"RT @EducatingEric: It needs to be Thursday already so I can see Fucked Up with @AndrewWK on keyboards and @Viviangirls" -AndrewWK

Fucked Up & friend @ 'Pool Party' in July (more by Bao Nguyen)

Fucked Up are playing the entirety of their 2008 record Chemistry of Common Life at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on Thursday, November 5th. The 52-minute-and-20-second work will feature additional accompaniment by guests that include Andrew W.K., Vivian Girls and opener Katie Stelmanis. Also opening the show will be Titus Andronicus (who've been busy lately) and Brooklyn's The Girls at Dawn. Tickets are still on sale.

We also have a pair of tickets to give away, along with a copy of Chemistry of Common Life on LP and a Titus Andronicus limited Live in London 12" LP. Details are below.

On January 26th, Matador will be releasing a compilation of rare Fucked Up singles and b-sides called Couple Tracks. The comprehensive breakdown of the double-CD/double-LP is posted below.

Katie Stelmanis, a fellow Torontonian who's collaborated with Fucked Up before, just opened for Tegan and Sara at both of their Town Hall shows (Oct. 30th & 31st). At the gigs, she filled out the one-woman-show with a drummer and guitarist backing her up. A clip of her playing "Believe Me" at the first Town Hall show is below.

After the Brooklyn show, Fucked Up will be playing Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin on November 7th.

Contest details, show flyer and Couple Tracks info and tracklist are all below...

Continue reading "Fucked Up releasing rarities, playing album show Thurs w/ Katie Stelmanis who opened for Tegan & Sara -- WIN STUFF"

Eyehategod on a boat Saturday night (more by Chloe Rice)

tonight in NYC
* Aziz Ansari @ Whiplash
* La Roux, Body Language @ Highline Ballroom
* Precious Metal w/ Empyreon, Gwynbleidd, Hung @ Lit Lounge
* Dum Dum Girls, Reading Rainbow, Girls At Dawn @ Bruar Falls
* Railcars, Surf City, Heavy Winged, Antn Hrkwk @ Market Hotel
* Har Mar Superstar, Bang Bang Eche @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Far, Last Days Of Empire, The Campbell Apartment @ Mercury Lounge
* Eyehategod, Unearthly Trance, Tombs, Howl, Strong Intention @ Europa
* Vic Chesnutt Band, Clare & the Reasons, Liz Durrett @ Bowery Ballroom
* Parts and Labor, Surfer Blood, Small Black, The Sundelles @ Death By Audio

Surfer Blood was all over CMJ but if you missed them, they play tonight with Parts and Labor, Small Black and The Sundelles at Death By Audio. Small Black also had a lot of CMJ buzz and were chosen by Pitchfork to play the Saturday night show at Market Hlte.

Bruar Falls hosts a free show tonight with Sub Pop's Dum Dum Girls (opening for the King Khan & BBQ Show on Friday & Saturday), Reading Rainbow and Girls At Dawn.

Har Mar Superstar's Dark Touches is out now - he plays two nights in NYC starting with a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Bang Bang Eche. Tomorrow is the much smaller Mercury Lounge.

Vic Chesnutt has an all-star band on tour with him that includes Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion/Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Witchies. They play tonight at Bowery Ballroom and tomorrow at MHOW with Clare And The Reasons and Liz Durrett opening.

UK electropop artist La Roux play a sold-out show at Highline Ballroom. They're back next year and will play Webster Hall.

Far plays tonight (this time without Thursday) at Mercury Lounge with Last Days Of Empire and The Campbell Apartment. Last night it was at Bowery Ballroom.

Eyehategod go from a boat to Europa for a show with Unearthly Trance, Tombs, Howl and Strong Intention.

The Yankees made it to the World Series, which starts Wednesday, last night.

Florence and the Machine, who played a set at a Fader party at the Ace Hotel on Saturday, play some kind of private show at Soho House tonight. They're at Bowery tomorrow.

A video of Local Natives at our Friday night loft show is posted below.

Vivian Girls were in Puerto Rico during CMJ. A video of them playing acoustic on the island last Saturday is below. As for NYC, they play on Halloween at 171 Lombardy, sing backup for Fucked Up on Nov. 5, and perform with Grass Widow at Market Hotel on Nov. 6th.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday? (CMJ hangover)"

by Bill Pearis

As I just mentioned, the November 7th Frankie Rose and The Outs show at the Woodser will be with San Francisco's Grass Widow who will be in town for a week's worth of shows. Frankie was in a band with most of them, called Shitstorm, who basically became Grass Widow after Frankie moved to NYC.

Grass Widow have put out two records this year -- an LP on Make a Mess records which came out over the summer, and a new EP on Captured Tracks. They're both worth picking up, especially for fans of Brilliant Colors, Vivian Girls (with whom they'll play at Market Hotel on Nov. 6) and Liechtenstein. There's also a free afternoon show at Brooklyn Museum on Nov. 7 with Crystal Stilts and The Beets.

The November 7th date coincides with the museum's Who Shot Rock: Photographers of Rock and Roll exhibition which opens at the end of October.

All upcoming Grass Widow and Crystal Stilts dates, and a video, below...

