photos by Chris La Putt

"Bear in Heaven for free at the seaport. Amazing." - Alyssa Lewis

Bear Heaven @ the Seaport

After missing their chance to play South Street Seaport last week, but with plans to be back in NYC to play Cake Shop and Monster Island this week anyway, YellowFever made a surprise appearance as the openers of the South Street Seaport show this week (last night, Friday, July 9th). Two days earlier, the Austin band released this statement...

"After enjoying the fine facilities at the Harris County Jail, bologna sandwiches, cute orange outfits, new friends, and *very* public restrooms, we are pleased to announce that we will be continuing our tour tonight in New York! We intended to kick off our tour by flying to NY to play the Seaport show, and returning to Texas to drive our hippy camp-wagon through the glorious South over the 4th of July weekend, but were rudely interrupted by the TSA who decided to cart me off to jail for forgetting a kitchen knife in my backpack and accidentally carrying it through airport security. Anyway, after our brief meeting with The Man in court Tuesday morning we drove straight to New York." - Jennifer Moore, YellowFever

Note Jennifer's cute orange outfit in the pictures below.

YellowFever were followed by Zola Jesus who was followed by the biggest hit of the night, Brooklyn's own Bear in Heaven. More pictures from the free Seaport Music Series show (part of the River to River series), below...

Continue reading "Bear in Heaven, Zola Jesus and suprise guest YellowFever played South Street Seaport (pics)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk - I'm Not a Nintendo (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bandit Teeth - Encouragement (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Wetdog - Lower Leg (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Rondelles - Please Shut Up (MP3)

Unrest @ The Bell House

Doing anything besides swimming or laying in front of a powerful A/C unit hasn't been appealing this week, let alone going into some club or DIY venue with poor ventilation, but temperatures are dropping and there are a lot of fun things to do this weekend, so it's time to buck up, camper, and go see some rock.

As you may have previously read, tonight is the first show at new Park Slope club The Rock Shop. Curiosity is enough to get me there but for those who didn't get tickets to the TeenBeat 26th Anniversary show tomorrow can see The Rondelles play tonight for free. If you liked Elastica or Veruca Salt or fellow TeenBeat band Tuscadero, you should definitely clear some time to check out The Rondelles who sit nicely amongst their '90s peers. Broken up for nearly a decade, this might be your only chance to see them again (apart from tomorrow night). Also playing are The Love Loves. Did I mention it's free? The Rock Shop is supposed to have a very nice rooftop deck as well.

Tuscadero @ The Bell House

While I'm on the subject, I went to the first of the TeenBeat 26th Anniversary shows at the Bell House this past Monday (7/5) and it was a good time. Unrest were a little rusty at first but the muscle memory kicked in around "Makeout Club" and the crowd got into it, and the parade of classics ("Isabelle," "Cherry Cream On," "Cath Carrol") undeniable. But I'm pretty certain Tuscadero stole the night, with a lot of fans there just for them, psyched to hear "Dime a Dozen," "Dr. Doom" and others. Too bad they're not also on the bill for Friday's sold-out show. They've still got it.

True Love Always, who I'd never seen before, were good too. There's video at the bottom of this post from Monday's show. Must add that the merch table is pretty sweet too. I picked up a reissue of Unrest's Imperial F.f.r.r. on clear vinyl for only $10, and got a new version of an old Unrest t-shirt I used to own back in the day.

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We've got two bands from Lawrence, KS in town -- Bandit Teeth and Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk -- playing three shows together: Friday night (7/9) at Cake Shop, a free show Saturday (7/10) afternoon at Union Pool and then Saturday night at Death By Audio. Both bands are worth checking out.

Bandit Teeth

Bandit Teeth got their start in the late '90s but went on hiatus while singer Brad Shanks moved to NYC with his sister Courtney when their band Blood on the Wall took off. Brad moved back to Kansas a few years ago and reactivated Bandit Teeth with Zach Campbell of Rooftop Vigilantes. They're sort of sloppy, snotty and nasally -- not unlike the Jacuzzi Boys -- and you can check out "Encouragement" at the top of this post.

BBDDM

Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk features another Rooftop Vigilante, Oscar Allen, and put out records and cassettes at an alarming rate. Their hazy miasma of sound falls within the Altered Zones demographic but there is poppy song structures under the hiss and reverb. You can check out one of their more straightforward recordings, "I'm Not a Nintendo," at the top of this post.

Friday's Cake Shop show also has Blissed Out and Ana Lola Roman on the bill; the free day Saturday day show at Union Pool also features Violent Bullshit.

Rooftop Vigilantes new album, Real Pony Glue, is due out hopefully before the end of the year. Closer on the horizon is a 7" single that should hit shops in late August or September.

Wetdog

UK band Wetdog are gracing us with another visit, playing Monster Island Basement Friday (7/9) with fellow Captured Tracks band MINKS (who I profiled last week), plus YellowFever (who are out of jail!), and Larkin Grimm. I caught Wetdog back in April at Glasslands and they are definitely worth seeing, definitely within that 1979 postpunk milleiu without sounding exactly like any band of that era. The drummer's minimalist playing style, one leg propped on top of the kick, was something else. The band are playing a few East Coast shows, and all tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

And some day-by-day picks

THURSDAY, JULY 8 (TONIGHT)

In addition to tomorrow night's show, YellowFever are also playing Cake Shop tonight with Dream Diary (who have gotten really good), The Numerators,  and Pterodactyl. Has anyone been to Cake Shop this week? Wondering if they've got their A/C working.

Ann Arbor, MI's Secret Twins and Bad Indians spice up a Death By Audio bill that includes local TWII faves My Teenage Stride and Knight School.

continued below...

Continue reading "Unrest, Tuscadero, Bandit Teeth, Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk, Wetdog & more in This Week in Indie "

"Though promoters around the country report strong early ticket sales for festivals and summer tours, the recession is causing jitters. This year Coachella, which has the most glamorous reputation of all American festivals, began selling tickets on layaway, and 18 percent of its customers took that option, Mr. Tollett said.

The proliferation of big festivals, like Bonnaroo near Nashville and Lollapalooza in Chicago, has not been without casualties. This year Langerado in Miami shut down, citing the economy. The Pemberton Festival in British Columbia is on hiatus after only one year, although its promoter, Live Nation, said the problem was permit delays." [NY Times]

With all the leaks of bands playing Lollapalooza this year, there are almost no surprises in the official lineup announcement, except maybe the Animal Collective DJ set... The whole thing below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2009 - the official & complete lineup"