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

White Mystery @ the Hideout, November 2012 (more by Sara Pieper)

Chicago sibling duo White Mystery are set to release their new album, Telepathic, on April 20. In addition to being a day of note for some people, 4/20 also marks the band's fifth birthday. (Probably not a coincidence.) You can stream a track from the new LP below.

The band's current tour hits NYC for three shows: tonight (3/26) at Death by Audio with Peach Kelli Pop, The Numerators and Ken South Rock; and then Cameo on Wednesday (3/27) with Dead Stars and Samantha; and Thursday (3/28) at Cake Shop with Warm Soda. All tour dates are listed below.

Peach Kelli Pop, the side project from White Wires drummer Allie Hanlon, released their most recent album, Peach Kelli Pop II, back in December and you can stream it's sugary, garagey goodness below. They're on their own tour and those dates are listed below too.

Continue reading "White Mystery releasing new album, playing shows; Peach Kelli Pop touring too (dates, streams)"

Nobunny at Bowery Ballroom, September 2011 (more by Ryan Barkan)

Bubblegum weirdo Nobunny is currently putting the finishing touches on his new album for Goner records which will be out this fall. In the meantime, he'll be going on tour with stops in NYC at Otto's Shrunken Head on September 20 and Living Bread Deli on September 21. All Tour dates are listed at the bottom of this post.

Nobunny's tour wraps up in Memphis for Gonerfest 9 which happens September 27 - 30. The annual blowout, put on by the great record store/label, features garage-leaning bands from all over the world including the Oblivians, Slug Guts, Bad Sports, White Mystery, Personal & the Pizzas, The Spits, and loads more. 4-day passes are on sale now and you can check out the full line-up and schedule below.

Continue reading "Nobunny readies new album, going on tour (dates) including 2 NYC shows before Gonerfest in Memphis (full lineup)"

Shonen Knife at the Bell House in 2011 (more by Andrew St. Clair)

Japanese punks Shonen Knife are teaming up with Chicago duo White Mystery for a US tour this summer. That tour comes to the NYC area for shows at Asbury Lanes on July 20, Bell House on July 21, and Maxwell's on July 22. Tickets to the Asbury Lanes and Bell House shows and the Maxwell's show are on sale now.

Shonen Knife are set to release their new album, Pop Tune on June 6 via Good Charamel. Naoko Yamano, the only remaining founder member of the band, sings lead on most of the album, but bassist Ritsuko Taneda sings on "Sunshine" and drummer Emi Morimoto sings on "Psychedelic Life." The album track, "Osaka Rock City," will also appear as the theme song to the upcoming Japanese film adaptation of Robin Nishi's Soul Train Flower. The video for the title track, along the album tracklist, cover art, and a list of all dates, is below.

Continue reading "Shonen Knife ready new LP; touring w/ White Mystery (dates)"

White Mystery @ Hotel Vegan - SXSW 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

today in NYC
* ASSSCAT @ UCB
* Kraftwerk Fest @ PS1
* Chico Hamilton @ Drom
* Furthur @ Beacon Theatre
* Hannibal Buress @ Caroline's
* Lorn, Lunice @ Public Assembly
* Pretty Good Friends @ Union Hall
* Clutch @ The Paramount (LI)
* Andrew Demetre @ Barbes
* Chris Pureka @ The Rock Shop
* Tommy Stinson @ Union Hall (new date)
* Comedy Night w/ Hannibal Buress
* High Highs, Indians, White Birds @ Glasslands
* Kraftwerk performing 'Techno Pop' @ MoMA
* The Black Seeds, Dub Apocalypse @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Local H, The Apple Bros., Scott Lucas @ Mercury Lounge
* 200 Years (Ben Chasny and Alisa Ambrogio), Rowan @ Zebulon
* Roomrunner, Acid Problem, Yvette, The Marsh Hens @ Death By Audio
* John Zorn improv night benefit with many special guests @ The Stone
* Chain & The Gang (feat. Ian Svenonius), Alex Minoff @ Knitting Factory
* Los Vigilantes, Freshkills, White Mystery, Mighty Fine, Bosco Delrey @ The Bell House

Coachella continues today and is streaming online.

