That's the cover art of the new Mission of Burma album called Unsound which will be out July 9, 2012 via Fire Records. The tracklist, featuring some songs you may recognize from their recent shows is below along with a stream of new song "Dust Devil".

Mission of Burma return to Brooklyn on August 3rd when they'll share a bill with Wild Flag as part of a free Celebrate Brooklyn show at the Prospect Park Bandshell. It's one of three upcoming Wild Flag shows which are listed, along with the MoB album info, below...

Continue reading "Mission of Burma reveal new album info, playing Prospect Park with Wild Flag"

photos by David Andrako

Wild Flag's Carrie Brownstein & the Hives @ Coachella Sunday - 4/22/2012

"The second weekend brought record heat. Festival-goers jockeyed for patches of grass around the shaded perimeters. They pounded frozen lemonade at $6 a cup.

"It feels like a different world from last weekend," The Shins frontman James Mercer said. "It was Iceland last week."

While the weather forced some practical fashion choices, Coachella's sartorial influence was noted well beyond Indio. Joan Rivers and Kelly Osbourne debated Coachella-inspired fashion trends, and the wider cultural significance of the festival, on the E! Channel program, "The Fashion Police."

Osbourne, a Coachella regular, proclaimed, "When you go to Coachella, all the girls are half-naked and 22." Rivers, who joked that she goes to Coachella, too, quipped, "If David Hasselhoff was there, this means officially Coachella is no longer cool."" [MYDesert.com]

After DJing a party on Friday night and headlining with his band Radiohead on Saturday, Thom Yorke kept busy on Sunday by DJing a Rolling Stone pool party with Nigel Godrich, and then showing up as a not-so-surprise, special guest during Modeselektor's Sunday night set in the Mojave tent while Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg headlined the main Coachella stage.

Modeselektor (pre-Thom) @ Coachella Sunday - 4/22/2012

You saw pictures from Friday and Saturday, all of last week, and of Dre & Snoop from yesterday (Sunday, 4/22/12). Here are the rest from yesterday, Coachella 2012's final day. More below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Week 2 - Day 3 pics (Modeselektor, Hives, Wild Flag, At the Drive-In, Le Butcherettes, Gotye, Beirut, more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

dolphin rider / Wild Flag / At the Drive-In

"Weekend one of Coachella 2012 not only confirmed rock fans' rabid appetite for live music but reminded the music industry that the past is a lot closer than it used to be. There were no rock acts from the 1960s or early '70s on the bill. The look back was dedicated to Coachella's continuing affection for reuniting British bands from the late '70s and early '80s--this year, it was Buzzcocks, James, Madness, Pulp and Squeeze. Other reuniting bands on the bill included American alt-rock bands Firehose, Mazzy Star and At the Drive-In; and Refused, a punk group from Sweden that hadn't been heard from since 1998. One could argue that the "appearance" by the late Shakur was an admission that to become a musical force again, West Coast rap needs a resurrection. Though the beats conceived and developed by Dr. Dre, Shakur, Snoop Dogg and others are now woven into rock and pop's vocabulary, rap had little presence at Coachella 2012, save for the ingenuity of the late Sunday-night oldies show.

And if there was any doubt that electronic dance music is a dominating force, even if it's still underappreciated by the mainstream, Swedish House Mafia and Justice played the main stage. The big tent dedicated to dance music was rarely less than filled to a boisterous overflow." [Wall Street Journal]

You already saw pictures from Friday and Saturday, video of an idiot falling off a wooden structure, watched Frank Ocean's set, and Azealia Banks's. The Weeknd's too. You saw Refused's setlist and some videos. You already know what At The Drive-In played on Sunday, and streamed their set in full after you were done watching Real Estate's and M83's, not to mention parts of Bon Iver's and Andrew Bird's. You're already well aware that Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg and many special guests headlined on Sunday, and you even saw the pictures of them and watched the Tupac hologram video. Now here are the rest of the Sunday pictures, and they continue, below....

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Day 3 pics -- ATDI, Wild Flag, Justice, Hives, Weeknd, Fitz, Company Flow, Florence & the Machine & more)"

"Following last year's 10th anniversary, which crushed previous attendance records and set a new mark for the speed with which tickets sold out, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2012 lineup which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 25-28 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA."