Continue reading "Grass Widow is coming -- Brooklyn Museum w/ Crystal Stilts, Market Hotel w/ Vivian Girls, Woodser w/ Frankie Rose"

by Bill Pearis

Frankie Rose is mainly known as a drummer, having played in Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, and Dum Dum Girls, but she's also a songwriter (she wrote VG's "Where Do You Run To?") and will be releasing her debut single, "Thee Only One," on Slumberland Records on October 27. She's also got a new band, Frankie and the Outs, who will make their live debut November 7th at The Woodser which will be the first show in a longtime for that South Williamsburg spot. Grass Widow is also on that bill.

With the new band, Frankie is sadly no longer drumming for Crystal Stilts. The split was amicable, guitarist JB plays guitar on her single. I'm told Crystal Stilts have a new drummer already, and the new Stilts lineup will even share a bill with Frankie and the Outs at two east coast Slumberland 20th Anniversary parties -- November 13th at the Black Cat and November 14 at the Bell House. (More on those further down the post.)

The Outs are a five piece, all girls, with whom Frankie will move from the drum kit to guitar (and vocals). The single's A-side is a two-and-a-half minute wall-of-sound pop that is what you might expect from someone who spent time in Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts. (It could be the sister of CS's "Love is a Wave.") The B-side, "Hollow Life," is more unexpected -- organ-driven, harmony-laden, dreamy and drum-free, owing a lot to Spacemen 3.

Neither the A-side or the B-side of Frankie Rose's single has made it onto her MySpace page, but you can listen to her demo of "Where Do You Run To," a track the Vivian Girls only played once live. However, Frankie says it will be part of the The Outs live repertoire.

Frankie will be behind the drum kit, though, for the Dum Dum Girls upcoming CMJ shows. This will be an all-girl line-up, apparently, unlike DDG's live debut at the Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival this summer that included Crocodiles' Brandon Welchez on guitar and Captured Tracks major domo Mike Sniper on bass. But that's only for these shows.

As mentioned above, Frankie and the Outs will play the two Slumberland Records 20th Anniversary shows at the Bell House and Black Cat. The full line-up for both shows is : Crystal Stilts, Brown Recluse, Pants Yell!, Frankie and the Outs; plus some reunions of classic Slumberland bands The Ropers, Nord Express, and Lorelei. It will be the first Ropers and Nord Express shows in ten years. Additionally, the Bell House show features a "special guest headliner." And as D.C. was the original home of the label, I wouldn't be surprised if some different special guests played that one too.

I think that is enough for one post. Tour dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Frankie Rose leaves Crystal Stilts, starts band, playing Slumberland Anniversary parties - full lineups & MUCH MORE "

DOWNLOAD: Katie Stelmanis - In My Favour (MP3)

@ the Titus Andronicus show @ Monster Island (more by Leia Jospe)

Along with a link for $18 tickets, which go on sale Friday, September 11th at 10am, there's some new insight into the lineup of Fucked Up's November 5th Chemistry of Common Life show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple. The show will feature "Andrew W.K. (Keyboards) / Vivian Girls (Backup Vocals) With Guests: Titus Andronicus / Katie Stelmanis." Sounds good!

You can also catch Titus Andronicus on October 15th at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. It's the last date of their current tour with So So Glos. Vivian Girls are on tour at the moment too, with the Beets. They play their next NYC show right after they get back, which will also be their first of two shows at a Masonic temple in one week.... it's on Halloween at the Ridgewood Masonic Temple with Crystal Stilts (followed by the F'd Up Masonic show listed above).

Andrew W.K. (whose new album, 55 Cadillac, is out now) is collaborating with Calder Quartet at his own gigs this fall. Did anyone happen to catch him on the street on the 5th?

Katie Stelmanis's amazing video for "Believe Me" and a recent interview are posted below...

Continue reading "Vivian Girls, Titus Andronicus, Andrew WK & Katie Stelmanis will join Fucked Up @ album show on Nov 5th (ticket info)"

photos by Leia Jospe

"Hey everyone! We just started the first leg of our crazy nine week tour (which ends in NYC on Halloween). These next few weeks we will be joined by our brothers, the Beets, on what we've named the Nightmare of Sound tour. [Tuesday] night was our kickoff show in Brooklyn at Death by Audio.

Cassie made new shirts for this tour. We have our Moped Girls 7"s, WFMU LPs, The World's Lousy comps, tote bags, pins, and soon (Sept. 8th) our new album, Everything Goes Wrong, on vinyl and CD. We played with Real Estate, Best Fwends, and the Beets." [Vivian Girls blog posting]

Real Estate play again tonight (8/27) at Brooklyn Bowl. Best Fwends played a few shows for the week they were in town from Texas. Another one was at The Studio @ Webster Hall.

More pictures and some videos from Tuesday night's show at Death By Audio, a Beets/Vivian Girls tour video, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Vivian Girls & The Beets played Death by Audio w/ Best Fwends & Real Estate (pics), now on tour (dates & video!)"

Vivian Girls @ Whitney in July (more by Anna Scialli)

NIN @ Webster Hall the other day (more by Bao Nguyen)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Amanda Blank @ Urban Outfitters
* Nine Inch Nails, The Horrors @ Terminal 5
* Heaven & Hell, Coheed & Cambria @ Theater at MSG
* Highline Piano Series: Phil Vassar @ Highline Ballroom
* My Teenage Stride, Surfer Blood, I'm Turning Into @ Silent Barn
* Vivian Girls, The Beets, Real Estate, Best Fwends @ Death By Audio
* Andy Friedman & The Golden Winners, Welcome Wagon, The Honeycutters @ The Bell House

Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath play the Theater at MSG as Heaven & Hell. Their first album in 17 years came out in April. Coheed & Cambria open.

