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Over the weekend, Tame Impala announced that following a performance at Belvoir Amphitheatre on Saturday night (5/18), bassist Nick Allbrook would no longer be a member of the band, citing a need for time to “try and screw his head back on, and make an attempt to assimilate back into society.” Allbrook is also the frontman of psych band Pond and will continue to play with them, while Pond member Cam Avery replaces Allbrook in Tame Impala. The band kindly wrote of the lineup change, “Anyone who saw us during the Allbrook-era will know how awesome Nick is, so Cam has big shoes to fill…We’re super happy for our bro Nick and wish him well in all his various fucking awesome artistic spewings and endeavours that he’ll actually have time for now. Good on ya brah.” Allbrook spoke to NME to explain that his departure is truly one of work-overload: “All bands and projects and stuff will keep going, it’s just hard to keep them all going if you’re touring all the time…The only bad part will be not seeing my mates every day. I love them more than anything.”

Pond will release LP Hobo Rocket on 8/16 via Modular.

With a pair of aggressively mindbending new songs, a fascinating video-projected-on-buildings PR stunt, and a powerful SNL performance, Kanye West pretty much owned the weekend. And now, we learn that the cover of his new album, hilariously titled Yeezus, is basically a jewel-case scribble, half-rendered in melted gold. The album’s cover art debuted, as all good things do, on Kim Kardashian’s Instagram, and it’s since been confirmed. And the 14-track LP is now up for pre-order on iTunes, though we still haven’t seen the tracklist or anything like that.

Yeezus is out 6/18, and I cannot wait.

Last night, Beck appeared at the Santa Cruz

Young Chicago ’70s rock revivalists Smith Westerns are back next month with Soft Will, the Chris Coady-produced followup to their hailed breakthrough Dye It Blonde. “Soft” is an operative word, it seems: Based on lead single “Varsity” and today’s listen “3AM Spiritual,” the band’s retained their prodigal ability to craft carefree, swooning hooks that feel vital and vibrant despite their clear debt to dustier decades, though the new stuff has a little less glam and a lighter, more effervescent touch to it. “3AM Spiritual” lays on a little Floyd-styled-psychedelia in the come-on to the bridge, too, which is a nice fit. Hear it:

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California dance-punks !!! (Chk Chk Chk) returned to Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom on Friday night, playing tracks from their CMJ chart-dominating new record, Thri!!er. The band was supported by DFA-associated Brooklyn pop group Sinkane. Things got pretty sweaty. Photos by Emily Korn.

The post !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Sinkane @ Bowery Ballroom: May 17, 2013 appeared first on CMJ.

by Andrew Sacher

Ann Arbor, MI four-piece Pity Sex may have ties to the emo scene (they're about to tour with The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die and they're on Run for Cover Records), but their new album, Feast of Love, which is due out on June 25, is straight up shoegaze/dream pop in the realm of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and it may very well win over fans of that scene. No music has been revealed from the new album yet, but you can check out a video of them playing one of its songs, "Drown Me Out," along with "Coca Cola" from 2012's Dark World EP at Brooklyn's Suburbia this past October along with a stream of the whole of that EP, below.

Pity Sex are about to wrap up a tour with Run, Forever which hits Long Island tonight (5/20) for a show at Zebra Club in Copiague, NY, and in June they'll kick off that tour with The World Is A Beautiful Place and Dads which hits Brooklyn on June 20 at Suburbia. Daylight are on that show and a few others too.

All dates are listed, along with that video, below...

Continue reading "Pity Sex releasing 'Feast of Love', touring (dates & live video)" at brooklynvegan

Smith Westerns’ highly-anticipated new album, Soft Will, will be dropping on June 25th via Mom + Pop Music. The first single was the wistful teenage anthem “Varsity,” now we get the disillusioned cut “3am Spritual.” It was the first song written for the new LP and discusses the feelings involved with heavy touring and trying to get things back to normal after returning home. Stream it below.

Last year, Beck released Song Reader, an album that consisted only of sheet music. He then spent months declining all requests to play the songs on that album, so nobody knew for sure what Beck’s versions of those songs would sound like. But in July, Beck will play the whole album in London, with various famous friends helping him out. And last night in Santa Cruz, Beck took the stage at Santa Cruz’s Rio Theater and, for the first time, sang a couple of Song Reader songs with actual people watching. Watch fan-made videos of Beck playing the lovely, downbeat “Sorry” and “Heaven’s Ladder” below.

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R&B singer is forced to apologise after dramatic stage move backfires

"I come from the Pistols, the world's most notorious band. We didn't ask for that nonsense. That was just there."

"I'm definitely influential. That can't be denied. That's a historical fact, and in so many different ways."

"For a long time I tried to deliberately shy away from anything to do with being in public at all, and that made life very, very difficult."

As Public Image Ltd. prepare for their first UK live dates of 2013, DiS spoke to frontman, founder, musical icon and cultural anti-hero John Lydon.

In a two-part feature, we reflect on nearly four decades that Johnny Rotten has spent in the spotlight, generating endless headlines while producing generation-defining music.

First, we take a look at John Lydon: The Man - see DiS struggle to get a word in edgeways as we quiz Lydon about his reluctant celebrity status, and find out how he feels about being accused of violence, racism and sexism.

"You're between a rock and a hard place and it's quite crushing, the damage that it does emotionally, because it's such a lie. It hurt me, it hurt my community."

Part two considers John Lydon: The Music - he tells us why it took so long to get PiL back on the road, offers and in-depth analysis of his approach to music and explains the benefits of his band's shape-shifting line-up.

"In many ways what Public Image became was like a college of further e...

Photos by Greg Cristman

The Feelies @ The Bell House, 5/18/2012

Hoboken legends The Feelies played The Bell House on Saturday (5/18) -- one of two NYC area shows for the band this past weekend -- and the venue's relaxed vibe made for a nice pairing with the band's strummy, post-Velvets sound. The band treated the crowd to a two-set, five encore show, including lots of classics ("Raised Eyebrows," "Higher Ground," "Let's Go") and, as usual, a ton of covers, including Television's "See No Evil" and The Doors' "Take it As it Comes."

Setlist and more pictures from Saturday's Bell House show below...

Continue reading "The Feelies @ The Bell House (pics, setlist)" at brooklynvegan

With Daft Punk

As far as bad gigs go, the one that goes down in Palma Violets’ new video for “Best of Friends” is awfuly excruciating. In the black and white video for their anthemic track, the UK act runs around the streets of the city like The Beatles once did in A Hard Day’s Night, only the gaggle of fans running after them seems to be missing. When the band finally get to the gig, it’s as if the audience holds Palma Violets personally responsible for history’s most horrific wars and atrocities. Get a glimpse of what cutting your teeth is like in in the video below:

Also check out the band’s recent interview with Rock It Out! Blog:

The band’s debut album, 180, is currently available via Rough Trade. In support, the four guys embark on a European festival tour tomorrow.

Palma Violets 2013 Tour Dates:
05/21

Set design duo Block 9 will curate the late-night area