Braids at Bowery Ballroom in April (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

Braids play NXNE this weekend with Jennifer Castle, Chad Vangaalen, Grimes, Duzheknew and many others. They'll then spend most of the summer touring their home country of Canada and Europe. In September and October they'll embark on a massive tour of North America with Pepper Rabbit (who are currently on the road with Givers). All dates are listed below.

The Braids fall officially tour begins in NYC on September 6 at Mercury Lounge which is one of the only dates on the tour not listing Pepper Rabbit on the bill (maybe that will change after Thursday's Bowery Ballroom show). Mercury Lounge tickets go on sale Friday (6/17) at noon.

All tour dates and a recently released live video, below...

Continue reading "Braids going on a big tour with Pepper Rabbit (dates)"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Jennifer Castle - "Neverride" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jennifer Castle - "Powers" (MP3)

Canadian folk singer Jennifer Castle, who previously existed under the moniker Castlemusic, released her first album under her own name (though the album is titled Castlemusic) on April 26 in Canada via Chad Vangaalen's Flemish Eye label. Jennifer was accompanied by Dave Clarke and engineer Jeff McMurrich (Fucked Up, Owen Pallett), who recorded and mixed the album. She brought in friends to help out with piano, organ, flute, vibes, and pedal steel to accompany her voice and guitalele.

Jennifer's brand of folk exuberates with time-honored melodies and arrangements not unlike fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell. You can grab the songs "Neverride" and "Powers" off the album above, and purchase the album download or CD/LP from Flemish Eye. Also check out the videos (filmed by Mitch Fillion) of Jennifer's performance of "Powers" and "Poor as Him" on Southern Souls below.

Jennifer plays NXNE in Toronto on June 16 at WrongBar with Fucked Up, whose new album we recently mentioned Jennifer provides guest vocals on (she has also backed them on at least one older record). She'll play another NXNE show on June 18, the Flemish Eye/Weird Canada showcase, with her labelmates Chad Vangaalen and Braids, and Grimes and Duzheknew.

After NXNE, Chad Vangaalen heads out on short US tour with Nat Baldwin including the previously mentioned Music Hall of Williamsburg show on June 21. Hospital Ships also open that show and tickets are still available. Updated dates below.

All tour dates (though none in the US for Jennifer yet), videos, and Castlemusic stuff below...

Continue reading "Jennifer Castle released Castlemusic on Flemish Eye, hangs w/ Chad VanGaalen, backs Fucked Up, playing NXNE w/ both"

photos by Toby Tenenbaum

Toro y Moi @ Bowery Ballroom

Toro y Moi, Braids, and Adventure toured through NYC earlier this month, playing two sold out shows at Bowery Ballroom while they were here. Pictures from one of those shows is in this post.

Adventure returns on May 14th to play a show at Glasslands with Pat Jordache. Tickets are on sale. All future tour dates for all three bands and more pictures from Bowery, below...

Continue reading "Adventure played Bowery Ballroom w/ Toro y Moi & Braids (pics), playing Glasslands & other dates"

Evan Dando at The Bell House (more by Graeme Flegenheimer)

Evan Dando & The Lemonheads have a few random upcoming dates scheduled. The Lemonheads will share a bill with The Canon Logic on April 28th at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Tickets are still available. You can also catch Josh Lattanzi of The Lemonheads at Bowery Ballroom on May 26 & 27 as part of the Bob Dylan tribute that will also include members of the Strokes, Hold Steady, etc, etc.

All other upcoming Evan Dando dates are in other countries at the moment, including a June 16th Evan & Juliana Hatfield show in Toronto for the NXNE festival which, like Brooklyn's own multi-venue festival Northside, recently expanded its lineup. Some of the other bands playing are in the title of this post. The rest are listed below.

All Dando-related dates and some videos below too...

Continue reading "Lemonheads playing shows, NXNE expands lineup (includes Descendents, Stars, Devo, OFF!, Juliana Hatfield, more)"

The second annual Hopscotch Festival will go down in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, across 12 different venues with over 135 bands, from September 8th through 10th. The lineup this year runs the gamut of independent music... from traditional indie staples (The Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Superchunk) to southern-inflected rock (Drive-By Truckers) to noise (Prurient) to hip hop (Beans) to garage (Jeff The Brotherhood) to funk (Budos Band) to metal (Krallice), and everywhere in between (Swans, Rhys Chatham, etc etc). Tickets are currently on sale. Full lineup is below.

Hopscotch happens almost three months after Guided By Voices play a Brooklyn Northside Festival show in McCarren Park (tickets) which is one day after Beirut plays a Northside Festival show on the same McCarren Park stage with... Sharon Van Etten (though she may have been accidentally announced at one point, they officially kept her placement on the bill under wraps until after Saturday's Music Hall of Williamsburg show). Tickets for Beirut/SVE are still on sale, and another opener will be added too.

Guided by Voices (whose Brooklyn show also has more openers coming) are also playing Pitchfork in July with Animal Collective whose Prospect Park show is now on AmEx presale.

Swans' upcoming NYC show is now on AmEx presale too.

Hopscotch lineup below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch Fest returns to Raleigh (2011 lineup announced), Sharon Van Etten officially added to Northside Fest"

photos by Amanda Hatfield and Timothy Griffin

Adventure (by Tim)

Braids (by Tim)

Braids and Adventure are on tour with Toro y Moi now. The three bands play sold out shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom on Sunday (4/10) and Monday (4/11).

