by Andrew Frisicano

Mika Miko @ Market Hotel in June

As you may have heard, it looks like Mika Miko's NYC shows they played in June will be their last in the city. The band told L.A. Times that they plan on breaking up after playing Fun Fun Fun Fest, which take place in Austin November 7th and 8th.

"There's no bad blood at all, we're all still really good friends" said guitarist Michelle Suarez. "We've just been a band since high school and all of us are ready to move onto different things. We started the band for fun and wanted to end on a positive note."...But Suarez cited returns to school, new projects, jobs and relationships as things that being in a touring act might thwart. "We finally realized it was just taking too long for us to make music," Suarez said. "And business-wise, everything is so hard to coordinate."

As just noted, Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin will be one of their final shows. Want to see it for free? We have a pair of tickets to giveaway for the whole weekend. Details on how to win, with some videos, including some classic Nardwuar, are below...

Continue reading "Mika Miko breaking up, playing Fun Fun Fun Fest (win tix) "

photos by Ryan Muir

"I headed back to St-Laurent too late to return to Cabaret Juste Pour Rire and catch Clues, so I poked my head in at a couple places along the way and made it up to Club Balattou a bit past 1 AM. I've been following Montreal-Toronto band Sister Suvi online for a couple years and picked up their new album in the spring; they've never played Halifax and I'd never seen them live elsewhere. Drummer Nico Dann and I took art classes together in high school, and he was doing weird noise-art performance stuff that was pretty cool back then, so it was no surprise that he was in a cool band eight years later.

The guitarist and bassist Patrick Gregoire [used to be in] Islands, and rounding out the drums and bass is ukuleleist Merrill Garbus. And yes, a drum kit, a bass and a ukulele is more than enough. They are offbeat, catchy, mystic and charming, which was why I was unhappy to hear via audience members' shouts that this was their last show. They're one of those bands that just seem really happy to be playing with each other, and were debuting some lovely new songs even though they're breaking up. By 2:30 in the morning with a stuffed venue full of band friends getting emotional, I felt like a bit of a party crasher, so I headed out for the leisurely 40-minute walk to my sister's couch. You can still buy their album online, though, and I suggest you do." [The Coast]

Sister Suvi's 2nd to last show was two days before Montreal, at Sycamore in Brooklyn. tUnE yArDs's next show is TONIGHT (10/6) at Union Hall in Brooklyn. More pictures from Sister Suvi's final performance, below...

Continue reading "Sister Suvi played their LAST show @ Pop Montreal - pics "

by Black Bubblegum

A Storm Of Light

It's been less than 18 months since their first one, and A Storm of Light (mems. Neurosis, ex-Tombs) are already venturing toward album two with Forgive Us Our Trespasses, out Tuesday (9/22) via Neurot Recordings. The album features contributions from Jarboe, Lydia Lunch and many others. The band is currently streaming "Midnight" at their MySpace but hasn't let any other tracks slip out... until now! BrooklynVegan is proud to present the US premiere of the video for "Tempest", available exclusively below!

So far A Storm of Light has only one US date on their calendar, a FREE album release show at Ace of Clubs on 10/12 joined by Biclops and Naked Heroes! After that, Josh & the boys hop on a plane to tear a hole in the space-time continuum at the Damnation Festival before embarking on a European tour with the mighty Minsk.

In related news, Graham's critically acclaimed project Battle of Mice has, not surprisingly, called it quits. The band, which included Julie Christmas of Made Out of Babies as well as members of Dub Trio released the statement is below:

Continue reading "A Storm of Light's new video off their new album (out this week) ++ Battle of Mice call it quits"

DOWNLOAD: Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game (Kids At The Bar Remix) (MP3)

Harlem Shakes @ Highline Ballroom in March (more by Ryan Muir)

About a month ago I heard the Harlem Shakes were on "hiatus" which usually doesn't mean much. Last night I heard that, like Pela, it's actually over. And just when they started to get some momentum going with a great new album. RIP.

Meanwhile, there is at least one still-active Shakes side project (which according to one commenter actually pre-dated the band anyway). Arms (aka Todd Goldstein) plays a free afternoon show at The Bell House in Brooklyn on October 3rd. Arms' full-length debut, Kids Aflame, currently only available on import through Melodic Records in the UK, will be released (with new bonus tracks) digitally through Gigantic Music on October 27th.

Continue reading "Harlem Shakes broke up "

RIP Pela. You can read their goodbye letter below...

