We already told you that the 2013 edition of Wilco's Solid Sound Music & Arts Festival will go down June 21 - 23 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. The line-up has now been revealed and includes sets from Yo La Tengo, Os Mutantes, Low, The Dream Syndicate, Reggie Watts, onetime Miracle Legion frontman Mark Mulcahy, Neko Case and more. And Wilco, of course. "Early Worm" tickets are sold out but you can still get "Early Bird" and regular three-day passes here.

Full line-up for 2013 Solid Sound fest is below...

Continue reading "Wilco's 2013 Solid Sound Festival line-up announced (Yo La Tengo, Os Mutantes, Low, Neko Case + more)"

White Denim at Bonnaroo 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

White Denim will be touring later this summer and at the end of their tour, they'll stop in Brooklyn for two shows at Brooklyn Bowl on August 13 and 14, which are being presented by jam band mag Relix Magazine (whose publisher Peter Shapiro also owns Brooklyn Bowl). Tickets for those shows go on sale Thursday (6/28) at noon. A 2-day pass option is also available.

A list of all dates and a video of White Denim at Bonnaroo are below...

Continue reading "White Denim touring, playing twice at Brooklyn Bowl (dates)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Kendrick Lamar/Alabama Shakes

[Kendrick] Lamar hails from gangsta rap central: Compton, Calif. But instead of directing his anger at the police, women or outsiders, he criticizes himself and his environment, and he projects far more ambition than victimization. One song, "She Needs Me," praised a career woman-a rare creature in hip-hop. Mr. Lamar uses hip-hop's love of raunch and brand names (especially fashion labels and upscale alcohol) as teaching tools. Both, for him, are incidental to tales of striving, self-improvement and overcoming a rough past, delivered with a cutting rasp and fast, complicated meter shifts.

Yelawolf had a rasp, too, putting an edge on boasts and defensiveness; he's a white rapper, still an uncomfortable position even though he is signed to the label of another white rapper, Eminem. He battles any doubts with self-assertion and defiance, as his raps often toggle into doubletime to insist on his virtuosity. But his set was padded with a D.J. showcase and cover songs, including a tribute to Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys.

[Danny] Brown has two voices-a stentorian bark and a nasal, cartoonish whine-for raps about sex and death. He switches between them, over sparse, booming tracks, as his rhymes switch between wildly imaginative imagery and boasts about his potency. The raunch has plenty of singalong lines, and the Bonnaroo audience shouted them all with him. [NY Times]

If you aren't in Manchester, TN for the festival, have you been following along online? More Bonnaroo coverage to come. More pics from Day 1 below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo Day 1 in pics (Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes, Danny Brown, White Denim, Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr & more)"

"Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents and Starr Hill presents, in a partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, are proud to announce the lineup for the fifth annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. The world's only gourmet music festival will once again take place in San Francisco's historic Golden Gate Park August 10 - 12, 2012. Tickets will go on sale Thursday April 19 at 12 noon PDT via www.sfoutsidelands.com. A significant portion of every ticket sold will directly benefit San Francisco's Recreation and Park Department."

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2012 lineup (Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Jack White, Foo Fighters, Beck, Skrillex...)"

White Denim in Austin in January (more by Tim Griffin)

White Denim's tour hits the NYC-area for three shows this weekend, including two shows TONIGHT (4/13) at Bowery Ballroom and a show at Maxwell's on Saturday (4/14). Tonight's early show is being opened by Hundred Visions and is sold out. Tickets for tonight's late show and for tomorrow's Maxwell's show are still available. Openers have still not been announced for either of those two shows.

We're giving away a few pairs of tickets to tonight's late show at Bowery Ballroom. Details on how to enter to win, along with updated dates are below...

Continue reading "White Denim are here (win tix to tonight's late show)"

White Denim in Austin in January (more by Tim Griffin)

Last month we mentioned that White Denim have an upcoming NYC show happening on April 13 at Bowery Ballroom. It's since been announced that the show is part of a full tour which also includes a late show happening that same night at Bowery Ballroom and a Hoboken, NJ show happening one day later at Maxwell's (4/14). Tickets for the early show at Bowery Ballroom are still available, tickets for the late show are on AmEx presale now and go on sale to the general public on Friday (3/2) at noon, and tickets for the Maxwell's show are on sale now.

Fellow Austin band Hundred Visions are opening a number of dates on the tour including the early show at Bowery Ballroom (4/13), but no openers have been announced yet for the late show or the Maxwell's show. They also play one of our free day parties at 'Hotel Vegan' at SXSW and also open for Archers of Loaf at Bowery Ballroom on 4/26 with Pipe. Tickets for that show are still available.

