AraabMuzik at Moogfest in October (more by Diana Wong)

When Altered Zones announced last month that they would no longer be operating, editors Ric Leichtung and Emilie Friedlander also announced a new project, AdHoc.fm, which will be "a 100% independent, daily music and visual culture publication" and is "coming in 2012."

Ad Hoc are throwing a New Year's Eve party at 285 Kent (12/31) with sets by AraabMuzik, Balam Acab, Light Asylum, Laurel Halo, Run DMT, a special guest, and Weird Magic DJs. Tickets for the show are on sale now. More details and dates are below.

Laurel Halo will also be DJing in NYC on New Year's Eve at Zebulon with DJ Hiro Kone and a band TBA. They'll be spinning "Italo Disco, House, Soul, Techno, Postpunk; whatever makes you move."

Another similar electronic-filled NYE option is the Nosaj Thing show at Glasslands (12/31). When we first discussed the show, no openers had been announced yet. We now know that the bill also includes El Topo (aka Dave Harrington of Nicolas Jaar's Darkside project), Archie Pelago, and DJIlirjana (Pop Manifesto/Typical Girls). Tickets are still available.

Speaking of AraabMuzik, he released the deluxe edition to his album Electronic Dream last week. The album features six new tracks, including the Deadmau5-sampling "I Remember," which you can stream below. We recently spoke to Gang Gang Dance engineer Sean Maffucci who is in New Moods, and he said "I don't think I've heard a record like this before. It seems to break every production rule and yet sounds so sweet and pleasing to the ears."

That stream, NYE show details and more AraabMuzik dates, below...

Continue reading "AraabMuzik, Laurel Halo, Balam Acab & more on NYE @ 285 Kent, Glasslands & Zebulon"

Though Melvin Van Peebles didn't make the below video montage of OWS footage set to his 1971 song "Love, That's America", he did endorse on it his Facebook. Also on his Facebook was this flyer for a residency that begins at Zebulon tonight...

Continue reading "Melvin Van Peebles starting residency @ Zebulon, supports Occupy Wall Street"

DOWNLOAD: Lemonade - The Place Where You Belong (MP3)

Teengirl Fantasy, whose July Brooklyn show was moved from the closed Coco66 to 285 Kent, lost two NYC shows to Irene: Warm Up @ PS1 today and a Sunday night appearance at The Museum of Art & Design (both cancelled). Their friends Lemonade were supposed to play the cancelled Out In the Streets Fest Sunday. All is not lost though, as all signs point to Zebulon still being open tonight (8/27) with Teengirl Fantasy, Callan Klein (Lemonade), and Pasternak (Lemonade) all on the bill.

UPDATE: CANCELLED

Exactly two weeks ago Lemonade posted a new song to Soundcloud. Download it above. Stream it, and check out all current Teengirl Fantasy tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Teengirl Fantasy & Lemonade (who have a new song) lost shows, but still playing Zebulon tonight (and other dates)"

by BBG

Krallice at The Studio at Webster Hall (more by Greg Cristman)

Though Krallice plays with Converge and Touche Amore tonight (8/24) at House of Vans, Mick Barr won't take a moment to bask in the post-show glow before heading out the door. Directly following House of Vans, Mick Barr will head to Zebulon to play a show as part of Barr/Shea/Dahl (Kevin Shea from Talibam and Tim Dahl of Child Abuse), supporting Little Women with Stern.

The show is one of two for the frenetic guitarist, as he'll also hit Zebulon on 8/29 with Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhthmia, Gorguts) and Andrew Hock (Castevet) just 5 days later (8/29).

Andrew Hock also plays as part of the Anthony Coleman/Andrew Hock Duo with Ches Smith and others at Cafe Orwell (Varet street) on Friday (8/26). For more info, head to the Facebook invite.

Krallice also play Union Pool on 9/17.

Mick Barr is currently prepping his new solo LP Coiled Malescence via Safety Meeting Records. Preorder it now and stream one track, "Vohvar", with the cover art and tracklist below. Stream the whole thing at Decibel.

Continue reading "Mick Barr playing a show after Krallice tonight, releasing 'Coiled Malescence' (listen)"

AMP it up! East Coast All-ages Music Summit

Time: Saturday, February 26 · 5:00pm - 11:30pm
Location: The Rotunda, Philadelphia, PA

An evening of panels, speakers, training, networking and live music designed for staff, volunteers, allies, and fans of all-ages music venues and youth music organizations.

