DOWNLOAD: Doldrums - "Egypt" (Young Magic Redux) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Doldrums - "Egypt" (MP3)

Young Magic at Mercury Lounge in 2011 (more by Jessica Amaya)

Brooklyn psych poppers Young Magic and Boston psych folkies Quilt are teaming up for a psych-filled co-headlining tour this summer. The tour kicks off with a Brooklyn show on June 28 at Glasslands, and after hitting up other parts of the US and Canada, returns to NYC to wrap up the tour at Mercury Lounge on July 29. Tickets for the Glasslands show and the Mercury Lounge show are on sale now.

Young Magic also just remixed the Doldrums track "Egypt" off of his upcoming EP of the same name, due out June 4 via Souterrain Transmissions. Download the remix and the original above, and stream both below. Doldrums was just in NYC for two shows with Bear in Heaven and Blouse.

All dates and streams below...

Continue reading "Young Magic touring with Quilt, remixed Doldrums"

by Bill Pearis

Allo Darlin'

Hope you all survived Record Store Day. I didn't find most of what I was looking for (most of which was UK only) but I did get that great Lee Hazlewood comp on Light in the Attic. Hope you found what you wanted the most. Lots of good stuff this week, so let's get into it.

The most TWII show of the week happens tonight (4/24) at Mercury Lounge: Allo Darlin' and The Wave Pictures. It's the start of the two bands' tour together that will wrap up on Sunday, May 20 for the last day of the NYC Popfest which is happening at Littlefield (w/ Ladybug Transistor, White Town and about six more that day). All Allo Darlin'/Wave Pictures tour dates at the bottom of this post.

Allo Darlin's second LP, Europe, came out last week to pretty much across-the-board acclaim. It's a little more melancholy than the band's debut, with a lot less ukulele this time out. Maybe that seems like a good thing, but I must say I miss the exuberance of Allo Darlin's debut. The more subdued nature of the songs and production make it sound like a Camera Obscura album much of the time, a comparison I would've never made before. But Elizabeth Morris' songwriting and voice are still in fine form, it's all just a little more "mature."

You can stream Allo Darlin's Europe at the bottom of this post. I'm sure one thing that hasn't changed is Allo Darlin's ability to charm in the live setting.

The Wave Pictures

The same goes for The Wave Pictures who I will always go see live even if I'm not so crazy about the album they're touring to support. Not that they change so much from record to record. Their new album, Long Black Cars, is pretty good (listen at Spotify) I think but much like the rest: Dave Tattersall spins fascinating, funny stories with a singsong delivery. Most of their albums sound like they were recorded live, but it always comes off a million times more compelling when you actually see them play. Tattersall is also one of the funniest between-song banterers of our age. Also funny: the Darren Hayman-directed video for their song "Spaghetti" which you can watch below.

Here We Go Magic

Here We Go Magic will release their third album, A Different Ship, in a couple weeks (May 8 specifically) and soon head out on a short UK tour before covering most of North America with Hospitality. (All dates are below.) Before that, HWGM play this Friday (4/26) at Knitting Factory with Glass Ghost.

The new album has an interesting birth. Stuck playing a pre-noon set at Glastonbury 2010, the groggy band were playing to a groggy crowd, none of whom seemed to be having any fun. Except for two guys dancing right up front, who turned out to be Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich. The band met Yorke and Godrich after their set and Godrich turned up at more European shows... and ended up producing Different Ships. This is the bands first album that didn't start with Luke Temple doing demos on his own, and with the band incorporated from the beginning (and working in Godrich's studio). While still boyant and dreamy, Different Ships feels a little bigger, a little more fully formed than the previous two. You can stream "Make Up Your Mind" at the bottom of this post as well stream new single "How Do I Know?" at Secretly Canadian's SoundCloud page.

The Feelies at Prospect Park in 2011 (more by Tamara Porras)

And finally, while Feelies shows have become less rare since the band actually made a new album, but any chance to see one of the most influential NYC-area bands of the last 30 years is one you shouldn't pass up. And you have that chance on Friday (4/27) at the Bell House. While bands from Luna (who had the Feelies' Stanley Demeski on drums at the beginnning) to The Strokes have taken from them, there's no substitute for that Bill Million/Glen Mercer guitar interplay that still sounds like magic.

You can listen to the Feelies' terrific album from last year, Here Before, as well as some of their classic ones, at Spotify. The Feelies also play Saturday (4/28) at Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY if you're up that way and a few more scheduled dates throughout the summer which are further down this post.

That's the big stuff this week. Day-by-day picks of things not covered above, are below.

Diehard

TUESDAY, APRIL 24

Diehard are at Union Hall tonight with Everest, Benjamin Cartel (of Kaiser Cartel) and Resistor. Diehard just released a video for their theme songwhich you can watch below. It's from last year's The Times We Didn't Have Fun which you can download for free from Bandcamp. Diehard also play Saturday (4/28) at the Rock Bar in the west, West Village.

Colorado's Gauntlet Hair are in town at GLasslands tonight with dream poppers Field Mouse and Baby Alpaca.

Catch new Captured Tracks artist Mac Demarco tonight at Bowery Ballroom opening for Nite Jewel.

Nick Lowe

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25

One of the coolest cats around, Nick Lowe is at at Town Hall with nearly 40 years worth of amazing songs in his arsenal. Last year's The Old Magic was another winner from the Basher and you can stream it at Spotify and watch the comedy star-studded video for "Sensitive Man" below.

Sacramento's astral trio Sister Crayon wrap up their Pianos residency tonight with support from Megafortress, New Moods and Tygerstrype. Stay late for a free show from Japanese rockers ZZZ's.

continued below...

Continue reading "Allo Darlin', The Wave Pictures, Here We Go Magic, The Feelies, Nick Lowe & more in This Week in Indie"

Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

Off! @ NXNE 2011 (more by Natasha Ryan)

The most memorable thing that happened the year I visited Toronto for NXNE was Iggy Pop & The Stooges playing their big, outdoor, free, no-ticket-or-badge-required show downtown at Yonge-Dundas Square. Last year the Descendents did it. This year they've landed the Flaming Lips which should be an amazing spectacle. And:

NXNE Music has confirmed that Bad Religion, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah and Matthew Good will headline free shows at Yonge-Dundas Square (YDS) throughout the seven-day festival. The NXNE Music line-up also includes performances at YDS and in the clubs by Of Montreal, No Use For A Name, Purity Ring, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Death Grips, The Men, Bleached, Good Riddance, METZ, Ceremony, Plants & Animals, The Death Set, The Sadies & Andre Williams, Oberhofer, Reigning Sound, Action Bronson, 2:54, Yamantaka/ /Sonic Titan, The Hundred in The Hands, Rival Schools, Killer Mike, Young Magic, Hayes Carll, Friends, Hollerado, Bran Van 3000, The Black Belles, Doldrums, Odonis Odonis, Mac DeMarco, Bass Drum of Death, Porcelain Raft, Exitmusic, Violens, Grass Widow, Eight and a Half, DZ Deathrays, Jonathan Toubin, Art vs. Science, B L A C K I E, The Nils and Ivan Julian (ex-Richard Hell & The Voidoids).

This year's fest takes place at multiple venues across Toronto from June 11-17, 2012. Tickets are on sale.

Last year BrooklynVegan co-hosted a boat party with M For Montreal and Bruise Cruise.

To quote this week's This Week in Indie,

Sunday night (3/4) at Bowery Ballroom is the NYC debut of Swedish duo Korallreven, one half of which is The Radio Dept.'s Daniel Tjäder. I like their debut album a lot, all lush, synth-driven dream pop but, like a lot of music like this, I wonder how they're going to make it an interesting concert experience. I envision two guys behind laptops and keyboards bobbing their heads and singing, with some projections and hopefully smoke machines. Maybe they could move the downstairs couches to the main room? Maybe I'm wrong. We'll see. I'm sure it will sound great in any case. If you haven't heard them yet, you can download "Sa Sa Samoa" in regular and remixed form at the top of this post and watch the video at the bottom of this post. Also playing: Lemonade and Young Magic.

Continue reading "Korallreven are here (WIN TIX), playing BV party @ SXSW"

by Andrew Sacher

Young Magic at Mercury Lounge in 2011 (more by Jessica Amaya)

Young Magic released their debut album, Melt, last week (2/14) via Carpark and played a release show in NYC at Mercury Lounge this past Saturday (2/18). How was that show?

Melt, which you can stream in its entirety on bandcamp, is a fairly solid debut. Think Yeasayer's percussive psych pop and The Weeknd's hipster approved R&B drowned in tons of reverb, and you've pretty much got the idea. There's not too much diversity from song to song but it's an enjoyable listen for sure and worth checking out.

