by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Dune Rats - "Red Light, Green Light" (MP3)

Speaking of Australia, Brisbane fuzz rock duo Dune Rats (aka Danny Beus and BC Michaels), who were one of Andy from Cake Shop's "21 Amazing Experience of 2012", surfaced with two EPs in 2011, Sexy Beach and Social Atoms, and they're planning to follow that with another EP, titled Smile, and eventually a debut full length at some point this year. No exact details on those releases exist, but the band recently released a single, "Red Light, Green Light," which you can download for free at the top of this post. It's of the Wavves-y stoner/beach rock variety and you can watch the video below, which consists entirely of both members smoking a variety of bongs (and I'm pretty sure they're actually doing it).

Dune Rats will be coming to the US for a tour surrounding SXSW this March which hits NYC on March 20 at Cake Shop (other bands TBA), March 21 at Shea Stadium with The Beets, Hard Nips, Juniper Rising, and Heeney, and March 24 at Sons of Essex. A list of all dates and the tour flyer below.

Their SXSW shows include the annual Aussie BBQ, and Dune Rats are only one of many Aussie bands coming over to Austin for SXSW, including Alpine, Flume, Kirin J Callinan, WIM, and others. The full list of Australian bands that will be at SXSW is below.

Continue reading "Dune Rats working on new EP, coming to the US for tour (download a song & watch them smoke weed in its video)"

by Bill Pearis

Indie Current: Is there any meaning behind the name Urban Cone?

Urban Cone: We're all from the centre of Stockholm, living the "city" life. Plus we all thought it was a cool name, and when Tim our guitarist drew our logo (the pine cone) it felt like the obvious choice.

IC: You guys classify yourselves as "Indie-Electro-Rock" on your Facebook page, but which genre do you guys feel you fall most into?

UC: We actually don't think about it much. Our music is pretty hard to place. Just compare a song like Black Ocean and Urban Photograph. Creating different types of songs comes natural to us and we have no attempt to stop doing so.

IC: With so many successful artists already from Sweden, do you think this has helped you guys get your name out there, or has it been much more difficult with so many great artists to follow-up?

UC: We haven't thought of this much. But maybe it has helped us. Our ambitions are so high and we compare ourselves to the really big names out there. -[Indie Current]

Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, oddly-named electro-rock ensemble Urban Cone have released a string of EPs over the last two years, and manage that mopey-but-danceable vibe that the Swedes seem to be masters of. You can stream the Our Youth EP and check out a couple videos below.

The band will be in America this week for shows on both coasts, including two in NYC: Thursday (1/24) at Mercury Lounge with Ski Lodge (tickets), and then Friday (1/25) at Glasslands with WIM (tickets). Those were both supposed to be with Saint Lou Lou who canceled their American tour.

A list of all Urban Cone tour dates, videos and streams are below.

Continue reading "Swedish band Urban Cone playing U.S. shows (dates, streams)"

Frightened Rabbit @ T5, Nov. 2010 (more by Lionel Bergeron)

SXSW has just announced another round of bands for the 2013 edition of the annual music festival that will happen March 12 - 17. This brings the total current number of acts to around 1300. Someome of the highlights include Vampire Weekend, Frightened Rabbit, The Thermals, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, Merchandise, Bleached, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Eagles of Death Metal, Parenthetical Girls, Indians, Night Beds, IO Echo, KEN Mode, Prince Paul, Pure Bathing Culture, Sepalcure, UK motorik post-punks TOY, Finnish instrumentalists K-X-P, Toronto's Moon King, UK indie rockers Splashh (not Brooklyn Splash with one "h") and loads more. Head to BV Austin for the whole Round 3 list.

Saint Lou Lou

Swedish/Australian twin duo Saint Lou Lou were set to go on a US tour with Urban Cone which would hit NYC on January 24 at Mercury Lounge and January 25 at Glasslands. The tour is still happening, but unfortunately Saint Lou Lou have had to drop of of all the dates. They write, "Dear Americanos: We have been forced to postpone our US tour in January due to visa issues. We are sad but will present new dates soon! xo."

On a lighter note, the band have been replaced on both NYC shows with some pretty solid local bands. The Mercury Lounge show (1/24) is now with Ski Lodge (tickets) and the Glassland show (1/25) is now with Heavenly Beat (ex-Beach Fossils), plus WIM is also on that bill (tickets).

For Heavenly Beat, the Glasslands show is one of two shows they'll be playing in NYC this January, including another show at Mercury Lounge on January 19 with Domino-signed Night Moves. TIckets for that show are on sale now. The show is part of a tour that Night Moves will be on, and all dates on that tour are listed below.

Continue reading "Saint Lou Lou drop off US shows; replaced by Ski Lodge & Heavenly Beat (who also play w/ Night Moves)"

DOWNLOAD: Takka Takka - "These Broken Chairs" (MP3)

Takka Takka at Littlefield in 2011 (more by Samantha Marble)

Last month (11/20), Brooklyn's Takka Takka released A.M. Landscapes, their first full length since 2008's Migration. The album was released through Ernest Jenning Recording Co. and was produced by Phil Palazzolo. You can stream the entire thing below and download a track, "These Broken Chairs," above.

