DOWNLOAD: Elks - "Destined For The Sun" (MP3)

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Heavy Suzan Cream

Liquor Store will team up with Heavy Cream, Grooms, and Hunters for a show at Death By Audio TONIGHT (9/7). It's one of a few shows that Heavy Cream have/had scheduled in the NYC area. They played Union Pool and Cake Shop last week and Rock Shop last night. Pics from the Cake Shop show, which featured a headlining set from Unnatural Helpers (who played a bunch of shows in town too) and support from The Suzan (ditto), are in this post.

Heavy Cream are on the road surpporing their new LP Danny which was just released on Infinity Cat Recordings. Dig on what's left of their tour sked below.

Meanwhile, the headliners at Death by Audio tonight, Liquor Store, will also play Music Hall of Wiliiamsburg on 10/28, alongside Elks, Ninjasonik, and "hosts" Jeff The Brotherhood (who are very good friends of Heavy Cream). Tickets are still on sale.

Elks also played Rock Shop last night with Heavy Cream, and are prepping to release their new six-song EP Elks In Space produced by Brendan Tobin of Made Out of Babies. No word on when/who will release the effort, but until then, download one of the tracks above.

More pictures from the Cake Shop show (which doubled as Heavy Cream guitarist Mimi's 23rd birthday party), and UH's setlist, and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Heavy Cream played Cake Shop w/ Unnatural Helpers & the Suzan (pics), play DbA tonight w/ Liquor Store & other dates"

Nick and Lev of Krallice / Bloody Panda (more by Greg Cristman)

Krallice have spent some time away from the live stage as of late, but will return on October 7th for a show with incredible blackened blasters Infernal Stronghold and Concussion at Shea Stadium in Brooklyn. The band has been working their follow-up to Dimensional Bleedthrough for Profound Lore Records, though no word on a date or the current state of the release. - BBG

In related news, Nick McMaster of Krallice appears on Nader Sadek's new In the Flesh.

And speaking of Shea Stadium, Pygmy Shrews, Unnatural Helpers, and the Babies play there tonight (8/30). It will be the Unnatural Helpers' 2nd of four NYC-area shows. On Saturday they played Dead Herring because that's where their show scheduled for Bruar Falls was moved to. Tuesday, 9/1, they're at Maxwell's and Wednesday is Cake Shop. More info in This Week in Indie.

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Wild Nothing - Golden Haze (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cosmetics - Sleepwalking (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Magic Bullets - Lying Around (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Stereo Total - Baby Ouh (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Unnatural Helpers - Sunshine/Pretty Girls (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Unnatural Helpers - Girl in the Window (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bare Wires - Seeking Love (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Sundelles - Gold (MP3)

Wild Nothing

It's another Double Issue sized column this week with a lot of exciting stuff this week. We'll start with a contest. Wild Nothing headline an all-Captured Tracks bill at Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night (8/28) with Cosmetics, MINKS, and Blank Dogs...and we're giving away a pair of tickets to the show. Just send an email to BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM with the subject line "Wild Nothing" and we'll pick a winner at random.

There's a lot going on in Wild Nothing's world. The band, who hail from Blacksburg, VA, are packing their bags and moving Brooklyn. Not really surprising, except that it took this long. They also have a new EP, Golden Haze, coming out on Captured Tracks sometime in the near future. Apart from the title cut (which you can download above), tracklistings on the CD, 12" and digital versions will vary, which reminds me of the way they used to release multiple versions of UK CD singles in the '90s to get a higher chart position. Fun with formats, or milking the fans? I guess if all the songs are worth hearing it won't matter.

No matter which one you buy, "Golden Haze" is another sparkler from these guys who have been playing a lot of new songs at their shows. And if you haven't picked up their debut Gemini yet, I think it's one of the year's best. And with a permanent line-up (and a new, really solid drummer), Wild Nothing have been a really good live band too.

P.S. Captured Tracks will be giving out free mixtapes at the Bowery Ballroom merch table

Cosmetics

Also on that Bowery bill are Vancouver synthpop duo Cosmetics who are playing a string of NYC shows in this week: tonight (8/25) at the Wierd party at Home Sweet Home, then the Bowery show on Saturday, and finally at Glasslands for Pendu Disco on Tuesday (8/31) with Cult of Youth and Seattle's King Dude. Cosmetics only have two singles out at the moment, though both are pretty good shavings of retro-futuristic minimal disco. (Not too far off from what Glass Candy does.) You can download the A-side of their current single, "Sleepwalking," at the top of this post.