As discussed and/or pictured HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, we threw a free, three stage party with M For Montreal at Swan Dive and Barbarella in Austin on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, to all the bands who played and to Ramesh for DJing. Sorry to Bass Drum of Death for not getting to play due to some confusion. Thanks to the cast of Workaholics for stopping by and for doing some hosting (catch their show on Comedy Central now!). Thanks also to Izzoz, Sensible Portions, Honest Tea, VegAustin, Raw Revolution, NadaMoo, Firefly Vodka, Line 6, Korg, Vox, Blackstar, Nudie Jeans, and ASCAP. Thanks to everyone else that helped and to anyone I forgot.

A whole bunch more pictures from the whole day are below...

Continue reading "BV/M For Montreal Austin Day Party in pics (Braids, Adventure, Owen Pallett, Little Scream & many more)"

If you've been following along, you know that this is finally the NINTH and FINAL BrooklynVegan SXSW 2011 show announcement! This one happens on Saturday, March 19th in Austin, at both Swan Dive and Barbarella (they connect). It runs from noon-6pm and is 100% free. We are doing it with our friends from M For Montreal and it looks like this:

STAGE 1 (SWAN DIVE)
12:00 PM New Moods
01:00 PM Oh Land
2:00 PM Austra
3:00 PM Little Scream
4:00 PM Owen Pallett
5:00 PM Braids

STAGE 2 (Barbarella main stage)
12:00 PM Baths
1:00 PM Misteur Valaire
2:00 PM !!!
3:00 PM Trail of Dead
4:00 PM Mount Kimbie
5:00 PM Daedelus
HOSTED BY: the cast of Workaholics
DJs: Ramesh (of Voxtrot) & 70's Bush

STAGE 3 (Barbarella small stage)
12:00 PM Bass Drum of Death
12:45 PM Adventure
1:30 PM Versus
2:30 PM Malajube
3:15 PM Suuns
4:00 PM Weekend
5:00 PM PS I Love You

And this party will also have:

• FREE vegan Izzoz breakfast tacos while supplies last!
• lots of FREE snacks courtesy of Sensible Portions!
• a lot of FREE Honest Tea!
• FREE Raw Revolution bars to eat.
• FREE vegan ice cream from NadaMoo
• FREE Firefly Vodka cocktails all day (while supplies last.)
• more FREE DRINKS TBA.

• Our official microphone sponsor Line 6.
• and our backline sponsors Korg, Vox & Blackstar.
• our sponsor Nudie Jeans.
• and to ASCAP for sponsoring too.

To celebrate the BrooklynVegan + M for Montreal party, Nudie Jeans is also giving away 5 pairs of jeans (one pair for each day leading up to the party). For your chance to win, friend Nudie Jeans on facebook and send an email titled BROOKLYN VEGAN to nudie@wantagencyinc.com. For those at the party, we'll also be raffling off more Nudie Jeans you can win while you're there.

We're also happy to announce that, for the second year in a row, we'll be partnering with our friends at VegAustin to host a vegan bake sale for charity at the party. All proceeds will be donated to Compassion Over Killing.

Check out the flyer and stuff below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan & M For Montreal Free Saturday Austin Day Party lineup (3 stages @ Barbarella & Swan Dive)"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Braids

[Braids] singer-guitarist Raphaelle Standell-Preston's voice had largely abandoned her by the time the band hit the stage [on Feb 18th at The Rock N Roll Hotel in DC], turning an elastic, emotive weapon into a meek croak. Early in the set she strained and failed to hit notes normally well within her range and, at one point, simply stopped singing to apologize mid-song.

Her bandmates soldiered on, playing dramatic and surging songs with interwoven melodies and shifting tempos. They are slowly unfolding, cinematic creations that consistently simmer, if rarely explode. Many of them swell and subside over the course of six or seven minutes, like tornado funnels that never wreak complete havoc by touching down.

Baths, the one-man project of baby-faced 21-year-old Los Angeles resident Will Wiesenfeld, opened his headlining set by telling the crowd he was getting over a cold and asked listeners not to hold it against him if he had to pause at some point to blow his nose. No handkerchiefs were necessary, though. Standing behind an array of samplers, keyboards and other electronic gizmos, he played glitchy dance songs with more immediately satisfying payoffs than anything in the preceding set. -[Washington Post]

True Womanhood and Houses (who replaced Star Slinger) opened the Manhattan show. Houses frontman Dexter (who played second) normally plays with his girlfriend and a drummer, but since they were asked last minute, only he traveled from Chicago. Their album recently came out on Lefse Records.

More dates HERE. More pictures from Mercury Lounge are below.

Continue reading "Baths & Braids & Houses & TW played Mercury Lounge (pics)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Rachel Kowal

Baths @ Knitting Factory

Star Slinger may have bowed out, but Saturday night's alliterative line-up still proved to be a delightful exercise in spacey electro-pop. The show began with Mikey Sanders' project, Blackbird Blackbird. Though he typically performs solo, Sanders had help from his friend Frank. Much like Baths, Blackbird Blackbird is heavily comprised of bass-heavy laptop samples that are skillfully manipulated by a series of knobs and faders and set to nice, clear vocals.

Sanders mentioned multiple times how "fucking stoked" he was to be playing over the course of his 20-minute set, and the audience responded to this enthusiasm by beginning to loosen up. Though the night was still young, it was clear that a dance party was brewing.

But before things got too frenzied, the dancers got a bit of a respite thanks to Braids' pleasantly dreamy set. After a long, meandering instrumental intro as the band and technicians ironed out some last-minute kinks, the lights suddenly changed and Braids exploded into the moody crowd pleaser "Lemonade."

