Mutek banner in Montreal - May 27, 2009 (bneely)

Mutek, the electronic music festival celebrating its tenth year, is currently underway in Montreal. The five-day fest runs to Sunday, May 31st, and it's streaming online. Moderat, the Modeselektor & Apparat supergroup, performed at Mutek on Thursday, May 28th; the group plays NYC's Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, May 30th (the show was originally planned for Webster Hall). Tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of parties up North this summer... three other biggies are Ottawa Bluesfest (July 8th-19th), Vancouver Folk Music Festival (July 17-19th) and Calgary Folk Music Festival (July 23rd-26th). Each of those suitably transcend the "blues" and "folk" labels, hosting bands like The Dead Weather and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (in Ottawa), The Weakerthans and Rock Plaza Central (in Vancouver), and The Decemberists, Apostle of Hustle, Kid Koala and Akron/Family (in Calgary). Full lineup for the Calgary Fest (Ottawa in particular is much too massive to post) and ticket info below.

And don't forget about the previously reported Breeders-headlined Sled Island Fest in Calgary on June 24th-27th, Montreal's Osheaga, NXNE, and Toronto's Olympic Island Fest on July 11th, which will host Broken Social Scene and its Arts & Crafts cohorts.

Across the pond, UK's Glastonbury Festival, which runs from June 24th to 28th, has been sold out since February even though the full lineup wasn't announced until this week. Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Blur will be joined by The Specials, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Spinal Tap, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Madness, Tom Jones, Animal Collective and many others.

And finally in the States, Monolith Festival, which runs from September 12th to 13th at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Colorado, has announced its intial lineup, Girl Talk, Passion Pit, and The Walkmen included. The whole thing is posted below.

The weekend before Monolith, Bumbershoot will take place in Seattle (September 5th-7th). That fest's lineup has been updated too. New additions include Vivian Girls, Akron/Family, and Elvis Perkins. All new additions, with previously announced acts, are below. Tickets are still on sale.

In Michigan, the Rothbury Festival over July 4th weekend will feature the only summer fest performance by The Dead, as well as sets by Bob Dylan, String Cheese Incident, Broken Social Scene and more. A few more jam-friendly acts were also just added to the bill. Full lineup below. Tickets are on sale.

Info on all the above fests, with ticket info, below...

Continue reading "Mutek underway, Monolith & Glastonbury lineups, Rothbury, Bumbershoot, Calgary Folk & other festival updates"

"It's simple really: Summer. Friday night. New York City. The first port in the new world hosting some of the best new music, as well as those established and influential artists you already know and love. All of this amidst the city's most inspiring views of tall buildings, historic ships and nighttime sky. All for FREE.

Get ready, cause summer is coming and with it another great line up on Pier 17 at the Seaport. Hard to believe we're entering our eighth season of summer shows but 2009 promises to be amongst our best.

Highlights this year include Superchunk, Polvo, Obits, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and well, pretty much every night is a highlight to us.

Our FREE, outdoor series runs every Friday night from July 3 to August 14. The music starts at 6pm with a Guest DJ and bands go on around 7pm. Join us downtown to take in the stunning backdrop and enjoy New York's best open air venue.

Seaport Music is presented by the River to River Festival."

Continue reading "updated 2009 South Street Seaport Music lineup (free shows)"

The 2009 Capitol Hill Block Party takes over Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood July 24-25. The Block Party is an annual music festival that draws upon and showcases the best indie and underground rock in the US, with a special focus on its Northwest artists. Launched 12 years ago, the Block Party has evolved into Seattle's most anticipated outdoor party. With over 40 bands on 3 stages, great food, and plenty of cheap beer, this is by far the best party of the summer.

Continue reading "Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle - initial 2009 lineup"

DOWNLOAD: Suckers - It Gets Your Body Movin' (MP3)

ARTIST: Suckers
TITLE: Suckers EP
IAM 026 | Release Date: 04.14.09

Produced by Yeasayer's Anand Wilder
Tracklisting
01. Beach Queen
02. Afterthoughts & TV
03. Easy Chairs
04. It Gets Your Body Movin'

And if you miss the show, or even if you don't, there are plenty more chances to see Suckers in town. Their current schedule includes an opening slot on the May 12th Pains of Being Pure at Heart show at Bowery Balllroom, and an opening slot at the MGMT show in Prospect Park, and four shows at Pianos in July (a residency). All dates below...

