New England

Sunday Funday Local Music Showcase 8/21 at Precinct

Posted on:

Support local music and head out to Precinct Bar on Sunday, August 21, for some blistering rock music. The event features six bands, costs five dollars and, as an added bonus, the Somerville Rock and Roll Yard Sale is also going on in Union Square until 5pm that same day. So pick up some vinyl or local crafts outside, then head into Precinct for some music and maybe even grab a bite to eat while you’re at it (Precinct serves food until 10pm). This is a 21+ event.

Acts for the night:
4pm — The Susan Constant
5pm — The Battleships Cometh (pictured above)
6pm — The Lousy Instruments
7pm — Young Tremors
8:30pm — EratOK
10pm — Hevy Sol

–Chrissy Prisco

NYC

Experimental NYC: Theodore Robinson

Posted on:

Not many artists force me into the uncomfortable position of waxing philosophical about their performance.  I don’t like it because it conjures bad memories of drinking coffee at 4am and yelling at a lamp.  You don’t like it because you feel like I’m drooling on you.  So thanks Theodore Robinson. Thanks much.
On a certain level, I’m concerned I’m just not hip enough. Be that as it may, there was a show where he dropped his guitar, galloped off stage, released a roll of tinfoil by the door.  He unraveled it like an astronaut with limited means repairing his ship.  He proceeded with sharpie, scrawling verses, one of which included the word Love.  The foil ripped, the mosquitoes played on, the experience was both kinky and heartrending.  At another show he adorned his band with squishy strobe light rings.  He killed the lights and howled; we wanted to howl along with him but when we opened our mouths no sound came out.  And then that show where he built a shrine for an exquisitely deceased crab…  He howls and turnips rage and if you listen closely enough, bizarre references emerge.  Tiny fountains of Japanese Pop, the Downtown Scene, Sorcery, pulsing underneath this carpet of deep blues, railroad hymns.  Ted makes me feel like I am at a birthday party in an EE Cummings poem.  He makes me want to do things like pass out cough drops to everybody on earth. – Catch Ted Robinson w/ Suspenders @ Zebulon on 8/22. – Valerie Kuehne

Philadelphia

Where Is My Mind?: Mister Heavenly’s Honus Honus

Posted on:

Honus Honus, a.k.a. Ryan Kattner, recently took a break from filming the upcoming Man Man music video in a desert in California for an interview with us by phone about his latest project, Mister Heavenly. By now, you should already know that Kattner’s new band mates consist of fellow indie rock veterans, Nick Thorburn (Unicorns/Islands) and Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse/The Shins). The group’s charming debut album, Out Of Love, is available today via Sub Pop. (You can read the review of our August Album of the Month HERE.) We had a chance to talk with Kattner about doom wop, the difficulties of analog recording, the group’s connection with actor Michael Cera, and much more HERE.

Mister Heavenly – Bronx Sniper by subpop

Nashville

Lazar Lazar @ 12th & Porter, 8/13/11

Posted on:

How to describe Lazar Lazar without making its members – brothers Zach, Max and Alex Hoffman – sound like the Muppet Babies? They are so young! So adorable! It’s tempting to name them Kings of Leon, Junior and just call it a day. But that’s just not fair to a band that’s already so solid.

True, the band displays a great deal of prodigious, raw talent. And true, its members are young. However, to only describe Lazar Lazar as "up-and-coming" is a discredit to its members’ lifetime of music. The brothers Hoffman were raised by musical parents and taught to play instruments at a very young age, and it shows in their sound. Complex chords, vocal harmonies and heavily melodic tunes set them apart from many other young wannabes.

And even though they are family (almost always a prickly situation in rock music), there seems to be no Followill-esque egos in this group. They share lead vocals on many songs, and each member gets his chance to shine – more Hanson brothers than Gallagher.

