Young Galaxy @ NXNE (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Young Galaxy head out on their previusly mentioned U.S. tour Thursday (3/17) with Winter Gloves, and hit NYC Friday (3/18) at Mercury Lounge and Saturday (3/19) at Knitting Factory. The Knitting Factory show is also being opened by Peephole.

Since releasing their third full length Shapeshifting in February (out 3/29 here), Young Galaxy have released two EPs--remixes of the track "Cover Your Tracks" and remixes of the track "We Have Everything"--for free on Paper Bag's website. Winter Gloves released a (not free) EP Heart Out on March 8, also available from Paper Bag.

In other Canadian band and "winter" news, The Besnard Lakes have scheduled some shows including one at Bowery Ballroom on May 13 with Wintersleep and it's on sale now. All of their dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Young Galaxy released EPs & kicking off tour w/ Winter Gloves ++ Besnard Lakes playing shows w/ Wintersleep"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Young Galaxy - We Have Everything (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Young Galaxies - Cover Your Tracks (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Young Galaxy - Peripheral Visionaries (MP3)

Montreal's Young Galaxy release their third album, Shapeshifting, this Tuesday (Feburary 8). The band will dip down into the States for a short tour with Paper Bag labelmates Winter Gloves next month, with stops at Mercury Lounge on March 18 and Knitting Factory on March 19. (Something for those not going to SXSW which Young Galaxy won't be attending). The American tour was originally supposed to be with You Say Party but singer Becky Ninkovic has been battling a particularly bad case of bronchitis and has been advised to rest up.

You can check out three tracks from Shapeshifting above. The album had an interesting birth. The band recorded basic tracks in Montreal, and then sent them to Sweden where Dan Lissvik, one half of Baleric-loving duo Studio, spent nine months reworking the tracks into the album we have now. Apparently, the band didn't hear it until it was finished. How these Studio-ized tracks will sound live is a good question, but the record is quite lovely. "Peripheral Visionaries" is especially good.

All Young Galaxy dates are below, along with an animated video for "Cover Your Tracks."

Continue reading "Young Galaxy are 'Shapeshifting, touring w/ Winter Gloves"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Sonny & the Sunsets - Lovin' on an Older Gal (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kelley Stoltz - I Don't Get That (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Film School - Heart Full of Pentagons (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Home Video - Smoke (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Winter Gloves - Plastic Slides (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: El Guincho - "Bombay" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: El Guincho - FM Tan Sexy (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Casiokids - Finn Bikkjen! (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Foals - Spanish Sahara (Deadboy Remix) (MP3)

Casiokids

Didn't the weeks leading up to CMJ used to be a little calmer? I feel like we're just going to be pile-driving into that week (Oct 19 -21) with show after worthwhile show. This week / weekend too. Even with Matador 21 and Pop Montreal siphoning lots of big names, this is one of the more more exciting weekends for shows in a long while. For me at least.

Let's start this week with a contest. As previously mentioned, BV/TWII faves Casiokids play Sunday (10/3) night at Glasslands and we've got a pair of tickets to the show plus a copy of the band's CD, Topp stemning på lokal bar, for one lucky person. To enter, just send an email to BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM with the subject line "Casiokids" and we'll pick a winner at random. Please note that Glasslands is a 21+ venue.

If you've never seen these Norwegians before, they're a lot of fun and Glasslands should be conducive to their low tech brand of dancepop. Also on the bill: Brahms, Bikini and VonChina. All Casiokids dates below.

Film School

What else? San Francisco's Film School are in town, playing Glasslands on Thursday (9/30) and Mercury Lounge on Friday (10/1). Both shows are with like-minded New Yorkers The Depreciation Guild with whom they're going on tour. Film School have been doing the dark shoegazy thing since the start of the '00s, back when that sound was fairly unfashionable. But these days the '90s are hot so it's good timing that Film School have released maybe their best album yet, Fission.

