Dawes @ La Zona Rosa in August (more by Tim Griffin)

Dawes, who is playing the WFUV Holiday Show at Beacon Theater tonight (12/5), and who hit Zuccotti Park the other day, and who are playing sold out shows at Maxwell's on Tuesday and Wednesday, are one of the bands taking part in this free show Rolling Stone is doing during business hours on Tuesday (RSVP necessary, but does not guarantee admission). Details on the flyer below...

Continue reading "Dawes & Hacienda playing free RS event TuesDAY"

Most 400 of the tickets to the 12/5 Webster Hall show are being given away via Southern Comfort's Facebook page. We're also giving away a pair.

PREVIOUSLY: The Black Keys announce tour w/ Arctic Monkeys, headlining MSG (2012 dates)

On Monday, November 28, 2011 the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District and presenting sponsor Time Warner will host the Twelfth Annual Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square - New York City's largest holiday festival! Winter's Eve kicks off with a neighborhood tree lighting ceremony and features free entertainment, food tastings, in-store activities and shopping around and about this colorful and vibrant neighborhood.
Stores, restaurants, cultural organizations and public spaces in the district will be buzzing with activities for both children and adults. At the same time, sidewalks along Broadway from Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle to 68th Street will be alive with performers, street musicians, jugglers, stilt-walkers and more, making for a festive fun-filled stroll through the streets of this dynamic Upper West Side neighborhood.

WHEN: Monday, November 28, 2011, 5:30 PM, Rain, Snow or Shine!

WHERE: The celebration begins with a neighborhood tree lighting ceremony at Dante Park at Broadway& 63rd Street and continues along Broadway from Time Warner Center to 68th Street.

Strange Boys

Austin's Strange Boys released their latest LP Live Music last week via Rough Trade, and will practice what they preach at a set of NYC dates in middle November: 11/18 at Mercury Lounge with William Tyler, 11/19 at Glasslands with Xray Eyeballs, Habibi & a DJ Jonathan Toubin, and 11/20 at Generation Records. Tickets for Mercury and for Glasslands are on sale. The Generation show is a FREE in-store show. Details on the in-store are at the Facebook invite page.

The Strange Boys appearance is one of two upcoming in-stores happening at Generation. The other goes down Thursday, 11/3, at 6pm with Frank Turner who is playing a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom that night with Andrew Jackson Jihad and Into It. Over It.. The acoustic Frank Turner in-store is free, but you will need to get tickets which are available at the store NOW.

All Frank Turner dates and some videos, below...

Continue reading "Strange Boys playing 2 NYC shows & an in-store @ Generation (where Frank Turner plays Thursday)"

As the first of three BrooklynVegan not-CMJ DAY PARTIES is already underway, I'm happy to announce that Idle Warship will be playing the free BrooklynVegan day party at Public Assembly on Saturday, 10/22, at 5pm! Full lineup TBA shortly

If you missed Idle Warship's free Restoration Rocks show (due to them not playing it), here's another chance! As their bio reads:

A collaboration between hip-hop luminary Talib Kweli and critically acclaimed soulful singer and songwriter Res, Idle Warship is a genre-bending musical project born out of sheer experimentation and unbridled creative expression. Idle Warship's free-thinking approach has always crossed over from the studio to the other end of the process - the delivery of the music. After releasing free music across the web for the past four years, Idle Warship unveiled "System Addict," a track off Habits of the Heart, on the now wildly-popular social music site Turntable.fm just weeks after its launch. Talib Kweli even received Turntable.fm's very first verified account.

Talib Kweli plays his own Blacksmith CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg (right next door) later Saturday night.

--

Full BV Saturday lineup coming any second! Full BV Friday day party lineup HERE. Thursday lineup, happening as I write this, HERE.

We Were Promised Jetpacks @ Southpaw in 2009 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

12:30 Yellow Ostrich (Barsuk)
1:15 Still Corners (Sub Pop)
2:00 Hundred Visions (unsigned)
2:45 Forest Fire (FatCat)
3:15 BOBBY (Partisan)
4:00 Main Attrakionz (Mishka)
5:00 We Were Promised Jetpacks (FatCat)

Maybe you caught WWPJ play an acoustic set alongside Forest Fire last night at Mercury Lounge? How was it? They kick off a tour with Bear Hands that includes a HEADLINING show at Webster Hall (!) in less than a week (Webster tickets are still on sale).

Listen to most of the bands playing this party via our Spotify Playlist. Get there early for Yellow Ostrich who reportedly killed it at Brooklyn Bowl last night.