Continue reading "Pela breaks up"

A STATEMENT FROM NOEL
28 August 2009

"It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.

"Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan."

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Nakatomi Plaza - "Bomb Shelter" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nakatomi Plaza - "The Finish Line" (MP3)

Nakatomi Plaza opening for Frodus at Death By Audio (more by Ryan Muir)

Nakatomi Plaza is waving goodbye, this time for REALS. The band's pay-what-you-want new and final LP, Ghost, is available on their website in digital format now, and will hit record stores on 9/29. Dig one a pair of MP3s from Ghost above, and hop on that pay-what-you-want soon, because it ends on 8/31.

In addition, you can pick up that CD at one of the shows on Nakatomi Plaza's final lap of dates billed as "The Coda Tour". The tour includes two dates in NYC at Buddy Fest, a festival held at Shea Stadium on 9/11 & 9/12 which will feature many of Nakatomi Plaza's compatriots (hence "Buddy") including Ludlow Lions who are Oscar from Nakatomi's new band. Full tour dates as well as set times/details for Buddy Fest are below.

Continue reading "final Nakatomi Plaza tour dates, Buddy Fest @ Shea Stadium"

by Andrew Frisicano

The Gaye Blades

Retro rock band Georgiana Starlington (which features ex-Black Lips guitarist Jack Hines) kicks off a monthly residency at Bruar Falls in Brooklyn tonight (7/29). Opening up the show will be Atlanta's The Gaye Blades, a group fronted by current Black Lips member Jared Swilley (who is probably still in town since Black Lips played Sunday's Pool Party show). We think it's probably the group's (Gay Blades) NYC debut.

UPDATE: We realized right after posting that Benjamin Jay Womack (Bobby Ubangi) was also a member of the Gaye Blades (and Black Lips) at one time. Ben "passed away on July 1, 2009, following a nine month battle with cancer. B. Jay was 35 at the time of his death." Bradford Cox called him "A great friend and an amazing human being." RIP.

The Gaye Blades appear on the Wild About Jenkem comp put out by Killer Diller Records in 2008. The songs on the record, contributed by bands that include Coconut Coolouts (who played NYC over the weekend), Back C.C.s and Livefastdie (who played their their last show in NYC over the weekend) (see below), are all about jenkem, which, according to Wikipedia, is "a hallucinogenic recreational drug composed of noxious gas formed from fermented human feces. In the early and mid-1990s, several reports stated that Jenkem was being used by Zambian street children." Sounds great! Charles Gaskins, who heads the Killer Diller label, will also be DJing at Bruar Falls tonight (7/29); Bosco Delray rounds out the bill.

LiveFastDie (final show) w/ crazy girl @ Rock Star Bar in Brooklyn - 7/25/09 (VICE)

VICE: Why's Livefastdie breaking up?

LFD: It's just time to call it a day. Four years is a lot longer than I thought it would go. Weird punk's taken over. Hippy shit. No room left.

Continue reading "The Gaye Blades (not Gay Blades) (mem. of Black Lips) tonight, Georgiana Starlington residency, LiveFastDie...Dead"

by CD

Collective Hardware is a DIY space on the east side of the Bowery just below Delancey. It's a cavernous, long room with a stage at one end and a folding table with drinks for sale at the other end. In other words, the perfect place for Oxford Collapse to play their final show.

The Beets and longtime Oxford Collapse pals CaUSE Co-MOTION played fun, frenetic sets ahead of the headliners, who took the stage shortly after midnight. The band, noted Back To The Future fans, used that movie's orchestral theme as their entrance and exit music.

The lengthy, twenty-plus song set spanned the trio's career. A shortened cover of Neil Young's "Powderfinger" gave way to "Please Visit Your National Parks." Former bassist Mike Henry joined for several songs. Dave Weston of Pennsylvania punk band Weston was invited onstage, where he performed one of his own band's songs with the Oxford Collapse as his backing band. Near the end, guitarist Mike Pace announced "Blues riff in B, watch me for the changes, and try to keep up," yet another Back To The Future reference before launching into an energetic double cover of "Johnny B. Goode" and Jim Carroll's "People Who Died," which featured the band switching between songs after alternating verse/chorus combinations.

The final song of the night was Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days." Fans sang along and many jumped onstage before the song devolved into a distorted, messy end. The Oxford Collapse said thank you and goodbye, and then they were gone.

--

One night earlier Oxford Collapse played a show with Frightened Rabbit at Maxwell's. A picture of the Collective Hardware setlist, and some videos from the show, below...