Stereo Total

If you want more minimal beats but with an angular, more arty bent, Stereo Total are playing tonight (8/25) at Le Poisson Rouge. The veteran French-German duo have been supercolliding styles for nearly 20 years. Krautrock, chanson, new wave, punk, garage...Stereo Total make it their own. They were the first band I ever saw at Bowery Ballroom, sometime in 1998, and I still remember a medley they did that featured covers of Salt n' Peppa's "Push it" and Hot Butter's "Popcorn." That's sort of Stereo Total in a nutshell. Their eighth album, Baby Ouh!, is a lot of fun. Check out the album's title track at the top of this post.  The band are just getting started on their North American tour, and all dates are at the bottom of this post.

Magic Bullets

If you're going to see Tennis at Glasslands on Thursday, make sure you get there in time to see San Francisco's Magic Bullets. The band's debut album, just out on Mon Amie Records, recalls the early '80s days of Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Haircut 100 and The Style Council, with a little C-86 in there as well. (That's basically the formula to get me to come see your band. Well, one of them.) In addition to drawing from a bunch of influences dear to me, they write some fantastically catchy songs. Download one of them, "Lying Around," at the top of this post.

If you can't make the Glasslands show, Magic Bullets are also doing an in-store at Permanent Records in Greenpoint on Friday (8/27) afternoon and then play Pianos Saturday night with Blood Orange (aka Dev Hynes aka Lightspeed Champion) and Staunton, VA's Cinnamon Band.

Unnatural Helpers

Still more! Seattle's Unnatural Helpers released one of my favorite songs of Summer 2010, the addiction-loving "Sunshine/Pretty Girls," which can be found on the band's Hardly Art debut, Cracked Love and Other Drugs. It can also be found at the top of this post in MP3 form. Download it right now. If there's nothing else quite as glorious on the rest of the album, that makes the rest of it merely very good.  Frontman Dean Whitmore plays drums in The Intelligence (whose forthcoming new album is pretty fab) but where that band is making cerebral garage, Unnatural Helpers punkish driving force is man's other frontal lobe. If you know what I'm saying.

Unnatural Helpers are in the area for four shows. They play Bruar Falls Dead Herring (it moved from Bruar Falls) on Saturday (8/28) with Bare Wires (more on them in just a sec), Shea Stadium on Monday (8/30) with the Babies, Maxwell's on Wednesday, September 1st, and then Cake Shop on Thursday, September 2. The band are then going on tour with Mudhoney, and those dates are at the bottom of this post.

Bare Wires

As mentioned above, the Saturday show at Bruar Falls Dead Herring is with Bare Wires whose new album (their second) just came out on John Dwyer's Castle Face Records, a label that only seems to spring to life when the Ohsees frontman finds a band he likes. (Previous Castle Face releases include debuts from Ty Segall and the Fresh & Onlys.) Though the two previous sentences might lead you to believe Bare Wires to be blown-out low-fi garage. They are in fact a really great power pop band in the tradition of The Nerves or even The Sweet,  and the album, Seeking Love, is decidedly mid-fi. Don't believe me? There's an MP3 of the album's title track up there amongst all the others. These guys know their way around a hook.

In addition to the Bruar Falls show on Sunday (a kind of don't miss in my book if you can tear yourself away from Mad Men and True Blood), Bare Wires also play Friday (8/27) at Monster Island Basement with Xray Eyeballs and Liquor Store.

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And finally, Montreal's incredible Think About Life were supposed to play two shows/cruises on The Boat on Friday (8/27) but the concerts struck a metaphorical iceberg and sunk. (It got canceled.) Luckily, Think About Life abandoned ship and are now playing Santos Party House instead. I've said it a zillion times in the last year, TAL are one of my favorite live bands of the moment and they'll be one of yours too if you go see them. No matter how bad a mood you're in, you'll leave smiling. Don't be dumb...go to this show!

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And a few more recommended shows not covered above.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25

Florida's awesome Jacuzzi Boys are playing Knitting Factory tonight for another of those Scion Garage shows, this time with Nobunny headlining. Free with RSVP. I'm not sure what it is about their sound -- the singer's voice, the more garagey Feelies-esque jangle -- but I just love them. Nobunny is fun too, of course, but I kind of wish he'd spring for a new bunny mask. It's getting really, really creepy.

Austin's TV Torso play Death By Audio tonight. Their new EP, Status Quo Vadis, is darkly romantic, atmospheric, and rockin'. It's also a free download via their bandcamp site. I dig it. Also playing: Juston Stens & Get the Real Gang, and Slow Animal.

Tennis play the first of their NYC shows at Cake Shop.

continued below...

