We Are Serenades‘ [Adam Olenius and Markus Krunegard and friends] are snazzy dressers, and great performers. On May 9th, at Mercury Lounge, the lovechild of Shout Out Louds and Laakso, put on an incredibly fun and technically inspired show – performing a collection of synth-inspired folk songs – ranging from, the beautiful harmonies of “Daydreaming” to the off-tempo-yet-incredibly-fun “Weapons”. I found it funny – a Swedish band performing in the States, sang back-to-back songs about Mexico – opening their set with “Criminal Heaven” [the song from which the album takes it's title] and ending on Christopher Cross’ “Ride Like the Wind”. It also dawned on me that “All the Words” will play at my wedding this summer. Check out some images from the show below:
“What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?” It’s a question pondered by Rob Gordon in Nick Hornby’s ‘High Fidelity,’ as he surveys his record collection built on broken hearts. If you are asking yourself the same question this Valentines Day, why not mope with the Pope of Mope and the perfect anti-Valentines day band: The Smiths.
GOING OUT:
Unloveable: A Smiths & Morrissey Valentines Day at The Bell House in Brooklyn. Featuring the legendary NYC Smiths & Morrissey tribute band: The Sons & Heirs , plus a special pre-party with DJ Ceremony, spinning Brit-pop in the front lounge from 8-9 and in the main space from 9-10.
Hear all the best new music, flawlessly presented on East Village Radio by Mike Joyce, former Smiths drummer, and host of Mike Joyce’s Coalition Chart Show: the UK’s fastest growing ‘net based independent chart show. From the UK to the EV! Listen to select tracks from The Smiths recently remastered box set, Complete which has just been released on Rhino Records. Joyce simply found it just too difficult to choose, so he’s been whittling away and has managed to get it down to 24 tracks, which is a rather convenient 2 hours… which is conveniently the same time as the show.
Inspired by italo, electro and the 80s new wave movement, Teeel aka Jim Smith credits his sound to marathon movie watching and being an obsessive gear head. Creating music in a 10×10 teal painted room, stacked with vintage synthesizers and guitars, TEEEL creates music that ranges from hypnotic synthpop to dreamy disco and dark electronica. Although TEEEL is a fairly new solo project, Jim Smith is no rookie in the music industry. He’s been producing a wide range of music, performing with bands and DJing in clubs since the late 90s. His debut album, AMULET (Moodgadget Records) has generated quite the buzz in the blog world as well as being featured on KEXP radio. “Dark Passenger” was featured as “Song of the Day”.
You can check out a night of electronic bliss this Thursday at 11:15 at Lit Lounge in New York City with Teeel performing along with Starfawn, Jacob 2-2, and Crozet. Doors open at 8:30pm. Lit Lounge is 93 2nd Ave. (btwn. E5/E6th St). Click HERE for more details.
TEEEL – “University Heights” (Coming 2/22/2012) Original Cover Art by: Hayden James Mitchell
TEEEL – “Amulet” (Moodgadget Records, February 22nd, 2011)
Sorry folks, No soap, No Radiohead. The band’s representative Steve Martin of Nasty Little Man said in an email “We can officially confirm this is NOT happening.” Twitter rumors have been circulating of a confirmed Radiohead ”surprise” show downtown for the Occupy Wall Street protest this afternoon at 4pm, but looks like this will not happen. The band will however, stick around NYC to play Jimmy Fallon’s late show Monday night, and has been rumored to play the All Tomorrow’s Party over the weekend.