Continue reading "Oxford Collapse played its final show @ Collective Hardware"

After 15 years, three albums, hundreds of shows, and far more twists and turns than we ever imagined possible, we've decided to put Harvey Danger to rest. The decision is totally mutual and utterly amicable. Everyone is very proud of the work we've done together, but we've also come to feel that our collaboration has--in a very positive way--run its course. We're all eager to try our hands at other projects, musical and otherwise. Chances are we'll all work together in one form or another; if we've learned anything, it's that you never know what will happen. Of course, putting an end to something we've been working on since our early 20s can't help being accompanied by a soupcon of melancholy. Nonetheless, as the Chambers Brothers remind us, time has come today. Rock bands have life spans, and Harvey Danger's has been longer, and more eventful, than even we would have predicted. [Harvey Danger]

The band previously played a "final show" in 2001, which led to a two year hiatus. Read the rest of Harvey Danger's goodbye note, with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Harvey Danger is breaking up -- final tour dates (Bell House)"

Oxford Collapse @ Prospect Park (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Oxford Collapse announced on June 22nd that they are breaking up...

Hey friends,
After eight years, 450 shows, and four albums, we've decided that we've reached the end of the line. To paraphrase the Grateful Dead, "what a long, strange, eye-opening, stomach-bursting, heart-breaking, bittersweet, educational, enlightening, mind-numbing, 'why-are-we-doing-this-shit?'/'who-gets-to-do-this-shit?,' absurd, amazing trip it's been." To paraphrase another sage poet, "you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em." To quote G. G. Allin, "life sucks, scum fuc."

The band's final two shows will be July 17th at Maxwell's with Frightened Rabbit (already sold out) and July 18th at Under the Tracks (508 W. 25th St) with CaUSE co-MOTION!, The Beets and Rape Excape (aka The Great Excape who are reuniting for the Woodsist Fest on July 4th) (and promised special guests as well). We're not exactly sure what the venue is like, but the band writes "Don't worry about advance tix - this place is huge!"

UPDATE: The final show has moved to COLLECTIVE HARDWARE @ 169 Bowery

Full details and more of the band's goodbye note, below...

Continue reading "Oxford Collapse breaking up - final 2 show details (NJ & NYC)"

by Black Bubblegum

Lebron James ain't got nothin on Shelby Cinca's vertical (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

Frodus have announced more tour dates in June, dipping into Florida for two nights and playing their hometown of Washington, DC for the third. These tour dates are in addition to dates this weekend in Baltimore, Philly, and NYC. As previously mentioned, the NYC show is in Brooklyn at Death By Audio on May 10 (Sunday) with the newly added Nakatomi Plaza. The show is $10 at the door. Full tour dates, and the Mike Wohlberg designed flyer (which doubles as an incred-amazing, limited-to-50 silkscreen poster) are below.

We can also confirm that Frodus has begun work on NEW MATERIAL with bassist Liam Wilson of Dillinger Escape Plan. No word on the format of that material (7", EP, LP?!?).

Nakatomi Plaza are calling it a day soon after this show ("We're breaking up..."), but not without leaving a farewell album, Ghosts, and a final round of touring, so as Funkmaster Flex sez... "keep it locked" for more info.

The Dillinger Escape Plan are currently working on their new LP, which Ben Weinman professes will be "dark and evil".

The flyer, and a bunch of videos including their cover of Devo's "Explosions" from their amazing performance at the Slip/Lovitt show, are below...

Continue reading "Nakatomi Plaza (who are slowly breaking up) are playing NYC w/ Frodus (who added more tour dates) "

Windy city avant-pop combo Chin Up Chin Up will play their final show on May 15th at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, IL.

Here is what Lead Singer Jeremy Bolen had to say about the Break up:

I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we really had intentions to keep making music together for an infinite amount of time, but just as this band began in a natural way it is naturally coming to an end. Thank you to the hundreds of people who have helped us along the way, we have been truly lucky, and as cliché as it may sound, we could not have done any of this without you. Much love -Jeremy [Myspace]

No-longer-side-project Vacations (made of Chin Up members Bobby Burg, Jeremy Bolen, Greg Sharp) announced on March 27th a "pay what you wish" album titled I Was Bikini/But Rain Afraid, now online through the Record Label record label. The "album" is really a "5 song 7-inch on sunset colored vinyl [I Was Bikini] + a download code for 8 bonus songs [But Rain Afraid]." Physical copies of that 7-inch are on sale at Flame Shovel Records.

