photos by Chris La Putt

DOM in the Puma Store

For CMJ, SPIN hooked up with the Puma store in Union Square to present a series of free in-stores. Wednesday's schedule included one of the three shows that The Duke Spirit played, one of Dom's many CMJ 2011 appearances, and even a set by Weekend (who played the BrooklynVegan official showcase on Friday night). This Puma commercial continues below...

Continue reading "bands like Dom, the Duke Spirit & Weekend played in a Puma store (pics)"

Wild Flag at Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

The first round of CMJ 2011 artists have been announced. The initial list includes Neon Indian (Webster Hall with Purity Ring), CSS (Webster Hall with EMA and MEN), Zola Jesus (KF and LPR), Wild Flag (Bowery Ballroom with Eleanor Friedberger and Hospitality), Metronomy (MHOW), Portugal. The Man (T5 with Givers and Alberta Cross), Viva Brother, Wombats, The Good Natured), Kvelertak, Handsome Furs, Memoryhouse, Pharoahe Monch, and more.

The Viva Brother show is on October 19 at Bowery Ballroom with 1,2,3 and Kitten. Tickets are on sale now (or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge). All dates below.

The Wombats show is on October 19 at Webster Hall with The Postelles and The Good Natured. Tickets are on sale now (or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge). All dates below.

Other bands scheduled to play that aren't part of CMJ's initial announce include Still Corners, Shonen Knife at Public Assembly, PS I Love You, and Revolver. Full list below...

Continue reading "CMJ 2011 initial lineup (Handsome Furs, Viva Brother, Wombats, Memoryhouse, Kvelertak, Pharoahe Monch, more)"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

[Broken Records] run the gamut of seriously intense stompers where the guitars, violin and keyboards seem like they are going to burst into flames at any second. On the other side of the spectrum, as singer Jamie Sutherland puts it, "Here's another sad bastard song." The tunes are stripped down, almost traditional sounding Scottish laments where Jamie stands alone to sing. It's one of those, "Please nobody talk" moments where Jamie plays the title track off their second album, Let Me Come Home, which he dedicated to his family in the crowd..."
[MusicSnobbery @ the Mercury Lounge show]

Scotland's Broken Records passed through NYC with US Royalty last week, playing dates at Mercury Lounge (2/22) and the Rock Shop (2/23) in celebration of their new LP Let Me Come Home (out now via 4AD).

The tour continues on the West Coast this weekend, starting at Seattle's Tractor Tavern on 3/2 (Wednesday). All dates and more pictures from the Rock Shop show, are below...

Continue reading "Broken Records & US Royalty played Mercury Lounge & Rock Shop (pics & more dates) "

DOWNLOAD: U.S. Royalty - Equestrian (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: U.S. Royalty - Monte Carlo (MP3)

U.S. Royalty

The Wombats were supposed to play a show at Glasslands in Brooklyn on Monday night with U.S. Royalty, but the Wombats have cancelled all January dates including Tuesday night at Mercury Lounge as well.

DC band U.S. Royalty are no longer playing Glasslands either (the whole show is cancelled), but you can catch them for free Tuesday evening at the Apple Store in SoHo ("Join us for a special live performance from U.S. Royalty and hear songs from their debut album, "Mirrors.""). Two U.S. Royalty songs can be sampled above.

photos by Erez Avissar

The Shaky Hands

Tickets went on sale today for a January 16th Takka Takka / La Strada / Frances show at Mercury Lounge. Wednesday night (12/2), Takka shared a bill with tour-mates US Royalty and The Shaky Hands at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn show was actually kicked off by Josh Wise from French Kicks who played a solo set (Josh made another appearance this week as part of Rumours last night at The Bell House). Josh was followed by an energetic set by US Royalty who were followed by Takka Takka's new lineup which led up to the headliners of the evening. More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "The Shaky Hands & US Royalty played Knitting Factory in Brooklyn w/ Takka Takka - pics & new show on sale"

The Neave: How was it playing alongside bands like the Meat Puppets and the Thermals? What artists or bands, if any, would you like to play/collaborate with in the future?

Mayhaw Hoons of The Shaky Hands: To me, the Meat Puppets tour was the best of all time. We had done five shows with The Shins a few years back, and that was amazing, but I feel like we never had a good connection with the fans. They were playing places like the Greek Theatre; an awesome experience, but kind of strange for us. With the Meat Puppets, we were having great shows every night to the best music fans ever. Plus, getting to know the band was a dream come true.

Thermals fans were a bit harder to crack. They are rabid kids. Some nights were amazing; some nights it was crickets. They wanted to get to their beloved Thermals and crowd surf. Every audience is different, but The Thermals themselves were always great to be around, and as I said earlier, we had an awesome time on the road with them.

We would love to tour with the Puppets again. Other great bands would be Big Business, Tom Petty or, I don't know, Shakira?

The Shaky Hands' tour with their Kill Rock Stars labelmates the Thermals came to New York in May. They were also here for CMJ on the heels of their new record Let It Die, which came out in September. The new record's sound is less insistent punk (than their previous LP, Lunglight) and more classic-inspired bar rock.

