The Rosebuds (straight out of my home state of North Carolina) join British Sea Power’s bill at the Black Cat; gloriously weird DeVotchKa bring their neo-gypsy sound to the 9:30 Club; and, tickets to my favorite new band Yeasayer are still available.
Yeasayer
Thr Apr 10 @ Black Cat
I can’t help but gush, Yeasayer is really really cool. Their eclectic, layered, beat-driven sound is infectious. To pin this band down to a genre is no easy task. The band’s own description, “Middle Eastern-psych-pop-snap-gospel,” works about as well as anything.
Suitable for fans of: Spiritualized, Brian Eno
Sample track: 2080
http://www.myspace.com/yeasayer
http://www.yeasayer.net/
Hot Chip (w/ Free Blood)
Fri Apr 11 @ 9:30 ($20)
UK electro-pop outfit Hot Chip’s blending of rock with a funky-danceable sound has made them an underground sensation.
Sample track: Ready for the Floor
http://www.myspace.com/hotchip
VHS or Beta
Fri Apr 11 @ Rock and Roll Hotel
VHS or Beta is the darker side of new new-wave. Viva synth…
Sounds like: Joy Division, the Killers
Sample track: “The Melting Moon”
http://www.myspace.com/vhsorbeta
Nada Surf (w/ Kaki King & The Jealous Girlfriends)
Sat Apr 12 @ 9:30 Club ($15, early show 7 pm doors)
It’s easy to dismiss Nada Surf as a one-hit-wonder that will never rise higher than their surprise 1996 hit “Popular,” a sarcastic meditation on teen-angst. But, Nada Surf have not fallen into the trap of spending the rest of their career trying to reconstruct the magic of that one hit. They’ve kept moving as a band, making interesting music worth listening too. Newer songs, such as “See These Bones” from Nada Surf’s new LP “Lucky,” showcase front-man Matthew Caws’ gentle honey-soaked vocal work and have more in common with Death Cab for Cutie’s Banana-Republic-soundtrack-ready sound than the edgey alternative-rock that first made the band famous.
Sounds like: Death Cab for Cutie meets Cake
Sample track: See These Bones
http://www.myspace.com/nadasurf
The New Pornographers (w/ Okkervil River)
Tue Apr 15 @ 9:30 (sold out, but worth scalping)
What better way to spend tax day than with the Canadian indie-rock super-group the New Pornographers. Neko Case’s pretty looks and prettier vocals are worth the price of admission alone. Opening act Okkervil River were one of my favorite discoveries of the last year.
New Pornographers Sample Track: Electric Version
Okkervil River Sample Track: Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe
http://www.thenewpornographers.com/
http://www.myspace.com/okkervilriver
Rogue Wave
Wed Apr 16 @ 9:30 ($15)
With fragile, pretty songs like “Eyes,” Rogue Wave seem destined to accompany weepy scenes on movie soundtracks. But, on songs like “Publish My Love,” they prove they can also employ their talent for melody in the service of rock and roll.
Sounds like: Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins
Sample track: “Eyes” or “Publish My Love”
http://www.myspace.com/roguewave
Kate Nash
Thr Apr 17 @ 9:30 ($15)
British chart-topper Kate Nash’s debut album features catchy, wry, songs that put the emphasis on melody.
Sounds like: Lily Allen
Sample track: Foundations
http://www.myspace.com/katenashmusic
Lou Reed
Tue Apr 22 @ 9:30 ($45)
Rock and roll wouldn’t sound the same if Lou Reed had never lived, so maybe the chance to see him is worth $45.
Sample track: “Walk on the Wild Side”
http://www.loureed.com/
tapes ‘n tapes
Wed Apr 23 @ 9:30 ($15)
While tapes ‘n tapes has a familiar feel for those who grew up listening to Sugar and Sebadoh, they throw the listener enough curveballs to keep it interesting. Case in point, the driving polka beat on “Insistor,” the second track on their debut album The Loon.
Suitable for Fans of: Pavement, Sebadoh, Pixies
Sample track: Insistor and Cowbell
http://www.tapesntapes.com/tapes
Destroyer
Fri Apr 25 @ The Black Cat ($12)
Destroyer is the solo project of Dan Bejar, mad genius and one of the driving forces behind the New Pornographers. He can't sing worth a damn and he looks like that guy Richard Reid who tried to blow up an airplane with his shoe, but he’s one of the best songwriters around.