Continue reading "Sasquatch! 2012 lineup announced (Bon Iver, Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Shins, Portlandia, Spiritualized & more) "

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Initially announced in November with more dates added in January, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have been bringing their funny/offensive IFC show Portlandia to live stages across the country over the past month. They started at the end of December with shows in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco (where Thao & Mirah joined them for a song). January's run started in LA, continued to Chicago (where guests included Jeff Tweedy's kids), and then hit NYC for two shows: 1/20 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (pictures in this post) and 1/21 @ Bowery Ballroom (pictures HERE).

The Brooklyn show, pictured here, included special guests Adam Horovitz (aka Beastie Boy Ad-Rock) and Hugh Cornwell. The live band included Carrie's Wild Flag bandmate Rebecca Cole.

Wild Flag were all in the audience at the same venue just over a month earlier to see Eleanor Friendberger perform. Eleanor opened for Wild Flag on their October tour, and is joining Portlandia on their February run of dates that kick off 2/19 at the Trocadero in Philadelphia. All dates and more pictures from the Brooklyn Portlandia show, below...

Continue reading "Portlandia hit MHOW w/ Ad-Rock & Hugh Cornwell (pics), bringing Eleanor Friedberger on tour (dates)"

Radiohead @ Roseland Ballroom in 2011 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Coachella which is taking place over the course of two weekends this year (April 13-15 and 20-22) revealed their 2012 lineup. Last week, Azealia Banks was the first artist confirmed, and earlier today they confirmed The Weeknd (maybe he found a band?), and before that, Jimmy Cliff, Breakbot, and Housse De Racket. The reunited Pulp then announced itself. The full lineup also includes headliners The Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, not to mention, as predicted, the reunited At the Drive In and the reunited Mazzy Star (!), and Madness and Refused (!) and Jeff Mangum and many, many more that you can see below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 lineup announced (two weekends worth)"

I hate writing year-end lists, as might be obvious to many long-time BrooklynVegan readers. That said, I also like them. They help organize things, which is related to my problem though. I'm too unorganized and hectic to ever get around to making one! But this year a few of us (BrooklynVegan contributors) got together and decided to come up with a collective list of albums that we loved that we think most represented 2011 in BrooklynVegan land. Our indie rock-centric list purposely does not include metal (that's HERE) or hip hop (we should make a separate list). With that in mind, our top 26 albums of 2011, in alphabetical order, are listed (with some commentary and a list of honorable mentions too) below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan's Favorite Albums of 2011"

Josh T Pearson @ BV-SXSW 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Check out Rough Trade's list of the Top 100 Albums of 2011 (yay Josh T Pearson!), below...

Continue reading "Rough Trade's Top 100 albums of 2011 "

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Wild Flag @ Bowery Ballroom

Wild Flag recently hit the NYC-area during CMJ, selling out three shows while they were here with Eleanor Friedberger and Hospitality. The run ended at Manhattan's Bowery Ballroom. A second set of pictures from their Bowery Ballroom set are in this post. Pictures of Eleanor's set are HERE and Hospitality's are HERE.

Wild Flag will return to NYC during a 2012 tour for a much larger show at Webster Hall on April 1. Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Friday (11/11) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (11/9) at noon.

All spring tour dates and more CMJ pics below...

Continue reading "Wild Flag -- 2012 tour dates, a Webster Hall show & more pics from Bowery"

photos by Tamara Porras

Wild Flag @ Bowery Ballroom

"On Tuesday night, that act vacuuming up all the attention was Wild Flag, a new band comprised of members of old bands that sounds like the mean of those old bands, and also like many recent bands who have looked to those old bands for inspiration. (Got all that?)