Chin Up Chin Up drummer Chris Dye also announced that he's joined Chicago band Speck Mountain.

According to Chin Up Chin Up's site, that'll make the band's February 2007 NYC shows at Mercury Lounge and Union Hall their last ever in the city.

Chin Up Chin Up videos below...

Continue reading "Chin Up Chin Up breaks up, members now in other bands"

by Andrew Frisicano

USAISAMONSTER @ the 1896 (more by Lori Baily)

-founded in early 2000 by Tom Hohmann and Colin Langenus out of the ruins of Boston legends Bull Roarer

-spring 2000, 1st incarnation includes 7 people, releases self titled diy cdr, does 1 week south eastern usa tour, breaks up

-summer 2000, becomes 4 piece with Jeremy Harris and Adam Tabor, diy releases trippy yet wholesome cdr, weedblood cdr, and soul jerker 7"er, does 1 week north eastern USA tour, breaks up -[USAISAMONSTER's web bio]

Before that final gig, the band also has a monthlong European tour in April, and two other planned NYC shows: on March 25th, USAISAMONSTER will join Arabrot (Norway), Uke of Spaces (Maine), Caethua (Maine) and Weirding Module at Brooklyn's Death By Audio. Then, on Thursday, April 2nd , USAISAMONSTER plays with Library is on Fire, Pterodactyl and Dj Scotty Karate at Glasslands Gallery.

All tour dates, a video from the band's "Brooklyn vs. Baltimore" show appearance on January 30th, and a full three-song set from Brilliant Corners in Keene, NH (recorded on April 21st, 2007), below...

Continue reading "USAISAMONSTER calls it quits - final 2009 dates (3 NY shows)"

by Black Bubblegum

Vinnie Stigma, guitarist, hardcore monument, and philosopher extraordinaire, has gone solo from the legendary hardcore crew Agnostic Front (temporarily), releasing his debut album New York Blood as Stigma for I Scream Records. In celebration, Mr. Stigma will lead audience chants at two NYC shows including an in-store at Generation Records on Feb 26th at 7PM and a second show at The Pyramid on Ave A on March 1st. Full tour dates are below.

The record comes only a month after the release of New York Blood THE MOVIE on DVD:

The latest project from writer, director, cinematographer Nick Oddo is a criminal slice of life starring Vinnie Stigma, guitarist of the legendary hardcore band Agnostic Front. Heavily-tattooed Vinnie (Stigma) is a mid-range mobster who works the streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side with various schemes, including up-and-coming boxers, Chinatown drugs and opening a new nightclub. Vinnie's father Lorenzo (Marvin W. Schwartz), has just been released from Sing Sing after a 12 year stint, and the only thing on Pop's mind is getting revenge... The laid back, rambling script mostly follows Vinnie, and sometimes Lorenzo, throughout their daily routine, capturing the rhythms (and occasional roadbumps) in Vinnie's life, as he juggles a young son and an ex-wife with his coke snorting criminal ambitions. But while Vinnie keeps a relatively level head when it comes to crime, Lorenzo is a major psychopath who's liable to ruin everything his son has built...
- [Shock Cinema]

In other AF related news, the band is currently on tour, but announced that they are on the hunt for a new drummer... contact at their MySpace if interested. Roger Miret's (AF)'s brother band, Madball, also recently added some tour dates with Reign Supreme, though none in NYC. Full AF & Madball dates are below.

In other NYHC news, Subzero have announced they are calling it quits after a twenty-year run:

We will be playing a few more shows through out different regions of NY and out of state before we end it. Our first is @ Popeyes Pub in Westchester, NY with Jasta on FEB 27th and then In Brooklyn @ Europa with The Casualties & The Krays for the A CLOCKWORK ORANGE FEST. That's the last time you'll be hearing The Suffering Of Man / Necropolis set. Then we'll be going out with a bang at the SUPERBOWL OF HARDCORE aka BLACK N BLUE BOWL @ STUDIO B in Brooklyn MAY 30th. There we will be reforming as the ORIGINAL band doing a strictly OLD SCHOOL set. All the demo and HAPPINESS WITHOUT PEACE classics. You don't want to miss any of these shows! Thanks for the good times and the memories! COURAGE! STRENGTH! PRIDE! LIONHEARTED!!!!!

Tickets for the Cro-Mags show at Europa on Mar 29 are still available.

