undergrounduniverse

Craig Finn with The Hold Steady at Mohawk (more by Tim Griffin)

Hey Everyone,

I hope all is good. I've been enjoying my time at home writing music and seeing a bunch of shows. Thank you Nick Lowe, Wu Lyf, Titus Andronicus, Archers of Loaf, and Bruce Springsteen for some great times.

Besides going to shows, I'm also going to play quite a few coming up. The Hold Steady has a very fun tour in June...

I've also got a few solo shows. The first two are in Chicago on June 2...

Also, I will be playing a show with The Baseball Project on July 5 at City Winery in NYC. I had a great time performing and hanging out with these guys last year. This should be a great show...

For all the solo sets, it will just be me and a guitar. I'll tell you some stories and sing you some songs. This is the first time I've done sets like this, and I'm looking forward to it.

Hope to see you soon.

cf

That Hold Steady tour in June does not currently include a NYC date -- though they will play the XPoNential Music Festival in Camden, NJ in July -- but we do get frontman Craig Finn, who will team up with alt-rock all stars The Baseball Project for a show at City Winery on July 5 as part of the CBGB Festival. Tickets are on on sale now.

The show is one of three current dates for The Baseball Project -- all in the Northeast. Below, you can check out those listed dates, a listing of all Hold Steady dates and a video of The Baseball Project's full set from The Met last month.

Continue reading "The Hold Steady touring in June (dates); Craig Finn playing with The Baseball Project at City Winery" at brooklynvegan

King Khan at Bell House (more by Keith Marlowe)

Raucous soul/garage combo King Khan and the Shrines have announced a few East Coast dates this summer surrounding their festival appearances, including a show at Bowery Ballroom on July 27. Tickets for the Bowery show are on sale Thursday (5/24) at noon. All listed dates, including North Coast and Bumbershoot, are at the bottom of this post.

The Shrines' most recent release was "Bite My Tongue," a '60s-sounding bopper that is one side of a split 7" with Mikal Cronin that was released on Bruise Cruise (yes they're more than just a cruise now). You can download that track at the top of this post or stream it below.

Continue reading "King Khan & The Shrines playing shows, including Bowery Ballroom (dates)" at brooklynvegan

today in NYC * Sweet Fleet * Santigold @ MoMA * Tell Your Friends @ Lolita Bar * Gossip, SSION, Creep @ Terminal 5 * Del Sol String Quartet @ The Stone * Garbage, Apollo Riego @ Webster Hall * Charlie Hunter, Scott Amendola @ The Stone * Ketamines, The Numerators @ Mercury Lounge * Wallpaper, Gordon Voidwell @ Bowery Ballroom * Jack White, Alabama Shakes @ Roseland Ballroom * Wet Ink Ensemble, Jacob Garchik Trio @ Littlefield * Heliotropes, Mitten, Dead Stars @ Knitting Factory * Bill Frisell's Beautiful Dreamers @ Village Vanguard * Darcy James Argue's Secret Society @ Le Poisson Rouge * Landlady, Bright Moments, Jinja Safari @ Mercury Lounge * Hot Tub Panorama, Depths, Big Ups @ Big Snow Buffalo Lodge * Smiths & Morrissey tribute w/ The Sons & Heirs @ Union Hall * Hot Water Music, The Menzingers, Luther @ Gramercy Theatre * Kommandant, Demonical, Dominium, Mutant Supremacy @ Saint Vitus * Herman Dune (Yaya), The Fishermen Three, Turner Cody @ Union Pool * Slash, Myles Kennedy, The Conspirators, Tab the Band @ Irving Plaza * The Dreebs, California Bleeding, Iconchasm, The Reacharounds @ Death By Audio * HPMYN, Weasel Walter, Peter Evans, Matt Nelson, Tom Blancarte, Katie Eastburn, Swarms (Nina Mehta of Rings), DJ Dutch E Germ, The Oracle DJs @ Zebulon

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter. Follow @bvChicago for just Chicago stuff. Also follow @bvAustin for just Austin stuff.

Be our friend on Facebook too, and BV Austin's friend on Facebook and BV Chicago's friend on Facebook.

In honor of Morrissey, who turns 53 today, there will be a Smiths & Morrissey tribute at Union Hall. Happy birthday Morrissey!