The self-titled Wild Flag debut album was released last month on Merge and, in places, it's blistering. But only some of that tension came through during the band's set Tuesday night at the Bowery Ballroom. The singer Carrie Brownstein is still poignant, and still wry, and still handles her guitar authoritatively. While Janet Weiss, the drummer, was firm, she wasn't at her firmest. And sometimes the keyboard lines from Rebecca Cole appeared to have parachuted in from another concert up the block." [NY Times]

Continue reading "Wild Flag played Maxwell's, the Bell House & Bowery Ballroom w/ Eleanor Friedberger (pics)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Gauntlet Hair - Top Bunk (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cuckoo Chaos - Just Ride It (MP3)

Gauntlet Hair

After a quiet day, there's no shortage of excellent evening shows for this first night of CMJ 2011. There are just my suggestions -- check CMJ's much-improved (though still not quite helpful enough) schedule for a full rundown of official showcases.

After studying the schedule, my pick for single showcase of the night is the Lefse Records/Banter/Waaga showcase at Pianos which has more than a couple bands of interest on the bill. Among them: Denver duo Gauntlet Hair whose album is out today on Dead Oceans, featuring some densely-layerd ANCO-inspired pop. (Check out an MP3 at the top of this post.) Also playing: San Diego's Cuckoo Chaos whose song "Just Ride It" has stayed in rotation on my stereo for a while now. (You can d/l that above too.) There's also laptop Canadian Teen Daze (who maybe you caught at the Creators Project), Chicago's A Lull, Atlanta's terrific Balkans, and the blissed-out Sun Glitters. It may not have the biggest names on the bill of any show tonight, but who knows where many of them will be in six months? $10 without a CMJ badge.

Cuckoo Chaos

Dent May

Coming a close second...Public Assembly, a club no one ever seems to go to for shows in non-festival times, has one of the most solid weeks of any venue in the city. (I'm not just saying that because BV has day shows there Friday and Saturday, either.) Tonight the front room is the Car Park/Paw Tracks showcase with icy synth queen Class Actress, Southern charmer Dent May, Cleveland power-poppers Cloud Nothings, plus Young Magic, Adventure and Light Asylum side project Jimmy Whispers. In the back room, it's the Mexican Summer showcase with the goth-electro of Light Asylum, West Coast droners Date Palms, Boston indie folk act Quilt, plus Radio People, Home Blitz and Xander Duell.

Meanwhile, Merge Records is at Bowery Ballroom for what will be one of the more difficult shows for badgeholders to get into, as supergroup Wild Flag are headliners. It's sold out but they're letting in "limited badges" so if you have one, go early to A) make sure you get in, and B) to see the wonderful Hospitality whose teriffic debut album comes out on Merge in January. In between, Eleanor Friedberger, making for a fine evening of female-fronted music.

At Glasslands, our pals at Stereogum and Popgun are throwing a party with a slew of cool band they've already told you you need to see. Such bands as anthemic Jersey dudes Titus Andronicus, the instrumental magic of Delicate Steve, the nu goth sounds of Chelsea Wolfe, '90s indie rock lovers Mr. Dream, crazy catchy Canadians Holerado, and Cuckoo Chaos.   $15 with RSVP. and if you have a CMJ badge you get a discount of some sort (wither badgeholders' privilege).

At Cameo, the very helpful show listing site Oh My Rockness is having their showcase which also doubles as a 7th Birthday party for the site. (Remember when you had to rely on Village Voice ads to find out when shows were happening?) It's a good line-up, too with eager beavers Dive, slinky tribal sounds of Zambri, nouveau synth poppers Adventure, Chad Valley, Even Voytas, Headless Horseman and Wise Blood. $8 if you don't have a badge.

You've got a couple opportunities to see underrated UK act The Duke Spirit tonight, both of which are free whether you have a badge or not.

Foreign Resort

If you're into gloomy postpunk a la The Chameleons or early Bunnymen, you might want to head to Lit Lounge to catch The Foreign Resort (8PM) who do that sound pretty well. You can check out a stream at the bottom of this post.

Dovecote Records is having a CMJ Kickoff party at Club Norwood tonight, with the very hotly-tipped Araabmusik, plus Supreme Cuts. 9PM. RSVP by emailing RSVP@DOVECOTERECORDS.COM but there's no gauranteed entry. Go early. Flyer below.

In the world of unofficial shows, at 285 Kent we've got San Francisco's awesome Grass Widow, plus NYC/Memphis duo Coasting, Air Waves and Baybee Teeth.

What are YOU going to see tonight? Flyers, streams and set times are after the jump.

