Andrew F

Sonic Youth @ United Palace in 2009 (more by Bao Nguyen)

tonight in NYC
* Devo in Clifton Park, NY
* Apache Beat @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Lilith Fair @ PNC Bank Arts Center
* Gogol Bordello @ Starland Ballroom
* Cafe Antarsia Ensemble, Janka Nabay @ Zebulon
* Nas & Damian Marley @ Williamsburg Waterfront
* Zee Avi, Mishal Moore, Paleo @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* The Penelopes, Night People, Kordan @ The Rock Shop
* .357 Lover, The Break Mission (early) @ Mercury Lounge
* Skeletons Big Band, Priestbird, Family Band @ Rock Yard
* Rescue Bird, The Nice Trys, Sasha Dobson @ Pete's Candy Store
* Arab on Radar, Child Abuse, No Babies, Orange Coax @ Cake Shop
* Sonic Youth, Grass Widow, Talk Normal @ Prospect Park Bandshell
* Body Language, Savoir Adore, Machinedrum (DJ) (late) @ Mercury Lounge
* Japanther, Shellshag, Marvin Berry and the New Sound, Soper @ Union Hall
* Ponderosa Stomp presents The Detroit Breakdown (early & late) @ Lincoln Center
* Mundo Muerto, Perdition, Nerveskade, Cervix, Crazy Spirit, Nomad @ Silent Barn
* Earl Mosely's Institute of Dance and Motion Theater Lab @ Jackie Robinson Park
* Jovanotti, Los Amigos Invisibles and Natalie Lafourcade @ Central Park SummerStage
* Animal Collective (DJ), Blondes, Oneohtrix Point Never, CFCF, Babe Rainbow, Prince Rama @ PS1
* Her Majesty, Scott Liss & The Sixty-Six, Only Living Boy, The Roebucks @ Studio at Webster Hall
* Mark Burgess, For Against, Springhouse, The Sleepover Disaster, Don McGlashan, Jon Auer, Steve Drewett, more @ The Bell House (the Big Takeover Festival)

Read more in This Week in Indie.

The Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival brings The Gories, Motor City Soul Revue with Dennis Coffey, Melvin Davis, Spyder Turner, The Velvelettes & The Party Stompers and Eddie Kirkland to play a day show at Lincoln Center Hearst Plaza. Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, ? & the Mysterians and Death play Damrosch Park afterwards. The Roots of American Music progamming continues tomorrow too.

The Lincoln Center show is your last time to see the Gories who played Bowery and Maxwell's on their trip here too.

Rock Yard returns for the 2nd time.

Newport Folk Fest is happening this weekend.

St Vincent headlines Summerstage on Sunday. Tune-Yards and Basia Bulat support.

Ted Leo plays the Brooklyn Bowl Pool Party Sunday.

Nas & Damian Marley play a sold out show at Williamsburg Waterfront tonight.

Spiritualized played what may have been the show of the year last night.

The Swell Season played Prospect Park last night. They also recently performed "The Rain" on Jimmy Kimmel. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's Going on Saturday?" at BrooklynVegan.com

Josh Ritter opened for Swell Season @ Radio City (more by Kurt Christensen)

Josh Rouse returns to Joe's Pub for an intimate show on September 10th. Tickets are on sale. Josh's only other upcoming gig is Summerfest in Norway (tonight, 7/31).

Josh Rouse is not to be confused with Josh Ritter who was a surprise guest at the Celebrate Brooklyn Swell Season show in Prospect Park last night (7/30) (not the first time the two artists performed together) (they toured together earlier this year), but more about the Brooklyn show later (and a video from another time they performed together below).

A few nights earlier, Josh's wife Dawn Landes was Sondre Lerche's surprise guest at Mercury Lounge.

Last time Dawn played Mercury Lounge, Josh Ritter was her surprise guest.

Next time Josh Ritter headlines his own NYC show, August 8th on Governors Island to be exact, Dawn Landes will be one of the openers (and the show is free). Justin Townes Earle, who Dawn has toured and performed with before, is also scheduled to play that free show. Let's just hope his hand heals quickly.