Videos and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Stigma album & shows, New York Blood (the movie), Subzero calls it quits, Agnostic Front & Madball dates "

DOWNLOAD: Shunda K - Free Alpha (MP3)

"Yo Majesty" @ Highline Ballroom - Jan 27, 2009 (by Village Slum)

Shunda K, aka one half of Yo Majesty, has been busy lately. To quote an email I was CC'd on before the current "Yo Majesty" tour...

Im looking to set up Shunda K afterpartys' after each YM show date as an attempt to promote my solo career and also give other acts an opportunity to promote themselves as I dont mind sharing...da stage dat is. All of the dates thus far are below, let me know where you can help. The venues Im looking for should be able to hold at leat 150-200 persons'

"Yo! Majesty was supposed to be embarking on a world tour that would push the critically hailed lesbian Christian rap duo out of the underground once and for all.

Instead, half of the Tampa, Fla.-based group, singer/rapper Jwl B, is behind bars in Florida on an assault charge and apparently out of the crew for good.

"It's unfortunate for her, but for me it's actually a burden off my shoulders," rapper Shunda K (also known as LaShunda Flowers) said of her longtime partner's recent incarceration. "It started being ridiculous the things she was doing. It's actually divine intervention. I'm not sad. I'm relieved."

Shunda K says Jwl B, her partner in rhyme since 2001, has crossed one too many lines - personally and professionally - and is out of the group. But the drama is not stopping K, who started the duoin 1998 - she performs Wednesday at Harpers Ferry in Allston.

"Now Yo! Majesty can be what it's supposed to be," she said, "and that's a relief for the people, instead of coming to a Yo! Majesty show and you're feeling the tension between Jwl and me on stage. I just thank God for what's going on."

K, an openly gay Christian, says life on the road with Jwl has been difficult, with disputes over money, creative control and women sometimes erupting into physical altercations. [Boston Herald]

More pictures from the Highline show (now with only men taking their shirts off) @ Village Slum. More tour dates (lots of them) (mostly billed as Yo Majesty) (and some Shunda ones) below...

Continue reading "Jwl B is in jail & out of Yo Majesty... Shunda K & friends played Highline Ballroom & Europa?"

Richard Berman is a Washington, D.C.-based hired gun who uses front groups to defend his corporate clients against the public interest. Using his lobbying and consulting firm, Berman and Company, as a revenue vehicle for his activities, Berman runs at least 15 industry-funded projects, such as the Center for Union Facts, and holds 16 "positions" within these various entities.

Continue reading "'Silver Jews End-Lead Singer Bids his Well-Wishers Adieu' AND 'My Father, My Attack Dog'"

CYHSY @ Fun Fun Fun Fest (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are apparently taking a (possibly permanent?) "break" after the previously-announced February 13th show at BAM. The rumor is that they've nixed plans to go back into the studio, and that they have no further dates scheduled. I'm not saying I'm 100% positive this is the last we'll see of them, but it seems likely the show will be the last chance to see them for a very long time, if not ever. Chairlift opens, and tickets are still on sale.

In the meantime, CYHSY's Tyler and Robbie have been keeping busy with Uninhabitable Mansions, who have a show coming up February 27th at Union Hall. CYHSY's drummer Sean continues to play Axl Rose in the Gn'R cover band Mr. Browstone. Their next gig is February 7th at Starland Ballroom in NJ. Alec Ounsworth's latest pastime is being a father.

After BAM, Chairlift are going on a March tour with Yacht, and will be visiting the west coast in April with Sebastien Tellier. Though not confirmed, I'd say the March tour makes it look like they'll be at SXSW, and the April dates have them coming awfully close to Coachella. All dates below...

Continue reading "CYHSY taking a break?, Chairlift tour w/ Yacht - 2009 dates"

DOWNLOAD: The Long Blondes - Christmas is Cancelled (MP3)

We have decided to call it a day.

The main reason for this is that I suffered from a stroke in June and unfortunately I do not know when / if I will be well enough to play guitar again.

On behalf of the band I'd like to say a big thank you to anyone who ever came to one of our shows, bought one of our records or danced to one of our songs in a club. Thank you, if it wasn't for you the whole thing would have been pointless.

Finally on a personal note, thanks for all your well wishing messages.

Dorian xxx
[The Long Blondes]

Continue reading "The Long Blondes, now broken up, give away Christmas song "

Hello friends,

After six years of spending an unhealthy and unusual amount of time together, Dirty on Purpose is going the way of the dodo. We got back from tour about a month ago and sat down to talk about recording another record, and realized we didn't really want to record another record. Not now anyway. So we're going our separate ways. Our best friends and practice space sharers of many years, A Place to Bury Strangers, offered us the opening slot on their New Year's Eve gig at Mercury Lounge. We thought it was an appropriate way to wind things down and say goodbye to our friends and fans.