Updates dates below...

Continue reading "White Denim announce more dates, some w/ Hundred Visions"

"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"

White Denim in Austin earlier this month (more by Tim Griffin)

White Denim are currently on tour with Wilco. That tour doesn't hit NYC but the band just scheduled their own NYC show happening on April 13 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for this show go on sale Friday (1/27) at noon with an AmEx presale starting today (1/25) at noon. No word on whether or not this show is part of a larger headlining tour for the band.

Speaking of Wilco, they just released an iTunes session and played Conan Monday night in support of it. They played the title track from 2011's The Whole Love, and another track from the album, "Dawned on Me," as a web exclusive. Videos of both of those performances are below.

All dates and videos below...

Continue reading "White Denim announce Bowery show; Wilco played Conan (videos & dates)"

We already posted Pitchfork's and SPIN's, so... here's Rolling Stone's top 50 albums of 2011. It's got tons of big sellers and major label players taking high spots like Adele, Jay-Z and Kanye West, Paul Simon, and Lady Gaga, but then something unexpected like tUnE-yArDs places at #13. There are also some odd inclusions like Wavves' Life Sux EP and then some albums you could only find on a Rolling Stone list like SuperHeavy (the supergroup featuring Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, and others). They also give shots to Little Dragon, Josh T Pearson, Das Racist, Wild Flag, and many more. Check out the full list below...

Continue reading "Rolling Stone's Top Albums of 2011"

UK music magazine Uncut weighs on this year's best albums. Like Rough Trade, they give Josh T Pearson serious placement. They put Tinariwen, who appeared on The Colbert Report last night (!) with Tunde and Kyp from TV on the Radio, at #18. Check out their whole list and video from Colbert, below...

Continue reading "Uncut's Top 50 Albums of 2011, video of Tinariwen & Kyp & Tunde on the Colbert Report"

by Bill Pearis

When you think Manchester, England you may think Stone Roses and The Smiths, but in the case of Mazes, it's more Sebadoh and Soul Asylum. Not unlike Yuck, this trio owe lots to '90s indie rock as can be heard on their debut album A Thousand Heys which came out in April. You can stream the whole thing over at FatCat Records' website.

The band played a lot of shows at SXSW this year and were one of my highlights of the fest. Mazes return to the U.S. later this month for their first U.S. tour, opening for White Denim. That tour hits NYC on June 25 at Bowery Ballroom. All tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Mazes touring w/ White Denim (dates), new LP still streaming"

DOWNLOAD: White Denim - "Anvil Everything" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: White Denim - "Drug" (MP3)

White Denim at Downtown Records Anniversary (more by Brook Bobbins)

Psyche-funky garage-rs White Denim's will release their new LP D via Downtown Records on May 24th featuring both "Drug" and "Anvil Everything" above. The Austin band has dates scattered across the country in celebration, including a West Coast run on their way to Sasquatch. The band will play Bowery Ballroom on June 25th and tickets go on AmEx presale at noon on 4/20 and hit regular sale on Friday. The NYC show is part of a TBA tour with Mazes. All currently known dates are listed below.

White Denim recently released a mixtape with music ranging from Amon Duul II to George Duke to Emmylou Harris (who recently announced a show with Levon Helm at Summerstage). Check out that mixtape below, alongside the new video for "Drug", song streams, and all tour dates.

Continue reading "White Denim announced a new LP, released a mixtape, new video & tour dates"

photos by Brook Bobbins

Art Brut @ Webster Hall - March 4, 2011

Hello. We're Art Brut.

We've completed the recording of our new album 'Brilliant! Tragic!' and working alongside PledgeMusic, we'd like give you a little more than usual and help us go to places Art Brut have never been.

PledgeMusic allows you to pledge towards Art Brut's dream of touring places that have yet to enjoy the live Art Brut experience. You can get a signed CD or Vinyl before 'Brilliant! Tragic!' reaches the stores. But we're also offering weirder and more wonderful options to a limited number of Art Brut aficionados. What about Art Brut karaoke with Eddie or the whole band playing in your front room...

An exclusive new song "Unprofessional Wrestling" (it won't be on the new album) is also available for free download NOW for the price of an email address. The list of songs that will be on the new album is below, along with the Brilliant! Tragic! cover art (the LP is out May 24 via Cooking Vinyl/The End Records).

Art Brut is plotting a return to North America in June. The band will play NYC at Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 23rd Tickets for that show go on AmEx presale Wed at noon, and regular sale on Friday. All dates are listed below.

