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

MP3 of Les Savy Fav covering Superchunk from SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: THE COVERS!

SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: THE COVERS! will be in stores on April 7. All proceeds benefit charities handpicked by the SCORE! curators.

MP3: Les Savy Fav - Precision Auto (Superchunk cover) Download



Tracklist:
01 Quasi: "Beautiful Things" (3Ds cover)
02 Les Savy Fav: "Precision Auto" (Superchunk cover)
03 The Shins: "Plenty Is Never Enough" (Tenement Halls cover)
04 St. Vincent and the National: "Sleep All Summer" (Crooked Fingers cover)
05 Broken Social Scene: "Complications" (The Clean cover)
06 Ryan Adams: "Like a Fool" (Superchunk cover)
07 Bright Eyes: "Papa Was a Rodeo" (The Magnetic Fields cover)
08 Lavender Diamond: "New Ways of Living" (Destroyer cover)
09 The Apples in stereo: "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3" (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
10 Laura Cantrell: "Cowboy on the Moon" (Lambchop cover)
11 Bill Callahan: "Santa Maria" (Versus cover)
12 Barbara Manning: "Through With People" (Portastatic cover)
13 The Mountain Goats: "Drug Life" (East River Pipe cover)
14 The New Pornographers: "Don't Destroy This Night" (The Rock*A*Teens cover)
15 Tracey Thorn and Jens Lekman: "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" (The Magnetic Fields cover)
16 The Hive Dwellers: "My Noise" (Superchunk cover)
17 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: "The Numbered Head" (Robert Pollard cover)
18 Okkervil River: "All You Little Suckers" (East River Pipe cover)
19 Death Cab for Cutie: "Kicked In" (Superchunk cover)
20 Times New Viking: "Neighborhood #1" (Arcade Fire cover)

Department of Eagles video No One Does It Like

Department of Eagles' "No One Does It Like You," produced by the Directors Bureau, directed by Patrick Daughters and Marcel Dzama, and featuring costumes and sets designed by Dzama.

Gorillaz Movie "BANANAZ" at Apple Soho tonight

If you're in NYC you should come out to the Soho Apple Store TONIGHT 6:30 PM, to see the film and a Q+A session with director Ceri Levy!

NIN & Jane's Addiction = NINJA Tour & Free MP3s

The NIN/JA 2009 tour site is now live at ninja2009.com and features a FREE download with exclusive, previously-unreleased music from Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, and Street Sweeper. You can also browse tour dates, photos, videos, and listen to streaming music. ninja2009.com.

Additionally, starting today you'll have the option to remix two Jane's Addiction tracks and one Street Sweeper track on remix.nin.com.

The NIN/JA 2009 tour with Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, and Street Sweeper begins May 8th in West Palm Beach, FL, and continues through North America this summer. NIN will then continue on with a series of dates across Europe and Asia during July and August. Watch the NIN tour page for updated on-sale information: http://tour.nin.com

Neil Young Johnny Magic Videos

Mr. Young filmed himself for the song ”Johnny Magic”. Our favorite is the Magic Sun version 2, which features his dog. Both were shot in his 1959 Lincoln Continental which he has converted to use alternative energy. His new album entitled Fork In The Road will be released on April 6, 2009.

ONE STEP BEYOND at American Museum of Natural History

From the outside, the museum appeared to be its usual self as I walked up to the entrance on a chilly Friday night amongst others in search of a good time. At this hour there were no tourists, there were no families, just young adults following the steady vibrations coming from around the corner and down below in the belly of the museum. Once past the horde of security checking IDs and directing people around, three large dinosaur skeletons are towering above me and this gives a bit of a jolt, because this was maybe the last thing I thought I’d see on a Friday night and I find myself digging for my camera and searching for my cell phone as I walk with my eyes up towards the ceiling at Dino’s head some fifty feet above me. Unfortunately it’s at this time that I realize the wine from back home was starting to fade.

After having my press credentials put in order the museum staff was good to direct me to where the thumping vibrations were coming from. Down a long sterile hall, with other scattered souls on the same path, we lumbered down this spiral path that lead further and further into Hades with this soundtrack of the techno beat getting louder and louder. All the while various scientific facts about our solar system are scattered about on the handrails and walls. With a peek over the side I half expected to see a dark void, but instead it was where all the party seekers from the entrance have been going. A few dozen people where all wondering around these scientific exhibit pieces, some dancing, while on the makeshift stage the DJs spun the records.

Having a gas at what I’m looking at, the clash of house music with a house of history, I make my way to the bar to find that the selection is pretty minimal and that there was in fact a separate line for drink tickets. So now I’m on line at a museum for drink tickets. I felt like calling my sister, a schoolteacher, for a few laughs, and yet there were lots of us one after the other walking up for the pricey orange tickets.

The beat the DJs played seemed like it went on forever with the typical one song that gets played again and again and with a crate full of different records somehow. How do these people do this? (I thought to myself). However the sound at one point seemed like it evolved from the standard techno/house fare into something like synthpop laced with a house kick. In other words the night was looking grim and so I had to find a way to entertain myself…and quickly.

From a look around the crowd in front of me it was a clientele of the well dressed, the chic, to the ‘girl, are you serious?’ people. I opted to walk around and get a feel for the room and nurse this tiny cup of merlot.

