whom I like. Golden Triangle are also playing a lot of shows during SXSW including the same Thursday BV show as Sandwitches. All dates are at the bottom of this post.

Title Tracks

Playing together two nights this weekend are Washington D.C.'s Title Tracks and Boston's Pretty & Nice. They play Saturday (3/6) at Union Hall and then Sunday (3/8) at Cake Shop.

As mentioned before, Title Tracks is the new band from John Davis, previously of much-loved Q and Not U, and the great but unfortunately shortlived Georgie James. That said, Title Tracks' just-released debut, It Was Easy, is pretty great, full of guitar-centric power pop in a late '70s style that might bring to mind Rockpile, Marshall Crenshaw or the dB's... or more recently Sloan and the New Pornographers. Two songs are at the top of this post. Davis is a fantastic songwriter (and performer) and while we may miss his previous bands, be glad he's still cranking out great tunes.

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice's music tips just the other side of 1980, with slightly nervier pop (XTC and Chris Stamey's songs with the dB's being obvious influences) but just as catchy and their 2008 album, Get Young, didn't get enough attention I don't think. Hopefully they've got a new album out sometime soon and we'll hear songs from it at one of the shows. They're fun live.

-----

And last but in no way least are Australian band Summer Cats who make their NYC debut tonight (3/5) as part of the Mondo! party at Don Hills. They also play Sunday at Bruar Falls. Super-pumped to see these guys live tonight. I wrote loads about them earlier in the week so go read that, won't you? The Bruar Falls show also features local power-poppers Onward Chariots who sound pretty good on their Myspace. I'll be at an Oscar party (I'm bringing Hummus: Based on the Novel Precious by Sapphire) but those who don't care about the Academy Awards should show your support to these Cats. Like most of the bands in this post, they'll be in Austin for SXSW too. And elsewhere. Go see 'em.

That's it for this week. Videos and tour dates are below....

Continue reading "NY Noise, The Sandwitches, Golden Triangle, Title Tracks, Pretty & Nice, Summer Cats & more in This Week in Indie"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Title Tracks - Every Little Bit Hurts (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pretty & Nice - Tora Tora Tora (MP3)

John Davis of Title Tracks (by Shervin Lainez)

In early 2008, after several years spent in Washington D.C. bands like Q And Not U and Georgie James, John Davis decided he was ready to go out and start writing and recording albums on his own. John began work on the songs that were to become the first Title Tracks album in January 2008, as the unhappy fate of Georgie James became clear. By the time that Georgie James officially split up in the summer of 2008, John had an album's worth of songs ready to go and began playing shows with a new group behind him by the end of that summer. It Was Easy is the debut full-length from Title Tracks, John's solo project

Title Tracks' debut comes out February 23rd on Ernest Jenning Record Co. On the album, John Davis plays every instrument himself (minus guest sax by Kriston Capps and two vocal contributions by Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura). Live he'll be accompanied by a band. The album's first song, "Every Little Bit Hurts" posted above, is an upbeat power-pop number in the vein of Police/Elvis Costello/Ted Leo, the latter of which they'll be touring with this March. They open the first leg of Ted's tour, not the later dates that include an Irving Plaza show on April 9th. (Tickets for that are on sale.)

Before the Ted Leo dates, Title Tracks go on tour with peppy indie-pop band Pretty and Nice from Boston. Both bands play Union Hall on March 6th with Gary B & the Notions (tickets are on sale) and Cake Shop on March 7th. Title Tracks will also be at SXSW.

Pretty & Nice, a Hardly Art-signed band whose past credits include a BV day party at CMJ 2008 and opening for the Thermals, happen to also play tonight (1/26) at The Cameo with Drunken Sufis. Their "Tora Tora Tora" is above. More tour dates are below.

Ted Leo performs at the Bell House's stacked Haiti benefit on Wednesday, January 27th.

All tour dates and tracklist/album art for Title Tracks' debut are below...

