John Darnielle Rhapsodizes Black Sabbath This Saturday Night

Posted by Rob Harvilla at 3:20 PM, May 14, 2008

Mountain Goats guru John Darnielle, long hailed as among the most literary of indie-rock songwriters, has penned his first novel. Whether you can describe one of those 33 1/3 tomes—a pocket-book series, each title dedicated entirely to one album—as a "novel" is debatable, of course. But Darnielle's deft way with words, vividly hard-nosed but humanizing and sympathetic, is not. He's applied those gifts to a fictional ode to Black Sabbath's Master of Reality, which hears the album, as the 33 1/3 blog explains it, "through the ears of Roger Painter, a young adult locked in a southern California adolescent psychiatric center in 1985; deprived of his Walkman and hungry for comfort, he explains Black Sabbath as one might describe air to a fish, or love to an android, hoping to convince his captors to give him back his tapes."

It's out now, and John's reading from it Saturday night at Housing Works. Stop by, soak it all in, and perhaps discuss with him the enduring majesty of "Sweet Leaf."

Bonde Do Role Tonight and Tomorrow

Posted at 3:01 PM, May 14, 2008

Can you guess which one of these girls pulled meat from her genitals?

You no doubt missed funk carioca hipsters Bonde Do Role's own take on Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll on MTV Brazil's Overdrive, wherein Pedro D'Eyrot and Rodrigo Gorky replaced founding MC Marina Ribatski with Ana Bernardino and Laura Taylor. According to Wikipedia, the latter entrant won when she pulled "a piece of meat from her genitals," which in Pedro's estimation emphasized "the spirit of the band." Not sure what openers the Death Set might pull out of their genitals, but the duo's Worldwide, a manic debut of spazz-fuzz, gets expanded live via a five-piece. Also: Holy Hail, Gang. — ANDY BETA

BONDE DO ROLE+THE DEATH SET, Europa Night Club, 98-104 Meserole Ave., Greenpoint. Tickets here. Tomorrow at the Bowery Ballroom, tickets available here.

Photos: Indian Jewelry at Death by Audio

Posted at 11:14 AM, May 14, 2008

Indian Jewelry

Indian Jewelry
These Are Powers
Death by Audio
Tuesday, May 13
photos by Rebecca Smeyne

Austin psych mutants Indian Jewelry have gone from thorny drugpunk to beautiful dronepunk in the course of two years. The music's bright, chuggy, and weird, full of references to birds and heaven and water—a good proposition for anyone who considers Deerhunter to be “subtle.” — CHRISTOPHER WEINGARTEN

These Are Powers

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The DeathSet Opens for Bonde do Role this Week

Posted by Jeremy Krinsley at 8:00 AM, May 14, 2008

The DeathSet also play tomorrow at 3pm, May, 15 2008 at "ONLY ALL AGES $5 NY SHOW LIMITED 60 KIDS 3pm sharp!" with Ninja Sonik, 1087 Broadway (Next to Goodbye Blue Monday), Brooklyn, New York.

photo by Nate Dorr, lovingly borrowed from our bros at Impose

Being 5'6" gets Jonny Siera into tight spots. In Little Rock last March, it got him between an amp and a keyboard case, after he tumbled mid-set from a perch he'd scaled by means of an exposed water pipe. "It's all cool. No breaks." Scrapes are nothing new for Death Set shows, which for Siera amount to "lots of bruises but mostly sweaty smiles."

The Baltimore band is returning to New York this week to open for the recently overhauled Bonde do Role. It's hard to imagine a better party band to tour with the Brazilian waxers than the latest incarnation of this three-year running electro-punk project.

It's certainly the biggest lineup Jonny Siera's ever dragged around with him. The Death Set used to imply a sample-addled two-man punk-rock tagteam backed by a drum machine. It was sort of an evil Best Fwends (who also now perform with real instruments), or a pop-punk Suicide, so much that it made perfect sense that The Death Set opened for that classic '70s synth duo at one of last summer's South Street Seaport shows. But soon after, sole other member Matt Papich left the band to concentrate fully on Ecstatic Sunshine (who in turn lost one of its founding members, Dustin Wong to Ponytail—yet another Baltimore band).

