photos by Amanda Hatfield

Lord Huron have taken a serious leap in popularity since the release of their most recent album (a release they celebrated at Mercury Lounge in NYC). They announced some February dates at the beginning of January, and then sold out their 600-capacity Brooklyn show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in four day. Good news for those who missed out on tickets: they've announced another one happening at the same venue one day later. Tickets for the 2/24/2013 show go on sale Friday at noon.

Back in October of 2011 we were happy to host a set by Lord Huron at one of our BV-CMJ day parties at Public Assembly. While writing this post I realized we never posted the pictures afterward, so here they are, over a year late. More of them with updated tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Lord Huron adds 2nd big show (updated dates +++++++++ belated BV-CMJ pics)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo and Amanda Hatfield

Cities Aviv at Public Assembly - 10/20/12 (by Dominick)

Cities Aviv, who DJed The Flat last night (11/14) , has released his new LP Black Pleasure via Mishka. Cities Aviv, under the name Muted Drone, is responsible for production on the bulk of the LP, while the remainder comes from names like RPLDGHSTS, LWH, Froskees, and Silky Johnson. Stream that in full below and download it for free via Bandcamp.

Cities Aviv played our BV day party at Public Assembly on the Saturday (10/20) during CMJ and he was joined for a portion of it by Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, who played his own set afterwards. We've already posted a bunch of pics from that party, and you can check out more of Cities Aviv and eXquire below.

Continue reading "a new free Cities Aviv LP, more CMJ pics"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo and Amanda Hatfield

Hundred Waters at Public Assembly - 10/20/12 (by Dominick)

NYC's Freelance Whales, who just played a hometown gig at Webster Hall have begun revealing some tour dates for early 2013, including a few smaller shows in the NYC area. They'll play Maxwell's on January 15 in Hoboken, Music Hall of Williamsburg on January 29 in Brooklyn, and The Space on January 30 in Hamden, CT. They've got some pretty great support lined up for the MHOW show and the Space show coming from Gainesville's Hundred Waters. No opener has been announced yet for the Maxwell's show. Tickets for the MHOW show and the Space show go on sale Friday (11/16) at noon and tickets for the Maxwell's show are on sale now.

Hundred Waters were recently in NYC for CMJ, where they played our Saturday day party at Public Assembly (10/20), among other things. We already posted a bunch of pictures from that party, and you can check out another set of Hundred Waters pictures in this post.

More pictures, a list of all currently known dates and a couple videos are below...

Continue reading "Hundred Waters playing shows with Freelance Whales (dates & another set of pics from CMJ)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Paul Banks at CMJ Union, 10/17/2012

Hello to all,

Regrettably, we are going to postpone the Nov 13th Webster Hall show.

The show will be rescheduled for December 14th.

Tickets that have already been purchased are of course valid, or refundable..

Needless to say, we were VERY excited about rocking out for our hometown crowd. But it will just have to wait.

Basically, Sandy managed to disrupt the preparations that are necessary to put on a good concert.

Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this causes any of you.

But I hope to see you ALL in December. You bring your cherubic faces, and I will bring the rock.

Best,
Paul Banks

Paul pretty much said it all there himself but tickets to the new 12/14 Paul Banks date at Webster Hall are on sale now. You can stream the Interpol frontman's new solo album, Banks, in its entirety via YouTube below along with an updated list of tour dates and some belated pics of Paul from CMJ.

Continue reading "Paul Banks reschedules this week's Webster Hall show for December ++ belated CMJ pics"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Heliotropes / Mount Moriah @ Cake Shop - 10/18/12

On Thursday (10/18) during CMJ, we stopped by the NYCTaper day party at Cake Shop to catch sets by BV faves Heliotropes, Merge signees Mount Moriah, and Port St. Willow.Pictures of those sets are in this post.

If you missed Mount Moriah, they'll be on tour in November, including a NYC stop at Union Pool on 11/11 and advance tickets are on sale now. All dates, with the rest of the pictures, below...