Hear what your peers around the region are doing, learn how we can take collective action to advance the field, and strengthen young people's access to the tools of participatory cultural production.

Help us celebrate the release of our book, "In Every Town: an all-ages music manualfesto!" Bands Slutever and SGNLS are performing and Ian MacKaye of Dischord Records/Fugazi/Minor Threat will offer a keynote."

Continue reading "Ian MacKaye speaking at 'All Ages' event in Philly, Daniel Higgs kicking off Brooklyn residency"

"DJ/Rupture began Nettle when he lived in Barcelona. The current NYC lineup: is Lindsay Cuff (violin, voice), Rupture (electronics, mudd), Brent Arnold (cello), and Bill Bowen (percussion). This fall Nettle will release their second album, called El Resplandor: The Shining In Dubai. In it, they imagined a remake of The Shining -- instead of Colorado, it's set in Dubai, in an abandoned luxury hotel."
[playing Zebulon, January 20, 2011 - free]

photos by Erez Avissar

El Guincho completed his run of four NYC dates (10/1) with a show at Cameo Gallery before scooting to the West to get ready to bless them in a smiliar way. Though he had some hefty competition on Thursday (9/30) in Williamsburg, (Belle & Sebastian at the Waterfront, Best Coast at MHOW, Buzzoven at Public Assembly), El Guincho played his third show in as many days to a packed crowd at Zebulon. More pictures from the party are below.

Continue reading "El Guincho completed his NYC-ran (pics from Zebulon)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

Air Waves @ Zebulon

"I'm moving away from this city in two weeks," said Nicole Schneit [Thursday] night, between songs at Zebulon. "It's been nice living here."

Ms. Schneit is the leader of the Brooklyn indie pop band Air Waves, whose second full-length will be released this fall through the label Underwater Peoples. The album, which was recorded at the Walkmen's Marcata Studios, is currently being mastered, and if things go right in the immediate future, it'll be done by the time Schneit boards her flight for Austin, Texas in September.

[Thursday] night's show at Zebulon was Air Waves' final New York appearance before Schneit's voyage. It was also the last show the three-piece will ever play with their drummer, Jordan Bernstein, who is leaving after about a year to focus on his five other bands. According to Schneit, she'll be looking for a replacement for him as soon as she lands in Austin. Her bass player, meanwhile, a shaggy fellow named Dan Bryer, is staying put, and will be flying out in October to accompany Schneit on a West Coast tour in support of the new album.

...When the trio prepared to start their set-closing "Sweetness," Schneit looked over at her drummer and her bassist, then refocused on her audience. "New Yorkers always come back," she promised, and launched into it. -[Village Voice]

So far, the only band from that bill with future tour dates on the way is The Wailing Wall, who will support The Duchess & The Duke at Mercury Lounge on 9/4 (tickets), one of two shows for D&D (the second being at Union Pool on 9/3, tickets).

More pictures from the Zebulon show, and an Air Waves video (not from Zebulon) that is part of "Home Page - A Video Music Series", below...

Continue reading "Air Waves played their NYC-farewell show @ Zebulon w/ The Wailing Wall & Sail by Night (pics) "

photos by Benjamin Lozovsky, words by Andrew Frisicano

no babies in sight this time..

Spain's Delorean played a packed, celebratory free set to a crowd of New Yorkers at the Stuy Town Oval on Wednesday (7/7), appropriately, the same day Spain advanced to the World Cup Finals. A vuvuzela sat on stage (and mercifully remained silent) (unlike at the recent Peelander-Z show). Pictures from that show are in this post.

Delorean continues their NYC stay with a DJ set tonight (7/8) at Littlefield with resident DJs Raspberry Jones and Treeboy.

After that, Delorean is playing a sold-out Bowery Ballroom show on Saturday, July 10th. And then they'll be back for the end-of-the-season Pool Party on August 29th (two headliners TBA).

Previously, Delorean kicked off PS1's Warm up series with Janka Nabay, Glasser and others. And Janka played with another Spaniard, El Guincho, at (Le) Poisson Rouge last night (7/7) - which was El Guincho's second show of the night (earlier he played the SummerStage).

