FMLY FEST 2k12 is the fourth annual installment of our planet's biggest, wildest, friendliest D.I.T. (do-it-together) music and arts festival. After three "now legendary" (Decoder Magazine), "unmissable" (LA Times) winters in Los Angeles FMLY FEST has taken summer buds to Brooklyn to indulge our East Coast tropical fantasies. From June 21 - 23 we open our front doors and invite you into our bedrooms, basements, rooftops, and backyards to celebrate a shared intimate insanity. For these three days we hope to become involved in a possibility of what life could be like if we nurture creative impulse, collaborative desires, and allow for each and every moment to welcome the festivity of a more shared experience. We are not renting out any fancy social spaces or opening our embraces to shallow waters of non-committal diy-ism, but taking this opportunity to directly engage with our immediate community of Bushwick and introduce our fam throughout the world to our inspiring neighbors. This summer, we welcome you home.

The fourth annual FMLY Fest, which usually takes place in LA, is coming to Bushwick, Brooklyn this week from June 21 - 23 across multiple venues including Shea Stadium, 13 Thames, McKibben Park, and Bohemian Grove. Bands playing include Megafortress, Truman Peyote, Weekends, Vacation Dad, Mutual Benefit, Verbs, Messy Sparkles, Alaskas, Birthdays, and more. The full schedule is below and a mixtape of all the bands playing is available on bandcamp (name your price). Tickets for the fest are on sale now.

Lineup below...

Continue reading "FMLY Fest coming to Brooklyn this week (3-day 'DIT' festival)"

Thee Oh Sees @ Summerstage in 2010 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Death By Audio lists tonight's show like this:

6.17 -$5- (doors are at 10pm for this show)
.??S
.?R?
.R?

Well, we may know at least one band on the bill. Thee Oh Sees play Brooklyn Bowl Saturday (6/18) but list "06-17 shhhhhhh...." on their website (thanks Maxim), so it's either them or there are two secret shows. Who do you think the other bands are?

Adventure, CO LA (Matt Papich of Ecstatic Sunshine), and Weekends were supposed to play Death by Audio Friday night, but that show was cancelled. Weekends will instead open for Dom at Brooklyn Bowl.

To add to the mystery, a "Surprise special guest" is also listed on the Saturday Thee Oh Sees Brooklyn Bowl show that Yellow Dogs, and Emil and Friends are also playing. Who's playing that one?

All Thee Oh Sees dates below...

Continue reading "secret show @ DbA Friday night? Thee Oh Sees? Secret band Saturday too? "

Ty Segall @ Death by Audio in 2010 (more by Andrew St. Clair)

Noisy San Francisco rockers Sic Alps, who will release a 4 song 7" via Drag City on August 23 ("Napa Asylum" came out on the label in January), have some upcoming shows this summer. However, Sic Alps are a little different this time around. First of all, they've added Drag City labelmate Ty Segall to the band. To be more specific though, Sic Alps is now Ty (who was actually a member of the band in the past briefly too), founding member Mike Donovan (formerly of the Ropers) and Eric Bauer. Founding member Matt Hartman and Noel Von Harmonson (both of whom are still listed on Wikipedia as of this post) are no longer in the band.

The new Sic Alps lineup will play a few North American shows later this month and a string of European dates in August and September. They'll play a Brooklyn show on June 24 at Death By Audio with Spectre Folk and Weekends, right beore they hit Wilco's Solid Sound Festival in MA.

After getting back from the European tour, Ty Segall goes on his own tour with Mikal Cronin, which hits Bowery Ballroom on September 29. Tickets are still available. Meanwhile Ty heads to Toronto for NXNE next week.

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Sic Alps have a new lineup including Ty Segall (who is touring with & without them)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Generationals - Trust (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gross Relations - No Lines (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gross Relations - Blame the Record (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shark? - Down Low (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shark? - Shark? (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - Sparrow (MP3)

Generationals

I take you away from trying to figure out the identity of The Modern Weepers (my favorite comment guess: Hard-Fi) to talk about shows happening this weekend. As always, this being New York City, there's lots of great options.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. are in town this week with Generationals and the two bands play tonight (5/11) at Mercury Lounge (sold out!) and tomorrow (5/12)  at The Rock Shop (not sold out!). Dale Jr Jr also play Kidrockers on Sunday [5/14] at the Rock Shop with Pearl and the Beard.

