It’s apparent when listening to self-proclaimed pop-revival band, The Well-Informed – who just opened for Crystal Antlers at Pianos on Wednesday – that they draw more than just inspiration from the 60’s and 70’s. Their sound is familiar, yes, but it is also inherently something altogether unique and evocative of the DUMBO art and cultural scene – which tends to shy away from the more experimental and often contrived sound generated in the Williamsburg area. Even if you’ve never been to Brooklyn, songs like “New York, We Love Her” are sure to take you there. But not peering through thick-lensed windows from the tail end of a coach — in a dream state on the threshold of consciousness, hovering just under the Manhattan Bridge, so slowly that you can’t help but take in the day-to-day essence of life “down under.”  If you missed The Well Informed at the Pianos this past Wednesday, don’t fret, you can catch them on December 20 at the Living Room. – Tuesday Phillips

What’s in a name? Don’t ask me. There’s no such thing as a yellow ostrich, but that doesn’t stop Alex Schaaf from insisting it’s alive anyway. And in songs like ‘Whale’ and ‘In The Past I Was an Astronaut’, Yellow Ostrich is making the abstract discernible, and getting a lot of attention for it. This guy raised enough money through his kickstarter two years back to self-release the outstanding album “The Mistress” last year, only to get picked up by Barsuk Records and have the album re-released this year. Things are moving fast! We asked Alex a few questsions about the recording process – read the interview here.

What better way to celebrate tonight’s monumental astrological equation than with the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival! Although this is not an event restricted to NYC artists, there will be many involved. Famed comedian turned electronic guru Reggie Watts (in the picture) stops in at Cameo tonight for a live set of full on electronic bombast meets vocal percussion. Heavyweights Diamond Rings (in the video) and Matthew Dear will also perform. Full lineup here.
P.S. Those interested in browsing electronic artists organized by web buzz and region should check out THIS LINK.

Exploring the dimensions of New York City band Indian Rebound transports you to a world of timeless music. Drawing on influences that point towards the original 1960’s English invasion, these super young musicians somehow manage to confer a classic, yet still modern feel to their tunes. The band is now working on a new collection of songs, we’ll definitely keep an ear out. – Read Dave Cromwell’s Q&A with the band here here.

Remember that Weird Al parody of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" where he has all the marbles in his mouth? That thought couldn’t help but spring to mind as "Funeral Song" by MINKS was on rotation. The mumbling is endearing, though, as if lead singer/songwriter Sean Kilfoyle is almost too shy to enunciate what he wrote. Instead, under swirling fuzz, chugging bass and melodic guitar strums, he weaves tales about summer and alcohol that only the most developed translator can fully interpret. Their record label (Captured Tracks) compares MINKS to a cassette of Cure demos birthed by Robert Smith. Most reviewers would describe MINKS, if required to peg them to a genre, to be kind of "shoegazey". But, to be quite honest, MINKS is beyond shoegaze. Their music is gazing past your shoes and through the floor. This is earthcoregaze. And again, to be quite honest, it’s kind of glorious. – Read alison levin’s interview with the bands here.

Sheila Sobolewski’s brainchild, LUFF, is a Brooklyn based band that fills the gap between shoegazer and post rock with its mid tempo, moody tracks featuring Sheila’s pensive vocals and electric guitar arrangements that range from the intricate and slightly dissonant to the full on, power-chord-fueled wall of sound. They are going to celebrate the pre-release of a new EP tonight (11.11) at Union Hall; if you are into luscious noise and (truly proficient) all female bands, don’t miss this one.