Elvis Perkins and Dearland replace Justin Townes Earle at the Newport Folk Fest this weekend. Elvis Perkins's band now also plays on their own as Diamond Doves and they were also on the bill at that Sondre Lerche/Dawn Landes/JBM show a few days ago.

Some relevant videos below...

Continue reading "Josh Rouse playing Joe's Pub, Josh Ritter played CB w/ the Swell Season & playing Governors Island w/ Dawn Landes" at BrooklynVegan.com

photos by kolored

DOWNLOAD: Sue Jorge & Almaz - Everybody Loves The Sunshine (MP3)

Seu Jorge @ Terminal 5 - July 30, 2010

"When Seu Jorge sauntered onstage at the Trocadero [in Philly] on Wednesday night, he seemed to have taken the crowd by surprise. It's not like an artist of his stature to forgo an opening act and start playing at 9 o'clock sharp. Nor is it like Jorge to begin a show without the sunny samba and bossa nova grooves of his native Brazil, but rather with a brooding downer filled with dissonant guitar and anguished wails.

Then again, Jorge's always been a bit difficult to pin down. The singer-songwriter from Rio de Janeiro has made successful turns at acting in widely acclaimed films such as City of God and Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic - the latter of which Jorge scored using nothing but David Bowie songs translated to acoustic guitar and Portuguese. Now he's touring with his new band Almaz, in support of their self-titled debut album of bilingual, pan-genre cover songs.

The familiar South American rhythms soon returned to the mix, however, leaving the biggest surprise one even Jorge might not have foreseen: the sparse crowd. With only a couple hundred fans in attendance, the venue left plenty of wiggle room for dancing and cavorting on the floor.

To Almaz's credit, they responded to a lackluster turnout in the best way a band can: by making fools of everyone who wasn't there...

...Using its new album as a template, the band mostly served up covers of everybody from Krautrock progenitors Kraftwerk to famous jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers, through the colorful lens of Brazilian psych-soul. Though even the show's most obscure selections were a delight to hear, highlights included a take on Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust," a medley of Jorge's own material, and a wonderfully laid-back inversion of Michael Jackson's "Rock With You."... [Philadelpha Inquirer]

Last night (while Spiritualized was occupying Radio City Music Hall), two nights after the Philly show, Seu Jorge and Almaz came to NYC to perform at Terminal 5 (where the National, Flaming Lips, the Black Keys, and Smashing Pumpkins all performed earlier in the week). More pictures and the setlist from that NYC show, and more tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Seu Jorge & Almaz on tour, played Terminal 5 (pics, setlist)" at BrooklynVegan.com

...with a choir and an orchestra with strings and horns. Mindblowing, mesmerizing, massive, epic, surreal, amazing, glorious, fantastic, "Best Concert Ever", "I can Die Happy Now"... whatever adjective you choose, Spiritualized was it at Radio City Music Hall on Friday night. Jason Pierce and band performed their most acclaimed album, 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, in NYC's swankiest venue, followed by a 2-song, 'spellbindingly sensational' encore of "Out Of Sight" and "Oh Happy Day" to close out the setlist.

The Friday night show was the fifth of five ZYNC-presented SPIN 25th Anniversary shows (the other four were all at Terminal 5). And thankfully there was an online stream, so those who couldn't be at the concert, could still experience it live, and can probably experience it later since the whole thing is sure to show up in various bootleg forms including on YouTube fairly soon. Speaking of the stream, since it's Friday night and the show just ended and we won't have any real pictures anytime soon, a whole bunch more stream screen caps that still give you a good idea of what it looked like, continue below...

Continue reading "Spiritualized played Ladies & Gentlemen @ Radio City..." at BrooklynVegan.com

photos by Matthew Eisman

"They opened with a strong, stirring rendition of "Start A War" (Featuring the immortal lyrics: "You were always weird but I never had to hold you by the edges like I do now. Walk away now. And you're gonna start a war.") and they never looked back. Highlights included stellar performances of "Bloodbuzz, Ohio," "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks," "Fake Empire" and "Mr. November" some charming, semi spastic arm waving gestures by the tall skinny lead singer with the wonderfully soulful baritone voice and a delicious veggie dog from the roof deck. They closed the show with "Terrible Love"--the opening song from their newest album. The only disappointment for me was they they did not perform "Racing Like a Pro" or the magnificent "Gospel." But it was a really great night. And a great live musical christening of my second half century." [Teddy Vegas]

Two days after their Prospect Park show, The National headlined the fourth SPIN/ZYNC party at Terminal 5 (The National's 2nd ZYNC gig this year). Openers at the Thursday night show were Kurt Vile and Suckers. NYC Taper taped the show and you can download it at his site. More pictures and the National's setlist, below...

