PIXIES box set entitled MINOTAUR!

Now, these five classic releases are going to be reissued as both Limited Edition and Deluxe Edition collector's sets entitled Minotaur. Spearheaded by Jeff Anderson, founder of A+R (Artist in Residence), who has put together expansive and eye-catching versions of releases by Nine Inch Nails, Beck, and Sigur Ros - Minotaur will be available for pre-order at www.ainr.com beginning Monday, June 15, 2009. The Minotaur Deluxe Edition will retail for $175, while the Minotaur Limited Edition will be priced at $450. Wow that's pricey for no bonus material.

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers Bell House Benefit Concert

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers, Depreciation Guild, Hooray for Earth and Kino put on a benefit show for the hearing impaired at Bell House last night.

Depreciation Guild wears there idols on there sleeves but didn't fail to impress the crowd with their beautiful shoegaze tunes and rocking stage presence for such a dreamy band. Also their colored background projection was a nice touch (see below). You can download their entire LP for free here.

Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hooker were up next and opened with "Beating St Louis" and by the third song they had the crowd eating from their palms as they played the revamped Beat The Devil tune "Liquidation Sale." I had met Shilpa earlier in the evening for an interview and her voice wasn't doing so well, she was drinking honey straight from the honey bear bottle. She sounded great despite her strained voice and her Happy Hookers were on fire for this show. There weren't a ton of songs this show but when the band got going they they got going and took the songs to new levels of excitement. As the band wound the songs up into a frenzy, Shilpa went pretty crazy this show swallowing her microphone, spitting on the crowd, falling on the floor (see above). She really went for broke making it great performance the ended the evening with their cover rocking of "I Only Have Eyes For You."

Kevchino

TV On The Radio live at Majestic Ventura Theater

TV On The Radio returned to the 805 with a show on Thursday night at the Majestic Ventura Theater. The last time the band was around here, they destroyed the tiny SoHo Club in Santa Barbara and the three hundred in attendance. That was in 2007 when they were fresh off a summer amphitheater tour with Nine Inch Nails and Bauhaus in support of Return to Cookie Mountain. Here, the played to a crowd of about one thousand eager fans in the cavernous theater. This environment is well suited for the huge sound created by the band in all of its releases and allowed the quintet ample space to stretch out the diversity and dynamics of their music.

Having been out for about seven months, TVOTR returned to the road to support its massively acclaimed 2008 release Dear Science. They have played Letterman on a balcony and were heralded by Colbert. Leno got a piece of the act, as did this show that was a pit stop prior to the Coachella festival. Hitting the stage around 9.30, they immediately dove into Ambulance, Halfway Home and the droned out croon of Dreams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_OB18vTfic). The mid portion of the set contained strong renditions of Stork & Owl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrPWeoiPMcg), Young Liars and Crying with the addition of a finely tuned three-piece horn section which often accented the higher end but canceled out some of the intricate keyboarding of Gerard Smith, the talented but vaguely seen multi-instrumentalist responsible for the bass, organ, synthesizers and samples. The horn section was spot on but often added too much to already rich and complex compositions making it difficult to discern the actual make-up of the song. In addition, the bottom end was under represented. Not in a bad way, they sounded great but some heavy bass could’ve carried it a lot longer.

TV On The Radio isn’t for the faint listener. The songs are rich and textured and the lyricism of Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone are intellectually challenging to say the least, hence the critical love and very non-mainstream status. This under the radar quietness keeps them cool but not overplayed. TVOTR remains a threat and force to be reckoned with and as their discography proves they have very few competitors. This show was easily a 10/10, the execution was perfect as was the instrumentation and the flow of the show. The slight reduction is in regard to the horn section that seemed to diminish some of the work ever so slightly. For the final three-song encore, it was the core quintet sans horns and it was at this point in the show where it began to really flow well. The sparseness of Staring At The Sun was the closer and it was that space within the song, the layered sound that found their initial audience and kept the house packed till the very end.

~ Barney Rebel

Gorrillaz Bananaz documentary film

This incredible film, “Bananaz” removes the secretive, mucky walls of Gorillaz, the cartoon band created by artist Jamie Hewlett & musician Damon Albarn, smashing down all artificial barriers to reveal the full and filthy details behind this awe-inspiring band spanning from 2000-2006. WATCH IT HERE. Audiences see just what director Ceri Levy saw over seven years of mayhemical creative madness… a lot of it too graphic for mortal eyes to behold…Bananaz is Levy's story of the partnership & community behind Gorillaz. He takes you into the studio and out onto the road with this virtual phenomenon, showing a part of Gorillaz never seen before - reality. As one radio interviewer puts it, "It's a parallel universe - these guys aren't in the band but they know the animated characters who are". Bananaz is an honest, often hilarious account of the working relationship between Albarn & Hewlett, and the rise to success with Gorillaz - from the initial embryonic conception through to global domination. Also in focus are many of the conspirators & collaborators that came along for the ride, including Dennis Hopper, De la Soul, D12, Ibrahim Ferrer, Bootie Brown, Dangermouse & more. Contains strong language. WARNING: Some footage in this film includes a strobing effect, which may affect viewers with photo-sensitive epilepsy and other such conditions.