Gossip, who play Terminal 5 tonight (and are streaming the show live), made a video for "Move in the Right Direction," off their new album, Joyful Noise, which also came out today. Check it out below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?" at brooklynvegan

The xx at Webster Hall in 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Gossip's headlining show at Terminal 5 tonight (5/22), that SSION & Creep are opening, not only still has tickets available, but will be streaming online at the Bowery Presents YouTube channel at 9:45 PM. And tonight's show isn't the only thing Gossip is streaming. Listen to their new album, Joyful Noise (which is out today via Columbia), in its entirety over at Exclaim.

Tickets for The xx's upcoming Terminal 5 show, announced earlier today, go on sale June 1 at noon. with an AmEx presale starting May 30 at noon.

And finally, since we're talking about Terminal 5, we were offered a pair of tickets to give away for the Wednesday (5/23) Meshuggah, Baroness, Decapitated show, so let's do it. Contest details below...

Continue reading "xx ticket info posted; Gossip streaming live tonight; win tix to Meshuggah" at brooklynvegan

This was announced last month, but I'm admittedly not paying close attention to what is up with Sinead, and just realized it when I saw that tonight's Beacon Theater show was cancelled...

"With enormous regret I must announce that I have to cancel all touring for the year as am very unwell due to bi polar disorder," she revealed in an online message.

The Irish singer added, "So very stupidly I ignored his advice to my great detriment, attempting to be stronger than I actually am."

The 45-year-old vocalist played a few shows earlier this year and was supposed to hit the road again this spring behind her new album, "How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?."

In December, O'Connor announced her split from therapist Barry Herridge after 16 days of marriage. They tried to reconcile, but eventually called it quits in January 2012. [CBS]

Feel better Sinead.

Continue reading "Sinéad O'Connor cancelled tour due to bipolar disorder (aka she's not playing Beacon Theater tonight)" at brooklynvegan

Last night was a big one for El-P. After emerging from the kind of semi-exile that swallows lesser rappers whole following 2007's I'll Sleep When You're Dead, El released two of the year's best rap albums, in two consecutive weeks: the incendiary Killer Mike record R.A.P. Music, which he produced entirely, and his own majestically gloomy fourth album Cancer for Cure. He is in the giddy flush of a late-career resurgence, and at Santos Party House, he gathered everyone responsible for the moment together.

Inside Santos, the camaraderie was thick-- I overheard people claiming to have personally "known El" for a wildly varying number of years. In this crowd, it had never stopped being 2003, and I can think of no better litmus test of this hypothesis than the fervent reaction received by the opening set by Despot, a talented galoot whose career has been stalled in launch mode arguably since it began. "I have been working on an album for 47 years," Despot deadpanned. The guy over my right shoulder screamed, desperately, as if the mere mention of Despot's abortive classic was painful to him. He plowed through the few songs he had with demonic, short-guy-in-the-crew intensity, including some promising-sounding new songs produced by Ratatat. 

El-P and Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire

Despot then brought out Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, and they tore through a woozy, blunted new song produced by Spaceghostpurrp that sounded fantastic. eXquire can really fucking rap live. His voice is forceful enough on record, but on stage, it was Rick Ross-huge. After a 20-minute set, he loped off, a grinning jackal in a NYU jacket and gold-rimmed shades. 

Next was El, who takes his live shows extremely seriously, in an effortful, James Murphy sorta way. This was evidenced by the longest, most studious set-up for a rap show I've ever seen in my life. El and his band had reportedly been drilling these new songs mercilessly all week in rehearsals, and the second the first, fearsomely huge synth noise on Cancer for Cure's opener "Request Denied" fired up, the results were obvious.

El-P: "The Full Retard"

"I think I'm gonna do the whole album front to back," he announced, and then did exactly that. The sound was enormous-- I felt the hairs at the top of my head lift like I had just walked barefoot across a shag carpet. El's records, for all their grim, misanthropic lyrical concerns, have always been joyfully noisy and physical, and you could see it in his loose-limbed, even goofy demeanor as he rocked along to his music. His band, a mix of drum programming, live synths, and guitars, was both rigidly tight and visibly delighted to be playing new material; El's eyes lit up as he tested out the call-and-response potential of "Drones Over BKLYN".