I found 2007's Hideout to be murky and meandering, but the band seem really focused this time out. There are still the moody basslines and effects-heavy guitars, but the songs great this time out, and the production feels modern and bright. Some rays of light are peeking through their normally cloudy sound -- hell, their new single is called "Sunny Day." (You can watch the video below.) That song features lead vocals from bassist Lorelei Plotczyk, whose frequent presence behind the mic is one of the reasons Fission works so much better than Hideout. You can download "Heart Full of Pentagons" at the top of this post.

The Glasslands show also has Brooklyn duo Home Video who have been kicking around for half a decade or so and are set to release their second album, The Automatic Process, on November. Download first single "The Smoke" at the top of this post. I don't think I've seen them play live since they opened for Fujiya & Miyagi at Mercury Lounge back in 2006 but I remember thinking they were pretty good. And the new album sounds alright after a couple listens -- synthpop that seems equally inspired by Vince Clark and Thom Yorke.

Kelley Stoltz

While we're in San Francisco, a reminder that Sonny and the Sunsets and Kelley Stoltz will be here this weekend: Mercury Lounge on Thursday(9/30) and Union Hall on Friday (10/1). Both shows are early ones, especially the Merc show which starts at 7PM. If you like '60s inspired pop at it's finest, do yourself a favor and go see this great double bill.

Stoltz is a charismatic performer, prone to anecdotes, occasional props and obscure impressions. Do pick up is terrific new album, To Dreamers, when it comes out in two weeks. And I'm really looking forward to seeing Sonny and the Sunsets (of which Stoltz is a member) for the first time. Their new album is great. Check out tracks from both of them at the top of this post.

Sub Pop just released a short film on the making of Stoltz new record, To Dreamers, made by the Yours Truly folks, which shows off his literal DIY approach to analog recording. It's funny and charming, just like Stoltz. Watch it further down this very post.

Winter Gloves

If you're not going to Pop Montreal this weekend, you can get a taste of Canada here in New York as Born Ruffians and Winter Gloves are here playing the Knitting Factory on Friday (10/1) and Bowery Ballroom on Saturday (10/2). Born Ruffians are a fine band but have been covered many times here and have been through town many times before. So I'm gonna focus on their touring mates Winter Gloves. The Montrealers schedule and cancel NYC gigs with frequency so now's your chance to see them.

I caught them at M for Montreal in 2008 and they were one of the highlights of that weekend, kind of a slinkier, funkier Tokyo Police Club. Their new album All Red is a lot of fun and they are definitely worth seeing. (They're quite popular in MTL.) Download "Plastic Slides" from the new album at the top of this post.

Foals

The show I'm most excited about this weekend is Foals who play Bowery Ballroom on Friday (10/1) and Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday (10/2). Both shows are sold out unfortunately, but tickets being released day-of-show isn't an uncommon occurrence.

Foals' new album, Total Life Forever, is one of my contenders for Album of the Year which is not something I was really expecting before I heard it. Where their first album, Antidotes, was all mathy angularity, Total Life Forever has...um... soul? There's also a Big '80s Trevor Horn vibe going on -- the drums on single "Miami" seem to be lifted from Yes' 90125 LP. (Or maybe The Power Station.) It's funky and genuinely danceable, with a lot of heart. Foals used to be easy to like hard to love. Not so hard this time out.

Foals have always been good live, full of nervous energy -- they're the only band I've ever seen puke onstage -- and can't wait to see them with such stronger material.  I can't wait for Saturday.

If you're going to the Bowery show on Friday, definitely get there in time to see openers Esben & the Witch who just signed to Matador and are a bit like Zola Jesus but more interesting to watch live. Their guitarist has the most pedals I've ever seen not counting The Edge. They were pretty good at Glasslands last week.

El Guincho

And finally, El Guincho returns to NYC this week for a string of shows that began last night at Mercury Lounge. He plays Santos tonight (9/29), a free show at Zebulon on Thursday (9/30) and a late night show at Cameo on Friday (10/1).  When I saw him play two years ago at Mercury Lounge opening for Cut Copy it was just Pablo Díaz-Reixa and his sampler, but this time El Guincho is a trio which should make things a lot more interesting and fun.

