weekend_sports

Weekend released 'Sports', touring w/ Young Prisms (dates)

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Weekend – Coma Summer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Weekend – End Times (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Young Prisms – Sugar (MP3)

weekend

Weekend are pretty clean-cut looking dudes who make a dark-edged squall that shows a direct through-line from Joy Division to Jesus and Mary Chain to Ride and beyond. I caught them last night at Cake Shop and despite a few microphone problems I thought they were pretty good. Loud. Really loud. The band have already released singles on Transparent and Mexican Summer — download tracks from those at the top of this post — and the Slumberland album, Sports (is the title perhaps a tip of a hit to fellow Bay Area musician Huey Lewis?), is out in November.

That was from back in August. Weekend‘s Slumberland debut, Sports, came out Tuesday (11/9) and the San Francisco trio are just wrapping up a tour with labelmates Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They’ll then head out with fellow SF act Young Prisms on a tour that will hit NYC on Sunday, Nov. 21 for a show at Glasslands and then a week later at Cake Shop on November 27.  

Sports is quite a stunner, easily one of the best things to come out on the label in this its second act. The album’s fierce assault — a blistering post punk wall of sound, rocketfueled by volume and feedback — had me thinking at first of not of indie bands but UK industrio-metal band Godflesh. Not that they sound anything alike, but both bands’ music could be used to strip paint off walls.

You can download two tracks off Sports at the top of this post. Pitchfork reviewed the album today, giving it a 8.2 (but not Best New Music):

Although no one’s going to mistake the San Francisco noise-pop trio’s Slumberland debut, Sports, for an album produced at Abbey Road, the record is everything that a lot of modern indie rock is frequently failing to be in 2010: loud, immediate, and engaging, with a strong melodic sense of songwriting to tie it all together. That last facet could just as easily be applied to a number of bands in San Francisco, a location that’s quickly threatening to eclipse Brooklyn in the ranks of regional talent. There are a few bands that certainly share similar sonic elements (the Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall, Girls, and a good deal of the Castle Face garage-rock scene), but many of these bands otherwise possess their own distinctive brand of sound and songcraft.

You can listen to Sports in full over at Spinner. As mentioned above, most of Weekend’s upcoming shows are with Bay Area compatriots Young Prisms who rock a sonically similar loud, ethereal sound. Ride, Lush, MBV come to mind. Check out “Sugar” from their debut album Friends for Now, which is out on Kanine Records in January. Young Prisms will tour with Tamaryn after their Weekend stint.

All Weekend and Young Prisms dates are below, plus the video for Weekend’s “Monday Morning/Monongah, WV.”

weekend

Weekend – “Monday Morning/Monongah, WV”

Weekend – 2010 Tour Dates
11.11: San Diego, CA – The Loft UCSD w/The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. 8pm. $5 student/$14. All Ages.
11.12: Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex w/The Pains of Being Pure At Heart and Sonny and The Sunsets. $15/$17. 18+.
11.14: Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge w/Young Prisms. 8:00pm. $8/$10. 21+.
11.15: Lawrence, KS – Replay Lounge w/Young Prisms. 9:00pm. 21+.
11.17: Chicago, IL – Subterranean w/Young Prisms. 8:00pm. $10. 17+.
11.18: Grand Rapids, MI – Founders Brewery w/Young Prisms. 9:00pm. 21+.
11.19: Detroit, MI – The Contemporary Art w/Young Prisms. 9:00pm. $7. All Ages.
11.20: Pittsburgh, PA – Most Wanted Fine Art Art w/Young Prisms. 8:00pm. $7. All Ages.
11.21: Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands w/Young Prisms. 8:00pm. $8/$10. 21+.
11.22: Allston, MA – O’Brien’s Pub w/Young Prisms. 9:00pm. $9. 18+.
11:23: Milford, CT – Daniel Street w/Young Prisms. 8:00pm. $8. 21+.
11.26: Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s w/Young Prisms. 7:00pm. $8/$10. 21+.
11:27: New York, NY – Cake Shop w/Young Prisms. 7:00pm. $8. All ages.

Young Prisms – Additional 2010 Tour Dates
Hoxton Bar and Grill w/ tamaryn London, ., UNITED KINGDOM
Dec 1 Nation of Shop Keepers w/ tamaryn Leeds, ., UNITED KINGDOM
Dec 2 Start the Bus Bristol, ., UNITED KINGDOM
Dec 3 Kraak 2 Gallery w/ tamaryn Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM
Dec 6 Liars Club at Macbeth London, UNITED KINGDOM
Dec 7 Windmill London, UNITED KINGDOM
Dec 8 The Garage w/ “Dean Wareham plays Galaxie500” London, UNITED KINGDOM