by Bill Pearis

Leeds indie rock outfit Sky Larkin are gearing up to release their third album later this year. It's been almost three years since the group dropped the terrific Kaleide and since then the band have gone through some line-up changes. Bassist Doug Adams left the group for non-rock life pursuits. In regrouping, the onetime trio are now a four-piece with new members Nile Marr and Sam Pryor augmenting singer/guitarist Katie Harkin (who spent time as a touring member of Wild Beasts) and drummer Nestor Matthews. The new, as yet untitled album, was produced in Seattle by longtime collaboratore John Goodmanson. No release date for the record yet but you can stream the first single, "Motto," below.

The band are currently road testing new LP material across the UK with Dutch Uncles and later Marnie Stern. No North American shows lined up yet, but all dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Sky Larkin ready new LP (stream a track)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: A Classic Education - I Lost Time (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tamarayn - Love Fade (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - Year Dot (Spirit Spine Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - Barracuda (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dominant Legs - About My Girls (MP3)

Tamaryn

My picks for day parties are HERE. Here are my picks for things to do tonight, Wednesday, Day Two of CMJ 2010. Set times are included for shows that don't have flyers.

Tonight's biggest ticket is Phoenix/Dirty Projectors/Wavves at MSG. But to get in with your badge you need to go to the exhibitor hall to pick up what few tickets they have (which is probably none at this point). Time is probably better spent elsewhere, as good as all those bands are. You can also go see Wavves later at the Purevolume House with Matthew Dear.

I think tonight's hottest ticket is going to be the Stereogum/Popgun showcase at Santos Party House, a pretty unmissable two-floor assault featuring wild tambourine action of The Drums (who also play Webster Hall tonight with Surfer Blood), Wild Nothing's immaculate indiepop, gothy shoegaze temptress Tamaryn, the undeniably catchy Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr., plus Marnie Stern, Diamond Rings and more. If you're badgeless and were smart, you RSVP'd for discount admission. (Too late now.) All others pay $10 smackers. Set times on the flyer at the bottom of this post.

It's pretty clear that Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr (I may have to start referring to them as DEJJ) are contenders for the Overachievers crown at CMJ2010. If you wanna tick them off your list early, you might want to swing by Bruar Falls where they'll play at 7:30 PM. I'd advise you to stick around afterwards for awesome Magic Bullets (8:20PM) though I'm sure you're going to see them when they open our day party on Friday.

Anglophiles should head straight to Littlefield for the U.S. debuts of three new UK acts: Frankie & the Heartstrings (9PM), the Good Natured (9:45) and  Chapel Club (10:30).  Also on the bill: the blissed-out sounds of Miami dancepop artist Millionyoung. (11:30) $8 without a badge.

Staying in the neighborhood (Park Slope), The Rock Shop has a good line-up: Tape Deck Mountain (7:30), Cloud Nothings (8:30), Blair (9:30), Braids,(10:30) Lesands (11:30)and Beach Fossils. (12:30AM). $10 if you don't have a badge.

Sky Larkin

Or, at The Bell House, it's the Pop Justice/Highrise PR showcase with an international lineup, including personal faves Sky Larkin, (9:50PM)  fist-pumping electro-rockers Fenech Soler (who I saw last night at Pianos, pretty good if a l'il cheesy), French disco act The Aikiu (10:30PM) Canadian disco act Parallels (11:45PM), and more. The party goes late -- Fenech Soler aren't on till 1:35AM (ugh) so if you live in the neighborhood, maybe stop by there before you go home. There's like 10 bands playing this total and it's only $5 to get in. Bargain.

The good folks at Free Williamsburg are throwing a big unofficial party at Glasslands with North Highlands (a local must see if you're visiting from elesewhere), Zambri, Pujol, Yellow Ostrich and more. $7. Set times are on the flyer which is at the bottom of this post.