Continue reading "Wild Nothing, Cosmetics, Stereo Total, Magic Bullets, Unnatural Helpers, Bare Wires, Jacuzzi Boys & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Heavy Cream - Watusi (MP3)

Heavy Cream @ Death by Audio in July (more by Leia Jospe)

Nashville's Heavy Cream release their debut album, Danny, on JEFF the Brotherhood's Infinity Cat label August 24 and you can download the catchy, rockin' "Watusi" from it at the top of this post.

Around the same time, the band will be heading back to NYC for another round of shows. The first will be opening for the Detroit Cobras on the Rock's Off Concert Cruise on August 20. They'll then play Union Pool on Sept 1 (with Boogie Boarder), Cake Shop on Sept 2 (with Unnatural Helpers), The Meat Locker in Montclair on Sept 4, The Rock Shop on Sept 6 (with Dinowalrus and Pterodactyl), and Death by Audio again on Sept 7.

Heavy Cream were here just a few weeks ago -- maybe you saw them at Death by Audio? The band are playing some shows to and from NYC, and all those dates are listed below, along with the cover art for Danny...

Continue reading "Heavy Cream releasing 'Danny' (MP3), schedule 6 more NYC-area shows & other tour dates "

Memorial Day Weekend officially opened the summer, and for those in the Pacific Northwest it also brought Sasquatch Music Festival (pictures from all three days are coming soon). Now the lineup for its Labor Day cousin, Bumbershoot 2010, has been announced. That fest, happening at Seattle, WA's Seattle Center September 4th-6th, will include headliners Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, Hole, Rise Against, Neko Case, The Decemberists, J. Cole and "one more very special guest to be announced soon."

Tickets (including non-Mainstage 'economy' passes) are on sale now. The rest of the lineup (by day) for the seven-stage festival is posted below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2010 lineup (Bob Dylan... Hole... Mary J Blige)"

DOWNLOAD: The Moondogies - Changing (MP3)

photos by Jake Forney

Pissed Jeans

Sub Pop/Hardley Art held their CMJ showcase at Mercury Lounge on Saturday night. Among those on the lineup was the Dum Dum Girls, in what was their second show that day. They since played again last night (10/17) at Bruar Falls and they'll open for the King Khan & BBQ Show this week. At that Monday show, Bill Pearis took a video of their song "Hey Sis" (posted below). After Saturday's, he wrote:

This was the first day of Dum Dum Girls existence as a live band, but clearly they spent a lot of time working out the details, from the look -- bangs, gorgeous Silvertone guitars and bass, extremely short black dresses and stockings -- to the sound, which is somewhere between the Velvet Underground and '60s girl groups. It was an impressive debut, hot and cool at the same time. I kept thinking, "this is what the Velvet Underground might sound like if all the members were Nico."

Now technically Dum Dum Girls played before Saturday, at the Woodsist / Captured Festival, and some West Coast dates, each with different line-ups. Which could happen again. But this felt like the first real version.

As Bill pointed out, it was their first "day" because they had also performed at Music Hall of Williamsburg that afternoon.

London garage punks Male Bonding, who played NYC shows all week, held down the absolute last slot of the night, while The Dutchess & the Duke (who also played earlier in the week at the BrooklynVegan loft party) warmed the crowd up for Pissed Jeans (who play "NYU Halloween Hardcore Fest" on October 30th at LPR) ...

[The Dutchess and the Duke's] Lortz and Morrison make a good musical pair, trading off guitar leads and contrasting his grainy bark with her smoother harmonies. That's apparent enough on their two albums, but onstage, their chemistry keeps their music from dissolving into Dylan pastiche. In fact, in their best moments-- particularly "Scorpio", whose downhearted call-and-response seemed especially emotionally alienated-- they made an audacious effort not simply to re-create old sounds, but to mold those influences to suit their own modern ends. [Pitchfork]

The Moondoggies were also on the Mercury Lounge bill and had performed in flannel at the BrooklynVegan Bowery Presents show at Pianos earlier that day.

Easily categorized as "Americana," The Moondoggies marry alt-country with 1970's folk, but Quick's twinkling keyboard brings the band immediately into the 21st century. [KEXP]

The Mercury lineup also included Unnatural Helpers, Obits and Golden Triangle. Pictures of all the bands plus the above-mentioned Dum Dum Girls video and more, below...

Continue reading "pics from the Sub Pop CMJ showcase @ Mercury Lounge - Obits, Pissed Jeans, Dum Dum Girls (who played Bruar Falls)"

by Martin Longley

Er, well, I fucked up slightly. It's my first time at The Bowery Electric and I arrive at eleven, thinking that the gig's happening until midnite. By eleven-twenty, Heavy Trash have fully climaxed, and there's not going to be an encore, despite the crowd doing an extremely good job of baying out over the rockabilly/blues disco. Even so, the Heavy Trash experience is so densely intense that such a brief exposure almost feels equivalent to most other combos playing a full gig. The Electric's an impressively cave-like basement den, and Heavy Trash are completely dominating its intimate space. The gangly Jon Spencer is going for a Mexican Elvis look, testifying down on one knee, or down on the floor, or casting his blank gaze up to the ceiling.

