Halloween came early this year in the world of Foxygen.
On Monday, they took over the stage at the Bowery Ballroom and decked it out with cob webs, skulls, tombstones, and their own costumes. In addition to Halloween theatrics, their performance was full of so much energy, you couldn’t resist dancing if you tried.
Jonathan Rado lead the songs on keys and guitar, while frontman Sam France took over the stage with his Jim Morrison-esque antics and Mick-Jagger-trying-to-sound-like-Bob-Dylan vocals. When Foxygen released their second record, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic, they certainly set the bar high for themselves.
“As musicians and fans travel home with as many brain cells blown as speaker cabinets, we say goodbye to another CMJ.
Having attended multiple years now I can say that CMJ has its finger on the pulse. Everywhere you look there’s healthy (or unhealthy, depending on who you ask) doses of 80s electroshock disco, dream pop, punk rock, and the occasional resuscitated legend. More shenanigans below…”
—Zachary
What do a woman in a bunny mask, a coat rack, two guitars, a giant iPhone, and a bottle of wine have in common with each other? Absolutely nothing, except that they were all a part of Father John Misty‘s performance at Music Hall of Williamsburg last Saturday.
Currently touring as a solo act, former Fleet Foxes drummer Father John Misty (whose real name is J., for Joshua, Tillman) gave the crowd more than just his music, but his tongue-in-cheek shamanistic wisdom as well. Tillman kept the crowd laughing while emphasizing the humor and wit in his singles “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” and “Nancy From Now On.”
Taking breaks to do a little performance art featuring both the bunny-woman and the coat rack, Tillman then introduced a giant iPhone frame on stage that was placed in front of him less than half way through the set (an obvious gesture towards fans who spend more time watching the show through their iPhones than their eyes). He also took the time to pour out an entire bottle of wine into a wine glass, which overflowed and streamed down the table that was placed center stage. Acting as if nothing had happened, Tillman resumed playing the rest of the set, which included almost every song off his debut record, Fear Fun, along with new songs such as “I Love You, Honeybear.”
Opening Thursday’s sound portal were Worthless, whose vocal harmonies, shadowy organ magic, and Gilmore-y guitar work created a melty lava lamp dream of a set.
Next was Coke Weed with their psych-folk jams from Maine. With trade-off lead guitars and Nina Donghia’s beautiful smoky vocals we heard an impressive set—I can’t wait to see them live again.
Brooklyn’s own Prince Rupert’s Drops blasted us into the heavier portion of the evening with psychedelic vigor. Among other badass songs, we heard their new single “Stay Awake” for the first time live and a righteous rendering of “Run Slow,” which burned for ten minutes.
Five nonstop days of music. More than 1,400 live performances. In over 80 venues. It’s that time of year: New York City’s annual CMJ Music Marathon. This year, City Bird Publicity and The Vinyl District are thrilled to present a must-see day party at the event, featuring up-and-coming bands Sharkmuffin,Indyns,Bedfellows (USA), and Elephant 12.
The showcase takes place on Saturday, October 19th, the last day of the festival’s 220-hour stream of live music throughout NYC. Guests need no badge to attend the show, scheduled for 2-5 pm at Brooklyn’s super-chill, railroad-themed Passenger Bar.
The lineup features four bands definitely worth knowing: one of “Brooklyn’s Best Bands,” garage pop group Sharkmuffin; post-punk and electronic trio Bedfellows (USA), another of Brooklyn’s own; Indyns, an NYC-based rock band with a sound marked by chilling synths and vocals; and London’s three-piece electro punk/rap band Elephant 12.
The Velcro Lewis Group is a force and led by blind frontman, Velcro Lewis/Andrew J. Slater–along with 5-octave range, singing drummer Hawk Colman, soul-injected guitarist Travers Gauntt, groove-hammering bassist Halden Spoonwood, and sonic menace Lawrence Peters on electric washboard and bass vocals.
We chatted up the hot buttered soul of Velcro Lewis in advance of Thursday night and we’ll journey into their incredible new album, discuss their ass-kicking, future funk sounds from the stage to the recording room, and naturally, vinyl collections. All aboard the spaceship Impala.
The next VLG album, Open the Sky arrives October 15th on, ahem, BBIB Records! The album encompasses bluesy funk rock tracks like “Bernadette,” to an almost 16 minute psych burner on the B side, “Occulus Of The Winged Man.” Talk a bit about the sonic journey from A to B?