Continue reading "Heliotropes, Mount Moriah & Port St. Willow played Cake Shop; Mount Moriah touring in November (pics, dates)"

photos by Matt Schiels, words by Andrew Sacher

Pissed Jeans @ Knitting Factory - 10/18/12

Between Pissed Jeans, METZ, and King Tuff, half of this year's Sub Pop CMJ showcase was basically a punk show, a pretty awesome move in 2012 for the label that over two decades ago brought us Mudhoney and a pre-major label Nirvana. The lineup was rounded out by the less punk but still great Daughn Gibson (who we also caught at Villain), Poor Moon and Debo Band. It went down on the Thursday (10/18) of CMJ at Knitting Factory, and we stopped by for headliners Pissed Jeans, who you can see pictures of in this post.

METZ, who we missed at that show but saw when they slayed at our Friday day party, are continuing to tour (they play Chicago this weekend) and will be back in NYC for amazingly-not-sold-out shows on November 19 at Mercury Lounge with Hunters and November 20 at Knitting Factory. Tickets for the Mercury Lounge show and the Knitting Factory show are still available. If you missed these guys during CMJ (and even if you didn't), these shows are highly recommended.

More pics of Pissed Jeans from the Sub Pop showcase, a video of METZ from the Pitchfork showcase, and an updated list of METZ dates are below.

Continue reading "Pissed Jeans played the Sub Pop CMJ showcase (pics) with METZ (who are on tour)"

photos by Gretchen Robinette

The Walkmen @ T5, 10/18/2012

Forefathers of NYC's current indie rock scene, The Walkmen headlined Terminal 5 last Thursday (10/18) which was the penultimate date on their fall tour supporting their seventh album, Heaven. The show ended up being opened up to CMJ badges, which made it probably the biggest show of the festival. In addition to their rousing set, the T5 show also featured Dum Dum Girls (who played Glasslands the night before) and the spooky, beautiful sounds of Daughter, who also played other CMJ shows. Pictures from Terminal 5 (and The Walkmen's setlist) are in this post.

In other Walkmen news, Hamilton Leithauser (who we spotted in the crowd for Father John Misty's MHOW show this week) recently spoke to FUSE about Heaven, Frank Sinatra and other subjects, and you can watch a video of that below. Also below, Sandy, Jules and Malia of Dum Dum Girls visit Japanese monster chat show Gorburger and things get strange.

Continue reading "The Walkmen played T5 with Dum Dum Girls and Daughter (pics, setlist); Hamilton talks to Fuse; DDGs talk to 'Gorburger'"

photos by Tracy Allison

Twerps / The Orwells

Before BV photographer Tracy Allison made her way to the Panache showcase at Public Assembly on Friday night (10/19) during CMJ, she stopped by Pianos for the Planetary Group day party where she caught Twerps, The Orwells, and San Cisco. Twerps were over from Australia for a number of shows before and during CMJ, and they're continuing to tour North America this month and next. That show was one of a few that we caught The Orwells bringing their high-spirited young punk 'n roll (including our Saturday day party). More pictures from the Planetary party are below.

Continue reading "Twerps, The Orwells & San Cisco played Pianos (pics)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Slow Magic / Levek / TOPS @ Pianos 10/16/2012

It seems like forever ago (only last week) but the first day of CMJ (Tuesday, 10/16) back before we became covered in handstamps and wristbands, we headed to the Lower East for early day parties, like the one Portals thew at Pianos. There we caught Montreal's dreamy and danceable TOPS, Florida's breezy, jammy Levek, Delaware trio Mean Lady, plus Brooklynites Young Magic, and the similarly named but very different Slow Magic, whose laptop-and-drums style (while masked) was much more aluring than we thought it was going to be (definitely the pleasant surprise of the afternoon).

More pictures from the show are below.

Continue reading "TOPS, Levek, Slow Magic and more played Pianos (pics)"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Early Graves at Knitting Factory, Oct 2012 (more by Suren Karapetyan)

In just four days, Early Graves will unleash the galloping Red Horse (see what I did there?), a brutal, crusty hardcore record that tips it hat to everything from grind to black metal to Slayer. Stream all of Red Horse for the first time below.