I feel like there's been enough talk about Dale, whose dreamy brand of synth rock can be heard on their pretty good upcoming album It's a Corporate World which is out June 7. So I'm here to talk about Generationals who are surely one of the few indiepop bands in New Orleans. Unlike Big Freedia, they haven't appeared yet on an episode of Treme but their new album Actor-Caster is loaded with clever, tunefull pop. What they do isn't particularly cool at this second in time, but I think stuff like this is never really out of style. You can download the title track to last year's great Trust EP at the top of this post and there's a widget below that will get you two tracks from Actor-Caster for the price of your email.

Malajube

Also here this week for a couple shows are Montreal's Malajube , playing The Rock Shop tonight (5/11) and will be at Bowery Ballroom on Friday (3/13) with the epic and amazing Besnard Lakes (and Nova Scotia's Wintersleep).  If you were in Austin for SXSW this year, you may have seen Malajube at our SXSW day party this year we co-presented with M for Montreal who we are co-presenting a show with this Friday in Brighton (if anyone is headed to the Great Escape).

Like a lot of folks, Malajube made a big impression on me in 2006 with their record Trompe-L'Oeil and, even more, their string of fantastic CMJ performances that year. The tunes were catchy, they were great live, the language barrier didn't matter so much. I must admit 2009's Labarinthes didn't make much of an impression but I've really been enjoying the band's brand new album La Cavern. The album is out now in Canada and will be available in the U.S. sometime soon on MB3 Records. Maybe they'll have it at the merch tables this week.

The new album walks the line between guitar pop and space rock and I keep imagining them performing songs like the vaguely disco "Le Blizzard" on the Muppet Show. There's a general soft filter '70s vibe to the whole of La Cavern that feels very comforting. You can listen to the whole thing via a streaming widget doohickey at the bottom of this post.

And go see the Besnard Lakes, for whom I have declared my love for many, many times. And go early for Malajube.

Echo & the Bunnymen are at Irving Plaza on Friday (5/13) and Saturday (5/15) playing their first two albums -- 1979's Crocodiles and 1980's Heaven Up Here -- back to back, in their entirety. This may not be quite as exciting as seeing them at Radio City doing Ocean Rain with a full orchestra, but it's still pretty awesome.

Especially because the albums are post-punk classics. Crocodiles is all scratchy nervous energy and contains no mediocre songs whatsover. I could list them all if you wanted, each one amazing. The whole thing still sounds fantastic. Heaven Up Here is considerably darker, more paranoid but no less definitive. "Over the Wall" is one of their best-ever songs. These two records are also a great showcase for Will Seargent's guitar-playing that still sounds innovative today. I'm a little sceptical of Mac's ability to belt out these songs -- it's gonna be a workout on his pipes -- but the chance to hear deep cuts like "All That Jazz," "It Was a Pleasure," "Happy Death Men," and "With a Hip" is exciting.

Opening for both shows is Bunnymen megafan Kelley Stoltz, who has covered Crocodiles in its entirety, both on record and as an infrequent but incredible tribute act that also featured Spiral Stairs of Pavement and Shayde Sartin who's now in The Fresh & Onlys. (They played CMJ 2003 at Arlene's Grocery, it was awesome.) Anyway, Stoltz is now an established artist in his own right, putting out terrific records on Sub Pop when not playing drums in Sonny & the Sunsets.  So if you're going to this show, do go early.

Gross Relations

We now enter the local band portion of This Week in Indie. Let's start with L Magazine 8 Bands runners-up Gross Relations who are playing three times this week: tonight (5/11) at Don Pedro with Raccoon Fighter and The Horehounds, then tomorrow (5/12) at Bruar Falls with deVries and Hunktronic, and on Friday (5/13) at Cake Shop with The Bynars, Field Mouse and Infinity Hotel.

