I just came across this gem from Brooklyn’s veteran indie-rocker Bill Whitten’s band, Grand Mal.
Directed, shot, edited, AND animated on super-8 film by the experimental underground filmaker Kenny Curwood, the video follows Whitten in his attempts to win over love by foot, bike, and even record player. Hey, we’ve all been there, right? Remind me to try the thing with the record player next time, though.
The video’s track, “Guitars Strum in Dejection” can be found on Grand Mal’s most recent release, Clandestine Songs, out now on Groover Recordings. You can pick it up here and here.
The folks behind Record Store Day have spoken, and declared Ozzy Osbourne as the official ambassador for Record Store Day 2011.
And that’s not all. For the Big Day, Ozzy plans to release a special 7” single (on vinyl) as well as full-length 180 gram vinyl versions of his classic albums, Diary Of A Madman and Blizzard Of Ozz, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year.
Unheard studio work as well as historic live material will be added to Legacy Editions of these releases and a Deluxe box set – which will also feature a one-hour documentary, demos, a coffee table book, memorabilia reproductions and a replica cross – straight from Ozzy’s neck!
There is a great video of Ozzy summoning the masses to independent record stores across the nation on April 16th here.
There’s a 3-day weekend on the horizon, and TVD NYC is kicking it off the best way possible: We’re going to tell you about a mesmerizing folk band you can go see at Pianos tomorrow, and then we’re going to give you a chance to win their brand new and beautifully crafted 7-inch.
The Kopecky Familyband teamed up with friends and Seattle locals Ivan & Alyosha and released a hand-assembled split 7” vinyl earlier this month. The Kopecky Family Band contributes the song “Animal” to the two-track release. The artwork was designed in-house by Kelsey Kopecky, and the vinyl was lovingly packed and assembled at Kopecky Headquarters. You can check out the beautiful package below. The 7-inch will be available for purchase tomorrow at Piano’s, or you can win it here by leaving a comment with “Your Top 3 Reasons Why You Love The Kopecky Family Band.”
Remember earlier this year when we learned we all may have new zodiac signs? Leos were suddenly Virgos, Taurus’ turned to Aries and no one knew which tabloid horoscope to read to get the most accurate info on how their week was going to roll out. To calm the confusion while we’re all waiting for our new stars to align, we can look forward to a cool new super collaboration called Zodiacs.
Zodiacs is a collaboration of artists in, or friendly with, the Captured Tracksfamily of bands and they’ll be releasing their first 7-inch single featuring the track “Faraway Friend” (with members ofDum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts, Woods and Blank Dogs) on March 29th via Brooklyn’s Captured Tracks.
There are a lot of reasons to look forward toRecord Store Day, and one of them is all of the neat vinyl pieces that are released exclusively on the third Saturday in April every year. Last year for the first time, Vanguard Records opened up their vinyl vault and released 5 classic titles in honor of Record Store Day. They left this year’s titles up to the voting powers of audiophiles around the world, allowing fans to cast their votes on RecordStoreDay.comto decide the titles Vanguard would release for this year’s Record Store Day.
The votes are in, and the results are below! Each piece is limited to 1000, and available exclusively at participating independently owned record stores on Record Store Day 2011, Saturday, April 16.
Skip James Today! Newly re-mastered from the original tapes, this classic 1965 album ranks alongside the best of the period, with AllMusic declaring that James “might have made the best music of anyone who resurfaced during the mid-’60s… certainly, there weren’t many albums made during that time as good as this one.”
John Hammond So Many Roads Newly re-mastered from the original tapes, this classic 1965 album features a stellar supporting cast including Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Mike Bloomfield, and Charlie Musselwhite.
Mississippi John Hurt The Immortal Newly re-mastered from the original tapes, this classic 1967 album was dubbed “one of the best albums of country blues ever recorded” by AllMusic.
John Fahey Requia (and Other Compositions for Guitar Solo) Newly re-mastered from the original tapes, this classic 1967 album stands as one of the most innovative “folk” recordings of the period, with the master guitar player exploring musique concrete and tape collage techniques alongside his signature blues derivations.
Country Joe & the Fish Electric Music for the Mind and Body Newly re-mastered, this classic 1967 album was dubbed by AllMusic “their most joyous and cohesive statement and one of the most important and enduring documents of the psychedelic era, the band’s swirl of distorted guitar and organ at its most inventive.”