“Open The Sky” is a very personal album and deals with content familiar to everyone. We sequenced the album as if it were a journey. “Bernadette” is about escaping reoccurring trouble, fighting it off, and successfully moving on.
“Eagle Momma” takes your newfound confidence to task. You start off chasing after unobtainable ideas, then failing, as we’re all prone to do. By the end you have found yourself in a deep, dark pit screaming to warn others not to go through the same shit.
In “No Dream,” your own neurosis and baggage get the best of you. You’re now finding it hard to shake anything off what’s happened. You’re second-guessing everything. You’re delusional and hallucinating until you clean up and accept who you are.
Ocular delights will be supplied by Drippy Eye Projections and by way of introduction to the psychedelic light show, we spoke with NYC’s own visual psychonaut Curtis Gordino of Drippy Eye Projections. We’ll drop into the oil wheel with Curtis and discuss Drippy Eye, the interplay of visuals in live shows, vinyl inspired creations, and the lovely lava lamp sounds of his band, Worthless.
Tell us about the genesis of Drippy Eye Projections—how was the idea born and who are you artistic influences?
Well, Drippy Eye has been a project I’ve been working on for about 3 years now. The idea was conceived when our band in high school needed a light show. I saw a few light show videos from Josh White and Mark Boyle and was hooked. Ever since then it’s been an unhealthy obsession of mine.
What technology do you need to create the visual experience? Anything invented in the last 20 years?
You can use anything to create a light show. That’s why I’m so hooked on it, everything in my life could potentially be involved in my light show it just takes some thought to figure out how to rig it up to project it onto a wall. I think there are new things invented in the light show everyday, it’s endless. It’s also constantly being reinvented because you can’t buy anything specific for this besides oil wheels, but everything else is your own bag.
ZZ Ward walked onto the stage at Irving Plaza to a packed crowd chanting and screaming her name. Tearing through a set full of blues jives and funk grooves, Ward didn’t let down those in attendance.
Her soulful voice and charisma filled up the stage. With songs and lyrics deeply rooted in the blues, the crowd sang every word back to her for nearly the whole set, not missing a single line.
The blues is back baby, and ZZ Ward is giving it to you…
Dear New York vinyl dudes, you should make sure not to miss the Brooklyn Flea Record Fair this Saturday at Smorgasburg and East River Park in Brooklyn.
There will be old records, there will be new records, there will also be other stuff…and also things! Not to mention you’ll be surrounded by all the best food and drink in town, set up in convenient little booths! Record Fair vendors this time around include great labels like Domino, No Quarter, Northern Spy, Mexican Summer, and Beyond Beyond is Beyond; great record shops like Kim’s, Other Music, and Record Grouch; and also great individual vinyl slingers like Ian Johnson and Endless Boogie and Baron Corvo.
The vinyl festivities start at 11:00AM and spin until 6:00PM, so get thee to the Brooklyn Flea Record Fair at Smorgasburg on Saturday and score some new jams! Stop by and say hi at the Beyond Beyond is Beyond booth!
Wherein TVD’s LA family, Alexandra Starlight and Zachary James, head East with a head of steam (and stars) and offer their picks for the bands you should be up front and centered for. —Ed.
“Ahhh, CMJ—our annual excuse to visit the Big Apple (as no local New Yorkers actually call it.) For those of you who’ve never been, the CMJ Music Marathon is one of the world’s “most important platforms for the discovery of new music.” From October 15th–19th, CMJ will feature over 1,400 live performances in more than 80 of NYC’s concert venues.
Their latest artist announcement include heavyweight artists Talib Kwali, Father John Misty, Alberta Cross, and more. You can read their latest announcement here. I’ve compiled the top three bands I’m looking forward to checking out this year.” —Alexandra Starlight
NICK WATERHOUSE | Nick Waterhouse creates throwback ’50s vintage American-inspired R&B so period-correct there is clearly black magick involved with his recordings.
New Orleans cursed black chicken feet, baked BBQ gorilla ribs, and some mosquito pie. There’s somethin’ wrong with you, Nick Waterhouse.
Hey, I found a cool new band! I can’t believe I hadn’t heard The Young Sinclairs up till now because really they’re not that new…and they’re really good. They definitely have plenty of recordings under their belts. The most recent of which, the “You Know Where to Find Me” EP on 7-inch can be yours free—thanks to our friends at Planting Seeds Records!