Britney Spears is ALSO playing MSG tonight. amazing.

Queen Latifah's show tonight at the Nokia Theatre has been canceled.

Nine Inch Nails plays Terminal 5 with The Horrors tonight. They return to the venue tomorrow with Mew in the opening slot.

Vivian Girls kick off their N.A. tour with The Beets tonight at Death By Audio with Real Estate and Best Fwends. On the horizon, the Vivian Girls have a tenative Halloween show lined up for NYC.

You can also see Real Estate this Thursday at Insound's 10 Year anniversary party at the Brooklyn Bowl with Cymbals Eat Guitars, These Are Powers and The Drums.

The show tonight is your last chance to see Best Fwends on their current NYC run. They played with Das Racist at the Studio at Webster Hall, and at "Above the Auto Parts Store" on Saturday. A video from the latter show and a clip of the guys from 2007 are below.

Andy Friedman & The Golden Winners, Sufjan Stevens-produced band Welcome Wagon and The Honeycutters play The Bell House tonight. Welcome Wagon and Andy Friedman teamed up previously at a gig last December (at which Sufjan appeared) and one in January (where he did not).

Highline Piano Series contiunes with a performance by Phil Vassar.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

"As I type this post, I can still feel the dry crunchy residue of canned whipped cream in my hair. Oh well, its a small price to pay. Best Fwends at Emo's, the show was bonkers." [The Peen Scene]

Continue reading "Best Fwends land in NYC for 4 shows (starting tonight)"

DOWNLOAD: Vivian Girls - When I'm Gone (MP3)

photos by Joseph Xu, words by Andrew Frisicano

7:07 p.m.: The Vivian Girls put out one of my favorite albums of 2008, and their brief but hard-hitting set [at the Pitchfork Festival] doesn't disappoint. Big, melodic bass lines provide a foundation for innocent harmony vocals, a mix of tart and sweet that proves irresistible. Only disappointment, they didn't play "Where Do You Run To." [Chicago Tribune]

After a set of September/October tour dates in Japan & Australia, Vivian Girls are also tentatively scheduled to play a Halloween show that will "tentatively" (how Todd P lists it) happen at the Ridgewood Temple (1054 Bushwick Ave). Todd also lists two other shows that same night: Mount Eerie at the Market Hotel with Malkuth and Liturgy, and a show with Wooden Shjips, Religious Knives, and Crystal Stilts (who feature ex-Vivian Girl Frankie Rose on drums) at a venue TBA.

Meanwhile over in South Brooklyn, the Bell House will host a late show with Junior Boys and an early show with the King Khan & BBQ Show and Dum Dum Girls (who feature ex-Vivian Girl and current Crystal Stilt Frankie Rose on drums) (maybe not again though), on a Halloween that is shaping up to be a big night for NYC concerts this year (many that should not be competing).

Mroe pictures and interviews of the Vivian Girls at the Pitchfork Festival, with all tour dates, are below...

Continue reading "Vivian Girls vs Crystal Stilts vs Dum Dum Girls - Halloween 2009 in NYC & tour dates & pics & stuff"

words & photos by Anna Scialli

Jazz Hand Job & These Are Powers

Fans trekked through the rain and packed the cafeteria of the Whitney Museum of American Art on Friday (7/31) to catch Vivian Girls and These Are Powers play a (very) early set. It was the fourth of four (or fifth if you count the Feelies show) shows that were put on in conjunction with the Dan Graham retrospective at the museum.

By 7pm, the crowd was eager to hear These Are Powers, hailing from as close as Brooklyn and as far as Chicago. While the cafeteria of the Whitney clearly wasn't built with rock-show acoustics in mind, Anna Barie belted out song after song without concern for the unconventional venue. Pat Noecker, on bass and vocals, and Bill Salas on electroacoustic drums and vocals accompanied, pumping out catchy tunes encouraging the crowd of hipsters, youngsters, and other Whitney patrons to bob in place. Alongside the band was Providence dance troupe Jazz Hand Job, a team of sparkly interpretive dancers, with choreographed numbers for a few songs. Throughout the set, they weaved through the crowd dancing to the electronic beats.

As Vivian Girls took the "stage", the cafeteria was filled to capacity- crowds spilling out to the back patio or watching from between the shelves of art books. The three women dove into their set, with Cassie Ramone on guitar and lead vocals, Ali Koehler on drums, and Kickball Katy on bass. The crowd watched and listened closely as the trio mixed interesting melodies with well considered discordant reverb to make a sound all their own. While the Vivian Girls are fun and energetic live; it's no surprise that an art-rock band like them would play at a free Whitney show. Still, I couldn't help but wish I was hearing them in a venue with better acoustics. Luckily they'll be playing Death By Audio on August 25th in Brooklyn for everyone who missed them or wants to catch them again- at a more traditional venue.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Vivian Girls & These are Powers (with interpretative dancers) @ the Whitney Museum in NYC - pics "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Culver City (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yellow Fever - Joe Brown (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fergus & Geronimo - Harder Than It's Ever Been (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Magic Kids - Hey Boy (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Coconut Coolouts - Party Jail (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Seaport Music Festival Sampler (Zip)

YellowFever @ Death By Audio - July 22, 2009 (by Bryan Bruchman)

There are a lot of out-of-town bands I'm looking forward to seeing this weekend, and luckily they're all playing more than once, and many are sharing the same bill.