Killer Mike, El-P, and Das Racist's Heems

The only hiccup came from some unfortunate sound issues during "Tougher Colder Killer", which disoriented El, Despot, and Killer Mike, who rumbled out from backstage in all black, looking nine times the size of everyone else in the building. El was visibly angry: "We cannot hear the music in the monitors," he yelled. But Killer Mike did not come all the way to New York to have his  guest verse demolished by a faulty monitor. "Hold up now, I gotta do something right quick," he bellowed, when the song was over. He then he spit his verse flawlessly, a cappella, and left with this: "I gotta say this and then I'm off your stage. I love you; you've given me new life. Finally, the world is on your dick." El blushed. Everyone screamed.

Sebadoh at MHoW, Nov. 2011 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Sebadoh are touring again, this time a late summer East Coast jaunt that will finish up in NYC on August 22 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for the Bowery show go on sale Thursday (5/24) at noon and all listed tour dates are below.

This tour will bring various permutations of Sebadoh in one night. In addition to the indie rock trio as you know and love them, you'll also get Circle of Buzzards (aka Sebadoh rhythm section Jason Loewenstein and Bob D'Amico) and a solo set from Lou Barlow.

Before the tour, Lou, Jason and Bob will go into the studio to work on a new Sebadoh album which should probably see a release next year. But according to Backstage Rider, there may just be a new Sebadoh EP even sooner. Additionally, Lou plays on the new Dinosaur Jr. album, currently slated for a fall release.

In more Sebadoh news, this past March they reissued Weed Forestin' with the bonus cassette, Child of the Apocalypse, both of which are streaming on bandcamp. The casette, CD, and an LP/cassette/USB package are all sold out, but there are still 63 of the 500 vinyl pressings on sale at bandcamp as of this post and you can of course purchase the digital album.

A video of Lou Barlow performing songs from Weed Forestin' in LA this past March and a list of all Sebadoh dates are below.

Continue reading "Sebadoh touring in August (dates), working on new album" at brooklynvegan

Photo by Ari Marcopoulos

The latest tribute to the Beastie Boys' Adam "MCA" Yauch comes in the form of a petition from Brooklyn residents, Billboard reports. They're asking for Brooklyn Heights' Squibb Park to be renamed after Yauch, via a Facebook-launched petition.

Squibb is currently named in honor of inventor and pharmaceutical pioneer Dr. Edward Robinson Squibb. It's in the process of being transformed into a skatepark. 

But Kathleen Hanna, Bikini Kill/Le Tigre frontwoman and wife of Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, writes on the Facebook wall for the petition that there's another Brooklyn park in consideration for renaming. She tells the petitioners:

I just wanted to let you know that Adam "Adrock" Horovitz has already begun working with the Parks Commissioner to fix up and rename State Street Park where Yauch actually played as a kid to 'Adam Yauch Park'. It would be great to get people behind THIS idea as it won't hurt the Squib family and it would be awesome to fix up the bball court there as a tribute....

The New York State Senate recently honored Yauch for his contributions to New York culture with a legislative resolution. 

Watch the video for "No Sleep Till Brooklyn":

The Gaslamp Killer at Terminal 5 in 2011 (more by Brook Bobbins)

The Gaslamp Killer has a pretty light touring schedule this summer, save for a few festivals, but he'll be in NYC for a show on June 21 at Knitting Factory with "special secret guests." Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Radiohead will probably be long gone by the time June 21 rolls around, but it's at least worth noting that some of the special friends Gaslamp played with around Coachella included Thom Yorke and his Brainfeeder label boss Flying Lotus.

All dates are listed below, along with the flier for the Brooklyn show...

Continue reading "The Gaslamp Killer playing Knitting Factory w/ special guests" at brooklynvegan

Brit punks Foals are the next in line to participate in !K7's Tapes compilation series. (Previous entries have included mixes by the Rapture and the Big Pink.) Foals Tapes will be out on July 2.

The series aims for "a selection made along the lines of an old school cassette mix tape," and Foals' entry is divided into two sides, one "more song-driven" and the other "more dance-oriented," according to a press release. It'll include tracks by Nicolas Jaar, Teengirl Fantasy, Sepalcure, Konono Nº1, Caribou, and others. 