Art Brut were here earlier this year to play the Downtown Records celebration at Webster Hall with The Suzan, A-Trak (whose next NYC show is at Terminal 5), White Denim, & Lissy Trullie. Pictures from that show, album info and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Art Brut releasing new stuff, touring North America, played Webster Hall w/ White Demim, A-Trak & more (pics & dates)"

Big names and regulars aside, there are a few bands I want to highlight on the just-announced Sasquatch lineup: Wolf Parade ("indefinite hiatus" rumors be damned), The Flaming Lips (performing "The Soft Bulletin"), Death From Above 1979 (now three reunion shows total), Guided By Voices (they're not done yet), and... Archers of Loaf (!). The full lineup of the fest that goes down in Gorge, Washington in May (Memorial Day Weekend), is below...

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2011 lineup announced (Archers of Loaf, Guided By Voices, Wolf Parade, DFA 1979 & "The Soft Bulletin" included)"

Alt-bros Dave 1 and A-Trak (more by Brook Bobbins)

Miike Snow/Major Lazer/Santigold/etc. at Terminal 5 on March 5th (on sale now) isn't the only birthday party Downtown Records is throwing for itself. They're also hosting A-Trak, Art Brut, White Denim, Lissy Trullie, and The Suzan at Webster Hall on March 4th. Tickets for that first part of the two-day celebration go on sale Saturday (1/29).

A-Trak is also on board for this year's sold-out Cochella Fest, playing not only as A-Trak, but also two days later as part of Duck Sauce (his project with Armand Van Helden).

The Suzan is hitting the road with Chromeo (also are playing Coachella this year) and MNDR for US dates next week. The tour hits a sold-out Terminal 5 on Feb 4th (the afterparty is at Webster Hall). The Fool's Gold-signed Suzan recently dropped a pair of releases in Japan, a live iTunes only LP and a CD+DVD combo of Golden Week For The Poco Poco Beat.

No more Art Brut dates to report at the moment. All A-Trak and Suzan tour dates and some videos below.

Continue reading "A-Trak playing Coachella & another Downtown Records Party (w/ the Suzan, Lissy Trullie, White Denim & ART BRUT)"

Arctic Monkeys @ Highline Ballroom in August (more by Bao Nguyen)

tonight in NYC
* Pink Martini @ Town Hall
* Seabrook Power Plant @ The Stone
* Antibalas @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* Matisyahu, The Glitch Mob @ Webster Hall
* Mathias Tjonn, Land of Leland @ Sycamore
* Bear Hands, Peephole, Ribbons @ Littlefield
* Arctic Monkeys, Screaming Females @ Terminal 5
* Gary War, Ducktails, Infinity Window @ Cake Shop
* Suckers, Tanlines, Light Asylum @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* Brooklyn sings for Health Care Reform @ The Bell House
* Colin Stetson, Matana Roberts, Shazad Ismaily @ Monkey Town
* Limbs, Right on Dynamite, Ludlow Lions, Susu @ Public Assembly
* Love as Laughter, Coconuts, Hallelujah, Ezekial Healy @ Death By Audio
* Spanish Broads, The Honey Dos, ACLU Benefit, The Everly Sisters @ Bruar Falls
* Holly Golightly & The Broke-Offs, Taylor Hollingsworth, She Keeps Bees, Vandaveer @ Mercury Lounge

Arctic Monkeys plays their first of two shows in a row with Screaming Females tonight.

Matisyahu plays his first of eight.

White Denim's new video for "I Start to Run" below...

Wayne Coyne brings us the Flaming Lips Silver Trembling Fetus Christmas ornament. Video below...

Videos of Surfer Blood on KEXP, below...

What else?

Continue reading "Whats going on Thursday?"

He actually published this list in August, but in case you missed it...

Continue reading "Gorilla Vs Bear's favorite 'songs of the decade'"

White Denim @ Mercury Lounge in 2008 (more by Lori Baily)

They were supposed to play the Pool Party with Dirty Projectors this summer, but were replaced last minute by Crystal Antlers. Instead, Austin's White Denim will next visit Brooklyn as part of a fall tour that brings them to Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 12th. Tickets go on sale Wednesday at noon. All dates below...

Continue reading "White Denim - 2009 Tour Dates (MHOW) "

As previously mentioned, White Denim has been replaced by Crystal Antlers on the bill of the July 19th JellyNYC Pool Party. They'll join Magnolia Electric Co. and Dirty Projectors at the free show. The Crystal Antlers released their debut record, Tentacles, earlier this year. Full tour dates for the band are below.