El Guincho's new album, Pop Negro, eschews the dreamlike haze of his debut (which was a real precursor to the chillwave invasion) for more straight up dance pop that is definitely not low-fi. In his own words:

It's a pop album sung in Spanish. Tracks are based on big syncopated beats, loud kick drums, snares and claps on a very wide stereo image full of different synthesizer timbres, subdivided hi-hats, funk bass, line recorded guitars and multi tracked backing vocals. Production is based on hi-fi aesthetics from the golden era of recordings...the main sentiment is a sort of nostalgic love for the music that I heard on FM radio as a kid/teenager, that "promise" that music gives you, not eternal/eternity because pop music is not supposed to be like that, but that thing you feel when you're on a car with your friends or family and you listen to a certain hit and it makes you think you want to be inside of that. I wanted to write something based on that. Not plain hits, but a whole album that makes you feel that thing, arrangements that can take your mind that state if you know what I mean.

You can download two tracks off Pop Negro at the top of this post.

That's gonna do it for this week. A few daily picks not covered above follow:

WEDNESDAY, September 29

Best Coast swing through town again, playing Bowery Ballroom tonight (and MHoW tomorrow). Summer may be over, but Bethany's songs of love and weed still sound good.

If you didn't get enough '90s nostalgia last week with Pavement, former indie rock power couple Juliana Hatfield & Evan Dando (they did date, right?)perform together as Jullianna & Evan.  Julianna has intimated she might retire from live shows in the near future, this seems like a good way to see her one last time. They play Thursday too. Both shows are sold out, natch.

THURSDAY, September 30

The forecast is calling for "rain from Tropical Rainstorm" which might put a damper on the night's biggest show, Belle & Sebastian, who play the Williamsburg Waterfront with fellow Glaswegians Teenage Fanclub. A light sprinkle would be fine...B&S' music has always been sort of rainy day music anyway. If you ponyed up the dough for a ticket, do get there early for Teenage Fanclub who were phenomenal at Bowery Ballroom last night. Big hooks, bigger harmonies, positive vibes. Video of them playing Jimmy Fallon is at the bottom of this post.

FRIDAY, October 1

Pennsylvania dream pop band SOARS play Glasslands. Haven't seen them live, but if you're a fan of Slowdive or bands that sound kind of like that, you might want to check them out.

SATURDAY, October 2

Union Hall has a totally weird lineup tonight. Headlining is synthpop act Neighbors, with Year of the Tiger (kind of a more tuneful, less abrasive Sleigh Bells). So far so normal. But opening is Sky Ferreira, who has appeared in Uffie videos and is, if her Myspace is any indication, being bred as a Pop Star. Expect lots of old guys in suits at the show, at least till she finishes her set.

OK that's really it for this week. Tour dates, videos and flyers are below...

Continue reading "Foals, Kelley Stoltz, Winter Gloves, Casiokids, El Guincho, Film School, Home Video & more in This Week in Indie "

As previously warned, single day XX Merge festival tickets went on sale today, and like the five-day passes did before them, they sold right out. At the moment, there are only still tickets for the Sunday show with She & Him, American Music Club, and Wye Oak.

Speaking of Wye Oak, they have a new album coming out soon

Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack came together to make their sophomore record, The Knot, with a whole new set of challenges and expectations than they had when they made If Children. In the past, songs were written separately and they came together to work on arrangements. That method changed after the release of If Children. Jenn & Andy loaded up the mini-van and toured the US and Europe for nearly a solid year. When they returned to their shared house, the luxury of privacy was gone, but a new musical closeness was formed. "Musically, we were finishing each other's thoughts," says Jenn.