On the floor it was like any club you’ve ever been to in your life, but with the fear of a tour guide coming through with a group of sixth graders still seemed very real. My own fear and the overwhelming desire to escape to another part of the museum began to swell. Though the ever-present security staff seemed to pose a threat to this notion and so that plan was quickly aborted.

It was somewhere around this time where it felt like I turned around and all of a sudden Mapie had hit the stage. The duo played a loud aggressive set of hybrid hipster hip-hop that appeared to please the small crowd of female fans that congested the foot of the stage as they grooved to the tunes and waved their hands in the air. Still it wasn’t too difficult to work my way in for a better photo op as I carefully tried not to spill my second cup of merlot. The female MC had their full attention and kept people going with her competent rhymes laid over compositions maybe better suited to the underground than the masses.

The rest of the night was totally downhill.

Up next on the bill was Jon Hopkins, a British musician, with not one iota of originality in his sound. Quickly it’s not a matter of who he sounds like in the electronic genre, but really who doesn’t he sound like. It made for a very uninteresting time and I spent most of the set off to the side texting friends and revisiting the bar after another wait on the drink ticket line which just got longer and longer, but that was ok, because that meant there was less show to sit through.

Four Tet, would prove to be not much of an improvement. Although a bit more lively, it was still a guessing game of which Aphex Twin, Autechre or Squarepusher album this fellow British act had on when they were recording their own work. It wasn’t very long until I had my fill and simultaneously ran out of cash. So it was time to leave and I wasn’t the only one as I made my way back up the spiral path to street level to walk past a vision of the Jurassic period for the last time and then escape to the chill of a mid-march New York City night hoping for a reprieve in the fun department before dawn.


Jon Prusik

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart 3/13/09 Bell House Brooklyn

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Friday at the Bell House in Brooklyn was an amazing night. From beginning to end the sold out crowd enjoyed three solid acts.

Opening duo Knight School jammed through a quick set of garage driven pop tunes. Although there weren't too many people at the show those that were there were quickly won over.

Moments later the second act -UK's Lets Wrestle played to a crowd that grew with each song. The band sounded purposely clumsy, this matched with their quirkiness made them a great act to watch-literally and figuratively (keep an eye on them in '09). Lyric lines like "drink till we vomit" are convincing rather than forced and the songs are perfect pop yet dirty. There is undoubtedly something enjoyable about this band's jangle punk sound and they have a chance of getting it in front of more ears at SXSW later this week. Watch the video below or click on the above link for examples.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart seem to be on the verge of exploding. Their sound merges numerous 80's legends like Jesus and Mary Chain, Psychedelic Furs, Morrisey and Lush and their live show was like watching a band begin an upward trajectory. We were lucky to be there! If you get a chance you should check out all of these acts at one time or another.

Nick Greto

Let's Wrestle


Knight School

EELS Return with First New Album In 4 Years

EELS will release their first new album since 2005’s acclaimed double BLINKING LIGHTS AND OTHER REVELATIONS. The new album, HOMBRE LOBO, set for June 2nd, 2009 on Vagrant Records, features 12 new songs recorded in EELS leader Mark Oliver Everett, aka E’s studio in Los Angeles.

Track Listing:
01. Prizefighter
02. That Look You Give That Guy
03. Lilac Breeze
04. In My Dreams
05. Tremendous Dynamite
06. The Longing
07. Fresh Blood
08. What’s a Fella Gotta Do
09. My Timing Is Off
10. All The Beautiful Things
11. Beginner’s Luck
12. Ordinary Man

Win Free Tickets to the Museum to see Four Tet this Friday!

Visit here then enter "Four Tet" in the subject field to enter with your full name. You will be notified by the days end if you won. If you win you and a guest will be on the list this Friday.

Elvis Perkins Video

M83 Interview with Anthony Gonzales

Anthony Gonzales formed the French electronic band M83, named for a distant galaxy, in 2001 along with Nicolas Fromageau (who has since left) and early on were compared to shoegaze bands like the Cocteau Twins. Since their first album in 2001, they have released four more, and their sound has continued to progress from spoken words with music to full-out singing and greater popular and dance sensibilities. Their most recent album, 2008’s Saturdays=Youth, mixed its 1980s film soundtrack quality with a blend of old and new. I had a chance to speak to Anthony Gonzales in New York during M83’s latest tour.

Read the interview here.

Four Tet Tour info

Four Tet (aka Kieran Hebden) returns to North America with his first set of live shows in over 2 years including a very special show at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, March 13th. These dates follow the release of last year's critically acclaimed mini album Ringer and Kieran's latest collaborative album with Jazz drummer Steve Reid titled NYC (both Domino 2008).

Appearing with Four Tet on a handful of dates is Domino Record's latest signing, Jon Hopkins, a 28 year-old electronic musician & composer from London, England. His new album, Insides (Out May 5), showcases an intriguing musical aesthetic to brilliant effect. Insides is about juxtaposition: natural, arcane textures welded to pulsing, hypnotic rhythms, beautiful acoustic melodies set against jarring bass. The music is reminiscent of the beautiful melodies and harsh dirty beats of other British artists like Four Tet, Squarepusher, Burial, and Aphex Twin.

FOUR TET TOUR DATES
03/13/2009 American Museum of Natural History, New York *
03/20/2009 Echo, Los Angeles *
03/21/2009 Mezzanine, San Francisco *
03/26/2009 Holocene, Portland
04/17/2009 Sonotheque, Chicago
04/23/2009 Wrongbar, Toronto
* with Jon Hopkins