by Bill Pearis

Some of you may remember mid-'00s UK band Late of the Pier who were lumped in with the "nu-rave" genre that included Klaxons and New Young Pony Club. Their sole album, 2008's Fantasy Black Channel, is one of the weirder records of that era, mixing post punk guitars, synth pop, g-funk, glam histrionics, and prog, often within the same song. The band broke up in 2010 but singer Sam Dust now makes music under the name LA Priest. His debut, Inji, was just released via Domino and while Dust is still an odd bird, LP Priest is more focused, sonically, sticking mainly with melted funk slow jams. You can stream the whole record, and check out videos for its two catchiest/danciest tracks ("Oino" and "Learning to Love") below.

Continue reading "Sam Dust of Late of the Pier released debut LP as LA Priest (stream it and watch two videos)"

photo: Hop Along at Baby's All Right in May (more by Amanda Hatfield)

We just mentioned how a lot of music websites (like NPR) use this year midpoint to post their favorite albums of the year so far. Pitchfork isn't one of them, but they do post their Overlooked Records of the year. They write, "None of these releases received a Best New Music designation and not all were rated above an 8.0 but all are records worth revisiting." They've got a couple metal albums (Bell Witch, Sannhet), that ambient Jeff Bridges album, and the no-longer-overlooked indie rockers Hop Along (who also made best-of-2015-so-far lists from Rolling Stone, AV Club, Stereogum, Paste, Flavorwire, Noisey, and NPR's song list).

The list is also interestingly heavy on relatively underground electronic records, including Lakker, Mbongwana Star, Mumdance & Logos, Anthony Naples, Pearson Sound and Smurphy. Check out the whole list below, and read their commentary here.

In terms of rap, it has Joey Bada$$ (who plays NYC this week), and Chicago duo Sicko Mobb. Sicko Mobb will make their way over to NYC on July 25 at Palisades for a show with Taso, Ricky Eat Acid and Tripletrain. Tickets are on sale now.

Sicko Mobb made the list for their Super Saiyan Vol 2 mixtape, which you can download for free at DatPiff and stream below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork list their overlooked records of 2015 (including Sicko Mobb, who play NYC soon)"

by Andrew Sacher

It's that time again. We're about halfway through 2015, and music websites have been posting lists of their favorite music of the year so far. NPR posted their favorite albums, favorite songs and favorite new artists. As always, NPR's list is especially diverse. It has a lot of the artists that have ended up on mosts lists this year (Alabama Shakes, Bjork, Courtney Barnett, The Social Experiment, Kendrick Lamar, Sufjan Stevens, etc) but also jazz, classical, ambient, Cumbia, and less universally-acclaimed country and metal artists. There's definitely some cool stuff on there to check out. You can listen to their songs list here (over 100 songs, and you're allowed 6 skips) and look at the written list here. Albums here. New artists here.

One artist that they highlighted on their 'new artists' and 'songs' lists that we haven't gotten a chance to talk about here on BV yet is Olympia's G.L.O.S.S.. The name stands for "Girls Living Outside Society's Shit" and as Lars Gotrich puts it on NPR, they're a "band full of transgendered women and queer and queer-femmes." Their demo has them using the platform of raw hardcore punk to get their very unsubtle message across. For example, the song "Masculine Artifice" begins like this:

MEDICALIZED/UNDER THE KNIFE/EXPECTED TO BE GRATEFUL/TRAPPED IN THE LENS/OF THE CIS-GAZE/JUST ANOTHER SAD TRANSEXUAL/MASCULINITY/WAS THEIR ARTIFICE/RIP IT AWAY/FEMININITY/ALWAYS THE HEART OF US!/TRANS GIRLS BE FREE!/I'M NOT PATHETIC/I'M NOT YOUR PROJECT/I WASN'T PUT HERE FOR YOU

The band is touring this fall, and while all dates haven't been announced yet, we know they're playing NYC on September 23 at Silent Barn with Aye Nako and Moor Mother Goddess. Stay tuned for more info.

G.L.O.S.S. demo stream below...

Continue reading "NPR's favorite music of 2015 so far (including G.L.O.S.S.)"

the cover of this week's 'NME'...

In the face of decline print sales/subsciptions, long-running UK music weekly New Musical Express is entering a new era, becoming a free publication after 63 years. Editor Mike Williams announced the change on NME.com today, saying:

So what we're giving to you is a major brand transformation that will deliver on all of these things. A brilliant new free weekly magazine that will reach more than 300,000 people each week, a new look NME.com that will bring you closer to the stories that you care most about, some shiny new digital products which I'll be able to tell you more about very soon, plus more live events, new video series and more interaction with you guys on new social platforms...

...As I type this, some of the NME team are locked away in a dark basement in NME Towers working on even more ideas to make sure it's not only a brilliant magazine, but that it gives you everything you asked us for. I'm confident that it will.

by Andrew Sacher

photo by Mars Ganito

We recently heard Brooklyn punks Worriers tackle the frustrations of the gender binary on "They / Them / Theirs," and now they're speaking out against the police force on new single "Yes All Cops." Both are from their upcoming Laura Jane Grace-produced album Imaginary Life (due 8/7 via Don Giovanni), and they're as melodic as they are defiant. Listen to "Yes All Cops" and another recent single, "Plans," below.

