As mentioned, Montreal's Suuns are here this weekend, playing Glasslands on Friday (6/14) as part of the Northside Festival that kicks off today. It's Popgun's official showcase and Amen Dunes and Tempers were recently added to bill. Tickets are still available or you can use your Northside badge to get in (admission based on capacity).

If you can't make it on Friday, the band have announced fall tour dates that include one in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge on September 4. That show (and others on the tour) is with opener Rose Windows, whose debut album comes out this month via Sub Pop. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/14). All tour dates are listed below.

If you've never seen Suuns live before, you can check out a full set from their KEXP SXSW 2013 showcase below.

Continue reading "Suuns are here, playing Northside this weekend, announce fall tour with Rose Windows (updated dates)"

Suuns @ Mercury Lounge, 4/15/2013 (more by PSquared Photography)

Montreal's Suuns were here just a couple weeks ago, having played a headlining gig at Mercury lounge as a warm-up to their tour with Besnard Lakes which has since wrapped up as well. The band are in Europe right now and will do a few West Coast shows before a well-deserved break. The band will however, be making a quick trip down to NYC in mid-june to play Glasslands on June 14. That show will be Popgun Booking's official Northside Festival showcase. (Feel free to take the L Train.) The rest of the bill hasn't been anounced yet, but tickets are on sale now.

All Suuns tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Suuns playing Northside Festival (updated dates)"

One of the most eclectic lineups in the US, Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, NC, will be back for 2013 on September 5 -7. Pulling from all genres, this year's line-up includes names like Big Boi (who plays NYC tonight), Spiritualized, Sleep, Wolf Eyes (who have a new video), The Breeders (performing Last Splash), John Cale, Kurt Vile & the Violators, Gorguts, Inter Arma (who play NYC on Saturday), Double Negative (who played NYC this past weekend), Swearin' (them too), Pissed Jeans, Dan Friel, Waxahatchee and many many others. Three-day wristbands are on sale now with individual day tickets going on sale in June. Full lineup is below.

Continue reading "Hopscotch announces 2013 lineup (Big Boi, Sleep, Spiritualized, Kurt Vile, Wolf Eyes, John Cale, more)"

photos by P Squared Photography; words by Bill Pearis

Suuns @ Mercury Lounge, 4/15/2013

Montreal's Suuns are about ready to hit the road with their neighbors Besnard Lakes (whose Jace Lasek produced their new LP, Images Du Futur). Before that, though, the band are warming up with a few headlining shows, like last night (4/15) at NYC's Mercury Lounge. The band's sinister take on Kraut and prog really takes off live in a way that their records haven't quite conveyed, due in large part to how frontman Ben Shemie intensely twists himself around his guitar and microphone onstage. Pictures from last night's show are in this post.

Suuns' time with Besnard Lakes ends before that band's NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on May 3 (tickets), as Suuns will be heading to Europe for shows. All dates are listed, along with more pictures from Mercury Lounge, below.

Continue reading "Suuns played Mercury Lounge (pics)"

Tamaryn is DJing at New York's Museum of Modern Art on Sunday evening (4/7) as part of a PopRally event called "Abstract Currents." Against projections of one-minute videos submitted by the public, Tamryn will provide a "hypnotic soundtrack to the collectively built abstract videoscape." It's in conjunction with MoMA's Abstraction, 1910-1925 and Abstract Generation: Now in Print exhibition and tickets are still available.

Later this month, Tamaryn will be in Texas' state capital for Austin Psych Fest (Apr. 26 - 28), which features a pretty amazing line-up that runs the gammut of "psychedelic," including Deerhunter, Spectrum, Black Mountain, OS Mutantes, The Moving Sidewalks, Clinic, Besnard Lakes, Elephant Stone, Roky Erickson, Sweden's GOAT and a bunch more. The fest just announced the day-by-day line-ups which are listed below.