First is Austin duo Yellow Fever who I have caught a few times in the last year and they are really something special I think. I wrote this the first time I saw them: "Their sound couldn't be more spare -- usually just drums, the simplest guitar (often just single notes, not chords), and Jennifer Moore's understated, kinda haunting voice. It's that space in between the instrumentation that makes them so special. It's a little bit like Young Marble Giants if Beth Orton was the singer instead of Alison Statton." My only complaint would be they are slow on releasing records, but I look forward to hearing new stuff from them while they're here. They played last night at Death by Audio, where Vivian Girls said this via Twitter: "Yellow Fever were amazing tonight! Don't miss their other NYC shows this week." So, yeah, don't miss 'em -- you've got four more chances, including tonight at Cake Shop. All dates HERE.

Fergus & Geronimo

While we're in the Lone Star state, let's talk about another duo, Fergus & Geronimo, who are from Denton, TX and are playing two NYC shows this weekend. Andrew Savage and Jason Kelly are also in such Denton bands as Wax Museums and Teenage Cool Kids respectively, bonded over a love of '60s pop, Motown and psych-rock (a Texas specialty). Those influences come through loud and clear in their music, most of which is, at this point, only available on their MySpace, which was enough to get interest from Tic Tac Totally, Transparent, and Woodsist all of whom will be putting out their records. The Woodsist 7", "Harder Than It's Ever Been," is out now and you can download the A-side at the top of this post. It's a 1:47 pop gem, one of the best of its kind since Box Elders' "Hole in My Head." This is super-catchy stuff, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them this weekend.

Fergus & Geronimo, who are a five-piece when they play live, are at 92 Y Tribeca on Friday (7/24) with Crystal Stilts, Portland's Little Claw and Memphis' Magic Kids who I'll get back to in a second. They also play Saturday (7/25) at Market Hotel, also with Magic Kids, as well as YellowFever and the ever-present (and very good) Beets (who have a tour coming up with the Vivian Girls). Tickets are still on sale for Friday's show.

Magic Kids

Now onto Magic Kids. They're from Memphis and I first heard of them from a MySpace bulletin from Girls who played a show with them and enthusiastically raved about them. There's not a lot of bio info out there, but there seem to be a lot of them, and they clearly love '60s pop: Beach Boys, The Association, Tommy James & the Shondells, etc. The band have a record coming out sometime on Goner (home to Ty Segall and Box Elders and others) and you can download their single "Hey Boy" at the top of this post. They play Cake Shop tonight (7/23), that 92 Y Tribeca show tomorrow (7/24) and Market Hotel on Saturday night (7/25).

Personal and the Pizzas

Also this weekend we've got a couple West Coast bands, both of whom love a good slice, neither of whom seem to mind a little extra cheese, and they play together at Silent Barn on Friday and Cake Shop on Saturday.

Looking like greasers and sounding like New York 1975, Personal & the Pizzas originally hailed from New Jersey but now seem to call San Francisco their home. I'm not sure that there's a whole lot you need to say about these guys, you see their name you hear one song and you kind of know whether you're gonna like it or not. Maybe not for a whole album, but tracks like "I Don't Wanna Be No Personal Pizza" or "Brass Knuckles" would add flavor to any mix, and you just know they'll be fun live. Pizza Slayer interviewed them:

PS: Do you have pizza at all your shows? How does it enhance the experience?

P&P: Everybody loves the pie!! We probably order it like half and half..we're usually pretty broke so it's kinda hard to shell out like 70 or 80 bucks just for the love of it, but we'll do it. We don't care. Everyone loves Pizza and Pop. One time we was all dressed up in haWaiian shirts and coconut tits and all, and then we ordered some a them hawaaiian pizzas and then that delivery chic delivered the pies to us while we was playin with them shirts on and and she didn't know what the hell was goin on.

The Coconut Coolouts remind me of the Nuggets box set, where there are so many great bands with seminal songs on those cd's that I had never heard, it's hard to believe that the bands weren't bigger than their regional popularity. The Coconut Coolouts will likely be on on a Nuggets comp sometime in the year 2040 and people will be wondering why they had never heard of these guys with classics like Spinaround, Coconut Weekend, Party Jail and Stickup. Apparently they sometimes dress in banana costumes for gigs, no bananas were on stage but they were throwing out lifesavers saying they were acid.

Coconut Coolouts

A few more shows of interest this weekend. Black Moth Super Rainbow make their second Seaport Music series appearance on Friday (their first was in 2007 opening for Fugiya & Miyagi), this time headlining. Their latest album, Eating Us, was produced by Dave Fridman (Flaming Lips, MGMT among other things) and is pretty good. Opening will be low fi electro goths Blank Dogs whose new album, Under and Under, on In the Red Records I like a lot. They are also a band that benefits from good sound, something the Seaport has brought to every show this year. (Here We Go Magic in particular sounded stellar.) Also playing is one-man experimental band Dan Friel. Between the three acts there's gonna be a lot of temperamental old synthesizers, patch bays and homemade equipment on the Seaport stage -- let's hope it doesn't rain. I should also mention that Seaport Music has a "digital mixtape" you can download via Insound that features 15 of the acts playing this year, including all three of this week's acts (plus Superchunk, Casiokids and more). Download link is at the top of this post.

And don't forget Sissy Wish has added another show while in NY -- she plays Union Hall on Saturday night. She's better than her name.