Suitable for Fans of: New Pornographers, musicians who look like terrorists
Sample track: European Oils
http://www.myspace.com/destroyer
Son Volt
Fri Apr 25 @ 9:30
The demise of pioneering alternative-country band Uncle Tupelo in the mid-1990s brought much wailing and gnashing of teeth among the music literati. But in retrospect, Jay Ferrar and Jeff Tweedy’s decision to go their separate ways was one of the best things to happen to rock music in the 1990s. If Uncle Tupelo had stayed together, Tweedy may have never been able to exert enough control to achieve the great heights he has reached with Wilco. Ferrar’s post-Tupelo project Son Volt has never achieved what Wilco has musically, but the band has produced very competent alt-country that I still enjoy listening to.
Suitable for Fans of: Wilco, Neil Young, Kings of Leon
Sample track: “Drown”
http://www.myspace.com/sonvolt
Tokyo Police Club
Tue Apr 29 @ Black Cat ($13)
Tokyo Police Club don’t even have a full-length album yet, but the blog hype around this band has been swirling since their 2006 EP A Lesson In Crime, which influential NYC music blog Brooklyn Vegan has called “one of the most well received 16 minutes of music in recent history.” Their sound mixes the harder darker indie-rock sounds associated with bands like Interpol with a deconstructed experimental element reminiscent of Sonic Youth.
Sounds like: Interpol meets Sonic Youth
Sample track: “Nature of the Experiment”
http://www.myspace.com/tokyopoliceclub
Midnight Juggernauts
Tue May 6 @ 9:30 Club ($15)
French group and 2008 Grammy nominees Justice don’t have the market cornered on the arena-rock meets dance music thing. If you missed Justice’s sold-out show earlier this month at the 9:30 Club, you can still catch Midnight Juggernauts.
Suitable for Fans of: Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk
Sample track: “Shadows”http://www.myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts
British Sea Power (w/ The Rosebuds)
Thu May 8 @ Black Cat ($13)
The ghosts of great Manchester bands of the past like the Stone Roses can be heard in British Sea Power.
Sounds like: Coldplay and Interpol
Sample track: “Please Stand Up”
http://www.myspace.com/britishseapower
The Rosebuds
Even if the Rosebuds weren’t natives of my birthplace, Raleigh, NC, this band would be ok in my book. On tracks such as “Get Up Get Out,” they prove they can produce toe-tapping pop confections.
Sounds like: The Cure, Stars
Sample tracks: “Get Up Get Out” and “Night of the Furies”
http://www.myspace.com/therosebuds
http://www.therosebuds.com/
Drive By Truckers
Fri May 9 & Sat May 10 @ 9:30 (soft sale, not yet announced)
I first discovered Drive by Truckers some years ago through the ambitious genius of “Southern Rock Opera,” a two-disc narrative odyssey that chronicles a fictional 1970s era southern rock band that ultimately meets its demise far too early in a tragic plane crash. (Don’t they always?) The four albums that followed never quite reached the sublime heights of “Southern Rock Opera,” although their newest, Brighter Than Creations Dark comes darn close. Front-man Patterson Hood’s consistently strong songwriting and the band’s loud raucous live show makes Drive by Truckers one of the best rock and roll bands in the business. No band captures in music the aesthetic of the rural south quite like Drive by Truckers.
Sounds like: Widespread Panic meets Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sample tracks: “Ronnie and Neil” and “The Righteous Path”
http://www.myspace.com/drivebytruckershttp://www.drivebytruckers.com/
The Black Keys (soft sale, not yet announced)
Mon and Tue May 12 & 13 @ 9:30
http://theblackkeys.com/
Cut Copy
Thr May 15 @ Black Cat
Cut Copy’s synth-infused indie rock is part of the emerging indie-dance/electro-clash genre that recaptures some of the other-worldly elements of new wave, but substitutes new wave’s sugary coating with grittier influences from indie-rock. Or, as a friend described it, “dance music for guys.”
Contemporaries: She Wants Revenge, VHS or Beta, LCD Soundsystem,!!!, Justice
Sample track: “Lights and Music”
http://www.myspace.com/cutcopy
DeVotchKa (w/Basia Bulat)
Fri May 16 @ 9:30 Club (soft sale, not yet announced)
Gloriously weird DeVotchKa are so difficult to describe, I’ll let the pros at the gloriously weird (and often unintelligible) music blog Pitchfork do it for me: “A professorial classical violinist. A sousaphone player from a Civil War recreation band. A punk-turned-mariachi-enthusiast drummer raised by polka musicians. A Gypsy-descendant singer more multi-instrumentalist than the other three band members that I just reductively identified according to their "main" pieces of equipment. DeVotchKa invented the Diablo Cody arc, as they've gone from accompanying burlesque/fetish shows to getting a Grammy nod, despite being unsigned at the time.” Right, bottom line they sound like gypsies on acid running amuck….should be a good show.