The band have been releasing a series of digital singles via their bandcamp page, all of which exemplify their brand of supercatchy, keyboard-friendly indie rock. You can download the A-sides of the last two at the top of this post. "Blame the Records" is especially good. As I said previously, those keyboard lead lines make for easy comparisons to the Rentals which I'm gonna guess is probably what they were going for. Which is fine -- the hooks are undeniable.

Radical Dads

Radical Dads, meanwhile, were actually picked by the L Mag as one of those 8 Bands You Need To Hear and I certainly agree. And hear them you can Thursday at Cake Shop. The band's debut album, Mega Rama, is out next month and it's pretty damn good. I hear a lot of '90s DC  here -- more Simple Machines and DeSoto than Teenbeat -- whether that was intentional or not. Which means, basically, strident, melodic indie rock. The record is also a contender for my favorite album art of the year, done by Michael Deforge, which you can see below. Also below is yet another widget, this one will allow you to stream or download Mega Rama track "New Age Dinosaur." Oh, and they are quite good live.

Also playing that Cake Shop show tomorrow are Shark? whose debut album True Waste comes out May 24. The band worked with former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone on the record and what I've heard sounds really good. You can download two tracks from the album up top, and Shark?'s Pixies-ish theme song is pretty fun.

And lastly, I'd like to write a little about Vacation who are opening for Oberhofer at Coco 66 on Saturday night (5/14). The band are pretty new. What started as a solo project for Paul Greenfield Daly, formed into a band during one of the blizzards this year. Vacation have only played out a couple of times (Brad Oberhofer was in the live incarnation briefly.) But I really, really like the songs available as free downloads on Vacation's Bandcamp site. While I wouldn't call it synthpop, Vacation are definitely danceable, kind of groovy and motorik.  The track "Jean" in particular sounds like a hit to me, definitely check that one out.

That Coco 66 show also has the lately ubiquitous Widowspeak, and with Oberhofer that makes for a pretty good Saturday night. If you can't make it this weekend, Vacation are playing Pianos on May 22 with Dinner at the Thompsons.

OK that's the big stuff this week. Here are a few more picks, day-by-day:

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11

It's a night of well-dressed pop at Glasslands with Princeton and the High Highs. I keep meaning to catch High Highs again, I was impressed when they played with Radio Department last year.

We haven't heard from locals Gray Goods since last year's Northside Fest. They emerge from their cocoon, sonically reborn, tonight at Union Pool, with Zachary Cale and D. Charles Speer and the Helix.

continued below...

Continue reading "Generationals, Malajube, Echo & the Bunnymen, Kelley Stoltz, Gross Relations, Radical Dads, Shark?, Vacation, Karaoke Underground & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Disappears - Superstition (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Disappears - Gone Completely (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Concretes - Good Evening (MP3)
DONWLOAD: The Concretes - All Day (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Concretes - All Day (Juuso Pikanen remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Weird Wives - EP (mediafire Zip link)

Disappears

There is a whole of good stuff going on this weekend, so let's get to it. Everyone really needs to go out and see Chicago's Disappears, who play tonight (1/19) at Union Pool and tomorrow (1/20) at Cake Shop. The band's new album, Guider, just came out yesterday and is their second in less than a year. It's 31 minutes of awesome, piledriving, motorik psych-punk.  Check out "Superstition" above to get a taste, plus "Gone Completely" from their first album, Lux.

As great as their records are, Disappears really need to be experienced live. These guys lock into a groove and step on the gas and the audience hangs on for the ride. Their show last summer at Union Pool knocked me for a loop. And as previously mentioned, Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley is filling in on drums which is an added bonus.

Opening the Union Pool show tonight is Prolix, which is Tunde of TV on the Radio and drummer Ryan Sawyer. The Cake Shop show has Soft and The Sundelles. I can't recommend seeing one of these two shows -- or both -- more highly.

The Vaccines

The Vaccines, the most hyped new band in the UK, are here this week to try and get America excited too. They play tomorrow (1/20) at Bowery Ballroom and Saturday (1/22) at Glasslands (Sold Out).