Continue reading "Suckers - new EP, MP3, a party tonight & a Pianos residency"

South Street Seaport (more by Chris La Putt)

South Street Seaport - initial 2009 show schedule
June 13 (noon) - Children's Day
June 27 (7:00) - New York City Opera
July 03 (6:00) - Here We Go Magic & Bachelorette
July 10 (6:00) - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart & TBA
July 17 (6:00) - TBA
July 20-30 --- Sitelines (see below)
July 24 (6:00) - Black Moth Super Rainbow & TBA
July 31 (6:00) - TBA
Aug 07 (6:00) - Moshi Moshi day w/ Casiokids, The Wave Pictures & Slow Club
Aug 14 (6:00) - TBA

NYC's summer-long Seaport Music Series, part of the River to River Festival is back with more free, outdoor concerts in 2009. The initial portion of the always-indie-heavy lineup is here - both above, and in more detail, below...

Continue reading "South Street Seaport - initial 2009 free show schedule is here"

Bishop Allen @ Other Music - March 10, 2009 (Modern Mystery Blog)

Record Store Day (April 18, 2009) at Other Music...

Continue reading "Other Music's 2009 Record Store Day schedule "

by Bill Pearis

Thee Oh Sees

The post-SXSW music flood has yet to show relief and this week might actually be more jam-packed with goodness than last. Where to start?

Kings of San Francisco's fertile garage rock scene, Thee Oh Sees are back in town for two shows this weekend in what I'd have to call unlikely venues for the band. Thee Oh Sees are not exactly fond of playing on stages, as I've only ever seen them set up on the floor, so I'm not sure how they're going to handle it at The Bell House (4/4) and Mercury Lounge (4/5). Regardless, if they're anywhere near as good as they were at the Todd P/Woodsist party during SXSW it'll be a great time. John Dwyer is an intense frontman, flinging his guitars around and likes to get very intimate with his microphone for maximum in-the-red levels. Speaking of, In the Red is releasing Thee Oh Sees' great new album, Help, and while it's not in shops yet, it should be available at the merch table this weekend. Go see them.

Tyvek

Michigan's Tyvek are playing three shows this week, starting tonight (3/31) at Cake Shop. There is certainly no shortage of this kind of low fidelity, high attitude punk being made right now, but these guys do it better than most I think. The band, who keep changing the spelling of their name (Their Myspace currently has it as "Tyvjk"), are due to drop their debut full-length on Siltbreeze any minute now, so maybe they'll will be selling it at these gigs.

Tonight's show at Cake Shop is for the venue's "World's Birthday Party" parties held on the last day of each month. Tonight is curated by Peggy of Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Chuk Reutter of Gold Dust who will be playing their last-ever show tonight. Also on the bill: San Francisco's gothy New Thrill Parade (they sound more than a little like The Birthday Party), and two ca-USE co-MOTION offshoots (Extreme Violence and The German Measles). If your birthday is in March, it's free entry plus two drink ticket and a "gift" and cake. All others pay $7. Tomorrow (4/1) Tyvek play Death by Audio with local folkies Woods (whose new album, Songs of Shame is pretty darn good) and then on Thursday (4/2) opening for Asobi Seksu at Bowery Ballroom.

Crocodiles

Also on that Asobi Seksu bill are San Diego scuzz-rockers Crocodiles who put out a JAMC-loving single "Neon Jesus" last year and will release their debut album on April 28th via Fat Possum. Two songs from that album (as well as "Neon Jesus") are available over at RCRD LBL and show they also seem to like Spacemen 3 a lot too. I missed them at SXSW so I can't say whether they're good as a live band or not (editor's note: I liked what little I saw of them), but I'm guessing it's gonna be two guys, a drum machine and a truckload of feedback and reverb (editor's note: YES!). Which is okay by me. In addition to the BB show, Crocodiles also play Pianos on Saturday night (4/4) with the aforementioned New Thrill Parade and L.A.'s pummeling duo Tweak Bird (who BB most recently caught at SXSW).