Starfucker, also known as STRFKR, formerly briefly known as Pyramiddd, performed to a sold-out Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night. A far cry from the Nachbar show I organized in 2008 (link) and even the Mercury Lounge performance of 2009 (link). How things have changed…bigger venue, bigger sound, bigger crowd, and even a bigger band…but there was one major deficiency. Ryan, the face and frontman of Starfucker, is gone. Starfucker may have started as a solo project of Josh’s, but for anyone who had seen them live, Ryan was the center of attention. For those that had never seen Starfucker before, the absence is really no loss. The band sounded fantastic, Shawn and Josh both stepped up to share duties that the comically bad dancer Ryan once alone bore and had I not known better I would think they’d spent years with this approach. Call me an old man, well-removed from the loop, as I was unaware that in early August, Ryan had announced his departure from the band to focus on his solo career. It’s unfortunately hard to recover from an unexpected blow of that caliber. I wasn’t prepared.
Nevertheless, the band DID sound amazing. Starting off with the their first ever single, German Love, the band instantly drew the crowd in. Though in essence a simple and pure pop song, when combined with a rad laser show, harder-than-anticipated synth beats, and a crowd of primarily 18-20 yr olds, a pit was bound to erupt. It was, in fact, in many ways, one of the most aggressive shows I have seen in New York, and it was from the first note. My girlfriend and I were literally forced from front row, center stage to fifth row, stage left by the time German Love had finished. Growing up going primarily to punk shows, I loved it. The energy of the band and the crowd ramped up quickly and never faltered. My concern that the show would lack energy, sweat and dancing without Ryan was quickly alleviated.
New York’s Caveman played a sold-out recordless record release party last week (9/15) for the digital release of their debut album “CoCo Beware” on Magic Man! Records (which you can get here). Packed with psychedelic pop jams from beginning to end, we were ecstatic for the chance to catch these guys live. Their show contained a visual component which was relatively nondescript, but which worked nicely to light the stage in a beautiful way while not distracting the audience from the focal point of the performance, namely the music. Frontman Matthew Iwanusa’s vocals contain traces of the nostalgia that seems to pervade every fuzzy shoegaze band since 2008…which is, of course, essentially every “new” band since 2009…but only ever so subtly and in hearing them live, I felt as though harmonically the vocals were aimed more at creating a mood than a mentality. Anyone you speak to will tell you that if you like Grizzly Bear, you’ll like Caveman, however in a live setting, while a great deal of the albums texture does come through that invariably draws the Grizzly Bear references, I found Caveman to provide what was, for me, a significantly more engaging and exciting performance. Iwanusa alternated between a standing drum and guitar and on songs such as ”My Room” and “Great Life” launched into ferociously heavy tribalesque drum tirades turning the otherwise melancholic and hushed songs into truly dance-worthy jams. It’s rare to find a band with such sweeping and beautiful sounds to also have the pop sensibilities that Caveman has, and perhaps the best example is “Thankful.”
It’s no surprise that Caveman are so quickly generating buzz instantly upon the release of their debut and have gained places opening with the likes of The War on Drugs, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and the White Rabbits. These guys put on one hell of a good show. Abandoning the sold out crowd with a deafening reverb, Caveman returned to the stage to perform one last unplanned nonalbum song “Wasted Life.” Our recommendation, be sure to catch Caveman at CMJ next month, you won’t be disappointed.
The second annual Out In The Streets fest is two-day party at Brooklyn Fireproof in Bushwick Saturday + Sunday August 27th and 28th, following up last month’s Bushwick Walkabout Festival. Free beer will be provided by Brooklyn Brewery, lots of give-a-ways and more than a dozen awesome bands.
Head on over to Hudson River Park’s River Rocks at Pier 54 in Manhattan tonight to see Metronomy play for FREE! They should be going on at 8:30PM just after Brooklyn based Class Actress opens it up. You can download their Free 2011 Digital Mix Tape, that contains tracks from a lot of the acts on their summer lineup, here.
Daniel Isaiah’s recent release High Twilight winds it’s way through years of folk references with some refreshing indie ingredients. There are tracks that speak to Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Conor Oberst, but with bursts of a youthful Montreal indie rock sound. For those looking for an energetic update to more traditional folk songwriting, Isaiah delivers with tracks like “The Naked Night” which features some heavier guitars and synth backgrounds and “Candlemaker Row” with stark percussive interludes. His charming French tracks “J’habites un pays” and “Mélissa” are a sweet addition and also offer a soft contrast to his folkier sounds. I like that he follows “Mélissa” with “Ogygia” which has a similar quality, but is sung in English. The two songs speak to each other melodically and tonally.