Continue reading "The National, Suckers & Kurt Vile @ Terminal 5 (SPIN 25) - pics, setlist, live audio " at BrooklynVegan.com

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

JBM & Diamond Doves

"Jesse Marchant (JBM) took to the stage for a set that would also last about an hour. In contrast to [Sondre] Lerche's set, which was unified in its sound and delivery, Marchant delivered a set that ran the gamut between quiet and loud, stoic and rocking, solo and with band. The stark contrast between songs served Marchant, as it called attention not only to his versatility, but his ability to completely embrace each of the genres completely.

The material (as might be expected) was sourced largely (entirely?) from his debut record Not Even In July, for which [Tuesday] night was the record release party. However, much like the record, the tracks varied in their arrangement and instrumentation. For part of the set, Marchant was joined on stage by openers Diamond Doves as his backing band, and for others he took a solo seat to his songs. Moreover, even his solo act varied, sometimes finding him behind a makeshift drumkit, sometimes with a harmonica and guitar, and sometimes behind the keyboard." [Hippies are Dead]

More pictures from Tuesday night's Mercury Lounge show, that Sondre Lerche joined the bill on as an opener, below...

Continue reading "JBM, Sondre Lerche (and Dawn Landes) & Diamond Doves @ Mercury Lounge (pics) " at BrooklynVegan.com

photos by Chris La Putt

melophobe: From your experience, what's the best way to blow away a live audience?

Peter Silberman: Oh I don't know. It's tricky; it's in their hands. I've found that we've had the best experience when we feel connected to the audience and we feel like they're listening. You can't necessarily control that, but you can make the effort. A lot of bands definitely don't acknowledge the audience, they don't seem appreciative of them. And I think it's really important to appreciate the audience. They don't have to be there. They don't have buy tickets, they don't have to buy your record, they don't have to do anything, they don't have to give a shit about you. The fact that they do, is really cool. And it should not go unthanked.

melophobe: And honestly, as someone who is in the audience a lot, it seems like at the end of the day we are all there to share something. It's not just give and take, we all just supposed to come together and have a good time together. And go inside our heads or do whatever.

PS: Yeah. And if everybody feels like they are sharing something, then hopefully that will lead to a good show. If they like what you are doing. And I don't talk a lot on stage. The more I talk the less sense I make on stage for some reason, so I don't really talk that much, but I try to get across that...how important they are to us.

melophobe: What's a perfect record to you and do you aim for perfection when you write?

PS: Let me think for a minute. Well, I would say like Kid A is a perfect record, and that's an understatement. Not just perfect because every song is really good, it's perfect because it achieves this really, REALLY difficult thing of being incredibly strange, but being so listenable. And I've been working on just trying to, I mean I've been listening to that record for so long now. And I'm only now just starting to understand it. And these new kind of revelations I'm having about are making it better than I ever could have imagined.

The Antlers, who you can catch at Osheaga in Montreal this weekend (with Arcade Fire, Weezer, Metric, The National Sonic Youth, Devo, Pavement, The Black Keys, Stars, Owen Pallett, Beach House, Robyn, Seu Jorge, Avi Buffalo, Jamie Lidell and more) played a NYC show with Dinosaur Featuers at Pier 54 back on Thursday, 7/22. A second set of pictures from that show continue below...