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter.
Follow @bvChicago for just Chicago stuff.
Also follow @bvAustin for just Austin stuff.

Be our friend on Facebook too, and BV Austin's friend on Facebook and BV Chicago's friend on Facebook.

White Mystery, who played Public Assembly last night are in from Chicago and play "Garage Fest" with Los Vigilantes and others at Bell House today. They also play four more NYC shows right after that.

Watch the Rapture's entire Coachella 2012 set below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

Puerto Rico's Los Vigilantes, a garage punk band with ties to another Puerto Rican band of similar style (guitarist Jota Vigilante has played as a live member of Davila 666 and played on their Tan Bajo LP), are in the US and on the road right now. All remaining dates on their tour, which started before SXSW, are listed below.

Los Vigilantes are in Ohio now and making their way to the NYC-area where they'll make an appearance at WFMU followed by a show at Don Pedro on 4/14. They play the Bell House on 4/15 as part of a show being called "Garage Fest" with Freshkills, White Mystery, Mighty Fine, and Bosco Delrey along with DJs Captain Heartlock, Charly, Drew Redmond, and Jay Space. Tickets for the Bell House are on sale.

All tour dates and a stream of the band's self-titled effort below...

Continue reading "Los Vigilantes touring, playing WFMU & 2 NYC shows (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield & Tim Griffin; additional pictures by Nate "Igor" Smith

Frankie Rose & band @ Hotel Vegan (by Amanda Hatfield)

BrooklynVegan's Hotel Vegan, located at Austin venues Hotel Vegas & Volstead Lounge, began at noon back on Wednesday, 3/14/2012, on three stages. As "bob dylan wrote propaganda songs" points out:

"...it offered the perfect setting for seeing multiple bands within an intimate setting in a short amount of time. Sure it was a long walk down Sixth Street to get there, and it may not have been the most well kempt venue (I'll be honest, it was a shit-hole), but the three stage set-up provided for prime SXSW day party viewing. I had the pleasure of seeing Chelsea Wolfe, Japandroids, Frankie Rose, Deaf Heaven, and Japandroids all within the span of a couple hours. All of these bands were on my list of bands I wanted to see, and thanks to this venue, I was able to cross more bands off my list than past years"

Deafheaven @ Hotel Vegan (by Amanda Hatfield)

Like on Friday and all four days, we served complimentary HobNob Wines all day. On Wednesday we also proudly passed out Brooklyn Brewery beer and Sailor Jerry drinks.

Special thanks to our official backline providers Vox, Blackstar and Korg, and thank you to NadaMoo for supplying free vegan treats, and to Honest Tea for the tea.

More pictures from the entire SXSW Wednesday at Hotel Vegan, below....

Continue reading "#HotelVegan Day 1 pics (Future of the Left, Japandroids, Bear in Heaven, Frankie Rose, Maps & Atlases, Deafheaven, more) "

As you know, BrooklynVegan is taking over ALL THREE STAGES at connecting Austin venues Hotel Vegas & Volstead for FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT this week, and it's all 100% FREE (no RSVP or badges either). There's a big outdoor stage, and smaller stages inside Hotel Vegas & Volstead. Collectively we're calling the four day long party "Hotel Vegan" (located at 1500 E. 6th St, Austin, TX).

We announced Thursday, Friday, and Saturday too. Here is Wednesday: Wednesday at Hotel Vegan (March 14, 2012)

Stage 1 (Hotel Vegas Outside)
12:00 PM - Devin
12:45 PM - Big Deal
1:30 PM - Pujol
2:15 PM - We are Augustines
2:50 PM - Sun Araw Band (live) + Matthewdavid (DJ Set)
3:45 PM - Frankie Rose
4:30 PM - Japandroids
5:15 PM - Bear in Heaven