And lastly, the I Guess I'm Floating/Lefse Records showcase at The Delancey is loaded with great new talent, including Dominant Legs (7PM), A Classic Education (7:45PM), Candy Claws (12:15AM) and seven more. The night ends with How to Dress Well (1:45AM) who is playing a bunch of shows this week, which hopefully means he's put some thought into his performance. His live debut at Glasslands back in August was kind of disasterous.

Again, these are just MY picks. There's a zillion shows tonight including:

ALSO TONIGHT
* Surfer Blood @ Webster Hall (twice)
* The Knocks & Holy Ghost! @ Bowery Ballroom
* STRIFE, Disembodied, Iron Age, Earthless, Priestess, Naam @ Mercury Lounge
* Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Langhorne Slim, Jesse Sykes & Phil Wandscher, Mimicking Birds @ Highline Ballroom

Go see something. Show flyers are after the jump.

Continue reading "CMJ 2010 - Bill's Wednesday NIGHTTIME picks & stuff (Tamaryn, Sky Larkin, Frankie & the Hearstrings & more)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - Year Dot (Spirit Spine Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - Barracuda (MP3)

Sky Larkin will be over from the UK this month for a North American tour which starts in Vancouver on October 12 -- the same day their teriffic new album, Kaleide, gets its American release. The band will be on the road with Blood Red Shoes, and the tour hits NYC during CMJ, specific dates still to be determined. Maybe you saw Sky Larkin last year during CMJ at one of the Brooklyn Vegan day parties? They're a powerhouse live (you might even call them a Power Trio) and I'm looking forward to hearing the new record on stage.

For Kaleide, the Leeds trio reunited with Seattle-based producer John Goodmason with whom they made last year's The Golden Spike. It's a stronger, more confident record all-around that at times reminds me of a harder rocking Blake Babies. You can listen to the whole thing via the streaming player at the bottom of this post.

Meanwhile, one of Kaleide's standout tracks, "Year Dot," is coming out as a single/EP next month with a host of remixes, including one by Spirit/Spine which you can download at the top of this post. Also up there is their deconstructed cover of the Heart classic "Barracuda" and you can watch a making of video about it at the bottom of this post.

That video, the streaming album player and all announced North American tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Sky Larkin return w/ a new album - MP3, remix, dates & more"

DOWNLOAD: The Myrnabirds - Numbers Don't Lie (MP3)

The Mynabirds

The Saddle Creek / Wichita CMJ showcase will take place at the Delancey in NYC on October 21st, and it looks something like this:

?? pm Sky Larkin
8:30 pm Old Canes
9:30 pm Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
10:15 pm First Aid Kit
11:00 pm The Mynabirds
11:45 pm Frankie and the Heartstrings
12:30 Adam Haworth Stephens (of Two Gallants)

Now she's (dropped the indie pop and is) collaborating with Richard Swift (on record), and "live in the flesh by a great collective of artists and musicians that include: Johnny Kotchian (drums), Dan McCarthy (bass & vocals), Pearl Lovejoy Boyd (vocals & percussion), Susan Sanchez (vocals), Ben Brodin (guitars & vocals), Alex McManus (guitars, horns & vocals), Rebecca Marie Miller (vocals & percussion), Nicole Childrey (drums), Patrick Damphier (bass), and Nate Walcott (horns)."

Her album What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood was released earlier this year by Saddle Creek, and can best be described, as it has by many, as country and soul. She has a great voice. Get a taste via the MP3 (above) and video (below) for "Numbers Don't Lie", and from the Daytrotter session that was posted earlier this month.

Get a live taste, way before CMJ, tonight/Friday, September 24th at Brooklyn Bowl when The Mynabirds open for David Bazan. The two groups are on tour together (and it's their only NYC show). $5.00 tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of David Bazan, Feltheart Filmworks recently put together a 3-part documentary about the ex-Pedro the Lion member. You can watch that in full, with all dates and stuff, below...