Continue reading "Tamaryn DJing MoMA; Austin Psych Fest finalizes lineup"

by Bill Pearis

still from SUUNS' "2020" video

As mentioned, Montreal's SUUNS will release their second album, Images Du Futur, on March 5. You may have already heard the slow-building track "Edie's Dream" but the band have just released a more typically driving number, "2020," in video form courtesy director Sabrina Ratté. Says the band:

Sabrina is a good friend and an amazing video artist. We've wanted to work with her for some time and this video was the ideal project. We shot some shots and she did her thing. What a trip.

Suuns are going to be touring all over the place in the first half of 2013, with appearances at SXSW, Austin Psych Fest and Sasquatch. They'll also play a headlining set in NYC at Mercury Lounge on April 15 (tickets still available) right before joining The Besnard Lakes for a string of North American dates. Updated tour dates are below.

Continue reading "SUUNS released new video, expand 2013 tour (updated dates)"

Says the PR

On the heels of a highly successful, critically acclaimed sold-out 2012 festival, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2013 lineup, which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 24-27 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The
Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA.

Continue reading "Sasquatch! Music Festival 2013 lineup is here"

by Bill Pearis

Montreal's Suuns make their return with new album Images Du Futur which is out March 5 on Secretly Canadian. The band just released a video for the brooding, relatively gentle "Edie's Dream" from the album and you can watch that below.

Suuns will head out on tour this spring to support the new record, including a stop in NYC on April 15 at Mercury Lounge. Advance tickets are not available yet, but you can keep checking Ticketmaster. I caught them in November at M for Montreal and they are still a live force.

A list of all tour dates, "Edie's Dream" video, cover art and tracklist for Images Du Futur, are below.

Continue reading "Suuns released video from new album 'Images Du Futur,' gearing up for 2013 tour (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

Suuns at Casa Del Popolo, 11/14/2012

The 2012 M for Montreal festival kicked off last night in its namesake city with a pair of conjoined shows at La Sala Rossa and Casa Del Popolo which is just across the street on Saint Laurent Boulevard. The evening began with instrumental quartet Esmerine whose neo-classical sound included cello, an orchestral xylophone (which was sometimes bowed) and elaborate projections that were somewhere between shadow puppet theatre and animation. I have a feeling the short set times M allows (most bands got 25 minutes) was a hindrance for Esmerine whose music hinted at Godspeed builds... but without that type of explosive payoff. Would love to see a proper set.

Blue Hawaii at Casa Del Popolo, 11/14/2012

Next I shuffled across the street to catch duo Blue Hawaii, featuring Raphaelle Standell-Preston from Braids on vocals/loop pedals and Alexander Cowan who manned a bank of samplers. I'd missed them at CMJ (and at our own CMJ show in 2011) and am usually a little wary of electronic acts like this in a live setting but the two managed to be pretty compelling, thanks in no small part to the stage presence of Raph who clearly enjoys being able to move around more, even if her repeated tries at getting the crowd of "international delegates" (journalists, music supervisors, etc) to dance. Certainly the music warranted it, their upcoming album Untogether imagines a world where the Cocteau Twins were produced by The Aphex Twin. There's also a sonic similarity to many of their Abutus Records labelmates (Grimes, D'Eon) but Blue Hawaii have their own sound.

Eight and a Half at Sala Rossa, 11/14/2012

Back over at Sala Rossa, it was Eight and a Half, a project from Dave Hamelin and Liam O'Neil of The Stills along with Justin Peroff of Broken Social Scene. Their debut album came out earlier this year and is pretty good, with the kind of drama the Stills were known but set against throbbing analog synths. Live, it was a little underwhelming though Hamelin gave it his best, still swinging for the bleachers, persona-wise, throwing himself into his guitar in a way maybe the music didn't warrant. Or maybe it was just the crowd.

Mozart's Sister @ Sala Rossa, 11/14/2012

Next up was Mozart's Sister, the solo project from Caila Thompson-Hannant of Think About Life (and Shapes and Sizes before that) which brings and electro twist to R&B style pop. Anyone who has seen her other bands live before knows she has an amazing set of pipes and a magnetic stage presence to match, which is more than enough to carry the minimal live show which included a guy on bass and a second singer (last night was the debut of this configuration). It was also enough to make up for the sound issues that were clearly frustrating the hell out of Thompson-Hannant, who cracked jokes through her annoyance.

continued below...