“The Young Sinclairs have been bringing their brand of jangly 60’s inspired psych/folk/rock (RIYL: The Byrds, The Essex Green, Rain Parade, The Zombies, etc.) to the world since 2005 as part of the Magic Twig Community.
The band features: John Thompson, Daniel Cundiff (Eternal Summers), Kyle Harris (The Diamond Center), Joe Lunsford, and Samuel Lunsford (ex 63 Crayons). In their more than five year history they have self-released several full length LPs, EPs, and cassettes, including a vinyl-only LP via legendary indiepop label Kindercore Records.
As a Committee To Keep Music Evil affiliate, The Young Sinclairs have successfully toured with The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Australian group The Lovetones. They have also played in support of 60’s stoner legends Blue Cheer and Sweden’s Dungen, among many others.”
Well, Johnny Cash’s longtime friend and right-hand man, visionary Nashville artist Chance Martin is delighted to announce the first-ever reissue of his 1981 private-press masterpiece In Search, out this week on Paradise of Bachelors. And we’ve got a vinyl copy just for you!
“Ringleader, maestro, and indomitable troubadour of Nashville’s most private, elusive and exclusive far-out scene – the Dead End – Chance (aka Alamo Jones, the Voice in Black, aka the Stoned Ranger) could have stepped from the pages of a Charles Portis novel or Coen Bros. script.
Under the direction of Chance as a guru, his band spent five years in secrecy recording this fierce, inimitable collection of mythmaking countrydelic tunes in a “bonus room” above his parents’ garage in Nashville. Despite its intensely personal origins, long gestation, substantial financial costs, and deadly serious deliberation, In Search shows minimal signs of outside influences or traceable authorship.
BY CARLY SUSMAN |Shugo Tokumaru returned to New York City after five years with his most recent album In Focus?, which was released in November. Shugo and his accompanying musicians blew the Bowery Ballroom‘s audience away with their performance last Thursday night.
Opening for Shugo and his band at the Bowery Ballroom were OneOne, which featured Saya from Tenniscoats and Satomi from Deerhoof. Oneone performed several playful songs in Japanese; Satomi described one as being about a crab cutting a telephone wire. Keeping with the Japanese theme, singer and songwriter Mirah then performed in a shirt that she said she bought at a flea market in Tokyo and shared multiple new tracks with the audience.
Tokumaru opened his set with “Katachi,” which has an incredible stop-motion music video that won the Audience Award for Best Music Video at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival. The performance was captivating, especially because being able to see the wide array of toys and instruments used to create each song gives Shugo’s music another dimension.
Ironically, it was Dana Schechter’s singing voice which drew us to her all instrumental, non vocal project, Insect Ark. Having been far more than a casual fan of her main enterprise, the NYC via Berlin Bee and Flower, we’ve been singing that band’s praises for years.
Dana’s solo endeavor, Insect Ark recently released a debut 10″ “Long Arms,” and she’ll perform under the Insect Ark moniker this Friday night at Public Assembly. Ever the consistent voice of quality, we encourage you to be in attendance. Here’s a bit of official background:
“‘Long Arms’ is massive and slow moving, full of stark vulnerability. Schechter weaves a brooding textural landscape which creates a personal soundtrack to the human psyche’s underbelly. Between sequenced drum beats, Schechter’s agitated lap steel is enveloped by her thunderous bass tone, constantly keeping the music both on edge and all consuming.
Schechter’s live shows are ferocious. She samples, layers, and triggers loops like a one woman orchestra, guiding the sound through quiet passages and blaring crescendos.
The fantastic Los Angeles duo, JJUUJJUU, are made up of Moon Block Party‘s Phil Pirrone and Incan Abraham‘s Andrew Clinco and they just released their first collection of Krautrock-inspired psychedelic jams as an EP entitled FRST on Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records in April, and made their first appearance at this year’s Austin Psych Fest later the same month. And I’m happy to say that we have a copy of the limited edition EP on white vinyl for one lucky TVD winner! Have a listen…
The honorable Permanent Records Chicago calls FRST “…a mouthwatering ‘amuse bouche’ for this tasty morsel of heavy psych! Rolling drums and droning guitars ebb and sway, conjuring a peyote-fueled rollercoaster ride thru the blistering Mojave.
There’s definitely a mood and vibe ruminating thru these grooves, with echoes of fellow voyagers like Spacemen 3, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and even some of the headier moments from the earlier Black Angels oeuvre. These guys are definitely ones to watch—we certainly will be.”