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"Perfect From Now On" Is the Best Built to Spill Album

Posted by Rob Harvilla at 2:50 PM, May 13, 2008

A man needs lovin'. A woman needs a man to love.

I sense that Built to Spill has not aged well. Frontman Doug Martsch's beard and general "aloof lumberjack" vibe were visionary, of course, but there isn't a straighter guitar-humping Freedom Rock arrow in the whole '90s Magnet-reading quiver. Not enough of an Afropop influence for these polyglot times, alas. And yet, amid the nostalgia-trip orgy that September's All Tomorrow's Parties New York has turned into—My Bloody Valentine! Dinosaur Jr.! Mogwai! Tortoise! Thurston Moore recreating an entire solo record for some reason!—it was the notion of Built to Spill performing 1997's Perfect From Now On in its entirety that almost convinced me to head north. To paraphrase Roast Beef, that record is the bitch.

Thankfully, they're gonna play it a couple times in town, too. (At Terminal 5, yes, but they've improved.) September 25 and 26. Look for even-more-extended versions of "I Would Hurt a Fly," the still-mighty "Velvet Waltz," and all-time wooing-a-collegiate-lady mixtape boner jam "Kicked It in the Sun." The Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr. open, guaranteeing the most socially awkward green-room environment in recent history.

The Heavy and the Gay Blades Tonight at Rehab, Tomorrow at Union Pool

Posted at 2:30 PM, May 13, 2008

Last year’s Great Vengeance and Furious Fire seemed to see nothing incongruous in mashing up Mick Jagger, Cee-Lo, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, a point of view maybe born out by the success of Gnarls Barkley. This tour is at least partially under the rubric of Playboy’s “Rock the Rabbit” project, whatever that is—tonight’s their night off, and they’re celebrating with a band called the Gay Blades. Retro-transgressors unite. — ZACH BARON.

THE HEAVY + THE GAY BLADES tonight at Rehab, 25 Ave. B, New York, NY 10003, East Village and tomorrow, May 14 at Union Pool without the Gay Blades.

Remy Ma Sentenced to Eight Years as Papoose Explodes in Anger

Posted by Chloé A. Hilliard at 2:26 PM, May 13, 2008

The rapper Papoose exploded in a fit of anger outside a Manhattan courtroom this morning just moments after his tearful bride-to-be, Remy Ma, faced down an eight-year sentence for shooting a woman outside of a West Side hot spot last summer.

Papoose—whose plans to wed Remy got put on ice yesterday when he was allegedly busted trying to sneak a handcuff key into Rikers—exchanged some hard looks and words with friends of Remy's shooting victim, Makeda Barnes-Joseph, in the courtroom hallway.

"Get the fuck off me. Fuck ya'll. Fuck jail," screamed Papoose as his 10-person entourage restrained him and court officers told him to move it along and exit the hallway outside of Manhattan Supreme Court. "I don't care. Lock me up. Lock me up. Take me to jail. Arrest me. It's all about money."

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Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour Tonight

Posted at 12:30 PM, May 13, 2008

On the exceedingly goofy poster for Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour, the artist poses, C-3PO style, against a black background framed in a Star Wars–evoking flourish and fonts. Only Kanye could possibly conceive of his latest tour in support of last year's Graduation as a battle against interstellar evil, but there he is, nonetheless, with the names of his allies written out below: Rihanna, N.E.R.D, and Lupe Fiasco. Perhaps in no other room in the nation will so much self-hagiography collide: Fiasco, apparently having done what he came to do in his three short years in rap, is already threatening to retire, while N.E.R.D appears to continue for the sole purpose of allowing Pharrell Williams to stage-dive (as well as to issue seemingly straight-faced video casting calls for “fun girls who are free with their bodies”). At MSG, expect some to show up, along with a guest rapper or three. — ZACH BARON

Hugs and Kisses #43: Kimya Dawson Plays a Gig

Posted by Everett True at 10:48 AM, May 13, 2008

Another week, another run-on sentence from Mr. Everett True, Australia-bound "roving ambassador" of Plan B Magazine, a title dedicated to writing about music (and media) with barely a nod towards demographics. . .