Best Suited for Fans of: early Camper Van Beethoven, Gogol Bordello
Sample track: Basso Profundo
http://www.myspace.com/devotchkamusic
Duran Duran
Tue May 27 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
The kings of 80s New Wave play Merriweather. Worth noting at least….
http://www.myspace.com/duranduran
Seawolf
Sun May 25 @ Rock and Roll Hotel
An up and coming blogger favorite.
Sounds like: Belle and Sebastian
Sample track: “You’re a Wolf”
http://www.myspace.com/seawolf
She Wants Revenge
Fri May 30 @ 9:30 Club (On Sale Saturday, March 29 at 10am - soft sale, not yet announced)
She Wants Revenge are a bit dark and take themselves a little too seriously, but the band has produced some undeniably great songs. "Out of Control," "Tear You Apart," and "These Things" are all stellar. Also worth checking out is “Time,” a collaboration with uber-producer/MC Timbaland.
Sounds like: Depeche Mode
Sample track: “Out of Control”
http://www.myspace.com/shewantsrevenge
Rilo Kiley
Fri Jun 6 @ 9:30 (sold out)
http://www.myspace.com/rilokiley
M83
Sat Jun 8 @ Black Cat
For fans of M83, one of the most celebrated ambient-electronica outfits around, it will be a huge treat to see them perform at the Black Cat. However, people who think of ambient as nothing more that futuristic elevator music will probably be bored out of their skulls.
Suitable for Fans of: Orbital, Brian Eno
Sample track: “Coulers”
http://www.myspace.com/m83
Death Cab for Cutie
Sun Jun 9 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion (6pm Gates)
On Sale Saturday, March 29 at 10am click here to purchase tickets
Death Cab for cuties melody driven indie pop has become a fixture on the I-Pods of the soccer mom’s of America making them no longer cool amongst the indie-rock literati. But, we think Ben Gibbard’s strength as a songwriter and vocalist still justify inclusion on our list.
Suitable for Fans of: The Shins
Sample track: “Soul Meets Body”
http://www.myspace.com/deathcabforcutie
http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/
Yeasayer
Thr Apr 10 @ Black Cat
I can’t help but gush, Yeasayer is really really cool. Their eclectic, layered, beat-driven sound is infectious. To pin this band down to a genre is no easy task. The band’s own description, “Middle Eastern-psych-pop-snap-gospel,” works about as well as anything.
Suitable for fans of: Spiritualized, Brian Eno
Sample track: 2080
http://www.myspace.com/yeasayer
http://www.yeasayer.net/
Hot Chip (w/ Free Blood)
Fri Apr 11 @ 9:30 ($20)
UK electro-pop outfit Hot Chip’s blending of rock with a funky-danceable sound has made them an underground sensation.
Sample track: Ready for the Floor
http://www.myspace.com/hotchip
VHS or Beta
Fri Apr 11 @ Rock and Roll Hotel
VHS or Beta is the darker side of new new-wave. Viva synth…
Sounds like: Joy Division, the Killers
Sample track: “The Melting Moon”
http://www.myspace.com/vhsorbeta
Nada Surf (w/ Kaki King & The Jealous Girlfriends)
Sat Apr 12 @ 9:30 Club ($15, early show 7 pm doors)
It’s easy to dismiss Nada Surf as a one-hit-wonder that will never rise higher than their surprise 1996 hit “Popular,” a sarcastic meditation on teen-angst. But, Nada Surf have not fallen into the trap of spending the rest of their career trying to reconstruct the magic of that one hit. They’ve kept moving as a band, making interesting music worth listening too. Newer songs, such as “See These Bones” from Nada Surf’s new LP “Lucky,” showcase front-man Matthew Caws’ gentle honey-soaked vocal work and have more in common with Death Cab for Cutie’s Banana-Republic-soundtrack-ready sound than the edgey alternative-rock that first made the band famous.
Sounds like: Death Cab for Cutie meets Cake
Sample track: See These Bones
http://www.myspace.com/nadasurf
The New Pornographers (w/ Okkervil River)
Tue Apr 15 @ 9:30 (sold out, but worth scalping)
What better way to spend tax day than with the Canadian indie-rock super-group the New Pornographers. Neko Case’s pretty looks and prettier vocals are worth the price of admission alone. Opening act Okkervil River were one of my favorite discoveries of the last year.