Takka Takka will play a local show in early 2013 at Mercury Lounge on January 23 with Pattern Is Movement (who are also working on a new album), WIM and Future of What. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (12/7) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (12/5) at noon.

Album stream is below.

Continue reading "Takka Takka released an LP, playing NYC w/ Pattern is Movement (album stream, MP3)"

by Bill Pearis

Nedelle Torrisi, who is one half of the Asthmatic Kitty-signed Cryptacize and has sung with Sufjan Stevens, Saturday Looks Good to Me and others, has a new musical project called Paradise and her first single under that name is out this week on Thin Wrist Recordings. Produced by Kenneth Gilmore (Ariel Pink), the record features vocal contributions from Ramona Gonzales and Julia Holter, as well some guitarwork from the ubiquitous Dev Hynes. It's lovely pop on the widescreen side of things and is refreshingly not awash in reverb. You can stream the A-side, "I Love Thousands Every Summer" (which has been floating around the internet for most of the year) below and you can check out the elaborate packaging for the 7" here.

Paradise plays two shows this week: Tuesday (11/13) at Glasslands with Field Mouse and WIM (tickets), and then Thursday (11/15) at Pianos with Andy Burrows, Catharsis and Cookies (tickets). While there is a five-piece band version of Paradise, these NYC shows will be just Nedelle and Ryan Keberle (of Catharsis) on piano.

Single stream is below.

Continue reading "check out Paradise (Nedelle Torrisi of Cryptacize), playing two NYC shows this week"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Other Lives @ Bowery Ballroom on 2/17

"Other Lives' sound is lush and rich, full of varied but precise instrumentation. Each member seamlessly switched from violin to guitar, trumpet, keyboard, bells, cello, percussion, harmonium etc., somehow getting to their instruments just at the right time in every song. Their CD Tamer Animals is a gorgeous reproduction of their sound, but seeing them live was an altogether different and wonderful experience. Watching the set up of keyboards, effects, laptop and other electonic gear, I was a little concerned that the 'music' would come off sounding too artificial. But all the band members were consummate musicians, and it didn't seem as though much of their sound came from prerecorded tracks."
[Words & Music]

Other Lives played a sold out Bowery Ballroom on 2/17 with support from both from WIM and Lucius. The show, reviewed above, is pictured in this post.

The NYC show was part of a headlining tour leading up to Other Lives' run supporting Radiohead which began last night, Monday, 2/27, at American Airlines Arena in Miami. We're not sure how Other Lives' set was in the huge Florida venue, but you can check out Radiohead's setlist, video of two new songs included, HERE.

Radiohead's announced tour dates include an Austin City Limits TV show taping, Bonnaroo, and both Coachellas. Still no NYC shows, but also still no shows announced around Bonnaroo at all

All Other Lives tour dates and more pictures from their NYC show, below...

Continue reading "Other Lives played Bowery Ballroom w/ WIM & Lucius (pics); Radiohead played Florida (setlist & video of 2 new songs)"

Archy Marshall, who previously operated under the Zoo Kid moniker, now records as King Krule. He'll release a self titled EP under the name on November 8 via True Panther. That's the album art above. You can check out the EP's last track, "The Noose of Jah City," along with the tracklist below.

King Krule has a few international dates coming up including some CMJ shows, which will also act as his US debut. He's scheduled to play the True Panther showcase at Glasslands on October 19 with Tanlines, Trash Talk, Lemonade, Teengirl Fantasy, and Little Red. He'll also play a Fader Fort CMJ Party on October 21 and a secret True Panther warehouse party on October 22. Stay tuned for more details on those.

Trash Talk also have other CMJ shows including a late one at Cake Shop on Thursday, October 20:

LIFE or DEATH PR CMJ SHOWCASE
THE CAKE SHOP
Doors at 7PM - 4AM., $12.00
FREE BEER FROM LONG TRAIL. DASSS WASSUP
DJ sets from NNA TAPES & Todd Pendu / ElectricLady
8PM Cheeseburger
9PM Chelsea Wolfe
10PM Psychic Ills
11:15PM Chrome Sparks
12AM Wise Blood
1AM Main Attrakionz
2 AM Trash Talk
3 AM SPECIAL GUESTS

Life or Death PR also rep Odd Future and GZA, so that 3am special guest should be interesting. Trash talk ALSO play Santos on Saturday, October 22 with Kylesa and others (details TBA soon).

Trash Talk have a new video for "Burn Alive" off their upcoming Awake EP, which comes out next week (10/11) via True Panther. Check out that video and one for the EP's title track below.

Australian new wavers Little Red also play the Windish Agency CMJ Showcase at Pianos on October 19 with Exitmusic, Cloud Nothings, Casiokids, Wim, and Bikini. Tickets are on sale now.

All dates, videos, song stream, and other stuff below...

Continue reading "King Krule, Little Red & Trash Talk are True Panther labelmates, playing CMJ shows & stuff (dates)"