Stage 2 (Hotel Vegas Inside) (BBG Stage)
12:10 PM - Freshkills
12:50 PM - White Ring
1:35 PM - The Coathangers
2:20 PM - Razika
3:05 PM - Chelsea Wolfe
3:50 PM - Deafheaven
4:35 PM - Bleached
5:20 PM - Future Of The Left

Stage 3 (Volstead) (BV Chicago stage)
12:00 PM - Minor Characters
12:35 PM - Gypsyblood
01:15 PM - FIELDED
02:00 PM - White Mystery
02:45 PM - Maps & Atlases
03:30 PM - The-Drum
04:15 PM - Flosstradamus
05:00 PM - JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound

And in addition to the completely free lineup of 24 bands playing on THREE stages, we will also have complimentary drinks courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery (while supplies laset) and HobNob Wines, the official wine parter of our entire week of FREE PARTIES at Hotel Vegan (check out HobNob's Facebook page for free music downloads), and a hosted bar courtesy of Sailor Jerry

We will also have FREE VEGAN TREATS courtesy of NadaMoo! and FREE Honest Tea. Arlo's great Vegan Food truck, located right next door, will be at all four days of Hotel Vegan selling food.

Special thanks to all of our partners and sponsors for making this party possible - including Vox, Blackstar and Korg, our official backline partners. And special thanks to Tim Griffin for making our Hotel Vegan flyer.

--

This just one of four full days at Hotel Vegan. Thursday lineup HERE. Saturday lineup HERE. Friday lineup HERE.

We also have THREE official showcases (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday), and a Saturday metal day party at Lovejoys, AND a just-announced bridge show.

Mick Collins of The Dirtbombs on stage with The Gories at FFF5 (more by BBG)


The Dirtbombs have a couple months to prepare to be sea-worthy, but until then have a pair of Sailor Jerry-presented FREE-with-RSVP gigs scheduled with White Mystery. The 21+ shows go down on 12/16 at the Subterranean in Chicago and 12/17 at Gramercy Theater in NYC. RSVP now. Flyer below.

The Dirtbombs were last in NYC in June with Dennis Coffey, and recently released a covers album of Detroit Techno.

Continue reading "The Dirtbombs schedule free NYC show at Gramercy (RSVP)"

Cocorosie @ MHOW in 2010 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Brooklyn venue Glasslands have booked a pretty impressive list of upcoming shows this month and next. We've already mentioned last night's John Maus show, the John Maus show coming in June, tonight's Julliana Barwick/Helado Negro show, Adventure and Pat Jordache (5/14), Cymbals Eat Guitars (5/20), an acoustic show with Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles (5/27), and Love Inks (6/2).

Most notably, in addition to those, CocoRosie play Glasslands on May 23. At the moment it is their only US show before heading to Europe for a July tour. Openers TBA. Tickets are on sale now.

Meanwhile, Princeton play Glasslands on Wednesday, May 11 with High Highs, New Villager, and Ivana XL, before they open for CSS and Sleigh Bells at Music Hall of Williamsburg (5/12) and Bowery Ballroom (5/15). Tickets are on sale now.

High Highs also play a show on May 19th with Acrylics and Junip at Bowery Ballroom, and they open for Memoryhouse at two NYC shows in June. All dates are listed below.

Xylos, McDonalds, Mansions & Junipers, and Flashlights are playing Glasslands on May 12. Tickets are on sale now.

Dirty Beaches @ Bowery Ballroom (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Dirty Beaches plays Glasslands with Psychedelic Horseshit, Pterodactyl, and Beige on May 13 (tickets), a day after they play Mercury Lounge with Widowspeak (5/12). All tour dates, South Street Seaport included, are listed below.

White Mystery, who just released their sophomore full length Blood & Venom, play Glasslands on May 17 as the kick off to a 5-night NYC run that looks like this:

05/17/11 Glasslands Brooklyn, New York
05/18/11 Generation Records New York, New York
05/19/11 Public Assembly Brooklyn, New York
05/20/11 Death By Audio Brooklyn, New York
05/21/11 Brooklyn Fireproof Brooklyn, New York

My Teenage Stride play an early show at Glasslands on May 21 with Sea Lions, Beachniks, The Surprisers, and Plains. No advanced tickets for that one, or for the free show they're playing at South Street Seaport this summer.