Janka continues his own week of busy shows with a rooftop gig in Bushwick (details below) on Friday and a World Cup Finals party at Zebulon on Sunday with Baye Kouyate. Then he's back at Zebulon with Cafe Antarsia Ensemble on July 31st. If you've noticed, Janka has a new band, the Bubu Gang, which features members of Skeletons and Zs.

Another related Zebulon night, its monthly Cool Places Sound System dance party, put together by Tony from Zs/Bubu Gang and Dean from True Panther Sounds (Janka's label), is happening next on July 17th.

Janka Nabay's new video for his new song "Ah Mufan" (which you can buy here), his tour dates, and more pictures of Delorean at the Oval are below...

Continue reading "Delorean played Stuy Town (pics), Spain beat Germany, Janka Nabay played LPR w/ El Guincho (and is playing more dates)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Sir Richard Bishop @ MHOW 2009 (more by Ryan Muir)

No Wave icon James Chance will be sitting behind the piano at Greenpoint/Williamsburg bar Manhattan Inn (a hangout recently described as "Pitchfork come to life") on Sunday, June 27th, from 8-11pm. He'll be playing "original piano compositions...for the first time ever solo on a grand piano" though that could hew closer to jazz standard than free jazz punk. Entry is free; you'll probably have to get there early to get a table (and order a few drinks).

Sort of in the same vein, worldly guitarist Sir Richard Bishop will be playing every Monday night in July (5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th) at Zebulon. Bishop brought his Freak Of Araby Ensemble to Music Hall of Williamsburg and Studio at Webster Hall on their tour last summer.

The James Chance flyer is below...

Continue reading "James Chance & Sir Richard Bishop playing intimate shows"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Califone - "Ro" (feat. Orso) (MP3 premiere)
DOWNLOAD: Sharon Van Etten - "I Couldn't Save You" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sam Amidon - "Cabin in the Corner" (MP3)

The members of expansive Chicago group Califone have a soft spot for film. In 2009 they made one of their own, All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, which they toured around the country (and which just came out on DVD on May 27th). So it's no surprise that they've lent one of their tunes, an unreleased number called "Ro," to filmmaker R. Alverson for a package of songs "for or inspired by" his debut feature film, The Builder. The song will be part of a digital-only series to accompany the film's July 27th DVD release on Jagjaguwar (it's the label's first movie release). That Califone song, which features fellow Chicagoan Orso, is posted above, as are two other songs from the series by fellow BV favorites Sam Amidon and Sharon Van Etten.

Music for the film itself is provided by Bon Iver, Gregor Samsa, Pan American, Robert Donne and Spokane (a group that features Alverson and the film's co-producer Courtney Bowles).

The Builder will be make its New York debut at a free screening hosted at cozy Brooklyn bar Zebulon on Wednesday, July 7th. Sharon Van Etten will be playing a set at that.

Filming on Alverson's second feature New Jerusalem, which stars Will Oldham and Builder actor/co-writer Colm O'Leary, finished earlier this year.

The trailer & synopsis for The Builder, along with a video interview with Alverson, and Califone's handful of tour dates (all in the Midwest, besides an August show at Mass MoCa in North Adams, MA) are below...

Continue reading "Califone (& Sharon Van Etten & Sam Amidon) on album inspired by 'The Builder' - MP3s & NYC debut screening info"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Glass Ghost - The Same (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Glass Ghost - Like a Diamond (MP3)

Here We Go Magic @ South Street Seaport - Summer 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

Here We Go Magic, a band who have already headlined the 600+ capacity Music Hall of Williamsburg, are playing a show at the much tinier Zebulon this Friday, March 5th. The gig is free (they usually pass the hat for the bands) and also on the bill are Caveman and Glass Ghost. Brooklyn's Glass Ghost are a keys and drums duo whose play synth-based, rhythmic pop that doesn't fall into standard electro cliches (in particular see "The Same," above). Their debut, Idol Omen, came out on Western Vinyl last September. Their video for "Like a Diamond" is posted below.

Here We Go Magic's upcoming North American tour includes SXSW, where one their shows in the official Brooklyn Vegan showcase at Club DeVille on March 17th with Califone, Dawes, Bowerbirds, The Middle East and Serena-Maneesh. They also play Pitchork's official showcase three nights later. They'll be back in the NYC area for an April 30th show at Maxwell's. Tickets are on sale.