Tour dates and video after the jump...

Continue reading "Fergus & Geronimo, Coconut Coolouts, Magic Kids, Personal & the Pizzas, YellowFever & more in This Week in Indie"

DOWNLOAD: Vivian Girls - When I'm Gone (MP3)

A new MP3 from the new Vivian Girls album.

photos by Tim Griffin, words by Andrew Frisicano

The Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival's Day One (7/3) was moved inside the Market Hotel. Thankfully, the weather held out for its second, 4th of July lineup, which went off as planned in the grassy, rock-filled lot of 979 Broadway Backyard.

I arrived just as Real Estate was going on, and the New Jersey band nearly stole the show with dreamy rock that seemed to be made for a sunny afternoon. The Beets held down their set with a casualness befitting a park lodge show (kind of what the fest was on a slightly bigger scale). The guys gave new meaning to the word "ramshackle" as things seemed to be toppling over continually onstage.

German Measles played a set before I got there. Bill caught them and said they "aren't actually that bad... But they're also not very good. And that kind of seems to be the point. Shambolic is an understatement, like 'why rehearse when we can just play shows?"

The Great Excape did a set of Jersey-style pop-punk that included their own theme song, several politically-themed tunes (a nice touch) and a cover of "Summertime Blues." Ganglians brought one of the day's only keyboards, and burst with a flurry of reverb and overdrive.

Brilliant Colors started out with straight-ahead noise punk, with a bit of a melody void left by their super-reverbed vocals (maybe a theme of the night) and washed-out guitar. When the bass stepped up its riffs a few songs in, the band immediately sounded twice as catchy. The Fresh and Onlys took that bass-forward momentum and went with it. Their bassist pounded the notes in between and then some. As a result, the group had one of the most complete sounds of the night (with a tambourine and three-part harmonies rounding it out). They dedicated their last song to the member of Tyvek in the hospital (the reason for that band's cancellation). Hopefully their situation turns out better.

Dum Dum Girls had to be one of the night's cleanest sounding groups. The band relied heavily on singer Dee Dee's vocals, which harmonized with drummer Frankie Rose on their songs' many hooks.

The atmospheric rock of Woods definitely got jammier as it progressed. As Bill Pearis pointed out, the group's fourth member, who sat on the floor twiddling effects and singing into a microphone strapped to his face, was a bit strange considering the rest of the guys were dressed proper enough for church. Whatever you have to do to make it sound good I suppose.

Kurt Vile & the Violators roared into the night as the sun finally went down. Vile and Vivian Girls (who, as one commenter pointed out, "played with a great intensity") more than warmed up the crowd for Thee Oh Sees, who capped the night (for some) with an unstoppable set. Frontman John Dwyer was literally foaming at the mouth as a streak of white drool smeared across his face for part of the set. Thee Oh Sees' strange, repetition-laced anthems are amazing for shaking and rattling, as the crowd proved. The band even got talked into playing an encore before sending everyone into the night.

The rest of the pictures from Day Two, with a bunch of videos, below...

Continue reading "Woodsist/CT Fest Day Two in pics & video (Thee Oh Sees, Real Estate, Ganglians, Fresh & Onlys, Woods & more)"

photos by Tim Griffin, words by Andrew Frisicano

Vivian Girls played ourdoors on the second day of the Woodsist/Capture Tracks Festival on July 4th. They mixed old and new tracks, with a sound that put guitar and bass centerstage. Vocals lurked just below, and came through strong enough to carry the melody all the way across the field. At one point, the band invited two crowdmembers up on stage to play tambourines as fireworks somewhere in Brooklyn (and some inside the gates...) shot off behind. Pictures from their set are in this post. Kurt Vile played the same day. His pictures are HERE. Pictures from Day One of the fest are HERE. The rest of the Day Two pics are coming soon.

Earlier in the day, The Beets casually played through their time, which included a brief cover of the Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better" (though no "La Bamba" despite requests). Their bass player sat out a considerable part of the set while switching his amp, but the remaining two Beets kept on, singing in sligtly off-center unison harmony. Intermittently, guitarist Juan Wauters would jump several feel in air to jolt the reverb on his amp into action. Where Vivian Girls sounded full and fleshed out, the Beets gave off a very one-on-one, basement show vibe. Pictures from their set are coming later.

Those two bands (Vivian Girls + The Beets) have a North America tour together set for August and September. Its kick off show will happen Tuesday, August 25th at Death By Audio in Brooklyn.

Before then, The Beets are playing the final Oxford Collapse show on July 18th. Vivian Girls play the Whitney Museum (as part of that space's Dan Graham exhibit/summer series) on Friday, July 31st with These Are Powers.

Vivian Girls' second disc, Everything Goes Wrong, is scheduled to come out September 8th on In the Red.

"Last time, the album was really rushed," says guitarist Cassie Ramone. "We were just go, go, go, go. And now we're taking our time with every step of the process, making sure we're really happy with everything before we move on."

With this band, though "taking our time" means they're taking six days to record the entire thing instead of the three days they used for their first album. Ramone says, "We recorded 15 songs, but if we put them all on the album, that'll be an hour's worth of music, so we're going to have to cut some of them out. Our last album was like 22 minutes, so we figure if this album is longer than 44 minutes that'll just be insane. It would be twice as long."

"We're aiming for around 35 minutes," adds bassist Kickball Katy. So you'll probably still be able to plow through the whole Vivian Girls album on your morning commute.