Continue reading "CMJ 2011 - Bill's Tuesday nighttime picks (Gauntlet Hair, Cuckoo Chaos, Wild Flag, Dent May, Foreign Resort & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Kurt Vile - The Creatures (MP3)

To quote Matador Records...

On November 8, Kurt Vile will be releasing a brand-new 6-song EP on the 12" vinyl and digital formats, entitled So Outta Reach. The EP contains 5 original songs initially recorded during the sessions for Smoke Ring For My Halo but not used for the album, which were reworked with producer John Agnello this summer. In addition, the EP contains a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Downbound Train."

On the same day there will be a deluxe 2-CD version of Smoke Ring For My Halo with a new color cover. The deluxe CD will include the So Outta Reach EP on a second disc, all at the same price as a regular CD.

Kurt heads out on tour later this month with Bright Eyes who just played Williamsburg last week. Kurt played the same Brooklyn venue earlier in the summer with Sonic Youth and Wild Flag who have a new Tom Scharpling-directed video out today for "Romance". Check it out below. Wild Flag's new album (out 9/13 on Merge) is streaming too.

Kurt's next NYC show is a big headlining one at Webster Hall. All tour dates are listed below.

And speaking of Matador bands that have Manhattan shows coming up in the fall, Girls' new album Father, Son, Holy Ghost is streaming too, and that is also below...

Continue reading "new Kurt Vile MP3, Wild Flag video, Girls album stream, "

Head to Carrie Brownstein's old blogging grounds, NPR, to stream the new self-titled Wild Flag album that Merge is releasing on September 13th. Wild Flag kicks off their three-NYC-area-shows containing tour in October.

Wild Flag at Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

The first round of CMJ 2011 artists have been announced. The initial list includes Neon Indian (Webster Hall with Purity Ring), CSS (Webster Hall with EMA and MEN), Zola Jesus (KF and LPR), Wild Flag (Bowery Ballroom with Eleanor Friedberger and Hospitality), Metronomy (MHOW), Portugal. The Man (T5 with Givers and Alberta Cross), Viva Brother, Wombats, The Good Natured), Kvelertak, Handsome Furs, Memoryhouse, Pharoahe Monch, and more.

The Viva Brother show is on October 19 at Bowery Ballroom with 1,2,3 and Kitten. Tickets are on sale now (or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge). All dates below.

The Wombats show is on October 19 at Webster Hall with The Postelles and The Good Natured. Tickets are on sale now (or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge). All dates below.

Other bands scheduled to play that aren't part of CMJ's initial announce include Still Corners, Shonen Knife at Public Assembly, PS I Love You, and Revolver. Full list below...

Continue reading "CMJ 2011 initial lineup (Handsome Furs, Viva Brother, Wombats, Memoryhouse, Kvelertak, Pharoahe Monch, more)"

Wild Flag at Williamsburg Waterfront on Friday (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Wild Flag, who just played Williamsburg Waterfront with Sonic Youth, have a tour coming up this fall. When we first announced the tour, we mentioned that it would stop by the NYC area three times for shows happening on The Bell House on October 15, Maxwell's on October 16, and Bowery Ballroom on October 18. If you've noticed that the Bowery Ballroom show mysteriously disappeared from Bowery's site and Ticketmaster, that's because it did. Now that the Waterfront happened, the show back up on Bowery's site and tickets go on sale Wednesday (8/17) at noon. Tickets are also still on sale for the Bell House show and the Maxwell's show. Merge labelmate Eleanor Friedberger provides support on some of the tour including The Bell House show and the Bowery Ballroom show which falls within CMJ.

Wild Flag's tour is in support of their upcoming self titled debut LP, which comes out September 18 via Merge. You can pre-order the album from the Merge webstore now. Also, check out the album trailer video and stream the single "Romance" below.

Eleanor's got other upcoming shows including opening for Deerhunter at Webster Hall on August 22 and 23. The 8/22 show is sold out but tickets for the 8/23 show are still on sale.

In somewhat related news, Kurt Vile, who was also on the Williamsburg Waterfront bill with Sonic Youth, added a show on November 11 at Webster Hall to his fall tour. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (8/19) with an AmEx pre-sale starting Wednesday (8/17) at noon.

