Launched in 1976, Punk magazine announced an exploding youth movement, a new direction in American counterculture. Punk was to magazines what the stage at CBGB was to music: the gritty, live-wired, throbbing center of the punk universe. Despite its low-rent origins, the magazine was an overnight success in the underground music scene, selling out every print run across the US and the UK. Every musician who appeared on the cover of Punk became an icon of the era. But Punk not only championed music, it became a launching pad for writers, artists, cartoonists, and photographers. And the wacky, sardonic, slapstick vibe of the magazine resonated with an international army of music fanatics who were ready to burn their bell bottoms and stage-dive into the punk universe.

The Best of Punk Magazine was published right before Christmas, anthologizing highlights from the rag's entire run. (You can read whole issues online.) There's a launch party for the book happening Friday (1/11) at Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO (where the Peter Hook book launch is happening later this month). The event takes place from 6 - 8 PM and will feature Punk founder John Holmstrom, "live music and special guests" though its unclear who that may be. Also, "drinks will be served." It's free.

In other OG punk news, onetime New York Doll David Johansen is playing Highline Ballroom on Sunday (1/13) with The Last Bison, Los Texmaniacs, and Eliana Burki. Tickets are still available.

Flyer for the The Best of Punk Magazine launch party is below.

Continue reading "'The Best of Punk Magazine' book launch party in NYC; David Johansen playing Highline Ballroom "

by Bill Pearis

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson in 'Frank'

There aren't a lot of actors out there where I'll go to see a film just because they're in it but Michael Fassbender is one of them. From more commercial projects like X-Men: First Class and Prometheus to his work with director Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame), he always gives interesting performances, even in films that aren't very good (Jonah Hex). Fassbender is currently filming Frank, what could be the strangest film of his career, playing late UK cult icon Frank Sidebottom (!).

As you may know, Frank Sidebottom alter ego Chris Sievey (who was also in Manchester punk band The Freshies) died suddenly in 2010 after a short battle with cancer. Sidebottom's music, usually covers of popular (and indie) songs rewritten to be about Frank's life in Manchester suburb of Timperley, often with help from a puppet version of himself called Little Frank. All while wearing a giant paper mache head. Frank played NYC often in the last ten years of his career and seeing him confuse day drinkers at the 119 Bar back in 2008 is one of my fondest show memories of the last five years.

The film Frank, is only loosely based on his life. The IMDB synopsis:

A comedy about a young wannabe musician, Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), who discovers he's bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank (Michael Fassbender).

The film also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and, yes, that's a still from the movie above. As it's still filming, Frank probably won't see release till late 2013 if we're lucky. Till then, a few Frank Sidebottom videos are below.

Continue reading "Michael Fassbender is playing Frank Sidebottom in a movie"

by Bill Pearis

Baltimore-based experimentalists Matmos are set to release The Marriage of True Minds, their first album in five years on February 19 via Thrill Jockey. The record's birth, much like their Ganzfeld EP from last year, is a bit odd, even for this duo. Here's a bit from the press release:

For the past four years the band have been conducting parapsychological experiments based upon the classic Ganzfeld ("total field") experiment, but with a twist: instead of sending and receiving simple graphic patterns, test subjects were put into a state of sensory deprivation by covering their eyes and listening to white noise on headphones, and then Matmos member Drew Daniel attempted to transmit "the concept of the new Matmos record" directly into their minds. The resulting transcripts became poetic and conceptual scores used by Matmos to generate the nine songs on this album. If a subject hummed something, that became a melody; passing visual images suggested arrangement ideas, instruments, or raw materials for a collage; if a subject described an action, then the band members had to act out that out and make music out of the noises generated in the process of the re-enactment. "The Marriage of True Minds" boasts a promiscuous cast of guest musicians, an array of sonic tactics, and a broad swathe of musical styles, but this diversity is joined together with a common purpose: the translation of this archive of psychic experiments into a delirious hybrid of conceptual noise and electronic pop.

Matmos created a Tumblr detailing their Ganzfeld experiments which makes for heady reading. While there are moments of beauty and danceable rhythms to be heard on The Marriage of True Minds, the album ends with a doom-y cover of The Buzzcocks' "ESP" that features vocals from Gerry Mak of Brooklyn metal band Bloody Panda. It's an interesting album.

Which should also make for interesting live shows. While they're scheduled for a European tour in March, Matmos only have one U.S. date at the moment and it's in NYC: February 11 at Le Poisson Rouge and tickets are on sale now.

Cover art and track list for The Marriage of True Minds is below, along with a list of all tour dates

Continue reading "Matmos releasing first new album in 5 years, touring (dates)"

Javelin will be back with their second album, Hi Beams, on March 5 via Luaka Bop. Unlike their first album which the band made themselves on the cheap with a computer, Hi Beams was recorded at Machine With Magnets studio in Pawtucket, RI using vintage equipment, real microphones and the like. Was it worth it? Check out "Nnormal" from it below.

You can hear some other new songs, probably, when the band starts playing shows again next month. A proper tour starts around the album's release date, but there's a few East Coast shows before that, including one at Shea Stadium on February 1 with Guardian Alien and Life Size Maps. Advance tickets for that show are available.

All tour dates are listed below, along with the new song stream.