Andy says, "Having the chance to play these songs live for a year or so before going to record them gave us the chance to really explore them and tighten them up. On If Children, it felt like our default solution to any problem was to layer and layer more parts on top of one another. We made a conscious effort to temper that impulse this time around, also as a result of feeling more comfortable with our live duo setup. Of course, in certain songs, we couldn't help ourselves and just had to pile it on!"

The Knot will be released on June 21st (on Merge of course).

Wye Oak are currently on on tour with Pomegranates. Their NYC show happens tonight, May 13th, at Mercury Lounge, AND Winter Gloves are also on the bill. Dates and videos below...

Continue reading "XX Merge (mostly) sold out, Wye Oak (new album info) here "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Winter Gloves - Smells Like Teen Spirit (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Winter Gloves - Let Me Drive (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pomegranates - Corriander (MP3)

Winter Gloves, who got stuck at the border when they were supposed to play here last month, are coming back to the US for a short tour in May, including a May 13 stop at Mercury Lounge. Here's what I said last time:

I caught Winter Gloves last November at M for Montreal where they were already local favorites. Not dissimilar from Tokyo Police Club, we're talking keyboard-driven dance rock with a lot of participatory handclapping. "Let Me Drive," which you can download at the top of this post, is pretty typical of their debut album, About a Girl, which came out last year. They're great live and worth the $8 alone.

In addition to "Let Me Drive," check out their cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" the band recorded recently in tribute to the 15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death.

The Mercury Lounge show (tickets) is a great bill: BV-faves Wye Oak headline the show, and Cincinatti's fine Pomegranates also play, so that's three worthy bands. Wye Oak and Pomegrantes are on tour together and played the Bell House in Brooklyn with Croooked Finges the other night. Check out Pomegranates' "Corriander" above too.

Before heading across the border, Winter Gloves will be doing a series of opening dates for Thunderheist in Canada. All dates and the video below...

Continue reading "Winter Gloves tour dates - NYC w/ Wye Oak & Pomegranates"

by Andrew Frisicano

The 4th edition of the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival will take place in Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau on August 1st and 2nd. Osheaga is proud to announce that the headliners for this year's edition are the multi-platinum selling band Coldplay on Saturday, August 1st and hip-hop pioneers Beastie Boys on Sunday, August 2nd....Osheaga is one of only two North American festival appearances that Coldplay will make this year.

The other North American festival is All Points West, which takes place the same weekend in NJ, and also has the Beastie Boys, Lykke Li, Arctic Monkeys, Crystal Castles, the Ting Tings, Elbow, and Kitty Daisy and Lewis in common with the Canadians.

Also playing the Osheaga Fest will be The Roots (who played APW last year, and...), who, because of their Jimmy Fallon gig, are mostly sticking to NYC-area gigs this year. They will also play the outdoor fest of their own in Philly over the summer.

This year will mark the fourth year for the Osheaga Festival. BV Mike was there last year: Day 1 and Day 2, and in 2007 too. The 2008 festival was also when Iggy & the Stooges - with Mike Watt - got their equipment stolen.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Friday, April 3rd at noon. More info and full (initial?) line-up below...

Continue reading "Osheaga Festival (in Montreal) - 2009 linuep announced"

Here We Go Magic @ Bowery Ballroom (more by Jonny Leather)

today in NYC
* Real Estate @ Glasslands
* Dead Prez @ Santos Party House
* The Bird and the Bee in Fairfield, CT
* Justin Townes Earle & Pela @ Mercury Lounge
* Eric Copeland & others @ Santos Party House
* Here We Go Magic, Glass Ghost & Callers @ LPR
* Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra @ Jazz Standard (early and late)
* Dan Auerbach, Hacienda & Those Darlins @ Bowery Ballroom
* Van Morrison (performing "Astral Weeks") @ Beacon Theatre
* The Music Tapes, Nana Grizol & Brian Dewan @ the Bell House
* Maps and Atlases, Pattern is Movement & So Many Dynamos @ Southpaw
* Rufus Wainwright & Dee Snider & NYU scientists @ Highline Ballroom

Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra is playing at the Jazz Standard on March 3rd (tonight) & 4th, with sets at 7:30pm and 9:30pm (4 shows total). According to an email from them, you should go because "We're recording every set, so get your hootin' and hollerin' on record."