Worriers are playing a few dates on the upcoming Cayetana / Chumped / Thin Lips tour (including Asbury Park), and they have a record release show announced for NYC. That happens the day the album comes out at Knitting Factory (8/7) with Adult Mom, Fleabite and more. Tickets are on sale now. All dates are listed below.

The NYC stop of the Cayetana / Chumped / Thin Lips tour is presented by BrooklynVegan and happens August 15 at Baby's All Right with a special guest. Tickets for that show are still available.

Continue reading "Worriers share "Yes All Cops," announce LP release show"

Albarn being carried off stage at Roskilde 2015

Damon Albarn played Denmark's Roskilde Festival over the weekend (7/4) as part of Africa Express, the project he founded that brings together Western and African musicians. Where most festival sets keep things short and sweet, sticking to the hits, the Blur and Gorillaz frontman -- along with Songhoy Blues, Nick Zinner, Jeff Wootton, and Seye Adelekan -- played a marathon five-hour (!) set that also featured appearances from Blur's Graham Coxon, Laura Mvula and more. When the 4 AM curfew hit, Albarn still wasn't ready to get off stage and launched into a cover of The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" That question was answered by security who carried him offstage while he was still singing. Video of that, plus Africa Express performing Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood" and a song with Coxon/Mvula, below.

Albarn will be in the U.S. with Blur this fall, playing the Hollywood Bowl (10/20) and NYC's Madison Square Garden (10/23) with opener Courtney Barnett. Tickets to MSG are still available but if you'd like to go for free we've got a pair to give away and as a bonus it comes with a vinyl copy of Blur's The Magic Whip. Entry form is below.

Continue reading "Damon Albarn carried off stage + win Blur vinyl & tix to MSG!"

photo: Courtney Barnett at Bowery Ballroom in May (more by PSquared)

To follow their (very tiny) first NYC show since 2003, Blur are returning for much larger US shows at LA's Hollywood Bowl on October 20 and NYC's Madison Square Garden on October 23. If that wasn't exciting enough, those shows just got a pretty awesome opener: fast-rising indie rocker of the moment, Courtney Barnett.

Tickets for both are still available, and we're also giving away a pair to the MSG show, along with a vinyl copy of Blur's new album, The Magic Whip. Enter the contest below.

Courtney has other dates, and will be in NYC for a headlining show this month at Terminal 5 (7/22) with Speedy Ortiz (who also play NYC with Waxahatchee) and Torres (who also plays NYC with Garbage). That show is sold out.

All Courtney dates are listed, with the video for "Pedestrian At Best" off her great new album, below...

Continue reading "Courtney Barnett opening Blur's NYC & LA shows (win tickets to MSG & 'The Magic Whip' on vinyl!)"

by Andrew Sacher

Earlier this year, Baltimore's Noisem released their killer sophomore record, Blossoming Decay. It packs 9 songs of hardcore, thrash and more into less than 25 minutes, and the result more than just the summation of its influences -- even more so than their debut. They already swung by NYC twice this year, and they'll be back on tour with their A389 labelmates Homewrecker.

That tour lands at Brooklyn's Acheron on August 10 for a show with Detriment, Mary Todd and Mad Diesel. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

There's also a leg with Unsacred. All dates are listed, with the tour flyer and a stream of Blossoming Decay, below...

Continue reading "Noisem touring with Homewrecker, playing Acheron (dates)"

by Bill Pearis

Brooklyn garage punks Dirty Fences have a new video for "These Freaks" which is off this year's Full Tramp LP. Directed by Brayden Olson, it finds the band clowning around and generally living the rock n' roll life. You can check it out, along with the girl group homage video for "Judy (Don't Go)" which was also directed by Olson, below.

Dirty Fences will soon be on tour, including dates with Jaill and White Mystery. They'll play NYC with the latter as part of the 2015 Gigawatts Fest on July 26 at The Wick. That's the last day of the three-day fest and also includes Braid, Swearin', Beach Slang, Cheap Girls, Guerilla Toss and lots more. Tickets are still available, and we're giving away a pair.

The band will also play the Chicago edition of Riot Fest in September. All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Dirty Fences share "These Freaks" video, touring w/ Jaill and White Mystery, playing Gigawatts Fest & Chicago Riot Fest"

Jack White and Alison Mosshart's The Dead Weather have been teasing fans with singles over the last couple years and have finally announced a new album. It's titled Dodge and Burn and will be out in September through White's Third Man Records. Made over the last year when White and Mosshart had free time (with Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence rounding out the group), the new LP will feature both sides of both 2013's "Rough Detective" / "Open Up (That's Enough)" and 2014's "It's Just Too Bad" / "Buzzkill(er)", plus eight new songs. There's a deluxe "platinum edition" of the album coming out exclusively through Third Man's Vault subscription series.

The Dead Weather say they have no plans to tour the new album. You can stream those four previously released songs below...

Continue reading "The Dead Weather announce new LP, 'Dodge and Burn'"