Listen to a song by Hundred Visions below...

Continue reading "We Were Promised Jetpacks playing FREE BV SHOW TODAY (Main Attrakionz, BOBBY, Still Corners & more too!)"

STAGE 1 (front room)
12:00 Races (new Frenchkiss signing)
12:45 Bleached (ex Mika Miko)
01:30 Widowspeak
02:15 Young Magic
03:15 A Place To Bury Strangers
04:15 Chelsea Wolfe
05:00 J Mascis (solo)

STAGE 2 (back room)
12:30 Cold Specks (1st-ever US show)
01:15 Lord Huron
02:00 Emmy the Great
02:45 Silver Swans
03:30 Xeno & Oaklander
04:15 Hospitality
05:15 Gauntlet Hair

In addition to free music, here are some more reason to stop by Friday. We will have FREE SNACKS courtesy of popchips and Raw Revolution and FREE DRINKS courtesy of Sailor Jerry and our official CMJ wine partner HobNob Wines. Check out HobNob's Facebook page for free music downloads and go to Sailor Jerry's website to read more about all of their CMJ events.

We'll also have FREE BrooklynVegan t-shirts for the first 25 people in the door (not many of these exist - we sold them for charity at CMJ last year).

As mentioned in our Thursday Day Party announcement, we've also partnered with Spotify who are offering 48 hour free Premium trials (playlist for this party coming soon) and Sony Bloggie (stay tuned for our post-CMJ video series) for all BV CMJ/not-CMJ events including this one.

Thanks to Zach Jaeger (Tonally Dude) for the flyer you see above.

See you Friday! And meanwhile to see A Place to Bury Strangers at Union Pool tonight, and see you Thursday afternoon at Knitting Factory too.

Yellow Ostrich @ Barsuk show in August (more by David Andrako)

Yellow Ostrich head out on tour with Ra Ra Riot and Delicate Steve later this month, but first CMJ! You can catch them tonight (10/19) at Brooklyn Bowl, a free-with-RSVP show with Ted Leo and... Royce Da 5'9.

Thursday (10/20) they'll play a 12:30pm set at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn as part of the free BrooklynVegan party. They weren't on the lineup we announced yesterday. That's because they're stepping in to replace The Phantom Family Halo who sadly had to cancel due to a family emergency. They also play three more CMJ shows after that. All their dates are listed, along with a video, below...

Continue reading "Yellow Ostrich playing CMJ shows, tonight w/ Ted Leo, Thursday @ BV party (instead of Phantom Family Halo)"

J Mascis @ BV-SXSW (more by Chris Gersbeck)

As twitter revealed over the weekend, I'm really excited to announce that J Mascis will play a set at the free BrooklynVegan day party at Public Assembly on Friday at 5pm! His only other CMJ show is the sold out Sub Pop one the night before at Mercury Lounge. Full BV show lineup TBA shortly!

Still Corners also plays the Sub Pop showcase Thursday night, and they play the BrooklynVegan day party at Knitting Factory earlier that day. They also play a show today.

Dinosaur Jr., like they did here on the East Coast, will be touring "Bug" with Henry Rollins spoken word on the West Coast in December. Those dates are below...

Continue reading "J Mascis playing free BV party @ Public Assembly Friday"

by Bill Pearis

Here we go again, folks! I'm still not used to this CMJ starting on a Tuesday thing, even though it's been this way for a few years now. Personally, I'm going to ease into things today and tonight and save my energy. Luckily, there aren't a lot of day parties on Tuesday because five days and nights is just too much for locals, and visitors are just rolling into town and getting settled. But there are some... and it's eerily like last year.

Day parties are free unless noted otherwise, ok?

The Music Slut throws their annual day party at Pianos, with two floors of fun, including the hotly-tipped bands Chad Valley. Also: We Barbarians, The Beets, The Forms, Prussia, Jonquil and more. The action starts reasonably at 2PM.

A few doors down at The Living Room, Paper Garden Records is showing off its roster: Big Tree, Tall Ships, Pree and more.

Snowmine, Secret Mountains, Archie Powell & the Exports,  and more play Spike Hill.

Popstrangers

And Le Poisson Rouge is again throwing a CMJ kickoff party, somewhat in-between a day party and night showcase, with a bunch of New Zealand bands, including new Flying Nun signees Popstrangers (who have definitely studied their label's classic roster), returning band Street Chant (one of last year's highlights I thought), the shoegazy sounds of The Golden Awesome, Cairo Knife Fight and more. It's free with CMJ badges or if you RSVP to international@nzmusic.org.nz (no +1s).