Lead singer and guitarist Raphaelle Standell-Preston had a big smile on her face throughout the evening, despite her apparent illness. (She had thought ahead to bring a a steaming thermos and a Kleenex box on stage with her.) But even more notable than her upbeat disposition was her ability to hit every note - especially the high ones in "Lammicken." (At times, she looked a bit surprised when she nailed them, too.) When she finally confessed that she had "lost" her voice near the end of their set, she could barely talk. Luckily, the final song in the set called for some shrieking and audience participation.

When it was finally time for Baths, both Will Wiesenfeld and the sold-out crowd were ready to dance. "Ok. You guys want to hear music, I assume," Wiesenfeld began. "Let's do it!" As he began to play his first song, he turned to the sound technician a few seconds in. "Everything louder! Louder, louder, louder!"

It's easy to knock laptop musicians, but unlike some performers, Wiesenfeld is anything but dull. With his hands moving rapidly over dials and knobs, Wiesenfeld was a blur. He danced as much as physically possible, sending the key ring at his belt loop jingling wildly, which added yet another layer to the music.

"Oh my God. I love him already!" yelled a girl behind me during the first song. Everyone was gushing and in good spirits - it's hard not to be with lyrics like "It's a breezy, beautiful day." Meanwhile, Wiesenfeld was soaking up the love with a big grin on his face. "We're all friends here. I know all of you," he cried out at one point.

He was moving so much that he somehow managed to dislodge his glasses - twice. "I don't have any rock star things other than my glasses falling off, so that's peak. That's as bad ass as I get," he joked.

Following his action-packed set (which included a number of new songs), Wiesenfeld returned to uproarious applause for a one-song encore before admitting to the crowd and admitting, I don't have any more. I'm going to disappear."

--

The Saturday night show was over before midnight which is when Todd P took over for a late night party feating a set by John Maus.

Braids play again at Glasslands tonight (12/15), and then Baths and Braids continue their tour together at a sold out Mercury Lounge on Wednesday. More pictures from Knitting Factory below...

Continue reading "Baths, Braids & Blackbird Blackbird @ Knitting Factory (pics)"

Star Slinger

"five years ago, J Dilla passed away, aged 32... and his name crops up more than any other. There's a whole generation of musicians drawing influence from his soulful, psychedelic thump. One of them is Darren Williams, better known as Star Slinger. He's spent the last 10 months building an impressive body of work, from eccentric beat tapes, remixes of artists as diverse as Cocteau Twins, Deerhunter and Nicki Minaj and a saucer-eyed collaboration with Teams. Like Dilla, Star Slinger makes dense, weird music that's fun and accessible, beats that bare scrutiny and "tear the whole fuckin' club up."" [FADER]

Star Slinger was also supposed to play Glasslands in Brooklyn tonight (2/15). Instead you can head to the venue to catch Braids who were added a few days ago, and unlike the Mercury Lounge show, tickets are available. Geotic and Shigeto are also on the bill. Baths has the night off, but tickets are still available if you want to catch him when he opens for Cold War Kids at Radio City in March. All Braids dates below...

Continue reading "Star Slinger cancelled, but Braids added Glasslands show"

today in NYC
* Nir Felder @ Barbes
* Spooky Ghost @ The Stone
* David Wax Museum @ Joe's Pub
* Martial Canterel @ Home Sweet Home
* Mandingo Ambassadors @ Barbes
* Greg Giraldo benefit @ Beacon Theatre
* Soldiers of Fortune, Water Fai @ Zebulon
* Henry Rollins spoken word @ Joe's Pub
* Hannis Brown, Dead Cat Bounce @ Sycamore
* Huey Lewis and the News @ Gramercy Theatre
* Arms, Hospitality, Radical Dads, Translations @ Pianos
* Soft Black, The Vacant Lots, Will Cam, J'ac @ Maxwell's
* The Loom, Pearl and the Beard, Team B @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Nicole Atkins, The Gay Blades, Mon Khmer @ Bowery Ballroom
* Anna Ternheim, Sonya Kitchell, Nigel Hall @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Janet Hamill (poetty) @ St. Marks's Church
* Rhys Chatham Brass Trio, Tony Conrad, Face the Music @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Consortium Musicum w/ Sean Lennon & Greg Saunier of Deerhoof @ The Stone
* Larry Campbell (The Music of Neil Young Live Rehearsal show) @ City Winery
* Bouncing Souls, Anti-Flag, Full Speed Ahead, The Great Explainer @ Stone Pony
* Cubic Zirconia, the Popo, Machinedrum, Party Supplies, Anika (DJ) @ Mercury Lounge
* The Big Terrific Comedy Show w/ Max Silvestri, Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate @ Cameo Gallery

Check out This Week in Indie.

The National (who played the Studio @ Webster Hall last night) are playing a private fashion week show tonight.

Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier (who played Europa last night) is playing with Sean Lennon at the Stone tonight.

Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson are responsible for the programming at the Stone this month.

Patti Smith & Lenny Kaye are doing poetry at St. Mark's Church (no advanced tickets).

Grimes have a new (unofficial but band approved) video that you can watch below...

Fellow Canadians Braids have a new video too. Also below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

"i read this as Braid and got excited" - Anonymous | November 28, 2010 11:38 PM

"how are you gonna name your band braids without someone, anyone telling you "yeah,so there was already this band called braid in the 90s who were a pretty big deal and you'll look like clueless morons if you go around calling yourselves that"?" - Anonymous | November 30, 2010 12:22 AM

Braid (not to be confused with Braids)

The Eagle: Why did Braid initially break up?