Early Graves just returned from a string of dates with Skeletonwitch that included an NYC stop ad Knitting Factory, as well as a return to play with Pig Destroyer (who have a new album) during CMJ. The band currently has only one live date on their calendar -- 11/2 at Metro in their native Oakland -- so until they make another roound across the states, live vicariously through video of their CMJ set below.

Continue reading "Early Graves readying 'Red Horse' (stream it in full)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

DOWNLOAD: Blue Hawaii - In Two (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Blue Hawaii - In Two II (MP3)

Blue Hawaii @ Bowery Electric for Sam Mickens CMJ - 10/18/2012

Braids side project Blue Hawaii, who played the 2011 BrooklynVegan CMJ showcase with Braids, have come up a lot on this site since right before CMJ 2012 (which Braids also played). But we haven't yet mentioned "Untogether", their new full length due 1/22/2013 on Arbutus Records. Gorilla Vs. Bear premiered two MP3s off it which you can download above.

Electronic duo (as Jon Pareles referred to them) Blue Hawaii played at least 5 CMJ shows this year, one of which was the official Sam Mickens showcase at Bowery Electric with ZZZ's. We have some pictures of both bands from that show in this post.

Blue Hawaii are still in NYC and play two more shows this weekend. We've mentioned both. Tonight/Friday (10/26) you can find them at Cameo with ARMS and Opossom, and Saturday they open for Grimes at Bowery Ballroom. Those seem to be their only upcoming dates at the moment.

More pictures from Bowery Electric and some streams below...

Continue reading "Blue Hawaii releasing 'Untogether' (MP3s), played CMJ w/ ZZZ's (pics), play two more shows this weekend (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Sam Flax @ Pianos

One of our most anticipated new artists at this year's CMJ was psych pop artist Sam Flax, who came over from California for a few shows before and during CMJ, including the I Guess I'm Floating day party at Pianos on Thursday, October 18. Sam and his band played the upstairs lounge and had the place packed. More pictures from his set at that day party are below.

Continue reading "Sam Flax and his band played Pianos (CMJ pics)"

photos by Gretchen Robinette

Thurston Moore & Loren Connors @ Public Assembly

Tonight was characterized by a distinct lack of guitar music, and there's no better fuck-you to the six-stringer than a full set of duelling guitars. I know, it seems like I'm contradicting myself, but there was almost nothing resembling structure or melody in the dissonant, jarring and all-around enveloping performance from Thurston Moore and his storied companion Loren Connors when they took the stage at Public Assembly. Instead, they offered up a dynamic set of skronking avant-garde sound play, building atmospheric and slightly unnerving sounds out of two guitars and a stage full of pedals. Best of all, they understood the importance of brevity, offering up a self-contained piece that never felt self-indulgent. [FFWD Weekly]

Like they did at Spy Music Festival, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore teamed up with guitarist Loren Connors for an experimental dual-guitar at the Northern Spy/LQQK CMJ showcase at Public Assembly on October 17. Pictures from that show are in this post.

That was Thurston's last scheduled US show for a while (he's in Australia right now), but as usual, there are other chances to catch other members of Sonic Youth in NYC. Steve Shelley's Spectre Folk is playing Knitting Factory on Sunday (10/28) with Sic Alps and PC Worship. Tickets for that show are still available.

Lee Ranaldo has upcoming shows too.

More pics from Thurston and Loren's show below.

Continue reading "Thurston Moore & Loren Connors played Public Assembly (pics); Spectre Folk opening for Sic Alps on Sunday"

photos by Amanda Hatfield & Dominick Mastrangelo

Hunters @ BrooklynVegan day party @ Public Assembly (10/20/12)

Brooklyn's own Hunters can be found headlining a local show at Death By Audio tonight (10/26) with Slutever and These Days. Flier at the end of this post. UPDATE: Hunters also open for METZ at Mercury Lounge (tickets).

Hunters were one of the 14 bands who played the BrooklynVegan day party at Public Assembly on Saturday. You saw one set of pictures from the whole show, but here's another of Hunters. They continue, along with a new video of the band performing on the roof of Factory Studios in Brooklyn, below...