Having witnessed his Blues Explosion several times over the years, this is my first exposure to Heavy Trash. It's a natural evolution back in time to rockabilly, and even rock'n'roll, but fed through the Spencer grater, amped up into a frothing frenzy. He's doing his extended band-introduction speech, but the Spencer mind's going blank and he's being fazed by familiar faces in the crowd-front. All of the band are providing sweet-toned backing vocals, magnifying the cabaret-irony vibrations. Spencer's strumming an electrified acoustic guitar, with Matt Verta-Ray handling the electric-twang soloing. Reverb soaks all, not least Spencer's hiccup-ing vocals. The drums and upright bass pick up their pace and there's a full re-launch into song as the Trash deliver their final frenetic surge. Fortunately, they're playing again at Santos Party House next Tuesday nite...

The Tuesday (10/20) show in question is the Panache/NY Night Train CMJ showcase that is happening on two floors of the venue. Flyer and set times below....

Continue reading "Heavy Trash played Bowery Electric, playing NY Night Train CMJ show at Santos Party House (full lineup)"

Dum Dum Girls @ Woodsist Fest (more by Tim Griffin)

2009 Sub Pop / Hardly Art CMJ Showcase
Sat 10/24/2009 @ Mercury Lounge in NYC

Male Bonding 2:00
Obits 1:00
Pissed Jeans 12:00
Golden Triangle 11:00
Dutchess & the Duke 10:00
Moondoggies 9:00
Dum Dum Girls 8:00
Unnatural Helpers 7:00

No Advanced tickets. CMJ badges or $12 at the door.

Dum Dum Girls are are also opening shows for King Khan & BBQ later in the month.

DOWNLOAD: Talbot Tagora - Internet Fixture (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Le Loup - We are Gods! We are Wolves! (MP3)

Hardly Art is an independent record label based in Seattle, WA. Founded in early 2007 by Sub Pop Records, Hardly Art is run by two full-time employees and is distributed by the Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) and Sub Pop. The label's name comes from a lyric the song "No Culture Icons" by [ex-Sub Pop band] the Thermals [who are in town], and the unofficial motto for the label is: Quality records for quality people since very recently. [Wikipedia]

The Hardly Art roster is now up to nine bands, the latest addition to which is Brooklyn Band Golden Triangle.

Golden Triangle @ NYU Strawberry Festival 2009 (more by Lauren Monaco)

Golden Triangle's upcoming shows include a gig on Saturday, May 9th at Rubulad with the Homosexuals. The band then plays a free show on Tuesday, May 12th at Southpaw with the Phenomenal Handclap Band. They're also scheduled to perform June 12th as part of the Northside Festival (again with The Homosexuals). All tour dates below.

Earlier this year when Golden Triangle were still unsigned, the group won the Dickies Battle of the Bands down at SXSW. The judges for that included Black Bubblegum, GZA, and Randy & Dean of No Age (who, being signed to Sub Pop, are now label cousins with the winning band).

Hardly Art intends to release Golden Triangle's debut full-length in early 2010. Other new signings by Hardly Art include Seattle bands Talbot Tagora and Unnatural Helpers.

Unnatural Helpers are a pretty righteous Seattle punk band with two former members of The Catheters, an ex-Sub Pop band of which I was especially fond and whose presence on the musical scene I miss dearly. Unnatural Helpers is ex-Catheters guitarists Brian Standeford (also of Idle Times and Tall Birds) and Leo Gephardt (Tall Birds), The Dutchess and the Duke's Kimberley Morrison on bass, though the band is the brain child of Dean Whitmore, who drums and sings. [Seattle Weekly]

A new track by Talbot Tagora (who named themselves after a type of car), "Internet Fixture," is currently posted at The Fader (and above). Their album Lessons in the Woods or a City will be released July 21st on CD and LP. From the label's more established acts, new discs are also planned for Le Loup and the Dutchess & the Duke by the end of this year.

Only one other Hardly Art band has an NYC date coming up: indie-pop trio Pretty & Nice play Union Hall on May 14th with the Dig and Middle Distance Runner. Tickets are on sale.

All upcoming Hardly Art tour dates below...

Continue reading "Golden Triangle & other bands signed to Hardly Art (like Talbot Tagora & Unnatural Helpers) - 2009 tour dates & stuff "