Continue reading "The Mynabirds on tour w/ David Bazan (Brooklyn Bowl Friday), playing Saddle Creek CMJ showcase (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Nana Grizol - Galaxies (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Naza Grizol - For Things That Haven't Come (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Futureheads - Struck Dumb (MP3)

Sky Larkin @ Pianos during CMJ (more by Bryan Bruchman)

It's not the most action-packed of weekends in TWII land. Stars is sold out, as is Kings of Convenience and Delorean, no twee indiepop from Denmark, or San Francisco garage rockers. So I'm gonna start with mentioning that terrific Leeds, UK trio Sky Larkin (who played one of our CMJ day parties last year) have finished their second album, Kaleide, and it'll be out in August. Like their first album, Kaleide was recorded in Seattle with John Goodmason. But the results this time seem a little more muscular and confident.

Hear for yourself: the band are offering up a free, downloadable EP featuring the album's swell title track (pronounced "collide"). You do have to give up your email address to get it but they're nice folks and I'm sure they won't do anything nefarious with it. Either visit their website or use the download widget at the bottom of this post. Hopefully we'll get the band over here again soon.

Nana Grizol

OK, so what's going on this weekend? Athens, GA's multitudinous Nana Grizol are in town tonight (6/4), playing Silent Barn on their way back from the Primavera Sound festival and we should be glad to have them.  Their wide-eyed folk pop reminds me just a little of much-missed '90s band Small Factory, There's a similar approach to the songwriting, even if the arrangements add about 15 more people (depending on the night) to the mix. You can download two tracks from their latest album, Ruth, at the top of this post. They are super-charming live.

Adding to the fun (and sheer number of musicians onstage at any one time) at Silent Barn are Providence, RI's What Cheer? Brigade which is a 19 piece brass ensemble whose sound is "an aggressive mix of Bollywood, The Balkans, New Orleans, Samba and Hip-Hop, played with the intensity of metal." There's also locals The Eskalators, and Boston singer/songwriter Greg Mullen. Sounds like a pretty fun, probably sweaty, night.

The Futureheads @ Pianos in 2008 (more by Jason Bergman)

The Futureheads play Maxwell's tomorrow (6/5) and Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday (6/8). Like a lot of people, I was a huge fan of their first album, and felt the two following albums were a little too straightforward (and overproduced) for a band who got popular on quirky charm. Some of that off-kilter-ness is back on the band's new album, The Chaos, which I think is easily their best since that first one. They've kind of become a modern, Northern England version of The Knack. Which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Check out "Struck Dumb" at the top of this post.

The band played Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier this week, it was probably the eight or ninth time I've seen them live, and I have to say even when I'm not crazy about whatever record they're touring at the time, they are always worth seeing live. Singer/guitarist Barry Hyde is as manic as ever, guitarist/vocalist Ross Millard provides the punchlines, and the band are tight as hell, and nail those four-part harmonies. And "Decent Days and Nights" and their amazing cover of "Hounds of Love" still sound brilliant.

Athlete

While we're reminiscing about 2004... Athlete play the Bell House tomorrow (6/5). They are not remotely cool anymore, but I have great affection for their debut album, Vehicles & Animals, an exceedingly pleasant bunch of mid-tempo, head-bobbing Brit indie tunes, all of which seemed to have been based on Pavement's "Carrot Rope." It's still a good album to clean the house to.

I saw them at a half-full Mercury Lounge back in March 2004 (they played with, um, Razorlight if memory serves) and remember them being charmingly nerdy. I'm still a bit baffled how/why a year later they turned into Snow Patrol. They're pretty huge in the UK but America has never caught on, but I'm sure that the Bell House will be full of ex-pats and Anglophiles. I'm half tempted to go, if for nothing else than to hear "El Salvador" or "You Got the Style."

After Brooklyn they continue on a month-long North American tour in support of their new album Black Swan, which isn't half bad. All tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Po Po

And one last show of interest. Tonight (6/4) at Glasslands is a pretty good bill, headlined by low-fi Philly duo PO PO. Also playing: Light Asylum who I've written about a bit before and you may have seen open for LCD Soundsystem last month at Music Hall of Williamsburg; enigmatic local band Translations whose songs on MySpace sound pretty good; and underheard Brooklynites (and Soft Pack cohorts) The Sundelles.