All tour dates, video and song stream below...

Continue reading "Kurt Vile adds Webster show & Wild Flag's Bowery show is back --- updated 2011 Tour Dates"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin, words by Andrew Sacher

Kurt Vile and the Violators started the evening pretty early at Williamsburg Waterfront on Friday (8/12), taking the stage at a prompt 6:30 PM. The crowd hadn't filled in too much yet but those who did make it out early were treated to a short, but great set. Drawing almost entirely from his recently released Smoke Ring for My Halo, Kurt's shoegazey folk rock kicked off the show well and was especially fitting on the sunny waterfront with whiffs of barbecue and cigarette smoke floating through the air.

Up next was Wild Flag, who initially won me over when I saw them open for Bright Eyes earlier this year at Radio City, but their Radio City set doesn't compare at all to what they did at the waterfront on Saturday. The all-girl indie supergroup, featuring Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney, Mary Timony of Autoclave and Helium, and Rebecca Cole of The Minders, were greeted to tons of immediate applause as soon as they stepped out onto the stage. Unlike at Bright Eyes, where many people in attendance seemed unfamiliar with the group, this crowd was giving the band some serious support, and that might have encouraged them to rock even harder.

As Bill pointed out, Wild Flag's album is not out yet and hasn't even leaked, but even being only vaguely familiar with their material from live shows and various online singles, I was blown away by every song. The two frontwomen (Carrie and Mary) switched off lead vocal duties every other song and both of them ripped through killer guitar solos. I was a little more drawn to the Carrie-fronted songs because of how ferocious of a performer she is, but needless to say, Mary's were excellent as well. I feel more than confident in saying that Friday's show is not the last I will be seeing and hearing of Wild Flag.

Sonic Youth took the stage a little after 8 PM as their 5-piece incarnation of the band with Pavement's Mark Ibold, unlike last summer's NYC show at Prospect Park, when it was just the four of them. They launched right away into a handful of old material, focusing most heavily on 1985's Bad Moon Rising, and diving as far back as Confusion is Sex and the Kill Yr Idols EP. After a few more old favorites like "Kotton Krown" and "Eric's Trip," the band played a few cuts off their most recent proper LP, 2009's The Eternal. Having Mark on stage gave Kim Gordon the opportunity to put down her bass and sing. And as Kim proved when she left the constraints of a mic stand and took to the front of the stage during the pummeling "Sacred Trickster," she's an electrifying frontwoman. She carried the band as if she was solely a vocalist for their entire career.

They played material from 1983 alongside stuff from 2009, all sounding like it came from the same brilliant place. While most bands who are thirty years into their career are either fading away or living off of the nostalgia of their older material, Sonic Youth continue to sound and perform as fresh as ever. They thrash around stage with a youthful fervor that could destroy the hip-to-be-bored lo-fi scene who cite the band as an inspiration. And while you could try to argue that the similarities between their newer and older material is a negative thing, you'd be leaving out the fact that with only guitar, bass, and drums, all of it sounds like music from a time period that the rest of the world hasn't experienced yet.

Kim returned to the front of the stage around 9pm to sing "Drunken Butterfly" off 1992's Dirty. The band then left the stage after what seemed like far too short of a set. The crowd was audibly disappointmented. However, Sonic Youth quickly began making up for it when they returned for the first of three encores. Kim gave a shout out to Wild Flag and dedicated the song "Flower" to them. After leaving and returning to the stage a couple more times, the band were preparing to play their actual last song when a fan threw a ukulele to Lee Ranaldo, which he used to create the noise intro to "Inhuman." As the song progressed, Thurston Moore unplugged the bass he was playing and started making feedback with his guitar cable that he proceeded to wrap around his neck and body as he sang into the mic that he'd ripped off the stand. Mark Ibold and Steve Shelly kept what was left of the song's structure intact as Kim and Lee continued to create layers and layers of guitar noise. The band stretched the song's ending for at least twice the duration of the recorded version as Thurston kicked around stage moaning and shrieking "inhuman" and Lee swung guitars around by drumsticks lodged underneath their strings, completely stripping at least three of them. By the song's end, Thurston had uprooted the mic setup, and over a sea of fading feedback he said, "With the power of love, anything is possible," threw the mic down and walked off stage.