Get your tickets now -- it's gonna sell out.

We're still playing music and we hope you'll come support our other projects: Joe and Doug harmonize sweetly in Neckbeard Telecaster; George shreds the bass in Coin Under Tongue; Joe helms Joe and the Flying Spoons; and Doug plays with Purse Snatchers and Black Acid.

Finally, we're all still buddies and live in the same town, so we reserve the right to change our minds and get back together in six months if we feel like it.

Love,
DOP

It is with some sadness we announce the farewell of the Dirty Pretty Things. It's been a glorious three years which we all would gladly live out again, but it is time for us to try new things. (not The Libertines). We are reluctant to give up touring but will give the last waltz everything. We have and are determined to go out as we came in, after which we all have other ventures to be getting on with and splendid future plans. Heartfelt thanks to all who made it what it was, much love and we'll see you on the road.

Continue reading "Dirty Pretty Things, RIP "

The Undisputed Heavyweights are breaking up and the Family Records show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC on October 14th will be their very last show. Wakey! Wakey!, Matt Singer, and Pearl & The Beard are also on the bill. Tickets are on sale. Stop by and say goodbye.

RIP, Be Your Own Pet (@ Maxwell's by Paul Bachmann)

BYOP Final Tour!

To all of our fans,

We are sad to bring you the news that our upcoming shows in the UK (dates below) are going to be our last as a band. We thank you for all your love and support these past few years - its been a blast but the time has come for the 4 of us to go our separate ways.

22 August: Reading Festival - Reading, UK
23 August: Leeds Festival - West Yorkshire, UK
25 August: Carling Academy 2 - Liverpool, UK
26 August: Dingwalls - London, UK

DOWNLOAD: Man in Gray - If You Ride It to the End, You'll Get What You Came For (MP3)

When I heard that NYC band Man in Gray were playing their last show ever this Thursday night (June 19) at the Delancey, I asked them if they would consider playing their second-to-last show at Rock n ROFL at Pianos on Wednesday night (TONIGHT). It would be opening for the Futureheads. They said yes.

June 18, 2008 @ Pianos

8pm - comedy by Mike Birbiglia, Dave Hill & others
9pm - Man in Gray (2nd to last show)
10pm - The Futureheads

$3.00 lemon drop shots (21+ show)
FREE Kronenbourg beer all night (while supplies last)

by Black Bubblegum

This graphic seems, unfortunately, rather appropriate.

Cursed are through. From their blog:

"Yeah, you heard.... We got robbed at the very end of tour in a totally unreal, extremely sketchy series of events that still makes no sense at all, only leads to paranoia, anger and a total loss of faith. Passports, money, all the costs of the tour. Either way, whoever did it, it was a bullet in the head, the end of the line.... Minus a few fucked up shows, it was probably the best tour we ever had. Thanks everyone for your good wishes. I'll elaborate when I'm home next week, for now - yes it's true, and yes it's over."

Mastodon are set to enter the studio to begin recording their follow-up to their critical and commercially successful Blood Mountain. Matt Bayles will NOT be on the boards for this one, as the band has opted for megaproducer Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen, RATM, -gulp-Korn-gulp-) to record their Czarist Russia-themed LP.

Vice's "Heavy Metal In Baghdad", a documentary on essentially the only heavy metal band in the war-torn region, hits theaters on a limited run in NY and LA on May 23rd (@ the Clearview on Broadway at 62nd, get your tickets here), followed by a DVD release (with requisite bonus features) on June 10th. This digitally-shot indie, about a band called Acrassicauda trying to survive in the warzone known as "liberated" Iraq, is as much about the power of music as it is survival in modern day Baghdad. Check out the trailer here, and the myspace for Acrassicauda.

So now that Wolves In The Throne Room (sigh) is officially off the bus of the Boris/Torche lovefest, how do you fill those mighty shoes? Replacements have been announced and depending on where you live, you'll either get the mighty Nachtmystium (who have Assassins out June 10th) or Clouds (featuring ex-Cave-In dude Adam McGrath). Clouds, who are promoting their own record, We Are Above You due June 17th, are on board for the Webster Hall show (tickets are still on sale).

Speaking of ex-Cave-In, Stephen Brodsky is performing a free show at Generation Records on Sunday May 25th at 7pm.

continued....

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (05/24/08)"