Continue reading "The Antlers @ Pier 54 (more pics) (Osheaga this weekend) " at BrooklynVegan.com

by Klaus Kinski

My recent contributions to BV have afforded me the opportunity to wax nostalgic about my checkered past (SKA reference), so why should this article be any different? When I was living in Greenpoint back in 2002, I had two important neighbors in my building; Jeff Mangum and Dave Karcich. And while Mangum had zero impact on my life, Karcich had more of an impact than he would ever know. You see, in high school and college, one of my favorite bands to see was Bim Skala Bim and my favorite venue to see them in was the Paradise. Trombone player Vinny Nobile's phenomenal stage presence made him an icon to my friends and me. Vinny ended up leaving Bim, heading to NYC to form a band called The Pilfers with ex-Toasters vocalist Coolie Ranx. A little ways into their existence, the Pilfers ended up losing their bass player and their drummer. Dave Karcich, former drummer for Connecticut based Ska band Spring Heeled Jack, filled the drumming void. And like zillions of other bands, The Pilfers too saw their eventual dissolution (only to reform just a few years ago).

After the Pilfers, Vinny Nobile and Dave Karcich went on to form a band called Cenzo who, at the time when I met Dave, was kind of on their back burner. As a result of my living down the hall from Dave, and Dave's relationship with Vinny, I eventually got tight with them both, which blew the minds of the folks I stiil kept in touch with from high school/college. Sadly, my relationship with Dave was short lived. After recording my band's demo EP, Dave suffered a massive cerebral aneurysm and passed away on April 5th, 2002. Eventually, Vinny hired me to take Dave's place on drums in Cenzo and for a short while I enjoyed playing sold out shows with Cenzo in support of acts including The Toasters, The Pietasters, Murphy's Law, and The Slackers.

A lot of people give a knee-jerk scoff at SKA because it's apparently unfashionable; admittedly, the thought of skinny ties, checker-accented gear, black and white wing tips, pork pie hats, and massive sideburns makes me feel uneasy. But some of the bands from back in the day, back in my day, continue to bring serious talent and awesome sounds to those of us who are still willing to listen. So I was pretty skankingly excited to see that SKA powerhouses The Toasters and The Pietasters will be sharing a bill with Hub City Stompers and more for an all ages show at BB Kings on 10/29/10. People with even a casual interest cannot pass up the opportunity to see these third wave legends in the same house.

More tour dates below, including Bim Skala Bim, The Slackers, The Pietasters (who also play a boat tonight), and The Toasters.

Continue reading "The Toasters, The Pietasters & other upcoming ska shows " at BrooklynVegan.com

one of these hands is injured...

"Unfortunately Justin's shows this coming weekend will be cancelled. He injured his hand this past weekend and has 19 stitches and there's no way he can play guitar. We apologize for any inconveniences. We're working on rescheduling the Iron Horse show for late August and hope to make an announcement on that soon."

One of those cancelled shows is the Newport Folk Festival which happens this weekend. Elvis Perkins and Dearland replace Justin on the bill.

Justin's next still-scheduled show takes place on Governors Island on August 8th with Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band and Dawn Landes & the Hounds. It's free! (and definitely still happening with Justin as of now)

John Prine plays Newport Folk Saturday, and a show on Governors Island on September 10th.

Yim Yames, who has contributed to a John Prine tribute CD, plays Newport Folk Saturday and a show in NYC tonight with Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore and Preservation Jazz Band who all play Newport Folk on Sunday.

Andrew Bird plays Newport Folk Saturday, and a show in NYC on August 5th.

The Low Anthem play Newport Folk Saturday, and a show in NYC tonight with the Swell Season who play Newport Folk on Sunday.

Speaking of the Swell Season, tickets are on sale for the Frames show at Terminal 5.

A Newport Folk promo video, and some videos of John Prine performing at Bonnaroo this year, below...

Continue reading "Newport Folk Fest this weekend, Elvis Perkins replaces Justin Townes Earle who is injured & cancelled 2 shows " at BrooklynVegan.com

words by BBG, photos by Greg Cristman

Immolation, shouting out the old school!

In the metal machine known as the "touring package" and the "festival circuit", it's a rarity for a band to be able to spread their wings and deliver a full set instead of the usual 20 minute set between deathcore-#2 and melodic-symophonic-black-metal-#7. Wednesday was one of those nights though, as New York Death Metal greats Immolation headlined a show at The Studio at Webster Hall with Arsis and New Jersey death metal killers Disma.

