Screaming Females at 92YTribeca in 2012 (more by Chris La Putt)

Ladyfest, which has taken place in various cities over the past few years, is returning to Philly for the first time since 2003 from June 7 - 9 at the Rotunda and other locations in West Philadelphia. The festival's mission statement reads:

Ladyfest Philadelphia is a grassroots event dedicated to the artistic, organizational, and political work of women, trans, genderqueer, intersex, and queer people, and their allies. Ladyfest combats substantive, cultural, and structural inequalities by building upon the existing Philadelphia community of artists, musicians, and activists. It aims to foster a more inclusive and safe environment through performances, workshops, panels, opportunities for collaboration, and more.

This year's lineup includes sets from Screaming Females (who play Maxwell's soon), Potty Mouth, US Girls, Aye Nako (who play with Speedy Ortiz soon), Priests, Black Wine (who play Death by Audio soon), Trophy Wife, Kate Ferencz, Mindtroll, Whore Paint, Shady Hawkins, Parasol, Void Vision, and others. Ticket info is TBA but all proceeds will go to Women in Transition and SAFE Home

Full lineup and list of workshops below...

Continue reading "Ladyfest Philly 2013 lineup & workshops (Screaming Females, US Girls, Potty Mouth, Aye Nako, Priests, Black Wine & more)"

Meghan Remy is U.S. Girls whose music is odd and dischordant in a David Lynch kind of way, but rooted in '60s girl group sounds. A warped copy of The Ronettes played on a battery operated turntable? Kinda. You can stream U.S. Girls most recent LP, Gem, and watch the NSFW video for album track "Work from Home" below.

Remy is taking U.S. Girls on the road, bringing along collaborator Slim Twig, for a North American tour, including an NYC stop at Death by Audio on February 16 with Amen Dunes playing as well. $7 at the door. All U.S. Girls tour dates are below.

Continue reading "U.S. Girls made an album and NSFW video, going on tour with Slim Twig (dates, stream)"

Thurston Moore has been responsible for choosing the lineups at The Stone since April 16th. Upcoming Thurston-curated shows include U.S. Girls (tonight, 4/21), "Kim Gordon with Guest" on 4/23 which is right before a Talk Normal performance on the same day, and Nancy Garcia on 4/29. Thurston's reign ends on 4/30. Check the Stone's site for the whole calendar.

Thurston, who recently played a Japan benefit, has his own shows coming up at Music Hall of Williamsburg, in Northampton, at the Pitchfork Festival, and as part of his White Out project on a bill with Metal Mountains and Bardo Pond at Le Poisson Rouge on June 18th.

For more Sonic Youth, Steve Shelley also has shows coming up, both as part of Disappears and Spectre Folk.

One day after they play the Stone, Talk Normal share a bill with Grass Widow (like they did when they opened for Sonic Youth in Prospect Park), Broken Water and Tara Jane O'Neil at Death By Audio.

Noveller @ Irving Plaza in 2009 (more by Lori Baily)

Brooklyn based guitarist Sarah Lipstate, better known as Noveller, is performing a "special solo set + birthday celebration" at The Stone tonight, Wednesday, 3/16. In June, she's going on tour with U.S. Girls, including a show at Bruar Falls on June 26. All dates and a video below...

Continue reading "Noveller playing the Stone (tonight) & other shows"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Strapping Fieldhands - Boo Hoo Hoo (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Strapping Fieldhands -  Copper Rings (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Strapping Fieldhands -  Aeroplane Ticket (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Strapping Fieldhands -  The Author in Her Ear (MP3)

We've been waiting for this reissue for 16 years. In fact, we briefly entertained the idea of trying to release it ourselves. It's a record we have been obsessed with since it came out in 1994, a super limited self released lp, a record we taped for everyone we knew, played for everyone we knew, the kind of record that inspired that sort of undying dedication, a totally unsung, indie pop gem from the early nineties, that attained a degree of infamy with a handful of weirdo music obsessives, but remained well removed from the spotlight it so richly deserved. Spin magazine even declared it one of the "Ten Best Records You've Never Heard", which probably sadly still applies, 15+ years later, but maybe not for long. Not if we have anything to say about it.

...all the kids who have been digging the new wave of home brewed retro lo-fi garage pop are gonna be in for a shock when they realize their favorite bands are basically doing what the Fieldhands were doing 15 years ago, and if anything Discus is WAY weirder, WAY poppier, and WAY BETTER! [Aquarius Records]

Philadelphia's low fi legends Strapping Fieldhands reissued their lost '90s classic Discus last year, the first time ever on CD and digital (What, no vinyl?). Since then, the band reactivated with the promise of new music soon. You can check out a few MP3s from throughout the bands career at the top of this post.