Side A:

01 Nicolas Jaar: "Variations" 02 Clark: "Ted" (Bibio remix) 03 Dorian Concept: "Tropical Hands" 04 Condry Ziqubu "Confusion (Ma Afrika)" 05 The Invisible: "London Girl" 06 JR Seaton: "Way Savvy" (Gatto Fritto remix) 07 Blood Orange: "Dinner" 08 Tanner Ross: "B Side" 09 Teengirl Fantasy: "Cheaters" (John Talabot's Classic Vocal Refix) 10 Château Flight: "Superflight" [ft. Marie Daulne] (Maurice Fulton remix) 11 In Flagranti: "Effective Placebo Affect" 12 Tony Allen: "Kilode" (Carl Craig remix)

Side B

13 Art Department: "We Call Love" [ft. Soul Clap and Osunlade] 14 Cerrone - Give Me Love (Frankie Knuckles Remix) 15 Arnold Jarvis: "Take Some Time Out" 16 Oni Ayhun: "OAR003-B" 17 Sepalcure: "Every Day of My Life" (Jimmy Edgar remix) 18 Marshall Jefferson vs. Noosa Heads: "Mushrooms" (Justin Martin remix) 19 Julio Bashmore "Battle for Middle You" (Maurice Donovan remix) 20 Caribou: "Sun" (Midland Edit) 21 Konono Nº1: "Paradiso" 22 Gospel Comforters: "Yes God Is Real"

Watch the video for Foals' "Spanish Sahara":

by BBG

No Statik Live (photo by Robert Hanna

Bay Area punks No Statik will release their debut LP, Everywhere You Aren't Looking, next week (5/29) via the venerable Prank Records -- the same label who put out the band's No Hospice 7" and We All Die in the End 12", both from last year. You can stream "Earnest" and the album's title track below, and order yours now via the label (who also have the 7" in stock, the 12" is sold out).

The band -- whose lineup includes ex-members of Look Back & Laugh, Artimus Pyle, Scrotum Grinder and more -- are hitting the road for a West Coast tour that includes Chaos in Tejas where they'll play three times in four days. All listed tour dates -- and those track streams -- are below

Continue reading "No Statik releasing 'Everywhere You Aren't Looking' (stream two tracks), playing Chaos in Tejas and West Coast" at brooklynvegan

London producer duo Disclosure is gearing up to release its Face EP on June 4 via Greco-Roman. Though only 20 and 17, respectively, brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence have already toured the UK and Europe, including opening for SBTRKT during his UK tour. From the sounds of the EP’s second single, “What’s In Your Head,” [...]

Nikki Lane’s album “Walk of Shame” (released last fall on IAMSOUND) is Americana that’s all full of spit and vinegar, stuff that will remind you of a dozen twangy songstresses you love. The video for “Lies,” on the other hand, reminds me of something else. I. Want. That. Car.

||| Live: Nikki Lane opens for Spiritualized tonight at the Wiltern.

Cold Cave at Guggenheim (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Cold Cave, whose last NYC show was at the Guggenheim, will return to the club circuit for their next NYC show which is at Europa on June 14th as part of the Northside Festival. Tickets for that show go on sale Thursday (5/24) at noon or you can try to get in with your Northside badge. Details on support are still TBA.

In related news, Dominick Fernow (Cold Cave, Prurient) has launched his own label, Bed of Nails, which is an imprint of Boomkat. The inaugural release for the label will September Cell (out June 18), the new EP from Fernow's industrial project Vatican Shadow. Dominick Fernow is also the owner of Hospital Productions, which closed up its NYC store late last year.

Stream Vatican Shadow's Kneel Before Religious Icons, which was recently reissued by Type Records, below.

Continue reading "Cold Cave playing Northside at Europa; Dominick Fernow starts a new label" at brooklynvegan

The Gaslight Anthem at Radio City in 2010 (more by Chris La Putt)

The Gaslight Anthem, who previewed material from their upcoming major label debut, Handwritten, at MHOW last week before playing Bamboozle over the weekend, have announced an extensive tour of the US and Canada this summer and fall. The first leg will go down this July after they play the Metallica-headlined Orion Music & More festival in Atlantic City. That run culminates in a NYC show at Webster Hall on July 24. Tickets for the Webster Hall show are not on sale yet but check ticketmaster for updates.

After heading to Europe in August, they'll return for more North American dates which include shows with Hot Water Music (who play their second of two NYC shows TONIGHT [5/22]) and Rise Against, but none of those dates are in NYC.