Hugs and Kisses


The Continued Outbursts of Everett True

THIS WEEK: Everett files a column on time

PLUS: Kimya Dawson and Your Heart Breaks play a gig.

So before the show, I go up to Kimya and tentatively say hi, and Kimya says, “Hello again,” and I’m like, “I’m supposed to be introducing you tonight or something, do you want me to” (because my name is writ all over the posters large, like KIMYA DAWSON + SUPPORT + MC EVERETT TRUE and I had no idea until I got to the venue), and she’s like, “Well I don’t know, you’re not going to be a dick are you?” (because I guess Kimya used to read me back when I was music editor at The Stranger in Seattle) and I’m like, “Well, no, that’s when I write, when I’m performing I’m real nice,” and she’s like, “I’ve never seen you perform”, and all the while Clyde from Your Heart Breaks is standing kinda gawky and nervous to one side, having lost her voice wowing the gals at Ladyfest in London the previous night. So we kinda agree that as long as I don’t live up to my “dick” billing I can intro each artist, and so I get to chatting with Clyde a little and she tells me her band is normally more than just herself, but it’s kinda easier to travel this way, and that she plays with Karl Blau, and dude, I totally rate Karl’s gentle, dub-textured Olympian wonderment—and she compliments me on some book or other I wrote …

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Black Kids and Cut Copy at Studio B Tonight

Posted at 8:30 AM, May 13, 2008

Who let this picture happen? Seriously?

Sure they listen to the Smiths too much, but the newly major-label-signed Black Kids are a reminder of the time a couple of seven-inches with great songwriting could make you immortal. Plus, the moments of '50s hot flash are pure thrill—if they remade Grease for post-emo kids, Black Kids would play the prom. With Cut Copy, whose new In Ghost Colours is slightly more romantic than their debut, and slightly less naive. Also: Mobius. — JON CARAMANICA

BLACK KIDS+CUT COPY, Studio B, 259 Banker St., Brooklyn, NY

Name the New Galapagos (70 North 6th) and Stay Drunk For a Year Free

Posted at 2:57 AM, May 13, 2008

You've probably heard that Liam-burg booby-joint Galapagos has evolved—nyuck—and that the North 6 spot is now run by Southpaw's Matthew Roff and Matchless's Larry Hyland. But the last time the cut-and-paste train rolled through, we were told that the new spot would be called Natural Selection. Looks like that's a no. Or a maybe. Or the owners are momentarily taking their cues from the Third Ave falafel place next to the Continental:

We need your help to rename the performance space formerly known as Galapagos. The new owners of the Williamsburg venue plan to keep the space as it is for the most part, with the addition of improved audio equipment… and a new name.

Check out the space at www.70north6th.com.

Submit your suggestions here and you could win a $1,000 bar tab, plus a
year’s free admission for you and a guest. [Name Our Space]

What, you don't like Blue-Footed Booby?

[www.70north6th.com]
[Name Our Space]

Duffy at the Apollo Tonight, Virgin Megastore Tomorrow

Posted at 5:30 PM, May 12, 2008

Post-Winehouse? Already? With Duffy, British—Welsh, in this case—fascination with '60s U.S. soul continues apace. Her Motownish and Dusty Springfieldish songs are faithful, sometimes too much so—more genre exercises than fully formed ideas. She's best when she drops the affectations and focuses on her tone, which is elegant, if not quite rich. Then she sounds like a singer out of time. — JON CARAMANICA.

DUFFY, Apollo Theater, 253 W 125th St., Harlem. Tickets $25-$45 still available here. Then tomorrow, May 13 at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square, 52 East 14th Street, for a performance and signing, 8pm.