More Record Store Day exclusive releases are being confirmed, and information on those titles will be coming fast and furious in the next few weeks so be sure to check back here often for the latest updates to feed your vinyl addiction.
TVD NYC Staff Writer Nicole Blumenfeld reports Big Troubles on the horizon.
Nothing melts the sleet of New York City like the hazy warmth of some good ol’ 90s style Shoegaze. The almost local band Big Troubles (they’re technically from Ridgewood, NJ) debuted the video for their newest single “Georgia”, a track off their debut release Worry (out on Olde English Spelling Bee).
The video is a beautiful collection of colorful scribbles and squiggles hand-drawn on 8 mm film. The manic scribbles overlaying a slow paced black and white scene perfectly parallel the shimmery melodies and lurking backbeat that is characteristic of Big Troubles’ sound.
Check out the video director Alexander Iezzi’s latest exhibit:
THIS IS NOWHERE Opening reception TONIGHT 6-8 p.m.
Esopus Space, 64 West Third Street #210 NYC www.alexanderiezzi.com
One of my first distinct memories of suburban summer boredom happened around third grade. It was the same summer those candies called Super Lemons and Super Colas got really popular; the ones everyone would buy at the nearby Asian supermarket (I grew up in the Bay Area, there was always a nearby Asian supermarket). These candies were coated in a thick layer of citric acid and delivered the most sour and loud bang my taste buds have ever experienced. My friends and I spent endless hours sitting around in the park, watching each other pop Super Lemons and intensely squirming, jumping, and spinning away the thrilling sourness until we were met with a relieving sweetness so satisfying that it made us crave the preceding sourness all over again.
These fond giddy emotions and rollercoaster sensations are similar to what it’s like to experience The Missionaries, both recorded and live. The Missionairies are as bubbly as they are raw and every song plunges you into your best nostalgia for college punk house shows. The band keeps you on your toes with a live line-up that changes depending on which good friend and fellow Brooklyn musician is available to fill in on guitar, whilst maintaining a steady aural warmth and poppy sound. You can download 3 tracks from a collection of demos entitled “The First Time” here.
So pick up a pack of Super Lemons and head to The Missionaries show tonight at Silent Barn (915 Wyckoff Avenue, Brooklyn). The show is $5, all ages and doors at 8pm.
In 2008 when Does It Offend You, Yeah?came onto my radar with their dancefloor debut You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into I thought that they were both the UK’s answer to France’s Daft Punk as well as a pleasant addition to the great game of “Is this a sentence or a band name” (see: Saturday Looks Good To Me, Say Hi To Your Mom, Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah, etc.) Fun fact: The band are named after one of Ricky Gervais’ lines from the British version of The Office.
Since their debut the band has seemed to be classified as everything from dance-punk to synthpop to electro house to new rave to indie rock. Whatever label you decide to file them under, Does It Offend You, Yeah? will probably disrupt it again with their new album, Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You (cover above) out March 15th on The End Records.
Frontman James Rushent promises that it will be a “fucking mess”: “We want to perform music that, if we heard it, we’d go ‘oh, who’s that?’ rather than ‘here’s another f***ing ‘60s soul artist.’ [The 18 months spent recording the album] was stressful, panicky and hard work. It’s the nature of how we work. It’s like trying to put a jigsaw together where you don’t know what the picture is at the end. I think it’s about time we have a f***ing mess.” Synth master Dan Coop concurs, “This is our break-out album. It has got balls-out angry stuff and serene melancholic, quite depressing stuff as well. We’d rather show all our hands like that than write a whole album that sounds the same.”
With an album cover like that, I can’t imagine that a live show of new material won’t be any less amazing. Does It Offend You, Yeah? play at The Bell House tomorrow night. The show is $15 and Deluka and Infernal Devicesare opening.
It’s February so that means you can’t walk into your local drugstore to buy a toothbrush without combating a fanfare of red streamers, chocolate, heart shaped everything – balloons, lolipops, candy, books, even things that should never be heartshaped like probably even the aformentioned toothbrush. Hallmark may have decided to kick off its marketing plan for Valentines Day, but TVD NYC has got your date for the stickily over-hyped “holiday.”
Idle Hands is a new bar in the East Village and they are inviting us (and you) to their Valentines Day dj night. I’m not sure if I have heard of a better, more effective way to celebrate love than to celebrate it with a love of emo and hardcore jams, specifically and especially from the mid-90s and early 2000s.