Bob Nanna: Chris [Broach] - one of the guitar players - wanted to stop touring and go back to school. The rest of us were still into touring and wanted to keep going. Basically Chris wanted to go back to school and we all thought it would be better to break up the band at that point in time. We decided to start a new band at that point.

The Eagle: Why did you decide to reunite and go back on tour?

Nanna: Mainly for people who got into us after we broke up and never got a chance to see us play. We got together to do commentary for this DVD that came out [on May 11] and when we got together to do commentary we were just talking about how cool it would be if we played a show when the DVD came out to promote it and have fun and let people come and see us play. Then since we all realized we didn't have much to do over the summer that we would just do a tour and give everyone in the U.S. a chance to see us play.

The Eagle: How do you react to the assertion that Braid was one of the godfathers of emo?

Nanna: Mixed. I don't know. I guess it's kind of flattering, but when you think about it it's not like we invented something new. We were taking bits and pieces of all these other genres that we liked and making it our own. I would even think of other bands before Braid as the "godfathers" just because we tended to copy some bands as well.

Braids (the plural band from Canada) are touring in February with Baths.

In other emo inventor news, The Get Up Kids have a new album (out TODAY) and a tour coming soon too. You can stream "There Are Rules" over at Spinner and purchase it for just $3.99 over at Amazon. Their latest set of tour dates and a live Braid video are below...

Continue reading "Braid reuniting, putting out a new LP (Get Up Kids out today)"

photos by Chris Becker

NY Press: You seem to be in a great place as a band right now. You're popular around the world, but still not so massive that connecting with your fans is a challenge. Do you have any fear that if you become bigger your music will become less meaningful?

Johan Duncanson of The Radio Dept: Yes, it's been our biggest fear since our first single in 2002. We've never been interested in 'making it.' We just want to create something strong, meaningful and different--something that matters to us. We're shy people and not very confident on stage. When the band grows you start attracting the kind of people who expect you to act out when you're playing live. The rock audience. That's what will kill us in the end.

Braids opened for the band at Bowery Ballroom, like they did at Knitting Factory. More pictures from Bowery and all Radio Dept dates below...

Continue reading "The Radio Dept played Bowery Ballroom w/ Braids (pics), add Webster Hall show (updated dates)"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

"We're having technical difficulties," Duncanson said, waiting patiently as the Radio Dept.'s first US show in more than a year ground to a halt. The sound guys eventually sorted things out, and although they neglected to turn up Duncanson's vocals, which had been virtually inaudible from the start, the group picked up right where it had left off.

"OK, so this is the encore," Duncanson said, just before making a more successful pass through 'I Want You to Feel the Same,' a yearning 2006 pop ballad that ought to have come along two decades earlier, so that John Hughes might have included it on his 'Breakfast Club' soundtrack.

The Radio Dept. went on to play five more songs, and while there was, in fact, no encore, there didn't need to be. By the end of their 40-minute set, Duncanson, keyboardist Martin Carlberg and second guitarist Daniel Tjäder had already revisited three decades of European indie rock, referencing -- and at times combining -- the defiant fuzz of the Jesus and Mary Chain, jangle of the Smiths, dance beats of the Stone Roses, noisiness of My Bloody Valentine, halcyon droning of Cocteau Twins and preciousness of Belle and Sebastian. [Spinner]

Continue reading "The Radio Dept, High Highs & Braids @ Knitting Factory (pics)"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Braids opened for the Radio Dept. at Knitting Factory last night and will do so again tonight at Bowery Ballroom, but one night earlier they played a show with Arms, Neighbors, and Emil & Friends at the more intimate Mercury Lounge. A set of pictures from that show continues below...

Continue reading "Braids, Arms, Neighbors & Emil & Friends played Mercury Lounge (pics)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Braids - Lemonade (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Braids - Lemonade (Green Go Remix) (MP3)

If you've got tickets to one of the Radio Dept. shows this week, be sure to get there early to catch Montreal's Braids, who I just saw play in their hometown a couple weeks ago for the M for Montreal Festival. I said then:

Braids use their voices more as another instrument than a conveyor of lyrics. There are points during their set when the harmonies meld with the band's stretched out grooves to achieve ethereal bliss worthy of The Cocteau Twins. Their set is better than the one I'd seen at Knitting Factory back in May, not to mention besting many of the "official selections" at M the following days.

Braids will be back in 2011, hitting the road with Baths and Star Slinger -- a tour that hits NYC on February 12 at Knitting Factory. All Braids tour dates below...

Continue reading "Braids in NYC for 3 shows, touring w/ Baths in 2011 (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

We are Wolves

It's the week before Thanksgiving so I must be in Montreal. This is my third time attending the M for Montreal Festival, which is celebrating its Fifth Anniversary this year. There are more "international delegates" attending than ever before: journalists, agents, music supervisors, songwriters, label folk, and other industry types here to check out nearly 30 bands the festival organizers have deemed "export ready."

Also in attendance is KISS bassist Gene Simmons who will MC the big M for Metropolis concert on Saturday night that features Preistess, The Dears, Misteur Valaire and others. He's also filming an episode of his A&E series Family Jewels while here, and his presence is felt even when he, his ten-strong entourage and crew of cameras are not actually nearby.