New Pornographers Sample Track: Electric Version
Okkervil River Sample Track: Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe
http://www.thenewpornographers.com/
http://www.myspace.com/okkervilriver
Rogue Wave
Wed Apr 16 @ 9:30 ($15)
With fragile, pretty songs like “Eyes,” Rogue Wave seem destined to accompany weepy scenes on movie soundtracks. But, on songs like “Publish My Love,” they prove they can also employ their talent for melody in the service of rock and roll.
Sounds like: Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins
Sample track: “Eyes” or “Publish My Love”
http://www.myspace.com/roguewave
Kate Nash
Thr Apr 17 @ 9:30 ($15)
British chart-topper Kate Nash’s debut album features catchy, wry, songs that put the emphasis on melody.
Sounds like: Lily Allen
Sample track: Foundations
http://www.myspace.com/katenashmusic
Lou Reed
Tue Apr 22 @ 9:30 ($45)
Rock and roll wouldn’t sound the same if Lou Reed had never lived, so maybe the chance to see him is worth $45.
Sample track: “Walk on the Wild Side”
http://www.loureed.com/
tapes ‘n tapes
Wed Apr 23 @ 9:30 ($15)
While tapes ‘n tapes has a familiar feel for those who grew up listening to Sugar and Sebadoh, they throw the listener enough curveballs to keep it interesting. Case in point, the driving polka beat on “Insistor,” the second track on their debut album The Loon.
Suitable for Fans of: Pavement, Sebadoh, Pixies
Sample track: Insistor and Cowbell
http://www.tapesntapes.com/tapes
Destroyer
Fri Apr 25 @ The Black Cat ($12)
Destroyer is the solo project of Dan Bejar, mad genius and one of the driving forces behind the New Pornographers. He can't sing worth a damn and he looks like that guy Richard Reid who tried to blow up an airplane with his shoe, but he’s one of the best songwriters around.
Suitable for Fans of: New Pornographers, musicians who look like terrorists
Sample track: European Oils
http://www.myspace.com/destroyer
Son Volt
Fri Apr 25 @ 9:30
The demise of pioneering alternative-country band Uncle Tupelo in the mid-1990s brought much wailing and gnashing of teeth among the music literati. But in retrospect, Jay Ferrar and Jeff Tweedy’s decision to go their separate ways was one of the best things to happen to rock music in the 1990s. If Uncle Tupelo had stayed together, Tweedy may have never been able to exert enough control to achieve the great heights he has reached with Wilco. Ferrar’s post-Tupelo project Son Volt has never achieved what Wilco has musically, but the band has produced very competent alt-country that I still enjoy listening to.
Suitable for Fans of: Wilco, Neil Young, Kings of Leon
Sample track: “Drown”
http://www.myspace.com/sonvolt
Tokyo Police Club
Tue Apr 29 @ Black Cat ($13)
Tokyo Police Club don’t even have a full-length album yet, but the blog hype around this band has been swirling since their 2006 EP A Lesson In Crime, which influential NYC music blog Brooklyn Vegan has called “one of the most well received 16 minutes of music in recent history.” Their sound mixes the harder darker indie-rock sounds associated with bands like Interpol with a deconstructed experimental element reminiscent of Sonic Youth.
Sounds like: Interpol meets Sonic Youth
Sample track: “Nature of the Experiment”
http://www.myspace.com/tokyopoliceclub
Midnight Juggernauts
Tue May 6 @ 9:30 Club ($15)
French group and 2008 Grammy nominees Justice don’t have the market cornered on the arena-rock meets dance music thing. If you missed Justice’s sold-out show earlier this month at the 9:30 Club, you can still catch Midnight Juggernauts.
Suitable for Fans of: Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk
Sample track: “Shadows”http://www.myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts
British Sea Power (w/ The Rosebuds)
Thu May 8 @ Black Cat ($13)
The ghosts of great Manchester bands of the past like the Stone Roses can be heard in British Sea Power.
Sounds like: Coldplay and Interpol
Sample track: “Please Stand Up”
http://www.myspace.com/britishseapower
The Rosebuds
Even if the Rosebuds weren’t natives of my birthplace, Raleigh, NC, this band would be ok in my book. On tracks such as “Get Up Get Out,” they prove they can produce toe-tapping pop confections.
