Sharon at LPR in October (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

As mentioned, Sharon Van Etten signed to Jagaguwar and will release her next album with them in early 2012, which Aaron Dessner (of The National) is producing. A release date still hasn't been set for the album, but we now know that it's called Tramp and will feature contributions from Matt Barrick (of The Walkmen), Doveman, Zach Condon, Jenn Wasner (of Wye Oak), and Julianna Barwick.

After Sharon opens for The National at Beacon Theatre (12/13) (tickets), she'll go on a tour in support of her new album with one of her favorite bands Shearwater. That tour hasn't been announced in full yet (update: now it has), but it hits NYC on February 24 at Music Hall of Williamsburg and February 25 at Bowery Ballroom, and also includes two Chicago shows. Tickets for the MHOW show, and the Bowery Show, go on sale Friday (11/11) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (11/9) at noon.

Shearwater also have a new home (Sub Pop), and they'll be releasing their next album on the label in early 2012. They released some live recordings and experimental pieces on their bandcamp back in April in honor of the signing.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Sharon Van Etten planning tour w/ Shearwater (who are now on Sub Pop) -- some dates announced"

photos by Jessica Amaya, words by Rachel Kowal

Beirut

Walking into the Music Hall of Williamsburg last night (7/5), I realized that I knew nothing about WOOM, the opening act, but I was pleasantly surprised by their set (erratic sound quality aside). The Oakland duo cultivates a refreshingly distinct sound that refuses to blend into the background. With a thumping bass line, unconventional beats, and irresistible male-female vocals, WOOM's music manages to be both confrontational and unassuming.

WOOM spiced up their live act by supplementing the programmed tracks with help from a guitar, tambourine, wooden blocks, and vocals. Sara Magenheimer was particularly magnetic with her cute boy haircut and street-punk aesthetic. She was both fierce and simultaneously adorable (think a poppier tUnE-yArDs), and she shared an undeniable chemistry with her band-mate, Eben Portnoy. I'm definitely eager to hear more from this dynamic duo. Check out their first full-length album, out on Ba Da Bing today.

WOOM

At the crowd's enthusiastic reception, Beirut's French horn tattooed frontman Zach Condon leaned into the mic, saying "We're really excited to be here, too. It's been a while. The last time we were here it was still North 6th," which sent ripples of both confusion and smug recognition through the audience. It's also been a while since Condon released a proper full-length album, favoring an experimental double-EP release last year instead.

Condon spent no time getting to business. Beirut's opening song was hit song "Elephant Gun". Condon stuck mostly to older material, but he did slip a few newer songs into the mix, like "East Harlem" and "The Shrew" (see the complete set list below). Toward the end of the show, Condon also elusively disclosed that he had been working on a new album, but he refrained from providing any specific details on his current project.

Of course, no Beirut show would be complete without a little help from a wide array of instruments, and for Monday night's show, Condon was accompanied by a brigade of musicians. Though a 19-piece Mexican funeral band (like the one used on last year's March of the Zapotec) was not in attendance, Condon and his band juggled instruments like: the tuba, trombone, organ, drums, French horn, ukulele, upright bass, accordion, and a couple of boisterous trumpets. Due to Condon's eclectic influences, the evening was punctuated with music reminiscent of everything from a dimly lit French bar, to a Balkan celebration and a traditional Spanish bullfight. "We're not in Mexico anymore, folks... though it would be pretty awesome if we were," Condon quipped after a few songs.

Throughout the show, the crowd reacted enthusiastically to Beirut's songs. "It's really awesome to hear you guys sing along," said Condon. Of course, it's worth noting that there were several obstacles that made attending last night's show somewhat difficult. There was no option to buy the discounted tickets online. Instead, fans waited in line outside the box office to secure a hard ticket when they went on sale on a Saturday at noon. Then, of course there was the (absent) L train to contend with yesterday, which definitely made the venue less accessible to those coming from outside the neighborhood. Suffice it to say that the people who managed to make it out to the show must have been fairly determined to take it in. "WE WALKED ALL THE WAY OVER THE BRIDGE!" yelled one concert-goer.

Beirut concluded the show with a three-song encore that featured first a lovely, stripped down version of "The Penalty" before the rest of the band re-emerged on stage for the final two songs.

WOOM and Beirut play their second sold-out show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight (7/6), and play a 3rd sold out NYC show at the Guggenheim on July 15th.

The setlist with the rest of the pictures below...