More pictures, a video, and setlists from the show below...

Continue reading "Sonic Youth, Wild Flag & Kurt Vile played Williamsburg Waterfront (pics, review & setlist)"

Wild Flag at Radio City in March (more by Tracy Allison)

The all-girl supergroup Wild Flag (featuring 2/3 of Sleater-Kinney), who initially formed to score the !Women Art Revolution documentary, are set to release their self titled debut on September 18 via Merge. NJ radio station WFMU will premiere the album single "Romance" on Saturday, June 18 on DJ Terre T's The Cherry Blossom Clinic show. In the meantime, you can hear a soundcloud stream of the track "Glass Tambourine," the b-side of their "Future Crimes" 7" released on Record Store Day (below). Both tracks from the 7" will be re-recorded for the full length.

The band will go on a North American tour this fall in support of the new album. The tour kicks off in early October and includes three NYC-area dates later that month. The tour hits The Bell House on October 15, Maxwell's on October 16, and Bowery Ballroom on October 18. Tickets are on sale now for The Bell House show and Maxwell's. Tickets for the Bowery show are not listed as of this post.

Wild Flag also have a few shows this summer. They open for Sonic Youth at their August 12 Williamsburg Waterfront show. Kurt Vile is also on the bill and his album Smoke Ring for My Halo is available with an exclusive bonus track on iTunes for $7.99 for a limited time only. Tickets for the Brooklyn show are still available.

Wild Flag also play Sled Island June 24-25 in Calgary, AB.All tour dates and the soundcloud stream of "Glass Tambourine" below...

Continue reading "Wild Flag announce album details & tour dates"

DOWNLOAD: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - "Senator" (MP3)

Stephen Malkmus (Pavement) @ Summerstage 2010 (more by Matthew Eisman)

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks will release Mirror Traffic on August 23 via Matador (US)/Domino (UK). Like Thurston Moore, Malkmus has chosen Beck to produce the album. Mirror Traffic will be the last album to feature Janet Weiss as a member of the Jicks, who is leaving to focus on Wild Flag full time. Check out the track "Senator" above, and the tracklist and artwork below.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks will head out on a month-long tour in September with Jake Morris of The Joggers replacing Janet on drums. The tour hits NYC on September 26 at Terminal 5. Tickets go on sale Friday (6/17) at noon.

Janet's band Wild Flag plays a show with Thurston's band Sonic Youth at Williamsburg Waterfront on August 12th. Stephen's band Pavement played the same venue last year.

All tour dates and Mirror Traffic art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Stephen Malkmus touring w/ the Jicks (dates), releasing Beck-produced, last-Janet Weiss-assisted album (MP3)"

People at Williamsburg Waterfront last year (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

This summer's Williamsburg Waterfront concert season begins this weekend with a free show on Saturday (6/11) (5:30pm doors). For what it's worth, that show is Coheed and Cambria, Adrian Belew Power Trio and Tigers Jaw, but it is free. It's also one of three currently announced free shows (there will be five free shows total, one of which will be classical music). The other two announced free events are Eugene Mirman and Pretty Good Friends (Patton Oswalt will be one of those friends!) and special musical guests They Might Be Giants on July 29, and a children's show with Moey's Music Party and Story Pirates (who recently hosted a benefit) on June 19 at noon.

Ticketed shows include Death From Above 1979, Death Cab for Cutie, Sonic Youth, Bright Eyes, Thievery Corporation (with Dam-Funk & Master Blazter and Raphael Saadiq opening), TV on the Radio, Fleet Foxes and more. Check out the full lineup with openers listed below...

Continue reading "Williamsburg Waterfront opens this weekend, here is the full updated summer schedule"

Tickets are still available for Thruston Moore's headlining show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, but his band Sonic Youth has announced a show set for this summer. Thurston and the gang will team with Wild Flag to play the Williamsburg Waterfront on August 12. Tickets go on sale Friday (4/29) at noon.