As of right now, there's only about three Vaccines songs to be heard (videos for a couple of them at the bottom of this post) but the band has just announced details of their debut album, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?, which is out March 21 in the UK. (U.S. date TBA.) If you like early '60s rock n' roll and the Pixies, the Vaccines might just be for you. Personally... I'm curious enough to go see them this week and hope that the live experience will make me see what folks I know at The Fly and NME are so excited about.

The Concretes

What else? Sweden's The Concretes play Bowery Ballroom this Saturday (1/22). The band's new album, WYWH ("Wish You Were Here"), is their second since Victoria Bergsman's departure, though 2007's Hey Trouble didn't get released in the U.S. The album finds the band toying with dance grooves, albiet in a very understated way. It's a nice little record and you can download two tracks and a remix at the top of this post.

Opening are fellow Friendly Fire recording artists Acrylics whose debut album, Lives and Treasure, is out March 1. The album is pretty mellow, which showcases the band's songwriting talents. I miss the more electrified line-up Acrylics sported two years ago but there is no denying the songs. Also playing are Hooray For Earth who are taking a break from recording their debut album to tour with The Concretes.

Weird Wives

Finally, Weird Wives are in town playing Bruar Falls Thursday (1/20) and Death by Audio Friday (1/21), both of which are with Philly band Weekends (not to be confused with SF band Weekend).

UPDATE: Weird Wives have cancelled their tour.

You may recognize these guys as most of them are in Surfer Blood. But don't go expecting super-catchy indie rock jams. Weird Wives are loud skronky shouty thrash. You can download an EPs' worth of songs at the top of this post.

That's the big stuff in TWII world. Here are few more worthy shows, day-by-day, of things not listed above.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19

Mississippi duo Bass Drum of Death put on a pretty rockin' set last night at Glasslands opening for Smith Westerns. Tonight they open for Captain Shafts at Pianos. They're also going to play a free in-store at Co-Op 87 tomorrow (1/20) at 6PM.

Cloud Nothings and Toro Y Moi at Mercury Lounge.

The Drums, Guards and The Hairs (Kevin of Knight School's new band) at Studio at Webster Hall, the $25 ticket benefits former Hot Rod Circuit drummer Dan Duggins who is recovering from a stroke.

It's a dance-centric lineup at Glasslands tonight, with Free Blood, Arpline, Expensive Looks and Ego Puppets.

continued below...

Continue reading "Disappears, Vaccines, Concretes, Weird Wives, MINKS & more in This Week in Indie"

Tombs @ the Studio in 2009 (more by Jason Jamal Nakleh)

today in NYC
* H2O on a boat
* Robert Black @ The Stone
* Ute Lemper @ Joe's Pub (early & late)
* Leon Russell @ Mexicali Live (NJ)
* Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio @ Jazz Standard
* Forest Fire, Oh Land, Normandy @ Glasslands
* Scott McMicken of Dr. Dog, Springs @ The Rock Shop
* Diddy, Rick Ross, Ciara & more @ Governors Island
* Hannibal Buress, King Sickabilly @ Knitting Factory
* Miya Masaoka, Mary Halvorson, Okkyung Lee @ The Stone
* Reid Paley Trio, Sam Chanse, Sugar Life @ Knitting Factory
* Nullsleep, Bit Shifter, Glomag, NO CARRIER @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Tombs, Radiation, Planks, Gods & Queens, Dawn @ Death By Audio
* Chromeo, The Suzan, Telephoned, Kid Sister @ Williamsburg Waterfront
* Metal Rouge, Sam Hamilton, Jane Austen, Greg Fox, Diablo @ Silent Barn
* Seaven Tears (Charlie Looker), Tartar Lamb (Toby Driver), Music of the American Avante-Garde (Bracken/Kidambi) @ Zebulon
* Religious To Damn, Fielded, Psychic Steel, Kevin Hufnagel @ Bruar Falls
* The Big Sleep, Fan-Tan, Sensual Harassment, Replicas, Michna (DJ Set) @ Cameo
* Mia Riddle, Pearl & The Beard, Madison Square Gardeners (Farm To Folk Fest) @ Union Pool (see below)
* New York Night Train's Ya Ya Yacht w/ DJ Mr. Jonathan Toubin & DJ Ian Svenonius
* Saviours, Priestess, Ramming Speed, Antidote [NYHC 1983], Rorschach DJ's, Hamsoken, Gatekeeper, Cult of Youth, Naam, Titan, Natur, Snake Sustaine, Primitive Weapons, Cleen Teeth @ Santos Party House
* K Holes, Electric Tickle Machine, My Teenage Stride, Food Stamps, Weekends, Weed Hounds, Shark?, Lost Boy, The Runaway Suns, The Caterpillers (and much more) @ Don Pedro (see below)