Blaze McKenzie loves his toys. His solo project puts vocals through the meat grinder, and his production work with Sydney Wayser finds the artist surrounded in sharply resonating chimes.
But for his own group, Blaze dials the textures back. He describes The Can’t Tells as ‘the only Non-Noise band in Brooklyn.’ But one could reasonably disagree. On their self-titled debut, the song ‘You’re Not Listening’ taunts the listener with the lyrics: ‘You’re not listening, cuz I’m not saying it right’ for the last half of the tune, sandwiched between layers of feedback that build to frenzy, whether he’s saying ‘it’ right or not.
Similarly, listen to the desperate lover portrayed in ‘Whipping Boy’ fall down a well of jagged guitar sounds, never quite reaching the bottom before the song abruptly ends, and you’ll start to get the picture… this is some well-thought out stuff, noise and all. A lo-fi tinkerer cut from the fabric of Atlas Sound, Blaze never reaches the bottom of his toolbox; placing mellotron, chimes and violins on the same team. But while he’s tinkering away in the background, he’s waxing poetic in the foreground. Blaze possesses an unassuming voice made to deal with a lot of these moving parts, always placing texture in service of testimonial.
There’s a lot going on here, and the way the three-piece is able to bring it all to bear in this cohesive and well-rounded effort, makes me more than happy to play in their sandbox a little while. See them play Piano’s Nov 22nd with Fete and Ego Puppets. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

We stumbled upon this NYC band called "Ego Puppets" while working on the next blog entry about The Can’t Tells (with whom they’ll share the Pianos’ stage on 11.22) and really liked this "Vibration" song. Checkerout!

Admittedly, I sometime search for coverage of emerging local bands I like on other (more) established music sites like Brooklynvegan, Stereogum and Pitchfork. When I do this, I secretly hope I won’t find any, so that one day I’ll be able to proudly say: "we were the first ones to cover these guys!"
Ah, the vanity of pride…
Today I decided to do the same with Pearl & The Beard, a band that’s not very new, but that has been – without any doubts – one of the most interesting, entertaining and followed NYC based alt-folk acts for at least 2 or 3 years now. To my surprise, neither Pitchfork nor Stereogum ever published anything whatsoever about them, which in my book is almost a scandal. This not only makes us proud of the coverage we’ve been giving to them, but is also very telling about how quality is not always rewarded in the online publications perceived as the "truth holders" of indie music. Luckily there’s NPR, who premiered the band’s beautiful new video, check it out here.

Brooklyn electro-psych-pop band Papertwin is about to release "Porcelain EP", their debut. To celebrate the event they’ll be throwing a party at Glasslands on Nov. 13th in collaboration with Popgun booking. Guests include Deli favorite Psychobuildings, Modern Rivals, Robotdrummer and a DJ set by the MDNR girl and DJ Momo from Slowdance. Show starts at 8:30 – sounds like a super fun party. – (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 and APS Mastering.

With their new EP "Bleed Me" the guitar/vocalist and drummer grrrl tandem Clinical Trials steps up the noise-rock formula through the addition of orchestral and industrial elements, boosted by confident performances and songwriting.
In the record’s highlight track, the suspenseful and almost scary "Whip It", the band takes the bold step of adding an unnerving brass section to the more traditional harsh guitar and rumble-crash drum sound. The soaring female vocals start out in a controlled manner but by song’s end have progressed to throat shredding screams, in an ever-growing, cathartic tension buildup. That’s what rock’n’roll is all about right there… The second track "American Girl" – as tense as the previous one – touches on middle-eastern rhythms for the verses, adding alienating low-toned synth bends to the mix. "Sweet Machine" is more bass guitar heavy, with a clean lively drum sound positioned against breathy come-hither vocals. References to "beauty queens" and "satisfaction guaranteed" completes the sex-for-whatever scenario. "White Fence" makes use of found audio vocal snippets (made to sound like radio transmissions) leading into a vocal delivery that pays homage to Kurt Cobain’s more confessional moments. Rich organ textures pad the sonic space as lyrical points are made about "cyanide moments." If only Frances Bean would make up with Courtney – they would probably enjoy checking out this band together.
Clinical Trials will be playing at The Studio at Webster Hall this Friday 11.11 in support of Texas indie grrls trio Girl In A Coma. – Dave Cromwell.