And one last little note of shameless plugging. If you're looking for something new to listen to, over on Sound Bites I post a weekly downloadable Summer Fridays mix during the warm months. This is the third year I've done it and this week's has new tunes from Foals, Beach Fossils, Django Django, Young Friends, Radio Dept, plus some oldies (B-52's, Lulu, Air Miami + more) as well.

That's it for this week. Flyers, videos, that Sky Larkin download widget, and tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Sky Larkin, Nana Grizol, Futureheads, Athlete, PO PO, Summer Fridays mix tapes & more in This Week in Indie"

words by Andrew Frisicano, CMJ photos by Bryan Bruchman

DOWNLOAD: Peggy Sue - Watchman (MP3)

Peggy Sue is London trio Rosa Rex, Katy Klaw and their drummer Olly. Their new album Fossil's and Other Phantoms (out now in the UK) comes out stateside on Yep Roc Records June 1st. Previously, they had an EP out last summer. The band joined us all the way back in October for a BV day party at Pianos during CMJ. They played the upstairs room and their tour-mates at the time, Sky Larkin, played downstairs. Pictures from both of their sets are (finally) in this post (below).

Peggy Sue comes to North America again for tour dates this June. The full schedule is below - they play NYC on Thursday, June 10th at Pianos (tickets TBA). They love Pianos.

The new record's first single, "Watchman," is available for the first time above. The song is a simmering minor key that actually has its roots in Brooklyn. About the song, Katy writes

This was one of three songs written whilst we were in the studio in Brooklyn and recorded a few months later when we returned to London. The beginning part of the writing process is always quite an insular thing for us. You find yourself an empty room and then that's all you can do until its written. We were recording and living in quite small spaces so it was quite intense and writing new songs was in some ways an excuse for some private time. Lyrically, it's about how there is always a boy who is looking at a girl who is looking at a different boy. Sometimes we play it and I'm the person looking and sometimes I'm the person being looked upon.

All Peggy Sue tour dates, album info & cover, the video for "Watchman" and more are below...

Continue reading "new Peggy Sue MP3, album info, video, tour dates & live pics "

DOWNLOAD: Peggy Sue - Spare Parts (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - Fossil (MP3)

"we've been added to the @BrooklynVegan show at Piano's Tomorrow, we're on at 1:30pm but there're LOADS of other bands you should see too. Dx" - Sky Larkin

Sky Larkin @ Mercury Lounge in March (more by Tim Griffin)

"It seems like just yesterday when Sky Larkin was still playing small DIY gigs in Leeds, and then of course that support slot for the Gossip at the Fav in which me and a friend convinced Katie Larkin to let us back stage so we could blag some free swag from Beth Ditto & Co for Ladyfest Leeds. By now, they've toured with Conor Oberst, signed to Wichita, recorded their debut in Seattle and have a massive North American tour lined up in October." [trentrampage]

Continue reading "Sky Larkin added to today's BrooklynVegan day party, on tour w/ Peggy Sue who is also on the bill (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Micachu - Lips (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Chap - Proper Rock (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Choir of Unbelievers - Next Summer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Youth Group - "Start Today Tomorrow" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fumes - "Automobile" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Parallelogram (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Deastro - Light Powered (MP3)

Micachu @ Cake Shop (more by Tim Griffin)

Welcome to the SXSW Hangover edition of This Week in Indie. Those who went to Austin might not want to go see live music, but for everyone else it's a boon. Most of these bands have been covered before so I'm just going to go night-by-night of the shows I'd recommend...

Continue reading "Deastro, Obits, White Lies, WAVVES, Ladyhawke, Efterklang, Primal Scream & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Tim Griffin

"We got to have an awesome pals pre tour reunion with the dear Sky Larkin last night, which involved heading into New York to watch them support The Grates at the Mercury Lounge. Incidentally this is where we performed our first ever New York show, our name misrepresenting us and leading to us being put on some kind of world music bill showcase. It was reminiscent of the cd incident at Lollapalooza, where they ordered in a shipment by the Peruvian folk band Los Campesinos De Michigin by mistake.