Thurston Moore is also curating The Stone for the tail end of April, and the venue welcomed a surprise appearance from Yoko Ono on Saturday night (4/23). She joined Kim Gordon who was listed on the bill "with guest". Video from that improvised performance, that also included Chris Corsano, is below.

Steve Shelley is scheduled to play 285 Kent Ave on Thursday (4/28) with Spectre Folk and will hit the road with Disappears next week.

All tour dates and that Kim Gordon/Yoko Ono video is below.

Continue reading "Sonic Youth & Wild Flag playing Williamsburg Waterfront (and other dates)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Wild Flag @ Merge Records Showcase

Lost in the Trees @ Muzzle of Bees BBQ

Catching up a bit. Here's what Dominick saw in Austin on Friday, March 18, 2011....

Continue reading "SXSW 2011 Day 3 pics"

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Ryan Barkan

The Antlers @ The Parish

One of the highlights of my day on Thursday at SXSW was the NPR showcase at The Parish. Though I didn't arrive in time to see Colin Stetson or tUnE-yArDs (I saw the latter the following day), I stuck around for the rest of the line-up, including the grand finale: The Antlers, who, as advertised, played their unreleased upcoming album (Burst Apart) in its entirety for the first time in public. But more on that later.

I arrived to the sounds of Malian singer Khaira Arby, who Jon Pareles of the New York Times later confessed to me was his go-to recommendation for the festival. I don't typically see much world music, but there's no denying Arby's effortless ability to captivate the audience with her rich vocals and rhythmic percussion.

The Joy Formidable @ the Parish


Up next were The Joy Formidable/ I confess it was hard to get past singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan's wild stare, but if anything, the sheer intensity of her gaze was well suited to the tough indie rock strains of the London-based trio.

The energy level in the room continued to climb as Wild Flag took the stage. Not only does singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein have a dedicated fan base thanks to her past band - Sleater-Kinney, she also received quite a warm welcome from NPR Music's Stephen Thompson due largely to the time she spent blogging and contributing to the site. This familiarity imbibed an otherwise strictly rock performance with a genuine warmth that made for a compelling combination on stage. Though their current musical project is young, these veteran lady rockers put on a triumphant and confident performance. Of course, it helps that the remaining three band members (Mary Timony, Rebecca Cole, and Janet Weiss) each have quite an impressive musical ability (and resume), themselves.

Wild Flag @ The Parish


Next came the part of the showcase that I was most anticipating - the preview of Burst Apart. After the Antlers' 2009 release, the cinematic and harrowing concept album Hospice, I was eager to hear what course they would take in their follow-up. Apparently, one of the biggest challenges the band faced leading up to the show was figuring out how to effectively translate all of the layers and effects found in the studio recording into a live setting. Being unfamiliar with the material, it's hard to tell if they achieved this goal.

I enjoyed the chance to hear the new material without having read any spoilers online, but at first listen, it seems that Burst Apart does not boast the same kind of sparse, sweeping intensity and catharsis that distinguished Hospice... but maybe that's a good thing.

In an interview with Pitchfork a few months ago, chief singer/songwriter Pete Silberman confessed:

For a while, I thought the next logical step from Hospice was to make some very sad, post-Hospice concept record. But thinking in those terms started to feel really manipulative and gimmicky. So I just let go of that idea and, from that point on, I was much happier. In a lot of ways, this album is an easier record to listen to than Hospice; you can put it on and not feel like it has to be a severe emotional experience. It might be. But it could also be on in the background.

You can check out the whole show for yourself (or whichever portion most interests you) over at NPR Music. All of their performances were archived and are now stream-able online (Antlers HERE).

--

Burst Apart will be releaesd by Frenchkiss Records on May 10th. The Antlers will head out on tour a week later with stops at both Music Hall of Williamsburg (May 19th) and Bowery Ballroom (May 20th). Both shows and much of the tour is with Little Scream who meanwhile is on tour with Sharon Van Etten. Tickets for both NYC shows go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon, and then general sale Friday at the same time.

All tour dates and more pictures from the NPR show at the Parish, below...