Continue reading "Vivian Girls - Woodsist/CT Fest pics, new album info, 2009 tour dates w/ The Beets (who also played July 4th)"

"Babies is Kevin from Woods, Cassie from Vivian Girls (and Bossy) and Justin from Bossy." [Anonymous | July 1, 2009 11:17 AM]

Continue reading "Babies = Vivian Girls+Woods+Bossy (live Market Hotel video)"

Dum Dum Girls @ Woodsist Fest - July 4, 2009 (bajapuntos)

The two-day Woodsist & Captured Tracks Festival happened in Brooklyn on Friday (7/3) and Saturday (7/4). Both days were supposed to take place at 979 Broadway Backyard, but Friday was moved to the very hot Market Hotel due to the threat of rain. Pictures of both days coming soon, but first here is video Bill took on Saturday during the first-ever performance by Dum Dum Girls.

Dum Dum Girls is really just one person - Dee Dee.... aka Kristin Gundred from Grand Ole Party who is married to Brandon Welchez of Crocodiles who she released a duet with (video below) and who was one of the members of the Dum Dum Girls band at Woodsist. The other two members of the band were Mike Sniper of Blank Dogs and Frankie Rose of Crystal Stilts (and a former Vivian Girl)...

Continue reading "Woodsist Fest happened - Dum Dum girls (Grand Ole Party + Crocodiles + Blank Dogs + Frankie Rose) debuted - video "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Fog Machine (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fresh & Onlys - Love & Kindness (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ganglians - Hair (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bachelorette - Mindwarp (MP3)

It used to be Independence Day weekend was dead in NYC, the city emptying out, leaving only tourists and those unfortunate enough not to have some sort of beach hookup. There was nothing to do but barbeque with fellow left-behinds and see whatever Will Smith movie had just been released. (Actually, I like it when the city is empty.) And the only show would be whatever was at Battery Park on the 4th. Not this year.

The Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival is two days of just about every band on the two label's roster and also manages to be one of the best collections of reverb-lovin' lo-fi/pych/garage bands you're likely to see, including many names you may recognize if you read this column on a regular basis. You can buy a two-day pass for $25 or buy individual $15 tickets for Friday or Saturday.

As both Woodsist and Captured Tracks are Brooklyn labels, a lot of the bands are local and chances are if you're into this kind of music at all you've probably managed to already see some of these bands, probably more than once: Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls, Blank Dogs, The Beets, caUSE co-MOTION, Kurt Vile, and Woods.

The Fresh & Onlys @ SXSW 2009

But there's also a bunch of great West Coast bands who have yet to hit NYC, which is what makes it most exciting for me. First and foremost are San Francisco's Fresh & Onlys who I caught at the Todd P/Woodsist party during SxSW and have become one of my favorite new bands. They play the Saturday (7/4) which is definitely the more essential line-up of the two days. The band features members of Skygreen Leopards and Black Fiction, and have also spent time recently backing up Rodriguez and Ty Segall (though not on the East Coast.)

The band's first album of 2009 came out in April on John Dwyer's Castle Face label, with a sound not that far off from what you might expect from cohorts of The Oh Sees (who headline the Saturday show), though The Fresh & Onlys are definitely more pop and less psychedelic freakout. Their second album of 2009, Grey-Eyed Girls, is out in August and they've also got 7"'s out or out soon on Chuffed, Dirty Knobby, Hozac and Captured Tracks. If you like 13th Floor Elevators, The Chocolate Watchband and other Nuggets era bands, I think you're going to dig them. I interviewed bassist Shayde Sartin a couple months ago on my blog if you'd like to know more.

If you can't make the daytime show, The Fresh & Onlys also play a post midnight show that same day at Market Hotel that also features Babies (members of Woods, Vivian Girls and Bossy) (does anyone know which members?) and Pink Reason, and maybe a solo performance from Crystal Stilts drummer Frankie Rose. And The Fresh & Onlys will be here again in October when they'll be on tour with fellow San Franciscans Thee Oh Sees.

Thee Oh Sees are also playing Siren in July, and playing maybe the best of the Woodsist fest's offshoot shows on Thursday night (7/2) at Glasslands. They're headlining the Glasslands show and Saturday night of the fest, and are definitely worth seeing twice, or even thrice. Also playing Glasslands: Golden Triangle who are working on their debut album for Sub Pop offshoot Hardly Art; The Beets who, the last two times I've seen them, have had Crystal Stilts' JB Townsend filling in on drums for an absent Jacob Warstler; and German Measels which features half of caUSE co-MOTION wearing fake moustaches.

Ganglians

A little earlier at Woodsist Fest on Saturday (3:45 if they keep to the posted schedule) are Sacramento's Ganglians, who just released an EP and an album on Woodsist. Not all that far off from The Fresh & Onlys, Ganglians have equal worship for solid songwriting and trippy arrangements/production. I think both records are worth picking up: the self-titled EP shows off more of their rocking side (which they favored when I saw them at SxSW), like the surfy, Kiwi-esque "Hair" of which there's an MP3 at the top of this post. The album, Monster Head Room, is more acoustic and owes a lot to Brian Wilson. If you can't make the July 4th show, they'll be playing the next night (7/5) at Monster Island basement with Psychedelic Horseshit.