It was lovely to see the Larkin and try and contain our ridiculous smouldering unrelenting jealously over SXSW, but we prevailed and Doug had some nice snazzy new glasses I admired. Post gig we managed to rush over to Cake Shop and see Micachu, another British band who were awe inspiringly ace. Although I did get asked if I was friends with the band because of the accent, its like when you say you are from the UK and people assume you live in London and know that guy Brad they hooked up with once. To score a hat trick I popped along to watch Peggy Sue and The Pirates a few doors down at Pianos. It was one those really hip places which started out selling pianos but then realised giving mixed drinks to wide-eyed scenesters would be more profitable.

Anyway those ladies have a very large lung capacity, and have got a nifty drummer since I saw them last. He had a good trilby on, so well done.

It did seem like the British were out in force though, as we stumbled into Huw Stephens and gazed at Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura." [Los Campesinos BLOG]

Continue reading "Sky Larkin played SXSW & Mercury Lounge (pics) - Los Campesinos was in the audience"

Micachu & the Shapes @ Ms. Bea's - Todd P SXSW - March 18, 2009 (andycarvin)

"SXSW has positioned itself as a one-stop opportunity to make contacts across the American music business, and it has had a steadily increasing presence for bands from abroad. This year there were 594 international acts at official showcases.

One startling British import was Micachu and the Shapes, a trio of former music school students who love bare-bones structures. Mica Levi's terse, choppy songs for the group use dissonant guitar chords, hardheaded lyrics, a swinging drumbeat, perky keyboard hooks and contrapuntal cowbells, among other things, for songs with the ebullience of a skiffle band and the hardheadedness of hip-hop. [NY Times]

Jay Jay Pistolet and Peggy Sue, now finished with their run of shows in Austin, kick off their multiple-night run in NYC with a show at Pianos tonight (3/23).

Sky Larkin is also here tonight (3/23) - at Mercury Lounge with The Grates who, in addition to the Pianos/Micachu show are also playing the Bell House while in town.

words by Bill Pearis, LC photos by Leia Jospe

Sky Larkin

Leeds UK trio Sky Larkin, who I've talked about before, are coming back to the U.S. soon. Their March-April tour includes a run at SXSW, an East Coast mini-tour (including March 23 at Mercury Lounge with the Grates), and finally a bunch of dates with fellow UK band Los Campesinos! (who are also playing Coachella while they're here in April, and who recently completed a North American tour with Titus Andronicus).

Sky Larkin's debut album, The Golden Spike, which they recorded last year in Seattle with John Goodmason (The Long Winters, Sleater-Kinney), was released last month in England and comes out in the U.S. in April. It's chock-full of super-catchy songs, like "Beeline" to which you can watch the video below. I've seen them a few times and they're definitely worth catching, and are nice folks too.

Los Campesinos! don't have any future NYC shows scheduled, but when they were here less than a month ago they played two nights in a row at Bowery Ballroom. Pictures from one of those shows, and all tour dates (SL & LC!), below...

Continue reading "Los Campesinos! - tour dates w/ SKY LARKIN, Coachella & pictures from Bowery Ballroom"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Youth Group - "Start Today Tomorrow" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Fumes - "Automobile" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Resignators - "Offbeat Feeling" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Boat People - Unsettle My Heart" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hell City Glamours - "The Money" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gabriella Cilmi - "Sweet About Me" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Josh Pyke - Make You Happy (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: My Disco - "You Came to Me like a Cancer Lain Dormant Until it Blossomed like a Rose" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Birds Of Tokyo - "Broken Bones" (MP3)

The Drones

Call the Army! It's an invasion! Over the next two months, bands from Australia will swarm down (under) and barrage us with a ton of shows in North America including NYC ones at Pianos, Mercury Lounge, Europa, and The Bell House, and of course a bunch of performances in Austin for SXSW.