I mean, the night is named after an album from the influential post-hardcore outfit, Texas Is The Reason! So if you are a fan of discussing topics like “Diary vs. Self-titled: Which is the best Sunny Day Real Estate Album” or reminiscing about the horrific gossip of the adulterous band members of The Anniversary and Get Up Kids, then we’ll be seeing you there!
And speaking of which, here is the most heart-wrenching song I could think of to accompany this post, for your enjoyment:
Cathy Hsiao of The Missionaries and Kids In Love braved the snow for TVD NYC to bring us this wonderful review of last night’s Amen Dunes and Gary War show at Shea Stadium.
I discovered Amen Dunes the way all good music is discovered: at night, hanging out and having a record thrown on for you. In this case the record was Faust’s So Far, but in the midst of conversion my roommate also mentioned Amen Dunes. As is usually the case, he’s right on. DIA, Damon McMahon, aka Amen Dunes’ 2009 debut (Locust) is a keeper, the kind of thing you want to hear when you’re as cold inside as it is outside and maybe you like it that way. You can hear the Catskills Mountain on the album, where he went in 2006 to record. Common comparisons strike one anywhere from a more drugged-up, slowed down Kurt Vileto one of my personal favorites, the Bay Area’s Gowns(RIP) or further afield, Amps for Christ.
And because nothing transmits dissonant dark-wave quite like a frigid Brooklyn night on a desolate warehouse – lined street, when the part – time Beijing resident played a show at Shea Stadium with Gary War, I decided to brave the cold. Bushwick’s Shea Stadium has all the requisite trappings of a good Brooklyn DIY spot, from the unmarked entrance to the eerie glow cast by the dim green and red lights that bathed the space. Many of their shows are also online now at their archive.
Whenever Blank Dogs play a hometown show it evokes that feeling of being a little kid and waking up on a frosty morning to learn it’s snowed 6 inches overnight and you don’t have to go to school. I’d be lying if I said that the 6 inches of powdery soon-to- be-slushy mess currently blanketing the NYC streets outside has anything to do with inspiring that metaphor, but the point is this: Blank Dogs don’t play in New York very often, and when they do it’s always memorable and satisfying. So you better not miss this show tomorrow at Monster Island Basement in Brooklyn with The Soft Moon, Widowspeak, and Further Reductions. Snow or no snow, this one is worth the hike, uphill both ways, in blizzard conditions.
You may be familiar with UK singer-songwriter Johnny Flynnfor taking a small band called Mumford & Sons on the road with him in the U.S. back in the day. Now that small band happens to be huge and the same goes for Johnny Flynn’s infectious songs and authentic melodic grit. His second album, Been Listening, was produced by Ryan Hadlok (think Regina Spektor, The Strokes) and came out in the US at the end of last year via Transgressive Records.
TVD NYC has been lucky enough to have snagged a few copies of Been Listening on vinyl for our readers. Leave a comment below with your best reason why you’ve “Been Listening” to Johnny Flynn and we’ll hook you up with some vinyl.
For inspiration, check out the video for the track “The Water” above. Not only is it a duet with the darling Laura Marling, but an alternate version of this track is featured on the vinyl piece that could be yours.
TVD NYC staff writer Nicole Blumenfeld weighs in on the recent Dream Diary show at Mercury Lounge on Tuesday 01/18/11.
Remember the child-like joy of rolling down a perfectly slanted grassy hill on an impeccably sunny spring afternoon? You couldn’t get enough of rolling down that hill! Dream Diary’s sugary pop is equal parts grassy-hill-rolling happiness, dizzingly infectious melodies and blissful nostalgia, making them the band to watch right now. But don’t worry, you won’t have the urge to vomit all over the inside of your mom’s minivan after rolling through their live set. Mixing shimmery pop melodies with clever lyrics, the band has been a much needed ray of sunshine in the often hazy Brooklyn scene. They’ve had the blogosphere a-buzzing of late, with shining reviews on Spinner, Magnet Magazine, Oh My Rockness and even a shout out by the New York Times.
So, what are three guys to do when their female backup vocalist and rhythm guitarist relocates to Memphis? Why, strip down their sound and have their bassist sing in as high pitched a tone as his voice will reach! And that is exactly what the bi-spectacled Dream Diary did on Tuesday night at The Mercury Lounge.