Tricky was originally supposed to play Irving Plaza tonight.

U2 on Letterman - night 2 of 5 tonight.

Santigold is the musical guest on Jimmy Fallon's second show tonight.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, still not broken up, will play Jimmy Fallon tomorrow!

Hello friends of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah,
WHO LIKES THE TV?! Tomorrow night we will play on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We are going to play a new song, which is called "Statues." It's a song that we might work on some more in the future. After we play it we will put a demo of it up on our website so that you can download it. The show airs at 12:30 AM Eastern Time.
Go to our website after the show to download the song.
Best wishes
~cyhsy

Neko Case plays Leno tomorrow.

Ray Lamontagne is on SNL this weekend.

Winter Gloves' new video for "Let Me Drive" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Wye Oak - Warning (MP3)

Andy Stack of Wye Oak @ Pianos (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Baltimore duo Wye Oak (Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack) is set to play two NYC dates during its month-long tour, which kicks things off at the Bell House on Tuesday, April 14th (tix on sale). Crooked Fingers and Takka Takka are also on that Brooklyn bill. From there they hit the road with Ohio's Pomegranates which eventually has them back in NYC on Wednesday, May 13th for a show at the intimate Mercury Lounge with Winter Gloves (who recently had some trouble getting into our country) (tix on sale).

Since starting to actively tour in early 2008, Wye Oak has played NYC almost non-stop with '08 shows in January, February, April, June, July, September, four CMJ shows in October (including a BV day party at Pianos, 10/23/08, and Merge showcase at Mercury Lounge, 10/23/08)), and most recently a December 5th show with O'Death at Bowery Ballroom.

Live, Wye Oak doesn't let its diminutive lineup diminish the sound. The pair mix up arrangements with drastic dynamic shifts and sections that snowball from quiet melodies to shoegazy rock-outs. Still no word on a follow-up to 2008's If Children, understandable with all this touring.

Merge is currently offering the band's single "Prodigy," originally released on a Record Store Day 7-inch, as a free download.

All tour dates and a video below...

Continue reading "Wye Oak - 2009 Tour Dates (Bell House, Mercury Lounge) "

photos by Toby Tenenbaum

Slim Twig / Josh Reichmann

"It's not just a clever name. Slim Twig is also a comically accurate description of this emerging rocker's appearance -- tall and gaunt, with a jet black pompadour, pencil-thin moustache, starched-white button-down shirt and tight black pants, the avant-crooner carries himself like Tim Burton's idea of a Nashville star. On stage, gnashing at a semi-hollow-body guitar and howling in reverb-drenched tones about snake-oil salesmen and sweaty gunmetal, Slim Twig's persona is made flesh. Even his film debut last year alongside Ellen Page in Bruce McDonald's visually compelling psychodrama The Tracey Fragments bore the charcoal shading of his stage presence." [Eye Weekly]

Canada's Paper Bag Records showcase still happened at Pianos in NYC on Tuesday night (2/24), but without the band we were most looking foward to. According to Toby, "Winter Gloves who were headlining couldn't make it past homeland security at the Canadian border and were forced to cancel. The bill was therefore pushed back and Slim Twig took to the stage at 9.30." Josh Reichmann went on after that. More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Slim Twig & Josh Reichmann Oracle Band, but NOT Winter Gloves @ Pianos (Paper Bag showcase) - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Alaska in Winter - Berlin (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Winter Gloves - Let Me Drive (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Winterpills - Beesting (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Wintersleep - Weighty Ghost (MP3)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Tom Jones @ Terminal 5
* Mystery Jets & The Dig @ Bowery Ballroom
* Winter Gloves, Josh Reichmann & Slim Twig @ Pianos
* A Fat Tuesday party with The Sugartone Brass Band at the Bell House

New Yorker Films, RIP

"The Academy Awards were taking place on Hollywood Boulevard on Sunday night, but the real action was on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. That's where Jim Moore, part of the team behind the Oscar-winning documentary, "Man on Wire," watched the Big Show from Los Angeles."