Young Magic has more upcoming dates this March, including hooking up with Korallreven for a few dates on their tour which hits Bowery Ballroom on March 4. Lemonade is also on that show and tickets are still available. Then they'll join Bear in Heaven for a few dates on their tour with Doldrums and Blouse (none in NYC). They will return to NYC after that run to play Cameo on April 6 with Co La and SoftSpot. Tickets for that Brooklyn show are on sale now.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Young Magic opening for Korallreven, playing Cameo (dates)"

Young Magic at Mercury Lounge in 2011 (more by Jessica Amaya)

Young Magic picked up quite a bit of buzz in 2011 with a few singles and multiple tours with Youth Lagoon. They also played one of our CMJ Parties.

Now they're set to release their debut LP, Melt on February 14 via Carpark. The album will feature material from their singles, including "Night In The Ocean," "Slip Time", "Sparkly", and "You With Air." You can stream all four of those tracks below, along with the album artwork and tracklist, and the video for "Sparkly."

A while back Young Magic announced a record release show scheduled to take place in their current hometown of NYC on February 18 at Mercury Lounge. That show was cancelled after tickets went on sale but was re-announced this week and tickets are on sale now. The show is being opened by Heaven, who also open the Swervedriver show at Bowery Ballroom (3/31).

Young Magic were also initially billed as the openers for YACHT's upcoming tour but have since dropped off (2/26 Brooklyn show included).

Video, streams, and album info below...

Continue reading "Young Magic drop off YACHT tour, schedule NY release show"

New Moods (whose members include a Young Magic member and Gang Gang Dance's engineer) have been busy practicing for their 9pm set at the BV Holiday Party at Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight (12/13) (some tickets will be on sale at the door), but they managed to get this list in just in time for those going (or still thinking of going) (or wondering if they should show up for the opener) (you should!) to get to know them better. Here is a list of the top 10 music things that New Moods loved in/about 2011 (in no particular order)...

Continue reading "New Moods' Top 10 Things in 2011 "

Dan Deacon & fans @ Fun Fun Fun Fest

Dan Deacon, now signed to Domino (!) for a record due in 2012 (more details TBA), has still got it. Earlier this month, as you can see in the pictures here, I witnessed him play to a giant crowd of rabid fans at Fun Fun Fun Fest. As usual he played from the ground instead of the stage, and luckily with the help of a security guard to shield his equipment from the wild, swaying mass. More pictures are below.

Later that same day, Dan performed again, but on a stage (the Yellow Stage to be exact) as part of the Wham City Comedy Tour that has now arrived in NYC for a show at 285 Kent tonight...

====| FRIDAY 11/18 @ RIC/RAMBO @ 285 KENT AVE |====
|| JM RAMBO presents
|| WHAM CITY COMEDY TOUR
|| Adam Endres
|| A Funny Clown
|| Alan Resnick
|| April Camlin
|| Ben O'Brien
|| Connor Kizer
|| Dan Deacon
|| Ellie Beziat
|| Erin Gleeson
|| Mason Ross
|| Peter O'Connell
|| Robby Rackleff
| RIC/RAMBO @ 285 KENT AVE |
285 Kent Ave @ South 1st | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, G-Metropolitan, JM-Marcy | 8pm | $8 | all ages

Last but not least, Dan is one of a few artists who have contributed tracks to a free holiday album that Carpark is releasing on 12/6. The full tracklist and more details on that are also below...

Continue reading "Dan Deacon on Domino, on a new Christmas album, on tour (dates & more pics from Fun Fun Fun Fest)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Rachel Kowal

Youth Lagoon @ Mercury Lounge - 11/15/2011

Only a handful of dim, blue lights and a faintly glowing lantern lit the stage at the Mercury Lounge last night as Young Magic began to play. Though terrible for photography, the darkness complimented the trio's soulful, animalistic sound.

Mixing music from a number of genres, Young Magic crafts a unique sound, largely inspired by Isaac Emmanuel and Michael Italia's independent travels through the small towns and cities of Europe, the UK, and South America.

As if incorporating the flavor from the illegal 1920s cabaret venue on the ground floor of their practice space, Young Magic's music is at once sensuous and restless. At times, even Italia's long, bead necklace seemed to add something to the mix as his sudden movements sent it dancing around his neck, in time to his unconventional, African-inspired beats. And Indonesian born Melati Malay's reverb-soaked vocals are arresting, especially when set to Isaac Emmanuel's rolling spoken word verses.