Strapping Fieldhands launched a short East Coast tour Saturday night in their hometown, and they play Bruar Falls tonight (Sunday, 9/12), along with The Mad Scene, and a couple of Siltbreeze recording artists The Doozer from the UK, as well as U.S. Girls. (The latter two are on tour together, all dates are at the bottom of this post.) If you can't go tonight, NYers have a couple more chances to catch them. They play Secret Robot Project on Friday (9/17, also with The Doozer and U.S. Girls) and Cake Shop on October 9. The band will also be at this year's Gonerfest (Sept 22 - 26)

All Strapping Fieldhands dates are below, along with video from a recent session they did for the Shaking Through series, plus those Doozer/U.S. Girls dates as well...

Continue reading "Strapping Fieldhands are back, The Doozer touring w/ US Girls - 2010 dates (Bruar Falls tonight, Gonerfest & more) "

Xeno and Oaklander @ WBAR-B-Q 2009 (more by Zach Dilgard)

The 17th annual WBAR-B-Q (the outdoor show put on by Barnard College's resident radio station) will be happening this year on Sunday, April 25th. The free show lineup includes Think About Life (as previously reported), Cold Cave, Blues Control, Liturgy, Burning Star Core, Prince Rama Of Ayodhya Jana Hunter
Twin Stumps and U.S. Girls. The full list is below.

While in town, Montreal's Think About Life will also be playing Mercury Lounge on April 27th. Tickets are still on sale. Even sooner you can catch Think About Life on tour and at SXSW where they'll be playing a BrooklynVegan party (again).

As previously mentioned, Cold Cave will be playing at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Thursday, April 29th. Tickets to that are on sale.

Liturgy play a show this Saturday (3/6) at Glasslands with Naam.

More info on the fest and set order is below...

Continue reading "17th Annual WBAR-B-Q lineup (w/ Cold Cave, Blues Control, Liturgy, Burning Star Core, more)"

photos by Lori Baily

Here's a second set of pictures from night one of Sonic Youth at Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 24th (part of their three recent NYC shows). Unlike the first set though, this post also has shots of that night's opener Talk Normal (including some impromptu behind-the-scene portraits with the headliner). Talk Normal play NYC next on Saturday, December 5th at Secret Project Robot with Air Waves, US Girls and Total Slackers.

SY member Lee Ranaldo sat down with WFNX (the broadcast cousin of The Boston Phoenix) before their show there to discuss his favorite albums, SY and otherwise, of the decade...

WFNX: But you, Lee, what's the album from Sonic Youth you think is pivotal to this decade?

Lee:I would say for this decade, it's The Eternal, the most recent one. Because in a way I think it really - it's so cool at the end of this decade when we've been playing together for so long to be really energized about the most recent music you've made. The aughts started for us with Murray Street, made in New York City in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and all that. Sonic Nurse we made with Jim O'Rourke, and then we made another record, Rather Ripped, on our own, and then we hooked up with Mark, Mark Ibold on bass, and made this one, and it bodes well for the future that we're having a lot of fun with this one.

Lee goes on to name his top three of the decade, listed chronologically as Bob Dylan - Love and Theft (released 9/11), Cat Power - You Are Free (I can get behind these choices) and Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (one of my favorites of 2009 too). The full video interview and more pictures and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Talk Normal playing shows (dates), played w/ Sonic Youth (pics) ++ Lee Ranaldo talks about the decade (video)"

The weekly "Sessions at Santas" series continues at Santos (Santas) Party House tonight (6/30) and next week (7/7). Tonight looks something like this:

Tuesday, June 30, 10PM
Sessions at Santa's curated by Billy Jones
with Gary War, Demonlover, Coconuts, U.S. Girls and DJ Dutch E Germ

Next week features a "special improv set" by Gang Gang Dance, and tickets are on sale. All GGD dates below...

Continue reading "Gang Gang Dance - 2009 Tour Dates (improv set @ Santos next week ++ non-GGD Sessions show tonight) "

words & photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

(It was this photograper's first Todd P show in NYC, I guess I'm quite late getting on the bandwagon, but oh well.)

I checked the address a couple times before opening the door of the unmarked building across from an auto salvage, somewhere in the back of my head asking 'what would Liz Lemmon do in this situation'.