White Denim's Fits came out in the UK in June. That record will see a US release on October 20th through Downtown Records (home of Major Lazer, Santigold, Art Brut, Miike Snow, Spank Rock, Amanda Blank, Justice and more).

The band recently toured Europe, which included a July 12th show at London's Heaven...

Freewheeling stoners, [White Denim] refused to heed the usual convention of making songs sound roughly similar to their recorded versions. What they did instead was play two clumps of music that lasted exactly 20 minutes each (plus 10-minute encore), sandwiching 14 songs together with only the briefest break halfway through. They deserve top marks for stamina, if nothing else, particularly drummer Josh Block, who often stood up to pound out his vicious beats. [Guardian UK]

Continue reading "White Denim sign to Downtown Records, not playing Pool Party (Crystal Antlers are +++ other tour dates)"

"The emails have been piling up and everyone's asking, "dude, what's up with the Pool Parties?" Well DUDE, so sorry to keep you waiting, but here at JELLY we've been working our asses off to bring you one of the greatest free concert series in history. The Pool Parties are going to be extremely crucial this year, "epic" or "amazing" as you people say these days. Seriously, eight weeks of FREE shows on the waterfront of Williamsburg? Does it get any better? You might be thinking "waterfront"? Yeah, in case you didn't hear the McCarren Pool's closed so get over it :) , and yeah we kept the name Pool Parties even though the East River's not at a pool, so what? We've still got DODGEBALL, basketball, DJ's, bands, burgers the works! We love you more than your parents ever could, and if you want to have fun and hang out with us this summer. [Full schedule below]. Bring your friends but please don't bring these things [pictured above]. As you can see below, underage drinking will not be tolerated. . You guys wouldn't do that though, so there's nothing to worry about. Thank you for visiting and stay tuned!!" -Jelly

Continue reading "JellyNYC announces Pool Parties @ Williamsburg Waterfront!"

"The genre that was once called "college rock" is currently drifting in a distinctly post-graduate direction. But for those who find 2009's US indie vanguard (the Grizzly Animal Projectors, the Dirty Bear Collective, those guys) a little too ethereal for their tastes, this down and dirty Austin, Texas power trio offer a marvellously rocking reality check." [Guardian]

To go along with that record, White Denim will be touring the UK/Europe from June 23rd until at least July 11th, and that will give them enough time to get back here for their only scheduled US show that I know about at the moment, which will be free in Brooklyn on July 19th at the Williamsburg Waterfront on a bill with Magnolia Electric Co. and Dirty Projectors. This NYC show is one of eight Jelly NYC Pool Parties that will happen this summer, all of which are currently still, sort of unannounced.

New White Denim video and all dates below...

Continue reading "White Denim releasing 'Fits' (in the UK), playing Williamsburg Waterfront w/ Magnolia EC/Dirty Projectors + other dates "

Photos by Lori Baily

White Denim

Hello. At long last, we're happy to release our first U.S. full-length record, "Exposion," in digital format through Austin's Transmission Entertainment.

The record's available above in MP3 (320 kbps) format for $8.99, so click away. And for all you sound junkies out there, the record's also available in loss FLAC format for $13.99 right here. Both downloads come with all album artwork.

Year-long subscriptions are also available ($29.99) here. All subscribers will automatically receive the album in 320 kbps format, a 12" copy of the album, a 7" copy of the "Let's Talk About It" EP , and a collection of unreleased digital live tracks. Over the year, we'll inundate you with all kinds of stuff, including plenty of unreleased materials and continuous entries from the WD tour diary.

Thanks. We love you.
White Denim

Continue reading "White Denim (album out now) played Mercury Lounge w/ Amazing Baby who have 2 more shows there (pics, tix)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - The Brigde (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - Ernie and the Sand (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - Foot and Foot
DOWNLOAD: Women - Black Rice (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elk City - Los Cruzados (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elk City - Cherries in the Snow (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Amazing Baby - Infinite Fucking Cross EP (Zip file)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything with You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)

Kristen Ketsjer & friends

With all the quality shows between now and tuesday you'd think CMJ had already started and it's making it very hard to keep to my vow to take it easy before next week's onslaught. Here are a few that are making it especially difficult.

