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Bill Callahan @ The Allen Room, February 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Bill Callahan retired his Smog alias in 2007 but has contined to make lovely, downcast folk under his own name, like 2011's Apocalypse. He's just announced the follow-up to that which is titled Dream River and will be out September 17 via his longtime home of Drag City. No songs have been released from it yet, but you can check out the tracklist below.

Continue reading "Bill Callahan releasing 'Dream River' in September" at brooklynvegan

New music and fresh revelations? Drake, you’re spoiling us.

‘On My Way’ initially surfaced as a radio rip back in 2010, but it looks like Drake was never happy with the outcome and re-recorded the track with fresh production and a new vocal part from James Fauntleroy. This nicely ties in with the ongoing promotion for the Toronto-based rapper’s forthcoming full-length

photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Antlers @ LPR - 6/12/13

The Antlers helped hometown venue Le Poisson Rouge celebrate their fifth anniversary when they played the intimate space (for their standards) last week (6/12). Frontman Peter Silberman mentioned on stage that the band had never actually played LPR before, but he did used to work there before the release of their breakthrough album, Hospice. He also mentioned they've got a new album in the works, but there's still a ways to go on it.

The show was opened with a set by Dave Harrington of Nicolas Jaar's live band (and their collaborative project, Darkside). More pictures of both artists from the LPR show below...

Continue reading "The Antlers and Dave Harrington celebrated Le Poisson Rouge's fifth anniversary (pics)" at brooklynvegan

photos by David Andrako

The Luyas & Julian Lynch / Majical Cloudz @ Sneaky Dee's, 6/14/2013

After the big, free National show in Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square, BV photographer David Andrako hit a couple smaller club shows for his second night (6/14) at festival NXNE. With a quick stop at The Horseshoe Tavern to catch Brooklyn's Buke & Gase, he then headed over to Sneaky Dee's for the M for Montreal showcase which featured an unannounced 2 AM set from Majical Clouds (who would play Brooklyn the next night for Northside Fest).

This was also the NXNE stop for The Luyas and Julian Lynch's collaborative tour where Julian was in The Luyas for their set, and they in turn were his backing band. (It hit Northside too.) Brooklyn's Brazos was also on the bill and pictures from those bands are in this post.

Pictures from NXNE Day 1 are HERE. More Day 2 pictures below...

Continue reading "NXNE day 2 in pics (Majical Cloudz, The Luyas w/ Julian Lynch, Buke & Gase, Brazos)" at brooklynvegan

In the spring of 2011, I heard Ally Einbeinder speak at Ladyfest Easthampton panel on

CMJ Music Marathon will be the event you don’t want to miss this coming fall. Recently named one of New York’s Top 3 Entertainment Industry Events by BizBash, the city’s most ambitious live music festival is slated to vastly exceed your daily recommended dose of cosmopolitan decibel levels.

Badges are on sale now, at a huge discount. General CMJ badges are just $375 (cut from $549), while student badges are only $175 (cut from $325) with even bigger discounts for student groups. They include full access for all five days to hundreds of showcases from the best rising artists, non-stop panels, seminars, special events and exclusive parties.

Badges also come with a CMJ 2013 gift bag and a commemorative guide book that you will want to keep to the end of your days. These discounts will only be available until midnight on June 24!

photos by Lukas Hodge

Merchandise / Destruction Unit @ 285 Kent, 6/15/2013

The dream pop band with the punk rook roots, Merchandise, brought their North American tour with Milk Music and Destruction Unit to 285 Kent on a very busy Saturday night (6/15), as part of Northside Festival. The sold-out show was one of two gigs for first band of the night, Destruction Unit, who by all accounts came out looking more like a headliner than a band warming up for the "real attraction." (Destruction Unit played higher on the bill one night later at Shea Stadium) Pictures from 285 Kent are below.

The jaunt included recent stops to Chaos in Tejas and NXNE, and two of the three bands recently released videos during their tour (Merchandise for "Totale Night" and Destruction Unit for "Sonic Pearl").

More pics from Saturday night are below...

Continue reading "Merchandise, Milk Music and Destruction Unit played 285 Kent during Northside Fest (pics)" at brooklynvegan

The Gary, Indiana tough guy Freddie Gibbs is back on the rap underground after a stint on Young Jeezy’s CTE label. His new album ESGN arrives next month, and we’ve already posted the Problem collab “One Eighty Seven.” Now Gibbs has released the John Colombo-directed video for the hard-minded, hoarse ESGN track “Eastside Moonwalker.” It’s pretty much just low-budget rap-video posturing, but Freddie Gibbs is really good at low-budget rap-video posturing. Watch it below.