Continue reading "more Hunters BV-CMJ pics, new video, another show tonight"

photos by Tracy Allison

Dent May / Mac DeMarco

On Friday night (10/19) during CMJ, Panache Booking threw their showcase at Public Assembly and we stopped by to catch some of their roster, specifically Dent May, Mac DeMarco, Turbo Fruits, (three of the more consistently entertaining acts who played constantly this year) plus the sweet retro-fueled rock of The Paperhead and Gap Dream.

Post CMJ: Gap Dream will soon be out with King Tuff; Turbo Fruits will soon join up with White Lung; and Dent May has a tour of Florida in December. No NYC dates for any of them on the known horizon, so hopefully you caught them last week. All tour dates for those three are listed below, along with more pictures from Public Assembly.

Continue reading "Dent May, Mac DeMarco, Turbo Fruits, The Paperhead & Gap Dream @ Public Assembly (pics)"

On Friday, my last day at CMJ, I hit the jackpot and walked away with something I'll remember for years to come. The band was People Get Ready, but honestly this was more than a band -- this was the best mix of performance art and music I've seen in decades. Watching this show, called Specific Ocean, felt like seeing a a group create a live music video for each song. The buoyant, celebratory work took place at a large, black box theater space at New York Live Arts, and was full of the kind of surprises I want out of music and theater. - [NPR's Bob Boilen]

NYC pop band/performance art ensemble People Get Ready is Steven Reker, former Yeasayer drummer Luke Fasano, James Rickman (ex-Lizzie Truile, ex-Slow Gherkin), and Jen Goma (A Sunny Day in Glasgow). Reker used to be in David Byrne's band and the onetime Talking Head recently plugged them in an email:

A few years ago, I toured with some wonderful musicians and dancers. Among them was Steven Reker, whose group, People Get Ready, just released their debut, full-length digital record on Brassland Records. Good group, good songs, but there's more...

I saw an earlier iteration of the group at the Kitchen here in NY. They integrate dance, movement, performance, music and singing in a way I haven't seen before, and it's very promising. It is something I've been trying to do in recent years as well, and People Get Ready are taking it to places I haven't seen before.

People Get Ready played three nights at NY Live Arts during CMJ week which was also when the band's self-titled was released (10/16). You can stream the whole thing below. If you missed those shows (like we did) you can go see them at Glasslands on Saturday (10/27) for their official record release party. As it's a tiny stage there, you're just getting the band version of PGR but you're more than welcome to dance yourself. The show also has Future of What on the line-up and tickets are still available. Flyer for the record release party and the album stream are below.

Continue reading "People Get Ready released debut LP (stream it), playing NYC record release party"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

"Savages absolutely killing it at Mercury Lounge #CMJ2012" - Will Barton

"@Savagesband Ruling Mercury" - Daron Watson

"Being blown away at Mercury Lounge by Savages." - Cheryl Waters

If there's any band who universally lived up to their hype at this year's CMJ, it had to be London's Savages. Everyone at BV loved them, we caught their sets at the Stereogum showcase and at our own day party. We also went over to Mercury Lounge after our Friday party (10/19) to catch them again, where they were headlining a sold out show with Choir of Young Believers, Daughter, San Cisco, and Emma Louise (who recently signed to Frenchkiss). J. Thoven was on that bill too but we missed their set. Pictures from the rest are in this post.

Meanwhile, Choir of Young Believers (who were also great at our Saturday day party) and Daughter are on a tour that hits Chicago tonight. Daughter also played the Glassnote CMJ showcase while they were in NYC.

Videos of Savages tearing it up during "Flying to Berlin" and "Husbands" at Mercury Lounge, and more pics from the show are below.

Continue reading "Savages played Mercury Lounge w/ Choir of Young Believers, Daughter, San Cisco & Emma Louise (pics, videos)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, Chris La Putt & Nate "Igor" Smith, words by Andrew Sacher

The Orwells, free tattoos & Kitty Pryde @ Public Assembly - 10/20/2012

The second free 2012 BrooklynVegan not-CMJ party went down on Saturday (10/20) at Public Assembly after our Friday party, which happened at the same venue the day earlier. We already talked about how great Miguel was, and posted pics of Caveman, Ratking and Sinkane, but the day was packed with ten other of our great artists, all of who you can see pictures of in this post.