Lazar Lazar appeared at 12th & Porter Saturday night, and in truth, the band felt somewhat out of their element. They zipped through their set at a breakneck pace, without stopping to allow the audience to revel in the music. They’ve got some things to work out in terms of their overall stage performance, there’s no doubt. However, perhaps the Hoffmans were hoping that the music spoke for itself – and with riffs as catchy as theirs, it certainly made an impression. – Katherine Heriges

NYC

From The NYC Open Blog: Linda Draper plays The Knit – early on Friday 08.19

Posted on:

Drawing such comparisons to songwriting luminaries such as Joan Baez, Suzanne Vega, Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, Linda Draper has still managed to carved out a sound that is all her own. In the last several years, she has toured in the US and UK, and she has shared the stage with Regina Spektor, Kimya Dawson, Jeffrey Lewis, Lucy Wainwright Roche, The One AM Radio and Theresa Andersson among others. Her next show will be at "happy hour time" at The Knitting Factory Brooklyn on Friday August 19. Doors open at 6 pm, Linda Draper kicks things off at 6:30 PM. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here). The Deli’s NYC Open Blog is powered by The Music Building.


 

NYC

Hess is More releases free single, announces full length “Creation Keeps the Devil Away”

Posted on:

Two years ago, NYC via Copenhagen Mikkel Hess produced one of Time Out Magazine’s Top 10 Albums of 2009 on Nublu records: it was his debut under the moniker Hess Is More, offering smart, minimalist, and atmospheric electro-pop. Since then Hess has evolved this project, collaborating with local musicians and fellow Dane, co-writer/producer Rasmus Bille Bahncke on new album, "Creation Keeps the Devil Away", out on October 11. Find his single’s free download down here here. – Caitlin Clive

Mp3: Hess is more: "Creation Keeps the Devil Away"

Philadelphia

Shaking Through w/Sweet Lights

Posted on:

Below is the latest edition of Weathervane Music & WXPN’s Shaking Through with Sweet Lights, which is the moniker of Shai Halperin’s current solo project. He was formerly the lead singer and songwriter of The Capitol Years as well as an early member of the War on Drugs. Sweet Lights recorded the song, “You Let Me Down,” over the course of a two-day session in late June at Miner Street Recordings. This is the first episode curated by Brian McTear, Weathervane Music co-founder, since the January 2010 episode featuring Brooklyn songstress Sharon Van Etten.

Shaking Through Vol 2 Ep 7: Sweet Lights from Weathervane Music

Philadelphia

The Plastic Traps Open for The Liminanas at KFN Aug. 16

Posted on:

The Plastic Traps are a brother duo comprised of Andy and Gary Ellison. Hailing from the northwest suburbs of Philadelphia, the two share duties switching off on lead vocals/guitar and drums. Their sound blends lo-fi indie rock with plenty of classic rock riffs and melodies to make a concoction that you just want to ingest and let pour all over yourself. On their debut album Find a Home, you’ll discover understated hidden gems that are a testament to what’s still so rad about the saturated indie movement. You simply no longer have to figure out a way to make it into an expensive studio to get your music out there. All you need are your instruments (sometimes not even that), good ideas, something to record with and upload to the interweb, and let people decide if they like it for themselves. Well, I dig it. If you do too, they’ll be performing tonight at Kung Fu Necktie alongside French garage-pop outfit The Liminanas (who have releases on Chicago’s HoZac Records and Trouble in Mind Records), the venue’s alt rock neighbors Shortbread, pop punkers Marathon Girls, and Gaz Gaz. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $8, 21+ – Q.D. Tran

Chicago

Rainbo Video Shadow Relics

Posted on:

The debut album for local musician and artist, Rainbo Video (aka Arturo Evening) is beautiful, haunting, and stunning is scope. Over just five tracks, he manages to loop his way through modern electronic music. This minimal trance, or ambient music but with so many layers and texture you will find yourself lost and in love. The epic opening to the album, "Ultraviolet" is the bast of Steve Reich mixed with Aphex Twin. The album as a whole is chilling, but that could be because of the albums core concept. Shadow Relics centers around an expedition to Antarctica and the strange artifacts uncovered there.

You can purchase a physical copy of Shadow Relics here, and you can find it digitally here.