Sounds like: The Cure, Stars
Sample tracks: “Get Up Get Out” and “Night of the Furies”
http://www.myspace.com/therosebuds
http://www.therosebuds.com/
Drive By Truckers
Fri May 9 & Sat May 10 @ 9:30 (soft sale, not yet announced)
I first discovered Drive by Truckers some years ago through the ambitious genius of “Southern Rock Opera,” a two-disc narrative odyssey that chronicles a fictional 1970s era southern rock band that ultimately meets its demise far too early in a tragic plane crash. (Don’t they always?) The four albums that followed never quite reached the sublime heights of “Southern Rock Opera,” although their newest, Brighter Than Creations Dark comes darn close. Front-man Patterson Hood’s consistently strong songwriting and the band’s loud raucous live show makes Drive by Truckers one of the best rock and roll bands in the business. No band captures in music the aesthetic of the rural south quite like Drive by Truckers.
Sounds like: Widespread Panic meets Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sample tracks: “Ronnie and Neil” and “The Righteous Path”
http://www.myspace.com/drivebytruckershttp://www.drivebytruckers.com/
The Black Keys (soft sale, not yet announced)
Mon and Tue May 12 & 13 @ 9:30
http://theblackkeys.com/
Cut Copy
Thr May 15 @ Black Cat
Cut Copy’s synth-infused indie rock is part of the emerging indie-dance/electro-clash genre that recaptures some of the other-worldly elements of new wave, but substitutes new wave’s sugary coating with grittier influences from indie-rock. Or, as a friend described it, “dance music for guys.”
Contemporaries: She Wants Revenge, VHS or Beta, LCD Soundsystem,!!!, Justice
Sample track: “Lights and Music”
http://www.myspace.com/cutcopy
DeVotchKa (w/Basia Bulat)
Fri May 16 @ 9:30 Club (soft sale, not yet announced)
Gloriously weird DeVotchKa are so difficult to describe, I’ll let the pros at the gloriously weird (and often unintelligible) music blog Pitchfork do it for me: “A professorial classical violinist. A sousaphone player from a Civil War recreation band. A punk-turned-mariachi-enthusiast drummer raised by polka musicians. A Gypsy-descendant singer more multi-instrumentalist than the other three band members that I just reductively identified according to their "main" pieces of equipment. DeVotchKa invented the Diablo Cody arc, as they've gone from accompanying burlesque/fetish shows to getting a Grammy nod, despite being unsigned at the time.” Right, bottom line they sound like gypsies on acid running amuck….should be a good show.
Best Suited for Fans of: early Camper Van Beethoven, Gogol Bordello
Sample track: Basso Profundo
http://www.myspace.com/devotchkamusic
Duran Duran
Tue May 27 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
The kings of 80s New Wave play Merriweather. Worth noting at least….
http://www.myspace.com/duranduran
Seawolf
Sun May 25 @ Rock and Roll Hotel
An up and coming blogger favorite.
Sounds like: Belle and Sebastian
Sample track: “You’re a Wolf”
http://www.myspace.com/seawolf
She Wants Revenge
Fri May 30 @ 9:30 Club (On Sale Saturday, March 29 at 10am - soft sale, not yet announced)
She Wants Revenge are a bit dark and take themselves a little too seriously, but the band has produced some undeniably great songs. "Out of Control," "Tear You Apart," and "These Things" are all stellar. Also worth checking out is “Time,” a collaboration with uber-producer/MC Timbaland.
Sounds like: Depeche Mode
Sample track: “Out of Control”
http://www.myspace.com/shewantsrevenge
Rilo Kiley
Fri Jun 6 @ 9:30 (sold out)
http://www.myspace.com/rilokiley
M83
Sat Jun 8 @ Black Cat
For fans of M83, one of the most celebrated ambient-electronica outfits around, it will be a huge treat to see them perform at the Black Cat. However, people who think of ambient as nothing more that futuristic elevator music will probably be bored out of their skulls.
Suitable for Fans of: Orbital, Brian Eno
Sample track: “Coulers”
http://www.myspace.com/m83
Death Cab for Cutie
Sun Jun 9 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion (6pm Gates)
On Sale Saturday, March 29 at 10am click here to purchase tickets
Death Cab for cuties melody driven indie pop has become a fixture on the I-Pods of the soccer mom’s of America making them no longer cool amongst the indie-rock literati. But, we think Ben Gibbard’s strength as a songwriter and vocalist still justify inclusion on our list.
Suitable for Fans of: The Shins
Sample track: “Soul Meets Body”
http://www.myspace.com/deathcabforcutie
http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment