by Bill Pearis

Onetime Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters offered The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking in 1984 and now, 29 years later, Brooklyn's The Babies have their own advice on the subject via the new video to their song "Mess Me Around." That track is one of the standouts from last year's terrific, Our House on the Hill. You can watch how their experience bumming rides below.

The band will be piling in their own van soon, as their North American tour kicks off this weekend. That tour will swing through their hometown next weekend for a show at Glasslands on April 27 with Waxahatchee and Harlem spinnoff Las Rosas. That is a rock-solid triple bill and tickets are still available.

After their North American jaunt wraps up, The Babies head to Europe to play Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival and a bunch of other dates, all of which are listed below.

Continue reading "The Babies hitchhike in "Mess Me Around" video; their tour starts this weekend (updated dates)"

Screaming Females in LA in 2012 (more by Wei Shi)

The Don Giovanni Records Brooklyn showcases begin TONIGHT (2/7) with the previously mentioned Death by Audio show, which features California X, Nuclear Santa Claust, Brick Mower, House Boat, and Plastic Cross. Admission for tonight's show is $8 at the door. Then, the Don Giovanni fun continues with two consecutive nights at Music Hall of Williamsburg which feature Laura Stevenson and the Cans, Jeffrey Lewis, Lemuria, Waxahatachee, and Hilly Eye on Friday (2/8) and Screaming Females, Black Wine, Stormshadow, Home Blitz, and Shellshag on Saturday (2/9). Tickets for Friday, Saturday, and a 2-day pass are still available.

In related news, Screaming Females are releasing a cassette of home recordings this weekend (2/10) and you can stream the whole thing ahead of its release at Pitchfork. It features the track "Green Vapors," which was done with DG labelmates Shellshag.

Laura Stevenson is also releasing a new album, Wheel, on April 23 via Don Giovanni. You can stream the lead track, "Runner," at the bottom of this post.

Meanwhile, if you miss the showcases this week (or just want more), three of the bands playing -- Black Wine, Hilly Eye, and Nuclear Santa Claust -- are teaming up again for a NYC show at Cake Shop on March 23 with Lauren of The Measure. Admission for that one is $8 at the door.

If you're going to the DbA showcase tonight, be sure to catch California X, who have a new guitarist, Zack Brower and tonight is his first show with the band.

And in even more related news, Miranda Taylor of Black Wine just interviewed Caroline Rue, Hole's first drummer, who played on their 1991 debut, Pretty on the Inside. Here's an excerpt...

The evolution of Hole's sound is, in my opinion, extreme. What do you think contributed to the sound/style changes over the years?

Well, first off, Courtney and I were the least skilled musicians and needed time to catch up with Jill and Eric. We hung out, listened to records, and they turned me on to the Pixies, which I had only seen the MTV video for "Here Comes Your Man." We became better players, so we were starting to refine our tool to do what we were intending.

Laura Stevenson song stream below...

Continue reading "Don Giovanni fest begins, Screaming Females streaming new tape, and other related news"