French Horn Rebellion, who recently released Infinite Music Of French Horn Rebellion, are playing Glasslands on May 26 for their album release party. The show is being opened by Savoir Adore, who play Brooklyn Museum on 5/13 and the In Vino Wine Bar on June 26 (Tickets). Tickets for the Glasslands show are on sale now. French Horn Rebellion are on tour with Yelle now.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who are currently on tour with Portugal. The Man and Telekinesis play their own show at Glasslands on June 4, one day after they play Webster Hall with those bands. Unknown Mortal Orchestra are releasing their self titled debut on June 21 via Fat Possum. Hear three songs off the album on Fat Possum's website. Tickets are on sale now for the Brooklyn show with with Balkans + more TBA. Updated dates are below.

The Beets (maybe you saw them Saturday at Cake Shop) play Glasslands on June 24. Openers TBA. Tickets on sale now. Meanwhile they are out on tour.

Videos and dates below...

Continue reading "Cocorosie, Princeton, White Mystery, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Dirty Beaches, Savoir Adore & other shows"

DOWNLOAD: White Fence - Get That Heart (MP3)

White Fence

Bill wrote:

"White Fence who are making a rare trip to the East Coast this week, playing a few shows here in NYC: Thursday at 285 Kent with Woods and Spectre Folk, then Saturday (4/30) at Cake Shop. I feel fairly certain that they are also "Beige Swordfights" listed as part of a sweet Death by Audio show on Friday (4/29) that includes The Beets, Fergus and Geronimo and The Sundelles."

White Fence have also confirmed that they will be back in town to play 92YTribeca on June 24th with The Strange Boys and The Babies. Tickets are on sale for that show which is part of a larger tour that starts for the Strange Boys in early June and ends in July with White Mystery as the tour opener. White, White, White, White.... White Wires also played a NYC show last night. How were they?

All tour dates below...

Continue reading "White Fence confirmed on Death by Audio Beets show, touring w/ the Strange Boys in June (dates)"

Cassie Ramone (the Babies) @ Death By Audio on 8/13 (more by Eric Rex)

"My solo stuff is hard to describe, I haven't been too active about it because I'm really shy, and it's hard for me open up. With Vivian Girls Katy is not shy, she's really good at saying, "listen to my band, come and see my show!" Which I think is awesome, and is one of the reason we were able to do so well because she's so enthusiastic about everything she does, but I'm not like that, I'm more introverted with my artistic endeavors. My stuff that's not Vivian girls is more folksy I would say. I have some keyboard organ songs, it's all over the place really, but I think I'm going to try to record an album over the summer, if I can get it together enough." [CASSIE RAMONE]

White Mystery was last here from Chicago in April, and have no more NYC shows scheduled after tonight, but are on tour. All dates and videos from their Cake Shop show (which I posted one other time coincidentally in a post that was topped by a picture of Cassie Ramone) below.

The Babies played Death By Audio with Ty Segall and Royal Baths over the weekend. Their next scheduled show is September 24th at Cake Shop where they'll share a bill with Garotas Suecas, Sundelles and Holger.

Vivian Girls have upcoming shows too - soon even. You can catch them in their college town of New Brunswick, NJ on Saturday night at a place called Fuck Mountain. It's a basement show. Big Troubles and Coasting are also on the bill which is convenient for Coasting drummer Fiona who is in both bands. Vivian Girls are also playing ATP NY. All dates below..