This is as much a conference as it is a music festival. There's not much time for sightseeing, as delegates' days (especially the media delegates) are a full schedule of press conferences, schmooze brunches, panel discussions, meet-n-greets and more. Then nights are spent checking out the bands on an equally regimented schedule. We see all the bands, there's no running around between clubs.

Wednesday is kind of a warm up day for the festival with the bands playing being "unofficial" selections. In fact, Wednesday night featured the first-ever non-Canadian bands in M's history at an event presented by two other international festivals: Iceland Airwaves and the UK's Great Escape .

There are two Icelandic bands. Seven-piece Retro Stefson, barely into their 20s, make kitchy '80s Eurodisco that would be at home on the Lido Deck of The Love Boat. More grooves than songs, but they are fun and cute and young and try to get the crowd to do some synchronized dancing. (Delegate participation on this...notsomuch.) Hopefully things like choruses and verses and middle eighths will come with time.

Reykjavík's Lay Low is basically a showcase for singer-songwriter Lovísa Elísabet Sigrúnardóttir who is no slouch with an acoustic guitar either. Her folk pop was maybe a little too gentle for a crowd that had been plied with free booze for the previous three hours, but I thought it was still pretty lovely, sort of if the Concretes hired Bjork's less quirky sister to take over for Victoria Bergsman.

On the Great Escape stage we had two Montreal bands, both of whom I'd seen before. Braids use their voices more as another instrument than a conveyor of lyrics. There are points during their set when the harmonies meld with the band's stretched out grooves to achieve ethereal bliss worthy of The Cocteau Twins. Their set is better than the one I'd seen at Knitting Factory back in May, not to mention besting many of the "official selections" at M the following days. NYC folk can catch Braids open for The Radio Dept at Knitting Factory (11/30) and Bowery Ballroom (12/01) in less than two weeks.

The show ran about an hour late which means We Are Wolves didn't take the stage until 1AM. Their garagey electro-rock is  pretty on which elevates my flagging energy, but not enough. It's an action-packed week ahead but I call it a night.

To be continued. A set of pictures from Wednesday continues below...

Continue reading "M For Montreal 2010 - night 1 in pics & review (We Are Wolves, Braids & Icelandic bands too)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Red Mass @ CMJ 2010

M For Montreal, the annual mini Montreal music festival that invites "delegates" from all over the world to come experience Montreal music for a few days is kicking off today, 11/17. And like in 2008 and 2009, Bill Pearis will be up there reporting back.

Some of the artists he'll be seeing in Canada this week, like PS I Love You, AIDS Wolf and Braids, were just in NYC for CMJ. Some weren't, like Gene Simmons (no, not an ironically named band, but that's what I assumed at first) (like he would let that band exist).

The 'M For Montreal' CMJ showcase this year took place at Arlene's Grocery in NYC on Thursday, October 21st. That lineup consisted of Braids, The Luyas (whose only other show was one of our day parties), Uncle Bad Touch, PS I Love You, Random Recipe, Red Mass (who Bill first caught at M For Montreal in 2009), The Pack AD, and Radio Radio. Chris stopped by for the last three bands. His pictures, and a poster for the actual fest in Canada, below...

Continue reading "M For Montreal kicks off in Montreal, was recently in NYC for CMJ (Red Mass, Radio Radio & Pack AD pics)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Blood Red Shoes @ MHOW

After Chris left the BV Loft Party all the way back on Friday, October 22nd, he headed over to Music Hall of Williamsburg for the Blue Flowers-presented CMJ showcase for a lineup of mostly UK bands including Chapel Club, Everything Everything, and Blood Red Shoes (who toured North America with Sky Larkin in October). Pictures from that show are in this post.

The occasion (to post these belated pics)? SXSW has already announced an initial lineup of bands playing in Austin from March 16-20, 2011, and Chapel Club is on that list (and I wouldn't be surprised of the other 2 mentioned bands end up coming too). Also on the list: Lia Ices, Braids, Asobi Seksu, Wye Oak, Suuns, Sun Airway, A Place to Bury Strangers and more. Full list under the rest of the MHOW pictures, below...

Continue reading "Chapel Club played CMJ w/ Everything Everything & Blood Red Shoes (pics), playing SXSW 2011 (intial lineup)"

Pete's Candy Store photos by Amanda Hatfield, Crash Mansion photos by Jessica Amaya, Pianos & Mercury Lounge photos by Chris La Putt, words by Rachel Kowal

Oh Land @ Rebel NYC (more by David Andrako)

You've been following the CMJ adventures of multiple BV contributors for two weeks now, including the day by day reviews from Rachel Kowal. Before too much more time passes, here is the conclusion of Rachel's week (with the end of day four and all of day five), and assorted pictures from four other shows all rolled into one big post. Check it all out, below....

Continue reading "Rachel's CMJ 2010 recap conclusion w/ lots of pics (Lia Ices, Sarah Jaffe, Ume, Robbers on High Street, Buke & Gass, more) "

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Lia Ices @ Bowery Ballroom

"The sweetest white lie of the CMJ Music Marathon came from the folky songwriter Lia Ices, leading her band at the Lower East Side club Pianos on Thursday night. While half the crowd chatted indifferently, she sang, "For only you I sing, for only you." Yet Ms. Ices, whose debut album is due in January, was playing CMJ, along with more than 1,000 other groups, for precisely the opposite reason. She was seeking a chance to be heard, sooner or later, by a larger audience." [NY Times]

Did you miss Neon Indian too? The next chance to see them is tonight (10/29), at Brooklyn Bowl where they're playing with the buzz-tacular lineup of Prince Rama and Apache Beat. Tickets are still on sale, and I have a pair you can win.