Making music seems to be an act of catharsis for both parties, judging by the earnest candor of the evening's performances.

"I really want to thank Young Magic for opening up tonight," Youth Lagoon's Trevor Powers said of his tour mates. And it's that particular choice of diction, that seemingly insignificant two-letter word, "up," that makes all the difference.

Given the deeply personal and revealing nature of his own lyrics and his experience with anxiety disorders (which he discusses freely in interviews), Powers should know. But last night, even a slow start plagued by over twenty minutes of technical difficulties didn't seem to phase the Idaho native. With its lush melodies and winsome touches, Youth Lagoon's music feels at once nostalgic about the past and hopeful for the future ("Montana" being a good example of this).

With just a single album under his belt, Powers has been attracting a lot of praise over the past few months, and last night's sold-out audience was deeply supportive and enthusiastic. Between each song, people yelled out encouragements or tried to engage the young, cherub-faced singer in conversation.

"People always yell things, but I can never hear," mused Powers. "Ok. You in the back, with your hand raised..."

"POSITIVE FEELINGS!" came the fragmented response. Powers grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, positive feelings."

Hardly anyone budged at the end of his short, 40-minute set, prompting Powers and friend/band mate Logan Hyde to return for a final song, "Daydream." Sometimes, music is the best medicine.

--

It was tour-mates Youth Lagoon & Young Magic's 2nd show in two nights at the NYC venue. Pictures and video from the first night are HERE. More pictures and the setlist from the second, below...

Continue reading "Youth Lagoon & Young Magic played Mercury Lounge one more time (night 2 pics & review)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

Youth Lagoon @ Mercury Lounge

Like they did when Trevor Powers made his NYC debut back in September, tourmates Youth Lagoon (the project of Trevor Powers) and Young Magic shared a bill at Mercury Lounge last night (11/14)... and they will again tonight (11/15). How was the show? We'll talk more about tonight's tomorrow. For now here are some pics and video (9 minutes worth) from last night. It all continues below...

Continue reading "Youth Lagoon & Young Magic played Mercury Lounge again, will again too (pics & video)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Youth Lagoon @ Emo's Monday night

Youth Lagoon is currently on a tour with Young Magic that hit Emo's in Austin on November 7, the day after Fun Fun Fun Fest ended. The room was packed, especially for a Monday after midnight, and it was one of the last-ever shows on the Emo's Inside stage which closes by 2012. Emo's Outside is already shuttered.

I missed Young Magic, but Youth Lagoon played a short but sweet set as a two-piece. He was his usual talkative self. And though his dialogue can sometimes take him places he has trouble digging himself out of (in this case he started dissing Texas sort of maybe), when he sings all is forgiven. The songs sounded especially great this night too, especially compared to what I saw months before at Mercury Lounge where I was wishing there was a drummer. Pictures from the Austin show are in this post.

Youth Lagoon and Young Magic will be in NYC for two shows next week happening on November 14 and 15 at Mercury Lounge. Both shows are now sold out. UPDATE: back on sale.

Youth Lagoon, who is working on a second music video, recently performed "July" for Pitchfork's Tunnelvision. You can watch a video of that with the rest of the pictures, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Youth Lagoon played Emo's (pics), continues on tour (dates) (UPDATE: Merc shows back on sale)"

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Amanda Hatfield

Casiokids @ Public Assembly

Well, another CMJ week has come and gone. How did you fare?

Though Northside summoned a number of my favorite artists to town, the CMJ line-up was rather thin by comparison, so I made it my goal to catch as many new acts as possible this year. With help from BV's tightly scheduled day parties, I managed to squeeze in 46 bands. While it's all still fresh in my mind (ie, before I spend the next week hibernating), here's a recap of my week, complete with my favorite finds...

I kicked things off with trance-inducing, one-man knob twittler Sun Glitters. Figuring out how to bring life to headphone-friendly, sample-heavy music in a live audience setting can be a challenge, but the few I saw this week (Million Young, Chad Valley and Luxembourg's Sun Glitters included) were decent.

If last year was the age of the one-man laptop act, 2011 was rife with lo-fi, synth/guitar-heavy (mostly) male groups cloaked in reverb. Each band had its strengths: Sunglasses (great energy on stage), Gauntlet Hair, Guards (perfectly summed up the sound of the moment), 1,2,3, Balkans (nice balance of in-your-face guitars and sunnily-swaggering vox), Tiny Victories. But after a while, I confess they all started to blend together--especially since a good chunk of these bands came early in the week for me.

