DOWNLOAD: Deep Red - Fun Girl (MP3)

Deep Red is a collaboration that includes Hercules & Love Affair keyboardist Morgan Wiley, bassist Andrew Raposo, and vocalist Nomi Ruiz who met while on the 2008 Hercules & Love Affair Tour. They combine minimal electro, dance, and R&B to create what sounds like a cross between Afrika Bambaataa, Kraftwork & Madonna. The synergy of their live show [by who I'm not sure] is said to evoke Fleetwood Mac & Sade incorporating live saxaphone & flute.

Their first single 'Fun Girl', is a dark dance number full of tough vocal hooks, dirty bass and spooky synth lines. They are preparing to release a 12" this Spring followed by a run of shows in Europe and the US.

Deep Red make their debut in NY at Le Poisson Rouge this Thursday, January 22nd. Doors at 9pm, Midnight Magic 10pm Deep Red 11pm. DJ Pat Mahoney (DFA/LCD Soundsystem) will be spinning throughout the entire evening.

Deep Red is also playing as "Diamond Life" as Sade at Highline Ballroom on February 13th. Tickets are on sale.

Andrew and Morgan were also in Automato.

The flyer for tonight is below...

Continue reading "Deep Red is Nomi from Hercules & Love Affair & band ------------- 2 NYC shows (1 as Sade) & an MP3"

Zipper Factory (more by Chris La Putt)

The Zipper Factory, a theater and tavern, has closed, its owner, Lee Z. Davis, said. The theater, which opened in 2001, was home to such productions as "The Sensuous Woman" by Margaret Cho, "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris," "Jesus Is Magic" by Sarah Silverman, "Betty Rules" and Alan Cumming's adaptation of Jean Genet's "Elle." Payments for advance tickets for shows scheduled at the theater will be refunded. ... "Altar Boyz," the musical comedy about to begin its fifth year at New World Stages, will make tickets available on a "pay what you can" basis for the 8 p.m. performance on Jan. 21. Tickets, which will cost a minimum of $1 for the theater restoration fee, will be available at 7 p.m. on a first-come/first-served basis. Regular prices for the show are $26.50, $59.99 and $79.99.Smallest Audience for 'Idol' Debut in Series History. [NY Times]

Sarah wrote in, "I am sure you heard of the Zipper Factory demise - I was in NYC to see Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys play (1/13) and was arriving as everyone was being kicked out of the building. Edrie was kind enough to give free CDs to everyone who showed up (the show was almost sold out according to the producer). There is a great note about it here on their Face Book". You can also read it on MySpace.

Playbill adds, "David Conrad Brouillard and Bill Coyle served as the theatre's most recent artistic producer and producing associate, respectively. Coyle, a respected longtime publicist and promoter in New York City's theatre community, told Playbill.com, "David and I are currently exploring our options of starting over ourselves. We met with the owner to try to re-open on our own, but without any notice or planning we don't have the resources in place to give three months [rent] up-front. ...It'll be a while before we know anything.""

by Bill Pearis

The Depreciation Guild

For fans of Shoegaze/Dreampop/etc, the Bell House is where you want to be tonight (1/8) for a free show with locals The Depreciation Guild, Dead Leaf Echo, and Luxa. I'm quite fond of The Depreciation Guild's most recent album, In Her Gentle Jaws, which you can download for free from the band's website. Mixing heavy and heavily-treated guitars with beats built on a Nintendo Famicom, they actually kind of remind me of me of Mew's dreamier moments. The Depreciation Guild are also going on tour with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart next month so the rest of the country will get a chance to check them out too.

As for the other two bands on the bill, I'm not familiar other than checking out their respective MySpace pages, but Dead Leaf Echo have dreampop cred: their forthcoming album was produced by John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, Pale Saints), and they've had remixes done by Ulrich Schnauss. Luxa are a little more on the bliss-out side of things. No idea what any of these bands are like live, but you can't argue with the price. Also free: Brooklyn Lager from 8-9.

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Keeping things Brooklyn local, My Teenage Stride play Union Hall Friday night (1/9). The band have entirely revamped their line-up in the last six months but when I saw them at Glasslands late last year they were good as ever. If you like Lloyd Cole, the Chills, The Wedding Present and other jangly '80s indie signifiers, you should definitely seek them out, if you haven't already. My Teenage Stride also play next Thursday (1/15) at Vanishing Point Studio in Bushwick.

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Box Elders

It's already been mentioned that Michigan band Tyvek are playing three shows this weekend, one of which is at Market Hotel with Crystal Stilts. Also on that bill are Omaha trio Box Elders, who are not named after the classic Pavement song, or the tree, but the bugs that infested the house where two-thirds of the band (Jeremiah and Clayton McIntyre) grew up. (They claim they still have a snare with about 100 dead box elder bugs in it...eww.) So far the band only have one single, the excelent "Hole in My Head" which sounds a lot like New Zealand's The Clean to these ears. (Bonus points: the b-side is a cover of Redd Kross' "S&M Party.") The Box Elders are currently on a fairly extensive US tour but The Market Hotel show is their only NYC-area show so do check them out.

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And finally, this weekend marks the premiere of FUTURITY -- a musical written by local retro-futurists The Lisps. As the Lisps' shows tend to be theatrical anyway, mixing elements of vaudville and Americana and other genres, it's no real suprise they had a musical in them. Here's the blurb:

FUTURITY tells the story of Julian Munro, a lowly foot soldier in the American Civil War with an overactive imagination and a dream to be a famous writer. Through the double narrative of Julian's wartime experience ripping up Confederate railroads in southwestern Virginia, and the grimly futuristic novel he writes along the way, the musical weaves an ominous and bizarre tale of destruction, creation, and utopianism. The protagonist of Julian's novel, The Inventor, devises an omnipotent steam-powered artificial intelligence that he sees as a panacea for all of humanity's woes. The story is largely narrated by Ada Lovelace, the famous mathematician and Julian's imaginary muse. The music in FUTURITY draws inspiration from every corner of traditional Americana and contemporary indie-rock to paint a quintessentially American scene of war, antiquity, technological hubris, and outmoded conceptions of futurity.

ALSO THIS WEEKEND: 2 Camper Van Beethoven shows

Videos, tourdates and other stuff for some the above groups after the jump...

Continue reading "the Depreciation Guild, Box Elders, My Teenage Stride, a Lisps musical & more in This Week in Indie"

Photos by Chris La Putt

Nomi, now best know as a singing member of Hercules & Love Affair, played solo at the Zipper Factory in NYC on Tuesday night (September 30). The next time Nomi performs in New York will be with Hercules & Love Affair when they open for the B-52s at Hammerstein Ballroom. More pictures from the solo show below...

Continue reading "Nomi @ the Zipper Factory, NYC - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Damon & Naomi - E.T.A. (MP3)

Galaxie 500 (Damon, Naomi & Dean)

Dean & Britta's Zipper Factory residency continues tonight (August 21) (tix). Expect to hear some songs from one of Dean's Old bands...

The Zipper Factory is an intimate theatre (converted from, yes, a Zipper Factory) and everyone gets a seat. On this night we are going to concentrate on songs by Galaxie 500. Opening act is El May (featuring the sometime Luna keyboard player Lara Meyerratken).

Dean & Britta are playing The Zipper Factory in NYC tonight (July 24) and again on August 21 and again on September 20th. They're also playing that benefit show coming up at Bowery Ballroom with Nada Surf. All dates below...

Continue reading "Dean & Britta - monthly shows @ Zipper Factory, tour dates"