Continue reading "Beirut & Woom played MHOW - night 1 pics & setlist "

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Getty Images for American Express
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All week, The National has sponsored nightly events at their "High Violet Annex" to celebrate the release of their highly anticipated fifth album, High Violet. On Friday they even performed a set of National songs at the space. Saturday night's sold-out "ZYNC from American Express Presents The National to Benefit Red Hot" show at BAM capped off the week's festivities which started earlier the same evening at the Annex where 70-or-so lucky attendees were, unexpectedly, given tickets to the BAM show and then bussed to the Brooklyn venue to see the show...

the bus @ BAM

The BAM show began with a brief behind-the-scenes video about their recording process, and then the band launched into "Mistaken for Strangers" and then played a string of new songs. Though the National is technically a quintet, as many as nine additional people joined them on stage to play a variety of string and brass instruments. Sufjan Stevens joined the band to sing backing vocals (like he did on Letterman) on a handful of songs. Sometimes National-members Padma Newsome and Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) made a rare appearance together on stage (usually its one or the other as a member of the band). The biggest surprise band member of the night was the Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry who sang backup and played a variety of instruments throughout the set. Richard, Sufjan and Thomas all also contributed to High Violet which is out now.

With its ornate molding, dramatic curtains, and theater-like seating, BAM may be a bit of an odd choice to host what is essentially a rock show, but the beautiful space complimented the dapperly dressed band and gave them enough room to spread out on stage. Possibly sensing that something was not quite right, lead singer Matt Berninger hopped off the stage and began pulling people up into a standing position early into the show.

Throughout the show, Berninger was a sight to behold. One moment, he'd take a sip of white wine and sing softly into the mic stand and the next, he's wildly pacing back and forth on stage with his head down, pounding his hands together like a mad man. The contrast between Berninger's smooth baritone voice and his manic behavior makes for a dynamic performance. During the four-song encore, Berninger leapt off stage again and rushed the audience in the orchestra section. With his impossibly long mic chord trailing behind him, Berninger climbed desperately over anything in his path - be it chairs or people. From the middle of a row, he stood recklessly on a chair, screaming the chorus to "Mr. November" into the faces of ecstatic fans.

When all was said and done, The National played the entirety of High Violet in addition to a number of older songs. Film directors D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus were on hand to direct the live webcast of the concert that was happening on YouTube (the band addressed the Internet audience a few times), and which you can still watch there (some videos below too).

After the show, a fancy ZYNC-sponsored afterparty was held around the corner at One Hanson Place, aka the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, downstairs in the old bank's bottom floor (now used as an event space). The National, their friends and associates, partied until late with an invite-only crowd that also included members of Grizzly Bear and Beirut, and some celebrities who had attended the show (like Julia Stiles). And there was a lot to party about - recently completed Europe tour and a week of festivities in NYC aside - High Violet is selling really well too. More pictures from the show and the afterparty, with the setlist and some videos below...

Continue reading "The National & guests played BAM & YouTube (pics & video) "

DOWNLOAD: The New Pornographers - Your Hands Together (MP3)

The New Pornographers are gearing up for their album-supporting shows this summer in Europe and North America.

The new disc, Together, comes out May 4th, and their first show after its release (which comes more than a month before their other North American shows) will happen on May 6th at Woodstock, NY's 250-seat Bearsville Theater (about 2 hour drive north of NYC). Tickets are on sale now.

That show and the others on their tour will feature the band's full eight-member lineup: A.C. Newman, Blaine Thurier (keys), John Collins (bass, etc.), Todd Fancey (guitar), Kurt Dahle (drums), Kathryn Calder (vox, keys), Neko Case (vox) and Dan Bejar (vox, guitar, et).

Their full tour comes to NYC directly on June 19th for a show at Terminal 5 with tourmates The Dodos and The Dutchess and the Duke. Tickets are still on sale.

Neko Case is currently touring as part of Jakob Dylan's band, and they play two nights in NYC starting tonight (4/21). You can catch them on Letterman tonight too.

Together's first single is posted again above. The second, "The Crash Years," is available on iTunes. There's also a series of listening parties in various cities (NYC TBA) for the record coming up. More info on those, all tour dates and a new video with actor Adam Goldberg interviewing members of the band (and album guests Zach Condon, Will Sheff and Daptone's Neal Sugarman) are below...

Continue reading "New Pornographers confirm full band for tour, kick things off w/ a small show upstate, Neko here now, new video & more "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Bright Orange Air (MP3)

Inlets @ Music Hall of Williamsburg last February (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Inlets, the musical project of Sebastian Krueger, will finally release its long-awaited debut album, Inter Arbiter, on April 20th through twosyllable. Krueger is best known for playing with Shara Worden/My Brightest Diamond, Osso String Quartet, DM Stith and others. Inlets was established with its 2006 EP, Vestibule, and the debut album isn't short on guests either, with contributions from Zach Condon, Angel Deradoorian, and Osso's Marla Hansen. The track above, "Bright Orange Air," is a devilish piece of minor key pop.

Inlets will play a Friday, March 12th show at 92YTribeca with Bell and Glass Ghost (whose tour dates are below). Tickets are on sale.