It was the Saturday morning of CMJ, so if you were there when doors opened at noon, you were probably stumbling in hungover from the night before (unless of course, you had copped yourself some of the Mercy hangover prevention drink at our Friday party). But young Chicago-suburb punks The Orwells did a fine job of waking everyone up, including those who were camped at the door to be first in line for the free tattoos we gave out for six hours straight. As the tatto guns started buzzing, the Orwells were blasting the early but nice-sized crowd with their raunchy garage punk led by frontman Mario Cuomo's unforgiving Iggy Pop-style stage presence. Meanwhile, New Zealand psych pop project Opossum were warming up the rest of the party attendees in the back room.

Energy levels stayed high in the front room as Hunters followed, and the back room were treated to dreamier sounds by LA's Tashaki Miyaki. Then came sets by the funky Sinkane, the great, orchestral Choir of Young Believers, a strong set by indie pop band Eternal Summers, and a more than charming one by Kitty Pryde. Kitty, who spent part of her set in the crowd, was the first of four rappers in the back room, with her set followed by Ratking, Cities Aviv, and Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire (who went on after watching Miguel from the front row on the other stage) (Miguel returned the favor). And the front room was wrapped up by Hundred Waters, one of this year's buzzed about bands at CMJ, whose set we reviewed from the night earlier, and then Miguel and Caveman.

Attendees at the show were fueled by complimentary drinks courtesy of Sailor Jerry Rum, complimentary beer courtesy of PBR, and snacked on the free Raw Revolution organic live food bars that were scattered around the venue. Hopefully nobody had a hangover thanks to cans of the Mercy that were given out aplenty.

More pictures from the Saturday party are below.

Continue reading "BV Saturday day party pics (Hundred Waters, Orwells, Hunters, Kitty Pryde, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, free tattoos, Caveman, Miguel & more)"

photos by Diana Wong

So So Glos / The Luyas / Bleeding Rainbow @ Stratosphere Sound 10/18/2012

Just like in CMJ's past, Fred Perry and recording studio Stratosphere Sound (the studio owned by James Iha, Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and Ivy's Andy Chase) teamed to record eight band in eight hours on Thursday of CMJ week (10/18). With Grammy winning producer and engineer (not to mention Edsel bassist) Geoff Sanoff at the helm, The Luyas, Poor Moon, Slug Guts, So So Glos, Foxygen, Blessed Feathers, Ape School, and Bleeding Rainbow did guerilla session of two or three songs that will be made available on an Insound mix tape sometime in the future. Meanwhile check out more pictures of all eight bands below.

Continue reading "Slug Guts, The Luyas, So So Glos, Bleeding Rainbow & more played the Fred Perry artist lounge at Stratosphere sound (pics) "

photos by Amanda Hatfield & Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Bill Pearis

Deap Vally @ Public Assembly (by Dominick)

Foxygen @ Public Assemby (by Amanda)

Our Friday not-CMJ day party (10/19) at Public Assembly, our first of two day-long, two-stage shows at the venue over the weekend, had my favorite one-two punch of the entire 2012 CMJ week: Savages followed by METZ both of whose performances we wrote about already (click the links). But I'll add that even though it was a shorter set (that didn't include "Flying to Berlin"_ than when I caught them at Glasslands earlier in the week, Savages were more, relaxed, more electrifying at our show. And METZ bring their insane level of energy (and volume) to every show they do, day or night, and they knocked the crowd for a loop. CMJ in a nutshell right there.

The rest of Friday's line-up was highly diverse: Israeli prog rockers Tiny Fingers; Wisonsin folk duo Blessed Feathers; the retro-fueled shenanigans of the terrific Foxygen; Murals' laid-back dreampop; FIGO and Toys that Kill bringing some punk; Deap Vally bringing riffs and sex appeal; IO Echo's gothy shoegaze pop; MSMR's big pop sounds (a little like an indie Sophie Ellis Bextor?); Doldrums on what was one of their 8000 highly energetic shows that week; Braids' new, electronic direction; and the brainy fake surf of The Intelligence.