Details on how you can win, with tonight's flyer (under the pics), and more pictures from the Bowery Ballroom show (sans Neon Indian), below...

Continue reading "VFW CMJ showcase in pics (Lia Ices, Braids, Lower Dens & more) ++ Neon Indian tonight w/ Prince Rama (win tix) "

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Drums @ Santos, late Wednesday night (this photo by Nathan Lee Bush)

When I started to scope out the schedule for Wednesday night, I planned on spending the first part of the night running back and forth between Spike Hill and Bruar Falls, but I decided to head over to Rock Shop instead, comforted by the knowledge that most of the bands I wanted to see (Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., The Magic Bullets, etc.) would be playing more sets later in the week anyway.

When I arrived at the Park Slope venue, Tape Deck Mountain was mid-set. At the time, I was fairly satisfied with the few songs I did catch (including a cover of "Mother" by Danzig) (a theme this week?). The band has decent vocals and execution, but when I later reflected on the bands I had seen, I realized that nothing about their set really stuck with me.

Up next was Cloud Nothings. The energy in the room picked up immediately when the Cleveland group began to play (of course it helped that the crowd had begun to fill out at that point). Possibly propelled by nerves or sheer excitement, the youthful band raced through their set as if competing at a track meet, slowing down just long enough for vocalist Dylan Baldi to entertain the audience with his endearing asides. Baldi may not have what you'd generally consider to be a 'good' voice, but he more than makes up for it in his delivery.

Just when I had begun to get a little sick of all-guy groups, the next two acts on the bill each featured a more even distribution of the sexes. Up first - Blair. Right before she and her backing band began their set, there was a bit of an upset when her acoustic guitar came crashing down, but she didn't let the setback dampen the mood. "I just broke a guitar, but it's ok," she said surprisingly nonchalantly. Thanks to their matching tie die shirts (worn by 3 out of 4 people anyway), sunny indie pop melodies, and Blair's unadulterated voice and accompanying song topics (she sings about things like love, candy, and dancing to Whitney Houston), things suddenly took a turn for twee, but I was totally ok with that.

For what it's worth, it was Blair's upbeat diddy "Hello Halo" that I found stuck in my head at the end of the night, and given the position of her set (right in the middle), that's saying something.

The Rock Shop was treating me well, but sadly, my itinerary called for me to return to Manhattan. I did get to stay just long enough to know what I was missing with Braids though. Their set-up may have been nearly identical to that of Blair, but their sound was much more polished thanks to the many overlapping layers of instrumentation and vocals that they carefully crafted on stage. Though I would have gladly stayed longer, I made my way to the train midway through their set.

When I arrived at Santos Party House for the Stereogum/PopGun show, I was a bit dismayed to see the long line extending down the block, but I somehow managed to get into the venue. I made my way to the smaller downstairs room to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Just when I was really starting to get upset about the obnoxiously long wait (I could have seen more of Braids set!), I understood the reason for at last part of the hold-up: the group's two main members (Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott) had run backstage to change into their costumes. Yes, costumes. Head to toe Nascar uniforms to be exact. It's hard to say whether this kind of shtick will hold up in the long run, but it's a pretty good way to stand out on a long list of relatively unknown bands (well that and their ridiculous name).

Whether it's your bag or not, chances are you might end up seeing these guys at some point during the week if you haven't already. They're certainly putting in the time. It was apparently their third show of the day. There wasn't much room for dancing in the packed room, but that didn't stop people from trying, and their light-hearted and energetic set certainly helped propel me through the rest of the night.

To close the evening, I darted upstairs to the main room at Santos to catch (the second half of) Wild Nothing and The Drums. It was kind of a weird succession of moods at that point. After leaving the lively basement room, Wild Nothing seemed even more subdued than I had remembered, but the group (under Jack Tatum's lead) put on a tight set. Considering the next band's laid back, sun-drenched sound, "Summer Holiday" was particularly enjoyable since it was distinctly more upbeat than their other tunes.

Then, finally a bit after 1:00am - The Drums. At this point, I was pretty exhausted, so I was pretty glad when singer Jonathan Pierce announced that they were going to play everything "twice as fast" so we could get home. The Drums seem to have mastered that fine balance of playfulness and artistry. It's hard not to grin at Pierce's over-the-top delivery. With a distinct swagger in his voice and some ridiculously exaggerated dance moves, he's a sight to behold - but so is the rest of the band, swaying in the background. These boys have come a long way since last summer.

I may not have gone to sleep until nearly 4:00am last night, but the constant adrenaline rush from just knowing how many good acts there are tonight should be more than enough to keep me going... that and the knowledge that I'm already planning on taking a personal day tomorrow.

----

Also Wednesday: "Viral sensation" Kyle Andrews, Animal Collective friends Prince Rama, and Minneapolis-based "chamber-folk sextet" Dark Dark Dark played the Terrorbird day party at Cake Shop with Kordan, Botany, Revolver, Baths, Marnie Stern, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Pics of the first three adorn this post.

Dark Dark Dark are also on board for Supply & Demand/InDigest CMJ Official Showcase at CoCo 66 on Friday 10/22 with Franz Nicolay, Vandaveer, The Lisps, Milageres, and Spirit of the Red City. The band will also then Fontana's during the day on Saturday 10/23 to team up with Swells, Brian Bonz, Fairmont, New Numbers, and Skyler.