In between Ganglians and Fresh & Onlys on Saturday (4:30PM) are San Francisco's Brilliant Colors, an all-girl trio who play short, scratchy pop with a definitely New Zealand vibe. They also play the late show that night at Market Hotel, and will be on WNYU on July 8.

Dum Dum Girls, who play after the Fresh & Onlys at 6PM, are from L.A. and owe much to the C-86 scene that has been an influence on Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Vivian Girls. Actually, Dum Dum Girls is just one girl, Dee Dee, who may or may not have a band with her when she plays. Dee Dee is also in The Mayfair Set, a collaboration with Blank Dogs (and Captured Tracks domo) Mike Sniper, who will make their live debut (I think) Friday (7/3) at 6:30.

I've got MP3s for most every band playing the Fest over at my blog.

Brilliant Colors

A couple non-Woodsist/Captrax Fest recommendation for the Fourth weekend. New Zealand's Bachelorette is back in town, playing the kickoff show of this year's Seaport Music Festival, opening for Here We Go Magic. I saw Bachelorette at Cake Shop a couple weeks back and was so smitten I bought everything at the merch table. There was a fair amount of laptopping going on, but Annabel Alpers' breathy, fragile voice was definitely live and the three-piece oozed unassuming charm. Bachelorette also play the sold-out Rooftop Films Fourth of July party Saturday night which happens on the roof of the Chelsea Art Museum.

And Thursday (7/2) starts The Feelies' three-night run at Maxwell's. Friday's show (7/3) is sold out but you can still get tickets for Thursday and for Saturday (7/4). Bring comfortable shoes -- they're doing two sets each night. The excitement of their reformation may have faded a bit since this time last year, but their great songs -- and still-awesome guitar interplay -- have not.

Full Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival schedule and other tour dates after the jump...

Continue reading "Ganglians, Fresh & Onlys, Brilliant Colors, Bachelorette, lots of Woodsist bands & more in This Week in Indie "

DOWNLOAD: Woods - To Clean (MP3)

"...it has been damn near impossible to keep up with [Blank Dog] Mike Sniper's Captured Tracks label, who have hit the ground running with eight releases since the start of the year and many more slated for the near future. Captured Tracks is, to put it plainly, an outlet for Mr. Sniper to release records by bands he loves. In his mind it is "not a boutique label, " and by that he means that the releases are not meant to become instant eBay collectables, and will remain in print as long as there are people buying them. Some will have limited edition versions with alternate artwork or bonuses, but even these editions are easily and widely available. Affordable, available and well made, Captured Tracks is the populist record label. " [Agit Reader]

Continue reading "Woodsist/CT Festival - final 2-day lineup, set times, tickets "

Continue reading "the member of Vivian Girls who dated a member of Japanther stole Mika Miko's pants "

Broadway Backyard (more by Tim Griffin)

Woodsist and Captured Tracks have joined forces with Todd P to present a two-day festival of bands at Broadway Backyard in Brooklyn this July 3rd and 4th. More info and full lineup (so far) below....

Continue reading "Woodsist & Captured Tracks throwing a festival in Brooklyn"

Mutek banner in Montreal - May 27, 2009 (bneely)

Mutek, the electronic music festival celebrating its tenth year, is currently underway in Montreal. The five-day fest runs to Sunday, May 31st, and it's streaming online. Moderat, the Modeselektor & Apparat supergroup, performed at Mutek on Thursday, May 28th; the group plays NYC's Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, May 30th (the show was originally planned for Webster Hall). Tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of parties up North this summer... three other biggies are Ottawa Bluesfest (July 8th-19th), Vancouver Folk Music Festival (July 17-19th) and Calgary Folk Music Festival (July 23rd-26th). Each of those suitably transcend the "blues" and "folk" labels, hosting bands like The Dead Weather and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (in Ottawa), The Weakerthans and Rock Plaza Central (in Vancouver), and The Decemberists, Apostle of Hustle, Kid Koala and Akron/Family (in Calgary). Full lineup for the Calgary Fest (Ottawa in particular is much too massive to post) and ticket info below.

And don't forget about the previously reported Breeders-headlined Sled Island Fest in Calgary on June 24th-27th, Montreal's Osheaga, NXNE, and Toronto's Olympic Island Fest on July 11th, which will host Broken Social Scene and its Arts & Crafts cohorts.

Across the pond, UK's Glastonbury Festival, which runs from June 24th to 28th, has been sold out since February even though the full lineup wasn't announced until this week. Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Blur will be joined by The Specials, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Spinal Tap, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Madness, Tom Jones, Animal Collective and many others.

And finally in the States, Monolith Festival, which runs from September 12th to 13th at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Colorado, has announced its intial lineup, Girl Talk, Passion Pit, and The Walkmen included. The whole thing is posted below.

The weekend before Monolith, Bumbershoot will take place in Seattle (September 5th-7th). That fest's lineup has been updated too. New additions include Vivian Girls, Akron/Family, and Elvis Perkins. All new additions, with previously announced acts, are below. Tickets are still on sale.

In Michigan, the Rothbury Festival over July 4th weekend will feature the only summer fest performance by The Dead, as well as sets by Bob Dylan, String Cheese Incident, Broken Social Scene and more. A few more jam-friendly acts were also just added to the bill. Full lineup below. Tickets are on sale.

Info on all the above fests, with ticket info, below...