iVoice: On the Improbable Romance of Natalie Portman and Devendra Banhart

Posted at 2:30 PM, May 12, 2008

ThisChatIsForSiobhan: AY MAMA, Y'KNOW I USED TO HAVE A GAME BOY Portmanteau: You? A Game Boy? ThisChatIsForSiobhan: YEAH BUT NOW I JUS DO THIS /picks daisy, holds it aloft, stares ThisChatIsForSiobhan: LEVEL 2 /covers left eye with hand ThisChatIsForSiobhan: HEEOWWW I FEEL THAT I WON /forms one-man dance circle Portmanteau: that-- uh, cool! ThisChatIsForSiobhan: I LIKE YEOW SCREEN NAME Portmanteau: Aw thanks, sweetie! I think it's clever. It's a portmanteau of "Portman" and "portmanteau"! ThisChatIsForSiobhan: WHAT MY HEAD ASPLODE ThisChatIsForSiobhan: HEY WHAT IF MY HEAD ASPLODE AN MA'EYES SHOOT EVERY WHICH WAY AND ONE A THEM GETS STUCK IN MA'BELLY BUTTON ThisChatIsForSiobhan: ONE LIL EYEBALL STARIN AT THE INSIDE A MA'SHIRT ALL THE DAY AN NIGHT WHERE'S MA'GUITAR Portmanteau: God, Devendra? Why do you have be so...so weird all the time? ThisChatIsForSiobhan: I'LL CALL IT "SEEIN' EYE TUMMY" Portmanteau: Can't you just be normal for one second? Portmanteau: I mean, you wrote a song about raising Chinese children regardless of your country of origin. Portmanteau: You wrote a song about ostensibly wanting to marry little boys, and attempted to justify it by clarifying that it's written from the perspective of a personality-shifting hermaphrodite, and I'm still unclear as to how that makes it okay. Portmanteau: And you wrote another song in which you speculate that if you were bald, you would grow your beard really long and comb it up so that it covered your head. Portmanteau: That's the sort of thing I would think if I hadn't slept in five days. It's Shel Silverstein times a thousand. Portmanteau: I love you, but I get so tired of it! Do you have anything to say? ThisChatIsForSiobhan: ... Portmanteau: Well? ThisChatIsForSiobhan:         Portmanteau: Ugh. You know what, I need to take a break from this relationship. I might call you, I might not...I don't know. Take it easy. **OnlineHost** Natalie Portman has left the chat room. ThisChatIsForSiobhan: aowwwww DEVENDRA Y'BEANBAG Y'FOULED IT UP, YA FOULED IT ALL UP /weeps **OnlineHost** Welcome to Star Wars Chat! Portmanteau: Um. . .Annie? Annie, you there? Portmanteau: I know it's been a long time...just wanted to see what you were up to these days. anakin: hi Portmanteau: Hi. anakin: i am going to turn into darth vader; i am sullen man Portmanteau: Oh, that's uh...that's neat. anakin: i like fix robots anakin: you want help me for make robot i'd would like to make pretty robot, talks like british guy, gold and shiny Portmanteau: ...Neat. anakin: have you been listening to a music i've have been listening to "travis" a lot lately Portmanteau: Um. Oh, goodness! I think I left my...microwave on. I need to go. **OnlineHost** Natalie Portman has left the chat room. anakin: /uses jedi powers to create brick wall /stares at brick wall **OnlineHost** Welcome to Devendra Banhart Chat! Portmanteau: Devendra? Let's get married. ThisChatIsForSiobhan: YAAYYY YIE YIE YIE LAAAAAAAAAADADADA ThisChatIsForSiobhan: /eats beard

ProgressiveBoink.com jonbois@gmail.com

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Tonight: Tegan & Sara at Terminal 5

Posted at 12:30 PM, May 12, 2008

So you're one of those people who get all up in arms when Canadian emo-pop twins Tegan and Sara get tagged as "tampon rock." Or maybe you think there's nothing deeper to rock out to while you're styling your hair. Either way you'll no doubt be breathless at hearing the duo's moody, studio-rounded riffs and anxious-for-angst tones both up close and way too personal. Also: An Horse. — PETE L'OFFICIAL

Terminal 5, 610 W 56th St., New York, NY 10019. SOLD OUT.

PREVIOUSLY
Scott Indrisek on Tegan and Sara live at Webster Hall

Interview: Sudanese 'Lost Boy' Rapper Emmanuel Jal

Posted by Rob Trucks at 10:30 AM, May 12, 2008

"My story, I want to use it to inspire people, to show them where I come from and what I stand for. That's what the whole album is for. Like there's a song called 'Vagina.' That is because I have seen what is happening in Africa and I know what it is and I feel responsible."

photo by Rob Trucks

Emmanuel Jal is 28 years old—approximately. No one knows for sure exactly when the London-based rapper was born.