Continue reading "M for Montreal 2012: day 1 review (Suuns, Half Moon Run, Blue Hawaii, Mozart's Sister, Eight and a Half + more)"

by Bill Pearis

The seventh annual M for Montreal festival happens next week (November 14 - 17) in its namesake Canadian city. Previous years, M4M has featured mainly Montreal (and other parts of Canada) artists, being showcased to a group of "international delgates" (talent buyers, journalists, music supervisors, tour agenents and other industry types) in a tightly controlled set of shows, this year's fest expands its scope with nearly 100 performer at 16 venues, giving it more of an actual festival feel than an industry conference that has music showcases the public could by tickets to.

The line-up is much more global this year as well, with musicians from France, Iceland and, for the first time, the United States playing alongside bands from all over Canada. Artists playing the 2012 edition include Death Grips, Of Monsters and Men, Mac DeMarco, Suuns, Mykki Blanco, Sun Airway, A Place To Bury Strangers, Cadence Weapon, Memoryhouse, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Bleeding Rainbow and Blue Hawaii. Full list of performers is below and daily schedule is here and advance tickets to shows and panel discussions are available.

Like in years past (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008), I'll be heading up for the M fest, and will be reporting the goings-on.

If you want a taste of Montreal this week in NYC, beyond the snow we're currently experiencing, Montreal rapper Cadence Weapon plays Glasslands on Friday (11/9) with Fat Tony. Tickets are still available. Cadence Weapon tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "2012 M for Montreal Festival: full line-up (Death Grips, A Place to Bury Strangers, Of Monsters & Men, Mac DeMarco + more)"

DOWNLOAD: Lower Dens - "Brains" (MP3)

The National have announced that they're headlining and curating at ATP in Minehead UK, which is happening from December 7-9, 2012. So far, in addition to The National, the lineup (not very surprisingly) includes Sharon Van Etten (who plays the sold out Mercury Lounge tonight), My Brightest Diamond, Wye Oak, Megafaun, The Antlers, Buke and Gase (FKA Buke and Gass), Lower Dens, Owen Pallett, Boris, Tim Hecker, Kronos Quartet, Suuns< and Dark Dark Dark. More artists TBA. Tickets go on sale Friday (1/20) at 2 PM.

Maybe this lineup will shed some light on the bands Aaron and Bryce Dessner will be choosing when they curate BAM in May.

ATP's NJ festival happens in September and is being curated by Greg Dulli.

Speaking of Lower Dens, they've just revealed plans to release a followup to their 2010 debut LP, Twin-Hand Movement. The new album, titled Nootropics, will be out April 30 via the Domino affiliate label Ribbon Music. Grab the fast paced lead single, "Brains," at the top of this post and stream it below. Also below is the album artwork and tracklist.

Continue reading "The National curating an ATP; Lower Dens announce new LP"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Antlers recently got back from Europe and played their largest hometown show yet at the sold out Webster Hall on 12/10 with Canadian band Suuns. The majority of The Antlers' set was material from 2011's Burst Apart, which they played almost every song off of, but though it was given less attention at the show, a CMJ reviewer believes, "the Antlers' strongest album when performed live is Hospice, not Burst Apart." To quote Amanda, the Antlers "totally owned that room. Was amazing."

NYCTaper recorded the show and you can download a free zip file of the files at their website. More pictures, videos and setlist below...

Continue reading "The Antlers @ Webster Hall (pics/video/setlist/live recording)"

DOWNLOAD: The Antlers - "VCR" (The xx cover) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Korallreven - "Sa Sa Samoa" (ft. Julianna Barwick) (MP3)

The Antlers at Moogfest (more by Diana Wong)

We recently mentioned that Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater are planning a tour together that hits NYC at Music Hall of Williamsburg on February 24 and Bowery Ballroom on February 25. Tickets for both NYC shows are available for AmEx presale now, and general sale starts Friday (11/11) at noon. All dates have also since been announced and are listed below.