As a fan of their generally hard-to-come-by demo, I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout for Disma; I guess word gets around when you share members of Icantation/Funebrarum/Evoken. The five piece band of linebackers (looked like it anyway) did not deliver the most energetic set of the evening (that distinction goes to Immolation), but were technically sound, water-tight and great. Arsis is honestly not my thing (a bit too clinical for my tastes, I like my DM blatantly filthy), but rocked an energetic and cohesive set though the guitars seemed to be a bit low in the mix.

Immolation was fantastic, and it is awesome to see Ross absolutely belt it out and Vigna do his crazy guitar theatrics (swinging his axe like it was... an axe, doing odd guitar picking to make fun hand gestures) in such a small environment. Lots of NYDM leather vests were represented, and every single song was dedicated to five people who had "been there from the beginning". Their hour-plus set was across most of their output, with a slightly heavier nod to their latest LP, Majesty & Decay.

Tons more pics from the show are below...

Continue reading "Immolation, Arsis & Disma @ the Studio @ Webster Hall (pics)" at BrooklynVegan.com

DOWNLOAD: Endless Boogie - Tarmac City (MP3)

The rumor as to why Jelly couldn't do the Pool Party at Williamsburg Waterfront this weekend is because the state, OSA or someone made up a rule that said no more than two shows can happen at the space per weekend, and OSA & AEG had already booked Primus/Gogol Bordello on Friday (tonight) and Nas & Damian Marley on Saturday. By the way, both of those shows are sold out. I am told that there will be no tickets at the door (except maybe from scalpers/people with extras).

The Pool Party this weekend is instead at Brooklyn Bowl.

Pavement play a ticketed show at Williamsburg Waterfront on September 19th. Tickets are actually still available, but that hasn't stopped Rocks Off from offering an alternative way to see the show...

"Wanna see Pavement's show at the Williamsburg Waterfront? Too bad sucka - it sold out quicker than you could say "step on a crack and break yo mamma's back." But lucky for you the stage faces the water.. and its fucking LOUD - we know, we tested it our during the Faith No More show. Took a boat out to watch and listen for ourselves. In fact, all the shows that happen there, we can hear all the way across the river at our marina at East 23rd Street. So we KNOW you're gonna be able to hear and see from the boat. And guess what... you can drink $5 beers on the boat. And you won't have to get a wristband from one vendor to then buy drink tix from another venndor to then walk through gated turnstiles and turn the ticket in for beer from yet a third vendor. Then you gotta stay in the penn and drink that shit like the piggy in Animal Farm. Fun Fun fun Til Your Daddy Takes the 12 Ounce Away.

We gonna make it nice and easy. And for only TWENTY BUCKS. Fuck man. We'll probably even be sure to leave late enough to make you not have to sit through that whiny chick from the Wizard. Come on out with us so we can point and laugh at the suckas who paid twice our price!" [Rocks Off]

Tickets for the boat are on sale.

Speaking of Pavement, more openers have been confirmed. Endless Boogie open the Summerstage show on Thursday, September 23rd. The Beets open Friday, September 24th. Openers for the other three NYC shows are listed HERE, but maybe there will be two openers for each show because Endless Boogie (who just released a new album on Tuesday - MP3 above) tell me that they may be opening at the Waterfront show too, and Slothbear say they're also opening the 23rd.

Continue reading "Nas & Primus sold out, see Pavement from a boat, see Pavement w/ the Beets or Endless Boogie " at BrooklynVegan.com

The Black Lips

I realize the real feud is long over, but I still couldn't help but notice that two of Monday night's show options are WAVVES @ Bowery Ballroom (tickets still available) and The Black Lips on a Rocks Off Cruise (tickets still available). Afterparty at Daddy's?

WAVVES also has a show coming up at Madison Square Garden.

The Smith Westerns are opening for WAVVES at Bowery and both upcoming Florence and the Machine shows at Terminal 5.

All dates below...

Continue reading "WAVVES vs Black Lips (round whatever) (NYC Monday) (and other tour dates) " at BrooklynVegan.com

words by Lindsay Maharry, photos by BBG

Mammoth Grinder

Last night (7/29), Mammoth Grinder and Innumerable forms shredded The Acheron. There weren't enough people there, but it didn't matter.