Continue reading "Javelin releasing 'Hi Beams' and 2013 tour (dates, stream)"

Frightened Rabbit @ T5, Nov. 2010 (more by Lionel Bergeron)

SXSW has just announced another round of bands for the 2013 edition of the annual music festival that will happen March 12 - 17. This brings the total current number of acts to around 1300. Someome of the highlights include Vampire Weekend, Frightened Rabbit, The Thermals, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, Merchandise, Bleached, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Eagles of Death Metal, Parenthetical Girls, Indians, Night Beds, IO Echo, KEN Mode, Prince Paul, Pure Bathing Culture, Sepalcure, UK motorik post-punks TOY, Finnish instrumentalists K-X-P, Toronto's Moon King, UK indie rockers Splashh (not Brooklyn Splash with one "h") and loads more. Head to BV Austin for the whole Round 3 list.

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Vektor at Saint Vitus, Aug 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Always something up their sleeve, Saint Vitus has rolled out another set of bangers for the new year. We already discussed shows with Torche, Deafheaven/Sannhet, Yob and Woe, but here's a few more shows to help wipe away your paycheck.

Vektor will expertly unleash their razor-sharp progressive thrash on the crowds at Saint Vitus on a special Valentines Day (2/14), when they team with Behold... the Arctopus for a show at the venue. Tickets are on sale. The show is one of only a few dates scheduled for the now-Philadelphia thrash crew, check out all other dates below.

Brutal Truth, Total Fucking Destruction, Psychic Limb and one band still TBA will play Saint Vitus on March 16. Tickets are on sale. The dates are the only shows scheduled for all three presently.

Crossover thrash legends DRI will hit the road for a string of dates in February, touring the US and eventually making it to Saint Vitus on 2/26. Tickets are on sale, and the full slate of dates is below.

All tour dates -- plus video -- are below.

Continue reading "Saint Vitus hosting shows with D.R.I. (who are touring), Vektor and Brutal Truth"

by Bill Pearis

Merchandise @ WIERD, 9/13/2012 (more by Phil Maier)

Merchandise, who just played a couple NYC shows right around New Year's, have announced the follow-up to last year's Children of Desire. The new record, a five-song 12" titled Totale Nite, will be out on the Night People label sometime this spring. They're calling it an album and if it contains two 10-minute plus tracks like Children of Desire did, I guess it could be.

The first taste of Totale Nite, "Anxiety's Door," clocks in at seven minutes, and picks right up where the last album left off with heavy romance and mid-'80s sounding gothy alt-rock vibes. You can stream it below. The drum machine is still there, for those hoping Elsner Nino would make his recorded appearance here. While I like a real drummer in the live setting, I actually really like a drum machine with this kind of music, especially the syn-toms.

Merchandise will be spending much of the spring on tour, hitting SXSW pretty hard and heading West from there. No new NYC dates have been announced, but you can check out their schedule below, along with that new song stream.

Continue reading "Merchandise announce new LP and 2013 tour (dates, stream)"

by Andrew Sacher

Not to turn into Perez Hilton or anything, but the same day we get the news that Justin Timberlake, another pop star who actually puts out great music, is releasing new material, Beyonce announced on facebook that Destiny's Child have recorded their first original song in eight years and Pharrell produced it. The song will appear on Love Songs, the upcoming Destiny's Child compilation which is due out on January 29 via Sony Legacy and can be pre-ordered now. The tracklist is below.

In related news, Beyonce, who is about to perform at the Super Bowl on February 3, but not until after she sings the National Anthem at President Obama's inauguration ceremony on January 21, said in an interview with GQ that she'll have her new album out "as early as April" and will go on a world tour in support of it. The album may or may not include her rumored sequel to her collaboration with Lady Gaga, "Telephone." (And that song may or may not also feature Azealia Banks.)

The album will follow 2011's 4, much of which saw Beyonce stripping back her sound and pulling more from '70s soul than contemporary R&B, but it also contained "Countdown," which is up there as one of Beyonce's greatest pop singles, and just one of the greatest pop singles of recent years in general.

The video for "Countdown" and the video for Destiny's Child's "Survivor" below...

Continue reading "Destiny's Child reuniting for a new single; Beyonce will release her new album "as early as April""

Mostly-hip hop producer Dan the Automator has some pretty great work under his belt with Dr. Octagon, Deltron 3030, Gorillaz Handsome Boy Modeling School, and others, and now he's announced the debut album for his new collaborative project, Pillowfight, for which he's joined forces with singer/instrumentalist Emily Wells, who's dipped her feet in the hip hop world a few times herself, having collaborated with Buck 65 and Count Bass D. Dan and Emily also reached out to Kid Koala (who worked with Dan on Deltron 3030) and Lateef the Truthspeaker (Latyrx) and recorded their self titled album which will be out digitally and on CD January 22 and on vinyl on February 26 via Bulk Recordings.

The duo previously posted one of the album's tracks, "Get Your Shit Together," and today, Consequence of Sound premiered another, "Used to Think." You can stream that one below.

Continue reading "Pillowfight (Dan the Automator & Emily Wells) releasing album (stream a track)"

Alt-J at Mercury Lounge in May (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Big day for award nominations. The Oscars announced theirs this morning and the Brit Awards just wrapped up their ceremony for 2013 nominations, with Emeli Sandé grabbing four and Mumford & Sons and Alt-J each getting three. All three of those artists were nominated for British Album of the Year, a list that also included Paloma Faith and Plan B. If you don't know, The Brits are basically the UK's equivalent of the Grammys, though nominees are all British apart from a few "International" awards.

Jessie Ware, Muse, and Adele each got two nominations, and single-digit noms went to Bat for Lashes, The xx, Richard Hawley and The Vaccines.

Mumford & Sons have two nights at Barclays Center in February and Alt-J will swing though town in March.

The entire 2013 Brit Awards nominees list is below.

Continue reading "2013 Brit Award nominees announced (Emeli Sandé, Mumford and Alt-J lead the pack)"