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A few more shows to mention (and all tour dates below):

Continue reading "Crocodiles, Still Flyin, Thee Oh Sees, Tyvek, Late of the Pier & more in This Week in Indie"

photos by Leia Jospe

These Arms Are Snakes / Thao / Daniel Johnston & Hymns

Thirteen bands were scheduled to play the BrooklynVegan / Agency Group day party in Austin on Thursday, March 19, 2009. Twelve ended up playing - one of them twice. I think the story is that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who had a zillion other shows also scheduled during the SXSW week, got confused about what their set time was. For that reason (and traffic), they showed up too late to go on in their slot. Instead, The Wheel, who was our last-minute addition as opener on the inside stage, immediately went outside and played a second set on the larger outdoor stage in the late band's place. We got at least one "boo" when the "scheduling mixup" was announced, but what could we do? (sorry!) It was awesome of the Wheel to fill on a moment's notice. Hopefully the people outside enjoyed him after they got over the awkwardness. I didn't watch his second set, but he sounded amazing inside.

Due to overlap on the two stages, it was hard to see everyone that played the party. The most painful two decisions were Cursive or the Wrens, and These Arms or Snakes or Daniel Johnston. I think we originally had it worked out a little better in terms of that, but the main stage started to run late. I went back and forth and caught pieces of as much as I could (and all of Daniel).

Thanks to everyone who came!

Leia managed to catch 8 of the 12 bands (she missed The Wheel, Avett Brothers, New Villager and Au Revoir Simone). Her pictures are below...

Continue reading "BV day party @ Radio Room in Austin - pics by Leia "

DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Let's Wrestle - I Won't Lie to You (MP3)

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Chris La Putt

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart played the Bell House in Brooklyn on Friday, March 13th, with Let's Wrestle and Knight School.

Here the group played most of its album, faithfully rendered and with minimal flash. When not wringing notes out of his guitar, Mr. Berman delivered his words solemnly, helpfully leavened by Ms. Wang, whose high harmonies, even when faintly whispered, added necessary texture. So did her synthesizer, which was smooth and glassy on "Young Adult Friction" and needling and whiny on "The Tenure Itch." [NY Times]

Let's Wrestle, whose NYC visit included a MHOW show (3/10) with Black Lips, are also in Austin, playing Thursday at Wave Rooftop, Saturday at Volume, and other places.

More Bell House pics below...

Continue reading "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Let's Wrestle & Knight School @ the Bell House in Brooklyn - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Crystal Stilts - Love is a Wave (MP3)

Crystal Stilts @ Less Artists More Condos (more by Gabi Porter)

For a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, tonight's lineup is jam packed with bands (3/14). Originally just a stop on the Women / Crystal Stilts tour (which goes from Brooklyn to Austin for SXSW), the show now also includes Blank Dogs, Naked On The Vague, and Silk Flowers on the bill. Tickets are currently still available.

The new Crystal Stilts song linked for download above comes from their upcoming Love is a Wave 7" which will be released by Slumberland on March 31st.

Once in Austin, Crystal Stilts will be keeping busy by playing at least five shows, one of which is Cake Shop's showcase, and another at Ms. Bea's for Todd P. Crystal Stilts also have a show coming up at the much smaller Cake Shop (in NYC) with Pains of Being Pure at Heart in June. All dates below...

Continue reading "Crystal Stilts tour dates (BK tonight, SXSW) & a new MP3"

DOWNLOAD: The Donkeys - Walk Through A Cloud (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Donkeys - Nice Train (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Wallpaper remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daniel Johnston - Honey I Sure Miss You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daniel Johnston - Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Your Grievances
DOWNLOAD: These Arms Are Snakes - Red Line Season (MP3)

This free BrooklynVegan show takes place on two stages at Radio Room in Austin, Texas this Thursday afternoon, March 19, 2009 from noon-6pm. Set times, more info, and answers to (hopefully) all FAQ's below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn Vegan & Agency Group Austin day party lineup"

Built to Spill @ ATP 2008 (more by Zach Dilgard)

The 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival -- to be held in Chicago's Union Park Friday, July 17 - Sunday, July 19 -- is announcing the first round of band's to perform at this years festival, as well as a new series that will include Friday's performances. On Friday, the festival welcomes Yo La Tengo, The Jesus Lizard (first show in Chicago in eleven years!), Tortoise and Built to Spill; Saturday will see performances by The National, Pharoahe Monch, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, while Sunday's event includes Grizzly Bear, The Walkmen and Vivian Girls!