They're also touring North America with White Rabbits and Europe with The New Pornographers. All dates are below...

Continue reading "Here We Go Magic playing Zebulon, Maxwell's, SXSW, touring with White Rabbits, New Pornographers - 2010 dates"

photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Bear in Heaven - Wholehearted Mess (MP3)

STEREOGUM: I've been to Barcade [where you bartend]. Used to live a block away from it. Good beer selection, but sometimes the guys playing the games can get a bit too aggro. Have you ever had to intervene with a drunken Dig Dug fan and a battered arcade game?

Bear in Heaven member Joe Stickney: Eh, every now and then someone will, in a 12% alcohol-beer fueled rage, start banging on Ms. Pacman or Outrun or something, but there's always a manager on board to take care of that. In general the crowd's pretty passive. I used to manage there for a few months and one of my first nights there someone threw up all over Tetris. I think that might have been some belated Iron Curtain protest though.

They'll also play a short in-store set at Sound Fix Records on December 3rd (8pm, free).

The pictures in this post were taken back in September when Bear in Heaven opened for the Rapture at Matchless. More of those pictures below...

Continue reading "upcoming Bear in Heaven shows & a set of live pictures"

Holden is a French duo who began recording in 1997. Band members are Armelle Pioline (vocals) and Dominique Dépret (aka Mocke, guitar). With Pierre-Jean Grapin (drums), Evan Evans (clavier) and Richard Cousin (bass), they released 'L'arrière monde' in 1998. In 2001, they met the producer Senor Coconut aka Atom aka Uwe Schmidt, who mixed their second album, 'Pedrolira' (2002). They recorded their last album, Chevrotine, in Chile, 2006

Supposedly the band is big in France, but nobody knows about them here. That means we get to see them in intimate venues while they're visiting NYC for five shows this week. The first was Saturday night at Zebulon (did you catch it?). Sunday (11/15) the show is at Sycamore. Monday is at Matchless. Tuesday at Barbes (as well as a WNYC radio session with David Garland earlier that day), and then Wednesday they end the run at Pianos (they play right before Violent Soho who play before... Group Sounds?!). All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "French band Holden are here - 5 NYC shows & a WNYC appearance (2009 tour dates & videos) "

by Andrew Frisicano

Download: Baby Gramps - Shake It 'n' Break It (MP3)
Download: Baby Gramps - St. James Infirmary (MP3)
Download: Baby Gramps - Teddy Bears' Picnic (MP3)

[Baby Gramps] plays his songbook of old-timey songs with the dexterity of an, erm, old-timer (he plays what he calls "stunt guitar" and what others have termed "extraordinary"). No longer "knee-high to a tootsie-wootsie" (as he would say), he's officially grown into his geezer status. Some date Gramps' beginnings on the Seattle music scene as far back as the early '60s. "Before that, I was in Texas by way of Arkansas by way of Alabama," he told Patrick Ferris in an interview reprinted on Gramps' website. And though you might be inclined to file Gramps under roots -- blues and folk in particular -- he's also found a niche among the rock crowd as a street performer and opening act. I recollect seeing him on every trip I've ever taken to Seattle that involved entering a nightclub. I asked my friend, Seattle-based author and journalist Charles R. Cross, for the hometown perspective on Baby Gramps: "He is a Seattle institution, along the lines of the Space Needle, Pioneer Square, and the Pike Place Market." [Crawdaddy]

Baby Gramps occasionally leaves his Pacific Northwest homebase for jaunts around the North East. That's what he'll do this June, as he plays Upstate New York before coming to NYC for a five-night run. Starting with a Friday, June 12th show at Terra Blues, Gramps will play Barbes on June 13th (Sat), Jalopy Theatre on June 14th (Sun), the Kitchen Club on June 15th (Mon) and finish with a show at Zebulon on June 16th (Tues).

His song "Cape Cod Girls" opened the Hal Willner-compiled Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys collection, which came out on Anti in 2007.