What did stand out for me in this category was San Diego's garage-psych outfit Tropical Popsicle. Instead of falling flat, the deadpan vocal delivery of Tim Hines pulled me in and kept my attention, making me forget about my plans to leave midset. Another pleasant surprise for me was Dive, the side project of Beach Fossils guitarist Zachary Cole Smith.

But after a rather slow start to the week when schedule issues and cancellations made me abandon my original plans, things definitely picked up midweek. I spent Wednesday evening shuffling around in the rain to some seven venues. From the synth-driven pop music of Norway's Casiokids (whom I managed to sneak in on my lunch hour) to the decent public radio-friendly folk-pop of The Lighthouse and The Whaler and Lissy Trullie's alluringly husky vocals, the day was full of pleasant surprises--not the least of which was John Maus, easily one of the highlights of my week.

As I walked through the door at 285 Kent, I immediately felt as if I had gone back in time. Thick music pumped from the DIY graffiti-covered space, through clouds of cigarette smoke. On stage, Maus shook with intensity as he addressed the mass of dancing, sweaty revelers. Beneath the shambling chaos of the quick synth riffs and simple drum lines is an unhinged but triumphant quality that is intoxicating. I had heard whispered stories of Maus shows before, but I never really understood the fervor until I saw it for myself.

Thursday was also packed with a number of good finds. I somehow found myself in the 7th floor of a swanky hotel for an "acoustic" (as in not electric; not unplugged) Dum Dum Girls set (though only 2/4 band members were present). Other highlights included the seriously talented and take-your-breath-away-beautiful dreamy folk-pop of Gem Club (who just released their debut album on Hardly Art), and Brooklyn's own, Headless Horseman who make fun, glitchy, hook-laden music with inventive beats (Their song "Wavlngth" was seriously one of my favorites all week.)

Friday, my band-count escalated rapidly, thanks to the BV day showcase at Public Assembly, which essentially had two bands playing each hour. I knocked out a few of the hyped bands in this fashion, including Chelsea Wolfe and Gauntlet Hair. (I also stepped over to Cameo briefly to catch a few adrenaline-packed songs from the Brooklyn duo Hunters.) With her beautifully haunting (but not annoying operatic) vocals Chelsea Wolfe was certainly one of the more memorable acts of the week. Would she be getting as much buzz if she didn't dress like "a medival [sic] reinactment [sic] person from Medival [sic] Times" (to quote an anonymous BV commenter)? Hard to say, but I have to give the woman credit--I couldn't take my eyes off her, and she was one of the few artists I caught twice. But my surprise favorite of the day show was Young Magic. Hip-hop and dark electro-pop may be unlikely bedfellows, but they sure make for quite an interesting pair. These guys are a force.

Other highlights of the day included the eye-catching electro-pop duo Purity Ring (love the name) and one of my favorite SXSW finds from earlier this year, Sea of Bees. At Webster Hall, Purity Ring's bass was so powerful at times that I almost forgot to breathe. Though the band relies on a lot of samples to craft their sound, they are far more interesting to watch due to their onstage chemistry and mysterious gold-piped instrument. Though nothing alike, my other favorite artist of the evening was Sea of Bees. Singer/songwriter Julie Baeziger's genuinely sweet demeanor and earnest acoustic performance are always a pleasant change of pace from the more aloof, laptop-driven artists that seem to sprout with the speed and frequency of mushrooms.

The week concluded not with a bang (I was turned away at the door of Brooklyn Bowl for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, whom I had hoped to end on), but with more of a slow fade-out. Forced to change my schedule at the last minute, I caught a few acts nearby, including Delicate Steve (how those five people were working from the same set list was a mystery at times given the haphazard nature of their sound, but it was fun to watch them put it all together), Races (pleasant and charming), Bleached, and about four minutes of the Kopecky Family Band (fun!) before hopping on the L and calling it a week.

So how does this year's CMJ stack up? Most people I spoke with seemed unimpressed. No doubt, the growth of SXSW--especially over the past few years--seems to have sucked some of the life out of CMJ. (It's hard to compete with free tacos, 76-degree days, and the compact nature of downtown Austin.) But like a hipster chick desperately scouring the racks at Beacon's Closet, I like the challenge of the frenzied search. There's good stuff in there hiding among the dross. You just have to look a bit harder.