I only caught two songs by Danish trio Kirsten Ketsjer at this year's SXSW, purely by accident, but I was taken by their VU-meets-Television style guitar rock that can be both delicately beautiful and monsterously loud. But mostly beautiful. Drummer Anja Jacobsen sings while guitarists Andreas Führer and Anders Lauge Meldgaard spin webs around each other. Not sure why they haven't gotten more attention than they have -- last year's FFFFOO K TSSCCH! is a pretty magical album -- that may change after next week. They're playing at least once a day during CMJ and there are two shows this week (Thursday [10/16] at Lit, and Friday [10/17] at Dead Herring) if you want to catch them early. Do check them out.

Elk City

Elk City are playing a special show this Saturday (10/18) at Union Hall. The band, who've added former Luna guitarist Sean Eden to their lineup, agreed to be the entertainment at a friend's wedding which meant they had to learn a whole slew of cover songs and the Union Hall show is a dress rehearsal of sorts for the big day. Expect more along the lines of Bowie, Nina Simone, and Carol King than "The Chicken Dance," "The Electric Slide" or the dreaded "Butterfly Kisses." The show will be interspersed with Elk City material too, including some of the songs in contention for their new album. Opening are Boy Genius who put on a nice show Tuesday opening for Bearsuit.

White Denim

If you're willing to go out on a Sunday (10/19) you can see a lot of CMJ buzz bands before the fest actually starts. And actually, at Mercury Lounge are Austin's White Denim (tickets), who are skipping CMJ entirely in favor of a European tour. Their U.S. debut, Exposion, is out November 11 and is a slightly different version of their acclaimed UK release, Workout Holiday, which was released earlier this year. It defies easy description: there's some noodling guitars a la the Minutemen; bluesy passages like some other White bands; shouty indie rock and blissful psychedelia. I dig it. White Denim also play Union Hall the next night (10/20) (tickets).

Playing with them at Mercury Lounge are Amazing Baby who I've written about more than once both here and over at my own blog. They've been playing pretty regularly over the summer and are a pretty tight machine these days, so they should be ready for CMJ and their upcoming tour with MGMT and Violens. If you haven't heard them yet, you can download their Infinite Fucking Cross EP for free.

Women

Meanwhile, around the corner at Cake Shop, Friction NYC have put together a pretty unmissable lineup as well: The noise-drenched pure pop of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart who are fresh off a tour of Sweden; reverb-loving Canadians, Women;, who are certainly one of CMJ's most buzzed-about bands; Jackson Heights' only garage rock band*, The Beets (*fact completely uncomfirmed by me); and the organ styling of another Canadian, Katie Stelmanis.

Current # of CMJ-related shows Women have coming up: 9
Current # of CMJ-related shows The Muslims have coming up: 9

Both Women and The Muslims are playing BrooklynVegan parties during CMJ. The Muslims are on the Thursday October 23rd one. Women are on the unannounced Saturday October 25th one. If you count the pre-CMJ Cake Shop show, that raises Women's total NYC show count to 10. Don't be surprised if more NYC shows pop up on both of their schedules.

All tour dates and videos for all bands in this post, below...

Continue reading "Kirsten Ketsjer, Women, Elk City, White Denim, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart & more in This Week In Indie"

Tickets for the upcoming Metallica shows are on presale.
(Radio Preferred Seating password = magnetic)

Tickets are on sale for the Vision of Disorder show at Irving Plaza.

T.I. is playing Highline Ballroom on September 30th. $50 tickets are on sale.

Dawn Landes opens for Federico Aubele at Bowery Ballroom tonight (Sept 03). Tickets are still on sale.

The Little Ones play Mercury Lounge on October 17th. Tickets are on sale.

White Denim play Mercury Lounge on October 19th. Tickets are on sale.

Impose posted this:

The shows keep getting bigger but the pool stays the same. Here are some of the official lineups for Jelly NYC's annual McCarren Pool shows, which, on their third year, can officially be dubbed a hipster tradition. Since we are enormous hipsters over here at Impose, we've already broken out the seasonal short shorts and started shaking the dust out of our giant beards, which we are hoping are still fashionable after a ten month stint in our closet (the beards, not us).

June 29::
Hold Steady with White Denim
(as just previously posted)

July 20::
Liars and special guests who may have played an after party with Angus and the crew a few months ago.

July 27::
MGMT and Black Moth Super Rainbow
(Black Moth part was previously confirmed)

August 3::
Black Lips, Deerhunter, and a crazy motherfucker who those aforementioned Atlantans (and Vice) seem to think is the second coming

There are other rumors as well. Apparently The Breeders may make an appearance in July, though no date's set. Team Robespierre's in that same boat.

Wilco is also playing McCarren Pool.

So are M.I.A., Death Cab & Ween. (and Armin Van Buuren)

And Devo I think.