Prince Rama have a few dates this week, as discussed, including the Paw Tracks/ Car Park show at Cake Shop tonight (10/21) with Cloud Nothings, and the WFMU Record Fair on Saturday (10/23) with Ted Leo (who will also play the BV Day Party earlier that day).

Cloud Nothings also have shows coming up at the Fader Fort and Don Pedro's.

More pictures from Cake Shop show, with all Cloud Nothings dates, below...

Continue reading "CMJ Day 2 in review & pics (The Drums, Wild Nothing, Cloud Nothings, Prince Rama, Dale again & more)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: PS I Love You - Facelove (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: PS I Love You - 2012 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Suuns - Arena (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Suuns - Up Past the Nursery (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The High Dials - Chinese Boxes (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elephant Stone - I am Blind (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: No Joy - Headless (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Parallels - Find the Fire (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hot Panda - Mindlessnesslessness (MP3)

Radio Radio

There's never any shortage of Canadians at CMJ but this year... there seems like more than usual. So lets get to it.

On Thursday (10/21) The M for Montreal folks are back for a second year at Arlene's Grocery with eight diverse bands (not all from MTL) they deem worthy of seeing. The band with the most buzz coming into CMJ is probably Kingston, Ontario PS I Love You who play at 9PM.  For a duo, these guys have a pretty giant sound, and their debut LP,  Meet Me at Muster Station, recently got a 8.1 on Pitchfork. You can download two tracks from it at the top of this post. PS I Love You are playing five shows this week ( 20th - 23rd) and all dates are at the bottom of this post.

Capping the evening at 1AM are Acadian hip hop group Radio Radio whose album Belmundo Regal was up for this year's prestigious Polaris Prize. (They lost to Karkwa.) You can listen to the whole record via a widget at the bottom of this post. They are, I'm pretty sure, the only act to rap in the Chiac dialect, which is kind of the French Canadian equivalent of Spanglish. I saw them two years ago in Montreal and they were super fun -- even though I had no idea what they were saying. If you have no Last Show tonight, definitely head over to Arlene's Grocery. It's their only CMJ show.

Also playing the M for Montreal show: our good friends The Luyas who will also play our free day party on Friday (their only other show); Red Mass who bring a touch of theatrics to their Damned-esque garage punk; the low fi garagey folk of Uncle Bad Touch (who get the JEFF the Brotherhood Seal of Approval); Vancouver duo The Pack A.D.; and laid back folk-soul-hiphop group Random Recipe (check out their LP widget at the bottom of this post).

Random Recipe

If you show up at 6PM you'll be treated to a little pre show action: dream pop outfit Braids and free poutine, the official drunk food of Montreal (though not vegan). Set times for the whole night are at the bottom of this post. Braids play six times this week and all of their shows are listed at the bottom as well.

The biggest bummer about this show is it happens at the same time as the official BrooklynVegan Showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg. But you can get a taste of Montreal at our show as Suuns are playing at 8:45 PM. You can download two Suuns tracks at the top of this post. If you dig shoegaze, Krautrock, or Clinic, you don't wanna miss this band. I caught them at Mercury Lounge over the summer and was impressed. If you can't make our show but still wanna see Suuns, they also play later Thursday (11:45 PM) at Pianos as part of the Secretly Canadian showcase. Those are their only two shows during CMJ week.

High Dials

There are more Montreal bands here this week too. One of my favorites, The High Dials, play on Saturday (10/23) at the 269 Bar at 11PM. Their new album, Anthems for Doomed Youth, is another great offering of jangly psychedlia, shoegazy guitars and sunny harmonies. You can download "Chinese Boxes" from it at the top of this post.

You may remember that The High Dials used to have a sitar player who left after the band's first album. That guy, Rishi Dhir, now has his own group, Elephant Stone, whose album The Seven Seas, was up for the 2009 Polaris Prize.  Elephant Stone play the Trash Bar on Thursday (10/21, 10PM). If you can't see them then, Elephant Stone will be back in NYC in November.

More Montreal action: No Joy, who split their time between L.A. and MTL and will have your eardrums bleeding from their awesome, sludgy shoegaze. They play seven CMJ week shows, including the BV day party on Saturday (10/23) at Public Assembly. (Official announcement soon.) After CMJ,  No Joy head out with Vivian Girls offshoot La Sera (who plays a bunch her own CMJ shows) -- all dates are at the bottom of this post.

Folk band The Barr Brothers play two shows tonight tonight (10/19): Cameo Gallery at 7:30PM and then The Rock Shop at 11PM. They also play tomorrow (10/20, 7PM) at Rockwood Music Hall.

More MTL: rawkers Priestess play Mercury Lounge on Wednesday (10/20, 8:30PM); and AIDS Wolf play a late show at Knitting Factory Saturday night with Ty Segall (10/23, 1AM).

Time, space and sanity doesn't permit me to go through every single Canadian act here for CMJ, but here's a few more of note:

Much-buzzed, glammy, glitzy Diamond Rings plays six CMJ week shows, starting with tomorrow night's (10/20) killer Stereogum/Popgun party at Santos, that also includes Wild Nothing, Tamaryn, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., now-revealed headliner The Drums, and more. (Only $5 with RSVP.) All Diamond Rings CMJ dates, including an Underground Press/Distiller day party at Knitting Factory on Thursday, are at the bottom of this post.

Toronto synth-disco duo Parallels play two shows on Wednesday (10/20): Backstage (formerly the Annex) at 1opm and then 11:45PM at The Bell House (that's gonna be cutting it close). Check out their track "Find the Fire" at the top of this post.