Mammoth Grinder is another great band out of Austin's thriving metal scene. Despite their van breaking down in Jersey the night before, they made the trek with a rental, thanking the show's promoter Ian Dickson. Viva Hardcore Gig Volume! They began with a track off their new EP Obsessed with Death, put out by Hell Massacre/Painkiller. Vocalist/guitarist, Chris Ulsh (Hatred Surge), growled through pummeling riffs and heavy breakdowns, forcing the relatively mild crowd to move. Drummer, Brian Boeckman, fucking killed it; fast as hell.

After their set, MG members backed Justin Detore (Mind Eraser, Righteous Jams, Mental), and became Innumerable Forms. Detore, who's progressed from straight edge hardcore to death metal in the past years, writes all Innumerable Forms material, using fill ins for shows. While on tour with Mammoth Grinder (until their Montreal date on the 31st), they back his vicious vocals. Mammoth Grinder's set was great, but Detore's presence was harder, though the set was much shorter. Innumberable Forms played the driving, unrelenting new EP Dark Worship (also put out by Hell Massacre/Painkiller) start to finish. A faulty mic marred what was an otherwise seriously fantastic performance.

Looking forward to hearing more from Innumerable Forms (maybe an LP?) and seeing Mammoth Grinder, as they seem to play Brooklyn on every tour.

More Mammoth Grinder/Innumerable Forms pics (we missed Longpigs and Naughty Girls), as well of some video of Innumerable Forms and Mammoth Grinder doing a new song from their upcoming split with Hatred Surge, is below.

Continue reading "Mammoth Grinder & Innumerable Forms @ the Acheron (pics)" at BrooklynVegan.com

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Central Services - Forever Frozen In Television Time EP (Zip file of MP3s)
DOWNLOAD: El-P - "Whores: The Movie" (Mediafire link)
DOWNLOAD: El-P - ""Meanstreak" (In 3 Parts) (Mediafire link)
DOWNLOAD: El-P - "Instrumental 6" (Zip file of MP3s)
DOWNLOAD: El-P - "East River Float" (Zip file of MP3s)

Camu Tao (born Tero Smith, June 6, 1977 - May 25, 2008) was an American rapper and producer who was signed to the Definitive Jux label. He was a part of the duo S.A. Smash with fellow rapper Metro, a part of the rap group Weathermen, and the Central Services production team with El-P. Smith was also a member of the music collective Cardboard City... He was also part of Columbus, Ohio's MHz crew with Copywrite, RJD2, Jakki Tha MotaMouth & Tage Proto, and with Cage, half of The Nighthawks...

Smith died on May 25, 2008, after a two-year battle with lung cancer. At the time of his death, he was working on a song he produced for Cage's I Never Knew You EP as well as his first solo album for Definitive Jux.

Camu Tao's debut LP King of Hearts will see the light of day via DefJux/Fat Possum Records on August 17th (preorder it), and in celebration, Def Jux is offering a 2005 EP from Central Services (aka El-P + Camu) for FREE Download (get it above).

El-P has a new release of his own as well, the instrumental Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 LP out on August 3rd. If you're a fan of El-P's signature blend of hip hop, IDM, and futurism, its a must. Pick up a copy of the LP via Gold Dust and snag copies of the first two volumes of Weareallgoingtoburninhell (previously tour only) for free. Check out the tracks "Whores: The Movie" and "Meanstreak" (In 3 Parts) from Vol 3 and a pair of tracks from previous volumes above.

Dig on more preview material from Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 video trailer, as well as tons of other great vids below...

Continue reading "Def Jux releasing Camu Tao's posthumous debut, giving away EPs & new El-P tracks too" at BrooklynVegan.com

According to Cinema Blend (and via NY Mag), the below nine videos contain Daft Punk's "entire soundtrack to" Tron Legacy.

UPDATE: Cinematical says that Disney says they are fake

Enjoy...

Continue reading "listen to the new Daft Punk Tron soundtrack? (fake?))" at BrooklynVegan.com