After the tour, Sharon will go on a string of dates with The War on Drugs, who open for The National at Beacon Theatre the night before Sharon does. Sharon's new album, Tramp, comes out February 7 via Jagjaguwar.

Sharon's friends and fellow Brooklynites The Antlers are following their release of Burst Apart, which came out earlier this year, with the (together) EP, which features material from the Burst Apart sessions. It includes collaborations with Neon Indian, Bear In Heaven, Nicole Atkins, and a cover of The xx's "VCR," which you can download above. The EP's tracklist is below. The Antlers are currently on a European tour and will return to NYC for a Webster Hall show on December 10 with Suuns. Tickets for that show are still available.

Speaking of The xx, they've recently begun working on a new album and have started a blog, where they've posted the message:

We have started recording our second album! We have also started this blog where we will post our inspirations + pictures + favourite songs. We hope you enjoy it! Lots of Love, The xx

The Walkmen, whose drummer Matt Barrick guests on Sharon's new album, are also working on a new album with producer Phil Ek which will be released next year on Fat Possum/Bella Union.

Julianna Barwick, who is also a guest on Sharon's album, recently released the Matrimony Remixes EP, which features remixes of two of the tracks off of her most recent LP, The Magic Place, which came out earlier this year. The entire EP is available to stream and download for $5 on bandcamp and features remixes by Diplo & Lunice, Helado Negro, Alias Pail, and Prince Rama. Julianna also provided guest vocals to Korallreven's debut LP, which comes out November 15 via Acephale. Her vocals appear on the song "Sa Sa Samoa," which you can download above.

All dates and (together) tracklist below...

Continue reading "new Antlers EP, an xx cover, updated Sharon Van Etten dates, Julianna Barwick & more"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Suuns - Arena (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: PS I Love You - Leftovers (w/ Diamond Rings) (MP3)

Suuns @ The Rock Shop in January (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

It's Canadian two-fer at Mercury lounge tonight (10/7) with Montreal's Suuns and Kingston, Ontario's PS I Love You. It's a late show after a Robbers on High Street record release party (Suuns doors are 10:15PM) and tickets are still available (a Nirvana tribute band also plays a free show after them, at the same venue - doors at 1am for that one). Both bands play Boston tomorrow night. All dates are listed below.

Suuns have a new 12" single, "Bambi/Red," coming out November 15 on Secretly Canadian and you can stream both sides at the bottom of this post. Says the band:

With a couple weeks off this summer in Montreal, we thought we'd take a crack at a few new songs. Stark and futuristic, these are extended jams that may or may not materialize as condensed versions of themselves on records to come. Open air textures, repetition and exploration were the name of the game for us on this one, and the finished product is a refined mining of the ideas that came out. "Bambi" is a creepy story of love lost and found, while "Red Song" is just that: a song about color.

As for PS I Love You, the band just released Figure it Out, a compilation of early singles, covers (Madonna, Rush) and other leftover tracks like their colaboration with Diamond Rings, "Leftovers," which you can download above. Diamond Rings, by the way, opens for Twin Shadow at Webster Hall tonight -- maybe he'll zip on over after his set to play with PS I Love You? We'll see.

The stream of the new Suuns 12" is below, along with tour dates.

Continue reading "Suuns & PS I Love You are here (Diamond Rings too), both with new releases (MP3s & dates)"

Secret Chiefs 3 at Terminal 5 (more by Zach Dilgard)

Instrumental band Secret Chiefs 3 kicked off a European tour last month with DJ FAT32. The tour comes to North America in September. So far it only includes East Coast and Midwest shows, but West Coast dates are "being planned." Look for SC3 and FAT32 to play NYC at Le Poisson Rouge on September 13th. Tickets are on sale. All dates for the Trey Spruance-led band are listed below.