First up, The Drones have a new album entitled Havilah on ATP Recordings and the quartet is back in the USA in 2009, a scant six months after killin' it ATP New York and playing a string of NYC shows in 2008. The NYC shows are at Union Hall with The War On Drugs on 3/30 (tickets on sale soon) and at The Bell House on 3/26 (tickets on sale now).

The Bell House show is particularly interesting (especially if you aren't a vegan)

THE AUSSIE BBQ: AUSTRALIAN MUSIC SHOWCASE
Admission comes with free BBQ courtesy of SHEEP STATION and one free drink. Featuring tons of amazing Australian bands like
THE DRONES / THE FUMES / YOUTH GROUP / THE GRATES / THE RESIGNATORS / THE RED RIDERS / THE BOAT PEOPLE / INFUSION / HELL CITY GLAMOURS. Free Baron's Beer!!

One of the bands on BOTH BBQ fests (NYC and SXSW), Youth Group, will release their new album The Night Is Ours on April 7th in the US. The crew has also laid out April residencies in NYC, Philadelphia and Boston. The NYC residency is at Pianos every Tuesday in April (April 7, 14, 21, 28). Philadelphia is every Wednesday at the M room, and Boston is Sundays at TT Bear's. Full tour dates are below.

Another band on both bills... it's the return of The Grates (pictured). They are touring the US around those dates and SXSW, including a show at Mercury Lounge on March 23rd with Sky Larkin (no tix), and one at Pianos with Micachu on March 25th (tickets on sale).

My Disco, an angular post-punk trio that worships at the altar of Albini so much that they named their band after a Big Black song, will tour the US with the not-Aussie Young Widows after their trip to the Lone Star state. Full tour dates are below, including a show at Europa on April 1st. Tickets are on sale.

The War On Drugs (not Australian) are currently touring Europe, but will hit the road in the end of March for a US tour that includes the NYC date mentioned above.

All tour dates for everyone below...

Continue reading "The Drones, The Grates, Youth Group & other Australian bands coming to NYC, SXSW & other places"

DOWNLOAD: Fol Chen - Cable TV (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Rafter - no fucking around (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: DM Stith - Pity Dance (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Parenthetical Girls - A Song For Ellie Greenwich (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Chief - Your Direction (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Shout Out Out Out Out - Bad Choices (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hymns - Your Movement (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dosh - If You Want To, You Have To (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Themselves - Dark Sky Demo (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lissy Trullie - Self-Taught Learner (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - Fossil (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: A-Trak - Say Whoa (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Crocodile - August Is Over (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Valient Thorr - I Hope The Ghosts Of The Dead Haunt Yr Soul Forever

A selection of free music by artists playing official showcases on Wednesday March 18, 2009 at SXSW.

Wye Oak

In the short time Bill has been here, many bands have been featured in his Week In Indie column on BrooklynVegan. At least 19 of those bands are playing shows for, and during, CMJ in NYC this week. Each of those bands is listed below with links back to what Bill said about them...

Continue reading "'Week in Indie" bands playing CMJ this week "

DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - "Molten" (MP3)

Sky Larkin @ Pianos - Aug 13, 2008

"Nestor, their drummer, in particular gave it 110%, to the point where in between songs he rested his head on the snare. Apparently Katie had some trouble with her effects pedals but I couldn't tell there was anything wrong. It was a short set (35 minutes or so) but certainly long enough for a band whose audience only a had a few songs to go on but new songs were as catchy as previously-released singles "Molten" and "One of Two." There is nothing trendy whatsoever about what they do, just good songs played with skill and energy." [Sound Bites]

DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (MP3)

Boston/Cambridge's Passion Pit will play their first-ever NYC show at Pianos tonight (August 13, 2008). Bill-favorite Sky Larkin are also playing their own first NYC show on the same bill. If you miss it don't worry - tonight's show is also part of a 3-date Pianos residency that has Passion Pit back in town on August 20th and 27th (and Sky Larkin are also playing again on Thursday).

There's been a lot of buzz around Passion Pit lately based on the strength of their debut EP which is being re-released with two extra tracks on September 16th by Frenchkiss Records.