In years past, Friday night has been presented in conjunction with All Tomorrow's Parties and their "Don't Look Back" series, which is devoted to artists playing one seminal album from their back catalogue in its entirety. In 2008, Mission of Burma performed Vs., Sebadoh played Bubble & Scrape, and Public Enemy performed It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. 2007 saw Slint performing Spiderland, Gza/Genius performing Liquid Swords, and Sonic Youth performing Daydream Nation.

This year, the Pitchfork Music Festival is mixing things up a bit and putting the set lists in the hands of the fans, under a new series titled "Write the Night: Set Lists By Request." When someone buys a ticket they will receive a confirmation email that will include a link to a web page where they can vote on which of each band's songs they'd like to hear during their set - and truly be the ones to "Write the Night." Voting will begin on March 13 (when tickets go on sale) and will end on June 12.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest announces initial 2009 lineup (Gbear, VivGrls, National) - lets fans decide Friday setlists (BTS, Tortoise)"

photos by Jonny Leather

DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)

As mentioned about a zillion times, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are playing The Bell House in Brooklyn on March 13th with Let's Wrestle and Knight School. That show is now sold out, but if you don't have a ticket, don't worry... Let's Wrestle has other shows scheduled while they're in town, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart now have two more NYC shows on their calendar. One of them is the just-mentioned May 12th Bowery Ballroom show which is now on American Express presale. The other is a month after that - June 18th at Cake Shop with Crystal Stilts. That last show is sure to be packed.

Between the Bell House (March) and Bowery (May) there will also be plenty of chances to see TPOBPAH elsewhere in North America, especially if you're going to SXSW where they currently have TEN shows scheduled including the TBA BrooklynVegan day party at Radio Room on Thursday March 18th, and the previously announced Pitchfork party happening at Emo's on March 20th.

Just the other day, the band opened one of the two NYC Midnight Masses/Trail of Dead shows. The So So Glos were the third band on the Bowery one in Manhattan, and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart were the third band on the Brooklyn show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Jonny was at the latter, took some pics, and said,

Also on the bill for this show was pop shoegazers, and equally-long-moniker-possessing, Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Hot off of well-deserved Pitchfork praise for their new self-titled full length, Pains of Being Pure At Heart did not disappoint. Every minute of their all too brief set was just as sweet and luscious as their record, and though the vocals were never quite as enchanting, the rest of their sound was heightened by the great sound system and sheer volume which always seems to enhance shoegaze.

Continue reading "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Trail of Dead show pics & 2009 Tour Dates (BV SXSW & Cake Shop included)"

Loney Dear @ Union Hall (more by Tim Griffin)

Tickets are on Am Ex presale (@ noon) for the Melvins show at Webster Hall.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale (@ noon) for a May 5th Loney Dear show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale (@ noon) for a May 6th Lady Sovereign show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale (@ noon) for the Fischerspooner shows happening at Webster Hall and Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale (@ noon) for the Ghost show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale (@ noon) for a May 11th Vivian Girls / Times New Viking show at Bowery Ballroom

Tickets are on Am Ex presale (@ noon) for a May 12th The Pains of Being Pure at Heart show at Bowery Ballroom

Tickets are on sale for the Cake show happening at Terminal 5.

Van Morrison performs "Astral Weeks" one more time tonight (3/4).

Anathallo plays Mercury Lounge tonight.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart play live, and a psychic tells Thom Yorke's future, in the videos below...

Continue reading "Melvins, Ghost, Loney Dear, Lady Sovereign, Fischerspooner, Times New Viking & other tickets "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Let's Wrestle - I Won't Lie to You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Screaming Tea Party - I'd Rather Be Stuck on the Stair Rail (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: My Sad Captains - Great Expectations (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Artefacts For Space Travel - Recoup (MP3)

Let's Wrestle


London's Stolen Recordings (not to be confused with Ultragrrrl's Stolen Transmission) is one of the cooler small UK indie labels, having released some great records last year including Pete and the Pirates' Little Death which made my Best of 2008 list. Like seemingly everyone in the music industry, the label is going to have a showcase at next month's South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX, featuring almost their entire roster: Pete & the Pirates, Let's Wrestle, My Sad Captains, Screaming Tea Party and Artefacts for Space Travel. It's Thursday night at Wave Rooftop if you're interested and are attending.