23 New York Teenagers You Ought To Know About (maybe).

"Alice Tully Hall, closed for nearly two years, opened its grand, airy and people-friendly new lobby to the public and presented a large roster of fine musicians, ranging from living masters to eager students, who played a program aptly titled "First Look.""

New Orleans Ready for Final Mardi Gras Fling

"Listening to music with degrading sexual lyrics could prompt teenagers to start having sex at an earlier age, a US study suggests."

Tickets are still on sale for the April Neko Case shows at Nokia Theatre. Neko's new album is streaming in full at NPR.

Torche is touring in April.

If and when Faith No More reunites, it better not just be for Europe.

Pavement Nearly Reunites At Nashville Wedding Party

Radiohead let one of their songs be used by Shelter, a for homeless and housing charity.

Late of the Pier are returning in March and April. Check out their video for "Heartbeat" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday? (Fat Tuesday)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Winter Gloves - Let Me Drive (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Woodhands - Dancer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Slim Twig - Gate Hearing! (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pow Wow! - My House. Your House. Mine (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pow Wow! - 23 19 (MP3)

Mystery Jets

While I'm sure there are all sorts of excellent bands playing in NYC this weekend (one of which I'll get to further down), I'm going to skip ahead to two shows that I'd being going to if they weren't both happening the same night, Tuesday February 24...

Priority for me goes to The Mystery Jets who are at Bowery Ballroom. They haven't played here in a while (since September 2007) and you may remember them, if at all, as the overly weird prog rockers whose singer's father was in the band. (That would be singer Blaine Harrison's father, Henry.) Well, Mystery Jets have changed a lot since then. Henry, dropped out of the band and with him went Mystery Jets' prog-rock tendencies. With the help of producers Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur) and Erol Alkan (Late of the Pier, The Long Blondes), the band embraced the pop song fully on their second album, Twenty One, which was my #2 album of 2008. It's single, "Young Love," which features Laura Marling (who unlike MJ is playing SXSW this year), topped my Best Songs list. The great video for that song, is at the bottom of this post.

The whole album is full of actual and potential singles, and if it errs on the side of being a little too '80s at times (there's saxophone straight out of a Whitney Houston song on "Two Doors Down," and "MJ" might be a little too similar too "Don't Stand So Close to Me" for some) there is no denying the inventive arrangements and giant, stick-in-your-head hooks that are all over Twenty One. (I wrote a lot more about the album over on my blog last year if you care to read it.) It is a mystery (sorry) to me that it hasn't been released in the U.S., but one can guess that this show (and the one they played in L.A. earlier this week) mean they're trying to rectify this. The band just signed to Rough Trade who are re-releasing Twenty One overseas. Hopefully that will happen here too. Tickets are still available for the NYC show.

Winter Gloves

If I wasn't going to see Mystery Jets I would definitely be at Pianos that night for the Paper Bag Records showcase. The Canadian label, home to Tokyo Police Club and The Acorn, are bringing down three of their more recent signings: Winter Gloves, the Josh Reichmann Oracle Band, and Slim Twig. I caught Winter Gloves last November at M for Montreal where they were already local favorites. Not dissimilar from Tokyo Police Club, we're talking keyboard-driven dance rock with a lot of participatory handclapping. "Let Me Drive," which you can download at the top of this post, is pretty typical of their debut album, About a Girl, which came out last year. They're very good live, and I would say it's worth the $8 just for them.

The rest of the lineup has potential, even if I'm not so familiar with the two other bands. Josh Reichmann used to front post-punkers Tangiers, but his new group is more rootsy and soulful, with a lot of saxophone going on. Fans of The Acorn will probably dig. And apparently the group includes a live dancer so that's something you don't see so much these days. Look for the debut, Crazy Power, this spring.