In October Secret Chiefs 3 play the Iceland Airwaves Festival with Bjork (she was just announced and will be doing a Biophilia performance), Austra, Beach House, Liturgy, SBTRKT, Suuns, Olof Arnalds, Tune-yards, John Grant, and many others. Full lineup at their site. The festival runs from October 12-16 and takes place in downtown Reykjavík. Bjork will also play five more shows in Reykjavík in October. All of those dates are listed below.

All SC3 tour dates and some videos below too...

Continue reading "Secret Chiefs 3 tour dates, Iceland Airwaves 2011 lineup"

DOWNLOAD: PS I Love You - "Leftovers" (Feat. Diamond Rings) (MP3)

PS I Love You at SXSW 2011 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

PS I Love You are releasing Figure It Out, a collection of previously released singles and EPs. The compilation includes the track "Leftovers," which was recorded with Diamond Rings. Grab that above. The album drops August 30 via Paper Bag Records.

Diamond Rings was recently here for the Northside Fest and is going on tour with Twin Shadow. Diamond Rings toured and performed with PS I Love You not long before that.

PS I Love You will be touring extensively this fall and summer, and will play NYC on October 7 at Mercury Lounge with fellow Canadian badasses Suuns who also play other dates on the tour. Check ticketmaster for tickets to be on sale soon. PS I Love You are also scheduled to play a CMJ show in Brooklyn on October 20.

All tour dates and album artwork and tracklist below...

Continue reading "PS I Love You releasing comp, going on tour w/ Suuns (dates & an MP3 featuring Diamond Rings)"

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

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

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

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

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

photos by Dana (DISTORTION) Yavin

The Black Angels toured through town with Suuns over the weekend, hitting Bowery Ballroom Friday, and Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday (4/9)...

"The show on Saturday was their fifth area show in support of Phosphene Dream. For me, it doesn't get old. I get pumped up by listening to the albums all day. Even though I can anticipate the ebb and flow of the songs, it still seems like I'm experiencing it for the first time. The way they blend a song into Black Grease, the prolonged jams of Bad Vibrations, the spaces and fortitude of both versions of The Sniper -- that's some serious shit there. I'm so stupid during parts of the show that I mouth the guitar parts -- the "bwoowww, beeeouh, beeeouh."" [Music Snobbery]

Continue reading "The Black Angels played Bowery & MHOW (pics, setlist)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield and Timothy Griffin

Adventure (by Tim)

Braids (by Tim)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And this party will also have:

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

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

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

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

Check out the flyer and stuff below...

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

The Black Angels (more by Vincent Cornelli)

Austin reverb fiends and tambourine/maraca addicts The Black Angels will hit the road with Suuns (who recently played NYC three times) and then Sleepy Sun for a North America tour that will include the previously discussed Austin Psych Fest 4, and two NYC shows: April 8 at Bowery Ballroom and April 9 at Music Hall of Williamsburg (both with Suuns). Tickets for both NYC shows (Bowery, MHoW) go on AMEX presale Wed at noon (2/2) and regular sale on Fri (2/4).

UK psychedelic Spectrum (aka Sonic Boom) is also onboard for Austin Psych Fest 4, and has a NYC show scheduled as well: 4/17 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets go on AMEX presale Wed at noon (2/1), and go on regular sale 48 hours later.

All known tour dates and some videos below.

Continue reading "Black Angels touring w/ Suuns & then Sleepy Sun (2011 dates), Spectrum playing NYC & Austin Psych Fest too"

words & photos by Benjamin Lozovsky

Equally measured and zealous, Suuns' 2010 debut album Zeros QC denoted a band with maturity greater than its experience might dictate. During the Canadian group's squawking gallop of a performance at Brooklyn's Rock Shop, the first of three New York shows this week, the members of Suuns managed to present the cerebral weight of their music while still acting their age.

"Our live show is very different than the album," singer/guitarist Ben Shemie acknowledged after coming off stage. "We play short sets so we can give it our all every song."