While none of Stolen Recordings records have gotten released in America, you can get almost all of them on Emusic if you subscribe to that. For those in NYC, we get our own mini Stolen Recordings showcase soon, featuring two of the label's groups - Let's Wrestle and Screaming Tea Party. They both will be playing a handful of shows here before they head to Austin.

Let's Wrestle are punky, shambolic, and pretty irresistible. Check out "I Won't Lie to You" at the top of this post, it's probably the band's most well-known song to date and is indicative of singer Wesley Patrick Gonzalez's lyrical style that is both funny and self-deprecating, a style somewhere between Los Campesinos and Art Brut. ("No matter how many records I buy, I can't fill this void.") Their EP from last year, In Loving Memory Of, collected some of their best songs though not "Song for an Abba Tribute Record" or "I Wish I was in Husker Du" two songs that are worth searching for. Maybe they'll show up on their debut, In the Court of Wrestling Let's, when it comes out later this year.

Let's Wrestle are playing four shows in NYC, including one at Maxwell's, one opening for Black Lips at Music Hall of Williamsburg (tickets), and, as previously mentioned, one opening for Pains of Being Pure at Heart at The Bell House (tickets). Pains and Let's Wrestle will also do a few East Coast dates in addition to the Brooklyn show. All dates are at the bottom of this post.

Screaming Tea Party

Tokyo via London trio Screaming Tea Party get compared to Sonic Youth and the Jesus and Mary Chain a lot, and there are plenty of buzzsaw riffs, shouty choruses and blasts of noise to be found on their debut EP, Golden Blue, though they made me think of early-'90s band Daisy Chainsaw, if you remember them at all. Judge for yourself: their single "I'd Rather be Stuck on the Stair Rail" can be downloaded at the top of this post. Screaming Tea Party have three NYC shows -- though none on the same bill as Let's Wrestle -- including stops at Cake Shop, Fontanas, and the Crashin' In pre-SXSW party with Depreciation Guild, Mirror Mirror and We Are Country Mice at Public Assembly.

Full details at the bottom of this post, along with some videos...

Continue reading "Let's Wrestle & Screaming Tea Party are coming - NY, SXSW"

"There has been an exodus of live music from Downtown Manhattan recently, and the Lower East Side has been one of the hardest hit 'hoods--losing rock clubs such as Tonic, Luna Lounge and the somewhat short-lived Rothko over the past few years. Is the Mercury Lounge the next to go? The building that houses the famed venue has just hit the market through brokerage Massey Knakal with a price tag of $6.5 million. The five-story walk-up at Houston and Essex Streets--sandwiched between a nightclub and the towering new luxury rental building The Ludlow--has eight apartments (six of them currently rent-stabilized) and a billboard in addition to its commercial tenant. Don't panic: the listing indicates the club isn't going anywhere, and according to broker Philip Huang, the Merc's lease runs until 2018. Phew!

Can a new landlord boot the club come 2018? Well, according to the sales flyer on the listing, the Mercury Lounge has an option to renew for five years at fair market value. The club currently pays $20,000/month in rent, with a 3.5% annual increase. Noisy rock-'n'-rollers aside, the new owner's first mission might be to increase the revenue taken in from that east-facing billboard on the building's facade. According to the paperwork, the current deal (expires 12/31/2010) only nets the landlord $850 per month." [CURBED]

Saturday is The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (the latest recipients of Best New Music), Cause Co-Motion, The Depreciation Guild, and ZAZA (sold out).

Sunday is Lucero (sold out).

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: WAVVES - So Bored (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Savoir Adore - We Talk Like Machines (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Francis and the Lights - Lime (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)

NODZZZ

This week is especially filthy with good shows so let's not waste any time. The biggest deal, at least for me, is the WAVVES / NODZZZ who are playing in town three times this weekend. Both are from California, spell their names in all-caps with repeated consonants and make lo-fi punky pop. San Diego's WAVVES seem to be getting most of the attention, with two records out in less than a year - last year's Wavves on Woodsist and the forthcoming Wavvves (note the extra V) on Fat Possum (it was originally on De Stijl). On record, WAVVES is basically one dude, Nathan Williams, but live they are a duo, and from the clips I've seen on YouTube, they are slightly less imposing live than on their distortion-on-everything recordings.