The Gaslight Anthem have released more details on Handwritten, which is due out July 24 via Mercury, including the first single, "45," album art, and tracklist, all of which you can check out below. They've also announced that surrounding the July leg of their tour, they'll appear on The Late show with David Letterman on June 28 and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on July 27.

A list of all Gaslight Anthem tour dates, the "45" song stream, album art and tracklist are below.

Continue reading "The Gaslight Anthem announce North American tour (dates)" at brooklynvegan

“Signs of the Civilized” by Bravestation, from their upcoming debut album Giants & Dreamers.  The video depicts rituals taking place in the guise of a bourgeois party and parallels some of the song’s underlying themes including the spiritual quest for eternal youth. It was co-directed by Derek Wilson (Bravestation) & Adrian Vieni (Wood & Wires Productions) & was funded by our supporters via Indiegogo.

As we posted this morning, Azealia Banks will play Bowery Ballroom on June 3. That show is now official and Bowery Presents has announced that tickets will go on sale Thursday, 5/24 at noon. "Two tickets per customer, will call only. No hard tickets will be sold for this event. Tickets will not be available at the Mercury Lounge or Music Hall of Williamsburg box office." Azaealia says it's going to be "a gathering of kunts, gays, queers, and weirdoes alike in which various dance contests and bizarre/epic shit goes down." But we think it's just going to be gathering of those lucky enough to get the tickets when they go on sale and those willing to pay a lot to scalpers.

Continue reading "Bowery Ballroom confirms Azealia Banks show & ticket info" at brooklynvegan

GQ's very long piece on the return of R&B deity D'Angelo is now available to read online. It contains his first interview in over a decade, in which he discusses everything from his childhood dreams of Marvin Gaye to the real meaning behind the legendary "Untitled" video to the passing of J Dilla.

It was, in fact, Dilla's 2006 death that catalyzed the comeback we're experiencing this year. Following a long battle with drugs, the collapse of his career, and a life-threatening car accident, D'Angelo learned of Dilla's passing and thought, "I felt like I was going to be next. I ain't bullshitting. I was scared then." On the day of Dilla's funeral, D'Angelo was "so fucked up" that he couldn't attend, he told GQ.

Since he began his slow climb back, D'Angelo's been throwing his energies into one thing in particular: the guitar. Questlove told GQ that "The one benefit of this eleven-year sabbatical was he used 10,000 Gladwellian hours to master the guitar. He can play the shit out of it, and I don't mean no Lil Wayne shit." Tour manager Alan Leeds hypothesized that the guitar has been a way to "take the attention away from that Chippendale's shit" that snowballed following the release of the steamy video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel?)". 

Still, while D'Angelo's been recording and touring-- and is planning to take the stage at Jay-Z's Budweiser Made in America festival in September-- he's still moving at a snail's pace. There are over 50 songs prepped, 12 of which could make it onto an album. It's tentatively planned for a September release, but nothing has been finalized.

Still: "My head is straight," he told GQ. 

Watch D'Angelo singing and playing his guitar in a video GQ made to accompany the piece:

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Archers of Loaf at Bowery Ballroom in April (more by Joe McCabe)

We finally posted those Archers of Loaf Bowery Ballroom pictures yesterday, and then today this happens:

The Village Voice, the nation's largest alternative weekly newspaper, is thrilled to announce the Archers Of Loaf added to this year's The 4Knots Music Festival at the South Street Seaport, Piers 16 & 17 on Saturday, July 14, 2012 from 1:00 - 8:00 PM. Team Spirit, Doldrums and Devin will also join the bill, featuring The Drums, Crocodiles, Hospitality, Bleached and Nick Waterhouse. More artists to be announced. The 4Knots Music Festival will expand this year to include Piers 16 and 17 with a second outdoor side stage confirmed. Expanding to Pier 16 will allow the 4Knots Music Festival to include more performers.

Archers of Loaf and Doldrums both also play the Sled Island Festival this summer. Doldrums recently opened for Bear in Heaven.

And speaking of Nick Waterhouse, he just played Mercury Lounge, but unlike as previously reported, will not be back to play Dekalb Market. 4Knots is his next NYC show.

Other free shows coming up at South Street Seaport are listed HERE. No official word on whether they'll be another 4Knots pre-show like there was with Ted Leo last year (but stay tuned).

Continue reading "Archers of Loaf & more added to 4Knots Music Fest " at brooklynvegan