Attendees at the show were fueled by complimentary drinks courtesy of Sailor Jerry Rum, complimentary beer courtesy of PBR, and snacked on the free Raw Revolution organic live food bars that were scattered around the venue. Hopefully nobody had a hangover thanks to cans of the Mercy that were given out aplenty. If the PBR and Poggled photographer took your picture, look for it on our Facebook.

We already posted pictures from this party of METZ, Savages, and Sky Ferreira. More from the whole show, below...

Continue reading "BV Friday Day Party pics (Deap Vally, Foxygen, Murals, Toys That Kill, Braids, Io Echo, The Intelligence, Savages, METZ + more)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Caveman at Public Assembly - 10/20/12

Caveman played the BrooklynVegan day party on Saturday (10/20) at Public Assembly (their third BV-booked show in 2 years), headlining the front room right after Miguel played. Pictures from their set, which still had a large crowd (we were worried about the changeover with them on right after Miguel) are in this post.

Caveman will now make a couple more appearances in NYC this week, including Petty Fest at Webster Hall tonight (10/24) and a FILTER Magazine-presented party on Hudson RIver Park's Pier 57 on Friday (10/26) with DJ sets by Albert Hammond Jr. (of The Strokes) and Sinkane, who also played the BV Saturday day party. That show is free with RSVP but entry is first come, first served. The show runs from 8 PM to 12 AM. The flier and more pictures from the BV Saturday day party, below...

Continue reading "Caveman played a BrooklynVegan show, playing more shows this week (pics & dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield and Dominick Mastrangelo

Ratking at Public Assembly - 10/20/12

Sinkane at Public Assembly - 10/20/12

NYC rap crew Ratking and funky synth pop project Sinkane both played a number of CMJ shows last week, including the BrooklynVegan day party on Saturday (10/20) which they were both on. Pictures of Ratking's and Sinkane's set from that party are in this post.

The two groups will team up again in NYC this week for an in-store at the Puma Store (521 Broadway) on Thursday (10/25) with DJ Physical Therapy. The show is 21+, runs from 7 PM to 10 PM, and you can RSVP to rsvp@joaonewyork.com. The flier for this show is below.

Ratking, as mentioned, also recently dropped a remix of King Krule's "Octopus" which you can stream below.

Sinkane, who since played a record release show at Brooklyn Bowl last night (10/23), has other upcoming shows in NYC, including one with !!! at Music Hall of Williamsburg (12/13) and one with ESG at Bowery Electric (11/1). They'll also be supporting Yeasayer (who main member Ahmed Gallab once drummed for) on their upcoming tour which hits the NYC area on November 13 at the Capitol Theatre (tickets). They'll also support Toro y Moi on their recently announced tour but won't be at the Webster Hall show (2/13) (Wild Belle and Dog Bite will).

A list of all Sinkane dates, a stream of Ratking's King Krule remix, and more pictures of Ratking and Sinkane from the BV day party (sponsored by Sailor Jerry, PBR, Mercy, and Raw Revolution), below...

Continue reading "Ratking & Sinkane played the BV Saturday day party (pics), playing Puma Store this week & other dates"

by Bill Pearis

photos by Amanda Hatfield and Dominick Mastrangelo

Sky Ferreira @ Public Assembly (by Amanda)

Pop ingenue Sky Ferreira played a handful of shows during CMJ week, including a sold out show at Union Hall and the BrooklynVegan day party on Friday (10/19) at Public Assembly where she impressed the still bleary-eyed with her pop smarts, vocal chops and undeniable charisma. Our party did not, however, get the cool lasers she had at her Bowery Ballroom show the night before, but there's video of it below, along with more pictures from our day party (which was sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon, Sailor Jerry, Mercy, and Raw Revolution).

If you missed Sky at CMJ, she'll be playing a few East Coast shows next month including two in NYC: Glasslands on Nombember 28 and Mercury Lounge the next day (11/29). Tickets to Mercury Lounge go on AmEx presale today (10/24) at noon with a general on-sale Friday (10/26) at noon. Tickets to the Glasslands show go on sale Friday at noon.