Continue reading "Title Tracks (John Davis of Q And Not U) - debut album, MP3, tour dates w/ Ted Leo & Pretty & Nice "

Suckers @ Prospect Park earlier this month (more by Natasha Ryan)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Maluca @ Santos
* Zé Luis Quartet @ MoMA
* Todd Barry @ Carolines
* Megafaun @ Monkey Town
* MC Lyte @ Von King Park
* Dark Dark Dark @ Sycamore
* Dwele, Leela James @ BB Kings
*I Need That Record (film) @ 92YTribeca
* The Click Five @ Rocks Off Boat Cruise
* Bonnie Baxter, Beloved Rogue @ Shea Stadium
* Titus Andronicus, The So-So Glos @ Glasslands
* PG Six, Zachary Cale, Rachel Mason @ Union Pool
* Matisyahu, Umphrey's McGee @ Central Park Summerstage
* Title Tracks, The Nouvellas, Charles Burst @ The Cameo
* The Drums, Living Days, Zambri, Kordan @ Public Assembly
* Chris Garneau, The Lisps, Scary Mansion @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Suckers, The Octagon, Hearts of Darknesses, Etta Place @ Pianos
* Midsummer Night Swing w/ Woody Herman Orchestra @ Lincoln Center
* GrandWizzard Theodore, PopMaster Fabel, Biz Markie @ Crotona Park
* Matt & Kim, Flosstradamus, Team Robespierre @ Hudson River Rocks Pier 54
* Jon Wiley Benefit w/ Chairlift, Adam Green, Lightspeed Champion @ The Shank
* Those Darlins, Heavy Trash, Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers @ Mercury Lounge
* Mia Riddle, Bon Savants, Patrick Bower & The World Without Magic @ The Bell House
* NY Ear & Eye Fest w/ Nymph, Religious To Damn, Hunters, Dinowalrus, more @ Knitting Factory
* Latin Alternative Music Conference w/ Leon Polar, Natalia Lafourcade, more @ Bowery Ballroom
* Mewithoutyou, The Dear Hunter, Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Free Brooklyn Lager from 7:30- 8:30 at the Bell House.

Matt & Kim play a free outdoor show tonight, the first of this summer's HudsonRiverRocks series. That'll bring Ted Leo and Yeasayer in the coming weeks. Opening tonight's show are Team Robespierre and Flosstradamus (whose remix of Matt & Kim's "Yea Yeah" is below with other, revealing M&K vidoes).

GrandWizzard Theodore, PopMaster Fabel and Biz Markie play a free Park Jams show
at Crotona Park in the Bronx. Luminescent Orchestrii performs a free River to River set at World Financial Center Plaza. MC Lyte plays in Von King Park. At the Central Park Summerstage, Matisyahu and Umphrey's McGee play a ticketed show.

"Four cemetery workers have been charged with dismembering bodies after police found what they called "startling and revolting" conditions at a historic cemetery near Chicago." [AP]

Titus Andronicus and The So So Glos play a free-with-RSVP, limited-capacity show hosted by Colt 45 & Vice at Glasslands tonight. See a video of Titus "Shotgunnin' Burrs" with The Soft Pack on their UK tour together, below.

The Drums, who will be gigging in NYC a lot this summer, play Public Assembly tonight with Living Days, Zambri and Kordan.

Suckers begin their four-Thursday Pianos residency with guests The Octagon, Hearts of Darknesses and Etta Place.

Chairlift, Adam Green, Lightspeed Champion and others play a benefit for local musician Jon Wiley at The Shank.

In a nice triple bill, Those Darlins, Heavy Trash and Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers all perform at the Mercury Lounge tonight.

Megafaun, who opened for Bowerbirds last night, plays Monkey Town tonight with a "special guest."

The NY Ear & Eye Fest II kicks off tonight at the Knitting Factory. The fest includes a record fair/concert at the 92YTribeca on Saturday and a closing party at Death By Audio Sunday night. 92Y is sceening record store doc I Need That Record tonight with filmmaker Brendan Toller in attendance.

"Google says that its forthcoming Chrome operating system will be so secure that "users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates." But Google's claim is being met with skepticism within the Internet security world." [PC World]

The Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing fest continues tonight with the Woody Herman Orchestra directed by Frank Tiberi at Damrosch Park.

10 bands play for $10 tomorrow at Terminal 5.

The first free Williamsburg Waterfront show is this Sunday.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart plays South Street Seaport on Friday.

Title Tracks, which is John Davis formerly of Q and Not U, plays the Cameo Gallery with The Nouvellas and Charles Burst.

Blitzen Trapper's new video for "Black River Killer", below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"