I'm more excited about NODZZZ, who are a trio from San Francisco and just released a great vinyl-only 12" on What's Your Rupture. (You can also get it on Emusic.) It's bratty and nasally and sounds a lot like the Dead Milkmen, but NODZZZ aren't as overtly jokey. They play Friday (2/6) at Market Hotel, Saturday (2/7) at Less Artists More Condos, and a Sunday (2/8) afternoon show at the Underground Lounge. All shows are with Woods and Blank Dogs.

Musée Mécanique

Good show tonight (2/4) at Cake Shop. Portland's Musée Mécanique make baroque pop, heavy with mellotron, glockenspiel, and accordion. Their album from last year, Hold This Ghost, is quite lovely. It might be too precious for some, but I hear they are really good live (especially for you glockenspiel lovers) and would like to check them out. Also playing are locals Soft Black (not to be confused with The Soft Pack) who are starting to get some attention. I haven't seen them live but their new album, The Earth is Black (and Other Apocalyptic Lullabies for Children), has some good songs on it. And as this site mentioned previously, Dave Deporis opens.

Savoir Adore

One of my favorite new local bands, Savoir Adore, are playing Thursday at Bowery Ballroom, opening for Francis and the Lights. Fronted by Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer, Savoir Adore make the kind pristine guitar pop you used to hear a lot with '80s bands like The Go-Betweens and Let's Active but isn't so much in fashion these days. They aren't too far away from what Stars do, either, though less grandiose if you know what I mean. Ther EP Savoir Adore have out on Cantora Records is good, but is a concept record fairy tale thing that is good but not a very good introduction to the band. (Their proper debut will be out on Cantora this summer.) I've seen them a couple times and they are very, very good live. If you don't check them out at Bowery, keep their name in mind. Definitely one of my Bands to Watch in '09.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released their great debut album this week and are kicking off a month-long tour with The Deprecation Guild with a show this Saturday (2/7) at Mercury Lounge that also features their Slumberland label-mates cAUSE co-MOTION. It's sold out, but TPOPBAH play The Bell House on March 13 with awesome UK band Let's Wrestle (who are also playing a Todd P show but more on that later) and Knight School. Tickets are still on sale for that one.

The Mommyheads

Also Saturday (afternoon) at Union Hall is a (2pm) show that seems transported in a time machine from Brownies in 1997, with Babe the Blue Ox, Ida, and The Mommyheads. The night is actually the second-annual memorial tribute to Mommyheads drummer (and later for Beekeeper) Jan Kotik who lost a three-year battle with cancer in 2007. The Mommyheads, who I was unaware were back together, put out a new record last year, You're Not a Dream. As for Babe the Blue Ox, I never really got into them but they had a fervent following in the '90s. The original line-up got back together last year and are working on a new record so I'm told. And Ida have been making truly lovely folk-pop since the early-'90s, having grown from a duo to a four-piece over the years and are now on Polyvinyl, who released last year's underheard Lover's Prayers. Also on the bill: The Ditty Committee and Mighty High. It's a free afternoon show!

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And finally in this overstuffed post, Cake Shop is having their first ever Yo Doo, a monthy swap meet type mart that is best explained in this press release:

YO DOO is a brand spanking new art + comix + small press + record fair that happens on the first Saturday of every month at New York City's Cake Shop. From noon till seven you can see + hear + buy + trade with the cream of D.I.Y. crop on both floors of the store, followed by a special live musical performance. We are looking for small publishers, record labels, printmakers, zinemakers, comix manufacturers, artists and crafters who want to want to sell their wares and have a good time. At YO DOO, Cake Shop is your shop.

Tour dates, flyers and videos below...

Continue reading "NODZZZ, WAVVES, Musée Mécanique, Mommyheads, Savoir Adore, TPOPBAH, YO DOO swap & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

The Depreciation Guild

For fans of Shoegaze/Dreampop/etc, the Bell House is where you want to be tonight (1/8) for a free show with locals The Depreciation Guild, Dead Leaf Echo, and Luxa. I'm quite fond of The Depreciation Guild's most recent album, In Her Gentle Jaws, which you can download for free from the band's website. Mixing heavy and heavily-treated guitars with beats built on a Nintendo Famicom, they actually kind of remind me of me of Mew's dreamier moments. The Depreciation Guild are also going on tour with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart next month so the rest of the country will get a chance to check them out too.

