yes we've lost our minds...

BrooklynVegan & AnSo Present:
A Day Party in Austin, TX!
@ Spider House (2908 Fruth St @ Guadalupe)
Thursday March 18, 2010
Noon-7pm

ALL AGES-FREE [No badges, wristbands or RSVP necessary]
19 bands on 3 stages (1 indoor and 2 outdoor)
Full bar w/ Drink Specials. In house restaurant & backyard BBQ.

Stage #1
6:00 Human Eye
5:00 Tyvek
4:00 Thee Oh Sees
3:00 Golden Triangle
2:00 Lovvers
1:00 The Beets

Stage #2
6:00 Cheeseburger
5:00 Jim Jones Revue
4:00 Slim Cessna's Auto Club
3:00 Kid Congo Powers
2:00 Carletta Sue Kay
1:00 Or, The Whale
12:00 La Strada

Stage #3
5:30 UUVVWWZ
4:30 Everybody Was In the French Resistance Now (w/ Eddie Argos of Art Brut)
3:30 DM Stith
2:30 Odawas
1:30 A Sunny Day in Glasgow
12:30 The Sandwitches

Thank you to Annie Southworth of Panache Booking aka AnSo for partnering with us on this amazing party. More info on the bands and stuff as we find time. In the meantime, happy to get this (yet another BrooklynVegan party at SXSW this year) announced!

P.S. Odawas is also on the bill of the free BrooklynVegan Happy Hour show happening at Noise Pop in San Francisco this Saturday (2/27)

UPDATE: SXSW flyer below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan & AnSo Present a kick-ass & free Austin 2010 Thursday Day Party (with a zillion bands)"

by Bill Pearis

Surfer Blood

NIGHTTIME

As I mentioned in that big post about Montreal bands at CMJ, The High Dials are among them and are just great live -- sort of country-tinged jangly shoegaze -- and they're impressive live. They play Lit Lounge at 10:15 and then Arlene's Grocery at 12:30AM. If you like Ride, The Byrds, or Brian Jonestown Massacre, you shouldn't miss these guys. Also playing at Lit Lounge, earlier in the evening (8:30) are Montreal's Black Diamond Bay which features a couple former members of the Dears and feature a similarly bombast rock sound. They're very good live too, especially if you have an appreciation for the live musician O Face.

If you like electro /dance there is an insane lineup at Santos tonight. And it's free. No badges required. The killer lineup includes three UK dancepop acts: Dan Black whose album Un is pretty fun; the borderline-novelty (but fun) Man Like Me and trio We Have Band who played here back in March. It keeps going: there's also Australia's Midnight Juggernauts, Montreal's We Are Wolves, Denmark's Spleen United (somewhere between Placebo and Presents), Toronto's Parallels, and LA's Paparazzi. There's also a slew of NYC acts: Maluca, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Lemonade,Heartsrevolution, Javelin, and The Golden Filter. Did I mention it was free?

At Union Pool, the folks at Panache Booking are showcasing a big handful of their bands, many of which have unnecessary repeated consonants: recent Brooklyn Vegan Day party veterans JEFF the Brotherhood and Lovvers, plus Flexions, zZz, Turbofruits, UUVVWWZ, and Dark Meat. Having seen at least half of these bands, I'm going to go ahead and say this'll be quite a party, whether you like it or not.

If you're going to the Pitchfork/Showpaper show at Market Hotel and wished that it was rock all night instead of switching over to electronic acts/DJs after midnight, your admission will also get you into the show happening down the street at Todd P's Above the Auto Parts Store venue (600 Bushwick), which has four great bands: Sisters, Screaming Females, Surfer Blood (again) and JEFF the Brotherhood (again). To get in for free you need to get there before 11PM; afterwards it's $10.

Or, you might think about heading to Silent Barn before or after (or instead of). Popjew has a great line-up of bands, including much-loved-by-me Let's Wrestle, A Classic Education (who were great at our Thursday day party), twangy West Coasters Slang Chickens, My Teenage Stride and the electro-rock of Jacques Detergent.