A video of Gramps performing "Cape Cod Girls" with Akron/Family on Letterman (a venue that doesn't do his full-on vaudeville act justice), with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Baby Gramps - 2009 tour dates w/ 5 NYC shows in June "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: The Dead Science - Throne Of Blood (The Jump Off) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Dead Science - Make Mine Marvel (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Dead Science - Days Of Future Past [mixtape track] (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Dead Science - Garden Wall [mixtape track] (MP3)

The Dead Science

Seattle's The Dead Science (not to be confused with The Dead Weather) are planning a North American tour this June. That includes two NYC shows: Monday, June 15th the band plays the Studio at Webster Hall with Bobby Conn & Monica Bou Bou and Zs (Tickets). The next night, Tuesday, June 16th, the band performs at Death By Audio with Skeletons, From Bacteria to Boys and Charlie Looker.

The Dead Science's last record, Villainaire, came out on Constellation Records in 2008. The supporting tour for that release brought the Dead Science to NYC's Knitting Factory on a bill with Brooklyn band Extra Life. This time around, the band will play with Extra Life's songwriter/frontman, Charlie Looker, on its second NYC show, and Zs, a band that included Looker for six years, on its first.

Extra Life are currently on a month-long tour of Europe. The DBA show is scheduled to be Looker/Extra Life's first show back in the US.

Also opening at DBA is From Bacteria to Boys, jazz project of drummer Mike Pride. On April 8th, the group played a live set, now streaming, at WFMU's studios.

Pride plays in a number of local groups (that counts collaborating with Charlie Looker on a project called Period). Recently, Pride gigged as part of Whoopie Pie at Pie member Jamie Saft's Wednesday residency at Zebulon. On Wednesday, May 6th, Whoopie Pie's special guest was Marc Ribot (who's in the midst of a weeklong b-day retrospective). Tonight, Wednesday, May 13th, at Zebulon, the group will be joined by Dead Science frontman Sam Mickens as "special guest vocalist."

Mickens returns to Zebulon just two days later, on Friday, May 15th, to record and film a live album with the "Sam Mickens Ecstatic Showband and Revue." That band includes Mike Pride on drums and in the past has featured Charlie Looker and other members of Extra Life.

The final band on that June 16th DBA bill, Skeletons, has other upcoming NYC dates too. Those include May 19th at the Cake Shop with Nick Krgovich, To Bad Catholics and Katie Eastburn and June 24th with Zs at the Studio at Webster Hall.

All Dead Science and Skeletons tour dates below...

Continue reading "Sam Mickens playing Zebulon (twice), the Dead Science touring (Studio & DBA) - 2009 dates & MP3's"

by Andrew Frisicano

Marc Ribot @ Maxwell's Dec. 2008 (more by Tim Griffin)

"I figured I'd do it before I croaked," the birthday boy [Marc Ribot] explains of this mini-retrospective. "I don't trust the bastards to do it afterwards." [Village Voice]

Inspired by the late Italian visionary composer, the album [is] one of the guitarist's most challenging efforts, further fleshed out in collaboration with new-music guitarist Marco Cappelli and his Italian-based Ensemble Dissonanzen, with whom Ribot has performed in Europe. Marc says, "What they've put together is quite beautiful. If you want to hear Giacinto Scelsi solo pieces, you'll get to hear the flute piece, the piano piece, the organ piece, the guitar piece and even the trumpet piece. It's more of Scelsi's solo work than you'll ever hear in one place in a good long time, and then you get my record thrown in, too."

Video of Ribot with Whoopie Pie on the 6th, below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot's 55th birthday week is underway"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Grey Gersten - Hard Times (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grey Gersten - Of The Year Was (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grey Gersten - Fumbles In The Dark (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grey Gersten - Your Voice, A Seed in the Wind (MP3)

Grey Gersten, The Stone's May curator

Seach and Restore: How did you approach and deal with the task of curating an entire month of shows at the Stone, two shows a night?

Grey Gersten: I started last year by making a huge list of different artists, musicians and film-makers that I thought would create unique performances specifically for the series. It's impossible to plan anything like this because there are so many uncontrollable factors constantly shifting. At times it felt like a gigantic three dimensional Rubik's Cube! I would reach to adjust it and the blocks would morph into crazy micro Rubik layers. John Kilduff's "Lets Paint" videos were a source of constant motivation. His ability to multi-task and remain flexible is very inspiring.

A number of those Ribot birthday shows will be at the Stone. That includes a Wednesday, May 13th "Tribute" with Gersten and others playing Ribot's work.