Continue reading "The Antlers performed 'Burst Apart' @ SXSW w/ Wild Flag & more (pics & NPR stream), touring w/ Little Scream (dates)"

photos by Tracy Allison, words by Erin Allison

Bright Eyes headlined Radio City Music Hall in NYC twice this week. - March 8 & 9. Conor Oberst's Merge label-mates Superchunk and Wild Flag also opened both nights. I was there on the 2nd night which is also when the pictures in this post were taken.

Wild Flag, the all-girl group from Portland, comprised of Sleater-Kinney and former Helium members took the stage at 8pm for a rocking, half-hour long, six song set. Wild Flag also played The Rock Shop twice on March 5th.

If you would have told a younger Oberst at age thirteen that Superchunk would be opening for his band he would have "kicked you in the shins." The pop-punk band, who released their 9th album this past September, were equally enthusiastic to be opening for Bright Eyes, with singer (and Merge head honcho) Mac McCaughan telling the audience that playing a venue like Radio City alongside bands like Wild Flag and Bright Eyes "makes you feel part of something bigger."

As Oberst took the stage, members of the audience could be heard shouting "Welcome back, Conor!" Bright Eyes played a perfect mix of new and old music during the twenty-song set and three-song encore. The theme for the night seemed to be sexually explicit material, with a dash of family. Two songs were dedicated "to Nancy", the Bright Eyes frontman's mother. Oberst shared the stage with only Nathaniel Wolcott for "Ladder Song," and talked about Lent, telling all of Radio City that he had given up apologizing for the next 40 days. The politically active Oberst discussed the U.S. government trying to control the whole world and encouraged people to do what they can to make a change before playing "Old Soul Song".

There was dancing, tears, squealing audience members, and screams when Oberst jumped into the audience during the encore. Fans could not have been happier to have Bright Eyes back, and as it was eloquently put, "Coberst killed it." Free Gotham said:

"The highlight of the evening? I loved "Hot Knives," "Bowl of Oranges," "Lover I Don't Have to Love" and "Ladder Song," but the epitome of Bright Eyes had to be the performance of "Shell Games." Not only is this one of the best tracks off of The People's Key, it was without a doubt the best song of the night."

Continue reading "Bright Eyes played 2 nights @ Radio City Music Hall w/ Superchunk & Wild Flag (pics, videos & setlists)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

Wild Flag @ The Rock Shop

"For Sleater-Kinney superfans, Wild Flag sounds like a bluesier, more psychedelic endeavor: the songs are rooted in pop and punk structures, but are warped and spaced out at times, with distorted riffs that meander and melt their way through patches of loud improvisation. Though the four all share vocal harmonies, with Timony frequently taking lead guitar and vocals, Brownstein is the clear bandleader, hunching over her guitar and burning through bluesy solos, which, at times [in Boston], brought her whole body to the floor." [Boston Phoenix]

Wild Flag played their second of two shows at Rock Shop on 3/5, just a few hours after delivering their first blistering set that photogapher Amanda Hatfield described as "SO GOOD. Damn." Jessica Amaya took the reins thereafter. Her pictures from the late Brooklyn show, which also featured support from Yellow Fever, are in this post. They include a shot of the setlist which omits the two-song encore - a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" and a cover of Patti Smith's "Ask The Angel". Videos of both of those songs and more pictures from the late show at Rock Shop are below (Radio City pictures are coming later)...

Continue reading "Wild Flag played Radio City & the Rock Shop twice, covered Rolling Stones & Patti Smith (pics & video)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

"On March 5, all-girl supergroup Wild Flag made their New York City debut with two shows at the tiny Rock Shop in Brooklyn. Featuring some of indie rock's most experienced and flat-out rocking women, the fledgling band sounded exactly like the sum of its parts. Now, for most other bands, that might seem like faint praise. However, when your "parts" are made up of two-thirds of Sleater-Kinney (guitarist/singer Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss), ex-Helium frontwoman Mary Timony, and Rebecca Cole of the Minders, that's a sum that most bands can only dream of." [TheMST]

And don't forget Wild Flag are also play Radio City Music Hall with Bright Eyes on Tuesday and Wednesday - tickets to the Tuesday show are still on sale.

More Rock Shop pictures below...

Continue reading "Wild Flag played the the Rock Shop (early show pics)"