Flyers for some of the above shows are after the jump.

Continue reading "CMJ 2011 - Bill's Tuesday daytime picks (New Zealand bands, Chad Valley & more)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Duke Spirit - Don't Wait (Live) (MP3)

The Duke Spirit's new album, Bruiser, won't be out in the U.S. till January but NYCers have two chances to see them tomorrow (10/18) as part of the CMJ Fest: 8:30 PM at Bowery Hotel and then at 11PM at Brooklyn Bowl. Both shows are free whether you have a CMJ badge or not and RSVP details are below. The band are also playing Wednesday afternoon (10/19, 2:30PM) at the Puma Store in Union Square, which is also free.

For those who don't mind not owning a physical product, Bruiser will be out digitally on November 21. The album, which was mixed by Alan Moulder (U2, My Bloody Valentine, TPOBPAH), and is another solid collection of big riffs, anthemic choruses and the powerhouse vocals of pistol Liela Moss. To hold you over, at the top of this post there's a live MP3 of new single "Don't Wait" recorded for Later With Jules Holland. Additionally, The Duke Spirit are also have a track on the soundtrack of the new Dark Night: Arkahm City videogame, which also includes songs by Noel Gallagher, MGMT, Florence and the Machine, and Adele.

The show at Bowery Hotel is the KCRW-hosted It's A School Night party that also features US Royalty, Marcus Hall and Hands. It's free (21+) with RSVP.

The LIVE4EVER-presented Brooklyn Bowl show also features Damndogs, Pint Shot Riot and more. Free with CMJ badge or RSVP. This one's 21+ too.

You can watch the video for "Everybody's Under Your Spell" and video of The Duke Spirit's recent appearance on Later with Jules Holland after the jump.

Continue reading "The Duke Spirit playing 3 free CMJ shows ahead of new album release (dates, video & a live MP3)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Alamo Race Track - Apples (MP3)

Amsterdam's Alamo Race Track are visiting for CMJ this week...but before that madness starts they're playing a free show tonight at Mercury Lounge. It's early, doors at 6:30 and the band on shortly after that (WATERS play the late show at the same venue). As for actual CMJ showcases, Alamo Race Track play two shows at The Delancey: Wednesday (October 19) at 8PM and then Thursday afternoon at 2PM as part of The Dutch Impact party.

Formed about ten years ago, Alamo Race Track just released their third long-player, Unicorn Loves Deer, which  is thick with horns, strings and five-part harmonies (which they replicate live). It's not that dissimilar to the folk pop of Loney Dear. You can download "Apples" at the top of this post and stream the entire album at the bottom of this post.

The Dutch Impact Party on Thursday afternoon has two more bands from The Netherlands: the rocking, calamitous De Staat (3PM) and even harder-rocking duo Death Letters (4PM). Like most day parties, it's free.

Both Death Letters and De Staat play Local 269 on Wednesday (10/19, 8PM/9PM) and De Staat also play Friday afternoon at Pianos (10/21, 2PM FREE).

Click through for Alamo Race Track album stream, plus videos from all three Dutch bands.

Continue reading "Alamo Race Track & other Dutch bands here for CMJ"

Though most of the lineup has yet to be revealed - except for King Krule, Metronomy (who also play MHOW), Purity Ring, Fat Trel (pictured above) and Bleached (more on them in a sec), this year's CMJ Fader Fort RSVP is up and running for their 10/21 and 10/22 shows at 443 w 18th St in Manhattan. More details, including the lineup, TBA soon.

Those dates are the same as the two free BrooklynVegan parties happening at Public Assembly in Brooklyn (no RSVP required), though Fader Fort runs 2-9pm, and the BV parties are from noon-6pm.

Vice's Noisey party with Twin Shadow happens at Santos Party House on the night of 10/19, and as previously mentioned, Twin Shadow are also playing another show which is now announced and is also free and also requires RSVP. The newly-announced show also happens at night, but on Saturday, 10/22, at Le Bain. It's the "Making Time" party and Seekae is also on the bill.

Making Time is FIXED's Philly sister, and FIXED have a CMJ party of their own as well. Their showcase will take place at Public Assembly on 10/19 with Teengirl Fantasy, Still Corners, Lemonade, Chad Valley, Radio People, Warm Ghost, CFCF (DJ Set), and Resident DJs JDH & Dave P (who also DJs Making Time). Tycho was originally scheduled to play this showcase but has since cancelled all of his CMJ shows in favor of a single pre-CMJ show happening at MHOW this Sunday. Tickets for the FIXED show are on sale.

a shot of Public Assembly last year (more by Chris La Putt)

We're returning to Public Assembly on North 6th Street in Williamsburg this year for another two free during-CMJ day parties on Friday (10/21) and Saturday (10/22). Like last year (Friday & Saturday), these shows will run from noon-6pm on two stages.

As revealed in a post earlier today, one of the many bands playing over the course of the two days is Young Magic. Stay tuned for more details and save the dates!

We also have our official showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg Friday night (10/21) (right next door to Public Assembly where we'll be all day), and a metal party on a boat on Saturday (10/22). More TBA too! Stay tuned!

To quote Todd P:

Wednesday October 19th @ 285 KENT AVE
:: DOMINO RECORDS / STEREOGUM / SOFTWARE party
| 285 KENT AVE |
285 Kent Ave @ South 1st | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, G-Metropolitan, JM-Marcy | 8pm | $10 | all ages

It would seem like one of the bands they're not listing yet is Real Estate, who are signed to Domino, though Real Estate do need to be in Germany to start a tour just one day later, and they are playing a a free NYC show right before CMJ (their "only NYC performance" until November according to the invite)...

Real Estate will perform LIVE at the historic Astoria Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden.

Celebrate the release of Days with Real Estate, friends and the finest selection of beer in NYC.
Real Estate's ONLY NYC performance until their headlining show at Bowery Ballroom in November!
Hope to see you there!

REAL ESTATE 'DAYS' RELEASE PARTY
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2011

4 PM @ BOHEMIAN HALL & BEER GARDEN

29-19 24TH AVENUE
ASTORIA, NY

UPDATE: The Domino CMJ showcase will announce exactly two more acts, and it has a flyer which you can look at below...

Continue reading "Domino CMJ showcase happening at 285 Kent, Real Estate playing a free show Saturday & other dates"

Info on the latest additions below...

Continue reading "Justice, DJ Juan Maclean & more added to Creators Project"

by BBG

Youth of Today at Chaos in Tejas (more by BBG)

After many years away from the road, Youth of Today will return to play a free CMJ show at Santos Party House in NYC on Saturday, 10/22. This is the same show that Trash Talk & Kylesa are playing, not to mention AraabMUZIK, Action Bronson, Mr. Motherfuckin eXquire, Main Attrakionz and many others for what will be an eclectic mix of stoner, hardcore, and hip hop. Converse's "True Til Def" will be hosted by the venue's own Andrew WK and is open to the 21+ public, but RSVP is required. Full lineup and flyer for the show is below.

In related news, Primitive Weapons (who are also on the 10/22 show) will support Rwake & Hull at Mercury Lounge on 10/10 as part of Hull's record release party. Tickets are on sale.

Trash Talk also plays at least two other CMJ shows.

Converse lineup and flyers below...

Continue reading "Youth of Today playing Converse CMJ show w/ Kylesa, Action Bronson, eXquire, AraabMUZIK, Primitive Weapons & more"

Zola Jesus at Pitchfork Fest (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Seattle's KEXP will present free daytime live radio broadcasts during CMJ from the lobby of NYC's Ace Hotel again this year.

On October 19, Zola Jesus, We Are Augustines, Portugal. The Man, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will perform during the day with "Matador, 4AD, and Rough Trade DJs" at night. On October 20, there will be performances by Widowspeak, Givers(who opens for Portugal. The Man at Webster Hall), Dum Dum Girls (who also plays Bowery Ballroom), and The Lonely Forest, and DJ sets by Acephale Records and RVNG INTL. On October 21, there will be performances by WATERS (who has other CMJ shows), EMA (who has two other CMJ shows), Atlas Sound, and one more TBA, and DJ sets by Group Tightener and Merge Records. You can just show up and watch, or else tune into KEXP to listen on those days.

Speaking of Zola Jesus, her great new LP, Conatus, came out today via Sacred Bones. Stream the entire thing at The Guardian. She has other CMJ shows at Knitting Factory and Le Poisson Rouge.

Full CMJ KEXP schedule below...

Continue reading "KEXP recording CMJ sets @ the Ace Hotel, new Zola Jesus out today (and still streaming)"

As previously mentioned, the venue asks that nobody lineup before 8pm to help avoid any police action of our own.

In related news, a NY Times reporter was among those arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday.

PRESS RELEASE:

The Creators Project will return to New York from October 15 - October 16 by transforming the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn into a colossal two-day arts and technology festival.