Ribot "warms up" for that week of shows with an appearance at Zebulon in Brooklyn on Wednesday, May 6th (tonight). He'll joins extra heavy jazz group Whoopie Pie.

At the Stone Wednesday, May 6th (tonight) JG Thirlwell, composer of the soundtrack to Cartoon Network's The Venture Bros. among other credits, performs with his Manorexia ensemble. It's scheduled to be the group's only NYC performance this year. Thirlwell's Venture Bros. work was recently collected and released on a disc that is out now through Adult Swim.

Part of the Stone's lineup this weekend includes a Saturday, May 9th show with Lucky Dragons and special guests Gersten and Ches Smith. Smith, who plays as part of Ceramic Dog (see above) and Secret Chiefs 3 (who recently visited NYC), collaborated with Gersten and Kato Hideki on a limited-edition LP. MP3s of that record are posted above.

Gersten put together a mixtape to highlight artists at the Stone this month. Artists on the mix include Ribot, Nels Cline, Karl Blau, Lucky Dragons and more. SearchandRestore.com is currently hosting a stream of that mix. Tracklist below.

Speaking of Blau and Cline, they round out the Stone's weekend lineup with respective early and late sets on Sunday, May 10th. Karl Blau is also playing Zebulon on Monday, May 11th, and Bruar Falls on May 12th. Nels Cline plays with Mike Watt at the Central Park Summerstage on Saturday, August 1st. M. Ward headlines that show. Watt has been recording in Brooklyn all week and has two nights of NYC-area gigs starting Thursday, May 7th.

JG Thirlwell and Manorexia videos, with gig poster and album track list and art, plus Gersten mix tracklist, below...

Continue reading "May @ the Stone continues w/ curator Grey Gersten (MP3s), Manorexia & birthday boy Marc Ribot (plays Zebulon today)"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Skeletons - The Things(MP3)

Skeletons have two NYC shows this weekend. The first, Saturday April 4th (tonight), is a free show at Zebluon with Ellee. The second is the next night, Sunday, April 5th, at the Mercury Lounge with Thee Oh Sees, Zs, and Child Abuse. Tickets for the Mercury Louge show are on sale.

Thee Oh Sees play on Saturday (tonight) as well. The band is performing at the FreeMusicArchive.org launch party at the Bell House with Excepter, Catatonic Youth, and Pink Skull. Tickets for that show are still on sale.

Way back on Friday, January 2nd, Skeletons, John Dwyer & Sam Hillmer (of Thee Oh Sees and Zs, respective), and John Fell Ryan (from Excepter) - all represented above - played Death By Audio with Extra Life. That show was just one of the many gigs this year for Skeletons, who just ended a nearly-monthlong tour of Europe.

Check out a live video of Skeletons' acoustic set at that Death By Audio show, plus a non-acoustic performance of "Ripper aka the pillows" and an alternate video for band's song "Stepper a.k.a. Work" (both off their latest, 2008's Money), below...

Continue reading "Skeletons - 2 NYC shows (1 w/ Thee Oh Sees) & some videos"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Mary Halvorson & Weasel Walter - Lapis Lazuli Nights (MP3)

Weasel Walter @ Bug Jar, Rochester, NY, 9/21/08 (photo by Joe Tunis)

"I'm hard-pressed to find contemporary free jazz that I can relate to. I want to hear really violent fucked-up free jazz records, and I don't hear anybody else makin' 'em, so I make 'em myself." -[Weasel Walter in L.A. Record]

He then comes to Zebulon in Brooklyn on Saturday (3/7) for a jazz improv gig with NYC guitarist Mary Halvorson. The pair played together during Walter's last NYC stint in September. Expect a disquieting, dynamics-filled set that touches on both Halvorson's melodic debut CD, Dragon's Head, and Walters's tension-heavy drums.

Among the releases coming from WW's ugEXPLODE label is a possible Walter/Halvorson/trumpeter Peter Evans CD-R, out this summer. From MySpace: "i'm toying with the idea of putting out some stuff of that trio from our previous gigs, but haven't discussed it with them formally yet. there was a lot of video shot of two of the sept. shows, and we may release some of that as well."

Hardcore/metal group xBxRx, which features WW on drums, is currently mixing its next record, which Walter described as "some improvised tracks as well as songs...sonically rich and varied. totally intense, as usual."