Full of thrash, immediacy, and spastic explosiveness, Suuns did play each song like it might be the last. It was a peak behind the insecure youthful curtain of a band that, on record, exude a ripened confidence in patiently stretching out the progression of its musical ideas. Wavering from the seething, drone-like minimalism of Zeroes, Suuns often acted out a gaudy type of aggression throughout the set. It wasn't necessarily in tune with the band's direction, a cunning fusion of kraut, post-punk, stoner rock, and disco funk tempered with a muted emotional disquiet - but it still exemplified the band's deft incorporation of so many well-worn identities as a distinctive unifying force.

Raging with abandon or not, Suuns is ultimately an experiment in using patience and development as an excitable, unpredictable factor. During the motorik jam "Sweet Nothing," the trembling of a prolonged oscillating synth wave was the launching pad for anything, a cloud of ambiguity through a seemingly simplistic directness. That final number of the evening eventually landed in a powerful turbine of rising anxiety and a caterwauling noise solo, driven, like most of Suuns' songs, by a steadfast yet understated propulsive beat. Despite the song's inherent repetitiveness and danceable allure, it still always maintained an alluring unease. Even in playing like there's no tomorrow, Suuns found an appealing place to settle.

Milagres and Takka Takka (who next open for Trail of Dead at Littlefield) supported Suuns at Rock Shop on 1/25. Suuns played Shea Stadium last night (1/26) and will play NYC one last time tonight (1/27) at Mercury Lounge. Tickets for the early show with Julianna Barwick are still available.

More pictures from Rock Shop are below.

Continue reading "Suuns played Shea Stadium & Rock Shop w/ Takka Takka & Milagres (pics) (and 1 more show tonight)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Yuck - Rubber (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yuck - Georgia (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Darlings - Big Girl (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Soft Moon - Tiny Spiders (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Soft Moon - Breath the Fire (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Generationals - Trust (MP3s)

Darlings @ the Shank for CMJ 2010 (more by Andrew St Clair)

Dang it! Yuck are still having trouble getting into our country, cancelling tonight's show at Mercury Lounge. But tomorrow's show (1/26) at Glasslands is still on, and I'm gonna write this with fingers crossed. You can still get tickets to tomorrow's show.

Yuck's self-titled debut is due out February 15 and is full of the kind of warm and fuzzy indie rock that will remind certain 30-somethings of their college years listening to Sebadoh, Teenage Fanclub and Bettie Serveert. (They also remind me of underrated mid-aughts band The Comas.) You can check out two songs above. I am super-psyched to see them.

The Glasslands show tomorrow is especially enticing. Darlings don't get enough attention, as they're one of the more tuneful bands we have in this town, and they're always good live. Above you can check out the A-side to their "Big Girl" 7" which was released late last year on Famous Class. They've got a new EP, Warmer, due out any minute. Fergus & Geronimo and Total Slacker too. Solid line-up.

Yuck, if they make it into the country, tour with Smith Westerns and then will back in March for SXSW. All Yuck dates are below. With the trouble they have, maybe they just shouldn't leave.

Also making their NYC debut this week are San Francisco's The Soft Moon who play the Wierd Party at Home Sweet Home tomorrow night (1/26) and at Monster Island on Friday (1/28) as part of an all-Captured Tracks line-up that includes Blank Dogs, Widowspeak and Further Reductions.

You can check out two tracks from The Soft Moon's debut LP which is pretty much in "classic goth" territory: relentless beats, watery bass, whispered vocals. It's all very Clan of Xymox which is a good thing if you ask me. As to what they're like live...we'll see. From footage I've seen on YouTube, they don't seem to have a drummer which is too bad, but otherwise seem to play most everything else live. I really dig the album, looking forward to this one.

Unless you don't have to get up at a normal hour on Thursday (bands don't play till 1am at Wierd), Monster Island is probably the way to go. Plus it's more klang for your buck. I caught Widowspeak last week and thought they were pretty good, not dissimilar to YellowFever (who have a show coming up with Wild Flag by the way). Blank Dogs have finally figured out a workable live line-up, and I'm curious about Further Reductions (side project of Led Er Est) whose 7" on Captured Tracks is superior minimal synth.