Continue reading "Cassie Ramone gone solo, Vivian girls playing a basement w/ Coasting, White Mystery on tour (NYC show tonight)"

The Babies @ Knitting Factory last week (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

tonight in NYC
* Ben Folds @ Town Hall
* Joan Osborne @ City Winery
* Red Sparowes, Doomriders @ Mercury Lounge
* Fang Island, Dinowalrus, Univox @ Maxwell's
* Ra Ra Riot, Plants and Animals @ Union Hall
* William Parker and Ellen Christi Duo @ The Stone
* The Skatalites, Meta & the Cornerstone @ BB King's
* Natalie Merchant @ the NY Society for Ethical Culture
* Prince Rama, GDFX, Pearly, The Dreebs @ Shea Stadium
* Freelance Whales, Lawrence Arabia, Sherlock's Daughter @ Bowery Ballroom
* Malkuth, Greg Ginn and the Taylor Texas Corrugators, CSC Funk Band @ Cake Shop
* Wizardry, Ruby Bullet, Thinning The Herd, Descender, Sos @ Studio at Webster Hall
* Au Revoir Simone (DJ), Gators, VEGA (DJ), Bad Brilliance, CX Kidtronik @ Santos
* Titus Andronicus, The Babies, The Static Jacks, Average Girl @ Fordham U's Rodrigues Coffee House
* Daniel Perlin, Christina Wheeler w/ Vernon Reid, Danny Blume & Benton C Bainbridge @ Issue Project Room

Fang Island is touring with Red Sparowes and Doomriders, but tonight they play their own shows - Fang Island at Maxwell's, and the other two at their first of two shows in a row at Mercury Lounge.

Eek-A-Mouse was supposed to also play the Skatalites show at BB King's tonight, but cancelled due to "visa issues".

The Titus Andronicus / Babies show at Rodrigues Coffee House tonight is free.

Tuesday, APRIL 13, 2010
Rodrigue's (at Fordham University)
441 East Fordham Road
Bronx, NY 10458

7:30 pm, FREE, ALL AGES
Subway: B or D to Fordham Road

White Mystery played Cake Shop on Saturday. Punkcast video from that show below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

by Bill Pearis

There's a lot going on this weekend but the show I'm most excited about this weekend is The Wedding Present who are in town performing their 1989 classic Bizarro in its entirety. They'll do it at Maxwell's on Saturday night (4/10, Sold Out) and then Bowery Ballroom on Sunday (not sold out) (4/11).

I won't lie: you're looking at a Wedding Present superfan. Like a lot of Americans, Bizarro was the first album I heard and is near and dear to me for that reason. (1991's Seamonsters is my all-time fave, though.) Bizarro is the peak of their early sound -- jangle pop played hard and very fast -- ten bashers that climax with the nearly ten minute "Take Me!" that might be the band's most manic song ever. Magnet asked frontman David Gedge, who turns 50 on April 23rd, a question I was wondering about.

Magnet:There's a lot of frantic guitar strumming on Bizarro, songs like "Kennedy" in particular. Twenty-plus years later, how worried are you that you might need frequent breaks during the shows?

David Gedge: I'm not going to deny that it's a challenge! With Bizarro, we took the original idea of the Wedding Present--namely, to play songs as fast and for as long as possible--to its logical conclusion. As a result, it's a collection of fairly extreme recordings, and obviously, we've never played them back to back like this before. Rehearsals have been more like training sessions for a marathon, but I have no doubt that we'll get there in the end.

White Mystery

Guitar-bass garage rock duos are a dime a dozen, but White Mystery from Chicago stand out and not just because siblings Alex and Francis are flaming redheads. (If they ever need to change their name, may I suggest Firecrotch?) Alex, formerly of Red Orchestra, has a soulful wail that she lets belt out at top register. They're also less blues-y than many of their brethren -- even without the singing nobody's gonna confuse them with The White Stripes, Thee Oh Sees, etc. Their self-titled debut is a lot of fun. And you just know -- you just know -- they're gonna be good live.

White Mystery play Don Pedros on Friday night (4/9) with Girls at Dawn, Medication, Lil Daggers, and The Psyched. They'll also play Cake Shop on Saturday with QXBXRX, Zbornak, and the Richie White Orchestra.

In addition to Serena Maneesh, Here's a few more picks for tonight and Friday...

Continue reading "The Wedding Present, White Mystery, Mon Khmer, ARMS, Zaza, Light Asylum & more in This Week in Indie (part 2) "