A lot to do today for a rainy Sunday at the end of a slow week.

Individual tickets are on sale today for the 2010-2011 NY Philharmonic concert season.

To make sure they don't get shut down, tonight's sold out H2O show happening on a Rocks Off boat is going to be dry ("Our First Ever NO BOOZE CRUISE - Straight Edge on the Hudson!"), which is ironic since those that step outside will probably not be dry at all thanks to the H2O coming down from the sky.

Good thing there's going to be a Pool Party on August 29th. Otherwise they would have went out on a rainy note. If it doesn't get cancelled, Chromeo, The Suzan, Telephoned, and previously-known-as "Special Guest" Kid Sister play the free show at the Williamsburg Waterfront today.

Today is the day The Specials were supposed to play in the rain at Central Park Summerstage.

Though there are still free events, there are no more free concerts on Governors Island this summer, which means tonight's potentially-soggy Diddy fans paid for their tickets. Same situation for the Jonas Brothers fans at Jones Beach.

Two indoor options today include "Farm to Folk Fest" at Union Pool (3-8pm) and "My Endless Summer" at Don Pedro from 4pm to 4am. Flyers and more information for both below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

"For 4 years now Wham City has been organizing the WHARTSCAPE. What started as a summer warehouse party turned into a much bigger, multi-day outdoor festival with thousands of bands, performers, and folks traveling to Baltimore from all across the US and Europe.
Since, we organize this festival out of pocket and in our spare time, it is important for us to keep it comfortable and enjoyable for us to do. One thing we talked about at the end of last year's festival was shrinking it down slightly and having it feel more community based and familiar.

This year isn't focused around headliners, but mainly performers and friends that make up the community we tour, work and live in.
We are also greatly reducing the number of MEGA-PASSES (the 3 day pass ticket that grants you entry to every show and every day).
ONLY 300 Mega-Passes will be sold; this is the only guarantee that you can see all the shows.

Tickets will be sold to the individual shows, but it is strongly suggested that you buy a Mega-Pass, as it saves you money and assures you take in the entire poo-poo.
Whartscape will take place July 10-11-12 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Studio Center Parking Lot, and Load of Fun.
We will begin selling tickets at 12 Noon, Monday, June 29th.

More info and full, 140 band lineup below...

Continue reading "Whartscape - 2009 Wham City festival dates & lineup "

photos by Chris La Putt

Bell @ Mercury Lounge April 27th, 2009

Bell is playing a "Sound Fix Presents" Northside Fest show, not AT Sound Fix which no longer hosts live music, but at Berry Park - on Saturday, June 13th with Death Vessel, Arrington De Dionyso (Old Time Relijun), Teengirl Fantasy and Weekends. Either a Northside badge or $10 at the doors, which open at 8pm, will get you in.

Before the Northside gig, Bell will play (Le) Poisson Rouge on Wednesday, May 27th with UK's Ciam. Tickets are on sale.

Death Vessel, who is also on the Sound Fix bill for June 13th at Berry Park, has a show at the Bell House with Grant Hart (ex-Husker Du) coming up on June 1st.

The above and below pictures of Bell are from her Monday, April 27th show at the Mercury Lounge with Bowerbirds, Lost in the Trees and La Strada. Photos of those bands were previously posted. The rest of the Bell pictures below...

Continue reading "Bell - LPR & Northside Fest shows, Death Vessel ++ live pics"