---

Pictures in this post are from day parties at Pianos (We Listen for You) and Public Assembly (Under the Radar) on Wednesday. More of them below...

Continue reading "Rachel's CMJ recap +++ pics from 2 Wednesday day parties"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Andrew Sacher

Youth Lagoon at Mercury Lounge in September (more by Amanda Hatfield)

For a musician who records in his bedroom, Youth Lagoon seems to love spending time on the road. He just finished up a tour that hit NYC three times and will head back out for another run of dates this November. The new dates include two more NYC shows. He'll return to Mercury Lounge on November 14 and 15 and will be supported by Young Magic, who also opened his NYC debut at the same venue. Tickets for both NYC shows go on sale Friday (10/14) at noon with an AmEx presale starting today (10/12) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Youth Lagoon's debut LP, which was released a few weeks ago, is available as LP/CD/MP3/Cassette at the Fat Possum webstore. As mentioned, it includes two bonus tracks, "Bobby" and "Ghost To Me," both of which you can listen to below.

Young Magic released the "Night in the Ocean" b/w "Slip Time" single this week (10/11) via Carpark. You can stream "Night in the Ocean" HERE and stream "Slip Time" below. The 7" is available at the Carpark webstore. They've got CMJ shows coming up including a TBA BrooklynVegan day party and the Car Park/Paw Tracks showcase at Public Assembly (10/18). They're scheduled for an unofficial PopGun party at Glasslands on October 20 with Sun Glitters, Weekend (who also play the BV CMJ showcase @ MHOW), and others. Tickets for the PopGun party are on sale now. They're also playing a free day show at The Delancey on October 22.

All dates and song streams below...

Continue reading "Youth Lagoon announces tour w/ Young Magic (who are playing CMJ first) -- dates"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Anthem Facility - "Left to Defend" (MP3)

Young Magic at Mercury Lounge earlier this month (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Young Magic, who recently opened for Youth Lagoon at Mercury Lounge, will release the "Night in the Ocean" single b/w "Slip Time" on October 11 via Carpark. You can stream "Night in the Ocean" and check out the album artwork for the single below. The 7" vinyl is available for preorder.

Young Magic play Mercury Lounge again on October 5 with Love Connection. Tickets for that show are on sale now. They'll be active during CMJ when they'll play the Carpark/Paw Tracks showcase at Public Assembly on October 18 with Class Actress, Dent May, Cloud Nothings, Adventure, and Jimmy Whispers (of Light Pollution).

Anthem Facility

Melati Malay, who is a member of Young Magic and New Moods, is also the vocalist in Anthem Facility. Anthem Facility just released the Trace EP, which you can stream below and purchase at bandcamp. You can also watch the video for the EP's title track below, and download an MP3 of "Left to Defend" above.

All dates, video and streams below...

Continue reading "Young Magic streaming new 7", playing shows (tour dates & a related Anthem Facility MP3 too)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Congrats to Youth Lagoon on his 'Best New Music' designation today. If you missed Youth Lagoon's first-ever NYC show at Mercury Lounge on 9/12, you still have a chance to get tickets to his second which takes place at Glasslands this Friday night (9/30).

Speaking of that first show, I forgot to post these pictures from it! It's been over two weeks, but here's what I remember most about it:

1. They were a 2 piece. The main Youth Lagoon dude (Trevor Powers) has synths and a mic, and then there's a guitarist.
2. The term "bedroom project" gets thrown around and personally I pictured a shy guy, but that wasn't the case at all. Not only was he talktative ("charming" as one audience member screamed out), he made lots of jokes.
3. Most notably he joked that he couldn't play "Montana" because one of his synths was broken. He intro'd that joke by mentioning the video for the song that had just come out. The joke assumed that everyone in the 3/4 full Mercury Lounge crowd most wanted to hear that song (not saying he was wrong). After saying "just kidding!", he played the song.
4. Though I never noticed from the recorded version, "Montana" live made me think "iPod commercial" (not a bad thing, just what I thought). (I immediately went out after the show and bought an iPod.) (just kidding!)
5. He told a story about how it was hard to park in NYC.
6. They were selling the album, CD and cassette, at the merch table (even though it just came out this week).
7. If you like the record, you'll like him live - a confident performer/jokester.
8. I wished there was a live drummer.