All dates, more pictures and video from our party as well as her performing "Everything is Embarrassing" at Bowery Ballroom, below...

Continue reading "Sky Ferreira played a BrooklynVegan party & other CMJ week shows (pics & video), announces more dates (2 in NYC)"

by Andrew Sacher

Angel Haze at Villain - 10/19/12 (via @wolverskulkbrecht)

You already know what I thought of Merchandise's set at the Pitchfork showcase at Villain in Brooklyn on Friday night (10/19). Here's a bit on the rest of the stuff I saw.

Rapper Angel Haze was on when I walked in and she was probably the best act I saw at the whole show. She delivers with a fast, fierce flow and is a way confident performer. She has a style that will definitely appeal to hip hop purists, eschewing the slow flow of cloud rap and only using pre-recorded vocals if it benefited the song, not as a vice. But though she ignores current trends, she isn't overtly a throwback rapper either. Angel Haze is just a refreshing reminder of the levels that rap can be taken, something that really comes across in her powerful new song.

Hundred Waters at Villain - 10/19/12 (via @twodegreesinbebop)

Up next was Hundred Waters, one of my most anticipated bands for this year's CMJ. I'm not trying to draw any grand conclusions about their signing to Skrillex's label, which I'm still scratching my head about, but I will say that after seeing them it makes a little more sense why he would be interested. Though their album reminds me of a slightly more electronic Joanna Newsom, they're a lot louder and bassier at their shows. There's a noticeable split on stage -- the two girls stay on the left and if it was just them, they'd sound like a forgotten psych folk duo from the late '60s, and on the other side of the stage, the three guys handle drums, bass, and synths, vibing like an edgy jamtronica band. It's a weird mix, but it often meshes really well.

Hundred Waters were followed by Le1f, who I had seen the night earlier at the Studio at Webster Hall. Le1f fit in a lot better on this lineup than he did with the mostly hardcore rap lineup of the Studio show, and the larger crowd were way more into him in this environment. I'm still more a fan of his head knockers and the slower ones wash over me a bit, but still a fun set to watch.

Daughn GIbson was up next, and like Hundred Waters, his strong point is his eclectic mix of sounds. He played mostly off of his debut album, All Hell, which came out earlier this year via White Denim (he's since signed to Sub Pop) and combines gothic country with downtempo electronic music. While other beatmaker/singers like James Blake prefer to sit at their piano and let the music do the talking, Daughn is a natural born frontman and couldn't help but perform like a melodramatic barroom singer.

Then Merchandise played, after which I stuck around for a few songs by Holy Other. His new album, Held, is one of my favorite electronic releases of the year and Holy Other is really on some next level shit, but admittedly isn't much of a live act.

After I left, the crowd was treated to sets by METZ, DIIV, Joey Bada$$, and Death Grips. You can watch some videos from the show below.

Continue reading "more review/videos from P4K showcase @ Villain (Angel Haze, Hundred Waters, Death Grips, Daughn Gibson, METZ & more)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield; words by Bill Pearis

Mac DeMarco / Thieves Like Us @ MHOW, 10/24/2012

Mac DeMarco was one of this year's CMJ's more entertaining players, his shows a mix of solid musicianship, and gleefully anarchic humor. No place was this more on display than the Captured Tracks official CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday (10/18) where he made jokes about his anatomy, flung himself into the crowd and made out with a (random?) girl near the stage. And some great songs too (his Mac DeMarco II had come out that week), with a backing band that could actually, y'know, play.

Less of an impression was made with the two previous bands. Dance outfit Thieves Like Us had it together but mostly lacked that certain something to make it special, though "Drugs in My Body" sounded great and the've come a long way from when I saw them open for New Young Pony Club in 2006. Openers Dignan Porch, making their first trip from the UK, were fine but not the most engaging live act.

We missed headliners DIIV (we've seen them a few times this year already) but there are more pics from DeMarco, Thieves Like Us and Dignan Porch (who are in Austin tonight [10/24]) below.

Continue reading "Mac DeMarco, Thieves Like Us and Dignan Porch @ Captured Tracks CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg (pics)"