Inlets are also playing an invite-only early show at Pianos this Friday (2/12). You can't buy tickets, but we have two pairs of tickets to give away - information on those is below.

Contest details, more album info, and all tour dates (including Inlets at SXSW) are below...

Continue reading "Inlets - debut record (MP3) & tour dates - 92YTribeca, SXSW & an invite-only show at Pianos (win tix) "

Coming on May 4: the new album from The New Pornographers, entitled Together. Their fifth full-length was produced by the band and Phil Palazzolo, and recorded in Vancouver, Brooklyn, Woodstock, and Catskill, NY. The album is comprised of 9 A.C. Newman songs and 3 Dan Bejar numbers, and features the full eight-person lineup of Carl, Dan, John Collins, Neko Case, Kurt Dahle, Kathryn Calder, Todd Fancey and Blaine Thurier. Additional musicians include Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Zach Condon (Beirut), Will Sheff (Okkervil River), and the Dap-Kings Horns, among other talents.

Lead pornographer A.C. Newman appears at The Bell House's Haiti benefit on Wednesday, January 27th. Also at the even will be The Walkmen (they replaced Cold War Kids who had to drop off), Ted Leo, The Wrens, Sondre Lerche, Eugene Mirman, Rhett Miller and Nicole Atkins. Tickets are still on sale.

words and photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Department of Eagles - Balmy Night (live @ the Bell House) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inlets - Pictures of Trees (MP3)

Inlets

Last Saturday, December 13th, I found myself at an intimate loft party in Williamsburg to see Sebastian Krueger's sad-pop song writing project, Inlets. The show was a pretty low key affair. People sitting on the center-of-the-room-staircase made the place seem full and active, but i'd be surprised if there were as many as 100 people there. The bartender was friendly and served complimentary beer and wine. Everybody seemed conversational and friendly and space didnt seem to be that much of an issue.

Fred Nicolaus of Department of Eagles played only a couple of songs (including one Dept of Eagles song), and Angel Deradoorian of Dirty Projectors also played a short set. It seemed to take a long time for the third band Glass Ghost to get set up and then I didn't really enjoy their set as much as the people around me seemed to.

Inlets was a very nice professional step up in sound and presence. The arrangements at times were very full and accomplished, but also sounded appropriately sparse as well-- in some songs band members would drop out completely as the set went on.

Favorite moments were the toy piano melodies on one of the later songs, and when Beirut's Zach Condon watched from the upper balcony and joined on trumpet for the last song of the evening. Overall a pleasant and mellow show that was well-suited to the well-manicured loft space.

Zach Condon

Beirut has three Brooklyn shows coming up. Department of Eagles are touring in January. Dirty Projectors are playing New Years Eve at Knitting Factory. More pictures from the loft party below...

Continue reading "Inlets (w/ Zach Condon), Fred Nicolaus, Deradoorian & Glass Ghost @ Whisk and Ladle (a loft party), NYC - pics"

Beirut is back, with a double dose of EP goodness for your listening pleasure!

Entitled March of the Zapotec, the first EP consists of songs written by Beirut and recorded in Mexico with the help of Oaxacan march masters The Jimenez Band. The second EP, Holland, showcases Zach's latest bedroom-style recordings under his former moniker Realpeople, including the previously released "Venice" (in the 2007 Believer music issue), and "My Night With the Prostitute From Marseille" (on the Natalie Portman curated Big Change charity album). Taken together, the two EPs proudly display the scope of Beirut's work over the last year.

Keep an eye out for a February release on Zach's own Pompeii Records, distributed by Revolver in the U.S. and Forte in Europe.

Beirut also has a song on the new Dark was the Night comp coming out in February.

Beirut's last show at MHOW was in May of this year.

Team B @ Union Pool (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Everything (ok, maybe not everything) you need to know about Team B in the video below...

Continue reading "a 6 minute Team B/Beirut/Kelly Pratt documentary (video)"

Expect very short sets. UPDATE: I was told this is a private event (sorry). More info and the other side of the flyer below...

Continue reading "Grizzly Bear, Zach Condon (Beirut) & Nico Muhly are playing an Obama bingo benefit in NYC this Friday "

photos by Ryan Muir

It was almost two years ago that Beirut played in the venue that occupied the same space that they played last night (May 18, 2008). I don't know what my point is. Last night's last-minute Brooklyn show at MHOW was really great (2 encores, some covers, all the hits, and kick ass new songs). More pictures & comments, and the setlist, below....

Continue reading "Beirut @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, NYC - pics & setlist"

In today's installment of 'Indie Rock Orgy'....

Continue reading "VIDEO: 'Zach' Beirut sings Grizzly Bear's 'Knife' ++ MORE"