The re-release of the band's heralded "Chunk of Change" EP on Sept. 16 will cap off quite a year for the soulful Cambridge electro-pop quartet. What began as an Angelakos solo project to impress his girlfriend on Valentine's Day has since morphed into a full band that's generated almost unparalleled local buzz, ultimately winning Best New Act in the recent 'FNX Radio Best Music Poll. Within a few months, Passion Pit went from the underground dance-party circuit to opening for Death Cab For Cutie at the Bank of America Pavilion.

And now Passion Pit is about to blow up on a national level with the help of Frenchkiss, home of the Hold Steady, Les Savy Fav and Rahim. [Boston Herald]

Continue reading "Passion Pit - MP3, Frenchkiss Records EP, 2008 tour dates (tonight, a Pianos residency)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Sky Larkin - "Molten" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BOAT - "(I'm A) Donkey for Your Love" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BOAT - "Last Cans of Paint" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: BOAT - "The Bar is Too Low to Fail" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cheeseburger - "Jelly Bean" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Cheeseburger - "Saturday Night" (MP3)

Sky Larkin

Don't miss show(s) of next week: The American live debut of Leeds, UK group Sky Larkin, who are one of 2008's real hopefuls (to me at least). Not really part of any scene that would get them on the cover of NME, Sky Larkin are pretty straight-forward melodic guitar pop with a charismatic frontperson (Katie Harkin) and two ace singles under their belt. A bit slow in released material (they've been together since 2005), but the floodgates are about to open as the band have just finished recording their debut album in Seattle with producer John Goodmanson. They're here in New York to shoot a video and are thankfully playing two shows when not in front of the camera: Wednesday (8/13) at Pianos and Thursday (8/14) at Union Hall (tix).

Seattle's sloppy, poppy BOAT are making a rare trek to the East Coast for a tour they've dubbed "We Jam Super Econo and a Bit Cramped." Signed to one of my favorite American labels, Magic Marker Records (Tullycraft, The Bats, The Owls), BOAT have a sort of classic American indie rock sound (think Pavement or Butterglory), with super-catchy songs and a nice sense of humor. I highly recommend last year's Let's Drag Our Feet, and hopefully the band will be bringing lots of copies of their new baseball-themed single "Topps" that comes with trading cards and stiff, crunchy bubblegum. Along for the ride will be similar-minded Philly band Creeping Weeds. The tour hits Cake Shop on August 17 and Union Hall (with the great My Teenage Stride as well) on August 20 (tix).

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This weekend is all about All Points West (well, Friday and Saturday...are people going on Sunday?), but there are some worthy shows that aren't part of the megafestival.

This Friday's entry in the Seaport Music Festival is a good one: Cass McCombs, who didn't get as much attention as he probably deserved for last year's fine Dropping the Writ; and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson who might be getting more attention than he really needs right now, like him as I do.

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Saturday (8/9) brings the Vice/Colt 45 Tour with Cheeseburger to Glasslands Gallery, the last date on the tour. Has there been a more perfect marriage of rock to tour sponsors? I've never been good at math but Cheeseburger + free malt liquor + last night of the tour = mayhem. It's also free with an RSVP but, you know how these things work, get there early or don't get in.

Rogue Wave @ Lollapalooza 2008 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Also on Saturday at Union Hall is "Endless Shovels", a "Rogue Wave Tribute Band" which seem like an odd thing to have when Rogue Wave are actually in town the next day playing APW. Hmm... Tickets are on sale.

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And if you are going to APW on Sunday, be sure to get there early to catch supertalented Slowdive/Mojave 3 guitarist Neil Halstead (check out our interview) who'll be there supporting his brand-new, very good 2nd solo album, Oh Mighty Engine. He's also playing Hamptons celeb hangout The Surf Lodge on Saturday if you're up that way, as well as opening for Jack Johnson on a few dates before continuing on his own. All dates and videos below...

Continue reading "Sky Larkin, BOAT, Cheeseburger, a 'Rogue Wave tribute band' & more in This Week in Indie"