photos by PSquared Photography; words by Bill Pearis

Warm Soda @ Cake Shop, 3/28/2013

Bay Area power pop crunchers Warm Soda buzzed into NYC last night (3/28), ripping up Cake Shop to an excited crowd. Part of the appeal of the band's terrific debut album is the production which turns anything you listen to it on into a '70s AM radio. (The great songs are the main attraction, of course.) Live, however, the songs open up to a roar. As much as I love their album, I hope Warm Soda explore the world of mid-fi for the next album. Which could be soon, given Matthew Melton's rate of turning out songs with his old band Bare Wires. I didn't catch them this time but Melton told our photographer that they plan on returning to NYC soon. Meanwhile, more pics from Cake Shop below...

Continue reading "Warm Soda played Cake Shop (pics)"

by Bill Pearis

Warm Soda's debut album remains my favorite record of 2013 so far, ridiculously crammed with earworm hooks, powerpop melodies and killer riffs. At 27 minutes, former Bare Wires frontman Matthew Melton and cohorts have crafted a lean, mean hit machine. Do you love The Strokes AND the Sweet? Warm Soda are for you. You can stream the whole record below (via Paste).

As mentioned, Warm Soda are on tour and that hits NYC tonight (3/28) at Cake Shop with White Mystery, Hector's Pets, and Open Sex also on the bill. Highly recommended. I can't go tonight (why aren't they playing two NYC shows?) so please do so in my stead. Hopefully they'll make a return trip soon. All tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Warm Soda are here, playing Cake Shop tonight (LP stream)"

by Bill Pearis, Fred Pessaro and Andrew Sacher

Savages @ CMJ 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

SXSW gets underway today (3/13) in earnest, with 83,207 bands* playing SXSW this year. Trying to figure out who to see can be an overwhelming feeling. (Actually, just standing on 6th St. on Friday night is an overwhelming feeling.) Hopefully this post will give you some inspiration if you're among the throngs of people. Or maybe just some new stuff to listen to if you're not there.

Of course you could just hang out at all our day parties (our first starts at noon today!) and evening showcases, as we're really proud of our line-ups. But there are bands who we are pumped to see who aren't playing too. So here are 40 bands we're genuinely pumped to see in Austin this week. We made a Spotify playlist of all the bands (at least the ones on the service) you can stream below.

Check out our list below...

*not the actually number of showcasing bands. But it feels accurate.

Continue reading "40 artists we're excited to see at SXSW"

by Bill Pearis

As mentioned Warm Soda (ex Bare Wires) released their genuinely terrific debut album, Someone for You, on Castle Face a couple weeks ago and are prepping for a tour that will bring them to NYC next month for a show at Cake Shop on March 28 with White Mystery.

The band have just made a video for album track "Busy Lizzy," which is a classic "watch that girl" story set to a seriously catchy power pop hook. The clip, which looks like it was shot on an old VHS camera, has fun with the old turning-heads cliche right out of an '80s chewing gum commerical. You can check that out below.

Continue reading "watch Warm Soda's video for "Busy Lizzy""

by Bill Pearis

After an onstage meltdown during SXSW 2012, Bay Area band Bare Wires called it quits, though their final record, Idle Dreams, didn't come out till December. Main man Matthew Melton has formed a new group, Warm Soda, who carry on his giddy power pop vision with that would sound great coming out of a Snoopy AM radio in 1979.

Warm Soda's debut album, Someone for You, actually kind of sounds like it is coming out of a transistor radio: tinny and compressed (in a good way), but with giant hooks and choruses packed into 27-minute running time. It's a great album and it's out now on John Dwyer's Castle Face Records. You can stream "Waiting for Your Call" from the album below and order your copy here. If you like Jay Reatard, Cheap Trick, or The Nerves, you need to hear this now.

The band are going on tour at the end of the month and their trek will take them through Austin for SXSW (hopefully no problems this year) and then to the East Coast, including an NYC stop at Cake Shop on March 28 with tourmates White Mystery. All tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Warm Soda (ex-Bare Wires) released their debut LP, going on tour (dates, stream)"

Industrial vets Throbbing Gristle are finally getting around to completing their "reinterpretation" of Nico's Desertshore, an idea of member Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, who has since passed away. The record, finished by Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, is being billed as TG's "nascent, and final, studio album," will come out on November 26, two years after Christopherson's death. It's set to include guest vocals by Antony Hegarty, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Blixa Bargeld, Marc Almond (who was a member of Soft Cell and also collaborated with Christopherson's other band Coil), and Sasha Grey. The band have two teaser videos for the album, which you can watch below.

Speaking of tributes to albums that Nico took part in, there's a Velvet Underground & Nico tribute on the way which features Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees (who both just played The Well and will play Death by Audio tonight [9/24]), plus The Fresh & Onlys, White Fence, Kelley Stoltz and others. The album will gradually surface digitally across various websites from October 15 to 29 and will be out on vinyl on November 6 via John Dwyer's Castle Face label. The tracklist is below.

Antony and the Johnsons - 'Cut The World'

Speaking of Antony Hegarty, he released his new album, Cut The World, last month via Secretly Canadian. The album features "live symphonic performances" of songs from his first four albums which were recorded on September 2 and 3, 2011 at the DK Concert Hall in Copenhagen. The title track for the album is a new one, however, and it will be featured in The Life and Death of Marina Abramovi, directed by Robert Wilson and staring Antony, Marina Abramovi and Willem Dafoe. He also just made a video for that song, directed by Nabil (Frank Ocean, Bon Iver, Kanye West). Watch that video below. You can read an interview with Antony and Nabil about the video at Pitchfork.

All videos are below.

Continue reading "Throbbing Gristle releasing Nico tribute; Thee Oh Sees & more on Velvet Underground tribute; Antony has a new LP & video"