There is really too much going on this week. Did you manage to get tickets to one of the two Peter Bjorn & John shows? (Thursday 1/27 at Santos, Friday 1/28 at The Rock Shop) These should be fun.

I think the surprise success of "Young Folks" was a blessing and a curse for PB&J. Here's a group that made cute, very good guitar indiepop and who probably would still be playing small clubs if it wasn't for that mega-smash that sounded like nothing the band had done before? In their case, they made an all-instrumental album (2008's Seaside Rock) and then 2009's ambitious Living Thing that was pretty good, but sounded more like a demo reel for Bjorn Yttling's production resume than something they thought about how they were going to play live.

Working with an outside producer for the first time (Per Sunding who some of you may know from excellent '90s indiepop Swedes Eggstone), Gimmie Some is the return of Peter Bjorn & John sounding like themselves again. It also sounds like three guys playing live, which bodes well for these shows, and is their best collection of songs, hands down, since Writers Block. In addition to adrenalyzed first taste "Breaker Breaker" (video below), there are three or four more crazy-catchy potential singles on the record, including the cowbell-fueled "Second Chance," and funky-ish "Dig A Little Deeper." It's a really good album.

Look for a full-fledged tour around the album's release in March.

Wye Oak @ Beacon Theater - 1/24/2010 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

The Decemberists played their first of three NYC shows last night. If you're going to tonight or tomorrow's sold-out shows at the Beacon, do get there early to see openers Wye Oak, one of the best bands around these days. They are chill-inducingly good live. The duo's new album, Civilian, is due out March 8 on Merge and is a real stand-up-and-take-notice stunner. It is crazy good. I don't know what the first single is going to be but if I was picking it would be the soaring "Holy Holy" that they better damn well play this week. There's video of them performing it last week in Berlin at the bottom of this post.

In addition to those shows with The Decemberists, Wye Oak are also playing a private show at The Rock Shop on Thursday that we're giving away four pairs of tickets to. To win, e-mail BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Wye Oak). Include your first and last name in the email. A winner will chosen at random and contacted with more details. Good luck!

Wye Oak head out on tour with Lower Dens then Callers -- none of those shows are in NYC unfortunately but hopefully they'll be back soon.

That's the big stuff this week. Here are a few more picks, day-by-day:

TUESDAY, JANUARY 25

Yuck aren't playing tonight, but Generationals and Country Mice (who seem to have dropped the "We Are" from their name) are still doing their early show (7pm) at Mercury Lounge tonight. Generationals' Trust EP from last year was really good, you can download its title track at the top of this post.

Suuns are at the Rock Shop tonight, the first of three shows this week. They also play Shea Stadium tomorrow (1/26) and Mercury Lounge on Thursday (1/27). I've written about these Montrealers loads of times, they're great, go see 'em.

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Continue reading "Yuck, Darlings, Soft Moon, Generationals, Peter Bjorn & John, Wye Oak, Suuns & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Suuns - Arena (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Suuns - Nursery (MP3)

Montreal's Suuns are making good use of their visas and heading back to NYC for three shows this month: Jan. 25 at The Rock Shop, then Jan. 26 for an early show at Mercury Lounge and Jan. 27 at Shea Stadium. We're giving away a pair of tickets to the Rock Shop show -- just send an email to BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM with the subject line "SUUNS" and we'll pick a winner at random.

You can download two tracks from Suuns swell debut, Zeros QC, which came out last year on Secretly Canadian. If you've seen them already -- and in NYC you've had plenty of chances, including the Brooklyn Vegan CMJ showcase  -- you know they're good live. And if you haven't yet experienced their kraut-y, showgazy miasma in person, you should remedy that. They also recently did a Daytrotter session that's worth checking out.