Their two-week, NYC-to-Cali tour kicks off Wednesday, December 2nd at Knitting Factory Brooklyn, with Takka Takka, Joshua Wise/Eyeses and tourmates US Royalty . Tickets are on sale.

US Royalty will be joining the band for a few of those tour dates before being replaced by The Rural Alberta Advantage (in who are in NYC this January).

All tour dates and Shaky Hands' video for new song "Already Gone" are below...

Continue reading "The Shaky Hands kicking off December tour (dates)-- Wednesday night in Broolyn w/ Takka Takka, US Royalty"

Art Brut @ Mercury Lounge - 11/10/05 (more photos)

Art Brut Five night NYC run @ Mercury Lounge is coming...

Mon 6/1 (Tickets)
Art Brut 10:00
Demander 9:00
The Picture 8:00

Tue 6/2 (Tickets)
Art Brut 10:00
Murder Mystery 9:00
Les Sans Culottes 8:00

Wed 6/3 (Tickets)
Art Brut 10:00
Tiny Masters Of Today 9:00
U.S. Royalty 8:00

Thu 6/4 (SOLD OUT)
Art Brut 10:00
Cymbals Eat Guitars 9:00
Phil & The Osophers 8:00

Fri 6/5 (SOLD OUT)
Art Brut 11:00
Special Guest 10:00
Keith TOTP & his Minor US Indie Celebrity All Star Backing Band 9:00 - DJ Eamon Hamilton (BrakesBrakesBrakes) 8:00

At first i thought, "do I really ever need to see Art Brut again?" Then I listened to the new album (Art Brut vs. Satan - out now on Downtown Records), and thought, "I really do want to see Art Brut again!", especially if again happens at a venue as small as Mercury Lounge.

As you can see above, tickets are still available for three of the five NYC shows. All dates HERE.

As you can also see above, the final night, now unfortunately sold out, seems to be the most special. Not only will it be the final night, but Keith TOTP means they're keeping it in the family ("Minor US Indie Celebrity All Star Backing Band" included), and "special guest" means, well... "Special Guest". If I could take one guess, my guess would be Art Brut 47 (aka We are Scientists), but that is just a guess.

A video diary of the recording of the new Art Brut album, with producer Frank Black (who by the way is playing the Siren Festival this year), is posted below...

Continue reading "5 NYC nights worth of Art Brut openers (one 'special guest') "

Bob Mould two nights ago @ Joe's Pub (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

Last night (4/9), while some were enjoying (or not enjoying) a Passover Seder, others caught Bob Mould at his second of two shows at Joe's Pub. Anonymous wrote,

Unfortunately it was not an ideal venue tonight.
It could have been, but the atmosphere just wasn't the way most BM solo shows usually are.
Still not bad, and the audience was with him, but people were eating dinner....that's an ideal venue for Bob Mould?? I don't think so.

We have a review and pictures from the first night, HERE. Tonight (4/10), Bob switches it up a little and plays DJ (and maybe performs live?) at Highline Ballroom for his popular gay dance night Blowoff. (Tickets are on sale.)

Paper Magazine held their "Beautiful People Party" at Hiro Ballroom last night. Past musical guests at the annual get together have included Antony and Joanna Newsom (whose music is now featured in a bra commercial). This year it was Paper cover-girl Katy Perry who was already in town playing multiple nights at Irving Plaza and humping bananas.

Speaking of humping bananas, Chris Cornell played two shows at Webster Hall this week. In the YouTube video below you can see that he.... shaved his guitar player's head on stage while they were playing at one of them.

Also featured in Paper's new "Beautiful People" issue is comedian Aziz Ansari who co-stars with Amy Poehler in the TV show Parks and Recreation which premiered last night. Did you catch it? What did you think?

Lissy Trullie was featured in last year's "Beautiful People" issue. Last night she played Union Hall with US Royalty (who play the Studio at Webster Hall tonight).

New Ditmas Park/Flatbush venue Sycamore hosted its third-ever live show last night. Check out the schedule for what they have coming up.

The Books paid a somewhat rare visit to NYC. The band, noted one showgoer, "debuted some sweet new tunes." Those'd be from the group's forthcoming record, which, according to the Columbia Spectator, is due next year. The Spectator also noted the lack of promotion for the show - which according to the Books' Twitter sold out less than a day before it happened. One student, on the minimal on-campus promotion, said, "I had no way of knowing they were playing at Columbia...I found out about the concert on a random music blog that I was casually browsing -- I don't even remember which site it was."

As NYC's summer concert lineup comes together, two shows were added to calendar yesterday - Casiokids at South Street Seaport and Shilpa Ray at Castle Clinton (as part of a Sly Stone tribute concert). Shilpa played Death by Audio last night. Look for more summer-show announcements today (in addition to Simian Mobile Disco at the Williamsburg Waterfront).

UK band Pet Shop Boys almost became Rescue Shelter Boys.

What did you do last night?

Continue reading "What did you do last night?"