The third artist on the bill, Slim Twig gets compared to everyone from Jon Spencer to Genesis P. Orridge to Scott Walker to Thurston Moore, which is enough to make me want to see him. You can definitely hear those influences in his recordings, which are claustrophobic and paranoid sounding. He's got a full band when he plays live, as well as multimedia elements, so the evening very well could start off with a bang.

And finally, a weekend show for consideration. I don't know a whole lot about Greenpoint-via-Jersey band Pow Wow! besides what Ive gleaned from their MySpace. Basically a duo of brothers Edward and Jeff Nazareno, the two have been writing together for about three years but only began releasing music last year. And most of it is pretty catchy stuff. The band list Burt Bacharach and The Smiths as influences but their songs are in a similar, laid-back vibe to the Little Joy record. There are two songs to check out at the top of this post and if you like those, pretty much everything they've released is available to download for free from their website. Not sure how their lineup is fleshed out live, but Pow Wow! are playing a bunch of NYC-area shows, the first of which is this Saturday (2/21) at The Annex.

Tour dates, flyers, pictures and videos after the jump...

Continue reading "Mystery Jets, Winter Gloves, pow wow!, Slim Twig & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

Beast

The second night of M for Montreal was easily the best of the fest, with no bands I didn't like and three or four who were pretty incredible. Like the previous night, we were herded between the two performance rooms at Juste Pour Rire which is normally a comedy club, (Just for Laughs is the translation if you're French is like mine) but actually had great sound and lighting.

Judging by audience reaction alone, of which there were many locals in attendance, Beast were the most loved of the night - kind of impressive as the band only played their first live show in March. Some have called Beast "trip rock" which sort of works - you can definitely draw comparisons to Portishead or even Moloko, but they are heavier and louder. Most of the adoration, deservedly, goes to singer Betty Bonifassi, who was the main singing voice in the movie Triplets of Belleville, and who has one of Those Voices (Shirley Bassey comes to mind) - smoky, world-wear, yet powerful, enough to cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand at attention.

I also really liked Arkells who are from Hamilton, Ontario and who sounded to me like '80s heartland rock - both the Bruce Springsteen / Bob Seeger, and Replacements / Soul Asylum varieties. No pretension, just ridiculously catchy songs - I've been singing the chorus of their song "John Lennon" in my head ever since Friday.

Also on the bill: Chinatown, who were sort of a melding of The Strokes and traditional French pop with very catchy songs (in French); The night featured two new signings to Paper Bag Records (home of Tokyo Police Club and The Acorn), Winter Gloves and Woodhands. Montreal's Winter Gloves play keyboard-oriented indie rock a la TPC or Passion Pit and were definitely local favorites. Toronto keyboard-drums duo, Woodhands, were the only band to feature a laser show and were there to make you dance. You may have caught them when they played Studio B in Brooklyn with Crystal Castles.

CLAASS

The night's "official selection" ended with CLAASS, which is two-thirds of We Are Wolves plus a DJ friend on keyboards, have loads of style -- dressing like they were in a '40s noir film and shrouded in smoke machines. They pump out the kind of dance music I haven't heard since the heyday of Wax Trax! It's pastiche, but they do it well and I have a soft spot for this kind of stuff.

Next came the after-party which was free and open to the public. The place immediately flooded with kids, there to see Misteur Valaire, who I'd never heard of before, but are obviously massively popular in Montreal. Shout Out Out Out Out are the easiest comparison, but it's more musically varied (they're all trained jazz musicians apparently), more of a seamless dance party. Their album, which is available for free on their website, sounds more like the kind of club music you'd hear in Asian-fusion restaurants (but better) and absolutely does not do justice to their amazing live show. Hopefully they'll be bringing it across the border soon.

More pictures below...

Continue reading "Bill reports from M for Montreal, Night Two (Beast, Arkells, CLAASS, Misteur Valaire & more)"