In addition to the NYC dates, they're also playing Burlington, VT on the way down here, plus a couple Canadian dates with fellow Montrealers Besnard Lakes. (BL's Jace Lacek produced Zeroes QC.) The band will also be playing SXSW this year, so expect a tour around that as well. All 2011 North American tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Suuns schedule January dates, including 3 in NYC (win tix)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Metz - Negative Space (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Valleys - Ordinary Dream (MP3)

Suuns

There was a smattering of band performances throughout the day Friday -- anywhere they could cram them it felt like at times -- before the night's "official selection." Honestly, I wasn't really psyched at seeing a band at 2 in the afternoon when I'd rather go record shopping or, say, getting lunch but Newfoundland's Hey Rosetta! turned out to be worth the detour. "We're usually a lot louder than this," singer Tim Baker admitted, but the less-electric approach to this performance made it kind of special. Hushed vocals, strings and soaring choruses... the band's sweeping orchestrated sound definitely held our attention. The band's last album made the Polaris 2008 shortlist and their third album, Seeds, will be out in February 2011.

A couple hours later we were taken to the the Chapel historique du Bon-Pasteur for an event called M for Martini where we were plied with said drinks while watching four more intimate-style performances, including the Dylan-esque Courtney Wing, all-girl country band Ladies of the Canyon, and the art folk of Lief Vollebekk.

The only band to really leave an impression on me was Ensemble, the brainchild of Oliveir Alary whose baroque sound is akin to early Broadcast or '60s cult band The United States of America. We only get three songs -- including a brilliant reworking of UB40's 1980 single "Food for Thought" -- and they're maybe the only band of the week whose set I wanted to be longer. Ensemble's new album, Excerpts, is out early next year but you can download its first single, "D'Avalanches," for free if you give them your email address.

After a very heavy, very French meal we headed back to Just Pour Rire (which apparently is closing soon) for what was probably the single-best night of music at M for Montreal. The evening began with Molly Rankin who is descended from Canadian Rock Royalty. (The Rankin Family were folk megastars in the '90s. No those words aren't mutually exclusive. It's Canada.) Backed by members of The Stills, her music is charming, clever, heart-on-the-sleeve pop. A nice way to start the night.

Next up were The Barr Brothers. Andrew and Brad are both also in The Slip but under the family name they are much folkier, but still experimental. Usually when I see an acoustic guitar and a harmonica stand, I'm looking for the exit but they really knocked me back. Brad Barr entered the stage tugging on a string on his acoustic guitar as if he'd broken one on the way out. It was actually a loop of wire, filament, something that worked like a bow, giving the guitar a woozy, somnambulant quality. The band also has a full-time harpist. Most of their set is on the quiet side, but they go full-on Who for one song. One of the best surprises of the fest.

Shuffling over to Just Pour Rire's other stage, we then saw Metz, who kept getting compared to Fucked Up but that seemed more because they're also from Toronto and are making in-your-face noise punk. To my ears it's more the kind of noise you got from Amphetamine Reptile in the '90s. They are loud and spazzy and sludgy and pretty awesome. Check out an MP3 at the top of this post and there's video from their M set at the bottom.

Continuing on, Valleys were next who've played Brooklyn enough times (and I've written about them plenty already) that I should've already seen them but this was my first time. Their debut album was kind of Saddle Creek-y methadone folk kind of stuff, really good, but they have evolved into something louder, more sinister since then. Intense, even without percussion, but when they do break out the drums it's like scream therapy. Check out "Ordinary Dream" from their new Stoner EP which is out now on Semprini.

This flowed nicely into Suuns' set (pronounced "Soons"), definitely the most well-recieved of the night. This was my third time seeing them -- they played the official BV showcase at CMJ you may remember -- and they just get better every time. Singer Ben Shemie is a pretty intesnse frontman, especially when the band locks into a Kraut-y groovy. He bends over, laying into his guitar and leaves the planet.

Final act of the night was Random Recipe who are kind of folk, kind of hip hop, and definitely popular with Montreal locals. Their single "Shipwreck" is okay but overall I don't really get why the crowd is going so wild. I ask a local who shares my indifference. His answer: "Montreal is a really weird place."

More pictures from the whole day and the Metz video below...

Continue reading "M For Montreal 2010 - night 3 in pics & review (Hey Rosetta!, Ensemble, Barr Brothers, Metz, Suuns, Valleys & more) "