What is known is that Jal left his native south Sudan and its seemingly endless civil war as a child, after his village was razed and his mother was killed. For a time he lived in an Ethiopian refugee camp. Then he, along with other "lost boys," joined the Sudanese rebel army. After two years of battle and frequent flirtations with suicide, starvation and even cannabilism, Jal and 150 of his fellow child soldiers were rescued by British aid worker Emma McCune and taken to Kenya.

Jal's long journey is documented in the film War Child, this year's Cadillac Award winner for audience choice at the Tribeca Film Festival. And tomorrow on May 13, Jal's second album, also entitled War Child, will be released.

We spoke with Emmanuel Jal two weeks ago, between film festival and record release responsibilities, between public appearances and photo shoots, at his temporary residence in the Gild Hotel downtown.

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Photos: Devo-Inspired Art at 3rd Ward

Posted at 8:00 AM, May 12, 2008

This Devo-Inspired art show at 3rd Ward looks even more spectacular than it sounded. Awesome lens-lady Maro went and documented the Saturday opening, including a few amazing Devo tattoos for your groggy Monday-morning haze. All sorts more photos here and here.

Michael Pilmer of mutatovisual.com, representing the visual art of Mark Mothersbaugh

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Two Hours of Inspired Weirdness With Erykah Badu

Posted by Rob Harvilla at 2:26 PM, May 10, 2008

What can we say, she's innovative. CREDIT.

Erykah Badu/The Roots
Radio City Music Hall
Friday May 9

During climactic onstage moments, Erykah Badu likes to remove her wig. Sometimes this is a violent act: At a show five years or so back in Columbus, Ohio, she abruptly ripped off her mushroom-cloud afro and slammed it down at her feet in mid-wail, probably the single most shocking thing I'd ever seen at a rock concert. (Shortly thereafter she dove head-first into the crowd; she was dating Common at the time, I guess he has that effect on people.)

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Hey Go Win a Signed Copy of Mogwai's "Young Team"

Posted by Rob Harvilla at 4:59 PM, May 9, 2008

Our dear associate Annie Zaleski o'er at the Riverfront Times in St. Louis has a signed copy of the imminent reissue of Mogwai's splendid 1997 disc, Young Team, that she graciously intends to give away: Head on over there and look into it. The reissue's due out May 26; "Tracy" is the jam.

Devo-Inspired Art at Third Ward

Posted at 12:00 PM, May 9, 2008

Turns out that while Mark Mothersbaugh was on the road with Devo back in the day (1978—best SNL band appearance of all time?), he was sending back elaborately illustrated postcards. The hobby has persisted to this day, and now 3rd Ward presents a celebration of Mothersbaugh’s artistic postal aesthetic in The Super Thing: NYC goes DEVO. As the title implies, the exhibit also showcases a slew of other artists who represent the Devo sensibility. Tonight, Mothersbaugh—whose recent gigs include music for most of director Wes Anderson’s films, rug design, and the Apple vs. PC campaign—will make a guest cyber-appearance. — EUDIE PAK

Sat., May 10, 8 p.m., 2008

UPDATED, 5/12
Lens-lady Maro went and took photos from the 5/10 opening.

Also: Devo play McCarren Park Pool this summer with the Tom Tom Club and Dan Deacon. Tickets are still available.

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Tonight: O'Death at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

Posted at 11:21 AM, May 9, 2008

Only Manhattan could spawn such earnest, anachronistic rural folk as the goth-country collective O’Death. More impressive is how the only real big-city giveaway in their sound is vocalist Greg Jamie’s pained, Chloraseptic-welcoming yelps. Otherwise, the band’s mastered the almost claustrophobic need for space that once preoccupied so much of the early folk music O’Death are presently inspired by. It’s disconcerting how real it all feels at times. With Ponytail, USAISAMONSTER, and Woods. — KORY GROW.

O'DEATH, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 N 6th St., Brooklyn, NY Phone: 718-486-5400. Tickets still available here.