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The National at State Theater - 5/16/13

As mentioned, The National are releasing their new album, Trouble Will Find Me, this week (5/21), and they kicked off their international tour in support of it last week (5/16) just a few hours upstate of their hometown at Ithaca's State Theater. Pictures from that show are in this post.

At that show, they played almost the entirety of the new album, including all three singles, "Sea of Love", "Don't Swallow the Cap", and "Demons", and a number of other highlights like "I Should Live In Salt" and "I Need My Girl." They spread the new tracks apart pretty well though, making room for tons of old favorites like "Daughters of the Soho Riots," "Fake Empire," "Mr. November," "Afraid of Everyone," and more. Check out the full setlist below.

As mentioned, The National's tour brings them to their hometown for their largest show there yet on June 5 at Barclays Center with Youth Lagoon (who also just played NYC). Tickets for the Barclays Center show are still available and we're also giving away a pair.

More pictures and the setlist from the Ithaca show below...

Continue reading "The National began their tour in Ithaca (pics, setlist)" at brooklynvegan

Haven’t heard of Nommos before? You’re in for a treat.

Craig Leon will always be best known as a producer to the stars. The man has lent his technical knowledge to a host of high profile bands and artists, from the Ramones, The Talking Heads, Blondie and Suicide in the 1970s and 80s to his more recent classical work with Luciano Pavarotti, The London Symphony Orchestra and flautist James Galway. It is however, a lesser known album from 1981, released on John Fahey’s hallowed Takoma imprint that stands as his most unique contribution to music. An electronic record made at a time when the sounds were still in their infancy, Leon took the post-punk sound he helped to forge and stripped into a skeletal, pulsing hum replacing any sense of pop with off-key drones, reverberating rhythms and pulsating synthesizers.

Nommos will be re-issued by the Superior Viaduct label on June 25 and it’s beyond overdue. The album received a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ bootleg pressing not so long ago, but Superior Viaduct are pulling out all the stops to make sure theirs is the version to grab, with the edition remastered from the original analog tapes.

According to Julian Cope’s Head Heritage Nommos is the ”missing link between the proto-industrial rhythm and drone of Suicide and the whole minimalist drone / static / repetition met...

French Camp is a Brooklyn-based band comprised of singer Owen Beverly along with Benji Lee, Edward Barton, Andrew Doherty. Beverly is originally from Jackson, Mississippi and named the band after a boarding school in the Mississippi delta not too far from there. The have two records to their name with the latest being Odd Particle that was released earlier this month. During the creation of the record, they drew inspiration from Roy Orbison and many of his signature trademarks can be heard in the lyrics, guitar tones, and vocals.

Their newest single is the melodic “Way To Your Heart.” According to Beverly, the song was written shortly after a friend had passed and is referenced with some of the imagery in the new video for the song, although they tried to keep the visual “a little more playful and ironic.” The depicts a heart surgery along with Beverly running throughout the clip as a cathartic release while tossing aside objects that go along with the lyrics of the song. Find it below along with a stream of the album in full.

Odd Particle by French Camp

The inaugural First City Festival will take place August 24th and 25th at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival grounds are at same site as the famed Moterey Pop Festival in 1967.

The lineup includes Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, MGMT, Neko Case, Beach House, Deerhunter, Devendra Banhart, Purity Ring, Dr. Dog, Father John Misty, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, Okkervil River, The Hold Steady, Delta Spirit, The Black Angels, The Antlers, Dodos, Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, Lucero, Tennis, Akron/Family, Bleached, Guards, Blitzen Trapper, and more.

General admission and VIP passes will go on sale May 31st through the festival’s website.

The Crystal Ark @ Brooklyn Night Bazaar 2011 (more by Dana [distortion] Yavin)

As mentioned, the DFA Records 12th Anniversary Party is this Saturday (5/25) at Brooklyn's wonderous Grand Prospect Hall featuring a cavalcade of the label's talent, including live performances from YACHT, Shit Robot, Black Dice, Planningtorock, Prinzhorn Dance School, Factory Floor and more; and DJ sets from James Murphy, Nancy Whang, Juan Maclean, Tim Sweeny and more. Plus, "special guests." The show's been sold out for some time but more tickets are being released today at 2 PM so here's your chance if you missed out before.

In other news, the Crystal Ark have a few new remixes fo their track "Rain" (from last year's eponymous debut) and we've got the premiere of the Barker & Baumecker remix in this post. Stream that below.

Also as mentioned, YACHT, Prinzhorn Dance School and Larry Gus will play Shea Stadium on Friday (5/24). Tickets are still available, but if you'd like to go for free, we've got a pair to give away. Details on how to enter are below.

Prinzhorn Dance School also play Cameo next Monday (5/27) with DJ sets from DFA labelmates Planningtorock and CREEP, plus a live performance from Dan...

Who said being locked up meant that you couldn’t make tracks?

He might still be in jail for a recent parole violation, but Atlanta street rapper Young Scooter still has still managed to get the word out on new mixtape Street Lottery 2 by writing his fans a number of postcards. Here he confirms a release date of July 4 for the tape, and went on to shoutout a long list of crew, supporters and his fans who have supported him while incarcerated. Scooter also promises that the mixtape will contain features from

On the new double album Drifters/Love Is The Devil, Alex Zhang Hungtai’s Dirty Beaches project pushes its combination of tense lo-fi noise and sweaty rockabilly beyond its logical conclusion, laying on the bad vibes incredibly thick. And the group’s new video for the knife-edge throb “Casino Lisboa” has its own dark glamor to it. The video was shot in some Asian metropolis (Bangkok, I’m thinking), and it mixes footage of the Dirty Beaches live show with images of local breakdancers, strippers, and Muay Thai fighters. Watch it below.

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Last week, Queens of the Stone Age released five animated shorts from UK artist Boneface, set to the music of their new album …Like Clockwork. Now, the band has combined the ghoulish, apocalyptic clips to create a short film. Watch below.

Like Clockwork features Dave Grohl, Trent Reznor, Elton John, Alex Turner, Mark Lanegan, and more, and is due out June 4th through Matador Records. Pre-orders are ongoing.

London rock pub-crawlers Palma Violets have unveiled a rollicking new video for the their punchy single, “Best Of Friends.” The black and white vintage clip takes us back to the good ol’ days of rock when bands ran around the city streets wearing sunglasses, looking disheveled and making mischief.

The video for the 180 highlight catches the group doing eccentric things that all rock stars should do: planting bombs in trash cans, stoning a security camera and instigating fights with the audience. It’s a lot more antagonistic than the touchy-feely clip for “We Found Love.” Catch the band in all its erratic glory below.

The post Watch: Palma Violets Get Into Trouble In “Best Of Friends” Video appeared first on CMJ.

Coachella 2013 (more by Wei Shi)

Coachella wrapped up another successful year this past April, and they've just announced the dates for their 2014 installment of the festival. Weekend one happens from April 11-13, 2014 and weekend two happens from April 18-20. An advance sale for the 2014 festival begins at Coachella's site on Friday (5/24) at 1 PM EST.

Continue reading "Coachella announces 2014 dates & advance ticket sale" at brooklynvegan