As for the other two bands on the bill, I'm not familiar other than checking out their respective MySpace pages, but Dead Leaf Echo have dreampop cred: their forthcoming album was produced by John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, Pale Saints), and they've had remixes done by Ulrich Schnauss. Luxa are a little more on the bliss-out side of things. No idea what any of these bands are like live, but you can't argue with the price. Also free: Brooklyn Lager from 8-9.

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Keeping things Brooklyn local, My Teenage Stride play Union Hall Friday night (1/9). The band have entirely revamped their line-up in the last six months but when I saw them at Glasslands late last year they were good as ever. If you like Lloyd Cole, the Chills, The Wedding Present and other jangly '80s indie signifiers, you should definitely seek them out, if you haven't already. My Teenage Stride also play next Thursday (1/15) at Vanishing Point Studio in Bushwick.

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Box Elders

It's already been mentioned that Michigan band Tyvek are playing three shows this weekend, one of which is at Market Hotel with Crystal Stilts. Also on that bill are Omaha trio Box Elders, who are not named after the classic Pavement song, or the tree, but the bugs that infested the house where two-thirds of the band (Jeremiah and Clayton McIntyre) grew up. (They claim they still have a snare with about 100 dead box elder bugs in it...eww.) So far the band only have one single, the excelent "Hole in My Head" which sounds a lot like New Zealand's The Clean to these ears. (Bonus points: the b-side is a cover of Redd Kross' "S&M Party.") The Box Elders are currently on a fairly extensive US tour but The Market Hotel show is their only NYC-area show so do check them out.

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And finally, this weekend marks the premiere of FUTURITY -- a musical written by local retro-futurists The Lisps. As the Lisps' shows tend to be theatrical anyway, mixing elements of vaudville and Americana and other genres, it's no real suprise they had a musical in them. Here's the blurb:

FUTURITY tells the story of Julian Munro, a lowly foot soldier in the American Civil War with an overactive imagination and a dream to be a famous writer. Through the double narrative of Julian's wartime experience ripping up Confederate railroads in southwestern Virginia, and the grimly futuristic novel he writes along the way, the musical weaves an ominous and bizarre tale of destruction, creation, and utopianism. The protagonist of Julian's novel, The Inventor, devises an omnipotent steam-powered artificial intelligence that he sees as a panacea for all of humanity's woes. The story is largely narrated by Ada Lovelace, the famous mathematician and Julian's imaginary muse. The music in FUTURITY draws inspiration from every corner of traditional Americana and contemporary indie-rock to paint a quintessentially American scene of war, antiquity, technological hubris, and outmoded conceptions of futurity.

ALSO THIS WEEKEND: 2 Camper Van Beethoven shows

Videos, tourdates and other stuff for some the above groups after the jump...

Continue reading "the Depreciation Guild, Box Elders, My Teenage Stride, a Lisps musical & more in This Week in Indie"

DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything With You (MP3)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have two upcoming NYC shows scheduled. The first is February 7th at Mercury Lounge which is also the first date of a tour the NYC band is going on with The Depreciation Guild. Cause CO-Motion! is also on the Manhattan bill and tickets are on sale. The second is March 13th at the Bell House which is the first date of a tour the band is playing on their way to SXSW.

Their self-titled album (pictured above) will be released in February 2009. Grab two tracks from it above. Check out a video, some pics from the show they played at MHOW with Bishop Allen in November, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - 2009 Tour Dates, a new album & some MP3s & live pics"

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 "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - The Brigde (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - Ernie and the Sand (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kirsten Ketsjer - Foot and Foot
DOWNLOAD: Women - Black Rice (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elk City - Los Cruzados (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Elk City - Cherries in the Snow (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Amazing Baby - Infinite Fucking Cross EP (Zip file)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything with You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)

Kristen Ketsjer & friends

With all the quality shows between now and tuesday you'd think CMJ had already started and it's making it very hard to keep to my vow to take it easy before next week's onslaught. Here are a few that are making it especially difficult.

I only caught two songs by Danish trio Kirsten Ketsjer at this year's SXSW, purely by accident, but I was taken by their VU-meets-Television style guitar rock that can be both delicately beautiful and monsterously loud. But mostly beautiful. Drummer Anja Jacobsen sings while guitarists Andreas Führer and Anders Lauge Meldgaard spin webs around each other. Not sure why they haven't gotten more attention than they have -- last year's FFFFOO K TSSCCH! is a pretty magical album -- that may change after next week. They're playing at least once a day during CMJ and there are two shows this week (Thursday [10/16] at Lit, and Friday [10/17] at Dead Herring) if you want to catch them early. Do check them out.