The Flying Luttenbachers project is disbanded, but the group's punk & avant-jazz-filled second album, Constructive Destruction, featuring Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Dylan Posa, Chad Organ and Weasel Walter, is now up as a free download at ugEXPLODE.

All tour dates and live videos (including Sept 19, 2008 @ Zebulon) below...

Continue reading "Weasel Walter - a No Wave lecture @ Bard, Zebulon, other tour dates & free downloads"

photos by Ryan Muir

Holly Miranda @ Zebulon

Holly Miranda, known most for her part in the Jealous Girlfriends, has at least four NYC shows coming up. Tonight (2/13) you can catch her at Southpaw, part of the Sounds Like Brooklyn Festival, with Motel Motel, The Canon Logic, and Ro Agents.

Wednesday (2/18) she opens for White Rabbits at the the first of their two shows at Mercury Lounge. Tickets are on sale. Ravens & Chimes are also on that bill. Bell and Polite Sleeper are the White Rabbits openers on Thursday.

Fast forward a month: Thursday March 12th you can catch Holly at Zebulon in Brooklyn (that's the venue I last saw her in, and where the pictures in this post came from). Tall Firs and Sharon Van Etten are also on that solid bill.

A month after that: Holly Miranda is opening for Nada Surf at the Bell House on April 15th. Tickets are not yet on sale.

Holly has a solo album coming out some time soon (probably when she finds a label to release it) . It was produced by TV On the Radio's Dave Sitek and Celebration's Katrina Ford. Holly said,

..its been a truly magical journey and a family affair, for sure. between katrina and dave producing, sean (of celebration) playing everything with ivory (including a pipe organ in baltimore we sent him to with a midi recorder), stewart and eric (from antibalas) killing it with the sax, trumpet and clarinet, and i think by the time we are done every member of tv on the radio will appear on the album..how sweet is that. plus katrina and i sing two songs together. OH and brendan (from ludlow lions) sings and plays on 'forest green oh forest green' ( a song we wrote together years ago)... there may still be a few guest appearances still to come.

Continue reading "Nada Surf playing Bell House & other HOLLY MIRANDA shows"

The Nouvellas @ South Street Seaport (more by Chris La Putt)

Two Nouvellas appearances, three craft fairs, four NYC holiday events...

Continue reading "Holiday Soul, craft fairs & Nouvellas (upcoming NYC events)"

photos by Ryan Muir

Saturday (August 30, 2008) was a long day. After four bands in a row at McCarren Pool, (Ryan and) I considered going to watch some bands perform 'round robin', but the idea of a hot Market Hotel didn't seem that appealing. Instead I went over to the much smaller and much less DIY bar and performance space, Zebulon, to catch Holly Miranda (The Jealous Girlfriends) and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (the Internet). Ironically, Zebulon ended up ridiculously crowded and hot, but I'm not complaining.

Holly was great, though I stood towards the back of the bar where I couldn't even see her for most of the set. Miles and band put on a good (and free) (not counting tips) show, but not a great show. I moved near the front of the club early on in his set because there was no chance of enjoying it from the back of the noisy venue. That helped a lot. Unlike Holly's voice who cut through the whole club, you could barely hear what Miles was saying, even from the front row. There's something soft and choppy about his voice live that makes it hard to get into. Production has fixed that on the record. Maybe he just needed to turn his mic way up. That said, the songs still made me want to tap my foot (which is about all the dancing you can do when the setup is such that the whole crowd needs to shift so someone can get from the bar to the bathroom) and there were still a few big clapping moments.

I have yet to read a good review of his live show (here in the comments or elsewhere) (ok, I take that back...). People probably expect a little more once they've seen you on the cover of Fader. Maybe touring with TV on the Radio will be good training. He and full band played for about an hour with no encore (crowd's choice). More pics below...

Continue reading "Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson @ Zebulon, Brooklyn- pics"

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation have announced Wednesday, July 9, as the start date for Music At The Bridge, a new free summer music series being presented in the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park section of Brooklyn Bridge Park. For each of five consecutive Wednesday nights, starting at 6:30pm, a different Brooklyn music venue will curate a three-hour jewel of a program, taking direct aim at the musically adventurous.

Continue reading "Music at the (Brooklyn) Bridge - kicks off tonight"