Continue reading "Mutek underway, Monolith & Glastonbury lineups, Rothbury, Bumbershoot, Calgary Folk & other festival updates"

Vivian Girls @ Bowery Ballroom in December (more by Zach Stern)

As we pointed out back in April, and further confirmed in a list of Abe Vigoda tour dates, The Whitney is hosting some indie rock shows this July, in conjunction with their Dan Graham Retrospective. And the full schedule looks something like this:

Fri, June 26 - Acoustic Evening with The Feelies
Fri, July 10 - Titus Andronicus / Real Estate
Fri, July 17 - Abe Vigoda / Grooms (Muggabears)
Fri, July 24 - (band TBA) / YellowFever
Fri, July 31 - Vivian Girls / These Are Powers

The Feelies show is "Free with Museum admission (free for Whitney members)." and "Tickets for this [Feelies] concert are available day of show only, beginning at 1 pm at the Museum. Space is limited; tickets are first-come, first-served." The other four shows basically say the same thing, but just, "Free with museum admission. Seating is first-come, first-served. No reservations." More details below.

Other programs include "Dan Graham in Conversation with Glenn Branca" and a family performance of Rock and Roll Ice Cream by Japanther. Full schedule below...

Continue reading "indie rock shows @ The Whitney in July (Vivian Girls, Titus Andronicus, These are Powers, Yellow Fever & more) "

DOWNLOAD: Abe Vigoda - Don't Lie (MP3)

Abe Vigoda @ South Street Seaport 7/11/08 (more by Chris Tuite)

LA punks Abe Vigoda are going on tour across North America this July. That includes three NYC shows: Friday, July 17th the band plays an early set at the Whitney Museum, then a late set at the Cake Shop. The next night, Saturday, July 18th, the band is at the Monster Island Basement. All those NYC gigs are with tourmates Talbot Tagora, who, as we recently mentioned, are one of the Seattle bands that recently signed to Hardly Art.

The Whitney show is part of the museum's Dan Graham retrospective running from June 25th to October 11th. As we previously wrote, the museum is planning shows on July 10th, 17th, 24th and 31th, during its weekly pay-what-you-wish Friday 6-9pm slot. Those performances are to feature "young bands that have inherited the New York rock scene from bands that Dan Graham has written about and/or worked with, such as The Feelies, Television, and Sonic Youth."

The Feelies are one of the band's playing the museum -- they have an acoustic set scheduled for Friday, June 26th.

The newest Abe Vigoda release was the band's Reviver EP, which came out in February on Post Present Medium. "Don't Lie," from that record, is posted above.

All Abe Vigoda tour dates, with clips that include "Don't Lie" live with the Vivian Girls and more, below...

Continue reading "Abe Vigoda & Talbot Tagora - 2009 Tour Dates (Whitney Museum, Cake Shop & Monster Island)"

fancy new art & Times New Viking @ Market Hotel (c89)

"So, just to get this out of the way: Market Hotel's new art installations make for some fucking awesome background shots. A bit less 'punk'/'DIY' than before, but way more art school dropout/middle school play about the inside of your stomach." [DARKWAVEVAWKRADARKWAVE]

With those gigs gone, the Bell House has announced that TNV is the "secret guest" at the Agit Reader's one-year anniversary celebration at the Brooklyn venue on Saturday, June 13th. Other acts include Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, the Mad Scene and El Jesus de Magico. Tickets are on sale.

Blues Control, who played with TNV on Sunday the 10th, has a short weekend tour coming up and NYC shows scheduled. Those include a Thursday, May 21st show at Coco 66 with Thrones, Lake and Popped Blimp; a Northside Fest appearance at the Shank with Kurt Vile, Grooms, Woods and Pygmy Shrews; and a set on June 21st at Goodbye Blue Monday's Make Music NY festivities. A new LP/CD from Blues Control is due in July on Siltbreeze.

One of Blues Control's last NYC shows was an opening gig for Animal Collective at NYC's Grand Ballroom in January. (FYI: Animal Collective is back in town now.)

All TNV and Blues Control tour dates, with a video of TNV playing two songs on Record Story Day '09 from their forthcoming Matador album, below...

Continue reading "Times New Viking played Bowery Ballroom & Market Hotel (with fancy new art) -- playing The Bell House (tix on sale) "

by Dominic Masi, Jr.

DOWNLOAD: Stupid Party - 1234 (MP3)

"I'm in a more serious relationship with the two of them than I have been with any girlfriend I've ever had in my life. We were all in shittier bands before this." - Cory of Stupid Party

Stupid Party are not just another three piece from Brooklyn. They've actually been around for a few years, playing their raw punk, metal and punch you in the face, pop songs, in lands both home and away. Literally. "We kept/keep playing shows at our house which without a doubt has hosted the best punk shows in New York," said Cory, the band's vocalist and guitarist (who I had a chance to talk to via email).

Stupid Party released a 7" on Starcleaner Records last year, which is now in it's 2nd pressing, and in March they put out their first LP on Freedom School Records. Check out one MP3 above with more streaming at their MySpace.

Tonight (5/11) they open for Times New Viking (who played Market Hotel last night) and Vivian Girls at Bowery Ballroom (making this a sick triple bill!) According to Cory, "We'll probably be blacked out." Let's hope not. Get there early to make sure you don't miss them.

They also play Brooklyn D.I.Y. festival Hillstock on June 6th. All tour dates and fliers below...

Continue reading "Stupid Party - MP3 & upcoming shows (w/ Vivian Girls & Times New Viking tonight, Silent Barn & Hillstock)"