And at The Bell House, there's Au Revoir Simone and the related (literally, by marriage) Pursesnatchers; the lush, 60s-ish chamber pop of Florida's The Postmarks, indiepop ska band Still Flyin' and Brooklyn-via-Australia band The Miracles of Modern Science. The Bell House may seem like truly dedicating your night to one venue, but luckily it's one of the nicest, most comfortable in the city.

Other shows tonight include Mum, Sufjan's BQE screenings, the Sub Pop showcase, the Kemado/Mexican Summer showcase, and the Topman party with the Almighty Defenders and Neon Indian.

And then we rest. Saturday day parties HERE. Hip Hop shows HERE. Flyers and set times below.

Continue reading "CMJ 2009 - Bill's Saturday nighttime picks"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: JEFF the Brotherhood - Bone Jam (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: JEFF the Brotherhood - Heavy Damage (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lovvers - Human Hair (MP3)

As mentioned deep within another post, both JEFF the Brotherhood and Lovvers are both set to play at Union Pool on October 24 as part of a pretty killer CMJ show, along with UUVVWWZ, An Albatross, Dark Meat, Flexions, and ZzZ. So this seemed like a good opportunity to update you on the whereabouts and goings-on of these two bands, both of whom have large upcoming North American tours mapped out. All dates below.

Lovvers (pictured above) have released their debut album, OCD Go Go Girls, in the UK -- no North American date set unfortunately -- and it's a 33-minute blast of garage-y punk, indebted to '80s Twin/Tone and SST (look no further than the album's "d.boon " for proof) as well as the current L.A./The Smell scene. Noisy, but they never forget the tunes. I saw their Cake Shop show last month and they are a bundle of energy and expect you to have fun too: trying to provoke a reaction from solemn, photo-happy girl s standing at the front of the stage, singer Shaun Hencher planted a kiss right on the mouth. (Didn't work unfortunately, she stood there afterwards like it never happened.) Just warning you for when they tour again here in October (they also play Santos on October 20th). You can check out the video for OCD Go Go Girls title track (as well as live footage from the Cake Shop show) further down the post.

Nashville's awesome JEFF the Brotherhood, meanwhile, have managed to finish their album, Heavy Days, despite near constant touring. It pretty much rocks the whole way through, and is indeed heavy (three tracks on the album have that word in the title), sometimes veering into metal territory, then back into driving hard rock, with a little surf and psych in there as well. It's out October 13 on Infinity Cat. I've written about these guys plenty this year, but I will reiterate: Jake and Jamin are great live, so do go see them as they seem to be hitting most of North America between now and November where they'll be touring with Ted Leo, Ty Segall, and Shonen Knife. You can check out two tracks from Heavy Days at the top of this post. Cover art and tracklist along with all dates and videos, below...

Continue reading "Lovvers returning to America, playing Brooklyn (CMJ) w/ JEFF the Brotherhood (new album) - tour dates, MP3, video"

DOWNLOAD: TRAA - Don't Haunt This Place (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Orenda Fink - Bloodline (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Orenda Fink - No Evolution (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Old Canes - Taxi On Vermont (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: UUVVWWZ - Shark Suit (MP3)

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson @ Union Hall 10/1 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's Summer of Fear, the follow-up to his 2008 self-titled debut, is set for an October 20th release on Saddle Creek. The label, which recently signed the songwriter, tells the TVotR/Grizzly Bear-littered story of the new record...

TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone--a close friend since the pair met en route to a Grizzly Bear show in 2005--helped bottle Robinson's bruised hymns last winter, ramping up the tension in such standout tracks as "Death by Dust," "Summer of Fear pt. 2," "The Sound," and the 11-and-a-half draining minutes of "More Than a Mess," a haunting epic that deserves its own short film. (Or more than half of Side D; Summer of Fear is spread across two LPs like one of Robinson's favorite records, Tusk.) Since they both "have a tendency toward a generally and hilariously doom stricken worldview," Malone also understood what Robinson was going for with his redemption songs. After all, he was there that summer. He saw it all go down, and now that he's heard the whole thing told through Summer of Fear's relentless and raw tone poems, he can't wait to see what Robinson comes up with next. (Robinson is desperate to record his third record--yes, already. Written last year in the midst of touring to support his unexpected self-titled debut, he describes the disc as containing,"actual songs...as opposed to vaguely melodic litanies of grievance.")

Robinson recently made a video for the song "Woodfriend," which is posted below.

October 20th will be a big day for Saddle Creek (home of Tokyo Police Club, Cursive and Land of Talk). It's also the release date for the latest by new signees Old Canes. The record, Feral Harmonic, is the Lawrence, KS band's second.

Old Canes architect Chris Crisci (also known as half of Appleseed Cast) constructed Feral Harmonic largely alone in his basement studio. He played the majority of the instrumentation himself with additional help from a cast of musician friends contributing various parts, including trumpet, harmophone, cello, and hammer dulcimer, among other instruments. As recording was regularly interrupted by touring, work, other projects, and life in general, production on the album took nearly three and a half years to complete.

Tracklist and album art are below.

The label will also be dropping a new album from Orenda Fink (Azure Ray, Art In Manila, O+S), titled Ask The Night, on October 6th.

Ask The Night was primarily recorded live to 8-track by Stephen Bartolomei (Mal Madrigal) in Orenda's former Omaha, NE, basement (she is now based in Los Angeles, CA), as well as by Andy LeMaster (Now It's Overhead; production on Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Azure Ray) in his Athens, GA, living room.

The album features a wide variety of players and singers, including producers Stephen Bartolomei and Andy LeMaster, Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Dan McCarthy (McCarthy Trenching), and Adrianne Verhoeven (Dri, The Anniversary, Art In Manila), among others. Four songs on Ask The Night are collaborations with Birmingham, AL-based artist and poet Chris Lawson...

Lawson also provided the album's art, which, with the tracklist, is below.

The Rural Alberta Advantage's previously-self-released debut came out on Saddle Creek on July 7th. The band was featured on ABC's Amplified on August 17th, and they have shows coming up. Those include the Positive Jam with the Hold Steady in Ithaca on September 6th, and a show at the Bowery Ballroom on October 7th. Tickets for that go on sale Friday, August 21st at noon.

UUVVWWZ also released an album on Saddle Creek on July 7th, and they'll also be in NYC in October (for CMJ). In fact, they'll be playing what looks like an extremely sick bill at Union Pool on October 24th with An Albatross, Dark Meat, Lovvers, Flexions, ZzZ, and JEFF The Brotherhood.

For a taste of what Saddle Creek has been up to over the past year (before any of the new bands mentioned above), check out the free sampler they're giving away on Amazon. All upcoming TRAA and UUVVWWZ tour dates, and above-mentioned things, are below...

Continue reading "Saddle Creek: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Old Canes & Orenda Fink ++ Rural Alberta Advantage & UUVVWWZ dates"

DOWNLOAD: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Don't Haunt This Place (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: UUVVWWZ - Shark Suit (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Frank, AB (MP3)

TRAA in Guelph, ON, Nov. 2008 (sidrguelph)

Saddle Creek Records has annnounced two new signings. The bands are the Rural Alberta Advantage and UUVVWWZ. The label will put out the previously self-released debuts of both, TRAA's Hometowns and UUVVWWZ's self-titled, on Tuesday, July 7th.

The Rural Alberta Advantage will be going on tour across North America this summer. Some dates are below, with more TBA. The band visits NYC on Saturday, May 30th for a show with I Was A King and Elevator Fight at the Mercury Lounge. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 8th at noon.

Bios for both bands, with tracklists, album art and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "The Rural Alberta Advantage (now on Saddle Creek like UUVVWWZ) - 2009 Tour Dates (includes Mercury Lounge)"