Temporarily absent founding member Madison Farmer, singer/guitarist Jacob Danish Sloan incorporated Farmer’s guitar parts while bassist Christopher Balla sang the beautiful harmonies. From the first notes of “Paper Flowers” through the set closer “Something Tells Her”, Sloan and Balla’s harmonies were as wistful as ever, complemented by the always bangin’ (pun intended) beats of drummer Alexander Iezzi (NOT Alex Lezzi, ahem, NY Times fact checker). The set was packed with upbeat tracks from their upcoming album You Are The Beat (out February 15 on Kanine Records), sandwiched by a few jokes courtesy of funny man Balla. It was a perfect escape from the dreary New York winter raging outside.
Bobby Long is probably best known among modern day teens for being best pals with Twilight heartthrob Rob Pattison and for penning a song for the first movie of the dramatic series. But if there’s anything I’ve learned from my own youth, it’s that teens are totally silly. Long’s debut album, A Winter Tale, will be released by ATO Records on February 1st. Soon (if not already) Bobby Long will be known for his hauntingly honest lyrics and voice as reassuringly soulful as it is appealingly vulnerable.
The British singer songwriter recently performed the song “A Passing Tale” off of his upcoming debut under the Manhattan Bridge, with little more than freezing winds and the city skyline in attendance. For someone who can still look that cool while being that cold is pretty rad in my book.
A Winter Tale was produced by Liam Watson, who also put the magic touch on The White Stripes’ album, Elephant. That’s pretty much the icing on the cake over here. But if there’s still convincing to be made, Bobby Long takes his authentic musical swagger on the road next week and hits New York at the Bowery Ballroom on March 3rd.
Full Bobby Long tour dates are below:
January 24 Park City, UT House of Blues Park City
January 25 Park City, UT Sundance ASCAP Music Café
January 28 Vancouver, BC Media Club
January 29 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
January 31 Portland, OR Doug Fir
February 2 San Francisco, CA Café du Nord
February 3 Los Angeles, CA The Troubadour
February 4 San Diego, CA Anthology
February 5 Tucson, AZ Club Congress
February 8 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
February 10 Denver, CO Bluebird
February 11 Lawrence, KS Bottleneck
February 12 St. Louis, MO Old Rock House
February 14 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
February 15 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
February 16 Milwaukee, WI Turner Ballroom
February 17 Indianapolis, IN Radio Radio
February 18 Chicago, IL Schuba’s
February 19 Columbus, OH Basement
February 21 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
February 22 Toronto, ON Revival
February 23 Montreal, QC Divan
February 24 Burlington, VT Higher Ground
February 25 Portland, ME Port City Music Hall
February 26 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
February 28 Northampton, MA Iron Horse
March 1 Baltimore, MD Otto Bar
March 3 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
March 4 Philadelphia, PA World Café
March 5 Vienna, VA Jammin Java
March 22 Charlottesville, VA The Southern
March 23 Pittsburgh, PA Rex Theatre
March 24 Cincinnati, OH 20th Century Theatre
March 25 Knoxville, TN Barley’s Tap Room
March 26 Louisville, KY Headliners Music Hall
March 27 Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley
March 29 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
March 31 Greenville, SC The Handlebar
April 1 Atlanta, GA Vinyl
April 2 Orlando, FL The Social
April 3 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits
April 5 Birmingham, AL Workplay
April 6 Memphis, TN Hi-Tone
April 8 Dallas, TX Poor David’s Pub
April 9 Austin, TX Stubbs Jr.
April 10 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s
The UK electronic duo of Simon Franks and Tom Dinsdale known as The Audio Bullyshave returned with a new album called Higher Than The Eiffel. The group’s first record in four years is out today in the U.S. via the Brooklyn based label, The End Records.
Check out the awesome video for “Only Man” below. It beat out the likes of Kanye West and Lily Allen at the UK Music Video Awards last year:
Recorded and produced by the band with help from a cast of friends which includes Suggs and Mike Barson of Madness, the fourteen tracks on Higher Than The Eiffel range from the full on club stomp of lead single, “Only Man” to the psychedelic come down of “Daisy Chains,” to the chic guitar disco of “Dynamite” and the ska stylings of “The Future Belongs To Us.”
This is a complete album, a journey through various dance music, all held together by Simon Franks’ conversational lyrics and the little production twists and turns that are the hallmark of Audio Bullys sound.