Hot Panda

Edmonton, Alberta's cute, frenetic indiepop foursome Hot Panda play two shows on Wednesday (10/20): a day show at Fontanas (2:40PM) and then that night at the Trash Bar (11PM). Check out "Mindlessnesslessness" from the band's new album, How Come I'm Dead? at the top of this post.

Two Hours Traffic hail from Prince Edward Island and traffik (sorry) in Weezer-ish power pop. They play the R Bar on Saturday (10/23) at 9PM.

And Woodhands, from Toronto, will bring their somewhat nerdy, definitely catchy snyth rock to The Bell House for a midnight set.

Tour dates, some flyers, videos, album widgets and other stuff are below.

Continue reading "Canadian invasion @ CMJ 2010 (PS I Love You, Hot Panda, No Joy, Radio Radio, Diamond Rings, High Dials, Braids, more) "

Stereogum listed the "40 Best New Bands of 2010". They have a lot more detail, but you can also check out their list, alphabetically, below...

Continue reading "Stereogum lists the "40 Best New Bands of 2010" "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Braids - Lemonade (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: No Joy - No Joy (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Psychobuildings - Birds of Prey (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: North Highlands - Sugar Lips (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Besnard Lakes - Albatross (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Land of Talk - May You Never (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cheap Time - Woodland Drive (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bad Sports -On Video (MP3)

Owen Pallett playing w/ the Luyas @ Webster Hall (more by Sarahana)

It's Memorial Day Weekend which used to mean, if you stayed in town, there was nothing to do except go see whatever piece of crap Hollywood was foisting upon us, hang out at backyard BBQs (not a bad thing at all), and enjoy a relatively emptied-out city. Not so much anymore. I mean, there's still Hollywood crap -- take your pick of sand-n-sandals epics SATC2 or Prince of Persia if you must -- but people stick around more, and there's clearly more options for the music fan. Lots of good stuff this weekend, most of which you can still get tickets.

Also: lots of Montreal action this weekend. Starting tonight (5/27) with an early show at Mercury Lounge with The Luyas and Braids. If you check in with BV fairly often you already know we're pretty big fans of the former. It took them a while to finally come play NYC but now that they have, they seem to be coming back weekly. It's not the most straightforward music, but there's a magical quality about The Luyas that worms its way under your skin.

Braids are doing a similar thing but with a different sonic palette, more electronic, more trancey. As I wrote before, I was impressed when I saw them on Tuesday at Knitting Factory. I wish they spent as much time on the songs as the soundscape-ish arrangements, but there's a lot of promise in their best songs (like "Lemonade" which you can download above) and they're definitely worth checking out. Like I said, it's an early show -- Luyas open at 7:30 -- which leaves most of your evening open. If you can't make it tonight, Braids also play Rooftop Films tomorrow, where they're paired with a collection of "Dark Toons," which sounds like a good match to me.

No Joy

If you wanted to keep the MTL thing going after the early Luyas/Braids, you could then head over to Cameo Gallery to see No Joy who split their time between that city and Los Angeles. I don't know a whole lot about these two girls but I really dig the two songs that have been floating around which were produced by Think About Life/Miracle Fortress whiz kid Graham Van Pelt. I've seen some people call their sound shoegaze, but it's more in that Dinosaur Jr. kind of way than a Ride/Slowdive kind of way. Thick, sludgy and rockin'. Look out for an EP on Mexican Summer sometime soon. They played last night at Shea Stadium and apparently blew everyone's eardrums out. You are warned.

Also on this eclectic bill: the paranoid postpunk/electropop of Psychobuildings (check out "Birds of Prey" at the top of this post) who kind of remind me of The Pop Group; The Surprisers (another band featuring German Measles/Cause Co-motion/etc etc dudes); and the gentle orch-pop of North Highlands who I've written about before a few times.

And am writing about again right here. Shameless plug time. As you may have seen, I'm working with the Seaport Music folks to put on a series of lunchtime shows every Wednesday in June down at Pier 17 (the Seaport Stage). The shows are in conjunction with the Fulton Stall Markets, a farmers market in the old Fulton Fish Market stalls across the street from the Seaport. The market opens on Sunday and we're doing a kickoff show with North Highlands. I DJ at noon and then the band is on at 1PM. I'm super happy to have North Highlands play the first show, they were the first band I thought of for this, and think they're easily one of the most promising new bands in NYC. Anyway, come down if you can. The rest of the Sound Bites Lunchtime Series schedule (including The Beets, Ribbons and more) can be found here.

Besnard Lakes @ SXSW (more by Tim Griffin)

Okay, back to Montreal. Friday night (5/28) The Besnard Lakes are playing Bowery Ballroom with Land of Talk. People overuse the word "epic" but the Besnard Lakes make music that deserves that description. And epic doesn't necessarily mean "overblown." Take, for example, "Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent" which opens their new album Are the Roaring Night. It's an amazing slow build that explodes (in slo-mo, yet not in a Michael Bay way) in the chorus with a giant wave of guitars. One of my favorite songs of the year, and it crushed at the Brooklyn Vegan day party during this year's SXSW. I've never seen a bad Besnard Lakes show. I highly, highly recommend you go.

Openers Land of Talk are no slouches in the live department either. The band's second album, Cloak and Cipher, is due out August 24 on Saddle Creek, and we should get a nice preview of it tomorrow night.

A few more weekend picks, day by day (and tour dates below):

Continue reading "No Joy, North Highlands, Besnard Lakes, Luyas, Eternal Summers, Twin Sister & more in This Week in Indie"