Continue reading "Youth Lagoon LP released, touring, back in NYC on Friday (dates & belated pics from Mercury Lounge)"

by Andrew Sacher

Youth Lagoon @ the Rhythm Room in Phoenix - 9/5 (photo by sgilchrist03)

Youth Lagoon (aka Trevor Powers) recently kicked off a tour in support of his upcoming debut, The Year of Hibernation, out September 27 on Fat Possum. He makes his NYC debut on that tour on Monday (9/12) at Mercury Lounge with Young Magic. Tickets are still available for that show, and for the Glasslands show and the other Mercury show that are part of a string of shows with Gardens & Villa. The Glasslands show is also with Gem Club. Updated dates are listed below. You can see a picture from the recent Phoenix show above. A live video from the same show can be watched below.

Youth Lagoon recently made a video for the epic album track "Montana." The video was directed by Tyler T Williams, who has also directed videos for Craft Spells and Coma Cinema. The video tells the story of a young boy whose father goes off to war in what appears to be 1950s suburban America and ends with the boy in present time finding his father's ghost. It's got an interesting adjacency to the song's lyrics which explore growth and spirit.

Watch the video and the live video with the dates below...

Continue reading "Youth Lagoon on tour, made a new video, watch a live one too"

by Rachel Kowal

Gobble Gobble @ the renovated Glasslands - 4/8/11 (by Eric Rex)

I don't know if it's just solid booking (a la PopGun), or if it's just that SXSW has me recognizing more bands - whatever the case may be, Glasslands is on top of their game lately. (Craft Spells, Surf City, Timber Timbre, Grouper, Eternal Summers/Dream Diary, Free Energy, and Hunx/Grass Widow are just a few of the artists stopping by in April.) And after some renovations earlier this week, the venue is looking pretty good too. The stage occupies the same corner but now faces the door, so there's actually room to stand in front of the stage without having to worry about people constantly walking in front of you. The stage is also bigger and, according to the venue, the capacity of the club has increased. You can sort of see the difference in the picture from Friday night's Gobble Gobble show in the picture above.

I arrived to the show at Glasslands on Thursday, 4/7, just as the second opener, Young Magic, was wrapping up, but I managed to catch Oupa, the side project of Yuck guitarist/vocalist Daniel Blumberg (who also opened for Sebadoh and Richard Buckner at Bowery Ballroom Saturday night). It may have been the Porcelain Raft song "Dragonfly" (video below) that initially convinced me to head over to Glasslands, but it was Oupa's performance that I found to be the most compelling.

Long before he sheepishly confessed to being nervous, Blumberg's mannerisms and posture gave him away. He walked out without a word and carefully arranged a collection of hand-illustrated cassette tapes along the front of the stage. As curious onlookers filtered up to check out the goods, Blumberg began to play, his sound check sneakily morphing into his performance.

Though quite tall, Blumberg occupied minimal space on stage. He hunched down low over his keyboard, his unruly curly hair and loose-fitting denim button-up shirt doing much to obscure him from view, as if decreasing his surface area would also minimize his exposure to the crowd and keep him safe. Even the heavy reverb on his vocals seemed to be more than just an aesthetic choice. It provided yet another wall to hide behind.

But despite his obvious unease with being the only one in the spotlight, Blumberg played with a quiet confidence, and his beautiful, forlorn music perfectly matched his unassuming body language and enigmatic demeanor.

Though brief, I could have left satisfied after hearing just Oupa's set, but I was curious to see how Mauro Remiddi would craft his lush, multi-layered music in a live setting.

Porcelain Raft's music may not be particularly lively, but it did feature some pre-fab drum beats and bass, which was all the encouragement some needed to start dancing. (Compared to the set that preceded it, the music was downright festive after all.) Though the additional musical components succeeded in perking up the crowd and sound decent recorded, on stage, Remiddi seemed to be at his best when he peeled back the effects to reveal the more organic elements: the guitar, keyboard, and vocals.

Remiddi concluded his equally brief set with what is perhaps his most popular and immediately catchy song, "Tip of Your Tongue." You can watch the video for that song, and a whole bunch of videos from the Thursday show, below...

Continue reading "Oupa & Porcelain Raft played the RENOVATED GLASSLANDS (Gobble Gobble too)"

photos by Timothy Griffin

New Moods @ Swan Dive (BrooklynVegan Day Party)

After playing their last hometown show at a swanky NYC art show benefit, Gang Gang Dance will bring it back down to earth with a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 4th with New Moods and Ghetto Gothic DJs. Tickets go on sale today at noon. The show takes place five days before the release of the new Gang Gang Dance LP Eye Contact on 4AD, and is currently their only announced U.S. headlining date.