Throbbing Gristle's at Brooklyn Masonic Temple - 1st NYC Show

Somewhere out in the nether regions of Brooklyn’s developing, Ft. Greene, fans of industrial music gathered at a local temple to give praise to the genre deities, Throbbing Gristle. The crowd was of a varying type based on age and attire, which showed some faces you would not normally see at a local scene function, but there they were. Along the way it felt like you were seeing ghosts of various eras in the local Industrial/Goth scene. In short, they were all out to see Throbbing Gristle return to East Coast, USA after nearly 28 years.

In the range of the eleven o’clock hour, one by one, the band comprised of their original lineup, made their way to their positions on stage and quickly started up the set to the booming applause from the several hundred in attendance…and the houselights never went off. It was as if we were supposed to all be looking at one another enjoying the performance as the funeral dirge droned and screeched on for the next hour plus. Sonically, TG, hasn’t faltered in age and carried on with an execution that was parallel with any other of their past achievements and was faithful to themselves as well as the listeners even when they were unfaithful, but gloriously, in altered renditions of past favorites. Case in point: ‘Hamburger Lady’ with Cosey toting a horn into the mic and in turn adding another dimension to the sound of a descent into Hades. All the while the band maintained a true air of no posturing. Even with a show person such as Genesis P-Orridge, the emphasis was on the sounds and not the visuals. Then suddenly in the abyss you recognized the lyrics to ‘What a Day’ in the middle of what you thought was another new and likeable song. The crowd loved it all.

Quickly thereafter, ‘Discipline,’ another well received re-vamp, would prove to be the one that really whooped a number of fans into a frenzy as they hopped, gyrated and shook their fist in the air to the sporadic primal beats coming off the stage with Gen shouting along. And yet throughout the set, TG was not afraid to favor some latter day material, which fit quite nicely in the flow, with selections such as ‘Almost a Kiss’ and ‘Endless Not’ complimenting the distance between the next classic track.

When it was over the crowd applauded Chris, Sleazy, Cosey and Gen lavishly before exiting the theatric setting in the temple to re-enter the peaceful spring night air and hopefully were aware that they had just seen a little piece of music history.

~ Jon Prusik

Celebrate Record Store Day

The original idea for Record Store Day was conceived by Chris Brown, and was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally. Visit www.recordstoreday.com for more info and check out the special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products that were made exclusively for the day. Hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances.

St. Vincent - "Actor Out of Work" Video

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers at Death By Audio

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers entranced the Death By Audio crowd after Brooklyn's three piece Coin Under Tongue rocked so hard the singer/guitarist fried his Hot Rod DeVille amp. Shilpa Ray's voice stood strong to all the hype, as her and her band Happy Hooker captivated the audience within minutes of the first song. The band carried the hypnotic grooves 'til the very last note was played, even playing some tunes from her prior band Beat the Devil. She just bought a new harmonium (free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ or pipe organ) so get out there and check them out live and pick up their debut album A Fish Hook An Open Eye and help them pay for it. This is my new favorite band. After you get some Shilpa Ray on your playlist, go pick up her ex-band Beat the Devil's LP.





Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers US Tour Dates
4/08 Brooklyn, NY – Death by Audio with Coin Under Tongue, My Education and Guisante
4/10 Philadelphia, PA – The Fire with Goodbye Etc., Honah Lee
4/11 Buffalo, NY – Sugar City
4/12 Rochester, NY – Bug Jar with Cartwright and Gun Trouble
4/13 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern with Uno Lady & Mosquito Bandito
4/14 Detroit, MI – Lager House
4/15 Toledo, OH – Woodchucks
4/16 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle with Alla & Pezzettino
4/17 Athens, OH- The Union- Blackoutfest with Cheater Slicks, Greg Ashley Band, TV Ghost & More
4/18 Columbus, OH – Café Bourbon St
4/22 Brooklyn, NY – Bell House – Benefit for the Deaf with Deprecation Guild, Hurray for Earth & Kino

May Pianos Residency (Wednesdays):
5/13 New York, NY – Pianos with Drink Up Buttercup, the Wild Yaks & more
5/20 New York, NY – Pianos with Ford & Fitzroy, Overlord and Higgins
5/27 New York, NY – Pianos with Secret Toy Surprise, Native Black & the Octagon
7/16 New York, NY – Castle Clinton: Sly Stone Tribute Concert