Elk City

Elk City are playing a special show this Saturday (10/18) at Union Hall. The band, who've added former Luna guitarist Sean Eden to their lineup, agreed to be the entertainment at a friend's wedding which meant they had to learn a whole slew of cover songs and the Union Hall show is a dress rehearsal of sorts for the big day. Expect more along the lines of Bowie, Nina Simone, and Carol King than "The Chicken Dance," "The Electric Slide" or the dreaded "Butterfly Kisses." The show will be interspersed with Elk City material too, including some of the songs in contention for their new album. Opening are Boy Genius who put on a nice show Tuesday opening for Bearsuit.

White Denim

If you're willing to go out on a Sunday (10/19) you can see a lot of CMJ buzz bands before the fest actually starts. And actually, at Mercury Lounge are Austin's White Denim (tickets), who are skipping CMJ entirely in favor of a European tour. Their U.S. debut, Exposion, is out November 11 and is a slightly different version of their acclaimed UK release, Workout Holiday, which was released earlier this year. It defies easy description: there's some noodling guitars a la the Minutemen; bluesy passages like some other White bands; shouty indie rock and blissful psychedelia. I dig it. White Denim also play Union Hall the next night (10/20) (tickets).

Playing with them at Mercury Lounge are Amazing Baby who I've written about more than once both here and over at my own blog. They've been playing pretty regularly over the summer and are a pretty tight machine these days, so they should be ready for CMJ and their upcoming tour with MGMT and Violens. If you haven't heard them yet, you can download their Infinite Fucking Cross EP for free.

Women

Meanwhile, around the corner at Cake Shop, Friction NYC have put together a pretty unmissable lineup as well: The noise-drenched pure pop of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart who are fresh off a tour of Sweden; reverb-loving Canadians, Women;, who are certainly one of CMJ's most buzzed-about bands; Jackson Heights' only garage rock band*, The Beets (*fact completely uncomfirmed by me); and the organ styling of another Canadian, Katie Stelmanis.

Current # of CMJ-related shows Women have coming up: 9
Current # of CMJ-related shows The Muslims have coming up: 9

Both Women and The Muslims are playing BrooklynVegan parties during CMJ. The Muslims are on the Thursday October 23rd one. Women are on the unannounced Saturday October 25th one. If you count the pre-CMJ Cake Shop show, that raises Women's total NYC show count to 10. Don't be surprised if more NYC shows pop up on both of their schedules.

All tour dates and videos for all bands in this post, below...

Continue reading "Kirsten Ketsjer, Women, Elk City, White Denim, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart & more in This Week In Indie"

by Bill Pearis

week one. week two. week three....

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (TPOBPAH)

Was last summer this crammed with stuff to do? It seems like there have been very few nights of easy living, what with all these worthy shows. And Summer may have official started last weekend, but it's this one that feels like it, with the return of the Sunday McCarren Pool parties, and Celebrate Brooklyn shows in Prospect Park and the Seaport. Too many shows to all throw, willy-nilly, into one post so here are a few things I'm excited about.

If you didn't get enough jangly guitars and winsome melodies at the NYC Popfest two weeks ago (or you missed it and wished you hadn't), tonight at Cake Shop finds monthly UK party Twee as F**k coming to NYC for the first time. Headlining the show are The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who were really great at Popfest, and should be right at home tonight (June 26) at what the band told L Magazine was their favorite New York venue.

Also on the Twee as F**k bill are two bands from Cleveland, Bears and Afternoon Naps. I'm particularly looking forward to Bears, who I would put somewhere between The Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Boy Least Likely To. Their 2006 debut is really good and they've got a song on the two volume, download-only Summer's Here compilation that Norwegian blog Eardrums offered up earlier this week.

They are also promising free cupcakes. Fun starts at 9PM. Bears are also playing Death by Audio on Friday with Pwrfl Power and Tickley Feather. All Bears dates below.

continued....

Continue reading "Warlocks & Blacklist & Bears Oh!My! - also Twee as F**k, TPOBPAH, APTBS & more in this week in indie"