GGD joins names like Guided by Voices, No Age, and many others as part of the 2011 edition of the Pitchfork Festival in July. And theye're on the finalized lineup, which was announced today, of the UK's Great Escape Festival (May 12-14 in Brightton).

New Moods, who are opening the Music Hall show, killed it during their noon set at Swan Dive at the BrooklynVegan day party on Saturday during SXSW (they went on right before Oh Land on the same stage). They actually had a bigger crowd than Baths who was playing on the bigger stage outside at the same super early time, I think because as people walked in the front door, they were sucked in by the "a precise and raucous four-piece" with captivating back and forth vocals by the intense Billy Jones (I first became a fan when he fronted Other Passengers and then got to know him through his work at Sin-e and then Pianos) (he has also since written for this site on occasion) and also-solo artist Melati Malay (she also plays in Young Magic who recently signed to Carpark). The band is rounded out by Gang Gang Dance engineer Sean Maffucci and drummer Steve Garofano. You can listen at their bandcamp, and you can see pictures from their set in this post.

More of those pictures, the rest of Gang Gang Dance's tour dates and stuff, below...

Continue reading "Gang Gang Dance announce Brooklyn show w/ New Moods (who played BVSXSW -- pics & dates)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Yuck @ Stubb's

Yuck last and first visited NYC during a blizzard in January to play Glasslands after cancelling their Mercury Lounge show that was scheduled one day earlier which came after they cancelled CMJ due to similar visa issues. Earlier this month the UK band returned to America for a string of shows at SXSW that included a BV Day Party and a showcase at Stubb's which is streaming at NPR and which is the source of the pictures in this post.

The band are now already back on home soil, but Daniel Blumberg of Yuck will be back here soon to play Glasslands on 4/7 and a sold-out Bowery Ballroom show with Sebadoh on 4/9 as part of his side project Oupa (who also played SXSW). The Oupa shows precede a Yuck tour with Tame Impala that include Webster Hall on 4/25, after which Yuck will play their own, just-announced NYC date at Bowery Ballroom on May 7. Tickets for that show are on AmEx presale now with regular sale starting on Friday at noon.

The Oupa show at Glasslands on 4/7 is with Porcelain Raft, who played a few NYC dates in late February, and with Young Magic and Computer Magic. Tickets are still available. Oupa have a new record on the way, Forget, and you can stream the title track below.

All tour dates, the new Yuck video for "Get Away" and, UPDATE: a new streaming track called "Doctors in My Bed", and more SXSW pictures, also below...

Continue reading "Yuck played SXSW (pics & stream), add NYC show (dates) ++ side project Oupa is playing shows too"

DOWNLOAD: Craft Spells - You Should Close the Door (MP3)

Beach Fossils at 285 Kent Ave (more by Jessica Amaya)

Beach Fossils have the new What a Pleasure EP due on March 8th via Captured Tracks (out on iTunes now), and the band is heading to SXSW in celebration. Shortly after that, they'll team up with their labelmates Craft Spells for a US tour that will kick off with two NY shows. The first is on April 7th at Stony Brook University. The next is at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 8th. Tickets for the Brooklyn show go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon (3/2), and regular sale on Friday. All dates are below.

Craft Spells

Seattle's Craft Spells' self-titled LP is due March 29th on Captured Tracks (update: grab an MP3 above), and the band can also be seen supporting Cloud Nothings at Glasslands on April 9th, one day after the Music Hall show (Beach Fossils take that night off). Tickets are on sale.

For Cloud Nothings, that Glasslands show is one date of a month+ tour that also includes SXSW, dates with Toro y Moi and a late show at Mercury Lounge on April 12th. Cloud Nothings' debut self-titled full length is out now on Carpark Records. Check out the video for "Should Have" below.

Speaking of Carpark Records, they recently signed Young Magic who have a 7" on Bandcamp, and who play Glasslands in Brooklyn with Wise Blood TONIGHT (3/1). Look for them at SXSW too.

All tour dates and videos below.

Continue reading "Beach Fossils touring w/ Craft Spells, Cloud Nothings touring too, Young Magic playing Glasslands (tonight) -- 2011 dates"