An hour after doors was apparently still a couple hours early to get there. The three bands on the bill from Philly (all except Gary War) were delayed by the crummy spring rain storms that befell the region. Todd P paced around, making eclectic selections on his iPod and announcing to the small crowd distributed on the couches that there was a rain delay. It was cold and damp, wind blew in through the open and broken windows and a resident orange tabby climbed in and out making its way over to a Fender amp to use its grill as a scratching pad. Spirits picked up for Todd and his crew when the pizza guy arrived.

Expecting unhinged DIY bacchanalia, the vibe turned out to be subdued and mellow. The opening band, Birds of Maya, was the last to arrive. There were reports they had gotten lost in the no-man's-land of outer Bushwick/Ridgewood. They set up quickly and played a short set, hard rock riffs with impressive 'dee-da-lee dee-da-lee waaaaah' guitar solos. Next was U.S. Girls consisting of Megan Remy and a red suitcase containing a cassette recorder and a couple pedals. Her voice and reminded me of Cindy Lauper even through the distortion and chant-like structures of her songs. Gary War was third with a three-piece outfit playing fast-paced punk stuff with some kind of underwater/Aquaman sounding effect on the vocals.

Now to Kurt Vile - I liked this guy. Underneath the codification of his music as psych, lo-fi, bedroom music, etc. is a very good singer/ guitarist/songwriter. Kurt played acoustic guitar, run through a bit of effect and echo, and sang. He started and ended solo, and had two additional guitar players with him, one of whom also played a mean harmonica on one song. Led by the guitar and the lyric, the music was much more direct than anything I had heard of on his recordings. Some of the songs did have a cyclical, drone structure but there was movement within it, and the lyrics and delivery pulled me in like Lou Reed singing a Leonard Cohen recording with the Band in the basement of Big Pink. The guitar work owed a lot to John Fahey (and I mean that as a compliment) with the finger picking, echo effect and alternate tunings. I hate to throw such big names around, but there is something special to Vile's songs and music and I hope the music world will see it all come together soon.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Birds of Maya, U.S. Girls, Gary War & Kurt Vile @ Silent Barn in Ridgewood, Queens - pics"

photos by Lori Baily

AIDS Wolf

AZNightBuzz: You play with the U.S. Girls as well as some other great bands every place you visit. Who are you most excited about seeing?

Aids Wolf: Well, we've already played with U.S. Girls, Can't and Sightings, three acts we were most stoked to play with. We are also salivating for Love Tan, Mayor Daley, Puffy Areolas, PRE, Gay Beast, Shearing Pinx, Dead Machines, The Mayyors and Death Sentence: PANDA! We're really pretty excited for all our bills, playing with bands we are friends with and/or fans of is really important to us. Getting to see the bands we like is one of the things that make touring worthwhile.

Who are you listening to on tour?

Aids Wolf: Thee Oh Sees, Ornette Coleman, ZZ Top, Captain Beefheart, some sweet Balinese classical music, Babe Ruth, Ennio Morricone, Walter Wegmuller, U.S. Girl Meghan talking about eating meat and the sounds of Bob Gainey crying.

Death By Audio hosted Aids Wolf ,U.S. Girls, Sightings, Fiasco, and Talk Normal on Wednesday night, March 11th. That was before all or most of those bands headed from Brooklyn to Austin for SXSW. More pictures from the NYC show below...

Continue reading "AIDS Wolf, Fiasco, Sightings, U.S. Girls & Talk Normal @ Death By Audio, NYC - pics"

Aids Wolf (DAVID WALDMAN. KWC)

"We are a cult . ************************ AIDS Wolf are the preeminent Formalist/Unknown Wave quartet, formed in Montreal, 2003. They have released two full-length records on SKiN GRAFT Records and Lovepump United as well as numerous collaborations, splits and seven inches. The membership is Chloe "Deluxxx" Skum on flamejob scream, Yannick "NoNo" Desranleau on Total Downward Thunder, Myles "BOP" Broscoe on Electric Mountain Range and Alex "Kozz" Moskos on Split-Skreen Desert Guitar. The band works and lives in Montreal, where they are presently composing material for concept record on Canadian Prime Ministers and French Military Strategy circa 1759, working on a Throbbing Gristle cover and eating well. **********************"

Aids Wolf has left Montreal and are on the road for at least the next month. Currently on tour with Philly's U.S. Girls, the two bands will join Sightings, Fiasco, and Talk Normal for a Todd P/Michelle Panache show at Death By Audio in Brooklyn tonight (3/11), and then will make their way to SXSW where Aids Wolf have a ton of performances scheduled, at least one of which is being being promoted by Todd P. More details, all dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "AIDS Wolf - 2009 Tour Dates (NYC tonight, US Girls, SXSW) "