After spending the year traveling the world, VICE and Intel's The Creators Project lands back in New York with a marquee lineup of live performances and original Studio works by groundbreaking artists, musicians, designers and filmmakers.

This year's festival will take to the streets of DUMBO, Brooklyn, erecting 30-foot sculptures, showcasing works from over thirty leading international artists, and featuring dozens of live music performances. The event will also include the world premiere of Karen O's psycho-opera, Stop The Virgens, along with film screenings and panels.

Original artworks include Life on Mars Revisited, an immersive short film of David Bowie's classic space-rock anthem from legendary music photographer Mick Rock and filmmaker Barney Clay; 'A Physical Manifestation of Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space,' a cathedral-like physical manifestation of the song created by Spiritualized's J. Spaceman and acclaimed film director Jonathan Glazer; and Origin, a striking thirty by thirty foot audiovisual installation by UVA and composer Scanner, which will be the largest responsive work ever created by the UK based artists.

The festival runs:
Saturday 12-10pm
Sunday 12-8pm

Lineup, venue list, etc, below...

Continue reading "Creators Project announces 2 day DUMBO fest (Florence & the Machine, Atlas Sound, Company Flow, Four Tet, John Maus, more)"

The Head & the Heart @ MHOW (photo by shoobysnaps)

If you missed The Head and the Heart at one of their sold out shows at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg the past two nights, and won't be able to make it to their sold out show at Bowery Ballroom tonight either, you have one more chance to catch the quickly rising Seattle band in NYC. They play a free, first-come-first-served show at the Living Room today (9/28) at 4pm.

Thao with The Get Down Stay Down opened both Head & the Heart shows so far and also play their own show today. Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons and These United States are the openers at Bowery tonight.

Details HERE.

photos by Jessica Amaya

Caveman @ Mercury Lounge

Caveman played a sold out record release show at Mercury Lounge in NYC last night (9/15). Picures are in this post.

And we can now announce that Caveman are in fact (as at least one smart detective guessed) opening our free Hold Steady show at Beekman Beer Garden (at the South Street Seaport) on Saturday night (9/17 -- tomorow!). Maybe because we put them on sale at midnight and waited until the last minute to announce, but free tickets are still available for those wanting to come (not many though). Caveman go on at 8pm. Hold Steady at 9pm. Get there by 6pm though because that's when we start letting people in (or get there even earlier and hang out at the beach).

Caveman's new album is out NOW. You can grab some tracks for free HERE. More pictures from the Merc show, where JPF opened, and a Yours Truly video they recorded in Brooklyn for the song "Great Life", below...

Continue reading "Caveman played Mercury Lounge (pics), opening our free Hold Steady show Saturday!"

Crystal Castles @ Coachella 2011 (more by David Andrako)

September 15th
Smoke & Mirrors :: Powered by RCRD LBL
CRYSTAL CASTLES (LIVE)
with House Of House & More TBA

Doors: 9pm
No Cover/RSVP Only
Good Units (Beneath the Hudson Hotel)
Decor by Adam Aleksander
Brought to you by BING.

Smoke & Mirrors brings big names to small rooms. Be prepared to get lost in the music and enjoy some smoky surprises.

This event is free with RSVP. Come early, stay late.

We will be cutting off RSVPs once the demand is wildly out of control. This is a small room for big talent. Once the room is filled, all others will be turned away.

DFA1979 fans @ Lollapalooza 2011 (more by Grant MacAllister)

The Weeknd was playing and then not playing and now it's this:

Following years of hard work, arm wrestling over domain names, and a little bit of high-tech stuff that we can't even begin to understand, we're proud to announce that VICE.COM is here. We've combined VBS.TV and Viceland.com to create super content one-stop-shop for all the videos and words you've come to expect from VICE.

Being that we're VICE, we decided to throw a party to celebrate our new URL with our best friends, like you and Rick Ross. RSVP is now open, details and flier below. Space will be limited.

Full Frontal VICE | The Official Launch of VICE.COM | Presented by boinc

Thursday, September 15th | 9:00PM - 3:00AM
Skylight One Hanson | One Hanson Place, Brooklyn

Performances by:
Rick Ross | A Trak | Death From Above 1979

And More Bands
Tanlines
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
The Men
Hanni El Khatib
Anamanaguchi
Total Slacker

And DJs
Nick Zinner
Black Lips
The New York Night Train
Lemonade
True Panther
Greenie

Complimentary Svedka and Grolsch | Invitation is non-transferable. 21+ and Photo ID required