Check out “High Twilight” and “The Naked Night” now and don’t miss Daniel Isaiah live Friday 6/24 at Pianos or Saturday 6/25 at Rock Shop.
The full schedule for Brooklyn’s Northside Music Festival with Guided By Voices, Twin Sister, Deertick, Waaves, Surfer Blood and too many other great bands to list, has finally been announced. You can catch the Festival spanning numerous North Brooklyn music venues from June 16-19.
You can also still buy a Northside badge to get you into most of the events (capacity permitting) including the sold out Beirut/Sharon Van Etten show.
Individual tickets are also still on sale for a lot of the other shows like Guided By Voices show withWavves, Surfer Blood, and The Babies in McCarren Park on June 18.
Herds of bicycle enthusiasts from around the world will flock to New York City this June for the Bicycle Film Festivalʼs Eleventh year in NY, to celebrate the worldʼs best invention: the bicycle.
Born in New York, the festival’s immense popularity and continued growth has evolved hand in hand with the unprecedented boomin urban cycling internationally. From its roots in New York City, the BFF has grown into a multi-faceted, globalevent that will travel to over 25 cities this year, from Milan to Tokyo, Minneapolis to Sydney.
In 2001 Brendt Barbur, Founding Director, was compelled to start the Bicycle Film Festival after being hit by a bus while riding his bike in New York City. He was inspired to turn this negative experience into a positive one, and created a festival that celebrates the bicycle through music, art, and film.
The festival merges many creative communities, including fashion, music and art, as well as various bicycling communities – road cycling, mountainbiking, fixed gear, BMX, cyclocross – over a shared passion for bike riding.“NY is one of the greatest bicycle cities in the world” says Brendt Barbur. “We are very happy to bring the BFFback home.”
Film highlights include:
The World Premiere of RACING TOWARDS RED HOOK (Dir. Jessica Scott & HydeHarper)
The story of 3 cyclists of diverse backgrounds competing in one of New York Cityʼs biggest undergroundevents, the 2011 Red Hook Criterium. The rules are simple: 20 laps, one gear, zero brakes.
SUNCHASERS (Dir. Irvin Coffee)
This documentary explores the world of competitive cycling through the lives ofthree disabled women, each in distinct periods of their cycling careers as they prepare for the Paralympics.BFF11 showcases a stellar collection of short films, including
LAST MINUTES WITH ODEN (winner of VimeoʼsBest Video Award)
dramatic documentary about Odenʼs struggle with cancer,
BIKELORDZ: STUNTS ANDSTYLES FROM ACCRA, GHANA
showcasing a new interesting bike culture
BIKE RACE
a bike animationthat puts some of cyclingʼs greats head to head.
Aside from the films, you can also check out
BIKES ROCK, a BFF kick-off concert, June 22
JOYRIDE ART SHOW June 23 at the Spencer Brownstone Gallery
GOLD SPRINTS PARTY June 24 at The Acheron
BFF STREET PARTYJune 25 in the Lower East Side
Celebrating bikes & community, 12-6 PM 2nd street, between 1st and 2nd ave.
The BFF Annual Street Party brings together bicycle enthusiasts and street riders from all over the world foran afternoon of bike fun in the street. Bicycle contests hosted by the best riders in the world. Freestyle fixedgear compettions hosted by the popular group GRIME and BMX Jam hosted by Post BMX. Vendors that spanthe globe will be selling handmade bicycle goods. Thousands of people expected!
LET THE RYTHYM ROCK dance party, June 25 at China Chalet.
300,000 people are expected to attend BFF in 2011. Make sure that youʼre one of them!For the most up to date information on the festival please visit bicyclefilmfestival.com