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by Andrew Sacher

Sam Smith

When London singer Sam Smith isn't recording with Disclosure (he sang lead on "Latch" from their debut album, Settle) or singing with them on BBC Radio 1 when they covered Duke Dumont, he's making his own music too. His recent single, "Lay Me Down," is sultrier and more of a vocal exercise than "Latch," and that can be streamed below. He's also got two alternate mixes of the track done by house/garage veteran Todd Edwards (who contributed to the new Daft Punk album), and those can be streamed below too.

Sam's got a few upcoming dates, most of which are in the UK, but he will be coming over to the US for a few shows this summer including one in NYC on August 8 at Mercury Lounge. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/21) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (6/19) at noon. It's only two days after Disclosure's Central Park Summerstage show with TNGHT and Julio Bashmore. Hmmm.

Dornik - 'Something About You'

In related news, vocalist/instrumentalist Dornik is the newest addition to the PMR Records label, which is also home to Disclosure (who seem to dig his stuff) and Jessie Ware (whose touring band Dornik used to drum in). Dornik just released his first single for the label, "Something About You," and it's really an excellent track. It's got a similar forward-thinking production st...

Fancy tickets to the UK leg of The xx’s Night And Day shindig? You’re in the right place.

The xx’s peripatetic festival stops off at Hatfield House this Saturday, and promises a headline spot from the softly-spoken trio. Indie chanteuse Solange, watercolour beatmakers Mount Kimbie, Koreless, Jon Hopkins, Kindness, Floating Points, Poliça, Sampha, Benji B, London Grammar and Jamie xx are also locked in to perform over the day.

FACT have a clutch of VIP tickets to the event to give away, with two lucky winners set to bag four tickets apiece. To be in with a chance of winning, send an email over to competitions@thevinylfactory.com, putting ‘Night + Day’ in the title field and including your name and telephone number in the message. The deadline is 10am on Thursday morning – best of luck!

Jim James @ Bonnaroo 2013 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Browse our full NYC show calendar for all of tonight's shows. Here are some highlights...

Jim James & The Roots @ Prospect Park
My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James and hip hop renaissance men The Roots are teaming up for a collaborative set today for a Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park. Tickets are still available.

Syd Arthur @ Mercury Lounge
The UK's Syd Arthur seem to be pretty doing pretty well over in their home country, and now they're bringing their proggy, jazzy pop over to the US for a NYC show at Mercury Lounge tonight. Celestial Shore open.

Heliotropes @ Glasslands
NYC's Heliotropes are celebrating the release of their debut album, A Constant Sea, tonight at Glasslands with support from Bad Cop and Fan-Tan. (You can stream the album over at SPIN.) They also play the free 4Knots Festival later this month.

Guards @ Brooklyn Bowl
Another solid NYC band, Guards, play a show at Brooklyn Bowl tonight. It's free if you RSVPed (which is now closed) and if you didn't, you can still get in with $5 at the door. Fort Lean open.

CHVRCHES @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Synth pop trio CHVRCHES, whose debut album comes out in September, play their second of two sold-out NYC shows tonight with Still Corners.

Joey Bada$$ may have just played Toronto for the first time at this past weekend

Bill Callahan has been in the game a long, long time; he released his first album as Smog 23 years ago. But until this moment, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a press photo of him smiling. Take that as an indication, then, that Callahan’s next album won’t showcase the dark, mordant wit that made him indie-famous — or maybe that that wit will take different forms. In a few months, Callahan will release Dream River, his follow-up to 2011′s much-loved Apocalypse. Callahan recorded the album earlier this year in the amazingly named town of Cacophony, Texas, and a press release calls its eight songs “easily the most sensual and soulful of Callahan’s career.” Check the tracklist below.

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Atlanta’s Music Midtown has revealed the lineup for its 2013 festival, which takes place September 20th – 21st in Piedmont Park.

The lineup includes Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phoenix, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Queens of the Stone Age, Kendrick Lamar, Arctic Monkeys, Weezer, Jane’s Addiction, Journey (!), Tegan & Sara, Cake, 2 Chainz, Imagine Dragons, Black Lips, Reignwolf, Capital Cities, North Mississippi Allstars, and Mona, among others.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 22nd at 10:00am local time. Visit the festival’s website for more details.